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 6

"So, how much longer are we going to have to wait?" I asked Arianna from where I was laying back on the ground, enjoying the warmth of the Italian sun on my face.

"I'm not sure," said the Maid, "It seems that Erica's meeting is running late."

"I can see that," I grumbled.

Arianna chuckled nervously.

"Um, I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you for now," she said, "I have some errands I have to run. Do you mind waiting on your own?"

"Nah, you go ahead," I said, waving her off.

"Alright, bye!" said the cheery maid as she jogged away.

I took a deep breath and slowly let it out as the quiet of the ruins settled over me. It was almost a shame that Athena would be along shortly to ruin it. Speaking of which…

I opened one eye as the area was suddenly saturated in power and I felt a presence appear next to me. Stood beside me, looking down with eyes as flat as a mirror, was a young looking girl with short, silver hair with a very slight lavender tint, violet eyes with square pupils. She was wearing a school uniform and a blue hat with a zipper pattern on the front. I narrowed my eyes slightly. That...didn't look right. There was something different about her appearance, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what it was.

"Are you the Godslayer?" asked Athena.

"Thats me," I said as I sat up, "And I take it that you're a God?"

Athena's eyes narrowed slightly.

"What will you do?" she asked.

"That depends on you," I said, "I'm sure that many of my siblings would jump at the chance to fight you, but I'd rather not."

Athena was silent for a moment as she studied my expression.

"Lethargy," she said, "I also do not wish to fight right now. I seek my Serpent, so for now we shall part without crossing blades. However…"

She vanished and reappeared on top of a nearby column.

"The next time we meet, we shall fight!" she said, "I am intrigued to battle the one known as the Outsider."

"If thats what you want, I'd be happy to oblige," I said.

Athena turned on her heel and vanished, allowing the power that had been saturating the area to vanish. I let out a sigh of relief and flopped back down onto the grass, releasing my hold on my Authority as I did. That had been entirely more nerve wracking than I had been expecting. I was confident that I wouldn't have to fight Athena until the Starless Night, but who knows what changes this crossover world could have made to her personality and goals. To make matters worse, I had no idea if the Sword Godou used against her would actually work in her child form since it had been forged for use against her at full power. Besides, I'd sort of forgotten the specifics of the Words of Power that had been used against her. What? It had been years since I had last seen Campione! So sue me!

"Whats wrong?"

"MEEP!"

The sudden voice nearly made me jump out of my skin, but it was just Erica. Apparently I had been more distracted than I thought. Erica looked amused at my outburst and I quickly cleared my throat to get away from it.

"N-nothing," I said, "So, you done?"

Erica nodded.

"Yes, and there are some people who want to meet you," she said, indicating to the three men who were accompanying her.

"So you're the Seventh Campione," said the tallest, a man with long hair in an expensive looking suit.

"Kariya Ishida, correct?" asked the second, a short man with a mask wearing a hooded cloak that must have been boiling in this heat.

"It is our great pleasure to meet you," said the third, a larger bald man wearing a red jumper, slacks and a monocle.

"And these are…?" I asked.

"People from the Magicians society who represent Italy," said Erica, "They insisted on meeting you."

"Hnn."

Erica smiled and raised a hand as a red magic circle appeared.

"They want to see how strong you are," she said with a smirk, "Lion of Steel... and he who begets you, the Lionheart. Heed the oath made by knight Erica Blandelli! That which is the essence of the battle, reveal yourself in my hands! Cuore di Leone!"

She pulled her sword out of the lions mouth that appeared in the center of the circle.

"It appears its time for a duel," she said with a smirk, before lunging forwards and taking a swipe at me.

I quickly backstepped, evading the strike with inches to spare.

"Hey, don't I get a sword?" I asked.

"A Campione should have no need of weapons," lectured the Knight, "Now come at me!"

"Most Campione have abilities that don't have a limit on how many times they can be used per day," I grumbled as I dodged around Erica's sword swings.

As I did, the world seemed to slow down, allowing me to predict and evade the attacks, a perk of the Campione battlefield reflexes. After a short time, Erica overextended slightly as I dodged a thrust and I instantly capitalized, grabbing her wrist and tossing her across the battlefield.

"Not bad," said the blond as she landed lightly and brought up her sword, "Just what I'd expect from you. Now, lets crank things up a notch."

"Cuore di Leone, I entrust the battlefield to you!" she called and threw her sword straight up where it seemed to stick in mid air, "Lion of Steel, rip him apart, bore through him, crush him in your jaws!"

A silver metal lion emerged from the circle and leaped at me. I narrowed my eyes, planted my feet and held up my arms. An instant later, a surge of energy suffused my body, strengthening it well beyond Human limits, just in time to catch the Lion by its fangs, stopping it cold. I gritted my teeth as my feet dug into the dirt slightly before all of its momentum was arrested. Once it was, I smirked and drew back my arm.

"See ya pussy cat," I said, "O' mighty bull that possesseth the horns of shining gold, grant me your aid!"

And with that, I punched the beast in the face. The entire thing was made of magically created steel that was almost impervious to damage. Hell, even some gods would have a hard time damaging it, so its telling of the strength granted by the Bull that it crumpled like a car bumper and went flying across the field. See, while functionally identical to Godou's powers, my Authorities did have a few slight differences. For example, while the Bull was primarily a reactive power, once it had activated I could use the Spell Words to give myself a momentary boost to the strength, multiplying it by a factor equivalent to the number of Authorities I had left among the 10 Avatars. In other words, that punch was the equivalent of 10 times the strength needed to stop the Lion in its tracks.

However, the Lion was down but not out as it erupted from the dust cloud, now changed from Iron to magical Light. I narrowed my eyes as I felt my strength fade and the Bird of Prey activating, seemingly slowing the world down to a crawl, allowing me to dodge the Lion of Light with relative ease.

"You won't win if you just run away!" called Erica.

"I am aware of that!" I shouted back, "OOF!"

The momentary distraction allowed the Lion to slip past my guard and knock my off my feet. I flipped back to my feet, ignoring the twinge in my chest that came from using the Bird of Prey, as Erica jumped down and reformed her sword.

"Kariya, Gods will not be so kind as to let you get away with what I have here," she said as she brought up her sword and focused her Mana, "Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani! Lord, for it is afternoon, and I call out to you, yet you do not answer. For at night, There is also only Silence!"

A wave of energy erupted from the sword, causing the world to darken in response.

"That which becomes my strength, save me, save my soul from the sword!" inotoned Erica as a frankly obscene amount of power poured of her, forming into a tornado of red light around her sword.

I just smirked.

"Hey Erica, I thought Knights were supposed to be able to pay attention to their surroundings!" I shouted over the wind as raw energy began to leak off me.

"Huh?"

"Look behind you!"

Erica did so and her eyes widened as she saw the massive arena that took up the skyline, making the perfect target for my next attack.

"I strongly suggest you dodge this," I said as I raised my arms and a massive pig appeared above me, "I'd hate to see you get crushed!"

With that, I unleashed the Divine Beast, which rampaged across the grounds, missing Erica by inches as she leaped into the air, and quickly reduced the arena to rubble. Erica landed, only to immediately be tackled off her feet as I shot out of the dust, carried by the lingering energy of the Boar. My fist snapped down, stopping inches from her nose as she stared up at me wide eyed. For a moment we remained still, both breathing heavily and flushed from exertion

"Will that do?" I asked.

Erica blinked, then smiled.

"I'd say so," she said, "Very impressive Kariya. But…"

She hooked her foot under my ankle and, in a single movement, flipped us over so she was on top. My flush of exertion quickly changed to a blush and I'm pretty sure hers did as well. For a brief moment, the world faded away as I focused on her eyes, before the sound of applause broke the spell. Erica let out a sigh of annoyance, but sat up and let me sit up as well, although she didn't move from my lap. Without thinking, my arm snaked around her waist and rested on her hip.

"It seems that they've accepted you," she said with a slight smile, "Thats good."

"Thats debatable," I said.

"Now that we're done with the tests, I have something for you," said Erica, holding out her hand.

There was a flash of light and the Gorgonian appeared in her palm. I raised an eyebrow as I studied the inoculus looking medal. It certainly didn't look like much, just a tarnished bronze circle carved with the likeness of Medusa, but I could feel the power it contained, even without touching it. When Erica handed it to me, it was practically vibrating with power and it made me wonder just how it had taken so long for Athena to find it…

"OW!"

A sudden pain in the back of my hand made me wince. I turned my hand over, but there was nothing there.

"Is something wrong?" asked Erica.

"No, its nothing," I said, "Anyway, we should be headed home."

Erica nodded with a smile.

"Alright, lets go," she said, taking my hand as we headed back towards the city.

Hours later, after a long flight on a private jet, I was laying back on the leather couch in my Grandfathers study, examining the Gorgonian. It really was hard to believe that the fate of the world lay on this tiny thing. I let out a sigh and let my arm fall so it was dangling off the side of the sofa.

"Damn, this is gonna be a right pain in the rear," I muttered, "Fighting Athena while the Grail Wars going on? Yeah, that'll go well. Knowing my luck, someones gonna think I'm a Servant or something…"

I sighed again and stared up at the ceiling.

"I wonder if Sakura's summoned Rider yet…"

I snorted. Oh yeah, that'll end well. Athena and an incarnation of Medusa in the same city. Sounds like an excellent idea…

"OW!"

I jumped as a stabbing pain suddenly hit the back of my hand, causing my fingers to open and allow the Gorgonian to fall to the floor, where it rolled over to where a number of piles of books and papers hid the floor. I winced and checked my hand, only to find that it was bleeding slightly.

"What the hell is going on?" I muttered as I got to my feet, "Did Athena curse me somehow?"

I walked over to pick up the medal, but as I neared it, a drop of blood fell on a faded line that had been painted on the floor. Instantly, I was forced back by a sudden pulse of force and a brilliant, blue glow that was emerging from the circle that had been painted on the floor and hidden under the books and paper. I winced as my hand flared again, this time red, as a symbol carved itself into my hand.

"Oh you have got to be…" I started, before I was cut off as the circle pulsed and a figure began to appear from it.

She was tall, with long, purple hair that nearly reached the floor and was wearing a black and purple dress with an incredibly short skirt, long, black boots and matching gloves and a purple blindfold. I felt something latch onto my power as the circle and the Command Seals carved into the back of my hand pulsed one last time and the glow faded. Rider tilted her head up and seemed to look at me, before falling to one knee.

"I, the Servant Rider, have come in response to your Summons," she said, "I ask, are you my Master?"

I finally regained the presence of mind to just my mouth with a click, scowled and swore loudly, just as the door slammed open and a frantic looking Erica burst in, sword in hand.

And done. And there we have it, Kariya is now officially the Master of Rider in the War, using the Gorgonian as a Catalyst no less! What does this mean? Well, we'll be finding out soon enough, along with how I plan to have the Heretic Gods and Servants work. SO STOP ASKING DAMN IT!

Then again, some of you might actually be able to figure it out considering the slight alterations I've made to Athena's looks. Hmm, lets see. Speaking of which, I'm sure I'll get comments about this so I'll say it here. The reason he didn't notice the changes to Athena is because, to him, they are subtle enough that its not blindingly obvious. Plus, as he mentioned, it has been a very long time since he watched Campione.

So, not all of Kariya's powers are identical to Godou's. And he'll be gaining some new Authorities pretty soon, so that'll be interesting. If you're not bothered about spoilers, check out his entry on my profile and let me know what you think.

And done. Don't forget to leave a review on your way out! Until next time, this is Dis Lexic, signing off.