Chapter 20 - End of Zero Part 3
Fate worldGround Zero of the Fuyuki fires1994Midnight
(General P.O.V)
The sight of the Fuyuki Fire is a scene of hellish mud and flames of the damned. The curses poured free from the site where the grail was destroyed and the exact same portions it would in another timeline.
This is the scene that both Fu and Arturia see from above, horrified beyond belief that such a conceptual level of destruction and corruption can even exist. While Arturia already knew about what happened, it's one thing to perhaps see it from the luxury of a screen to seening the carnage unfold firsthand.
"Fu can you….?" Arturia says, while Fu merely shakes her head. While her seals can do much, they cannot do much if anything against such devastation. In the end despite all her power, from the power of the Kai-in-Training to the abilities of Madara Uchiha, even her own powers are completely useless in undoing tragedy.
Both of them can sense lives slowly dying out with no help in sight, leading Arturia to start to take charge. "Fu, you get the others and start dragging people out of this hellhole, our corruption defenses should easily ensure we won't be harmed, now let's go!" Arturia commands, Fu nods and opens a portal back home once finding a suitable portal point nearby.
Even though the gesture may end up being pointless, she has to try at the very least.
While Gilgamesh is most certainly dead, she has no idea if Kirei Kotomine has survived or not. With all of this uncertainty plaguing her, she notices an unusual power at ground zero of the grail being unleashed.
And So Arturia slowly begins to fly down to see what it is…
She soon finds a corrupted saber, slowly rising from the mud pale as anything and completely naked. Almost as if in a trance she just stares up at the grail and looks as if she can scarcely comprehend what is happening.
And then she turns her head, spotting Arturia, and soon a blackened set of armor and a dark mirror of Excalibur, the Excalibur Morgan, appears in her hands. Arturia notices that she isn't entirely aware of what's going on right now, only that she sees Arturia as an enemy servant and charges at her.
Arturia grits her teeth and forms a Ki blade, preparing for the incoming corrupted Saber..
Meanwhile, elsewhere
(General P.O.V)
Kiritsugu Emiya stumbles her way through the carnage, desperate to find even a single survivor. She had first looked around for Irisviel but only found Avalon, soon fearing the worst as she continued searching.
"Such Devastation…this was NOT my intention…" Kiritsugu bemoans, despair filling her more and more as she continues to look for someone, anyone that survived the devastation that her own actions caused.
She cradles Avalon in her grasp as if it's a lifeline as she continues to wander through the wreckage of buildings, homes and even a monument or two. So much death and carnage all from one action is just utterly crushing her.
"SOMEONE, ANYONE…CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Kiritsugu cries out, tears welling up in the normally stoic woman's eyes as her emotions begin to flood through her, sorrow, despair, worry, and guilt wracking the poor buxom woman even as the carnage continues ever onward.
As she continues to move forward, she soon spots movement. As she rushes forward, she's greeted with a sight that fills her with only the slightest amount of hope.
Two children, a girl and a boy, practically twins, lying next to each other and looking dead up at the sky. Kiritsugu rushes forward and tries to help the two, but every action feels like it is in vain as she is unable to get them to respond.
"No NO, I won't lose more, I can't.." Kiritsugu cries out, before recklessly trying to use Avalon to heal the boy. Bright golden light shines through the Carnage, as the twins both find themselves staring at a crying, yet immensely happy woman.
Despite Avalon only being used on the boy, it's still strong enough to extend it's healing to the boy's twin. The boy would become known as Shirou and his twin sister, they both gaze up at the Buxom Ravenette crying with such a bright beautiful smile of happiness, they soon think the one line that would set in motion a chain of events that would lead to future stories..
"Can I be happy like that..?"
As for the girl, she still remembers her own name, her own identity as her brother managed to shield her from much of the fires effects. Even so, all she'll remember is her own name, for it is all that she'll recall of her past.
Ritsuka Fujimaru
Meanwhile, in another part of the devastation
(General P.O.V)
The rest of the Pendragon family arrives at the scene, Merlin grimacing as she does her best to turn the fires and mud to flowers but even doing that can only delay the continuing destruction for so long. The Flowers quickly shriveled and burning into corrupted ashes rapidly.
Even so, Ritsuka Fujimaru-Pendragon, Grey and Mashu work together to get various people out of the rubble and to safety, with Morgan and Medea working overtime to not only heal them as best as they can while also having to modify their memories to ensure that they don't recall anything about the Moonlit world. None of the initial survivors turn out to be Magus in the first place, so fortunately for them, they don't have to worry about accidentally hitting those in the know.
Artoria (Saber) Briefly lend Avalon for the more heavily injured survivors, with Mordred also helping Ritsuka and Mashu as part of the rescue team. Fu is also going around and to her credit, is carefully gathering samples that she makes damn sure is put in a container that is up to it's metaphorical eyeballs in seals that will prevent the mud from causing any damage or corruption.
Irisviel is still safely back in the Pocket space manor, so they don't have to worry about her at the very least since she also is resting in one of the many spare manor rooms. The rescue efforts take hours as slowly but surely..
They soon manage to save a total of 98 survivors and are unable to save any more. The story would later be that a massive series of gas explosions rocked through that part of Fuyuki, and out of the thousands that die in the carnage, only 100 people in total would survive the entire incident.
And yet all but two would be unable to recall who saved them…
Back at Ground Zero
(Arturia's P.O.V)
I grit my teeth as the Ki blade just barely is able to stay stable against Excalibur Morgan, of all the things I had thought would happen…
Fighting Artoria Alter was NOT one of them!
"Damnit Artoria, snap out of it!" I scream, trying to get the corrupted form of saber out of this daze she's in. Unfortunately for me, it doesn't work, although I do briefly see a flash of recognition at her name being called, it's smothered out rather quickly.
I forcefully slide Excalibur Morgan away while landing a left-handed punch to her chest plate, knocking her back but that only gives her time to fire off a blast from Excalibur Morgan at me. I Kai Kai away as the blast of Black and red tears through a building that was behind me, detonating it and exploding in a pillar of corrupt energy.
"Fine, as essentially your goddamn sister I suppose it's my duty to knock some damn sense into you" I say, rushing forward while summoning two shadow clones to soar ahead of me to briefly distract Artoria Alter.
The Corrupted Saber merely dodged the two's Ki blades before swiping through them and causing them to dispel, but that has given me enough time to call Artoria (Saber)..
"Sister, can I please borrow Excalibur, I kinda need it right now.." I request, using the tempest Jewels function ability to call my retinue directly, Her reply soon being..
"Since I'm in the middle of the rescue effort, then by all means take it.." She says, I can hear her constantly moving about, rushing through the various areas to save people no doubt.
"Thanks sis.." I say, ending the call and soon using Apportation to retrieve Artoria (Saber)"s own Excalibur. The Golden blade elicits a noticeable response from the corrupted saber as I feel the Sword of Promised Victory begin to draw on my power noticeably.
"Yea, this is the blade you had before if you care to recall…" I say, initially mirroring Saber's iconic two-handed stance before I slowly switch it to a one-handed stance that practically matches that of Riku's stance from Kingdom Hearts.
"I will wake you up from this nightmare you're having Artoria, and even if it leads you into the harsh reality in front of us…I will free you!" I declare before rushing at the corrupted Saber. Artoria Alter soon rushed forward as well with both versions of Excalibur now clashing with Gold and Blue flares of energy meeting Black and red.
Artoria Alter's heavy two-handed stance initially has the edge against my new one-handed stance, but I quickly start adapting by starting to mix in sweeping slashes and swipes with occasional Ki blasts being sent out from my now free hand.
While the Ki blasts aren't able to do much damage, it's enough to distract Artoria Alter as I slowly try to exhaust her, intending on turning this into a battle of attrition where I can.
Something that quickly is starting to show it's worth as slowly but surely, she's using less and less of Excalibur Morgan's Energies, and in doing so she's slowly starting to come to. But in the end, I realize there is only one way to truly snap her awake.
"Alright then, if simple swordplay won't work.." I say, before I suddenly kick Artoria Alter away before raising Excalibur aloft, pouring a ton of energy into the blade. This in turn prompts the corrupted form of saber to mirror me and start to fuel Excalibur morgan as well.
I can see just how close I am to forcing Artoria alter to snapping awake now, but I put one foot forward and swing down, both of us calling out at the same time….
"EX-CALIBUR!" "EXCALIBUR MORGAN!"
A beam of Gold clashes with one of black and red, the collision of the two rivaling energies causing further destruction in the surrounding area as a glow of gold and red can be seen in the distance away from us.
But once again, Inexhaustible comes in clutch and I am the one who ultimately wins the struggle, the attack managing to tear through the weakening beam of Excalibur Morgan and slamming into Artoria Alter.
She slowly flies back and slams into a nearby building, knocking her out and forcing the armor to disappear, a flowing black dress appearing in it's place. I sigh softly and Kai Kai to her location, slipping a Tempest Jewel ring on her before bringing her back home to recover..
And so ends the Fourth Holy Grail War..
One Month LaterPocket Space of Arturia Morgana Pendragon 1994
(Arturia's P.O.V)
"Can you pass the mash potatoes sister…?" Aoi Tohsaka-Pendragon asks me, to which I nod and pass the pot of Mash potatoes to her, with her having put some on for our shared daughters, Rin Tohsaka-Pendragon and Sakura Pendragon.
We kinda had to extend the table, again, due to how many newcomers to the family we were bringing in at this point. Speaking of which…
"How's the adoption process going Iri..?" I ask Irisviel Emiya-Pendragon. She smiles and gently tries and ends up falling to clear away the gravy on the side of her lips before going..
"It's going good, me and Kiri-chan are doing quite well handling the twins back at our own place.." She says, making me chuckle and nod with a pleasant smile.
So, after the whole war happened, I learned that Kiritsugu was a fucking woman, and one hell of a hot one at that. Kiritsugu also ended up adopting twins, a boy and a girl. While the Boy would end up being Shirou, it's the identity of the twin that has me and the rest of my family's heads spinning..
Shirou Emiya's Twin sister, is one Ritsuka Fujimaru-Emiya
That threw Ritsuka Fujimaru Pendragon for a loop and after talking with Medea, Morgan, AND Merlin, we did confirm they were practically the same person.
So in this case, the theory that Ritsuka Fujimaru is a gender-bent Shirou is both wrong and yet so insanely close to the truth, at least in this world..
It doesn't help that the fire this time around happened in November, so Christmas is gonna be an…Interesting experience, especially since…
"So, you're sticking around for a few years..?" Irisviel asks innocently, to which I nod having essentially captured both Kiritsugu and Irisviel during the entire situation, speaking of captures..
"I still say we should have gotten KFC…" Says one Artoria Alter Pendragon. Yes, that is her legal name, we just call her Artoria Alter though. Ever since she woke up from the battle after 5 days of rest, she woke up being fully bound but in the end accepted the situation, especially considering how she wasn't herself when she was being fought.
Although surprisingly Artoria alter became BUSTIER than her regular saber counterpart, something that annoyed Artoria (Saber) and I swear I saw Mordred have a nosebleed and do a groping motion when she first saw her.
It took some getting used to, but eventually Artoria (Saber), Mordred, and Artoria Alter now regularly play games with each other, Even spar occasionally, with both Saber Artorias often ending up having destroyed the sparring section of the world and requiring it to be repaired afterwards every time they do that.
I even have Mordred begging me to purchase the alter form of my lancer self every now and then, to which I just deadpan. I really don't wanna know how she'll react to say…..Jeanne or Nero should we ever encounter any of them in the future.
Still, I should mention that after the Fourth Holy Grail war, we did eventually find a somehow revived Kirei Kotomine, to which we promptly unalived him yet again. It helps to have several mages who can scry after all.
Which reminds me..
"Zelretch, can you NOT try to put up finger bunny ears when we're making photos please?!" I shout as I catch a grinning Zelretch making bunny ears behind me as Arcueid is trying to take photos with a camera.
"Aww, can't an old man play a few—" Zelretch goes to say but..
"No" I interject, making the prank-happy "Grandpa Zelretch" Pout like a fucking teenage girl being denied something before he chuckles and walks back to his seat and eat at the table like a normal person.
How a man like that is feared by the entire clocktower beyond his status as a vampire and sorcerer I'll never know..
No wait maybe it's BECAUSE he is a prank-happy sorcerer that he is feared.
Tangent aside, he has offered to help with dealing with the kids, wanting to and I quote "See what they'll be like without the Grail wars hanging over their heads like in the other worlds.."
That is because after we got rid of Kirei Kotomine again, we ended up dismantling the grail system as best as we can. Which has almost certainly pissed off the Einzberns but Kiritsugu already has sent out feelers regarding her contacts in Germany to see if we can't get Illya out of that situation.
Technically we could just Kai Kai right there, but none of us want to reveal ourselves to the moonlit world at large, with Zelretch helping to keep our existence more or less hidden. As such the Magus association at large doesn't know of us yet at least.
We ultimately also bought the house next to the Emiya Family so we could maintain a public residence since we will be effectively living here for the next few years.
As for Fu's samples, She's been working with Medea, Merlin, and Morgan to use the information they're learning from them to make some pretty nifty anti-curse mystic codes. Something we can most certainly sell discreetly.
Unfortunately for me, my lancer armor is completely totaled only the body suit, gauntlets, and boots actually survived. While the three Magus are certain they can restore it given time, as for how long that will take they aren't exactly sure.
Regardless, I think we'll be settling down here for a few years before we move on to the next world. With the Fake Kirei Kotomine Contractor no longer able to fuck with my worlds after this one, Several options have appeared.
I think the ballpark of about 5 years will be plenty of time to figure it out…
Hopefully at least..
Author's Note
At long last, The three-part section is FINALLY over.
Right, let's get things out of the way.
First Gilgamesh VS Arturia
This one had a decent chance of Arturia losing DESPITE her protections. The Chains of Enkidu are an Anti-divinity Noble Phantasm that restricts anything of Divinity, with Arturia being classed as a divine entity, which made her particularly vulnerable to this.
As such, she had to at least initially have Arcueid work as support to keep the chains from wrapping around Arturia.
Ultimately she couldn't stick around, especially since during the flyover to the harbor itself shadow clones had flee with her, so Arturia was able to deal with the incoming blitz of weapons without worrying.
However, once Arturia did get caught by the chains, it could have VERY easily ended up with Gilgamesh fucking her before Fu could get there. Arturia simply evaded Gilgamesh long enough to avoid that outcome and Gilgamesh would have done everything in his power to ensure That it took
Fu's Revival
This was hinted at prior to the three-part arc finale, but Fu was always slated to revive through the Warranty plan itself, although, unlike the original plan, it actually revived the woman herself rather than simply making a clone as described.
This is a minor reinterpretation on my part, simply to avoid needing to deal with the problem that would cause for everyone's sanity and mental stability.
Saber alter.
This is a consequence of a certain king not being there to take on most of the mud. And thus we have Artoria Alter Pendragon to the family, yay!
Ritsuka Fujimaru-Emiya
I bet none of you saw THAT one coming. I had this idea cooking in my head for several days now and at long last, I could finally put my own spin on the "Ritsuka Fujimaru is Fem!Shirou" thing, yes this is technically Female Shirou, but she is also Ritsuka Fuijimaru.
Hints of the future.
Yea, there will be a chapter during the 5-year time-skip before the next world where we will save Illya (Illiya Crusade anyone?), Kiritsugu here is not only a woman but with the assistance of the Pendragon family, able to not be cursed to waste away like the original.
Also, yay Irisviel survives. We need more of that adorable and loveable albino woman.
With that, I will leave you all to it.
See you in the next chapter everyone!
