Rebecca

"I hate all of this!"

That was the first thing I shouted out into this white void as the uncomfortable shocking sensation left me, my arms stopped spasming, and I finally regained the ability to speak. Honestly, just what the hell was up with this place?! A grail war in a digital environment, where we could be silenced and paralyzed at will?! At least the other place we'd all been collected in looked like… like something! But this… this was just a white void! There was nothing here: no nature, no people, no structures, nothing!

"Oh, and that's just perfect! Looks like we've all been separated!"

Why did I even decide to take part in this stupid thing?! I blame you for this, Travis!

Though, on closer inspection of my surroundings, there was something sticking out of the white ground, only a few feet behind me. Even as I approached it, I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be though. It was rectangular, fairly small in terms of width, and only went about as high as my waist. Honestly, the thing it most resembled in my mind was one of those concrete bollards they'd put up to protect storefronts. Except, well, it was made of metal instead of concrete. Or I thought it was.

The other thing that kind of threw me off was that the top wasn't rounded. Instead, it was slanted like a slope, and in the middle of the square was the outline of a hand.

…Am I supposed to put my hand here, or-

"Ah! What the fuck?!"

I jumped back from the bollard thing as a mass of… of things popped into existence in front of me, and a mass of pinging sounds rang out. Even as I took a moment to calm down and the pinging sounds stopped, the things didn't move, or really do much of anything. They just… sat there, floating in front of the scanner looking bit of the bollard. It was only as I approached again that I realized they had words on them.

"T-Tutorial on…" I began the read slowly, still not ready to trust anything. "Tutorial on capturing territory? Just what kind of a Holy Grail War is this even supposed to be…?"

Now, I wasn't by any means good with technology, but having had a moment to get my thoughts in order and calm my nerves slightly, these things didn't really look much different from the kind of message popups I'd get on my phone.

"…Are these just message windows" I muttered to myself out loud as I gave the thing an experimental swipe.

The conclusion I reached was that they must be, considering the text within the floating window thing changed. Confused out of my mind and still hating every part of this whole thing, I figured I might as well give these windows a proper read. Much as I had to say on this war, these messages were likely put here to help the masters, rather than hinder them.

"At the beginning of the game, every territory begins as a blank slate" I began to read through tutorial. "Upon first capture of a blank territory by any player, the territory will return to its proper form, and the capital city of the territory will be established. To capture any territory, a player simply has to claim the territory's control spire by having their hand scanned by it. Each territory has only a singular control spire, located within the capital city of the territory."

"All blank territory captured by a player will automatically be assimilated into the player's empire in a state of neutral opinion. Territory already established by another player, if captured, will be assimilated into the capturing player's empire at the current state of opinion the citizens hold towards the capturing player."

"Upon a player's capturing of their first territory, the capital city of the territory will also become the capital city of the player's empire. Note that it is not necessary to hold onto the capital city of your empire, or even any territory at all, to win the Holy Grail War."

…Huh? But… if holding territory wasn't even necessary to win the war, then what was the point of controlling territory? And this stuff about territory capitals and empire capitals, I just- why- what-

"Oh, forget it" I groaned, spam tapping the red x at the top right of all the messages to get rid of them. "None of this makes any sense! Just start with the basics and summon your servant, then go from there. Now, where did this stupid thing place my…"

Looking around, I found my catalyst in what seemed to be right where I'd first been dumped into this white void. I found that odd, to say the least, because I was certain that it hadn't been there when I first looked around the area.

"At least you seem to still be in one piece" I let out a slight sigh of relief as I picked up the old book, brushing the bottom of it with my hand to remove a thin layer of white dirt from it.

Only question now was how to actually summon my servant. With how empty everything around me was, how was I even supposed to-

"…This is going to get very annoying" my right eye twitched slightly as I heard another pining sound ring out in my head, and a new message window popped up in front of my face. "Tutorial on Heroic Spirit summoning… oh, whoever is behind this war, I am so going to kick your ass…"

"To summon your Heroic Spirit, three things are required: a summoning circle, a catalyst, and a summoning chant. Every player will have their own catalyst as a requirement of joining, which will be delivered to them by the system moments after initialization of the game. If a player has wandered off from their starting position prior to summoning their Heroic Spirit partner, they will need to return to their starting position to retrieve their catalyst."

"Creation of the summoning circle, and the summoning of a Heroic Spirit, can be done within any territory, even that which is owned by another player, or unowned entirely. In cases where a player seeks to summon a Heroic Spirit in unowned territory, use of their heel is recommended in carving out the summoning circle, as the ground requires some force to be properly carved into."

"…Really? I'm supposed to create a detailed summoning circle with my heel, of all things? That can't possibly turn out well…"

Despite my complaining and protests though, I did get to work carving out the summoning circle. It was definitely far from my best work. Honestly, I think even my very first practice attempt I did months ago looked better than this. It also ended up being far… bigger… than I'd intended. But it would have to do, seeing as I was not going to spend another who knows how long carving out another one of these things.

"Right" I muttered to myself, setting the book on the opposite end of the circle, just outside it's boundary. "Here goes nothing…"

Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. 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.

Let it be declared now; your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth.

An oath shall be sworn here. I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven; I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell.

From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!

I shielded my eyes from the bright white light that the summoning circle produced as I finished the chant. I didn't particularly feel any different, didn't feel like I'd really used any magical energy to form a contract with a familiar, but considering the reaction I got from the summoning circle, something must have happened. It was only when the light died down that I was able to get a proper look and see what I'd just accomplished.

Standing in the middle of the circle was… someone? I honestly couldn't tell, seeing as they had their back to me. All I could see was that, whoever this was, they had white hair and a beige colored coat draped over their shoulders.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear" a man's voice sighed as the person took a couple of steps to reach the far side of the summoning circle, and bent down to pick up the catalyst. "This is no way to treat a book, leaving it on the ground in such a careless manner. Especially this book here; a real treasure it is!"

As the man turned around, I got my first proper look at who I assumed was my servant. Definitely an older gent, judging by the lines on his face. Yet he didn't move as though his age was getting to him. Rather, he seemed to move as if he were at least a decade younger than he looked, which I took as a good sign. He had a short but bushy beard of white hair, which gave him a scholarly look. As for his clothing, it was all basic: a rather faded looking brick red tunic with dark brown pants, the latter of which seemed to be held in place with some kind of string, or rope, tied around his waist.

"I recommend exercising more caution with this here going forward" the man continued as he walked over and held out the book for me to take. "But given the current circumstances I suppose you didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, so I won't hold it against you."

"Um, right…" I stammered, unsure of what to really say as I took the catalyst back from the man. "I'm sorry, but are you…?"

"I'm getting ahead of myself again, aren't I" the man sighed, though the cheer on his face never left. "Even after all these years haven't shaken that habit; good fortune Perenelle isn't here, else I'm sure I'd be in for another lecture about interacting with others more and getting my nose out of my books. Just to be sure though, you are my master, yes?"

"I am your master, yes" I confirmed, doing my best to sound confident despite the situation.

"Excellent, then everything appears to be in order" the man let out a good-natured laugh. "Allow me to introduce myself: Caster servant, true name Nicolas Flamel. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, especially with one so young. Warms this old man's heart to see the youth strive towards expanding their knowledge."

The old man, or Caster, I should say, was friendly enough and all. Certainly didn't come off as threatening to me, at least. But all the same, I felt my right eye begin to twitch.

Nicolas… Flamel…?

What?

I thought this catalyst was supposed to summon Paracelsus Von Hohenheim…

…Who the fuck is Nicolas Flamel?!


A/N

Next few chapters will be smaller, as I do want to cover the summoning of some of the servants. Of course, I won't be revealing the true names of all of the ones I do cover up front (like how I didn't with Tristan), but I do want to at least start teasing some of the servants that will make an appearance in this work.