Prologue End

Humanity Stabilization: 99.9%

Gaia Status: Undefined

Notes: Impossible

WARNING

Observation of Adjacent Worlds for World Line x120x323x12D is forbidden.

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Original Record Observance Permitted. Beginning Playback.

Chapter 6: Call of Duty: Modern Mage Warfare

November 2nd 11:08 PM, Japan

The moon was bright tonight. Just like it had been back then.

Nearly nineteen years ago… Yes, nearly nineteen years ago I fought in that war. Naïve. Stupid. Foolish. I had fought to prove myself, but all I did was prove my own arrogance and get my teacher killed. But now, even if I dreaded a repeat of last time…

Gray followed by my side.

Shinji's house was only a little way ahead.

I was no longer an upstart novice and I had trusted allies by my side.

Perhaps this is the battle he spoke of all those years ago?

I gripped at the box in my pocket. The one that held the remains of his tattered cloak. This time, for sure!

The sounds of chittering and clicks stopped me. Amidst the Matou Mansion's yard, small creatures hidden in the darkness stirred.

Disgusting, horrible creatures that only the most degenerate of individuals could call their own. Vile things that were kept in Shinji's basement and room. One would think that his wife would hate, no, absolutely despise them.

Instead, she only ever seemed to show them adoration and care, like they were her own children! The two even encouraged their daughter to collect and play with them. Admittedly yes, teaching a child to use the family's familiars was one thing, but there had to be a limit to decency!

Why was it that all the mages I most closely associated with had the same tastes? The familiars scrambled to the center of the path leading to the mansion's front door. Standing to attention, they saluted and did a curtsy.

Yes.

They curtsied.

All in unison they greeted us.

"Welcome, Master and Mistress Case Files." The creatures cooed in a sweetly synchronized voice.

"Oi I'm here too! Let me out Gray, I wanna see Shinji's famous maid service!" A voice shouted from beneath Gray's cloak.

Shinji Matou was a modern magus who was skilled in familiars and… "golems." Having followed the most cutting-edge advancements of computers and gaming, he implemented it into his magecraft. Two of his most widely (self) spouted achievements were his invention of "Gamer Girl Bath Watertm" and these small, figurine maid dolls. According to himself, rather than using the souls of the dead and manual control, they were autonomous thanks to a custom AI he created using his "genius wizard brain."

Shinji was considered a laughingstock amongst most traditional mages back at the association. Refusing to get with the times, they believed that his disgusting bath water held little merit and that any golem made using a combination of modern technology and magecraft was not worth noting. The younger mages took interest though, especially those that were of more mundane backgrounds, and had formed their own "fan-club" for his channel.

They would then get into a rivalry with those that had made a fan-club for Gray and mine's own channel, and subsequently cause territorial disputes over who was the better content creator, magus, etc. At one point they even managed to get Reines in on it with Trimmau and had it fight with a handful of dolls that Shinji gave them as "a gift for my subscribers."

By the end only one doll survived and is to this day seen as the club's mascot. The rest, being horribly mutilated, were set up as projects to be fixed and studied, with a prophecy later being proclaimed for the coming of "the chosen one who will restore all the maids and become the great Merlin of the East's apprentice."

That was hogwash though. As if Shinji would even want to take them on nor would he ever be allowed to teach them anything even remotely related to modern technology, especially gaming. If there was any real truth to his claim about bath water, it may have garnered more attention if he didn't insist on it having to be from a 'gamer girl.' The fact most mages took more issue with the method being related to 'gaming' and not that it was 'bath water' was something that should have been lamented.

Being led by the procession of figurines, the door made a clicking noise as mechanical servos opened it automatically. The maids, clad in dresses that reflected every color of the rainbow and equally unnatural hairs, jumped up the small gap between door frame and floor with ease, guiding us inside.

The room we entered had lime green walls, the hallway connecting to it had shades of lavender, one room we passed had walls of fiery orange and another of cornflower blue, and wherever there was something wooden, it was painted a deep purple accented by pink flower petals. Whether it was the wooden trimming or the steps, they were purple and had petals on them. Any and all sense of age, pedigree, and dourness that this ancient house once championed had quite literally been painted over.

We were led to the basement door, its adjacent wall, floor, and ceiling were unlit and colored black, their only light provided being that of painted fluorescent dots which resembled the stars of space. It was not magical, or at the very least any magecraft that was used on it was not in effect. No, it was seemingly made purely to mimic the aesthetic of a space-based arcade. Regardless of its true nature, it certainly led to something quite out of the ordinary. The maids continued their procession and Gray and I followed after them, walking along a railed, interior balcony that led to stairs which descended perpendicular to it. With slow steps we carefully treaded down so as to not fall. Only a gamer familiar with this darkness such as Shinji or his family would be able to navigate these treacherous steps safely in a swift manner. To rush them would mean to invite a bruised arrival at the bottom.

The room itself was a mockery of what it supposedly once was. Padded sound foam adorned the section of the walls beneath the balcony and a thick carpet had been laid out over the floor. It too glowed in the dimness of the basement, but rather than ordinary pin pricks of light, there were stars, moons, and suns strewn throughout it. Positioned all around were arcade cabinets that gave off the only meaningful light in the room, and though clearly powered, made no noise. One would think them merely ordinary arcade cabinets, but I knew the truth.

What lied beyond the light they emitted were actually chambers that housed and allowed for the modifications of Shinji's familiars. The controls of the arcade cabinets were used in manipulating different tools that could assemble them manually, or when set to, could produce them automatically. With a flip of a switch and magical energy, a screen would be slotted down in front of it and display the game within the cabinet as usual.

Why was so much effort put into concealing it? Because he hoped to one day allow his child's friends to play with her down here. He told me as much. It was naïve and risky, but it was a veritable game room, and nothing at a glance would make one think it had any relation to magecraft. No, not even his main workstation would betray it. In truth, that was likely what would draw an inquisitive child's interest the most. An ebony tower with a glass window that shone with all the colors of the rainbow, a veritable shifting spectrum of hues lit up his keyboard and monitor, not even the mouse was left unmolested by the garish colors.

The desk the tower was stationed at spanned the length of the wall, and on it were the latest consoles and blueprints detailing the construction of his figurines and computer. Above it was cabinets with glowing, colored glass doors, containing older consoles and additional towers and monitors. For as unusual as it truly was to look at, nothing about it screamed magical to the untrained eye.

Sitting in front of the main monitor was Shinji, donning cat-eared headphones and speaking into a purple microphone covered in multicolored jewels.

"And that's the end of today's video, my worms, look forward to the next part, guest starring our rivals from across the pond, the Zhuge Liang of the West and his Gray Lady, The Case Files in the flesh! And don't forget, keep on squirming!" He pressed a key and his recording stopped. Taking off his headphones, his face relaxed and swiveled on his chair to face Gray and I. "Well well well, look what the bird dug up."

Worm puns. That was one of the mainstays of his channel, Sanji Matou. Apparently, it was meant to be a dig at his deceased grandfather. I never cared for it, but his so called 'worm army' ate it up like the ground they supposedly squirmed in. "I've had little time for sleep, Matou, is the circle ready? I wouldn't want my students to do as I did to my own teacher and have them summon my servant before me."

Shinji nodded and with a snap, the sound of whirring metal groaned behind us. We saw a cabinet placed in the center of the room rise up and a door appeared beneath it. "Tch, what a showoff. This is what you use your subscriber's donations for?" Shinji smirked. "You know it. If I'm going to do this whole tech mage schtick, I might as well do it in style!" He passed by us, his figurines following after him into the elevator that had arisen from beneath the cabinet. Gray was impressed by the sight. "Wow sir, Flat would never let you live it down if he saw this. He'd want you to make some sort of secret lair to break into."

We descended and a sharp whistle resounded from Add. "Well I'll be, now THIS is a workshop!" From the walls countless cords descended, and in the spaces the cords did not cover, posters of Shinji's wife were plastered all across them. Scattered in the corners and on benches by the stone walls were piles of parts, occasional gems and unfinished figurines. One wall, cleared of clutter and wires, was a large tank. In front of it was a bathtub complete with pipes to feed it and drain it of water. In the center of the room was a circle made up of some clear, opalescent liquid. Beside it were emptied gallon jugs labeled 'water' and cans of Red Bull. "No…" I held my hand to my face and grimaced.

"Heh heh heh! You know it Case Files!" Shinji's face split with a sh*t eating grin. "Works wonders when regular circuits can't! A bit of Gamer Girl Bath Watertm and Red Bull can fully compensate for blood in a circle, and as fuel for spells!" He had explained it to me before, even gave me a thesis on it. He claimed to keep the truth depth of its secrets hidden, but the detail he went into was boggling. Reading it was one thing but seeing it in person was a whole other kind of nightmare entirely. His claims were substantial, and his methods and foundation well thought out, but…

"Absolutely not." Shinji blanched. "I will not allow my king to be sullied by your horrid water. I would rather my students claim him than subject him to this." I had the feeling that my king would find it quite amusing, I did not.

If no one else was going to take this seriously, he was going to, and he wasn't going to let this war start off with Gamer Girl Bath Water. He would claim victory, and it wouldn't be drenched in a disgusting slurry of Redbull, sweat, and recycled bath water.

"Do have you any other materials for the circle, any AT ALL?" Shinji shook his head. "Afraid not. I figured out how to use this stuff out of necessity, and even if Sakura can use other stuff, she doesn't have much interest in magecraft nowadays." I sighed in frustration and wished to light a cigar. "Fine, Gray and I will find a rabbit nearby and bring it back."

Shinji's brow twitched. "Hey, Waver, I set up this whole thing up to help you out, it's good stuff. Are you really going to waste my efforts here?" I held back a grimace. "Yes Shinji, I refuse to use this stuff, it's disgusting." Shinji frowned. "Fine then! See if I care! 'I do what it takes to win my a**!' If you're going to disrespect my methods, you can summon your servant somewhere else! Don't come crying to me if Ryuudou temple gets you someone else besides your so-called king!"

It was textbook Shinji. He was usually quite good at getting along with others, but once someone insulted how he did things, he got overly passionate in trying to defend it. As far as circuits went, they were supposedly worse than his own from what he understood. "I won't deny that your method is efficient but even I have my limits." He wasn't wrong, or at least according to the data Shinji sent him, it was better to use it in terms of getting the most bang for your buck.

Shinji smiled at my admittance. "Heh, that's what you've said before! Still, it wouldn't hurt to check out the temple anyways." Gray asked the question on my mind. "Why is that Shinji?"

He clicked his tongue. "I've been monitoring the leylines while Tohsaka has been gone. She may still be the Second Owner but she can't do jack sh*t on the other side of the globe, or at least nothing substantial. One of my familiars picked up chatter from the monks the other day that some idiot from America wants to play tourist with them. It could be nothing but it's too convenient of a place for a mage to take up residence."

His eyes closed, half-lidded. "Yes, it seems he, no, they, checked in and left just a bit ago. The temple messes with my connection with my familiars if they stray too far into it, so all I've glimpsed is them coming and going. Three of them, one blonde in white, one black haired guy that looks like a priest, and some orange girl."

I didn't like the sound of that. "The fact that they're out so late isn't promising, did your familiars pick up any command spells?" Shinji shook his head again. "No, I tried but couldn't get a good view up close. I thought Kotomine was supposed to be in charge of this war, so he might be a messenger or something. Any thoughts?"

"A priest and two potential mages working together would go against the neutral stance the church holds, and I can't imagine many mages being friends with a priest to begin with unless he's an executor, and even then, what would his purpose here be? It could be a disguise but that still doesn't change the fact that it blatantly contradicts the rules and garners far too much attention."

Shinji gave another theory. "If any of them are mages, they didn't let a lot of time pass to prepare safeguards. They could have maybe set up a bounded field and a trap or two if they had it planned out ahead of time but even then, why go out so soon? It's literally the middle of the freakin' night. If any of them were masters, their best bet would have been to summon a servant and just wait to register tomorrow."

We both scowled. Gray offered her own theory. "Maybe, they really are just tourists?"

I didn't like it, but if we waited and they turned out to be competitors, we would have missed a golden opportunity in taking them out. "Alright then, we'll head to the temple and investigate. I take it your servant will join us?"

Shinji grunted. "Show yourself now, you lazy, good for nothing brick."

Out of the air, a white elephant statue materialized. From it a monotone voice responded. "Automatic response system engaged. Materializing in physical form." Shinji hit the statue's shoulder. "Well, are you going to make sure no other masters will crush us like a bunch of worms!?" A pinging sound rang out for a few moments, then— "Answering: this one will accompany in spiritual form. Upon detection of adequate threat, manual control will be engaged." And with that the statue disappeared.

"That's your servant? The one you used the bath water to summon?" Red in the face, mixed between rage and embarrassment, Shinji screamed at us in his anger. "Yeah it freakin' is! The thing is a huge hog that guzzles mana and snacks but hardly does anything! The one time I got any help was when I told it about my problems with that troll asshole spreading the mod around and even then I had to give it a giant plate of snacks just to get it to work its magic!"

Stomping his foot, Shinji glanced around, heaving his chest as he breathed and raised his fist, ready to punch something. Seeing nothing he was willing to break, he took one last sharp breath and his face relaxed. His gamer rage momentarily quelled. "Still, having a servant that can work with modern technology is pretty fitting for me, I just wish it didn't cause me so much trouble just to get it talk to me." He looked down at the floor. "Really, just wow, that was what I thought when I first heard her."

Her? "So it's a woman? Do you know her true identity?"

His answer was unsure. He sounded as though he doubted his own words. "Just looking up elephant statues didn't give much. I did look up elephant gods and found some stuff about Ganesha, but the statue refuses to confirm it and I have no idea why or how I would have summoned a divine spirit, let alone one that also understands the internet better than I do."

Now THAT was unsettling. "I swear, you couldn't have just summoned a normal servant, could you? Still, the fact that it has the ability to interact with technology is a boon in and of itself. With any luck we can leverage it and your familiar's abilities over any traditional mages that join the war." Servants one and all seemed to have their own whims. His king was no exception, and maybe with the right prodding they could get it to work wonders.

Before we left for the elevator, Shinji picked up a backpack full of Red Bull, and a small black squirt gun. He emptied a portion of a can into it and drank the rest. "Disgusting…" was Gray's reaction. Leaving through the elevator and out of the main basement, we left the otherwise empty residence and made our way towards the temple. On the way, with Shinji's familiars carefully watching our every step, Gray asked Shinji about his wife. "If I may ask Shinji, where's Sakura and Chiyome? I was hoping to say hello to them…"

"Yeah, well, they're away from the house for now. I didn't want them getting caught up in the war. If our house gets raided by some crazed dragon or knight of the round table, I'd rather have my work get smashed than my family." From the bushes, a sweet voice sounded. "Don't say that Shinji-kun!" And another. "Yeah Shinji-kun! We love youuuuu!" And another! "We'll defend our home to the last!" And at last…! "Even if we get broken, we'll make sure your work isn't for nothing!" The figurines all called out to Shinji.

The hell? "Woah, they seem to really adore you kid! Bwahahahaha! I'm sure even Merlin would be envious of you if he saw the kind of familiars you had!" Add bellowed with laughter. "I knew these things were depraved, but to think that you would make them this bad… Does your wife not care at all, do you not have any shame? How is your kid going to grow up into a respectable person if she's surrounded by these things!?"

It was none of my business, but I still couldn't help but be annoyed. He had created an artificial AI that could mimic human interaction to a downright frightening degree, and he made it so that they acted like a bunch of girls with a crush on him.

Shinji blushed and snorted his face into one of false indignation mixed with genuine pride. "Hey, it wasn't easy getting the basis for these things! So what if they adore me? I spent all that time and effort making them, it's only fair they feel grateful!" He huffed. "Oh, so you didn't make them entirely on your own?"

He shook his head. "As if that matters, I took bits and pieces of data from some random server that was a real b*tch a** to get into. The code I based their AI off of wasn't nearly enough to make them this good! It was only thanks to me reverse engineering it that they're the awesome, one of kind specimens you see before you! Eat your heart out Einzberns! My dolls may be fake, but they have a hundred times more personality than whatever watered-down soup-of-the-day persona you give yours!"

And Shinji began ranting to the air about how his creations were superior to other famous mage family's own works. "Hell, I don't even have to waste any magical circuits making them! I just give a bit of the water and they're good to go! Just like my PC, they're water powered, and water cooled!" And ultimately it came back to the bathwater.

Yes, the d*mned bathwater. It always came back to the bathwater. His so-called crowning achievement. According to his thesis, the sweat emitted during a hot bath could serve as a means to store and transfer mana not unlike that of blood, saliva, and other less savory fluids. What made the bathwater superior was both quantity, quality, and cost. All it took was a 'gamer girl' and a tub of hot water.

Within the confines of the tub, the girl's sweat would be dispersed throughout the tub, and rather than dilute its affects, actually caused the surrounding water to be completely suffused with magical energy proportional to the amount of mana outputted by the 'gamer girl.' Thus, since his wife had high quality circuits and (this part he claimed was crucial) was a 'gamer girl' she could super charge the water with massive amounts of energy and utilize the collective belief in the supernatural powers of 'gamer girl' bath water to leverage it into a suitable, liquid battery. This, when combined with Red Bull, further strengthened the effect, helped focus the magus' mind, and boosted physical energy levels.

Thus was his creation. The final section of his thesis claimed that the elemental alignment of the 'gamer girl' could also hold persuasion over the effectiveness of the water, and that having a water alignment made the effect more pronounced. If he did any further research on the effect of elements on the water, I did not know, nor really cared to know.

When we arrived at the temple's gate, there was nothing out of the ordinary to be found. For want of a task, Shinji's dolls scattered around the temple. With Shinji close to them, the barrier that was bound around the temple failed to hinder them as it had before. Slinking through the floorboards and jumping from roof to roof, they appeared as ninjas illuminated by the moon's gaze.

When we entered the temple, I could tell that the barrier was intended to ward off spirits, but wasn't the work of a modern mage. Going through the rooms silently, no monk had been awake nor noticed our entry. One by one we checked the rooms and hypnotized any monk that awoke from our entry. When we came to the room we suspected to have belonged to the travelers, there was still nothing. Just regular bags filled with clothing. The most interesting items being that of an extra Bible, an apron with an orange on it, and a pile of sandals.

Not a single tome or defensive ward was to be found, not even a stick of chalk or rune cleverly inscribed anywhere. I clicked my tongue. If it was a mage, it was a blatant disregard of their craft, their entire heritage. Just plain lazy, arrogant, or both. "Either these people really are just tourists, or they're quite possibly the worst prepared mages to ever enter into a grail war, myself included." Not that there did not exist any form of magecraft that lacked little materials. It could be a mage that specialized in air flows and currents, or some other esoteric malarkey. Still, there should be some hint of magecraft at work. Was it the case that their methods were too subtle? Their mystery too inscrutable?

Shinji rummaged through the last bag. "Shit, no IDs or wallets. I guess that'd be too convenient huh?" I agreed with him. "I suppose then we'll just perform the summoning and leave. Keep your familiar on the lookout to see if they return before I finish." The three of us exited the temple's interior and made way to the lake behind it.

Time had not dulled my ability to make a circle, nor did it do anything to save the rabbits I used as sacrifice. It would have been a simple task for myself, but one of Shinji's rabid familiars deftly sought out and slaughtered them instead. Its neck broken and body limp, the smiling maid dragged it to me, stooped low, and presented it as some grand trophy. This process it repeated until I chokingly told it to stop. Gray and Add could only look on in horror with the grim glee it took to task.

All to help a friend of Shinji's.

"Sorry about that. I'm not sure what is…"

"Wrong with it?"

Shinji shook his head. "I don't like saying there's something wrong with them, when I'm the one responsible for the way they are…" He narrowed his brow. "Dammit, just summon your servant already Case Files!" What Shinji didn't say, was that he had at least one maid for each of the typical love interest stereotypes. He knew he was flying too close to the light of the sun when he chose to make not just one, but two yandere dolls, but he couldn't help himself. He literally couldn't help himself.

That personality just was the easiest for him to code, and as it just so happened, was the fastest personality type to develop.

…

…

With the red cloth in hand, Waver Velvet, chanted, his heartfelt wish within his heart. A dream as childish as it was selfish. He fervently clung to it, but yet lacked the heart, lacked the power, lacked the wisdom to truly see it through.

He mocked the nobles for their pride, when he himself hid behind his own shield of pride. Waver Velvet was not born the best mage, and his own skills were still ultimately lacking. The best he could do was teach others. Whether it was in class or in game, he would make those around him better than he could ever hope to be.

He couldn't stand the idea of letting down his king. The man who inspired him to truly be better. The one who took a petulant child and whacked some sense into him. He wished every night for all these years to show him what he accomplished. How he had conquered.

The war frightened him.

He could lose Gray.

What a waste.

He could lose Shinji.

What would his wife think? How would his child grow up without his father?

He could lose himself.

And with him his King too would fall again.

If Gilgamesh appeared again… would it even matter?

Waver would not waver. This time he would win, and it certainly wouldn't be fair if something even remotely close to that golden devil appeared again.

His king might chastise him, but caution was the better part of valor, and every great general needed a good strategist.

In the end, if it were just him and Shinji competing.

There was no doubt.

He would win.

And so…

On a far-flung, war-torn battlefield.

A man stood among the devastation, clad in a red cloth that hid the blood. He recalled his promise. His heart had long ago been shed and his dream broken, but still he fought on regardless. It was his duty, and he would bear through it no matter what.

A job's a job and he had debts to pay.

He cocked the trigger of his gun.

"…I've held onto it for so long now… This better be worth it, Irisviel…"

The final survivor of a horrible plague looked to the man for salvation.

The only mercy he got was a chunk of lead between his eyes.

The light faded, and I fell to the ground. Before me was a crimson cloaked man with a black, skin-tight suit and gray armor caked in dirt. "More dirty work huh… Doesn't matter, happens all the time. Servant Assassin responding to your summons, Master." The man blurred and appeared behind Shinji. A gun placed to the back of his head, the trigger was already cocked. "Nothing personal."

Shit!

"STOP!"

I heard a click and my hand burned. I already knew my mistake. I had lost a command spell. And worst of all… "You're not Iskandar…"