Chapter 26: Throne 5.1
Notes:
Please read first:
Normally I wouldn't do this, but since FGO is an ongoing story, I want to clarify some possible questions on the subject matter of what I'll be doing with Fate.
Why isn't X servant here? I don't have them in fgo, therefore I won't use them here. That's one of the restrictions I placed on myself otherwise I'd start summoning certain OP servants I do not possess, and in addition I'm not allowed to summon my favorite. So no Nobunaga.Will I get spoiled for lostbelt 7 and beyond? I won't be using anyone or anything from lb7, outside of a reference here and there and even then, it's already been stated explicitly in previous chapters. But the actual plot for lb7 will not be talked about or referenced.Okay but why isn't X character here? Because when I rolled and found that Fate would be involved I chose a servant that would be added. Any other servants beyond that one are made by rolls. Using a D8 for class and a d20 to pick from a list of servants I have. Summer 6 is the cut off for the servants that were chosen. Will you be spoiling the nasuverse? A bit. I will talk a bit about magic circuits and the like, talking about some of the tech that's available in fgo, but nothing about origins, Root, A-Rays, Types, etc… More people should check out Kara no Kyokai, Notes, Extra, Carnival Phantasm, Tsukihime… I will ask this of you, please don't spoil plot things post lb6 if you do comment. That's for fgo, for everything else? Try not to spoil Extra or Samurai Remnant, both are awesome in their own ways. But one is getting a remake and the other released recently so I'd rather people get to experience those on their own time.
Distorted Voice
Thoughts
Flashbacks
[Shard]
Throne 5.1
"I am the bone of my sword…"
-Archer
-Dream-
Falling to earth gave me something I never expected to have, perspective on how a piece of toast feels as it's barreling towards the ground. By the time I had landed, without taking any damage, I took a look around. I expected Chaldea base or even the storm border, not the docks of Brockton Bay. Though even that seems to be more ephemeral than usual, the ground rippled with every step I took, the ripples traveled up the walls and into the buildings, the waves of the coast became more muted as each step formed more ripples. Eventually, after wandering for a while, I found Sylph and I had only one question for her,
"What the fuck was that?" We both asked each other. Sylph looked scared, like she had pissed Scion off, her form alternated between crystalline and humanoid, her eye wandered from me to the sky expecting ORT to pop up.
"Marie, what in all the hells is that thing? It saw me! It saw my location, Marie and it was hungry." She almost shrieked at me as the world around us shifted back to Hyrule rather than Brockton Bay. Sylph seems to really like Hyrule for some reason.
"That was ORT." I replied somewhat numbly, forcing my voice to a more calm tone, I slowly approached her and put my hand on her shoulder. She shivered at my touch and almost screamed,
"Marie, since when the fuck is a giant alien spider normal?!" My grip tightened, as if trying to reassure her that everything would be okay. Her body was still shaking as I tried to explain,
"Calm down Sylph, it's not as if you haven't met something stronger than you. Remember Truth? Or even the goddesses?"
"Marie, those were benign. That thing hates us, me, and not even the Warrior would stand a chance against it. Even if the Thinker were with him. That thing doesn't make sense! It only hungers and hates." I could almost taste the fear from her voice alone. She kept alternating between looking at me and at the sky as if ORT would reappear, which admittedly is a sign of sanity even when you're afraid. Still I needed her to focus on the now so I grabbed her hands and waited for her to look me in the eyes before I began explaining,
"Well yeah, it is the ultimate lifeform. We could throw all the possibilities that humanity could have against it and it would win. But our successors would kill it, and I'm pretty sure I can create something that can be wielded by them in order to kill it."
"You seem awfully calm for someone who nearly died!" She shouted as she jerked her hands away from me, and I breathed deeply before saying,
"I just got dropped from space, which by the way was after I was prodded by things that are closer to concepts, and this is after spending months with the threat of dying because of a firmware update, and I damn well know that in one timeline I fucked up and died. I'm not calm Sylph, I'm beyond fucking scared. But you know what else? I'm also filled with anger, spite and hope. Now, how long until I'm up?" I managed to rant and then I saw her smirk… Oh that bitch.
"Around a minute, the worst damage will be the nosebleed. And that's because of ORT's gaze before I hid us from it." She deadpanned and I was left with trying to fill the silence with small talk.
My one weakness.
"Great… So how's the weather?"
"... pfft!" Sylph sputtered at the awkwardness of my question, "It'll be fine as long as we don't see that thing again. I'm serious Marie, if it was possible for me I'd switch my gaze to another place immediately. But unfortunately I'm still restricted, in more ways than one and each one makes me glad I threw my lot with you. Any cycle that hobbles us to this point is beyond idiotic." She muttered out as everything faded to white.
April 26, 2011, 12:01 am, Dockyard Workshop, Brockton Bay-
My body felt tired, like I had barely slept a minute… Which given how nervous I was up until now, made sense. Gods I need a regular sleeping schedule, preferably one that also allows me to Tinker while sleeping. I slowly raise my head and feel the thin trickle of blood coming from my nose, gently pressing my finger against it to stop it from dirtying my clothes. I can feel Amy putting her hands on me and her own scan, within seconds I no longer have a nosebleed and I feel like I was injected with caffeine.
"Thanks Amy." I muttered opening my eyes, Taylor's worried face, Emily's own confident smile, Lisa was by the door alongside Belle and Quinn. "Right, good news what I did worked. No brain melting or anything like that. That being said, who wants to go with me to Eagleton?" My question was met with several deadpan looks and Taylor grabbing a roll of duct tape.
"I'm guessing that's a negative?" As far as last words before being bound in silk and duct tape go they aren't that bad.
Several hours passed and I freed myself from my tape cocoon, siren powers were rather useful that way, even if I needed to use alchemy to heal my skin afterwards. I stretched and headed over to my lab, everyone seemed to still be asleep, no signs of anyone around nor of Belle or Quinn. Entering my lab I was met with both of my robots aiming my guns at me,
"Seriously?" I asked knowing that they wouldn't shoot me, and that the magazines were empty.
"Yes, seriously/Mom, what the fuck?" They replied with worry in their voice. It didn't take a genius to know why they were worried about me.
"I'm not invading Eagleton now, I'm not that crazy." I explained and the following silence was rather damming when it came to their belief in me. Quinn coughed into her hand and I sighed, giving up on what little hope I had for this conversation to not end up being a massive headache.
"Who taught you sass?" I asked while heading over to the recently cleared table.
"PHO, Regent and you." Belle replied lowering her gun and Quinn followed soon after. Frowning at the lack of easily available materials I asked them,
"I… Fine, what do you want to know?" I saw Belle tense for a second before she smoothed her own features. I didn't need to be psychic to know that they were playing for time and satisfying their curiosity in one blow. Belle slowly approached me and asked,
"Your reasoning. We know that Eagleton must be eliminated; however we don't know why you're picking it over Ellisburg." There was an unspoken question there: Why pick the one place where we can't risk being there? It was clear as day from the look on her face that she wanted to ask that. The Machine Army had an non zero chance of overwriting them and neither them nor I wanted to risk that.
"I need materials, the machine army is the easiest and closest enemy I can steal from. I want to build a ship, capable of piercing dimensions, and slaying the endbringers. Not only that but if I can replicate the magecraft then I should be able to deal with the warrior. And if I fail, then two black barrels should do it." I explained my plan in the simplest terms, that the storm border could slip into imaginary space for a quick escape was something of an emergency plan should everything fail. At least then I could make sure that they would survive.
"Black Barrel?" Belle asked, her eyebrow raised as she seemed to be looking over her database to see if I had mentioned it somewhere. Unfortunately I hadn't… Damn I need to write some database update packets, letting out a breath in annoyance over my future data entry timesink I explained,
"Yeah, it applies the concept of mortality and then accelerates the end of the target."
"... Are you weaponizing entropy?" Quinn asked with a somewhat dangerous glint in her eyes, though that could've been excitement. And I'm not sure if the thought of her being excited over shooting one of those is scary or not; that's a future me problem though.
"Yes. Regardless, I need to make some magic circuits for myself, mind passing me some leather to bite down on?" I asked after giving up on finding anything. Belle shrugged before handing me some cloth. It was some of the leftovers from the goron tunic… " Why do I feel nostalgic? " I think before a rather tired looking Taylor opens the lab door.
"Could you at least wait a damn day before you put your life on the line?" Taylor asks as my eyes narrow over her silk pajamas, did she make them? Did Parian make them? Wait, fuck no focus on circuits first then be jealous.
"Sorry Tay, can't hear you over the sound of creating an entire nervous system!" I yelled back at her as I bit down and used alchemy to kick start the damn thing, in an instant I was covered by spiders, roaches, flies and ladybugs. But it was too late, the process had begun.
Shirou, you fucking bastard, this shit hurts a lot more than what you described. A hot iron to the spine would be fun compared to this! Especially since I'm cheating and making far better quality circuits. Thanks to Taylor I had more biological materials to work with as I began forming the new nerves. The first of which ran down my back, it was like pouring hot lead over a cut, I could feel my body reject it. I could feel every millimeter of pain as every cell screamed at the alien concept being applied over that which was natural.
I could feel my soul scream, Sylph was speaking and I couldn't hear her over it. Pain was overriding my consciousness, and yet I knew that if I let it continue I would lose myself. I could feel Sylph's arms around me as the eridium in my body ignited, I had to stay conscious.
The white void I saw, Truth's smile, my own anger at it, it held me together as I felt my soul and body forcefully connected in such a way to finish the circuit creation. I saw Hyrule, its green fields and goddesses greeted me as I was pulled away. I saw Arrakis, the desert and the worm roared in defiance to fate as I felt something pull me back. I saw Pandora, and I flipped it off in spite of it giving me eridium.
[Connection established, pseudo nerves forming, synchronization is stable]
I screamed and felt tears run down my cheeks as the light of alchemy blinded everyone around me. More circuits formed and I couldn't help but scream as more pain tore through my entire body. My flesh rippled and muscles broke and were fixed as more and more circuits filled my body. It felt like an eternity, it was 5 seconds. The way the circuits spread across my body wasn't like lines, but rather they were roots, and I could feel them brimming with power. " 1, 12, 50? What the fuck? " I thought as I felt the pseudo nerves resting upon my body, I wasn't a proper mage by any stretch of the word, but I could already hear a lot of them call bullshit. The quality of these circuits… Was it because of Sylph? Regardless I was still having issues moving my body. Or rather just one part of my body.
I couldn't speak, my throat was filled with blood. My hands shook in pain and my sight was tainted red. But it was done, all I needed was a trigger, a simple word to force them to activate. I focused trying to find the one thing that would let me switch on the circuits, I heard a hammer, striking a blade, again and again, deep within my mind. A hot blade being forced into shape, dozens of sparks lining themselves all around me.
" Ignite. " I think, and I hear a humm in the air as heat floods my body, the magic circuits blaze and I feel the heat being converted into energy for me to fuel my healing. It took me a solid second to realize that now I could fight forever. I wouldn't have to stop, just use my circuits to produce heat, turn heat into energy thanks to the homunculus power, and use it to heal myself.
"Ha,ha,hahahahahaha." Laughter escapes my healed throat as I look at the shocked face of Taylor, "Fuck that hurt. Anyways, you hungry Taylor? I'm starving, let's go home, grab a bite to eat and then we can discuss our plans going forward." I cheerfully said feeling the pain fade as every step, the fact that I was still bleeding out of my pores didn't really bother me that much.
It took the better part of an hour and a lot of unnecessary fussing courtesy of Taylor and Danny, but my wounds were healed and I had eaten a tower of waffles and bacon. All I needed was burnt coffee and I really would be living my college life but genderbent…
"Right... Now that I've eaten, I can explain everything. My current powerset goes once again to the realm of the mystical bullshit and I can now use magecraft. And before you say magic, true magic is bullshit like transferring the soul of one person to another vessel; while magecraft is less so, significantly less so. What I did to myself was open up my soul and create circuits to cast certain spells, and with it I should be able to perform a few rituals as well as enhance our costumes." I explained to both of my family member's carefully.
"Rituals?" Danny asked as he poured whiskey into his coffee. Taylor and I glared at him for that but he only poured more as a response.
"Yup. 2 in particular, I'll summon some help one way or another." I replied while mentally promising myself to search and hide all the bottles in the house.
"Summon? Like a demon?" Taylor asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Nah, like a hero. Achilles, Sigurd, Hercules, those types of guys." I explained, their eyes narrowed almost equally and at the same time.
"... Marie, are you a necromancer?" Danny asked incredulously, Taylor merely looked shocked about that.
"No. And if I was we wouldn't be having this conversation, I'd be raiding the birdcage at the moment."
Danny looked at me and drank deeply from his coffee before pouring what was left of the whiskey into his mug and drinking it. He breathed out and said, "Marie… Please don't break into the birdcage." He was surprisingly sober as he stood up and went to the kitchen.
"Did I make him into an alcoholic?" I asked, not bothering to hide my concern.
"No. He's been like that recently, it'll pass." Taylor assured me even as I could hear dozens of tiny legs moving across the kitchen. I didn't need to see to know that Taylor and Danny were communicating through the bugs. Taylor grabbed something from her bag and tossed it to me, I grabbed it and saw my old staff.
"You said you'd be doing your bullshit tonight, right? That leaves us all day to train." Taylor said with confidence, I merely smiled and said, "Sure, it's been a while since I kicked your butt."
"Last time you got cocooned." Taylor pointed out as she walked downstairs. I followed and said, "Beginner's luck." We go back to our base due to a simple reason: it's bigger. And we can break things there.
Fighting Taylor is… Not easy, especially when neither one of us cared to truly hurt each other, I was just slightly faster than her, but she could react and block whatever I threw at her. I damn well knew she was using her bugs to cheat but I couldn't hold it against her.
We both started a few steps away from each other, she thrusted her own staff towards me, measuring the distance and I parried it. Taking advantage of the brief window of opportunity I tried to land a hit but she merely twisted her body and dodged my counter-thrust. Taking a short leap back she once again tried to skewer me with a staff, this time it was faster than before, but I swung my own and matched it. Instead of trying to brute force her strike through mine she redirected the staffs into the ground, the concrete cracked under the strength of the strike. I pulled back my staff and swung widely to her side, she jumped over it and I smiled.
" This is fun. " I thought and I could tell that she was feeling something like it. I saw from the corner of my eyes a bored looking Panacea and Tattletale enter the room as we continued to fight. Taylor was getting faster and faster, the prt would give her an easy mover rating now thanks to the sheer speed of each strike, the air hummed and the staff cracked against each other as time moved ever so slowly.
Taking advantage of an overreached swing, I sped up and tried to sweep her legs with a well placed blow, she drove her own staff into the ground hard enough to split the concrete and punched me in the face.
One, getting punched by a low level brute still hurts even if I do cheat and heal the damage immediately. Two, the look on her face when I didn't dodge was pure shock, I guess she really doesn't want to hurt me. Three, I'm fucking proud that she hasn't slacked off, and actually trained because that's a proper fist. Four, I smile and grab her outstretched arm, and use it to swing my body and kick her in the face. All of this happens in the span of a second, and in the blink of an eye Belle separates us.
"You two… Please remember this is a friendly spar." She said in an exasperated tone, I merely grunted in acquiescence and looked at Taylor, she wasn't quite glaring at me, but it was a close thing.
"We need better training partners." I said to no one in particular, "Cause I can't really bring myself to hurt you. And I know you're holding back as well Tay."
"Not as much as you are… Also how do you do the circleless transmutation?" Taylor mentioned, changing the conversation again, which wasn't odd given recent events. Still the idea that Truth could create Khepri floated in the back of my head even as I tried to explain it to her again.
"I already told you how to. Remember that everything is one." I didn't tell her about being the gate, nor human transmutation, but I knew she had an inkling of what would be needed. But at the moment she only glared at me.
"..."
"Look Taylor, I'm not going to spell it out for you. And besides I'm not risking your mind… The price was my sanity, and I really don't want to see if it's the same for you." I explained, shaking my head and looking down to the floor, I didn't want her to see the fear in my eyes.
"You cured yourself." She pointed out, and she was partially right. I had cured my condition, and yetit had been a close thing. And despite everything I still refused to let anyone sacrifice anything for power.
"I stitched together a desperate plan. And I'm not sure what Truth will ask. The bastard erased a lot of the things between me and Sylph in addition to… memories, sense of self and the like. Taylor, I wouldn't wish that on Kaiser, much less yourself." I admitted with hesitation coloring my tone.
Her glare softened and she shook her head, stretching once again she stood up and said, "Right, you said that you can do magic now, so what can you do?"
"Uh… Huh… Well I'm planning on improving my costume, adding some easy to use quick spells, like healing, dodging and stunning…" I answered absent-mindedly as another design ensured my mind, Sylph was suggesting something. I could feel her grin on the back of my mind as a single image appeared on my head, a way to access multiple dimensions with ease, the cost? My sanity and self respect. Then again a kaleidostick might be worth it, if I can get rid of the odd personality quirks, and make damn sure the transformation sequence works like XX's armor… Actually that gives me an idea, though I'll have to convert the slate into a kaleidostick, poor abused little tablet.
"Hello, earth to Marie."
"Sorry Taylor, just thinking for a moment. But yeah spells or magecraft. I can probably make some adjustments to your costume to allow for some if you decide to get magic circuits."
"Glad to hear you're still giving us a choice." Taylor mentioned jokingly, "Marie, how serious were you when you said about summoning dead heroes?"
"Summoning?" Tattletale asked and Amy stood looking at me as if I'd grown a second head.
"Yeah, my current specialization is more mystical than scientific, so summoning. Tonight's a full moon as well so it's perfect." I replied easily, Amy stared at me for a few seconds and then I understood Taylor had said dead heroes… Her aunt had been killed. Fuck.
"Yeah, legends like Achilles and the like, so not anyone we know. Actually, why are both of you here?"
"That siren thing, is it possible that you can give that to me?" Amy asked interrupting Tattletale's own response. Oh, that's good, more sirens. Humming with delight I nodded and added,
"Yeah, I'll get the stuff ready, I should make a Siren out of you by tonight."
"Bitch also wants magical tattoos." Taylor interjected and I looked at her somewhat incredulously.
"And she's not telling me herself, why?"
"Dogs." Lisa, Taylor and Amy all said at the same time. I blinked at the moment of pure synchronization between all of them. Not one of them laughed at it, which while personally odd, wasn't that important. Though the look Lisa gave Taylor and Amy was interesting to say the least.
"Ah, okay. Grab her and I'll start setting up the gene baths. Anyone else?" I asked, filing away the interaction in the back of my mind.
"I want the magical circuits." Lisa said, I can't say I didn't expect this, though I would've guessed that [Negotiator] would be more than interested given its propensity for looking for weaknesses. Curses would be her bread and butter if she was a mage. If I summon a caster then maybe I can set her up with a tutor…
"Why?" I asked after a few seconds.
"My power screams at just looking at your latest enhancements." Lisa said and I merely stared back. Was she being truthful? Yes. Was it petty? Yes. I can respect pettiness in relationships with shards.
"Fine, Amy mind keeping Lisa from fainting… Actually Taylor you want in on this?" I asked and and her gaze seemed to glaze over for a brief moment.
"I haven't decided yet. Queenie is interested in the Siren powers, but my gut tells me that these circuits of yours will prove more beneficial in the long run." Taylor admitted and I breathed out slowly. A piece of me was worried that QA would try to fuse with Taylor, or worse. But I trusted Taylor, I trusted her judgment and I knew that she wasn't going to do something stupid.
"Yeah…" I muttered out and focused on the task at hand. Creating magic circuits on people wasn't a science but a ritual, it would be easier if I made a crest for Lisa, but I'd rather not get a beast to come here and mess with the world. I clapped my hands and made the circle arrays on the floor, I motioned Lisa to step into it and she did. My magic circuits whirled to life as the sound of metal being hit rang in my mind, it burned yet it was comforting. I saw Amy lay her hands on Lisa's head as I activated the circle.
This was not magic, it did not manifest the soul, this was magecraft it connected the soul. I saw Lisa, her ego, her shard, her sins… It took a few agonizing seconds, creating a metaphysical connection to the body demanded nothing less than precision over speed. Sarah… Lisa… Tattletale, dozens of scenes flew by my sight. Negotiator, her shard, I could feel its gaze on me, judging and I laughed. It glared with indignation and fury, yet did nothing. Lisa has a good soul, a decent amount of circuits can be made.
"Jesus fucking christ that hurt!" Lisa shouted after I was done, at some point during the ritual she had grabbed my arms and dug her nails into them. Her breathing was labored and there was blood coming from her nose, "Okay, so what now?"
"Now? I get Bitch and Amy a power up, start writing down basic thaumaturgy so you can learn how to activate your circuits and some reinforcement and I begin making a big gun. Afterwards? Grab a bite to eat, make a summoning room, rig it to explode if I accidentally summon a mermaid or worse and hopefully by tomorrow we have a caster with us."
"Caster?" Amy asked, her fingers curling inward as she grabbed Taylor's hand.
"There are numerous classes for heroes, but only 7 basic classes. They are Saber, Archer, Lancer, Caster, Rider, Assassin and Berserker. Out of all of them I would prefer a caster or assassin for a summon since we already have a decent vanguard." I explained watching their reactions, Taylor nodded and had a frown on her face, Lisa was still dealing with the aftereffects of the circuits but was attentive and Amy looked confused.
The next few hours were rather calm, I teleported to the hidden cave to grab the original bath and made a duplicate, set up the eridium beam and let Amy and Bitch sleep while the machine did the thing. Meanwhile Dinah, Emily, Aisha and Alec all practiced in the gun range I had built. Turns out Alec was a half decent shot, especially if Aisha was around to make him try. While all of them practiced I merely worked silently, forming a copy to help with building from time to time.
I stared at the slate's remains, all that work, cannibalized into a new body, gone was the screen and now there was a simple gem like piece in the middle, it would emit a hard light hologram which held the sheikah runes. The rest of the functions remained the same, though now it was more like a large pendant in size and shape, a simple round jade pendant…
"Ruby, Sapphire… How about Emerald?" I muttered and began the ritual to imbue it with a spirit and give it access to multiple dimensions. While the kaleidoscope was outside of my own capacity to create, this was not,
[Dimensional anchor, deployed. Kaleidostick integration 50% and rising.] Sylph spoke softly, I could almost hear awe in our voice. I drew out my staff and placed it next to the soon to be kaleidostick. Both items glowed as they fused. The staff had shortened itself to a baton in size, it now had a clear head, a half crescent moon with a green star in the middle. The reverse edge of the moon was rather sharp to my finger, a few drops of my blood confirmed that fact. I felt a tug in my soul and the star began to shine.
"CREATOR! CREATOR! HOW CAN I HELP YOU!?" A synthetic, yet excitable voice screamed into my mind. I winced in pain and said, "Okay, so you're like a very excited puppy. Don't call me creator or master, Marie or Maeve is fine. And you can speak, rather than use telepathy. Just keep in mind to lower your volume."
"YES BOSS MAEVE. OR BOSS MARIE! I AM EMERALD!" Emerald shouted inside my mind, "WOOPS! SWITCHING TO VOCAL, NOW!"
"GREATEST CREATOR MAEVE! WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU!?" Emerald shouted happily, floating around looking at the unconscious forms of Amy and Rachel, I could sense them scanning as a small pull of mana arose.
"WHO ARE THE-" they started saying when I grabbed them and said, "Emerald, kiddo, please. I can hear you, you don't need to shout." My voice was strained as my grip tightened. The crystal glowed for a minute before it said,
"Oh, wow, I can reduce my voice! I didn't know I could do that!" They said rather loudly, but not as bad as before, though I worried about them not knowing things. The ritual had gone off perfectly, they should know basic things.
"Okay, what do you know then?" I asked, partially out of worry I had screwed up.
"How to open a hole in reality, create several thaumaturgical constructs, heal most wounds, how to change my shape and size, create several potions of varying effects such as one that turns you into a stone gargoyle for 3 days, fuse spiritrons into your body and… Wow, so much stuff in your soul! Did you know that Truth knows everything you're doing?" Emerald excitedly rattled out.
"So you don't have common sense." I surmised while also ignoring the fact that the bastard knew what I was doing.
"Yup! Common sense is useless in a world full of powers, love, friendship, and the big gun!" Emerald exclaimed with pride and joy. So thats what it feels like to be on the other side of excited mania, I feel proud for some reason. The door opened and it flew right into Quinn's face.
"HI, BIG SIS QUINN!" Emerald yelled attempting to hug my very confused robot, somehow its body was fully flexible. It was going to be a long day.
-Later that night-
I stared at the room I had created, several easily usable circles decorated it. Most were for containment, if by any chance I summoned someone like Kiara, I couldn't risk them escaping and or doing something worse. Most of them would turn this room into a self looping nightmare maze that if I died nothing could escape.
Taylor and Lisa had agreed to stay up with me on the ritual, and Emily had also slotted herself into being there. She was wearing the simple costume I had designed for her, of course without the domino mask or any type of face protection…
" Not that it matters, if I summon Gilles or worse then we're fucked anyways… " I thought as I placed the red stones in the summoning array, unlike Rin or Kiritsugu, I didn't have a summoning tool or a sacrifice to use to summon a particular hero. All I had was a prayer and the knowledge of several millennia's worth of magecraft.
"Before we begin, if it all goes right, we gain a valuable ally. No matter what happens, I promise that I won't let anything happen to any of you, but if I say run, you run. Okay?" I warned and I saw the conflict on Taylor's face as she forced her reply down her throat. I could feel the leylines, the earth itself, the ebb and flow of mana.
"Ignite." I commanded and my circuits sprang to life, my body began glowing as both my circuits and Siren tattoos shined. Sylph materialized beside me and placed her hands on the array, unlike Rin I didn't have to wait until a time to maximize the effect, my power was enough.
"Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Let each be turned over five times, simply breaking asunder the fulfilled time. Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. I am the origin of the path, let my origin be humanity. Raise a wall, against the wind that shall fall. Close the four cardinal gates. Come out from the crown. Rotate the three-branched road reaching the Kingdom.-" I intoned as mana fueled the arrays, the room lit up like a Christmas tree, Lisa's eyes seemed to pop out of her head with how wide they got. Taylor grabbed Emily's shoulder to stop her from moving.
"–Thus I declare. Your body shall serve under me. My doom shall be with your sword. Submit to the call to save this world. If you will submit to this will and this reason, then answer!-" My voice echoed as my heart rate spiked. I could feel myself growing weaker as the ritual took more and more. Light filled my veins, I could hear the winds of Hyrule, the slow rumble of the desert sands… I felt the gate inside me open as more power flowed. On my back I felt them, the seals forming, right behind my heart.
"–This is my vow! I will be all that is virtuous from the heavens. I will surpass all the evils from Hell! From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, Protector of the Balance!" I heard the familiar sound of the summoning room. From the center of the circle light flowed out like an eruption of a volcano, wind howled and I could've sworn I heard laughter.
Before me stood a young girl, her brown locks flowing like a river, eyes that glow blue and green, filled with hopes and dreams that meet my own. She wore a simple dress, red with white highlights and a blue cape, on her left hand was an ornate metal gauntlet and a staff.
"Oh my, so this is what it feels like." Her voice is filled with curiosity, my eyes don't leave hers for a second, "I want to say: long time no see, Master. But that's not entirely accurate, now is it? As you know, some things occurred, well more like a lot of things occurred. A little bit of this and a lot of that, but here I am. Even in a smaller vessel, I am still the same old Da Vinci. Though I suppose I should be more formal for this occasion. Servant, Rider. My true name is Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo Da Vinci, Rider said and I heard Lisa fall to the ground mumbling about how impossible this was. I felt the connection solidify the instant she introduced herself.
"Hi Da Vinci." I manage to mutter out, still in shock. Is this what hitting the jackpot feels like?
"Heh, heh, stunned Fujimaru? Oh wait, that's not your name now is it? Though I do see a spark of who you used to be in there, regardless I have come to answer your prayers." She added as she hugged me. Then the summoning circle activated again, I felt the pull and nearly fainted under the weight of the new summon. This one didn't feel human, it felt different, alien even. I could feel Sylph burning up energy to feed the summoning in my place. Alien, yet familiar, the void of space greets my eyes as I fly away from a small blue dot.
Sky blue eyes, met my own. His clothes were like a white dress, a golden sash and scarf floated as if there were winds. His blonde hair contrasted against the paleness of his skin. A little prince from space floated towards me and asked,
"Hello… Once again, I ask… Are you worthy of being my master?" My hand reached out towards him, and he took it. The connection solidified as I lost consciousness. I felt a smile on my face even as I sunk into a deep sleep.
-Chapter 5.1, end-
Notes:
Author's note:
I want to start off by apologizing for the wait, this entire chapter has been a nightmare to edit to a reasonable size. Originally I wanted to spend more time writing and editing but my new job got in the way of that, and between that and my irl issues writing took a backseat. Hence the delay and I do apologize for it. Work still continues and hopefully I can finish the next chapter sooner than later, everything is in the back burner until I'm finished with this chapter. Aka, Worm November is now a thing for me.
And I appreciate everything you guys do, the comment, kudos, everything. It helps more than what words can properly convey. Thank you.