Outsider Chronicles: Demon Magus

Its one thing to discover that reincarnation is an actual thing, but its quite another to find out that Gods are very much real as well. It certainly doesn't help that I ended up getting dragged head first into a fight between two of them, found myself with a ridiculously hot stalker and labeled as a Demon King. Add in a Grail War and you have the makings of a truly humongous headache.

And we are back! Nothing to say, other than enjoy!

Chapter 5

The next morning Erica and I headed out to school early so she could catch Sakura before class. As it turned out, we wouldn't have to worry about that as we ran into her on the way, accompanied by a very familiar redhead. Yeah, I knew Shirou. Kind of hard not to since we both ended up in the same hospital room after the fire and lived down the street from one another. We weren't friends as such, I actually found his unerring hero complex to be rather annoying, but we got on fine.

"Morning Kariya," said Shirou happily.

"Morning Shirou," I said, "Hey Sakura."

Sakura's response was to ignore me as she glared at Erica, before storming off down the street. The Knight twitched slightly and took a deep breath before following, hurrying to catch up.

"What was that all about?" asked Shirou.

"They had a little spat last night," I said.

"I see…" said the red-head, "But thats the new girl, right? How did they get into a fight so soon?"

"Fighting over territory," I said, but didn't elaborate.

We caught up with the girls at the school gates where we found the two girls chatting normally with no signs of glares or potential violence.

"So, I take it you two sorted out your differences?" I asked.

Sakura blushed slightly, but nodded.

"We did," said Erica, "I won't stop her from coming around. But I also won't lose."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Lose what?" I asked.

All I got was a coy smile as the blond sauntered up and wrapped her arms around mine, pulling my arm between her breasts.

"Oh, nothing," she practically purred.

Sakura looked rather annoyed about something and quickly grabbed my free hand.

"Come on Kariya, we'll be late for class," she said.

I didn't resist as the two girls dragged me towards the school, leaving a number of incredulous and blushing students behind.

Later, at lunch, Sakura, Erica and I somehow ended up eating on the roof together.

"Before I forget, I've booked our tickets for the weekend," said Erica.

"Tickets?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah, Erica needs to go to Italy for a meeting and I'm getting dragged along," I grumbled, "Oh, that reminds me."

I pulled a key out of my pocket and handed it to a surprised looking Sakura.

"I have no intention of letting you stay in that house without any escape," I said, "Thats a key to my place. If you want, you can spend as much time as you want there."

Sakura hesitantly took the key.

"T-thank you, b-but my Grandfather…"

I snorted.

"Let me worry about the old worm," I said, "If he tries anything, I'll happily turn him into fish food."

Sakura looked shocked.

"N-no, you can't!" she gasped, "You don't understand, my Grandfather...hes not someone you can fight…"

Erica snorted into her sandwich as I let out a bark of laughter.

"Sakura, I'm a Campione," I said, "No matter how old or powerful, no mere Magus would stand a chance against me."

Both girls choked on their food.

"KARIYA!" yelped Erica, "You can't just drop that on anyone!"

"How do you know about that?!" spluttered Sakura, "And…"

"Whats a Campione/Magus?" asked both girls at the same time.

I blinked. That...wasn't what I was expecting, especially that last question. I narrowed my eyes. Something wasn't right here.

"Sakura, have you ever heard of something called a Heretic God?" I asked.

Sakura's look of confusion was enough of an answer.

"Alright, now Erica, do you know about the Clock Tower?"

"No, whats that?" asked the Knight.

"Ah...this could be...rather hard to explain," I muttered as I ran a hand through my hair.

This was...impossible. Right? There is no way that anyone even remotely connected to the Magus world wouldn't have at least heard of Clock Tower, unless they were from a new family which the Blandelli most definitely weren't. The same went for Sakura and Heretic Gods and Campione. We were practically the boogeyman of the Magician's Associations after all. Now the only question is, how in the world do I explain this?

"Ok, so I think I know whats going on here, although I have no idea how its possible," I said slowly.

"What do you mean?" asked Erica.

"I mean that you two are from completely different Magical Societies that are somehow completely separate from one another," I said, "That should not be possible though. I could baim Sakura not knowing on Zouken's lack of proper education on the world at large, but a Grand Knight of the Copper Black Cross? Not a chance. You would HAVE to at least know something…"

"Kariya, what are you talking about?" asked Erica, "What do you mean two different societies?"

"Just that," I said, "The Matou family are a family of Magus and have been for centuries, although the vast majority of their power has been lost in recent years, resulting in their eldest son being born without the ability to use Magecraft."

"H-how in the world do you know all this?!" spluttered Sakura as she gaped at me.

"My Grandpa was rather well connected," I said.

That was an outright lie, but considering the amount of Occult stuff that was laying around the house I still hadn't gone through, there was a possibility there was some truth to it. Sakura looked at me like she thought I'd gone crazy.

"So, you know that and yet you're still willing to go up against my Grandfather?" she asked, "You're not a Magus, so you wouldn't stand a chance! I...I don't want to see you get hurt because of me."

She looked down, but not before I saw tears glinting in her eyes.

"I'm not worth it."

I sighed and knelt down in front of my purple haired friend, using my hand to tilt my head up so I could meet her eyes.

"Sakura, your more than worth it," I said, "And don't let that bastard of a brother of yours tell you otherwise."

I grinned.

"Besides, I defeated the God of Victory. How hard can an old man with delusions of grandeur be?"

Sakura blinked.

"What?"

"I am a Campione," I said, "A God Slayer. On my trip to Italy, I fought and killed the Persian God of War and Victory, Verethragna and usurped his Authorities. As I am now, no Human can hope to match me, other than my fellow Kings."

"Hes right," said Erica, "I saw him fight against another Campione to test his power. They completely destroyed an entire stretch of grassland in less than an hour. The Mortals actually thought an undetected volcano had erupted when they found out about the mess."

She gave me a disapproving look.

"Hey, that was you guys idea," I said.

Sakura giggled at the exchange and looked a little better.

"Ah, theres the smile," I said with a grin of my own.

Sakura blushed looked down shyly. My smile only widened at her reaction, before I sobered and tilted her head back up.

"Sakura, no matter what happens I will always be there for you," I said, "All you have to do is call out my name."

Sakura looked confused, but nodded.

"Alright," she said.

I smiled and clapped my hands.

"Now, thats enough being serious!" I said, "Lets eat!"

We did just that.

"Kariya, why did you give her the key to calling you with the Tempest?" asked Erica as we walked home after school.

Sakura had a club meeting, so she wasn't with us.

"Why not?" I asked, "Shes is my friend. Besides…"

My expression darkened.

"Call me paranoid, but I can't help but get the feeling that somethings going to happen soon that will force my hand."

"I see," said Erica, "But why don't you do something now? Its not like you don't have the strength."

"True, but there are a few things staying my hand," I said, "For one, I have no idea how Magecraft will interact with me. I don't know how different it is compared to your own Magic, so I'm not sure if I'll actually be immune to it. Besides, there are other ways to harm me and I'm sure an old Magus like Zouken has plenty of ways around it. I don't want to just rush in and get myself killed."

"That makes sense, I suppose," said Erica, "Still, I feel guilty about leaving Sakura in such a place if its as bad as you say."

"I know the feeling, believe me," I said, "But I don't want to draw too much attention, not with the Grail War so close."

"Grail War?" asked Erica, "You mentioned that earlier. What is it?"

I gave the Knight a brief overview of the War and what it entailed.

"So basically, a bunch of Magus summon pseudo Gods of Steel to fight it out for a wish granting cup?" asked Erica.

"That about sums it up," I said, "Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I was to fight one…"

Erica gave me a flat look.

"Don't worry, unless something forces my hand, I have no interest in taking part," I said.

Erica fixed me with a skeptical look, but didn't push.

Later, I was rooting through my Grandpa's old study, trying to see if he had actually known anything about Magus or even the Mages Associations or if he was an unknown accomplice. So far, all I'd found was a bunch of old papers he'd published in his time as a professor of Mythology, more books of legends and fairy tales than you could shake a stick at and a few photo albums. I hadn't actually been through much of Grandpa's study yet, mainly because, despite everything that had happened, he'd only passed away a relatively short time ago. I had mostly dealt with the grief, but I hadn't been able to face the old room. I think that becoming a Campione had affected me more than I thought though as right now, all I was feeling was frustration at the old mans lack of proper filing system.

I sighed and picked up another stack of papers and books, only for a photograph to slip out the bottom as I did. More out of an interest of moving it to the others to be sorted later than anything, I picked up the photo and glanced at it, only to freeze when I saw what it was of. It was a photograph of Mum in a hospital bed, looking rather tired with her black hair in a loose bun and smiling down at the blue wrapped bundle in her arms that held yours truly. However, what really caught my attention was the man stood next to her.

See, the man I grew up calling Dad wasn't actually my real Father. Mum had married him when I was about two and the only reason I knew the truth was that I was conscious at that time. I had no idea who my birth father was however since, as mentioned, I wasn't even supposed to know that my Dad wasn't my real Dad and, while I had been conscious for my birth, those memories had quickly faded into complete obscurity (thank god!). However, that didn't stop me from recognizing the man stood beside Mum with an expression somewhere between joy and dread on his face. Like me, he had messy, black hair and it looked like I shared a few of his features, although mine were softened by Mum's side.

"This...could be really bad," I muttered.

While I had no way to confirm it, the fact that he was there and I shared more than a few of his features indicated that my real Father could very well be Kariya Matou, the deceased Master of Berserker in the Fourth War and Sakura's adopted and beloved Uncle. Well, this would make things rather complicated…

And done. So, isn't that a turn up for the books? Our newest Campione may actually be a Matou, albeit one with no real training...and a buttload of power!

I actually planned on having this reveal later, but the latter half of this chapter practically wrote itself. Eh, I'll roll with it. Besides, its not confirmed...yet.

And another big reveal, the two worlds I'm using have no idea that the other exists! How that is possible will be touched on in the future. In terms of strength, the individual members of the two sides are about even, but overall, the Campione side blows the Magus out of the water. Between having the Campione, whatever Divine Ancestors are currently running around and using the Power of the Gods, its practically a foregone conclusion. Of course, thats just the Mage Associations compared to one another. Naturally, the likes of Zelretch and Arcueid could easily squash anyone short of a Campione, as could the Dead Apostles and various Types. However, thats all pretty irrelevant in terms of this story.

Speaking of Zelretch, he'll be showing up at some point to make trouble...probably.

I know people probably wanted to see Erica and Sakura's heart to heart, but I couldn't think of a single way to do it that wouldn't come across as forced. So, they did it off screen and I'll let you imagine how it went. If someone really wants to, they can write a version and I'll put it in an Omake or something.

I probably shouldn't say this, but next time will take us to Italy and have Kariya gain the Gorgonian. Possibly. Depending on what happens. My muse has a tendency of getting of topic and taking the story in entirely new directions.

Anyway, I've got to go so I'm not a zombie tomorrow. Make sure you leave a review on the way out!