After everything I was sitting over a leyline with the Chaldean group, talking with Romani and Da Vinci using Rika's watch since I didn't have one. Jack on one of my shoulders pouting at me as the small serial killer just couldn't have any real fun with me in her usual way.
"Well… with what functions we could from SHEBA we have confirmed that Maintenance Chief Lockhart is not the one we knew. As he was in a world with only undead for a majority of his life, and the last vital signal from chief Lockharts communicator was him being… deceased… so for all intents and purposes this is another Lockart."
"What's interesting is that he has an entirely different magic system that works entirely off of a table top games magic system. He's also a proficient magical engineer so he could help me fix up critical infrastructure rather quickly once you've all returned. As for securing the Director's soul… the FATE system can do it, but we need you to clear the singularity in order to lock onto any of you to do so. We've also already put the Director's body in a preservation bound field as I found the spell he mentioned, Reincarnate. It is a spell that he has access to if he is being truthful about his level and classes. I just have to wonder why you didn't take Fabricate! If you had that we could do so much more in a quicker time frame than slowly getting around to everything!"
"Preference more than anything, I knew I'd eventually have to revive someone or something dear to me, according to my twisted logic, so I took Reincarnate first. While I COULD Swap out for Fabricate, I'd rather keep what I chose slotted and take that at level fifteen, Da Vinci. So you're better off hoping if I can get the kill shot or at least damage the corrupted saber and archer and level up. I've already almost killed Archer Emiya with Sunbeam since I didn't want a sword up my ass or something."
Da Vinci looked at me with a smile that didn't reach her eyes through the call window, Romani in the background looking at her wryly. I just stuck my middle finger at her when she tried to glare me into submission to likely steal or replicate the spell. Jack followed my example with a bright smile on her face as she broke out in a deranged giggle fit at Da Vinci's glare. Marie glaring at me from the side, but otherwise staying quiet about things surprisingly.
"Um… Chief Lockhart, you said you could stop Mash from falling apart literally before she turns eighteen right? Can… Can you explain that one?"
Hearing Romani both Marie and Da Vinci stilled and watched me carefully as Mash is a HEAVILY sensitive topic for Chaldean staff, especially to Marie. Grunting I thought about all the things wrong with Mash and started with the most pressing one.
"Her body normally would have supported the knight inhabiting her naturally, making her a thing called a Pseudo-Servant instead of a Demi-Servant. From what I know due to multiple sources Pseudo-Servants house a Servant most compatible with them for a time or even permanently giving them access to the Servant's Noble Phantasma's and everything else naturally without the work. Demi-Servant's though are meant to inherit everything about the servant overtime or through trials. In Mash's case her body and soul were pushed beyond their limits with the things done to her and when a Servant finally merged with her it accelerated the count down. The only way to prevent an early death is to either get the spirit in her off his ass and help her to strengthen her Saint Graph and body in turn as she'll be more Servant than Human at that point. But if I set up a compounding ritual for Greater Restoration, Regeneration, Mending, and Reincarnate with modifications then I could slowly fix her body and soul over time until she would survive until her late seventies instead. All while undoing any damage that robbed her of certain things like being able to have children."
That caught their attention, even Jack and Cu seemed to become interested in what I had just said when they should already know the differences.
"What do you mean pushed beyond their limit?!"
Without looking at Marie because I knew she'd break down into tears I said what I could see and feel without any intention of sugarcoating it. Everyone not asleep that heard me flinched at my words while Marie literally broke down in hysterical tears at what her father had done when its bluntly said.
"From what I can see due to my spores' more necromantic properties and patron, her soul is literally in tatters but it's somehow persisting in living for a simple lighthearted wish. Family. When I look at her nature itself mourns in my ears as her body is slowly breaking down currently but as she ages it only gets worse. She has at best eighteen months left to live, however, after maybe seven months the effects will start to show. She will die slowly and painfully as her soul is eventually snuffed out. So it's either that knight gets off his ass and helps her out, or my compounding ritual over a while in order to give her a happy long life."
The Servants of our little group looked at Mash with pity, anger, and hopelessness since they knew or could guess who was inhabiting Mash's body. Romani looked… lost before he seemed to make his mind up about something and seemingly left the room.
"Romani… is likely going to beg you to set up your ritual and give Mash a chance since he just left as if he was determined to do something. Now though… Now I see why you'd pick a lot of support and summoning spells over mostly devastating fire power. Power means nothing if you can't use it to do a little good every once in a while. I'll still demand you take Fabricate when you can, as it would be helpful for many things, yet for now I think it's a good thing someone like you ended up here even if we can't understand it in the slightest due to your magic being close to True Magic."
"I wouldn't be surprised if my patron had a hand in sending me here, for what reason I'd never know. But while I'm a sociopath and insane, I know enough about Mash to not care about giving her a chance to get to live more."
Everything fell off after that while everyone who didn't need sleep just watched the three that do need it sleep. Although Emiya tried to ambush us, and well I made sure he was recorded as a Saint Graph when he was unceremoniously deposited into the camp. Shoving my hand down his throat I fired a Sunbeam while Cu pierced his heart and Jack disemboweled him with glee. Emiya burst into motes of golden light at his rather abrupt and violent death after some of my perks let me know he was up to something. A look of disbelief in his gray eyes as he looked at us.
"Well that asshole is finally gone… not how I thought he'd go out, but your abilities certainly made this very easy. Just how did you make him fall here suddenly?"
"I just followed what my body and mind were telling me to open Dimension Doors all around him in a box. So he only had the choice to fall here since I had a line of sight on him as well due to Winston. Then well it was just killing him quickly before he could stab us."
"Mister is cool~ he'd make a good papa. I even got to play with the annoying misters insides!"
With only a certain king left this should be easier as no one will be bogged down or already hurt. Looking at my experience I also notice just murdering Emiya got me one sixth of the way there. So Heroic Spirits can be worth a good amount of experience, so depending on which ones I kill, I could level up instantly or get halfway there. Stretching out I got up with Jack climbing back onto my shoulder for some reason then I started walking around the camp, carving out magic circles within magic circles to at least get a start on fixing Mash's body. Cu moved the masters and director out of what I was doing as it slowly encompassed Mash's surroundings, Jack sounded stupefied on my shoulder as she tried to process exactly what I was writing.
Cu standing off to the side sounded disturbed at how I was combining magic with computer script languages since I needed to alter a few things with some spells. Thus the use of converting some computer script into magic runes or such in order to keep the language the same. Converting things around language wise was disturbingly easy due to my language related perks. It was around four hours later that I was done carving everything and double checking it all so I just then had to commence this one off ritual due to not being set up to be permanently around. Biting my tongue off I drooled blood into the carvings causing it to start. Then just as quickly as it had started it had ended with the magic circles flooding into Mash's body as if drawn to her, this was so that nothing remained of the circles in an unsecure setting.
When they had all entered Mash or covered her entire body the abrupt call from Romani woke up those sleeping as he was looking at something frantically trying to make sense of whatever he saw.
"What's going on with Mash?! Her vitals are skyrocketing then plummeting before skyrocketing again! Her Saint Graph is even changing as we speak! It's growing in weight like a proper Servant's, as if it's becoming more powerful on its own!"
Before someone could start shouting at the doctor and greatest caster to live, I cut everyone off as Mash slept through the changes going on with her body.
"That's my doing, Romani. Seeing as the asshole knight wasn't getting off his ass even after hearing my words earlier I decided to begin the slow process of repairing her body and soul. If you're freaking out over the changes then I'm guessing you're seeing some impressive things through her vital tracking then. Which means just one round of my compound ritual is doing something good for the girl."
Before he or anyone could say something about that to me I took my leave towards Artoria. Using the Dimension Door spell to just fall somewhere else, Jack tagged along with me due to clinging onto my shoulder. Walking up along the path to where she should be as Jack as essentially my magic detection dog, which she all too happily accepted when I mentioned she was being one.
"I am Jackie the dog!"
"You're an interesting clusterfuck of child spirits."
Jack just giggled with a deranged smile while perched on my shoulder as we approached the corrupted King Arthur. I wasn't at all doubting that the others were rushing to get to us as I set foot within the cave that housed the grail. Summoning my bound firearm I skulked towards the main cavern with Jack drawing her knives as their cold steel pressed against my cheek with blood still dripping from them. Entering the cavern we came face to face with the all to iconic saber of this fucked up multi-universe.
"I was expecting the Chaldean group, not a stray and one of their servants. What brings you here before your compatriots?"
"I'm just along for the ride because it seems fun!"
"Because fuck the Demon Gods, if someone wants the job done right then we gotta do it the right way. No room for mercy."
"HA! Spoken like a true executioner! Although I have to agree with you. So if you want this Grail I guard then kill me and set history back on course!"
""WITH PLEASURE!""
Jack shot off of my shoulder right at Artoria while I began shooting at the King of Knights, casting Fog Cloud as I went to give Jack and myself some sort of advantage. The corrupt knight deflecting Jacks strikes and my shots with ease with only brief moments of her buckling due to a shot connecting to her body. During those moments Jack would carve a bloody swath of gashes into her body. Bending backwards when a golden blade raced through where my face had previously been, I shot Artoria directly in the face with an Eldritch Blast. Her heading snapping back while her body was sent flying violently into the cavern's ceiling. Jack blows a section of her left side out with some power behind her strike as her knives carve a bit of her stomach and chest out. Pulling her body out of the ceiling while using her neck muscles to fix her neck Artoria came crashing back into the floor. Excalibur gouging out a hole through my heart to my right side, Artoria looking at me coldly with satisfaction.
Her face twisted with shock and rage however when I didn't scream or anything and instead put the barrel of my gun to her forehead and pulled the trigger. Twisting her head at the last second that only a section of her skull and hair was missing due to the shot, before she could move further due her bullshit instinct and other skills as a Heroic Spirit I grabbed her. Pulling her close into a hug with Jack's knives cutting her head off while she focused more on getting free from my grasp that surprised her.
"Well played executioner and rabid dog…"
Her head and body burst into golden motes of lights with a smile on her face for some morbid reason. Catching the Grail she guarded, I spun around and with a look of surprise on his face. I shot Lev in the head multiple times with his hand still outstretched towards me like a knife. With his body falling backwards missing a head, I let my gun disappear. Bombarding his corpse with spells to destroy it before a mass that resembled a tentacle sent me flying out of the cavern, shoving the Grail into my chest to avoid losing it. Jack appeared behind me and used her smaller body to catch me midair while her feet dug into the ground.
"YOU WRETCH! YOU FOUL CRETIN! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE OR WHENCE YOU CAME FROM BUT YOU WILL PAY FOR STANDING MY KINGS WAY!"
Getting out of Jacks arms I spat blood onto the ground before rolling my shoulders and getting ready to fuck up a bitch. Jack spun her knives with glee and uncertainty at what was about to go down.
"Mister, you think that things insides are toxic?"
"Fuck if I know, although I assume an Angels insides are more toxic than a Demons."
Hearing my words the small serial killer just blinks before giggling up a storm at probably imagining the comparison. The Deviant Grail within my chest pumping magic throughout my entire body, almost if it was a second heart, my spells became more potent and powerful from how quickly I healed up from just using Mending. Summoning my trusty cannon then Enlarging it we watched as the cave we used exploded outwards, Jack disappearing from her spot in an instant. Fog rolling in with a streetlight that wasn't there turning on, as her voice sounded out.
"Maria the Ripper: The Holy Mother of Dismemberment!"
Flashes of crimson spraying black blood all over the place as the Demon God flinches from Jacks NP. Seeing her in the air hanging upside down, blood trailing after her feet my cannon fired. The Demon Gods body gets flung backwards by the blast with Jack landing on its barrel covered in black blood. Seeing movement within the dust made from the giant tentacle hitting the mountain side I combined Sunbeam and Moonbeam within my hands and fired off the equivalent of an eighth level spell.
"ECLIPSEBEAM MOTHERFUCKER!"
A beam of burning darklight tinged with orange tore through the air with the Grail supercharging the magic spell. The spell hit the tentacle with a deafening explosion that flung me backwards into my cannon's leg due to the power behind it. When the dust cleared and my ears stopped ringing I just chuckled at the sight of the Demon Gods body turning into molten black blood that bubbled away into motes of light.
"Singularity dealt with, wouldn't you say Jack?"
"His insides were toxic mister, but yes Grail War completed~!"
Pulling the Grail out from my chest I scoffed at the feeling it gave off due to my affinity for magic items. The Holy Grail was OFFENDED that I had no wish for it! Cheeky evil cup had the audacity to be offended that I wanted nothing from it! Tossing the Grail to Jack I just sat against my cannon while it began to shrink, Winston flying around me as it zipped in from where I had secretly left it. Meaning that the Chaldean group was racing here though likely without Cu given the Grail War ended. Romani and Da Vinci's face appeared from thin air using the watch I swiped from Rika after returning Mash's to speak to me and the others.
"The Singularity has been cleared everyone! Good job Chief Lockhart and Jackie, although very reckless given we watched your vitals drop and spike repeatedly! Do you have any idea how nervous I was when I thought Rika was the one that kept nearly dying only to then suddenly recover?!"
"While I agree that it was reckless, from your smile I assume something good happened to you Lockart?"
"Well that should be fucking obvious, I leveled up twice because of killing Emiya then King Arthur, which was a woman by the way, then leveled up once more after I actually killed the Lev or the more accurately the Demon God possessing him."
That got them to shut up until Da Vinci decided to gloss over everything she was likely to say and very seriously said.
"Tell me everything you can fabricate now."
Ignoring the screaming of everyone else until it got to be a bit to much me and Da Vinci entered a separate call to begin talking like the Magic Engineering junkies we are.
"Okay so I can convert raw materials into products of the same material. For example, I could fabricate a wooden bridge from a clump of trees, a rope from a patch of hemp, and clothes from flax or wool. Those are all pretty damn self-explanatory examples, understand?"
Da Vinci nodded her head as she let me explain the spells' base mechanics while Romani dealt with the others.
"I can choose raw materials that I can see within range to use with the spell which is when the real magic can happen. I can then fabricate a single large, or multiple smaller objects, or a singular smaller object that contained within a single 10-foot cube, or eight connected 5-foot cubes. Given a sufficient quantity of raw material to work with obviously. If I'm working with metal, stone, or another mineral substance, however, the fabricated object can be no larger than medium sized. Aka contained within a single 5-foot cube. The quality of objects made by the spell is commensurate with the quality of the raw materials. So if I want the best of the best I need to use the best of the best! Otherwise you just get dirt cheap and unreliable.
Then here is the kicker but the one acceptable flaw of this spell. Creatures or magic items CAN'T be created or transmuted by this spell. I also can't use it to create items that ordinarily require a high degree of craftsmanship, such as jewelry, weapons, glass, or armor, unless I have proficiency with the type of artisan's tools used to craft such objects. I have Thieves Tools, Tinker's Tools, Chef Tools, Woodcarver's Tools, and Blacksmith Tools as my current tool proficiencies, so if you want me to do something outside those then you'll need to help me gain proficiency with those tools."
"I know that, and I can certainly help you learn more tools to become proficient with, but what all did that spell shove into your brain? I want to know that!"
Snorting while I watched everything around me and Jack slowly be corrected by vanishing into motes of light I gave one simple example before I pulled out of the Singularity.
"I could make a damn train if I wanted to with just using Fabricate."
The look on her face was one of pure enthusiasm when I last saw it.
Next thing I knew I was back at Chaldean, before bolting with a misty step while throwing Rika's watch at her. I ran up the wall into the broken glass of the control room, surprising Romani and Da Vinci as mist rolled past them before collasessing into a person once more. Turning around to face them as I gave a two finger salute to them both.
"Don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"That is an interesting method of travel, do you become mist completely when you move like that? Or are you funneling through space rapidly with mist being the visual side effect?"
Chuckling at them I ignored Da Vinci's question and asked one of my own instead.
"Before you hook that Grail up, I want to check something. I want to be sure I'm not helping a hidden enemy of yours by letting you just jump start them."
That made them freeze, a glint in Da Vinci's eyes as she ushered me out of the room without a word then she began walking down the halls of Chaldean without a word. Following her we eventually entered what I assumed was her workshop as the door locked behind us.
"What hidden enemy are you talking about? What do you mean by jump starting them?"
"Chealdeas itself as everything outside it has been erased, EARTH is gone, Da Vinci. Yet Chaldea is perfectly fine? Nothing but being essentially an entity separate from Earth would be the only reason why it and any of you survived. Now the earth is gone, to power up the heart of this place to get it all back in order you need to use Grails. Which by hooking them into the power is essentially making a wish not as a person but as Chaldeas itself. But Chaldeas has two sides: Marie's Chaldea and then her fathers Chaldea. So I want to make sure that when you hook that damn thing up it doesn't start the birth of an alien deity born of Chaldea."
"How do you even know all of this? Sure you are from a different world, but you shouldn't know anything like what you are saying."
"Cute that you think I'm suspicious, but one place can exist yet be fictional somewhere else as a game or some other form of entertainment. So while you're real here, to me you exist as a form of media in another world, so I know possibilities and timelines that also exist because in a way I've already experienced them or seen them."
"Right…. Right, different worlds, different rules and laws between them make them different from each other. While I can understand most things as I am a genius and the throne, there are some I still need to figure out such as instances like this where my worldview can be shattered. You're essentially a True Magic Engineer right?"
"Yes by your definitions since if I have the right spells and everything I can revive the dead, break time and space without trouble, create separate dimensions, and much more. Since I focus on creating things like magic swords and such along with all that then yes I am by your definition a True Magic Engineer."
She sighs with a grim look on her face before motioning to the door.
"Then if I lead you to the heart of Chaldea can you make sure this Alien Deity won't awaken or that it instead works with us over using us? Since from your wording it doesn't follow the Director's Order, but instead it follows Marisbury's Order instead in a twisted way."
"You have that right, while time consuming I could definitely make a future enemy an ally instead although it'll be more complex and harder than building a Warforged or simple construct. I'll also be extremely blunt here with you Da Vinci. If I didn't go on ahead before the group then Lev would've sucked Marie into the conceptual weight of a foreign planet and heart of Chaldeas giving it a pawn to use as it would rewrite her soul and use her to become its vessel in order to correct Humanity in its view."
"Follow me then, I'll have Romani hook the Grail up once we're in place and ready so that you can do your magic."
With those words we left to see if I could really do anything about this future enemy, it will be eventually defeated in the future regardless. I wanted to at least give everyone a hand with this and to see if I could actually pull it off. Because if I could then I could use the information from it to adjust my Demiplane as I picked the spell up due to a warlock feature, as that Demiplane is essentially my own personal dimension.