It wasn't until around midnight that I was able to stand up and move about without feeling pain. As soon as I could, I stripped down and gave myself a look over in the nearest bathroom. Now, I hated mirrors; avoided them like the plague. Not that I was terribly bad looking or anything. Or, well… I didn't think so, at any rate. But I could hear the nagging voice of my mother whenever I saw my reflection. About how my hair was a mess. How my shirt was wrinkled. About how I wasn't washing my face well enough. The list went on and on, really…
For this, though, I was thankful for a mirror. Made it all so much easier. Especially when I found a little handheld mirror in the cabinet to let me see my backside without killing my neck...
Considering the description Saber had given, I had expected… well… something. It didn't even look like I'd been injured. It was kind of freaky, honestly speaking. But cool too; so, so cool!
…Stabbed by the holy lance that drips with the blood of Christ himself… Is that a blessing, or a curse, considering this is me we're talking about?
It was a train of thought that amused me greatly. Surely, whatever it was Lancer did, it was the most blasphemous thing the lance has ever been used for: saving my heretical ass.
"Well, back to the drawing board, I suppose" I laughed to myself as I wandered over to 'my office' and booted up the computer.
Quietly, of course; wouldn't want to wake up the others.
Really though, there wasn't going to be much that I could do now, in the grand scheme of things. I really needed to talk with Sortiara and Johnathan; run things by them, especially the stuff pertaining to magecraft. Well, there was something else that was bothering me that I might need to run by them as well, but… that could wait for the moment; still needed to properly process that entire fight. Tonight was basically going to be a note taking night. Oh, the joy…
Like I'm back in university… and I hated school...
Not that my mind hadn't been preoccupied with this while I was lying on the couch. Wind magic was a no go against Rider now, which would complicate how we deal with the mass of assassins he has at his beck and call. Thankfully, now that Saber wasn't pulling his punches, he seems able to stand up to Rider. Would have to be able to, wouldn't he? How else would he have managed to disengage and pull me out of the fight as well?
Back on the couch I had been curious as to why Saber would have waited so long to pull out his proper weapons. But when I actually gave it some serious, uninterrupted thought, it was fairly obvious.
To mask his identity. Those swords do stand out…
I found it interesting that Lancer didn't need an alternate lance as well. I mean, yeah, the Bleeding Lance looked nice, but it wasn't fancy or anything. No ornate designs or flashy magics. It looked like a special weapon; a noble phantasm worthy weapon. But it wasn't like Saber's swords; I couldn't name it just by seeing it. Or maybe I was just dumb; never was big on Arthurian legend, so…
Still, would have thought a weapon known as the Bleeding Lance, and described as a lance that dripped blood would, you know, drip blood… Then… could it be that the blood dripping thing is made up? …Or… or could it be that while the lance itself is a noble phantasm, the blood dripping thing is only present on the activation of another noble phantasm that requires the Bleeding Lance to activate? And if that's the case, then do Saber's swords work the same way for their lightning magic, or no? Interesting…
As interesting as it was though, it was a bit too off topic for me to spend any time lingering on it. Something to ask the kids later. Or maybe the Heroic Spirits themselves…?
Back on topic, how do we deal with Rider now? With the number of assassins, and how quickly he can summon any that are put down, if they're immune to wind magic we can't handle them without committing a Heroic Spirit of our own. Effectively, we don't actually hold a numbers advantage over Rider. If Caster came out to fight, then… maybe…? But would Caster even know how to fight? Let alone want to… Also, it'd be a stupid thing for him to do; sitting in the labyrinth is obviously the best way to win, now that it's more or less fully established.
"…Damn, we really can't touch Rider now, can we?"
Well, now what? Go after Archer? Hunt down Assassin? …Berserk- no, that's too stupid, even if the fight would be beautiful to witness. Why the hell would anyone actively hunt down the early game unit? Especially since the game has effectively been hyper accelerated to the late game, since Caster is basically fully set up. It's actually just impossible for Berserker to win now, unless we, or I, do something extraordinarily stupid.
…So, about a fifty percent chance, really, knowing me…
"…You know, if I had an army… the assassins wouldn't be an issue" I mused. "We could easily take Rider out then…"
…Could take everyone out… I'm the god of control, not the god of war; with nothing to control, what can I do here? Well… besides take notes…
"…Do I? Do I really dare and ask Caster again to…?"
There's no way that ends well for me, right? Really… I should probably just move into the labyrinth with Caster. Until the war is over. As boring as that is, it is the most correct, meta, play. Caster knows it too; why build an army in that case? Especially if he's already adverse to it from other reasons… My god though, would it be ever boring! Hiding out in the labyrinth would be such a waste! This was a once in a lifetime opportunity! I couldn't just let this slip through my fingers!
But then… where do we go from here? Where do I go from here…? Everything's too obscured; don't know the game well enough! I don't understand the pieces! I don't know the map! The items are all new and confusing! I need more time! I need people to bounce ideas off of; people to theory craft with! I need-
"Fresh air" I stood up from the computer and headed for the door. "I can't think straight, cooped up here like this!"
Kill the thought, kill the thought, kill the thought...
Couldn't exactly leave the house though; nighttime was killing time in this game, and I was, for all practical purposes, defenseless. House of this size though… surely it would have a garden in the back. Something, anything, to get me out!
First things first, I made sure to take my sword with me. Didn't want to just leave that lying around, even though I had basically done just that the entire night thus far… A stupid move; really was out of it, making careless mistakes like that! Such a stupid mistake was just not acceptable!
It took me a few minutes from there to find the way out back. At least, I think it took me a few minutes; didn't have anything to tell the time with on me for the moment. The house really was big. Stupidly big. Even if mages needed more space to store all their secret magic shit, surely a house of this size was still a bit much?!
"…Well, you can't really judge, can you" I laughed to myself, pushing open the door that led out to the backyard. "This was the dream once: big house, living it up in LA…"
The night breeze sent a chill running down my spine as I stepped outside. Colder than I'd have liked, but it would have to do. Dark out too; took a moment for my eyes to fully adjust from the bright lights inside the house. But when they did adjust-
"…Wow…"
A beautiful garden. That's what the backyard was. Flowers of all sizes and colors bloomed brilliantly, even though it wasn't even summer. The grass was neatly trimmed, with not a single weed in sight. A pond was just visible through the flower patches and shrubs, on the other side of the garden. Running through its center was a stone path.
How it looked so… picturesque, so early into the year… it must have been magic. I was convinced there was no other explanation as a slowly walked the stone path, taking in as much as I could.
"Beautiful…" I muttered, bending down and rubbing my fingers against some of the flower petals. "They're… It's… It's so… beautiful…"
The path would come to an end near the far end of the garden, but not quite up against the fence. I would have thought it'd go right to the pond, but it didn't. A small path did branch off and head in that direction, but the main path ended in a small, circular clearing. Surrounded on all sides by the multitude of flowers were two plain mats. One solid black in color, the other solid white.
What they were really meant for, I wasn't sure. But for the moment, it would be the perfect place to sit down and clear my head. So, I did. Sitting cross-legged on the black mat, sword in my lap, I took a deep breath. Felt the night breeze. Looked up at the sky above; the stars faint as ever due to the city, but the moon shining brightly in the darkness.
It was quiet. No sounds of insects. No sounds of traffic. Just the light, trickling sound of water. I hadn't been able to see from the porch, due to the shrubs, but the pond had a small fountain. I could just barely see it from here, over the flowers. It was immediately relaxing. So, so relaxing… I could almost see myself falling asleep, sitting out here. Perhaps if it wasn't so cold, and I liked the outdoors a bit more than I currently did, which was basically akin to not at all.
…But all the same… what I was seeing now… it was beautiful. The undeniable beauty of the world; beauty that you showed me so long ago…
"You would have loved this…" I mused. "…Actually, so would father, now that I think about it… He always did say he wanted a garden like this; just didn't want to have to work on it himself. If only he made more money; could hire a gardener or two…"
…I needed this. I'd been going weeks, if not months, nonstop. Working on either all this shit related to the Fuyuki incident, or other work. To just be able to sit like this, relax, and empty my mind… I really should slow down and do this a tad more often… Doubt I'd actually do it; since when did I ever do what was best for me? But really, I should do it...
"So, this is where you are. Didn't think you'd pick the garden over the office."
The silence was broken by a new voice from behind me. I wasn't sure how much time had passed as I opened my eyes. It was still dark out, so it couldn't have been too many hours. One? Maybe two? Would have thought the kids would have the good sense to sleep. Yet here Johnathan was, taking a seat on the white mat beside me.
"Saber finally let you out of your cell" I joked as he settled in on the mat.
"More like I snuck out" Johnathan laughed slightly. "Servants don't need to sleep, but thankfully Saber likes being able to act human."
"Lancer's awake then?"
"Don't know. Wouldn't think so though."
"So then… we're basically sitting ducks at the moment?"
"More or less" Johnathan admitted. "But even if one of them were awake, you think they have the energy to stand against a servant like Archer or Berserker?"
"Probably not" I admitted. "Well, maybe with a command spell they could."
"Heh, fair point. At least until their master uses one of their own."
"One one then, on fair points" I smirked.
Silence settled in between us. Not that I minded; felt rather natural, in fact. Just sitting there, taking in the world around me. Neither of us looking at the other; just the world surrounding us. Eventually though, Johnathan would break the silence. Though, not in the way I expected.
"Last night went terribly."
"Indeed" I couldn't help but laugh a little at such an obvious statement. "Outplayed on so many levels… I haven't felt so thoroughly defeated in years."
"Surely you've lost games before. No one holds a perfect record in WotH. Not even Yaldabaoth had a flawless record, and he's considered a God."
"Oh yeah, I've lost many games before" I laughed again. "But never quite so terribly."
…Well… not in WotH specifically, at any rate…
"…Suppose that's fair" Johnathan sighed after a moment. "I don't think I've performed so terribly in years either…"
"Speaking of, how is your arm? I saw it spark… and explode…"
"It didn't explode! My arm's still here, you know?!"
"I noticed" I nodded. "But when you went down, Sortiara was shouting about how your circuits were overloaded. The hell did she mean by that?"
"Well…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"It… uh… let me ask you this: do you know how magecraft works? As in, how magi like us casts spells?"
"…Maybe one of you told me at some point, but right now… well, my head is a right mess. So go ahead: enlighten me. Not like I can even record anything at the moment."
"…Wasn't even thinking of that… You're not the only one with a muddled mind. But anyways, most magecraft, perhaps even the vast majority of magecraft, works off the principle of equivalent exchange. Take it you know what that is?"
"More or less."
"Great, then I can skip past that… So yeah, basically, we convert mana into different types of spells through the process of equivalent exchange."
"Mana in, spell out? Something like that?"
"Yeah, something like that. Well, in order for mana to be converted into magical energy for magecraft, it has to be… let's say processed… And how magi go about processing that mana is through the use of these things called magic circuits."
"…Magic… circuits?"
"It's hard to explain, but… think of it like a nerve system, used exclusively to process mana into magical energy for spells."
"Ok… and… all magi have these… magic circuits?"
"Kind of have to, in order to preform works of magecraft."
"Including the priest?"
"Yeah, even he has magic circuits."
I closed my eyes for a moment. Let the words sink in. As I did, a thought came to me.
"So then, when the priest's body had those glowing, blue lines… those were his magic circuits?"
"Yep, that would be it. At least, when he's reinforcing his body with magical energy, it becomes very noticeable like that. Sortiara's the same. I'm the same. In fact, when it comes to that particular type of magecraft, I think it's all the same… Not that I've seen all that many magi before, but…"
"So, then they're physical things? Part of the body…?"
"Oh, no! No, they're, um… they reside within a person's soul, weird as that may sound. What you see of them is just a physical expression of the circuits."
"…Metaphysical, then?"
"Yes! That!"
"Ok… so magi have a metaphysical nerve system that converts mana into magical energy… No, hold on… you said circuits, not circuit. Plural. So magi have more than one, right?"
"The exact number varies from magus to magus. The amount considered average today would be twenty magic circuits. Of course, the older, longer bloodlines have magi within them that have many times that amount, while newer ones would have less. Quantity isn't everything though; quality of the circuits matters as well."
"Wait, this shit has different qualities?"
"The Mages Association even ranks magic circuits based on their quality and quantity."
"…Fuck me, you magi love your complexities and pointless stats… Isn't having circuits at all to begin with enough? Hell, how do new bloodlines even get magic circuits to begin with?!"
"That… depends… on many things. Many complex, magi things, like branch families and head families, secret dealings and raising funding for research. Magi politics, basically. But its also technically possible for otherwise ordinary people to be born with them. Most magi would call these mutations."
"Hold on. In theory, anyone could be a magus?"
"Yes, though even if you are someone who got it via mutation, well… without coming from a family of magi, how would you ever find out?"
"Then, there could be hundreds of thousands of people capable of magecraft, and they don't even know?!"
"In theory… but again, it's a rare thing to have happen. Very, very rare. I'd be surprised if there actually were hundreds of thousands of people out there like that."
"…"
"…"
"…Then… what about you? How many do you have?"
"As of... two days ago now, fourteen."
"Only fourteen? Net even the average? Damn, that's unluc- wait… what do you mean 'as of two days ago'? That implies you had less before, but you just said magi are born with them. What gives?"
"Well, I also said they can be giver over to others. Well, more like transplanted into others. Very much like an organ transplant; very risky procedure. But, well… if one is brave enough, or stupid enough, as I'm sure Sortiara would say… one can technically… create more magical circuits."
"…What?"
"It's a difficult process. And a dangerous process… But, well, I did say it's like a nerve system for a reason. When performing magecraft, it is technically possible for one to temporarily convert parts of their actual nerve system into magical circuits."
"…"
"…"
"…Shit just gets weirder, I swear…" I sighed. "You do realize you just told me that you magi can convert something physical into something metaphysical, temporarily. Like, your nerves. You can convert them into something metaphysical… to perform magecraft. Then they go back to being normal? How in the hell does that even work?"
"Don't ask me; I have no clue. Doubt Sortiara would know either. I just know it works because-"
"Because that's what you did, before the fight?"
"…Well…"
"Oh, for- seriously?! Now what?!"
"I was going to say that, in theory, it's only temporary. But I'm sorta, kinda, living proof that it can be more… permanent. Like, permanent, permanent."
"…And that…? I… ok…" I sighed, utterly out of it at this point. "Just… just keep going…"
"Truth be told" Johnathan sighed. "I'm… I'm not from a prestigious bloodline of magi. I was born in China, back when the country still had the… the one child policy…"
Johnathan came to a stop, and this time, the silence that built between us felt suffocating.
"…You weren't the first child, were you" I offered.
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;""I hear I was the fifth, actually…" Johnathan laughed slightly, but in his voice, I could tell he found the thoughts painful to voice. "But I can't say for sure: never met my parents. At least, not at a point in my life that I can remember."
"Then, your mother-"
"Isn't my biological mother? Yeah. Took me from right off the streets, way back when I was still an infant."
"…That was kind of her. And lucky for you."
"It was lucky for me. But kind of her…? I don't doubt in time she came to care for me; I do consider her to be my mother, after all. I do miss her, now that she's gone. But at first, her intentions weren't anywhere near noble."
"…"
"She was a powerful magus, but that was only because she dedicated her whole life to her work. Her own work; broke away from her family, taking what she liked and discarding the rest. Using that as a basis, when combined with the fact she herself came from a long, long bloodline of magi, and thus had many, good quality magical circuits within her, she was able to do in her own lifetime what would take many other families generations. But all that focus on her work meant she didn't interact with others. Breaking away from her family; betraying them… well, there was no one to set up a marriage for her with another family of magi. Not that any other family would ever trust her to begin with as suitable marriage material. Especially in China, what with-"
"Filial piety being as big a thing as it is over there, I take it? I see… She had no heir, basically?"
"Yep… and while she may have betrayed her family, outside of that, she was a very typical magus. Well, outside of the whole 'reach the root' thing; she never cared about the root, from what I gathered. To her, perfection of the craft was everything. Having her work die out, end at her… she couldn't accept that. Wouldn't accept that. So, she wandered across China, looking for an heir; someone to pass on her life's work to."
"She picked one of the abandoned kids from right off the street…"
"That she did" Johnathan laughed a little. "Plenty of abandoned kids to choose from, if you know where to look. I just happened to be the lucky one she picked to take in and raise as her own."
"…But that doesn't make sense… Ok, maybe in some ways it could make sense, but not for a magus looking for a continuation of their line. The child would-"
My eyes narrowed as I gazed up at the moon.
"…The child would need to have magic circuits. Could do the transplant thing, I suppose, but why risk it? Your mother would still have wanted to continue her own work while she was alive, so why risk transplanting magical circuits over to someone else. Especially if it's similar to an organ transplant: shit could end disastrously. Even to blood relatives, I would have to imagine it's a tremendous risk to take."
"You would be correct. Most magi would never risk doing a magic circuit transplant, even to blood relatives. Mother would never have done something like that."
"But you said earlier-"
"I did. But that wasn't entirely correct. Really, what's passed on to branch families in those cases are parts of the head family's magic crest. From there, well… a topic for another time, but trust me when I say it works."
"…Ok, right… But then, if it wasn't by transplant, that can only mean you're…"
"A mutant" Johnathan spoke softly. "Or one of those who were born with a mutation circuit. Yeah… yeah, that's me. It's why I was picked, out of all those kids mother would have come across before me. It's the only reason why I wasn't looked over by her, as if I didn't even exist to begin with. Because despite being born to an otherwise normal family, I was born with a single, crap, magic circuit… and that meant there was potential, however minor."
"But now… you have fourteen circuits."
"Now I have fourteen circuits; each one slightly better in quality than the last, but by comparison to proper magi families, still all garbage."
"By converting parts of your nerve system into circuits."
"By converting parts of my nerve system into circuits."
"…"
"…"
"…You move well for someone missing nerves."
"I'm not missing nerves though" Johnathan laughed. "Mother at work again; took her an entire decade, as I was growing up, but she found a way to regenerate the nerves used in the conversion process, and make the otherwise temporary circuits permanent. A very dangerous way, but a way. The day I turned twelve, she told me everything. About who she was. What she did. Who I really was. And, finally, why she picked me, out of all the other children, from off the streets in China to bring over with her to America. That was the day my training as a magus began under her."
"Then, within a time frame of, what? Five or so years?"
"Roughly that."
"You created thirteen new magical circuits for yourself?"
"All under her watchful eye, except for the very latest one. I wasn't kidding when I said it was a dangerous procedure. The slightest screw up, and my body breaks down from the inside out. Even when it works, it's the greatest pain I've ever felt in my life. And… well, the strain it puts on my other circuits is immense. Mother never let me practice magecraft for a week after each new circuit was made, as a precaution."
"Yet you went and jumped into a fight the next day?"
"A stupid move on my part, I know. I'm lucky to still have my arm, let alone my magic circuits. Those things don't heal when overly damaged or tampered with. Thankfully, nothing too serious happened; just poured a tad too much into them before they were ready for it, is all."
"That's all you did, and that explosion and knocking you out of the fight instantly was the result?!"
"Pretty much."
"…Then why?"
"Why what?"
"Why be so dumb and risk it? Why not just say you needed time, or say that you couldn't fight?"
"Because…"
"…"
"Because… argh, forget it! It's a stupid reason, alright! No need to delve into it. And look, I've learned my lesson. Some of these scars on my arm ain't ever gonna heal fully, I can tell already. It'll be the reminder I need to not do anything so stupid again."
"Hey, I'm not gonna force you to share" I smiled, holding my hands up. "That said, if you take yourself out… well, I'm not complaining."
"Course you wouldn't" Johnathan snorted. "Why would I expect anything less from someone who desires godhood?"
"As if you're not ok with me dying" I countered. "I know that come the final three, it's my ass on the chopping block."
"No, it's Caster who I'm after then."
"You think I won't do something about that?"
For the first time since Johnathan sat down, we faced one another. Eyes locked, faces devoid of expression.
"You really are intending to compete then? Like any other magus?"
"Of course. This is a game I can't lose, after all."
"You just lost the last fight."
"We lost the last fight" I corrected. "And I'm fully aware of my mortality-"
At least when it comes to the priest… which, speaking of…
"and my defenselessness. But losing this war doesn't mean I lose the game I'm playing. So yes, I'm going all in on this thing."
Johnathan remained silent, just… staring at me. I used that time to finish my thought: the one that had been nagging at me for a while, now that I'd cleared my head a bit.
The priest… why didn't he seem surprised when I mentioned the file? Only the kids and Archer's master should know about it, but he reacted as if he already knew I had such a thing prepared…
Even with his wish being what it is, I would have expected a different reaction… Then, is he just really, really weird, or…?
Has Rider formed an alliance with Archer…?
A/N
Wowee... over 4.5k words before the AN! Hope a post of this size makes up for the 5 days between this post and the last! My school schedule is rough Mon-Wed, so earliest I can post on those days is Wed afternoon, in most cases.
Anyways, magic crests! The main topic of this post. Oh boy...
I want to say straight up: all of this info might not even be correct. I've spent days upon days looking at info about the magical crest system in FATE in preparation for this part of the story, but I say... info on this system is mucked to all hell!
Shit's ranked by a fucking letter grading system, so fuck me if I know the actual power of any of it, for starters! Maybe it's the same as the letter grading system for the servants, maybe it isn't: nothing told me for sure, and I'm not going to make that kind of assumption for this!
Even the info pertaining to the average amount of magic circuits is jank: FATE info says 20, but Tuskihime info says 40, and they both take place in the same universe, so fuck me I guess?!
Then there's the BS 'temporary' circuits magi can create! What Shirou did for all the early parts of the original V/N (because of course Shirou had to be responsible for this utter shit show in some way). Someone explain to me HOW THE FUCK magi can TEMPORAIRILY convert part of their PHYSICAL nerve system into something essentially METAPHYSICAL in nature, then have it revert back, all while causing no problems or having any side effects?! Like fuck, what nerves are used in the process?! Nerves in the legs?! Arms?! Is it dependent on the type of magecraft being invoked?! How can you still move like normal if your nerves are being 'borrowed' to channel magical energy through them?! I don't remember Shirou ever being rendered immobile in any way, shape, or form while performing magecraft, so what nerves did he even use?!
This temporary magical circuit shit is the most unexplained, jank, FATE system I have seen TO DATE! I can't find anything anywhere on it, other than the fact that it is indeed a thing that is possible, and that Shirou did it quite often before Rin eventually gets him to stop doing it, because it's dangerous and bad!
…So, I've taken my own liberty with Johnathan a bit on this system. He has a way to make otherwise temp circuits permanent. I don't care if somewhere, years ago, Nasu said in some one off interview that shit ain't possible; his whole system here is utter jank and devoid of any reasoning behind it (in an English source at least).
Like, seriously... HOW DOES THIS TEMP MAGIC CIRCUIT SYSTEM MAKE ANY SENSE TO ANYONE?! TELL ME! I'M CURRIOUS IF EVERYONE ACTUALLY GETS IT AND I'M JUST THE BOOSTED ANIMAL, OR IF Y'ALL ARE ALL SECRETLY THINKING THE SAME AS ME ON THIS?!
...Hope you all enjoy and, as always, many thanks to making it this far xD
