Naples pt. II
Okay, up-front warnings, #1 I have yet to actually finish Fate/Extra myself due to various RL complications… Yes I know that I suck. This means that I am writing this using what I can find on tvtropes, the nasuverse wiki, and Cirnopoly's walkthrough which I reference during gameplay.
#2 Hakuno is Hakuno but for some reason my Hakuno is flat-out violent with the temperament of a fire dragon, maybe those long hours grinding inside the Arena were actually his inner violence demanding satiation?
Please stick around after the story for a most definitely and totally canon Omake showing just what Hakuno and Perseus were doing.
【Excerpt From Swords of Majesty, Antiquity, and Legend, by Arthur Scott, Beginning of the 21st Century】
A sword is a bladed weapon (edged weapon) used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration. A sword in the narrowest sense consists of a straight blade with two edges and a hilt. However, in nearly every case, the term may also be used to refer to weapons with a single edge (backsword).
The word sword comes from the Old English sweord, cognate to swert, Old Norse sverð, from a Proto-Indo-European root *swer- "to wound, to cut". Non-European weapons called "sword" include single-edged weapons such as the Middle Eastern saif, the Chinese dao and the related Japanese katana. The Chinese jian is an example of a non-European double-edged sword, like the European models derived from the double-edged Iron Age sword.
Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger; the earliest specimens date to ca. 1600 BC. The Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The spatha, as it developed in the Late Roman army, became the predecessor of the European sword of the Middle Ages, at first adopted as the Migration period sword, and only in the High Middle Ages developed into the classical arming sword with crossguard.
The use of a sword is known as swordsmanship or (in an early modern or modern context) as fencing. In the Early Modern period, the sword developed into the rapier and eventually the smallsword, surviving into the 18th century only in the role of duelling weapon. By the 19th century, swords were reduced to the status of either ceremonial weapon or sport equipment in modern fencing.
The sword is said to be the emblem of military honour and should incite the bearer to a just and generous pursuit of honour and virtue. It is symbolic of liberty and strength. In the Middle Ages, the sword was often used as a symbol of the word of God. The names given to many swords in mythology, literature, and history reflect the high prestige of the weapon and the wealth of the owner, the most famous examples in the modern world being the swords of the Arthurian Cycle.
Archer, no, EMIYA wasn't sure where he had been sent, all around him was gray, as though it was the thickest fog in existence.
"Oh? Who are you?" A voice asked from directly behind Archer, causing him to spin around.
Before him was something that looked like a little girl, she was around fifteen, well-proportioned features, a slim figure. She could be described as beautiful, but also, she had a very cute, doll-like face and figure, her pink hair was split to the left and right, and was wearing a thin white dress.
With her diminutive stature, she gave off the impression of a child, however, in contrast, she gave off a glamorous feel of a [Lady], an odd combination if nothing else.
"I could ask the same of you," EMIYA replied, looking at the girl curiously.
At this, the girl gave a somewhat childish grin and puffed up her chest importantly.
"I am the beautiful witch who brought forth all disasters and a shred of hope, Pan-"
"Ah, Pandora-san!" Another voice called out as a youth of sixteen appeared within the endless grey, cutting off what Pandora had been about to say but still answering the question. Almost immediately following the name "Pandora" Archer felt information flowing into his head, causing a headache as the information that pertained to the world he was in filled his mind.
'Damn you Kaleidoscope,' Archer thought darkly as he refocused on the two before him.
"So, who are you?" The youth, most likely one of the "Campione" asked.
Instead of replying the Nameless Hero actually paused and considered how to reply, he could answer with his name when he was alive, but that was something he disliked, he could use his former Class as an answer, but somehow that just didn't feel right, in the end, the best answer was:
"I am no one, my name was forgotten by the time I was called a hero." Archer replied, nodding to himself at that answer.
"Wait, Hero? Then are you a go-"
"In your terms, yes," Archer interrupted the black-haired youth as he manifested the Jewel Sword of Zelretch, the shortsword appearing in his hand as Archer supplied it with prana, casually slashing open the [Netherworld] as it was called, then stepping through the resulting inter-dimensional gash. "Now if you will excuse me, I have someone that I need to find." Archer called out as he descended upon this new world.
At the entrance of Diana's house, it seems that a medal that was pierced with an arrow had been left there.
And that medal was now on the kitchen table.
It was made of white stone. On its surface, the shape of wings spread, a flying bird was carved. Seeing that, Liliana tensed up.
"The mark of the one who reigns over the sun in the sky, without a doubt, this medal is the symbol of Perseus."
"At the same time, it symbolizes the icon of Ahura Mazda; his secret was exactly the same as what Lily had sensed..." The two witches, Liliana and Diana, were murmuring to themselves.
Then, Karen who had been waiting at the side lowered her head, and made a request to Godou.
" King Kusanagi, please go ahead and touch it. Doing that, you will be able to hear the words of Perseus... When I had picked it up earlier, it gave me quite the shock."
"Ah, ok."
Godou reached out his hand, testing it with his touch.
At that moment, the voice of that handsome man could be heard from the white stone medal. "It seems you've fully recovered godslayer! I too, have also had a full recovery. Then, it's about time for us to settle our duel!"
"Oh for the love of all things holy would you quit being so hammy?!" A rather nondescript male voice asked, clearly it was someone berating Perseus.
"Never! My glory is the greatest on this Earth!" The voice of Perseus replied with overwhelming arrogance. Godou could actually picture the pose he must have been in too, hands on hips, chest puffed out…
The two voices began arguing back and forth, Godou's presence forgotten, causing a rather large sweat drop to run down the back of his head.
In the middle of an empty field outside of Napoli, the sound of a bladesmith's hammer striking the anvil could be heard. Soon, the sound of one anvil became two, then ten, and soon enough it became impossible to tell how many hammers were in action, forging blades mundane and mighty, swords that were holy and demonic. Accompanying the sounds of the forge were countless blades suddenly springing up from the earth like grave markers on some forgotten and epic battlefield. In the center of the field of blades a hill was formed from the swords, and on that hill a heroic figure, back bent under the weight of an impossible ideal, yet still he did not fall, garbed in the shroud of a saint the color of his forge's blaze began to manifest. Soon enough however, the hammers stopped, the swords vanished, and all that remained was a Knight, garbed in a red shroud and bearing black armor, his spiked tresses the color of purest frost, his eyes the color of mighty steel, and his skin was darkened almost as though burned nearly black. The figure was no longer weighed down by his selfless ideals however, nay, instead all that the figure cared for was the man he had previously called "Master," and all the innocent masses could no longer measure up to that one existence that he could hesitatingly call "friend."
[Heretic EMIYA] had descended, and in the blink of an eye he sped off, running at speeds no mere mortal could survive, towards Piazza Plebiscito, the eyes of an Archer locating the person he sought most in the world.
Hakuno Kishinami was in dra- shocked. (Well he was wearing a damned dress, because apparently Perseus had a costume fetish.) He had just watched a battle between a Heroic Spirit and an ordinary human that had caused destruction on a level he almost couldn't believe possible had it not been for the countless memories of even worse destruction filling what few memories he had. First had been the spheres of light that the Japanese youth, Kusanagi Godou he called himself, had summoned which had done something that sealed away the Heroic Spirit Perseus' power, then the youth had started grabbing the pillars around the plaza and using them as clubs, and to top it all off the fight had ended with the youth summoning a massive [Boar] to finish things off. Actually, the Japanese boy seemed to not care too much about the property damage in hindsight huh?
Slowly coming out of his shock Hakuno gradually became aware of the silver haired girl approaching him, a suspicious look on her face, only for the girl to stop as Hakuno felt a massive presence appear at his side. When he turned to see what the source of the presence was though he almost passed out in shock.
"Ar… cher?" Hakuno barely got out, having to remind himself how to speak.
"How are you feeling, Master?" The former Servant replied, only to frown as he took in his ex-Master's current attire. "Incidentally, why are you dressed up like a nun?"
-Omake: The Hakuno Factor-
"No, this one won't do…" A masculine, playboy-type voice muttered before a very confused Hakuno Kishinami, the owner of which was currently forcibly undressing him out of khaki shorts and a safari shirt.
"Maybe this one then?" The owner of the voice, [Serpent Slayer] Perseus, as he called himself, muttered as he held a white and blue suit up against the now undressed and very confused Hakuno. Don't get him wrong, he was glad to no longer looked like an escapee from the emergency ward, but it was weird and in some ways wrong to have a Heroic Spirit using you as a freaking dress-up doll, but Hakuno was a little too shell-shocked by the absurdity of the situation to complain, and the fact that Perseus was using magic to keep him from running was probably another thing worth mentioning. "No, white doesn't seem to be your color," The [Heretic God] decided with a sigh of regret before something seemed to catch his eye.
"What's this?" Perseus asked with a rather ominous gleam as he grabbed a black suit with a red tie and looked at a now nervous Hakuno Kishinami, the fact that he had been stripped down, and was therefore in his underwear, the only reason he wasn't bolting now. "Yes~ this one should be perfect~" Perseus muttered, moving quickly to force Hakuno into the outfit then laughing maniacally as he slung the former Master over his shoulder again and walked out the clothing store like a kidnapper to find another one.
The reason for this abnormal behavior unfortunately lies within Hakuno Kishinami himself, or more specifically, in the "D Waves," that mysterious energy responsible for what TV tropes calls "The Dulcinea Effect." Normally found present in distressed damsels for the sole purpose of motivating The Hero into action, Hakuno's D Waves, due to his status as the Protagonist, instead would have granted unto him the power to amass a harem of heroic spirits, unfortunately he was unable to do so during the Holy Grail War by the fact that said heroic souls all would be killed off by the Moon Cell once they had just reached critical mass (read: after the fight). Now I ask you, what do you think will happen after nearly a full twenty-four hours exposed to this?
The Author would like to once again state that this omake is canon, very, very, canon, to Wrought-Iron Hero God.
Other than that, I kept feeling like I was writing myself into a corner with this chapter, and as a result, I am not too thrilled with it, therefore I'm posting a request here for either a beta or at the least someone willing to soundboard ideas. Special thanks to Marcus Galen Sands, author of God-Slaying Blade Works, without whom this chapter might never have seen the light of day.