I do not own Puella Magi Madoka Magica or any of the Fate series. Support the official releases.
"I uhh.." Mami spluttered at the tone her Servant had introduced himself with. It reeked of pride and arrogance. Her cheeks flushed with shock and embarrassment at the way he addressed her. That was not how she was expecting a Hero of Legend to act. The two stared at each other for a second, completely silent.
"Well, are you going to say anything? Or was I summoned by someone remotely?" He said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. His eyes darted around, scanning the area for any potential threats. Finding nothing, his eyes settled back onto the girl before him.
"Are you mute, mongrel? What say you?" He demanded, his voice rising in anger at the delay in the response to a simple question. Golden energy flared around him as his emotions rose. His logical side chided himself for being childish and wasting valuable Mana, but as a King he demanded answers no matter what. The abrupt sound forced Mami out of her emotionally conflicted stupor.
"I am your Master!" The words were out of her mouth before she realized it. She let a breath out that she hadn't even realized she was holding as the magical pressure surrounding the area lessened.
"Was that so hard, child? Being prompt in your answers is a good thing to learn, especially while you're young." He said, sneering slightly at the still embarrassed look on her face. While he was technically the "Servant" in this relationship, that didn't mean that he was completely subservient. He felt he needed to show his Master exactly who she was dealing with. From his perspective he was the rightful ruler of this world, and the people needed to be reminded of their betters.
"You don't just ask people something like that! It's not how you usually begin conversations." Mami replied, somewhat annoyed with the Servant's tone of voice. In her mind, he was supposed to serve her, not the other way around. She would make him realize that. The symbols that had appeared on her hand itched and burned with a fire that matched her conflicted feelings. She remembered Kyubey telling her that these would allow her to make her Servant obey her without question, even if it was against their will. She surmised that the effects of a Seal could make an order last as long as the contract did. Steeling herself, she allowed the Mana flowing through the Seal to reach a fever pitch, which caused it to glow with a red light. Gilgamesh's face went slack, then contorted with rage as he felt the change in the mana he was drawing from his Master.
"I am the Master in this relationship, and you will treat me like it! By my Command Seal, you will obey my orders and respect me!" Blinding red light shot out around her, striking the Servant full in the chest. His face went from rage to shock as he fell backwards, catching himself on the small wall that surrounded the roof. Upon rising to his feet, a murderous look appeared on his handsome face.
"You absolute fool! You would waste a Command Seal on a paltry thing like this? I can see now that you are unworthy to be my Master! Now perish!" He snarled, flashing his arm out as golden ripples of light appeared around Mami, completely surrounding her. There was not a single part of her that was visible to the outside world, yet she was completely calm in this. She knew that she had won this power move.
"No I won't Archer. Stand down." She said, a smug look on her face. The Golden King didn't deign to respond, merely attempting to close his hand and let the arrows fly. The only problem was that he couldn't close his hand. He mentally ordered the projectiles to fly, only to find his body not obeying him. Dismissing the portals surrounding Mami, he quickly created one next to him and drew a beautiful sword before appearing behind her in a blaze of speed. She yelped in surprise and shut her eyes tightly, expecting the bite of the swords' blade, only that pain never came. Opening her eyes, she could feel the steel pointing directly at her back, right where her heart would be, so close it was pricking at the fabric of her blouse. Turning around to see her Servant's face, it was strained and nearly unrecognizable with anger. His muscles were trembling with exertion as opposing orders stemmed from his mind and Spiritual Core. She felt kind of bad about forcing this on him against his will, but she hadn't gotten the impression of someone who would work with her from him, so it was necessary.
"Well done, Mami. I wasn't certain that a Command Seal enhanced by the power of a Magical Girl would even work on this one, but it did. He will be a valuable asset in the war to come." Kyubey thought to the two before him. Gilgamesh's madness tinged eyes flashed from his traitorous Master to the creature that trotted out from behind an air conditioning unit and sat down at his feet.
"I guess so, Kyubey. I am sorry about having to do that, but you have to follow my orders in this war. I can't allow for any chance at defeat." She said, backing away from the sword, which was still relatively close to her. Kyubey skittered near her feet, so as not to be crushed when the King of Heroes stumbled forward as his tense muscles released simultaneously as she moved out of range of his stab. His armor clanked as he fell to one knee, stopping himself by stabbing the sword blade into the concrete roof, cracking it in the process. When he was in this position, Mami thought that he looked like a knight kneeling before his liege, then he lifted his head once more and shattered that image. The expression on his face was that of an injured and caged animal, not one of loyalty. She made a mental note to never drop her guard around him, as she was certain he would strike her down without so much as a second thought.
"I despise you, Mongrel. You have earned yourself an enemy this day, I do not forgive such insults easily." He said, his voice regal and filled with hatred. Mami felt a sense of dread come over her at his words, since he didn't seem to be the sort to make empty threats. However, she was the one with control over him, at least for now. She needed to make sure she made the most of it while it was possible to. Kyubey had said that Holy Grail Wars were generally deadly affairs, after all.
"With that settled, Mami. I have some Master Candidates in mind for our allies and I would prefer for you and Archer to accompany me to recruit them to our cause." He remarked as he leapt from his spot to the top of the air conditioning system. Gilgamesh's face shifted from rage to confusion at those words. He had been summoned in a Holy Grail War before, and there was nothing like this the last time around. His Master and the Master of Assassin had been allies, but this was a whole different level. He had noticed something odd about the size of the Grail's energy when he had been summoned, it had felt larger than the last time. Like there were more Servants in play…
That was its game, Gilgamesh realized, that this creature wished to gain control of the Grail, since it couldn't fight for it itself. He smirked arrogantly, the rage buried for the time being. If what he considered vermin wished to control him through this whelp, then he would make sure the last thing he did would be to cause its demise. Thus saith the King of Uruk.
"Oi, girl! I'm going to be going into my Astral form to observe the area. If you need to communicate, think towards me. Since you are familiar with this vermin here, you must be knowledgeable on telepathy as well. Do not disturb me unless the matter is urgent." He said to Mami, interrupting whatever pointless thing she was saying to the interloper. Before she could respond, he disappeared in motes of Golden Light. Mami frowned at Archer's sudden change in behavior, but didn't really want to pry into it at the moment. There would be time for that later and there was much to do if they wanted to get their forces assembled as quickly as possible.
"Will that matter at all, Kyubey? If he's in Astral form or not?" She asked the Incubator, not really sure how to proceed.
"It shouldn't matter in the long run. If anything, it will make transit from place to place simpler, since there would be fewer people visibly traveling and he isn't exactly very subtle." He replied, swishing his tail behind him. The Servant's anger might prove problematic for it, but that was why Kyubey was making redundancies. There was at least one other Servant to be summoned from the artifacts he had obtained that could take Gilgamesh on in battle and stand a very good chance at winning. That was assuming that the Master was up to the task. One thing that Kyubey had learned from observing the last war that Gilgamesh was involved in was that this particular Archer was exceedingly Mana efficient for one of his caliber. He would need to find Masters that were equal to or greater in power than Mami in order to counteract this issue. Conveniently, there were multiple powerful Magical Girls in the nearby radius that were all fairly close to her strength.
"So, may I make a suggestion about the first Master Candidate we go to tonight?" She asked the creature before her, having remembered one of her old students that was supposedly still nearby, pretty much haunting her father's old church and the surrounding territory. She'd definitely be the type to join them after learning about the Grail. Mami felt bad about exploiting a girl who had been through tragedy like this, but she was incredibly powerful and had worked with Mami before, so she trusted Kyoko Sakura more than most of the others in the area.
"I had some choices in mind as well, Mami. May I ask who it is that you were thinking of?" Kyubey cocked his head cutely as he said this part. For him, getting results was all that mattered, and depending on who Mami's choice was, it would help with maintaining the tight hold he had over her mind.
"Kyoko Sakura. I have worked with her before and trust her, even though we have fallen out of touch. I am confident she would join our side, seeing as she would jump at the chance to undo some of her mistakes at this point." She said, supporting it with the best logic she could. She knew that Kyubey would do what he believed to be best if he saw a flaw in the reasoning, so she tried to make it sound as good as she could.
"She will do. Kyoko Sakura was one of the names on my list of Master Candidates, so I do not mind if we stop to see her first. Shall we get going?" The Incubator said, darting to the edge of the rooftop and leaping through the air to the building on the other side. It then ran up the side of the wall like it was the ground, completely defying the existence of gravity as it did so.
"Archer, please follow us to our destination, where you will await further instructions." She thought, hoping that her Servant would hear and understand her mental orders. She could feel the exasperation coming through the link as he responded in the affirmative. Pleased with herself, she also leapt off the roof, though she sailed on a much higher trajectory than Kyubey had. She landed on the next roof lightly and caught up to the alien within the next few buildings. Upon catching up, she scooped him off the ground and continued making her way to the abandoned church her somewhat-ally considered to be home.
Homura wasn't having a very restful night. After their conversation, Archer had told her he was familiar with manipulating paperwork, so he was going to start working on getting her out of the hospital early, as well as creating a fake identity for himself. His reasoning would be that it would make movement easier if he was able to function as a "legal guardian" for Homura, supposedly in the employ of her absentee uncle. He had left a while ago, since there wasn't much he could do in the hospital. Of course, that left Homura in a similar predicament, the only problem with that was that she couldn't just ghost out of there like her red-cloaked Servant. She'd had to lay there, watching the sun set, bored out of her mind. Finally, when the darkness of night fell upon the room, she was able to drift off to sleep, welcoming the reprieve.
Well, that's what would normally happen.
Her mind was assaulted by the smell of the blood-soaked earth. Bodies lay everywhere, men, women and children. This had been the site of a massacre. The smoke of the gunpowder in the humid air made it hard to breathe, yet she pushed on. A wartorn jungle village had been laid waste to before she had arrived. Quickly checking the area's victims, not a single one of them was breathing, except one. Beneath the body of a woman who must have been his mother, a small wounded boy lay on the ground before her, barely clinging to life with a bullet hole through his abdomen. She scooped him up out of the pool of his mothers' blood. Thankfully, he wasn't in any immediate danger, but the wound would likely threaten his life if he didn't get medical attention as soon as possible. She then ran into one of the more intact huts and placed him on one of the less filthy beds. Noticing her arms as she did so, she was shocked. Instead of her usual self, these were deeply tanned and shrouded in the brilliantly red cloak of her Servant. Though her reaction didn't stop his body in this situation. He turned and dashed back out the door, running directly into the thick of the battle. She realized that she was merely a witness to this horrific scene.
"I am the bone of my sword…" He murmured beneath his breath. Homura was only able to tell what he said because she also felt the movement of her lips. Then, through magic, the rough texture of the cloth tied hilts of a pair of swords appeared. She couldn't look down at them because Archer didn't slow down to admire them, he wove through the hail of bullets and blocked those that came too close to his body. The next thing she knew, they were on top of one of the machine gun nests located throughout the village, which was in the middle of firing at a different position. It didn't matter though, with a flash of the blades, the barrels on the weapons poking out of the nest's safety fell in multiple pieces. From her perspective, Homura was shocked, there wasn't even a hint of resistance as the two swords cleaved through the solid metal. He then vaulted over the fortified position and landed on the inside, staring five armed men down. The look on their faces said it all. They were terrified of him.
Like a machine, he took one of them down before they could even react. The rest all trained their guns on his position, but he was no longer there. The next one's head fell to the ground with a thump. Their fear skyrocketed even higher, getting to the point of becoming palpable as they began firing wildly around the room. Homura felt the blades disappear and a singular one materialized in their place. Looking at it, she sensed its true name, Joyeuse. She wondered why Archer would have selected it, but before she could truly finish her musings, he leapt into action. Everything went right in this situation. One mans' weapon misfired and the remaining two were facing the other way from his point of landing. With a single stroke of the blade, they were cut in twain, and their dying bodies fell to the ground in two pieces. After this, she could tell what he was thinking. There was regret that he had to kill them, but they would have continued killing the innocent people in this village as they had so many others, and there would need to be more bloodshed before the threat was gone.
Once again, he dismissed the holy sword in his hands and began climbing to the top of a nearby hut. Once on top, he leapt into the trees, running from branch to branch without needing to slow down much. Upon reaching a position behind what appeared to be the main camp of the group occupying the village, he summoned a black compound bow, though it all seemed to be one piece, including the string. Then he brought forth a drill-like sword.
"My core is twisted in Madness..." He said as he nocked it like an arrow and let it fly. Homura was confused for the split second it flew through the air, since it didn't seem that it was aimed for the leader. Then it hit the ground. The roar of the explosion tore through the air as the resulting fireball rose towards Heaven. A grim feeling came from the body she was watching through the eyes of as he then ran back to the hut that he had left the child in. He was sickened at the atrocity he had seen, but would not bend at all. The only thing that mattered to him was that he had saved the singular survivor of the village. His body was exhausted, and he pushed it to the breaking point and beyond. It took him several hours, but the pair arrived in the next village over, which thankfully had a medical tent that he dropped the child off at. He stayed with the boy until he was no longer in critical condition, then left without sleeping once. Homura's view of his actions faded as he ran into the jungle once more, probably going to save more people from this group, since there were undoubtedly more of them. There always were…
When her vision cleared, there was only fire surrounding her. She felt her feet stumble over the rubble in a desperate attempt to escape the flames, yet they were seemingly sentient, hounding her every step. A young boys' voice was calling for his parents. It took her several moments to realize that she could feel her voice growing hoarse, as if she was the one yelling. It was with this realization that she knew this must be another one of Archer's memories. Finally, after he had given up on calling for his parents, he fell to the ground as his small body was battered by a slew of rubble falling on top of him, partially burying him.
The fire crackled around the place he lay, not quite reaching but always there. The world was fading, and she could begin to feel the cold embrace of death. She felt the boy's arm reach up to the sky, the animalistic desire to live coursing through his veins, though it wasn't enough to budge the rubble. Then just before the end, the impossible happened.
A crying man in a black trench coat appeared and caught his hand just as it began to fall. Warm energy shot through his body, slowing the damage caused by the wounds and even starting to reverse it. A beatific smile appeared on the man's face, as if this one thing was giving him the reason to live.
"Thank you…" He sobbed. Homura knew this man was broken, yet his wish to save this one person must have inspired Archer's later actions, if the previous dream was any indication to go by. She knew that he survived this incident at least. Her vision faded to black once more as the man began to dig Archer's child body out of the rubble.
The room was eerily silent as a teenage boy placed the small silver earring passed down through his family into the center of a summoning circle. Surely this family heirloom would be able to bring something of his kin back to him. He sniffled, though not out of any emotional turmoil. The house had a bone chilling cold that seeped into the very walls themselves. It was the freezing chill of loneliness, the feeling that comes when you are alone in the darkness. He hoped desperately that this would be able to dull that pain, at least until he was able to use the Grail to bring back his family. He only had the barest memory of them, but it was his most precious memory. It was the last time he had truly felt loved. What he wouldn't give to feel that again, no one knew.
Rousing himself out of the stupor he had fallen into for a moment, he immediately focused on the matter at hand. He needed to summon a Servant. He thought back to what the chant he had composed was and brought it to the forefront of his mind. Then, he began.
"Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Let each be turned over five times, simply breaking asunder the fulfilled time."
At this first verse, the circle began to glow, responding to the words as they were spoken. The boy was filled with wonder at the sight, wondering who he would bring forth with this earring as a catalyst.
"Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let my great master - be the ancestor. Raise a wall, against the wind that shall fall. Close the four cardinal gates. Come out from the crown. Rotate the three-branched road reaching the Kingdom."
At this second verse, the boy's hand began to burn with pain such as he had never felt before. Despite this, he grit his teeth and continued. The circle began to flash in a frenzy, as if a wild animal was struggling to break forth.
"An oath shall be sworn here! I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven. I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell! – From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint and guide me to the mysteries of Magic, Protector of the Balance!"
With a mighty roar, wind swirled around the room, smelling like an ancient forest and the blood of a battlefield. Standing over the place where the earring lay, there was a man dressed primarily in blue, a long, tattered cloak flowed around him, swaying in an invisible breeze. In his right hand, he held a carven wood staff with a small charm dangling from the hefty end of the top. His face was partially concealed by a fur lined hood, but there was a sense of wry humor written on the part that the boy could see.
"Huh, looks like I was summoned as a Caster again. Dammit." The man said, looking over himself. With his free hand, he drew back the hood and let it fall behind him, revealing a handsome face framed with blue hair. On his ears he wore identical silver earrings to the one that had been used to summon him. The boy wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, since he had always heard that the first thing said by a Servant is "Are you my Master?" It looks like he summoned a unique one in this regard.
"Well, with that disappointment clear, I suppose I should ask this. Kid, are you my Master?" He asked, putting his hand up to his face during the first part, then smiling bitterly into it before bringing his hand back down for the question. With a single fluid motion, he brought his staff up and held it over his shoulders in a nonchalant manner, but then frowned, as if he was used to doing that with something that was a different weight. That small note of confusion made the end of his question sound a bit more unsure than he probably would have liked, but it would have to do.
"I-I am your Master!" The boy said ecstatically. He was thrilled that it had worked to begin with, but this seemed to be a pretty good Servant. He still had no idea who he was though…
"Now that the formality is out of the way, I should introduce myself. I'm Cu Chulainn, Ireland's Child of Light, the Shield of Ulster, or the Hound of Culann. Usually I'd also be the Blue Spearman of the Wind, but I think I already touched on why that's not the case here. Now, what would your name be? Or are you one of those Masters who is a stick in the mud about keeping themselves anonymous?" He said, closing one eye while giving a charming smile again. The boy was put at ease by his demeanor, it was warm and friendly, something he hadn't encountered much of in his short life. Suddenly, an alarm clock beeped elsewhere in the house, startling the blue haired Servant. His confident air evaporated in an instant, and he reacted as though there was an immediate threat. In a flash, he was in front of his Master, staff at the ready and a string of Runes on the ground before him, ready to be unleashed upon any form of danger that might make itself known. A few tense seconds later, Cu realized that it wasn't anything dangerous to him or his Master, so the look on his face was now rather sheepish.
"I am Haru Nakazawa, head of house Nakazawa. Say, since my alarm went off, that means it's about time for me to make breakfast. How do you like your eggs cooked?" Haru asked the Cu, smiling joyously at his Servant's actions, over the top as they were.
"Soft Scrambled with Salmon in them." Caster replied, grinning at the mention of food, a hungry gleam making itself known in his eye. Ireland's Child of Light had a feeling this was going to be an interesting Grail War, if his Master was any indication to go by.
The odd trio of an alien, a Magical Girl, and an astralized Heroic Spirit landed in front of a dilapidated Catholic Church. Its stone walls were crumbling as the wind and rain continued to erode them as time passed. The stained glass windows were even fading from lack of care, panes cracked and broken from weathering. No one looking from the outside would have guessed a teenage girl lived within these ruins. Yet Mami knew better. She hoped that Kyoko would be willing to help them in this endeavor, despite their rocky history. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Nothing happened for a moment, and she could feel the smug aura coming off of her Servant, incorporeal though he was. Finally, the massive wooden door creaked open slightly, just enough for the occupant to see out of.
"Mami? What the Hell are you doing here? When we parted ways, it was supposed to be permanent!" She said, slamming the door shut in Mami's face. Mami sighed and placed her palm against her face. Archer's near maniacal laughter at this turn of events faded in as he materialized.
"Well, girl, looks like the person we came to see wants nothing to do with you!" He said through his chuckles. Mami's eyes gained a dark look in them as he continued to laugh and mock her.
"Archer, open the door." She remarked coldly. His mocking tone immediately vanished as his body forced itself to comply with his Master's wishes. While he was going to have to do what she said, he could definitely make it as frustrating as possible as he did so. Summoning forth his not inconsiderable physical strength, he hit the doors with a gold armored fist. The doors flung open and hit the walls with a resounding thud, their hinges groaning from the strain. The red-haired girl making her way down the center aisle turned to face the sound of the impact, an expression of rage on her face. That was, until she saw it wasn't her old mentor who had done it. Staring at her was a man in audaciously golden armor, a smirk on his handsome face.
"Tch. You should know better than to shut the door in the Kings' face." He said, his voice filled with arrogance. She could see Mami and Kyubey behind him, but the presence he gave off made her dismiss them as insignificant compared to his radiance. Every instinct she had screeched in fear at him, but Kyoko wasn't one to back down from a battle. In a flash, she held her spear in her hands. Glowing red power surrounded her being, lashing out against the suffocating strength of the man before her. Yet it was as if a drop of water was trying to overwhelm an ocean's fury. The grin on the King of Heroes' face widened more as he flicked his outstretched wrist dramatically and summoned several glowing golden portals that shimmered like gold in the sunlight.
"Archer! That's enough! She's not going to join us if you kill her!" Kyoko heard Mami's voice yell out. As if by magic, the man's face went from joyous to furious as the portals dissipated and he returned to a non threatening body position. Kyoko was shocked. This force of nature was following Mami's orders, though he didn't look all too happy about doing so.
"Join you in what?" Kyoko asked, confused as to what the Hell her old mentor was talking about. It was certainly like her to be stubborn, but this was a new level that Kyoko had never seen before.
"Mami convinced me to talk to you about joining our alliance in the Holy Grail War." The Incubator said to the red head as he trotted past the gilded man to sit in front of Kyoko. His beady red eyes bore into Kyoko's, their emotionless depths seemingly sapped at her will, demanding an answer. Kyoko idly noticed that Mami had also walked over the threshold and shut the doors behind her, to keep out any prying eyes that might be nearby.
"A what?" Kyoko asked. She wondered if it had something to do with the freakishly strong magic thing that had punched down the door to her current home. At this question, Mami and Kyubey proceeded to explain exactly what a Holy Grail War was, why Kyubey was having Mami participate, the potential consequences if they lost, and the prize. While Kyoko wasn't thrilled about having to work with others, with the way that they were describing it to her, once the threat was gone, the war would go back to being a free for all. That was something she was more than willing to do.
"So, how will I summon this Servant?" She asked at the end of the explanation. Mami stiffened, then turned to Kyubey. Kyubey then began to direct the two girls in setting up the circle. Thankfully, the church's remaining stores of blessed materials proved to be more than enough to supply the majority of the materials, though they lacked the silver. Gilgamesh, who had taken a seat in one of the pews since punching open the church doors, felt a chill run down his spine as the girls' gaze rose up to find him.
"Archer, would you be willing to lend us some silver?" Mami asked as she walked over to him. Mami had expected a wide variety of reactions out of her Servant, but looking affronted was not one of them. For a second, Mami feared that he didn't have any silver, but the possessive look in his eyes said otherwise.
"Fine, I will grant you a few pieces from my treasury. Make sure that they are not wasted on worthless allies." He said, opening a tiny portal, which allowed a small pile of silver coins to fall to the ground. Once there were about thirty coins on the ground, he closed it and motioned to them, indicating those were for their use. Gilgamesh's thinking was that by cooperating for a short time, he would cause his "Master" and her superior to lower their guard around him, which would allow him the opportunity to strike back. Watching the girls gather up his coins and move them around the circle they had set up in front of the Altar, he chuckled darkly to himself. For him, the king's vengeance would be sweet.
"There, that should be everything needed for the ritual except for the catalyst. Thankfully, I have several prepared. I have already selected the one that I have calculated to be most in line with your personality." The alien then opened a hidden compartment on its back. Mami and Kyoko both looked at the now open void with awe. They had seen the Grief Seeds go in, but this was the first time they'd seen anything come out of it. The handle of a pistol emerged shortly afterward. Its oiled walnut handle gleamed in the candle light, contrasting with the dull gray of the steel trigger and hammer. Eventually, the end of the barrel slid out of the unpierceable darkness within the Incubator. All in all, it appeared to be slightly more than 35 centimeters long, with an aura of ruthlessness flowing off of it. Kyoko picked it up reverently, as if it might break at the slightest touch, then placed it at the center of the circle.
"Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let black be the color I pay tribute to. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate." Kyoko began the chant, reading off of the page that Mami held at eye level for her. Pain blossomed onto the back of her hand as the Command Seals seared themselves into her very skin. A rectangle with a cross on it was the first to appear, forming the backdrop of the design. Superimposed at an angle over it, a spear of the same design as her weapon formed over it, pointing slightly to the right. And at the base of the entire thing, the designs of flames burned themselves into existence. Kyoko grit her teeth, but continued to force the words out. She saw the prize of this war as her second chance. She would not be able to live with herself if she allowed something like this to slip through her fingers once more.
"Let it be declared now; your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth. An oath shall be sworn here. I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven; I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell. Let my resolve be yours, O Guardian! Come forth and be my Servant!" She cried out, using the pain to fuel the last bits of Magic necessary to complete the ritual. A blinding light appeared, and a wave of terror swept over the two Masters. Terror at being hunted ruthlessly by an unrelenting pursuer. One whose only purpose was their demise. The light cleared, and there stood a man in a dark bodysuit. Bandages obscured his face from view, though piercing eyes shone out from beneath them. The excess material of a scarlet hood fell down over his right shoulder to form a kind of cloak. At his waist, a holster with several daggers in it rested over a red waist cape, though it left the front of his legs fully exposed, so as not to impede movement.
"Of course that man became a Heroic Spirit." Gilgamesh muttered to himself, too low for even the exceptional hearing of the Magical Girls to hear. The newly summoned Servant heard it though. His head turned directly towards Gilgamesh and if looks could kill, the Archer Class would have been dead where he sat. The King of Heroes merely responded to the murderous look with a snort of disdain and motioned for the other Servant to carry on. The strange man shook his head and turned to the girls who were before him.
"So, which one of you is my Master?" Was all he asked. The curt tone in his words was enough to cow even the most confident of ordinary people, yet the girls, not much older than children, stood tall in the face of them.
"I am your Master, and these are two of our Allies for the time being." Kyoko replied, drawing a minor widening of the eyes from the Servant before her.
"In that case, you may call me Assassin." He said in response to the line from Kyoko. She shivered slightly at her luck with this Servant. He was somewhat creepy, but gave off the air of not putting up with any nonsense. She could appreciate that. She hoped that this would all work out well.
Jeanne D'Arc's eyes opened with a snap, the world came into focus, its color almost overwhelming her newly re-manifested senses. One of the first to rear its ugly head was hunger. Having to possess a body had its downsides, one of which was the requirement of eating and drinking. Then a horrible stench rolled over her nostrils. It took a brief second for her to determine its source, only to have a sense of revulsion fill her. Her body was covered with the refuse of the modern world. She sat up, the trash falling off of her body. Her instincts were telling her that this was wrong. She shouldn't have been in a physical body, let alone one that had been sleeping in a garbage pile. Granted, this wasn't the first time that this had happened, though being homeless was new. She had received the information from the Holy Grail, but there were other memories there. Ones that separated themselves from her usual memories of her life. Whereas normally, she merely saw the rising flames of her execution. This time, a single girl was visible over the flames as she tried to reach out to her, though she was being held back by the guards. The girl's face was stricken with grief, tears forming in her blue eyes as her hair was blown back by the heated air of the fire.
Jeanne shook her head, distracting herself from the influx of memories. This was no time to reflect on the past. There was a Grail War that needed to be presided over. Fully standing up, she realized she was wearing her battle armor. Though now her cloak was stained with grease and rotten pieces of various fruits and vegetables. She thanked the Lord that her flag remained unaffected by the dirt and grime, despite its white color. Dematerializing the battle standard, she removed the head protector she wore around her face and drew the messy cloak around herself, so as to hide her armor. She didn't want to know what kind of rags the girl whose body she was occupying had been wearing when she had been summoned, so this was the best option she could come up with. The alley had a box that was set up over the place she had laid, but the protection it offered was meager. So it was something chosen when there wasn't anything else left. Turning around to face the gap between the buildings, she proceeded out into the street.
Cervantes was walking down the road, fiddling with his phone. It was a nice night outside in Mitakihara, with a full moon visible in the star studded sky. It had been late when he had realized that he was out of coffee, so he needed to go and get some from the convenience store to restock. He always enjoyed beginning his mornings with a nice cup of coffee, it got his day started right. Granted, while he didn't enjoy his current position in this city, it was a nice break from the stresses he was used to. Shortly after this sequence of events, Hansa regretted ever thinking that.
Just before he reached an alley, a young teen girl with long blonde hair stepped out in front of him. He stopped to allow her to pass, only to notice a strange feeling about her. The stained dark blue cloak she wrapped around herself was emblazoned with the Sign of the Cross. That alone would have made him raise an eyebrow, but the Magical Energy surrounding her was making his "eyepatch's" readings go off the charts. That was something that warranted investigation.
"Excuse me miss, but you look like you are needing help." He remarked, which apparently startled her. Her eyes locked with his, holding a slight amount of fear initially, before it was overcome by an inner strength.
"It's a little bit odd for a stranger to open a conversation with that." Jeanne replied, her expression going cold. She felt conflicted at the moment. One part of her screamed to run away from him, in case he tried to hurt her. She figured that part was the host body's mind and soul. While the other part, the part that was the Maid of Orleans, was saying that she should try and talk it out with this Priest, to see if he was trustworthy. Eventually, the conviction of La Pucelle won out and she stood her ground.
"I didn't want to make a scene. There are too many bystanders. It would be best if we spoke privately, so you can explain what a Servant was doing in a dark alleyway." He said, speaking quietly, so as not to alert passersby. Though it was barely more than a whisper, Jeanne could understand every word he said. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, but then she remembered the Church's usual involvement in the Grail War. If this Priest knew what a Servant was, then he would likely be a part of the Executors, the Vatican's "Black Ops". Of course, while an Executor was certainly a powerhouse, they were still human. And humans generally couldn't take on a Servant in one on one combat. Especially not one of her strength, currently limited though it was by hunger.
"Lead on, Priest." She responded, keeping up a facade of decisiveness, though in reality the impulses of the two souls warred against each other.
"Please, call me Father Cervantes. Though first we need to stop by the store, I have groceries I need to get." He said, striding past her fearlessly as he went back to fiddling with his phone. Jeanne sighed heavily and began to follow him, maintaining the distance that felt right to her.
Unknown to both the Priest and Ruler, an Incubator Terminal watched. He had sensed the Magical Signature of Jeanne D'Arc return to the realm of the living. It had calculated the necessary steps to prevent a Ruler class from being summoned, but it certainly appeared that the Grail would force a Ruler to manifest in the event of a Great Grail War, regardless of precautions. The terminal then leapt off of the building and trailed behind the Maid of Orleans at a distance that she couldn't sense. He would need to maintain a watch on these two, as a response would be necessary to any plans they might make.
Well, looks like that's done and over with. This was a doozy to write and I had to struggle for quite a while with balancing my school time and my writing time. Also, Gil is a bastard to write, thanks to his personality and little psychological quirks. Overall, I think I got him mostly right, but that leads into a major conundrum: How was Mami able to Command Seal him like this?
Quite frankly, that was mostly luck. Ordinarily, he would have used Sha Naqba Imuru to see it coming, but he is a rather arrogant Servant, completely disregarding possibilities that he considers to be impossible. That, combined with Magical Girl's Magic amping the power of the Command Seal, allowed this to take effect. Oh, he's not going to forget this by any means, and it will come back to bite people later, but for now he's kind of stuck.
Homura was able to discern herself from EMIYA during the Dream Cycle because of the nature of Soul Gems. Since they grant the wielder fairly extensive control over their body, any difference in that would be quite obvious to them.
Kyoko summoning EMIYA (Assassin) was a bit of a last minute decision, but I felt that it would result in better things for her growth as a character than the originally planned Servant, Iskandar. I'm not going to reveal the arc, but it should be entertaining to read. Though I'm not sure I'll include Iskandar at all, so there's endless possibilities on the road ahead.
And yes, I decided to use Fate Jeanne, though there was a lot of internal debate over whether or not to simply use Tart. Eventually, I went with the one I was more familiar with, since I can do her more justice. However, she isn't exactly the same as she was in Apocrypha, which is due to her having a different host body this time around. There's going to be a story here, which will be revealed in due time.
Review Responses:
Reinkasahi: Sorry for the disappointment with Kyoko, but it should please you to note that Heracles was heavily considered for Berserker, but I have someone else in mind. Though the latter suggestion is definitely something I am considering, and have actually spoken to Soul about, however, I'll get a bit further into the story before I do anything like that.
gamecubenut: Ah, a returning reviewer! That is a good suggestion, I will keep it in mind, but I make no promises. My muse is incredibly fickle, and makes really odd decisions a fair amount of the time, so there's no telling what may or may not occur.
Dasgun: Eh?
Guest #1: Perhaps…
DPSS: Oh he did. Kyubey will rue the day he decided it was a good idea to summon the King of Heroes. The current situation will make Gil's vengeance all the more satisfying.
HiroRanger: I noted above that I had heavily considered it. I hope that it doesn't disappoint you too much.
James Birdsong: Thank you.
Saalejandra: Oh, there will be much Alien Slaughter before all is said and done.
Hainz Leonard Kim: Thank you for those words.
Guest #2: Hm, thanks. I'll make sure to check it out before I get to Walpurgisnacht in the story.
I would like to thank you all for reviewing, as well as hakon2feb, Loa of Salem, and Chaos of the Lurking Variety on the Overlord Fanfiction Server for grammar checking and minor help on Fate. I would like to also thank CrusaderJerome, Ryouko "Aozaki" Shizuki, ChadComposite, Bacon Hair, Sa'Kage, and Soulnight on the ANAI Server for their direction on overall writing, as well as heavy amounts of help with the lore of both series.
On a side note, I would prefer a better communication between myself as the Author and my Readers, however few there may be, so I made a Discord Server. The join link is discord . gg / w7QzBCZ, minus the spaces. I hope to see some of you there!
Remember to check out Soul's fic A Blade Forged in the Ashes, it's getting really interesting!
-Inkrael