FateBleached Apocrypha part 1 Factions

by TransG1fan

The Holy Grail & Hogyoku: both of these devices created for the purpose of granting wishes. So what happens when the worlds that created them collide? Aizen decides to watch as the Grail war in Trifas unfolds except he's decided to make some modifications: instead of 2 factions how about 6? And Ruler gets help from a certain substitute soul reaper and midget soul reaper.

1. Chapter 1

Fate/Bleached Apocrypha

Part 1 Factions

Slight AU of Bleach universe. As far as Bleach Timeline is concerned this story happens between portions of the Winter War but Ichigo hasn't lost his powers yet and no Thousand Year Blood War. Yes, I will be following the anime more than the manga for the Bleach series as I'm more familiar with the anime than the manga.

Several other fanfics helped in inspiring this fanfic and I will do my best give credit to them when I can. The opening chapters were heavily inspired from the fanfic Fate Magnus Bellum by 00Altair and Fate/Black Reflection by Nameless_Flame_Wielder as just inspiration for this fic overall both of which I do recommend others to read and check out.

As for the Fate side of things this will be taking place in the Fate/Apocrypha timeline though it will be a heavy AU as I did like the actual anime and thought it had great potential, but it fell just a bit short of what it could've been.

This fanfic is my attempt to try and reach that potential with my own spin and was made for my own personal fun. This is also my first attempt at writing a fanfic.

Again, I don't own any of the characters from these series that I will be using in this story. Please support the official releases of both franchises. That's Kinoko Nasu for the Fate series and Tite Kubo for the Bleach Franchise. There will be huge deviations from canon plots of both Bleach and Fate/Apocrypha. If you don't like it, then don't read. Again, I don't own anything of Bleach or Fate.

Now that that huge disclaimer is out of the way, let's get directly to the main event.

Personal thoughts, Servant/Master communication, Zanpakuto speaking, Inner Hollow speaking

Chapter 1: Countdown to the Summons

10 yrs prior . . ..

Germany – forest wilderness – castle fortress – dining room – evening

He watched as his wife and child were sitting at a beautiful and expensive polished wooden table and chairs on top of a burgundy rug that covered the table's length on the floor. It was the only wooden pieces of furniture and rug in that otherwise stone and metal room. On top of said table was several expensive looking plates of China with eating utensils of polished silver. This included the plate that a modest cake with pink frosting and five candles were placed on. There were three places set for the three of them.

The man himself was still in his prime but his grey eyes spoke of world wariness that made him seem much older. His hair was jet black with slight spikes to it. Pale complexation and Asian features. His clothes consisted of a black business suit and long coat. The latter which was draped over the back of the chair he sat at. Despite the rather dower appearance, the man was observing the scene before him with a small, fond, gentle smile, which seemed to take a few years off him. He sat across from a woman who was also of pale complexation, but her features were European. Combined with the long white hair that went down the full length of her back and red eyes one would have mistaken her for being albino. She herself looked to be the picture of innocence with the elegance of a noble woman. She herself was dressed in a simple, white silk, off the shoulder gown with gold trimming. No one would've even suspected just how inhuman the woman was. The shared a loving look and sweet smiles before focusing their attention to the head of the table where the cake was. At said head was a little girl who looked to be the spitting image of the woman but smaller. She to was dressed in a simple white gown with no other trims or adornments. Her red eyes shining with nothing but pure excitement and happiness at the cake before her.

"Alright Illya. Time to blow out your candles. And remember to make a wish while you do so." said the woman to the now named Illya. Illya frowned as she seemed to be in deep concentration. Then she smiled as she seemed to come to a conclusion on what she wanted to wish for. She stood on top of the chair she was sitting on and put her hands on the table to balance herself as she leaned over the candles. The man stood up and gently held her hair up getting them away from the candles so as to not catch fire. Illya realizing what was going on, flushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry daddy." she said.

"It's alright. It's your birthday. Just have to be more careful is all." he said with a gentle smile. "Now blow out your candles." That seemed to get her back in the mood. As Illya took a deep breath and blew gently on the flames of her five candles until they all went out leaving only the light from the chandelier candles above them to illuminate the room. Illya stood her full height allowing her father to let go of her hair. This allowed it to fall it full length down to the center of her back. The two adults applauded with kind smiles. Both wishing her a happy birthday.

"What did you wish for, dear?" asked the woman.

"Iri, you know that the tradition requires us to not tell what our wishes are when made on our birthdays." said the man to now named Iri in a gentle if exasperated tone though the slight chuckle showed that it was all done in jest. Iri smiled back.

"Oh, come on now Kiritsugu, considering our situation I think it's okay for her to tell." Her smile turned knowing causing the now named Kiritsugu to shrug and turned to Illya.

"Alright. Well Illya, if you want to tell us, what did you wish for?" Kiritsugu asked.

Illya smiled and declared proudly. "I wished that we could do this again for every one of my birthdays. Just me, mommy, and you too daddy, celebrating together." This seemed to cause the adults to drop their smiles for a few seconds before Iri quickly smiled again though this one seemed a bit more forced.

"Well, I don't see that being a difficult wish to grant. We'll celebrate as many birthdays as we can together." she said. Illya cheered happily as Iri got up from her chair and picked up a sharp knife and began to cut the cake. But while that was going on Kiritsugu hadn't rejoined the festivities as he was suddenly in deep thought, his smile gone like it hadn't been there at all.

Later that evening – castle fortress – Bedroom

Pale moonlight streamed into the room that Kiritsugu now occupied. This one was far warmer with the plush furniture and giant four post bed, but he ignored all of it as he looked out into the evening landscape. The door opened allowing Iri to enter but he didn't acknowledge her arrival.

"I just put Illya to bed. So, we have the rest of the evening to ourselves." she said quietly as she approached him.

"Iri, are we doing the right thing?" Kiritsugu asked confusing Iri. "Is it right for us to be waiting for the Einzberns to give us our marching orders to go and participate in the next true Grail War? If we wait until then, whenever that happens, and we succeed then it will lead to your death, leaving Illya without a mother. But if we fail, then Illya will be forced to take your place. Not to mention the entire time we're participating they'll hold Illya hostage." Iri's expression turns sad as she thinks on that.

"That is all true but think about what we'll get from my sacrifice if we succeed. You'll get to become the hero that you always wanted to be. And you'll be able to achieve the one thing that no one else could achieve: true world peace." Iri replied trying to sound hopeful. Kiritsugu turns and looks at Iri with a thoughtful look before he sighed.

"Iri, I've been thinking lately about that. Along with everything that has happened over the last few years, I came to a realization. I realized that that isn't what I really want, at least not anymore. What I want is to continue as we are now but without the looming threat of war hanging over our heads. I want to give Illya siblings. I want to have you by my side for as long as possible and given that the Einzberns didn't limit your lifespan or Illya's so as to make sure you lived til the next true Holy Grail War, that could be as long as a normal human lifespan." Kiritsugu explained.

"Kiritsugu, what are you suggesting?" Iri asked looking nervous.

"Iri, what if we took Illya and ran away from all of this? The Einzberns, the Grail War, the mage world, all of it?" he asked.

"Do you mean now? You know that the Einzberns will be relentless in their pursuit of us. Even if they no longer possess the 3rd True Magic, they still have enough political power in the mage world that they'll make sure that we remain fugitives for the entire time we are gone even if they never recapture us. Besides, you would never forgive yourself for abandoning the Grail and failing to save the world. As your first and final accuser you would end your own life." she replied sadly. For a few minutes there's nothing but silence. Then Kiritsugu speaks again.

"If this discussion had happened during the Grail War that might've been enough to placate me and continue as is. But now . . . The Greater Grail disappeared from Fuyuki during the 2nd World War almost 80 yrs ago. And since then, Auxiliary Grail Wars have been happening all over the world since the one who stole it, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, leaked all the information concerning the ritual out to the entire mage world 40 yrs ago. As a result, mages have been risking everything for the 'hope' of having their wishes granted be it reaching the Root or some other personal desire. Not once has any of them been successful and all that has been the result is pointless bloodshed between mages and innocents alike. A cycle of futility" he explained.

"That's because none of them had possession of the Greater Grail so of course they were bound to end in failure. But I want to ask Kiritsugu, this isn't something that you've been thinking on a whim? You've been thinking about this for quite a while, haven't you? So how long have you thought about this and why have you changed your mind?" she asked curiously.

"I told you bits and pieces about my past and about my dream to be a 'Hero of Justice.' But I realized something when I had to kill my mentor and mother figure during a mission that nearly went wrong." He hears Iri gasp in shock, but he presses on. "I had to choose between saving my mentor but risking more people dying or kill her and prevent an even bigger disaster from happening. After I killed her, I realized that I could never save someone without either killing or being unable to save another. So, I resolved myself to do everything I could to both save as many as I could under the belief to kill the few to save the many, and to make the losses of those I didn't save not be in vain. And for several years, that was how I was existing, but not living. Then I met you and fell in love with you and that's when the first cracks in my resolve began to form. So, to answer your first question about 7 yrs ago is how long I've been thinking about this. As for why, perhaps I've become cynical and selfish but now with you and Illya in my life, I finally got to experience a small measure of real happiness. And I don't want to lose it. Sure, saving millions of innocent lives for the sacrifice of one sounds good if you're talking about it in the purely abstract or mathematical sense, but could you honestly tell me that if we had to sacrifice Illya even if it brought about world peace, would you allow her to die?" he asked. Iri starts to shed tears but answers truthfully.

"No. I couldn't. I love her. Even if we had more children no one could ever replace her."

"That's exactly how I feel about losing the both of you. We don't know when the Grail will appear if it ever does. So, I can't abandon something that hasn't even appeared. And I already have failed to save the world, that's just how it works currently. So, the question becomes do I hold onto ideals and wait and hope for a miracle to appear, or do I try to preserve that which I care for, now?" he asked, looking at Iri as she wipes away her tears. She looked at him seriously and stood up and walked to his side, taking his hand.

"Alright so how and when do we go through with this?" she asked.

"How about tonight and I give you both a hand?" said another voice. This startles the two of them as they turn to the door and see a middle-aged man with a white, well-kept beard and short, white, swept back hair. He was wearing black shoes, pants, shirt, and waist cape with silver trimmings on the latter two. He was also sporting white gloves and was carrying a black cane with a silver top. The thing that drew the most attention however was his blood-red eyes. Despite his dower appearance, he was sporting a mischievous smirk. Kiritsugu calmed slightly though he did still hold Iri close.

"Wizard Marshal, Kischur Zeltretch Schweinorg." He addressed the man formally.

"Kiritsugu Emiya, Magus Killer. And Irisviel von Einzbern, Juzteze model homunculus of the Einzbern family." The now named Wizard Marshal returned the greetings in kind.

"I'd ask what you're doing here and how you got in here but given who you are it would be pointless as you won't answer unless you're in the mood to answer." said Kiritsugu somewhat warily.

"And you'd be correct in that assumption. As a True Magician, and one who is in possession of the Kaleidescope I can appear wherever and whenever I choose and bypass all thaumaturgical defenses and traps set for intruders." The Wizard Marshal explained as he gave a small bow. "As for why I'm here it's for two reasons: curiosity and boredom." At the couple's confused faces, he decided to elaborate. "You two are the pinnacle of a tragic couple that gives Romeo and Juliet a run for their money. For if you don't suffer a tragic separation and end for both of you, you either don't exist or, in the case of Mr. Emiya here, become a counter-guardian. Throughout the multiverse these tend to be the fates of the two of you. Only in a handful of timelines do you both get the chance to have a happy ending if you are willing to grasp it. This is one such timeline."

"So, you're here because your bored of seeing us go through tragedy and this timeline caught your interest because there's a way to prevent that." said Irisviel glaring at him. "While I will admit that I am a bit appalled at you treating our lives like entertainment, I am equally curious as to what made you decide to help us in this timeline."

"Thanks to my abilities, I have seen unexpected circumstances that are wholly unique to this timeline, and I want to see where it goes. Will it lead to a happy ending? Not just for you but for other individual's stories who usually end in tragedy or obscurity? Or will it end like most other timelines except under different circumstances? But if you can't get away from here that answer will never come to fruition, at least for the two of you. So, I decided to give you a hand. But this is the only time I will be doing this as what I will be doing will cost me my ability to do anything more than observe this timeline at least for the next several years." The Wizard Marshal explained.

"Well, what will you be doing to help us?" asked Kiritsugu. The Wizard Marshal reached into his cloak and pulled out a short sword that had a silver handle and guard but the blade itself seemed to be made of crystal or diamond.

"I'll use this and my mastery over the Kaleidoscope to temporarily halt the flow of time here for all but yourselves, your daughter, and myself. During that time, you both will pack up what you can carry along with your daughter and her things then I will transport you three to the nearest train station and there you will board it and escape. From there it will be up to you." The Wizard Marshal explained. "Well will you take the opportunity or not?" he asked.

"Even if we refused, you'd still do all that and force us as relieving your boredom is the highest priority for you." Kiritsugu pointed out. This caused the Wizard Marshal to laugh.

"Right you are, lad. You understand perfectly." he said with a jovial grin. This caused the couple to exchange a look and then sigh in exasperation. But they approached the Wizard Marshal with determined looks.

"So, when do we start?" asked Irisviel. The Wizard Marshal's face suddenly became serious.

"One final thing, you'd better also head down to the Einzberns relic chamber and collect 7 relics for 7 different Servants one for each class." he stated.

"Why?" asked Irisviel startled.

"Because your family will be drawn into a Grail War one way or another and you'll be facing off against the Einzberns among other opponents. So, you'd better have catalysts to summon an entire faction of Servants for yourselves." answered the Wizard Marshal.

"Is that even possible? I know of the Grail's system and back-up system, but can a faction be made up of just two people?" asked Kiritsugu.

"You have two Grail vessel candidates whose magic circuits are of the best quality. They both can easily support two of the most mana guzzling Servants, each leaving you with the 3 that require the least. And their connection can help decide which of your group gets command seals. How the faction is split up is up to you. Oh, and just to let you know I won't tell you when it will be, but all members of your family will be active participants including your daughter in this upcoming Grail War." the Wizard Marshal explained the last part cheekily. That caused the couple to frown but gave no further protest. "So, are you ready?" he asked. The couple nodded. "Good." With that the dagger glowed with a bright light and an orb of light erupted soundlessly from it expanding to encompass everything. Suddenly all the sound stopped, and color seemed to saturate save for the Wizard Marshal and the couple. If one were to look at their surroundings, it looked like they were looking at a picture that was on a filter. "Alright. We have one hour before the strain becomes too much for me. That should give the two of you time to pack your things along with your daughter's and the relics you'll need to use for future catalysts for your summoning when it's time. I would suggest you get started." Kiritsugu led Iri to their bedroom's walk-in closet and the two proceeded to get together essential items and supplies. Iri also changed out of her dress and changed into traveling clothes. Iri was now wearing a burgundy blouse with a brooch, a white skirt, thigh-high white boots, and black tights; in freezing weather, she also wears an elegant fur-trimmed white coat and a white fur cap. Despite the attempt to look informal, she still looked to be wearing high end fashion clothes. Within 20 minutes they were all packed up with things they thought they would need. The couple then gathered at the Wizard Marshal's location who looked implacable despite the obvious strain he had to be under to pull off the magic he was performing. "All ready, then?" he asked cheerfully. The couple nodded. He adopted a more serious look for his next instructions. "Alright then. To save time you'll both split up. Lady Einzbern I'll take you to your daughter and then you will help her pack up and get ready to leave. Mr. Emiya, I'll take you to the Einzbern's relic room where you will choose the 7 relics for your catalysts. Your current belongings will stay with me." Then the trio disappeared in a flash of rainbow lights.

That evening- unknown location

Kiritsugu opened his eyes when the light died down. He looked around and saw that he was in a room filled with wood and glass cases. But their contents made the room seem like one was in a museum for they were filled with the most eccentric and eclectic assortment of objects ranging from precious gems and jewelry to fragments of objects whose origins were a mystery and could be mistaken for trash. Kiritsugu took a few minutes to get his thoughts together as he realized that he was indeed running from the Einzberns and now he was stealing from them as well. He then strode through the room to the other side where in a glass box was a luxurious piece of equipment made of gold and decorated with blue enamel that made it seem more like a treasure to show dignity and nobility like a crown or staff than a weapon. An inscription was engraved on its center written in a language he couldn't read but what he'd been told were Fairy Letters to show that it was not the work of man. He knew what this was, it was excavated in Cornwall about 10 yrs ago. It was still in pristine condition even after allegedly one thousand and five hundred years. This was the crown jewel of the Einzberns collection of relics. Avalon: the sheathe of Excalibur. The sword of King Arthur. Kiritsugu knew this as he'd been told that when the Grail war started this would be his catalyst to summon King Arthur. Who in turn would be summoned under the Saber class. The strongest class of Servants. The Einzberns were tired of their losing streak and decided to not take chances and stack the odds in their favor as much as possible. Now here he was standing before this priceless artifact deciding whether to take it or leave it. If I take this, the Einzberns will surely never stop hunting us until we are dead or they've retrieved their 'stolen property' but if I leave it, then the Einzberns will have the opportunity to summon a powerful Servant. One that will need some of the strongest Servants in history to counter him. Honestly, I don't know too many that could stand up to the likes of King Arthur. In the end Kiritsugu activated his magic circuits in his hand and threw a punch at the glass, breaking it instantly. He waited to hear anything to signify a breach in the defenses that were no doubt set up around the scabbard. Instead, all he got was silence which confused him at first. Then he heard chuckling behind him and saw it was the Wizard Marshal who hadn't moved from his spot in the room.

"You forgot I was here, didn't you?" he said with a mirthful smirk. Kiritsugu sighed exasperatedly to hide his embarrassment and turn back to the scabbard. "Don't worry. Since I've temporarily halted the flow of time, the alarms won't go off until we are far from the castle as that's when I'll allow for time to resume. But we do have about a little more than half an hour before that must happen. So, I suggest you pick quickly what you're taking from here." the Wizard Marshal added adopting a more serious tone. After another moment of pausing Kiritsugu finally strode forward and removed the scabbard from the case. He then approached the Wizard Marshal intending to set it at the head of the Mage's Association's feet when said Marshal instead held up his hands as if waiting for him to hand it to him. Kiritsugu became suspicious but the Wizard Marshal spoke. "While the Einzberns may have not limited your wife or daughter's lifespans, there's a very good chance that they still might've left some unpleasant surprises in the event you decide to betray them. With my abilities of multiverse energy manipulation, and Avalon's healing abilities, that should easily deal with any issues with either of your girl's health." he explained.

"I ask again, why are you even bothering to go through all this effort to help us? It doesn't make any sense." asked Kiritsugu frustrated. The Wizard Marshal sighed.

"I told you already. Curiosity and boredom. You and several other individuals throughout the multiverse seemed destined for tragedy without fail. You and your wife got at least a few timelines where you both got something of a happy ending. While other individuals don't even get that. But even then, you all had to live like Roma where you never stayed in one place for too long before having to uproot and go elsewhere again or live being separated for long periods of time before getting the briefest amounts of time together before being separated again. Granted you'll still have to do the former of that here at least until the Grail War you'll be involved in starts, but once it does, you'll have the chance to settle down and be the family that you and your wife want to be. And as I said earlier there are unique circumstances in this timeline that could affect the outcome of the upcoming events in ways no one thought possible. I want to see where this will lead to. So, helping you helps stack the odds so that those unique circumstances will play a bigger role than they would otherwise. So, I admit that I'm helping for purely selfish reasons, you and your family are just benefiting from my selfishness. May I borrow Avalon, now? I promise to return it to you when I've finished using it on your girls." said the Wizard Marshal. Reluctantly, Kiritsugu complied. "I'd suggest looking for 6 more relics while I'm away." the Wizard Marshal added as he disappeared in a flash of light. Kiritsugu looked around the other cabinets, his eyes scanning their contents. Deciding to aid in the confusion during the search that was sure to follow upon time resuming, Kiritsugu broke the glass of all the cases. That way they would have to go over the whole collection to account for what was actually missing, which would take time. More time to put as much distance between us and here as possible. Once all the glass was broken he made his selections. The relics he ended up taking were: an ornate gold Arabic oil lamp, a piece of stone with a flint edge that still looked sharp enough to cut things, a set of 6 bloodied knives that he had heard had been purchased at an auction in London some time ago, a red spearhead that allegedly came all the way from Ireland, a badly damaged arrowhead that had been found, bought in, and shipped from Iran, and finally a gold usekh collar necklace with semi-precious stones inlaid into it with a lapis lazuli scarab beetle as the centerpiece for it, this one was bought in Egypt off the black market supposedly one of the few pieces of intact ancient Egyptian jewelry that didn't come from the famous Tutankhamun tomb but had been found in a secret compartment missed by previous tomb robbers in a pharaoh's tomb but had been missed by archeologists. Though whose tomb this had been found in hadn't been disclosed to Kiritsugu. Carefully placing them in a bag that he had in his coat pocket he turned when a flash of light occurred and faced the Wizard Marshal.

"Well, it seems my suspicions were justified. While your daughter just had signs of implanted magic circuits, your wife on the other hand seemed to indicate signs of having a magical dead man's switch implanted into her with the intention of killing her in the event of betrayal from either of you. Thankfully, my efforts and Avalon's abilities have eliminated and removed it. So, there will be no further issues. And before you ask, I did thoroughly check to make sure without doing anything to hurt her or make her uncomfortable." He said though Kiritsugu still glared at him with suspicion. "Have you made your selections yet?" The Wizard Marshal asked. Kiritsugu nodded and held up the bag containing them. "Good. I took the liberty of leaving Avalon inside your wife. It won't do her any harm, but it saves you from having to physically lug a large scabbard around while on the run. Now let's get you back to your girls." With that they disappeared in a flash of light.

That evening- Bedroom

They appeared back in his and his wife's bedroom where said wife and Illya were dressed in travel clothes and had several bags packed and ready to go on the floor at their feet. Illya was dressed in a collared, purple long-sleeved shirt over which she wore a long purple coat with a matching light purple scarf, a long white skirt, and purple boots. While Iri looked happy, Illya just looked confused. "Are you both ready to go?" asked Kiritsugu. Iri nodded instantly but Illya asked,

"Daddy, are we leaving and where are we going?"

"Yes, sweetie. We're leaving and if we're careful we're never coming back. As for where are we going? Wherever you like." Said Kiritsugu. Illya looked at the ground sadly.

"So, what the guy in the robes said was true? That Grandpa will hurt me and mom and take you both away from me if we stay?" She asked.

"Yes, sweetie that's what's going to happen if we stay." Said Iri. Illya looked up with a determined look on her face.

"Okay then. Then I want to go somewhere that will get us as far from this place as possible." she said affirmatively.

"Great then let's get going as we only have about twenty minutes before I have to let time resume." Said the Wizard Marshal. With that the four disappeared in a flash of light.

That evening- train station

The family of three uncovered their eyes as the light died down. They realized that they were standing in a train station though they weren't sure which one. "In case you're wondering we are standing at the train station in Frankfurt." That surprised the family as that was a pretty fair distance, roughly 60 miles from the Einzbern Castle. "Thought I'd give you all a head start." Said the Wizard Marshal as he handed the family three train tickets. "From here on out you'll be on your own. Don't squander the opportunity I've gone through a lot of effort to give you." He stated solemnly. Then he smiled jovially "And don't worry about seeming to pop into existence. With everyone scrambling to get to and fro they won't even question your sudden appearance." With that the world became colorful again and sound once again could be heard as the flow of time resumed. "Now you three better get going as your train is already getting ready to go." He said. The family of three seemed to snap back to reality and then looked at their tickets before grabbing their bags and heading for the train. The family boarded the said train and as they sat in the seats as the train left the station, it finally hit them that they were really leaving, and they were really going to be living as fugitives from the Einzberns til further notice. And yet as they looked at each other in their seats, they found themselves smiling. They may have been now on the lam, but they were going to be together and that made everything, at least for now, alright. Kiritsugu looked out the window genuinely smiling with hope for the future.

The Wizard Marshal smiled as he watched the family leave. "Now how will this turn out, I wonder? A shame that this is the most I will be able to intervene after this for at least 10 or more years. Oh well I can't wait to see how things go down in this timeline." With that he disappeared in a flash of kaleidoscopic light.

7 yrs prior . . ..

Japan – Fuyuki – Shinto district – café - daytime

Kiritsugu drank his coffee as his wife and daughter were eating crepes at their table with clean plates off to the aisle side of the table waiting to be picked up by a passing server. The girl's winter coats were draped on the backs of their chairs with their hats off to the side closest to the window. Kiritsugu's trench coat was also draped on the back of his chair though he was still wearing his all-black business suit and the girls were wearing their winter clothing. He looked out the window where there was snow on the ground though not much accumulation.

"It's nice to see snow in a different country and not have it feel isolating." Said Iri as she paused in eating her crepe as she also looked out the window. "I'm especially happy that we finally get to see your homeland at this time of the year." she added with a gentle smile. Kiritsugu looked at her and shared that smile with her. He then looked at Illya who was still happily munching away at her crepe.

"And what about you, Illya? Do you like it here, too?" He asked. This caused Illya to pause in her eating as well as she considered how to answer the question. Then she looked at him and smiled

"Yep. I like that of all the places we've gone to in the last few years, we've come here to daddy's home country the most and at different times of the year. We've been here in the summer, fall, and winter. Now we just need to come back during the spring." she said happily.

Kiritsugu smiled and stated, "That sounds like a good idea as I really want to show the both of you the cherry blossoms blooming in the spring."

Suddenly the area rumbled like an earthquake causing everything to shake. Everyone looked around in concern only to have the newscaster appear on the TV in the café. The reporter revealed that an apartment complex had just collapsed and the cause was yet to be determined. The family of three exchanged a knowing look and after paying for their meals left the café. They quickly made their way to the collapsed apartment complex and saw a debris field that was about 5 city blocks in size. They then went to an alleyway where Iri then performed a bit of magecraft only to then have a perplexed look on her face. Illya asked what was wrong to which Iri replied, "This spell I just cast was to detect any traces of magecraft no matter how little. But according to this spell, no magecraft was used to cause this."

That confused Kiritsugu. "So, this was caused by normal means? Like either with explosives or just structural failure?" he asked.

"All I can tell you for certain is that no mage caused this." said Iri. Then sirens were heard catching the three's attention.

"So, what are we going to do now?" asked Illya. Which was a good question. Do we leave things as is and go about our business or do we investigate this? thought Kiritsugu. Either one was viable. Then he saw a young boy being loaded into an ambulance. He looked to be no older than about 5 yrs old. What he had mistaken for blood was actually the boy's naturally red hair. Aside from that he looked like an ordinary Japanese boy and yet something was drawing Kiritsugu to the boy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Deciding to trust his instincts he got up and approached the paramedics and asked what hospital this ambulance was heading to. Due to them trying to keep crowds away and trying to help in looking for more survivors, they quickly told him without too much hassle. Kiritsugu didn't even have to use hypnosis on them. He then walked back to his wife and daughter and told them they were heading to the named hospital.

Daytime- XXXXX Hospital

The 5 yr old boy was currently fast asleep in the hospital bed when the family of three arrived. A bit of hypnosis on Iri's part got them information from the nurses that were treating him that even after an hr, this boy was currently the only survivor of the collapsed apartment building and still it was too soon to know what had caused it. Not to mention that they had no idea who this boy was. Illya asked what would happen to him. To which the nurses replied that since he was most likely an orphan now as so far no one had come to claim him and would either be placed in an orphanage or be adopted by whoever wanted him as the most they could hold him here once he woke as he didn't seem to have any injuries that were life threatening was 72 hrs. Iri then used hypnosis again and got them to be let in the room with the boy. As they sat around him, Kiritsugu seemed to be in deep thought before he turned to his wife. "Iri could you check him to see if he has any circuits and if so, how many and what quality?" he asked quietly as he erected a few subtle bounded fields to keep people away, to muffle their voices to outsiders, and to cast the illusion of the family sitting quietly next to the boy's bed to outsiders as well. The request caught Iri off guard, but she got up and hovered her hand over the boy's body chanting in German. Suddenly the boy's body began to glow as turquoise blue lines in the form of circuitry appeared on his body briefly before fading. Iri sat back down frowning thoughtfully. She looked up and saw her daughter and husband's curious looks.

"The boy has excellent magic circuits in terms of quality, but he only has about 27 of them to work with and they aren't even active yet. Which is odd as most children usually have their magic circuits turned on by the age of 4 so as to help them get used to using them as they get older and as they learn and study magecraft." Iri explained. Kiritsugu pondered this.

"27 magic circuits of excellent quality. The average mage has about 20 of only good quality. So, he is at least from a 2-generation family of mages maybe even making him the third heir to his lineage." Kiritsugu concluded.

"I don't think so, Kiritsugu. I examined the boy thoroughly and found no trace of a magic crest. Those circuits are his alone. So, if his family had one then perhaps, he had an older sibling that possessed it or his family just hadn't passed it onto him yet. Keep in mind that his circuits aren't active yet. It's a very real possibility that his family might not even be aware of magecraft." Iri pointed out. Kiritsugu looked at his wife thoughtfully.

"Alright let's say you're right, Iri. What do we want to do about it? Do we leave now while he's still asleep and be on our way? Do we wait til he wakes up and talk to him? I'm not sure what to do about this." he admitted. Iri looked at the boy then at Illyasviel.

"Illya, dear. How would you feel about becoming a big sister?" she asked, shocking the other two family members.

"Iri, are you sure about this?" asked Kiritsugu cautiously. Iri looked determined.

"Kiritsugu, I'm fully aware of the consequences of this but I want to give Illya siblings, and right now we can't give her one by blood. So, if she's willing and the boy wants it as well then why not give them to her via adoption? Besides the boy already has potential to be a magus so we won't have to keep secrets from him. So, Illya, what do you think? Do you want to be a big sister?" she asked her daughter. Illya's face seemed to light up and immediately she started loudly stating that yes, she did want to become a big sister. This caused her parents to smile warmly. With that they decided to stay with the boy until he woke up to talk to him

—

Burning. Everything was burning. He couldn't remember why this was the case and struggled to remember how he got like this. He'd been playing in the underground parking garage under the apartment complex where he lived because it was the only place he could go where no one could bother him and he not bother anyone else. He'd asked someone for permission but who, he couldn't remember. He'd been in the middle of his game what it was he couldn't remember that either. Suddenly he heard howling and a sinister voice not too far from him though he couldn't distinguish the words except 'hungry' and 'tasty' Despite being obviously scared he was also curious. And in the end the latter won out. He cautiously approached where it was coming from and then heard a second voice. This one sounded far more human and male. He was too far away to make out what the second voice was saying either but then he did hear sounds of conflict happening.

Scraping of concrete, impact of a heavy object. Metallic clattering. Chanting. An animal howling in pain. That last one alone nearly made him turn tail and run but still he pressed on. Finally, he came into view of where the sounds were coming from and what he saw left him paralyzed on the spot. He saw a large monster about the size of a car and looked like a black centipede with a bone-white mask and instead of feet had hundreds of clawed appendages. He was so fixated on the monster that he almost missed the other person in the area. He was an adult male who looked to be in his mid 20s with short black hair and looked European, yet he was wearing Japanese black robes with white socks and straw sandals. What else he noticed about the man was that he was carrying two swords. One was strapped to his back while he was holding the other in a standard kendo stance. Was he a demon hunter and was this monster a demon? Suddenly the creature started sniffing the air before whipping its masked face in his direction. Then he heard the sinister voice saying that it thought it smelled a tasty soul nearby. Then far quicker than its large body should've allowed it to do, it charged at him only to hear the second voice yelling something he couldn't quite hear.

Then something hit him from the side, but it didn't hurt him, and he realized he was staring at the other person's black robes. And he could hear what sounded like stone being blasted apart. Everything was flashing by causing him to get dizzy. Then his vision became red as some kind of red water fell on him. As the world quit spinning, he looked to the side and saw the blade the man was holding was also covered in the same red water. He then heard a fading roar and the man's grip loosened on him only to tighten as another loud groan was heard. Once again, the world was spinning. This time he blacked out hearing the man saying, "I'm sorry for all this, kid."

Now it felt like his whole body was on fire. He just wanted it to stop. "It's alright. This is going to help both of us in the long run. Just bear with it a little longer." said another voice. This one was strong and held far more power to it than the other 2.

"Who are you?! What is going on?!" He shouted in pain.

"I've looked at what you have to offer, and I have decided to make you, my wielder. I need to properly integrate with your soul, but it will be painful for a little bit though the results will be worth it even if it will take time before you see any." replied the voice.

"What?!" he asked.

"Look we don't have much time as we most likely won't see each other again properly until years later. Just know that I don't mean you any harm, child, and I will do everything I can to help you be it now, where I can, or years from now. Right now, though, it would be best to wake up as there are people who want to meet you. So, with this, I wish you luck for what's to come and I'm curious to see where this will lead to, my wielder." said the voice in a firm but gentle tone.

Now he finally opened his eyes and then squinted in pain as the light hit his eyes. He found himself staring at a white ceiling and was hit with a sterile smell. He began to look around and realized he was in a hospital bed. Slowly he began to sit up feeling slightly aching but beyond that felt fine. As he looked around the room amidst all the white, he suddenly noticed the one bit of color in the room and that was a purple blouse worn by a girl who looked slightly older than him that was fast asleep on the side of his bed. Surprisingly enough, though she wore a purple blouse, her skin and hair were as white as snow, making him wonder if she was albino.

"Oh good. You're finally awake." said a sweet, gentle voice. He turned to see a man and woman approaching his bed with what looked to be trays of food. The one who spoke was the woman. He was surprised to see that she looked like a near identical older version of the girl that was sleeping on his bedside. Her red eyes and white skin and eyes confirmed that both she and her mini clone were both in fact albino. He then took notice of the man who seemed to be opposite of both women in that he had dark hair, eyes, and clothing. Also, he noticed how the man looked Japanese or at the very least Asian while both women were obviously foreigners. By now the younger girl had begun to wake up and see what was going on. As her own red eyes locked onto him her expression became really happy. She jumped fully onto the bed and crawled up to him.

"Hi. I'm soooo glad that you're awake. I finally get to meet my new baby brother." she said excitedly. This only confused him as he couldn't remember her. In fact, he had little memory of anything. Aside from the previous events that landed him here in the hospital, his age, and his name, he couldn't remember anything else.

"Illya, please. We're here to talk to him first before we jump to such conclusions." Said the lady firmly as she placed two trays of food down for the both of them to eat. She then turned in his direction and smiled warmly. "Why don't you eat something as you must be hungry." She said. With that the now named Illya immediately dug into her food while he ate at a much more sedate pace. As he ate, he looked around at the three people here with him and wondered what they were doing here and what did they want with me? "Oh! I forgot we haven't introduced ourselves. My name is Irisveil. . .. Emiya née Von Einzbern. But you can call me Iri or perhaps mom whenever you feel like it." She added that last part quietly before continuing gesturing to the man who had been silent this whole time. "This is my husband Kiritsugu Emiya and perhaps your father if you decide so." She said looking at the now named Kiritsugu lovingly. She then looked at her mini clone that was still on his bed. "And this is Illyasviel Emiya née von Einzbern. She's our daughter and hopefully your older sister if you want one that is. She's about 8 years old. How old are you?" She asked. He was quite confused by this whole thing.

"You don't know what's going on, do you?" asked Kiritsugu. He shook his head. Kiritsugu closed his eyes in thought. Then he opened them as he looked at him intently. "Alright. What do you remember?" Kiritsugu asked seriously. He thought about it before he answered.

"My name is Shirou and I'm 5 years old." he said affirmatively. There was a pause. Before Illya asked.

"That's it?" The now named Shirou thought about it before nodding confidently. This seemed to sadden the three visitors, confusing Shirou even more. Did I answer wrong? He wondered. At this point Kiritsugu then spoke up.

"Alright then. I'll come right out and ask you which you'd prefer. Being sent to an orphanage or being taken in by a group of people you just met?" He asked. This caught Shirou completely off guard.

"Why would I be placed in an orphanage?" Shirou asked.

"What do you remember before waking up here?" asked Iri gently. Shirou tried to think about what had happened before but all he got for his troubles was a massive headache. "It's all right. Please don't try to hurt yourself. I only asked because I'm not sure how to properly explain your situation." Said Iri. With that the family began to explain to Shirou his situation that he was the only survivor of a collapsed apartment complex and since no one else had been recovered alive he was effectively an orphan. Which brought them back to Kiritsugu's original question. Shiro thought about it for a few minutes before he finally pointed at Kiritsugu. This both surprised and yet made the family of three, soon to be four, happy.

"Then let's get you dressed right away. We'll buy everything for you on the way as money is not an object for us. We need to let you know that we are basically nomads. We don't stay in one place for too long. This is because we are technically fugitives running away from people who want to either kill us or do terrible things to us. You sure you still want to come with us knowing what will happen to you?" Shirou once again considered his options. On the one hand he would probably have to hope that someone would be interested in adopting him which might take years, on the other hand he would have a family with him, but it would mean that he wouldn't stay in one place for too long and he would probably run into some very bad people who might want to take his new family from him. So, the question became what he was willing to do, wait and hope for a better option or take what was right in front of him and accept whatever consequences would come? He eyed the three people who had asked him and saw that they were still looking at him expectedly and with worry. Kiritsugu looked at him with a neutral expression. Iri looked at him with worry. And finally, Illya looked at him with sorrow but also with hope. With all of this, Shirou finally came to his own conclusion. He reached out and took Ilya's hand giving her a gentle smile. This in turn made Illya and the rest of his new family very happy.

"Okay then. You should get acclimated to your new lifestyle as soon as possible. Since the doctors couldn't find any injuries on you that were major, we will see about getting you out of this hospital as quickly as possible." Said Kiritsugu as he was starting to pack things up. "Oh, I almost forgot to mention something important. My family and I are all magic users. And you have the potential to use magic as well. Which is why I'm even bothering to tell you this." Kiritsugu said with a playful smirk. Shirou's eyes widened and his mouth hung open in shock.

5 years prior. . ..

Japan – Karakura Town – Cemetary – daytime

A young man wearing a blue hoodie with black cargo pants and tennis shoes with black hair and darker eyes strolled his way through a cemetery at a leisurely pace. As he did so he had his camera out, ready to take pictures of whatever it was he saw. This man was Kariya Matou. Yet despite the tranquil environment he was in he couldn't help but let his mind wander to darker thoughts. It's so peaceful here and yet this place seems to be rife with mana. If I were a regular mage, I would be trying to set up a workshop and see if I could analyze this area and figure out why there was so much here. He then thought about his own family and his expression darkened considerably. Zouken. As much as I hate to admit it, I Almost want to go and find Darnic and thank him for what he did to you During the third Holy Grail war. He left you so broken after stealing the Greater Grail that you effectively detached yourself from reality altogether. So much so that you effectively lost track of your descendants that came afterwards for the next several decades. You didn't even realize how bad the decline of our lineage really was. To the point that now as it currently stands, I am now the last of our entire lineage that still possesses magic circuits. Not that you ever noticed. Though on my part I made a point of never actually telling anyone about my magic circuits in the first place. I absolutely despise our family's magecraft. Those damn Crest worms. It's because of those disgusting things that I left to become a freelance journalist. It's why I left the mage world behind altogether. And now here I am in a strange town that is now saturated with mana, and I have no idea why and there seems to be no other mage in the area other than myself. I suppose I can thank my lucky stars that I have a week's worth of vacation before I have to go to my next assignment. And I'm only on day two of that said week vacation.

Suddenly Kariya had to stop as the air strangely felt thicker almost like it was denser. He began to look around, trying to determine where the source of that dense air was coming from. As he wandered among the gravestones, he finally spotted what looked like to be a small child standing in front of one of these gravestones. Kariya then observed the boy. Said boy look to me about 10 years old but what really surprised Kariya was the fact that the boy's short hair was actually colored like an orange. Why would any parent dye their child's hair and at that young of an age and why such a loud and very bright color? Said boy seemed to be dressed in regular clothes like that of any child in the modern era. Just a simple T-shirt and what looked like jeans and tennis shoes but beyond that nothing out of the ordinary. And yet Kariya could still feel the very dense air surrounding the boy. In fact, the closer he got to the boy, the denser that the air seemed to get, becoming a little bit harder to breathe, at least until one got used to it.

Curiosity getting the best of him, Kariya put his camera away and decided to utilize a mage's trick when it came to observing magic circuits at a distance in an individual. His eyes glowed briefly as he looked in the direction of the boy. What he saw almost made him pass out from shock. He immediately restored his sight to normal before going back to his mage's sight again just to be sure. Once again, his results were not mistaken, they came back the same. Through his mage's sight he saw that there was a bright light emanating from the boy's heart like a core. So much so that if there were magic circuits on the boy, they were blotted out by the core's light making it impossible to see how many circuits the boy possessed. But then when he returned his sight to normal, he realized that the boy was crying. Deciding to let his human curiosity guide him, he walked up slowly to the kid and realized he was in front of a Japanese style grave but while it had no photo of the departed, it did have a grave marker with a name on it: Masaki Kurosaki. Deciding to take a chance he started talking.

"Hey there. I apologize but I couldn't help but notice you're here by yourself, kid. Are you here to pay your respects to someone?" he asked, trying not to scare the kid. The boy looked at him quickly drying his eyes before turning to face him having a scowl on his face that, due to his young age, looked like a cute pout.

"What's it to you!?" the boy asked angrily. Realizing that he might've been a little insensitive, Kariya tries to smooth ruffled feathers.

"Again, I apologize if my actions offended you. I just noticed that you were here by yourself and was curious as to why?" Kariya explained calmly. The boy seemed to become more sullen as he then turned his attention back to the grave. "May I also say a prayer with you?" he then asked, Startling the boy who turned back to him.

"What!? Why? You don't even know who this is." the boy stated before eyeing him with suspicion. Kariya couldn't help but smile almost fondly at the boy's logic.

"True but this person's passing is obviously causing you pain. So maybe knowing that a stranger is willing to pray for this person's soul to rest peacefully, will also help you either find peace or move forward with your life as well." said Kariya gently. With that he gave a small prayer over the grave marker. He eyed him with shock for a few moments before also giving a small prayer. Once they were finished, the boy spoke much more sadly.

"She was my mother. She died saving me." he looked to be on the verge of tears again. Only for Kariya to then hug him.

"I'm sure your mother was doing what any good parent would do for their child and that was protect that which they love." said Kariya as he pulled away to look at the boy properly.

"But it's my fault she's dead. I saw a girl falling into a river and I went to go save her and my mom tried to stop me. Between then and when I woke up, I don't have any memory. But when I did. My mom was dead on top of me covered in blood." the boy explained. That got Kariya thinking worriedly. Was there a rogue mage in the area before? Did he detect this boy and try to capture him? Did his mother kill the mage but died in the battle as well? But Kariya realized that all these thoughts would remain unanswered and right now this boy needed comfort.

"Being a stranger, I don't have much advice to give that you'll be willing to listen to but this I will say. If Rin or Sakura tried to help someone and another person tried to hurt them, I wouldn't think twice about risking and even giving up my life if it meant protecting them. My only regret would be that most likely the girls would do what you're doing right now and blame themselves for my passing when I would only want them to continue living on and having a full life even if I couldn't be there to see it or be a part of it and that I wouldn't be able to tell them that. If your mother loves, you even half as much as I love those two girls then I'm confident that she would be the same and want the same for you." said Kariya confidently. The boy looked at him oddly which made Kariya feel a bit awkward after giving such a speech.

"Rin and Sakura? Who are they? Are they your daughters?" the boy asked. Kariya looked at the boy in surprise. He then thought about his answer before turning to face him.

"Those two are girls that I genuinely care for, but they are not related to me by blood." he answered honestly. "You see their mother was originally going to be my wife, but my family was involved in things that are considered to be bad and I didn't want anything to do with it. But their mother was made to marry someone who was in a prominent position in society on the order of her family." he tried to explain.

"So, it was an arranged marriage. Did the lady you like know why you broke off the engagement?" asked the boy.

"No. I didn't tell her. I know I have no one to blame but myself but I was scared that once I told her the truth about the bad things my family was doing, that she would reject me outright and want nothing to do with me. Now as we are it's a miracle that we're still on amicable terms and I'm allowed to be anywhere near her or Rin or Sakura." Kariya explained. This got the boy thinking. Then he spoke.

"Maybe next time you see her, you should tell her about the bad things your family was doing. At least then you'll know what she thinks then." the boy suggested much to Kariya's surprise.

"Even if I did, she's already married to someone else, so it won't change anything that's happened." said Kariya bitterly.

"True but at least then you won't have to worry about what could've happened and instead focus on what you'll do now." answered the boy. Kariya looked at the boy astonished.

"How old are you?" asked Kariya with a smile. I'm 10 going to be 11 next month." answered the boy. This caused Kariya to laugh good-naturedly.

"How is it that a child can understand things that adults continuously scratch their heads on and can point out the obvious answers that adults keep missing even when it's staring us right in the face?" Kariya asked himself rhetorically. The boy looked at him strangely, but Kariya continued to smile warmly at him. "May I know the name of the wise sage before me?" he asked with a laugh evident in his voice. The boy once again scowled and looked away as his cheeks became red with embarrassment.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki." he said grousely

"Huh. Odd naming you Strawberry when your hair color is closer to that of an Orange." Kariya teased. That got the kid mad as he exclaimed,

"Ichi means one and go means guardian. So, my name translates to one who protects."

"It also means one and go means five. So, you could argue it means 15 as well." Kariya continued to tease but decided to ease up and introduce himself. "My name is Kariya matou" Suddenly the now named Ichigo started giggling much to Kariya's confusion. Seeing this the boy elaborated.

"Your first name translates to Flying geese." said Ichigo as he continued to giggle. Kariya thought about that and then started laughing with him.

"You know you're right on that. I guess my name is worse as I was named after a bird." he said good naturedly.

"Ichigo!" an unknown voice shouted, startling the two. They turned and saw a tall, muscular man with spiky black hair and brown eyes. He had thin facial hair around his mouth and on his cheeks and looked to be a bit older than Kariya himself and was wearing a casual shirt and pants and tennis shoes. He approached the two with swift purposefulness that at first Kariya worried that Ichigo was in trouble. But the man walked right past him and headed straight to Ichigo without a word. Suddenly he got on his knees and to Kariya's shock the man wrapped his arms around Ichigo and proceeded to bawl his eyes out as if he was a child while Ichigo looked so embarrassed and mortified at this man.

"Oh, my dear sweet boy! Why did you have to run off like that and scare me like that!? Do you have any idea how worried you made daddy!?" the man bawled tears streaming down his face.

"You knew perfectly well where I was and where I was going, you old goat." said Ichigo deadpanned. Suddenly the man leapt up and pointed at the boy accusingly and said very dramatically,

"How dare you, boy! I may be old, but I can still easily beat you in a straight-up tussle. So, when you leave without telling me, I can't help but freak out as I know that you are not able to defend yourself properly." He then turned to face Kariya directly with a big goofy grin leaving Kariya completely blindsided. "Thank you so much for staying with my son even though it might've inconvenienced you. I would've been here sooner, but I have two girls who've had to be left with a family friend before I could join my son in praying for my wife. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Isshin Kurosaki, doctor and founder of the Kurosaki Clinic and father to Ichigo. Please to meet you, sir." He said holding out his hand in greeting. Kariya took a few seconds to fully recover from the experience of Isshin Kurosaki himself before taking the hand and shaking it.

"Ah, please to meet you. I'm Kariya Matou." he said a bit hesitantly.

"Sadly, this is him on a good day. If you think he's bad now, try living with him 24/7." said Ichigo still deadpanned. Isshin then walked over to the grave and prayed over the marker of his supposed wife while the other two waited patiently. Once he was finished, he then turned back to the two and then bowed respectively to Kariya.

"Thank you again for looking after my son until I got here. I'm afraid that we must get going so with that good luck to you in your endeavors, and farewell to you." said Isshin as they walked away to leave the cemetery.

"Bye Mr. Flying geese." yelled Ichigo as he waved goodbye looking back behind as they walked away. Kariya found himself smiling despite the blindsiding and he raised his hand to wave goodbye. He then pulled out his camera and once again started taking pictures. A few mins later he heard the clacking of wood hitting hard concrete. But before he could turn to where the sound was coming from, his vision became full of purple cherry blossoms falling around him, his vision began to blur and became unfocused as his consciousness became muddled, disoriented, and confused. Shortly thereafter, he blacked out altogether.

/

Kariya woke up and found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. He brought his hand up and rubbed his hand on his head as he tried to remember what happened. He had been walking around a graveyard taking pictures. He saw a boy called Ichigo Kurosaki who had enormous potential as a mage if he was given proper training. Then after talking to him and parting ways he blacked out but why? He looked around to see his surroundings. He found himself in an old-fashioned Japanese styled room with wooden and paper walls and shoji doors. As he started to sit up, the doors opened revealing an unusual individual. Said individual looked like a tall, lean man with light skin and gray eyes. His hair was messy and light blond, almost pale, with strands framing the sides of the face and hanging between his eyes, and he had chin stubble. He wore a dark green samue. Over this, he wore what Kariya recognized as a black haori, which sported a white diamond pattern along its bottom half. The man carried a fan, which he was using to now hide his face. He also wore traditional Japanese wooden sandals, getas if Kariya recalled correctly, and on his head, he wore a striped dark green and white bucket hat which was shadowing his eyes. In his other hand, he was holding a cane though he seemed to not really need it which begged the question why he had it in the first place. The man closed the door and approached him slowly causing Kariya to tense slightly.

"Well now, this is an interesting situation we find ourselves in, don't you agree, sir?" he asked in a slightly nasal tone and in a sly manner that made Kariya think of a fox. "So, I have to ask, what brings you to Karakura, Mr. Magician?" he asked. That got Kariya's attention and sent his mind racing. Does he know I'm a mage? How do I go about this? More importantly how do I get out of here?

"I don't know what you mean." said Kariya. Suddenly, he felt like the air was weighing him down like back in the graveyard but unlike there where one had to get used to it after about a minute of discomfort, here it felt like physical weight was being pressed down on him making it hard for him to breathe borderline suffocating him.

"Please Mr. Magician don't take me for an idiot. I know that you're part of a supernatural group that calls themselves the Mages Association due to all of you having an interesting little quirk where you all have a second nervous system, but it's tied directly to your soul despite being part of your physical bodies. Though they varied in number with the actual nervous system in count. In fact, yours has the least of about 12 of these nerves. Others that came before you had about 20 or even more but no more than about 50. So, while my knowledge of your group is limited it's enough to get my attention to investigate all of your people whenever they come here. Especially when you get close to my godson." said the man. He's Ichigo's godfather!? Thought Kariya.

"Wait! Wait! I don't mean your godson any harm. I simply was in the area as I was on vacation in between jobs as a freelance reporter." Kariya stated quickly. Finally, the oppressive atmosphere lessened though it was still present ready to reinforce, if need be, giving Kariya a moment to catch his breath.

"Oh? A magic user who works amongst the mundane plebeians and isn't a pompous snob about it? I will admit that that's a first as almost every other member of your Association that we caught usually acted like nobles of ye olden times when they saw themselves ruling over the peasantry as a divine right and how dare those that speak against them." said the man with a mocking tone. That actually made Kariya laugh much to the confusion of his now labeled kidnapper.

"You know you're not wrong at all, there. Just because they can do a few fancy tricks suddenly makes them think that everyone who can't is inferior and looks down on them as if they were insects. And while there may be some logic to what they're saying, many of them detach themselves from reality and don't realize that the world has moved on without them and that they are the relics trying to justify their own existence." said Kariya spitting in a venomous tone. His kidnapper looked at him with wide eyes as if in surprise. "They think that throwing their humanity away is perfectly acceptable if it means gaining knowledge or power or both even willing to commit cruel and twisted acts of debauchery as long as they get what they desire at the end. The root of Akasha and the true magic that they believe is there. To them if it takes their lifetimes and their children's and many more generations after until they reach it, then they'll do whatever it takes to achieve it whether it's killing their children just because their circuits are inferior to their predecessors and just try for one who will be better suited to achieving their goal along with proper succession and lineage continuation, putting children through unspeakable torture to prepare them for inheriting the family magecraft, or if they're the spare child have them endure a lifetime of mockery and disdain from everyone around them who see them for their position in society rather than them as a person. And God forbid if you're new to the mage world. If your family is from a new lineage expect to be treated like those people who came from new money back in Victorian times where the old money looked at them like usurping upstarts who forgot their rightful place in society. That's exactly how mages who come from older pedigrees treat any newcomers to the mage world. How can anyone not take one look at all that and not want to just swear off all magecraft if that's the kind of world one must go through just to be able to learn it?" asked Kariya shouting that last question. He started breathing deeply as he realized he'd lost himself in his own ranting of his grievances. By now his kidnapper had already sat down and had, during his rant, put his cane and fan down on the floor in front of him in the space between them. Though he kept his hat on, allowing Kariya to fully see his kidnapper's lower face once again.

"Seems you've got your own grievances with the mage world as you called it. Don't you Mr. Mage." asked his kidnapper. Kariya looked down at the floor in anger.

"Why do you think I turned my back on that world ten years ago? Sure, I'm allowed to know of its existence, and I did bother to learn a few tricks but that's it. To me it's not worth having to put up with the culture that surrounds magecraft and learning about it." He said in frustration. This seems to put the kidnapper in deep thought. He then looked up at Kariya with a look of intrigue.

"My deepest apologies, Mr. mage. It seems I very thoroughly misjudged you." He said surprising Kariya. "I was expecting you to go on a several min monologue about how someone who has no understanding of 'our world' is not worth wasting breath on as I would never understand or be able to possibly comprehend the world of magecraft or it's culture. Not hear you continuously badmouth or condemn it." that actually caused Kariya to chuckle but in a more subdued way.

"If you're waiting for me to suddenly turn around and start praising it and my earlier rant to be nothing more than some desperate gambit to curry favor from you, I'm afraid that you're going to be extremely disappointed. Those are my true thoughts on the matter. I'll admit that magecraft itself is fascinating to try and understand and learn and there are a few mages that at least are tolerable and even some have morals that I can accept, but those are rare and mage culture actively discourages such behavior most of the time." Kariya states with resignation.

"I believe you. And from my perspective it's a culture that's just ripe for breeding hollows. If my understanding of your earlier rant was anything to go by, what with them slaving away trying to reach this 'root of all existence' feeling that throwing everything away to achieve it is perfectly acceptable even their own humanity as long as it gets them to their goals. And in that case, that's not only considered acceptable but actively encouraged. Then those same mages expect others of their family to follow in their pursuit and methods in the vague hope that they might gain something profound if they survive and don't die in the process. Which by the way what happens if they aren't successful, but they don't die in the attempt?" asked his kidnapper.

"Then they try to find a new path that will get them to the root." answered Kariya.

"And what happens if by some miracle they reach it?" asked his kidnapper in curiosity.

"Supposedly they achieve what's known as a True Magic. But for my understanding there are about 5 True magics that are documented to exist or at least have existed at some point. And of those 5 only 3 are known in any great detail. The 4th True Magic is a complete mystery outside of its existence being documented. And the 1st True Magic is only known for two things: the creation of ether clumps or as they call it materialized nothing and it's the only True Magic that has been documented to have successfully passed onto heirs of the family long after the one who acquired it died." replied Kariya.

"And the other three?" asked his kidnapper.

"The people who acquired them either have not died yet or don't yet have heirs to pass it onto, or in the case of the 3rd True Magic, it was lost shortly after it was acquired and only a cheap knockoff of it exists and the family is currently trying to find a way to regain it again." answered Kariya.

"What do they do with this True Magic once they have it?" asked his kidnapper. Kariya thought about this and shrugged.

"Technically that's up to the mage who acquired it. But as far as I'm aware they've reached the pinnacle of mage society, so there really isn't much they can do after. Unless they decide to try and pursue either a new branch of magecraft or try again to retrieve another True Magic from the root. The only other goal that mages have besides this are honing their family magecraft to perfection to be the best they can make it and then pass it on to the next generation. So having strong heirs that will keep the family from declining and continuously ascending the social and political ladder in mage society are the only other goal most mages really have." he answered.

"So, in other words, along with the previous summary I made, if they don't achieve their goal their solution is to just find another way to achieve it. And if they, by some miracle, achieve their goal, they then use it as a cudgel to lord over everyone else and to one up others in what is essentially a magical pissing match in a society of like-minded individuals, all the while doing everything they can to increase their own personal social and political power for themselves and their legacies and expect their descendants to be and do the same." summarized his kidnapper. At the 'magical pissing match' comment Kariya couldn't help but laugh but did pay attention to the rest of the summary.

"That's essentially what the life of a mage is expected to be. Now do you see why I turned my back on it for the most part aside from a few tricks I bother to teach myself?" asked Kariya.

"I do and like I said, I can't imagine an emptier existence. It's a culture that guarantees little, if any happiness or fulfillment unless they gain it through such terrible means or at least gain fulfillment in the pursuit of the dream itself which is probably about the only positive connotation one can gleam from it. But even that gets undermined by the fact that it's expected that others in their family do the same on the same goal and never give them a choice about what they want as individuals. Thus, leading to an empty existence that all but guarantees their turning into hollows when they finally die." said his kidnapper.

"Hollows? What's a hollow?" asked Kariya curiously. The kidnapper looked at him for about thirty seconds before finally seeming to come to a decision as he grabbed his cane and fan and got to his feet.

"Before I answer that question how about you come with me and go for a walk in a nearby park? There I'll do a few noninvasive tests and if all goes well, I might have a proposition for you. By the way since I feel that you really don't mean anyone any harm, I think I can finally give you, my name. It's Kisuke Urahara. Owner of the Urahara shop which you are now currently sitting in the house section of. And you are?" asked the now named Urahara. Kariya thought about it and shrugged again.

"I'm Kariya Matou. Freelance journalist and knowledgeable of mages and the moonlit world or the world of magecraft as it's more commonly called." said Kariya introducing himself. Kisuke offered him a hand and Kariya hesitantly took it. He was pulled up to his feet as Kisuke opened the door and gestured for Kariya to follow him, which he did. As they left the room and went down the hallway, Kariya saw that the hallway was quite long with many more rooms making him wonder if Urahara was quite well-off in terms of money but then remembered that this was the house section of a shop which in turn meant that they must be heading for the shop section and wondered what sort of things did Urahara sell.

They came to another shoji door which his host then opened and revealed what Kariya recognized as a shop. He was surprised by how modest and eclectic it was. He saw that about a ¼ of the shop seemed to be selling ordinary candy most were unsurprisingly Japanese based products, but he did spot a few foreign labels. As for the other ¾, he noticed that it seemed to be a strange mix of ordinary grocery products like bleach, dishwasher and washing machine detergent, soda, and even a few regular food products like chips and bakery pastries to name a few, along with what he could only describe as magic products. Things like charms and incense burners and sticks, ofunda, prayer scrolls and beads of different faiths and even machines that appeared to be used in jewelry making. Overall, the eclectic mix was a bit of a shock, but the modest setting kept it from overwhelming the individual. They made their way to the front, passing the checkout counter with its register that looked to be about 20 yrs. and by some miracle still seemed to be functioning.

At the said register was another individual. This individual appeared to be a tall, muscular, lightly tan-skinned man. His hair was cornrowed, and he had a large handlebar mustache, which was connected to his long sideburns. He wore a pair of rectangular-shaped glasses. Finally, his attire consisted of a white muscle shirt with regular pants and a blue apron. Kisuke turned to him and greeted him. "Hello, Tessai."

"Hello, Boss. I see that our guest is allowed to go about his business without further fuss." said the now named Tessai.

"Actually, he's coming with me to a nearby park. I want to test a theory that I've had for a while now and Kariya here, is the first to actually volunteer for the experiment I have in mind." explained Kisuke. Tessai looked a bit frozen though his stoic face hadn't changed. He then put a hand to his chin and appeared to be in deep thought.

"I see. Well then, I won't keep you. Good luck, boss. Let me know how it turns out." said Tessai.

"You got it. See you later, Tessai." said Kisuke. Kariya waved at Tessai as he followed Kisuke out. Surprisingly Tessai politely waved back at him whether to be professional or out of genuine friendliness, Kariya wasn't sure, but he was grateful for the gesture. With that, the two exited the shop through the front shoji doors.

Outside was a wooden front porch to which there were two small children holding bamboo brooms one appearing to do actual sweeping while the other was using his as a bat and was narrating what appeared to be his envisioning of himself as an all-star baseball player and was so caught up in it that he was completely oblivious to the two adults that were now behind him. The one doing the actual sweeping and the first to notice them, was a young-looking girl with a perpetual blush on her cheeks who wore a white T-shirt with the Urahara Shop logo in pink print and a knee-length, pink skirt with white dots. She had round purple eyes and long, black hair with a purple tint. It was parted down the middle, with two strands of her bangs in the middle of her face, opposing each other. The rest of her hair was in pigtails with pink ties. As for the aspiring baseball player, he was a small boy with red hair. He wore a white t-shirt with the Urahara Shop logo printed on the front and blue three-quarter length trousers, the bottoms of which were noticeably turned up. "Hey, Jinta, Ururu. How's the sweeping coming along?" asked Kisuke playfully. The girl gave a small shy smile and waved back. This caused Kariya to smile and return the wave. Meanwhile the boy yelped in surprise and jumped several feet off the ground before he turned to face the two men.

"Oh hi, boss." the boy said in a high-pitched gravelly voice. Kariya wasn't sure if that was just how the boy sounded normally or if he was just that surprised to see them after being caught clearly slacking off on the job. The boy then noticed him, and his face immediately took on a look of curiosity. "Oh, hey is this the magician guy that you brought back earlier?" asked the boy.

"Yep. Though technically speaking he calls himself a mage. Anyway, he's going with me to a nearby park to conduct a few experiments. So, until I get back Tessai's in charge. So, I want no fighting from either of you, okay?" asked Kisuke.

"Yes, Mr. Kisuke." said the girl smiling more brightly. The boy looked annoyed by that but said nothing. With that Kisuke and Kariya stepped off the porch and headed away from the shop. In the hopes of filling the silence, Kariya decides to converse with Kisuke further.

"So those two children, I didn't know that you were a parent." Kariya stated.

"Actually, those kids aren't blood related to me in the slightest. I have them do manual labor around the shop and allow them to have them earn their keep." explained Kisuke.

"So, they aren't your children, but they are allowed to stay at your shop provided they do manual labor. How have you not gotten child services casing this place?" asked Kariya.

"Trade secret. Maybe if my experiment goes as planned and the best outcome occurs, I'll tell you." stated Kisuke. The two men made their way to a park. There really wasn't much to it. It was quaint, quiet, and had plenty of green spaces for picnics and park benches for sitting. Kisuke guided him to one that was situated under some trees, so they were shielded from the sun. "Alright for my first experiment, Kariya I want you to describe what you're seeing in this park and will see where this goes." said Kisuke once they settled into their seats on the bench.

Kariya looked at him funny but began to look around and did as instructed. He told Kisuke how he saw a woman playing frisbee with her dog, a group of children playing tag with each other, and finally a young couple having a picnic and a young girl watching them from some nearby trees. Kisuke then asked to look again at the girl and ask if she appeared fuzzy in his vision. Kariya did as instructed and looked again then explained that the girl was as clear in his vision as Kisuke was sitting next to him. Kisuke gave a triumphant smirk and then told Kariya to focus on the girl again and see if he notices anything else about her. Once again, Kariya did as instructed and what he saw shocked him. First is that he noticed that there was a broken chain attached to the girl's chest that wasn't present on anyone else. Said chain went to the girl's knees. Then shocking Kariya even further was the fact that the girl was translucent as he could see through her to the tree that she was standing in front of. He described all this to Kisuke who continued to smirk. He asked what was going on. By then the couple had packed up their picnic and left leaving the girl behind looking sad but she was smiling, nonetheless. Kisuke then got up and signaled for Kariya to follow him as they approached the little girl.

"Excuse me, miss." said Kisuke getting the girl's attention. She looked at them in surprise, but Kisuke continued. "Could you be so kind as to approach my acquaintance here and say hello to him?" He asked. Both Kariya and the girl looked at Kisuke confused but did as he asked. The girl stood directly in front of him and said hello causing Kariya to flinch.

"Huh! So, you can see me too, Mister!?" the girl exclaimed.

"Um . . .Yes?" said Kariya unsure as to what was happening.

"And you can see her quite clearly?" asked Kisuke.

"Were it not for the chain on her chest and the translucency, I would've thought that she was just an ordinary little girl." stated Kariya. "So, what exactly is going on?" he then asked.

"Well, it's quite simple, Kariya. This little girl is a ghost that recently died and if you can see her quite clearly then that means that you are spiritually aware." explained Kisuke. The trio returned to the bench and what followed was a half hr. of explanations for Kariya about a completely unknown supernatural group that the world of magecraft had not ever known. He was told about plus souls like the little girl named Rei, hollows, and how important it was to help spirits to pass on before they either were eaten or became hollows on their own. Then Kisuke revealed that his cane was in fact a sword and transformed it with a command only to gently press the hilt onto Rei's forehead. After glowing for a few minutes, all that was left was a black swallowtail butterfly that then flew away. Kisuke's sword then turned back into his cane. Kariya looks on in awe.

"Kisuke what are you exactly?" he asked. Kisuke looked at him with an enigmatic smile.

"Well do you have a way to ensure that any information I give you won't be handed over to your Association? Cause while the information I could give you is actually pretty basic that anyone of my job description knows about, the thing is that due to limited contact with mages I don't feel comfortable with a bunch of would-be megalomaniacs trying to use this information to achieve their honestly pointless goals. And while you've proven to be an exception compared to the other mages we've captured and interrogated, I have to say that your word wouldn't be enough." Kisuke explained.

"Then why did you spend the last half hr. explaining hollows and souls?" asked Kariya.

"Simple. If it was ultimately decided to send you on your way without further discussion, then it would be just one big memory that needed to be replaced rather than a few smaller ones. So do you have something to act as incentive for me?" asked Kisuke. After a few minutes of consideration Kariya finally replied.

"There's a practice in magecraft called a Geis. A Geis is forming a curse over a target that imposes a mystical restriction over one's action with the consent of both parties. Or one even more merciless version of a Geis is a Self-Geis Scroll. Placing a written contract upon a scroll of vellum that would appear as only meaningless figures and well-made patterns to those who are not Magi, it is a curse that directly binds the Magic Crest of the target. The signature of the declarer is signed in blood and infused with Magical Energy to show that the spell has been established and activated. The contract lists the target of the binding Magecraft, an oath from the target, and the conditions to accept the contract. Once the conditions are fulfilled, the target will give up part of their free will, and the contract will be confirmed as an unbreakable curse. It forcibly uses the functions of the targets' Magic Crests or Circuits upon themselves to enforce the contract, and it is a power unable to be erased by any method in theory. Even if the caster's life is lost, if they did inherit family's Magic Crest, then the Magic Crest would bind the soul of the dead man and not pass down to future generations. It is a very dangerous Magecraft made for the treacherous society of Magi where a contract involving offering a maximal concession that absolutely cannot be disobeyed is required." he stated.

"Well color me intrigued, Kariya. Do you know how to make one?" asked Kisuke. Kariya nodded.

"If you can help me acquire the materials, then yes, I can make one. You can even observe me making one so that way it will give peace of mind." he suggested.

"That works for me. Why don't we head back to the shop and get down to it?" asked Kisuke. Kariya nodded and followed after him as they made their way out of the park and back to the shop. Within the hr., Kariya had prepared the scroll with vellum that Kisuke had managed to procure on such short notice which raised an eyebrow from him, but he went on with the procedure without any questions and Kisuke kept his sly smile and offered no explanation.

"Okay all that's left is to dictate the terms of the self-Geis scroll." said Kariya. After a few min Kariya showed Kisuke the first half and read the transcript.

Contract used by Kariya Matou:

Binding Magecraft: Target – Kariya Matou
The Circuits of Kariya Matou hereby command: Provided that the following conditions are met, this oath shall become a commandment and bind the target without exception.

"Okay then I'll dictate the oath and conditions." Stated Kisuke. He dictated the following oath with Kariya's help.
Oath:
To the heir of the Matou house, Kariya, descendant of Zouken Matou: regarding Kisuke Urahara and all associates of his on both professional and familial level, all intentions and actions to disclose all information mentioned in the conditions to anyone without Kisuke Urahara's expressed permission and any intentions and actions to harm any of those same people or himself be it by magecraft means or otherwise, including help from outside parties, all shall be forbidden for all eternity.

Kariya frowned a bit before looking at Kisuke. "You really are leaving little if any room for loopholes." he said. Kisuke gave a sly smirk.

"But of course. I've spent my entire adult existence exploiting loopholes in agreements and also talking circles around people if I really want to screw with them. Of course, I would do everything I can think of to ensure there is little room for loopholes in any of the contracts I personally make. Now onto the conditions."

Conditions:
Kisuke must disclose all information to Kariya regarding his job and all it entails, Soul Reapers, the Afterlife, the inner workings of the political and societal set-up of the Soul Reapers and take Kariya as his apprentice in Kido.

Kariya looked stunned when the conditions were drawn up. He looked over to Kisuke who was still slyly smirking. "Do you find the terms acceptable? Or is there anything you feel needs to be added?" asked Kisuke. Kariya looks back at the Geis as if he was holding a delicate priceless artifact.

"What's Kido?" asked Kariya.

"In simple terms, Kido is similar to this magecraft in that it's a supernatural gift one can possess under certain circumstances, but it doesn't require long lineages or even magic circuits to use. And from what I have been able to gather from the other mages that we caught or observed I can say with confidence that in all but say the most obscure or in hyper specific branches of magecraft Kido can match it or even surpass it." said Kisuke confidently. Kariya's stunned expression didn't change.

"Your terms are extremely generous. If you were a mage such disclosure of secrets like this would've marked you as a heretic, possibly even get you a sealing designation." explained Kariya.

"Good thing I'm not a mage. And besides, I'm learning more detailed information about a brand-new group of supernaturally gifted people that have up till now gone under the radar. And while this Geis imposes I give you information on some topics, any and all info I give you is now guaranteed to be kept confidential until I say otherwise. Plus, I'm skilled in telling when people are lying, so even if you try to pull a fast one on me, I'll know exactly where you're lying and where you're being honest. Finally, while I'm obligated to take you on as my apprentice in Kido, that doesn't mean that you're obligated to succeed. And it's the only thing that I'll let you disclose freely to others as since Kido goes by different rules, most mages don't strike me as wanting to change their way of thinking even if presented with evidence that there are better ways of utilizing supernatural gifts. Am I wrong in that assumption?" asked Kisuke. Kariya shook his head.

"Not really. Usually, once magi commit to a path that they feel will help them reach the Root, then usually they stick to it unless they reach a dead end or if another path is revealed that seems more promising that they feel that it's fine to change methods or paths. And mages can barely even bring themselves to acknowledge the technology of the mundane world. So, a new supernatural ability that doesn't necessarily rely on long lineage pedigrees or magic circuits and is on par with magecraft possibly outpacing it? You may as well tell them that the sky is green, and the moon is made of cheese as that might be more believable to typical mages that what this Kido is." stated Kariya.

"So back to the original question, will you sign it?" asked Kisuke. Kariya looked at the document in deep contemplation before he looked at Kisuke.

"Could I have a knife, please?" he asked. Kisuke then brought out his cane and used the blade for Kariya. After getting the blood he needed he signed the Geis. He handed it over to Kisuke who then placed it in the innermost pocket of his haori then handed a rag to Kariya to stem the blood flow. "So, what now?" asked Kariya as he took the rag and pressed it to the cut.

"Now we set up some ground rules, terms, and establish the length of your apprenticeship. Oh yeah. And tie-up any loose ends outside of this agreement. Which reminds me, do you have the number of the people you're working for as a freelance journalist? I need to let them know that you're going to not be available for the indefinite future." stated Kisuke.

"That's guaranteed to get me fired if I don't give them something more concrete for details." stated Kariya.

"That's why we're seeing how long this apprenticeship will last." Kisuke pointed out.

For the next half hr., The two hashed out a plan for how Kariya's apprenticeship would play out and tested out a few theories Kisuke had regarding mages and their potential for practicing Kido. Once they were finished testing, and a few explanations on how Kido worked, they had determined that due to the low circuit count and poor quality of his own circuits and being spiritually aware that Kariya had potential to perform at most mid-level Kidos in two out of three branches. Obviously more testing would need to be done but it was enough to tentatively gauge how long Kariya's apprenticeship might last before his potential plateaued. Roughly about 6 months if they did non-stop training which, since Kisuke was currently at a standstill with everything on his end outside of this new apprenticeship, he saw no reason to not go with non-stop training. They called up the people Kariya worked for and convinced them that he had heard mysterious goings on in Karakura and would be investigating the town, but he had no idea how long it would take. His boss agreed to allow him to stay as long as he felt necessary on three conditions: 1 he had to find a way to provide for himself as the paper he worked for wasn't going to finance anything, and wasn't liable for any injuries he got on the job, 2 he had to submit a weekly column so that the paper had something to publish, and 3 His pay would be adjusted depending on how long it would take to submit a story and how much money the paper would get out of whatever story he got. Kariya agreed to all three conditions easily. The arrangements with Urahara were that Kariya would be staying at the shop, and had to be escorted everywhere he went outside said shop as precaution until further notice, meanwhile he would be submitting fake stories to keep his job with the paper, he would work as manual labor when he wasn't training or writing to cover his room and board, and finally he would have a weekly cultural exchange with his new sensei about the magecraft world and the now realized spirit world. Kariya had to admit he was looking forward to the next 6 months.

6 months later . . ..

Japan – Fuyuki city – train station – daytime

Kariya exited the train and got onto the platform as he started making his way out of the train station. He would be lying if he thought the last 6 months were not the most terrifying, painful, enjoyable, and enlightening 6 months a person could spend in a lifetime.

To think now not only am I able to perform a new form of supernatural gift, but one that can keep pace with or even outpace that of magecraft. Or that my teacher was actually a bonified Grim Reaper or rather Soul Reaper. I have to say one look at him, and you never would have guessed that he was a psychopomp for the dead. Even if he might be just a touch sadistic or mad with his methods. Kariya grimaced a little as he thought back to all the training and mishaps that happened. Still his methods did bear fruit as did our research so I can't argue with that. Kariya's face became more thoughtful as he continued his walk through Fuyuki. I honestly can't believe the discoveries that we came to about circuits or about the Root just being the Cycle of Reincarnation. Upon realizing that, I can't help but reaffirm my thoughts on how pointless the mages desire for the Root truly is. These discoveries would rock the world of magecraft to its foundation and core if it was shown and proven beyond a shadow of doubt to them. Kariya then pulled out two bracelets made of semiprecious stones. One was made of almost entirely of pink quartz and the other was made of red spinels, aquamarine opals, and obsidian beads. According to Kisuke, even if hollows are less likely to appear outside of the current Jūreichi which is currently Karakura Town, and mages are unlikely to be attack by hollows due to most not being spiritually aware especially those with more magic circuits in them, I'd feel much more at ease if the girls wore these hollow repellent bracelets. If we're right, the odds of them being attacked go from unlikely but a possibility to almost nonexistent. I just hope that the sheer amount of mana or rather spirit energy their packing isn't going to arouse suspicion. Tokiomi would have a field day analyzing these. Kariya pocketed the bracelets once more and focused on the road ahead with purposeful strides as he headed to a specific destination.

Daytime – Fuyuki, Miyama city park

Kariya made his way to the park and looked around until he spotted a group of three girls or rather two young girls and a woman in the park. Kariya couldn't help but smile at the sight. One girl had her dark hair done up in twin tails and her clothing consisted of a white shirt and red necktie, a red skirt with long black socks and a pair of brown leather flats. She also had aquamarine eyes. The other girl had similar features, having short black-brown hair with pigtails and teal eyes. She wore a red shirt with a black bow at the neck, a white skirt that went to her knees, white socks that went to the mid-calf and pink leather flats. The two girls looked similar in age, but Kariya knew that both had just recently celebrated their birthdays. The twin tailed girl, who he knew was named Rin Tohsaka, was now 6 yrs. old and the pig tailed girl, who he knew was Sakura Tohsaka, was now 5 yrs. old. They were playing with other children in the park. Seated where some tables and benches were, was a lovely young woman around Kariya's age if slightly younger, watching them with a content look on her face. She had long, dark green hair and eyes of the same color. She wore an off-white long sleeved dress with green lining and bow at the neck. It had a slit up the middle to her knees to allow for freedom of movement. She also wore a white shawl over the dress. And wore green strapped sandals completing the outfit. This woman Kariya knew as Aoi Tohsaka. She was Rin and Sakura's mother. Kariya walked up and greeted her with a smile and a wave. She greets him with a smile.

"Kariya. It's good to see you. How long has it been since we saw one another? Almost a yr., now?" she asked in greeting.

"Yeah. I think it was just shortly after Rin and Sakura's birthdays. Sorry I missed their most recent ones, but I have some presents for them as both a birthday gift and apology." he said embarrassingly as he fished out the two bracelets.

"Uncle Kariya!" two voices shouted in delight. The two adults turned to see the two girls running up to them with smiles on their faces.

"You finally came back from your trip." said Sakura "How was it?"

"Did you bring us presents like last time?" asked Rin.

"Girls that's really rude." Aoi scolded her girls. Kariya waved it off, knelt in front of them, and presented them with the bracelets that he asked Urahara to make. Both girls' faces lit up as they saw them.

"Happy Belated Birthdays Sakura, Rin. And I'm sorry that I wasn't here to celebrate them with you." said Kariya.

"These are so pretty." exclaimed Rin as her eyes sparkled in delight.

"You like them then?" he asked. The girls nodded their heads as they put them on their wrists. "That's great. Cause I want you girls to promise me that neither of you will ever take them off. At least until your wrists become too big to wear them anymore. Can you girls do that for me?" he asked.

"Sure thing, Uncle Kariya." said the girls in unison. And with that they left to go rejoin the other children in the park. Kariya sat next to Aoi as both watched the kids playing in content silence. Which was only broken by Aoi starting to speak.

"I'm glad that you came when you did. This is most likely the last time that the two girls will be able to play together like this." she said as sadness started to color her tone. This caught Kariya off guard.

"What?!" he exclaimed as he got to his feet looking at Aoi in shock. "Aoi what are you talking about?"

"You see, Kariya. Shortly before you came back, Rin successfully inherited the Tohsaka's magic crest. But now Sakura is left with a doubtful and uncertain future. Tokiomi decided that Sakura can no longer be my daughter or Rin's sister. He has been trying to find mage families to take her and the Matous have given him the best deal so far. You know why the Matou family would desire children who carry the blood of magi. Because of the ancient alliance between the Tohsakas and Matous from the creation of the Holy Grail War Ritual, Tokiomi decided that they would be the best choice and gave into Zouken's request. So, unless someone else comes forward and gives Tokiomi a better offer, then as of next week Sakura will be given over to Zouken Matou." Aoi explained.

"And what are your thoughts on the matter, Aoi?" Kariya asked in a clipped tone.

"It wasn't my place to speak out. I knew that when marrying a mage that I wasn't allowed to expect the happiness of a normal life."

"Aoi." said Kariya sadly. Aoi looked at him with sad resignation but also with hope.

"Whenever you see Sakura again, be kind to her. She's always been very fond of you." she said. Kariya looks on helplessly at the two girls playing, seeming to be oblivious as to what will happen in the near future. Then the light catches on Sakura's bracelet and Kariya's eyes widen in realization.

Flashback

Kisuke handed Kariya a blue iPhone. "Here you are. Consider this a parting gift from me to you. You do know how to work one of these, right?" Kisuke asks.

"Considering that you had to give me a crash course on how to use modern technology on the whole as part of my apprenticeship, I would be a pretty poor student if I didn't know how to work an iPhone after 6 straight months of training." replied Kariya sarcastically. The two exchanged a good-natured chuckle.

"In all seriousness though, this will function like a regular iPhone. With one difference. I designed this one so that when you contact me specifically the signal will get scrambled so that my location can't be traced. Effectively making it into a ghost phone. Pun intended." Kisuke explained with a wry smile which Kariya returned.

"You recall how I said most mages are inept when it comes to modern technology, right?" Kariya asked.

"You can never be too careful. There are always outliers. Best to be cautious all the same. Still, you can use this to communicate with me regardless of the reason. Need sagely wisdom from your sensei, need a second opinion on something, need a favor or you just want to come back to continue your Kido training, all you have to do is go to the contacts and find manager of Urahara shop and that will take you to my personal phone. Since you are one of only a handful of people with that number, I'll figure out very quickly if it's you or not. I have you listed as Kido mage in my contacts." Kisuke said playfully.

"Very funny." said Kariya. He then bowed to Kisuke. "Thank you for everything, sensei. We'll be in touch." said Kariya as he stood up and began to leave. He and Kisuke waved goodbye to each other.

"Hope to hear from you soon." said Kisuke.

Present

Kariya then quickly turned to face Aoi again with determination. "Aoi is it possible that you can talk to your husband and see if he will allow me an audience?" he asked, catching Aoi completely off guard.

"What?! Kariya what are you saying?" asked Aoi.

"You said so yourself. The only way to get your husband to change his mind is if he is presented with a better deal. Well, I'll present him a better deal." Kariya explained.

"But Kariya, you left the world of magecraft 10 yrs. ago. My husband and I are aware of that. What could you possibly offer that will be better than what Zouken is offering?" asked Aoi surprised.

"Have your husband take a look at the bracelets that your daughters are wearing, then tell him that I asked my Kido teacher to make them. When he asks what is Kido tell him that if he grants me an audience, I will not only explain what Kido is but even provide a few demonstrations of it." Kariya then pulled out a notebook and pen and wrote on it before tearing it off and gave it to Aoi who took it looking curious. "This is the number to reach me. I know you have a landline so that should work fine. So will you at least try to help me gain an audience with your husband, Aoi?" he asked. Aoi looked even more unsure but nodded.

"Alright. I'll try but I have no guarantees that anything will come of this." she said cautiously. Kariya nodded in agreement. Aoi then stood up.

"Rin! Sakura! Come on! I think it's time for us to head home!" she shouted. The girls came over to her and happily waved goodbye to Kariya who in turn returned the gesture. Once they were out of sight, he sat down on the bench and pulled out the blue iPhone. After a few min of fiddling with it he held it up to his ear listening to the ringing tone. Then he heard the line pick up.

"Hello, Hello my dear student. When I said that I hoped to hear from you soon I wasn't expecting it to be within 12 hrs. of leaving my shop." said Kisuke playfully and Kariya couldn't help but smile but his tone was serious when he spoke.

"Sensei. I need your help desperately." There was a pause and when Kisuke spoke next any playfulness was gone from his tone.

"Alright what is it you need my help for?" he asked seriously.

The next day. . ..

Outside the Tohsaka Manor

Kariya stood outside a western style mansion. He was dressed far more formally in a business suit though his dark hair was as messy as ever. A cat was perched on his right shoulder. Kariya fiddled with his tie displaying his nervousness.

"Stop fidgeting. You need to appear professional after all even though I'm helping you, you need to show that you are the best choice as Sakura's caretaker." said the cat in a male voice on his shoulder.

"Thank you again for coming over to help me and for the suit, Yoruichi." said Kariya gratefully.

"Think nothing of it. Afterall I'm here to observe mages and their culture and then when this is over, we'll deal with you 'grandfather'" said the now named cat Yoruichi emphasizing venom on the word grandfather. "But first let's test your mage acquaintance and see if he can sense me or Kido at all." Yoruichi added. Then she held out her paw and began to do a series of gestures before the cat disappeared from view though Kariya could still sense her presence.

"Amazing how you can do Kido in this form." said Kariya clearly impressed.

"Took 40 yrs. to get right. Now Focus and let's get this over with." said the now disembodied voice of Yoruichi. With that Kariya took a deep breath and walked to the front door of the Manor. He knocked on the door and was greeted by Aoi. They exchanged pleasantries and she then led him to the living room. There a well-dressed man clad in a white, long sleeve shirt with a crimson tuxedo over it that had black buttons, a blue ribbon, brown shoes, elegant black hair, a goatee, and blue eyes was seated on a plush chair sipping a glass of wine elegantly. This was the current head of the Tohsaka family. Tokiomi Tohsaka. On a table next to him were the girls' bracelets. Kariya walked in and heard the door close behind him and when Aoi didn't come be by her husband he realized that it would be just the two of them. Kariya simply stood there waiting for Tokiomi to make the first move. Tokiomi continued to sip his wine elegantly. After a few minutes of this waiting game Tokiomi finally puts his glass of wine down and looks at Kariya with almost complete apathy.

"Kariya Matou. Heir to the Matou family and it's magecraft. One of the 3 founding families to the Holy Grail War Ritual. Last I heard you had abandoned the path of a mage. And now you stand before me interfering with my family business. I will admit that had it not been for these strange mystic codes you gave my daughters, I would've dismissed Aoi's suggestion for an audience with you outright. So, you had better make this worth my time." he said in a haughty aristocratic tone. Kariya seemed to glare at him first but then took a calming breath. And looked at Tokiomi straight on.

"I'll just get straight to the point. Lord Tohsaka I propose that you allow me to have complete and full custody over Sakura." Kariya stated.

"Ridiculous. Clearly this was a waste of-" Tokiomi started but Kariya interrupted him.

"Did you notice anything about those bracelets I gave your daughters?" he asked. This caused Tokiomi to pause as he picked them up and looked at them.

"I will admit that I'm more than a little intrigued by these bracelets. At first, I thought that they were mystic codes but upon hearing that they came from you, I knew that couldn't be true as you left the world of mages yrs ago. So, what are these? They are layered with so many what look to be bounded fields and while I don't know the exact nature of them, they are to act as a protection to the wearer. Though what that is I can't say. What really surprises me is that more magical energy packed into these trinkets of semi-precious stones than about a quarter of the pure and rare gems of the Tohsaka fortune. This leaves me with both the aforementioned question and how did you manage to acquire such a rare and powerful device let alone two?" Tokiomi asked in suspicion. Kariya continued to look at him though he was now far calmer as these were questions, he could answer and quite easily.

"I'll answer the 2nd question first as it's the easiest. I didn't acquire them; they were tailor-made to my specifications by my teacher. In fact, these were created not even 5 days ago. We put our heads together and came up with every possible scenario we could think of the girls could face and incorporated those into those bracelets. I kid you not there's about 30 different protection and detection spells all interlaced and woven together and layered into every single semi-precious stone. The moment that Rin and Sakura put those on, it's like they're under all the protections of the Tohsaka Manor but now on their wrists. And the best part is that if the detection spells get even the slightest hint that the wearer is in danger or is about to come to harm, the protections will spring into action immediately with no other prep work or even spell incantations are required from the wearer. So technically that should answer your 1st question." said Kariya allowing a little bit of pride to leak into his tone. He couldn't help but smile upon seeing the flabbergasted look on Tokiomi's face as he explained that.

"That's not possible. To incorporate all or even half of what you said into any mystic code would only be possible from either mages with truly gifted elemental affinities or origins or those that go back at least a dozen generations. And even then, the code wouldn't be so compact as to fit on one's wrist, let alone a child's" said Tokiomi in disbelief.

"I swear that what I'm saying is the truth. And if my word is not enough then I'll even sign a Geis scroll to prove to you that I'm being truthful." said Kariya confidently. Tokiomi eyed Kariya with suspicion. If he's willing to go that far to prove his truthfulness, then there must be some merit to what he's saying. Still better to try and probe this and see what information I can gain, especially concerning this teacher he mentioned.

"Technically you didn't answer my first question. What are these bracelets?" asked Tokiomi trying to regain and keep his composure after being caught so thoroughly off guard.

"I told you. They are devices that I had my teacher commissioned for the girls' birthdays as those came and went during the 6 months that I was a student under his tutelage." explained Kariya.

"Tutelage of what?" asked Tokiomi still eyeing Kariya with suspicion.

"Studying Kido." Kariya answered. Tokiomi looked at him in confusion.

"What?" Tokiomi asked.

"Lord Tohsaka. In the last 6 months I've come to understand just how varied the supernatural world truly is. Yes, some of these supernatural gifts do require lineages like magecraft but there are some that only require just a few basic parameters to able to not just learn but develop and strengthen those gifts of abilities over time. And I've even gained a broader understanding of things including those that in the mage world see as, for lack of a better term, gospel truth." said Kariya.

"Such as?" asked Tokiomi.

"At the risk of starting a philosophical debate, I'll stick with a core tenet of magecraft that being equivalent exchange. In magecraft terms, the rule is in order to create something, either another object must be given as a price, or an existing object is modified. It is also standard amongst Magi to make up for every deed, item or piece of information given to them with repayment of equal value. But what I've learned in my 6-month tutelage is that yes in small scale equivalence is easily measured so determining whether objects or information etc. is of equal value is rather trivial that even a child can figure it out with a little guidance. But when talking in both larger and broader scales suddenly the idea of 'equal' fades away and all that's left of the principal is simply the understanding of gaining and losing or rather you can't gain something without losing something first. This is due to equal being an abstract concept. Everyone knows what equal is, but no one can agree on it as it's part of their personal belief of what equal actually is, so it becomes almost impossible to find someone else who sees the same thing as you do. They can only come to mutual agreements at best on that concept and scale it down to something that can be easily measured. And if you really want a relevant example of gaining and losing look at the Three Founding Families of the Holy Grail War Ritual. Our ancestors wanted to gain access to the Root and look at what's been lost over the last near 200 yrs. and three Grail Wars in the attempt: In all three wars no winner was declared, and all participants were killed and look at the state of the Three families now. The Einzberns are obsessed with obtaining the Grail but only so they can finally gain the prestige of gaining it at all and obtaining the True Magic that they lost shortly after getting it, forgetting all about the Root and are ready to cheat the system to get it with the only gain being that they've perfected their craft of creating artificial beings to the point that any human members no longer exist or left the family and disassociates from them, your family, the Tohsakas, have admittedly been the best off compared to the two and gained the most so far, secured in their lineage and legacy at the moment, meanwhile my family, the Matous, have slinked so low that now every heir has to go through the process of being thrown into a pit of crest worms where they are violated and infested and eaten from the inside out and inevitably when their souls are devoured the body then is incorporated into Zouken, our family head, who uses those worms as soul fragments of himself and uses the bodies of his heirs as either food for himself or his vessel which also applies to mundanes who have nothing to do with the mage world so that he can cheat death just a little longer. The crest worms even allow him to control others who have the crest worms in them as his puppets and monitor them so that if he feels them trying to backstab him then he can cause the worms to devour them from the inside and the worst part is that until every last worm is destroyed then Zouken will survive. All so he can survive long enough to obtain the grail to gain true immortality and eternal youth for himself. By contrast the to the other families, the Matous have lost the most and have gained the least from all this endeavor." said Kariya staring at the floor, his anger clouding his tone.

"What!?" said Tokiomi in a surprised tone. Kariya looks up to see Tokiomi's face losing all pretense of elegance and aristocratic snobbery and now showing a look of pure shock, horror and even regret. Kariya would admit that seeing him that way and knowing he put that expression on his face gave him a sense of grim satisfaction, but it also drove him to ask,

"Lord Tohsaka, why did you entrust Sakura into Zouken's custody? Because judging from that look on your face I feel it's safe to assume that you didn't do so knowing what awaited her. Am I wrong?" This seemed to pull Tokiomi out of his stupor somewhat, but the look of regret was still etched on his face.

"I desired to secure a good future for my daughter. Any mage with two children will face an unfortunate dilemma. Only one may inherit the family's secret magecraft. The other is doomed to human mediocrity. However, my wife was an exceptional child bearer. Both Rin and Sakura displayed uncommon promise as mages. How could I, their father, sentence one of my daughters to failure, to ensure the other's chances? What father could act in such a way? For both to realize their potential, I had no choice but to give one up for adoption. Mages are born with innate power. And they eventually attain greater power. This responsibility resides in their blood, long before their brain can comprehend it. Rin will succeed and if Rin should fail Sakura will succeed. They will fulfill the Tohsaka family desire." said Tokiomi determination, coloring his voice.

"Mediocrity? The happy family I saw that day in the park, you simply dismiss them as mediocrity? And what of later down the line in their lives? You would have them fight each other? Sister against sister?" asked Kariya, shock lacing his tone.

"Even if that's what it comes to, my descendants will still be happy. Glory and honor go to the winner. The loser will have preserved the honor of their ancestors." said Tokiomi. Kariya clenched his fists in anger.

"I have to ask did you memorize that last part verbatim or was it something that was in grained into your brain while you were being indoctrinated at an early age?" asked a disembodied male voice. Kariya's eyes widened in surprise as he recognized the voice. Meanwhile, Tokiomi was turning around every which way trying to find where the unfamiliar voice was coming from. Once again, his veneer of elegance and façade of mage cold professionalism was gone, and he was now giving a look that was equal parts angry that something or someone had gotten into his house without his notice and fear as he was unable to pinpoint where they were and had no means of countering them. "Over on the table, gentlemen." said the voice. The two looked there as instructed. Sure enough, the form of a pure black cat sitting primly on the table appeared as if from nowhere.

"Yoruichi. I'm surprised that you decided to make an appearance." said Kariya. Tokiomi looked at Kariya in surprise.

"You know this thing, Kariya Matou?" he asked.

"This thing has a name, you know Mr. Tohsaka." said the male voice that was coming out of the cat. This caused Tokiomi to whip his head back to the cat and cause his eyes to widen in surprise. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Yoruichi. Familiar of Kisuke Urahara. Kariya Matou's Kido teacher." said the now named Yoruichi.

"A talking animal familiar!?" asked Tokiomi still reeling from this discovery. Yoruichi gave a very human smirk at that.

"Indeed. You'll have to forgive me Mr. Tohsaka but I sent my familiar to show my credibility and to give Kariya weight to his proposal." Yoruichi explained playing the part of familiar relaying information perfectly. Tokiomi eyed Yoruichi with suspicion.

"So, you think that I should hand over my daughter, Sakura, to him? A man who willfully turned his back on the mage world?" asked Tokiomi slightly indignantly.

"Considering what you just learned about his family's magecraft, can you blame him for his negative outlook on magecraft and the mage world at large? And for that matter would you have willingly done any different than him if you were in his position?" asked Yoruichi. Tokiomi opened his mouth to say something but found himself at a loss for words. A look of regret came over his face and he looked down at the rug seemingly lost in thought. "I didn't think so. Now the question becomes, are you still planning on giving your daughter, Sakura, to Zouken Matou?" asked Yoruichi. Tokiomi seemed to think about that before facing Kariya.

"You said that you'll sign a Geis scroll to prove you're telling the truth?" he asked.

"As long as there are no unseen surprises that I didn't already agree to prior than yes. I'll sign one as soon as I look at it." said Kariya. Tokiomi nodded satisfied with this answer.

"Then no Sakura will not be sent to Zouken Matou. I give you my word on my family's magic on that." said Tokiomi solemnly.

"Good now that, that's out of the way, I'd like to understand something. Why is it that Sakura must be given up for adoption? Did you consider other options?" asked Yoruichi.

"I thought I made it clear when I explained it earlier." said Tokiomi confused.

"Respectfully Mr. Tohsaka. I'm not a mage. I'm a Kido Master. I wield a different supernatural gift than you and therefore don't have the same mentality or values that you do. So that's why I want your opinion and insights as I want to understand a mage mindset. While Kariya was the one to open the door to the world of magecraft for me, unfortunately he's also jaded, negative, and views anything about the mage world in the worst light possible. That's why I took the opportunity to come via my familiar as I both wanted to help my student and I wanted to indulge in my own curiosity." Said Yoruichi continuing to play their role. Unbeknownst to Tokiomi, Kariya smirked as he had now caught onto what Yoruichi was doing and he would do his part to play along. He quickly schooled his features to a passive expression so as to not give away the game to Tokiomi. Afterall Sakura's future was on the line. Tokiomi sighed.

"Very well your point has been made. I'll indulge you but on the condition that I get a demonstration of this Kido that you practice later." said Tokiomi firmly.

"I can work with that. Now I'm going to assume that your initial decision wasn't done out of malice or parental negligence towards anyone including Sakura. And furthermore, that you genuinely believed that you were making the best possible choice for Sakura at that time. Is that a safe assumption?" asked Yoruichi Tokiomi nodded. "To me there seems to be other options available. Why not just raise both as mages within the same family. That simplifies a lot of problems." Yoruichi suggested.

"Unlikely. As I explained earlier, Mage families can only manage to properly raise one child as a magus or rather only one child can inherit the FULL magic crest and continue the family work as breaking the crest in half or more will result in less inheritance received by each, and that is even assuming that both children's bodies are even compatible with the crest in the first place. With this in mind, this has the implication that the other child would be 'neglected' if you will, on the path of pursuing magecraft. The Sophia-Ri family attempted to raise both children as mages within the same family and it ended up poorly for them. During a more chaotic period of that family's history, with the intent being to ensure their survival, both children, a boy, and a girl if I recall correctly, were trained in magecraft to protect themselves. Yet when things calm down, the boy was picked to be the heir and completed his training, while the girl was cast aside as a mere political tool and as a useful bride to her husband. That's all that will await Sakura if that option is done." explained Tokiomi.

"And will result in a rather magically gifted woman never truly understanding the notion of pursuing her own happiness. Whatever that may be." concluded Yoruichi. "So, you treat magic Crests like non magic aristocrats would do with estates or land and trying to pass everything down in one piece to the heir. Alright I understand the reason why that would be a bad idea. So, what about a scenario with only one child being trained as a mage, while the other remains an ordinary human and lives a normal life. Surely there is precedence for this. I believe Kariya and the Matous that don't have magic circuits provide a good example of this option. And before you do any spiel about mediocrity, I need to let you know that before I became a genius and Kido Master, I was first trained as an assassin." That tidbit makes Tokiomi uneasy but he continues to listen "So I can pick up on subtle nuances of human expression and body languages and I could tell that when you said that part of your initial spiel to Kariya, while you weren't making up that whole thing from full cloth, it's clear you said the mediocrity bit as a means to save face and not show weakness to someone that you both A) saw as inferior to you and B)didn't trust to see you at your most vulnerable." That surprises Kariya but as he thinks about it, he nods in understanding as he realizes that that would be something Tokiomi would do and his reasons for doing it. "So, what's the real reason for not going with this option, Mr. Tohsaka?" asked Yoruichi.

Tokiomi takes a moment to gather his thoughts before sighing and looking at Yoruichi. "You're . . . not wrong in your assumptions. That option is often the one chosen by most mage family's when having more than one child. However, that is generally built on the assumption that one of the children just shows poor magical talent. As I said to Kariya Matou earlier, my wife was an excellent child bearer and both Rin and Sakura were blessed/cursed with gifts that are considered rare among Mages." he explained.

"Could you elaborate on that like can I get at least generalizations of the girls' potential as mages?" asked Yoruichi. Tokiomi considered before answering.

"All I'll give you is that Rin's magecraft allows her to wield any element of her choosing or, if she really wants to, she could very well choose to learn to wield all elements while Sakura's magecraft will be able to utilize or be more effective against spirit beings." he said cryptically. Kariya looked astonished.

"You mean that Rin's an Average One and Sakura can use Imaginary Numbers!?" he asked. Tokiomi glared at him for that. Yoruichi quickly intervened before things turned sour.

"I can assume from this interaction that these are the rare talents you mentioned. For now, I won't pry into that as I still want to know what's the real reason to not raise Sakura as a mundane." Yoruichi stated.

"Simply put, there is no way for either Sakura and/or Rin to live a normal life, unless they learn the art of magecraft that allows them to truly understand their gifts and control them. Even if a choice was made to only train one successor and the other was able to lead a rather normal life, it doesn't imply that no issue would occur." said Tokiomi.

"You're refering to souring their relationship as sisters and possibly lead to neglect or jealousy or turn their sibling rivalry deadly, right?" asked Yoruichi. Tokiomi nodded.

"One need to only look no further than the Aozaki sisters where, Touko, one of the most powerful mages in the modern day and a true genius among mages in her own right and Aoko, who currently wields the 5th True Magic, got into a lengthy murderous fight triggered by the decision of which one was named family heir made by their grandfather. Touko was named heir and Aoko had been raised, as you called them, as a mundane. After Aoko became a True Magician, though I don't know how, the two sisters saw each other as rivals which did indeed turn deadly and now even though both are still alive, refuse to even acknowledge the other's existence." said Tokiomi sadly.

"You seemed to not mind the idea of Rin and Sakura fighting when I asked earlier." Kariya pointed out.

"As equals testing their full potential on each other. Not as vengeance for feeling neglected or spite or jealousy of the other. And if you want to bring up 4th or 5th Holy Grail Wars, remember it is a 50-year gap between wars and the next one I will be participating in and by the 5th War, should there even be one, both Sakura and Rin would be grandmothers and it would more likely be their offspring fighting in that war, if at all. I might be fine if the two chose to fight even if it was against each other, but I also wouldn't be opposed if their two families decided to ally together, as they did generations ago. Which I need to point out you never considered in your accusation with me." Tokiomi said testily. "But there is one other reason of my wanting Sakura to be raised as a mage and even heir if possible: Seal Designation." Kariya gasped in shock and his eyes widened at that term. "I take it you forgot about that possibility, Kariya Matou?" asked Tokiomi giving Kariya a pointed look. Kariya narrowed his eyes at that. Yoruichi sighed but intervened again.

"Perhaps you can enlighten me on this subject Mr. Tohsaka. The impression I've gotten so far is that the Mages Association allows students to study magecraft and even allows for apprenticeships as well. But the overall environment is so cutthroat and coldhearted that if magecraft isn't revealed to the mundane world, the Association would allow its practitioners to get away with all kinds of atrocities all while hiding behind a veneer of professional academia. Is that a fair assessment?" asked Yoruichi. Tokiomi nodded grimly.

"Yes, and Sealing Designations are the epitome of that assessment. To put it simply, for academic or political reasons, mages that make major breakthroughs or even just have rare talents will be marked as needed to be "archived" by the Association, and they will do whatever is necessary to achieve that. To use the Aozaki sisters again, despite being under the protection of her family as heir, once she became the head of the family and made her breakthroughs as a genius mage, Touko was given a Sealing Designation and had to be on a constant run just to avoid them and eventually only had it revoked after destroying the department and all its contents to get it to change its mind. Mages with these designations have lost their families, their standing, and even several have had to give up practicing magecraft and move to some of the most remote places of the world just to stay off the Association's radar which for a typical mage may as well be a death sentence as it means that they can't continue their pursuit of the Root. And even if one dies, if the Association's agents have been able to successfully track you down either just prior to death or before rigor mortis sets into the body, they can still get what they want, for despite being "dead", it's possible for magic crests, organs, brain, eyes, etc. to be extracted and kept "alive" in a jars. Anything that the Association wants to preserve from the individual mage is up for grabs. And this is just one of many ways that a Sealing Designation is done." explained Tokiomi in a disgusted tone. Kariya also looked disgusted while Yoruichi went completely still.

"And how does this connect to your daughter's futures again?" asked Yoruichi carefully.

"As Kariya Matou pointed out, Rin has the gift of being an Average One while Sakura can utilize magecraft against spirits. Both of which are rare talents and can't be achieved through study. Rin has proven to be compatible with the family's Magic Crest which there's no guarantee that Sakura would be as well. As a result, Rin being named the heir now has the protection of the Tohsaka family which the Association can't interfere with until she comes of age and/or is made head of the family, whichever comes first. Sakura on the other hand doesn't have those protections and would be vulnerable to the Association should they decide to give her a Sealing Designation and they won't care about her being a child. Hence why she needed to be adopted into a mage family and preferably be made their heir so she can protect herself through magecraft learning and the mage family will protect her from the Association at least until she comes of age or becomes head of the family. So now do you understand why I was trying to give Sakura up for adoption? It wasn't because I wanted to but because it's the only way to both protect her and secure her the best future for her as a gifted mage." said Tokiomi.

"I appreciate you providing context as I realized that you were genuinely just trying to look out for Sakura in your own way, but there's still one thing that I don't understand." Kariya admitted.

"And what's that?" Tokiomi asked, eyeing Kariya with suspicion.

"Why didn't you investigate how my family's magecraft worked? Like ask me as I had in-depth knowledge of the Matou family magecraft. You clearly put a lot of thought into the decision to put Sakura up for adoption so why did you not put in that same amount of thought when it came to the family that you were going to give her to?" asked Kariya clipped tone. A look of regret once again crossed Tokiomi's face.

"I will admit that I did base my decision of my original choice of Sakura's guardian family on naïve assumptions, but here is the issue: understanding other family's magecraft is much more difficult than what you expect. In fact, it is generally considered a taboo among mages to spy on how others' magecraft works or even ask for explicit details of a family's magecraft unless the family is willing to share those details." explained Tokiomi.

"I'm afraid I don't follow." said Yoruichi in confusion.

"Unless Zouken himself chose to explain nicely how his family's magecraft work, I would have no good way to understand or even know about what I would be subjecting Sakura to." Tokiomi explained further.

"Kariya had left the family and you could've just asked him not even bring up the idea of Sakura's adoption." suggested Yoruichi. Tokiomi looked like he just swallowed a lemon.

"As you pointed out, Kariya has a bit of a bias against mages and the mage world at large and therefore as someone who has been able to, through immense hard work and dedication despite being far less gifted than either of my daughters, make it this far as I am in the mage world on those merits, I will admit that I would've dismissed his account as jealousy from someone who turned their back on the mage world. As someone who escaped from his duty as supposed heir of the family, and now just whining about the hardship behind a mages' training and wanting to put Sakura not only in danger from the mage world but also rob her of her own future out of his spite and jealousy towards it." Tokiomi admitted. Kariya sighed.

"He's not wrong on the first part of that and I would've been extremely suspicious if he had come to me asking for my opinion on my family's magecraft now that I actually think about it." Kariya admitted looking a little ashamed.

"I'm a bit surprised that you would even admit such a weakness about yourself. But your confident that Sakura would be able to handle the so-called hardships of mage training?" asked Yoruichi.

"Taking responsibility for oneself is the foremost part of being human." said Tokiomi confidently. Yoruichi gave a very human like smirk at that. "And besides, the hardship that comes with mage training under normal circumstances by our culture is fully justified as long as it is for what we see as the noble goal of reaching The Root, and if anything, it was until now reasonable for me to believe that not only would the Matous not mistreat Sakura in any way, but also Sakura's own talent can overcome all these much easier than I did." he further explained.

"Have to admit, to some degree, outside of your own lack of understanding of the truth of Zouken Matou, your confidence in your own children is commendable as a parent." Yoruichi commented. Tokiomi smiled a little at that before he looked ashamed as he spoke again.

"That being said, I will admit that I thought that Zouken would be like almost all other mage family heads in that Zouken knew his family's mage lineage was on the decline and was in desperate need of new blood. Afterall it's known well among the Founding Families of the Holy Grail War Ritual that, unlike my family, the Tohsakas, the originally foreign Matous have had issues to acclimating to land of Fuyuki, Japan, which is part of the reason of its continuous decline. Therefore, if assuming Zouken Matou would still want to go somewhere with their pursuit of The Root, the addition of Sakura would be like a savior for them. In short, under normal circumstances, Zouken Matou would have no reason to mistreat Sakura in any way." Tokiomi pointed out.

"I will admit that, that assumption isn't wrong if this was under normal circumstances, but the only problem is that Zouken Matou is already mad. Has been for decades now and doesn't give a damn about the Matou's future, and that's because despite his madness, Zouken can still fake sanity and kindness to a certain degree before others. Sakura would've been heir in name only and he never would've passed the crest down to anyone. All he cares about is getting the Grail to get eternal youth and life for himself. At best Sakura would've been nothing more than a vessel for him to use however he pleased including using her body as a new host for himself or at worst she would've just been more food for him to use to extend his life a little longer." said Kariya acidly.

"Well, I can say that despite appearances, you do love your children and have not made decisions out of any real selfish reasons or ignoring your daughter's well-being. But now that you know what awaits Sakura should you give her away to Zouken Matou, the question becomes what will you do now?" asked Yoruichi. Tokiomi was in deep thought about this before answering.

"I will contact Zouken Matou and inform him that I will be cancelling all negotiations about Sakura's adoption to him tomorrow and if he presses the issue, I'll reveal what I know about the magecraft of the family. Hopefully, he'll back off. But after that, I will have to start the search again for a family to adopt her." Tokiomi explained tiredly.

"So, you still won't even consider my proposal?" asked Kariya. "In case you forgot, I-" he started but was interrupted by Tokiomi.

"I've not forgotten about your apprenticeship in Kido. But it's an unknown element that I have no understanding of. You say it doesn't require pedigrees but then surely it means that at best you could maybe be on par with a novice mage. And you want Sakura to learn something like this from scratch? Even with her potential she'll have squandered her gifts as she would be looked down on and be seen as only a first generation mage at best and would have to start a new lineage of Kido users which would take generations to gain recognition and that's not even getting into how long before they can start showing interest in gaining access to The Root." said Tokiomi as if he was addressing a student who wasn't quite understanding the point of his lesson.

"You're trying to overlay your knowledge of magecraft over Kido and assume that they operate the way but that's not how it works. For one thing we don't pursue The Root, as you call it, at all as we see it as a pointless endeavor. Instead, we hone our abilities and experiment to create new kinds of Kido whether it's for combat or for mundane purposes like curing a hangover without needing to rely on mundane medicine. Plus, you said Imaginary Numbers is about utilizing magecraft on spirits or against them? That's tailormade for Kido as it's known as the spiritual arts. If what you've both been telling me is even half true, it's possible Sakura could become a prodigy in Kido that could rival even multi-generational mage families." Yoruichi explained.

"Surely you jest. Even if you say Sakura having potential as a child prodigy is true, there is no way a non-generational magic user could hope to even come close to matching another who comes from a prestigious line of magic users. It simply isn't done." argued Tokiomi.

"Alright you want proof? Then let's have a small duel." challenged Yoruichi. Tokiomi smirked.

"Alright. Where and when?" he asked.

"How about now and of your choosing?" suggested Yoruichi. Tokiomi's eyes widened at this, and his face looked surprised.

"You must be mad. You plan to have your familiar fight me!?" Tokiomi asked incredulously.

"Oh yes. Not only am I speaking to you over a vast distance through my familiar Yoruichi, but I can even perform Kido through Yoruichi as well over that same distance." said Yoruichi smirking confidently. Tokiomi narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"You're bluffing." he said in a suspicious tone.

"Then duel my familiar and we will see who is bluffing." said Yoruichi challengingly still playing their part. "Besides, you wanted a demonstration. This will kill multiple birds with one stone." they continued. Finally, Tokiomi seemed to relent.

"Very well. The park that my daughter's go to will serve as our battleground. We'll go at dusk. Be there at sunset and we'll see if all you just said was a bluff or the real deal." said Tokiomi.

"Excellent. Then Kariya and I will grab some dinner as it's close to that time now. We'll see you after we eat." stated Yoruichi. Kariya opened his arms which Yoruichi jumped into and then he put them on his right shoulder. And with that the two exited the living room. Once the door was closed, Tokiomi looked frustrated and like he swallowed a lemon. He grabbed his wine glass and down it in one gulp before he slammed it on the table next to the bracelets.

Aoi was escorting them back to the front door. "So did you hear that conversation, my dear?" asked Yoruichi. This caused Aoi to freeze. She quickly turned around with a look of surprise. "Judging from that surprised look, I'm going to say that yes you did, Mrs. Tohsaka." stated Yoruichi.

"A.. . Talking. . . Cat!?" asked Aoi in astonishment.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" asked Yoruichi jokingly as they then started snickering at their own joke. Kariya gave Yoruichi a deadpan stare while Aoi looked like a cross between looking confused and looking angry. Confused as she didn't understand the joke that had been made at her expense and angry because some was making fun of her at her expense. She did, however, quickly regain her composure.

"To answer your first question before you . . . caught me off guard, yes, I was listening to your conversation. Though I must ask if it was that obvious?" she asked in a neutral tone.

"Not really. I simply sensed your spirit energy outside the door the entire conversation and asked because I wanted to see if you would try to lie to us. I'm glad that you didn't even try as this means that you are a very honest soul. It's honestly quite refreshing." said Yoruichi smoothly and gave a smile to her. Aoi found herself blushing at that comment.

"Oh . . .uh. . . Thank you for the compliment." she said. "Spirit energy?" she asked curiously.

"Spirit energy is our name for mana as you call it, while spiritual pressure is our name for prana as you call it. Same entity just different name for different groups." Yoruichi explained. Aoi nodded, seeming to understand the explanation as she once again continued to escort them as they made their way to the exit of the mansion. Once at the door, Kariya was let out, but he turned back around and bowed his head to Aoi.

"Thank you, Aoi. For helping me gain an audience with your husband." he said with genuine sincerity.

"I suppose I should thank you as well. If you hadn't told us about your family's magecraft Sakura would've surely faced a fate worse than death. But Kariya there's something that I want to know as this has been bothering me for the last hr. Why are you going through all this effort for Sakura? Are you really doing this for her sake alone or is this some sort of twisted play to try and win my favor or even my love?" she asked timidly. Kariya's neck snaps his head up and looks at Aoi in shock. "Be honest with me Kariya." she says more firmly. "Why are you doing all this?" she asks. Kariya looks at her and his shock begins to wear off as he gains a more thoughtful look. Yoruichi growls like a real cat and unsheathes her claws which she shows to Kariya who in turn eyes them nervously as he sees it for the threat that it is. Aoi eyes the exchange with confusion. He sighs as he answers.

"I will be completely honest. My love and care for Sakura is genuine and I want nothing more than to spare her the fate that would await her if she was sent to Zouken. But I won't lie and say that my feelings for you aren't playing a factor in all this. I suppose I'd best get this out of the way as we are alone now. Aoi, I love you. I've always loved you and still carry a flame for you to this day. My most genuine desire is to be your husband and Rin and Sakura's father." Kariya confessed. Aoi looks surprised but her face becomes sad.

"Even if that role is fulfilled by my actual husband, Tokiomi?" she asked sadly. "Would you go so far as to kill him to get what you want?" she pressed. Kariya adopts a look of resignation.

"Had you asked me those questions a year ago, my answer would've been yes to both. But like I said my teacher has given me something extremely important." he stated.

"And what's that?" asked Aoi curious.

"Perspective." answered Kariya. "As much as I personally hate to admit, Tokiomi wasn't wrong in that when I left the mage world, I didn't think of anyone but myself. I did leave as a way to protect you as I knew that any child we had as mages of the Matou family would've resulted in us and our children being used by Zouken to help cheat death a little longer, but I never bothered to tell you the reason why I left at all. Nor did it ever occur to me when you told me that you had two daughters and that both showed amazing talent as mages during one of our earlier encounters that Zouken and Tokiomi would find a solution that benefitted the both of them due to my leaving the title of Matou heir vacant. In retrospect if I had maybe we could've still had a future together. But I didn't and that's no one's fault but mine. I realize also that while I still despise the mage world and the mage mentality, in the case of Tokiomi, my hatred for him comes from jealousy and insecurities. I finally realized that today when I saw him express regret and how he admitted that he was in the wrong due to Sakura. As such all my hatred was based on nothing but my perceived issues with myself and Tokiomi and not on reality. But the most important thing I learned under Kisuke Urahara's tutelage was that I had been blatantly disregarding your own feelings on the matter. My teacher made me realize that I had prior to now never once stopped to ask you what you wanted. It took me seeing real monsters, that started off as ordinary humans but by letting their negative emotions like anger, resentments, regrets, etc. Consume them, it poisoned their souls until it corrupted them turning them into monsters who in a twisted way of wanting to be with their loved ones again that they'd devour their own families or anyone else they loved, that I came to the understanding and growing horror that that would be me if I didn't change for the better." He explained. Aoi had a look of horror on her face as he described the latter part of his training.

"What sort of creatures are these monsters?" she asked in horror. Kariya looked down on the ground.

"I can't get into any further detail about them as I did sign a self geis scroll that forbids me to revealing anything but the most cursory information about the things I was taught during my training." Aoi nods at this in understanding. "So, since I'm here I'll just come right out and ask. Aoi what do you want of me or want me to do?" he asked, looking her dead in the eye. Yoruichi had since retracted their claws and simply sat on his shoulder watching the scene unfold quietly.

"And you'll do as I asked even if it's something you'd rather not do?" she asked skeptically. Kariya nods solemnly.

"Even if you ask me to turn around, leave, and never associate with you or your children again and even if Sakura isn't given to me, I will respect your wishes and disappear. I've come to realize that while I love you and will never stop loving you, I look at what I have to offer, outside of my teacher and what he's given me, and I know that I, as a person, have very little to offer you. While I do have a job as a freelance journalist, it's a job where I live paycheck to paycheck and that's just by myself. If it were you and the girls, we'd be lucky not to be starving in the streets. As a mage I only know the most basic of knowledge that both Rin and Sakura either already know or could master in a few weeks and I left the world of magecraft behind me years ago. So, I know I have very little to offer in the first place. About the only thing I can guarantee is that I would see to Sakura's needs as a human rather than a mage and see if my Kido teacher is willing to take on another student in Sakura. But I only had 6 months of training so while I do know a bit of Kido, it's not enough and I would require more training as well as Sakura. So even that is very little. By contrast Tokiomi is the head of a well-to-do mage family, is incredibly talented and has enough knowledge and resources to actually teach and train the girls to become proper mages, is financially stable to give you and the girls a well- off life and does genuinely love the girls and you for giving birth to them. And believe me even admitting that much about him is difficult for me even with the last 6 months of training I went through." Kariya explained. Aoi smiled.

"You really have changed Kariya. And for the better it seems. Alright you ask me what I want, it's this. For you and Tokiomi to at least be civil with each other if and when you two are in the same room and especially if the girls are in earshot. I know and understand that asking you both to get along is impossible as you both are from two complete opposite ends of the spectrum regarding mages and humanity. But while you are of such different minds that doesn't mean you can't be civil without someone to act as a referee for you. The other thing I want is for you to find happiness with someone else." she stated. Kariya looked at her in surprise.

"Aoi?" he asked. Aoi smile disappears becoming thoughtful.

"All the points you made earlier about my husband are true but there is one thing you never thought about: my feelings regarding Tokiomi. So, I'll make this clear now. While I don't agree with everything he does or chooses, I still love Tokiomi. Nothing about our relationship was forced, I chose to marry him even though I knew what the expectations were at the time. I didn't agree with the decision he made concerning Sakura, but I did have the context for why he did what he did and understood his reasonings so while I would be hurt by it, I chose to support him as a loving wife to her husband. As for my feelings concerning you, Kariya, when you left, I thought that it had been because you weren't interested in me beyond friendship and didn't want to get married for political reasons especially when you left without so much as a goodbye note. Now that I know the truth, I do appreciate that you are trying to prevent Sakura from experiencing a fate worse than death." she said as her face adopted a more serious expression "However, had you not given me your word to respect my wishes regardless of whether or not you had a place with me, I would've dared to suspect that there was an ulterior motive to get with me through rescuing Sakura. That's why I want you to find happiness with someone else. You've been waiting til about 6 months ago for my relationship to fall apart so that you could come in and replace my husband. I know this because during our earlier talks I would always ask if you'd been seeing someone or if someone caught your eye during your travels and when you answered no, my follow-up question would be if you even tried to which you never replied which would be an answer in and of itself. I don't want you to waste your life away waiting for something that is unlikely to happen. Is there a chance of it happening? Of course, but very unlikely. So, now that you know will you at least attempt to respect my wishes even if they are not what you wanted to hear?" she asked pleadingly. Kariya looks down on the ground for a moment before facing Aoi again.

"Once this whole debacle with Sakura is resolved one way or another, then I will return and resume my Kido training. But whenever I come back to Fuyuki, should I have to be with Tokiomi be it in the same room or be forced to make conversation with him, I will do everything on my end to keep things civil." Kariya promised. Aoi nodded in acquiesce.

"And my other request?" asked Aoi. Kariya gave her a sad expression. Finally, Yoruichi spoke up for the first time during the entire exchange surprising the two of being reminded that there was a third individual in their conversation.

"You know there's a saying that fits you both perfectly. I believe the saying goes 'if you truly love something, you'll let it go. And if it comes back, it's meant to be.'" Yoruichi stated. The two looked at the cat in curiosity. "Meaning that you must take the risk of leaving the past behind so that perhaps something better can come along but if something you left behind comes back then whatever is tied to that something is simply fated to happen. Be that a rivalry that will be resolved one way or another or a love being rekindled. Be that as it may, Kariya, you may have physically let Aoi go but never did so in an emotional, mental, or psychological sense. As such I think that it may be beneficial for you to follow through with her final request. This is for two reasons: it will allow you to be open to a future that might be better than what you currently are facing and if things turn around and allow you both be together than you can both do so without any second guessing or lingering problems or doubts. So, with this in mind will you adhere to her final request?" asked Yoruichi. Kariya gave a thoughtful look before finally nodding in agreement. Aoi smiled in joy.

"Thank you." she said quietly.

"Now that that's all settled, Kariya I want you to go and get yourself something to eat and I will join you later. Be sure to find an outdoor café so that it won't look suspicious if a cat wanders in for a quick snack. As for myself, Mrs. Tohsaka, I was hoping to talk to you as well before the duel. If that's alright." said Yoruichi as she jumped off Kariya's shoulder and landed on the front step of the mansion.

"Of course." she said. With that Kariya bowed and bid them farewell and headed away from the mansion towards the business district of the city.

"Now I think it would be best that you sit down and allow me to curl up in your lap that way any passersby won't see anything suspicious as we talk." suggested Yoruichi. Aoi nodded and did as asked. Once settled, she started the conversation.

"I want to thank you, Kisuke Urahara. If it hadn't been for you taking Kariya as an apprentice, I don't think that conversation would have even happened much less turn out as positive as it did. But I have to ask, why go through all this effort? What do you gain from all this?" asked Aoi curiously as she gently pet Yoruichi.

"Yes. Most people always get suspicious when someone does something and don't see how they benefit from the deed being done. That seems to be the case for both mundanes and those with supernatural powers. But I suppose what I gain from the whole thing is a chance to learn a new aspect of the supernatural world that I didn't even know existed until very recently and from various perspectives to boot. Kariya's, one who was a part of the mage world but left of his own volition, Tokiomi's, one who is still a part of that world of mages and seems to enjoy it, and finally you Aoi, someone who is, by technicality, a mundane but is allowed to be part of this world of mages. So, I'm actually benefitting from this whole thing quite nicely." Yoruichi stated giving a feline smile.

"So, you're doing this just to gain knowledge?" asked Aoi curiously. Yoruichi looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Is it really so hard to believe that the other reason for helping is because I do care about a child and what fate would've awaited her if she had been given to Zouken Matou?" she asked. Aoi pressed her lips into a thin line.

"Majority of the mage world would've just accepted her fate as a necessary sacrifice in one's pursuit. Be it for the Root or their own personal goals. I accepted that when I married Tokiomi." Aoi stated in a resigned tone.

"So, in other words, even if you had been given a chance to voice your opinion on the matter, you would've still gone along with it even if you disagreed with it?" Yoruichi asked in astonishment. Aoi looked away. Yoruichi narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "So, you play the role of the peaceful, passive, loyal, ideal traditional wife even if that means detrimental consequences to the people being affected by the decisions of your husband, including yourself?" Yoruichi asked before sighing in exasperation. Aoi still hadn't answered her yet. "I will admit that there are some aspects of the mage world that I understand as they act very similar to nobles that I had to deal with back in the day before my marriage, but that is not the world that we live in today no matter how much others wish it were so. If I may be so bold, Ms. Tohsaka, but the moment you finished giving birth to the heir and the spare in your daughters you stopped being a wife and became a mother or at least a parent in general. And more importantly you're the anchor to this family's humanity. I understand that to be a proper mage one must give up their humanity for their pursuits and while I have several bones to pick on that subject, we'll leave that alone and focus on you. Tokiomi may be the head of the family and knows how to act like a proper mage but one of the biggest issues with that is he lacks the finesse to be able to tell when he should act like a mage and when he should act like a human or more specifically a father. But that's where you as his wife comes in." stated Yoruichi.

"What do you mean?" asked Aoi in confusion.

"You act as the 'canary in the coal mine' if you will. Or the early warning system when something could potentially go wrong if something isn't seen to and fixed before it spirals out of control and gets others hurt or worse. Using this situation as an example, you could point out that while looking out for his daughter's potential and future as mages is all well and good, but he needs to remember that your girls are only 5 and 6 yrs old, respectively. And such immediate life changing plans would cause unexpected consequences that will affect them in ways that neither of you are even considering due to not seeing things from both their perspectives as children and as humans." Yoruichi continued.

"Such as?" asked Aoi getting the feeling that she wasn't going to like the answer.

"Let's start with the question of were you going to sit your children down and explained exactly what was going to happen to them and for that matter were the girls going to be allowed to see each other again once they separated?" asked Yoruichi. Aoi thought about it for a moment before she answered.

"We were going to explain what was going to happen two days before Sakura was to be given to the Matous. And since they would be part of different families who use different magecraft, to preserve their magecraft it would be considered most prudent that all communication was cut between them and us with Sakura. So, if they saw each other in passing, they would only be permitted to acknowledge each other as acquaintances." Aoi explained. Yoruichi froze for a few seconds before,

"Are you insane!? Do you have any idea how negatively that would affect a child's psyche!?" Yoruichi yelled which caused Aoi to jump in surprise.

"It's as a said earlier. To prevent-" Aoi started but was interrupted by Yoruichi.

"I heard you the first time, but it seems both of you are forgetting that your children are only 5 and 6 yrs. old. Fine if need to I will spell it out for you. Kariya would wax poetic about the girls during our many conversations over the last 6 months, so I have a decent grasp of their personalities. We'll start with Rin, your chosen heir. Now mentally follow my lead as walk you through this. Is it safe to assume that up til now Rin has had a rather happy childhood?" asked Yoruichi. Aoi nodded.

"Yes. She and Sakura have been best friends and since they know of the mage world, they've become each other's confidantes." Aoi stated with a fond smile.

"Alright then for this exercise I want you to put yourself in your daughter's mindset as it is now. A happy innocent girl who has no idea about what is going to happen to her and her sister. Now imagine that you are suddenly pulled aside and told that since the crest has been successfully transferred to you now your sister, who is the only person you trust completely about everything, is going to be given away to another mage family. Worst still now you must treat the one person who you once saw as your trusted confidant and who you could let your guard down completely and be vulnerable with, as a complete stranger at best or pretend that they never existed at worst. How do you think that would affect you at that age in those exact same circumstances?" asked Yoruichi pointedly. Aoi adopted a look of deep thought.

"I. . . . I think . . .." Aoi then sighed in frustration. "I want to say that I would understand and accept it and just do my duty, but Rin is far more. . .. uh . . . how do I put this?" she asked aloud.

"Rambunctious? Tomboyish? Stubborn?" suggested Yoruichi.

"Rebellious. Yes, I think that's what I'm thinking the right word is." said Aoi now that she was relieved. "The truth is while Rin and I definitely look related, Sakura's personality was always closer to mine. Rin has already shown that while she will follow orders and instructions to the best of her abilities, she has shown to have a penchant for either finding work arounds or in rare cases, straight up not listen or rebel against things she doesn't like or feels are wrong." she elaborated.

"Nothing unusual about that as that's just normal child behavior. Children have a very binary way they look at the world and that follows us into adulthood whether we are conscious of that or not. Throw in the fact that she's developing problem solving skills and you have a very bright young girl. Now getting back to the thought experiment. How do you think Rin would react to the situation?" Yoruichi pressed. Aoi thought again before she answered.

"I think that she would object to it at first and demand to know why this was happening. If Tokiomi pressed his will, Rin might go along with it, but she might still try to find a way to work around his instructions." Aoi said truthfully.

"Okay so you know your daughter very well. That's good. Now let's explore the possibility of her going along without protest. Let's say that Tokiomi forces the issue and Rin decides to go along with it. What do you think will go through her mind at her current age?" Yoruichi asked. Aoi looks at her in confusion as she continued "She's just gone through the permanent forced separation and breaking of her family and has no idea what the cause of it was. What made her father decide which girl to give away? Did her sister do something bad? If she acts up, will she also be separated permanently from her family and someone else will replace her? These will be just a few of the questions that will be buzzing around Rin's head. As such she will conclude that if she doesn't do everything, she tries perfectly on the first try or if she slips up even once, then she will be thrown away and be seen as a mistake as that's going to be her rationalization as to why Sakura was given away. Especially if you don't sit down and properly explain to them why this is occurring rather than just expect them to understand things without further elaboration." said Yoruichi. Aoi had her hands on her mouth as she looked horrified at what she was hearing. "And that's not even delving into what Sakura will be feeling about all this."

"And if Rin is rebellious?" asked Aoi not sure if she really wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Probably even worse version of my earlier example except either she'll put even more pressure on herself as she's going to think she's on thin ice already. Or she'll push to see how long and how far she can go before you or Tokiomi are pushed to breaking point and say or do something that you'll regret later with her. What would happen after that is mere speculation on my part." Yoruichi explained. "And it would be even worse for Sakura. She's a year younger than Rin. Now put yourself in her shoes. Same starting point except now you've just been told that you are going to a different family. Then once you leave you are to act like your previous family never existed. So, you go to a new family that's struggling with their lineage. Now this can go one of two ways: one with the Matous specifically or just some other mage family. We'll start off with the less terrible one. You come to a family that just sees you as a means for continuing one's lineage. Unlike you or your husband, this new family won't show any real love or affection towards you, and they will most likely threaten to throw you away if you don't prove your worth. True, it may not become outright physical abuse but if Kariya's assessment of mages being cold-hearted to even their own families has any merit, it would be emotional, psychological and mental abuse as they would see her as a constant reminder of their own personal failures and would find creative ways to take it out on her rather than internalize it and strive to be better. Essentially Sakura would be functionally alone with no one to be her confidant, having to always keep herself guarded from those who wish her ill, and finally having to try and rationalize the reason for why she was given away. Her conclusion would be the same as Rin's except that she would see herself as something broken and unworthy of love or affection and see this as a punishment that she must endure because she believes herself to be broken or unworthy. Tell me do you think that jaded mages aren't going to take advantage of a young girl and feed on her own insecurities just to prop up their own self-esteem?" Yoruichi asked. Aoi's eyes were becoming misty with her hands still on her mouth. Still, she then asked,

"And if it were the Matous?" Yoruichi looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"You heard that bit of the conversation, Aoi. What do you think?" Yoruichi challenged.

"A fate worse than death." said Aoi unable to even voice anything any further.

"So, do you see what I'm getting at? You may be thinking of doing what is best for them in terms of being mages but neither of you are thinking of the situation as parents." stated Yoruichi.

"I will admit that there will be things that many would not find pleasant, but I knew that when I married into a mage family." Aoi said.

"That right there is where you are trying to escape responsibility as a parent along with your husband. You and he may have chosen this life of your own volition and Rin and Sakura may have been born with the thought of being the heir and spare if necessary but in the end neither of these girls are getting any say in the matter about their own lives. I know the reasons for why this is necessary as mages but both of you need to also make sure, as parents, that both of your children realize just what kind of a world they are getting involved in, doubly so if they aren't permitted to decide the course of their own life." Yoruichi stated. Aoi looked at Yoruichi now confused.

"Earlier I asked you why go through all this effort, and you answered because you cared. Now I must ask what does it matter to you? Why do you care so much about this?" she asked. Yoruichi looked thoughtful before answering.

"I suppose I've taken an interest because my wife's experiences aren't too dissimilar from your daughters'." she answered. Aoi's eyes widen. "While she wasn't a mage, she was a noble and a military commander. She had a lot of expectations put on her and was expected to not only meet those expectations but surpass them and not fail even once. Can you imagine the kind of pressure that she had on her shoulders?" Yoruichi asked. Aoi face softened as she nodded. "Even worse, there were only a few people with whom she completely let her guard down and have people just see her as a person rather than her title, her position, her prestige, etc. I was one of those few lucky people. From where I stand, your daughters won't get even that if you don't address the problem as parents. You and your husband had the luxury of having even one person with whom you could let yourself be vulnerable with, but if the situation continued as is with no attempts to address the situation as parents your daughters will be denied even that as well as they'll see everyone including you two as people who will hurt them if they show even the slightest weakness and any relationship you personally had with either daughter will be destroyed." Yoruichi pointed out. Aoi looked ahead in deep thought. "I see that I have given some things to think about so I feel that it would be best if I leave. I'll be seeing your husband at the park at sunset." said Yoruichi as she stepped down onto the sidewalk. She then turned back to face Aoi. "I'm not saying that Sakura and Rin shouldn't become mages, but they should know exactly what their getting into and should be at least told why things are happening the way they are since allowing them to choose what to do with their lives doesn't seem to be an option. So please at least consider my advice and think as a parent rather than a mage's spouse or in your husband's case, as a mage." With that Yoruichi took off, heading into town.

Aoi watched as the cat familiar departed and continued to sit on the steps to her mansion thinking about what was said. Suddenly the mansion doors opened and revealed her husband in the doorway. His face was that of barely contained anger. Aoi became concerned. "Tokiomi?" she asked hesitantly.

"Who does that outsider think he is?! Coming here and telling me how to raise my children!?" Tokiomi said venomously. Aoi looked on starting to feel scared but took a deep breath. Then she got to her feet and took her husband's hand in hers, seeming to break him out of his angry trance as he looked at her curiously.

"Darling. Technically Kisuke never once said that Sakura and Rin shouldn't be mages just that we need to tell the girls just what will happen and prepare them for the world of mages." said Aoi gently. Tokiomi eyed her with suspicion.

"Not even 5 minutes after his familiar left and already you are parroting his words?" he asked. Aoi looked at him in surprise.

"Darling! I will admit that it's a bit strange that a complete outsider would even bother to point out or help by offering advice-" Aoi started.

"Strange? More like downright suspicious." Tokiomi pointed out.

"But keep in mind that he encouraged Kariya to come to us and even got him to agree to put himself under a geis to explain truthfully just how the Matou magecraft worked. And by doing so helped in saving Sakura from a fate worse than death which you had made the decision on as the mage head of the Tohsaka household." Aoi finished. Tokiomi looked like he swallowed a lemon. "Now that I think on it Kisuke is correct in pointing out that while you and I both chose this life as part of the world of magecraft, our daughters won't get the same choice if they get any at all. So, telling us to at least take the time to fully explain their situation and what is going to happen doesn't seem like that much of a problem." Aoi looked down at the ground, her eyes getting misty which Tokiomi looked at her with concern. "Besides it's already bad enough that I must lose a daughter and never see her again or if I do I have to pretend that I don't even know her. I don't want the other one to think that she can't trust me as her confidant and think that I see her as something to observe and if there are any faults, toss them aside as if they were trash." she said almost on the verge of tears. Tokiomi sighed.

"You really allowed his words to get to you, Aoi." he said in a pitying tone. Aoi looked at him.

"I know exactly how my own daughters act and think since I raised them. While Kisuke was going off 2nd hand accounts from Kariya, his assessment of their reactions to their potential situation wasn't too far off the mark, Tokiomi." Aoi pointed out. "So, what are you going to do?" she asked. Tokiomi sighed.

"I'll go and inform Zoken Matou that negotiations are off and that all ties are going to be cut, though out of respect for them as part of the Founding Families of the Holy Grail War Ritual, I will allow them to continue to live on the land in Fuyuki. Then after that we'll have dinner, and then go to this duel and see what happens and we'll figure out what to do next after that." he said wearily. Aoi gave a hopeful smile at that.

"All right then. I'll start dinner and make everyone's favorites tonight." said Aoi happily. Tokiomi followed after her with a sullen look on his face. Closing the door behind them.

Miyama – outdoor café - late afternoon

Kariya had just finished ordering his food and had started to let his mind mull over the day's events. On the one hand he had managed to save Sakura from Zouken's clutches and had even been able to get some insight into how Tokiomi's mind worked. On the other hand, seeing Tokiomi actually show care, concern, and regret over what he almost made Sakura go through with the Matous forced Kariya to acknowledge and fully realize that a lot of his animosity was born from his own resentments towards Tokiomi for having everything he ever wanted, his jealousy, and sense of inadequacy. Aoi making it clear how she was genuinely in love with Tokiomi and that Kariya never fully explained his situation when he left as gave him food for thought. I left the mage world 10 yrs ago because I hated how they made others and themselves suffer in order to continue to cling to the past and bring it back to the present and yet here I find I'm no different as I did the same thing with Aoi. He thought. Kariya looked out over the streets in the late afternoon sun. I guess the question is what to do now?

"Have you finished eating yet?" asked a male voice, scaring Kariya and getting other patrons' attention. Kariya looked to see a black cat and frowned.

"Stupid cat go away." said Kariya playing the role of embarrassed customer who got startled by a cat. Said cat ignored him and jumped onto the table. Kariya made a halfhearted attempt to shoo it away. Other customers smiled at the scene and went back to their own conversations. By now the server brought out his food and noticed the cat on his table. Kariya quickly ordered a saucer of milk which caused the lady to smile, promising to return quickly. His food consisted of chicken rolls stuffed with garlic and broccoli and a spread of sushi. Kariya broke his chopsticks and began to eat. Minutes later the server came back with milk and a saucer and gave it to the cat. After she left the cat sat up and held up its paw and started doing gestures which ended with the sound dying away. Kariya looked around and saw that there was a rainbow-colored box structure surrounding their table.

"Don't worry it will just look to outsiders as us just enjoying our meal and I've attached some other kidos that will keep others away until we're done talking. They won't hear anything of our conversation. Now to business. Get out the blue iPhone and call Kisuke." ordered Yoruichi. Kariya did as asked.

"What did you and Aoi talk about after I left?" he asked while waiting for the call to connect.

"Just me giving her some advice. That she should make sure that the girls understand their situation fully along with the world they will be entering and with understanding and consideration for their young ages. Whether this will result in anything is up for debate." Yoruichi admitted. She seemed to pause as if to consider something. Then they heard Kisuke's voice on the line.

"Hello, Hello. Kisuke Urahara here." said the voice on the other end of the line.

"Hello Kisuke. It's Kariya. Did you check out the address I gave you?" he asked with apprehension.

"I did and I even made it to the basement that you described, and I have to say, it puts a lot of horror movies to shame." said Urahara in an emotionless voice. Yoruichi's ears folded back signifying anger.

"How bad was it Kisuke?" she asked.

"Picture being in a dungeon that hasn't been cleaned in decades but is being used like a morgue and Mayuri's lab in squad 12 but stinks of rotten meat but instead of dead bodies all you see is maggots in their thousands along with other types of insects all of which are carnivorous and squirming looking for their next meal and that should give you the barest glimpse of what I saw down there. The only saving grace is that I saw no bodies down there." said Urahara. Yoruichi and Kariya exchanged a grim look.

"Were you able to figure out anything about these crest worms, Kisuke?" she asked.

"Yep. Although the analysis is incomplete, I was able to determine that it contains a soul fragment within it, and I was able to get the exact composition of the soul and determined that all the worms and insects had the same soul attached to it. But after determining this the worm self-destructed in my hand. Most likely the owner of said soul realized something was amiss with his worm familiar and ordered its destruction along with the soul fragment within it. I then deployed the tracking kido I created with the intent to lock onto any and all things that contained that same soul composition and it will attach itself to every last piece of that owner's soul and allow us to ensure that nothing of him survives to cheat death again. The only downside is it will take at least 48 hrs. for us to ensure that all of these crest worm familiars are all being tracked so that way we can go after them and eliminate them all in one fell swoop. Also two final things, I passed Zouken on my way out the door and he was furious, mumbling something about damning the Tohsakas and now that neither of the girls are going to be given to him, he's going to have to either find some other method to obtain an heir or continued With himself as the sole member of the Matou family practicing magecraft. And he looked at me and asked who I was and when I asked if he could see me, he answered that it was as clear as day for him to see me. So, we can say that Zouken is also spiritually aware though that could be due to him cheating death for as long he has. I got away shortly after, and I know he wasn't able to follow me" Kisuke explained. Kariya sighed in relief

"Where are you now Kisuke?" asked Yoruichi.

"I'm currently at a park near Miyama. Currently sitting where, the picnic tables and benches are located. A children's playground isn't too far from here. Do you want me to meet up with you? I can sense you two from my current location." Kisuke suggested.

"No. Stay where you are but keep yourself hidden. Kariya and I will be heading there anyway shortly as we will be meeting up with Tokiomi Tohsaka for a duel/demonstration and comparison of magecraft and Kido. I'll be there posing as your familiar and if you want you can reveal yourself and have a proper duel after I thoroughly hand his ass to him on a platter." said Yoruichi confidently. Kariya couldn't help but smile.

"That confident in your abilities, Yoruichi?" asked Urahara with a chuckle in his voice. "Well alright then. I'll see you later. Bye." with that he hung up.

"So how are you holding up?" Yoruichi asked Kariya as she drank her milk. Kariya began to eat his meal again as he grew thoughtful.

"Well I'm grateful to the both of you for going out of your way to help me as now I know that Sakura will not be going to Zouken anytime soon and I will soon see not only have Tokiomi get his ass handed to him for his magus arrogance in believing magecraft is superior to all other forms of magic but also know that soon Zouken could very well be gone for good." said Kariya as he continued Eating.

"But?" Yoruichi asked suspecting there was more. Kariya sighed swallowing his food.

"But it feels like a pyrrhic victory. I learned that Aoi really does love the man that I loathe and what's more I've now only realize that most of my hatred for him stemmed from my jealousy of him for having everything that I wanted." he confessed.

"I hate to be that person but just what exactly were you hoping for? That as soon as you revealed what Sakura's fate would be should she be given to the Matous, that Aoi would be so outraged at what Tokiomi almost did that she would leave him and take the girls and come running to you?" Yoruichi asked incredulously. Kariya looked away in shame. Yoruichi sighed. "You said so yourself that you never explained to Aoi why you were leaving the world of magecraft in the first place, so I say that you're being unfair to her. How can she appreciate all that you've done for her and sacrificed for her when you won't even let her know of your sacrifices. It's like a trauma victim who keeps constantly putting up a façade of their being alright and then getting mad when no notices that something is wrong and that they need to be rescued. You can't have it both ways." Yoruichi criticized gently.

"I realize that now. But now I don't know what to do. Aoi was correct in saying that I had been waiting in the wings for her and Tokiomi's relationship to fall apart. But now that the past is completely shut off from me through her command to find someone else to love, facing the future is still scary." he confessed, feeling very childish, admitting that.

"It's because it's completely unknown. Of course, it's going to be scary. Right now, you have been dwelling on the familiar except for your training in Kido but up til now you never moved past the past you only physically left behind. Now life itself is pulling you kicking and screaming into both the present and the future. Whether you really want to or not." Yoruichi commented Kariya chuckled and realized that he was almost finished with his meal. "So now the question is what are you going to do now?" she asked, finishing her milk. Kariya thought for a moment then looked at Yoruichi seriously.

"I still want to take Sakura in as my adopted daughter. And then have the both of us see if she can learn any kido and if I can continue My own training under you and Urahara. Beyond that I'll let the chips fall where they will, and I guess see what happens from there." said Kariya resolutely.

"That said, I think that I will be the one to adopt her but only as my ward rather than a daughter." Yoruichi said suddenly. This caught Kariya completely off guard.

"What!?" he asked in surprise.

"Exactly what I said. Looks hear me out on this. You don't have a stable job or a means of providing for Sakura as you have been living paycheck to paycheck prior to meeting Kisuke and I. You have now been working to earn your keep with us along with your job as a journalist. You also are the current heir of a prestigious mage family though the mileage on the word 'prestigious' will vary depending on who you're asking. But you left that life behind save for what is self-taught and don't have a magic crest if what you explained to me about it is correct. While you are learning a new form of supernatural power in the form of kido, you are still at the novice level at the very most. With all that against you, if you were Tokiomi and you were looking for someone to take in Sakura would you give her to someone with that kind of track record even if you discounted the magus mindset?" asked Yoruichi challengingly. Kariya thought about it for a moment and then sighed sadly.

"No. I wouldn't give Sakura away to someone like me just simply because even without the magus mindset, it doesn't get rid of my own failings outside of magecraft." he admitted.

"By contrast I'm the 22 head of the Shihoin family. The most important and prestigious family in the entirety of the Soul Society. I am also the commander of the stealth force, general of the 1 division's execution force and captain overall of the 2nd division of the 13 Court Guard Squads which is the military force of the Soul Society. Kisuke was a member of said stealth force before he served 10 yrs as captain of Squad 12 and the founder and 1st chief of the research and development department within said squad. Not to mention that the wealth that I personally accumulated over my tenure in all of these military positions as well as the allowance I got as heir and later head of the Shihoin family is enough to rival some of the richest people in the world currently which is in the 100 billions at least currently. While my husband's wealth is but a fraction of mine, he would still have enough money to be considered a millionaire at least. Due to his paid position as a member of the stealth force and his tenure as a captain. And over the course of the last 100 yrs while his shop has been a modest affair, he still sells his big-ticket items to soul reapers which more than pay the bills and turn enough profit for him to indulge in any pet projects he wants and still have money to spare. Throw in the fact that we've tried to be thrift with our money due to our changed circumstances over the last century and the two of us have enough money to probably be considered Trillionaires as a couple." said Yoruichi as she did the calculations. Kariya's eyes bulged as he heard that. He knew that his teachers were certainly well off in terms of money, but he had no idea that they were wealthy enough to be Trillionaires. The way that he saw them live in the 6 months that he'd known them, which was very simple, he'd thought that the nobility that Yoruichi had been from was of minor importance. "And that's not even getting into mine and Kisuke's abilities. While I am considered a master of Flash step to the point that I obtained the nickname Goddess of the Flash and a master of Hakuda or hand to hand fighting, I'm only an expert in Zajutsu or sword fighting and Kido at best. By contrast Kisuke is a master in all 4 disciplines. To the point that he constantly tries to find new applications for them especially in kido and has even created new kidos of his own." Yoruichi explained.

"There's just one problem. For your actual noble titles, if I remember from early parts of our cultural exchanges, didn't you tell me those were suspended or taken from you when you went into self-imposed exile 100 yrs ago?" asked Kariya as he was still reeling from all this new information he'd just gotten on his teachers. Yoruichi gave a feline equivalent of a smirk.

"I know that. You know that. Kisuke knows that. But Tokiomi doesn't know that. And none of us are certainly not telling him." she announced snickering. Kariya also laughed at that slightly. "So, if you were to put the magus mindset aside and just focus on what I've just presented you, if you were Tokiomi who would you feel better giving Sakura to of the two? You or me? she then asked seriously. Kariya thought about it and then looked at Yoruichi directly.

"The answer is obvious even without the magus mindset. You would be the superior choice. But why only make Sakura your ward?" Kariya asked curiously.

"Technically, if you didn't have a connection to her, I'd have just let things play out and not have bothered with any further interference than what we already accomplished at best. So, adopting her outright as a daughter when I had no real interest prior seems to leave a bad taste in my mouth as the last thing I want is to have her think that adopting her was because I cared for her only to then find out the truth that that wasn't the case and have her psyche be broken due to her belief that she is something unwanted and was just a pawn in a political game. By adopting her as my ward she understands our relationship from the start and after carefully explaining her situation to her, if it develops into something more affectionate than she can let her guard down and trust others more easily. Then there's you Kariya. By having her as my ward instead of my daughter it still leaves the door open for you to eventually take over and adopt her as your daughter. In fact, consider it a challenge that I'm issuing to you, Kariya. I challenge you to in 5 yrs either to have mastered all the kido that we teach you to the point that you can do so without needing the full incantation. Just using the name and number of the kidos. If you can achieve the rank of Kido practitioner by those 5 yrs end then Kisuke and I will not only allow you to adopt Sakura officially as your daughter, but we will be your benefactors for the rest of your life. Otherwise, you have to find a more stable job and show that you can financially support yourself and Sakura. During those 5 yrs you'll be allowed to live out of the shop and essentially not have to pay rent as long as you work in the shop on your day or days off. If by the end of those 5 yrs you've earned enough to not only move out of the shop and into an apartment that you can afford with Sakura living with you, then you'll be allowed to adopt her as your daughter, and she'll be given all the protections of the Shihoin family from anyone who wishes to do her harm. If you fail to achieve either of those tasks, then and only then will I adopt her fully as mine and Kisuke's daughter and as the Shihoin family heir. So, what do you think? Do you accept my challenge, Kariya?" Yoruichi asked once again smirking. Kariya's eyes hardened with determination.

"Yes Yoruichi Shihoin. I, Kariya Matou, accept your challenge. 5 yrs from now either I will have accomplished the Rank of Kido Practitioner, or I'll have gotten a stable job and enough money to afford an apartment for myself and Sakura to live in and still be financially stable." said Kariya as determination colored his tone. Yoruichi nodded.

"Good. Then once this whole incident in Fuyuki ends, be prepared for the training from hell and be prepared to hit the streets looking for a job. I'd like to see how far that determination will carry you." Yoruichi looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was starting to set. "Now I'll disable the barrier and let you pay the bill and then we'll head to the park in question as I don't know where the girls actually play." Yoruichi stated.

"Right." said Kariya nodding.

"Oh one final thing, Kariya. Once our business in Fuyuki has concluded, I have some questions regarding this Holy Grail War Ritual that was mentioned several times during our time at the Tohsaka household." she said. Kariya's eyes widen. "What? Did you honestly think that I wasn't paying attention?" she challenged smirking. "Silly student. It seems that your animosity to each other made you both forget that I had no idea to some of the things you were talking about and this Ritual you both mentioned has definitely gotten my interest. So, in addition to the training from hell be prepared for the grilling from hell as the 2nd Division also handled interrogations for the threats against the Soul Society." said Yoruichi sounding almost sinister making Kariya look a bit nervous. Then Yoruichi raised her paw and now the barrier was removed. Kariya then pulled out his wallet and went to the register and paid for his food before leaving the café with Yoruichi following him in cat form.

Miyama- children's park- sunset

The pair arrived at the park and looked around realizing that they were the first to arrive. Or so it seemed. Suddenly Yoruichi's ears twitched, and she looked in the direction of the playground equipment. She Flash stepped over to said equipment and seemed to pounce on something. Said something turned out to be Kisuke who'd been hiding under some kind of kido. He cried out hilariously as he fell to the ground. "You know, Kisuke if you're going to hide from everyone, including me, then you'd best not try to use the techniques that I personally taught you. I sensed a Kyokko spell being deployed the moment Kariya, and I entered the park's borders." said Yoruichi angrily.

"Yoruichi. In my defense I wasn't hiding from you I was merely following your instructions to not have others see me before the allotted time." said Kisuke bemoaningly. Kariya couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. These two were feared grim reapers and some of the most powerful kind by their people's own standards and one was a noble while the other was a genius. Yet right here and now all he saw was someone who could've easily be mistaken for a homeless person who just got beaten up and lost a fight to his beloved pet and said pet looked a cross between exasperation and irritation yet also smug. Suddenly Yoruichi's face went still.

"Looks like the others are on their way. They're a quarter of a mile from here. Okay everyone to your stations. Kisuke now you may use Kyokko and hide yourself and observe the fight to come. Suppress your spiritual pressure any way you can as we don't know if mages can sense spiritual pressure at all or if Kariya's spiritual awareness is an anomaly. Don't make any noise no matter what is said. Once it's over then you may reveal yourself and offer to duel Tokiomi properly. From there I leave it to you as long as you don't do any lasting damage. Do we have an understanding, Kisuke." asked Yoruichi. Kisuke set his hat on a little straighter.

"Understood. Kick his ass, honey." he said with a goofy grin as he performed a few hand gestures and disappeared from sight. Yoruichi turned to Kariya.

"Alright. Kariya, your task is simple. You are just to observe and not interfere under any circumstances. Also, you are to stay here and only move if it looks like your life will be in immediate danger. Are we clear?" she asked. Kariya nodded. Minutes later Tokiomi and Aoi arrived dressed in their usual attire. Tokiomi looked a bit grim while Aoi looked a little nervous. "Kisuke Urahara." said Tokiomi.

"Tokiomi Tohsaka." replied Yoruichi. "So how do we want to go about this?" she asked. Tokiomi then gave a then almost sinister smile.

"You had from the time of our parting til now at sunset which was the equivalent of two hrs. Yet I sense no barriers or anything that will keep outsiders away or from noticing the demonstration. And you say that Kido is superior to magecraft?" he asked with an arrogant tone. Yoruichi simply responded by simply holding up her paw and began to start doing motions that neither could fully see or make out. Suddenly the entire area became engulfed in an orange glow.

"This is a kido barrier that is called Kame no kōra hairetsu or a turtle shell array that was simultaneously cast with Kyokko. The array fulfills the parameter of needing something to keep everyone who isn't involved in this demonstration out while the spell of Kyokko fulfills the parameter of needing to keep people from even noticing both the barrier and the demonstration. And I can adjust the size of the barrier and the scope of Kyokko's effects according to whatever parameters I need. In this case I extended both to an area of about 1,000 ft. I feel that should be a sufficient amount of space needed for what is going to take place." Yoruichi explained. Aoi looked surprised and impressed. But Tokiomi's mind was going a mile a minute as he lost the look of arrogance to one of pure shock. It's just as he said earlier. Through his familiar and over an unknown distance, Kisuke Urahara was able to cast this kido with what seemed to be little to no effort. Not only this but he did so as soon as he heard the parameters of what was needed for the barrier on the spot. On top of all that he cast two kidos and made them substantially large enough for both accommodating for our duel and ensured all 4 of us were within the barriers. Not to mention that I heard no incantations being done so did he deploy them silently? All these things on an individual level are difficult to accomplish even for the highest pedigree of mage families. But all of these being done at the same time? No I must've underestimated my opponent and they did indeed prep themselves before hand. Still how well will his familiar do in combat? Most familiars are only good as distractions in battle. Tokiomi's face became thoughtful as he began to process everything. Yoruichi's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Well is this satisfactory for you or shall we continue with the duel and pseudo-demonstration of kido?" she challenged.

"Of course, I want to continue. I'll admit that it was impressive but for all I know you did indeed use your time wisely to prep the area after all instead of doing this on the spot. So let us continue." said Tokiomi now more cautious but intrigued all the same.

"Very well why don't we first establish some ground rules as to how we wish to conduct this whole affair?" Yoruichi asked. Tokiomi nodded.

"Agreed and both Aoi and Kariya shall be witnesses to this agreement." Tokiomi declared.

"Good. Now let's start with some parameters. I think that it should be til first blood is drawn instead of til one admits defeat. Mage pride doesn't strike me as something that will allow one to accept defeat unless under duress. Am I wrong?" Yoruichi asked. Tokiomi shook his head.

"No, you are not. I can accept this term as if one of us bleeds it will be because of our skills not because of cowardice. Anything else?" asked Tokiomi. Yoruichi nodded.

"Yes. We can move about the entirety of the barrier if we feel we must to dodge attacks and so on but under no circumstances are we permitted at any time to direct an attack, accidental or otherwise to our two witnesses as that will be considered automatically a loss to whoever does that and the other will win by default no exceptions or excuses. Agreed?" she asked. Tokiomi nodded. "Anything you wish to add, Lord Tohsaka?"

"Only that both of us use only magecraft for myself and this kido for yourself. Aside from just dodging attacks we will use nothing else." said Tokiomi.

"In that case I will give myself a further restriction in that I will use spells that are either nonlethal or the damage will be minimal." said Yoruichi.

"Are you saying that your repertoire of spells is limited to killing only?" asked Tokiomi. "No. But kido was developed with the idea of being used in combat specifically so most of our spells, especially those of the Hado branch are meant to kill the target, though Bakudo can restrict and subdue an opponent nonlethally. Still since this duel is meant to serve as a demonstration of kido I will keep things simple. I'll stick to low level spells only. Oh, but one last thing Lord Tohsaka. Why don't we make things a bit more interesting?" Yoruichi suggested with a sly smile. At their questioning looks she elaborated. "If I win, I wish to adopt Sakura as my wife's ward." The couple looked shocked to hear this.

"What did you just say?" asked Tokiomi.

"It's as I said. I wish to adopt Sakura as my wife's ward." Yoruichi repeated.

"Why your wife?" asked Tokiomi asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Simple when it comes to rank and prestige, she has more to offer than me. She is the current head of the Shihoin Family, so about the 22 head right now. That family is one of the most prestigious in the Soul Society, the kido users equivalent to your Mage's Association. There are 5 Great noble families that hold significant political clout because basically these five families are the ones that founded a significant aspect of the Soul Society be it military, political, social, or otherwise. The Shihoin Family being one of them. And of the 5 it's the highest rank one there is." Tokiomi and Aoi's eyes widened at his tidbit of information. "They're the ones that founded the Stealth Force as well as the Execution Force and at least one division of our society's military called the 13 Court Guard Squads. All these positions my wife has held as commander of that stealth force and general of the 2nd division and the execution force along with being the head of the Shihoin family. By contrast I was a former subordinate to my wife before our marriage in the stealth force before I became general of the 12th division which is the research and development division for all items and experiments that are created for the defense of the Soul Society. Moreover the both of us have accumulated so much wealth thar should Sakura be made my wife's ward that she will never want for anything financially. In fact, our collective wealth could rival several countries." said Yoruichi smugly as she watched their couples faces become one of total shock.

"Yes, it was a shock to me too. Both live very simply, that you wouldn't even know that they were Trillionaires. In fact, I only found this bit out this afternoon and I lived with them for 6 months." Kariya added. Tokiomi looked at him in surprise then back at Yoruichi.

"Is it safe to assume that Sakura will be taught in kido as well as Kariya?" he asked.

"Of course. Yet more reason for this demonstration. To prove that kido can if not surpass magecraft then at least hold its own against it. Besides if I win and Kariya fails my challenge that I issued to him then I will officially adopt Sakura as my daughter. If he succeeds, then she'll be adopted by Kariya as his daughter from me. Oh, and one final thing. Rin and Sakura must be allowed to still see each other and play together at least one day a week." said Yoruichi. Tokiomi hmphed at that with a sour look on his face.

"And if you are proven wrong? What then? And for that matter what challenge did you give him? And why would you include such a ridiculous condition in this wager?" he asked angrily.

"In that order, then I will admit to your superiority and rescind my offer and we will leave you with your problem of needing to find a mage family that will take Sakura in and raise her as a mage heir. As for the challenge, that's between myself and Kariya but it was one that I have confidence that he can accomplish it if he is diligent and commits himself to completing it. As for the condition, simple. As I said with Aoi, neither of you is thinking about the fact that your children are still 5 and 6 yrs old. All this forced change could have adverse effects on their psyches. Look, clearly, I can't appeal to your fatherly side as mages act a bit differently, but let's come at this from a magus perspective. You mages more than anything are about leaving behind a legacy that others will continue after your gone, correct?" Tokiomi nodded. "Well if you were your children and had to watch as your parents agree to tear apart your happy family suddenly and abruptly and are only told that this is because that's how mages operate, what do you think someone like Rin is going to do? Either she will just accept this but never trust anyone ever again including the two of you believing that the both of you will throw her away if she even mildly disappoints you or she'll rebel by saying, and pardon my language here, fuck your legacy and then proceed to either trample on all you've worked towards or pull the same stunt as Kariya except she already has the Tohsaka crest so she'd leave you with nothing. All because she would grow to resent your legacy as it caused her so much unhappiness after she inherited the family crest." Tokiomi's eyes widened in horror. "As for Sakura similarly except she might experience a deep depression born from being functionally alone and resentful that she might just commit suicide or just snap and go on a killing spree if she lives to adulthood." Aoi gasped in horror, her hands covering her mouth. "So by allowing the two to see each other and play together, this helps the transition from their current family and roles as sisters to their new situation as close confidants and friends far smoother, makes them retain their trust in the both of you as well as lingering affection by allowing them to still be close and since they'd be studying two very different schools of supernatural gifts no secrets would be leaked or shared outside of the most basic information. What this condition is establishing is that yes preparing them for their futures, futures that both of you chose and your daughters didn't even get a choice in, but sometimes you need to allow them to enjoy the present and just let children be children. Plus, it's only one day for a few hrs. It's not like I'm asking for a whole yr." answered Yoruichi. Tokiomi grew thoughtful and then looked at Kariya who grew wary.

"I'll agree to the terms of both the duel and the wager as long as one final condition is accepted. That you, Kariya Matou break off all contact and communication with Aoi and are forbidden from seeing her ever again." Kariya and Aoi looked shocked at this. Tokiomi gave a confident smile. "I believe that my wife earlier expressed how she wanted you to find happiness with someone else, Kariya Matou. This condition will ensure that you actually adhere to that request. Also think of this as a test of your resolve. Are you willing to sacrifice your relationship with Aoi if it means that Sakura will be free from the world of magecraft, that I know you loathe and despise? Agree to add this term to the wager and we will proceed with the duel, and should you come out victorious, on my honor as a mage and on the Tohsaka magic I will carry out the terms of the wager." said Tokiomi solemnly. Aoi looked saddened by this turn but seemed resigned to the decision. Yoruichi looked at Kariya who was still processing what he'd just been told.

"Kariya, I leave this decision to you. If you don't want to do this, then I will rescind my offer and we will walk away from this." said Yoruichi gently. Kariya looked between Tokiomi and Aoi. Then addressed the former.

"Then if a guardian comes with her, then Sakura and Rin will still be allowed to play together whenever she comes to Fuyuki?" asked Kariya. Tokiomi nodded.

"With you and my wife as witnesses, you have my word as a mage and as a Tohsaka." he said in a resigned tone. That made Kariya's decision.

"Then I will accept this final condition." said Kariya with finality.

"Then the terms of the wager have been agreed to and the parameters of the duel have been set. With our witnesses to watch, let us proceed with the duel." announced Yoruichi.

"Agreed." said Tokiomi. "Whenever you're ready."

"Whenever you are." responded Yoruichi. Tokiomi brought his staff up and pointed it at Yoruichi. Energy gathered around the ruby turning into flames. A small magic circle appeared on it.

"Flammenschläger! (Flamethrower!)" he chanted. A consecutive string of fireballs spewed from the ruby attempting to hit Yoruichi. Yoruichi leapt around and used her smaller nimbler size to her advantage by running all over making her a harder target to hit.

"In that case how about we fight fire with fire. Ruler! Mask of flesh and blood, all things in the universe fly, That which names all!" He's using a multi-lined aria! Tokiomi thought in a panic, and he immediately pulled out an emerald from his breast pocket and started to be more aggressive with his fireball attacks.

"Rubinrote Flamme! (Ruby Red Flame)" he shouted.

But Yoruichi continued to dodge and chant "In the name of Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Hadō #33 Sōkatsui!" she finished. Blue flames discharged from her front right paw. She aimed at the spot next to Tokiomi away from Aoi and generated a small torrent of blue energy before firing it at her target as a small stream of blue flames.

"Smaragd Schild! (Emerald Shield)" said Tokiomi as he then threw the emerald, he retrieved from his breast pocket. It shattered in the space before him, and energy then coalesced into a green gem shaped shield. The stream of blue flames made contact with the shield and while it did dissipate, it cracked it though the shield remained intact. Tokiomi breathed a sigh of relief. Yoruichi landed on the shield and seemed to be examining.

"Fascinating. You place energy in gemstones and either have them pre-programmed depending on the gem to activate a specific function, give a command to activate them or a combo of the two. Then you shatter the gem, and the energy coalesces and performs whatever function you need or want it to do. Basically, acting like magical grenades but with extra features. The downside is that the expenses for this magecraft of yours must be astronomical." Yoruichi commented. Tokiomi looked at her in surprise.

"I'll admit that gem magecraft is very simple in theory to understand but considering that you have only the barest understanding of the mage world as a whole, I'm thoroughly surprised that you were able to piece even that much together based on my actions alone." Tokiomi reluctantly admitted.

"Considering that we used a very similar method to make your girl's bracelets it's easy to notice the similarities in techniques. But there are some noticeable differences. The first and most mundane difference is that we've figured out how to get the methodology to work with cheaper materials like quartz and other semi-precious stones as long as the object has a crystalline structure in its make-up then our method can work. By contrast it seems that your method requires that only precious stones be used as the purity of the stone is what will allow for the best effects. So, on just sheer financial fronts, your methodology is going to be far more expensive and so you either have to be loaded in terms of money or you can only have a few gems be brought with you to any mage engagement. This leads to the other downside for this kind of magecraft: you have a limited number of attacks and must use them sparingly and carefully. Well, I can already map out exactly how this is going to go." said Yoruichi. She then pointed a claw at the surface of the shield and chanted "Hado #4 Byakurai" and generated a concentrated bolt of lightning that then shattered the shield and zipped past Tokiomi on the right side of his face. The impact of the attack from behind him actually knocked him off his feet. This time there was no incantation just the name and number of that spell and these are the low-level ones. Yet it feels like I'm fighting a first-class mage. Is it because this familiar belongs to a Kido Master. Is the rank similar to a first-class mage? Tokiomi thought. Only to have his thoughts interrupted by Yoruichi's voice. "Don't go daydreaming on me, Tokiomi. Unless of course you concede." she said playfully. All that did was rile up Tokiomi. He pulled out a sapphire of about 2 karat and threw it out in front of him and pointed his staff at the falling gem as he chanted,

"Edelstein-Feuer-Kombination! (Gem Fire Combination)" the orange flame headed for the sapphire which broke on contact with it then turned blue and sped towards Yoruichi who planted her paws on the ground as if to brace herself. She then held up her left paw and chanted,

"Bakudo #8 Seki." She generated an orb of light blue energy in her paw which she held in front of her. The blue fireball made contact with her orb which then repelled it and it dissipated. This once again left Tokiomi shocked. He then tried to point his whole hand at Yoruichi and started to generate black energy tinged with red. But before he could open his mouth, Youichi's still extended paw was also pointed at Tokiomi. "Sai!" she yelled. Suddenly Tokiomi felt his arms lock behind their back and the energy he tried to generate dissipated. "And now to end this. Bakudo #4 Hainawa." As soon as she finished speaking her still held out paw began generating a crackling yellow energy rope within it, she then threw it towards Tokiomi. The energy wound around his arms and body, immobilizing him. The combination of having his body bound up like such and having his arms locked behind his back caused him to lose his balance and he was unable to catch himself. So, he fell forward and landed on stomach, his face hitting the dirt. Kariya, who'd been watching the whole thing from behind some of the trees in the barrier, couldn't help but start snickering at this sight. Yoruichi then trotted up to Tokiomi's face and placed her paw on his forehead lightly. "I win." she said triumphantly with a smug smirk. Now Kariya was full on laughing.

"Kariya." she said in a scolding tone. But her glare had no real heat to it making it look more like a pout. Tokiomi tried to scrape what little dignity he had left,

"The terms were that whoever drew first blood was the victor. I'm not bleeding yet." he said heatedly.

"Actually, you are." replied Yoruichi. His expression turned to suspicion but also confusion. Yoruichi then turned to Aoi and got her attention. "Aoi, dear. Could you help verify if I'm the winner or not?" asked Yoruichi. Aoi's attention shifted to her still bound husband and Yoruichi. She walked up to them and knelt beside her husband. She looked at Yoruichi for instructions. "Do you see any new cuts on him and are they bleeding?" Yoruichi asked her. She looked at Tokiomi and then at Yoruichi and nodded. "Put your hand on the cut and then show him your hand." Yoruichi ordered. Aoi did as instructed and placed her hand on Tokiomi's right cheek then showed her hand for him to inspect. Sure enough, the tips of her fingers were red with blood. His blood. Tokiomi's face turned to shock as he realized the implications of this. He'd lost. He lost to a cat. A cat familiar. And judging from the way that the cat was sitting there relaxed and perfectly fine, it didn't seem to be winded in the slightest.

"But how?!" he asked incredulously.

"Simple. Since the rules that whoever drew first blood would win, I figured a small cut would suffice. After that I could restrain you at my leisure. As to how I was successful, when I shattered the barrier with that lightning spell, I had intended to kill two birds with one stone from the start which was to shatter the barrier and to wound you enough to bleed. So, after the barrier was shattered, I had technically already won the duel." She explained.

"So then why did you let the fight continue?" asked Tokiomi as he realized that his defeat had happened that early in the duel.

"Once I figured out your gem technique I wanted to see if that was all you were going to be using. Once you showed that you weren't entirely dependent on your gems and could do magecraft without them I was satisfied and just needed to tie you up." she explained.

Tokiomi's mind was reeling as he analyzed the fight. Not only did he prove to channel magical energy into his familiar over an unknown distance to cast spells but the five that he used were all different save for whether they were used for attack or for restraining, or defense. The only one he used a full chant on he used at least a 3-5 lined aria. Which took my strongest gem with the most magical energy of at least a decade to block and even then, it cracked under the assault and then shattered with the follow-up strike which if my understanding is correct the lower the number the weaker the spell. So, the spell that cut me and technically won Kisuke the fight, wasn't even that strong and yet it still blew up the ground beside me to send me flying a few feet. All other spells just used their name and number save for Sai which he just used the name. Despite his claims of restraining himself to using low to mid-level spells he was able to use them so effectively and even prolonged the fight just for the chance to analyze my magecraft and only when it looked like his familiar may have been in danger did he come down with his restraining spells hard and fast giving me no time to react. Huh. Despite not technically being a mage, the man is certainly a master strategist when it comes to battle. Given what he said earlier about being a former assassin and serving under his wife as a subordinate in their armed forces, this duel just reinforced and backed up his claim. Even though he had only the barest glimpse into the moonlit world prior to now he used the battle, as his prior knowledge, and perhaps even our earlier conversation to gleam just enough information to create a strategy to soundly defeat me.

His thoughts were cut off by Yoruichi's voice. "Judging from that flurry of emotions I saw playing out on your face, I'm going to assume that you're trying to figure out how you lost and almost comically easy to a cat familiar. Well, the answer is simple, you severely underestimated your opponent and you jumped to conclusions based on your lack of knowledge of kido and treated like it was a branch of magecraft. I'll admit that hypothesis isn't off the table as we aren't sure if there is a connection between the two, but you presumed that because of this theory that kido followed the exact same rules as magecraft. As a result, you were soundly defeated. You're used to stacking the deck in your favor and then expect things to play out exactly as you want them to. But when something unexpected happens and it takes all your carefully laid plans and shreds them to pieces, you are left to improvise and try to adapt to your new situation. Which I'm glad to say that you have potential to do so but only under duress and you struggle to continued Adapting or come up with new plans on the spot. You really are a proponent of the phrase 'Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance', but you have no respect for Murphy's Law at all and I can only assume that that is due to your belief that mages are above such mundane concepts but as we saw now that's not even close to right." she said.

"What's Murphy's Law?" Tokiomi asked.

"It's the Law of the world that declares that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Meaning you may think that your plans are full proof but what this law makes known is that one needs to accept that if anything has the potential to fail regardless of reason, then you need to be prepared as if it will fail. Be ready to improvise or just have contingency plans should Murphy's Law rear its head. This is taught as basics for those of the 13 Court Guard Squads." said Yoruichi a bit smugly.

"The military you mentioned of kido users?" Tokiomi asked. Yoruichi nodded.

"Now I believe that you have your side of the deal to keep for our wager. Or do I need to keep in mind that mages are also oath breakers? " Asked Yoruichi.

"Would you release me first?" Tokiomi asked in kind. Yoruichi did a few gestures with her left paw and the restraining kidos were removed. Tokiomi picked himself up off the ground and readjusted his attire. Once he was done primping the only things to indicate that there was anything amiss was his dirty clothes and the cut on his right cheek. He then looked at Yoruichi and Kariya. "Alright. I pride myself on being a man of my word. So, since I lost due to your skills as a tactician and actually quite impressive spells, I will allow for Sakura to be adopted into the Shihoin Family as your wife's ward. And I will allow Rin and Sakura to see each other after the adoption is finalized. It will be on Sundays as Rin will have no school and I'll allow for no training on this day as well. Now as long as you keep your end of the bargain, we can proceed with no other issues." he said while eyeing Kariya. Kariya took on a thoughtful look before nodding in acceptance. "Very well then. How soon will you be taking Sakura?" he asked. Yoruichi thought about it before answering.

"My wife will come by in a week. That should be enough time for both of them, Rin, and Sakura, to get used to the idea of them being separated and to pack up her things. Does this sound agreeable to you?" asked Yoruichi. Tokiomi grew thoughtful before nodding. "Very well then. If you are satisfied, then I think that this is where we will part ways." said Yoruichi.

"Yes, I feel that this was satisfactory on all fronts, as surprised as I am to admit." said Tokiomi.

"Then fare thee well." Said Yoruichi who once again held up her paw and did a few gestures which caused the barriers to disappear. Tokiomi and Aoi leave the area and return to their home. Only when they are sure that the two mages are gone does Kisuke come out of hiding.

"So, explain to me why the two of us are about to become adopted ward keepers in a week." said Kisuke looking thoroughly confused. Yoruichi and Kariya smile at him.

"Let's head to the hotel and keep your phone out so others don't see you acting odd if you talk on your phone. That way we can explain on the way what happened on our end while you've been away. Oh, by the way remind me again how long do you think it will be before all of the familiars of Zouken are accounted for through the kido you crafted?" Yoruichi asked. Kisuke looked thoughtful before answering.

"We'll give it at least 24-48 hrs just to make sure all the soul fragments are accounted for. Then I'll activate the 2nd phase of our plan regarding Zouken." explained Kisuke slyly. Kariya nodded as he followed them back to the hotel. Yoruichi filling Kisuke in on all that happened once they parted ways the first time. Meanwhile Kariya let his own thoughts wander. Just one to two days and Zouken will finally be gone. He thought not sure how to feel. Soon Sakura would be in the hands of people that he absolutely trusted to keep her safe and maybe even happy. And Zouken would be dead before the week was out and yet now, he and Aoi would be separated for the rest of their lives and with what he'd learned of the afterlife any chance of them being together then would be questionable at best. Well, I guess if this isn't a sign from the universe that I need to try and move on from this than I don't know what is. His thought.

"Huh I see. So that's how things went down." Kisuke's voice bringing Kariya back to the present. Apparently, he'd been in deeper thought than he realized as they were nearing the entrance to a modest Inn and Boarding House that was serving as their temporary lodgings for the duration of their stay. Alright once we are done with dealing with Zouken, I'll contact Tessai and we'll get things set up to sell Tokiomi on the pitch." Kisuke said decisively.

"Also have him go to our bedroom and where we store the futon, there are a few jewels from the Shihoin Family Vault that I want to give Tokiomi as incentive to keep his word about Rin and Sakura being allowed to see each other." stated Yoruichi. Kisuke gave a wry smile.

"You got it, honey." said Kisuke cheerfully. They entered the boarding house and made their way to their shared room. Once they all sat on the two beds, Kisuke looked at Kariya seriously. "Alright now that we've achieved above and beyond what we wanted with Sakura, now we can focus all our efforts on Zouken. Kariya, you'll head into the house first and see if there are any other relatives left that Zouken either hasn't devoured yet or hasn't implanted with crest worms yet. Once you've made the rounds get them out of the house and we will move in and finish Zouken." explained Kisuke.

"Teacher please. I want to witness that worm's end. Let me follow you back in when you go into the house." pleaded Kariya.

"Kariya." Kisuke's tone was that of a warning.

"That worm has been terrorizing the Matou household for as long as I can remember. He still haunts my nightmares. Please teacher let me have this closure." Kariya continued to plead. Kisuke grew thoughtful before finally nodding.

"Alright but you must follow any instructions I give you to the syllable if I let you or anyone else watch what we'll do. Is that understood, Kariya?" Kisuke asked, eyeing him curiously. Kariya nodded with relief. Alright then. Now in exchange how about you explain this Holy Grail War Ritual to us as we have some time to kill." said Kisuke adopting a goofy grin. Kariya's eyes widened a bit before looking uncomfortable, but he straightened himself as he looked at his two teachers.

"This will take a while to explain." he warned them,

"That's fine. We have plenty of time to kill." said Kisuke cryptically.

Two days later . . .

Miyama- Matou Residence- sunset

Kariya stood at the gate of the fence that surrounded the Matou Residence. How long has it been since I last set foot in this house? 7? 8 yrs? And now after tonight I will never set foot in this house again. Byakuya, my little brother, are you still alive? Is Shinji, my nephew, still alive and is he here? Well, I guess I'm about to find out. He thought as he approached the wrought iron gate. No sooner had he placed his hands on the gate to open it that he heard rustling nearby accompanied by the rank smell of rotting meat. Kariya turned to see something moving on the ground. He didn't need to ask what it was he already knew. It was one of Zouken's worm familiars. So Zouken already knew that he had arrived. He took a deep breath. And pulled on the gate to open it. Then he walked from the gate to the door and put his hand on the handle. Here once again he paused. He knew that once he opened the door to enter the house it was the start of the countdown to Zouken's death. Once he crossed the threshold of the house there was no turning back. He would be an accomplice to what was legally speaking murder. Once again, Kariya steadied his nerves. Then twisted the knob on the handle and entered the nightmare that was his family home.

It was dark, and quiet. Not unexpected given that only a few people actually lived in this house. Kariya looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Even though it was a manor house, the hard woods and quaint set-up actually would've fooled newcomers into feeling very cozy and homey. But Kariya knew better. This was all just a façade. All the rooms in the house save for a few were just for show. A stage to put on a play of acting like normal people. As he made his way through the rooms a lot of old memories were being dredged up. His childhood and seeing the basement when his father Zouken revealed to him the truth about the Matou magecraft when Kariya stumbled upon the basement as a child. Realizing what would happen to him if he revealed that he had magic circuits, Kariya hid his talents from everyone and did his best to self-teach himself in secret. By now he had made his way to the staircase that led to the bedrooms. As he got to the second floor, another smell started to make itself known. The smell of alcohol. He headed to the bedroom with a light coming out of the bottom of the door. He opened the western-styled wooden door and there at the study slumped in the chair was a young man around the same age as Kariya. He had curly blue hair that almost reached his closed eyes. His clothing consisted of a disheveled white shirt and a black suit. Said man was currently asleep. As he sat at the desk on a wooden chair the desk was covered in glass bottles filled with dark liquids. Kariya frowned as the stench of alcohol became almost overwhelming. He quietly walked over to the sleeping man. He pulled out a book on the desk and opened it only for him to slam it close next to the head of the sleeping man. Said man than yelped in surprise as he woke up and he fell out of his chair. Some of the alcohol fell on him spilling its contents onto him.

"Not sure if I should be comforted or exasperated that you haven't seemed to have changed in the last several years, Byakuya." said Kariya deadpanned. This caught the now named Byakuya's attention. As soon as his now bloodshot blue eyes locked onto Kariya, his face went to shock, surprise, then settled on anger as he glared at Kariya.

"What the hell are you doing back here, Kariya?" he asked, his tone venomous.

"Don't worry I won't be here long. If everything turns out right, then tonight might be the absolute last night I ever set foot in this house ever again." Kariya said with resignation. This got Byakuya's attention.

"Then why did you even bother coming back at all?" he asked.

"I came back because I wanted to see if anyone else from the family besides Zouken was still alive. Where's Shinji? Where's Mina?" Kariya asked starting to get urgent. Byakuya seemed to lose interest and began to slur his words.

"Shinji was sent away officially to study abroad but honestly it was just to get him out of this place. Wish I could've joined him." he said.

"And Mina?" asked Kariya warily. Byakuya glared at him.

"What do you think? Even though she was exactly like your precious Aoi, where she could birth children with rare sorcery traits, when she gave us Shinji who had nothing in terms of magic circuits to offer to the bloodline, that old worm deemed her useless and then tossed her into the worm pit where she was consumed by them." replied Byakuya, his expression turning sad. Kariya looked at him in shock. "Don't be so surprised. If you and Aoi had gotten married, and this had happened to you it would be you in my position. I know that's why you left. Honestly, I don't know which of us was the smarter one. You for leaving when you did before Zouken found out about you having potential as a mage, or me for not having any talent and so stayed so as to live a carefree and comfortable life as acting head of the family." said Byakuya.

"Considering that you're drowning yourself in alcohol, I have a hard time seeing this as a comfortable or carefree life." said Kariya.

"Shut up!" shouted Byakuya as he threw an empty bottle at him.

"Hado #1 Sho." said Kariya. He pointed at the bottle flying at him with his index finger, a small amount of energy was dispelled from the tip of the index finger with enough force to thrust a considerable amount of kinetic force at the bottle, which was pushed back a few feet from him and the bottle was sent flying back and impacted the wall where it shattered. Byakuya looked at his brother with his outstretched hand and index finger still extended and then looked to the wall where the glass bottle had shattered. Then turned back to Kariya who then lowered his hand.

"So, you picked up a few tricks while you were away. So why are you really here? Are you here to usurp your older brother and take you 'rightful' place in the Matou family?" Byakuya asked sarcastically, his eyes glaring at him.

"I already explained it the first time you asked. But as an add on, I'm here to get you out of the house and to safety and since you are the only family left in this house besides the old worm, you are the only one I must worry about." explained Kariya. That confused Byakuya.

"Safety?" he asked. By now Kariya picked up Byakuya and let him lean on him as he led him out of the room while the confused drunk just meekly followed him. They made their way out of the room, down the stairs, and had made it to the kitchen when a craggy old voice stopped them.

"Well, Well, Well. Kariya, I believe I told you to never set foot in this house again. Yet here you are almost a decade after you left. So why are you here?" said the voice from behind the two brothers. Kariya turned around and looked at what was behind him. He was an old man that was completely bald and hunched over, making him appear around half the height of the two younger men. He wore plain robes and was carrying a walking stick. This was Zouken Matou the true head of the Matou Family and guardian of Kariya and Byakuya growing up. He would never acknowledge this old worm as his father. For a split second Kariya saw Kisuke in place of old man before him. However, while both wore plain robes and used canes that was where the two similarities began and ended. Kariya turned and continued to escort his brother out of the house. "I asked you a question, maggot. You owe me an answer." said Zouken angry about being ignored.

"I don't owe you anything. But if you must know, I'm taking my brother out of this house and away from you." said Kariya decisively.

"Since when have you ever cared about family? You left the family without a word and left everyone else behind." said Zouken chuckling darkly.

"You're not wrong on that. I thought that I was protecting the people I cared about but all I was doing was just trying to save myself. Which is why I'm here now to get Byakuya out of here." he said as they continued on their way.

"And where will you go? I'll be able to track you down no matter where you go?" said Zouken smiling sinisterly as he attempted to follow them. However as soon as he took a step, suddenly the black beads that were his eyes widened and he dropped his cane and started gasping for air as if something heavy settled on the room. Kariya smiled and continued Leading his brother out of the house as he knew that the source of the sudden heaviness wouldn't hurt him, so he had nothing to fear.

"I'm sorry but you aren't going to leave this house alive or after tonight." said a disembodied voice. By now Kariya had made it to the door with Byakuya who looked terrified yet confused.

"Kariya what is going on?" he asked.

"Zouken's death. Once I get you out of the house, I'm coming back in to witness that worm's demise." said Kariya simply. Byakuya's eyes widen in surprise. As Kariya reached for the handle, Byakuya's hand stopped him.

"Wait. Are you serious? That old worm is dying tonight? We'll finally be rid of him? Forever?" asked Byakuya sounding desperate and something else he hadn't felt in a long time. Hope. Kariya actually gave him a warm smile.

"Yes." he said. Byakuya squeezed his hand on the handle of the door.

"Then I want to witness this too." he said firmly, surprising Kariya. "Let me stay to see this."

"You sure about this?" Kariya asked. Byakuya nodded firmly. "Alright then." They turned around and watched what happened next.

"Who's There?! Where are you?!" shouted Zouken as he found himself unable to move.

"The second question is easy to answer. I'm right here." said the voice as Kisuke revealed himself. "As for who I am? To put it in simple terms, I'm the Grim Reaper to you." he said seriously. Kisuke raised his hand and snapped his fingers. A ball of blue energy was created which fired out six ropes from its center. As the ropes attached themselves to nearby sturdy objects, the energy in the center solidified into a flat elastic-like cushion. Yet a strong gust of wind whirled around the room detaching the ropes and wrapped Zouken up in elastic substance. Kisuke picked up the wrapped up old worm and walked deeper into the house the Matou brothers close behind him as he made his way to the basement.

"Kariya, who is that person that wrapped up the old worm and is now carrying him like a sack of potatoes?" Asked Byakuya. Kariya looked at him in surprise.

"You can see him" he asked. Byakuya nodded confused. Kariya shrugged "I'll explain later." He said as they continued to follow after Kisuke.

Once in the basement, Kisuke turned around while still holding the wrapped up old worm under one arm and held out his palm in a gesture to signal the two to stop. Kariya and Byakuya stood on the other side of the threshold and watched. Suddenly a transparent barrier that extends from one side of the door opening to the other. Kariya's eye widened.

"Kyōmon." He said, his brother looking at him confused.

"What's Kyomon?" asked Byakuya. Kariya looked at him.

"There's a lot that's happened to me since I left so all I can say right now is I learned that there are others with supernatural gifts besides mages that exist and the person before us now has been my teacher for the last 6 months." he explained.

"This hobo?" asked Byakuya in astonishment.

"Don't let his appearance fool you. He may have his eccentricates, but the man is a Bonafide genius. As for your question, what he just performed was a kido. We think that it's an older supernatural gift that later magecraft and other supernatural powers spawned from. This particular kido is called Kyomon. It's a barrier type kido that is erected to protect the target by preventing intruders from passing through it. It is usually used to cover the entrance of a room with the target inside it. However, this barrier is much more easily broken from the inside if the target chooses to leave confinement." Kariya explained.

"So, he's sealing us out of the basement?" asked Byakuya.

"No, he's sealing himself in with the worms and keeping them from escaping to come after us. He's protecting us from the worms with this barrier on the door." Kariya explained. Byakuya looked at him in shock then back to Kisuke who had since turned around and walked deeper into the basement. Byakuya couldn't understand and Kariya set him down on the ground for him to sit while he approached the doorway, stopping at the barrier as he was determined to witness what happened next no matter what.

Kisuke looked around the basement watching the insects and worms of the basement move around. Stone cold walls. The eerie green glow coming from all over the place was the only source of light in the place. Curious Kisuke took a few steps before creating a reishi platform for him to stand on. While also releasing his own spiritual pressure. No sooner had he done that, did everything in the basement that moved started to go ballistic. Writhing violently. Agitated noises. Annoying Buzzing. Kisuke ignored all of it and instead unfurled the elastic material of his previous kido releasing the old mage and the kido dissipating. Said mage yelled as he fell about 15 ft into the pit of the basement. But no impact was heard. Kisuke watched from his platform as the man became one with the worms. "So, calling you a worm was more accurate and literal than expected." he observed.

"Yes." said the old mage. "Through my worm familiars, I've become immortal. It doesn't matter how many of my familiars you destroy. As long as even one exists then I will exist as well." The old mage gave an insane grin as he demonstrated his immortality by having his body breakdown and reformed through his familiars. Kisuke remained stoic as he watched this.

"Before anything else is said or done, would you answer three questions for me besides this one?" asked Kisuke in a deceptively calm voice. The old mage seemed curious about this and nodded.

"Very well. I'll indulge you." Zouken conceded. "What are your questions?"

"How long have you stayed alive in this plane of existence through this method?" Kisuke asked.

Zouken seemed to think carefully about this before he gave an answer. "I'd say about 500 yrs. Give or take a few decades or so. Honestly, I couldn't give you the exact number of years because I honestly stopped keeping track a while ago. But I do know it's been more than 5 centuries since my birth." he said. Kariya and Byakuya's eyes widened in shock as while the barrier protected them, they could still hear all that was being said in the room with no loss in clarity. Both had suspected that the old mage, that was the true head of the Matou Family, was older than he looked, but even they had no idea that he'd sustained himself for so long through these familiars.

Kisuke followed up with his 2nd question. "I know based on my first visit here that every one of these familiars has a piece of your soul in it. My estimate of this is about 1,000 pieces. So, here's my second question. With your soul as fragmented as it is currently have you ever consumed other souls to sustain yourself in this way or form?" he asked.

The old mage just gave a ghastly laugh that sounded raspy and as if he had gravel in his mouth as he spoke. "I feast on the flesh and souls of others. It used to be every 50 yrs that I needed to devour someone else's soul and body, now as of the last century, I must do this every few months. But the worms I currently have will last me for the next century." he admitted seemingly with no shame. Kisuke appeared to be in deep thought.

"So, if my calculations are right, that's 8 for the first 400 yrs and assuming the word 'few' means about 3 months over the last century, that means, moderately speaking, about 4 souls a yr so roughly 408 souls you've consumed over the course of 500 yrs." said Kisuke. This got everyone curious. Why bother calculating such a number? Kisuke looked at Zouken. "Surely you understand why the time between devourings has gone down significantly over the most recent century. It's because your soul has existed long past its expiration date and by consuming others you are incorporating them into yourself to the point that there is a good chance that the real Zouken Matou has already faded out of existence and the current soul is just the remnants deteriorating and will continue to rot as there is no stopping it at this point. In other words, the borrowed time you've been living on, Zouken, will come to an end whether you want it to or not and soon perhaps even within the next few decades. All I can say is that even if left to your own devices you're not lasting more than another 50 yrs and even that is being generous for my calculations." Kisuke grew thoughtful. "Perhaps it's a blessing I came here as now as I can finally bring an end to this as your already a hollow masquerading with a human avatar." he said. Zouken grew curious.

"Hollow?" he asked.

"Human souls that died in this world with resentments or regrets that that have become corrupted and must feed on other souls in order to satisfy their hunger. Little more than base animals really." Suddenly Kisuke released his spiritual pressure even more. Zouken began laughing as if in ecstasy.

"I can already tell from the amount of magical energy you have that your soul will be perfect. I think that devouring your soul should sustain me for at least the next decade, if not longer." said the old mage. Suddenly several variants of his worms leapt from their perches to try and devour Kisuke.

"And that's why you were so candid with your answers. Well may as well get this over with. Hado #33 Sokatsui. He aimed the palm of his hands at the swarm of worm and insectoid-like familiars and generated a torrent of blue energy before shifting into the form of flames. Kisuke then fired both at the swarm. But instead of firing it like a ball of blue fireballs, he adjusted the kido to fire it like a torrent and stream of blue flames. Essentially a supernatural flamethrower. The effect was immediate. What had been a wave of familiars ready to consume him, suddenly became a blue lit hellscape as the basement became covered in blue kido flames. Kisuke saw a staircase leading further down and used a silent variant of Sokatsui. Performing the same flame thrower variant to cut off all escape he set the staircase ablaze. Before he resumed burning all the familiars. Once it looked like no more familiars would directly attack him and as the fire grew, he looked to where Zouken was standing and where he had been laughing in ecstasy before, now he watched in horror and fear as all his preparations to continue to exist were literally and figuratively going up in flames. Kisuke turned to face him. He pointed his finger at Zouken. "Bakudō #73. Tozanshō." he said quietly. As the spell ignited at a single point, blue energy extended upward to four points and formed an inverted pyramid. Kisuke then shot a silent Sokatsui fireball at Zouken which made contact with the old mage setting him ablaze. Then he stuck the tip of his blade into the space between the lines of the inverted pyramid. As soon as he did so the spaces between the lines solidified into a barrier trapping the now burning mage. Kisuke then reached into his haori and pulled out a handle. And crossbar but no blade. "Now let's see if this works for someone like me." said Kisuke. He channeled his spirit energy into the hilt, and it then ignited a blade that glowed as if made of light. "Nice. Who would've thought that nicking this off a catholic priest and interrogating him about their cleansing rituals would result in a method not too far removed from a soul reaper method and kido." he said casually. He then stabbed the ground with it where the flames were still holding the hilt of the two swords.

"Soul . . .. Reaper?" gasped Zouken as he continued Burning.

"Now how did that chant go again? Oh yes." he said as if he had a eureka moment. Then his voice became solemn as he started chanting. Kariya recognized it as Latin, but he had no idea as to the words being spoken

Ego occidam, et vivam. (I shall go kill and I shall let live.)

Noceo et sanabo. (I harm and I heal.)

non est qui effugiat a facie mea. (None shall escape from my sight.)

Confringi. (Be crushed.)

Victi, qui senuerunt, excipio te. (Those defeated, those who've grown old, i welcome you)

Devota te mihi. (Devote yourself to me)

Discite a me. (Learn from me.)

Pare mihi, et potes quiescere. (Obey me and you can rest)

ego levabo onera vestra et faciam ut obliviscamini eorum. (I will lighten your burdens and make you forget them.)

Cantus autem, sive oratio, sive me, noli oblivisci. (But do not forget song, or prayer, or me)

Solamen in manibus est. (Solace is in my hands)

Effundam oleum tuum in peccatum tuum et notabis tibi. (I shall pour oil unto your sin and mark you)

Solus in morte dabitur vita aeterna. (Only in death, will eternal life be given)

Adest venia tua. (Your forgiveness is here)

Ego Reincarnation iuro. (I, the Reincarnation, swear.)

Kyrie Eleison

Throughout the whole time Kisuke had been chanting, an ethereal light had emanated from his two blades and expanded to encompass the entire basement and within the inverted pyramid barrier. The blue flames turned white, and everything began to evaporate into nothingness. Zouken all the while screaming in pain, anger, anguish, and who knows with what other emotions. But Kisuke pressed on until he finished with the final line which caused the entire room to become engulfed in white light.

Kariya and Byakuya had to cover their eyes as the whole room whited out in ethereal light. But after a few minutes, it faded, and they saw the basement once again. Curious the two brothers passed through the barrier on the door where they heard it shatter behind them. They looked around. What had once been an eerie green lit void that was covered in worm familiars, now was lit by normal lighting methods that made it seem less scary though the size was still there. They could see it looked more like a catacomb than basement. With the niches that were used as nests for the worms, the staircase that led to a deeper section of the basement that neither really felt inclined to explore. Overall while no longer feeling nightmarish, it still gave off creepy vibes that made everyone really want to leave as soon as possible. They saw Kisuke retract the blade from the red handle and put said handle into his haori pocket. Then snapped his fingers and the inverted blue pyramid dissipated, leaving behind only burned robes and a cane that had gotten caught up in the initial kido when Kisuke trapped Zouken in the upper part of the house when he dropped it on the floor and then caught up in the inverted pyramid kido. Now it lay on the ground badly charred. The two brothers exchanged a look of uncertainty not sure what to make of everything that just happened. "So does this mean that Zouken's gone?" asked Byakuya.

"Not quite there's still a piece of his soul that's intact and it's the largest piece I can sense compared to all the other ones. I imagine that this fragment is the closest thing to his true form. But the good news is that once we destroy that soul fragment then that will be the true end of Zouken Matou." Kisuke explained quite casually as his other blade reverted back to his cane though he did unsheathe the now thin blade as he scanned around the basement. He then zeroed in on the charred cane and approached it much to the confusion of the two brothers. Kisuke picked it up and after examining it, smiled. "Very clever you old worm." he said with an amount of genuine respect. He hung the hook section of his blade onto his arm and used both hands to hold the charred cane. One on the metal top and one on the wooden shaft. With a little effort he twisted the topper off revealing that the wooden cane shaft was hollow. "Shakkahō." said Kisuke quietly generating and firing an orb of crimson red energy flames from the palm still holding the charred cane. This destroyed the cane and revealed one final familiar hidden in the hollow shaft of the cane as it fell to the ground. This one was larger than the average worm familiars. Its entire length could probably fit into the palm of an average person's hand. Though the head portion of it was larger than the rest of its body which was long and thin, and it was little more than a red pile of flesh. The two brothers looked on in both shock, horror, and strangely enough fascination as it wriggled along the ground. Kisuke picked it up off the floor from behind Zouken's head and held it there for himself to examine at eye level. "Behold the true form of your family's ancestor and head of the Matou family, Zouken Matou." Kisuke announced. Then to the surprise of all those present the worm began to speak in Zouken's voice despite having nothing that resembled a mouth, eyes, ears, or nose for that matter.

"I don't want to die!" it said desperately. It repeated this phrase repeatedly for several minutes. This desperation actually moved the three men to pity.

"Then allow me to ask you my third and final question, Zouken." said Kisuke. This caused the chunk of flesh to stop writhing and quiet down. Kisuke took advantage of this and spoke. "I imagine that splitting your soul even once is painful but to do so 1,000 times it must've been a pain beyond measure. A pain that slowly but surely drove you to madness. A pain you've endured for 500 yrs. You honestly have my respect for willingly choosing to endure such pain even if your methodology I condemn. But it leads me to my final question. Why do you not want to die? Or rather what was so important to you that you endured to live on for as long as you have?" he asked seriously. For a few minutes, all was quiet. Then,

"I remember now. I had a dream of creating a utopia, having pursued it since I was around two hundred years old. I wanted to eliminate and cure all hatred and suffering. But I realized that "paradise" did not exist in the world and its creation was impossible with a human body and I was grieved by this, so instead I wished to go to a place where it could be accomplished. I know that Humanity has set limits, so I wished for it to go outside the spiral of the brain and the limits of the body to reach the infinity called the soul. Obtaining all creation and knowledge where no human can reach, it was not to make a new world, but to change my human life. So, I sought the Holy Grail to be reborn and reach the ideal utopia, the unimaginable land. With a miracle beyond human reach, I sought to eliminate all of the evils of the world, risking my life for an ideal that I knew could not be fulfilled. Though my enemies died, I kept seeking it despite knowing it was meaningless. I believed it was my reason to exist, all while hoping that my existence would bring about a successor. In order to overthrow my youthful anguish, I came up with that answer even if my life would not be compensated. I was around three hundred years old as of the establishment of the Holy Grail War to fulfill my dream along with the Tohsaka and Einzbern families. I moved my family to Japan under the name Matou, and while it was to hide the family's identity, I felt we needed something tying into our real name and used a play on words. But that's not the only reason I stayed alive for this long." explained the last bit of Zouken Matou

"Oh? What was the other reason?" asked Kisuke very curious.

"Justeaze. The head of the Einzbern family at that time 200 yrs ago. At the time, I admired and loved her deeply, and was devastated to see her sacrifice when she became the Holy Grail core. So, I had decided to ensure that her sacrifice would not be in vain by keeping myself alive long enough to witness the moment the Grail became completed and reached the gate. However, as the time went on, the frustration due to the incomplete Grail and its eventual theft in from Fuyuki during the 3rd Grail War and the deterioration of my body over such a long period had slowly caused me to forget my original intention and had left me only with the abnormal obsession about obtaining immortality." Zouken finished. This left everyone present in quiet contemplation. Then Kisuke spoke up.

"So, in simple terms, you did this to yourself originally because you because you thought that this was your way of reaching the root of all existence to both gain a True Magic and to help you create a better world and then a successor to pass that legacy down to. Then it became personal as the woman you loved sacrificed herself and instead you wanted to stay alive long enough to see the fruits of your collective labor and then proceed with your original plan. Is that about, right?" he asked. No answer. "Funny how you still keep mage culture intact while sounding so idealistic."

"You condemn my actions, Reaper?" asked Zouken

"Simply because you tried to accomplish it at the expense of others. You mages place yourselves above your fellow humans. But you all forget something: In the eyes of Death, all souls are equal. Now that's a pretty ambiguous statement which can be read very subjectively. You can either read it cynically to say that all human souls are nothing more pitiful vermin that Death must manage. I however choose to read it a different way. That in the eyes of Death all souls are equally precious to Death." that got surprised looks from the Matou brothers as Kisuke continued Explaining. "So, imagine how difficult it is for Death when one of its precious charges deems its fellow humans as worthless or of less worth than itself. To the point that they consume them to further their own ambitions. Or kill them because they honestly are driven by some desire. Hence why their final fates are based on the consequences of their own actions. Not because some singular being decides arbitrarily for them. Honestly, I'm not sure if this is the preferable punishment for you. Just consuming one human soul while you were alive would've been enough to condemn you to the Underworld or Hell depending on what faith you subscribe to. But considering you've fragmented your soul so badly even after using a cleansing ritual, all that happened is that your soul has been annihilated. Removed from the cycle of reincarnation. Reduced to nothing more than energy. Along with all the souls you consumed over the centuries. Probably the only time a Soul Reaper has been responsible for such a thing. Though you did this to yourself so I might be forgiven for it. So, once I kill this final soul fragment, the being once known as Zouken Matou will truly cease to exist altogether. No reincarnation, no condemnation, just oblivion." said Kisuke in an even tone. Not harsh righteous anger nor gentle reassurance just the cold hard truth.

"I see. So, this is it, then. My desire, my pain, the Makiri mission-everything ends here. But how disappointing. I was almost there. 500 yrs. Come to think of it, it was a desire that only lasted for an instant." The old magus in his true form begins to laugh in both acceptance and in resignation. Without further pomp or circumstance, Kisuke just tossed the red clump of flesh into the air as one would a ball. He brought his unsheathed blade around like a bat with one hand. The blade made contact with the red chunk of flesh and cleanly sliced it in half. No sooner did this happen did the familiar crumble to dust signifying its demise. This whole thing wasn't even a battle. Just a drawn-out execution. Kisuke waited for about a minute before he spoke.

"And with that, marks the end of Zouken Matou." said Kisuke definitively. Silence once again reined over the room. The Matou brothers seemed to be frozen as if what had all occurred was nothing more than a fantasy.

"That's it? He's gone? He's really gone?" asked Byakuya sounding more relieved and excited as time passed. Kariya looked at his brother with a warm and gentle smile.

"Yes, Byakuya. He's gone." he said gently. Then Byakuya began to weep in tears of joy as he laughed. He ran up and hugged Kariya who returned the gesture far more subdued. They stayed that way for several minutes before separating. Kariya faced Kisuke and bowed to him formally. "Thank you, Sensei." he said happily. Kisuke nodded.

"So what will you do now?" he asked the pair of brothers. They both had looks of shock on their faces as they realized that neither had any plans on what to do now that Zouken was well and truly out of their lives. However Byakuya turned to Kariya.

"How about a celebratory drink? We can figure out the rest later." he asked casually. Kariya shrugged and nodded. Byakuya turned to Kisuke. "How about you? Want to join us?" he asked cautiously. Afterall this hobo dressed man just pulled off a feat that many thought would've been impossible. So best not to get on his badside. Kisuke gave them a goofy grin and said,

"If you have any Cognac, I'm in. And the older the better." Byakuya smiled at that and the three walked up the stairs to the manor portion of the house celebrating the end of a century-long nightmare.

Several days later

Japan – Miyama – Tohsaka Residence – daytime

The Tohsaka family was eating breakfast with the understanding that this would be their last one together as a family so needless to say it was a quiet and even solemn affair. The girls looked very sad, and Rin was holding Sakura's hand underneath the table. Aoi noticed this but chose not to say anything. Tokiomi acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary and just continued to do things as elegantly as he could. This continued for another half hour. By then breakfast was deemed over and Aoi began to clean up everyone's plates at the table. It was as she was finishing this task that a knock was heard at the door. Sakura and Rin squeezed hands in worry. Tokiomi eyed the front door with cool suspicion while Aoi looked nervous. Tokiomi looked to Aoi and nodded. She walked to the door and opened it. When she did, she made a surprised noise before ushering the people into the house. By now the girls and Tokiomi had made it to the entryway to see who was allowed into their house. What they got was a bit of a surprise.

They were three individuals all dressed in traditional Japanese clothing. But the individuals themselves were certainly unexpected. The person at the head of the group and the only female of them was a slender and well-endowed woman of average height. Surprisingly enough she had dark skin, golden irises and dark hair that seemed to be plum purple. Said hair was waist-length and kept in a ponytail with chin-length bangs framing the sides of her face. She wore a black uniform that looked reminiscent of the traditional ninja outfits from stories with black arm warmers. It had no visible white undergarments, and the sash was dark. On her feet she wore lightweight brown shoes. Over her uniform she wore a long-sleeved white haori with black diamonds on the bottom hem and the inner coat's color was dark orange.

To her right was a tall, lean man with light skin and gray eyes. His hair was messy and light blond (almost pale), with strands framing the sides of the face and hanging between his eyes, and he had chin stubble. He wore a black uniform which Tokiomi recognized as consisting of a white shitagi, a black kosode, a black hakama, and a white hakama-himo that looked overall slightly baggier than the woman's outfit. On his feet he wore geta sandals. Over his uniform he also wore a white haori that looked to be the same style as the woman's though the inner color of his haori was olive green.

Then there was the third individual. He was a tall, muscular, lightly tan-skinned man. His hair was cornrowed, and he had a large handlebar mustache, which was connected to his long sideburns. On his face he wore square glasses. He also wore the same black uniform as the other man in the trio but wore white tabi, and waraji on his feet. Over his uniform he wore an ornate dark blue robe with a large, upturned collar. He also carried what Tokiomi recognized as a shakujō or Khakkhara which he remembered being told was a staff topped with metal rings traditionally carried by Buddhist monks, particularly in East Asian Buddhism.

Needless to say, the trio definitely struck an imposing set of figures. Suddenly the woman spoke looking at Tokiomi. "Tokiomi Tohsaka I presume." she said with authority her eyes boring into his to the point that he actually felt intimidated by this woman, but his pride made him hold eye contact with her.

"You are correct. And who are you, madam?" he asked in his cold aristocratic tone. The woman gave a polite smile and them gave a 20-degree bow. Then she spoke again.

"I am Yoruichi Shihoin. 22nd head of the Shihoin Family. One of the 5 great noble Families in the Soul Society and of those 5 it's most Prestigeous. As well as Commander of the 2nd division in the 13 Court Guard Squads and the Stealth Force and General of the 1st division Execution Force." said the now named Yoruichi as she spouted out all her titles. For Rin and Sakura this was both amazing and a bit scary. Here was a woman of real power, she was allegedly a family head, a noble of the highest order other than royalty, a powerful magic user of something other than magecraft and she had military power as well not as a soldier but as a commander. "I believe that my husband bested you in a duel using his familiar and that the terms were if you lost, I would be adopting your daughter Sakura as my ward, is that about right?" she asked, her polite smile never dropping. Tokiomi frowned not liking being reminded of his most recent loss, but he decided to let it slide for now.

"That is accurate." he admitted. He turned to the tan skinned man with glasses and bowed a 20-degree bow to him. "And you must be her husband. I must say it is nice to put a face to the name. Kisuke Urahara." said Tokiomi with an aristocratic smile on his face. The man before him kept a stoic face before speaking.

"Forgive me, Lord Tohsaka. But I'm afraid that you are mistaken. My name is Tessai Tsukabishi. Captain of the Kido Corps. A specialized division that is responsible for creating and documenting kido and implementing it into the training of the 13 Court Guard Squads. I am a close friend of the couple and came along as a show of support." he stated stoically. Tokiomi suddenly felt himself freeze. Never had he been caught off guard or unintentionally made a fool of himself so many times, yet in the short time he'd known these 'kido users,' little though there was, he just kept on doing just one of those two things. The pale blonde man stepped forward.

"I am Kisuke Urahara. Yoruichi Shihoin's husband, former subordinate in the Stealth Force, and Captain of the 12th Division that specializes in the Research and Development Department for creating tools and devices that are used by our armed forces out in the field. I must say that it's nice to finally meet you in person Lord Tohsaka." said Kisuke with a polite smile then turned to face Aoi. "And you as well Lady Tohsaka. I do hope that you considered what I told you when we talked about a week ago." he said. Aoi, who had been covering her mouth to hide her smile at her husband's rare social Faux pau, removed her hand and gave a polite bow though hers was deeper than her husband's.

"I did and took your words to heart. Though this last week has been bittersweet, the knowledge that we will still be able to see each other again frequently has, as you said, made the transition far easier. So thank you for your kind words." Aoi said earnestly. Kisuke rubbed the back of his head embarrassingly.

Rin meanwhile eyed the trio with curiosity and suspicion. If what she had understood was right. Not only would Sakura be taken in by the highest ranking noble in their society, just below royalty, but she would be taught by the very people who would oversee creating this kido and the equivalent of mystic codes. Even if her father voiced his doubts of kido and its ability to compete with magecraft, for Rin just the level of tutoring that Sakura was getting out of this made her just a tad jealous. It left her in an odd position. Should she demand to be taken in as an apprentice in kido as well or should she strive to exceed in magecraft since she was the chosen successor?

"Now then would you be so kind as to introduce us to your daughters?" asked Yoruichi politely. This seemed to snap Tokiomi out of his surprised and embarrassed stupor as he refocused his attention on the girls. Tokiomi nodded.

"Of course." he said. He gestured to Rin. "This here is the oldest of the girls and the chosen successor to the Tohsaka magecraft legacy. Rin Tohsaka." he said with pride in his voice. He then gestured to Sakura. "And this is the youngest of the girls and soon to be your ward, Lady Shihoin. Sakura Tohsaka. Or rather. . .uh. . ." Tokiomi coughed politely. "Forgive me but what will her last name be as you both introduced yourselves under different names." he inquired. Yoruichi casually waved it off.

"It's fine. The reason for the different names is due to Kisuke not being of nobility, because of this, the elders of my clan will not acknowledge our marriage. Kisuke actually secured a compromise in that they allowed us to marry as long as we keep our separate last names and any children we have, be they born or adopted, will take his last name as only those who are born from a union of nobles of their choosing will be granted the last name of Shihoin. So Sakura will be a ward of the Shihoin house, but her last name will be Urahara." she explained. Tokiomi nodded in understanding. Yoruichi looked at Sakura who shrank under her gaze. Yoruichi knelt to get to her level. "Hello Sakura. It's nice to meet you." she said, keeping her tone and smile friendly. Sakura looked down at her feet nervously.

"Hello, Lady Shihoin. Nice to meet you as well." she said nervously. Yoruichi patted her head gently.

"We'll worry about etiquette and formality when you get to your new home. Since you'll be my ward you can address me by name." she said gently. Sakura looked at her in confusion.

"You mean like Lady Yoruichi?" she asked. Yoruichi looked caught off guard at first then laughed much to the confusion of the mages present. Kisuke smiled fondly as his wife laughed. Yoruichi brought herself under control, but she kept her more genuine smile.

"Sorry it's just been so long since I've been addressed like that. It brought back some very fond memories." she explained. Finally, Sakura seemed to warm up to Yoruichi and then gave a small smile. Yoruichi stood up and looked at Tokiomi. "Alright why don't we go elsewhere and hammer out any further details that we both feel need to be addressed." she announced. Tokiomi nodded and had Aoi go prepare tea for their guests. Everyone then moved to the drawing room.

For about an hour, a formal contract was hammered out. It was decided that the original terms would be adhered to but there were a few additions. Mostly on the Reapers part. They would set money aside for Sakura to ensure that she would be able to financially support herself once she was of age. But the most surprising term was that Yoruichi gave them a bag filled with rare and expensive jewels that were to be given to Rin to help her in her jewel magecraft. Yoruichi explained that this was meant as an investment for her to show that while Sakura would be trained to use kido didn't mean that she wasn't interested in magecraft. She hoped that when Rin came of age perhaps, they could see if it were possible to have her learn kido on top of gem magecraft. Once she was of age, she was to come visit Yoruichi and she would be given more gems to help with her in her magecraft as long as she was willing to experiment with kido for a set number of yrs, though the specifics would have to be hammered out at a later date with Rin when she came of age. All this in exchange that, at least publicly, Sakura would still be adopted under the Matou family, specifically under Kariya Matou's guardianship. Kisuke explained that the reason for this was to allow for the two families to save face in the eyes of mage society. Specifically, Sakura, if she chose to in later life, could attend the Clock Tower and not be harassed by other students and teachers just because she came from an unknown family with no mage pedigree. Since she already came from a place deemed backwater by mage society as a mark against her, the Matou name would be her ticket and shield in a place like that. Only the people present in the room and those who they brought into their respective inner circles would know that her real name was Sakura Urahara-Shihoin. Tokiomi was suspicious but since he was getting a cache of essentially free rare gems of exquisite quality, he wasn't really able to refuse as the Tohsaka magecraft was in fact a costly form of magecraft. And it wasn't like their assessment of mage culture was inaccurate. So, he agreed to the conditions. With this the contract was signed in the blood of both parties and their business was concluded.

Rin and Sakura were actually starting to get kind of excited about what the future held though Sakura was still nervous now that she really was getting ready to leave. Aoi handed over several suitcases to which Tessai took and headed out the door. Followed by Kisuke and finally by Yoruichi and Sakura as they stepped out of the house where they saw a limo parked on the side of the road. Suddenly Rin stopped them as she ran to catch up to them. She approached Sakura and held out her hand which was holding a red ribbon. Sakura smiled and accepted the gift before waving goodbye to her family promising to see her mom and Rin in a week's time. As they climbed into the limo and closed the doors, Sakura was shocked to find that Kariya was the driver.

"Finally! I was getting tired of having to recall all those noble lessons from childhood as I talked to Tokiomi. So can't wait to get home." said Yoruichi tiredly. Sakura was surprised by how much of a shift in attitude had occurred once they were out of sight of her family. But it wasn't bad, they just stopped being formal and acted more casually. "So, are you ready to see your new home, Sakura? It's not a manor by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it'll feel far homier and cozier for you." said Yoruichi in a comforting tone and smile. Sakura wasn't sure to make of all this, but she found herself clutching the red ribbon.

Suddenly Kisuke took the ribbon only to take a small amount of her brown hair and tie the ribbon in it to secure it. keeping the hair out of the left side of her face. Since the rest of her hair was down and left to be free it gave her a look as if the curtain of her hair was pulled back to reveal her face. "You look so cute right now. And when you get older, it will make you look beautiful." said Kisuke honestly. Sakura blushed and leaned into Yoruichi to hide her face. Yoruichi just laughed but put a comforting arm around Sakura.

"Sakura. I know that this is all new to you and where we're going is going to be very different than what you're used to, but I promise you that it will feel like home. It certainly has come to feel that way for me." said Kariya as he continued Driving that got Sakura's attention. But it was Kisuke that spoke up.

"Did I ever thank you for letting me have all those books in the Matou house?" he asked.

"Please it's the least I could do to even begin to repay you for all that you've done for me. You all helped Sakura when you didn't have to. You helped me take care of my family problems. You're helping me stand on my own two feet. And now Sakura and Rin can still see each other even after they've been separated officially. And you're still taking both of us on as apprentices in Kido. Not to mention that Byakuya and I are on decent terms again. Giving you access to all the Matou magecraft tomes and mystic codes and tools seems like a paltry sum to give you in exchange for all that." said Kariya sounding grateful.

"Well keep in mind most of the tools and mystic codes were deemed condemned items that I wouldn't let anyone use, so those were destroyed along with tomes that were of soul splitting or something along those lines. So only about half of the tomes were even deemed worth studying and everything else was destroyed so as to keep any other amoral or megalomaniac individuals from getting their hands on such dangerous materials. Besides, you're helping me interpret the information written down in the tomes that are left and that's still quite a substantial amount. Well over a thousand books for sure." said Kisuke. Sakura was shocked to hear this. While it was true that her father hadn't taught her much in terms of magecraft she and Rin did still talk over the last few weeks as she was starting her training in magecraft. One of the things that she was told was to never reveal or allow outsiders access to the family library of magecraft tomes. According to Rin's teachings, these were guarded fiercely as a dragon does its horde. Aoi, her mother who did come from a mage family, was married into the family and even she hadn't been allowed to have access to the Tohsaka family library unless Tokiomi was present and monitored what books she took and made sure she returned them the moment she was done reading it. So, to hear that Kariya had just allowed someone who wasn't even strictly speaking a mage have complete and total access to the library and all its contents and even assisted in the destruction of items and tomes they deemed dangerous, for Sakura's understanding this was the equivalent to committing heresy.

"Like I said a paltry sum that doesn't even begin to repay you for all that you've done for me and others. All that's left is for Byakuya to sell the house and the Matou family will, at least privately, no longer be among the mage society." reiterated Kariya a sense of relief in his voice. Once again Sakura was surprised to hear this. While she had been told by her father when Zouken was originally going to adopt her that the Matous were a mage family on the decline and ran the risk of being no longer counted amongst mage society, to hear that being seen as a good thing was almost antithetical to her father's teaching, which acted like it was one of the worst things in the world to happen to a mage family like the family had just died out even if the name was still present. According to her father, if the Matous were no longer able to be mages, then they would be dead in the eyes of their society. Yet Uncle Kariya was acting like that was the best thing in the world. Every she had been told felt like it had been turned topsy-turvy, and she wasn't sure what would happen now.

"Look we can worry about repaying debts and required etiquette later. Right now, let's head home, change into something more comfortable, get Sakura settled in, and then we celebrate!" said Yoruichi. Sakura looked at Yoruichi in surprise.

"What are we celebrating?" she asked curiously. Everyone looked at her in surprise. Kisuke then spoke.

"Why we're celebrating having you as a new member of our little makeshift family." he said with a smile. Sakura looked shocked but as she processed what was just said, she finally gave a happy smile.

"Okay!" she said genuinely happy. Everyone gave a happy yell as they continued to drive to her new home, Sakura finally feeling nervous yet happy for the future.

3yrs prior . . .

Japan – Fuyuki – Miyama – children's park – daytime

While the children were playing on the play equipment in the park, Sakura, whose hair, and eyes were now violet colored, showed up at the park. She was wearing a purple dress, purple socks, and black Mary Jane shoes. She looked around nervously when a hand rested on her shoulder. Sakura looked up to see that next to her was a young adult woman with turquoise eyes, red oval glasses and long black hair. Her hair had bangs in the front and she kept the back in a braided ponytail. She was dressed in a long-sleeved sailor fuku, with a teal green/blue collar and matching pleated miniskirt that ended at her stomach, completed with a pink neckerchief. She was giving Sakura a comforting smile.

"I hope that we didn't miss them." said Sakura.

"I wouldn't worry about it. They've never missed a meet-up before." said the older woman. She had a manga tucked under her arm and a sword strapped to her back. Suddenly they heard a voice.

"SAKURA!" the voice said. The duo turned to see Rin wearing clothes like when they left 2 yrs ago, as she ran to go and embrace her former sister. Behind her was Aoi, also wearing similar clothes to when she left 2 yrs prior and now looking at her with surprise no doubt caused by her new look. But the biggest oddity was that there were 3 people coming to greet them and the third person wasn't Tokiomi. Instead, it was another girl, who looked a little older than Rin, with medium long brown hair and blue eyes wearing a pink cardigan and white dress with white stockings and brown penny loafers.

"Oh my. Sakura what did you do to yourself?" asked Aoi in shock as she took in Sakura's new look. Then the new girl spoke up.

"Um, Excuse me. Aunt Aoi. Who are these two?" she asked shyly. Sakura also began to get shy as she was meeting someone new. Rin, however, took charge of introductions.

"Sakura. I want to introduce you to our cousin: Ayaka Tohsaka. She's actually just a yr. older than me. And since you're a yr younger than me and are 7 that means she's two yrs older than you." Rin said working out her child logic then she turned to the now named Ayaka. "Ayaka. I want you to meet my former little sister, Sakura Urahara-Shihoin. Though publicly she's known as Sakura Matou. She was adopted into a noble family so my father could train one heir as is the tradition in mage culture as you know. But they teach a different magic than we do but since they would be unknown in the mage world, Sakura would've had to face a lot of scrutiny than if she was from the Matou family. So, they decided to have her publicly be given the name Matou." Rin explained to Ayaka.

"Rin we're not supposed to tell people that unless they are living as part of the family. That part is supposed to be a secret." Sakura pointed out worried that her older sister gave away a big secret to someone unknown. Even if she was, supposedly, a cousin.

"Actually Sakura, Ayaka will be a new permanent fixture of the Tohsaka household. See after her mother died in childbirth, Ayaka had been living with her father. And when she was about 5 yrs. old, she inherited her family's magic crest. The same age Rin was when she inherited our family's magic crest. But now her father recently passed away due to mysterious circumstances. So, since we are her only living relatives and she's already received her family's magic crest and all its protections, Ayaka will come live with us. Tokiomi has already agreed to it." Aoi explained. Sakura, while a bit saddened that her father would take in someone else yet refused to let her come back, decided to put her feelings on that matter aside as she wanted to have fun with her mom and sister and now cousin. She grew curious.

"Ayaka, what does your family specialize in?" she asked. Ayaka looked down in embarrassment.

"It's not really anything amazing. Just a combination of the spirit arts and creation of mystic codes." Ayaka said vaguely. That got the other older woman's attention.

"Spirit arts?" she asked in curiosity. Ayaka yelped in surprise as she looked at the other older woman who was accompanying Sakura.

"Who are you, ma'am?" she asked, remembering her manners. The older woman smiled.

"I am Lisa Yadōmaru. I am one of several close associates of Sakura's true adopted family. As to why I'm here. I'm here as Sakura's bodyguard and escort to and from Fuyuki city. So I will be accompanying all of you for the day." The now named Lisa explained. Aoi smiled.

"Lisa is the one who regularly comes up with Sakura when she does her weekly visits here to Fuyuki, Ayaka. The reason why her true adopted family doesn't come up in person is that their station as nobles doesn't allow them to venture too far from their territory. That and her adopted mother has been apparently trying to find suitable candidates that will help produce an heir that will be acceptable by her clan elder's standards. Which by the way, Lisa, has Lady Yoruichi had any success, so far." she smiled as she explained and asked. Lisa dropped her smile and shook her head.

"I'm afraid not. The conditions that Lady Yoruichi set have caused many otherwise suitable men to turn down the offer, going for an all or nothing mentality. They want marriage while Yoruichi just wants a male donor and to give them a paycheck." said Lisa solemnly. Sakura looked sad. She knew that what was just said was a lie and she did feel bad lying to her mom, sister, and now cousin but she was told that if the truth was revealed, her former father Tokiomi might decide to go back on the agreement and have Sakura go to a mage family where they might not be as nice as her current family was. Sakura was determined to stay with her current family which as of now consisted of Uncle Kariya, Uncle Kisuke, Uncle Tessai, Uncle Shinji, Uncle Rose, Uncle Love, Uncle Hachi, Uncle Kensei, Aunt Yoruichi, Aunt Lisa, Aunt Hiyori, and of course her playmates and friends Mashiro, Jinta, and Ururu. So, while she knew lying was wrong if she got to stay with her current family, she would let the lies be told and not try to correct them.

Aoi looked sad and stated, "I'm very sorry that, that has not been successful for her. Please pass along our well wishes and hope that things turn around for her." Lisa nodded. Then Aoi turned to Sakura and her face gave a disapproving frown. "Now then Sakura. Please explain what happened to your hair and eye color as it wasn't that way when we saw you last week." she said Sternly. Sakura gave a little EEP! And hid behind Lisa who gave a small smirk at the scene unfolding before her.

1 yr prior . . .

Japan – Fuyuki – Shinto district – Emiya Residence – evening

Kiritsugu Emiya was sitting out on the porch of a traditional Japanese manor home in Fuyuki. He thought of how they got here. It's been 4 yrs. since we adopted Shirou and we've been living here in this house for 6 months. That's the longest we've stayed in one place. A part of him was quite proud that he and his family were living right under the noses of not just one but two Founding families who had helped in the creation of the Holy Grail War Ritual. Perhaps they could've taken up residence in the castle that the Einzberns owned here in Fuyuki. But he felt that while it seemed like the Einzberns had forgotten about that property or deemed it useless with the theft of the Greater Grail back during the 3rd Grail War in the 1930's and it's subsequent disappearance, he didn't want to push his luck on the idea that maybe some kind of warning system would trigger if they set foot on that property alerting the Einzberns to their presence and track them down here. Especially after nearly a decade of successful evasion from the Einzberns. This is one of the reasons that he had them live amongst the mundane Japanese citizens as well as under the protection of the local yakuza. His saving the granddaughter of the yakuza boss and outfitting them with illegal tools and equipment had given them allies and protection that they desperately needed at this point. But was my securing such allies and the like all for nothing after all? He wondered. His gaze, which had been fixated on the full moon on the clear spring evening shifted to the back of his left hand. On that said location in blood red coloring was some kind of tattoo. It looked to be in the shape of a cross. He knew what this tattoo really was. Command seals. Proof that he'd been chosen as a master. This meant only one thing. He was getting dragged into a Holy Grail War.

Suddenly he heard footsteps. He turned around and saw his whole family. His wife Iri, who hadn't changed a bit, his daughter Illya, who was taller now that she was 14 and despite being albino looked otherwise like any other typical 14 yr. old, and his adopted son Shirou who looked a few inches shorter than Illya but looked like any 9 yr old would at his age save for his red hair not matching his Asian features. Kiritsugu smiled at his family at first upon seeing them, but that smile disappeared when he saw Iri frowning and the children looking worried.

"Iri, what's wrong?" he asked, his face becoming stoic preparing for the worst. Iri didn't answer, instead took the hands of Illya gently and showed that they too were covered in red tattoos. One looked to be a set of three feathers or wings on her left hand while the other on her right looked like it was a sheath with a stylized heart on it (Illya's original command seals in Stay/Night). She then took Shirou's hands and showed that both hands had red tattoos. On the back of his right hand was a stylized anvil and hammer while on the back of the left hand was an odd-looking fleur-de-lys but with a heart underneath and single red line (Shirou's original command seals in Stay/Night). Finally, Iri revealed the back of her own hands and Kiritsugu saw that they were both a set of feathers or wings. On the back of the left hand was a set of a single pair of wings and on the back of the right hand was a set of two pairs of wings.

"Do you know what this means, Kiritsugu?" she asked though the children looked worried still. Kiritsugu nodded.

"What does it mean, Mom?" asked Shirou not sure he was going to like the answer.

"It means that the warning the Wizard Marshal gave your mother and I almost a decade ago is coming to fruition. We're going to get dragged into a Holy Grail War." he explained. The children looked panicked.

"But we don't want to have to fight each other." said Illya sadly. Iri put comforting hands on both her children and gave them a gentle smile.

"And we won't. But by choosing to work together, the Grail will activate a back-up system that will simply turn it into a faction war between two sets of Servants and Masters." Iri explained. Kiritsugu looked at her in surprise.

"This is the first time that I've heard of this, Iri." he said. Iri looked at him.

"Despite everything I was still intended as the grail model homunculus and therefore have a connection that grants me some information regarding the Greater Grail. So I know of this back-up systems existence, and I know that by refusing to fight each other we will become a Faction of Masters who will fight another faction of most likely 7 other Masters, until one of each of the Seven Servant classes summoned is left, then the survivors will conduct a proper Holy Grail War until a winner is declared." Iri declared solemnly.

"How many factions do you think will appear?" asked Shirou. That question caught his parents off guard.

"Well . . . I want to say just two factions. So about 14 Servants and technically 14 Masters as that was the thought process going in that that was all the founding families thought would be the maximum number of participants but . . .now that I think about it and considering we are only 4 and we've managed to get 7 sets of command seals split between all of us. . .. So strictly speaking there was no set limit on just how many participants or factions could be formed or how they are formed. So, in theory it's possible that more than two factions could form but it would depend on how much magical energy exists and how many Servants could be supported by it either by the area the war would take place in, the Masters of the Servants, or by the Grail itself." said Iri growing thoughtful. Kiritsugu got to his feet and walked to his family.

"Alright. I think we should head to bed. I'll start talking to my contacts tomorrow and see if any relics from the clock tower or from other places have been moved around or disappeared but for now let's all go and rest." said Kiritsugu. With that the little family headed for their rooms and as he and Iri lay on the futon together in their shared bedroom, Kiritsugu couldn't help but be scared about what would potentially happen in the future as he held Iri close to him and she was doing the same to him.

The next day . . ..

Japan – Miyama – Tohsaka Residence – daytime

Tokiomi and his family, including Ayaka, were finishing up breakfast when they heard a knock at the door. Curious, Tokiomi decided to answer the door himself. What he saw surprised him. There were three individuals. One he recognized as Kirei Kotomine the son of his recently deceased good friend from the Catholic Church, Risei Kotomine and now his magecraft student of the last 2 yrs. He wore simple church vestments and a golden cross around his neck. But the next two were even more shocking to him: Kariya Matou and his former daughter Sakura. Tokiomi looked at the trio with a perplexed look.

"Is there a reason that you three are present?" he asked cautiously. The three exchanged a look before Kirei and Kariya showed the backs of their right hands which Tokiomi noticed were covered in blood red tattoos. Kariya then gently took Sakura's left hand and showed that hers too was covered in a blood red tattoo. Tokiomi's eyes widened as he looked at them. He knew what these were. Command Seals. No sooner had the thought entered his mind did he suddenly feel pain coming from his own right hand. Tokiomi gave a cry of pain as he felt something burn on the back of his hand. Other cries of pain could be heard inside the house much to the outside trio's surprise. Once the pain had passed Tokiomi looked down and saw the same blood red tattoo on the back of his right hand. Hurried footsteps in the house were heard in the house behind him.

"Tokiomi! Look! Something strange just happened to me and all the girls!" said Aoi in a panic. He looked at the hands of his wife, daughter and niece and saw they too all had a set of blood red tattoos. He then looked back at the trio outside.

"Come into the drawing room. We have much to discuss." he said with finality. The trio outside were quickly ushered in. He then led the group into the drawing room and had everyone sit down. "Alright what do you all know about the Holy Grail War?" he asked. As expected, the girls all looked confused along with his wife and his apprentice Kirei while Kariya looked put-off. "So aside from Kariya Matou everyone is in the dark on this subject. Very well. I will explain this as best as I can, but any questions must wait until the end of my explanation." After a breath he began.

"About 200 yrs. ago three mage families sought to reach the root of Akasha and thought to work together to try and achieve that goal so that they can obtain the power and knowledge that would be found there." Kariya rolled his eyes at that, but Tokiomi carried on. "They devised a system called the Holy Grail War Ritual. It was where mages could find a way to summon heroic spirits from a plane of existence called the throne of heroes as their familiars in the form of Servants. Then once summoned, the Servants were to be sacrificed into a vessel called the Greater Grail to provide magical energy without needing to sacrifice hundreds of non-mage people as that was the other option to get the energy needed to achieve access to the Root. So, either sacrifice hundreds of non-mages or sacrifice a few Servants. The founding families chose the latter. But they discovered that they needed more than a few. They calculated that it would take about 7 Servants to fill the Greater Grail to reach the level of magical energy they needed, so they invited 4 other mages on the belief that they were participating in a magical competition. That competition turned into an all-out war and led to a lot of bloodshed but no winner. What's more they discovered that only one mage would be allowed to access the Root and get everything that came with that. So the three families each contributed to this ritual in that the Einzberns would provide the lesser grail in the form of a special class of homunculus that would merge with the grail to activate the gate that will lead to the Root, the Matous created the Master-Servant system in the form of the tattoos we all have, called Command Seals, and we the Tohsakas provided the land that the ritual would take place in, all on the hope that someone from one of the three families would achieve the dream of the original founders if not by gaining access to the Root than by using the gathered magical energy to grant a single wish to the winning Master-Servant pair. Sixty yrs later, the Ritual reached out and selected 7 more mages to become Masters and the Ritual began again, now called the Holy Grail War. For two more times this occurred but in all three times there was no winner. But at the end of the 3rd Grail War. The Greater Grail was stolen by one of the outside participants and then disappeared without a trace. Yet even after this, the information on how the Ritual system worked was leaked to the entire mage world which now has caused all these auxiliary Holy Grail Wars to happen all over the world. Now are there any questions?" Tokiomi opened the floor to the others.

Sakura had her hand raised like she was in school. Tokiomi gave a slight smile but did motion to her to continued "Was the need for 7 Servants correct or was that the reason that there was no winner? asked Sakura. Kariya gave her a proud smile and answered before Tokiomi.

"You're partly right in that the original calculation of needing only 7 Servants was incorrect. You see it was discovered that only a Servant could touch the grail to activate the gate to access the Root. But 7 Servants worth of Magical energy was needed to power the grail in order to unlock the gate to the Root. So technically the entire endeavor was a failure from the start due to a miscalculation." he explained. Tokiomi looked like he had swallowed a lemon.

"Calling it a failure, is a bit inaccurate as well. You are correct with your numbers Kariya Matou, but what I'm sure you don't know about is the back-up system." Tokiomi mentioned. At Kariya's confused look, Tokiomi gave a smug smirk then he continued to explain. "Since the first Ritual, once the problem with the number of Servants was discovered, as a final failsafe the three founders decided to have a back–up system. That is to say that if the first set of 7 masters are chosen and they decide to rally under one banner, then that means that the Grail War can't commence. What the back-up system does is force the Grail War to commence by choosing another set of 7 Masters and from there create a war between two factions. The two sides will fight until one Servant from each class is left, then the survivors will conduct a proper holy Grail War. But this means that 14 Servants will be summoned. So, if a Master is cunning enough, they can get the contracts of two Servants and once all other Servants are eliminated the Master with two Servants can sacrifice one while the other can be compelled to touch the grail and activate the gate to the Root." he finished. Kariya's eyes widened at this before growing thoughtful and then looked at Tokiomi and stated,

"Except the last two Grail Wars, where this back up system was in place, never had more than 7 participating Masters, correct?" he challenged. Tokiomi's eye narrowed in annoyance but answered.

"You are correct, Kariya Matou. Mages are paranoid as a rule so getting 7 of them to cooperate for any length of time is a miracle in and of itself." Tokiomi looked around the group and smiled in a way that made Kariya nervous as he felt he wasn't going to like whatever Tokiomi was planning. However, with 4 participants being of my own family, 1 being my student, that only leaves you and Sakura Matou to decide if you will join us or fight against us." he said looking at Kariya smugly. Kariya frowned and spoke.

"I won't force Sakura to fight her own family and I did promise Aoi to be civil with you should we have to affiliate so, it seems that we have no choice." Kariya said with reluctance. Kirei who had been silent this whole time watched as the two other men spoke and could already tell that there was tension between them. However, he decided to keep quiet on this and focused back on the task at hand.

"So, you'll join us?" Kirei asked. Kariya nodded. Tokiomi looked triumphant.

"Excellent. Now since the Tohsakas and Matous are working together as one faction of 7 Masters, then that means that the other founding family, the Einzberns will most likely make up at least part of the competing faction as they are guaranteed to also have received a set of command seals. With yourself and Sakura as the last of the Matous, Kariya Matou, and having no interest in the grail or war and the Einzberns obsessed with the grail itself, that leaves the Tohsaka family as the only one left to still pursue the original goal of reaching the Root and gain the power and knowledge that can be found there." he explained.

"So, we are operating as a faction to help you achieve that dream then, Teacher?" asked Kirei in curiosity.

"That's correct but it would be best to keep that under wraps for now. We must wait until the Grail presents itself then we will summon our Servants to fight in the War." Tokiomi explained. He then looked at Sakura then spoke again. "Since we need to ensure the safety of our faction members, it might be best that we all stay in one place for now. The Tohsaka Manor has some of the best mage protections there are so I believe that until further notice Kariya Matou and Sakura will remain here while Kirei will be the only one permitted to go along with Aoi as it won't look too suspicious seeing either of them going to and from the house." decided Tokiomi. Kariya looked very unenthused but nodded.

"I only ask that I call my teacher and tell him about my new living arrangements and see if he can send up mine and Sakura's things." Kariya asked. Tokiomi nodded before taking one last look at all the groups command seals before dismissing Kariya who walked out of the room. Tokiomi looked at Kirei.

"Kirei I need you to help me gather up relics to use as catalyst for the Servant Summons. I'll use my connections at the Clock Tower, but I would appreciate it if you could use your connections at the Church to see if they have anything we could use." he told him. Kirei nodded.

"It will be done Teacher." said Kirei. Tokiomi found himself lost in thought as he looked at the rest of his new faction. Or rather their command seals. Kirei's was a swirl of mist, Kariya's was a stylized spiral, his and Rin's were interlacing circles and a line though his faced down while hers faced up, Sakura's looked like a 3-petal flower, Ayaka's looked like a stylized sword, and finally Aoi's looked like a six petaled flower. Now Tokiomi was smiling with excitement. At last, the dream of our ancestors will be realized and then my children will inherit all that I obtain from the Root, and they will be royalty in the eyes of Mage Society. Tokiomi coughed to maintain his façade of a cool family head in order to contain how truly happy he was at the potential future.

Meanwhile Kariya went to an empty room and pulled out a blue iPhone. He heard the dial tone before Kisuke's voice could be heard on the other end.

"Kariya, glad to hear from you. So why did you leave so quickly with Sakura without telling us?" asked Kisuke concerned lacing his tone.

"Sorry about that. But we have another problem and unfortunately, I can't ask for your help this time to solve it." said Kariya sadly looking at his command seals. There was silence for a few min before he heard Kisuke again.

"What's the problem this time?" he asked cautiously.

3 months prior . . ..

Fake Karakura Town – daytime

Aizen became impatient with the battle and decided to slash Harribel and used his Kyōka Suigetsu to kill her himself to speed things along. He then confronted the 13 Court Guard Squads and Visored. Aizen began taunting the Visored, which sent Hiyori over the edge, and she charged straight towards Aizen. However, Gin used Shinsō to bifurcate her at the waist and she fell into the town below. Shinji went after her and caught her.

Shinji, once Hiyori was left with Hachi, confronted Aizen and released his Zanpakutō, Sakanade, and began to battle Aizen. However, Aizen was able to quickly adjust himself to the effects of Shinji's Zanpakuto. Kaname exploded in a burst of blood and flesh and died in his own battle, and Aizen took note of this. Now he only had Gin as his remaining subordinate. As this happened, Ichigo broke through a Garganta and appeared directly behind Aizen. Ichigo fired a Getsuga Tenshō directly at Aizen, but he blocked it with a barrier.

Aizen then began to provoke Ichigo until Komamura stepped in. The Visored and 13 Court Guard Squads then vowed to protect Ichigo and to stop Aizen. They all went to fight Aizen, but Komamura, Rose, Love, and Lisa were quickly cut down by him. As this was happening Gin watched from the top of a building and noted how powerful Aizen had become since they had left the Soul Society.

Suì-Fēng charged at Aizen with clones while Hitsugaya froze his left arm. Suì-Fēng then used her Zanpakuto's special ability, but Aizen blocked the attack simply with his immense spiritual pressure. He was then hurt by Shunsui due to the fact that he left a shadow on the ice, while Hitsugaya charged straight towards Aizen. While using his Zanpakuto's ability of illusion he swapped places with his former subordinate, Momo Hinamori. From his new position, he mocked Hitsugaya for not planning ahead, he then noticed Shinji's released Zanpakutō and realized that everything was backwards. But since he was not really there, he watched on in amusement as Hitsugaya then ran his Zanpakutō through 'Aizen' from behind and it appeared as if the Soul Reapers had won.

Only when Ichigo yelled at them for what they were doing, did Aizen deactivate his illusion and the Soul Reapers realize that they've just stabbed Momo, not Aizen. Aizen then cut down Kira and Iba who were near his true location to reduce any threats. He revealed that he had used Kyōka Suigetsu and this sent Hitsugaya over the edge. He charged blindly at Aizen, and this gave Aizen the opportunity to cut down Hitsugaya, Shunsui, Suì-Fēng, and Shinji.

Yamamoto battled with an Arrancar named Wonderweiss and was able to smash him into pieces with the hand-to-hand combat technique named Sōkotsu. However, because the flames of his Zanpakuto were already sealed inside of Wonderweiss previously, he blew up and Yamamoto was forced to take the full force of the explosion to protect everyone. Aizen went up to Yamamoto, believing he was defeated, but Yamamoto was able to use the Kidō spell Ittō Kasō against him. Aizen got out of the attack with slight burns, but was immediately confronted by Ichigo with his Hollow mask on.

Ichigo attacked him with a Getsuga Tenshō and was able to hurt him, but Aizen regenerated himself and revealed that he implanted the Hōgyoku in his body. Aizen then decided to tell Ichigo everything he knew about him and revealed that he had known him since the day he was born, and that all his battles had gone the way he desired. Just as Aizen was about to tell him who he was, Isshin Kurosaki appeared in between his son and Aizen, exclaiming that he had said too much. After Ichigo got used to the fact that his father was a Soul Reaper, and with the promise that they would talk in full later about all this, he went and fought Gin while Isshin fought with Aizen.

Gin activated his Bankai, Kamishini no Yari, and used its long length and destructive force to destroy the surrounding buildings. However, Ichigo was able to block the Bankai and counterattack against Gin. This forced Gin to decide to fight normally and the two battled each other. Ichigo was still able to overcome Gin's Bankai, and revealed that he knew that its true power was really in the immense speed of its contractions. Isshin was able to slow Aizen down, but his opponent revealed that he was only able to overcome his Soul Reaper form.

As Aizen explained the true power of the Hōgyoku, which was really to grant the wishes in people's hearts, he was interrupted by Gin and Ichigo battling. The Hōgyoku then began enveloping Aizen's body and Ichigo wondered what was happening. Suddenly, Kisuke Urahara arrived and attacked Aizen from behind. Urahara battled with Aizen and was able to defeat him by using his own Reiatsu against him.

However, Aizen was then fully enveloped by the Hōgyoku and came out in a completely different form, being completely covered in white. As Urahara and Isshin battled Aizen together, Yoruichi Shihōin arrived and began pummeling down on Aizen. However, Aizen survived the attack with only cracks forming on his body and told his opponents to come up with their next plan. He then had a form where he was still enveloped in white, but his human face was exposed and his brown hair was now longer about waist length, looking like a mullet. Finally, his eyes had changed to purple sclarea and white pupils. They then continued their battle as Ichigo watched and Gin asked him if it was a good idea for him to leave his back open. After continuing to mock his opponent, Gin unleashed his Bankai Butō assault, which made his Bankai go even faster. Gin easily overwhelmed Ichigo, so he suggested to him that he runs away from this battle.

Urahara, Yoruichi, and Isshin did a combination of attacks against Aizen that ended with Isshin using a Getsuga Tenshō directly in front of Aizen. However, Aizen survived the blow and was able to knock out all of his opponents. Gin told Ichigo that if he didn't run away, he would kill him. However, before he left, Aizen arrived at their location and questioned what Gin was doing. Gin stated that he was simply testing Ichigo's strength. Suddenly, the incubation period with the Hōgyoku ended and Aizen emerged into his true transformation with the Hōgyoku. He was now wearing a white dress-like garment that covered his entire body in white save for his face. He also now had six wings that oddly enough looked like butterfly's wings. His face and hair remained the same but now he had a black oblong stone imbedded on his forehead. Finally, he had a hole where his heart should've been and intersecting lines forming a cross and at the center of that nestled the Hogyoku.

Gin turned to face him and asked what their next destination was going to be. However, before Aizen could answer, suddenly the Hogyoku began to glow in a way that caught even Aizen off guard. Gin asked what it was doing but Aizen didn't answer, instead adopted a look of astonishment. Then he gave a smug smile. Aizen commented on how the hogyoku could sense its predecessor and inspiration had finally decided to make itself known after almost 200 yrs. Gin gave a confused look losing his usual sly smile in the process while Ichigo, still on the ground and barely conscious, looked up at the two as they conversed. Aizen simply stated that 200 yrs ago he saw people attempting to create a device that ended up inspiring him to create his hogyoku. They called it the Holy Grail. Gin raises an eyebrow at this, and Ichigo listened intently a bit surprised by the name. Then Aizen informed Gin how sadly it didn't really come to fruition hence why he essentially went onto create the Hogyoku. Now 200 yrs later, the perfected version ended up sensing the presence of the original.

After a pause as if deep in thought Aizen looked at Ichigo who was still conscious and stated arrogantly that he should rejoice as something else had caught his attention so the real Karakura would be spared for a while longer. He then tells Ichigo to get stronger by the time they meet next. Gin asked how long it would be before they came back to the real Karakura Town to finish the job. Aizen responded that this little side trip should take no more than a few months as that should be more than enough time to either study it enough to decide if he should utilize it or decide to abandon it on account of it no longer worth trying to understand or deem it useless to him. Gin simply shrugged in response and then flashstepped away leaving Ichigo defeated and confused. He finally lost consciousness shortly after the two left.

2 months prior . . ..

Outside Fuyuki- Mt. Enzou- Underground Caverns

She opened her eyes to find herself staring at a cave ceiling. The figure who woke up was a young girl in her early teens. She had light blonde hair and light blue eyes and had fair features suggesting she was of seemingly European background. Her outfit was a buttoned-up green dress, however, she left it unbuttoned, revealing her chest and the red tattoo on it. The tattoo consisted of a stylized lance at the center and three pairs of wings coming from it. These were her Command Seals showing that she was a Master for a Holy Grail War. She was also barefoot. The girl in question was named Manaka Sajiyou. She got to her feet and looked around the cavern. She saw what looked to be an altar of some kind on the opposite end of where she was now standing and decided to make her way over to it. Once there she placed her hand on it and closed her eyes as her whole body began to glow in a white light. Once the light died down, she opened her eyes. "I see so that's how it is. This altar had been made for the Greater Grail for the Holy Grail War that took place here but 70 yrs ago it was stolen and taken from the land. As it was being taken away it brought me here from my world parallel to this one but due to the Manaka Sajiyou of this world still being alive at that time, I was put to sleep for the last 70 yrs. But now it woke me up because the Grail itself has been reactivated at least for a month or so now and my counterpart has been dead for a while now. My connection to the Root is still intact and the corrupted Grail I have within me is still there. So now the question is what to do now?" she thought aloud curiously, her voice sounding like a bell.

She gasped and turned away from the altar and looked around the cavern again. She suddenly began running around the cavern as she was looking all over for something. When she couldn't seem to find it, she became completely depressed and cried in despair. "No! The Shards of Caliburn that I brought with me! I needed them to summon My Prince!" As she started to weep a ray of sunlight reached into the cavern, hitting her body. She looked up and saw the way out and walked towards it.

Once outside she saw a lush green landscape and a path that led to the summit of the mountain that she had just left. She wiped her tears away and closed her eyes and concentrated. Then her eyes snapped open, and a look of determination was seen on her face. After quickly buttoning up her dress, she started to move forward. I can sense that the Greater Grail of this world is quite a way off. But thanks to my connection to the Root and the corrupted Grail from my world with in me, I know that it's in Romania so that's where I need to go. I'll just use magecraft on the plebians here to get me there as I have no way to get there without assistance. Once I get to the country, I can more precisely get a fix on where in Romania it is. She thought as she began to strategize her next moves.

Her face adopted a happier and more hopeful look as she ascended the stairs leading to the mountain's summit. Soon My Prince. Soon we'll be reunited, and I will make your greatest dream come true like I promised when you told me your wish. To form an eternal utopia out of the world. While this isn't our world it will do just fine. I don't care how many corpses I must trample on or how much innocent blood I must shed. All that matters is granting you your wish. She thought dreamily.

She then stopped and tilted her head to the sky in thought. Now all I must do is summon my Servants and if My Prince isn't among them or he was summoned by another Master, then I'll just have to convince My Prince to leave his current master and come back to me and then use my entire group to win the Holy Grail War of this world. If he refuses, I can always just kill his current master and force a contract on him with the Grail I possess. Worst case scenario I just blacken him with the Grail but that's an absolute last resort as it strips My Prince of everything that I love about him. At this Manaka shrugged and continued on her way. Now the only question left for now is which Servants do I summon to help me in achieving my task? She asked herself as she got to the summit and saw a temple with monks milling about. Suddenly her stomach began to growl. She sheepishly smiled and began walking towards the temple. Well first things first. Need to get some food and see if my magecraft is up to snuff still as well as my Japanese and then see if I can get these monks to help me on my way to Romania. I wonder what do monks eat here in this version of Fuyuki?

At the same time . . ..

Forests surrounding Trifas- Romania- evening

A young adult male found himself sitting on the ground staring in horror at the sight before him. 49 of his colleagues impaled on twisted versions of stakes. What was even more horrifying was that he could hear the gurgling and gagging of those colleagues, showing that they were in fact still alive despite being impaled. It wasn't supposed to be like this. When Yggdmillenia declared independence from the Association and claimed that they had the Greater Grail of the Fuyuki Grail War, they, the mage hunters of the Association, were supposed to come and wipe them out before their rebellion even began and confirm if the Grail was in fact there and then collect it for the Association. Instead, he was able to get in and confirm the Greater Grail's location in the Yggdmillenia's castle and had even managed to trigger the back-up system but after that everything went wrong. Now here he was watching his comrades being slaughtered with ease.

Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps approaching his location. He looked up to see two individuals, one on horseback or at least he assumed it was one as it was covered in armor while the other was on foot. The one on horseback was covered by the shadows of the trees with only their eyes which glowed yellow like an animal in the dark. The one on foot stepped into the moonlight giving the younger male a good look at the man standing before him. He was a tall slender man who looked to be in his 30s with long blue hair tied up in a loose ponytail and brown eyes. He wore black pants and shoes, both military types and matched the military coat which was white with gold lining and brass buttons. He also wore a matching knee length cape and carried a cane. He knew who this man was. Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia. The head of the Yggdmillenia family and the leader of the Secession Movement from the Association. The young man crawled back in fear til his back made contact with the tree he was sitting in front of looking absolutely terrified.

"So, it looks like you get to play the role of messenger." said Darnic. He brought one of his hands to the young man's face. "You'll do. I want you to head back to your superiors and let them know that the Einzberns and Ainsworth families have joined the Yggdmillenia's Secession and consider this our collective declaration of war." Darnic finished. With that the young man passed out, the last thing he saw was the glowing yellow eyes of the figure on horseback.

A female figure stood in what looked like a garden of eternal spring and she looked to be a twin to Irisviel. But her attire was of thigh high white boots with a matching white skirt and shirt with odd cut cloth, detached white sleeves, red shoulder tassels and a red and white crown on her head. Her eyes were closed. And her hands were clasped in prayer. She opened her red eyes, and she gave a small smile. "At last, the pieces are coming together. I did my part and reached out to more than 14 Masters guaranteeing the summoning of more than 40 Servants and soon the True Great Holy Grail War will start." The Iri twin then gave a slight frown. "Now you have to do your part and provide me with the necessary power needed to maintain so many Servants at once. And I expect you to keep your end of the deal. Do you really think that he'll be able to grant my wish, Hogyoku?" she asked speaking aloud to a presence that didn't seem to be there with her.

1 month prior . . ..

Fuyuki – Shinto District – Emiya Residence – daytime

Illya and Shirou had begun to do the dishes for lunch while Iri went to her and her husband's bedroom and saw him at his western style computer desk and he was currently on his cellphone talking to whoever was on the other end of the line. "I see. So that's the strategy that they're going with. Okay thanks for letting me know about the Einzberns. I appreciate it. Goodbye." he said to who was on the other end. Iri got nervous when she heard the name Einzberns.

Kiritsugu looked at her as she entered the room. He motioned for her to close the door which she did and then kept her hand on the door and chanted, "Schweigen gegenüber Außenstehenden (Silence to Outsiders). A barrier appeared in the room surrounding the couple. Iri turned back to Kiritsugu and approached him again. "So, was that Maiya? What did she tell you?" asked Iri. Kiritsugu looked at her pensively before answering.

"She told me that a few old associates of mine contacted her to let us know that the Einzberns have joined Yggdmillenia in their Secession from the Mage's Association. Evidently, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia, the current head of said family, revealed that he was in possession of the Greater Grail of Fuyuki." he told her.

"But how could that be possible? The Greater Grail went missing over 70 yrs ago when it was taken from the land." Iri pointed out shocked.

"Because Darnic was one of the participants of the 3rd Holy Grail War and was the one to steal it with the help of the Germans back then." Kiritsugu revealed.

"Then he must be at least 80. Maybe 90 yrs old." Iri calculated.

"Try 97 and yet he doesn't look a day over 30. These are two pictures taken of him. One was authenticated to have been taken for his profile when he joined up with the Germans 70 yrs ago and the other was taken only a few yrs ago." Kiritsugu handed Iri the two photos of Darnic and indeed they did show a man in his 30s in both. In fact, one would've mistaken the two photos to be taken at the same time on different camera filters rather than be decades apart from when they were taken. At Iri's questioning look, he elaborated. "Apparently, he convinced the Germans to fly over his home country of Romania and then betrayed them and took the Grail from them and faked his own death though whether through practical tricks or magecraft is unknown. As for his youthful appearance? Allegedly, he fused his soul with an infant at least twice now to keep himself young." Kiritsugu said in a monotone. Iri looked alarmed.

"Even overlooking the horrid act, itself, doing so would cause the person's own soul to deteriorate and even cause them to lose themselves due to the merging and even consumption of souls of others. Loss of Persona, really." she said.

"As long as he can lead Yggdmillenia, I don't think people will care too much about his persona. As you know, he's the reason why Auxiliary Holy Grail Wars have been happening all over the world." he mentioned.

"Because he leaked that information shortly after the Greater Grail's theft. But why would the Einzberns choose to side with him knowing that? And why secede anyways?" Iri asked.

"The Ainsworth family has also joined them as well. But to answer your questions, what matters the most to current mage culture?" he asked. Iri thought about it before answering.

"That would be thickening the blood of thaumaturgical potential over generations while mastering the thaumaturgical system chosen by the first generation and to find a path to the Root." she said.

"Right. They instead took in all mage families with even the smallest connections to them from all over the world. They focused on taking in those with little history and weak Magic Circuits, those with their Magic Circuits on the decline with successive generations, those defeated in power struggles that were forced into ruin, and even those with a price on their head as a punishment by the Association. Basically, our situation. The only real similarity they have with the Association is their pursuit for the Root, so Yggdmillennia gave all these fallen and struggling families the chance to leave their blood's legacy and put a mark upon history. Their family names are given as middle names to each member of the family, and the Magic Crests of each family are still passed down within each one rather than having a single unified crest for a single successor. This has caused them to develop a broad range of study with each member pursuing a different path, like Western alchemy, dark arts, witchcraft, astrology, and even Kabbalah to name a few." Kiritsugu explained.

"Sounds like a mage orphanage for mage's that don't stand a chance of getting anywhere in the current Association. Speaking of what do they think of them? The Association, I mean." asked Iri.

"The Association had considered Yggdmillenia to be a loose alliance of the new, the weak, and the dying, so the Lords of the Clock Tower considered them to be trivial. Though they have many in number, average members can usually only reach second-class, and only a few rare case of first-class mages exist. They were thought to pose little threat to the Association, and only the elder, Darnic's, political finesse allowed them to be left alone. It was thought that their only merit was quantity. As such they were evaluated to have had no chance to become Lords in the Association, even in one thousand years, so they instead opted to form a new Association of Mages around their own clan. Obviously, the revelation of the Grail has changed that evaluation as to being at least a moderate threat. As for the Ainsworths and Einzberns joining them, the former probably for the same reason as other families with no real future with the Association, a chance to gain political power and influence and as for the Einzberns they finally get their hands on the Grail that they haven't been able to get ahold of for so long." Kiritsugu explained.

"So then why hasn't the Association retaliated against Yggdmillenia?" asked Iri.

"They did. According to Maiya, the Mage's Association sent 50 of their best trained operatives to either kill or apprehend the 'traitors' and acquire the Grail. Of those 50, only one made it back alive long enough to play messenger and then died of his wounds shortly after. He did manage to trigger the Grail's back-up system to allow more than 7 Servants to fight so now what will commence is what they're calling The Great Holy Grail War. And before you ask what became of the other 49, they were killed via impalement."

"Impalement?" Iri asked only for her face to adopt a look of realization and gasped. Kiritsugu nodded.

"That's right and since this happened in Romania, I can only think of one individual who was responsible for those deaths." he said stoically.

"A Servant. One whose been summoned at least 2 months in advance." said Iri. She then looked down at her hands with the Command seals on the back of each. "But we received these Command Seals almost a yr ago why give us these that far in advance?" Kiritsugu shrugged.

"That's the one answer I don't have. Given your connection to the Grail, do you know if these are from the Grail in Romania?" he asked. Iri nodded.

"When these first appeared, I tried to pinpoint where the origin of the seals came from and while I couldn't get a location, I do know that these came from the Greater Grail of Fuyuki. I guess Shirou's prediction of more than two factions forming for the Grail War came true as aside from their allying with the Einzberns, we had no real quarrel with Yggdmillenia as a whole." she said.

"Seems that way. Now worst-case scenario is that it will be two factions of us against Yggdmillenia with the backing of the Einzberns or it will be a multi faction war consisting of at least Yggdmillenia, the Mage's Association, and us or even more outlandish is that there might be more than just the 3 factions to participate in this war." stated Kiritsugu.

Iri looked unsure and asked, "So what is our next move, Kiritsugu?" He appeared thoughtful before heading over to their shared closet and pulled out a suitcase. He took it over to his computer desk and opened it. Iri came over and looked and saw what they were. She gasped and her eyes widened. "Kiritsugu these are . . ." she said trailing off. He nodded.

"The relics I nicked off the Einzberns almost a decade ago. I was instructed by the Wizard Marshall to select them so they could be used as catalysts for Servant Summonings along with Avalon that still remains within you." He said as they looked at the other 6 relics: a fragmented red arrow that allegedly came from Iran, a gold oil lamp from Ethiopia, a bunch of knives that were bought off an auction in London, a piece of stone with black obsidian lining one side like a blade supposedly from Greece, a broken head of a spear that allegedly came from Ireland, and finally an ornate necklace that came out of a tomb in Egypt. "As for our next move, Maiya contacted me because of the Einzberns movements but I never told her about our Command Seals, so the Association has no clue about our participation. And I plan to keep it that way. So, I think we need to start making preparations to leave and head for Romania then we'll summon our Servants once we're settled in. Then I hope to use them to eliminate the Einzbern family once and for all." he said stoically. Iri looked at him in surprise. But Kiritsugu pressed on. "I have no intention of hoping that the Einzberns don't cheat or just take the Grail for themselves. If they do, they'll use their wish to take you and Illya away from me and Shirou and I have no intention of letting that happen. So, I'm going to make sure that, that wish isn't even on the table."

"Do you want us to help?" Iri asked tentatively. Kiritsugu then took her hand and kissed the back of it gently causing her to blush.

"Only through your Servants. The only one who'll have blood on their hands of this family will be me." he said quietly. He then closed the lid and secured it.

"Why not summon the Servants here?" she asked, trying to control her breathing.

"Don't know what the personalities will be like, and I'd rather deal with them when we're settled in than trying to do so while traveling." he said as a matter of factly. Iri gave him a fond smile.

"So, when do you think we'll be leaving for Romania and where will we be heading to for the War?" she asked.

"I imagine that we'll leave for Romania in about two weeks. Two and a half at absolute most at least that's the plan. Then once in Romania we're heading to Trifas and try to find a place that will get us as close as possible without letting the Einzberns know we're there. Then summon our Servants and from there I guess we'll just see what happens and try to make it work for our goals." He then stood up and hugged Iri who shared the embrace. He pulled away from her enough to look her in the eyes and spoke again, "then if all goes well then, we can finally live without the issues of fugitives and just be a proper happy family." he said having a small smile that Iri shared with him and the two then shared in a gentle, hopeful kiss.

At the same time . . . .

Fuyuki – Miyama district – Tohsaka residence – daytime

Tokiomi Tohsaka was having a similar conversation with his apprentice Kirei Kotomine in the basement of his own manor house. Only a couple of candles positioned throughout the room were their only source of light. There was some sort of contraption that had parchment paper and an iron bar holding an inkwell and feathered quill that was hovering over the parchment paper which looked like it had been cut with a knife. Said knife was now in Tokiomi's right hand while another piece of parchment was in another. "So, this is what you wanted to inform me of?" asked Kirei.

"Yes. The Greater Grail has been confirmed to be in Trifas, Romania and the lone survivor managed to confirm that at least one Servant had already been summoned. The other mages were slaughtered via impalement." said Tokiomi.

"Impalement?" Kirei asked with a raised eyebrow before his face returned to his more neutral stance. "Considering this happened in Romania and Trifas isn't too far from the former kingdom of Wallachia, the most likely candidate for the Servant's identity would be Vlad Tepes III or Vlad the Impaler." he said monotoned. Tokiomi looked at him impressed by his knowledge.

"So, you know of him?" he asked Kirei, intrigued. Kirei shrugged.

"Only because he's one of several candidates who have been considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church as he had fought valiantly against the Turks who were enemies of the Catholic Church at the time as they were Muslims. His tactics, while brutal, allowed for Romania to remain untouched by the Turks so he has been thought of as a warrior of the faith." Kirei continued to explain.

"So how come he isn't canonized as a Saint?" asked Tokiomi curiously.

"A combination of the fact that while he was a staunch Catholic, the rest of his family was dubious in terms of their allegiance, the fact that he was imprisoned and had to regain his kingdom 3 separate times in his lifetime, his brutal tactics and also unconfirmed but still terrifying stories of the things he allegedly did to his enemies, not to mention that he's one of the inspirations of the most well-known horror novels of the Victorian era and the most famous fictional vampire, and finally due to the policy of co-existence that has been fostered over the last several decades between various moderate religious groups all over the world due to globalization and suddenly venerating someone who was famous for killing Muslims in a time of growing tolerance would seem antithetical to such a movement." said Kirei deadpanned. Tokiomi gave a look that somehow was bewildered, surprised, and even slightly embarrassed. "To put this in simple terms, canonizing a figure like Vlad Tepes would be controversial especially now a days. In fact, some of the newest members of the upper echelons of the Church are actually trying to make motions to decanonize some saints on grounds that some were venerated due to them killing other people on grounds of religious intolerance or for political gains." finished Kirei. Tokomi sighed in exasperation.

"How childish and naïve." he said tiredly. Again, Kirei shrugged.

"Still the fact that such words are being spoken about openly let alone being entertained as motions to considered in council is definitely a sign of changing times." Kirei pointed out. He looked at Tokiomi who seemed to be a bit irritated by such words. "But we didn't come here to discuss religion instead it was to discuss our strategy for how to approach the Holy Grail War as we will be going in as a faction. Correct?" he asked. That got Tokiomi back into his professional demeanor as he placed the parchment paper on the wooden table they stood in front of. They examined what was written on said paper.

"That's correct. According to my contacts in the Clock Tower, the Einzberns have thrown their lot in with Yggdmillenia and their Secession Movement against the Mage's Association." he explained. "They must really be desperate for the Grail if they are throwing their lot in with such people." Tokiomi said as an afterthought.

"I've been meaning to ask you why is it such a problem to have an Association that follows a different path than what you've taught me? The families keep their respective magic crests and continue to pursue their families magecraft. In fact, the only difference is that they just have families who come from lesser pedigrees or none at all than what's available at the Clock Tower. So why is it such an issue?" Kirei asked in curiosity.

"It goes back to the concept of mystery and the need to preserve it. It is the source of all supernatural phenomena. Mystery accumulates over time and grows stronger with age. Mystery thus holds meaning specifically because it is a mystery; if they were to be understood, they would lose that force. Magecraft is, in essence, Mystery. However, since the beginning of the Common Era, human history has been in the process of systematically erasing Mysteries. As the commoner non mages use their science to expand their understanding of everything around them, the darkness of Mystery recedes." Tokiomi began to lecture.

"But Mages also pursue to understand their magecraft and expand on it." Kirei pointed out.

"On their family magecraft and their pursuit of the Root but not trying to understand everything of many different branches of magecraft at once. A few have the ability to do so, but they learn the basics and master that and then put their own spin on it and add to their own personal family magecraft. But now humanity has reached the point where everything is explainable with human knowledge, from the workings of nature to the operation of the cosmos that was once the purview of the heavens alone, anything that was once beyond the reach of man. Because of this the Mysteries of the Age of Gods has been declining and accelerating in that decline since before the Age of Gods came to an end at the start of the Common Era as I have taught you in previous lessons. As a result, this greatly affects Magecraft. A Magecraft that has had its nature revealed can't become a Mystery, no matter what kind of supernatural methods it uses. It's now nothing more than another mundane method. For example, the concept of Homunculus creation is steeply in decline because, as knowledge of the human body deepened and spread throughout humanity, to the point humanity accepted that there were no Mysteries to be found within their own bodies, they had lost the grounds to be fields of Magecraft. Even if one accepted the theory that the human body still is a black box, and the Mystery within it was not yet entirely erased, the fact that modern Mages in the field can't compare to even antiques from hundreds of years ago is an undeniable fact. Magecraft thus gets weaker when it's exposed, though what is meant by that is not the Magecraft of a particular individual, but all Magecraft and in the future, not the present. This is why Yggdmillenia's approach is considered to be unorthodox at best and detrimental to magecraft at worst. While they are keeping things within their loose alliance of weak, or new families, they are still exposing lesser Mages to Magecraft and by doing so weaken it further because of the increased exposure and because those trying to keep it alive aren't able to compensate for the lack of Mystery either due to lack of pedigree for various reason or the decline of them on the Mages part. As you know Kirei, time is of exceedingly high value in thaumaturgical applications, a Mystery strengthens the longer it has existed. For example, a family's Magic Crest becomes strong by having new accomplishments added to it by every generation to have received it. For example, with an eight-hundred-year-old parchment, one may forge a Golem that can easily destroy one or two experienced Mages. Likewise, certain items that have a long history and age can also show signs of Mystery, as in the case of say a centuries-old katana. If they are severely damaged, however, they will lose all the Mystery they have accumulated"

"True but you also said that despite losing its power when propagated or damaged, a Mystery becomes more stable as knowledge about them spreads thanks to the system of Thaumaturgical Foundations or seen by non-mages as scholarship or religion. Engraved into the World, its strength can be greatly influenced by the faith and the collective unconscious of the people. So, by treating magecraft as a religion than it's possible to stabilize it even if it weakens in power which in itself can regain some of it back through the power of faith of those practicing it." Kirei argued back.

"You make an astute observation, my student. It's true that faith and treating magecraft like a religion can do this to Mystery. However, in order to stave off the degradation of Mystery, the Mage's Association was founded, and it began enforcing the Concealment of Mystery to preserve the strength of Magecraft. Before it was something of an unwritten law, but became enforced over time, with the popularization and vulgarization of Mysteries being tantamount to a crime in the World of Magecraft. In fact, in the past, Mages could even make a career of Magecraft and be recognized by society, so long as they kept their Magecraft a secret they would take to the grave, but now it has to all be kept under wraps. The Association feared that if they did not go that far, Magecraft in the distant future would be reduced to nothing more than another product to be consumed and thrown away." explained Tokiomi.

"Forgive me teacher but that seems to be a rather melodramatic concern for something that seems otherwise inevitable. None the less I can see somewhat where that comes from as it would be the equivalent of someone taking all copies of the Christian Bible from all of history digitizing them and then burning all the physical copies. The digital version would still exist for all the masses to see but it's importance and significance would be lost in the process as people wouldn't be able to appreciate what was actually lost if they could see it all the time whenever they wanted." Kirei theorized.

"Exactly. As mages it's our duty to study magecraft that was chosen by our ancestors and continued the legacy and improve on it as well as pursue the Root so that we may obtain the knowledge and True Magic that exists there so that we can pass that onto our children and later generations. Mages pursue the Root to obtain new Mysteries unknown to the world, so they haven't deteriorated yet due to the decline of magecraft. But while Yggdmillenia hasn't deviated from either of these goals, its very existence is along with their possession of the Fuyuki Greater Grail have now made them into a legitimate threat." said Tokiomi

"Because they could overturn centuries of thaumaturgical theory with their approach to pedigrees namely that they aren't necessary and that they combine their resources as a collective for the whole group so as to broaden the range of magecraft for the whole rather than just one family and keep everything secret from each other?" asked Kirei.

"Without the Grail not at all. Even with it, unlikely. But now with potentially 3 factions of Masters and Servants, consisting of the Association, Yggdmillenia, and us they could obtain a True Magic that could very well rewrite the laws of the world itself as they would have more than enough magical energy to make such a miracle occur. After all no limit was actually set for the back-up system on how many Servants could theoretically be summoned to a Holy Grail War. Making their ideas of how they think Mysteries should be studied be the way of the world. This would at best make them a rival to the current Association or erase the current Association from existence at worst." said Tokiomi.

"And yet you never told the Association of your Command Seals despite receiving them a yr. ago." Kirei pointed out.

"I wanted to know of the Greater Grail's location first and thanks to my contacts at the Clock Tower I now know along with the fact that the Association had no intention of informing me officially. Instead, they decided that due to the long time it'd take to get through the so-called red tape of mage politics, they decided to just send in a group of mercenaries as their faction representatives for this war. Well as the last of the 3 Founding Families that still remembers what the Grail's original purpose was, I refuse to stand idlily by and just let some low life or third-rate mage get their hands on our treasure that our ancestors risked everything for to create." said Tokiomi getting angry at such a prospect.

"So, we'll all be going to Romania but in secret and keep ourselves hidden. Is that how we'll play in this war?" asked Kirei.

"Yes. We'll head there and find a place that will be accommodating for us as a faction, summon our Servants, then deploy as many magical defenses as possible similar to this manor house, then simply sit back and wait until the other two factions kill each other. Then our Servants will go in and finish off the survivors and we will obtain the Grail. Then I'll have my family sacrifice their Servants and I'll have my Servant touch the Grail to activate the 3rd Magic then we'll utilize it for it's true purpose: obtaining the power and knowledge found at the Root and then I'll pass all that onto Rin my successor which will elevate the Tohsaka family to the rank of True Magicians." said Tokiomi excitedly. Kirei eyed him before speaking.

"You plan on bringing Sakura back into the Tohsaka family once you obtain that status as True Magicians, don't you?" he asked. Tokiomi's face softened a little at this.

"I did what I had to do to allow for my daughters to have bright futures as mages but once our family obtains the rank of True Magician, we'll have enough political clout to protect both my girls, Rin with her True Magician status and Sakura under the Tohsaka families' protection. This is my way of making up for the separation and my cold indifference towards Sakura as she's had to live here now for almost a yr. Once all this is over and we gain that wish, we'll be able to be a proper family and proper mages without having to sacrifice either anymore." said Tokiomi his voice filled with hope.

"May I ask what you are planning to use for catalysts for the Servant summonings?" asked Kirei. Tokiomi went to a dark corner of the basement and pulled out a suitcase that was made of good quality leather and looked to be in very good shape. He opened it up and revealed what was inside: The relics inside consisted of a sword with a jewel on the pommel and the word Azoth inscribed on the blade, an amulet of a wolf's head clutching a crescent moon in its teeth, shards of a broken sword that Kirei remembered Tokiomi purchased from a local museum after it had been found in a cavern in Mt. Enzou 65 yrs. ago, Kirei also recognized the last two as relics he got through his connections with the church. One was an ancient sling that had been found in Judea allegedly outside the town of Bethlehem and the other had been found out in the Sudan desert. It was a dirk that had trace amounts of poison still lacing the blade, in fact the whole blade had been covered in poison making handling it very difficult. Kirei's eyes lingered on that dirk for a few moments before turning to Tokiomi.

"I count only 5 relics. We have 7 members in our faction." he stated to Tokiomi. Tokiomi's face soured before answering as he closed the lid and put the suitcase away.

"I will not hand over any relics over to the Matous. Let them find their own catalysts." he said irritated.

"Even though Sakura is your former daughter?" asked Kirei.

"Until I make my wish on the Grail, I must remain indifferent to her according to mage tradition as she technically isn't my daughter anymore, as much as I don't want to. As for Kariya Matou, if he turns out to be an issue, I'll challenge him to a duel to the death which I know he'll lose as he's only a practitioner of his chosen craft not a master, so I know I can beat him. Then I'll transfer his Command Seals to someone else in our faction, but we'll wait until that comes before doing anything. Oh, one final thing. Do not repeat any of what was discussed down here to anyone. I don't trust Kariya Matou at all and I don't want to burden my wife, niece, or daughters with such problems. We'll take care of the strategizing and carrying out of orders and my family will just go along with it. As long as Kariya is in the dark to our true plans, he shouldn't be a problem as he has no interest in the Grail at all. So, can I count on your silence, Kirei Kotomine?" asked Tohsaka looking at him head on with a severe expression. Kirei closed his eyes and gave a shallow bow.

"I'll treat this entire thing as if it were Confession in the Church. No one will know a word of this conversation from me along with others we have in the future unless with your permission or by your own mouth." Kirei said solemnly. Tokiomi smiled at that and turned to head up the stairs

"Good that puts my mind at ease. Now let us go up and start packing our bags so that we can start making the necessary preparations to leave for Trifas." he said confidently. With that the two men headed up from the basement. A min. Later a snap was heard, and the parchment caught fire and was consumed in blue flames before fizzling out harmlessly and the candles around the room all went out leaving the room in complete darkness once again.

3 days prior . . ..

Great Britain – London – Clock Tower – Lord El-Melloi II's (Waver Velvet) office – daytime

A door to the office opened to reveal a very unexpected character. He was a man, most likely in his late 20s to early 30s, with a fiendish appearance as one would associate with a modern American outlaw. With black military boots and black pants and belt and a black jacket. In fact, the only thing about his attire that wasn't black was an orange shirt that he wore underneath. The man also had a scarred face, razor-sharp eyes with a noticeable gaze, a muscular frame, tanned skin, black sunglasses, combed back brown shaggy shoulder-length hair and matching goatee. Unknown to many, his black jacket was fashioned from hides skinned from magical beasts. He carried a thick stench of blood and gunpowder emanating from his entire body. Overall, he cut a very intimidating figure. Even when he smiled at the other figure in the room, it came off as fiendish. "Hey. Lord El-Melloi." he greeted in a surprisingly friendly manner.

At a desk sorting through documents was another figure who looked up at the man who'd entered. There were also two boxes on top of the desk and a tea set with tea already prepared. He was a man who seemed to be of similar age to the one who had entered with long waist length loose hair. He was dressed in a black business suit and shoes, and he wore a red coat with golden ornamentations on its shoulders over that, and his face bore a tremendously sour expression. "The 2nd." he said deadpanned. "Kairi Sisigou. Good to see you and thank you for coming on such short notice." Lord El-Melloi II greeted the now named Kairi a bit more professionally.

"Your call was most intriguing. As it was vague. So, what is it you wanted me to help you with?" asked Kairi. For the next several minutes while Lord El-Melloi II served them tea at the table situated between two couches and took a seat on the couch opposite Kairi as he filled Kairi in on the situation. The end result of the 3rd Holy Grail War, it's theft and re-emergence, Yggdmillenia and their secession from the Association, their claim of having the Greater Grail, the Einzberns and Ainsworths throwing their lot in with Yggdmillenia, their attempts to create their own Association, the types of magecraft that they have at their disposal as well as the type of mages they've produced thus far, the fate of the 50 mages originally sent in to deal with Yggdmillenia, and finally the back-up system for the Grail war forming factions.

"Yggdmillenia and their allies have formed the Black Faction while we of the Association will form the Red Faction. It will be a battle of two factions where they will fight until one Servant from every class is left. Then once that fight concludes the survivors will fight each other until only one is left. So that's where you come in. Will you join our side as a Master of Red?" asked Lord El-Melloi II.

"I have a few questions first. 1 Why weren't the other families that founded the original Grail War contacted? 2 In order to summon a Servant, I'll need some kind of relic, do you have one selected for me? And 3 What can you tell me of the other Masters of Red?" asked Kairi. Lord El-Melloi II got up and brought the two boxes from his desk to the table he placed the larger one in front of Kairi while he put the smaller one in front of himself. It was then Kairi noticed the red Tattoo on the back of Lord El-Melloi's hand. "I see. So, you're one of the other Masters of the Red Faction." he said Lord El-Melloi II just nodded.

"I'll answer your 2nd question first. The box before you is the most treasured item of all the relics here at the Clock Tower. A supposed fragment of the Round Table of King Arthur. Allegedly it could summon a Knight of the Round Table or even King Arthur himself. A relic like this guarantees a high-quality Servant. As to your first question, officially the Clock Tower deemed it would take too long to get the other families personal matters squared away so it was deemed quicker to simply hire a group of mercenaries to be the Red Faction." said Lord El-Melloi neutrally.

"And the real reason?" asked Kairi.

"What do you think. The Association wants the Greater Grail to study it and see if it possibly can carve out a path to the Root. And I'm sure you can imagine what kind of powder keg would go off once it arrived here." Lord El-Melloi said grimly.

"Right. In-fighting, civil war, and possibly the exposure of Magecraft itself if things got too out of hand. And yet the Association still wants to pursue the Grail anyways. And of course, there's the possibility some sap will make a wish on it once it's here or even before that." said Kairi.

"Nevertheless, the task of the Red Faction still stands. We will defeat the Black Faction, take the Greater Grail for ourselves, and then bring it back to the Clock Tower. What happens after that is not our concern. So now I'll answer your final question. As you know I will be one of the Red Masters along with being a co-director of it. The other Masters of Red will be Reines El-Melloi, the Head of the Archibald Family and my younger sister, Gray, my apprentice, Feend Vor Sembren a first-class instructor here at the Clock Tower, Jean Rum, one of the only other mercenaries on the team besides you possibly, and finally the other co-director and Church Representative a priest named Shirou Kotomine." said Lord El-Melloi II.

"With half being your Associates, I'm surprised the Clock Tower wasn't putting up a lot of resistance to the idea of you all being Masters. I'm also a bit shocked that the Mage Killer wasn't asked to participate." said Kairi surprised.

"It's because all of us made it clear that we have nothing to wish on the Grail as none of the 3 of us want to pursue the Root. Neither does Sembren or Rum. You and Kotomine would be the only real wild cards of our faction. Though the Church and Clock Tower are certain that Kotomine is fully on our side. As for the Mage Killer he was asked but turned it down as he knew that if the Einzberns found out he'd joined, he'd be singled out and interrogated on the locations of items he allegedly stole from the Einzberns 10 yrs. earlier. While I suspect it's more than that I must leave it be as he declined to join us. So have you decided?" he asked.

"Just give me a few minutes." He said as he took out a cigarette and began to smoke it. Lord El-Melloi II went back to his desk and then reached down by the chair and pulled up a glass jar and brought it back to the table. Kairi's cigarette fell out of his mouth when he saw what was in the jar. "Is that-" Before he could finish, Lord El-Melloi II interrupted him.

"Yes. A perfectly preserved baby hydra. Lord Belfaban who originally had this tried to insist that it was a fake, but I was able to convince him to part with it on grounds that obtaining the Holy Grail would be worth far more than this specimen would be worth especially since it was fake." He gave a smirk to this which Kairi shared. "Consider this an advanced payment should you join us as I know you specialize in poisons. Well?" he asked.

"You got yourself the final member of your Faction. Lord El-Melloi II." said Kairi with a smug smile. With that he brought out a suitcase and carefully began to pack up his items. "Out of curiosity what were the other relics that the other Red Master had?" Kairi asked.

Lord El-Melloi II opened the smaller box and pulled out a piece of red cloth. "This cloth came from Macedonia but that's all I'll tell you about it." He explained as he put it back in the box and secured it. "As for the others, Sembren was given a bloodstain horn said to be from Scandanavia for himself, Gray was given a piece of armor said to come from Greece, Reines found a gold earring among the possessions that weren't plundered when her family almost fell to ruin. Supposedly it came from Mesopotamia. As for Rum and Kotomine they've said that they would procure their own relics." he explained. By now Kairi had finished packing.

"Sounds good. Anything else I need to know?" asked Kairi.

"Yes. Once our Servants are summoned, we are all to meet at a church that will be located on the outskirts of Bucharest in Romania. From there we'll coordinate as a team." Lord El-Melloi II said.

"Sounds good. Well then, I guess I'll see you in Bucharest, Lord El-Melloi." said Kairi, being a bit cheerful as he headed out and closed the door.

"The 2nd." said Lord El-Melloi II annoyed.

The evening of the summonings . . ..

Romania – Trifas – Millenia Castle Fortress – Darnic's private study – evening

Darnic sat at a table in his study. On top of it was a chess set that had the typical pawn pieces, but it also had seven pieces that had figures of different warrior classes. Across the table was an older man with white floor length robes with gold lining. He had shoulder length white hair and white goatee. His face looked very severe. This was the current head of the Einzbern family Jubstacheit von Einzbern. Or Old Man Acht as he was more commonly called even if only behind his back. The two were engaged in a game of chess with a grail piece at the center. Darnic's pieces were black while old man Acht pieces were red. "You can imagine my surprise when you and the entire Einzbern clan showed up in Romania and offered to join us. Even more so that even after you received your own set of Command Seals for you and 6 of your family members you still chose to fight alongside Yggdmillenia and even offered to act as a shadow faction for ours. Which makes me wonder what you hoped to gain from all of this?" asked Darnic making his suspicion known. He and Darnic were moving pieces to and fro revealing their respective Command Seals on their left hands. Darnic's was that of a stylized leaf while old man Acht's was that of a stylized cup.

"I've mentioned previously that the back-up system was never given a set limit on how many Servants would be summoned once activated and we know that the Association will send in their own team against you. So, it seems that the most obvious move was to have our faction, the gold faction, support your faction, the black faction, from the shadows." said Acht as the pieces continued to be moved around on the board some being claimed in the process.

"Not that I'm ungrateful for such support. Having not only one of the 3 founding families but the one responsible for the creation of the Greater and Lesser Grail is nothing but a boon. I'm just curious as to why considering my past?" asked Darnic. More pieces are moved on the board.

"Yes, a mage formerly of the Clock Tower who had looked to be on the verge of greatness. Then a prediction was made that your clan would fall to ruin. Which cost you whatever prospects you had at the Clock Tower. So as a mage you've already died a political death. Then you fought in the 3rd Holy Grail War of Fuyuki and obtained the Greater Grail. But then you removed it from that backwater of a country and brought it here to your homeland of Romania. In the process you leaked the information on how to construct a Holy Grail War to all the World of Magecraft allowing for Grail Wars to happen all over the world even if all others were little more than cheap imitations of what had been originally in Fuyuki. And now for 70 yrs you've been preparing for this moment here in Trifas. That former experience is what separates you from all other participants in this upcoming war, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia." old man Acht rattled off. A few pieces are captured from Darnic.

"Yes, it's for these preparations why we summoned our Caster as early as we did. While I'd have preferred Avicebron as he and Roche would have near perfect compatibility being fellow golemancers, her dragon tooth warrior and her Age of Gods magecraft compensate for lack of being able to create golems. We provide the raw materials and with her assistance Roche can produce more than enough golems to make up a sizable army otherwise we'd be lucky to even make one in a year. Under normal Grail Wars such abilities would be difficult but in these circumstances it's perfect. So, I'm satisfied with our Caster." said Darnic as he steals a piece from Old Man Acht.

"Then there's our contribution to your preparations: the replenishing of magical energy from homunculi which the Musik family and the Einzberns are working together to create said homunculi. Though I will admit that compared to us the Musik's are but a pale imitation of homunculi. They create those that will be disposable cannon fodder for your combat and service forces while ours will serve as the battery types. A higher tier Servant requires more energy. Naturally, it would be considered better to have another to take that burden, so the Master isn't left vulnerable. I believe the former Lord El-Melloi Kayneth Archibald used such a method with his fiancé before both were killed in their Holy Grail War that they participated in. Funnily enough his successor survived but no winner had been decided in that particular war. So, for this one we will instead use homunculi as the batteries to power the Servants. By siphoning off their energy the Masters can use as much Magecraft as they want, and the Servants can use their Noble Phantasms freely and without restraint." said Old Man Act as more pieces are moved on the board.

"That still doesn't answer my original question of why you've decided to help and support us despite everything I've done in the past." Darnic pointed out.

"While the things you've done would certainly be enough to warrant such a negative response, I suppose it is good fortune that someone else had long ago earned my wrath. You know him as The Mage Killer." said old man Acht his tone becoming angry as pieces continued to be moved about the board.

"Kiritsugu Emiya. What did he do to earn such a wrath?" asked Darnic curiously as he moved one of his pawns on the board.

"When you stole the Greater Grail during the 3rd War in Fuyuki, I decided to bring in an outsider who specialized in combat to better our chances of winning when the Grail finally showed itself. At the time we had just finished our latest version of the Justeaze Grail model homunculus named Irisviel. She was the closest thing to a perfect copy of Justeaze herself and when she and the Mage killer married and gave birth to an anomaly, they named Illyasviel it seemed like we were set to potentially win the war whenever it occurred. We had the perfect Lesser Grail, we had the perfect Master to represent us in the Grail war, we had the perfect catalyst for summoning the strongest Servant, we even had a back-up in her daughter should Irisviel fail and if she succeeded then Illyasviel would've been the perfect heir for the Einzbern family obtaining the rank of True Magician and regaining that which we lost. Everything was set for our success." said old man Acht his voice heavy with regret as he moved one of his pawns.

"And yet here you are. I take it something went wrong?" asked Darnic looking up from the game.

"The Mage Killer betrayed us! We allowed him into the family despite being an outsider. We gave him every advantage to help him succeed in the War. He was even allowed to marry and have a family and yet he not only stole our near perfect Lesser Grail and his spawn but then he had the audacity to steal several relics that we had been carefully accumulating over the centuries chief among them being the crown jewel of our collection: Avalon." said old man Acht his face furious as he glared at the board. Darnic's eyes widened.

"The legendary sheath of King Arthur? You actually found it?" he asked astonished. Old man Acht simply nodded.

"So Darnic I can overlook much of what you did in the past as you were acting as a combatant and a mage. I even applaud you for your accomplishments, but the Mage Killer, he betrayed us on a personal level for reasons I can't understand as no mage would ever willingly do what he did especially with where he started. Including spending the last decade as a fugitive and actually being successful at it. So, we threw our lot in with you as we want revenge, and the Association will most likely have him as a member of the Red Faction and therefore ignore our demands of having him executed as they would deem him too valuable perhaps even force us to drop our hostilities against him. Essentially allow him to get away with his crimes without suffering any consequences from his actions. Such a slight is something we will not accept. So to answer your question, we will support and help you as we truly have no other option as creating homunculi is not treated as prestigious as it once was and while we have respect and even some political clout due to our pedigree and reputation it has rapidly declined in the last half century as much as I'm loathed to admit such a thing. Supporting and helping you is the only option if we want to fulfill our family's original goal. So even though we now have a faction of Servants at our disposal, you can be rest assured that we will be using them to help you win this war." said old man Acht looking directly at Darnic who returned his steady gaze with one of his own.

"So, you have two goals in joining with us: You want revenge against Kiritsugu Emiya for his theft of precious resources from you and you want to fulfill your family's original goal of seeking the Grail to access the Root. Before I ask about the former there's some things, I need to clear up concerning the latter. You are aware, I presume, that I'm after the same miracle that all mages are. The Root and the True Magic one can obtain from it. So, when you say such things, I can't help but be concerned that there might be a conflict of interest between us." said Darnic carefully.

"Again, a sensible response for any mage. I would've been more concerned if you weren't suspicious of us with my response. Now to address the concern. You are aware why 7 Servants were originally thought to be needed for the Grail, correct?" asked old man Acht. Darnic nodded. Well, that was a miscalculation as once 7 were all sacrificed a Servant would be needed to touch the Grail to activate it and punch through to the Root. With the back-up system that solves the issue of needing one Servant at the end. Now with potentially 22 Servants we would not only have that issue resolved but we would now have enough energy collected from all the slain Servants at the end that more than 1 mage could theoretically benefit from the Grail's purpose of reaching the Root. Justeaze had always intended to share such a chance with others, at her time it was the Tohsakas and Matous as a way to thank them for their contributions to the Ritual, in our time it's the Yggdmillenia clan to thank you for not only helping us finally allowing us access to our creation which had been denied to us for 200 yrs but for me personally to have a chance at revenge for the Mage Killer for his betrayal to us." said old man Acht his face becoming severe once again. Darnic's mind was racing as the two resumed their game. Even if the part of his feelings concerning his desire for revenge and to fulfill the Grail's original role is genuine the fact that he would willingly extend such a privilege to another, even out of gratitude, is just too unbelievable for me to think that he isn't planning something like a double cross at the end. Well, I do need the Einzberns on our side for now, so I'll just have to let this be for now and just try to make plans in case they do in the end backstab us. I've spent over 70 yrs for this moment and once I reach the Root, I will make its power mine.

I'm curious about your other goal of revenge. What will you do if the Mage Killer isn't among the Association's Masters, the Red faction?" asked Darnic. Old man Acht's lips curled up to form what was supposed to be a smile, but it looked downright sinister on him before he answered.

"That's why I moved the entire Einzbern clan here to your fortress. While I have no doubt that you've set up impressive defenses around this fortress, the Mage killer is notorious with his non-conventional methods to get to his targets. Which is exactly what I want him to do. He now has the best opportunity to finally rid himself of the people that are forcing him to live a life on the run and while he's been successful so far, we all know that such luck will eventually run out. So even if he's not chosen as a master, he will most likely not overlook such an opportunity to eliminate all of us as he won't leave any of us alive for fear of retaliation from any survivors. Once he tries, we will have our Servants of the gold faction capture him and then interrogate him to extract the information we need to know where Irisviel and Illyasviel are and then dispose of him once we have them. From there the two will fulfill the roles I mentioned previously. Irisviel as the true Lesser Grail and Illyasviel as either the back-up Lesser Grail or as the Einzbern heir of the True Magic." he said with some malice in his tone "However even if that doesn't happen, we do have another Grail model homunculus ready and is even serving as one of the gold faction Masters. She's not Irisviel's level in terms of quality of being a copy of Justeaze but she will serve her purpose regardless." said old man Acht his smile disappearing and returning to it severe expression. Darnic nodded and the two returned to the game.

"I thank you for indulging me in answering my questions. Now I can move forward with our plans with no issues or concerns, at least from ourselves or our allies. Though I have no intention of claiming our victory just yet of course. But I believe that we are fully prepared otherwise. Checkmate." said Darnic as he put his pawn in front of the gold grail piece. Old man Acht raised an eyebrow at the fact that Darnic won the game. But he wasn't angry by the loss.

"Very good. And well done with those last few moves, Darnic." he said with acceptance of his defeat. Then there was a knock on the door. The door opened revealing a child with sandy brown hair and blue eyes as well as of Northern European complexion. He looked to be about 12 or 13 yrs. old. His outfit looked to be of leaden Hossen except the straps were hanging uselessly off to the sides, white lower calf length socks and penny loafers. He also wore an armband with the Yggdmillenia sigil on it and his red leaf Command Seals on the back of his left hand. This was Roche Frain Yggdmillennia and he was the youngest member of the Black Faction of the Great Holy Grail War. He gave a bow at the waist like a butler would to the Lord of the House and spoke very formally.

"My lords. My teacher and I finished the ritual preparations, and she wanted me to come fetch you so that you could look them over to make sure they're correct." he said. Darnic nodded.

"Right, Roche. Thank you." he said then looked at old man Acht. "Shall we?" he asked as he rose from his seat. Old man Acht did the same and the two followed Roche out of the room while the homunculi attendants packed up their game and began to put it away. As they walked down the hall following Roche's lead Darnic spoke. "I do have one final question for you, Lord Einzbern. Earlier you said 22 Servants, but my calculations put that count to 21 so was that an error?" he asked curiously. Once again old man Acht gave a smile that really didn't suit him as he spoke.

"When we tried to cheat in the 3rd Grail War, we made an unexpected discovery. Along with the 7 regular classes of Servants there are also at least 7 Extra Class Servants that exist on the throne of Heroes." Darnic looked at him in surprise as old man Acht continued "You already know of the regular Servant classes, so I'll spare you the explanations on them and tell you what we found out about the Extra Classes of Servants. They were the Moon Cancer Class, the Foreigner Class, the Alter Ego Class, the Pretender Class, the Shielder Class, the Avenger Class and the Ruler Class." explained old man Acht. Darnic looked at him in surprise. Old man Acht continued His explanation. "I need to be clear, due to how few Servants would fit into any of these classes they are exceedingly rare and therefore are unknown to most mages. They require special circumstances in order to be summoned. Though what those circumstances are is unknown to me. As we only found out about them when we got desperate enough to try and tamper with the summoning system."

"What do these other classes of Servants entail and why did you in the end decide not to use them during the 3rd Holy Grail War?" asked Darnic his curiosity aroused.

"We did use one of them, but I'll get to that in a moment. The 1st class of Servant we investigated was the Moon Cancer Class of Servant. There wasn't much information on them but what there was I found . . . disturbing. The Moon Cancer class is apparently a class reserved for Servants who either wielded or defiled the Authority of the Moon itself. While defying a Master's orders is to be expected from time to time from Servants, hence the necessity for Command Seals, having a Servant who can usurp the authority of an entire world was thought to be impossible. But deciding that we didn't want to run the risk of being proven wrong we passed on summoning such a Servant as while potentially powerful would be very difficult to control. Then there was the Foreigner Class of Servant. The Foreigner Class is a designation given to Heroic Spirits who draw their power from outside the sphere of human consciousness, often from unknowable entities." said old man Acht before Darnic injected.

"You mean like those written about by that one non mage? What was his name? Hovercraft?" he asked old man Acht nodded.

"His actual name was H. P. Lovecraft and yes those that made up his supposedly fictional mythos called the Cthulhu mythos are exactly the types of entities that these Foreigner Class Servants draw their power from." Darnic looked at him in surprise. "Oh yes. That mythos he 'created' in his fictional works was in fact real. You see after his inheritance dried up, several mages at the Clock Tower managed to spirit him away with the official story being that he died penniless and of some disease or other. In reality he'd been brought to the Clock Tower to be 'interrogated' as the description he gave about the creature he dubbed Cthulhu matched rare documents that had been owned by prominent mage families who had attempted to make a pact with some demon as a way to gain power without reaching the Root before vanishing from existence. Those documents came under the Clock Tower's care and had been stored away for safekeeping. Members thought Lovecraft broke in without notice and then published his fictional work to make money for himself. Instead, they found that he had been an attempt by the ones he called 'the old gods' as a way of gaining access to our world using him as a conduit. But due to going mad at the incomprehensible fear these 'gods' brought, Lovecraft instead wrote his stories as a way to cope with the effects of such an encounter. Once all the information was extracted from him, he was given a Sealing Designation and since has been an occupant as a piece of precious material for study at the Clock Tower. And before you ask, I know all of this because this was revealed during my study of the Grail and learning of these Extra Class Servants. I will admit that while potentially powerful knowing that the Master's command could be overturned by a deity on a whim, the Foreigner Class was also discounted to be summoned as well." explained old man Acht.

"What of the other Classes?" asked Darnic.

"The next one to consider was the Alter Ego Class. An Alter Ego Servant, we learned, was a personification of an exceptionally strong emotion, wish or personality trait. Think of it as akin to a "fragment" of someone which has broken away from the whole and gained sentience as its own unique and divergent being. So, while intriguing and most likely easier to control, the fact that Servants are already pieces of their former selves from when they're alive, having a fragment of that fraction most likely meant that their power would also be significantly weaker. As we were desperate to win at the time having a potentially weak Servant wasn't an option. So, we discounted this class for summoning. Then there was the Pretender Class. The Pretender Class is a class for those who became famous under the guise of someone else, to the point where all the deeds that would qualify them as Heroic Spirits are attributed to a different person, erasing the "individual" who was truly responsible. A deception so complete that it fools even the deceiver themselves. Since such Servants were only then revealed, we felt it left too much to chance as it's difficult to distinguish between actual people from those pretending to be them. So on that reason we discounted that class for summoning. Now the last 3 classes actually were considered for summoning. First was the Shielder Class. As its name implies it's the Servant with the Shield as its main weapon and Noble Phantasm. Of all the Extra Classes this one is the closest to the 7 Regular Classes of Servants. Now there are warriors who had used a shield in legends and history. The good news is such notoriety would guarantee a high-quality Servant and a powerful one at that. The unfortunate news is that the number of warriors are few and far between making discovering who they are a bit easy. That combined with the fact that the shield will most likely be their Noble Phantasm, it will probably be defensive oriented. And when you want to win a war, you want a Servant with offensive capabilities and an offensive Noble Phantasm. So, with reluctance, that class was also discounted. Then we came to the Avenger Class, and I will be honest that this was the one we almost decided to summon for the 3rd Holy Grail War. The Avenger Class Servants are marked by an all-consuming hatred or thirst for revenge against a certain target, whether it be an individual, a concept, or even the entire World. Whereas most individuals will gradually heal and forget a grudge with time, the curse of the Avenger Class makes their vengeance burn in perpetuity, as painful as a fresh wound for the rest of their existence. Those that are classified as Avengers are Evil-aligned Heroic Spirits or Anti-Heroes. This one we actually already had a particular Servant picked out for this class: Angra Mainyu. The deity of all evil according to Zoroastrianism tradition. Sadly, despite our best efforts, after 8 yrs we were unable to procure the necessary relic that was connected to that particular deity. So, we had to give up on that. Such a shame really, he probably would've been the Strongest Servant one could summon in a Holy Grail War. So we, by process of elimination, went with summoning the last of the Extra Classes of Servants: The Ruler Class. The Ruler Class of Servants are usually summoned by the Holy Grail to act as the mediator of the Holy Grail Wars or in any instance where the authority of the Holy Grail is threatened. Rulers are typically powerful and selfless individuals who have no desire for the Holy Grail and possess the ability to be impartial: thus, most Rulers are Saints or were very close to sainthood in life. This is why I said earlier that there would be 22 Servants instead of 21. As the Holy Grail itself will summon its own mediator to oversee the War and its conduct. There were other abilities that Rulers possess on their summoning that finally made our decision to have that be the Servant we would summon for the 3rd War. Rulers are granted a number of key class abilities such as True Name Discernment which allows them to instantly know the identity, parameters, skills and Noble Phantasms of any Servant on sight, and they are granted their own set of Command Seals for every Servant in the Holy Grail War they are summoned to though it's two per Servant rather than three." explained old man Acht.

"That's how you beat my Servant despite yours not being any more than an average swordsman. Your Ruler used his Command Seals to force all the Servants you encountered to commit suicide instead of fighting in a traditional Servant manner." said Darnic in realization.

"Yes. Throw in the fact that our Ruler was also Japanese and therefore had homeland boosters making his Command Seals so powerful that no amount of magic resistance could override them, and we actually came close to winning had you not just taken the Greater Grail." said old man Acht his face returning to his severe look.

"I realize that you were answering my earlier question but was there another reason for all that information?" asked Darnic in curiosity. Old man Acht gave him a look and then Darnic's eyes widened in surprise but before he could say anything, old man Acht put a finger to his mouth telling him nonverbally to be silent, then pointed at Roche who had been in front of them and leading them down the hall and had been most likely listening in on their conversation simply because there was nothing else to distract him from such talk. Darnic nodded at old man Acht. "I understand we'll discuss this in private later." he said loudly. His thoughts were racing in excitement. So, the Einzberns will summon a faction of Servants where the Extra Classes will be involved. In other words, they'll cheat the system even more than they did in the 3rd Grail War. Will the entire faction consist of all 7 Extra Classes, or will they be just all one Extra Class? Or perhaps it will be a faction of regular Servants and one Extra Class. Regardless, while the rest of Yggdmillenia knows about the Einzberns being our shadow faction of Servants and Masters, and be our back up for the Servants we lose throughout the War, only myself and Fiore will know about the Extra Class Servant or Servants of the Einzberns and only when myself or Fiore lose our Servants will we take the Extra Class for our faction. Especially if it's another Ruler. By then they finally made it to a set of ornate double doors which Roche opened and the two family heads followed after him into the room.

Once inside were several other figures milling about the room. At the center of the room were five circles with several archaic symbols on them. These were summoning circles to summon Servants for their Great Holy Grail War. And the ones doing the summoning now would be the Black Faction consisting of nearly all of Yggdmillenia and one from the Ainsworth family. The people looked up to see the two entering and immediately stood at attention. Darnic took in the people in the room.

He saw Roche head over to where a robed woman was off to the side. The woman's appearance was much like a witch that would be seen in a fairy tale. She wore a hooded bluish-purple robe that kept her face hidden and black gloves. Darnic knew her to be an incredibly beautiful woman. Her noticeable facial features are her knife shaped ears and blue hair. Darnic had to admit her skills as a mage from the Age of Gods were incredible compared to modern day mages so much so that he would admit privately that he was glad that Roche had used the catalyst of an old book that had been found in the city of Colchis. Which of course meant that the woman was in fact Caster of Black with her True Name being Medea the Witch of Betrayal. Surprisingly, she had become something of a maternal figure to Roche once she realized a child was her master. For Darnic that at least seemed to stave off any potential betrayal for the time being as the two seemed to get along quite well.

Darnic looked to his own Servant. He remembered how he had used a crucifix as a catalyst while performing the summoning on the grounds of the castle of Wallachia. Currently his Servant was dressed in a royal fashion, appearing as black as a shadow in the night, contrasted with his pale face and long, silk-like pale blonde hair. He gave off an overwhelming presence, causing ceaseless trembling wherever he happened to look with his golden eyes. This was the Lancer of Black and leader of the Black Faction Servants with his True Name being Vlad Tepes III or Vlad the Impaler. As of right now he simply was observing the proceedings though Darnic didn't miss the look of interest he had after all his 5 other comrades were about to be summoned so he was very curious to see just who would join their cause. Darnic and old man Acht approached the summoning circles to examine them.

Elsewhere . . ..

Romania – unknown location – same time

Manaka walked through a dark cavern until she reached a spacious area. She was still wearing the same attire though she was now carrying a backpack on her back and now was wearing white socks and brown boots. With a few snaps of her fingers her body began to glow white, and the place began to shift until it glowed with enough light to see without assistance and the place looked like stone furniture had come into existence. There was even a tunnel shaft that led to the top to allow light to come in and should it rain, water would collect in the bowl basin for drinking water. After a moment of thought, her body glowed white again. She closed her eyes and did a few more snaps. Shifting could be heard again. Once it stopped, she opened her eyes again. Now before her was wooden furniture that one would find in a Western style house. There was a table and chairs, a bed to sleep on, and a couch to lounge on in front of a floor-length studio mirror.

Manaka smiled at this. "Having a direct connection to the Root and a Blackened Grail imbedded in one's body definitely has it's perks." she said happily. Then a few more snaps and the entire area was covered in a translucent barrier. "This should keep out all the creepy crawlies from this area. I'll set up defenses after I summon my faction of Servants. I wonder what faction color we should be." She then set her backpack down on one of the chairs and headed for the mirror near the couch. "There are already 5 other factions that have been selected according to the Grail I have within me as it can communicate with the non-corrupted Grail of this world. But only 3 have designated colors for themselves. Black is Yggdmillenia, Red is the Mage's Association of this world, and the Einzberns are the Gold Faction. The other two factions haven't selected a color. That leaves the Emiyas and Tohsakas and their allies, and me. Bet the others won't ever suspect another faction with only one master. Now as for my color I think I'll take white for my faction. So, my faction is from here on known as the White Faction." she said giggling at the prospect as if she were about to pull a prank on the adults. She touched the mirror and her body glowed white once again and so did the mirror. With that done Manaka sat down on the couch, removed her shoes and socks, and looked at the mirror in thought. "Okay. Now that I have a base of operation established, I can now focus on which Servants I want to summon." Then only her palm glowed white and so did the mirror. Then the mirror clouded over before revealing a card with a figure wearing strips of cloth and a Skull Mask. "Alright we'll start with the Assassin Class." Several images popped up then of different figures. "I refuse to have any of the Hassans they're too easy to figure out. And while there are some that do seem interesting, perhaps I should investigate the other classes first." The mirror became clouded again and then showed the figure of a wild Beast man with a giant cleaver. "Maybe I'll have better luck with the Berserkers." Once again, she saw a lot of images of different figures. She again looked at them all but stopped on one that looked like a knight covered in black mist. "Lancelot as a Berserker. With his King as my Saber, I can guarantee his loyalty. And he can make anything into a Noble Phantasm." she said in thought before smiling. "Perfect. I've found my Berserker class Servant." No sooner did she say this did her right foot began to glow with a gold circle appearing on said foot. "Selection made now onto the Casters." The mirror then fogged again and showed a figure of a robbed individual with a staff and book. Then showed plenty of figures under the category. After a few minutes she saw another completely covered up figure. "Avicebron. A Golemancer. Well having a Caster that can create some very effective fighting forces would be good. Alright that'll be my Caster." Again, one of her limbs began to glow. This time her left hand and a gold ring appeared on it. "Selection made now onto the Riders." The mirror fogged again then showed a figure atop a chariot. Followed by the figures under that category. After a few minutes she saw a young man with Greek armor. "Perseus. He's got at least 5 Noble Phantasms. That will definitely give us some major firepower. Especially with my infinite reserves backing him up. Okay. I found my Rider Class Servant." Now her right hand glowed with a gold ring appearing on it. "Selection made. Now onto the Lancers." Once again, the mirror fogged and showed a figure with a lance. Followed by figures under that category. After a few min. She saw a figure with gold armor. "Karna. Hero of Charity. One of the strongest Servants able to be summoned. And with my power reserves it would negate his issues with his mana consumption. Alright. I found my Lancer Class Servant." Now the area of her collarbone began to glow having her undo the top buttons of her dress where she saw a gold ring appear on that area of her. "Selection made. Now onto the Archers." The mirror fogged again and showed a figure with a bow pulling back on the string ready to release its arrow. Then the mirror showed the figures under the category. After a few minutes she saw two figures that got her attention. Two figures wearing green. One was a male with a cape and the other was female with cat ears. "Robin Hood and Atalanta. The Faceless King and the Chaste Huntress. The former's skills could work under the Assassin Class, and he even has a Noble Phantasm that conceals him. Yet he only qualifies for the Archer Class. Then the latter can eliminate an army if need be. Well, with my Grail, I'll just override Robin's Class and force him into the Assassin role. Maybe make him a double summon Servant. Alright. I'll have Robin as my Assassin and Atalanta as my Archer." Now her left foot and forehead glowed, and gold rings appeared on both. The mirror fogged for the 7th time and showed a knight with a sword. But she immediately selected a figure dressed as a knight. "King Arthur. My Prince. You are my only Saber." A gold ring appeared on the crown of her head. "Selections made for all 7 Servants. Now time to summon them." She got up from the couch and headed outside.

Elsewhere . . ..

Romanian woods – outside of Trifas – Tohsaka's base of operation – same time

Tokiomi gathered up his group as they watched him and Kirei were using blood of a pig to create multiple summoning circles. "I'll leave you to continue Kirei." said Tokiomi as he got to his feet.

"Understood, Teacher." responded Kirei as he went about with his task. Tokiomi approached his family and the Matous and pulled up the suitcase once again. He looked at the girls once again with the look of a proud father. Of the 3 girls Ayaka had changed most. Ayaka was now a very beautiful young teenager, despite being only 12 nearly 13, her casual attire consisted of a purple-blue jacket, white blouse with black shorts and white stockings and black slip-on shoes. Tokiomi had no doubt that when the time came for her to get married her beauty, pedigree, and their soon to be status as True Magicians would guarantee a good match for her in the mage world. As would his Heir Rin now 11 soon to be 12 and his soon to be reinstated daughter Sakura now 10 soon to be 11. Ayaka's eyes widened as she saw the suitcase in her uncle's arms.

"Uncle Tokiomi, is that-" Ayaka began to ask only for Tokiomi to slide back into his role as a Master and Director of their faction as he quickly confirmed Ayaka's suspicions.

"Yes. Contained within this suitcase are the catalysts that I want us to use to summon our Servants for the war. Also, I need to let you know that due to the fact there will be more than one group of Servants for this war the Factions are often given colors as a way to identify which Servant one is addressing. Such as Saber of Black, Archer of Red, and so on. The color that I've selected for our Faction is Blue. So, from here on out we shall be known as the Blue Faction. Now I will distribute the relics and tell you which Servant you should try to summon." He then opened the suitcase and then pulled out the relics. He pulled out an ancient sling first and Approached Aoi. "My dear wife. I want you to try to summon Archer as aside from Assassin it's the class that consumes the least amount of mana which you have very little of. This way it will hopefully not put too much stress on your body." he explained as he handed her the relic.

"Thank you, Darling." she said fondly. He then directed her over to the circle that was closest to the house. He then went over to the suitcase again and pulled out an item wrapped in a long cloth and approached Rin now. He then set in on the ground and unwrapped it revealing it to be shards of a broken sword.

"Rin Tohsaka, heir to the Tohsaka family magecraft, I want you to summon the Saber of our faction. This will be your final test to show that you are worthy of being my heir. So, you shall have command of the most powerful and outstanding Servant Class of the 7 Servant Classes. I hope my confidence in you wasn't foolhardy." he said severely. The rest of the family and the Matous couldn't help but eye Tokiomi with some level of concern of annoyance. Rin, however, gave him a look of determination.

"I won't disappoint you, Lord Tohsaka." she said that same determination coloring her tone. Tokiomi nodded in satisfaction. Then directed her to the center circle surrounded by the nearly complete 6 outer circles and placed the cloth wrapped shards at her feet. Tokiomi then went back over to the suitcase once again and pulled out a wolf pendant clutching a crescent moon between its teeth. Then he approached Ayaka and handed her the pendant.

"Ayaka, my niece I want you to try to summon the Lancer of our faction. Considering that both you and Rin are both heirs to two branches of the family magecraft and Lancers are almost as good as Sabers, I felt that it would be fitting for you to have this class for your Servant." he said fondly.

"Thank you, Uncle." she said in gratitude as she put on the pendant. By now Kirei had finished creating the 7 summoning circles and approached Tokiomi.

"I take it your finished Kirei?" asked Tokiomi confidently.

"I am, Teacher. He responded automatically. Tokiomi nodded.

"Good. Then head over to the suitcase and take the dirk as that will be your relic and I want you to summon our Assassin. Since you did act as one for the church prior to your tutelage under me, I thought that this would be a perfect fit for you. Meanwhile. I will summon our faction's Caster with the short sword that's left in the suitcase." said Tokiomi.

"What about Sakura and myself, Lord Tohsaka? Afterall we've lived in your house for a year for our safety as part this faction." Kariya pointed out. Tokiomi looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Since you aren't Tohsakas and are only associated with us because of the Command Seals I didn't see a need to purchase a relic for either of you." said Tokiomi.

"Even though Sakura was a former Tohsaka?" Kariya pointed out annoyed.

"Which was rescinded when you insisted on taking custody of her." said Tokiomi.

"Only because you felt it was necessary to give her up for adoption." Kariya responded.

"I did so because it would grant her a better future for her talents as a mage." responded Tokiomi. Tension started to rise. Only for it to be broken by the most unexpected source.

"Sakura if you could wait here for a second, I have something for you." said Ayaka. As she turned around and scurried back into the rented house that was their base of operations for the war. Minutes later she ran back out lugging a crate of some kind. She showed what was in the crate. It was a collection of test tubes one would find in a chemistry lab or in an alchemist's workshop and what appeared to be research papers, though what they were about was anyone's guess. "I bought these when it was discovered that we were going to be a faction and I thought I needed to purchase my own relic to summon my Servant. Now that I realize that I have one given to me, I have no need for this. So, you can have it, Sakura." she said shyly. Sakura looked at the crate then at Kariya. Then she turned to Tokiomi.

"Lord Tohsaka. I read somewhere that it's possible to summon a Servant without a relic. That you can use yourself in the summoning ritual and get a Servant that will have good compatibility with you. Is that correct or am I mistaken?" asked Sakura speaking like a proper noble woman despite being only 10. Tokiomi didn't know how to feel upon hearing her diction. On the one hand it proved that Yoruichi had kept her promise to teach Sakura in the ways of nobility including manners, but the cold indifferent tone directed at him from a daughter that he still cared for even if he couldn't show it still hurt the part of him that was a father. But he focused on the question.

"Yes, that is an option to be used in summoning. You can use yourself as the catalyst and summon a Servant that will be compatible with you. The downside is that there's no guarantee that the Servant will be very strong." he said once again, regaining his composure. Sakura nodded. Then, with a little difficulty, she handed the crate over to Kariya.

"Here Uncle Kariya. I want you to use it as I want to try the compatibility method instead." she said far more informally to Kariya. That level of informality got on Tokiomi's nerves, but he held his tongue as he knew that it wasn't his place.

"Are you sure, Sakura. I can use that method instead if you want. You don't have to do this for me." asked Kariya concerned. Sakura shook her head.

"No, I want to do this. So please take this catalyst." she said with an encouraging smile. Kariya smiled back in return, further annoying Tokiomi.

"Alright then. If you insist on it. Thank you for this Sakura. And to you as well Ayaka. I know that his wasn't meant to be given to either of us but thank you letting us both use it." he said kindly looking at Ayaka who looked away in embarrassment.

"It's no problem." she said shyly. Kariya gave a final smile before giving a neutral look at Tokiomi.

"Lord Tohsaka. I request to be allowed to summon the Berserker of our Faction. That will leave Sakura to summon the Rider Servant. I don't want Sakura near a potentially volatile Servant which Berserkers are notorious for." he requested. After a few min. Tokomi nodded.

"I agree. You will be Berserker's Master. That will require an added line to the incantation of the summoning ritual. Keep that in mind when we begin." said Tokiomi seriously. He then had everyone place their relics on their respective circles. Aoi at the circle facing the house with Tokiomi on right and Sakura on her left. Tokiomi would have Kirei on his right followed by Kariya and back to Sakura. Rin would be in the center circle. Then he had them gather around him away from the circles. "Alright everyone I need to teach you all how to do the proper incantation for the summoning. So please pay close attention to what I say." he said seriously.

Elsewhere still . . ..

Romania – outskirts of Trifas – Emiya's base of operation – guest house – same time

Kiritsugu gathered his family in the basement of the guest house outbuilding of the property he was renting from an Air B&B for the next month. There on the floor were four circles in silver with archaic symbols. On a wooden table nearby was a suitcase. His wife and children looked around before they seemed to get a little excited.

"Papa? Is this what I think it means?" asked Illya, her excitement palpable and infectious. Kiritsugu nodded with a small smile.

"Yes. It's time to summon our Servants. Now as we already talked about you three will summon two Servants while I will summon only one. Now I have the relics here and will hand them out to you all." he said patiently.

"Wait Kiritsugu. You only have 6. Let me hand over the 7th." said Iri. Kiritsugu shook his head.

"Iri-" started Kiritsugu but Iri stopped him.

"No Kiritsugu. It's best you think strategically over which of us gets which Servants. Since Illya and I will be most likely staying here on account of the Einzberns being with Yggdmillenia, it would be better if the more offensive oriented Servants be given to you and Shirou." Iri pointed out.

"Actually, I was thinking along the lines of energy consumption. Since you and Illya have the largest pool of magical energy you both will get a Servant that has heavy mana consumption and then a Servant that takes or operates on very little. Shirou will take the same approach though he will have both his Servants that are not too heavy on mana consumption." reasoned Kiritsugu.

"In that case, Illya and I will take the Berserker and Rider Class Servants, respectively. Berserkers are the ones with the most energy consumption which Illya can utilize as she has the largest reserve of energy, but Riders are too as while they can be a bit conservative with energy, they usually come with a Noble Phantasm that will take a substantial amount from the master especially if used several times in rapid succession but given my connection with the Grail I can recover far quicker than the average mage." argued Iri.

"I don't like the idea of Illya having Berserker. They're notorious for being volatile and I fear three Command Seals won't be enough to get them to our cause. Especially since I don't know which hero is tied to this relic." remarked Kiritsugu looking at the stone with obsidian tip.

"I'll make them understand, papa. I'll make Berserker realize that working with us is the right thing to do. I promise." said Illya with a determined expression.

"And if worse comes to worse, I'll use my projections to end him if he ends up becoming more problem than ally." said Shirou also determined.

"Shirou, your projections have barely been able to last more than a few seconds and that only with metal objects. Anything else you can't even project at all." Kiritsugu pointed out as a matter of factly. Seeing Shirou's disappointed look however caused him to relent. "Alright. We'll do this the way you want. Illya will try to summon Berserker, but you'll also try to summon Archer. Iri you'll try to summon Rider and you also try to summon Caster." said Kiritsugu finally.

"What about us, Dad?" asked Shirou. Kiritsugu looked at the three relics that he knew would summon the Assassin, Lancer, and Saber Class Servants. Then he nodded and looked back at Shirou.

"Shirou, I want you to try and summon Lancer and Assassin." Shirou nodded. "And that leaves the Saber Servant for me. You know I just realized that we haven't given a name for our faction." said Kiritsugu with a tired chuckle.

"A name?" asked Illya in curiosity.

"Yes, the other factions have a color assigned to them like Red and Black, so we need a color for our Faction as well. Any ideas?" asked Kiritsugu.

"Why not silver?" asked Shirou. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"Why that color Shirou?" asked Illya curiously. Shirou blushed in embarrassment before answering.

"Well, you and mom have silver hair which I always thought was really pretty and that's the first color that came to mind." he admitted, his face red as a tomato. Iri glopped him and hugged him closely.

"That's so sweet of you, sweetie." she gushed while Shirou looked like he would die of embarrassment. Illya giggled and Kiritsugu chuckled at the sight.

"Alright, silver it is. From now on we're to be known as the Silver Faction." He said seriously reluctantly, breaking the familial moment as everyone got serious again. "So, I'll hand out the relics, all of you place them on the center of these circles and then come back here and I'll teach you the incantation needed to summon the Servants." said Kiritsugu. He then handed the stone with obsidian tip and broken Persian arrow to Illya, He gave the gold and ornate oil lamp and Egyptian necklace to Iri, and the knives and spearhead to Shirou. He took Avalon and placed it in the center of his circle then headed off to the side where his family was waiting for him. "Alright now here's how the incantation goes." he began.

Meanwhile . . ..

Romania – Millenia Fortress – summoning chamber – evening

Darnic and old man Acht finished their inspection of the circles. "Everything appears to be in order." said old man Acht.

"Agreed. Now Lord Einzbern you had some relics that you've selected that you want me to see for when you summon your Servants, correct?" asked Darnic.

"Yes, they are over there where you'll be sitting to watch the summonings for your perusal. I will head there now and wait for you. Once the summonings are finished here and you approve of our relics we will go and summon our Servants which you are welcome to watch should you choose along with your successor." he said. Darnic nodded. With that old man Acht headed to his seat where he would watch the summonings. Two chairs away was sitting Lancer of Black as he silently watched the proceedings yet to say a word. Darnic turned towards the other members.

"Alright the five who have yet to summon their Servants please step forward so that I can see what relics you are going to use as catalyst for your summonings. Once that's done you may head to the circles and wait for my signal to begin." Darnic instructed. With that, 5 figures approached him. The first figure to approach was a young girl. She had brunette wavy hair, clear blue eyes and a gentle smile, her body, due to being in a wheelchair, appeared fragile. She wore the same military dress as nearly all the rest of the Black Faction though she wore black ¾ pants and white stockings and black slip-on shoes. This was his chosen successor, 19 yr. old Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillenia. She gave a neutral expression. In her arms was a box holding what looked to be an arrow tipped with blood. The arrow itself looked ancient and Darnic recalled it had come from Greece. If his suspicions were right and this did belong to the Hero he suspected, then summoning him as an Archer along with Vlad and Medea would all but guarantee the Black Faction's victory. But he gave a small smile and simply nodded. Then looked at the one behind her pushing her wheelchair. He was a young man, about 18 years old. The resemblance he had to Fiore showed that they were related. He wore the standard Yggdmillenia uniform consisting of a white and gold lined jacket and black pants. He also wears black glasses. This was Caules Forvedge Yggdmillenia, the younger brother to Fiore. He gave a nervous expression. He brought out the papers that had been tucked under his arm. They showed themselves to be research papers, one of which had a diagram of a figure on it. At the top of that page was the title 'The Perfect Human' with the author's name being Victor Frankenstein. If Darnic's memory was correct, Fiore herself had purchased this relic for him as he didn't have anywhere near the funds needed to purchase anything of real worth. He would rather spend time and money on frivolous things like modern entertainment and the like. Waste of time. No matter as long as he serves his purpose than he will be quietly edged out of the clan once this war is over. Perhaps we'll remove his circuits and transplant them to Fiore. At least then his Circuits won't go to waste. His face remained neutral, and he nodded. With that the siblings began to make their way to the summoning circles when Darnic stopped them. "Caules You remember the instructions I gave you when you received your relic?" he asked neutrally. Caules turned and bowed deeply to Darnic.

"Yes Grandfather. I am to summon the Berserker for our faction. I've memorized the extra line in the chant that will guarantee I pull a Berserker while the five of us chain summon." Caules said formally.

Darnic nodded satisfied. "Very good. You may go now." he said. The siblings did so and got to their assigned circles. Caules in the back and Fiore in the center. He then saw the only member of the faction that wasn't dressed like the others. She was a tall, beautiful adult woman with long gold hair tied in long twin tails and had blue eyes. She looked to be about in her mid 20s. Her attire consisted of a white dress shirt with frills, a long black skirt with white boots, a small brown leather belt at her waist and a pair of knife sheathes on the small of her back. She gave a stoic expression. This was Angelica Ainsworth. The current head of the Ainsworth family. Darnic gave her a curious look when she seemed to have no relic.

"I will be using myself as the catalyst. I'm interested to see what kind of a Servant will come to my call. Also, I will only disclose their identities in private with you, Darnic." she said as a matter of factly.

"That is fine Lady Ainsworth but know that we are taking a risk for your indulgences, so I expect to be paid back in full." he said in a warning tone.

"Understood, Lord Darnic." she said simply as she curtsied to him and them headed to the summoning circle on Fiore's left. Then he turned his attention to the only other male of their group. He was a heavy-set man, who wore a similar uniform except his was entirely white and gold including his low-heeled boots. His short dark blonde hair was combed back with one strand curled at his forehead. He had a penciled blonde mustache, a mole under his right eye and blue eyes. This was Gordes Musik Yggdmillenia. His face gave a slightly nervous expression as he presented his relic. It was a box containing a bloodstained fig leaf. Supposedly Gordes purchased this at an auction in the Netherlands.

"Lord Darnic. I also wish to disclose my Servant's True Name to you in private. You see their True name is tied to their weakness, so the fewer people who know about his name the better. As there is less chance of that information leaking out to our enemies." Gordes reasoned though he still looked nervous. Darnic thought for a moment before he nodded.

"Very well. But the same applies to you Gordes as it does with Lady Ainsworth." he said with finality. This seemed to placate Gordes as he went over to the summoning circles and stood in front of Fiore. Then came the final member of their Faction. She too was also a beautiful looking woman who also looked to be in her 20s. She wore the standard shirt uniform, but the top buttons were undone to show off her cleavage of her ample bosom and she had a black shirt collar around her neck that seemed to be detached from the rest of her uniform. She also wore black gloves. The bottom half of her attire consisted of a black knee length skirt with a slit that went all the way to her upper thigh, both showing off her slender legs and giving her freedom of movement. She wore black hose on her legs, and simple black high heels on her feet. She wore glasses on her clever-looking beautiful face and had golden eyes that seemed to hold a slightly crazed look but were being suppressed for the sake of composure. Finally, her purplish-gray untamed hair which if worn loose would've been long enough for her to sit on but was pulled up a loose ponytail and secured by a golden clip. Leaving the rest to cascade down her back, though some front bangs had come loose and were now framing her face including a strand that came down between her eyes. This was Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillenia. Despite her obvious beauty she had a stench of death about her that put people off, but Darnic simply focused on the relic she cradled in her hands. She presented it to him with a confident smile. It was a glass flask which contained an unknown liquid substance in it. Of all the relics, this is the only one that Darnic had no knowledge of as Celenike was very cagey about how she acquired it or which hero it was allegedly tied to. All she did reveal is that it had to do with the 12 Paladins of Charlemagne. But that was it. Normally he would've demanded that she be more forthcoming about the details but given the potential Servants they were about to summon along with Vlad and Medea. He felt confident enough to let this slide if only once. Especially since the Einzberns were to summon a faction of Servants of their own to back them up and support them. He nodded in approval and Celenike headed back to the last circle on Fiore's right. Darnic headed for his seat to watch the summoning. There on the desk in front was a tray of relics and a note. He quickly read through it and his eyes widened as old man Acht watched him with a severe expression. So that is their plan, they'll cheat the system to believe they've only summoned three Servants, but they'll have in fact summoned 7 under 3 different Classes with an Extra Class Servant. 3 Sabers, 3 Casters, and the Extra being of the Shielder Class. He looked between the note and the relics, and his face became stoic as he read and looked but, on the inside, he was almost ecstatic. With one exception, nearly all are associated with the legend of King Arthur. With these Servants and ours, victory is assured for Yggdmillenia. The white cloth supposedly belonging to Merlin himself, the glass flask with the lock of braided chestnut brown hair belonging to Guinevere herself, A broken sword piece belonging to Sir Kay, a piece of white silver armor belonging to Sir Gawain, a silver metal finger from the prosthetic of Sir Bedivere crafted by Merlin, and finally a piece of the Round table from the perilous chair itself which means that the only knight this will summon is none other than Sir Galahad. The only outlier is this grimoire made of human skin that is supposedly connected to Bluebeard but with all the others being of excellent quality it's hardly an issue.

"So do you find the relics we've chosen acceptable?" asked old man Acht. Darnic knew the question was a formality, but he indulged. He burned the note til there was nothing left of it. Then handed the tray of relics back over to old man Acht who took it from him.

"They are more than adequate. I will join you for your summonings once this one has concluded." Old man Acht nodded and handed the relics off to a homunculus in a maid uniform with the instruction to get everything prepared for their summonings. She nodded and walked out of the room. Darnic turned to his faction then. "Alright now. Begin the Summoning!" he commanded.

Four different locations . . ..

At the same time . . .

"Elements of silver and iron,

The foundation of stone and the Archduke of pacts,

The color bestowed is (Black), (Silver), (Blue), (White)

A wall for descending winds,

Close the gates on the four sides,

Come forth from the crown and follow the forked road leading to the kingdom.

Behold.

My will creates your body and your sword my destiny.

If you heed the Grails call and obey my will and reason,

Then answer my summonings.

I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world

That I shall defeat all evil in the world.

(Berserker only) And let thine eyes be clouded with the fog of turmoil and chaos.

Thou who art trapped in a cage of madness and I the summoner who holds thy chains.

Thou Seventh heaven clad in the great words of power,

Spring forth from the Circle of Binding!

Now Guardian of the Scales!"

Once the chanting was finished several pools of light appeared before covering the area in smoke obscuring everything for a few minutes. Once cleared several figures were now kneeling before their respective summoners in their summoning circles. Solemnly the kneeling figures recited with bowed heads. "In accordance with your summons, we have arrived. We are the Servants of (Black), (Silver), (Blue), (White). We declare our destiny to be one with your faction. And thus, our swords are yours to wield as well."

"I ask of thee, are you, my master?" all the kneeling figures asked looking up at their summoners.

End of Chapter 1