Bianca di Angelo was settling into her new life at Westover Hall.

Again, new situation, new circumstances. There were some normalcy, some routine. She had to look after Nico, deal with school and classes, look after Nico, deal with people who were jerks, awkward or sent to Westover for being trouble maker. And of course, look after her little brother, Nico.

She could handle it. It was fine. Of course she could handle it, she was the only one her little brother had. Who else could they depend on? Their parent's lawyer? They couldn't obviously.

But... Bianca wondered if she could get a break some time. She couldn't just be Nico's babysitter 24/7.

"Hello, class, I'm your new computer science teacher." Bianca's attention was pulled to the new teacher away from her spiraling thoughts. She still wondered what how the only computer teacher went on maternity leave. Mr. Jacob wasn't married.

The teacher confused Bianca for a second as he had white hair, yet looked relatively young. Maybe a family trait? His long hair had red braids in places, making Bianca wonder how he got away with it in Westover. A relative hire? Or maybe he's Native American? He wore a simple formal suit, colored blue, that he very easily filled up with his muscled body. Which tracks for Westover. Although unlike the other teachers, he looked like someone who actually trained their body, and didn't pretend and say they did so.

"My name is Asterios Bullman. I'll accept Mr. Asterios, or Mr. Bullman."

Wait, that's seriously, his name? Bianca blinked and almost laughed. Other's weren't so restrained. Mr. Bullman didn't even notice or care about them.

"Now, about this class, I was able to convince the principal of an alternative syllabus to how this course would normally go. But drilling lessons into your head, just memorization, while useful in the short term, is debatable in the long run."

Wait, seriously? We're not just going to memorize and regurgitate things from the course book? Bianca raised an eyebrow.

Looking around, her classmate were half-way curious, half-way intrigued, or just bored with everything.

"So..." Mr. Bullman smiled, a daring smile that was cute as it was confident. Bianca felt herself feeling a bit better about this teacher. He hasn't shouted incessantly at them thus far, for one thing or another. "There are going to be no quizzes, no tests, no finals." And now everyone was paying attention. "Even homework would be basically to aid in that project. This is something that I'm working on with all years for the CS class. And you get an automatic 'A' for helping in completing it."

Confused, yet eager talks sputtered about. Kids murmuring "what?", "is he seriously", and "cool!".

"This big project... is making a videogame."

The class erupted in cheer.

"Calm down, calm down!" Mr. Bullman said with a small amused smile, spreading his giant muscly arms in that suit of his. Bianca idly wondered what it would feel like to be hugged by them, before dismissing the thought. "Before you get too hyped, no, you're not making something that he hack-and-slash, shooter or the like." Groans and sounds of disappointment echoed throughout the class. "Rather, it is a type of game called a visual novel, that's pretty popular in Japan. It's a game that a text adventure, something that's completely story focused, rather than gameplay focused.

"On the computers in front of you, if you turn them on..." He gave them the look to do so, and they did. "You'll find a game called 'YU-NO', which is an abbreviated title for 'Kono Yo no Hate de Koi o Utau Shōjo YU-NO'," He said in Japanese, Bianca thought. "And in English that means 'YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World'. Yes, Japanese game titles tend to be a try at being poetic like that." Mr. Bullman said with an amused chuckle.

"So! That game is roughly 65 hours total for completing it. You have two months to complete it. That USB stick you all got at the start of the class? It has all the notes on the important codes for how a visual novel runs their text and scenes and incorporates user interface and music, etc., as well as additional sources for anything extra you might be interested in related to game development. That would be for self-study and not mandatory.

"Once the deadline is up, you will come up here and give a presentation about this game. Now," he said with an exasperated look, like crossing one arm on his torso, and resting the other on it, as he point with his finger up. "I don't care how well your presentation looks. You get no marks for how pretty, how organized, or how big your binder, giant paper with text glued on it, or powerpoint presentation with all it's visuals and transitions between slides.

"Your presentation will be about the game. What it's about, what you thought of it, the plot, characters, so on. You will tell me what you liked, what you didn't, what could be changed or improved, if you think there's a plot hole or not, and over all if you enjoyed the game and if it were a slog. You don't need some big giant show to do that. You just need to be able to discuss things well. Now," he grinned. "That's it for today." Mr. Bullman said to the elation of the students. "If you notice, there is a CD next to your computers. It has a copy of the game, play it, familiarize yourself with it. You will take that game with you when you leave class and play it till completion. You all had a USB stick handed to you at the start of the class, save the game on it, and carry it with you. That's all, get to it then."

Bianca found herself oddly excited. She would hate if this fun game turned into a droll by being schoolwork, but maybe it won't.

She opened the game, and watched the opening cutscene and the prologue words appeared in front of her.

"Oh and just to motivate you, I spoke with the art and literature teachers. Getting an 'A' on this project will give you a 30% extra credit bonus to those classes in your final grade."

Everyone immediately starting playing the visual novel game.

You know, I didn't think I could pull off a suit.

Spoiler: Gentleman Asterios

But damn do I look good.

For real though, I am seriously winging this.

To be honest I didn't even recognize Westover Hall as the place where Titan's Curse's opening plot takes place.

Mainly because I... forgot what it was called. Look, I read the books decades ago, give me a break, I can't recall every detail.

I didn't even realize this was the school, Bianca and Nico were dropped at by Alecto till I saw their named on the call sheets of my class. Well, Bianca, I kinda assumed Nico was around.

The reason why I came to Westover, well, I was looking for any school really, was because I needed help in starting up my gaming career.

Meaning, cheap labor. And of course since I'm a monster, I had to embrace my monstrous roots and get child labor.

Now why did I choose YU-NO as an introduction to visual novels for the kids? ...I picked it at random. It had enough magic BS and scifi elements to be interesting.

The high schoolers and the middle schoolers would be my free labor. Originally I wanted the high school years to work on the story, take my initial plot, work it and refine it and so on, while the middle school years would work on the art.

Nope. The high schoolers wanted to do the art because that would be "cooler" and the middle schoolers would do the story. Oh boy, I'm gonna get a lot of trash, fan fiction-tier ideas.

Welp, nothing to it, I'll try to make the initial plot simple so the middle school kids won't fuck it up too much writing it.

Honestly I'm more worried about the part where I'd need to introduce trantric rituals for the sex-ex-machina to pull a win for the story protagonists. Sex sells and all, and I'm not throwing away an easy advantage just because kids are involved. Probably have to do that part myself after they're done.

Now people might think, "why are you going through this much effort to recreate Fate/Stay Night?"

Well imaginary viewer, I am not recreating Fate/Stay Night. Even when I am eventually going to, I don't remember the plot beat by beat and in detail, so that shit will have to be done by ear.

A Monster making a game about Heroes? That might cause a ripple, or get an eyebrow raised. Enough for someone to give my place a glance to see what's up.

No. I need to pass under the gods' notice for a while.

So! I'm making a game about Monsters. Fate/Téras Konístra.

Knock-Off Holy Grail War, made cheap to pass under the Mage Association's notice—HA! Reference in a reference. Wonder if anyone will get that once they play the game?

This Grail War will have the participants summon Monsters from Legend rather than Heroes. Vritra, Fenrir, Hessian Lobo, Ibaraki Douji, Fafnir (In her original human form), Medusa (Loli Form) and of course...

The game protagonist that we follow, Arachne.

What? Did you think I'm make myself the protagonist in the game?

Nah, too try hard. Too forceful to gain popularity or power. Enticement is the bait for interest.

Show just a little bit of something, while making it cool and mysterious, and people would want more of it.

"Asterios" is of course in the game but they play the role of Gilgamesh, however in a positive, rather than an antagonist like OG Gill was in FSN. Asterios would aid the protagonist in a Big Damn Hero way, giving the story heroes a chance to win, by taking on the burden of facing the forces of the Big Bad rather the protagonist, so they can focus on the final boss.

Who's the BBEG of this story you may ask?

Ibaraki Douji.

Yep. Just like Fate Redline, we're going with Serious Ibaraki Douji, who wants to revive Mt. Ooe and all its oni, in order for demons to rise again above humans, or some such, while her real goal would be to get back her friend, Shuten Douji who has faded away.

Should make for a fun contrast when I introduce her as a dork in FGO.

And what about Arachne you may ask?

So... yeah, I'm gonna fuck over the PJO Arachne. I don't care if she never did me harm, holding a grudge for thousand of years over someone and killing their kids for it is just fuck atrocious. Seriously, all the gods and monsters act like their stories happened yesterday, they need to grow the fuck up.

So, how is Fate Arachne gonna be different? She wanted immortality by having her work known, yet sadly she is only famous for being a cautionary tale and glorifying Athena with her story.

So, in my game she's going to be the dejected artist that wants to be known for her art, rather than the controversy about her. She's is taciturn kuudere, who turns into a cheerful motor-mouth when engaging in art and drawing. Obviously, she'd be into manga. A logical conclusion of her interest given her tapersry from her contest with Athena had the stories of all the Zeus' debauchery.

...She would secretly be into doujins, especially corruption and mindbreak. Also she'd be a secret masochist. What? No, that's not a hint to anything.

Now, what about the Masters you may ask? That's what the child labor is for.

Man, this would have been so much easier if Kinoko Nasu was in this world. Man, that would have made things so much easier. Sadly I couldn't find him nor any hint of FSN, so I had to conclude that he just wasn't born in this world. Or if he was unlucky, the gods or something made sure he didn't get his lucky break. Welp, guess I'll make sure the Nasuverse gets introduced to this world.

But wait, what about your goal? Why not make Euryale the protagonist, or Medusa Lily so as to build to introducing her?

Again, enticement is the bait for interest.

Yes, Asterios would garner popularity for being a Big Damn Hero in the game. A mix of Gilgamesh and Heracles. Charisma plus overwhelming force.

Medusa Lily on the other hand will be the tragic antagonist, that in one of the routes will help the protagonists. Medusa Lily would want the Shapeless Isle and her sisters back. A hint to future games plot.

Also there would be mentions of how they bullied her, while Medusa liked their attitude because it showed they weren't afraid of her, just to add that contention point between the fans on whether helping Medusa Lily is a good thing or not. Or it's a good thing but her sisters need to act better.

Then I'll introduce Stheno to reinforce the idea that they're bad, then finally Euryale to cement them as good lolis you want to bully and dote on you.

And of course Fate/Téras Konístra will reference everything else that is to come, like Fate/Stay Night and the wider Nasuverse world and so on to foreshadow the games to come. Like calling the grail war in Téras Konístra a cheap knock-off, so the actual Grail War in Stay Night with Heroes would be shown.

Whelp, enough about the game that may or may not be made.

Having Hades' kids here, well... they're just kids. And looking at them, I feel bad for all the shit they were going to go through.

A part of me, a very small part, the Minotaur, wanted to hunt them down, eat them since I already knew they were demigods. The Asterios part of me crushed the Minotaur so hard I haven't heard a peep of it since.

Ultimately... yeah I think I want to protect them. Or at least make their time here in this prison school actually fun. Bianca was surprisingly very young. She's twelve. Fucking twelve? I always had this mental image that she was fifteen or something.

She had tired eyes, like a mom working two jobs. Which ironically in a way was probably the case. What's with school, growing up on her own, and looking after her brother like a mother and a sister. No wonder the Artemis cult brainwashing happened so easily.

And no, you can not tell me that that shit was not fucking brainwashing, or Charm in some way.

Oooh Artemis, I have such sights to show you. I'll get to you eventually. You will be an actual Protector of Children. All children, girls and boys and you will fucking love it.

Now, given that I decided to take on the responsibility of looking after Bianca and Nico, I should be compensated in some way correct?

I may not have thought this through.

Looking into the camp fire I've built, and made a sacrifice to Hades through, while relaying my offer, there he was. The visage of the God of the Dead, staring at me with those cold infernal eyes.

"Usually I would have shattered those of your ilk for daring to speak to me about my children, but you seem different than usual Bull of Minos." He voice chilled the air, even more than it already was. "So unusual that I'm thinking of grabbing and dragging you here to the Underworld to show you what I think of your threat."

"I'm not threating them." I had to put all my will into making my voice stay steady. "I'm offering to protect them. No monster will even come close to Westover."

"And if I were to refuse?" Came the godly threat.

"Then nothing." I forced myself to shrug casually. "I won't harm, hunt or any way act to detriment them. I will leave them be and won't interact with them beyond my role here at school. Should heroes come to retrieve them for camp, I will not interfere. Should monsters come to hunt them I will not aid or interfere." Hades narrowed his eyes, his displease rising, even thought I said I'd stay neutral. "I swear on the Styx to follow through on that neutrality should you refuse this deal."

A crack of thunder rang in the air. Hades' eyes widened as he looked at me anew.

"And what are you doing at Westover? What's your plan there?" He blatantly asked. Well, I guess for a god they can just be that direct.

"New hobby, teaching, creating thing. It gets boring being the monster over and over again after millennia. Thought I'd try new things again. I can be a monster again later." This wasn't actually a lie. Not even about trying new hobbies.

Monsters don't just hunt down demigods over and over by wondering around. At times they get bored, so they just get a new hobby, like a siren singing at a live music bar, but then demigods are drawn to those places, so the monsters incorporate their new hobby into their demigod hunting.

For a long while he stared at me, and let me tell you, having fucking Hades look at you, while mentally debating whether to drop you into a hole and burn you, is hell of a fucking unnerving experience. No interview will ever compare. If I survive this, and I ever go to a job for an interview I'll walk out with the boss's position.

"What do you want for this service?" Hades finally asked.

"A weapon of Stygian Iron." Hades was paying full attention to me, and the pressured turned up. Again, I just pushed forward. Refuge in audacity and all that. "Preferably one that looks like this," I summoned my axe. The one I have as a Servant. Hades eye's changed, as he looked at my act intrigued. I dismissed the war axe. "Or a simple sword will suffice. In return I will take Bianca and Nico under my protection till they are back in your custody again or reach Camp Half-Blood."

"And why Stygian Iron?" Hades scrutinized me.

"Well," I smiled. "If I were to kill monsters and they reformed in Tartarus, someone is bound to find a Monster protecting Demigods to be interesting. This way that reviews any witnesses. No information leak."

"Your kind takes years to reform." Hades said, and we both knew it was bullshit.

"The Titan Army is recruiting. Gather straight up in Tartarus waiting for the Crooked One's return. It won't be years, at most it will probably be weeks." I pointed out what he should already know.

"And how do you know this?"

"Well," I chuckled. "I'm pretty sure I'm considered a deserter to be hunted down by them now." I shrugged.

"So you're doing this for your own protection." He said with a more even tone, as thought finally getting my measure.

"Everyone does things for the sake of their own self at the end of the day."

Another long silence followed. I awaited judgement.

"Swear your oath, Minotaur." Hades said.

"Asterios," I countered, making Hades raise an eyebrow at the backtalk. "I am the Minotaur no more." I shook my head.

"...Very well." He said sounding a bit intrigued.

"I, Asterios, swear on the River Styx to protect and shelters and ensure the safety of the children of Hades, Bianca di Angelo and Nico di Angelo until such time that they are delivered to Hades alive and well, or reach Camp Half-Blood alive and well." There, that should be clear enough. "And I will do so in return for a weapon of Stygian Iron."

The thunder this time for the oath sounded a bit louder in my mind.

Hades looked at me with wide-eyes for some reason. Not sure why.

Either way, he quickly gathered himself and from the flames a sword in its sheath was dropped at my feet.

"Go see to your task, Asterios." Hades gave his parting words and the flames snuffed out.

I let out the mother of sighs of relief that that was over.

I picked up the sword and...

"This is a fucking toothpick!"

It was a xiphos. Which okay, not a bad sword. But it was human-size, not even the handle was adjusted for my hand.

This is some petty shit. It was basically a knife.

"At least he gave me a sheath with it." I sighed and tied the sword around the small of my back sideways so I could easily draw it from behind me if I need to. Over the shoulder would be too obvious and it's not long enough to justify that. It kinda made me feel like some army commando or something, so I guess it was fine.

Would have been nice with a longer handle. I mean I could still grab it, but man...

Honestly gods are on some serious mean girls petty bullshit.

Oh well, now I have a way to silence any monster who finds out what I'm doing, since they'd be the ones to feel the first changes, if they notice. Nice.