Story Vocabulary

(May update as the story progress)

Aruji-sama = It means Lord, Chief, and Master.

Banzai = Japanese's battle cry.

*Touken Danshi = AKA Sword Warriors, gods of swords created from ancient spirit and techniques that are given human form. They are the summons under Saniwa. (Touken Ranbu)

-Sword Types : Wakizashi, Uchigatana, Tachi, Ootachi, Yari, Nagitana, and Tsurugi. (Touken Ranbu)

*Sage = The power used by Saniwa to assist and summon new Touken Danshi (Touken Ranbu)

*Jikan sokōgun = AKA Time Retrograde Army and Historical Revisionists, antagonists and responsible of traveling back in time to alter historical events. (Touken Ranbu)br /

*Honmaru = Also known as Citadel, a Japanese-castle-like establishment where Saniwa and the Touken Danshi lives. (Touken Ranbu)

*Heroic Spirits = AKA Legendary Souls, are spirits of heroes who achieved great deeds in life, having become objects of worship after their deaths. (FATE)

*Servants = are Heroic Spirits that the Master of Chaldea commands. (FATE)

-Classes of Servants : Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Assassins, Caster, Berserker, Ruler, Avenger, Moon Cancer, Alter Ego, Foreigner, Pretender and Shielder. (FATE)

*Majutsu = AKA Magecraft, is the artificial reenactment of Mystery, which is ordinarily possible only by inhuman beings. It is the ability to bring about what is possible through science with supernatural means. (FATE)

Chapter 4 : Conclusion

The two continue to stare at each other, judging each other's reaction as they wait for Saniwa to answer his serious and threatening question.

Finally, Saniwa spoke in serious tone. "Whenever I could either become your ally or enemy, there are still things I wish to know." His gazed harden, "Depending on what answer you will provide to me will be my answer."

Ryouma did not change his expression, making Konnosuke unable to read what his thinking while Saniwa remained firm, hard and serious.

A seconds passed felt like minutes until he spoke, "Very well, but depending on your question, I may not need to hear your answer and immediately make a decision on my own."

"That's fair." Saniwa said while nodding. He turned toward the unmoving fox and spoke, "You can move freely little fox, I had already seen you walking and speaking, no need to act like a stuff animal."

'So, he already knew from the very beginning, I guess anything surprise I could do won't really be a surprise.' With that conclusion, Konnosuke finally stop acting and spoke, "You knew yet you never mentioned until now."

"There's nothing to be mentioned about to begin with." For the first time, the female companion spoke. "We are same, you are on guard for the sake of that boy, while I too do the same for him."

Konnosuke for some reason felt convinced and so he turned to Saniwa then back to them.

Saniwa questioned, "You mentioned one of our companions, Kashuu Kiyomitsu, is he with you?"

"He's our first captive followed by two others." He answered, "If you will ask if they're fine, I'll answer you yes but depending on our conversation, I may pass the message to end them to lessen our enemies."

Saniwa glared the man but controlled himself, he can see what's he's aiming for after all and as someone who's mission is to fix the history's course, something like this is natural for the people in the past for the sake of their Lord's protection and for this person, it's the person they call Master.

"If you had determined us to be your ally, will you let them go?"

"Without question." He said so fast and certain, kind of little surprising but they need to continue this talk or for what Saniwa was seeing now, a negotiation that will put the Touken Danshi's lives at stake.

"Within the history of Japan, there is no Chaldea Army ever mentioned, not even within the Edo period. Where did it come from?"

"Just as you and your group are outsiders of this time whose mission is to fix history, so are we. We are from different timeline whose mission is to gather the Holy Grail that's causing this Singularity."

"Holy Grail? Singularity? Please explain."

"A Singularity is an unobservable region that does not exist within the recorded history. It's as if a hole has opened up within the timeline, a hole that is separate from the regular temporal axis. The obvious example is the current situation we are in."

Saniwa and Konnosuke nodded, as if some of the puzzles are coming together. Ryouma continued.

"Certain Singularities have their own individual circumstances and mechanisms, for the current situation it's to create an army of our own and fight against the opposing side, as such the existence of the Chaldea Army. The goal is to conquer the Edo Castle, where the main source of the Singularity, the Holy Grail is currently located which is in the hands of the Demons Army."

Ryouma leaned to his chair as he crossed his arms, he continued.

"When the Grail empowering a Singularity is recovered or eliminated and the threats it produced are neutralized, the timeline will begin to restore itself and the Singularity will eventually disperse."

"So, all we have to do to solve this crisis is to destroy this Holy Grail?" Konnosuke asked in confirmation.

"You are something if you are able to do that." Ryouma mused before answering him, "Destroying the Grail is close to impossible, but don't worry, my Master will take care of the Grail."

"Your Master has a way to neutralize the Grail?" Saniwa asked. Ryouma nodded, "I won't say more than that."

'They call this phenomenon a Singularity, and the root is this so-called Holy Grail…' Saniwa asked, "Other than the fact that this is the cause of this Singularity, what is a Holy Grail?"

"The Holy Grail has a lot of meaning and complication, but keep this in mind that one of its definitions is that the Grail is an artifact purportedly capable of granting any wish to whoever comes to claim it. By anything as in anything like wishing for your fox friend here to become human, wealth, great victory in every initiated war, anything. For the possibility of resurrecting the dead, it's not really known if it's possible but there is a probability that it could."

"That Grail is that powerful!?" Saniwa's eyes widen in shock. Ryouma nodded gravely and spoke in serious tone, "As such the Grail should not fall to anyone's hands, other than my Master who could neutralize it. As of this moment, the Grail is in the hands of the Demons Army and I won't be surprise if that's the cause of their large number, especially their foot soldier you called Jikan Sokōgun."

Saniwa could not help but become worry for these facts. This may be the reason why there're suddenly become stronger, the cause is that Grail thing.

"How can we counter the Grail's work?" Saniwa asked seriously, he needs to know the countermeasure against the newly powered Jikan Sokōgun.

The current strength of his Touken Danshi won't be able to fight against them alone if that ever happened and remembering his last encounter with them, if aren't for Chaldea Army's support they may really have no choice but to pull back and allow them to raze that village in flames and prioritize the villager's safety instead.

Ryouma thought for a moment before saying, "Before I answer that, I want to know the nature of Touken Danshi. Its fair deal."

Saniwa was hesitant to reveal more information about the Touken Danshi but his friends and companion, Kashuu Kiyomitsu, Yamatonokami Yasusada and Izuminokami Kanesada's lives are at stake, not only them but the rest as well, Heshikiri Hasebe, Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki and Horikawa Kunihiro. He doesn't want any of them to lose their lives despite already knowing the risk. As such, he gave in and answered.

"Touken Danshi are gods of swords created from ancient spirit and techniques that are given human form."

"Saniwa!" Konnosuke could not help but react badly for him to actually say it. Saniwa ignored his partner as he continued, "Another definition you could say is that they are actually swords that are given in human form, possessing the techniques of their previous Master and apply it on their own. For Kashuu's case for example, he is once owned by Okita Souji of the 1st Captain unit of Shinsengumi, as such could use his one step three stab technique."

"Oh, so his true identity is the sword of Okita-kun, that's bit unexpected. Now I see why Okita-kun had in her report about being mistaken as a man." Rider commented. Those statement confused Saniwa and before he can ask, Ryouma spoke. "Since you answered my question, I will answer your question too. You asked about countering the Grail's work, the answer is the Counter Force."

"The Counter Force?" Saniwa questioned.

"The Counter Force is a safety device formed by a World to defend itself against extinction and is synonymous with the World it represents, by most part the cause is the Holy Grail getting out of control." He commented in the end before continuing, "The concept of Counter Force is central to the world, and there are two types: Gaia and Alaya. Gaia is the will of the Earth, the planet's intrinsic wish to survive and prosper. Alaya, on the other hand, is the collective unconscious will of mankind to avoid extinction. Due to this Singularity, Alaya's instinct activate, causing the agents of Alaya the Heroic Spirits and the Counter Guardians, human spirits who pledge their eternal service to Alaya in return for power during their lifetime."

Saniwa and Konnosuke was silent to absorb what they had learned until Saniwa spoke once again.

"I don't really understand what you just told me… they're far too new for me."

"Not surprising young man, only those who studied Majutsu like bookworms will know what I just explained."

"Majutsu? They exist?" Konnosuke questioned. Oryou answered, "Depends on your world."

"Witnessing this Touken Danshi, they may not have one as such work in a different source." Ryouma said, "Let's not focus ourselves in Majutsu, what's important is the agents of Alaya, again the Heroic Spirits and the Counter Guardians. Heroic Spirits are spirits of heroes who achieved great deeds in life, having become objects of worship after their deaths. Their nature are beings of a higher existence, becoming categorically closer to Elementals than wraiths. Differing from how Elementals are power granted form using human imagination as a container, they are entirely woven from the ideals of people all throughout. They are freed from the constraints of time itself and removed from the ring of reincarnation, moved to the Throne of Heroes, a place existing outside of both the World and the time axis. If you need an example, Commander Hijikata Toshizo of the Chaldea."

Ryouma paused as he drinks until its empty, he continued.

"Counter Guardian also called the Protectors of Balance is a broad classification of Heroic Spirits made up of heroes who are not worshipped, utilized as a mindless Counter Force. The normal circumstances are those where the Counter Force empowers a normal person in life to remove the factor that can trigger destruction, eventually causing them to be worshipped as heroes. Those who become heroes in such a manner are then used as Counter Guardians, the Counter emphasized because they act with no autonomy of their own and only appear in response to an event. If you need an example, is us, Rider."

"You two are Counter Guardian?" Konnosuke asked in disbelief. Instead of Ryouma, Oryou replied. "Yeah, we're used to be one but now we're Servant under our Master, right?"

Ryouma nodded in confirmation, "That's right."

"Servant… I heard that word from one of your squad captains, 'the higher ups called themselves Servants'. What's that?" Saniwa questioned.

"In a way, we're like your Touken Danshi. You said they are actually swords given a form of a human, in a way it's also called summoning and you the summoner are their master. The same goes for us, Heroic Spirits who are summoned by a living person will be called Servant and the summoner their Master, the same applies to a Counter Guardian like us who made a contact with a master. Servants have also classes and are grouped into 3 types. The Knight classes: Saber, Archer and Lancer, Cavalry classes, Rider, Caster, Assassin and Berserker, and Extra classes, Ruler, Avenger, Moon Cancer, Shielder, Alter Ego, Foreigner and Pretender."

Saniwa thought for a moment before absently mentioning about Touken Danshi, "So Servants are in a way similar to Touken Danshi, as we also have what we call Sword Types, Tantou, Wakizashi, Uchigatana, Tachi, Ootachi, Yari, Naginata and Tsurugi."

"That's an interesting information." Ryouma commented. "Any other questions?"

Konnosuke and Saniwa were in deep thought until Saniwa made a conclusion to his question.

"So only the Counter Force could deal with the Grail's work."

"In a way, yes. Still not everything is focused there, I had only observed your one battle against the Jikan Sokōgun empowered by the grail and I can see your worries but with right coordination and assistance from us, everything could be dealt with and as far as between us Servants and Touken Danshi, I believe that Touken Danshi will gain a lot of improvement and growth than us." Ryouma assured, "After all once the contract between a Servant and a master ended, depending on the circumstances our memories of being summoned will disappear. Our experience will not be remembered. Thankfully our current Master is special so it will not happen as long as he's the one we have contract with."

"You say that as if you are willing to train them." Konnosuke could not help but comment it. Ryouma grinned, "We may if you form an alliance with us, but of course that talk will be in some other time. The current purpose here is to know if you are enemies or not."

"That is true." Saniwa agreed with a nod. "You mentioned a while ago about being our world, does that mean that you came from another world?"

"It's the conclusion I could think." He said, "Whatever power you used to make Touken Danshi does not exist within our world, the only conclusion I could make is that this Singularity had somehow not only affected this time period but also some other world which has connection with this time period. If the theory deemed correctly, I won't really be surprise, a lot of things can be possible when the Grail is involved."

"That would indeed make sense as things like Heroic Spirit, Counter Guardian, Singularity and Holy Grail does not exist to our time." Konnosuke agreed.

Saniwa nodded in agreement as well as he mentally compile everything he have heard and the whole situation makes sense.

The firewall surrounding the Edo period was called Singularity and the only way to end this Singularity and fix history is by obtaining the Grail. To do that they have to follow the mechanism of this Singularity and these people already did it, by creating their own Army and oppose the Demons Army and the Goal location is the Edo Castle.

'Rider as they call themselves had wanted to confirm our threat level because they knew that like them, are outsiders of this timeline. Their goal is to obtain this Grail and in case we also after it, we would become enemies.' Saniwa could not help but gazed him intently, 'As such they wanted to either eliminate us now before we become a big problem or become potential allies for this crisis, then after that it's a battle between side for who between us should obtain the Grail.'

"Had you made your up your answer?" Ryouma questioned. Oryou leaned to him further while glaring toward Saniwa.

Saniwa did not flinch and gave his answer, "We only have one goal and that is to fix the flow of history. If the way of doing that is by obtaining the Grail, you may take it as long as it will not be used in evil deed."

"Then this settle, you are an ally." Ryouma smirked, "Since you also mentioned about not obtaining the Grail, on behalf of my Master I will release the three captives and return them to you."

"Really!?" Konnosuke reacted and Ryouma nodded, "Yeah, now then instead of staying here, let's head to the Azuchi Castle instead and rest there."

Ryouma stood up while the female floated around him. The scene surprised Saniwa and Konnosuke, not expecting for the female to be able to fly.

"Come now you two." Ryouma said as he fixed his hat and smiled, "I will be your guide. I contacted my other comrades to lead them to the Azuchi Castle as well, you will meet up with them there."

"Re-really? How?" Saniwa absently asked. Oryou answered, "Telepathy, are you an idiot?"

There's no malicious content from her words but Ryouma hushed his companion. The two stared the boy and the fox, eyes never leaving and aura completely showing that they better follow them or face consequences. Having no choice, the two decided to follow them, heading to the Azuchi Castle.

I do not owned Fate Grand Order and Touken Ranbu!

This is inspired by a mobile game Fate Grand Order GudaGuda 4 event. For the flow of story, please note that this author had not played the Touken Ranbu game so the author's only knowledge base was from the anime series. If ever you the readers had noticed something that your author may have missed, please let this author know so this author could either rewrite them or add them to the story later on. Thank you for reading this story and please forgive this author if there's a lot of grammatical errors as this author's English language is only average and not English citizen.