Author's Note: Another week down, and don't worry the other set of heroes are going to get covered too. Read, Review, Favourite and Enjoy!
Chapter 118: The Holy Grail
The group of Heroes separated and scattered Kuro looked at Naofumi bored while tapping her fingers in displeasure. She saw the History on Naofumi, not deep enough that it made her eyes bleed like what Ikki had, but far back enough to be aware of recent events.
"You fed Katarina to a demon." Kuro stated looking angrily at Naofumi.
"So I did." Naofumi stated bluntly. "She eats songs, plays and evidently trashy romance novels aimed at sheltered post pubescent girls. It'll be a while before she's through with Katarina. It's no less dangerous then where I sent Tanya, certainly less dangerous than what you're going to be doing."
"And where precisely is that going to be?" Kuro asked crossing her arms as she glared at Naofumi.
"You already know the most efficient method for grinding up your weapon, in that regard you don't need me to send you anywhere special to build that up." Naofumi explained bluntly. "No you and your family simply have some unfinished business to clean up before you can move forward."
"So you're sending me home, is that it?" Kuro asked filled with suspicion, last she checked she was dying there, if they for some reason cannot apply the body reconstruction method that was employed to save her the first time...
"As you were dying your sister salvaged your class card. Your mother mugged her father and stole the information needed to make a new humunculus body, right now you're in a comatose state as you slowly awaken as what's referred to as a demi-servant." Naofumi explained as he was putting various records from a Jukebox away.
"Demi-servant." Kuro's knowledge of 'all the magic in the world' and her Class Card's history as 'Counter guardian' slowly filled Kuro's mind at mention of the term. "Oh... Oh I don't like that at all!" A genetically engineered pseudo humunculus designed specifically to have massive magic circuits with the saint graph of a Heroic Spirit burned into her body, for now it was convenient that such a thing existed as it preserved her life, but at the same time the mere thought filled her with a passionate burning rage. She was going to find Chaldea, and fill them with so many swords...! A Bonk to Kuro's head snapped her out of her homicidal rage.
"Focus!" Naofumi snapped as he crossed his arms. "For now it's convenient for you. You can replace the Ki that you burn through using the techniques that you have learned during your time with my daughter, and with the help of your weapon once you've re-established your connection to it. After that what you do with your time is your business."
"So what? I do a deep dive into my soul like what Katarina did?" Kuro asked looking at the Hero with blatant suspicion.
"No you have to go get the rest of it first." Naofumi stated as he finished with the records.
"What do you mean 'the rest of it?'" Kuro asked suspiciously.
"Figure it out." Naofumi waved at Kuro and sent her flying through the rainbow bridge.
When Kuro awoke she was inside of a tank of suspicious green fluids, a tube shoved into her mouth and down her airway, another tube in her side leading directly through her side and directly into her stomach. Kuro looked around the room, eyes scanning the history of the room and the equipment. After Kuro entered a state of dormancy in her card form her family went on a bloody rampage. Not only her mother, herself a naturally talented mage equipped with powerful, though artificial, magic circuits but also her father, a master assassin specialising in time manipulation and equipped with bullets designed specifically to permanently, irreparably, wreck a mage's ability to cast magic, her brother the older version of herself whose power her's were based on, and her sisters with all the class cards they've collected.
Was it actually possible to feel sorry for those horrible people? No. Kuro saw the History behind the tank and equipment and what they had been using it for, It was a mercy to the previous occupant that her father executed the creature quickly, not that he had taken that into consideration when he pulled the trigger. After that the rampage continued to Chaldea where her brother ripped out the secrets of Demi-servants out of its facilities and laboratories. After that it was just a matter of putting the pieces back together again, her soul, or rather her class card, inside of the soulless body of a custom made Humunculus made in her image. The body had to strike a balance between life span and enough magic to hold her gutted class card, even then Kuro would likely die younger than a normal human if not for the extensive modifications she could already feel herself making.
Of course these factors by themselves weren't enough, but Kuro had already been backed up to another world and returned to this one in the body her family had gone to such great length's to build for her, it was enough then. But Kuro didn't want to be in here all day, her body was already fully formed and there are no health risks if she left now. Kuro didn't have the legendary sword on her, at least not on her body, but at the same time there is no way Kuro doesn't have a blade at her finger tips at any given moment, the Unlimited Blade World and the Legendary sword were one after all.
A thought occurred to Kuro, her original humunculus body was designed to manifest the Holy Grail, her class card that made up her soul and powers came from the Holy Grail, and now she's taken the powers inside of the holy grail and integrated them into the Legendary Sword one by one. Her Soul's original form it seems was a fragment of the Holy Grail system, and now before she can move forward she needs to get it back. Lovely.
The Sound of shattering glass snapped the entire house hold to attention, trampling down the stairs was the familiar form of Kuro's father Kiritsugu, followed closely behind by several floating blades. You might be able to imagine the look on his face when he saw Kuro sitting in a vat of Humunculus fluid pulling uncomfortable tubes out of her body. It took a few panicked minutes before Kuro was able to calm everyone down enough to explain to her parents what had happened, and several hours before that explanation finished. As for the proof of what Kuro was talking about, the sword she made from pieces of dragons was more than adequate for that.
"Has anyone else from this alternate universe followed you back?" Kiritsugu asked looking down at Kuro and her weapon suspiciously.
"Yeah, him." Kiritsugu immediately spun around and pulled his weapon out on the man who Kuro had just pointed out, but there were two issues, the first was that the weapon that Kiritsugu had pulled out was a banana, the second is that the man Kuro had pointed out had already left the bean bag chair in the corner of the girl's room, Kiritsugu's gun sitting in the chair in question, on top of a book. "And he left. Miserable prick." Kiritsugu went over to the bean bag chair and picked up his weapon, and the book.
"'The Four Legendary Heroes.'" Kiritsugu began reading through the book, he and his wife observing the details of Kuro's adventures in the other world, their faces distorting in several ways as they read overall giving a impression of 'by the gods what's wrong with you?'
"The jerk didn't leave it here just to mock us. What does the ending say, after I got back here?"
"'The Sword Hero, returned to her home-world on the eve of the final battle, knew she had but one task, permanently disabling the Holy Grail System and all that has to do with it, the method to be used being up to her.'" The Holy grail system was an irreparably vile thing, it's very consciousness poisoned by the greed and murderous intentions of those who created it and those who fight in it's wars, Hundreds of people have been sacrificed in order to harvest mana for Heroic Spirits, for all of it's association with holy and sacredness it was little more than a jar of bile. And now Kuro's job was to not only kill it, but claim it.
"Looks like we have some work to do." Kuro stated letting out a sigh. "We have work to do." Kiritsugu stated his finger up in the air.
"You have to rest and recover, but after you've made a few things for us."
Luckily Kuro's father had the book, thus he became aware of what abilities Kuro gained while she was in the other world, such as the Divine magic. Kiritsugu had road work done all over Fuyuki city where he lived and where his family lived, how? He paid for it, rather generously and his family are friends with the Tohsaka family that own all the land to boot, after all road work is expensive and there's always a need for it. The Real target though was the leylines, the leylines where the Mana being passively produced by the citizens of Fuyuki city was being gathered for the large scale ritual in the summoning of Seven Heroic Spirits and through their sacrifices the Holy Grail.
The materials being used in the road and sewer works were being infused with magics for Space (to contain and compress down the leylines), Time (to gather together the throne of heroes), Soul (to contain the souls of the various Heroic Spirits utilised in the Holy Grail System), Metamorphosis (in order to gather their bodies made from mana) using Creation to sink it all into the inorganic material and Evolution to tie it all together. Utilising these things Kuro was able to steal the entire Holy Grail System right out from the Mages association noses, as a little bonus she left behind a little package to make them think that the system was still there, one year later after the Holy Grail dismantling project had begun, Kuro had the item in question in the literal palm of her hand, that also means that Kuro had plenty of time to use Metaphosis magic and mage craft to modify herself and increase her channels for KI, honestly if she wasn't inclined to make the lot of them go F themselves Kuro would be pretty inclined to share divine magic with the Mages Tower. Hell chances are that divine magic is what the morons would find if they ever got their hands on the grail and went to Akashic or whatever it's called but that was all the more reason not to give it to them.
"Now it's time for phase two." Kuro stated as she let out a sigh. "Even so, do you think you might've gone overboard?" Kuro was inside of a windowless concrete bunker a mile beneath the surface of the earth. The entire fortress was filled with automated turrets loaded with duplicate 'screw you mages!' bullets made by Kuro and her brother and dozens of armed mercenaries trained in Kiritsugu's anti-mage tactics. Letting out a sigh Kuro performed her soul based deep dive, now that she had the completed soul to dive into.
"Hello piece o'shite!" Kuro jeered as she directed her attention to the holy grail before her. It certainly gave the impression of being a Holy Grail being made entirely out of gold and being decorated with a few reliefs of maidens. It becomes less holy when you realise that those maidens are probably Einsworth Humunculi this thing has already been consumed though. And any pretense of holiness it might have given off evaporated when you see the overflowing mass of black tar like substances with what vaguely looked like melted phantom like faces that were trying to crawl and claw their way out of the muck.
"Class Card, Emiya Shirou: Archer. Vessel of the Grail: Illya." The Grail communicated in a mechanical computerised voice, which makes sense since contrary to popular belief this thing wasn't a natural part of the world but rather a magical construct created for the purpose of trying to breach the origins of the world. "Beginning reclamation sequence for the rogue Class card."
"Good to see you again too!" Kuro promptly pulled out several bolas and threw them at the grail, these weren't any mere bolas though. Gleipnir, the rope made of seven impossible materials for the purpose of restraining a god slaying monster Fenrir, it can at the very least tie down this stupid grail. "You and I are going to be spending a lot of quality time together!" Kuro raised a single hammer in the air, one that looked like it was made out of light bulbs. "But before we can begin your rehabilitation, we need to correct you for being such a piece o'shite!"
To begin with, Kuro needed to get rid of all that negative Miasma that was pouring out of every possible orifice of this cursed thing. Luckily by now she's already grown familiar with the process of refining Miasma thanks to her time spent in the other world, and seeing Kaede do it without the system's help first. So with that in mind Kuro conceptualised the system and proceeded to beat it into this useless grail with several swings of her hammer alongside her extensive knowledge of growth bonuses and corrections.
"New System identified: Miasma Processing System." The Grail seemed to ponder the implications for a few moments. "Acknowledged." Suddenly the overflowing tar started to writhe and wriggle. Then, not unlike another cup shaped item Kuro could think of, the Miasma inside of the grail swirled around and formed a whirlpool draining away the overwhelming tar like substance as the grail started to glow with new power. Inside all of the collected Heroic spirits were slowly undergoing a metamorphosis, their physical abilities, their mana generating power, all of them were slowly undergoing massive changes and improvements, and the grail didn't stop with it's own Miasma either. In the city above it sin, poverty, environmental destruction and pollution, all sorts of Miasma producing activities were being facilitated, and the Grail proceeded to suck on all of it down into itself.
"Oi, oi. Aren't you being a little greedy?" Just it's own Miasma was enough for this grail to break triple Digits, which Kuro would honestly be impressed by if it wasn't so blatantly evil, now it was climbing up even higher, sucking away at all the miasma it could find in the process. Between its own Miasma and what it absorbed from the rest of the world the grail easily managed to breach 300. "If you're done then I have a lot more modifications that I need to make to you if I want you to become useful." The Next item Kuro took out was a copy of the Tao clan's Bao Lei sword. Kuro saw a lot of history on the blade, chief among them it's ability to refine a spirit into a higher grade of being, alongside other techniques using Onmyoji Magic, in order to make it stronger, easily applicable to Heroic Spirits. "In you go." Kuro threw the sword and allowed it to be stabbed into the Grail itself, being quickly absorbed inside.
"New System identified: Spirit Refining Technique." And again the grail seemed to weigh the benefits vs cost. "Acknowledged." With the new system, the grail could increase the strength of all the Heroic Spirits inside of the throne of heroes bumping up their grades by at least two levels on average, and thanks to all the refined mana it could pore into them all of them would be under it's control. Speaking of which. "Does Class Card Shirou Emiya have any more systems that they would like to upload?"
"Nadda one." Kuro stated as she loudly cracked her fingers and grinned nastily.
"Resuming reclamation Process." Several beings force their way out of the grail, a variety of different Heroic Spirits numbering well over a hundred, all of which then turned around to face the Grail, glaring.
"You can't corrupt them anymore you hunk of garbage! That's exactly the kind of thing the first system is designed to prevent." Kuro pulled out the light bulb hammer again. "And I'm going to make it so that you never hurt anyone ever again!" Kuro had to admit that she was a selfish being just like this grail. It would be better to just dismantle it but instead Kuro was going to take the grail for herself, just as soon as she made sure that it was no longer a grail. "And I am going to grant all of your wishes!" The Heroic Spirits were little more than pawns to the grail and the summoners alike, even though they were here because they had their own wishes to be fulfilled their destinies were only to be used as sacrifices to fuel the power of the grail. Kuro might not be able to grant everyone's wishes, but she will be able to pull them out of this hell they are trapped in and give them closure. "But as for you?" Kuro walked over to the now empty Holy Grail, with no more Miasma to corrupt with nor anymore Heroic Spirits to corrupt it was little more than a big cup at this point, and soon not even that. "I have no use for something called a 'Holy Grail.'" And so Kuro slammed her hammer into the grail, and then she learned that the grail can scream. "Manners Maketh the Man!"
While Kuro was teaching the Grail the concept of 'Manners' the Mages Tower outpost located within Fuyuki city caught wind of what Kuro and her family was doing, rather they took notice of the fact that the entire leyline grid had been scooped out alongside the Holy Grail System. Couple that with the not very subtle amount of road work that had been going on in Fuyuki City for the past year and it wasn't hard for a two year old to put the details together on what was happening. Quickly the Mages association acted, cheaply mass produced Humunculi specced not for magic casting but rather as super soldiers designed to have high physical capabilites, kept in cryogenic storage until such a time that it's decided their services are necessary. Wielding shields made out of strong nigh impregnable materials reinforced by magic and huge maces designed specifically for the purpose of smashing the opposition apart the humunculi went on the offensive, and were rewarded by a series of explosives going off under their feet.
The entire area around the bunker had been layered with mines, unarmed until Kiritsugu flipped a tiny little switch inside of his bunker. The enemy forces had their numbers reduced, aside from direct damage by the mines the amount of oxygen in the air had been reduced, and considering the enlarged oxygen requirements of the super Humunculi this was a severe problem. Still their equipment had been specced for durability after all, the humunculi so far had only been temporarily incapacitated, not killed.
An arrow long as most people were tall skewering through several of their heads.
"I don't appreciate you guys bullying my sister!" Shirou shouted as he glared down at the enemy forces that had gathered before him, several Gungnir arrows in a quiver at his hip courtesy of Kuro, the anti-magic Space, Time bypassing seeker arrows tore through several heads of the enemy forces as Shirou lined up the shots. Was this cheating? Absolutely. The Humunculi could hear the orders in their skulls.
"He is one man! Kill him!"
And so they charged forward, and were ripped apart quickly afterwards, two little girls had charged into the battlefield, one with white hair wearing a fur bikini and a massive fur cloak tied around her waist and a massive sword club made out of sharpened stone, Illya with the Hercules Berserker Class Card installed, the other a black haired little girl with a armoured Bikini with shadows drifting off of her hands, swinging around a unfortunate humunculus like a club, the Lancelot Berserker class card wielded by Miyu.
"Any of them!" With that the massacre had begun.
Inside of Kuro's soul space, Kuro had not stopped beating on the screaming grail, continuously hammering it into shape until it no longer looked like a grail. The origins of the grail was a container, the first container in fact when you consider that it's origin was not a cup but in fact the womb, even before then was the egg. Then what was a suitable container for Kuro who had her soul reforged into a sword? A scabbard of course, even then she could take it even further, once the two were joined she could further change them both into a charge blade. For now though Kuro had given the grail a break, having it take on the form of a scabbard with two maidens standing in prayer on either side of it, her work done for now, Kuro absorbed the grail into her body and sheathed her soul sword inside of it.
Inside of the bottom most floor of the bunker Kuro awoke, smiling, dust was shaken loose as the one sided massacre above was going on, and Kuro could see it.
"Ah! Someone started a party and didn't invite me!?" Kuro's malice filled gaze came alive with fire.
"What are you talking about?" Kiritsugu puffed out a smoke. Kuro was such an bloody enabler, supplying her father with toxin purging and cancer destroying potions so that he could indulge in his bad habits as much as he pleases. "You're the guest of honour!"
"Now don't I feel special! However I don't think red suits an evening like this!" As Kuro stood up she donned familiar armour, however the red cloak that she was wearing up until now turned a navy blue while the blake plate bikini she's favoured up until this point turned a silver chrome. Swinging her arm dramatically Kuro whipped out the Forger.
"YOU MISERABLE BITCH!" Only to get yelled at by the raging dragon inside of the blade. "You kill me! You killed Takt! You turned me into a sword! You bury me under thousands of other consciousnesses!" Clearly Kuro needed to do some reconciling with this one.
"Excellent idea! Byakuya if you would!"
"I'm busy upgrading all of the weapons using all the mana and XP we just got." The dominant consciousness of the weapon intoned unhelpfully, putting the massive amount of resources that they just acquired to work instead.
"Fue. Is there any one in there that actually likes me!?" Silence. This may take a while, then the ground shook again reminding Kuro of the battle between potentially thousands of Humunculi and her siblings. Then an idea occurred to her. "How about this then." Kuro pointed up towards the battle in question. "There's lots of blank slates up there waiting for consciousnesses to be put into them. I'll even use my reality altering god magic to reconfigure them to fit your respective tastes and appearances." The various consciousnesses inside of the sword seemed to light up in delight with a multitude of colours at the concept. "Now we're in business!" It wasn't too hard, create some dragon cores with her magic, combine them with the class cards, throw in some body shaping metamorphosis magic on top of that, and then Kuro should be able to start fulfilling those promises she made, and then some. Because boy howdy were there a lot of people that she wanted to have a 'talk' with, and she has a lot of swords that she needs to start forging on top of that.
Review Section:
RonaldM40196867: True and true. Hard to say, They have one of two options, adopting a arc from the Light Novel, preferably remaking the Spirit Turtle and other world arc that they butchered in the anime, or making original content.
Nightshadegirl: In this story? Oh quite a few, all of the ones that didn't get with the program anyway.
coolkid0806: Allow me if I may a Omake: Around a table the The Presence, the One Above All and the Will of The World were occupying their time with a game of Poker when Naofumi charged through the metaphorical door of the technically non-existing building they were all in and crossed off four more names off of the chalk board they had given him. "Well that was a mixed bag, anyone got any better ideas for the next batch?" "I'm getting sick of going through this just because you can't look after one tiny little multiverse." The Will of the World stated bluntly. "Stop driving your counter guardians insane and you wouldn't need my multiverse to help set up another one. Now for this time period in history we need..."