Hello, this is my first time writing a fanfiction. If you notice any errors, please feel free to give me constructive feedback. English is not my first language, so if you notice any mistakes, please mention them in the comment section at the end of the chapter. Let's begin the story!
Word Count: 3860 Words
Note: Just a reminder that I've changed the Guild Auxiliary chapter. I've made some changes to it. I've removed a couple of NPCs and added a few.
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Garios's goons were distraught to find their boss, lying across the floor bloodied. Goons that they were rushed to kill the driver for his transgression.
Alas as fate would have it, the man who had been holding a gun at the mother and son aimed his gun at the driver but to only fall flat on the car's bonnet. Losing his life without knowing the reason for his death. The goons stopped seeing him die unknowingly in a mysterious way.
The car moved back, letting the body fall flat on the ground. The goons were now afraid of the driver to move ahead with their assault. Watching one of them die awakened them from their stupor.
Garios while clutching his head trying to stop the bleeding, tried getting up. He remained alert, despite watching for any moment from the driver. Just when he was trying to order his goons to attack, he watched as the light from the locket entered the car.
It was something that he had been cautious about.
'So the locket was an SOS signal after all. Fake Grail is a myth that a desperate woman created as a form of revenge against her family.
A petty move, no wonder they cut her off. She was too prideful is what I heard from mother.
No matter, I'll deal with this mage and return home. If they were that strong, we wouldn't have been able to thin them out this much.'
Still suppressing the pain, Garios barked orders to his goons to attack.
"Kill that driv..."
Before he could finish his order, the door to the car opened. From it, a man wearing a suit got out.
Garios had calmed down, he couldn't detect any mana from the man. He would be easy but it still puzzled him how he could have killed Asta, the man who had pulled his gun against him.
He remained cautious of any action the man might pull. Before he could inquire the man, the man spoke seeing the sight.
"Yare Yare, it's quite a mess here. Going by the looks you guys are the bad humans troubling a mother and her son."
His words carried power, Garios wasn't able to utter a word in his presence.
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Bruce had been on his way to the church to pick up Sakura when he stumbled upon a giant magic circle lit up in the night sky. He was sensitive to magic, sensing the spell he searched the city for the spell.
It had been in a house near the park. The very park he had taken Sakura to. He had suspected it to be Caster and it intrigued him. He had wished to meet Caster and his wish was going to be granted to him now.
He wasn't worried about meeting these servants.
'Except Gilgamesh none of them could hope to attack and defeat me. Saber is strong but I can handle her till Shirou is her master. As for Hercules, I have Enkidu and Gleipnir to handle them. The rest are negligible with My Power as World Enemy and Gilgamesh's template. Though the Archer could prove to be a pain but I am a World Enemy.'
Driving his car to its limit, he still wasn't satisfied. He didn't wish to let the caster get away from him. He was still sad to have missed the fight between Hercules and Saber. Now he had gotten his hands on Caster and from his knowledge of anime, he knew he could handle her. He opened a Gate to teleport to the house.
'I think I may have miscalculated the location of the gate.'
It was done, he had taken his car through the wall and might have almost killed a person because of it.
He watched for the reaction, a man standing near the car had pulled his gun and pointed it at him.
Though it was The Cube, 'I can't let him damage it. I've had enough of this.'
{Spell, True Death}
'I'm not aggressive. Right, I'm not ruthless, the guy had pulled a gun against me. It was within my right to protect myself. Well, guns are pretty much useless against me. Even RPGs won't leave a scratch on my HP. But I am right on this one, Japan is strict against regulations of guns. It could either mean that I have killed a cop or a criminal.'
But it was quite different to what he had imagined it to be. Bruce after getting out, took in the sight. A kid was crying over a dead body that could be his mother. There was a dead body lying in front of him, the one that he killed. With a guy lying at the opposite end of the room, covered in blood.
'I might have hit him when I entered. Now, five guys are waiting to pounce on me the moment I show carelessness. One, two and five, there are a total of seven goons who have attacked the house. Let's get this over with. Going by the situation here, these guys are attacking this family of two. I should help them but what was that magic I felt from here?'
"So, kid do you wish for me to save you?"
This confused Garois, he had after all assumed the man to be someone who had come to save the child. He wished to kill the man for what he had done to him. 'I should have enchanted myself with mana.'
So, it begged the question, who was the man?
"I. I.. HElp me. Please save my mother." the child struggled to form a sentence. His crying and grief for his mother weighed on him.
Bruce got down to the kid, he brushed the child's hair as he asked him. "What is your name?"
"I'm... Kai..", The Child answered him in between his sobbing.
Garois had been cautious of the man ever since he spoke, his voice carried power. Just listening to it gave him chills and bells kept ringing in his heart warning of danger.
Seeing that the man was not related to the family, he thought of striking a deal with him.
He was not in fighting condition and the attack he used on his man. There was no movement but he had managed to kill him, was all useless. So, he did whatever any intelligent man would do in his shoes. He tried buying his silence.
"I don't know who you are but I'm sure aren't looking for trouble. I'm from the Acidus family, we are very powerful. Look, all you have to do is get out of here and never look back. Just leave the kid, you're no knight in shining armour to save the woman. She is already dead. As for the kid, don't worry we won't harm him."
"But, Why should I listen to you?"
Hearing his question, Garois failed to think of anything to get this dangerous man out of his matter. He Tried bribing him.
"We can give you money. Wealth enough to live your days without worrying about anything."
It was a gamble, he didn't plan on giving him a cent but he had to buy time. He already planned on killing him after getting out of here alive.
As for why it would fail when he looked at the man's car, it was not the car of someone who would be looking for money.
Worst case scenario, he could be richer than him.
Calculating the possibilities, he tried what could be his only way out of this.
"We can also give you magic items. Precious items and ingredients, the likes of which you have never seen."
The Child was listening to everything that man spoke, he tightened his grip on his mother's clothes. He could tell that his mother had died protecting him and the confirmation from the Man who killed her hit the last nail on the coffin. Rage welled up in him but he was powerless. He couldn't fight all these people by himself.
Just when he was ready to give up, the man in a suit asked his name. However, he wasn't able to look at the man because his vision was focused on his mother. He wasn't able to look away from her, yet he still answered his question between his sobbing.
Tears flowed down his face, with sadness and grief overtaking his mind. Feelings of revenge welled up yet felt powerless.
Taking the opportunity, he pulled the locket, the one his mother had asked him to hold on till his death and pass it on to his children. It was a family heirloom.
It was a precious item, a gift from his mother but she was no more.
The two choices pulled his heart, to whether keep the locket with him as a memento from his mother or give it up to get revenge on those who killed her and to also survive himself. He was even ready to offer his life to get his revenge.
Steeling his resolve, he pulled the locket the one called the Fool's Locket and offered it to the man who could be his only hope in this darkest time.
"Please kill them. I'll even give you this locket. It is the only thing I have of my mother. She said it is a special item called The Fool's Locket."
"The Fool's Locket huh! Interesting."
Bruce had already decided to help the kid named Kai but hearing the name of the locket its name intrigued him. The kid threw the locket seeing he had caught the attention of the Man in Suit.
Garios was confused for a second there but he caught on quickly. The locket was a special item, though he knew not of its significance but seeing that glint in the man, he knew it. He had to get it, or it would have been all for nought.
The worst-case scenario is if his family found out about it. It would be the End of him. Seeing the kid throw what could have been the item he had been looking for all this time, he took the risk. After all, the Holy Grail is an item worth risking his life for. The rewards were well worth the risks.
"Kill him", he had risked it all.
The arrow had left the bow, there was no going back. He watched as the locket landed on the Man's hand and it was blinding.
The moment the locket made contact with him, the locket shone brighter. The light was blinding enough to temporarily blind him for a couple of minutes.
When he did get his vision back, he opened his eyes, it strained his eyes to open them. When the Holy Grail was involved, the things the man could do in Nasuverse were extraordinary.
It was blurry, it took him a couple of seconds to get adjusted to the light.
The Man hadn't moved an inch from his position, he was standing in the same position he had last seen him in. Clutching the locket in his hands.
It was as if they were all frozen in time, but the anguish cry for help from his goons ruined the melody of the scene.
Not having it, Garios ordered them to kill the man. He couldn't drag this further and neither could he let the man get away with the locket. He needed it.
His voice was all it took. His goons hadn't even recovered, and the Man responded to his instructions.
He waved his hand forward they fell silent. He couldn't hear their anguish cries anymore. He turned his head to try and look at them to only find them lying on the floor unmoving. They were dead. The fear of death crept up on him, it wasn't a first for him but never had he ever felt so hopeless.
'The same way Asta died. They all died silently as if they were granted death. No fight or struggle just eternal darkness and death. The End of their futile efforts.'
Now Scared for himself, he looked up at the Man. He had killed his men and had yet to turn to him. He had killed them without batting an eye at them as if they were insects in his eyes. And he still refused to look at him or others.
The man was still staring at the locket. Garios had given up on fighting him and the locket. All he could think of was an escape plan. Concocting the plan to escape from this place.
He looked at the kid from the corner of his eye, he had gotten up separated from the dead body of his mother. He walked to the Man in the Suit.
"Thank you for saving me."
"Think nothing of it, Kai"
Kai had been anxious about his fate. He had decided to bet his life on the stranger and had even given up on the locket. He had won the gamble. The man had disposed of the goons without even looking at them. Though their leader remained, he was sure the man would even kill him.
He was angry at himself. For his powerlessness to avenge his mother with his own hands. Yet the reality made him realize the truth. His opponent was a Mage whereas he was an ordinary human. He wasn't special or gifted in academics or sports. He wasn't the strongest kid in his class much less school.
He could never hope to kill the man if he were to get out this, alive.
Kai looked at the man who killed his mother as he turned to the man in suit wondering about his name.
"What is your name, mister?"
Kai observed as the man kept the locket in his pocket as he turned to him.
"You can call me as The Fool."
He was shocked to learn the name of the man. The Fool, he should be lying is what he assumed it was until he saw the man in the eye.
Kai stood frozen in his spot, trembling for the things he had seen. He fought the urge to collapse.
He had seen his end.
The things that shouldn't exist.
It overloaded his mind.
"Let us finish our business here Kai. I will hold on to my end of our deal."
Bruce turned to Garios who was halfway across the street during their exchange as he casts.
{Spell, Grasp Heart}
The Heart of the Man materialised in Bruce's arm as he crushed it. Garios had died.
There had been a problem with his transmission. Bruce got to know of it during his abandoned village exploration. He was capable of using Wish, not Wish Upon a Star. But Wish was a skill of Cthulhu, which he could use in his final Avatar.
Yet he used it in his base or Lord of the Mysteries Avatar which should have been impossible in Yggdrasil. He experimented with it and found it out.
This was only possible with his base avatar.
He could use the skills and Spells of his other Avatars but they were not as strong as when used by them.
Though he could use them, they were at max 40% as strong as when used by them.
It was more than 50% downgrade.
Though it didn't matter when he was fighting mobs but against World Enemy or Level 80+ enemies, they were useless.
He had used the skill of [The One] of his Vishanti Avatar to selectively kill the goons with True Death. The skill-targeted enemies selectively to use a single target spell on them as necessary. After all many AOE spells targeted en mass without differentiating between allies and enemies.
Whereas a single target spell targeted a single enemy. But with this spell, he could target multiple enemies with a single target spells.
After getting rid of what Bruce assumed was an enemy leader, he turned to Kai.
"Your locket is quite interesting. I would like to keep it."
Bruce watched as the kid's face transitioned from happiness to sadness. The kid without speaking a word walked back to his mother and hugged her.
Bruce thought of consoling him when he saw the kid crying, mourning his loss.
'It does feel wrong to keep his mother's memento. It's quite an interesting item. It formed a pact with me. Similar to the one with Sakura. Sakura allowed me to have Rider class and something else. I'm quite not sure but some sort of energy flowed into me when she made the pact. It wasn't forceful but this locket. It was over before I knew it.
I can't return the locket now. Though there are no command spells still the pact exists. It interestingly assigned me a Foreigner class. I am of a dual class. This should be the first time in the Holy Grail War, that a servant has dual classes.
Huh! The locket is his mother's symbol, a symbol of her affection for him. What if I resurrect his mother? He wouldn't need the locket right?'
Bruce had been unaware but the locket wouldn't have made contact with any servant. Even if they were of the foreigner class.
It was for this very reason that Jaris had been called a fool. It was a tool to connect to something beyond The Root. In the later days, when even his accomplices had given up on the research they had called him a fool when he made the locket using all his resources and the research. It was something that could connect with the forces beyond the Root and nothing else. It was his last piece of work.
To verify it, they had turned to summon an Outer God. It was then that they had all disappeared with the Outer God sealed in the locket.
The locket after activation, the Outer God tried breaking off the seal but the Magic tried connecting with the forces beyond the Root that it sensed Bruce's existence.
Though Bruce was oblivious to the Outer God's existence in the locket that he kept in his pocket. If he were, he would have never dared to keep it.
It was his last work.
Bruce turned to Kai as he lifted the kid using telekinesis and placed him on a Throne that he created using Create Greater Item.
"Though I cannot return the locket. I understand that it is of great value to you. Since it is something that represents the bond with your mother. Bringing your mother back to life should solve the issue."
"Bringing my mother back to life?"
Kai got confused with what he heard. The Fool was talking about bringing his mother back to life.
{Spell, True Resurrection}
Kai intently watched as the Fool performed the magic. He wasn't sure but from the time he had watched those things in The Fool's eyes. He felt the heat in his heart. It refused to cool down. He had this burning sensation from the moment he locked eyes with the Dark being who could only be a God in the Temple inside The Fool's eye.
Now, he could feel it. He could see it.
The magic that the Fool used.
The unknown Inscriptions that are present in the magic.
He felt it instinctively. Even the magic the Fool used to kill the man who killed his mother.
The inscriptions that formed the magic.
He could feel it.
'I can do the same thing. If only I have more MP. What is MP?'
Bruce aka The Fool or The Lord of the Mysteries was called the Master and The God of Runes for nothing.
Though it puzzled him what MP was? Yet he could tell that the being standing in front of him was not a human. After looking at the God, he could see the things that he wasn't able to do before.
He could see many souls and an Eldritch Horror or what could only be an abomination sealed inside the locket that he gifted the Fool. Though it was for a brief moment before the Fool placed it in his pocket, how could he miss something so terrifying? Yet they weren't as horrifying as what he had seen in the Fool's eye.
After hearing the Fool talk about the locket, he was relieved per se. He didn't wish to have something so dangerous with him. That abomination sealed inside the locket could only be an Alien God or those Outer Gods that he had read of in the books of his family hiding from his mother.
He had always assumed them to be fictional books but after those men had entered his home and searched for magic. He was sure of it, they were his family history. He had assumed them to be written by his funny uncle who lived in the apartment near the station. After all, he had read most of them in his uncle's house and his uncle had even answered many of his questions but he had always thought of them to be work of fantasy.
Mr Fool was an Avatar of the God in that temple who had come to his world adorning himself in a human form.
A God from Outside The Root is what his family were searching for, their research was concentrated on it. Atleast that's what his Uncle had told him.
He again concentrated on his mother, setting aside the distracting thoughts he was having.
The magic had done its job.
His mother slowly got up from her puddle of blood.
He saw her distraught seeing Mr Fool as she searched for him. Seeing him, she ran to him and hugged him.
Even he had wished to go to her but was afraid of offending Mr Fool.
The time in the The Fool's World felt like an eternity for him. He had matured today, losing his mother had taken a toll on him. With seeing what he had seen, changed him. He was more calm now.
He had seen things that no one should see, listen to or experience.
It changed him.
He had realised the truth of the World, and what his existence is to the world. The bigger picture.
Yet, words left his mouth as she hugged him and tear dripped down his face.
"Mother..."
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Note: Three or Four more chapters before the end of The Fate Arc. We are at end of this arc.
**The End**
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