Reaper of Rome chapter 30- race to ?
this chapter will cover the race itself or what I can manage to get done of it, [several events slow me down this week]
this will also happen during the events of mark of Athena
I will get into several events in the race until I get the final stage if I have time, I may cut events if I lack time
Shirou pov
the starting line was at the edge of Yosemite national park, I looked over the crowds of racers and could tell each racer was from different factions, some I recognized and most I didn't, but I could tell each rider had reasons for entering this race. I could count at least two hundred racers and then an announcer came over an intercom and said "for the first race you all will have seven days for the first hundred horses. Anyone that doesn't make it will be counted as dead. Other than that, you can do anything you want to force other racers to retire, just don't reveal anything in front of normies."
With that the race began and both teams rode with male in the front and female in the back, one would control the horse and the other would provide support. As we raced, I learned Jolyne gained the skill to break parts of her body into strings that she could control and Suletta could control orbs that could be used for both attack and defense. Both girls defended their riders as our horses soon broke away from the others. as I rode, I heard my soul phone go off and knew only two that could have my number and had jolyne get it out and said to me, its from Rukia and she says "avoid Snowfield, Nevada there's something strange with the area."
I knew that path that avoided that city would send us into one of the monster nests mapped but if said area was dangerous that city could be much worse than the monster nest. But we had to hope we got more info before getting to the point of no return." We waited and waited in and had to take our chances with the nest and spend several days avoiding monsters until making it to the first check point. There I found out from a text from Renya "Percy came back and saved the camp from an invasion. After that Jason came back but with Jason came a group of Greek demigods that attacked the camp. I don't think they did it on purpose, likely Gaia was involved. One of the Greek demigods mentioned some kind of magical battle outside Snowfield that turned the desert into glass. I hope you avoided it. the Greeks left camp on a bronze warship, if you can avoid all any demigods you run into more so the team with Jason and Percy."
I was sure our paths wouldn't collide since I knew the place we stopped for the next leg of the race was Arizona, we were close to Navaho territory, and I had the feeling local monsters would be stirred up. I knew only two things about the monsters that roamed the area, they could shift between animal and human form, and we had two bullets that could kill them, I also knew without said bullets it would be hard to kill them for good.
It wasn't long until the next leg of the race started, and we learned the count would be cut down to twenty-five horses. So, we knew the people in charge expected more to die or be left for dead. We soon raced through and ran into two oversized coyotes that were leading a pack of normal sized coyotes, the big ones had to be skin walkers while the others were likely under the control of the large one. After a hard-fought fight, I managed to kill one but missed the other one for my friends to get a painful wound on the other and kill off their pack. We just had to hope the survivor wouldn't chase us far and we raced through and made it to the second checkpoint near Indiana as we did, a paper airplane floated to me with a message saying, "come to grand central station in Indianapolis, someone wants to meet you outside the station. Mister Kurosaki." I was left wondering who was waiting for me and hoped it wasn't a trap.
After racing and battling through various monsters of roman and local cryptids as well as racers, we made it to the station and a strange gate opened just in time to save us. as we went in, we were greeted by two women of darker and lighter skin with gray hair as well as a woman that looked much younger that said "welcome to the Waystation son of Artemis and companions." I then asked to the trio of women, "is this a trap or not?" The younger one said "it has traps inside but isn't a trap for your group. We as former hunters of Artemis welcome all and more so her children. If you wondered how I knew to get you here. That's because the main band of hunters picked you up after killing that skin walker and figured the station would be along the racecourse."
Then the dark-skinned woman spoke up and said, "if you tell us about the race, we may be able to help you." After that I told her all I knew and the woman that called herself Jo said "it sounds like that business that has been happening in Fuyuki, a holy grail war. I am guessing all the racer deaths could be a way of consecrating the land, also the battle that turned a patch desert into glass could be another grail war. but somebody would have been insane to try and do two holy grail wars at the same time. I wouldn't be surprised if Gaia was messing with the Leylines to make this whole insane thing possible. it would be best in one of your group members knows how to summon a servant, but I have no idea of the spell or how to do it, you will need to find my mother at a crossroads. But rest the night and you and your special horses can leave in the morning. I will share some gadgets I made after you all get sleep and showers."
After that we had a hardy dinner, showers, and slept in decent beds, then in the morning I we talked about ourselves with the three women and various other residents of the waystation. I learned that I did have a brother about a year older than I was and that there was likely a very good reason for me to be born, as well as the fact that I could recover my power after the final Getsuga Tensho, it would take time to do no matter but she would try and figure something out with that we left and quietly made it to the next check point just in time.
At the next point, we learned the next stage check point was in New Orleans and would be cut down to fifteen horses and that meant it would be best for Suletta's team to drop out after the next stage. Then with we raced with much less competition but still just as fierce with a man with black glasses the nastiest and it took everything most of the other racers had to escape him and dodge his curses but. The man only let use escape close to a pack of werewolves, but we managed to fight them off and make it to the next checkpoint right around the fourth of July and find Chad around a fire work display.
He told us that he found the crossroads that Robert Johnson met with the devil to gain musical talent and he said to me "Ichigo, there's a goddess waiting for you." After that, he took us to the roads and there we met Hecate to learn, from her "this race is to set up for the holy grail and there is another incomplete grail going on in Snowfield, originally there was supposed to be a complete and an incomplete holy grail war but thankfully Gaia convinced the person behind this war to separate the two wars and used this insane race to do so." Then she pointed at me and said "I you Ichigo Kurosaki as the son of the moon goddess and brother of the platinum dragon are the best candidate to become a master, via the power of the moon you can convert mist into raw magical energy to summon a servant. The others couldn't come even close under the right conditions, but you will need to wait for the full moon. Use that arrowhead and your own blood and the perfect servant should be summoned. With that she left us for the final leg and said, "after you make it to the final line, do you summon at Carnton." Then she vanished and my other two friends raced with Chad in tow to location to scout out and plan for the best places to make a base.
After that, the final stage came and I raced with the last fourteen to turn it into the final seven, with Jolyne's help we barely beat out a woman with an eyepatch and straight red hair to the finish line. At said finish, we were met by a man with straight black hair in a long coat and he said "my name is Sherlock Holmes, and I am the ruler supervising this grail war and tomorrow morning it will start. Now summon your servants and do your best to prepare.
Chapter end
I wanted to do a little more with the story but due to many life events this week I had to cut events short. I hope to get the next chapter I little longer
Next chapter will have Ichigo summon his servant and battle in the holy grail war to learn –
But first issei and Shirou will battle for the Excalibur fragments
For updates
week of 7/28/24 sword dragon and the phoenix
week of 8/4/24 reaper of rome [ my birthday]
week of 8/11/24 sword dragon and the phoenix
week of 8/18/24 reaper of rome
week of 8/25/24 sword dragon and the phoenix
dates subject to change
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