Something Awesome Beam (Worm - FGO Reincarnation Chapter 4)
Michael Chaser was currently in an odd predicament.
Should he help the passed out and obviously injured ABB Villain, Bakuda, or call the authorities? Michael sighed and facealmed.
For what felt like the millionth time, he wondered what the fuck was wrong with Brockton Bay. Or maybe something was just wrong with Earth Bet in general. It certainly felt that way whenever he read about the current stat of events in the world.
Maybe he should be this pessimistic and just hope it's this city alone, but even so...
He looked again at Bakuda groaning in pain.
Isn't this a bit too much? It almost seemed like this city, or just any place where someone actively tried to improve thing was met with a resounding force of economic, political, or even villainous means, to break, coerce or corrupt the positive efforts.
He knew that Brockton Bay was a sinkhole to goodwill and improvement. After all, you can't keep multiple crime rings of gangs and corruption unless some people are enforcing that. However, he only began to get a glimpse of how deep this fuckery went when he started his tech company, ChaldeaTech.
He wanted to make and fund technologies both in his own R departments, and colleges, so that eventually humanity's technological progression would improve, and the quality of life would go up as well.
He started with basic designs like solar cell with a 38% conversion rate. Home batteries, and energy generators that last longer and don't cause as much pollution. Better water filters with a longer lifespan. Technologies that were just an improved model on the current state of affairs, as he knew that trying to change things too rapidly won't take hold, or only the rich businessmen or the military would be his only customers. Then he opened a branch to dip his toe in medicinal sciences, trying to make a cure one disease or medical condition at a time, starting with Alzheimer.
It was a bit cynical, but Michael hoped that he wouldn't get too much pushback, or political walling if he made medicine that was only for the elderly, and then the success of that would allow him to move on to things affecting younger people, before moving on to the big challenges like cancer.
Yet almost from the very beginning, it seemed like there was an invisible force, that would ruin this trade, or patents, or deals, or if not that, then they would be concluded to less than his satisfaction in small ways, that caused problems later on.
After the third time a deal for that Alzheimer halting medicine fell through, due to Medhall bribing officials in the background, Michael just had enough, and looked at his magical arsenal.
I mean, seriously, I didn't even go for the Alzheimer's reversing stuff yet. Michael kept the thought to himself that day, rather than scream it.
He wasn't gonna get involved in the cape scene, or anything silly like that. He was just going to...pull Lady Luck to his side a bit.
The most potent yet most time, energy and material consuming magecraft Michael knew, that was borderline True Magic, was Fate Weaving. Yes, it was an impressive as the name implies, however unless one had the power and wisdom of a god, it was near useless except for providing small blessings that increased someone's luck.
Fate Weaving, or as Michael liked to call it Karma Magic (odds are the official name would be something like Karmatic Magecraft), was a type of magecraft related to luck and destiny. A magecraft that can manipulate probability to ensure either certain actions, or future goals would become a solid reality than a ephemeral dream.
Naturally, the problem with this magecraft was the cost of using it. Sacrifice was usually practitioners fell to. It was some of the old spells in legends and myth required a sacrifice of significance for a hero to win, or a spell to work, or some such. Michael speculated, and was pretty sure, that this magecraft was the bases for Formalcraft, but that's neither here nor there.
Back to the discussion of Karma Magic cost. As one would expect, it was karma, or to be more clear, the cost for casting this magecraft was the actions one takes in their life.
Now what constitutes as "karma" according to this magecraft? It is the effect of the actions you take on someone else's life, or how much do your actions ripple out into the world, and how long does the effects of your actions last.
For example if one were to help old ladies, be a nice, cordial neighbor, support their local community, and be a near perfect saint to everyone they knew and interact with for a period of five to ten years, then they can have one perfect day, where all of probability and causality would diverge to give them a best day they can and would hope to experience.
Doing the same with magical energy would require a god or a Divine Spirit fueling the spell. A mage with an old bloodline and the od reserves of a Servant can maybe power up the same spell to get a hundred dollar bill or it's equivalent fly to their face.
Also the same actions can't be used as fuel for Karma Magic Spells again. Like in the previous example, once the person had used their deeds of being a good person for five or so years to have their perfect day, they can't designate those actions to fuel another spell, those events being used as fuel were spent.
The other problem with Fate Weaving was getting the destiny you wanted. It could manifest in ways you didn't like. Or you could end up with a destiny that you realize too late that you didn't want. It literally was a case of "be careful what you wish for because you will get it".
So yes, Karma Magic was just plain impractical unless you were an immortal, or a god. In order to have the fuel (or as Michael likes to call it "Karma Points", heh) for Karma Magic Spells one requires to influenced the world greatly with their presence and actions, for the magecraft to have any tangible or useful effects, and even if the spell worked, you might not like the result.
Except Michael Chaser was one of the Masters of Chaldea. He was one of the people who were on the front lines battling Humanity's Incineration and successfully reversed it. He fought in the Descend of the Alien God and sacrificed his life to give Chaldea the pivotal chance to gain victory. In short, he had a lot of Karma Points to use for his Karma Magic Spells.
Of course, he wouldn't use it up all in one go, rather he would use the Karmatic Megacraft to just himself and his people in ChaldeaTech a little bit of luck so their efforts would go through and for their projects to succeed on the merits of the people working on them. He also made a spell that would alter probability so that people that mean his home (him and Okita Alter) harm, wouldn't be able to do so. Not through direct meant, but through events happening that would occupy them.
Like Kaiser trying to pay him a visit after his Alzheimer halting medicine was patented and he got a deal to sell to nursing home, and then to patients in local hospitals. The E88 leader found himself busy with other engagements like infighting in his gang, needing to act against Lung, or heroes independent or otherwise, that talking to Michael Chaser was never high on his list or priorities, and kept being bumped down for more important issues he had to deal with.
That was only one example.
Michael was...alarmed at the sheer cost the protection spell on his company was rapidly consuming. Yes, he still had a lot of fuel before the magecraft would run out, and what was taken was only a dip into the well of his Karma Point but...there shouldn't have even been a dip.
There shouldn't have been that hundreds and thousands of small subverting actions all happening to keep his company from even having a foot in the market of energy technology, or neurological medicine, and then later on from succeeding, even if their success wouldn't have causes that many waves at least in the beginning.
Then there were the protections on his home. Once Michael saw the dip happening once more, he started adding other bounded field wards to cause mental interference effects to push away people with ill intent toward his home. things like daydream, or self-rationalizing to do him harm on another day, playing on people's inherit laziness or hunger to go get a quick meal. Basically he tried to lessen the burden on his Karmatic Ward so he could still use the spells from Karma Magic for other situations later.
Then some of his employees died. No, murdered. The excuse the police gave was that they were caught up in a threeway gang fight between the ABB, some thugs from the E88 and the Merchants. He had placed a limit on the protection spell on his company, so that things too outlandish wouldn't happen and draw the attention of the Protectorate or the Villains.
Yet, Michael couldn't help but be pissed off. He really didn't want to be a hero. He didn't want to take up his spear again, and directly fight the evils of the world. He wanted a peaceful life with the woman he loved, while doing a bit of good in the world.
Was that too much to ask?
Given all that happened, Michael surmised that by Earth Bet's logic, he was too greedy.
Michael chuckled mentally when he learned about Edina walking in-between a gang fight absentmindedly, and beat up everyone. He wondered if she had done that intentionally after the dead of his workers, but her honest and innocent nature made him unsure if the curb stomp was by luck or design.
Then he thought to the Endbringer fight, and since then the Karmatic Ward and the Bounded Field alarms were blaring out near constantly. Shifting the magical protections around so that his identity, security for his home, and the nature of him having some supernatural power won't be revealed was a pain of thousand migraines.
Seriously, you kill one giant monster, and suddenly every single conspiracy group in the world is looking for you.
At times he thought about studying aspects of the 2nd, so he could just leave Earth Bet but...It didn't feel right.
The people of Brockton Bay were like a microcosm of this world. They were pitiful people who lost hope.
Pitiful. That was really why he didn't leave.
Michael didn't want to pity them. He didn't want be like Goetia. He was angry at their surrender to despair, but he didn't let that motivate his actions. He didn't want to hate the people of the world, like Beast V did either.
So in the end he stayed, and he vowed to still try and help in what small ways he could.
But this...
He kneeled down extending his hand toward Bakuda, a spell on his fingertips.
Doing anything but giving Bakuda to the authorities would throw him into the grand events of this world. This world of capes, monsters and the slow decay of civilization.
He really should just keep the bomb tinker sleeping and call the PRT.
"Fuck your good influence, Gudako." He muttered to himself.
Michael could just imagine the pouty look on his past life friend's face, or worse on his wife's. All telling him to help this person in front of him.
He really wanted to be selfish. Hadn't he lived a life of hardship enough to earn a semi-peaceful as a reward?
He already knew the answer to that question, you are never owed anything from life no matter your suffering. You are the one who must give your efforts to life, in order to gain anything.
Michael picked up the sleeping Bakuda in a bride carry, while casting spell to ease her pain and give her a peaceful sleep.
He then cast another spell, a perception filter wind spell, so people won't notice him and use his assassin training to move unseen.
Michael went home with a villain in his arms.
AN: Holy shit, this chapter would not stop being expository. I got tried so I'm stopping here. Next one should have Michael, Okitan and Bakuda chat and the S-Class villains converging on the bay.