AN- Welp. Nothing much to say here. Insert witty commentary here?
Chapter 15
Life was good for the daughter. Carefree. Simple. Raised by a caring father in his inn and brought up to someday in turn replace him in greeting patrons of their establishment.
She had no great destiny, and truly didn't require one. She had her fill of life in hearing the tales of those to pass through the doors of their inn, though friendships were few and short lived, as most only stopped there as just a single destination on a long road by the river.
However, everybody years for something more. And to the daughter, it was to become a wife. A dream, that someday she'd find true companionship in somebody to run the inn by her side when her father inevitably slipped away.
And then she found him, her Anchin. Kind and warm, joyous yet modest. He was perfect. He only needed to smile and ask for a room for the night, and already he had claimed her heart. Never before had such a fire burned within her, never before had she felt that thumping of her heart that could only be love.
She visited him, late that night, and proclaimed her love. The daughter had always been a treasure, and had been desired by many a man, all of whom she had rejected. But for Anchin, she was ready to give him her everything.
And then he rejected her. He denied her feelings. With a smile on his face, he told her no, and so she felt like her love was smothered before it had ever truly begun.
Yet despite his rejection, her Anchin was a kind man, and had promised to visit him on his way back. He promised. Hope returned to her- she still had a chance. They would meet once more, and then she would offer her love to him once more, and he in turn would have to accept her honest feelings.
She lovedlovedlovedlovedlovedlovedlovedlovedlovedlovedlovedlovedlovedlovedloved him.
And so her Anchin left on the morrow, but she did not despair. Every day she visited the riverside and asked the boatsman whether he had ferried a certain handsome monk across, and every day he said no.
Then one day, she saw him. Anchin had reappeared! Her dreams had come true, and soon they would be wed, and then-
- he asked the boatsman to ferry him back across, having seen her coming.
Anchin had promised… and yet without even a thought for her, he broke it. He had no intention to see her again at all, did he?
The fire inside her became an inferno, and love quickly turned to HATE
It was an impossible delusion she had of the two of them living together as wife and husband, managing a simple inn and living an honest love. They would have had little, but they would still be able to share in the joy of loving the other. And that dream was SHATTERED.
Flesh became scales, and bone became an inferno. Her rage was unmatched, her HATRED unrivalled. The scorned woman shed her very self and became Dragon.
Then, the horrible LIAR wasburned alive.
XXXXXXXXXX
My awakening was almost painful. I could still feel the fire, hear the screams and see the red tint of rage suffocating everything around me. Once more, it seems that the Dream Cycle had affected me- and it hit me hard. Yet again, I felt that familiar tinge of sadness and nostalgia, but this time the prevalent emotion was definitely the loss and the love and the HATE.
I shook my head slowly, trying to forget the sound of a man burning alive. Anchin truly was the centre of Kiyohime's world, it seemed. Either way, her emotions were as honest as could be. Both the love and hate. That was her problem- it was either all or the other. She couldn't just 'like' someone a little. Extremes were all this Berserker knew.
"Speaking of the stalker, she sure looks comfortable." She looked as happy as could be, wrapped around my torso like a clamp, face pressed against my neck. She was quite heavy actually; it seemed that her sleeping position had been solely decided upon to allow her the maximum body contact with me as possible.
She was hardly the only Danger though. Boudica was another clinger and had once more snuggled up to me until she was basically draped over my arm. And then, my third bed mate- Mata Hari.
Upon seeing her, I was sure I had a mini aneurism. Sometime during the night, she had discarded her tight nightdress and was now in just her undergarments. Suffice to say… I was having difficulty looking away. I truly did have a weakness to her. After having had her shove my other arm deep into her valley leading to the heavens, I was certain that I'd never wash said arm ever again.
An all-round Dangerous morning. At least they took the distress from last night away from me- it really had been a bad night.
"Morning." Whispered Lily, ever so quietly. They had chosen not to rest with us and had stayed vigilantly guarding us the whole time. I nodded at them- silently thanking them for their tireless work in preventing an Assassin's blade.
We really couldn't afford not to have someone permanently guarding the warehouse- not now.
I managed to turn my head elsewhere. Medea had settled down onto an old table and was already hard at work in constructing items using her Magecraft. I truly had to admire her work ethics. Despite being tired from the fighting and healing, she had still chosen to pull an all-nighter to turn this warehouse into her new Hospital, and to start working on all the items that had been lost in our last place. Already several potions sat patiently to one side.
Still- I could do nothing to aid her, not at this point. As a Heroic Spirit, she was far beyond me. I could only hope that she would be able to have a good nap later on. Until the time my still resting Servants awoke though, I was going to have little choice but to have to lie here.
"Truly, an arduous and thankless job." I smiled wryly, if only to myself. Indeed, I couldn't claim to not be enjoying this. It was a not so guilty pleasure, but basically all my Servants were eye candy, and I'd never had the pleasure of waking up to someone lying beside me up until this whole 'Self Insertion' bullshit happened.
So I shut my eyes, and vowed to get another hour or two of rest before I would shake my Servants awake (If they weren't already up) and start preparing once more for the Holy Grail War.
XXXXXXXXXX
The Summoning Circle was different this time. We'd lost my tomes in the fire, and neither myself or Medea could fully remember the book's circle exactly. Consequently, we decided to make our own, understanding that intention and quality of the circle mattered more than recreating the exact ritual that the Founders expected to be used. This was a hybrid between the modern style of circles and Medea's own era that she had cobbled together for me, with several twists in the shape and structure of it. Then, it was painted onto the ground using a miraculously potent potion Medea had anticipated we would need.
We hoped that these changes would be enough to give the ritual a little oomph, and perhaps finally nab us a proper trump card.
The incantation would be the same, though. I remembered the words- I wasn't likely to forget them.
"Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead!" the light of the circle glowed the red shade I was acutely aware of, and matched the glowing sigil now shining from my shoulder so brightly it could be seen even through my shirt. I flooded it with everything my magical turbine farm could give it. In my mind, I tried to picture exactly what I wanted. There were two Servants left I could call upon: Archer and Lancer. Two of the Knight Classes. I had to hope I summoned a powerhouse. No. I needed a powerhouse. Because my Servants (and me!) had almost died too often, and I refused to let that happen!
The odds were in my favour. Five times had I rolled the dice, and each time had I summoned a Servant traditionally seen as 'lower tier' than others. A fairly standard Saber, a Rider without the ridiculous mount or half a dozen Noble Phantasms, a Caster that while a competent healer lacked the ridiculous abilities that set some Casters apart from the rest, an Assassin that couldn't kill and a Berserker useless you needed Overkill and could successfully control a rampaging Dragon.
And thus, on my sixth attempt, I would roll the roulette once more. Because damn it, I wanted to win this.
"You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――!" Upon my final roar, the circle discharged its power, and called forth my newest Servant.
Smoke billowed forth, then blown away by the gale of my Prana. I squinted through it, to see the figure standing there. A beautiful woman long purple hair and piercing red eyes, clad in skin-tight clothing that showed off her excellent curves. She clutched a spear in her right hand- and looked straight through the dispersing vapour.
"I am Servant Lancer," she began formally. "I ask of you, are you my Master?"
In turn, I gave her the widest grin possible. "Excuse me. Just for one, single moment." And then, almost reverently, I collapsed to my knees, looked to the heavens and shouted the following words: "Finally! It only took SIX attempts, but we finally got it! The Cycle of Mediocrity has been broken! The Gods of the Gacha have smiled down upon us! Admittedly she doesn't have a dick, so fuck you! But hey, little steps!"
Lancer blinked at me in surprise, as if she didn't fully know how to react to my actions. "Excuse me? This is the Holy Grail War I have been summoned for, correct?"
I coughed a little sheepishly at that. I'd made an embarrassment of myself, but I hadn't cared too much. I'd been far too relieved at having finally, at long last, summoned something broken. All my patience had paid off, and now I finally had some power in my corner. Not only that, I'd finally summoned a Servant I actually recognised.
Scathach, the teacher of Cu Chulainn, the immortal God Killer of the Land of Shadows. And more than that, one of the seven primary advertisers of Fate Grand Order. Out of all the Servants from that game, she was one of the few that I actually knew about.
And once again, she was both top tier Waifu material, and ridiculously bullshit.
"Thank you." I said once more, barely above the whisper. It didn't make up for slapping a trap, a yandere and Mata Hari upon me, but this almost made me feel like all my suffering had amounted to something. After all this bullshit, after all these ridiculous (And not in a good way) summons, I had finally got what I wanted: some mother fucking OP.
And then I recalled the reason I was celebrating, the question asked and left unanswered, and the unamused immortal looking down at me.
I was back on my feet faster than I ever had in my life. Quickly, I brushed myself down, flattened my hair, and generally tried to do anything to maybe regain just the smallest of tatters of my reputation. It didn't work. "… okay. I know I look like a complete idiot right now. But in my defence, it's been a long week, it all makes sense in context, and I swear that the Throne of Heroes has been laughing at me. The reason for my… excitement… was due to just how enthusiastically happy I was about your Summoning."
Scathach sighed tiresomely at that, but much of her ire seemed to have drained away from her. "Honestly, that student of mine has acted more ridiculous than that… as sad as it is to admit. I can forgive you for that display if you assure me it was a onetime event, and you will lend this meeting the full attention it warrants."
"Sorry, but I can't promise nothing." I told her with a straight face. "This War has already been pretty ridiculous, and its liable only to get worse. So, I shall try my hardest and apologise in advance for dragging you into this mess."
"That will have to do." She decided. "Now, will you explain the situation to me? I have been told about the purpose of this summon- to fight in the Holy Grail War- but I am still confused on many aspects. Particularly why I am here."
"And why's that?" I asked her. "A Heroic Spirit is a Heroic Spirit. If you have a wish, you're liable."
"But I'm not dead." Scathach said, making me blink in disbelief. "More accurately, I haven't died yet, and have still somehow been summoned."
"Then why can I feel a connection with you?" I asked her.
She took on a pose a lecturer might take to instruct a confused student and told me her guess. "Hmmm… it's a mystery. Since you don't know, I can only make a hypothesis. I assume that it's to do with that 'not-dead' portion of it. I have not died, ergo I cannot be summoned. Yet you summoned me and I have a corresponding wish, therefore I must be here. This whole situation is paradoxical. In other words, I think that this 'Grail'- or whatever has brought me here- has used the Throne of Heroes as a stepping block. You have directly summoned me from the Land of Shadows and pay the appropriate Prana for the privilege. You pay Gaia's toll so that she turns the blind eye to me- ignoring that 'this entity cannot be here'."
I nodded my head thoughtfully. That answer made sense. "To be honest, I'm not sure if it matters exactly how you are here, so long as you are here. In the words of a wise alcoholic, 'don't think about it'. This War is bad enough that at this point in time it would take a lot to truly surprise me, and I'd be liable to just blanket sweep everything with 'blame Zelretch. He probably did it'."
"Can you explain that?" Lancer requested, leaning in a little with a stern look. "You have referred to this War as 'ridiculous' several times and have made mention before to this having taken 'six Servants'."
I clapped my hands together, then walked over to the nearby table Medea had been using to work on and sat down at the chair. "Welp, pull up a chair and I'll do us a Lightning Round to sum up all the important stuff."
She rolled her eyes but chose to comply with my request and sat herself upon the adjacent plastic chair with the full dignity of a Queen. "You may begin."
"Okay then… lets… begin. One, how many Servants in this Grail War?"
"Seven." Lancer replied. "But aren't you meant to be-"
I shook my head and made a big X shape with my arms. "Nope. Ordinarily, maybe. But this War has 21 normal Servants arranged in three teams, while there are two extra Servants fucking about with things too. Guess who?"
Lancer looked frustrated. "How could I possibly know-"
"Answer- one of them is literally Gilgamesh the King of Heroes… and is likely to commit genocide upon the human race if he wins."
"This is getting rather-"
"Next problem. I'm the sole Master for one of those three teams, you are literally my sixth Servant at this point, and I am also a multiversal traveller pulled into this mess by a third party that likely set all this bullshit up in the first place, since he somehow implanted a Magic Core inside of me and also somehow removed All of the Worlds Evils from within the Holy Grail itself, which by itself could also have very easily set off the apocalypse…"
Lancer glared at me, with crossed arms and a demeanour that read as 'not amused'. "Are you done?"
"… there was also a whole part about how the events of the original Fifth Holy Grail War were a fictional story back in my home world, but that existential crisis causing mess is basically the end of it."
"Firstly, those are quite the absurd claims, but I can perceive that you are not lying, so will withhold my judgement about that for now. Secondly, are you trying to get me to stab you? I am a woman who does not like getting interrupted."
"Sorry."
"What did I just say?" she snapped.
"S-sorry Miss Scathach! No interruptions!"
"Exactly." She nodded her head sternly. "I can accept that maybe you have been rather stressed recently, and that if you are correct about the irregularities of this War then maybe you are justified in your actions… but that does not excuse rudeness, young man!"
And with that, she began tugging on my left ear rather painfully. "H-hey! That hurts!"
"So did your 'Lightning Round'." She replied harshly.
"In my defence, I thought it would be an amusing way of quickly delivering exposition, and I'm normally way politer about things!"
"Defence denied." She told me, continuing to tug at my earlobe. "Manners maketh man, and you were in the wrong to subject me to such atrocious treatment merely for being a valid target to vent at. You should know better."
… I didn't deny that. Perhaps in this case, I'd let my Silly go a bit out of control. So denying her words was largely unnecessary as she had a good point- I really should have known better than to mouth off to a Heroic Spirit like Scathach anyway.
"Still… I am not your teacher. Forget it." The Lancer concluded as she released me, turning away to pout.
I rubbed my ear in relief and looked at my newest Servant in a bit more detail. I really wish I knew more about her, and that my understanding of her wasn't limited to the pre-Grand Order stuff we'd been told about her, and the knowledge from second hand sources.
Still- my lack of knowledge of her personality and deeper depths is no real excuse, not really. And I didn't want to let our relationship as Master/Servant stay like this. "You aren't my teacher, but you are my Servant. At the very least, you deserve more respect from me than that. Hell, I've been trying very hard to treat all my Servants well and with the respect their calibre of legend deserves, and yet I failed within minutes with you." At this point, I got to my feet and bowed lightly. I wasn't Japanese, but the custom seemed appropriate here, for someone admitting to their culpability and disrespect in the workplace. "So, you have my sincere apologies, in this case. I am sorry."
Lancer's face was largely inscrutable, but I think that there was something close to satisfaction there. "It seems you have your foolish moments, but it seems that your heart is in the right place, and that you are mature enough to own up to your own mistakes and apologise." She sighed again at this, deep in thought. "All men are the same sometimes, it seems."
"I don't know about that. Cu Chulainn is kind of a one-off man."
She shook her head in disagreement. "He may be my favourite student, but he is just as foolish as the rest of you can be. Still, I accept your apology. Work hard, and all is forgiven."
I smiled a little, and ended my bow. I was glad she'd accepted it- I wasn't used to bowing, and my back was killing me. "I sure can do. I want to win this War if I can, and fully intend to give this my all, so please help me claim victory."
Lancer seemed to agree- she had a resolute look upon her features. "I shall do what I can, since I seek victory through this conflict as well. Now that I am here, I shall take this Grail as the opportunity that it is. I have a wish I require seeking. You see, I want to be able to die. Whether I meet a Servant amidst the large number of competitors this War who can end my existence, or through the wish at the end. One way or another, I will finally regain that ability to finally rest. Either way, you shall have my spear until such a point is reached."
Unfortunately, I couldn't hide my disapproval. I understood enough of her legend to know of her immortality, and perhaps enough to even see why she might have sought out her own death. Immortality was a curse not everybody could handle, and it was even worse when the option to end the eternity could not be taken. So, I couldn't blame her too much.
Even so… it seemed sad to see somebody that wanted to die. My family had a long history of mental instability, and I had met quite a few suicidal people through my mum, without even getting into the recovering alcoholic step-mum either, or my brother's battle with depression.
Life was precious, in my eyes. Sometimes at my most nihilistic and edgy I'd suppose that life had no inherent purpose and that our existence was merely a cosmic fluke which was liable to be snuffed out at any given minute, or that perhaps in the grand cosmic scale of the universe our individual lives were completely meaningless. Despite this though, in my more optimistic moods I would acknowledge this, but also have just a little bit of hope. Because even if it was an accident, humans still beat the odds to gain life in the first place- we were just the teensiest bit special. Even if there was no inherent meaning, as a species we still chose to try and attribute understanding to the cold and indifferent universe around us. We had achieved so much, and still had the potential to do so much more, if only we survived our own stupidity!
… in short, I was curiously paradoxical in my views and nature, with my thoughts and opinions differing depending upon my mood. But that's just what I sincerely thought. Humans had the amazing ability to find meaning in the meaningless, and gleam happiness even when staring the Abyss in the face. And seeing someone that had given up on life and the potential for happiness to happen in the future… was kind of sad.
The only thing I disliked more than an intense hypocrite, was seeing someone completely give up on life.
"If we survive long enough to reach the Grail, then fair enough." I told her awkwardly. "I can't say I approve too much." I'd argue that we very much fell on opposite sides of that argument, really. "But if that's what you want, then so be it. Me and the others haven't really talked much about what happens when we reach the Grail, since we've been so preoccupied on just surviving to reach that. I can't guarantee if the others will just let you have that wish without a fight. But at the very least, I hope you get what you want by the time this over."
Lancer gave me her own little smile. "That is the best I can hope for. Very well then. This may just be a temporary contract, but for the minute you may consider yourself my 'Master'. Now, why don't you introduce me to my fellow Servants that I shall be working alongside? And then, perhaps you should tell me more of what has happened in this War so far, so that we can begin planning to destroy our enemies."
… "Yeah. Having a Ridiculous Servant is pretty damn amazing."
AN- so yeah. The Lancer summoned forth is Scathach. Because sometimes, just sometimes, the universe likes to take pity on the SI. (Its definitely not so that I have an excuse to push up the difficulty curve even higher to such a degree where Scathach barely helps the situation. Don't be silly. Would I do that?).
