Bell fidgeted a bit on his seat within the Twilight Mansion. Mostly because their 'meeting' taking place in this gigantic dining hall made it a bit awkward, with all the space that was free considering they were only a handful of people at the moment. There was the Stardust Garden, represented by Kojiro, Bell, Ryuu, Alise and Kaguya, the executives of the Loki Familia, Shakti from Ganesha Familia, and Asfi from Hermes Familia, who tried her best to maintain a low profile, avoiding everyone's gazes. Especially Hestia's, who was glaring at her, as if she could set Hermes on fire by mere association. Fortunately she held herself back, with Astraea lightly bonking her head. Bell let out an awkward laugh before feeling Ryuu squeeze his hand under the table.
He sent her a sad smile, reassuring her as she let out a shivering breath. In the end, after a few days, he told them the truth. Of what Solaris told him, what she fought.
The faces he saw, when he uttered the name 'Juggernaut' would haunt him to this day. It was a wise decision to delay telling them. Even now, they sometimes twitched, their eyes becoming empty as a flashback assaulted them and their minds. If nothing else, the knowledge that Solaris actually managed to kill one soothed their minds much more. They even seemed jealous of her feat, smiling proudly of their little hellion. If she were alive, he could imagine her being pampered like a little kid, blushing as everyone was patting her head like she was a cute animal.
"Oi, I ain't no pet, Bell!"
Yup, definitely would sound like that if he had ever said such a thing out loud. Either way, the Astraea and Hestia Familia were battered…but not broken, and definitely healing. Slowly, but sometimes one couldn't ask for more.
Then the doors opened and any thoughts stopped. In came the last man they were waiting for…looking barely alive as he stumbled inside. If before Bell thought Hans looked tired, he appeared positively comatose now. They were no longer bags under his eyes, they were permanent black marks. With a glare that hated the entire world, he dropped down on the 'leading chair', pointing at everyone, daring them to make a comment.
"Volume two is in the last editing phase, going up to the War Game, volume three is close to finishing too, so stop hassling me."
Bell definitely did not let out a squeal of excitement. And nobody noticed, nor did they chuckle at the non existent sound. Even Hans smirked ever so slightly at him, nodding, as if in approval.
"Good, you aren't a sad sack anymore." Hans cracked his neck with a satisfied breath. "It'd have been way too depressing writing about you. At least now I can have a bit of fun."
As Bell blushed furiously, trying his best not to allow any tears out of his eyes from the words he received, Ryuu on the other hand rolled her eyes in exasperation, glaring at Hans on his behalf.
"You could just give compliments like a normal person."
"Being normal has been impossible since I was born, sorry not sorry."
"Ahem, as amusing as this all is…" Riveria gave a pointed look at her seat neighbors, who coughed awkwardly and avoided her gaze. She turned back to Hans with a small frown. "We are on a time schedule."
Hans shrugged nonchalantly, before clapping his hands together..
"I'm not gonna write anything down, this isn't a study session, so you'll just have to keep everything in your skulls." Rubbing his temples, he took a deep breath, as if gathering energy. Then he leaned back on his chair, almost sliding down on it. "Alright, since you guys been nagging about our 'lore' so much…I'll just tell you, quick, clean, simple."
Everyone unconsciously leaned forward. Finally. To discover the secrets they were hiding all this time. To make sense of the nonsensical things they were talking about.
"First of all, the group you refer to as 'the Seven', Alise…" Hans gave a pointed look to the culprit of the name. She cheekily scratched the back of her head with a giggle.
"Hehe!"
She promptly got hit over her head by Kaguya without hesitation, causing her to yelp in pain. Hans let out a dismissive snort of amusement before he pointed at himself and then at Kojiro without any hesitation.
"Well, truth be told, we are all reincarnated. From a completely different world."
Some of them were smiling. Others were nodding slowly. Some others were way more open with their frozen confusion, their mouths half open. Silence stretched out, as the gems of Orario were reduced to children that heard of advanced calculation for the very first time. The only exceptions were the three gods, who made it a point to have a stoic expression on their faces, as if this didn't concern them at all.
Slowly, Finn was the first to recover, showing how deserving he was of the title 'Braver'. He raised his hand with a flat look.
"...What."
"Questions later, I want to get this over with," Hans stated, blinking slowly, as if he was at the verge of falling asleep. Bell couldn't help himself, frantically waving his hand in front of his own face.
"Nononononono, we are already confused!"
The author's eyebrow twitched, before his forehead slammed against the table with a long suffering sigh.
"Kojiro, your turn."
The swordsman blinked before pointing at himself with an awkward laugh.
"I am not much of a lecturer."
"Isn't infinity and alternative dimensions your thing?" Hans asked before going silent…and starting to snore. Everyone could feel the sweat run down their skin at the sight of it. Kojiro hummed before shrugging nonchalantly.
"Oh well." He licked his lips, trying to come up how to elaborate. "It is not that complex. Just imagine the world we live in as a continent. The sea inbetween is the 'void' that exists between us all. And across that 'ocean' is where Kojiro and Hans came from. Usually our 'trees of time' are separate, unable to ever touch upon each other, for our histories are too different…but yet, here we are."
Bell could barely process it…but the imagery helped. Was this how the people of old felt, when they discovered new lands across the sea? It must have been like new worlds to them too…only in this case, it was quite literal.
He knew Kojiro and the others were amazing, but this…!
"Trees of Time?" Gareth asked, scratching his beard in confusion at the term. Kojiro smiled politely.
"It is what we call the thing that represents our history and its what ifs." He raised a finger. "As long as the 'broad strokes' remain the same, the branches all belong to the same tree, growing ever further, as long as we do not stagnate in one form or another."
"What happens if you do stagnate?" Kaguya asked, narrowing her eyes as she crossed her arms. Surprisingly enough, the answer did not come from Kojiro…but Loki, with her legs on the table, her arms crossed behind her head.
"The timeline gets culled."
She said it so casually as well. As if…everything being 'erased' was something to be casual about. Shakti covered her mouth in shock, as Asfi paled as well. Alise shot up to her feet, aghast at the mere concept of it all.
"Wha-Why?!"
"There's only so much energy going around," Loki said, letting out a tired sigh. "So if you gotta cut something out, cut something out that isn't growing anymore."
"You seem well versed about such matters," Kojiro stated with an intrigued sound. Hans himself had turned his head a bit at some point, glancing at the gods at the table with a neutral expression. Loki waved her hand dismissively.
"Pff, we are gods." Her eyes shone with a glint. "We know everything."
"And yet you never tell us anything," Finn muttered in annoyance. Loki chuckled at that.
"Not our place. Hurray for interdimensional loop holes, hehe!"
"Stop teasing them all, Loki," Astraea chided Loki, with Hestia rolling her eyes. But neither objected to anything Loki said.
It was the truth. And if the mechanics were the same…would their world also be erased, if they stopped growing? What did it even mea-
"There's no use thinking about it."
"Huh?"
Hans looked Bell straight in the eyes, but it was telling he was talking to everyone at the table. The revelation of such cosmic knowledge left a mark on them all. He didn't even realize how hard he was squeezing Ryuu's hand and vise verse. Hans scoffed at their looks, pointing at them.
"Just keep moving forward. As long as idiots rise up to be fools, the world will always be turning. So do what you always have done and it'll be fine."
Warmth filled Bell's heart. He didn't know why, but compared to the divine revelation…he felt Hans' words had a much bigger impact on him. Alise chuckled, crossing her arms with a frown.
"Why can't you always be so nice?"
"Eh."
The table broke out into laughter, the mood lightening a fair bit. Once calmed down, Finn looked back at Kojiro.
"And you say we are of different trees…"
"Indeed. It would take a much longer time to elaborate upon the difference…but know that it was quite the culture clash for some of us to arrive here."
"For me more than you, you mountain hobo." Hans rolled his shoulders, looking a bit more awake now. "With that out of the way, let's get started on the lesson of 'Heroic Spirits'. Servants, classes, blablabla."
Bell was aware of the concept of spirits…but Heroic? He felt this was going to be much more different from what he knew. Everyone leaned forward with interest, ready to burn his words into their minds. Hans nodded at everyone once he had their full attention.
"First of all, there is a thing called the Throne of Heroes. It is a 'place' that records the history of the world, specifically major figures in history. Unreachable by most, you can never touch those Heroic Spirits. However…what you can do, is summon an aspect of them."
Hans chuckled dryly.
"There's a dozen legends about a single person. Thus, if you were to summon someone in their 'entirety', to call them a schizophrenia mess would be an understatement. Thus, when they get summoned, the throne cuts a part of them out and shoves them into a container, that we call classes."
He raised his hand to count off from.
"Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin and Berserker. That's the conventional seven classes."
"What are the unconventional?" Asfi asked immediately, adjusting her classes. Hans sent her a flat look, causing her to shrink into her seat a bit.
"Let's focus on the regular first, alright?" He rubbed his hands together. "Now it's not cut and dry that a Saber always has a sword and what not, but the Archetypes stand. The seven classes are usually enough to cover all aspects of a heroic spirit."
"Thumb rule is, the older a heroic spirit is, the more their legend gets spread and is allowed time to 'form', the stronger they are. Now there are always exceptions to the rules, some being flat out stronger in life than they were in death, but that is rare" "Anyway, the funny thing with legends is, they don't have to be truthful. But-"
"They can still affect in what form the Heroic Spirit gets summoned…like Fenia." Finn's eyes were wide as he went through the implications. "She was never a goddess."
"And yet, she became one in that Pretender Class of hers." He raised his hand before anyone else could ask. "Yes, that's another class. Like Avenger."
The class of hatred. It didn't need much elaboration, after Lobo, after what they saw. Still, Riveria bit her lip, shaking her head slowly.
"How can you summon the dead like that? Isn't that the domain of the gods?"
"In theory, you are merely calling down copies down from the Throne of Heroes, not the legitimate dead souls," Hans explained. "So if you were to summon the same person again, odds are they won't remember their last summon, unless it was really marking them to their very core."
"Which begs the question what sort of tool they use. Usually, it is a Holy Grail," Kojiro muttered, causing Bell to perk up, a memory of his childhood resurfacing.
"Holy Grail?" Ryuu muttered, not quite aware of the name. Hans shrugged, twirling his hand in elaboration.
"A catch all term for juiced up magical sources. It doesn't even have to look like a Grail, it's just the most common imagery of it. If you have enough power, you can punch a hole to the Throne of Heroes and grab a couple poor suckers from it."
"Like the one Doera the Liberator had?" Bell asked. Not many showed recognition of the name, but someone like Alise would know what he was talking about. The legendary item that granted a slave power to rise above her station. Hans hummed before nodding in agreement.
"Hm, yeah, that sounds like it fits the bill."
"So we can assume the Night Queen got her hands on one. Maybe the very same." Shakti narrowed her eyes. "What do you know about the Night Queen anyway?"
Kojiro and Hans shared a look. The former nodded, causing the latter to shrug.
"We theorizes she might be a Beast," Kojiro stated. Bell felt a shiver down his spine, and he wasn't alone at that. Alise chuckled awkwardly.
"I can hear the capital B…"
"They are the Sins of mortals." Kojiro licked his lips. "And they…represent a certain form of love."
"No fucking way the Night Queen feels any sort of love!" Kaguya shouted, slamming her fist down on the table and causing it to crack. Nobody was chiding her, as they were busy trying to process that the Night Queen was…such a person.
All the slave. All the suffering. Bell shook his head, not wanting to believe it. And yet, Hans glared at them all without mercy.
"That's where you're wrong, kiddo. Here's a few examples from the top of my head."
He raised one finger.
"It was a control unit, looking over magecraft itself. It observed the actions of its creator, and found him wanting. It pitied the mortals of the world, how their life was so fleeting and easy to break." hans exhaled slowly. "So it decided to incinerate all of history, in order to create a new, perfect race. The Sin of Pity."
"I'm sorry, incinerate all of history?" Ryuu asked, utterly baffled by the mere concept of it. Bell meanwhile felt something tickle in the back of his head.
"It got better."
"How?!"
"Not relevant right now."
"You motherf-"
"Kaguya!"
It then clicked in Bell's head. A conversation he had when they arrived in…Rakia? His head snapped to Kojiro, pointing at him.
"Wait, is that what you were talking about when you said 'the world being on fire'?!"
Kojiro blinked before the memory dawned on him, causing him to smirk.
"Yes."
Bell pouted at that even as many others were staring at him and Kojiro as if they were insane.
"You really are mean sometimes."
"Haha…"
"Yeah, that was 'fun' to be summoned to. Anyway…" Hans shook his head before raising his fingers again, two this time.
"She was a mother to her core. She didn't want her children to leave her behind as they evolved more and more, no longer needing her divine warmth. So in her love, her body would try to engulf the world in her mud, her primordial essence, to return everything back to zero. The Sin of Regression."
Three fingers were raised at this point, and Hans actively showed a sneer.
"This one is a bitch. A horny abomination. A total loser, a cow, a nerd and-"
Kojiro laughed awkwardly, pulling Hans' hand down. Everyone felt nervous at the raw vitriol he radiated. That one had to be personal, right?
"Yes, I will take this one, thank you." He cleared his throat. "She loved human beings. She would do everything for their sake, even sacrifice and drown the world in pleasure, if it means the humans would have all the love." Kojiro's smile fell. "Only issue is, she only saw herself as a human being, with everyone else being vermin, all existing for the sake of her own pleasure. The Apex of Narcisissm. The Sin of Lust."
"Then there's another bratty loser. She'd drown the world with her love. Exhaust them, corrupt them all. Another Sin of Lust," Hans added, causing Bell to blink in surprise.
"There are several of the same kind…?"
"Assuming you manage to stop a Beast from emanating, another 'candidate' would simply take their place."
Hans nodded before adding his own words to Kojiro's.
"Sin of Comparison. Growing and escalating in response to human conflict. The Sin of 'Domination', expressing love through oppression, hunting and predation." He let out a dry laugh. "Anyway, we could go on, but you get the picture, don't you?"
"None of that can be considered love," Finn growled under his breath, causing Hans to scoff dismissively.
"It sure is. We never said that their love wasn't twisted to all hell. That's why they are Beasts."
While the latter two were difficult to parse…he could see the former two as sins of humanity. To imagine oneself to be above everyone, to know what was best for them. Wanting to return to better times, pitying them…Bell could see how if the mortals of their world wasn't able to overcome such things, that the world would end. Not as literal and directly as he imagined the Beasts would be, but…
Kaguya's snarl snapped him out of his musings, as she leaned forward.
"So what, the Night Queen loves us so much she wants to put us into bird cages and force us to do what she thinks is right?"
Hans shrugged, frowning deeply.
"I never met her directly, so that's just conjecture, but that sounds about right." He let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing his temples. "I just don't know what sin she is exactly representing. Control? Order? Anarchy? Too many buzz words to go around to be sure." He shook his head. "Until we know for certain, we won't be able to stop her, once she emanates."
"Are they so powerful?" Ryuu asked with worry in her voice.
"Let's put it this way." Hans smirked at them all, lazily. "The Beasts we stopped, were stopped more by dumb luck."
"It requires a specific set of circumstances to defeat a Beast. The conventional frontal approach…rarely works out," Kojiro elaborated.
Back was the heavy silence. Back was the weight on their shoulders. Fortunately this time, Alise raised everyone's mood, as she pointed at Bell with a smirk.
"Well, guess Bell has to be our lead then."
He bristled up, his face turning red.
"I'm getting really tired about all those Luck jokes!"
"Are they jokes?" Ryuu asked, a teasing glint in her eyes. He stammered, betrayed by his very own girlfriend!
With their antics, the mood was light again, with Kaguya brushing her hair back with a scoff.
"So we just have to murder her before she gets to do that."
"Exactly." Hans paused, his smirk falling before he crossed his arms. "Only question is why she didn't do so already. Assuming she is as old as she makes herself out to be…either it's an issue of raw power, which is why she needs to 'farm' souls to empower herself…or she has no idea what her own love is." He shook his head." "Either way, we are on a timer."
"Any questions?" Kojiro asked politely. Gareth let out a laugh before shaking his head.
"Haha. You wanted answers, these were your answers."
"So wait…" Asfi rubbed her chin in thought. "We could be facing a lot more beings from the past as these…servants?"
"Past or from our world. Don't ask me how, we'd be here for ages discussing what methods are out there."
"Aaaand you guys were also servants?"
At Alise's comment they all blinked. Oh right. After all those explanations…they forgot that Hans and Kojiro were deeply involved because they were themselves…Bell's eyes began to sparkle.
"So you were…an actual hero…" He muttered to his teacher before turning to Hans. "You all were…"
The writer scoffed, offended at the mere idea as he looked away with his glasses adjusted.
"Debateable. I was just an author. Hell, ironically enough, this me is the strongest I've ever been, much to my chagrin."
"An author gets on the throne too?" Finn asked, his voice tinted with amusement.
"Apparently the world decided I made a big enough contribution to be added. And thus, I never get to retire for real. It's hell."
"And Kojiro?" Bell asked, curious about his story. What life did he lead, to reach such heights?
Which was why the answer was all the more shocking.
"Yeah, Sasaki Kojiro doesn't exist."
They all blinked before turning to Kojiro.
"Uhhh…he's clearly there," Alise said in a dumbfounded manner, causing the man to chuckle in amusement.
"The individual known as Sasaki Kojiro, his 'legend' doesn't exist," Hans elaborated."So the throne grabbed the next best person."
"How does that work?" Ryuu asked, tilting her head at the same time as everyone else.
"Sometimes stories of certain individuals are told, yet there is no evidence of those people actually having lived. Sometimes it's just because it was hard to find evidence, so they definitely existed. In his case however…there truly never was a Sasaki Kojiro, the one that appeared in a famous history of ours."
Kojiro noddedin confirmation.
"Because of that, all I have are my own skills. Sasaki Kojiro is merely a name given to me, a mere phantom from the mountains."
"But you aren't anymore," Bell said numbly, causing Kojiro to bow dramatically.
"Indeed. Like Hans, I have been growing beyond my past."
"Does the same apply to Arash and the others?" Ryuu asked with a frown. It was then that Hans and Kojiro both let out a loud laugh, as if the mere idea of equaling them was ludicrous. The author wiped a tear from his eye before shaking his head.
"Pffff, fuck no. He and the others are much weaker. Especially because some of them lack their Noble Phantasm and their gear, their oomph. They directly influenced the fates of their countries, were major figures in other people's stories. Kings, queens, emperors. With that comes weight." He relished in their shocked expressions, showing his teeth as he leaned forward. "Artoria is the biggest example of them all. Her Avalon spell is nothing compared to the actual Avalon. And Romulus is a mere fraction of what he could be." He raised a finger. "Remember when we talked about servants and their classes? There's a Grand Class. The ones meant to counter and contain Beasts. Romulus is a candidate for the Grand Lancer title."
"So the one we know isn't even him at his strongest…" Finn muttered, voicing out the subdued shock everyone else was feeling. Bell felt his head getting light.
The power Artoria showcased. Oryou's dragonic might. Penthesilea's blows. Romulus' mere presence. Arash's…well, everything…
That was them being 'weaker'?!
"Scary to imagine…" Alise muttered. Even the gods seemed impressed this time, Loki letting out a low whistle while Hestia and Astraea covered their mouths. They seemed too nonplussed by everything that was said lately, which made him wonder how much the gods knew…but the gods were the gods. They wouldn't tell unless the time was nigh.
"How much lore are you hiding from us?"
"Way too much and not all of it relevant." Hans shrugged off Alise's pout before rising to his feet. "At least now you know the broad strokes, and are aware of what we are and others that are like us. Feel free to share the information with others, I'm going home."
With that, he stumbled out, not caring for anyone wanting him to stay. Riveria sighed, closing her eyes with a weary demeanor.
"As polite as always…"
"You really were holding out on us," Kaguya stated with a frown, causing Kojiro to let out a small sigh.
"Well, this was rather exhausting."
"I'm glad."
"Hm?"
Bell blinked before realizing he said those words out loud. He blushed, a blush that intensified as the girls around him and Kojiro smiled at him knowingly. He could imagine that Haruhime and Lyra would have a blats as well. He could practically hear Solaris' snickering in his head too!
Well, he already was too deep, might as well elaborate. He scratched his right cheek awkwardly.
"Err…that you are here. I don't know how, obviously, but…" He lowered his head. "I wouldn't be the person I am today without you. So…thanks for being here."
"Awwww…"
Alise's reaction made his head red like a tomato. It did not help that Ryuu kissed him on the cheek, letting out a warm giggle herself. Kojiro smiled at him before lowering his head.
"I am glad we met as well, young master." He glanced at Astraea Familia. "I am certain Arash feels the same way."
"No need to tell us. He'll tell us himself once he wakes up."
Kaguya's statement caused everyone to nod in agreement. Then Alise leaned forward, a giddy look on her face.
"Can you tell us more about your stories?"
"Hm, I suppose since we are all gathered here already…" Kojiro looked at the others, some, like the executors leaving for their work. Then he smiled before leaning back, memories flowing from his mouth. "Allow me to start with Miss Saber."
