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 8
Considering the amount of power that an Authority like the White Horse, not to mention how flashy it was, it was really no wonder that the many people in the city with the power to detect magic detected it. For some, it came with a feeling of fear, for others confusion and for two, a dark and reluctantly proud grin at the amount of power their youngest 'brother' had.
In the small shrine on the outskirts of the city, Mariya Yuri felt the surge of power and saw the light from the attack. Considering what she knew about the young Campione, she wasn't sure if she should be exasperated at how reckless he had been...or terrified that someone had set him off to such a degree. When nothing else happened for an hour, she resolved to ask him about it at school and mostly put it out of her mind. She did however make a mental note to send Amakasu a fruit basket to thank him for all the hard work he and the rest of the Committee would have to do to cover the whole thing up. Someone had to and she highly doubted Kariya would think to.
At the Einzbern castle, Illyasviel also felt Kariya's little outburst and, for some strange reason, felt a rush of fear that she couldn't explain. However, she wasn't the only one in the house to react to the power. In the courtyard, Berserker twitched slightly and looked up. For a brief moment, the madness that filled his mind cleared, allowing a single, coherent thought to break through.
"Θεία φονιάδα…"
An instant later, the madness consumed it again, but the spark was still there. All it would take is a slight prodding to ignite it into a powerful blaze.
In the Church, a pair of red eyes snapped open as their owner sat bolt upright as the wave of power washed over him. The King of Heroes stared up at the ceiling, a twisted snarl distorting his face into a ghastly grimace.
"Pandora," he snarled, "So, that Witch still has hold on this world?"
His face twisted from a scowl into a grin that, unknown to the Golden King, matched those worn by the two other Kings in the city.
"Well, this War is going to be very interesting," he said, "Let us see if the newest of Kings can truly match up to me...Hehehe, I can't wait!"
His laughter echoed through the catacombs, making it seem like an entire army was laughing along with him.
Rin Tohsaka was scared. She and Archer had been on patrol, getting the lay of the land and keeping an eye out for any other Masters so they could potentially get some info no rather than later, when the night had been lit up by the massive blast of light and she had nearly been flattened by the insane amount of Magical power that had accompanied it. She had never felt anything like it in her life! The closest had been when her Father had summoned his Servant during the last War, but even that paled in comparison. To make matters even worse, the source of the magic and the place it hit was the Matou compound, meaning that Sakura could have been caught up in whatever had caused it. She knew it was none of her business, but the idea of her sister being harmed made her heart clench.
She hesitated for a moment. Could she do it? Could she face going there to find out what happened? What would she do if Sakura had been hurt? Could she face such a reality? Maybe not, but still…
"Archer, lets go!" she said, "We should find out what caused that blast."
"Is that wise?" asked the red clad Servant, "It could be a foe to strong for us."
"Thats a risk we'll have to take," said Rin, "I don't want to get blindsided by whatever made that later."
Archer fixed her with a level look for a moment, before nodding.
"Very well Master," he said, "Hold on tight."
He scooped her up and they took off across the rooftops.
Speaking of Archer, the Counter Guardian was currently feeling a rather large amount of confusion. Considering how many times he'd done this in an attempt to prevent his past selves from making the same mistakes, he was fairly confident in his ability to predict what path the timeline would follow. Sure there were occasionally ones that threw him for a loop, but never had he seen anything like that. The sheer power behind the attack was nearly on the level of Saber's Excalibur, if not even more powerful! Plus, the Mana behind it didn't feel like any Servant or Magus he had ever encountered. In fact, it felt more akin to a girl he had met during one of his forays into the Human World to prevent the Human Race from destroying itself. She had been a lot like his old self, naive and obsessed with helping others. Unlike his old self however, she somehow managed to make things worse by raising an army to fight some unknown enemy...only to get the lot of them killed in the process. Yeah, he had never been able to figure out how she'd managed that.
Either way, whatever the source of this strange energy was, Archer knew that it was something he had never truly encountered before and it was VERY strong. Still, despite that, he couldn't help but feel a little spark of hope. Maybe whatever this was could convince his old self to abandon his path...he doubted it though.
It didn't take the Master and Servant to arrive at the burning remains of the Matou house, which was already swarming with emergency services. At the sight of the destroyed house, Rin's stomach dropped. Anyone caught in whatever caused that would be dead, no doubt about it. Just about the only thing still standing was a small portion of the house on the far side which looked like the remains of a bedroom. The rest of the house had been so thoroughly destroyed, parts of the ground floor had collapsed, revealing the basement. The area where whatever had caused the destruction had occurred was simply gone, a gaping hole in the roof of the basement, with the edges of the hole still glowing faintly and a good portion of the nearby soil looked like it had been melted into glass.
Archer was also concerned, although for very different reasons. It wasn't often he came across things that could do this much damage without him having some idea as to the cause, particularly at this point in time. This really was something new and the Counter Guardian did NOT like that thought. It didn't really help that the smouldering remains of the house his old friend had once called 'home' had ignited a small spark of his old self. It really was impossible to dislike Sakura, so the idea of her having been caught up in whatever did this was not something he liked.
Archer narrowed his eyes as he scanned the area. Anyone caught in the blast center would have been vaporized, but there still would have been something he could find. However, his razor sharp eyes could only find an indication that one person had died near the blast center and he didn't think it was Sakura. Other than that, there was no sign that anyone had been inside the house when it went up as he could see Shinji being tended to by paramedics and looking like his entire world had just imploded. Now the only question was, where in the world was Sakura?
He was just about to suggest that they ask Shirou about it, since his old self was the one most likely to know, when his razor sharp sense detected another surge of power from close by, similar to the one that had caused this destruction. However, this time it was far more controlled, much lower in intensity and seemed to be geared more towards…protection? Yes, thats what it was. He was pretty sure that no one else could have sensed it unless they were in the same room, but his senses were finely tuned and he was actually looking for it.
"Archer, can you see anyone down there?" asked Rin, trying to keep her worry for her sister out of her tone.
"No, but I just sensed the same energy again nearby," said the red clad Hero, "We might be able to find something out if we find whatever did this."
Rin hesitated for a moment. While a large part of her was wanted to stay and try to find Sakura, the part of her that was a Magus was extremely interested in whatever had caused such a blast. Plus, like Archer said, they could find out exactly what happened and, hopefully, find Sakura.
"Alright, lets go," she said.
Archer nodded and jumped away in the direction he sensed the Magic from.
Back to Kariya
She tasted like blood and her lips were torn and bloody from her torture, but I didn't really notice as the energy that had been building inside me rushed out like a tidal wave and into Sakura's body. Her eyes widened in surprise, whether from the kiss or the sudden surge of energy I don't know, before they closed again as her writing resumed, although I don't think it was caused by pain this time. She moaned into my mouth as the last of the energy passed from me to her, before I broke the kiss and sat back. Despite that, Sakura was still apparently feeling the affects of the Youth as she was flushed, panting and rubbing her thighs together.
"W-what was that?!" spluttered Rider, a look of utter disbelief on her face and I'm pretty sure her eyes were wide behind her blindfold.
"That was the power of the Youth Avatar," said Erica, sounding rather put out by something, "It allowed Kariya to transfer some of his Campione vitality to another in exchange for a vow of loyalty. Apparently, it worked rather well on Sakura."
As my Knight and Servant were talking, Sakura slowly relaxed, apparently asleep, although her cheeks were still slightly red and she was wearing a rather satisfied smile. I slipped my arms under her and hoisted her up in a bridle carry, placing her on the couch where she'd be more comfortable.
"Mmm, Kariya…" she mumbled as I covered her with a blanket.
I smiled and ran my fingers through her hair.
"Will she be OK?" asked Rider.
"I think so," I said, "I think the Youth burnt every one of those damn parasites to ash and healed her body back to full health."
"Um, why is her hair changing colour?" asked Erica.
Indeed, it was impossible to miss. Her hair had already half changed from purple back to its natural Tohsaka brown and I had no doubt that her eyes were also changing. I admit, I hadn't been expecting that, but if the Youth had restored her body to its natural state before Zoukens meddling, I shouldn't be that surprised.
"No idea," I said, "Maybe she dyes it and the Youth's rejecting it. We'll have to ask tomorrow."
I got to my feet and stretched.
"Man, I'm beat. Come on ladies, lets…"
I was cut off when the window suddenly exploded and two figures in red burst into the room.
And I think I'll leave it there. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but hey, for once I can safely say what'll happen next time!
So, everyone in town now knows that Kariya's in town and someone was dumb enough to piss him off. As such, he now has Archer worried, Berserker seems to be undergoing some changes and Gilgemesh is really not pleased about his presence.
Speaking of Goldilocks, just how and why does he know Pandora? And why does he have a Demon Grin of his own? This could be rather interesting.
Yes, Archer has indeed had an encounter with a Campione, although in his case it was Aisha and didn't end in a fight. I considered using John Pluto Smith, simply because her persona as a Hero would probably annoy Archer, but shes only in her 20s and I wanted to take it back at least a century.
And with that, I'm gonna sign off. Next time, a confrontation between Kariya and Rin and possibly a minor case of short circuiting as a result. If only because I want to write Rins reaction to Kariya taking a Gandr shot to the face without flinching. Until then, don't forget to leave a review!