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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
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Chapter 4: King, Tyrant and Worm
I was quite regretting having asked for help to the two moronic girls that are Rin and the older Luvia.
Gloating at the fact I was asking, I repeat 'asking' and not 'begging' them to combine strengths to take on the Eight Card, was something that was grating on my incredibly short patience in this kind of situations. Serious kind of situations.
I think the fact Bazett had accepted to join up in this little coalition managed to break through their dumb heads and bring them back to reality. The card had been leeching off prana for two months now and I wouldn't be surprised if the damage it had given to the Earth Pulse was more than a marginal one.
The reason why I truly needed their help? I didn't have the resources nor the knowledge to afford to create the optimal condition to break into the Mirror World in the right place.
It was way below underground and the labor it would take with only the three of us and mere physical hardwork would be insanely time-draining. So we had to concede that there was some utility within the idiots that were supposed to be grand apprentices of the Wizard Marshal.
"Ah- Shinji-san, what are we doing... here?"
Illya looked quite confused about the whole room prepared for the fight and I sighed calmly, understanding that something like this is far from easy to comprehend for someone her age, albeit she was older than the younger Luvia and I.
"The eight card isn't... supposed to exist. It spawned in a place between the original dimension and ours, making it possible for a miracle to happen and... he is here."
"What are you talking about, Matou?" The irish Enforcer asked quickly. "Who is 'he' and what kind of miracle are we dealing with?"
We all stepped in the Mirror World and... there the paradox smiled demently.
A mix of Gilgamesh and two kind of corruptions, Pandora's Box and Angra Mainyu.
I was still unsure how this all came to happen, how the Avenger servant had wriggled his ass through space and time just to attach itself like a parasite on the child version of the King of Heroes.
"Reincarnation." That put Rin, Bazett and older Luvia in an alarmed state as they stared at the greatest foe ever. "Gilgamesh, the first Hero."
Speaking of the mindless Heroic Spirit, his red eyes were quick to adjust onto us, a pompous, kiddy cackle leaving his throat as the fight began. "Finally! I was waiting for some challenge-"
A shield formed in front of Gil-kun as both Miyu and Illya launched their ranged attacks, not even a crack over its trasparent surface.
"What a rude beginning! And I thought I would have made some friends today!"
"Luvia-chan." The youngest magic girl glanced my direction but I could see she was fully taken by the dark humanoid floating mid-air. "Take him out."
She merely blinked, frowing with some hesitation as she gauged the request. The previous attacks had failed and maybe she thought she didn't have enough.
So I approached her slowly and patted her head, surprising her with my action and making her blush a little. "Do you remember what I told you about Sapphire and the Kaleidoscope?"
"'E-Every wish, every need, every desire-'" "Shall become true, yes." I nodded and she smiled at her minor accomplishment. What can I say, her attention span is far better than any child her age. "Now take a good aim and... knock him out."
She returned the nod as her vibrant blue eyes turned to Gilgamesh, the boy pausing in pulling everything out of the Gates of Babylon to stare at the Edelfelt, surprise turning in awe as a powerful blast of blue teared through the barrier and... a series of explosions rocked the poor sod from doing anything else.
The spectacle lasted long and.. I recognised the rhythm within the barrage from somewhere I had recently... heard.
I think I was looking quite mad in chuckling at what I understood was a very, very apt song for this kind of situations and, seriously, who let Luvia listen to the 1812 Overture of Tchaikovsky?
The girl fidgeted a little in her position. "D-Did you like it?"
"Did I like it!?" I exclaimed with a large smile. "That was brilliant!"
Her eyes looked away as the red tinge in her cheeks returned full power. Ignoring the metaphysical sirens I was hearing in my ears, I returned to look at the battered shadow Gil, breathing raggedly as he tried to move away from the shitty predicament.
"T-That was unfair!" He whined loudly and I sighed, nodding at Chloe as she rushed rapidly at the downed Heroic Spirit and pulling out the card out of the hole in his chest.
The mud fell instantly, revealing a completely naked blond boy with red eyes. He was pouting very adorably.
"Rude, unfair and uncalled for! I am trying to appear menacing and all and you!" He pointed his finger at me as a gate opened, releasing a set of clothes onto his waiting hand. "You are a party pooper."
"But 'your majesty', I thought it would have been best for you to face someone worthy of your time with your mind and soul cleansed... even a little."
He frowned at my open mockery but he kept a challenging smile. "Truly? And who it is?"
His eyes wandered away to look at the group, his smile widening a little. "Is he or she here?"
I nodded. "She is and... you cannot see her right now but-" Rin and older Luvia paled as I pulled out from my pocket a familiar card.
"T-The Saber Card?" Indeed the small smooth card was in my grasp and the one they had safely assumed was the real one was merely a fake. It had been all part of a long plan, one that dissuaded the two incompetent girls to actually mess it up against the Ainsworths.
The aftermath of the attack caused by Bazett was a good opportunity to take just what I needed to study and... modify. I had been quite surprised to know that Chloe had easily bypassed the remaining runes left to deter thieves in the Edelfelt Mansion to retrieve two cards and I had been quick to praise her impressive feat with kind words and headpats.
The second card that had been taken, Caster, was supposed to help me in dealing with the mind-controlled Gilgamesh. I needed the chibi version of the strongest Hero to aid me in my little crusade against the pesky card makers.
"Shinji-san, w-why did you take it?" Were those tears I was seeing on Illya's face?
I can understand emotional but to mistake betterment with betrayal is quite harsh onto me. I am still dealing with depression- Geez!
"I had long suspected that the cards had a matrix similar to what the Matou had used to create the Greater Grail and... I was mostly correct."
The card started to glow a soft blue. "The foundation of the matrix is made by a Matou... but the new codes used within the card are innovative, so endearing and- But let's not digress."
The card landed on the ground as I let it fall.
"With a further modification I know how to replicate the miracle that created you, King of Heroes."
His eyes widened in childish wonder and recognition.
"You are summoning- no, you are incarnating a hero using the card as a sacrifice?" I nodded and he giggled happily.
"That is good! Who is she?"
I stared at the card and nodded to myself. "Summon!"
The blinding light that showered the room was majestic, awe-inspiring and... preluded the beginning of a change in this world.
As the light vanished and my eyes adjusted on the new figure, I felt a sense of dread knotting at my throat.
I had messed up... just a little.
The summoning array was supposed to bring forth the rightful version of the Hero in question, ignoring what kind of version had manifested previously.
Yet this was proved wrong by the pale woman with yellow eyes in front of me, Excalibur Morgan a mesmerising sight to my vision.
"Servant Sa-" Artoria paused with a shocked expression and turned to stare back at me.
I blinked.
She blinked.
"Y-you- what?"
...Did I just made Saber Alter canon with this?
I managed to get a hold over my confusion. "Y-You have been restored to the real world, King of Knights."
Mentioning her title seemed to calm her a little out of that maddening situation she was experiencing in front of us all, while I tried to quickly make sense of why things went awry here.
The commands I put on the card- those should have worked rightfully how I had written them and- I grimaced at the idea of doing something like that with the Caster card.
Summoning Medea could easily create back her Lily version, nullifying the usefulness that is Rule Breaker. And that was unacceptable.
"I suppose... you should be my.. master?" I could understand that this was a messy way to introduce myself to the reborn Dark-Tainted Tyrant but... I needed to return back to the real issue.
Gilgamesh looked to be ready to lose his patience at this situation and I needed to break the ice with the woman. "I will explain our roles on a latter date, Artoria. I require your assistance against a threat to Humanity itself."
Her eyes narrowed a little as I addressed her informally. "A threat?" She turned to stare at the waiting Kid Gil. "Is he a worthy challenge?"
I think both the King of Heroes and I smiled at the questions. "Yes."
And the King of Knights required no more word as she was quickly rushing at the still Chibi-Archer, her jet black sword roaring dark flames as it approached Gilgamesh.
Red eyes gave a mirthful light as the gates spawned behind the child and tried to intercept the fast Saber.
Swords, axes, spears and lances failed to halt the march of the Tyrant and soon Gilgamesh noticed something I already knew and was exploiting. He wasn't whole.
While he had retained his body and his mind, experience and half of his treasury had gone to the other card, the one Angelica guarded zealously.
The following beating that saw a bored Artoria Alter mincing up the child was... partly gorey. There weren't limbs flying but... there was some blood being spilled here and there.
I was slowly considering to call off the woman but... I realised that I didn't have Command Seals.
...
I think I did mess up a little with this plan, or maybe I just succeeded more than I needed.
We were once more inside the Edelfelt mansion and I was suffering the worst case of headache.
While on my sides were Chloe and chibi Luvia, I was partly mortified by the fact Salter had decided to offer her lap as a seat for 'her Master', the young woman currently focusing on the cheeseburger I had managed to buy before being pulled inside the large house.
I had tried to explain to her that the roles behind the classic Grail War weren't in vigor but she shot down my explanations and merely settled with the familiar roles.
Meanwhile we were all sitting in the two opposite couches, an heavily bruised Kid Gil was softly resting in one of the small couches, a small pillow and a white cover helping him to rest. Rule Breaker had shattered the connection between Pandora and the King of Heroes, but I wasn't that much eager to let the flamboyant boy lurking around the city without a minder.
That is why the current predicament was seriously eroding my sanity the more words were said by the two teens.
"The eight card should be sealed away! He is not trustworthy-"
"He was being manipulated and... he will cooperate with us because he would want to take revenge on the one who was controlling."
Too much pride was within Gilgamesh, even his child form had a portion of that massive ego and that would explain his willingfulness to attack back Darius.
"You said this was supposed to be a joint mission-"
"For logistical purposes. I would hardly assign two little girls with little knowledge of the Kaleidoscope and the reach of their current abilities and two older ones unable to avoid bickering mid-fight."
Miyu frowned a little at my words, maybe I had been a little harsh on their part since they had gone quite far without proper guidance. That, I suppose, should be given consideration too.
"I-Is it about Luvia-chan being able to break through the shield?"
I turned to Illya, the girl having that very look one had when realisation struck like a train on their mind. "That is an example."
"But we are limited with-"
"Nothing."
The surrogate Edelfelt shut down as the youngest version of the blonde spoke curtly.
"Sapphire confirmed that there is literally no limit to the scope of the Second Magic, making this something about... creativity."
... "E-EH?!"
"You both have a slight stunt in your magical prowness caused by two distinct and different issues:"
I pointed my finger at Miyu. "You are trying to 'make sense' of something that is meant to be senseless. Magic doesn't abide to natural laws and thinking otherwise is only going to reduce your capacity to fight and use its full potential."
I moved the finger back to Illya. "You are incredibly influenced by Magical Girl... shows. The protagonists of those stories are mostly limited by what they can do and, while this helped you to develop quickly and smoothly, that doesn't mean you will end up in the same predicament Miyu-san is. You both are weaker than you are supposed to be... because you are not trying."
"B-But I thought it was... Chloe-san's appearance that made me weaker-"
"That is because you got drained from part of your own magic and that influenced your capacity to quickly call upon the Kaleidoscope. You are merely... slower than before."
"So what you are trying to say... is that we could ask for anything?"
"You could." I sighed calmly but narrowed my eyes on the fellow dimensional hopper. "But I wouldn't try to do anything overly-complex."
...
"What?"
"Requesting thing through the Kaleidoscope is finnicky when said requests are complex. Asking to bring a person you know out of a terrible situation could easily bring the version of said person from a parallel universe. Meaning... it works pretty much like the infamous Genie's wishes."
I would have used the Grail as an example but... I don't think part of the occupants would have known much about it to connect the dots.
"You wish to fix 'that' predicament and I think you will be glad that 'we will be forced' to deal with it." I stated as cryptical as I could to the introvert girl, her eyes widening in surprise as I cited once more something that wasn't mean to be known outside of her, older Luvia and this dimension's Sapphire. "The Card Makers are trying to do something very dangerous and damaging for the multiverse."
"The Card Makers? You know who they are?" I nodded at Rin, the girl finally asking a good question.
"It is a family that copied most of the three grand families' works. The Ainsworths... are trying to create something far worse than the 'simple' system that is the Holy Grail War."
"How much... worse?"
I turned to glance at Chloe and noticed that she was incredibly interested on the matter. I suppose speaking of something 'worse' than an already deadly competition was something worrying.
I opened my mouth-
"Something that could see the end of Magic everywhere in the other universes."
And stood silent as I turned around to glance at... an awake Gilgamesh.
He smiled brightly as he turned his attention on me. "Hello friend."
...Since when we were friends?
"I suppose I shall accept your kind request of hospitality and good food, properly offered to a king."
...What?
"We didn't even talk about this, you brat." The tanned girl by my side spoke softly, yet her tone was far from calm as part of her growing concern started to influence her words.
"Crude, genuinely true! I suppose I am being too much forward with how I wish to court Shinji-san."
...Court?
...
...
WHAT!?
"Y-You cannot be courting Shinji- h-he is a boy!" Little Luvia voiced out my thoughts but Kid Gil continued to smile, unfazed by the collective reaction."
"But it can be done! Why, I have been quite interested in my friend Enkidu-"
Nonononononono!
I- This cannot be allowed but- I need his help and- UGH!
"Master." Artoria asked blankly, her golden eyes on my face. "Permission to teach a lesson to this little scoundrel."
...When did she get Excalibur Morgan out?
AN
Gil is here and, before anyone asks if I am pulling some Yaoi here, no. Gil's courting is... not romantic but... weird. Plain weird, especially because the previous individual he 'courted' was Enkidu.
Review Q&A!
Darkjaden: But that is what makes HF Shirou and Miyuverse Shirou... relatable. It isn't a matter of being stronger, smarter or anything like that, this two cases presents two versions of Shirou that... behaves pretty much like a normal person. It is mostly the HF version about this but... they break out of that dream they had self-imposed on themselves because Kiritsugu failed to see how it would be turned in an obsession by their Survivor's guilt. Fate Shirou is more the version of Shirou that blissfully ignores what is going on with Sakura and Rin, while UBW is someone that see the struggle the local Fuyuki's Tsundere has within herself. Hopefully this clears out the questions!
MasterOfDragonsGod: Thank you!
Perran Onh: Thank you!
merendinoemiliano: Thank you!
Frozen Flame: Thank you and duly noted about the difference.
PasiveNox: Thank you!