Lord El-Melloi II wished he could say he was having a good day. Instead, he was running across the Clocktower to attend the freshly-called emergency meeting. He had seen the gray box with text, too, alongside everyone else. Literally everone else. The messages (and containing box) had faded from their visions by then, but the damage had already been done. Every single news agency was reporting on the freak event. Conspiracy theories were spreading like wildfires and even some small riots were sprouting, demanding answers on who or what 'Steve', 'Saber', and 'Gay Bulge' were. Containment of this was going to be a Herculean act, and everyone present at the meeting knew that.

At this point, Waver had to ask if containment was even an option anymore.


The tatami was quite warm. A nice change from the cold outdoors, especially after Rin spent the last half hour moving through the biting wind. (Which she fully blamed on Archer, despite knowing there was nothing he could have done about it.) At the moment, there were three people present: Shirou, herself, and Saber. Archer was on the rooftop doing 'surveillance', but Rin suspected he was just scared of the Servant of the Sword. Which, speaking of, was the one tool she had not seen Saber using.

]] ok, i fixed the chat issue. turns out i forgot /w accepts selectors

]] u guys should be the only ones reading this now

Now, time to have a talk. "You've got no idea what you're involved in, do you?"

Shirou nodded his head in affirmation.

"To be blunt, you have been chosen as a master in the Holy Grail War. And that, uh," she hesitated for a moment, "person... over there is your Servant."

Said Servant seemed to be looking directly at her. It might have been trying to glare at her, but it didn't appear that its face had the necessary mechanisms for such behavior.


Steve whispers to Shirou Emiya: are u sure we should be trusting them? i think i can kill them pretty quick

Shirou immediately started to panic and opened his mouth to say something.

Steve whispers to Shirou Emiya: dont say anything dumbass. blink twice if i should trust them, 3 times if i shouldnt

Shirou blinked twice without hesitation.


The stare didn't make it any less comfortable for Rin. Regardless, she continued. "Have you noticed any strange markings on your body?"

"Umm..." Emiya started to look around his body. He did find what he was looking for, and began to reply. A knock on the door beat him to the punch.

Thing is, that was no knock.


Kirei wished he could revel in the new excitement and chaos, and watch it prosper and grow beyond his wildest dreams. Instead, he had to accept that some things are just way beyond his pay grade. So, this time, he actually took his entire unedited report in the basement to send back to the Clocktower. He put his papers inside the apparatus, fed it with a bit of mana, and began the transmission process.

During that time, he thought, he brainstormed, and he planned. The usual Kirei stuff. There was an art to getting lost in thought, he noted. A balance to exploring new ideas while still remaining aware of the surrounding world, and had he not maintained it well, he might not have reacted fast enough to the hissing noise behind him.

The explosion still sent him flying into the wall, but he had at least gotten out of the lethal radius. His assessment yielded a dislocated shoulder, a few cracked ribs, and a completely destroyed workshop. Popping his shoulder back into place, he ran upstairs to piece together what happened. And when he looked outside, what he saw, well...

The only thing that came to mind was true happiness.


"So we're all in agreement, then, that the new entity is a Sealing Designation candidate?"

"Candidate, sure, but do we even know if it's a human that we're dealing with? We only received a fragment of the Overseer's report, and while it mentioned that the Servant was humanoid, that doesn't ensure the fact-"

"I didn't know of any requirements on Designation candidates being human."

"That's because we've never seen something like this before! Before we just jump in head first, we should..."

Waver tuned the discussion out. It was going nowhere and they all knew it, but none of them wanted to admit it. Because that would mean admitting fault, and that just doesn't happen here. So, during that time, he thought, he brainstormed, and he theorized. The usual Waver stuff. Problem was, he had no idea where to even start. What kind of magecraft could alter everyone's vision on a global scale? Is that even the limit of this entity's abilities? How would you even control such a thing?

If only everyone would stop talki-huh? A slight tremor and the faint sound of an explosion brought the El-Melloi heir back to reality. "Can you all stop shouting for a moment?"

No one listened to him. No one even heard him. But they did hear the screams. Waver immediately ran towards the nearest window. And when he looked outside, what he saw, well...

The only thing that came to mind was true chaos. Humanoid monsters and giant spiders, all made out of rectangles and cubes, appearing out of nothing and attacking pedestrians, peoples inside cars, in their homes, anyone they could see.

Despite the commotion, everyone noticed the gray box return to their vision.

] gonna have to use all chat for a sec, sorry

] basically, those boxy looking monsters are called mobs. they spawn on ground that isnt well lit eg like at night

] go home, close the door, barricade it (in case we're on hard diff), turn on the lights, and youll probs be fine

] shooting them kills most of them, except the monsters with really long arms and legs

] dont look at those, i repeat DONT LOOK AT THOSE

] theyre called endermen and they will make u a new asshole if u do

Is this how the world ends?


The news was showing a bloodbath. That was the only way anyone in the Emiya household could describe it. (Save for maybe Saber, but no one could really be sure of anything involving that entity.) Speaking of said entity:

] actually, lemme try one more thing

]] shirou, u got a spare bed i could use

"You want to sleep? In the middle of all this?"

]] ill explain after, just pls


There were only a few of these mobs left around the Clocktower, but every so often, more of them would just spawn from nothing. Most of the monsters were handled by the non-magus guards of the British Museum, save for those so-called Endermen. Turns out those can teleport. And if someone tried shooting at them, they'd just teleport out of the bullet's path. The best option really was just not aggessing them to begin with, which Waver thought would be pretty easy. But, considering that there were tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people walking around when the monsters first started spawning, and it only takes one person accidentally wandering their eyes over them to make them hostile, and suddenly the simple solution stops looking so simple. And then you had the idiots in the Mage's Association who thought that nothing like that could hurt them. He counted around 20 of them among the dead.

Lighting up the area was going slow, however, and mobs were still spawning at a fairly high rate. Most people had gotten indoors by now, but some of the mobs (the ones that looked like rectangular zombies) were capable of breaking down doors. And then there was the exploding monster to contend with.

That was two minutes ago. Now, Waver was in his study, with some mob remains as his current object of study. Before picking them up, he noticed that the items that took these creatures' places on death seemed to hover above the ground, bobbling up and down as they did. He picked one up, and when he dropped it again, again it hovered. Mystery #1. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that these items seemed to be comprised of, for lack of a better word, pixels. As in, digital pixels that would, say, comprise a digital image, except much bigger. Mystery #2. Waver needed an even closer inspection, so he rushed into the sunlit hallway to get a microscope from storage.

A sunlit hallway.

Did I fall asleep? He checked the time on his watch. 21:12. Waver ran outside and bore witness to burning monsters and a sunrise.

At three hours to midnight.

] ok, during the day zombies and skeletons burn, spiders become blind, and most things wont spawn, so yall should be fine for now

] lmk if u need anything


Archer knew he had lots of reasons to be cautious during his upcoming time in the war. So, he made plans for dealing with lots of possible scenarios. But this? Nothing could have possibly prepared him for this. Steve, Steve, Steve. Why does that name almost sound familiar?


Rin was sure nothing could come between her and the prized Grail. Despite herself, she still planned a lot for this war. But this? This was just unfair.

2 million deaths globally in the past half hour, according to the TV news broadcast. Another 3 million injured. Riots amassing hundreds of thousands of people on the streets, pushing the UK, China, and a number of other countries to enact martial law.

]] step 2

]] how do we deal with this

"Yo-You think I know? You think any of us know?" Rin swore she was at the limits of how much insanity she could tolerate, but she kept on finding higher and higher limits. And breaking them. "What the fuck makes you think I have any idea about any of this?! I thought things went off the rails when you texted everyone on the planet, and then everything else happened!" She started lunging towards the Servant.

"How about we all calm down for a second?" Emiya put himself between her and Saber.


She does have a point. Shirou had no idea what Saber expected the rest of them to know. Really, this whole thing is my fault. If I hadn't gotten involved in this Grail War thing, then maybe none of this would have happened.

]] first off, kiddo, dont put this on me. u think i asked to be summoned?

]] if u wanna blame someone, blame the guy who summoned me for fucking it up so hard he rewrote reality in the process

Shirou felt that comment in his soul.

]] also, cant we just use the grail thing to undo this shit

The Holy Grail. Now that he thought of it, despite being conscripted into a war over it, he still didn't know exactly what it was. "The Grail can do that?"

]] oh right, the girl never told you what it was

Saber looked at Tohsaka.

]] do u wanna finish ur explanation, or do u want me to

"I'll do it." Tohsaka turned toward him. "The Holy Grail War is based around Masters defeating other Masters. The Master who defeats the other six wins the Holy Grail, which can grant any wish."

Any wish? Shirou pondered. Could it let me become a hero of justice?

]] so we should be able to use the thing to revert what happened today, right

Oh, right. That was probably a better use for it.

"I suppose that would work, yes."

]] what are we waiting for then

Tohsaka paused for a moment. "You will have to fight other Servants. Are you prepared for that?"

]] i mean ye

]] wait a sec, youre not gonna help us?

Tohsaka again hesitated, this time for longer.

]] ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING

Steve whispers to Shirou Emiya: told u we shouldnt have trusted them

Shirou had already made up his conclusion. "It doesn't matter whether Tohsaka will help us, Saber. Either way, we're going to fight in the war." He paused, choosing his words carefully (for once). "Rin, while you don't have to help us, I would rather we did not have to fight. But, if that is what you want, then-"

"Oh, alright, fine! Archer and I will help you. Happy?" She stomped her foot for emphasis.

]] was it really that hard for u to make the right choice

Tohsaka seemed to ignore Saber's comment. "Before we begin, we'll have to go see the overseer." She sighed. "Follow me."

Shirou and Tohsaka exited the house, followed by Saber. But not before he heard a strange whooshing sound coming from inside. He was too exhausted to comment on it, though.


We arrived at the church-or rather, what was left of it-in short order. It looks like creepers did a number on the place. During our brief walk, I took an inventory of my inventory. My refined obsidian armor was starting to show a bit of wear but was still serviceable for the moment. My crossbow's doing fine there, but depending on how long this war goes, I'll have to consider setting up a pink slime farm. Now, the real issue is going to be my jetpack and my tools. One needs hydrogen, the others need RF.

I had those set up at my base, but /home stopped working after I got summoned (which I still don't fully understand the mechanics of). So, I'll have to make a new base here. Probably just gonna build it below the redhead's house. Here's to hoping that oregen is the same.


They let themselves in through one of the holes in the front wall. Well, most of them did. Saber stayed behind because he couldn't astralize.

"You never accepted my repeated invitations, now here you are with an odd guest." The priest, Kotomine, turned around. "I take it this means he is the seventh, Rin?"

Shirou stepped forward.

"I am Kirei Kotomine. What is your name, seventh Master?"

"Shirou Emiya." And so introductions were made.

"Emiya, huh?" And so Kotomine chuckled in response. "I take it, then, that you are the Saber class's Master, Shirou Emiya? The same Saber that has already caused untold amounts of damage to this world in his brief time here?"

"I made a pact with Saber, yes, but I still don't really understand some of what's happening here. If the Grail was truly as powerful as you all say, why couldn't we share it?"

"The Grail forbids it. It selects its one true owner by having the Masters fight over it."

"But we don't have to kill the Masters, just the Servants, right?"

"It is a fight to the death."

"Shut up, Kirei!" Rin butted in. "The Grail is a spiritual object, humans can't interact with it, anyway. Only the other servants have to die. There is no rule saying you have to kill the other Masters."

"Yes, Rin, you are correct. However, Emiya, without a Servant ceases to exist if their Master is killed, and a Master whose Servant whose Master is killed can form a contract with another Servant. Therefore, it's in your own best interest to kill the other Masters, wouldn't you agree?"

"I disagree. I'm going to fight in the War, and I will do so without killing a single Master." Shirou and Tohsaka headed towards the door.

"Oh, what an interesting answer!" Kotomine paused. "If that is what you wish, then rejoice, my child. Your wish will at last come true."

Shirou did not falter on his way out.


Rin was the first one through the gate. I hate having to talk to that guy!

]] we done here

"Yes." And so they started walking home.

For all of two seconds.

]] stop, hostiles here

And the three saw two: a little Master, and a very big Servant.

Berserker?

]] yo, u two do realize we're in broad daylight, right

"Wow, how interesting!" The white-haired girl did a little twirl. "Were you really summoned by the Grail? I wonder," her grin grew sinister, "if I kill you, will all the other strange monsters stop coming?"

]] no clue

]] i mean u could try, but if ur wrong then ur probably screwed

]] and again, we're in broad fucking daylight

]] dont u magic people have a rule about this


"Be advised, we're about to enter some turbulence. Please fasten your seatbelts and remain seated."

Waver could cast magic to alleviate the nausea, but there was no spell to cure him of boredom. Only 8 more hours to go. The Board of Directors didn't even give him time to sleep before sending him and an untold number of other agents to go investigate the events in Fuyuki. (Literally untold; he apparently was going to be told who he was working with when he landed. He was allowed to bring Gray, although actually getting her through airport security had been a nightmare.)

He wished he could say he wanted to go to Japan, but he really didn't know how to feel about it. In any case, there was no use mulling over it now that there were other pressing matters, so he switched to doing something else with his time.

And so, Waver Velvet tried to get some sleep.


AN (2/11/2021): I have spent God knows how many hours in the Type-Moon wiki, and I still can't get a coherent timeline for the main universe. So, I smudged it a bit in various places. Also, I only proofread like a quarter of this chapter (technically you could call this an improvement over last chapter), so let me know if there are typos.