Chapter 1: Call of the Grail
Reginald Veloria stared at the woman now standing in his living room. No doubt, he had had one too many alcoholic beverages this night, sure, but a woman appearing out of nowhere seemed a bit too crazy. Especially when she looked so real… except for the green hair. It was only when Veloria stood did she notice him.
"So then… are you my Master?" the woman with green hair asked. Veloria double checked the bottle he had been drinking.
"This is only my second bottle… how am I hallucinating already?" Veloria wondered aloud. The woman walked over to him and leaned over, hoisting him up by his shoulder.
"I'm not a hallucination. You summoned me," the woman explained. Veloria shook his head.
"I'm not a summoner, I do water magic. And cats. Cat magic, whatever that is."
"Alright, you're clearly intoxicated."
"Don't you judge me! I got enough people doing that already…"
"Mm. I wonder why."
Wobbling a little, Veloria set the bottle he had on the table next to him.
"Listen, I'm really sorry I have to cut this short but… goodnight…"
Veloria blacked out, collapsing onto the floor.
In the morning, Veloria opened his eyes and found himself on his couch. Looking around, he saw his booze on the table across the room, with another empty bottle on the kitchen table he could see. The place looked a lot cleaner than he remembered it being.
"You're up," the woman with green hair noted when she entered the room. Veloria shook his head, knowing it would only make his hangover worse.
"I got bored so I began cleaning. I hope you don't mind," the woman continued. Veloria pushed himself onto his feet.
"I'm sorry, I don't remember hiring a maid. I was kinda drunk," Veloria grunted, moving past her into the kitchen.
"I don't intend to be your maid, I'm your Servant. For the Holy Grail War."
Veloria leaned out of the kitchen, coffee in hand.
"Pardon?"
"The Holy Grail War. Seven Servants, one from each different Class, competes for the right to have the Grail grant their wish."
Veloria stepped out the kitchen, took a deep drink from his cup of coffee, and then took a deep breath.
"Either that made more sense in your head, or I'm dreaming. Probably the latter. I don't usually drink coffee," Veloria replied, setting the cup of coffee to the side and moving over to the door.
"How can you be a Magus and not know what the Holy Grail War is?"
He froze. "I'm surprised you know that. I'm not a very well known Magus, and considering how we have the whole 'keep magic secret from the muggles' thing going on, you're either another Magus trying to screw with me, or this is a dream," Veloria reasoned out, moving back to the table with his booze on it. The woman clenched her fists.
"Listen to me, this is a war, and if we plan to win, we can't be skeptical of each other. We made the contract, we're in this together!" the woman raised her voice. Veloria picked up the bottle and turned to her.
"You can either admit to me that you're messing with me, or…" Veloria smashed the bottle on the side of the table and held the broken side up to his neck, "...the dream ends."
In an instant, the woman was in front of him, and the broken bottle was in her hand.
"My patience is wearing thin," she grumbled. Veloria took a step back in shock.
She was all the way across the room, how did she get in front of me so quickly? he thought.
"Who are you?" he asked. She took a breath, as if relieved.
"My name is Nemesis. I've been summoned as Assassin. And what is your name?"
"Reginald Veloria."
"Good to meet your acquaintance," Nemesis nodded, holding out her hand. Veloria looked down at her hand. Hesitantly and uneasily, he too extended his hand and shook hers.
"Right, so shall we get right to it?" Nemesis inquired. The magus furrowed his brow.
"To... what?" Veloria asked. Nemesis turned to the table and with one sweep of her hand, cleared it, pushing all items to the floor.
"Our battle strategy. Do you have a map of the town?" Nemesis asked. Veloria shook his head and then brought his hand to his face.
"I'm sorry, what is this all for? You said something about a Holy War? Like a crusade?"
"Please don't start acting dumb again," Nemesis requested. Shaking his head, he continued.
"No no, I legitimately do not know what the hell you are talking about. What's this Holy Grail? What is it for? You said it grants wishes? I mean, what the hell?"
Nemesis slowly turned back to him with a confused look on her face.
"Listen, I'm a third-rate Magus at best. I specialize in Water magic and I have a few cat familiars that don't listen to me and I'm pretty sure one of them is dead. Why the hell was I chosen to get wrapped up in all this?" Veloria ranted. Nemesis looked to the side, thinking.
"Alright, I know what we should do. We should find Kotomine Church," Nemesis decided.
"Wait, what? Kotomine Church? There's only one Church in Fuyuki, and it's huge, and Christian, and not called Kotomine," Veloria replied. Nemesis sighed.
"But there has to be. This is Fuyuki, so… come with me," Nemesis grunted, grabbing him by the wrist and walking out the door. She moved much faster than he expected, and soon found himself being dragged along the ground.
"Nemesis! Wait! Stop! I'm still in my track pants!" Veloria shouted. Nemesis stopped.
"You should refer to me by my Class name. That way, no one will be able to discover my weaknesses," Nemesis explained, pulling him up by his wrist to a standing position.
"Whatever, can I at least change first?" Veloria protested, pulling himself free of her grasp.
"Well, we're already here, so we might as well do this first," Nemesis motioned toward the small church in front of them. Veloria looked around in shock, letting out a yelp.
"What the hell? I know what this is… this is supposed to be an empty lot! This is at least a mile away from my house, how did we get here?" Veloria exclaimed, dusting himself off.
"I took us here. I am very fast," Nemesis explained, walking towards the church.
"Yeah, I noti- Hey, where are you going!" Veloria shouted, running after her. The doors of the church were thrown open as Nemesis, followed by Veloria, entered the church.
"How… how are you so fast?" Veloria whispered.
"I am a Heroic Spirit. I am far stronger, faster and more durable than any normal human."
"Heroic, you say? Yeah, you don't seem that Heroic."
"Oh, but you see, she is far more of a hero than you realize," a priest wearing a trench coat interjected, as he walked down the aisle towards them.
"Master, this is the regulator of the Holy Grail War. He houses and protects those who have dropped out," Nemesis informed, stepping to the side so Veloria could get a clear look at him.
"You're… Father Kotomine? So… you know what's going on here, Mr… Father… Sir?"
Kotomine nodded.
"How much do you know already? I'm sure Assassin of Red has explained some things to you," Kotomine asked, waving his hand, signaling for Veloria to follow him towards the back of the church.
"Well, there are… seven Servants who fight over a wish granting grail, and… I assume there's a Master for each Servant?" Veloria recalled. Nemesis began walking up the aisle.
"I'm sorry, but what did you call me? Assassin… of Red?"
"Hmm. It appears both of you are somewhat in the dark. Allow me to explain," Kotomine smiled, beginning to walk in a circle around the two.
"A Holy Grail War has never occurred in this world."
"You mean there are other worlds?"
"Indeed. There are an unlimited amount of different worlds which fill the expanse of the Multiverse. On one of these worlds, the Holy Grail Wars proceed once every 60 years or so exactly as Nemesis has described them. However, due to a certain series events that lead to the Grail's destruction during the Fifth Holy Grail War, the Multiverse underwent a splinter effect. This lead to all worlds having a very slight connection. You see, the Servants the Grail summons are heroic Spirits, usually people like King Arthur, Hercules, and the sort. However, now that the Grail has been connected to all worlds, the Grail can draw from a near limitless pool of different Heroic Spirits. Assassin of Red is a result of this."
"But what does Assassin of Red mean? From what I understand, it's just supposed to be Assassin," Nemesis interrupted.
"The Grail has not made the transfer unscathed. It is very much wounded, and as a result, it requires… additional warriors to fight in this war. And so, instead of seven Servants being summoned to fight, it has summoned 14. Two teams of seven servants, known as the Red and Black Factions. Assassin of Red is just that. The Assassin that is a part of the Red Faction. In fact, one of the other Masters of Red is in the back. He arrived late last night," Kotomine finished as he stopped walking.
"Last night? That's when I was summoned," Nemesis noted.
"As I understand it, all Servants were summoned at approximately the same time, so this Master of Red found his way here much faster than anyone else," Kotomine added.
Veloria moved toward the back where the Master of Red was.
Whoever it was, they must've been very religious to instantly come here when their Servant was summoned... Veloria thought. He suddenly realized something.
Please don't be him, please don't be him, please don't be him, please don't be him, Veloria pleaded with himself as he opened the door to the back room. Inside, he saw a tall blonde Priest with glasses and a scar on his jaw.
"Oh thank god, I thought you were going to be someone I kne-"
"VELORIAAAA!" someone shouted behind Veloria. They tackled Veloria into the room, and in an instant, they had him with one of his arms pushed behind his back.
"So, you followed me here, huh? Thought you could get the drop on me? Well, I thought you would do that! And look! I got the drop on you!" the man grinned as he pushed Veloria's arm up his back.
The man was Ivan Heroch, and he seemed to have a hate on for Veloria ever since Veloria had 'humiliated' him by walking out of church while Heroch was Lectoring.
"Assassin! Get him off me!" Veloria ordered. Nemesis darted forward, drawing a gun from her belt. The Priest standing inside the room suddenly produced a bayonet out of seemingly nowhere and held it to Nemesis' throat.
"Take a step closer with that gun and the only thing that'll be getting off of anything'll be yer head from yer neck," the Priest threatened.
"Assassin, eh? Fits you pretty well, being the sneaky rat you are. I suppose I should introduce you to Archer of Red then," Heroch continued.
"So this is the filthy heathen you were tellin' me about? How pathetic, doesn't even get dressed in the mornin' it seems. Or were ye out fer a jog?" Archer of Red snickered, looking at Veloria's track pants. Suddenly, Nemesis stepped underneath the bayonet and aimed her gun right at Archer's face.
Suddenly, Kotomine was between the two, and a single foot went out, striking Heroch on the jaw and sending him into the wall.
"I apologize, but harming one another is strictly forbidden. You will be fighting for the same team, so I suggest that you get used to one another," Kotomine chided.
Heroch and Veloria looked at eachother and then back to Kotomine.
"Work with him?" they protested simultaneously.
"Yes, and you must. Otherwise, I will be forced to remove you from the Holy Grail War," Kotomine explained.
"And what makes you think I won't just have Archer rip your head off?" Heroch snarled. Kotomine chuckled. He stretched his arms outward in an arc.
"Because my Noble Phantasm is this church, and it's ability is to prevent all harm from coming to anyone within it's walls," Kotomine exposited.
"Noble Phantasm?" Veloria asked.
"Each Heroic Spirit has a Noble Phantasm. It is an ability completely unique to that Servant. Archer of Red's ability to summon bayonets whenever he pleases, and Assassin of Red's very special bullet are examples of this," Kotomine informed them.
"But… those are Heroic Spirits… how can you use one?" Nemesis questioned. Kotomine turned to her.
"Is it not obvious? I, too, am a Heroic Spirit summoned by the Grail," Kotomine stated. All eyes in the room were redirected to him.
"Then what team are you on? What class are you? Who is your Master?" Heroch shouted as he stood up again.
"Neither. Ruler. Me," Kotomine responded, answering all three questions in quick succession. A silence fell over the room. After a few moments, Kotomine brought sound back by speaking.
"As you might imagine, 14 Servants, should they all work together, is entirely capable of ending the world. I have been summoned to protect the Grail should this event arise."
"Wait, so you're not here to prevent that from happening?" Veloria cried indignantly.
"As powerful as I may be, I assure you, the Servants in this war are more so. Due to my connection to the Grail, I have knowledge of all Servants that have been summoned. The two Servants standing before me are… mid tier at best," Kotomine explained calmly, walking over to a recliner, sitting down and folding his hands.
"Don't judge a book by it's cover. I'm more powerful than I look," Archer of Red cautioned.
"Archer of Red. Real name is Alexander Anderson. D-ranked Strength, B-ranked Agility, A-ranked Endurance, C-ranked Luck, E-ranked Mana, and A-ranked Noble Phantasm. You were a Paladin for the Roman Catholic Church and top enforcer for Iscariot, most specialized in vampire hunting. You died fighting Alucard during the Nazi Invasion of London. Mr. Anderson, I don't judge books by their covers. I already know all of the book's contents," Kotomine smiled at them. Anderson charged forward, bayonet in each hand ready to strike at Kotomine's head. Kotomine simply sat calmly and moved his head slightly, letting the bayonet get stuck in the chair. Kotomine threw a kick forward, sending Archer into the opposite wall.
"Have you already forgotten my Noble Phantasm? How silly. Shall I remind you?" Kotomine offered. Archer snarled and released his grip on his bayonet's, letting them vanish.
"But… but hold on. Why was I chosen for all this? I mean, I'm not exactly the greatest Magus out there," Veloria interjected.
"Shut up, Veloria, no one cares that you suck," Heroch grunted, using the wall to help him stand up. Kotomine's eyes shifted to Veloria.
"The Grail selects who participates. If the Grail believes you have a wish worth granting, it may select you. That is all," Kotomine explained.
"So what exactly is our next step?" Veloria asked. Kotomine shrugged.
"I will oversee the war, but I will not take sides. I cannot offer you help unless you officially withdraw."
"So… what's keeping me from withdrawing?"
Kotomine looked slightly to his left. Veloria followed his gaze and met himself with the end of Nemesis' gun.
"You cannot withdraw from the war. I need to succeed," Nemesis sternly stated.
Veloria just stared at the gun for a moment. He turned back to Kotomine.
"I'm withdrawing."
Kotomine raised an eyebrow. After a moment, he smiled.
"Very well," he said, standing up. He passed Veloria and Nemesis and entered the other room, motioning for them to follow him. Before Veloria followed him, Nemesis grabbed his arm.
"Master, please, you can't just give up so easily. You have a wish, right?" Nemesis pleaded. Veloria removed her hand from his arm.
"No," he said simply before entering the other room.
` They were back in the main chapel, with Kotomine sitting in one of the pews. He smiled as they entered.
"It is a very simple matter for you to withdraw from the war. All you must do is use the Command Seals on your hand to order your Servant to commit suicide," Kotomine explained from his sitting position. Veloria was stunned into silence.
"I… what?"
"It's very simple. The Command Seals on your hand, they are your mark as a Master, and they can be used to gain total obedience from a Servant in a certain instance. All you must do is state that you invoke the Command Seal, and then order Nemesis to kill herself," Kotomine restated.
Veloria took a step back and suddenly became aware that Nemesis had followed him in. He turned towards her. Her face was like stone. It wasn't angry, or sad or anything. It simply stared at him. It reminded him… of someone. He looked at the back of his hand. The symbols seemed to leer at him.
"You want out of this war, don't you? Then just do it. Get it over with," Nemesis insisted. Veloria closed his eyes for a moment. He had heard those words before. He couldn't quite remember from where, or to whom. But he remembered they made him unbelievably sad…
He opened his eyes again. He turned to Kotomine.
"I take it back. I'll stay in the war."
Veloria took note that Kotomine didn't look the least bit surprised. Suddenly, Archer of Red entered the room.
"I've found another Master of Red. He ain't far away, but he's bein' attacked by a bigun!" Archer of Red shouted. Veloria looked back at Nemesis. She was currently looking past him, towards the door.
"It must be a servant of the Black Faction," Nemesis concluded.
Hyousuke Kobayashi cowered underneath a table. There were giants. Giant sword-wielding giants. And they were fighting in his living room.
He took a peek out and saw the one that seemed to want to not kill him. Yup. Still a giant. Though, for the first time, Kobayashi noticed that he had a long black coat and wore some sort of white helmet. The good monster glanced at him, and Kobayashi saw its piercing yellow eyes. It clearly wasn't human.
"That was a nice counter! You're pretty fast," the other monster shouted from somewhere Kobayashi couldn't see. The good monster dashed out of Kobayashi's sight. The clang of metal started to fill the air again.
Kobayashi had to run. There was no way he was gonna make it if he didn't run right now. He took a peek out of his table again to make sure neither of the monsters could see him. Once he was sure, he turned and jumped for his kitchen window, struggling to pull it open. He heard a large crash behind him that sounded suspiciously like his new TV.
Eventually, Hyousuke panicked and simply grabbed a pan and smashed the window open with it. He began to crawl out, but cut his hand on the glass and let out a yelp. He fell through the window, causing the piece of glass to go up his arm. He grimaced in pain. He looked up and realized that there was a man watching him.
"Please, you've got to help me!" Kobayashi shouted, struggling to his feet and holding his arm where the cut had formed. The man looked at Kobayashi's arm and then smiled.
"You must be that Saber of Red's Master, huh?" the man asked. Kobayashi looked at him in utter confusion before realizing that he was talking about the monsters.
"What? Saber of Red? What are you talking about?" Kobayashi inquired desperately. The man shook his head.
"Not sure myself, really. But that's what Kenpachi called your tall, dark and scary friend. Saber of Red. Not sure what this is all about, but Kenpachi said he's got to kill a bunch of fools before we get a wish. So you'll be understanding if I kill you, right?" the man replied.
Kobayashi began to run to his left, but the wall exploded, and the giant named Kenpachi was on top of the giant named Saber of Red. Saber of Red had pierced Kenpachi's shoulder, and Kenpachi's blade barely missed Saber of Red's head and lodged itself into the ground.
A bladed stub that looked to be Saber of Red's foot came up and slammed into Kenpachi, sending him up into the air. Saber of Red jumped to his feet and spun, using momentum to swing his blade into Kenpachi right as he came down. A metallic clang filled the air, and Kenpachi was sent flying back into Kobayashi's house.
Kobayashi had been so stunned by the display that he hadn't noticed the man had gotten right behind him. The man threw an arm around Kobayashi's neck, and raised a knife to Kobayashi's cheek.
"Saber of Red! Throw your weapon down now or I'll slice your Master's throat open!" he called to the black giant. If Saber of Red had heard him, he didn't respond.
"Hey! Did you hear me? Can you talk?" the man bellowed at him. Saber of Red was like a statue. The man raised the knife away from Kobayashi and was now using it to wave at Saber of Red.
"Giant black thing, I'm talking to you! What are you, stupid? You can't function without a-" the man suddenly shouted in pain and stepped back from Kobayashi, who instinctively ran forward, away from his attacker.
He looked back and was surprised to see the man was holding a stump where his arm used to be. Kobayashi was curious as to what happened until he realized something was behind him. He looked back slowly to see Saber of Red standing over him.
Did… Saber of Red save him? He didn't even see the goliath move…
"Kenpachi! Where the hell are you? Come help me!" the man shouted.
"Tch. Serves you right for trying to interfere with our battle," Kenpachi growled as he came up behind his Master.
"What the hell kind of Servant are you?" the man screamed at him.
"Yo, Saber. Sorry I took so long, I kinda got lost," Kenpachi shouted at Saber of Red, ignoring his Master. Saber of Red immediately was in front of Kobayashi, getting into what Kobayashi assumed was a fighting pose.
This thing… it doesn't want to just not hurt me… it wants to protect me, Kobayashi realized.
Kenpachi smiled. "No talking, just get right back into things," Kenpachi began to chuckled. "I like you, friend. Let's go!"
Suddenly, a priest appeared. A tall one. It didn't take long before Kobayashi realized this was also one of the monsters. What did the man call them? Servants?
The priest jumped, catching Kenpachi off guard as the priest threw his legs hard into Kenpachi, sending him into the wall of the house. The priest turned to them.
"Boy, I know yer one of the Masters of Red. Run. Yer friend and I'll take care 'a this heathen," the priest called out to Kobayashi. Words could not explain how confused Kobayashi was, but regardless, he knew when not to argue. He immediately got up and began to run.
Archer of Red looked at the other servant.
"Lancer?" he guessed. The servant said nothing, but moved over next to Anderson and readied himself.
The servant that called himself Kenpachi rose out of the rubble.
"More interruptions. This is starting to piss me off," Kenpachi grumbled as he gripped his sword.
Archer jumped forward, slicing his two blades at Kenpachi's neck. Kenpachi took a massive step back and let the blades hit nothing. Before Archer could readjust himself, Kenpachi arced his blade, thrusting it at Archer's midsection. Archer spun in the air, swinging his blades underneath him, batting Kenpachi's blade away and once again throwing his legs into Kenpachi's face. Kenpachi threw his head forward, meeting Anderson's feet head on. Anderson could feel himself being thrown back as Saber of Red moved forward and sliced at the ground, kicking up dust at Kenpachi's face. Kenpachi swiped, clearing the air, but also opening himself up to Saber of Red's attack. Saber of Red brought his sword up and down again, aiming for Kenpachi's head, but Kenpachi reached up and grabbed onto Saber of Red's blade.
"That trick ain't gonna work again, friend," Kenpachi almost gloated as he threw a kick into Saber of Red, throwing him back into the neighbor's yard. Archer of Red landed next to him.
"He's a tough one, ain't he?" Archer of Red noted. Saber of Red merely got up again and got into his fighting position.
"Not one for talking, are ye?" Archer went left. Saber went right. Kenpachi stayed right where he was and let them come at him. The Holy Grail War had begun.