"Alright, alright, alright, let's see what you get-"
"Nope, nope, nope, we are not playing Gambit again!" Slim declared, waving off the hologram of the character. "We are posting the next chapter to this story, and I have no idea how it got so popular, Lord of Swords. You know, come to think of it, we might be able to give it a better title. Like… Percy Jackson: and the Lord of Swords… yet that kinda gives the impression that Percy is a focal point in the story… which he really isn't. Tell you what, I'll keep thinking about it and get back to you later."
"NOTICE THAT THIS BIT IS ALL IN CAPS MEANING ITS IMPORTANT. THE LAST PART OF CHAPTER 7 HAS BEEN REDONE AS I PULLED A 343 AND DIVIDED THE COMMUNITY. THE GIST OF THE CHANGES IS CHANGING HOW WE GOT FROM A TO C. SO GO BACK AND READ THAT IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY."
"In other news, a show of hands, how many of you have seen the TV show called Grimm?" Slim asked, raising his hand. "Now, given that I can't see any of you, I guess a few of you are raising your hands. If you are among those who did not raise your hand go watch it, it's… what are the kids saying nowadays? Pog?"
The sounds of shattering glass echoed from a nearby room followed along with cursing.
"So, I have wanted to do a Grimm crossover, yet I also really don't want to start another PJ story. Like seriously, I need to change universes. Given that I need a… specialist for a current faction, I thought I could take the Grimm "species" and mix a little Witcher in and use that as this faction's specialists."
"Now, before you lot go screaming bloody murder, hear me out. It's not like I am going to make another sub-plot. The character I have in mind will likely join up with a character you already know is running around, which will eventually link up with Shirou. OOOOOO, I can use Sevro again ehehehehehehehehe. But then again, I am using him in another story, so maybe not. Damn, I love that little ball of murder and off-color jokes in the most heterosexual way. Anyways, just throw your two cents into the jar on your way out. If you must throw more in, then more power to you. All funds will go towards fixing the ship after last night's… actives."
"But you've heard enough of me rambling on, so guest reviews now.
Thank you for your continued support of all those Statements/Supportive reviews!
"As it turns out, there really aren't any quest review questions that need answering. So we can jump right into the story! OH OH OH, one last little thing. For those of you who watch DXD, you're in for a fun little opening hehehehe."
Now the story
Shirou was sure how long he lay in his reality marble, staring up at the endless sky. There were no stars in his world, only a gloomy sky with gargantuan gears of different types turning unendingly. Despite his mute expression, his eyes were stained with the tears that fell from his eyes. The sun hung on the horizon so close yet out of reach. The barren terrain was home to a signal hill where the world's master lay. Swords, axes, polearms, shields, and many other types of bladed weapons, both mundane and legendary in origin, lay stabbed into the ground as if to mark the graves of fallen warriors.
Shirou knew he was wrong to get his hopes up. Yet, the hope that was built from the chance, no matter the unlikelihood of success, to see her again was too great to not at least try. Perhaps if he were lucky, he might have been able to pull off the summoning ritual. He could only think of her smile as he stared up at the gear-filled sky. He had pushed everything he had into the ritual. Shirou knew that he would have to wait for his body to recover from the magical exertion that he had forced it through. Until then, he would stay within the dream of his reality marble.
The magus felt a ping of sympathy from the weapons around him. While no way sentient in any sense of the word, many of the weapons had wills of their own. One such weapon that had had the honor of being placed at the top of the hill was the sword Caliburn, the Golden Sword of the Victorious. A symbol of kingship, of Artoria's kingship.
Caliburn was remarkably similar to Excalibur in appearance. Both swords held a place atop the lonely hill. Yet despite Caliburn's power inferiority to Excalibur, Caliburn always held a special place in Shirou's reality marble. It was a sword that had been shattered and would never exist again apart from his reality marble. It was a sword that reflected Artoria more than even the mightily Excalibur could ever hope to have. It was the most powerful connection he had to Artoria, second only to Avalon.
Like every weapon within the reality marble, Caliburn had a desire for Shirou to pick up the blade and wield it against his enemies. Yet, with no worthy enemy to be had, the weapon was forced to stay stabbed into the ground, waiting for its master's call.
Shirou closed his eyes. He was back at square one, but he was not going to give up. He would make it to her. That was his promise.
Just then, the world began to pull away as if melting. When Shirou opened his eyes again, he found something soft pressing into his face. It was dark, and he could not see anything. He tried to sit up but found something was hanging on to him.
"Mmm."
Shirou's heart almost stopped.
It was not something hanging onto him, but someone. The someone shifted, causing the soft mass in front of him to move and a semi-hard nub pressed against his lips, someone's head nuzzled into his hair. Something smooth around his leg and while another soft and smooth surface brushed up against his manhood.
It was at that moment that Shirou realized three things. One, he was naked. Two, the person holding onto him was naked. Three, he was naked in bed with someone. As if bitten by a snake. Shirou recoiled, using his magical enhancements to break the hold of whoever was holding him. Rolling away from the person holding onto him. He quickly fell down a short distance and, before long, slammed into a wall.
"Mmm, cold." A female voice came from the area Shirou had just occupied.
A snapping sound soon followed, causing a light source to appear at the top of the room. A naked Saoirse rubbed her eyes while she slowly pushed herself up with her other arm. Once she was upright, she let out a yawn and stretched, giving Shirou a full view of her bare form. Finishing her stretch opened her eyes and looked to see a dumbfounded Shirou.
She smiled. "Enjoying the view?"
Snapping out of his shock, Shirou tossed the bedsheets that he had dragged with him at the woman. While it did have the intended effect of covering Saoirse's naked form, it also had an unintended effect.
"Oh, now I'm enjoying the view." Blushing, Shirou activated his magic circuits and clothed himself. "Ah, spoilsport."
"What the hell were you doing?!" Shirou demanded, standing, his emotions dancing on the edge of murder.
Saoirse, for her own part, did not seem fazed by Shirou's tone.
"Just healing your body." She answered as a matter of fact. "You did quite a number on yourself when the summoning ritual malfunctioned. Simple healing magics were not going to cut it, so I needed to use more advanced methods." She then gave Shirou a suggestive look. "I didn't do any of the more… effective treatments, if you were wondering. Skin contact was the best PG thing I could do, given what you needed. However-"
Before she could go on, Shirou burst through the door and ran down the corridor. Laughing soon chased him as he fled. As the walls threw past him, Shirou tripped and fell as a sharp pain crashed into his body. He grabbed his body as the pain spread and grew in intensity. However, just as it came, it began to fade as he felt something placed around his neck. Looking up, Shirou found Brian kneeling beside him with a sympathetic smile.
"Not the best wake-up call, I admit," Brian commented, helping Shirou up to his feet.
"I failed the summoning ritual," Shirou said, cutting to the chase.
"We'll discuss what happened in a bit," Brian answered his new apprentice. "Right now, I think you owe Saoirse a "thank you" for helping you heal. I know waking up to a woman naked in bed with you without prior knowledge can be disconcerting. Still, she did save you a lot of time in a magical hospital with her abilities."
"What was she doing anyway?"
"An advanced type of water and spirit-based magic. I won't go into details, but the gist of what she did was use her own body as a base to repair yours. She's been doing it for a full day when she could have used other intimate means to do it faster. So, I know you didn't want to get into bed with her, but she sacrificed a lot of time and energy that she didn't have to in getting you back on your feet. So next time you see her, I want you to thank her for that much."
Shirou nodded after letting his brain comprehend the situation. As long as they didn't have sex, Shirou would swallow his feelings of violation that had welled up. However, he would not let something like that happen again if he could help it. Even with Avalon no longer in his body, it still left an effect on healing his body.
"Good. Now, let's head up to the mess hall and get some food in you while be landing in a few hours." Brian ordered before leading Shirou along to the mess hall.
Along the way, Shirou noticed that another rune was hanging from around Shirou's neck. An othila rune, if he remembers correctly. The rune itself is mainly associated with inheritance or ancestors.
"Noticed the new one?" Brain began seeing Shirou holding up the new rune. "That one is one of mine. Not as good as your first or my best work, but it should help you connect with your godly side."
"How so, being a demigod seems like more trouble than its worth." Shirou countered, letting the rune fall back down.
"For the most part, you're right. However, seeing as your goddess-given one seems to be coming off more and more often has it becoming a problem. As of now, anyone who gets that rune off you has got you completely helpless. With that rune I have you now in place, it's gonna start letting in minimal amounts of your godly heritage. Meaning when that first rune comes off, it won't be as nearly as bad. It also means you'll slowly be able to start tapping into your divine heritage."
"It still doesn't seem worth it to me."
"You will be changing your mind soon enough, lad. Just you wait."
Soon enough, the two reached the mess hall and found some seats. One crew came around with food moments later and forced it in front of them.
"So let's talk about what happened with the summoning ritual," Brian said as he began to eat. "From the looks of things, it was working until the final points. It doesn't seem to me that it was anything you did."
"So, what went wrong if the problem was not on me?" Shirou asked. Perhaps if he fixed the problem, he could try again.
"It's hard to say, but from that it felt like, it was as if some third party had disturbed the ritual. With the amount of power we were funneling into ya, I would have noticed if someone was channeling enough power to disrupt the ritual. Since there wasn't anyone around, I can't honestly say what went wrong."
Shirou looked away for a moment. The first being that came to mind was the Counter Force, specifically Gaia. Given that he had yet to come in contact with anything resembling the Counter Force or Gaia in this world left Shirou without an answer as well.
"But," Brian continued, sounding more serious. "For a moment, I could sense that your ritual had connected to something. Something did attempt to come through to our world."
Shirou's heart began to beat faster.
"I don't know if it made it lad, or if the ritual broke down before it could make it through. Before we attempt something like that again, I want someone more experienced in summoning magic to take a look at first."
Shirou managed a nod. At the very least, he knew that the servant summoning ritual was plausible. If anything, it was something to look into. When the two had finished eating, Saoirse joined them at the table, thankfully clothed.
"Saoirse," Shirou began before anyone could start. "Thank you for healing me. I apologize for my reaction this morning."
Saoirse smiled and waved off the apology. "Nothing to apologize for. Besides, we can't have you dying on us. It would look bad. You do, however, make a great cuddle buddy. You're a lot warmer than you look, and you snuggle up quite nicely. Don't be afraid to call me up when you hurt yourself again." She finished with a wink.
"I'll keep that in mind." Shirou politely lied while attempting to hide a blush.
"Right then, you should probably head back to our cabin and change into some real clothes, lad," Brian added, standing up from the table.
Shirou nodded and got up to do just that. After Shirou had turned to his cabin and changed into actual clothing, he made his way to the deck. Most of the crew were going about doing their own tasks. Samuel was at the helm, calling out orders. Brian was leaning up against the railing, looking towards the American coast in the distance. Shirou approached the old druid.
"Samuel is going to drop us off before he goes into port. From there, we'll grab a bus to New York, pick up ya stuff, then head to the enclave." Brian explained, still looking into the horizon. "While also do our best to avoid any unnecessary Greek meetings."
"I dough we'll be that lucky." Shirou reasoned, fully expecting to run into a god or two.
Brian shrugged. "Nothing wrong with hoping, lad."
The two waited as the ship neared the shore. Samuel and Saoirse waved the two off as they jumped off the boat, landing on the beach. Brian and Shirou waved back as they made their way into the city to find a bus for New York. Before long, the two were on a bus bound for New York. The three-and-a-half-hour ride there was thankfully uneventful. Brian himself slept most of the way while Shirou stared aimlessly out the window. Once there, the two quickly made their way to Shirou's workshop, where he retrieved his armor and a few other minor trinkets like a backup phone and wallet.
Brian waited at the entrance to Shirou workshop proper. The old druid has a stern look on his face.
"Lad, in whose name is the deed to this place entitled?" Brian asked as Shirou closed the entrance to his workshop, leaving the two of them on the factory floor.
"It's under my name," Shirou answered as he was not well enough settled into the world to build a strong enough fake background when he bought the building.
"And you said the fairies have your name." Brian went on eying his apprentice.
Shirou was quick to connect the dots.
"Shit."
As if on cue, a dozen silver full plate armor wearing humanoids dropped into the building. All of them brandishing polearm weapons that Shirou quickly identified as fairy crafted. None of them had any defining traits other than being almost unbreakable and sharper than any human weapon could hope to be. Along with the blade's history, Shirou learned that this group were not elites but nor were they recruits. Veterans, if anything, with many operations together.
Brain pushed himself off the wall and took a few steps toward the fairy warriors.
"I'm sure you fairies can tell what I am. So how about we talk about this like nice folk, ah?" Brain said to the fairies.
"That human is wanted by the crown!" He declared, pointing at Shirou. He was clearly banking on the hope that Brian didn't know that. "We are under orders to arrest him! I'm sure you understand this caused an incident between our people! Just hand him over, and we shall forget you were here!"
"Unfortunately, I'm not going to stand by and let you take my apprentice. Our peoples are not enemies, and I'm sure we can come to an understanding over neutral ground."
While Brian attempted to diffuse the situation. Shirou began to detect magic gathering around one of the fairies in the back. It was very possible that the fairy was getting ready to attack, so Shirou took the initiative.
"Trace on."
Before any of the fries could react, Shirou had traced a dozen black keys and sent them flying at the fairies' shadows. Half of the blades managed to lodge themselves in their intended targets, while the other half managed to dodge out of the way just in time. Shirou charged, tracing the Married Blades as he went. Reaching his first target, Shirou sent several fast-slashing attacks on the fairy's guard. The attacks themselves were not meant to do anything other than to bate out the fary's left faint that this particular fairy liked to do.
As Shirou hoped, the fairy went to stab at Shirou's left guard only to halt his attack and bring his polearm's pommel up in an attempt to hit Shirou's undefended right. However, knowing his strategy, Shirou pressed his own attack into the fairy's faint. However, Kanshou and Bakuya were not stabbing weapons, and given the armor and under armor that these fairies were using, slashing weapons like the Married Blades were not totally ideal.
Shirou had always preferred to use Kanshou and Bakuya as his go-to weapons. Yet, besides his fighting style, the only other reason he preferred the two swords was because of the lower cost of maintaining their form. Every other weapon in his reality marble was generally reserved for one-off attacks, such as using the weapons ability or when he was firing one from his bow. In this new world, he did not have that problem anymore, as the cost of maintaining their trace was next to nothing. With his reality marble providing the original wields' technique, there was no reason not to use the many other weapons far more powerful than Kanshou and Byakuya.
The Married Blades faded back to Shirou Reality Marble. In their place formed a simple-looking but mighty sword. A sword with a blackguard and a handle with a blue jewel in the middle of the handle. Balmung, wielded by Siegfried in slaying the dragon Fafnir. In truth, a piercing or bludgeoning weapon would have worked better against the armored fairies. However, Balmung was known for slaying dragons. It would have no problem breaking through inferior armor.
The tip of the blade found purchase in the armpit of the fairy, an area only protected by chainmail. The Noble Phantasm easily pierced into the chainmail and into the fairy's body. The sword tore through flesh, bone, and organs exiting out of the other side of the fairy's neck. Sidestepping and turning his body as he went, Shirou pulled the great sword out of the fairy's body. The momentum carried Balmung's blade into the body of another fairy that was coming to assist his already dead comrade. Balmung cleaved through the fairy as if he were wearing no armor at all.
Two bodies fell to the ground in a moment, creating a pool of blood where they lay. The remaining fairies paused at the sight of two of their comrades falling to Shirou's blade so quickly. Before Shirou could act again, three branches came flying into his line of sight, yet they were not aimed at him. The fully animated benches tore into the trapped fairies. Attacking weak points in the fairies' armor before moving on to the next fairy. In a moment, each fairy tapped by the black keys had sharp tree branches impaled into their bodies.
Looking to his side, Shirou saw the branch's origin. Three red-tinted branches were growing out of Brain's arm. Throwing his arm to his side caused the imperiled fairies to slide off the branches sending each of them flying into the factory walls. The branches then retracted back into Brian's arm. Now that Shirou looked at him again, he looked like de-age another ten years making him look like he was just into his forties.
"The Crimson Druid." One of the remaining fairies breathed, frightened.
"Yeah… me," Brian whispered before jumping at the remaining.
This time Brain's other arm grew and began to change into a claw as if his hand was turning into tree bark. Brian brought his clawed hand down on one of the fairies cleaving the poor fairy into three pieces. Turning to the three remaining fairies made a few hand signs. Moments later, two of the cries exploded, raining guts down. Brain's clawed arm extended, grabbing the last remaining fairy as it shot across the factory floor before lodging itself in the wall trapping the fairy.
The whole thing had ended in but a few moments. Shirou was honestly surprised.
"And you needed help dealing with that tribe." Shirou commented, letting Balmung fade away.
"I was trying to retire." Brian answered before sighing. "Well, I had a nice twenty-year break."
"You should know we have your father."
Shirou's headshot towards the pinned fairy, he could almost feel the fairy's smirk.
"What did you say?" Shirou growled at the pinned fairy.
"We have your father, Mike Donovan, I believe his name was."
"My father has nothing to do with this!" Shirou declared fury building up in his blood.
"Fairies don't care what they have to do to get what they want, lad." Brian started his tone, taking on a graver tone.
"Where is he?!" Shirou damned, ignoring Brian.
"Where do you think those wanted by the crown go?" He answered mockingly. "Surrender yourself, and he shall be rel-"
*Fwack*
An arrow had buried itself in the fairy's visor. Brian looked over to Shirou, his arm out stretched. He hadn't bothered to trace his bow. The druid retracted his clawed arm, his arm returning to normal as it came back. The projected arrow soon faded, causing the fairy to fall to the ground.
"Well, diplomacy is out the window, lad," Brian informed Shirou as the magus began to walk over to his duffle bag with his armor in it. "So, what are you gonna do?"
"I'm going to save my father," Shirou answered, trying to keep his anger from boiling over. 'I will not lose another one.'
"Might I recommend against storming fairy bases until ya find the right one," Brian advised. "There is no doubt in my mind that your world has the weapons to let ya go toe to toe with the fairies. However, you said it yourself you'd rather stay independent of major powers. People are gonna learn of ya, lad, if ya go around whipping out legendary weapons of heroes. It's gonna make my job a lot harder in the process."
"Then what am I going to do!?" Shirou demanded, his runes beginning to rattle.
"First, we get to the enclave, then we start making this a Druid issue rather than just us. With you as my apprentice, you are afforded the protection of the Druids that extends to your family, especially those who are not involved in our world."
"You think they are simply going to hand my father over?"
"No, but when they say no, they're not going dealing with just us."
Hera was beginning to grow impatient. It had been a few days since Hecate left to pursue the mortal man called Shirou. She had expected her to return after a few days, but Hecate had still yet to appear, nor had she sent a message to inform the Queen of her progress. Of course, that had changed when Hades called a meeting of the Olympian Council. However, given that this was an unscheduled meeting and the fact that Hades was no longer a member of the council, only a few members showed up.
Zeus, of course, was present being the king, Hera as she was the Queen, Athena showed herself, yet she seemed to be… irritated by one thing or another. Hermes was present should he need to inform the other major gods of Hades' meeting. Hestia was also present, but no one played her any mind. The rest of the Olympian Council chose not to show or were otherwise preoccupied with other matters.
"Alright, brother, let's make this quick." Zeus lazily ordered. His mind was clearly elsewhere.
"Believe me, brother, I would have kept this to myself if I could," Hades answered flatly, unlike the rest of the Olympian Council, who had to sit in a mortal-sized metal chair they had lying around.
"Out with it then." Zeus declared harshly.
Hades rolled his eyes. "Hecate's mortal form was killed, and she is reforming in the underworld."
The room fell into silence.
A shocked Hera began to think of Shirou. 'That mortal couldn't have possibly killed Hecate. Could he?'
No, that was impossible.
"I'm sorry, I think I missed heard that." Hermes commented, looking up from his notepad.
"Hecate is reforming in the underworld after her body was destroyed." Hades repeated, preparing himself for the inevitable loud voices that were about to follow.
"WHAT?!" Zeus roared, standing from his throne. "Who dares strike at Olympus?!"
After the ringing in his ear faded, Hades went on. "Don't know yet. Hecate has only been reforming for a few days now. Given her minor god status, we are looking at a month or two before she completely reforms, maybe less."
To wound a god was one thing, but to destroy their body was another.
While gods were mighty, their mortal forms could still be temporarily destroyed if damaged enough. The form in which each god took was like a vessel that they storied a majority of their being within while the rest was scattered throughout their domain and authority. When the gods drew their power in its entirety, they took on their true divine forms. While weaker than their true forms, their less powerful form was still forced to be reckoned with and was not easily damaged to a point where it would break apart.
When their lesser body was destroyed, it was akin to scattering their bring across their domain. The god in question then would be forced to gather they're being back into one place, this being in the underworld, to reshape their lesser body. For powerful gods like the major gods of Olympus, such a process would take a few weeks at most, for a god-like Hecate would take far longer.
To have a person, mortal or otherwise, that was strong enough to fight and defeat a god before they could retreat was dangerous. Never mind the fact that this individual was moving throughout their territory without their knowledge. Sure, sometimes gods from different pantheons visited other pantheons' territories without declaring themselves. However, when they did, they kept their power level low to avoid being detected. When two gods clashed to a point where one had their body destroyed, it often drew a lot of attention.
Something was afoot.
"This must have something to do with the theft of my Master Bolt!" Zeus declared. "Poseidon must be trying to consolidate his position with the minor gods. He must have killed Hecate for refused him!"
"Don't be so quick to assign guilt, brother." Hades interrupted. "I already checked with the Fates. Hecate's death and return to the underworld were not a part of their designs. So that means either an outside force killed her, or we have a fate breaker on our hands."
There were few words that universally made beings such as gods crunch up. Fate Breaker was among them. Just about every pantheon on earth had some version of our concept of Fate, with only a few notable exceptions. It was such a largely accepted force of reality that many mortals were bound to it without even knowing. Many times Fate simply took control of one's life as it was simply a powerful concept of reality.
Yet, there were those few whose will and very existence defied fate, something, not even the gods could accomplish. Such was their ability to change the fate that their mere presence disrupted the fates of those around them. Having complete control over their own future made these Fate Breakers unpredictable and very difficult to track down. While not often individually powerful, the ability to break away from fate's design was an ability that could not be ignored. These Fate Breakers often manifested in creations and sometimes followers of the protestant faith, given that their Deity placed such a high importance on freewill.
"I don't know of any reason why one of the biblical factions would go after Hecate, and she knew better than to go after one of them for any reason without telling us first," Athena added. "I haven't come across any of them for a while now myself. Though there was that odd burst of divine energy."
"It faded as quickly as it came." Zeus countered as they had already closed the matter. "And the fay already claimed it was an accident on their part."
"I still don't trust their word, father," Athena replied, slightly annoyed that her father had ignored her council during the incident.
"What about the mysterious individual that has been thinning the monster's numbers around New York," Hera suggested, sensing an opportunity to get her husband's standing decree regarding Shirou.
She had long since figured out that the only reason Zeus did not want anyone messing with Shirou was because his monster killing had inadvertently made it safer for one of her husband's bastards to make it to Camp Half-Blood. She had investigated the idea that Zeus had employed the mortal, but she quickly dismissed the idea as he would never have brought up Shirou's efforts in the first place. Her husband was simple-minded but not a fool.
Zeus turns to look at his wife. "What about it? Whoever this person is, they have not been causing a problem."
Hera put on a warm smile to hide her true intentions. "I am merely suggesting the possibility that this individual might have been the cause of Hecate's current predicament."
"Going from killing some monsters to killing gods is a leap, wife." Zeus commented, stroking his beard. He knew his wife was up to something.
"It wasn't him." Hades interrupted.
All eyes shot to Hades, who was slightly smirking.
"Him?" Zeus repeated, turning to his brother and walking over to him.
Hades was still the size of a mortal, while Zeus was the size of a giant. The king of the Greek gods looked down on the god of the underworld. The latter only leaned back his chair back to maintain eye contact with his brother. Otherwise, the god still wore his slight smirk.
"You dare defy one of my degrees?" Zeus growled.
"You'll have to forgive me for not being up to date with every little thing you say up here. I'm not exactly overflowing with free time. Yeah, I met the guy who has been thinning the hordes of monsters around here. He doesn't strike me as someone who has the power to kill a god without raising a commotion. Besides, technically he acted against me. First, he took a shot at one of my furies. I believe it was within my right to investigate someone who attacked one of my lieutenants. Though there is an odd thing about that mortal."
Athena's interest suddenly spiked.
"I couldn't tell what he was. Sure, I knew he was mortal or at the least a mortal with magical abilities, but my sense wasn't telling me anything. If I wasn't looking at him, I wouldn't have known he was there."
"If that's true, then how did you find him?"
"Simple, I followed the one who found him first." Hades' eyes drifted to the Queen.
Zeus's eyes followed, then narrowed. Turning towards her, Zeus spoke dangerously.
"Hera."
"I came across him by happenstance!" Hera quickly defended herself. "I was not actively looking for him!"
"Father, if I may." Athena interrupted in her elegant manner. An ever so slight nod from the king gave the goddess of wisdom the go-ahead. "Say, you do overturn your decree or modify it. I do not see much harm in it. As you said yourself, if this man wishes to kill monsters, then why not let him. His efforts have been a boon to our children regardless of his original intentions. In ancient days we would often reward such actions. Why not again with this mortal?"
Zeus looked off to the side, considering Athena's words. He remembered the day in ancient Greece. While the mortals had not changed much since then, other than with the technology they now sported, one major difference was the lack of Greek-based mortal heroes. Nowadays, their pantheon had come to almost entirely rely on their demigod offspring when tasks needed doing. Nearly every other faction made use of some mortals in one form or another.
However, therein lay the problem. Finding a mortal that was on their own a cut above the rest on their own was very rare. Oftentimes such mortals came from long lines of closely regulated and bred mortals that had some form of ability or magical talent. Meaning just about every mortal that had dealt in the supernatural world already held allegiance to a pantheon or faction. The few that didn't were mercenaries or very elusive. It was possible that this mortal was already aligned with a pantheon and was merely taking care of a pest that happened to be nearby. Such as removing unwanted ant piles or rodents near one's home.
Yet, at the same time, it might be possible to win over this mortal to their side.
After a few moments passed, Zeus spoke. "I will rescind my previous decree."
Before any other gods could react, Zeus spoke out again.
"However, I will meet this mortal for myself first and determine his use to us before I allow any other Olympians to have any further dealings with him."
"And we end here!" Slim prime declares. "I think this was a nice little chapter, aye? We learned a little bit more about the world, and we learned a little bit more about Brian and his reputation with a title belonging to him… but is it an unwanted title? Who knows… besides me, that is. On that subject, I swear that some of you have been paying visits to my mind. I have no idea how you guys are able to navigate when even I have trouble doing that."
"I bet some of you are wondering about Shirou's unlimited blade works. From what I understand, the landscape of Shirou's reality marble reflects his drive/goals in life. That's why Archer's reality marvel is so barren and full of smoke all the damn time. So with that in mind, I designed this version of Shirou's reality marble to also reflect that. That ever so distant "Light of his world" nudge, nudge, wink, wink, Artoria, *cough* *cough* and the ground being empty and baron. Yet the sky is mostly clear, and the air is… clean? Is that the right word to use here? Oh well, I'll roll with it. Symbolizing his clear path in life. Of course, the reality marble's surface will change again once a certain someone arrives. But I'm teasing you again, aren't I? I should probably stop that. The crew is going to start calling me a stripper if I keep blue balling and teasing everybody."
"While still on the subject of Shirou's reality marble. The whole the weapons have a "will of their own thing". I think I should explain myself a little here. I kinda like the idea that the more powerful weapons, such as the NPs, have something akin to a will. That is not to say they will talk to Shirou, more of convey feelings of wanting to be wielded. Caliburn is a special case given the circumstances of that particular sword."
"For other story ideas floating around in my head, I did kinda want to throw a few characters from Warhammer 40K into Warhammer fantasy. There are next to no crossovers with that basis, and I kinda want to play around in that universe. Now for this other one, I know next to nothing about Devil May Cry, BUT I had an idea to throw Sparda, Eva, and their kids into DxD. Now that is not to say they will all be grown up. Well, Sparda and Eva will be but let's just say that Dante and Vergil will need to be made again ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). That's really the only two I have in mind at the moment other than the MGE one, but that one is shaky at best… and full of the white stuff."
"But WAIT, it's time for a short outtake that did not make the final cut!"
"So, this is Shirou," Zeus said while he and the rest of the Olympians observed the boy.
Given the nature and supposed power of the mortal, each of the gods was present. In the center of the room was a portal of sorts that allowed each of the Greek gods to view the mortal in question, who was currently in the middle of gym class.
"He is quite handsome." The goddess of love stated, looking lustfully into the image before her. "Very exotic."
"He definitely seems more athletic than the other mortals his age," Athena commented, noticing the subtle differences in athletic skill.
"Oh hey, he's about to do a high jump," Hermes observed as the god did enjoy doing some parkour in his free time. "Those are fun."
"Alright, during the mortal's lunch break, we wi-" Zeus started but stopped when he noticed that all the female gods were now missing. "Where did they go?"
"Um, dad," Apollo murmured, pointing at the portal.
There, surrounded by every Greek goddess present in the council, was the red-haired boy looking very uncomfortable.
"One last thing before we part ways. This chapter has not been looked at by my normal editor. Seeing as he is been very busy and this chapter has been ready to go for around a month now I asked another crew member with Grammarly premium to give a look over. So when you see some grammar errors rest assured we MAY get to them once my normal editor gets around to editing this chapter."
"Also also, shameless plug is shameless, on the ship (discord server) there is a fun little rank called honored reader. For those people who hold this rank they get to see the chapters AS SOON as I'm done with it (along with a few idea story chapters). That is to say I throw in a link to a google doc allowing those people with the link to comment. While easily manipulated its just a story chapter so I tend not to worry about. The obvious down side to this is that you see an un-edited version of the chapter BUT with the comment function you can point out all the grammars errors you see as well as parts that might need changes."
""But Slim!" you are probably saying, "I don't want to pay for something like this because X,Y, and Z!". To that I say do not worry! Because you don't need to spend a penny! All you need to do to get this rank its just participate on the ship (discord server). Now you need to be on every day and if you miss a day you lose the rank."
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"IS WHAT YOU THOUGHT I WOULD SAY! NO, once you get this rank from general participate you keep it even if you disappear for a year and so forth. So what are you waiting for... you know you want to. Now before you get the idea to start bombarding the ship's chat rooms like a 40k inquisitor with questions and other "participation" this is not a type of meeting a quota for the rank or something. Just show general participation over a course of time and its yours. For those of you who dislike talking in a chat room with a bunch of people you don't know. I got you fam! Discord DM also count towards this."
"Alright I'm done, God bless and get some food storied up or start growing it because we are in for a rough next two years if this inflation keeps on growing."
