Chapter 16: A Greater Grail
"Well shit," Merlin muttered as he tore his eyes away from the scrying bowl and started to fumble through the crystal cabinets that he had made several decades ago.
"What's happening?" Vivian asked, instantly appearing inside the ivory tower.
"Where's that contraption…" Merlin muttered as he opened another drawer before pulling out a small, rectangular item. "Here it is!"
"What is that?" Vivian narrowed her eyes. "And can you please tell me what's going on?"
"You know that summoning ritual that you wanted me to look into?" Merlin asked. Vivian nodded and Merlin pursed his lips. "Looks like someone found an alternate way to power it."
Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg was a busy man. He had many pet projects going on, but his favorite one was a world he found by chance. So when he got a phone call coming from that particular dimension's interaction of Avalon, he dropped everything to answer it.
"Wizard Marshall speaking," Zelretch said, conjuring a chair and sitting down.
"Zelretch," The Ancestor's smile twitched as he heard Merlin's tone through the phone. It was serious. "Would you happen to know anything about a golden cup with a ridiculous amount of magic energy?"
"Oops," Zelretch immediately said. He remembered placing a Holy Grail there a couple hundred years ago to see what would happen, but no one ever used it. Whenever someone found it, they worshiped it and forbade anyone from touching it. Eventually he just forgot about it, but apparently something has happened.
"What did you say?" Merlin asked, his tone incredulous.
"I'll be right there," Zelretch said before hanging up the phone. WIth the recent additions to that world, as well as the grail gathering magical energy for well over two hundred years now…This could be interesting.
It had been a couple months since Shirou had enrolled in the Knight's Academy and things had been going smoothly. He was getting good grades in his classes, he started to form a friendship with his teachers, and Alcia wasn't trying to kill him anymore.
That all changed when Shirou woke up to something on the back of his right hand. Something he hoped never to see again. He immediately traced a pair of gloves and put them on before making his way out of his room. His mind told him to go to Rose first, but his heart told him that the safety of others was more important. With fire in his eyes, he made his way to Lysette's office.
When Lubelia awoke, she saw Rose sitting at her desk, muttering to herself.
"Rin, what are you—" Lubelia pulled her blankets off of her, but stopped when she realized what was on the back of her right hand. "What the fuck."
"This is bad," Rose turned to Lubelia and lifted her hand, showing the blonde that her twin sister had also received a set of command seals.
"Huh," Lubelia huffed. This was unexpected, but a smirk slowly found its way on her face. "Well, it like I can finally prove why I am the superior—"
"This is not the time for that!" Rose snapped. Lubelia paused, seeing the uncharacteristic panic in her eyes. "Luvia, people will do terrible things for the grail, and if there's one here… We're at a disadvantage. We don't know how many grail wars have happened and what kind of inane shit people have done to get the upper hand."
"Rin, we're magi. Terrible thing happen in our world all the time," Lubelia said.
"It's not the same," Rose shook her head. "When Wa— Lord El-Melloi II and I went to dismantle the remnants of the grail, we came across some secrets of the Makiri. The things they did…"
Lubelia swallowed. She didn't like Rose, but she had to admit she was a competent magus. To see her shaken up like that was… odd.
"They hurt my baby sister, Luvia. They hurt her in ways you couldn't imagine. And it all happened right under my nose," Lubelia saw the look in Rose's eyes. She then thought to her younger sisters. She didn't know what happened to Rin's sister, but from what she could tell, it was indescribable. If something like that happened to them…
"What happened next?" Lubelia asked.
"A civil war," Rin said, her bangs covering her eyes now. "It was a brutal affair. In the end, we managed to win the war, but Sakura… That bastard Makiri used her as a hostage… and when we continued to fight them. He… he…"
Lubelia went over to Rin and knelt down, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder as tears started to form in her eyes.
"I'm sorry," Lubelia said with sincerity she didn't know she had for her rival.
"It's… it's alright. It's all in the past now," Rose wiped her tears, sniffled, and stood up. "Look, my point is we can't bicker like this. We need to put a stop to this war as fast as possible. I'm going to get Shirou."
"I'll go with you," Lubelia stood up after her sister. She was involved in this war already and she wanted to live, so allies were a good start.
"Alright," Rose nodded. "Let's go."
When Shirou opened the doors to Lysette's office, she was in the middle of a discussion with Alcia about something. The two jumped at the abrupt noise and
"You need to evacuate the school," Shirou said with a commanding tone, or the most commanding tone a twelve-year-old could have.
"Excuse me?" Lysette asked. Shirou took off his right glove and showed them the sword-shaped tattoo on his palm.
"This place is going to turn into a warzone soon. We need to evacuate the children," Shirou elaborated.
"You got one of those, too?" Alcia tilted her head. "Lysette and I were just talking about them."
Absolutely wonderful, Shirou thought. Two of the strongest people in the school were also masters.
"Look, this isn't a good thing," Shirou shook his head. He thought of a way to get their attention. His eyes then widened in realization. "With both Excalibur and Avalon here, it's highly likely that Artoria Pendragon will be summoned."
The two women balked at him. This was his chance to give an explanation.
"These tattoos are command seals, which means a holy grail war is going to happen. When it'll happen I don't know, but it's better to be safe than sorry," Shirou started to explain as he put his glove back on. "Seven heroic spirits are summoned to fight to the death. These tattoos mean you're going to be one of the seven who summon them. Artoria is just an example of a heroic spirit that can be summoned."
"But… why would they fight to the death?" Lysette asked.
"Supposedly it's for a wish, but from what I know, that's a lie," Shirou shook his head. "What matters is that we don't know who else is going to be summoning these heroic spirits. Some people are willing to kill hundreds to get their hands on that wish, real or not. I'm going to be summoning a heroic spirit to protect those I can."
"I… I see," Alcia muttered. "Since you have these seals, can you show us how the summoning works?"
"Su—" Shirou was cut off when he heard footsteps. He turned around to see Elizabeth entering the room.
"Oh, Shiro! I didn't expect you to be here," Elizabeth said with a small smile. "I was just here to ask why there's a weird tattoo on my hand."
Elizabeth was concerned. When she woke up, she saw this weird tattoo on her hand. It was kind of shaped like a cross. When Artoria saw it, she panicked and told her to go straight to Shiro. Elizabeth didn't understand why the queen was so nervous, but she decided to go to Lysette to see if she knew anything about it.
Now, she was being led by Shiro and Lysette to the basement of the main building. She still had no idea what was going on, but she had never seen Shiro so worried. As they made their way down the hall, Elizabeth saw Rose and Lubelia approaching them. When the twins saw the group, they ran up to Shiro.
"Shirou, we have a problem," Rose said, her expression serious.
"I know," Shiro replied with an equally serious tone. "We're heading to the basement. Lysette and Alcia here have already decided that they want to protect the school so they'll be helping us out."
"Alright, we'll go with you," Rose said. A tick mark appeared on Elizabeth's forehead. Why did they have to come with them?
"Trust them," Artoria's voice rang in the young woman's head. "I know you don't like them, but they have some experience with this situation. Rose especially."
Fine, Elizabeth thought as the six of them went into the basement.
"Is there any chalk in here?" Shiro asked as they entered the basement. It was a large, concrete room with stacks of wooden boxes scattered throughout. Lysette walked to one of the boxes and took out a piece of chalk. "Rose, if you would."
"Fine," Rose took the chalk from Lysette and started to draw a circle. Elizabeth realized the circle looked a little bit like the sword summoning circle. When she finished, she saw Artoria watching with an irritated look on her face.
"Place Avalon in the center of the circle," Artoria instructed. Elizabeth nodded as she unsheathed Excalibur.
"Elizabeth, what are you doing?" Shiro asked. Elizabeth then took Avalon from her belt and placed it in the center of the circle before making her way outside of it.
"Now, repeat after me," Artoria said. Elizabeth looked at her and nodded.
"Let silver and steel be the essence.
"Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation."
"Let my great master Vivian be the ancestor."
"How does she know the incantation?" Elizabeth heard Rose whisper.
"It's fine," Shiro replied. "Let her summon a servant."
"Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall.
"Let the four cardinal gates close."
"Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate."
Elizabeth then realized. This was the incantation that the cultists were trying to do. She trusted Artoria, though, so she pressed on.
"Fill."
"Fill."
"Fill."
"Fill."
"Fill."
"Let it be declared now; your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be your sword."
"Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail."
"Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth."
The circle started to glow blue and Elizabeth started to feel her energy drain. It wasn't by a significant amount, but it was noticeable.
"Let a line be drawn in the sand."
"I shall not fight for the light;"
"And I shall not succumb to the darkness."
"Wait… that part's different," Rose muttered. Elizabeth ignored the girl and looked towards Artoria. She was staring intently at Avalon now.
"From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by the three great words of power!"
"Come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!"
The circle exploded with light. Elizabeth saw Artoria vanish into golden particles that drifted into the circle before the color changed gold. Elizabeth had to avert her eyes, holding her arm up for protection. When the light subsided, she saw Artoria on one knee in the middle of the circle, her eyes wide with shock and confusion.
Everyone else looked just as shocked as well. Shiro looked like he was about to cry while everyone else just stared at the new figure in the room.
"I…" Artoria shook her head before looking up at Elizabeth. "Servant: Ruler has answered your call. I ask of you; are you my master?"
And it begins! I'm super excited to get this underway. If I'm being honest, this isn't what I originally had planned for the fic, but that's just how life is. I like this outcome better anyways. Anyways, please do consider leaving a review! I would love to read and reply to your thoughts. As this is an original world, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Also please join my Discord! I would love to talk to you all and answer all your questions! I talk a lot about my thought process while writing, so if you're interested in that, do consider joining. The url is discord . gg (forego the spaces) followed by a slash and CpVs7R8KXz. Unfortunately you'll have to type the rest of the url in manually because I'm not allowed to post links. Thank you for reading and I'll catch you on the flipside.