The same pattern was repeated in the following days. Breakfast, then patrol hike until lunch, then after lunch, planned activities until dinner, and after dinner playing around a bonfire. So my days were filled with idyllic terror.
Not only was it possible for anyone to be suddenly possessed by the devil. I had seen that first hand. But a devil was something I could and would fight.
In the game, it was said: "Humans are much more likely to kill you than the devil is. Statistically."
Which was confusing.
How?
Murder was a cardinal sin, one of the gravest. Logically, anyone even contemplating such an act should be an immediate target for possession.
Maybe they meant accidents?
But there was the other thing, one I couldn't fight.
What if I was to be the target of possession? What if the devil crawled in and wore me as a cheap suit? And by all means, it should already have happened.
After all, I was a heretic, blasphemer, necromancer, and sodomite. In both the strict biblical sense, in that, I "hungered for strange flesh". Heroic Spirits would certainly count as a higher existence. And in a modern interpretation, in that I am attracted to men. Sexually.
So why was I still human? Uncertainty gnawed at me at a quiet time. I tried to ignore it as much as could because there was nothing I could do.
With each breakfast came a new lecture from the Camp Director. Mars and I would set up and then, after each lecture, remove the projector and screen
I used that time to snag some pieces of quartz from the side room. Not exactly expensive jewels, but they were still useful. There were some pieces of rock crystal, which could be useful for healing or communication, some amethyst that had the ability to expand the higher mind also to enhance one's creativity and passion, and I even found a piece of onyx, for strength, stability, and fortitude.
Poor selection, especially since I was used to much more. One of my ancestors had managed to contract Baphomet and set a family plan. Pity that the contract itself was not entered in Maguc Crest. It was supposed to be transferred orally from the head to the successor, but those memories were lost to me. That could mean that I was to be the last Tohsaka to benefit from the contract.
Thanks to it, I was used to having unending high-quality jewels at hand. Naturally, there were several stipulations, like that I was forbidden to use those particular gems for any other purpose save magecraft, and that they were replaced only when used, so I could not hoard them.
Still, this was better than nothing. I also managed to get a pack of AA batteries.
About lectures, they continued to be accompanied by poorly drawn pictures and were generally uninformative.
The Camp Director clearly lacked a gift for teaching.
Subjects varied, for example, there was one about maintaining our radios and the danger of accidentally listening to the devil.
One about sex ed, which could be summarized as don't.
One was about the danger of drugs, which looked more to be about a witch called "Granny Drugs", who liked to take young boys on rides in her automobile, than any chemical substance.
One was about gay sex, which looked like it was about drugs. I especially noted Director's claims, that gay sex was "addictive" and "much better than regular sex" which we also weren't supposed to indulge in. It did make me wonder a bit about the poor man.
One about basic hygiene, and other similar subjects.
We didn't encounter another devil, so patrols were peaceful hikes in the woods.
We still weren't allowed to chat during those walks, so they were silent except for the voice of God from the radio. I pretended to listen but didn't really.
In the game, the protagonist said that god sounded "like the every mean boy that ever talked to you".
To me, He just reminded me of Kirei. Each word seemed designed to wound, twisting the pain to make it the listeners' own fault. Did that mean Kirei was actually a true Man of God?
After lunch, we had the planned activities. And by that, I meant mostly sporty games. Most of them were to be done in pairs, like scouts and their assigned buddies, such as a three-legged race, and some individually like that archery competition, which Mars easily won by the way, and then there were some for larger groups, like a game of football, no wait, we were in America so it was called soccer.
We also had a lot of events where we incorporated our god-given elemental powers. Like shooting at targets with elements, paired obstacle races where we used powers, and using our powers in an artistic fashion, also in pairs. Mars and I made a giant metal cherry tree. He did the trunk and branches with iron and I added quicksilver leaves, morphed them into flowers, and then had petals rain down. And then had to put it all back.
It was about one powered for one unpowered event. I won nearly all those events, and Mars and I, we won all of the paired ones.
The more time passed, the more Mars and I worked better together. It was easy to cooperate with him because the way acted was very similar to what I was used to from Archer.
Not Shirou. Mars was far too cynical for a kid his age.
In the evenings, before gathering around the bonfire, Mars and I were tasked with regularly checking the sirens.
During these checks, I seized the opportunity to ask Mars about mechanics, a subject he knew well. Our conversations spanned from when to use crystal, to the intricacies of carving alchemical symbols, and the practicalities of using wires.
The more we delved into these topics, the clearer Mars's explanations became. I also discovered a strange instinct within myself for these mechanics, and gradually, I began to see how I could integrate these principles into my own craft.
Mars even shed light on the workings of the radios we all carried. I had previously gleaned its blueprint through divination, but that alone was insufficient. The type of radio we used was a crystal radio receiver, also known as a crystal set, a rudimentary radio receiver once popular in the early days of the medium.
Operating solely on the power of the received radio signal, these devices required no external power source. They were named for their key component: a crystal detector, which, in my case, included a spare diode I had come across.
Crafting a crystal radio could be a simple affair, requiring only a few low-cost components like a wire antenna, a coil, a capacitor, a crystal detector, and speakers. However, the radios we had were modified with certain elements either replaced—like the capacitors—or enhanced with occult properties, as with the speakers.
After the bonfire, before going to bed, I would charge my stash with magical energy. There that old-fashioned diode, which I now, thanks to Mars, knew that called the crystodyne diode, had proven to be a better conductor for prana than even my bodily fluids. It also stabilized the flow.
There was a nasty storm about two weeks in. The temperature dropped rapidly and there were thunder, rain, and very strong winds. So we were stuck in our cabins. It was so bad that adults were delivering food to Mars and me, and I suppose other scouts.
Mars was playing on his smartphone. Until this storm, I didn't even know that he had one. Meanwhile, I was examining the radio. I had it set in a triangle marked with charged rock crystal, amethyst, and onyx. It was turned off. I wasn't trying to measure what happened while God was speaking. Not yet. Between Mars' lessons and the weird instinct I had about this world's technology, I understood how it worked, now I was trying to figure out why. I was failing in that.
Then for the next experiment, I used gems as focusing lenses. I was trying to see better that second set of information that was hidden under the obvious one. A schematic appeared in my mind.
A familiar one. A notably powerful magical gem that was attached to a well-made and fancy metal necklace.
A gem was a ruby, but not just any ruby. Before it was mined it had spent millennia in the presence of a powerful nature spirit. The necklace was made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver that can be found naturally on the earth, and each link was engraved with a different symbol.
Together they formed the Mystic Code that I was quite familiar with since it was created and later passed down through generations by my family. It was capable of holding a large amount of magical energy, enough to match a dozen full-grown magi's maximum capacities with ease.
Drawing forth the energy within was near instantaneously, just as fast as naturally using my own energy. Storing magical energy in the gem was just as quick and easy. In short, it was a worthy legacy of the family of magi, one I had thought was lost to me. But what was its blueprint doing within the radio?
"Where did you get that," Mars growled interrupting my musing. What was talking about? Then I noticed, as I had observed the second schematic using divination radio had transformed into the necklace.
I looked into Mars' eyes. There was no time like now to test whether hypnosis worked. I had no idea what exactly he saw, but it would be best if he forgot it.
It didn't work, because next, I was on my back, with Mars sitting on my stomach, his right hand pressed on my chest...
He was so fast.
I was prepared to blast him when one word from him stopped me.
"Rin?" he said softly.
I felt his magical energy probing for Magical Crest.
Could it be?
Suddenly a lot of things that happened started to make more sense.
Sword, he used to fight the devil the first day.
What appeared to be recklessness, and now I could see that he was just protecting what he saw as kids. He sniffed me every time I used magic. And other small things.
Perhaps I should have seen this earlier, but I had just assumed that he was an alternate and left at that. That was the danger of assumptions. And depression.
I slowly unbuttoned my shirt, bared my chest, and activated my Magic Crest. "Rin!" he exclaimed, sounding very happy.
"So Shirou or Archer?" I said, and added with little sarcasm, "If it is Shinji I'm going to be so disappointed."
"Do I look like Shinji?"
"Do I look like RIn?" I countered.
"Archer," he said."So Master…"
"Don't call me that now. Not only is the contract broken, but also that would sound weird coming from two kids." I said. His sitting on my stomach was not nearly unpleasant, and that was a problem. "Now get off me!"
"Do I have to?" he asked, in a sultry tone. He used his hand to play with my nipple, while his ass ground into my crotch. I was already hard, and friction was… I was so tempted. It had been weeks, and having him back… But…
"Idiot!" I shouted, grabbing his hand. "Don't forget where we are. I prefer you human-shaped."
I pushed him off. And then spent the next few moments thinking unsexy thoughts, while my erection went away. Being a teenager again was hard, pun intended.
"So, are you alive now?" I asked, "I mean there is no longer a contract between us. And you seem perfectly human."
"Everything is fine. I have a perfectly normal human body," he said, pausing for a moment. From prior experience, I know that what would come next would either be ridiculous or teasing. "Except I now have a magical core."
Ridiculous it was. Since when was magical core perfectly normal for humans? "I need to examine you." Because from experience I knew better than to trust him when he said that he was fine.
"So now you want to play doctor," he said, teasing, "Should I strip?"
"Be serious. This World is a way as dangerous as the one we came from. To us, it could be even more dangerous since dangers are not what we are used to. It seems that the Age of Gods here had not ended, as much as it has become the Age of a single God. Thus His decrees must be treated with all the caution they deserve." I then added a quote from the bible: "John 3:8-10. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this, it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother." I paused for a moment: "Do you understand? I don't know what the threshold of sin needed for so-called possession to occur, but that was something that we shouldn't experiment with. Lucky it seems, at least for two of us, that appearance of compliance with God's degrees is enough to appraise him. I don't know if it is a general case or a consequence of our entry into this World." But I suspected later since I knew that the thought crimes were enough in the game. "But we really shouldn't take any risk"
"How do you know that as you have said 'appearance of compliance with God's degrees is enough to appraise him'?"
"Because both of us remain human-shaped. Although I suspect we came really close just now. Sex, especially gay sex seems to be one of His triggers."
"Careful. That sounds a lot like blasphemy." His warning this time was completely serious.
"You are right. No more talk about that. We are going to pretend to be perfect little lambs and hope that it will be enough. Until we leave this world that is." I also needed to edit my thoughts more, to avoid such slips.
"Any luck with that?"
"No. Just opening a portal anywhere is still beyond my skill. I need a weak spot. I am yet to find one." I said and then changed the topic, "By the way, how are you so good with this world's technology, and I use that term loosely?"
He shrugged, "I just am. I mean what I knew of mechanics just somehow translated. I didn't think about it much. Just like you and those batteries I suppose."
"You noticed that." He was always more perceptive of the two of us. "Of course you did. Yes, it is possible to use batteries as reagents, although the quality is poor. But that could be either because those were cheap batteries, or because they were not really suited to that magecraft. Or both."
"So what is the plan," and there was a deliberate pause, "Master."
He was doing that deliberately. Of course, he was. For a moment I wondered if spanking him was a sin. I could do that now, he was no longer a Servant, so it could work. Then reluctantly concluded that yes it would be a sin. I would, and I suspect him as well, enjoy it too much. "Don't call me that. Don't call me Rin either. From now on call me Mercury. You are no longer a Servant, but we could try to pass Archer as a nickname. Especially since you're so good at archery."
"Mars will do," he replied.
"So our plans. We are going to spend a relaxing," frustrating, terrifying, "summer here, while I look for a way home. We are due for a little vacation." Although to be honest I would spend a vacation in the Child of Ainnash than here.
He nodded. Well, it wasn't as if we could do anything else. "Another thing, how did you transform radio into that?"
"Use a divination spell on it. Under normal data, you should be able to see another set. Focus on it." I instructed. The necklace turned back to the radio. So my theory was correct. Those objects are superimposed on one another. The necklace must have followed me to this word. But why? And how?
"Are there any other such objects?" he asked.
"That's a good question, let's examine everything we have." Once we knew what to look for it was easy to find. In the end, we found four more.
My uniform was one of them, and it changed into a book containing Mars' biography, while he had been Emiya Shiro, before his first death. There were several rather amusing incidents in it, including one where he had saved a room full of people in a cocktail dress. It turned out that he had to infiltrate the drag queen party to save them all from a bigot.
The second was Mars's radio. It changed into a bow.
Third was my blanket, under which was hidden occult tome, that had a distinct feel of Matou curse craft.
And last was a rather creepy stuffed toy. It looked like someone tried to make a stuffed angel, but kept to the original description from the bible. It changed to a familiar wooden sword with a cute yellow tiger accessory.
A suspicious key wasn't one of the morphing objects. All that divination revealed about it was that it was key. Nothing more.
I had projected blackboards and two pieces of chalk. Graduation Air was useful for creating cheap, temporary props. I especially liked to use it as a visual aid for brainstorming and lecturing.
"So to summarise. We have five objects, which somehow belong to both this and our World," although there was nothing from Sasha's. "Three of them among my things, two among yours. Both radios are among them. Your items turn to weapons, while mine to a book and two Mystic Codes. Any ideas?"
"Not really," he sat on the bed watching me. I offered him a piece of chalk, and he took it. But he was just playing with it.
"Radio could be the key. I mean bow for Archer, and that gem to represent my magecraft?" I theorized.
"It doesn't really fit," he countered, "that bow is more fitting for high school competition than Heroic Spirit."
"Maybe it's a personal connection," I tried again, "You were a member of a high school archery club. When you were alive. First time I mean."
"And that necklace had been in your family for quite some time," he agreed, "But what about the other two items? Because that shianni is Taiga's. I recognize that accessory."
"What about its history?" He should be able to see it at a glance. After all, it was a "sword".
"That is strange. It doesn't seem to have one." What? "But I can read this among its properties: It is completely normal and any feelings of impending, utter doom that surround the blade and its wielder are simply imaginations on behalf of the viewer. If such an aura did exist, it would be quite effective in unbalancing any opponents the wielder might have. But such an idea is obviously foolish. That is a direct quote."
"Quote from what? Divination does not work that way! Next, you are going to tell me you are getting information nicely packaged in floating blue boxes!" I took a few seconds to calm down."But is it true?"
"One way to find out," he smirked. He took a wooden blade and took a loose stance. Presumably, someone who knew sword fighting styles would recognize it, but my fighting technique was primarily barehanded. This must be his revenge for all the times I used him as a test subject. Well, it worked as advertised, including that small suggestion that the sword was completely normal.
"It works," I grumbled. "Now put it down. Now about that book. That would be connected to you, but we found among my stuff."
"Well, it could be yours in a way. You have after all summoned me."
I raised my eyebrow. We brainstormed some more, but we couldn't reach any solid conclusion. So I dismissed the blackboard.
"I'm glad that you are here with me," I had to say. That I was glad he wasn't dead I omitted. That would be too morbid.
"Always," he said. It was a nice sentiment, but…
"After all, you stayed with me," I said. Not that I begrudge other Shirou from leaving. Not really. Not much. But to be fair I added, "Not that you had a choice."
"Now I do," he said. That was true. He no longer needed our contract.
"Now you do," I confirmed. Would he inform me that he was leaving now? Or that we were to be just friends. Of course, if it that was his will I should accept it. Or maybe…
He smiled, a soft gentle smile, "Of course, I am staying with you. Even if I am no longer a Servant, you are still my Master." Then his smile morphed into a Cheshire grin. "Besides, someone has to keep an eye, lest you get into something nefarious. Like, put a flaming eye on top skyscraper.
"That was just one time," I defended myself crossing my arms.
"Or taking over local yakuza," he continued, playing with me like a cat with a mouse.
"That is just being efficient," I replied. I missed being teased like this. Not that I would admit it, but he knew. That was part of the fun. "Criminals are good tripwire for supernatural incursions. And regents are expensive."
He giggled. It was very boyish, but it soothed his new appearance. "And consider this additional motivation for leaving this World, once we leave we will continue our usual fun."
That was a relief, but still, "I don't need any additional motivation to escape this…"
Stop.
I shouldn't even think about it.
I erased any such dangerous thought.
This World was a beautiful garden, overseen by a benevolent Shepherd.
And I forced myself not to ponder why shepherds keep sheep.
"So did you ever want as a kid to go to summer camp like this?" he said changing the topic.
"Yes," I replied sarcastically, "I begged that dubious priest to take me to junior executor camp, but no heretics were allowed."
In the month and a half that has passed since there was absolutely no progress in escaping this World.
Using that spare diode and some other spare parts we were given access to fix sirens, I had with, some help from Mars, I managed to cobble together a detector for the weak spots in the World.
It either wasn't working or there were no weak spots nearby. Luckily no scout from this camp had fallen to the devil in that time either.
Mars and I had become leaders of the scouts, which could have been expected since even if we were trapped in the bodies of teenagers, we weren't actually that age.
My stash of objects imbued with magical energy grew. Of fourteen scouts, nine, including me, had managed to learn the transformation sequence. Mars wasn't one of them.
It happened in the afternoon. We were just finishing another obstacle course and were relaxing drinking lemonade. Director came, which was unusual. He never joined us in planned activities.
"I have terrible news," he addressed all of the scouts. "Summer scouts camp had completely fallen to the devil. They are troubled youths, but for the whole camp to fall… Now join me in prayer for those poor souls."
So that was it. It seemed that we were in a True Ending.