"Nnnnnnnghhh—!"
"Haaaaaaa—!"
Day number...
...
He'd lost count.
Day number whatever day it was of Artoria and Arthur's never ending competition to... to... shit, what was the reward this time?
Ah, yes. 'To move one's sleeping bag closer to Shirou's!'
His heart wept. He wanted to weep in general, too, but doing so would focus their attention on his woes, rather than their exceedingly outlandish arguing, and he vastly preferred the latter to the former. And, much like their locked arms - which hadn't moved an inch for the past two minutes - every single bout they engaged in resulted in...
Wait for it.
...a tie.
...
"This time... this time... the king will fall!"
"Rebellion... shan't be... tolerated...!"
Someone please make it stop.
"Psst! Saber! Psst!" Artoria whispered, much in the same way a small child would pass gossip.
"Yes, Artoria?"
"Arthur is cheating!"
Oh come o—
"I am right here," Arthur drawled.
The volume of Artoria's voice didn't change an octave.
"She is cheating, Saber! She uses prana!"
A bit of red dusted Arthur's cheeks.
"I-I would never, Shirou! It is beneath the king to cheat!"
It wasn't, actually, and it very much was Arthur's modus operandi to use everything at her disposal. He and Saber had many a conversation about that little topic.
That being said.
"Aren't you using prana too, Artoria?"
Her back stiffened with a jolt.
"M-Me? Cheat? Why, Saber! I am offended you would suggest such a foul notion!"
She said as more prana entered her hand.
Arthur's eyes flashed. "'Tis resulting from an unfortunate lack of discipline!"
She said as the tree trunk cracked beneath her elbow.
"You lambaste my effort? Do you realize he is a crackling fire in the winter chill?"
"Thy bedding is warm enough, child."
"Need I remind you of who the adult is, oh noblest of lieges?"
"Ngh—!"
Not since the Second Chaldean War for Dessert had Shirou seen two Pendragons so overtly hostile to one another. Oh the humanity.
"Why don't you each take a side?" he suggested. "One on the left, one on the right."
Pause. Then:
"Share? With her?"
"Share? With her?"
Alright, that was cool.
"Can it be called sharing if you are technically the same person?" he drawled. "And besides, we've done it before. Back when Tohsaka—"
"Th-That was different, Shirou!"
Oh, so she did have access to that life. No wonder she lost her cool so easily. She was about... a quarter of the way through her 'Artoriazation', then, if he used his Saber as a measurement metric. Asking questions, having doubts, but unwilling to seek the answers.
"Different how, Saber?"
He had advantages, this time around. As a fragment he stumbled around in the dark and managed to get through to her via a combination of logic, emotional pleas, empathy and downright 'hero of justice'-tier recklessness.
He knew how she thought, now. Knew her problems and how to approach them. Hopefully he could expedite the process - without triggering Avalon.
Maybe. Unlikely. But maybe!
"She... Rin earned it!" Arthur reasoned. "Deserved it! She knew of thy ailments, and... and..."
"And she gave me the same goal Saber did, just through a different method. All three did. Saber, Tohsaka, Sakura... they grounded me. Gave me something to live for."
Poke at the edges, turn her logic back around. She would try to reason through it. Artoria Pendragon was a logical, empathetic girl; she excelled at identifying issues in others, but struggled with self-reflection.
"Rin knew you since childhood, Shirou. You needed someone there for you, someone present and not burdened by responsibility."
Like that. Per usual, she sold herself short and disparaged her ability to accomplish multiple things at once. He wouldn't risk approaching that topic, not yet, so instead Shirou approached from a different angle.
"Then why is it that every time I summon someone, Saber, it's always you?"
Immediately, she would say—
"Avalon links us, Shirou. Its power is great, but it cannot substitute the support of another."
It was true that the scabbard provided the chain by which they were bound. Without a catalyst, the Throne summoned Servants based on matching personalities. What little information he had access to told him that in his case, that Servant was the Saber side of the Roman gladiator Spartacus.
Strange, then, how Shirou Emiya and Artoria Pendragon still managed to run into each other without Avalon's influence.
"Who was the first Servant Fujimaru summoned into Chaldea? Excluding Kyrielight, of course."
...
Her peeved look told him she knew where this was going.
"It was Archer, Shirou."
"Who was the second?"
"Myself."
"What Servants responded to Hakuno's call for help?" he continued.
"Archer, the fox, the franchisee, and King Insufferable, Shirou."
"And who did we eventually run into, Saber?"
"...Myself. Among others!"
She added the last part almost as an afterthought. Artoria's head twisted from him to her and back again; she seemed more amused than anything else.
"I'm not sure if you're aware, Saber, but in a certain timeline, Servants manifest as something called class cards. That world's Illya, at one point, used Archer's. Guess who she fought?"
Her brow twitched with annoyance. He grinned.
"Why yes, Saber, it was Saber Alter. Funny how that works. In a world parallel to that one, one of my shards used that same Archer class card. Guess who he eventually fought?"
The twitching intensified.
"Why yes, Saber, it was someone using your class card."
He'd made his point, but to make it unforgettable:
"The Avalon I hold is my Saber's, yet I was summoned to Artoria, who in this reality would never receive the scabbard to begin with. And then the Counter Force brought both you and Alter here after us. So if it's just Avalon linking us, Saber, why is it that across countless timelines, in who knows how many different places, we always end up directly or indirectly next to each other?"
Arthur's mouth opened and closed, fishing for answers.
"We are each other's support," he finished. "In the end, it's always us. Thousands and thousands of heroes in the Throne, and somehow King Arthur and a nameless Archer wind up together. Every. Single. Time."
...
"That is so romantiiiic!" Artoria squealed. "'Just some boy' she said! Ha! I knew it! In thy face, Medraut!"
Arthur wouldn't make eye contact. "Wh-What is thy p-point, Shirou?"
"You say Tohsaka earned it more than you did, but I don't see her skipping across worlds with me, arm in arm like a pair of multidimensional newlyweds."
...
Full disclosure.
"N-N-N-N—"
He really enjoyed teasing her.
"Truthfully, Saber, I admire everything you've accomplished. You've sacrificed yourself time and time again just so someone else could smile. I did that for both Saber and Sakura. But Tohsaka... one day, she sat me down and said, 'I want you to smile, too'. Being kind to others, helping others... I've learned that's what makes me happy. You can't always be selfless. Sometimes you need to be selfish, Saber."
"...I have power others do not. 'Tis irresponsible."
"The greatest power of all is the ability to walk away."
Wide eyes snapped up. Shirou pressed his advantage.
"I never freed her, Saber. And she never freed me. We freed ourselves. We recognized that we were powerless. 'Someday, someone will appear who will free you.' I was talking about you, Saber, not me. I only helped Artoria reach her own conclusions. And what she's doing now, all this? The scabbard? Bargaining with the Counter Force?"
Yes, he enjoyed teasing her. But more than that: everything he'd ever done had come from a place of greed. A place of desire. It was just as he told himself, all that time ago: his ideals were fake. He wanted to help others because he associated the act with one man's tear-stained smile.
And that was okay.
As long as he recognized the truth beneath the facsimile, as long as he understood the mirror was cracked and the goals fake, he could press forward. Because what he cared about now was not Britain or whatever mission Alaya hid from him. Shirou had the once in a lifetime opportunity to save the one girl - the one friend - he'd never helped.
That wasn't to say he wouldn't save as many as he could. The dream was beautiful; the dream was impossible.
But his goal? His personal mission to see Saber again?
"Everything she's doing now comes from a place of greed, Saber," he explained. "That's who she is. She tried to save her kingdom. She did her best, and that's all that matters. With that behind her, she's indulging in what she wants. She's being selfish."
That was no longer impossible, and Shirou wanted to jump for joy.
...
"But... but even if all that is true, Shirou..."
Arthur balled her fists in her lap. Her cheeks puffed up.
"Rin... Rin is still prettier than I am!"
...
"Saber?"
"Y-Yes?"
"Would you like to know a secret?"
"A secret?"
"When you weren't around, Tohsaka sometimes called you Baeber."
...
Was that steam? Could ears do that?
Artoria cupped her chin, nodding to herself.
"Oh, that's good. That is very good."
Planet: Earth
Branch: 2-XX
Twig: [Unknown]
Year: 20XX
Location: Classified
Chaldea Security Organization
"Know this: you cannot fight them."
The Wizard Marshall's voice blared over the base's intercom. Ritsuka rubbed his bicep - the injection site, the medicine he'd received that was, supposedly, necessary for survival in that strange place.
In the Land of Steel.
"The TYPEs, the Aristoteles, do not operate on Gaian logic. They do not - will not - make sense. Their actions will seem impossible. And though they are your enemy, they are not your target. Your weapons will not injure them. Your Noble Phantasms cannot destroy them."
Six hundred Servants, one hundred teams, stood ready to deploy all across Chaldea. It was beyond the system's maximum capacity, but somehow they'd done it. Various team leaders watched whatever display in range; all were linked to Zelretch's speech.
"Still no Bedivere?" Fujimaru questioned.
Da Vinci frowned. "The Throne denied his summoning. His Heroic Spirit is quarantined."
"It can do that?"
"Under extraordinary circumstances, yes, but this is the first time I've ever seen it done."
Merlin hummed a happy tune. "'Twas necessary, 'twas necessary! Think nothing of it, dear Fujimaru~!"
Zelretch's speech continued. "Your mission is simple: protect your Master while he attempts to contact this man."
A grainy image filled the screens. An armor-clad man stood against an orange sky; in his right hand was held some sort of exotic weapon, something no Servant had ever seen.
"His name is Ado Edem. He is sought not for any perceived strength, but rather the knowledge locked away in his mind. He is the only known being to have vanquished an Aristotele. He holds the greatest secret in the world, the key to our survival."
More pixelated frames, frozen in time, of a world destroyed and an apocalypse fought. Mechanized war machines dueled with eldritch monstrosities. Thick, smokey particles hung heavy in the air and on the ground. Blood red skies tinted the dead land shades of orange and brown. Abandoned weapons and shredded bodies replaced long-faded flora and fauna.
"In this world, you will be at your weakest. There are no legends here. The people do not remember you. Gaia is dead. The mana is gone. Have faith in yourselves and each other. That alone will be your strongest asset in this world."
The line went dead. Zelretch turned to Fujimaru.
"The floor is yours, young Master. I will transport the army at your command."
He swallowed his nerves and grabbed the microphone.
"You've all received your assignments. For this operation, Noble Phantasm usage will be unrestricted. You are to use your abilities at your discretion, for whatever reason you see fit. Team leaders are to stay in contact with each other and myself at all times. I will not babysit you - I have full confidence in all your abilities. This is a preventative operation. We deploy now not to correct a disparity, but to stop one before it occurs. The situation warrants it. We wouldn't have need of you all if it didn't."
He took a breath. Mash squeezed his hand.
"I thank each and every one of you for assisting Chaldea in this manner. We rayshift in ten seconds."
The Knights of the Round formed up around him. The Babylonians and Egyptians would oversee the army; his focus needed to be on their strange contact.
...
Once more, unto the breach.
"Keep in touch, da Vinci."
She flashed him a calming grin. "Of course, Master."
Zelretch tapped his staff on the floor.
Ritsuka Fujimaru blinked. They hurdled through the smog-filled air.
'̴̩̄;̴̀͜,̵̰̂.̷̜͑'̴͈̈́;̵͚̽,̶͚̇.̴̼̓'̷̖́/̵͓̉,̸͇̚.̵̧͋/̷̋͜,̸̹͐.̵̫͊;̵̥̑'̸̤̌,̵̠͠.̷̭̓'̷͍̇/̶̯́,̴̝͝.̷͍̀/̵̡̕,̷̧͛'̷̱̿.̴̡̍,̸̻͆.̷̣͑'̵̘̿'̶͖̔;̷̹̍,̴̪̇.̴̖̏"̵͔͐,̵͈͝/̷̣́.̸̖͘'̶͈̉,̵̳̒;̴̫͋.̸̻̿'̸̫̅,̷̛͜.̶̱͝;̸̱͗'̷̛̲,̴͔̓'̵̖̓.̴͈̊/̴̫̊/̴̞͒,̶̗̈'̷̫̃.̵̞̀/̴̻̽,̴̰͂'̶̞͛.̵̥̉;̶͑͜,̵̖̐'̷̼̉.̶͈̇/̸̥̉,̸̘͠'̶̜̐.̴̟̆
What—
"SHIELDER!"
Mash grabbed him, rolled, lifted the shield.
.̸̖̈/̸̗͋ ̴͉̍/̶͉̅ ̵̜̽'̸̡͝ ̸̥̿;̷̰̑.̷̢̍;̸͙̋.̸̺̔/̶̱̎,̶̙͝.̴̘̽/̷̝͆;̸̮̅'̸͈̈́;̷̤̇'̷̥̇;̴̼́/̶͓̇/̶̭̾.̵̡̄/̴̩̉,̴̺̔.̷͍̑;̴̈͜,̶͕͒'̷͈͋,̶̗̈́'̸͔̏;̴̤̑/̵̮͛/̴̢̛;̶̲̀;̴̱́'̷͗ͅ.̴͎͛'̵͎̇;̶̥̐,̷͔́;̷͐͜.̷͙͊/̵̡͗.̵̳͆
"MOLD CAMELOT!"
A volley of electromagnetic projectiles swept the sky in a microsecond. His ears rang, his vision blurred, something heavy clogged his lungs.
,̴͉͊̚.̸̝̈/̵̨͈̾͐,̴͈̋'̴̳̈́.̷͓̑'̷̮͂,̶̧̿;̸͉̗͊.̴̖̭͒͋'̷̀ͅ,̵͕̫̐͝.̸̮͐'̵̱̦͆͊/̴̣̈́̉,̵̡͈̈.̷̟̪̅'̵̤́̂/̸͇̼͋,̶̯͊;̷̧͝.̸̗̆̏'̷͔̻̏̑,̴͉͍̿͝.̷̛̱͝/̷͍̤̄'̷̱̈́́,̷̙̱͒͘.̸̜̇͜;̸̣͒͋,̵̢̑͆'̸̜̜̌.̵͜͝;̵̲͔́̕,̷͙̂'̶͒̑͜/̸̖̞͐̀.̵̱̆̆'̴̗̱̽̽,̷͔̓.̷̣̂̄;̵̦͊͛,̵̟̲̉.̷̥̪̈́̉'̵̯̮̓;̵̫̟͆͘'̴̖̌̋,̴̗̜̓̕;̵͓̈́̈́.̵̳̈̾'̷̣͛;̸̩̮̐̓,̴̦̄̕'̶̙̄̐;̶̗̱͆̒.̷͔͘'̷͇̄̀;̷̧̦̇͝,̶͕̝͗͋.̴͎̜̄'̴͍̘̇̊/̵̗̈͘,̷͍̿͝.̷͎͋̇'̸̬͕́̿/̸̟̻͆,̵̥̈́;̶͙̍̕.̴̗̯̿'̵̠͚͂͘,̵̼́́;̷̣̹́͊.̶̭̼̿͝/̴̡̆,̵̗̂͊.̶̖́̊'̷̰͕͂̌[̴̠͕̅;̴͙̟̈́,̵̗̤̈́̔.̷̯͙̽̿;̵̦̱̾̄'̴͍̙̈͝
Half the Servant army - vaporized instantly. Over three hundred dead.
'̴̜͚̿̄'̷̢̛͎̆;̵̹̙̑.̸̰͂̈/̷̖̑,̷̧̪́͝.̴̲̇/̴̧̣̽͂.̴̝̹̊'̷̳̄̊/̸̗̪̈͝'̸̭̙̈́̂;̴̡̛̰͘.̸̩͒'̵̜͙͑/̶͓͗;̸̘̃̈́.̴͓̽̊/̶̭̪̃;̵͎͆.̵͙̚'̵̰̦͌/̵̪̀͠'̵͓͍̋.̵̲̦̎̒/̸̟̉̔'̴̧͓́.̶̡̕'̷͓̝͐/̸̤͂'̴͚́;̸̢̥̕.̶̧̀/̵̨͙́͠'̴̯̂̀.̷͎̲͐̐'̵̟̾̚/̷̰̲̈́͑'̸͈̋.̵͉̖̍́/̵̬̬̀'̸̯̈́;̷̜̝͂.̴̙͉̾/̷̢̔͊'̸͖͎͛͌.̵̧̒;̷̢̢͋̃/̶̛̮̐;̶̘͍̏'̶̙͊̏ͅ.̶͍̣̏/̶̤̈́;̴̟̎̾.̵͈̿/̶͈́͘;̷̻͖̏.̵̫̪̍̎/̴̰̆̄ͅ'̶̜̓.̴̣͝/̸͖̠̈́;̶̢̿̉.̴̝͝/̷͙̈́;̸͎̈́'̷̛̖̆.̵̢̍'̶̦̙̆̐;̷̛ͅ/̵̖͖͠'̸̹̳͂;̶̖͝.̴̫̿/̸͇̽͜;̵̙̗͋͑.̷̠̎͝/̸̦̺̃͘
In the distance, a lone shout.
"ENUMA ELISH!"
A crimson spiral. Howling wind. Muffled shouts, world spinning—
,̸̩̟̳͋̓͘.̵̩̪̻̽'̴̹̾̊̑;̸̪͂,̴̨̧̠͂͝/̵̮͆̃̍/̴͚͖̝̈́͌͝,̶͉̭̈́͗̈́'̸̛̩̜.̵̩͉̂'̴͉̯̃̒;̴̧͕̏̆,̸̛͈̃̆.̶̢̰́͐̒'̵̺͆,̷̰͙̌/̶̢̺͑̈'̵͖̙̗̏̓;̶͚̣̫̑̽,̷̯̝̩̈́̔/̵͇̞͔͐̽͘.̵̫͙̻̏̋͂'̶̲̄́;̵͎̞̱̌'̶̖̃͆;̷͕̟̬̓̀.̶̳͊̇ͅ'̵̛͕̅͘,̴̜̲̏͘;̵̮̑̔̍/̴̡̲̊'̷͚̺̈̇̆;̷̮̪̂͒͗/̴͔̮̄̆,̸͕͚̾̄̿.̴͖̭̤̈́̓͘'̵̪̆̆͋;̶̦͖̮͊͘'̷̱͌͝;̷̩̍̇.̷͉̀̄'̷͕̬͌,̶̳̰̆;̷̣͆͑/̵̙̰̽̌̚.̷̧̫̽͝'̵̣̈́̒̕;̵̛̩͍͗̿,̵͎͙͚̽̈́;̷̝͐̐͋'̷̖̹̀̒̇/̵̟̄̕;̷̥̏,̴̙̃.̴̧̟̥̈'̸̼̂͊͝;̶̤̖̅͘ͅ/̸̫̗̺͒̒̌,̷͎̍̋͒'̷̗͖̀;̶̢̭̎͆͝.̷͇͍̈́͊/̵̞̹͊,̷͇̈́'̶̧͂̋;̶͙̊̒.̵̧̳͊̔/̵̧̉̏'̵̧̱͒̽;̴̙̀̇̀͜,̸̘̬̏́.̸͓͉͓̀͝/̶͚̜̔,̷̭͂'̷̳͍̩̏̆;̷̯̼̰͑̏͆/̵̭͇̓̾̋.̷̮͗̍̍
"THERE! THE CASTLE! WITH HASTE, QUICKLY!"
"Clarent Blood Arthur!"
"Excalibur Galatine!"
'̷̪͔̬͛͐,̴͓̪̫͝;̷̟̰̖̔͆͆.̵̭͑/̴̰̰̄'̴͍͗̒͝;̶̧̭͙̉͋̌,̶͔̲̄̐.̶̙͖͇͂͂/̴̮̉ͅ'̸̢̠̿͘͘;̶̦͊ͅ,̶͔̤̊͒̈́.̶̺̘͖̎̽'̸̢̛͓̠̅;̶̤̪̲̊͐/̸̻͎̈̂̍'̸̟̔̈́;̵̬͙̎̿̎,̷͕͠.̷̱̩͛̓̾/̸̦̏̅,̸̧͙̀'̸͇̄͛;̶͈͙̩͛̋.̶̨̹̺̈́͝/̷̧̻̽̏́;̸̫̣̐̔'̶͕̣̥̕̕,̷͎̄̍͝.̶̗̍̿'̸͇͔̎̈͌;̴̮̠̌/̶̣̑'̸͖͖̒͆͛͜;̴̩̌,̴͕̤͗͋.̵̭̊̋̎/̴̙͊́'̷̩̩͒̐͠,̴̧̟̳̆̄̈;̷̗̥̿.̷͓̼͛̒͘/̸̜́,̸̤̇̈́'̵͙͍̏ͅ;̶̢̮͆.̴̢̱̬̓̎/̴̝̯̥̽͗̽'̷̼̀ͅ;̴̛͕̞͑̂,̷̞͈̲͝/̸̡̺͍͛.̸͖̟͠ͅ'̷̼̙͚̈́͑̐;̴̛̠̤̔,̷̗͖́͌̋ͅ.̷̞̫͐̄/̶̛̻̗͎͊̈́'̶̧̛͉̑͋ͅ,̸͚̉;̶̲̤̞̈́̌͑.̶͔̥̭͛/̷̹̠̯̎,̵̯̄͠'̷̙̹̞́;̷̨̣́.̷̹͗̆͝/̵̨̽,̸̀͑͜.̷̨͊̈'̵̟̲͍̓͒;̵̗̬͊́,̷̧̰̙̂̉̕/̵̛̫͛͝.̴̭̒̾͝
TYPE:Saturn - the Cross.
,̷̡̭̠̭̖̈́̾̀͐̈́͝'̴͎̤̉͋̓;̴̦̲̍̎͑̀̅,̷̝͑.̸̖͎̮̭͐̀̆̈͐̈́/̵̧̲͉̦͋̿́͝;̶̝͎̉̃̈̊͠,̶̛̟̪͍̀̓̈́͒͊.̶̳̺͇͈̻̀̇'̷̹͚͖̱̱͂͠;̵͈͈͇͉̅̿/̴̝͆͐̏̀'̸͍͓͉̎́̽,̴̥̻̏͋̆͋̈́̈;̷͎̫̹͐̊̿̀.̴̧̛̖̭̼͔́̏̓̔/̷͍͆̏̃͛̄͝/̷͈́̋̚'̵̭̤̱̜͚̰̊̔̆̆̆͠;̶̮̫̩̟̪͊,̷̖͉̞̝̉́̿̅.̵̛̗̜̲̐̀/̶͎͍̺͑͐̓̕,̴̥͉̝͈͊̈́.̸̟͗̾̽ͅ'̵͇̏͆͊;̷͎̭̤͍̉̅̃́͜/̶̞͔͐͑͆'̶͍̹͙͍͑̐͆̈́͝;̷̙͠,̵̻͙͈̭͓͑͒̿̑͐̀.̶̭̳̅͝/̶̩̤̦̳̰͗͊̈́̾'̸̫͔̺͔̌͋̏̊͂ͅ;̴̨̢̤̟̳̳̐̇̄̉̿,̵̡̡̛̩̗̤͋͜͝.̶̨͍͙̩̍̐͋/̴̡̛͇̙͊'̷̤̫̰͙̈́,̴̧̖̖̄̓̿̇̈́;̸̩̙͇̱̯̐͑͗̕.̵͈̮͗/̸̭̘͖̖̐̽̃̚͠'̸͍̑̐̽̈,̸͓̥͚̈͜͝;̵̢̡̻̞̩̱̋͊͠.̵̧̹͊̀̒͊/̴̮̦̘̈́̆̂́̂'̸̩̾̈́;̸̨͇͊̎̋̌,̶͈͚͕̮͔̻̉̈́̈͂̍͝.̶͓̣̞̑̋/̶̡̺̙͚̊͘'̴͖͚̞͚͓̃̋ͅ,̴̘͔̖̤̑̒̽̉̐͘;̷͚̮̗̮͚̍̽̀̈́̏̓/̷̢̫̬̹̗͠ͅ.̵̰̩͕̲̙̆̀́̈̂͠,̷̛̲̙̻͎̹́̀;̵̩͎̅.̵̘̒͗̾͘'̷̩̻̘̳̲̓̍͆́̒͝/̶̝̻͔̖͉̮͝
Theoretically, the plan was simple: find the Lady of the Lake; inquire about Avalon, the Excalibur-Caliburn hybrid, and the changed Reality Marble; perhaps stay for snacks; resume the journey to the Tower.
"I have the keenest sense of deja vu, Saber," Artoria drawled.
But there's an old saying that goes 'no plan survives first contact with the extraterrestrial eldritch horror'.
Or something.
"By the gods," Arthur hissed. "What is that?"
"Another scout," Shirou grunted. "Pain in the ass, to say the least. Wish I knew where they came from. Would make our lives a bit easier."
"A scout of what, Shirou?"
"An invader. Probably the reason I'm the way I am currently. Take the Grail, ramp up the stupidity by a factor of a thousand. Called an Aristotele, I believe. Heard it referenced during some of my Guardian deployments, but this life's the first time I've had to actually deal with it."
"Oh, marvelous. Just what we needed. How do we vanquish it?"
"Excalibur."
...
Yeeeeaaaah... he expected that look.
"I'm serious, Saber. From what I understand, the thing is alien. That's why your sword exists, correct?"
"You mean to tell me the one time I might fulfill the sword's original design, I do not have it? Have I offended Gaia in some way? Am I no longer with her grace?"
"I wouldn't go that far. I could try projecting it again."
"'Tis a Divine Construct!" Arthur sputtered.
Artoria shrugged. "He did it the first time we fought the Crystal."
"That wasn't her sword, though," Shirou grunted. "Think it was Arthur's. Male Arthur's."
She tilted her head. "Is there a difference, Saber?"
He shrugged. "Hell if I know. Seemed to work well enough."
"Excalibur's function should not change, no matter its appearance or the timeline," Arthur noted. "If you were able to project it back then, Shirou, you should be able to do it again... provided your Reality Marble does not cause an issue."
He felt fine. Had access to all the materials recorded, detected no issues with any of the copying or projection mechanisms. Only issue was...
"That's the thing - last time I projected it, I had Merlin helping me. She fed me the image. I can still see it in my mind's eye, though, so I think I can manage. Where's Vivian, Saber?"
"Beyond the crystalline forest. I fear for her safety, Shirou."
"...You mean she's within the Crystal's territory right now."
"Aye."
Shirou muttered a string of curses.
"Who is this Vivian, pray tell?" Artoria asked. "She must be of some import if the silly Crystal harasses her so."
Arthur scowled.
"She is one of the Fae, and Excalibur's guardian. Vivian watches and guards the sword in its periods of disuse. No one aside Merlin should know her location, technically, though I know due to it being my history."
The helmet muffled Shirou's sigh.
"From what I understand, these Aristoteles aren't intelligent. They act on instinct alone. Still, it would be unwise to assume its presence here is a coincidence. We've seen it only at the locations related to the swords; either it's drawn to their magical signatures, perhaps out of some sense of hunger, or it considers them a threat to be eliminated. We'll need to deal with it regardless."
Artoria saw his plan, plain as day. She glared. "I shan't let you be bait again, Saber!"
"It worked last time, didn't it?"
"If by 'worked' you mean 'worked to make Artoria's heart falter', then aye!"
He ignored her rebuttal and instead turned to Arthur.
"Could you watch her for me, Saber?"
She crossed her arms, huffing. "You are infuriating, Shirou."
...
"H-Huh?"
"I am your Saber. You are supposed to let me fight in thy stead."
"You... do know I'm a Grand at the moment, correct?" he tried. "Stuff like this is why I exist in the first place."
Never approach an emotional argument from a place of logic. Arthur looked away, petulant.
"Hmph!"
His attention shifted to Artoria. She mirrored Arthur's pose. Arms crossed, eyes closed, chin tilted.
"Hmph!"
...
"I'll be careful?"
"Hmph!"
"Hmph!"
Why did no one ever trust him to handle things alone? He didn't understand. He had a good track record!
Shirou counted off on his fingers.
"I'll be careful. I'll do my best to avoid injury. At the first sign of trouble, I'll regroup at your positions. I'll provide regular updates. To be safe, I won't use the blade works."
...
"Acceptable."
"Acceptable."
Finally. What kind of Grand-class Servant needed approval to do his jo—
He grabbed Artoria and bounded. Arthur moved with him; a massive crystalline stalagmite ruptured the ground they stood on a mere second ago. Shirou clucked his tongue.
"Tch. Guess it got tired of waiting for us."
Caliburn appeared next to Arthur. She blinked, took it with a small grin. Kanshou and Bakuya greeted Artoria with flashes of magical lightning.
"Artoria, Saber, find Vivian. I'll buy you time."
His Master poked him in the side. "No bones of thy swords, mister!"
His eye roll went unseen. "Understood, Master!"
The party separated; the Crystal focused Shirou, not the Pendragons, and it gave the two women time to move and strategize.
"We must find the lake promptly," Arthur urged. "Vivian would have submerged herself if she sensed danger. Gaia protects her, but I still fear for her safety. She is a guardian, not a combatant."
Artoria frowned.
"You said she holds Excalibur, aye? Could she not use it to defend herself?"
"She is far too committed to her role to do such a thing. Vivian is an agent of Gaia's will. Her singular purpose is to declare a potential wielder worthy or unworthy. As far as I know, it has chosen us and no one else."
"Not even Saber?"
Magical conflict assaulted their ears. Explosions toppled trees and shredded underbrush. A Merodach copy clashed with a shimmering harpoon; a Gae Bolg volley parted the clouds with their explosive payloads.
"Divine Constructs should be beyond his ability to project. As Archer, he once told me he could summon a copy of Excalibur at the cost of his own life. At the time I thought him bluffing, though now I am unsure. His bond to Avalon may deem it possible, though I hesitate to say he could wield the true original. 'Tis one of my many questions."
They ducked, jumped and weaved through the forest, haste in their steps, though it appeared unneeded. Not a single crystal attacked them; the entity's attention was directed utterly at Shirou.
That little tidbit did not go unnoticed. Arthur sighed away her misgivings, even as they barreled into the grove.
"Why does it let us pass? Is it not after the Lady? 'Tis awfully strange."
Artoria chewed on her lip.
"'Twas like that before, as well. When we approached the Sword in the Stone, the Crystal devoted its time to battling Saber. It let me run without so much a scratch."
Something burst from the lake. A woman halfway between mortal and divine gasped and coughed, clawed her way to the water's edge. She clutched a sheathed sword as though her life depended on it.
"You should not be here, thy grace! I implore thee: depart at once!"
Arthur's shoulders slumped with relief. She sprinted to the Lady of the Lake.
"Milady! You recognize me?!"
"Gaia's domain extends far beyond the simple boundaries of this realm, child! But... nay, we've no time for idle talk! You act the fool, my king! You know not what you do!"
The King of Knights recoiled, as if slapped. "Wh-What do you mean? Have I caused offense in some way?"
Vivian's jaw dropped. Sheer terror cut deep stress lines through her impossibly picturesque features.
"You... you truly do not know, do you?" Her free hand traversed long locks. The Fae looked ready to break down. "Oh heavens, oh heavens..."
Her visceral reaction twisted Arthur's stomach a hundred times over. Never before had she seen the Lady of the Lake so overcome.
"Milady," she pleaded. "I must know what ails you. We've come to help."
Vivian shook her head back and forth, near hysterics.
"You stumble into fate's trap, King Arthur! All of this, everything that has happened - Merlin taking Arthur, Alaya's attempts to divert the Grand Saber's course - all of it is the World's attempt to stall the inevitable! It fears for its life! We are not supposed to be here! No one is supposed to be here! This timeline is under perpetual quarantine! The World avoids its recognition at all costs!"
Artoria dropped to her knees next to them. "What do you mean? We need details, Lady Vivian. Please!"
The Fae clutched Excalibur tight against her chest.
"Heed me, for there is much you do not know. The Grand Saber is deployed twice in the Greater History. The first time fragments reality into the multiverse. The second converges it! The Spider ignores us all because it must! It is an animal backed into a corner, and the Grand Saber is its hunter! It knows what approaches! It knows the events before they come to pass! It is trying to ambush him!"
Artoria leaned closer. "Why does it fear him?"
"Because that is their fate! Time is a closed loop, child! It has happened once! It shall happen again! All is as it is foreseen to be! The Spider's demise is not how his legend ends!"
That world's Avalon and Excalibur visibly shivered in Vivian's grasp, as if they expected something yet to come.
As if they answered a call.
Horror descended onto Arthur. She whirled in Shirou's direction. The Crystal and Grand Saber fought their calamitous war high above the treeline. Tendrils shattered. Blades broke. There they dueled, two titans far beyond the mortal realm.
Avalon's light burned through his helmet's visor. Vivian's whisper seared her mind.
"It is how it begins!"
Planet: ? [T̷h̵e̵ ̵L̵a̷n̸d̶ ̸o̶f̸ ̴S̶t̴e̶e̶l̵]
Branch: ? [0-00]
Twig: ? [0̴0.0̵0̷ ̷-̸ ̷T̵h̴e̵ ̷T̵r̵u̵n̶k̷]
Year: ? [A̸D̶ ̸2̵5̵0̵5̵]
Location: ?
Alert:
No data available.
"Senpai? Senpai?!"
"I'm—ngh!—okay! I'm okay! Knights!"
The world shook.
"Gawain lives!"
"Lancelot lives!"
"Tristan lives."
"Mordred stiiiiill kickin', woo yeah!"
Ritsuka stumbled to his feet, dazed.
"Merlin is here, too~! Anyone? Anyone? No? Very well!"
The entourage lived. They'd made it inside the castle prison.
"Where's the army?" he asked.
Gawain scowled. "Dead or scattered, Master. I daresay we've been routed."
He clutched at his head, both to stop the spinning and to focus on one of his many Master-Servant connections.
"King Gilgamesh? Are you there?"
...
No response.
"It shan't work," Merlin sighed. "Mana is foreign to this world. The signal cannot traverse. We've only our prana, it seems."
"Then we'll have to manage. Stick together, let's find this guy and get out. Da Vinci, do you have us?"
"I'm still here, Ritsuka, but the signal is choppy. Whatever's in the air on your end is interfering with the spiritrons."
A small blessing. They'd make due. "Can you guide us?"
"I can try. The castle is complex. SHEBA can't make heads or tails of the thing, but it's detecting a powerful signature of some sort coming from deeper within. It's not prana. Head out your current room and take a... a right, I believe."
They followed her directions, to be met by the clang and thud of boots to crystal. Muffled voices followed; Ritsuka ducked behind a wall and directed prana to his ears.
"The sky, you say?!"
"The thirteenth prophecy! Word for word, I swear! An army from beyond!"
"Do the Seats rally? Do they know?!"
"The Cross holds their attention! We must alert them at once! The Exodus awaits, just as the High Spark said!"
"Go to Edem! Quickly! I'll find Galat - he's yet to leave!"
"Aye!"
Their footfalls grew distant; Ritsuka released the breath he held.
"Da Vinci, did you get all that? The one who mentioned the target - can you track him?"
"I did, but I can't pinpoint his signature. It's... gods above, what are these readings? Ritsuka, be on your guard. Those men you heard - their signatures behave almost like a... a blackening of sorts, but far more distorted."
"Wonderful," he muttered. Then, to the knights: "Weapons up! Be ready for a confrontation, we may have to fight our way out of this!"
Per da Vinci's directions they maneuvered their way down cramped hallways and militaristic corridors. No decorations or signs of leisure greeted them; everything lining the crystalline walls held murderous purpose, whether it be an informational terminal to better facilitate the act, or some strange, futuristic weapon to carry it out.
These were a warlike peoples.
"Da Vinci, who are those soldiers?"
"I can't tell you, Ritsuka. We have absolutely no information on wherever it is you are. The file is blank. Not even a name or date."
"You misunderstand," Merlin interrupted. "SHEBA pulls its analysis from beyond time and space, but the 'beyond' no longer has access to this reality. The World maintains no presence here. Gaia is dead. One human remains, and through him Alaya survives. That single human was our entry point. He is the only entry point."
It hit Ritsuka like a truck.
"So the Wizard Marshall is...?"
"Aye. He is attempting a rescue, so we might secure our threshold here."
Lancelot frowned. "You said 'one human', wizard. Then who were those voices we heard?"
"They are the Liners - monstrous beings who have transcended their former humanity through science, biological engineering and dangerous amounts of zealotry."
"Zealotry?"
"Words cannot describe it. Thou shalt see soon enough."
The castle trembled beneath the weight of some unseen force, a foreign apocalypse against which all things suffered. Sirens blared. Metallic groans and shrieks echoed from the upper floors, wherever they may be. Ritsuka saw no stairs, elevators or anything of the sort. The hallway seemingly twisted into infinity. Nothing here made sense. No logic. No emotion. Just madness, and the death of all things.
More voices from the corners.
"It assails the World Trees! The Second Seat is evacuating the citizenry as we speak! They require air support!"
"We're on it! Tell them the Fifth is pursuing the otherworlders - Galat will see it done personally!"
"Understood, be safe!"
"'Otherworlders'?" Tristan muttered.
Gawain's grip tightened around his sword's hilt. "They've heard of us, methinks."
"If this place is so thoroughly cut from the Greater History, that cannot be."
"Aye. Something foul is afoot here."
Something pungent and rotten wafted from around the next turn. Ritsuka gagged.
"Ritsuka! Don't move! This... this reading—!"
"Da Vinci?"
"It's the size of a man, but... but the intensity - it rivals a nuclear weapon! Whoever it is, they're a walking bomb!"
Only the most severe of Noble Phantasms could match that output, and their owners were always Grands or something more sinister - daemons, Beasts, and the like. For them to encounter such a signature so soon...
Merlin readied his staff, his expression steeled, and Ritsuka's heart fell to his stomach. The wizard muttered two words.
"Ether Liner."
The party gathered their focus and rounded the corner. A solid crystal door, the first of seventy-eight, obstructed their path forward. A scuffed armored warrior of soot and olive stood guard there, reading a well-used leather bound tome. Dozens of bookmarks denoted passages of interest; if it was a personal copy, the figure clearly favored it.
Everything about the man screamed 'disrepair', as if he had neither the time nor energy to maintain his person or belongings. His armor, a strange collision of past and future: cracked and dented. His book: scuffed and dirtied, frayed at its edges. He stood like a man uncaring, a man broken, and what little energy he seemed able to muster he directed to the frenzied eagerness with which his finger traced the book's words.
They saw no visible skin, no hints of any former or present humanity. Some sort of futuristic knight, belonging to two ages long separated.
And the Knights of Round Table despised him immediately, for one simple reason.
"State thy name!" Gawain snarled.
This Ether Liner's armor, coloring excluded, looked exactly like the Knight of the Sun's.
The man glanced from his book. Their numbers recorded, potential identifies profiled, a strategy devised.
"You face Tine Galat, First Knight of the Fifth Seat, loyal servant of the High Spark's will."
The fifth seat of the Round Table. Sir Gawain's place.
Tine Galat, Galatine.
The original thudded to the front, every nerve ablaze.
"How do you know of us and our organization?"
The doppelganger flipped to a passage well studied. He cleared his throat.
"As stated, starting at the seventh line of the Angel's thirteenth prophecy! 'And if despite your best efforts hope at last leaves you, look to the skies and utter a prayer. Against all odds, the Counter Force may send to you an army from outside time and space, from an organization called Chaldea.'"
...
The man straightened his posture.
"'If this day finally comes, you are to seek a young man of black hair and blue eyes, whose name is Ritsuka Fujimaru. He will have a red tattoo upon his right hand.'"
The black helmet shifted. Ritsuka backed away, covered by Mash.
"'He will be protected by the woman Mash Kyrielight, the Shielder, noted by her pink hair and purple eyes.'"
Merlin took a slow breath. "And so it at last begins..."
"'They will come with the Servants, heroes from across the alternate ages, in which our people and our hope still draw breath'," the Ether Liner declared. "'The young Master Fujimaru will know of a magical technique called 'rayshifting', through which we might have a chance at survival. I urge you all to do what you must to live on and outlast this calamity. May reason and compassion guide your path.'"
He snapped the tome shut, placed it with religious reverence into a pouch strapped to his thigh.
Tine Galat, sixty-sixth inheritor of the Cornish knight Gawain's seat at the Round Table, took a single, titanic step forward.
"It is my glorious honor to, on this day, begin the Exodus of our people!"
His feet spread, his knees crouched, his armored hands came together at his right hip.
And the Ether Liner...
"I am..."
...began to chant.
"...the bone of my sword!"
Fate/ess
"Steel is my body! Grain is my blood!
I have created this blade..."
An alien energy.
A path again followed.
As that man instructed, so very long ago.
"...over a thousand times!"
Hardbreach - 3
"Unaware of loss! Nor aware of gain!"
From the armor's chinks and gaps: the Grain.
The ruined Spider's maleficence.
The poison with which they fought.
"I've withstood pain to follow the Angel's Notes!
I have no regrets! This is the only path!"
It coalesced.
Merged.
And took shape.
"So!"
Only with the power of a TYPE.
Only with its blood.
Guided by reinforcement and alteration.
Dented gauntlets separated.
Between them a blade.
A demonic sword.
"As I pray!"
To honor their guardian angel, his Liners would survive.
The warrior Tine Galat, so ordinary among his cohorts, drew from nothingness his Knight Arm.
In his hands:
A bastardized, dysfunctional replica of Excalibur Galatine.
"I am the High Spark's..."
The Ether Liner charged the Chaldean line like a missile, ORT's blood his fuel.
SPARKS LINER HIGH
"...GREATEST WORK!"
Confusion Corner
High Spark's Liner
These three chapters - 14, 15, 16 - are why I decided to make these Confusion Corners. We are going to break this down step by step into three parts, all covering the same thing:
Notes.
14's Confusion Corner will cover canon Notes - what it is, and the various relevant terms and definitions.
15's Confusion Corner will cover Fateless Notes - how this story interprets canon Notes in a way that links this formerly forgotten part of the Nasuverse back to the greater whole.
16's Confusion Corner will cover why I am doing this - the point behind merging all of this together, and my reasoning for why it's required and necessary.
Let's get right into it. We'll start with the chapter titles, followed by the short story's summary.
Notes' chapter titles (VERY IMPORTANT - these act as Fateless' six core plot threads):
i. Original Sin
ii. Public Garden
iii. Roman (yes, rereaders, it was hidden in plain sight all along)
iv. After Images
v. How A Star is Born (Isn't this familiar?)
vi. Glitter Love
Now for Notes' summary:
« A story that describes the extermination of humanity, and the war between the new humans and the planets. Its genre is science fiction.
It recounts fairy tales of the war between the new humans, who adapted to the environment, and the A-Rays, who came from the artificially created next-generation ecosystems.
On the planet that was doomed to death, political strife developed between the two races, to the point where the mysterious beings, the Aristoteles, rushed over from the universe with the intent of completely wiping out all life-
In any case, ultimately it is a hopeless story. »
As stated in Chapter 8's Confusion Corner, Notes is the Nasuverse's apocalypse story, its Book of Revelation equivalent. It's disconnected from the rest of the multiverse; as of right now, twenty-three years after it was written, we still have barely any worldbuilding for Notes beyond bits and pieces. We don't know what causes the situation, nor do we know how the final battle between the TYPEs and the Ether Liners end. Hell, we don't even know who the Ether Liners are - the only named Ether Liner is Ado Edem himself.
What's an Ether Liner, you ask? Here's the Notes side materials entry - it's literally the only information we have:
Knights
[ Ether Liner ]
Life form that received an even stronger effect from the drastic environment. They wield a special weapon called the Demonic Swords. Aggressive species that can fight the A-rays equally without any support of firearms of the old age.
There are currently 78 Knights enlisted.
[ Angel Voice: Notes. ]
To that end, the pseudo-OC Tine Galat is counted among these seventy-eight warriors. Part of Fateless' goal is to flesh out this underdeveloped and abandoned setting into something more. I call Tine a "pseudo-OC" because he's an original character much in the way Artoria Pendragon is Nasu's original character: Tine - and all the other Fateless Ether Liners for that matter - is an IRL mythological hero taken in a new direction. Hardcore Arthurian lore nerds might piece his identity together over the next few chapters; I leave a ton of hints. But we'll save that discussion for later.
And here's the info on the Knight Arms, the "demonic swords" the Ether Liners wield:
Magic Sword
[ knight arms ]
The name of the weapon that Knights carry.
All human species born in this world are effected by Gin. Babies born with a large amount of Gin in them shape it as if it's their bones during their lives, and when they reach adulthood, it is laid outside their body. Because it is created with the unanalyzed entity Gin, it is able to cause various effects and its power is strong enough to be considered a weapon.
Only few humans can shape the Demonic Swords, and those who carry a Demonic Sword powerful enough to be used for war are considered as Knights. Only one Demonic Sword exists per Knight.
[ Angel Voice: Notes. ]
As usual, bolded and bolded-underlined sentences are of key relevance to Fateless, which we'll discuss in the next Confusion Corner. Some of you may have realized the above two entries, when taken together, sound an awful lot like prototypical, sci-fi versions of Servants. That's part of Notes' importance - many of its ideas were taken and iterated on in Nasu's later works, and as such, a large part of the Nasuverse's interconnectivity is not narrative, but thematic in nature. We're gonna focus heavily on that thematic interconnectivity in future Confusion Corners.
"Gin" in this case is what Fateless calls Grain:
Gin
[ grain "Ether" ]
Space dust. Name given to all the harmful and unpredictable particles generated from the planet that lost its function. Although it is harmful to humans, sometimes it gives an unique effect to their body, and some call it Ether.
The Hundred A-rays, Human Species, Knights, are all new species created by this Gin. The energy transfer rate of the Gin scattered in atmosphere is incredible, and it resulted in a new level of warfare that was never possible on this planet.
With A-rays who can take in Gin into their body and Demonic Swords crystallized by Gin, all the weapons of the old age became useless.
[ Angel Voice: Notes. ]
If the official term is Gin, then why does this story call it Grain? Well, for the same reason Od is called prana - clarity. Gin's a real-world alcoholic beverage, lol, and there's a genuine likelihood that readers unfamiliar with Notes will see the word "gin" and think of the liquor. "Grain", meanwhile, is a noun describing any form of particulate matter, which, as we can see in the above entry, is what Gin literally is. It's "space dust". For similar reasons, "Od" is a two letter word beginning with O, and there's a non-zero chance it'll be misread for "on", "or", "of", etc. "Prana", meanwhile, is an easy fanon term that shares a likeness with "mana". For those reasons, within this story, the terms "Grain" and "prana" will be used as fanon synonyms for their official terminology. It's all chuuni bullshit in the end, anyway.
Fateless twists Grain a bit because, in canon, it's frankly a jumbled mess: it's called "Ether" despite its side materials entry describing modern True Ether almost word for word. True Ether and Ether are two wildly different things - this is what happens, I guess, when a twenty year old term isn't updated to modernity. Don't worry about it for now, it'll receive an explanation in a distant future chapter.
Regarding the world they live in:
Land of Steel
[ over count 1999. ]
A planet that died. A globe that reached its end. A world where living things can't live.
The name of the world in the present time. It's not its official name, but a nick name passed down between the people who live in the corrupted land. Like the name Land of Steel indicates, a large part of the continent are now wild lands that are torn apart, covered by a tainted gray colored cloud.
Food can't be grown, and the atmosphere is no longer suited for the animals.
To put it in a human species way, a drastic end of a century. But even after the mother planet died, the humans were able to live on with its developed civil technology.
Even the planet's end where people once imagined, couldn't bring an end to mankind.
[ Angel Voice: Notes. ]
Here are the trans-human soldiers Merlin mentioned in the chapter, the Liners:
Human Species
[ Liner ]
Human race on the Land of Steel. Evolved form of the old human beings who adapted to this world without changing their shape. They technically belong to the A-rays as well.
They were able to adapt and live on today's environment, but they still don't carry any ability more than a normal human being.
They are building a country in order to reconstruct their old civilization. Cease-fire with the Hundred A-rays.
[ Angel Voice: Notes. ]
And here's the Zalgo-infused eldritch horror that systematically annihilated half of Chaldea's Servant army in one fell swoop:
Cross
[ type:saturn ]
A cross shaped Aristoteles that is 3000 meters long.
It's outer shell is composed of an illuminating mineral, and there's nothing else. This flying object fires a rain of light to the ground from its body.
The rain is a cross shaped electric impact that is a meter long, and it explodes as it hits the ground, annihilating the living things around it. There are variations to this cross shaped light and some causes an earthquake that tears apart the earth as it lands on the ground. The crosses struck on the ground are just like tombs spread about on the wild land.
Also known as the Flying Fortress, it seems to be the leader of the Aristoteles's that are on the planet.
[ Angel Voice: Notes. ]
To quote the Fateless passage earlier: "A volley of electromagnetic projectiles swept the sky in a microsecond."
Regarding the Aristoteles, we currently have canon descriptions for four: Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, and ORT. Venus and Jupiter will have their entries posted once they become relevant to the story. We technically have an idea of what Brunestud looks like, but he's a special case we'll save for later, too. Fateless' naming conventions for the Aristoteles are based on the canon in-universe names for Saturn (the Cross, given through its entry) and ORT (the Spider, labeled as such by Angra Mainyu in Hollow Ataraxia) respectively. The unknown rest - Mars, Uranus, etc. - have received fanon makeovers, themed around what we know of Type-Moon's Aristotele design philosophy. More on them later.
I want you guys to really understand that despite its importance within the larger Nasuverse, Notes has very little worldbuilding. Just in this Confusion Corner alone, the entries I've copy-pasted from tmdict account for a good portion of what we know about the Land of Steel and the Nasuverse's apocalypse story.
Like seriously, let's do the math here. I posted six entries. There are a total of eighteen listed on tmdict.
6/18 is 33% exactly. That's a third of Notes' worldbuilding in a shitty fanfic's end-of-chapter footnote. That's why I'm doing this, it's that obscure. But as I stated in chapters prior, Nasu also references this "obscure" short story constantly. We'll talk about what that might mean, and how it relates to Fateless, over the next two chapters. I've done my best to modernize the Land of Steel while still respecting its canon.
Lastly: if any of you wish to read Gun God's story, if you want to learn more about the canon that serves as one of Fateless' source material cornerstones, there is a complete fan translation posted on the Beast Lair forums. I'd post the link here, but ffnet SUCKS so google this phrase: "notes beast lair fan translation", and it'll be the first result. Within that post you'll also find a zip file for offline storage, if you're interested. The zip file is literally 5.1MB - that's how short this short story is, lmao, but I'll also provide a short overview here for those of you who can't be assed. Keep in mind that the following text contains heavy Notes spoilers.
Babel's Tale
In Notes, the world, Gaia, is dead, but humanity has managed to eke out a miserable existence on its blasted surface. The world, now called the Land of Steel, is plagued by a substance called Grain, said to be the building block of nature; it's a toxic substance, and humanity artificially modifies itself to withstand its poisonous effects. These modified humans call themselves Liners, because Nasu loves his strange chuuni terms. Humanity then goes one step further: in an attempt to revive the extinct wildlife, they merge human and animal DNA into new configurations, and the resulting creatures are called A-Rays. Naturally, the Liners and A-Rays really do not like each other, and the resulting war is called the Great War, or occasionally "Babel's Tale". The A-Rays kick Liner ass, so humanity goes one step further again, and somehow creates the Ether Liners.
Ether Liners are different from Liners in that they can use the normally toxic Grain to their own advantage. They're able to draw the stuff out of their bodies and shape them into weapons, "demonic swords", which the fandom nowadays calls Knight Arms. Each Ether Liner has one unique Knight Arm, and there are 78 of these guys running around fighting the A-Rays. Side materials state that an Ether Liner is basically a walking nuke, a superhuman science-fiction "fuck you" machine. The only named Ether Liner is a guy called Ado Edem, his Knight Arm is something called Slash Emperor, and he's one of two characters in the entire Nasuverse confirmed to have killed a TYPE (and then he killed another one). The other is Zelretch. You can plug Ado's name into google images and it'll pull up an old pixelated concept sketch Takeuchi made way back in the day.
Know that everything you just read is literally all the background lore we've had for Notes for the last twenty-three years before The Literal End Of Everything happens.
The Literal End Of Everything, in this case, is that Gaia hates that humanity's still living on its desiccated corpse. So what does it do? Right before it kicks the bucket, it asks the other planets for help.
Enter the TYPEs.
As we've previously discussed, that big-ass freaky green eldritch monster snoozing in the crystals down in South America is a TYPE. In Notes they're called Aristoteles or Ultimate Ones. They're the embodiment of a planet, their "will" given form and power. In Notes, they're sent by the other planets to systematically wipe humanity off Gaia's corpse so it can die in peace. It's an extermination operation, and these things don't care about the rules. They're extraterrestrial, they're "outside the system" so to speak, and so terrestrial weapons or Gaian constructs like Noble Phantasms can't really affect them all too much. The Liners and A-Rays call a truce, saddle up, and that's how the end of the world starts.
The story's actual written text disregards all of this in favor of in-the-moment-styled chapters following the last unmodified human left on the planet, a fellow with no name, known only as the Gun God. It's an ironic title given to him by others for his actions during an operation against TYPE:Venus. He shot down the TYPE using a strange rifle, the Black Barrel, which has anti-Grain properties and forcibly imposes the concept of natural lifespans on anything it shoots. Very effective in a world filled with Grain, but he mostly uses it to just put food on the table and pay his rent. Each chapter focuses on Gun God's thoughts and opinions regarding his precarious situation, especially the oddly wholesome relationship he's developing with an angelic girl, V/V, who he's taken in as a roommate (against his will). I won't spoil the development between these two, it's honestly kinda cute.
And then, in true Nasuverse fashion, the short story ends with Gun God deploying to defend his home against the incoming TYPE Saturn. The aircraft he's in takes damage and malfunctions. He's injured, can't escape, and Notes ends with the last true human, the "Last Seed", slowly suffocating to death as his flying coffin ascends into the upper stratosphere.
The end.
...
;)