"Let me tell you a story –"
"No." I cut him off. "Just tell me straight, otherwise I feel like you're going to try and distract me."
"It's complicated." He sighed.
"Are you even Cu Chulainn?" I questioned his hesitance. "Or is Odin just filling out an ether suit made of all his bits?"
"Did you have to word it like that? Sounds kind of dirty."
"Quit stalling." I nudged him. "Besides, Odin is a Norse God and Cu Chulainn is Celtic. I'm pretty damn sure there's no threshold you can reach in that regard."
"Fine, fine." He threw his hands up in resignation. "Just….let me put up something." He added with a grumble, pushing himself off the steps and started drawing Runes with an expert ease. Not just any Runes, the weight of Primordial Runes filled the air as they actualized around us. "Should keep out anyone trying to pry."
"Well now, isn't that interesting." I sat up, inspecting his work. "Did you isolate us from the Temporal Axis?"
He shrugged. "It's an easy way to avoid people. Doesn't hold up against literally any kind of force, but hey, it's quick and easy."
He made it sound much easier than it actually was. "Any kind of interference would jerk us back into the normal flow of time." I summarized.
"Pretty much." He plopped back down.
Very impressive. I didn't even see everything he did, it was so fluid and quick that he barely put effort into it.
"So…..how much of you is Cu Chulainn?"
"…It's mostly me." He grumbled. "Call it a 70 – 30 split with him mostly being dormant, if that makes sense.
Well, I probably could have guessed that much. I was mostly just being a bit hyperbolic before just so he wouldn't beat around the bush. "So he took away your spear, huh?"
He grumbled again. "Don't I know it. I hate being summoned as a caster. Totally capable of it, Shishou made sure of that, but it's so…..boring. My Noble Phantasm is great and all, but it can't compare to my Spear."
"So…why did Odin make you appear as a Caster over a Lancer?"
"Hell if I know." He shrugged. "It's not like I'm him. I can't just know the reason he does everything."
"….you're literally him right now."
"It's…..not really that simple." He scratched his head.
"If you say so." Who knows why a God does anything? They don't think the same way as us 'mortals'. "Why is he doing all of this then? You being here and everything? Cause you said all the other Servants are corrupted, and you're clearly not hollow like that Assassin and Lancer we faced."
"I can't say."
"Can't or won't?"
"Literally can't." He added. "Can you just trust me and let that go?"
I observed him for a moment, looking at his expression and breathed out a long breath. "Fine, I won't push. You're already being open with me as is and I'm not unthankful for that."
"Thanks, man." He said pretty genuinely.
"I'm guessing you don't want your 'status' known by anyone else?" I asked.
"If you weren't a Magician, and one of Shishou's, I wouldn't have said as much as I did." He replied. "But yeah, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't say anything about me."
Well its not like I had any room to call him out. I had been running around undercover as well literally yesterday.
But that just begged one question. Why the hell was Odin interfering this far into the Time-Line?
It's honestly made me a little anxious.
"I've actually met Odin, twice now."
"Oh?" He perked up. "How the hell did that happen?"
"When Scáthach was passing down her Runes to me during the Ritual –"
"Oh, that brings back memories." Cu smiled wistfully. "I was surprised to see how weak she got afterwards. Didn't really understand how much it took out of her to pass them on. Took the opportunity to get a feel~"
"...You're such a dick."
"Tell me you didn't do the same thing."
"Fuck you, we cuddled."
"That's bullshit, she kicked my ass, and you get cuddles? Seriously, I'm calling out her favoritism here." Cu huffed without much heat to his words.
"When didn't she kick your ass?"
He blinked, looking thoughtful. "You know, that's actually a good question."
I shook my head, realizing why that was the default reaction for her. "Alright, back on topic. Yeah, met Odin, he appeared and was a gigantic dick; he attacked because he wanted to know something I knew."
Cu winced a little. "Yeah, sorry about that."
"Not your fault – technically. Even a different Odin, World-lines and all that." I waved it off. "The other was in another world where the Age of Gods continued into the modern Era. There was a peace meeting between a whole bunch of Pantheons, even your dad was there."
"Really? My old man?"
"Yup, he was apparently friendly with Odin, but I didn't really exchange words with him. But Odin, well…."
"I feel like I'm going to regret asking, but what happened?"
"His literal first words to me were the admiration for Gabriel's breasts. Let me emphasize that, The Archangel, Gabriel from the Bible. He was admiring her boobs."
Cu opened his mouth and closed it again before bursting out in laughter. "Well, don't hold me in suspense. How were they?"
"They were amazing. Easily a perfect score."
"Damn." Cu blinked.
"Yeah, not even in the top 10 weirdest moments of my life."
"I wish we met under different circumstances. Would have loved to share a drink and get to know my junior." Cu leaned back. "Pretty shit situation this is. Wanted a normal fight, and ended up having to deal with a large mess."
"You don't know the half of it." And I realized who he actually was. "….or maybe you do…." I eyed him suspiciously. "Here's a thought. The fact that they survived, it could be called a literal miracle." As in a forceful hand by the Counter Force. Because from what I understood, they were right at the epicenter of the worst of it. "And they would have had no support here beyond a half-Servant girl who is probably a little in over her head and doesn't even know the name of her Noble Phantasm. How convenient that a Servant was uncontracted and not corrupted running around."
Cu had a small grin forming on his face. "Yup, pretty damn convenient."
"…..how bad are things?" Because if Odin decided to interfere this 'far away', then things can't be simple.
"You're really putting me in a tough spot here." He groaned. "It's going to get worse before it gets better."
"And I suppose you won't elaborate?"
"I'm already pushing it." Cu shook his head. "On the account of her. And what Odin – that other Odin, did. Call it an apology."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it." He chuckled. "Seriously, don't mention any of this. You just existing is already something that's a wildcard."
"I'm afraid to know what you mean by that, and I know you won't answer. But suffice to say, I do have my own cards to play that can tip the scales in our favor should things prove dire."
He nodded in approval but didn't mention it anymore.
"Now, what are you going to give me?"
"What?" Cu looked at me in confusion.
"To keep my mouth shut." I shot him a grin.
"Are….you blackmailing me?"
"Yup."
"Dick." Cu exclaimed. "What do you want?"
I took out a couple of beers from my ring, tossing one to him. He perked up immediately, looking rather thankful. "Since you got Odin inside you, know any good spells you wouldn't mind passing down?"
Cu used his thumb to flick the bottle cap off and took a drink. "You're lucky you're my junior, otherwise I'd kick your ass." He grunted. "Fine, I don't really mind. So, I actually got two Noble Phantasms, one of them comes from my Caster nature and being a Druid. The other, well….I guess you could say it's due to some help. Honestly, it's just a combination of Primordial Runes that's conceptualized into a Noble Phantasm more so than a genuine Noble Phantasm. The fact that you have his blessing means it should work since I'm teaching you."
Kind of like Kojiro's sword technique.
Very interesting.
"And now you have my attention."
"Alright, since you gave me something to drink, and let me use Shishou's spear, I'll show you once. If you don't get it, it's your own fault."
[***]
"Alright, everyone listen up!" Olga exclaimed, smacking her hand on Mash's shield. "We're going to plan our attack."
"Before we start, can we get a status update from Chaldea?" I asked seeing Roman on the other side of the holographic-like screen.
"Roman." Olga nodded.
It was a little cute seeing her wearing my hat. And she was holding Sir Wiggles in her arms, not that he minded the attention.
"Well, not much has changed." Roman scratched his head. "Uh, well, things settled a little bit, but we're still running around putting out fires. Leo managed to secure several pivotal systems, but they're still offline until we can get enough generators up and running. Which….aren't really a priority right now considering we're trying to keep things from just outright blowing up due to what happened."
I wasn't stupid enough to ask for a head count at the moment. Right now, morale was probably as high as it could get. Not to say it was good, but the members of my team and Olga were...dealing with everything. Suddenly talking about everyone that died, well, that's just asking for it to drop to rock bottom again.
A hearty breakfast, cooked by myself – thank you Rin for having a Gas stove – did wonders for making people feel a little better.
Not to mention a good several hours of sleep gave them a clear head to work with. Right now, the job was the main focus of everyone.
"I suppose hoping for the FATE system being up and running is a long shot."
"Sorry, yeah. All the power right now is being redirected to critical parts of Chaldea – like keeping the Coffins powered and making sure there's enough power to Rayshift back when you need it."
"We'll make do." Olga interrupted.
"A-are you sure? Aren't there more Servants that you have to fight?"
"And we'll discuss that now." Olga nodded. "Shimoda, you're apparently familiar with this Grail War. Which is odd, considering that the only recorded Grail War we know is in Fuyuki was the one that my father participated in and won."
All eyes turned to me. "That's right, this Grail War isn't native to this world-line. Or in other words for the uninitiated, this happened in a parallel timeline."
"Huh, does that mean you know who that Red Archer is?" Cu asked.
"I do."
"Good, I want another crack at him. Annoying bastard is going to get a taste of my Spear."
"My Spear." I clarified.
"Semantics." He shrugged. "But he has it coming! Taunted me the entire time while taking pot shots out of my range. And whenever I got close enough to do something, he ran away towards that damn Berserker. And no way in hell I'm fighting that monster head on as a Caster."
"Like 10 feet,tall mass of anger and muscle?" I asked.
"…..you know him too then."
"Hercules."
"What!?" Olga blurted out. "Are you kidding me!?"
"Nope." I popped the p. "Perhaps the most famous Hero in the world, consumed by madness and who knows what other curses have been eating away at him since being here."
"Great, just great!" Olga threw her arms up.
"Uh, Tak – Wilhelm." Roman spoke up, correcting himself.
"Either, or is fine. One is my birth name, the other is the one I took up after leaving home." I gestured for him to continue.
"Can you start from the beginning?"
"Right" I swept my gaze around the room, remembering who my audience was. "History lesson time. So, the Holy Grail War, we briefly covered this as it's the basis that Chaldea uses to summon their own Servants, so I won't go too deep into those details. This specific one is the fifth iteration of said war, never having a winner at this point. You see, one of the founding families had the bright idea during the third iteration. They were going to cheat."
"Oh no…" Roman sighed.
"What?" Samuel asked.
"Two possible outcomes." Cu replied. "Either it works, or it blows up spectacularly. There's really no in-between with things like this."
"The city is on fire." Ritsuka added.
"So you can imagine how that went." I shook my head. "But they decided they were going to summon an Extra Servant."
"Extra Servant?" Roman asked. "What do you mean?"
"Class containers aren't limited to just seven. There are extra classes that fill other roles."
"What?" Olga asked in confusion. "This is the first I'm hearing about this."
"It's not common knowledge. For instance, if the Apocrypha Protocols were triggered, a Ruler Class Servant would be summoned to moderate the Grail War. Thankfully, what the Einzbern family did caused the Grail to utterly break enough that those protocols were destroyed, otherwise we'd be in the middle of a much bigger cluster fuck."
"Boss, what're the, erm…" Samuel asked for clarification.
"Apocrypha Protocols. Don't worry too much about it, basically it's a Fail Safe the original creators installed to make it so one 'faction' couldn't hoard all the summons. If that happened, these specific Protocols would trigger, making it no longer a free for all, but an additional seven Servants would be summoned, and it would become a battle between teams. With a Ruler Servant overseeing the whole thing."
"Fascinating." Roman looked to be writing down my words. "And what's special about a Ruler Servant?"
"They can discern any Servant's identity and information as long as they don't have a way to hide it – like an ability or Noble Phantasm. They also are summoned with additional Command Seals they can use on other Servants to enforce the rules. And the requirement to become a Ruler Servant is that you have no Wish for the Grail War."
"As interesting as this is, we're going off topic." Olga responded. "Note down this information, but we need the information about this whole situation."
"Right." She made a good point. "It was mildly important and somewhat tied into what I was going on about. They were deciding between forcing the summoning of a Ruler through cheating, meaning it wouldn't abide by the whole 'No wish' facet of requirements." Looking at you, Shirou. "But instead, they opted to summon an Avenger Class Servant."
"Avenger?" Olga repeated again, furrowing her brow. "That….doesn't sound good."
"Nope. Full of hatred, they're probably just as hard to control as a Berserker, but without the Madness. And the specific Avenger they summoned – Angra Mainyu. Otherwise known as the Zoroastrian God of Evil."
"But a Divine spirit can't be summoned!?" Roman blurted out.
I glanced at Cu who had a rather amused look on his face.
"It's complicated." I waved off his outburst. "But to make a long story short, the Avenger Servant was ridiculously weak, and lost its first fight. But….instead of the Grail grabbing it and processing him properly, he instead went to corrupt the Grail." I looked out the window. "As you can see, this is what happens when the insides spill out. The Skeletons that were running around, they were running on his curses. The Servants we've encountered so far – hollow shells that had drowned in his curses."
"….do we gotta fight a God, boss?"
"What's wrong, farm boy, don't feel confident throwing down with a God?" Cu let out a chuckle. "Don't worry, we aren't fighting a God. Though, that doesn't mean this is going to be easy."
"Right, so no God." I made sure to clarify. "It seems like Avenger isn't really present anymore? Not sure, because if all this happened, he should have incarnated by now."
"Great, so the world is only mildly annihilated, not completely." Olga huffed. "That doesn't explain how all this happened."
"I'm not omnipotent, I'm just giving the backstory and the probable cause as to why things are like this. I'm just as in the dark about the finer details." I hesitated to say it but I couldn't help it. "I can't think of a good reason why Art – Saber is doing this."
"You spoke of familiarity with that Servant." Roman spoke up again.
"In another time and place…..we're close." I didn't really want to go into details.
"Really, her too?" Cu looked at me, apparently able to read between the lines.
I shrugged. "Yeah."
"Favoritism!" Cu threw his arms up. "Shishou beat me up if I even implied –"
"Moving on!" Olga interrupted. "So we have King Arthur as Saber, the supposed Ring Leader and cause of this Singularity. And to make matters worse, she most likely has the Grail and is being powered up by it."
"So she can use her Noble Phantasm nearly limitlessly." I nodded.
"Joy." Olga deadpanned. "And then we have Berserker also known as Hercules stomping around somewhere. Anything we should know about him?"
"His Noble Phantasm makes him immune to things below a certain rank. And he can revive up to Thirteen times and become extremely resistant to what killed him previously."
Olga slowly closed her eyes. "Please tell me you're joking."
"….I'm joking." I offered.
"If I didn't have your familiar in my arms, I would be hitting you."
Well done, Sir wiggles.
"Où est le – where is this, Archer you mentioned?" Pierre had been silent most of the time, but he decided to join in.
"The Archer?" Cu repeated. "He's guarding the path to Saber. Couldn't get to her, she's in the caves below the temple to the west."
"You said he was leading you towards Hercules. Can we not just…..avoid him?"
I mulled that over. "You also said Archer's been taunting you and is clearly more intelligent than those other Servants. I'm guessing he isn't completely corrupted and has some measure of free thought. Might be able to get his help."
"What makes you think he'd help? Maybe he's willingly helping Saber. Wouldn't put it past that guy." Cu crossed his arms.
"He's a Counter Guardian."
Cu stiffened slightly. "Would explain why he isn't fully corrupted. Still think he's a dick though."
"You can piss him off by calling him by his real name if you want."
"Really?" Cu perked up. "Alright, tell me it later. I'll get him to focus on me for our rematch."
"But with Pierre's thought – where is Berserker?"
"He's been just wandering at the castle ruins outside the city." Cu replied.
"Awesome, all in favor of just ignoring Berserker?"
Everyone raised their hands.
"If I was a Lancer, I'd take him." Cu pouted a little.
"Senpai, I can fight him if you need me to. I may not know my Noble Phantasm, but I think I can hold him off for a little while." Mash offered up.
"I'd rather you be nearby to defend the team. If we don't have to face Hercules, I'd rather not."
Honestly, he's one of the few Servants I wouldn't want to fight straight up. His strength was quite literally legendary. Even as a Servant I don't know if I could match him physically. That's not to say I couldn't win, but knowing he was such a physical powerhouse was a concern worth noting.
Honestly, I'm just trying to put as many variables in our favor as possible in the event that something unforeseen happens, which was likely.
"What about Rider?" Olga asked. "You haven't mentioned them."
"….in the original war, Rider was Medusa. But considering who Lancer was, and who we've seen so far, I'm guessing that the original Caster got turned into Rider." I turned towards Cu. "Have you seen Rider?"
"I actually haven't seen Rider at all." He scratched his cheek. "Looked everywhere, but no sign of them."
"Then they're probably dead. The Original caster was Medea of Colchis. If you didn't meet her, either she was too dangerous to leave alive, or she killed herself. She had a Noble Phantasm that could probably counter the corruption, so Saber most likely took care of her."
Not to mention her sheer capabilities as a Magus would have probably allowed her to work around the Curses in some capacity.
"You're making some assumptions there." Olga pointed out.
"I am, but I'm not ruling the possibility out completely."
"I can talk to Da Vinci to see if we can't get enough power for a full scan of the city, see how many Servant Signatures we can get." Roman offered.
"How long will that take, Roman?" Olga asked.
"Erm….probably half a day?"
"Too long, we can't delay much longer." Olga bit her lip. "Let's just ignore her for now, focus on what we do know but make a plan just in case."
"Cu will handle Archer."
"He's mine." Cu grinned.
"And if we're avoiding Berserker, that leaves arguably the most challenging one for last. If Caster is going to fight Archer….who's going to fight Saber, Mash?" Roman Asked.
"I-I'll do what I can." The adorable girl said resolutely.
"I'll handle Saber." I shook my head. "I need you to do your best to protect everyone."
"You'll handle Saber?" Olga looked at me.
"…..I know you're a Magician, but can you handle Saber by yourself? Or even with Mash's help, it sounds…..dangerous. It's not just a normal Servant, Saber's going to be amplified by the Grail if we're guessing right." Roman explained.
"Let him have it." Cu leaned back against the wall. "It's his fight. Archer is mine. With this, we should be fine."
I was thankful for him backing me. I thought he may want a crack at her himself, but I guessed he's more perceptive than I thought.
An Artoria who had near limitless Magical Energy at her disposal…..I was not looking forward to a fight like that.
I was hoping I could convince her to give up.
We'd have to see.
"It seems we have a plan then." Olga breathed out. "We still have a few hours, we can work out the finer details."
"If we got a little bit of time, I think there's something important to deal with." Cu pushed off the wall, walking towards Mash. "A Noble Phantasm should be instinctual. Let's spar, we'll see if we can't get you to bring it out like that."
*[**]
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