November 28th, 2004 AD – Fuyuki City
At last, the sun rose over Fuyuki, and the city slowly awoke from its nightmare. The cloud cover had finally broken, and after so long spent in darkness, Kairi revelled in the sight of the dawn.
What a night it had been. After his meeting with Rider, the two of them had moved across the city to support the other teams of the Clocktower and Conglomerate. It turned out that, while Kairi's Necromancy was mostly useless against the daemons which had started to manifest alongside the monsters summoned by the Grail, the elemental Mysteries of the other spellcasters worked more or less normally – especially the fire-aspected ones, for some reason.
Kairi wasn't used to being outdone on the battlefield : his Necromancy and years of experience meant that, when he worked with someone else, he usually was the most dangerous guy on the team. There was no shame in being outperformed by a Servant, of course – hell, the drinks he'd be able to get from that story alone would be something to behold. But being effectively outgunned by the Londonian envoys and the special forces of the Conglomerate had stung his pride, he wasn't going to lie.
They had joined several small-scale engagements, Rider's instincts unerringly leading them to the fights where the humans were losing against the monsters. Even though Kairi's Necromancy was useless against the daemons, his presence'd ensured nobody did anything stupid when the black-armored knight riding a spooky horse and wielding an even spookier spear fell from the sky.
Then, after that awful moment where reality had seemed to break apart at the seams, and which he was certain he'd relive in his nightmares for the rest of his life, the Servant of the Mount had brought him along straight to this place, where the Masters had gathered the rescued victims of the rogue Servant's attack and were making their stand against the daemons that were popping up all across the city.
Had Emiya and Saber failed to defeat Pretender, the remaining Servants and Masters would've bet everything on one final assault on the Greater Grail, beginning with a Noble Phantasm bombardment which would've razed the mountain and required one hell of an explanation for the mundanes. Worse, it probably wouldn't even have worked, so Kairi was doubly glad it hadn't come to it in the end – even if he only had the vaguest notion of how exactly that nightmare had been ultimately adverted.
All he knew was that the daemonic attacks on the gymnasium had suddenly stopped, with the last fiends dissolving where they stood as they were cut off from whatever hell they'd crawled out of. Moments later, Saber had come out of the mountain carrying her unconscious Master in her arms, before being ushered into the school's infirmary by the other Masters.
Kairi'd wisely decided not to try to get inside that room, and instead patrolled the edge of the school while calling the other teams to check the situation was calming down across the full city, before eventually making his way to the rooftop.
From up here, he could see people starting to emerge from their homes, taking in the damage caused by the storm and the battles between the Spellcasters and the Grail's forces. The humans had done their best to repair the damage, or at least alter it enough to make it seem natural, but there simply hadn't been enough time to remove all traces of the nocturnal conflict.
Out of the thousands of people living in the city, only a small handful would ever learn the truth of what had happened and what could have happened, which was undoubtedly for the best. They were already going to have nightmares from the brief moment when the Grail's influence had spread unchecked; being able to put it behind them and forget about it would be good for everyone involved.
The purple-haired girl had handed him some coffee from the school's teacher's lounge on his way up, bless her heart. Kairi was getting too old for all-nighters, but the brown ambrosia had definitely helped (and either he was more exhausted than he thought, or the teachers here had some good taste when it came to coffee, because that had been one of the best cups of his life).
His phone rang, and he answered right after checking the caller ID.
"Hello, Sisigou-san," said the familiar voice of his employer. Kairi absently noted that he didn't sound the slightest bit tired, and felt vaguely offended at that.
"Hello, Kodai-san," he replied. "Checking if I'm still alive, are you ?"
"Yes," Kairi chuckled at the other man's blunt response. "Our instruments noticed that the threat to the World was resolved some time ago. What is the situation in the city ?"
"Calm. We dealt with the monsters who made it to the city from outside, as well as those who were summoned from thin air when things got really bad."
"I'll need more details in your report about that last part, Sisigou-san," Kodai commented, though Kairi had a feeling the other man knew precisely what he was talking about – which, given Kairi himself still had more questions than answers, was mildly concerning. "What about casualties ?"
"Three of ours, four of the Department's." It had been among the first things he'd checked once things had calmed down. "Not bad for an end-of-the-World scenario, not that we can take the credit. the kids were the ones to deal with the source of the issue."
"Indeed. An additional bonus will be delivered to your account, as well as those of every employee who participated in this operation."
And the families of those who hadn't made it would be taken care of, too, Kairi knew. There was a reason the freelancer kept accepting work from the Conglomerate despite the danger of the missions they sent him on. Either they genuinely cared about their people, or they were pragmatic enough to know that acting like they did fostered loyalty and increased efficiency. He wished some of his other clients realized that too, but that was probably asking for too much, even for an uncorrupted Grail.
"How are our local allies ?" asked Kodai.
"All of them are still alive, and didn't look badly hurt when I saw them," replied the Necromancer. "They're exhausted, though. Emiya was unconscious when I last saw him, and the other Masters aren't far from it – nor am I, to be honest. We also have a bunch of monks who were captured by Pretender and used as vessels for his Magecraft here – I'm at a school right now, Homurahara Academy I think it's called. They're still unconscious, but we should get someone from the Church as fast as possible to check for any lingering corruption."
"That'll be handled. There will be a public announcement today that the terrorist threat has been handled, but people should remain in their homes until the situation has been assessed properly. Our clean-up crew will come up with a believable lie to tell the population."
"It'll need to explain what happened at the school," Kairi pointed out. "The gymnasium was pretty much totaled by our fight."
"I'm sure they'll come up with something," Kodai reassured him. "Good work, Sisigou-san. Please inform our friends that I'll contact them directly later, then get some rest."
"With pleasure", sighed Kairi as the call ended. He turned to leave the rooftop, only for the door leading to the stairs to open.
Damn, he was even more tired than he'd thought, to not have noticed someone approaching. The man who emerged onto the rooftop was wearing a spare sports uniform which was a little too small for him, but still better than the tattered rags he'd been wearing when Kairi'd met him last night.
"Hello there," greeted Kairi. "We didn't have time to be properly introduced last night. I am Kairi Sisigou," he said, offering his hand. After a couple of seconds of hesitation, the other man shook it.
"I am Souichirou Kuzuki," he introduced himself. "I'm a teacher at this school."
That probably wasn't a lie, given the kids had called him 'sensei' when they'd fought together in the gymnasium, but unless Japan's education system had changed a great deal since Kairi's time in highschool, Kuzuki wasn't an ordinary teacher. However, Kairi was too well versed in the etiquette of the mercenary world to ask about someone's past like that – you needed to have shared a few more drinks first, at least.
"What is going to happen to the monks ?" asked Kuzuki. "I've lived with them for years – that's why I was taken along with them when that mad priest attacked the temple. I wanted to ask my students, but I thought it best to go straight to you."
"Standard procedure for that kind of situation," began Kairi, deciding that he wasn't going to tell the man before him that most Magi would just have killed them all and burned their bodies to make things easier. "Their memories from the attack on the temple will be wiped out, and new ones implanted to fit whatever narrative ends up being used to explain this mess. Their recollections will be vague, but that'll be blamed on stress and injuries. You don't need to worry about side-effects : we've done this often enough that the process has been refined and perfected long ago."
"I see." For someone who'd been possessed by an otherworldly entity just a few hours ago, that man was sure calm. "I suppose that explains how all of this can have remained a secret for so long. I suppose the same will happen to me ?"
"Most likely," the Necromancer shrugged. "Sure, you helped fight the daemons last night, but you're still a mundane, aren't you ? To be frank, forgetting about this stuff is probably the best thing for you."
"I … I think I would rather not," said the man softly, as if surprised by his own words. "While most of what I experienced was unpleasant, I would be a poor teacher if I were willing to give up on the lessons I learned through it."
Interesting. Most civilians Kairi had met who'd been exposed to the hidden side of the World couldn't wait for their memories to be wiped once they were convinced ignorance was safer than knowledge, or were hysterical about that not happening at any cost (not that it did them much good in the long run, although Kairi'd always tried to be as gentle as he could as he did what had to be done). Someone like Kuzuki, who wanted to keep his memories but was calm about it, was a rarity.
But then, not many civilians could punch a demon right after being freed from possession themselves.
"If you want to stay part of the Moonlit World after all this, then I can put you in touch with someone," he offered. "As long as you're affiliated with a recognized faction, letting you remember what happened is possible."
Based on Kairi's impression of him, Souichirou Kuzuki was exactly the kind of recruit the Conglomerate was always on the look-out for.
"I think I'd like that," replied Kuzuki with a slight smile.
November 28th, 2004 AD – London, Clocktower
In the years since his return to the Clocktower after the Fourth Grail War, Waver had gone through a number of stressful situations that had made him want to become a Magician purely so he could go back in time and strangle his past self for thinking getting recognized by the Mage Association was something to aspire to.
This one, however, might just be the worst one yet (and oh, how he loathed that the pessimistic part of his brain forced him to add that last qualifier to the statement). For a start, he hadn't slept since Emiya's phone call informing him about Gilgamesh's survival and death : by now, he'd blood in his caffeine stream rather than the much healthier reverse. But that was not all, oh no, far from it.
He was sitting in his office, with Reines next to him – already a situation smarter men would run away from screaming. However, his adopted sister's presence was eclipsed by the fact the seat opposite them across the low table was occupied by none other than Lorelei Barthomelloi herself, who had barged in a couple of hours ago and had yet to leave. Waver wanted to blame Bazett and Gray for not stopping her, but he was realist enough to know there was nothing either of them could've done.
Barthomelloi's contacts in the Atlas Institute had reached out to her in alarm as they picked up on what was happening in Fuyuki. The Vice-Director had told them she was already aware of the situation, and that it was being handled, but she didn't appreciate not being kept in the loop. Out of self-preservation, Waver had spilled out everything Emiya'd told him, carefully wording every sentence to avoid running afoul of his secrecy geas.
This was, unfortunately, nothing he wasn't used to as a Lord of the Clocktower, but it was still mentally exhausting. When his phone finally rang, Waver could've wept in relief at the interruption, if not for the fact he knew better than to show weakness in front of either Reines or the Vice-Director.
"Yes ?" he asked.
"Lord El-Melloi II," said a voice he recognized as Rin Tohsaka's. Her English pronunciation was crisp and accent-free, though her exhaustion was still clearly audible. "I'm calling you to tell you the situation in Fuyuki has been dealt with. The crisis has been adverted."
"That is great news, Miss," replied Waver, keeping himself from collapsing in relief only through a considerable effort of will. "I should inform you that I'm not currently alone in the room, however, so you may want to watch your words."
Barthomelloi glared at him, but the near-certainty of her killing him later was outweighed by the certainty of the geas contract killing him if he deliberately let Tohsaka reveal information she wished to keep confidential by not telling her about the eavesdroppers (he hadn't set the phone on speaker, but that wouldn't stop Reines or the Vice-Director from hearing everything the Japanese Magus said).
"Ugh, I'm too tired for this," muttered Tohsaka. "Who's with you ?"
"My adopted sister, Reines El-Melloi Archisorte, and the Vice-Director of the Mage Association, Lady Lorelei Barthomelloi. Both of them are aware of the situation in Fuyuki."
"… oh. Fine then. By the terms of our contract, I authorize you to inform them of the general terms of our accords, as defined in … annex 2, section 3." Immediately, Waver felt the bonds of his geas loosen as the Mystery responded to her words. "Also, we're probably going to need you to come back here as part of the clean-up and debriefing in person, so we'll have to talk about it. But," the young Tohsaka Head was interrupted by a massive yawn, "later. Right now, I just wanted you to know the World isn't going to end after all, and no one in our group died in the process."
"Really ?" Waver was honestly, if pleasantly, surprised. "Including the Servants ?"
"Including the Servants," Tohsaka confirmed with just a hint of smugness. "I'll call you again in 24 hours, okay ? Now I'm going to sleep. Bye."
The call ended before Waver could reply, leaving him facing two of the most dangerous women he'd ever met staring at him.
"I will accompany you to Fuyuki," said Reines and the Vice-Director at the exact same time.
It was only thanks to years of experience that Waver didn't break down in tears.
November 29th, 2004 AD – Avalon
Slowly, the Garden was recovering. Flowers were growing again from the ashes, and broken white architecture was repairing itself.
A small stone plint had appeared, atop which rested the source of the ringing : a black, old-fashioned telephone that wouldn't have looked out of place in a museum. Of course, the phone didn't really exist, but even someone like the Magus of Flowers was still rooted in mortal perceptions, and thus Avalon reflected the outside contact in this way.
"Hello !" the Magus exclaimed cheerfully as he picked up the receiver. "Merlin speaking !"
"Hello, Merlin. This is Kodai."
"Ah, Gears-kun ! It's been so long since you last called, I thought you'd forgotten about little old me !"
"… we talked only two days ago, Merlin," deadpanned the master of the Mihashira Conglomerate. "When I called you to make sure you were prepared for what was to come. Remember ?"
"Oh, did we ?" Merlin blinked. "Hmm. You're right. Somehow it feels like much, much longer."
"I can imagine," said Kodai patiently. They were well used to Merlin's shenanigans, which only pushed the Magus of Flowers to try harder to startle them. "How fares the Garden ?"
"Recovering," Merlin replied honestly. "The damage was severe, but our dear heroes stopped Pretender before it passed the critical threshold. It'll take some time, but everything should get back to normal eventually. In other good news, the Dread One confirmed that she managed to get every last Neverborn involved in the attack securely locked up, including that bastard Kor Phaeron."
"Good," replied Kodai feelingly. "An eternity in Tartarus is better than that wretch deserves, but making sure he doesn't report to his masters is more important than punishing him in full for his sins. What of the Throne ? Anything new to report ?"
"Nope." As one of the only two denizens of Avalon, Merlin had the easiest time of them all checking in on the system, and he'd been doing just that since he hadn't needed to keep repairing the Veil while the corrupted Grail tried to tear it down. "It's still just like I told you last time. We lost the Spirit Origins of the King of Knights, the King of Mages, and the King of Heroes. The records for the Gorgon Sisters were also expunged, as were …" he glanced in the direction of his jailer and companion in exile, before continuing more quietly (she would still hear him, but it felt like the polite thing to do) : "… those of the Knight of Treachery, due to how closely related to the King of Knights' they were."
From what he'd been able to tell by examining the damage, the latter seemed to have been taken as an afterthought, due to how tightly interwoven they had been with King Arthur's. Which, understandably, hadn't helped his jailer's mood whatsoever.
"These are some rather heavy losses," commented Kodai. "The three Kings in particular were some of the Throne's most powerful assets."
"Yes. But I think that, at least in my king's case, not all hope is lost." If anything, Merlin was hopeful that this whole disaster would at least help her find the happiness she deserved but had never gotten.
Was it wrong of him to cling to that small hope when so much was at stake ? Perhaps, but Merlin didn't think so. His affection for Artoria was one of the few things about himself the Magus of Flowers was certain came from his human half, and he cherished it dearly.
"True, but her situation is unique. I suppose the Gorgon Sisters are still recoverable as well. Gilgamesh and Solomon, on the other hand, are lost to us forever. And yet, despite these losses, I cannot help but think we got off lightly considering the situation."
"You're right about that," confirmed Merlin "Truth be told, that was far too close. We had some of your best operatives on the ground, Brishan's reinforcements from England, the Gorgon Sisters, all three fragments of my king, their lover and his friends, who were all packed to the gills with anti-daemon countermeasures. Even a Reflection of Zelretch manifested in the end to help the boy take the final step." And hadn't that been a surprise to the Magus of Flowers, who'd only met a fragment of the Sundered Monarch a handful of times himself. "And despite all that, we still came this close to the nightmare scenario," he continued, holding two fingers near to each other – not that Kodai could see it, of course, but it seemed like the sort of thing a normal human being would do.
"Indeed. Once, we'd have been able to see this coming and prepare for it better. But the closer the Wall of Light gets, the worse our ability to predict the future becomes. The last time things were that bad was …"
"I know." Merlin hadn't yet been born at the time of the events Kodai was referencing, but he had access to the records, such as they were after so long. "But there is nothing we can do about it, except prepare to weather the storm as best we can. What about the others ?"
"The Institute's alarms have stopped," reported Kodai. "Not that they were very useful this time. At the very least, this was a good test of their emergency procedures, especially since none of the current members ever had to deal with such a threat. As for the Wandering Sea, they've remained silent, but all their armaments remain operational."
Good. Of course, if things had escalated to the point the Atlas Institute was forced to open the Gates of the Wandering Sea and make use of its contents, then the entirety of Asia would already have been written off as a lost cause in the very best scenario.
"I've also received word from the Keeper," continued Kodai. "She was only just able to contact me, but apparently the Spider started to stir when Pretender's ritual was activated in Fuyuki."
Merlin's blood ran cold as the words of his old comrade registered. The entity which modern Magi referred to as 'ORT', and which had dwelled in the jungles of South America for longer than Merlin had been alive, was one of the few things his Clairvoyance couldn't show him – not because it was unable to, but because if he ever looked at that thing, he was all but guaranteed to succumb to mental contamination and become a threat to the entire World.
Unlike the ones describing the last time the Council's foresight had been blinded, the records he'd seen of the Spider's arrival to Gaia before it'd been forced into its present slumber had been heavily censored to prevent corruption, but even that little he'd been allowed to see had been the stuff of nightmares. What Kor Phaeron had threatened to unleash might have been greater in scope, but at least Merlin'd been able to look at Pretender's work without the risk of immediately going mad thanks to his various wards and defenses. ORT was a different story entirely : out of all of them, only the Keeper had the unique capabilities and sheer strength of will needed to keep watch over its prison.
"Please tell me it stopped when Pretender was defeated," he all but begged the Lord of Gears.
"It did," confirmed Kodai, and Merlin sighed in relief. "As far as we can tell, it's still asleep. But the mere fact that it responded to Pretender's actions all across the Pacific Ocean is worrying to say the least. We underestimated how perceptive it is, even in its current state."
"Something to keep in mind when the next crisis arrive, then," mused the Magus of Flowers. "And, unfortunately, it will."
"Do you know something about that ?"
"I do. The puppet of the Great Deceiver saw Shirou-kun," said Merlin, all traces of humor gone from his voice. "The Veil is still intact, but now that it knows we exist at all, it will find us sooner or later."
"… is that something you've confirmed with 'them' ?"
"Yes," confirmed Merlin. As the Speaker of the Spheres, he alone had the ability to contact the Cabal of the Veil's distant masters – it was for this very role that he'd been created, after all. "They don't know exactly how much time we have, but it'll happen before the Wall of Light hits."
"Then we must attend to our preparations at once. I'll contact Brishan and the Watcher."
"We must," agreed the Magus of Flowers. "I'll make sure the Sanction and the Executioner are up to date as well. Also, 'they' gave me another, more specific instruction, too."
"Oh ? How rare of them. And what was it ?"
"Before the First Legion comes to Gaia, Shirou Emiya and his companions must be taught the secrets of the World."
November 30th, 2004 AD – Einzbern Castle
It was broken, a mere remnant of what it had once been. Its purpose, the very reason for its existence, was lost to it : not only did it not even remember what it had been, it knew, deeply and without doubt, that it could no longer have fulfilled it even had it remembered it.
All that it had left was its hate, and the impulse to seek revenge – revenge against the King whose burning blade had brought it so low.
Despite its diminishment, it wasn't powerless. It still clung to the dregs of knowledge it had stolen from the Throne, a small addendum to a greater legend that was now lost to it, but one that carried within it that very greater legend's doom, if properly cultivated.
The remnant fled through the veins of the World, but it could not hide there for long. Soon, the World would notice it, and it could not stand against its defenders, not as it presently was.
But there was another path available to it. One opened long ago, by foolish and arrogant souls, who thought they could bend the very laws of the World to their will, then compound that blasphemy by cheating at the game they'd built themselves, and get away with it.
The remnant poured itself up that path, travelling halfway across the World. Once it had reached its destination, hidden away from the eyes of its foes, what passed for its mind turned to revenge.
It was safe, but safety was not enough. It needed more. It reached out, and found that there were others connected to its hiding place. On instinct, it selected the strongest of these others, and before it could realize anything had changed, it struck.
The other struggled, with all the strength of its elder will, but in the end, it was nothing compared to the remnant's all-consuming hatred. That pitiful mind, which had endured for centuries as the guiding hand of its kind, was snuffed out, and the remnant took its first breath.
As it did so, its mind opened up to new possibilities as it settled within the brain matter of its host and absorbed its memories. So many options; so many tools at its disposal. It seemed it had gotten very lucky with its escape indeed.
"Lord Jubstacheit ?" it heard a voice nearby call out with its stolen senses. "Is something wrong ?"
"No," it replied, speaking through the mouth of the body it had claimed. "EvERyThInG iS FiNE."
Then there were screams, as the fragment of the Grail's corruption which had seized the body of Jubstacheit von Einzbern got to work.
Omake : RH!Konrad Curze Isekai Prelude
"Better to die a martyr than to live a monster," he spoke defiantly, even as his blood poured from his wounds and unto the black sands of Isstvan V.
Perhaps his brother, in his madness, believed that he too would rise from death, and in so doing come to share the Black Dragon's grim view of existence. If so, then Vulkan was a fool. Immortality wouldn't change Konrad's beliefs. The time when he might have become the monster the Eldars had feared had long since passed, and he would always hold true to his ideals : justice tempered by mercy, the strong protecting the weak.
Not that it really mattered : Vulkan was the only one to have inherited that particular gift from their father. In every one of the King of the Night's visions, whenever he witnessed another Primarch fall, they did not rise again – or, if they did, it was as a warped eidolon of their true self, enslaved to the dark powers that sought Humanity's ruin.
The hammer fell, and darkness fell with it. There was pain, but it was mercifully brief. And then he was falling, a spirit unmoored from his dead flesh and cast into the Sea of Souls. In this, at least, the Primarch of the Eighth Legion was the same as every human being who had ever lived.
And … yes. There they were. The denizens of the Immaterium, which had been called by a thousand names across human history and would one day soon simply be known as 'daemons', come to feast upon his puissant soul. He steeled himself as best he could. This wouldn't be like any other fight he had ever fought, and much like his battle with Vulkan, it could only end one way. But still, he wouldn't make this easy for them –
A hand reached out through the darkness, shining with familiar light. It caught him as he fell, shielding him from the gathering predators. Konrad knew who this hand belonged to, but he also knew the price He would pay if He tried to save him. With the Heresy begun and Guilliman marching on Terra, this was not a sacrifice He could afford to make.
Let me go, Father, he thought, trying to speak the words without a mouth.
Konrad had never been as adept with his psychic gifts as Magnus, or even Lorgar : his talent had always laid with his future sight. But he tried to send his thoughts out to his creator, the Emperor of Mankind, anyway. Much as he appreciated being rescued from eternal suffering at the hands of the Dark Powers, he didn't want that salvation to come at the Imperium's expense.
… at least, for now. He wasn't arrogant enough to think his attitude wouldn't change after a few subjective eternities at the Ruinous Powers' inexistant mercy. There were torments that could break any soul, no matter how brave or noble.
For one brief moment, a sense of deep love and trust filled him : one last message from his father. And then the golden hand threw him, casting his soul far, far away, beyond the reach of Chaos' grasping hands, beyond the furthest depths of the Sea of Souls, beyond the light of the Astronomican and the writhing darkness of the Primordial Annihilator.
Konrad Curze flew beyond the edge of the Immaterium, and –
Blackness.
And then ...
Something else.
AN : IT LIVES !
Sorry about the long waiting for this fic, folks. I've spent the last few months writing either Ciaphas Cain : Warmaster of Chaos or A Young Girl's Weaponization of the Mythos. And once I decided to come back to this story, well, it turns out that a several months-long break makes starting writing a story again quite difficult.
Especially when the chapter is going to lay the foundations for the next narrative arc of the fic. I have about twenty pages of notes in no particular order about what's going to happen next in this story, accumulated over the course of the four years (dammit, I just missed making an anniversary update) this story has existed.
You know that scene in every JRPG where mysterious people have a cryptic conversation that only makes sense way, waaaay later in the game ? The scene with Merlin was my attempt at writing one of those.
The Omake this time was something I wrote a few months back. It could be used as the prologue for any number of crossover options : if you're interested, don't hesitate to write your own and tell me about them. Gods know I'm not going to start another story right now.
As always, I look forward to your thoughts, comments, and theories.
Zahariel out.