"Mr. Asterios, we're done with the Téras Route, but you said to remove the, um, adult scene between Byanka and Asterios, since well, the character is named after Bianca and all. But we're keeping the Percy, Arachne scene, right?"
"Yes, we can kinda excuse one but not the other."
Boy was this part of the game development awkward.
"But Asterios is injured and depleted of energy at the final arc. How do we fix that?"
"Urgh, just change it to Hazel. She already lost her Servant at that point, just push her death to a few days later, rather than her passing away earlier."
"So she... literally has sex one last time and dies. Going out with a bang and all that."
"Jessica, do you have to say it like that?" I asked the 12th Grader.
"No, no, I definitely think that's the way to go."
I'm starting to think using the Mist to make these kids more casual and honest around me was a mistake.
"Mr. Asterios, we finally finished all the soundtracks, but we're having some trouble with where to put 'Spider Soliloquy' in the Mílo Route?"
"What's the confusion, it's used whenever Arachne is in an emotionally charged scene?"
"Yeah, but the second route is about Annabelle's connection to Bianca. What's with the Chasers having helped Sanguineo cause the Yugoslavian civil war, before being betrayed by him at the end, and Bianca learning about the apple and all. Arachne doesn't have much of a place there."
"Beyond the usual fight scenes, change the pitch, slow it down and deepen tone. Put it in the background of the reveal of Annabelle telling Bianca about her grandfather, before switching to 'Apple Reveal', for well, when the apple is brought up."
"Okay so... make it slowed and reverbed?"
"Yes."
"But why?"
"Shows the connection between Bianca and Arachne in how they are becoming known for the tragedies associated with them, as that's how Annabelle sees Bianca. Sanguineo's granddaughter, even if she was innocent and ignorant of the whole thing."
"Oh! Symbolism! Cool."
"Not what that word means but same energy."
"Okay, why isn't the Pandóra Route done? We're three days behind schedule and I have to finish the marketing before April's done." I said to the group of 12th Graders assigned to compiling everything, working with a mix of other groups from different years.
"We're, um, facing a bit of a logical problem?"
"Which is?"
"Byanka literally can't win." Said one student.
"She can too!" Said one of the younger kids.
"Explain." I raised a hand to shush, who was that? Cherry from 9th Grade I think.
"We know she's suppose to have her Big Hero Moment in this route more than any other, where she finally uses the full power of her family magecraft and Demon Hunter heritage, but she didn't have enough time to practice like in the Mílo Route, or was supercharged with magic energy from meditation for a whole night, like in the Téras Route." Said Jacobs. Smart kid. Has a very good eye for narrative consistency and cohesion.
"She didn't have to use her magic energy on Arachne using Níma Theia Alitheia, since after Percy's speech about believing in herself, she should be able to do it." Said one older girls. An 11th Grader, I recall.
"Of course she used her magical energy." Said another boy in the same grade. "Just because we didn't outright spell it out, doesn't mean she didn't empower Arachne to use her Noble Phantasm. And Percy, cool speech or not, isn't gonna give her a power-up from nothing. The world isn't that shounen. Power of Friendship isn't that powerful here."
"They are definitely not just friends."
"Beside the point!"
As the kids started to argue like this is a VS form debate (I almost cried a tear of pride. I made them into internet autists!) I clapped once. Loudly.
"Enough." Everyone flinched at the loud noise, but quieten down, waiting to see my idea to solve this, as I usually did in these situations. "You guys need to remember the most important thing about this setting. Rules are made so that when they are broken in an exception to the rules, it's done in the most badass fashion there is. Meaning the one rule that exists above all in this setting is the Rule of Cool." I said getting their attention. "Simply put, we have Arachne having make a tapestry of Byanka's exploits throughout this route, emphasizing and even embellishing her strong points, showing what Arachne believes Byanka could be, rather than what she is.
"However, as you all guessed, this does nothing, since her Noble Phantasm is about recreating the past or the present, not the future. But!" I emphasis the word while grinning, getting their attention, and ramping up their excitement with mine. "Due to recreating the events of Pandora, and pushing it forward to unleash Hope Elpis on Asura Mountain, that energy filled up that Byanka Tapestry and Arachne with her last thoughts actualize it, causing it to come true. Meaning, in that moment Byanka potential would be unleashed. Or in a sense, her existence is override with the possibility of her Self that realized her potential."
"So she... gets possessed by her self?" Asked one of the girls 8th Grade, confused.
"In a manner of speaking yeah. It doesn't last for long, but it allows her to tap into all her abilities as if she trained with them for years and mastered them."
"Still doesn't have enough energy to use this power-up!" Someone pointed out.
I sighed and held back from throwing my hands up in exasperation.
"Have Hessian Rider nearby, say that he survived but was on fumes due to Hazel's final wish to stop Rose and Vritra. Sensing Byanka in her new state, he goes to aid her, by giving her the last bits of energy she had. Due to her Shadow Magecraft and Spirit Evocation fully realized she absorbs his Spirit Core and magical energy, gaining his fighting experience, and can now fight at full power, equal to a Servant for the duration the Elpis Mode is active."
"Oh come on! You're sacrificing Hazel even when she's dead!" Ben cried out.
"She'll get her day in a different game, Ben!" I cried out, pointing at him without looking at him.
The kids laughed at the exchange.
"Wait." Someone spoke up, their voice filled with dread and trepidation. "Wouldn't that actually mean, we'd have to go back and add in scenes of Arachne making that Byanka Tapestry?"
"Yep! Now get back to work."
""Aaaawwww!"" Everyone groaned.
"Look, to save time, just add in one big scene explaining that, then sprinkle lines here and there mentioning Arachne adding something Byanka did to the Byanka Tapestry."
""YAY!""
Marketing a game, espcially a visual novel was all about the appeal. The mystery.
Giving a taste of what the game's about, but keeping everything else hidden.
Concealed in such an inciting way that people can't help but want to buy the game to finally crack open that mystery and bring it into the light.
However you also need to manage expectation.
Promise too much and under delivery, and you'd have made a cardinal sin in the minds of the sheep customers.
Promise too, too little and even when you over deliver no one would have heard about your product, and it either fades into obscurity only to surface later, or becomes becomes a cult classic years down the line.
And no. The answer isn't promise just enough and deliver as promised. Nah, that's just a one-hit wonder, if at that. That's just expected.
In order to build a cult following that grows in the underground, and years later becomes a world wide famous phenomena, you need to make a niche audience.
Promise a lot, massively over deliver, and target a specific audience. Those would be the ones that would love the game. Worship the games. Years later they'd become whales for my mobile game and never even knew I was grooming them for their wallets.
...Saying it like that really reminds me that I'm a monster.
So how do I market a Fate visual novel?
I hit the forums of course.
I go where the medium is at its highest, the Japanese forums, and give hints of Fate/Téras Konístra.
It's poster shroud by characters that look cool and sexy, and no one know who they are yet. Byanka (the name change was something me and the school kids settled on, so when the inevitable fan art starts, it can be somewhat disassociated from Bianca) is in the middle, Arachne is behind her with her back to the viewer and a hint of her face, as she's half-way looking back. There are hints of the other Masters, but they are hidden by special magical effects or whatever.
Speculations on the game and what it is the tag lines being vague as fuck, people would form their own ideas.
"A battle for the Holy Grail. Is it a vessel for wishes or mere discord?"
"When does a man become a monster?"
"Seven Masters. Seven Servants. To whom will the favor of Heaven fall upon?"
"Many Routes, endless Bad Ends, and only Three Paths to Eudaimonia!"
"Fate/Téras Konístra."
And so it began.
From the Japanese forums, I moved to the English forums giving hints of "this new Japanese visual novels Japan is talking about". Get the foreign weebs (which I guess I technically count) invested.
Of course there is the language issue. Oh sure the game was easily available in English, French, German, and I added Italian, Greek (even the ancient kind) and Latin. Yeah, I don't give a shit about exposure, I need the demigod to see and worship this crap too.
Again, too unimportant to get the gods' attention yet. At least I hoped so.
There was the small issue of the Japanese translation.
We could not fuck this up, because if it starts and succeeds in Japan, it will build a solid base to spread to the rest of the world.
Thankfully, we had a Japanese exchange student in Westover to work on that part.
Takashi was the fucking GOAT carrying this fucking game on his back, as he was translating all of it single-handedly, while I worked with him, and he was consulting sources, and even calling language experts to ensure the game was perfectly translated.
Honestly his work was so important, that I just mind boomed the teachers with Mist to give him "A" in all his courses. Was this an abuse of authority and probably would mess up his academic progress? Maybe.
But I have a game to finish, and now he doesn't have to feel guilty about not spending enough time on other subjects.
Voice acting for the game... that was an unexpected hurdle.
Oh sure I could the voice in the commercial and Hero Asterios for the game, but we needed voice actors.
We couldn't just fucking hire people. I mean we could but the game needed to be made in-house to stay hidden. The less people know about it and its production the better.
So what was the solution?
Did you know that you can change your voice through the Mist?
Yeah. Neither did I. Fucking surprise.
Turns out that a skill Monsters learn is how to imitate voices to draw in demigods. Yes, cyclops can do that naturally, but it is also possible to do that as a spell!
You know. Magic. Which I can do through the Mist.
While the Minotaur has experience in through the millennia, and hundreds of thousands of lives he had, to learn said spell. Sure he never used it too much, but all that experience adds up, to me being adequately good at it.
Yes, it needs preparation and focus but I can do it.
Got really awkward when I had to record the sex scenes lines.
"What are you doing?" Nico asked, somehow appearing in the jury-rigged pseudo-recording studio, we turned one of the classrooms into.
"Nico! What are you doing—A-hem!" I dropped the Annabelle voice. Her sounding panicked as oppose to her kuudere self was weird. "What are you doing here?"
He pointed at that stupid hellhound. It had grown a little in its time here.
"Playing shadow tag with Shadow."
Right, there is also that. Nico and Bianca had started accessing their powers, and I helped them. Nico wanted to play with Shadow the Hellhound, and ended up accessing his shadow travel powers.
Bianca I started to train her in combat. I mean, I already have a sword that she could use.
By that I mean, I'll give her the Stygian Iron Sword later. I cut down a tress and made wooden shaped swords from them. My skill in wood crafting was shit, but it got the job done.
"Riiiight." I said slowly.
"Why were you moaning in a girls—"
"I will literally get you every single Mythomagic figure by the end of the year, if you never speak of this again."
"Deal!"
It was the end of May. End of the school year.
"We finished it." I said, holding up a finished copy of Fate/Téras Konístra in its disk box and everything to a cheering auditorium. "I'd like to thank you all for all your efforts. It literally could not have been done without your hard work. And very soon, I'm closing in on a publisher. Prepare to see your names next to this game when it gets famous."
The kids cheered. I think they were just relieved to be done, while glad to have been apart of the project.
Naturally everyone in the middle school and high school section passed this year—Cough Mist helping cough—with varying ranges of "A's" the lowest being "B's". Gotta keep it somewhat believeable. Don't think the government would buy it if the school reported everyone Grade 7 through 12 got "A+" on everything.
Now? Time for a road trip.
"So how are we gonna do this? Do you have a car, Asterios?" Bianca asked me.
She had gotten comfortable around my presence even more now. She dropped the "Mister" since school was over, and I didn't really care.
I think she's been feeling close to me, since I told her about the adult scenes containing her character had been removed from the game. She... didn't seem joyful. Just shrugged and gave a casual "okay".
I wondered if that was because I didn't give her a birthday present for her twelfth birthday. I mean, I was taking her to see her father, who was a god. Doesn't that count?
I eventually went and made her a necklace with three hawk feathers hanging from it. She was back to smiling again. Great, she was already starting to become a woman and I have to placate her.
Anyways!
"Nope!" I held an item for them.
"Ropes?" Bianca blinked at that.
"What do we do with them?" Asked Nico, with Shadow standing next to him. The hellhound grew begin enough for Nico to ride on his back. Only space for one rider though.
"Tie it around your waists. Where we're going, you two absolute can not afford to get lost from me. Understand?" I explained and Nico tied his rope around his waists, then passed it to his sister who did the same.
"Why can't you carry us?" Bianca asked.
"I need to be able to defend you." I said as I took the rope from Bianca and tied it around my arm.
"But I can help. I can fight with you now!" Bianca insisted.
"I could too help too! GRRRR!" Nico unleashed a wave of Fear that pushed the snow and wind around us away. Bianca shivered a bit.
"Nico!" Bianca scolded.
"Right. Sorry." He stopped and bashfully looked down.
Phobikinesis. Aura of Fear. I have no fucking clue how, but Nico had been learning how to use Fear and Shadows from the hellhound.
Don't ask me. Again, I have no idea how.
Bianca could now even control the ground like an amateur earthbender.
I blinked away the sudden unnatural wave of fear, and looked back at the kids.
"Guys." I said to them. "I'm the adult here. Let me do the responsible thing, please. You shouldn't have to fight anything. Me teaching you your powers or combat was a precaution. If you're lucky, the first time you fight someone, it will be the worst day of their life as they realize how hilarious outclassed they are."
They two blushed and smiled happily at me.
Aww, how precious. Fuck, I'm gonna miss these kids once Hades takes them away.
"Now!" I said with a small hint of excitement escaping me.
I touched the Delta sign on the side of the north side wall overlooking the area that had a cliff after the forest, out side of the school I think that's where Annabeth is suppose to fall to her fake death.
The Delta sign glowed and sunk into the wall. Rather than showing the other side of the wall, it show a set of stair going down.
"Woah!" Nico cried out, while Bianca looked on with wide-eyes, a more subdued reaction.
"Let's go," I school myself in a more serious demeanor. Notcing the change in my attitude, the two followed suit. "And remember. Stay close."
I felt an anticipation going down the flight of stairs. Like something building up. Like someone about to meet me.
The second I decided the last step into the Labyrinth, I felt it.
In my mind, in my being, my Legend as Asterios.
Yes, the Minotaur is suppose to be a prisoner of the Labyrinth, but Asterios solved the maze. He could have left. Had left, but willing went back and stayed till he died as he didn't believe he deserved freedom or salvation.
I felt a sort of tangible connection between the Living Labyrinth and Chaos Labyrinthos.
The mind of the Labyrinth was there, at the back of my mind. I felt it.
Felt its surprise, its joy, its curiosity, its apprehension, its malice, its eager want... to be more of what it is?
The Labyrinth wanted to be the Labyrinth.
It didn't only want death, although that was a massive part of it. It wanted to be the place that people risked their lives in, their hopes and dreams are tested and shattered.
The place were people try again and again, only after extreme pain and suffering, they manage to escape with nothing but a paltry gift.
And for the rare few, those who not only survive but thrive, as pain and struggle, it wanted them to leave her doors victorious with treasures that would have all beings gnashing their teeth in envy.
It however didn't know how to do that. Not really. It only know how to entrap and kill. It needs more than death. It needs someone to guide it.
I felt it, reaching out to me, wanting me.
I could just grab onto that extended cord, finish that handshake, activate my Noble Phantasm and—
"Asterios?" Bianca spoke. "You've been standing quiet for a while now. Where do we go?"
I shook my head, snapping myself out of that temptation at... ascension, or whatever that was.
No. I knew what it was but...
"It's nothing. It's been a long time since I came here so I'm a bit overwhelmed." I said.
I had already told them about the Labyrinth. How it's an expanding network underneath the entire world. That it was alive and evil. All that jazz.
They didn't get why I told them that lesson till now.
"You know where to go, right?" Nico asked, already sitting on Shadow's back.
"Trust me." I smirked back. "We'll get there."
I didn't fully embrace that connection to the Labyrinth, but the link we still had was enough.
I pushed my will upon it. The Labyrinth blinked back and relented.
I began walking with Bianca and Nico following me.
We just walked in silence, most of the time when the walls moved, it was to open the road for us. I'd follow my instincts and go left or right to where we need to go.
We enter a wide hallway.
A drakon was in our path.
"Asterios." Bianca uttered in worry.
It was a large beast. The size of a semi-truck. As fat and a long as one. Serpentine in appearance. A dragon without wings.
Basically it was a giant overgrown lizard.
"W-What do we do? Do we run? I think me and Shadow working together can—"
"Nico." I called him first to stop his rambling, and get his attention on me to calm down. "Bianca," I added her to reassure her. "Just as I told you." I summoned one of my war axes and stabbed it into the ground. I untied the buddy rope on my arm, and tied it to the axe handle. "Let me handle things. And most importantly," I summoned my other war axe. "Cover your ears."
"What?" Bianca blinked in confusion.
"Ears. Make sure to cover them. There's gonna be a very loud boom." I said.
The two demigods thankfully followed my instructions. Standing around the axe buried into the ground and covering both of their ears.
I felt the Labyrinth struggling between sending horde of monsters at me and pulling back.
I mentally asked it why it was doing this.
"I am the strongest monster."
It sent me a vision of those words.
Of course, even if the Fates haven't noticed me, that is the one thing they're gonna hear. Can't let anyone get away with shit. After all, no one is allowed to have a bigger head than them.
"I'm busy right now." I told it. "I will come back. After I finish my mission. Challenge me with everything you have then. Until then, stop getting in my way."
I commanded and the Labyrinth pushed the monster horde away. Scattering them to unknown parts among itself.
The drakon roared and charged at me. It was deadly fast for something of its size. In my eyes, it might as well be running in slow-mo.
I took a stance, legs widespread. Held the labrys with one hand, arm pull back. I held the other arm in front of me for balance and focus on the target.
The drakon roared as it opened its mouth to spew fire. It was dozens of meters away, yet looked confident it could make the shot.
I roared in return. Shaking the area with my scream.
And then throw my axe as a spear.
BANG!
A sonicboom formed in front of me. The wind rupturing and howling around me. Nico and Bianca cried out, as they held their hand over their ears. The Labyrinth tried to manipulate space. Tried to loosen the ground the labrys was stabbed in, holding the demigods in place. Tried to make us seem further away from each other. Tried move the walls to give the pathetic giant wyrm a chance.
Stop.
I commanded, and like a dog the Labyrinth obeyed.
The axe flew true. Moving so fast, the top spike started glowing red from the heat.
BOOM!
The drakon was tunneled through. A wide hole left behind from my weapon's trail blaze, and two halves of the monster, legs really with something resembling the idea of a body were left behind.
The body broke down into golden dust, and as I willed the Laybrinth to again not send any monsters, that none can come after me and the children of Hades, that even the monsters should obey me...
Something unexpected happened.
The Labyrinth took that last mental command and... grabbed the drakon's essence before it went back to Tartarus.
The drakon reformed in the Labyrinth. And I could feel its subservient will in my mind.
I still at that. The implication of what I had done, what this could mean...
"THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!" Nico's shout broke me out of my revelation.
Right. One world shattering thing at a time.
"Heh," I grinned and walked toward them. "Told you I could handle it."
We had no other issues for the rest of the journey.
Ten minutes later, we walked out to the view of Los Angeles city.
"What do you mean you're not coming with us!?" It was Bianca surprisingly, not Nico, who was bellowing this out.
"Is this gonna take long?" Charon asked in a bored tone.
"Shush." I told him. Bianca and Nico didn't need to pay passage, as they were children of Hades, but given that the elevator was full, I guess we were holding up the boat or something.
"...Did he just shush me?" Charon asked, incredulous.
"Kids," I kneeled down to their level. They still had to look up at me. "Bianca, Nico. Look, this is goodbye for now. Remember what I told you, Lord Hades will make sure you are okay and well cared for."
"Is it... because you're a monster?" Nico asked.
"Yeah, definitely." Charon interrupted. I gave him the stink eye, but he didn't seem to care. "The Gods may boss around creatures like him, but that doesn't mean they are welcome into their home."
"Will we see you once school starts again?" Bianca asked. "You still have to protect us until we can look after ourselves, right?"
I chuckled. "Sneaky brat." I said, and she gave me a small smile back. A hopeful smile, but I loath to let her hold onto false hope. I came to care about these kids, so I don't want to lie to them. "No, I'm sorry." Bianca's eyes widened, almost teary in betrayal. "Odds are, you'll end up going to Camp Half-Blood that I told you about. You'll be safe there and can train and grow with people that can actually teach you." I chuckled. At least I hope so, Chiron was kinda shit teacher in the books.
"W-Wait, that's not fair." Nico said. "We're suddenly here and now you're saying goodbye for good?" He grabbed onto my sleeve, and it almost felt like he was trying to grab onto my shadow to hold me there. Woah.
"...Life is a pilgrimage." Sorry for plagiarizing you, Romani. "Where we collect hellos and goodbyes. For now, this is a goodbye. Who knows what the future will bring." I moved my hands to pat and ruffling their hairs. Charon tensed, watching me like a hawk but saw I had not a grain of sand's worth of ill intention to them, and stayed his hand. I could feel the heat of Charon's fire powers recede away from me. "Take care of yourselves, you only have each other. And remember," I gave them a cheeky grin. "There are no good monsters."
"Yeah there is." Bianca said through a teary smile. "I'm looking at him."
I smiled back. For some reason, I'm starting to feel my eyes water as well.
"By the way, here." I unbound the sheath around my waist, holding the Stygian Iron sword, and presented it to the Daughter of Hades.
"But... it's your knife." Bianca said, and I snorted, holding back laugh in response.
"Actually it's a sword." I said amusingly smiling. "I got it as payment from your dad to protect you two. Now, I have no need for it." I took Bianca's hands and placed the sheathed sword in it. "It's time for you protect yourselves. You'll need it more than I would." I winked. "Go be a badass with it."
Bianca held the sword to her chest. She didn't meet my eyes looking down.
"It's not fair." She cried. "I'll miss you."
Nico moved and hugged my neck. Bianca copied him.
"Yeah... I'll miss you both."
Suddenly, for some inexplicable reason, I felt sad to leave them. I felt guilty for making them sad.
They were suppose to just be a means to an end.
Right?
There are these places in California called Nihonmachi. J-town or Little Tokyo.
They were places where Japanese communities built in America, although the name refers to any Japanese community outside of Japan. Basically Japantown.
I thought long and hard on how to get a publisher for my Fate game.
I couldn't just publish it in the U.S., the gods would surely sniff it out. Feel something once the Fate/Stay Night game came out. By Fate/Extra, they most definitely would start searching me out.
There is no place on the surface of America I could open and operate a company without them coming at me like a meteor.
The answer was to have the publishing company built over seas. Outside of the U.S..
These Japantowns acted kinda like an embassy for the Shinto Pantheon. I could communicate to one of them, Inari for her foxy mischievous, or Amaterasu and present the game idea as a way to get revenge without full war against the Greek Pantheon for what they did to get Japan to surrender in WWII.
It was an ingenuous method. Playing outside the box completely. The Fates can't do shit about it, or coordinate with other Fates, because the Shinto don't have a direct equivalent to the Fates.
There were three Japantowns in the U.S.
San Francisco, San Jose, and finally Los Angeles.
It was a perfect plan. Just drop Bianca and Nico off at their dad's and hop over to talk to a Shinto God afterwards.
I threw that plan in the garbage.
Because let's really think about it. The Japanese Gods, if they are like their people, they would naturally be xenophobic. I'm not even another god from a different pantheon, I'm a monster.
What arrogance do I have, essentially a criminal nobody, to just swagger in, into a foreign embassy and demand to meet the president or prime minister for a foreign country.
I'd be laughed out by the guards if they don't kill me.
Or worse, they take my idea but then run with it in their own direction. Not letting me get the stories I want out, but maybe even going so far as to make something that pisses off the Olympians so much, it eventually leads to WWIII.
No, there was a much better choice for a publisher.
I walked back into the Labyrinth and it welcomed me.
I walked back into the Labyrinth and it unleashed its monster horde on me.
Thousands upon thousands fell to my axes, and were bound to the Labyrinth, to my command.
So I called upon them, and had my tamed monsters kill the wild monsters, making more and more fall under my sway.
I didn't get them all of course. I had the Labyrinth stop after a day, even I can get tired. Eventually.
Plus I had reached my destination.
I looked at the one I was searching for. The man that can most effectively make my plan come to life.
He walked out of his home, his workshop looking like he's going to war, staring at me like I'm vengeance finally coming back to bring him his fate.
"Hello Daedalus," I greeted and his glare intensified. "I've come to bargain."