A/N: Right, so before we begin, there is a lot of stuff I would like to say as a response to the last chapter's comments. This is a collective response to all of them, so I won't be responding in the bottom of the page. You can skip it if you want to avoid spoilers, since this chapter would reveal a good amount anyway.
About Caster's identity: A lot of you guessed, and correctly, what is Caster's identity. The thing is that a portion of the last chapter when I was planning it was missing. The reason why the MC fell asleep at the end of the chapter was so that the Dream Cycle would kick in and then he would figure out Caster's identity. I sort of forgot to put the Dream Cycle in, so that's the reason why I'm not really that fussed about the readers figuring it out. Since you were supposed to figure the identity out anyway. The dream cycle is in this chapter tho.
However, I won't be releasing Caster's Servant sheet until later on in the story when all of Caster's Noble Phantasms are used. Also, one guy pointed out that Caster had appeared before, and yes, she had, but A) her appearance was like just one small portion in the entirety of the anime, and B) her appearance is completely different from what was shown there. I will explain this a bit later.
About the MC's abilities: No, he isn't going to be learning some great, kickass magecraft in this story. He will learn two, maybe three spells, and that's it. If you want a comparison then the MC's abilities will resemble Ritsuka's from Grand Order or Hakuno's from Fate/Extra. A great Master, but not much in Combat. After the story, however, his skills will grow and develop drastically.
About Pairings: No pairings. I have told about this earlier but I don't really think that the MC is going to get up with Caster or anyone else. Caster is supposed to act like a mentor role, a teacher. Their relationship is supposed to be purely platonic.
About sequels: Yes, this story is going to have Sequels. I will spoil that the MC will be a survivor of the Grail War and that the Fifth will go drastically different from Canon. Moreover, there may be a stopover story between the Fourth and the Fifth. Emphasis on the 'may'.
So then, now that that's out of the way we can finally begin.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Zero, Fate/Stay Night or any of its associated works.
She stared at the single slab of the rock in front of her.
The tombstone was simplistic in both design and the materials that it was made of. It was a simple slab of white rock, and one name and title engraved on it. It was simpler than her father's grave, and she knew that the one buried there would not mind having such a simple burial.
She is not the only one there. A second individual, a woman of striking beauty was there with her, having assisted her in the burial. She spoke to her, asking her questions and she gave answers but the responses were automatic, and she did not put much mind in them. Her thoughts instead were devoted to the events that have taken place so far and what must be done in the future.
She had done it. She had ruined the life and legacy of the person she hated, crushed that person's kingdom, and had fulfilled all those desires she had years ago. She should be feeling overjoyed, jubilant having fulfiled all of her ambitions.
So what is this strange emptiness she was feeling?
Shouldn't she feel content, and satisfied since she had accomplished what she had set out to do? Ever since her father and mentor had denied her what was rightfully hers, she had sworn bloody vengeance against her sister, no matter the cost. She had lost all her children to this blind rage and hatred, and had destroyed the country beyond repair. It will never again recover, at least, not in the form it was in the past.
She knew her politics, since it was one of her major tools, next to only to her magic. She had manipulated several dukes and lords to do her bidding and join the homunculus in Camlann. She knew that now with her gone, various factions would rise all across the country, vying each other for power and influence. Several ambitious ones would aim for a throne for themselves, and the invaders would take advantage of this to form their own empires.
She would be approached too. Her power and skill in Magic was second only to that of one other in the entire country, and he had disappeared, abandoning his pupil to her fate. She would be an invaluable asset in any side.
Or she would be avoided. Her hatred and treacherous nature was, by now, well known. She could be considered a liability, and a threat to disposed of.
She did not know, nor did she care. She had done what she had set out to do and that was enough.
She knew that the last of the knights loyal to their King will be doing their best to restore peace and order to the nation. She knew their efforts would fail. But they would also be on the lookout for her, the primary cause to their King's untimely demise. So she would need to be careful.
Her attention returned to the woman before her. A lifetime ago she would have considered her a friend, maybe even a sister. But her hatred for the one her once friend had married had twisted they're once friendship to bitter enmity.
"She never hated you, you know", she spoke, with all the grace of the Queen. She could see why she had so many admirers. "She was sad and a bit angry but she never truly hated anyone."
She never hated her? Her sworn enemy, the one who she had clashed with so many times, held no hatred in her heart for her? How could one person be wronged so many times and still not hate the person who had wronged them?
She could hear her mentor's voice in her ears, as if he was standing right next to her, "A perfect King cannot feel hate. If a King hates then it shows that he is capable of holding grudges and a perfect King does not hold grudges against anyone, since he treats all his subjects equally."
She shook the voice off, not wanting to think about him.
The two women exchanged a few words more. They spoke not as friends nor as enemies but as two individuals who have gone through a lot together and apart. Both of them knew that their status was uncertain, and that they would be universally despised for their roles in the King's fall, but they knew that they could survive this and forge a new life apart from this mess.
But one fact still stood out in the Witch's mind.
She did not hate her...
She returned to her castle. It was a small thing really, well hidden and no one worked there but it was sufficient for her purposes. It also served as her workshop, where she would devise increasingly complicated Magical formulae and create plans to bring suffering to her sister. Now that she had succeeded, it had essentially lost its purpose as a planning base.
She went straight to a set of drawers there. It was actually a vault, but to the naked eye, it appeared as a set of inconspicuous drawers. After undoing the enchantment on the vault, she sat down and started working on the various locks on the vault, both mundane and Magical in nature. It wasn't difficult, but a rather time-consuming venture.
The vault at one point in time used to belong to her mentor, and was given as a gift to her during her apprenticeship under him. It was a structure designed to contain and store artefacts and tools of a Mystical nature. It had a simple design, but the innate magical enchantments on it were quite complicated. It was a cubic box, nearly a metre tall in height, but had a spell on it which increases space on the inside.
With a click the vault unlocked. There were very few things inside. There was a small dagger used for special blood rituals and some tools and ingredients used in alchemy. There was a black sword in there, hollow and vacant in nature, having never met its true owner in this world.
There was one last item inside the vault. A slender, rectangular item wrapped in a brown silk cloth. The cloth was enchanted to contain the item's powerful Magical nature, and control its overwhelming mystical aura. She picked this item up and began slowly unwrapping the cloth from it.
The artefact within the cloth had a golden glow which lit up the darkroom she was in. With the stripes of blue enamel covering bits of the sheath, it seemed as though it was a trophy or some kind of valuable treasures sought by collectors. While that was not necessarily wrong, the true worth of the artefact would be known only by competent practitioners of Magecraft.
She wordlessly extracted the sheath, and she could feel it's overwhelming aura. She knew the origin and the purpose of the sheath but she could not comprehend why and how her mentor had accomplished this. The healing and defensive capabilities of the sheath were extraordinary, even if it was limited to just one person. Due to her heritage, she could herself, in particular, feel the influence of the sheath.
Avalon. The essence of the concept of a Utopia, crystallized in the form of a single object. It protected its wielder from all harm and healed all injuries. She knew that she would not fall as long as she had this in her possession. Be it weapons, poisons or monsters, as long as the King held this, she would not fall.
So she stole it.
She felt, strangely disgusted while holding the artefact. She was the first one of her family in generations to have awakened to their Fae heritage. Her skill and aptitude in Magic was unparalleled, and she was, in some fields, her mentor's equal. However, the path she had chosen was one cloaked in darkness.
And it showed. As one who directly opposed an individual who constantly strived for utopia, the sheath seemed to reject her. But her Fae heritage influenced sheath, a representation of its homeland and it seemed to simultaneously accept her. It was a strange paradox, but for a sheath of such power that it was not impossible.
She wondered what did that mean. She knew what her mentor and sister desired the most. A Utopia. Her sister wanted to give her people a land where they could live freely, where there was no conflict or strife, where hunger and poverty did not exist. It was her duty as a King to do so.
Her mentor claimed that he wanted the same, but she knew better than to trust him on that.
The concept of a utopia was a fruitless one. It is impossible for ordinary humans to create and sustain one, their very nature forbade it. And despite her mentor's teachings on the subject, she knew that he knew that it was a fruitless endeavour as well. She did not know her sister's opinion on the matter though.
But she was curious. Why did they pursue such a fruitless ideal? It was in her nature to question since beneath all that malice and vengefulness she was still the inquisitive person she was all those years ago. It was this inquisitiveness which served as the source of her strength as a Witch and it was through this inquisitiveness that will lead her to her redemption.
Perhaps in seeking the answer to that, I will find the remaining answers I seek. This is what she thought.
And thus, for a second time, her journey began.
I woke up with a gasp. It took me a few minutes to regain my thoughts and understand the rather jarring experience I just had.
Oh. OH. So that's who Caster is.
While I had thought that she was a female from Arthurian mythology, I had shut my thought process down, before I could actually guess who Caster is. There were plenty of females in the stories of King Arthur who should qualify to become a Heroic Spirit. Moreover, since King Arthur wasn't fictional, but instead a real person in this world, Caster could have been someone with only a superficial connection to Arthur, who had somehow reached the Throne of Heroes.
Still, that dream was...strange to say the least. If the Dream Cycle showed the major events which occurred in a Heroic Spirit's life, then why am I being shown the end of Caster's journey first?
Ultimately it was still irrelevant. Irrespective of Caster's past actions, she was now an ally. As long as she stay loyal to me and continues to assist me, I won't pry.
I get up from the hard floor where I had fallen asleep. I looked out of the glass window of the office and saw that it was bright outside. the clock on the wall showed that it was slightly after eight. It occurred to me that I had not brushed or taken a bath in three days, but I shrugged it off. Hygiene was overrated and it wasn't like I smelled or anything.
The Fuyuki Police Station was a relatively large, two-storey building. There were windows and offices and a couple of cells sitting in the corner. Apart from that, there was a basement where records were kept. My current hiding place was a small storage room sitting in the corner of the Station.
Caster had hypnotised every one of the officers working here. The command given were simple, they were to ignore my presence in the building entirely. However, I couldn't just move around freely, since someone from outside may notice my presence. And if they do, then it would be absurdly difficult to handle the situation. Besides that, Caster had applied a detection based Bounded Field over the building. If any Magus or Servant enter the place, then both of us would be informed of their presence. It was a rudimentary protection, but sufficient considering our time constraints.
I needed to get out of here. Not only for my safety but also for my own sanity. Caster had brought me food and water and other supplies and I could sneak off to go take a dump but being in the same environment for such an extended period of time was killing me with boredom. There was nothing for me to do apart from practise opening and closing my Magic Circuits.
It reminded me of quarantine, probably the most painful period in my sixteen-year-old life. I thanked every deity in this Universe that there was twenty-ish years between the current day and Coronavirus. That should be enough time to prepare.
Apart from that, it is a massive risk, just staying here with minimal Magical protection. I have heard that all spells including hypnosis, regardless of type leave behind minute traces on the person it is being used on. All it would take to track me down was for Maiya or Kiritsugu to find these traces and locate me here. Moving bases was now a priority.
I crack my knuckles and stretch for a bit. It was the first time I had slept since my arrival into this world. I vaguely recall Caster telling me about the spell she had used on me to prevent me from sleeping. The spell itself wasn't difficult to cast, but required Caster to maintain a conscious control over it. She must have been distracted yesterday, during her preparations.
Since our discussion yesterday, Caster had gone ahead and begun preparing for her role to play today. She was busy gathering Mana from the Ryuudou leyline, having essentially turned it into a fortress which we could use as a base.
Ah, that reminds me. I have a new thing to do as part of my morning routine.
I stand up and focus my attention on doing one thing and that thing only. I reached out in my mind and a blurry image appeared. The image was blurry for now, but it will grow and become clearer the more I use it.
I flick a switch. A lightsaber glows in the depths of my mind.
While initially, I had expected my Circuits to be atrophied like Shirou's was, I was surprised to see that that was not the case. Circuit decay occurs only when already open circuits are not used for long periods of time. Since I had never opened my Circuits before summoning Caster, they were in mint condition.
The lightsaber flickers before disappearing entirely.
In order to open my Magical Circuits, proper practise is required. The process to do so is not what you would expect. A Trigger is merely supposed to serve as a metaphor, since the actual process of activating one's circuits cannot be perceived by one's mind.
Apart from this, a Trigger requires time to 'set'. My Trigger and Circuits have not set yet, and thus I can only open my Circuits half the time. Gradually by practising to open and close my Circuits repeatedly, my success rate in activating my Circuits will grow.
I adjust my posture. I have to sit down calmly to properly activate my Circuits. I take a deep breath before executing the process.
The Lightsaber was activated yet again in my mind.
I could feel a strange heat spread throughout my body. This heat felt out-of-place and slightly awkward but not entirely uncomfortable. In that cold morning, it felt rather nice, to be honest. Faint blue lines had begun to appear on my skin.
Twenty Four. That's the number of Magic Circuits I had. I had a lower number of Circuits than even Shirou did, but mine are of shockingly high quality. Caster had claimed that the quality of my Circuits resembled the Circuits of a Magus with at least an ancestry of four to five hundred years, without a Magic Crest, that is. Which is a lot. That would make my Circuits slightly better than even the Tohsaka's whose heritage is considerably shorter by a century at least. I think.
All twenty-four of them were currently operating in my body. A Magic Circuit is like a muscle. While you could improve its quality and strength with more use, there are limitations to how far a Circuit can grow. A genetically superior Magus will have a far easier time in doing Mysteries of a higher order than a Magus of a newer family. There are exceptions but they are relatively rare.
Or this was what Caster told me.
I slowly shut down each one of the Circuits in my body, watching as the faint blue lines on my skin begin to fade away.
Today was the day where the first clash of the Holy Grail War was to begin. I just can't wait.
The first battle of the Holy Grail War was about to take place. Well, apart from that fake skirmish between Gilgamesh and the Assassins.
Six of the seven Servants were about to converge on the docks on the south-eastern side of Fuyuki. It was a convenient location, far away from some potential witnesses.
However, for tonight, meeting with the other Servants was not our objective. It would be foolish for us to reveal ourselves so early.
Instead, we had chosen a different target.
Our target was Zouken Matou. He was probably the number one on my list of 'Things in this universe that will have to go'. He is by far the best Magus in the entire city, except Caster of course. He is nigh immortal and I probably shouldn't be even considering taking him on at this stage, where the future of the War is so uncertain.
However, the potential benefits outweighed the risks.
The one thing I stood to get by eliminating Zouken was Kariya Matou, and with him Berserker. Kariya was probably the character I had felt sorry for the most in the entirety of the novel and show, and I would really like for him to gain a happy ending. But that wasn't the main point.
Berserker, irrespective of who they are has always been a force to be reckoned with. While they are difficult to control, their strength and physical powers were incredible. The only edge that the Saber class had over them was that they were not restricted by Madness Enhancement taking away most of their reasoning capabilities. Between Caster's versatility in Magic and Berserker's physical prowess, there was no doubt that this could be one of the most powerful combinations in the Grail Wars.
Well, there was Saber, but I don't think letting Artoria and Caster meet would be a good idea, at least for now.
Lancelot, in particular, would be a really powerful ally to have in this War. Between his vendetta against Artoria and the fact that Knight of Owner was the perfect Noble Phantasm to defeat Gilgamesh with, there was no question on what a massive asset he could become.
The only problem is his relation with Caster and how he may react. Launcelot would probably end up tearing Caster apart on the spot. But I think we can cross that bridge when we get there.
The plan me and Caster made was simple. Well, at least in theory.
Caster would destroy Zouken and take over the Matou Manor. She will find Sakura and heal her of the Crest worms. We will then return Sakura to Kariya for his support.
There were quite a few problems.
The biggest was probably Kariya himself. The crest worms in his body made a direct connection between himself and Zouken. If Zouken uses that connection, then Berserker would rush over and be all over Caster. Which would not be a good thing, since she cannot face something of Berserker's strength, at least not now anyway.
The way we can counter this is by waiting until Berserker attacks Gilgamesh. With him writhing in pain due to the Crest Worms, it would be unlikely that Kariya would be able to react to any message Zouken might send. At least, I think so.
It's funny really, that Zouken's sadistic nature and enjoyment in seeing Kariya sufferig was going to be the very reason for his potential downfall.
In any case, timing our attack was the key.
There were other problems. The bounded fields protecting the Matou property. The thousands of millions of Worms which comprised Zouken's actual body, rendering him functionally immortal. However, Caster assured me that the Bounded Fields will not hinder her, she has examined them thoroughly. And that dealing with Zouken's functional immortality would not be an issue for a Magus of her caliber.
But there are still things we had to deal with.
For starters, how will I keep an eye on the docks? I can't just waltz up there and watch. Between Assassin, Kiritsugu, Kayneth and the other Servants, I am pretty sure I would die in two seconds flat.
The time is six in the evening. The sun has begun to set in the distance and the waters running in the bridge beneath me did not glitter or shine from the evening light. We had abandoned the Police Station a long time ago. Let them try and find me there. The only things that they would find were some empty chips packets and a half-drunk bottle of Cola.
I think I should have bought the Cola. The tension of the situation was getting to me.
Caster had successfully taught me one spell.
It was admittedly a useless spell, unless in this specific situation. It was essentially a spell which allowed me to watch through the eyes of a Familiar tied to me. I had not even mastered the damn thing, so it was more of a hit or miss spell. The vision from the Familiar would be either glitchy and sometimes hearing would become difficult.
Familiar Creation had several sub-parts to the main process, but there are three things which are always vital. The first is creating a Familiar. You could create one from the already present animals like birds and rats, or you could construct one through wood and other materials and enchant it using specific rituals. You could also summon spirits or similar entities and use them as familiars. If you make one from an already alive creature, then the lifespan of the Familiar would be drastically shorter than a synthetic one. The Familiar I was currently using was one created of the many stray pigeons flocking in Fuyuki's skies.
The second step is to bond with the Familiar. It typically involves giving a bit of blood or similar bodily fluids which essentially creates false Magic Circuits in the body of the Familiar. It was not really a necessary process but it is commonly done to grant the Familiar more utility. This allowed the familiar to cast spells which are really weak in comparison to the Magus controlling them.
The third step was the one I was currently using. It involved actually using the Familiar to do work. Familiars came in all shapes and sizes. Some are like remote-controlled toys who must be guided in their tasks. Others, the more commonly used type were semi-autonomous. They will do the task as much as their intelligence will permit them and nothing more. The familiar I was using right now fell in that category as well. Rarely Familiars possess human-like intelligence. Servants fell in that category.
But in any case, we should go back to the story.
The digital watch on my wrist ticked away. It suddenly beeped, slightly surprised me. I looked at it and it showed me that it was now ten minutes to seven. Perfect. Now is the time for the plan to begin.
Caster had already made a bond with a familiar of her creation, thereby skipping the first two steps. The familiar was sitting on top of a lamp post on the opposite side of the road, inconspicuous and ready to take off at a moment's notice.
A couple of passersby stared at me obviously off-put by my shabby appearance and terrible stench, an aftermath of my lack of showering in two days.
I reached out through the bond, as under my clothes, light blue lines had begun to appear on my skin. The two circuits I had randomly picked had begun churning out Mana for the spell.
The bird familiar flew.
It was a strange sensation, being able to see through the eyes of another creature. While my human vision had not been impaired, and I could still see the road, the bridge I was on, the cars passing by, and other sights, I could also see the glitchy visuals the bird familiar was seeing right now. It was as if I had an extra set of eyes stuck in my head.
One of the factors which affected the usability of this spell was distance. The longer the Familiar was from me, the weaker the visual and auditory connections would become. That was one of the reasons I was on the bridge now. It had about the same distance from both the Matou Manor and the docks where Lancer was supposed to show up. So I could use my bond with both Caster and the bird familiar with minimal problems.
The bird flew over the dark blue river and the sea and the buildings and houses all over the place. I had not yet provided it with any instruction apart from telling it its destination. The sights I could see through the familiar's eyes were glitchy and reminded me of the scenes one could see through a Television during a thunderstorm. I occasionally got a mild headache.
The docks at Fuyuki were large, evidence of its importance as a key port city on the eastern coast of Japan. Large grey storerooms, each made of metal sheet of all types were organized in a block formation. Each having an equal distance between each other. A tower crane, used often in constructions was in the middle of the place and large moving trucks were present at the outskirts of the area.
I had chosen to position the Familiar somewhere on a tall spire, as we kept an eye out for any disturbances. It would be risky taking a position at the crane, even if it was the best place for surveillance. Both Kiritsugu and Assassin had used that place in that manner, and I don't want to run into either of them, at least until Berserker's presence in this War is confirmed.
The bird rests on the spire. Caster had made it so that the bird gives out a minimal Magical residue. It should be difficult for someone to detect it, at least not right away.
My mind slightly pulsed. Such headaches were common while using this spell. Again like most other aspects of Magecraft, with practice, this would improve.
The one thing I had not tried out yet was looking through two familiars at once. It could be used to keep an eye on Caster's fight against Zouken as well. It was possible though, Caster had told me, it was just that the headaches would intensify. And while they would hurt like hell, it would not actively endanger my life.
A flash of power emerges. Even in my naivete, I knew the source of this power.
I crack my knuckles, calm my nerves and prepare myself. And now, the Holy Grail War officially begins.
Caster stared at the Manor ahead of her.
She was in her astralized form, invisible to all with a few exceptions. And she honestly doubted that those exceptions would come here to this Grail War.
When her Contractor had first proposed this plan, she was initially sceptical. She did not see how and why defeating this random magus would lead them to win the Holy Grail. Even after he had explained his immortality to her, she did not understand why attacking him was such a necessity. There were many means of acquiring immortality, and the fact that Zouken had used such a method did not automatically make him a threat.
Then he had told her the situation of the one known as Matou Sakura.
If she had been summoned from before her journey for redemption, she would have dismissed this information, or she would have considered it, and then used it to her own advantage.
However, she was not that person now.
She had changed. She did not know whether it was for the better or the worse, but she had changed. Her hateful heart had turned into one of compassion and grace. A change in viewpoint had done this.
She felt many things, but most of all, she felt pity.
It reminded her of her own past. Her father had not cared for her, selling her off to her husband whom she despised. her husband was a cruel, distant man, and even though she had loved her children, she could find no love for him. She could empathize with Sakura on some level. She was an innocent, sold off into what would equate to an eternity of suffering by a cruel father.
By the time her Contractor finished, telling her of the monster that is Zouken Matou, her mind was made up.
She will destroy Zouken Matou, she swore.
She stared at the Bounded Field, guarding the Matou manor and land like a protective bubble. It was completely pathetic to her standards. She could have easily torn this Bounded field apart when she was a novice, training under her mentor. Now, summoned at her prime as a Servant? She could destroy it with a snap of her fingers.
But she held back. Her Contractor believed that Berserker was a powerful threat, and that she would not be able to stand up against him. She did admit that his reasoning was sound and that she would rather not face both a rampaging, mad Servant and a centuries-old immortal Magus at the same time.
She heard a single sentence from a foreign voice in her mind. Her Contractor had given her the signal to attack. It was time.
A/N: So, that's it! I have been trying to improve my writing style and this is the end result. The last three hundred words or so were supposed to be part of the next Chapter, but I just put it anyway as a trailer to what is going to happen in the next Chapter.
Please review. And Favourite. And Follow. It gives me great joy and happiness to see so many reading this.
...
Also, I was thinking of Cross-posting this to AO3. Maybe after the next few chapters?