Romancing Saga Minstrel Isometric Exercises
Fate/Grand Goddess Ressurection
Romancing SaGa (Hanya dijepang) 1992. Final Fantasy V (Hanya dijepang) Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (Final Fantasy USA di Jepang dan Mystic Quest Legend di Eropa) Hanjuku Hero: Aah Sekai yo Hanjuku Nare (Hanya dijepang) 1993. Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2 di Jepang) Romancing SaGa 2 (Hanya dijepang) Alcahest (Hanya dijepang) 1994. The villain of Romancing SaGa, Saruin is the God of Destruction and the most hated of all Gods. Sif One of the 8 main protagonists from Romancing SaGa, Sif is a proud warrior from Valhalland. Tomomi Kobayashi 小林 智美 Character designer Tomomi Kobayashi is a videogame illustrator. She was the main character for the Romancing SaGa and SaGa Frontier series. For Unlimited Saga and Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song she provided image illustrations. Tip Right-click show image and you will see a bigger size.
Chapter 3:
'Champion of Velvet ~The Grand Holy Grail War Begins~'
-BGM: 'Prelude to Battle' from Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song-
Hikaru braced himself as the Siegmeyer charges in, its zweihander raised. Behind the said robot is another one of the same kind, but only with a working left hand that carries a metal great shield in tandem with the zweihander on its right hand, running rather slowly and as if waiting for an opportunity on something, which Hikaru guessed as an opening for the robot to land a killing blow on him.
The shield-less siegmeyer closes in on to Hikaru, executing a heavy diagonal swing which the latter quickly avoids with a swift back step. He quickly makes a charge forward and attempts to land an attack similar to the Siegmeyer's…only for the robot to make a side step of its own, with the shielded Siegmeyer suddenly leaping forward and executing a slamming attack with its sword on Hikaru, who managed to guard the attack on the last minute but was still sent flying by the robot's sheer force behind the attack.
Hikaru felt slight pain as he rolled over the ground, before getting up on his feet in a split second. The moment he looked up, Hikaru quickly catches sight of the shield-less Siegmeyer raising its sword at him, causing him to roll out of the way as the Siegmeyer swung down the zweihander in its hands. Hikaru finally gets up to his feet a moment after, only for him to quickly guard himself with his weapon as he braces himself for the other Siegmeyer charging in and about to execute a bash with its shield.
'Shit! ARGH!'
Despite being able to guard in time, Hikaru was once again sent flying, this time by the Siegmeyer's shield bash, with the former sliding and rolling on the ground as a result. Now lying on his stomach, Hikaru quickly looks up, in case the robots are going in for a finishing hit while he's down.
…And he was right, as the shield-less Siegmeyer, is now running towards him, zweihander positioned for a downward stab. Hikaru quickly rolls away and gets up on his feet, preparing himself for the incoming robot, seeing an opportunity at the robot's probable way of attack. The Siegmeyer launches a powered thrust, which Hikaru counters with a two handed parry with his own sword, causing the Siegmyer to lose equilibrium and start wobbling. Hikaru wastes no time and slices the Siegmeyer horizontally on the main body, successfully leaving the robot cut in half and causing it to disintegrate into pixels.
However, before he could celebrate any victory, Hikaru finds himself sent flying once again from another shield bash by the other, shielded Siegmeyer, causing the former a lot of pain as he rolled ever the ground, before finally getting back up.
Hikaru carefully observed the enemy before him as it circled slowly, but steadily around him. The robot's combat stance showed no openings. The moment Hikaru would try to fish for a side or a back-stab, his face will literally meet another shield bash. The shield looks way took thick for Hikaru to attempt to pierce it as well, despite the shield's own rusty appearance. It looked way to tall for Hikaru to attempt an attack from above as well.
At this situation, there is only one way to do this. It might be the riskiest method out of all the others, but...it is the only most effective way to dispatch the shielded for in front of him right now...
...That is, to land an attack the moment the Siegmeyer starts an attack of its own. In other words, a cross-counter. A high risk, high reward move. But, no other can solve this predicament right now, Hikaru thought to himself as he positioned himself to be able to dash forward quickly in a moment's notice.
'It's do or die. I have no choice. I will have to put all my attention to killing it for certain. I have only one shot. The moment this fails, it is truly the end for me. And thus, it must die.' Hikaru mentally told himself, as the Siegmeyer slowly peered its head from the side of its shield, a sign of the enemy analyzing for openings.
Hikaru knew, that unless there is an opening, the enemy in front of him won't charge forward like he planned. The same goes for any other enemy, robot or not. And thus...
'I will have to give that opening by my own volition. Control its rhythm of attacks with a baited opening, at the risk of dying at failure of the counter-attack.'
Hikaru slightly softened his battle stance and his breathing, letting out a slightly audible sigh. The moment air breaths out his nose, the Siegmeyer charges forward in a moment, aiming a thrust attack at Hikaru's vitals.
The moment its metallic, rusty great shield swung to its side to attack with its sword, the Siegmeyer twitched in surprise as Hikaru suddenly charged forward, sword held by two hands and pointed in towards his enemy. The sounds of static echoed throughout the place as Caliburn pierced the Siegmeyer's head, before Hikaru drew his sword back and swiftly followed up with a horizontal swing, lopping of the robot's head. However, Hikaru knew he wasn't finished yet, as he quickly follows up with another horizontal swing, this time aimed at the Siegmeyer's stomach area, cleaving the robot's body in half.
In seconds, the robot's body exploded into pixels, signifying Hikaru's victory.
'Damn gankers...Can't they just attack me one at a time like in Ass*ssin's Creed?!' Hikaru commented to himself, before warily looking around him for any more incoming robots. He hears clashing metal, and looks towards the direction of the sound in alert.
Only for him to find IF...skillfully handling her own fight.
The brunette veteran adventurer looked she literallly danced as she gracefully and swiftly dodged a sequence of for swings from a Siegmeyer. The moment the robot's sword struck the ground, IF suddenly charges forward, landing three swift slices at the Siegmeyer's sword arm. The robot quickly proceeds to counter with a horizontal swing, only for IF to swiftly dodged with a backward quick step which she then follows up with three more quick slices at the Siegmeyer's arm. The robot quickly attempts to counter with another swing...only for its arm to fall off from where IF had sliced on earlier.
The Siegmeyer attempts to step back and run, but it was too late as IF had once again made quick slices at the joints of both the robot's legs with 3 swings each once more. The robot's body fell, which then IF follows up with an almost literal rain of thrusts from both her katars, obliterating the Siegmeyer's head and causing the entire robot to explode in pixels.
Hikaru's jaw dropped. It was, by no doubt, that IF is someone who's got more battle experience, from the way she handled the robot and on how fast she finished the fight. Everything flowed naturally from Hikaru's point of view. It was as if...fights like the one just now are basically IF's breakfast. Lunch. And Dinner.
-BGM Fades-
'Wow…you must be some veteran Assassin or something like that, huh?' Hikaru commented, while walking towards IF, sword on his own shoulder.
The brunette adventurer shook her head before putting on a proud, small smirk on her face, 'Heh, I'm no Assassin, but an adventurer. Thanks for the compliment, anyway.' IF says, before sheathing back her katars back into her sleeves, much to Hikaru's surprise and curiousity. 'Where and how the bloody hell does she do that', Hikaru asked no one in particular.
'An adventurer? Is that an actual job around here? Is that a job that involves taking requests from people where you would slay some monsters or gather items for them?' Hikaru asked, his other curiosity shouting itself louder in his mind. This place being another world, adventurers are not that rare, but…for it to be an actual, paying job? The only place Hikaru saw that was in an MMO. He may not show it, but his heart is currently beating so rapidly at the possibility of an adventurer being a legit way of life. Any other otaku in his place would be the same, he thought.
'…I don't know which hole in the cave or which rock you came from under, but, yeah, being an adventurer is quite a difficult, but big job around here. Kind of like those high risk, high reward jobs, monsters and all. But never mind that. Where's Neptune?' IF explains, before looking Hikaru in the eye. The latter quickly points to the area near the gigantic altar in the area they were in, where Purple Heart quietly slept. Without wasting time, IF quickly runs towards the goddess, and carries her on piggy back, before turning her attention back to Hikaru.
'Well then, Emiya-kun, I know that you are a little tired after that scuffle and all, but, we should look for the exit quickly. I'd want to get Neptune back to the Basilicom as fast as possible.' IF says, waiting for Hikaru to make a reply. The latter, in turn, remembers a certain, horned blue haired woman he met earlier, and looks around. He finds the said woman standing near the flight of stairs, staring at him and saying nothing. The look of the woman's eyes gives a cold shiver to Hikaru's spine, for some reason.
'Let's try asking that lady. She must have went in here through a different entrance than a crack on the ground. I'll do the talking.' Hikaru says after gulping, before slowly walking towards the horned woman near the flight of stairs.
'Are you sure? I mean, you're shaking-'
'Oh, trust me. I can pull this off. Believe in me that believes in you!' Hikaru cuts off IF, while taking more and more deep breaths as he walked. In a few seconds, he stands a few steps away from the horned woman, who tilts her head in confusion at Hikaru's actions…and blushing face.
'I didn't think she'd look this pretty up close! I mean, she isn't the first person that I've admired, but, she's…a monster girl! A real life monster girl! And so cute too!' Hikaru gulped once again as he struggled to keep his inner monster girl fetishist suppressed. Had this horned woman been a blonde-haired elf girl instead, he'd be a wreck by now.
'Uhh…Say, I kinda asked for your help earlier, and I am hoping that you'd still help us and all, but…I realized I was being rude there. So allow me to introduce myself.' Hikaru starts sweating slowly as he spoke more, 'I'm Emiya Hikaru, and I would like to ask your help in leaving this…cave. What's your name, miss?'
The horned woman straightened her head from all the tilting, before making a look of understanding.
'…Tia.' The horned woman says in a lisp, low whisper that only Hikaru could hear, 'Name…Tia.'
Ah, one of those shy, mysterious types. If this was a visual novel, she'd make a fine gentle, loving onee-chan heroine, Hikaru commented as he quickly thinks up of what to say next.
'Nice to meet you, Tia-chan!' Hikaru managed to recover his posture, having remembered on how shy type heroines are supposed to be handled…in visual novels. From what he remembered, he must try to be the active, out-reaching one to the shy of the heroine. But not way too much energy must be executed, or else he might intimidate Tia, he thought.
'Say, Tia-chan, did you happen to know the exit out of this cave?' HIkaru asked with a kind voice, while retaining his 'energetic' demeanor.
Tia only gave a small nod with an expressionless face, and swiftly turned her back and walked down stairs.
'IF-san, Tia-chan says she knows the exit and…is wordlessly leading us to it.' Hikaru declares, causing IF to raise an eyebrow, before finally making a small sigh of relief. Despite his intentions, IF couldn't just trust him fully. The way the strange, horned woman quickly conceded to Hikaru's words…it was a little too easy. And also, Tia-chan? Seriously? IF shook her head at what she heard a little earlier.
'Alright then, lead the way…' IF says, causing Hikaru to make a nod a go down the stairs, which then IF followed suite. While indeed unsure of the authenticity of Tia-chan's claims, better than nothing, IF supposed.
Eventually, they reached the dark tunnels of the caves once again. However, putting their trust onto their guide, Hikaru and IF quietly followed the woman named Tia.
The silence, however, did not last. As they kept walking, Hikaru could not bear the rather…awkward silence going on, and decided to lighten things up…well, whatever counts as lightening things up in his definition anyway.
One good step would be to try to get to know his horned companion more.
'Say, Tia-chan…' Hikaru started, earning him the look of Tia, who tilts her head once again, and from how she looks, she appears willing to listen.
'What were you doing here, in this cave? You know, monsters and all, despite those awesome waterfalls where we found you.' Hikaru asked, catious enough not to sound like he's prying into someone's personal business.
'I…was always…here. And…nowhere else…' Tia spoke once again, in the same lisp way of talking she had earlier, allowing only Hikaru to hear.
'Really? You don't have a home anywhere?' Hikaru asked once again. Taking into consideration what he had heard, it was either Tia was lying, or really does not remember anything at all. The former has a large chance of being the truth, however. Last time Hikaru remembered, monster people or even demi-human looking people were not always too trusting nor fond of humans…in the anime and video games he watched and played.
'I…don't remember…' Tia said, causing Hikaru to just nod his head.
'I see…I'm sorry for asking.' Hikaru replied, to not offend the horned woman, who simply shook her head at Hikaru and gave him a small smile, before returning her attention on the road. Meanwhile, IF simply had a doubtful look at the duo. While she could hear Hikaru talk, Tia's voice was something similar to static sounds, not to mention that the low volumes she spoke at did not help. It's as if the entire thing was something done deliberately so that the brunette cannot hear anything.
IF could only hope that her fears are wrong.
After a half an hour's worth of walking, and the trio finally reached the exit of the cave, and eventually found themselves at the area just right outside the cave's mouth. Facing it is an area which IF quickly recognized.
-BGM: 'Gaur Plains' from Xenoblade Chronicles
'Wow…This is the first time I've been to a place this…beautiful.' Hikaru says as he stares in awe at the wide, wide grassy plains that greeted him as soon as he, IF, and Tia went out of the cave. In all of his life, Hikaru only went back and forth Fuyuki, Akibahara, Tokyo, and sometimes, the countryside towns where he and his family would go to for a hot spring bath once in a while. The sight of the plains reminded him of how the main roads of the medieval ages were like, especially after he noticed the grass-less part of the plains that pretty screamed 'main road'. Moreover, the flowers that grow along with the grass lose their white colored petals to the tug of the wind and making them dance all over the place, creating a beautiful view to all those present.
'Welcome to the Plains of Planeptune, both of you, though I'm sure you guys have been here more than once. But that doesn't make the view old, right?' IF commented, moving forward before turning her attention solely on Hikaru, who was still a little busy admiring the view of the plains…till IF kicked him lightly on the shins, much to his surprise.
'Whoa, can't you just say something?!' Hikaru complained, earning him a small, amused chuckle from IF.
'I already did twice, but you were too absorbed in thought. Sorry about that, Emiya-kun.' IF says, not losing her smile nor her amused tone, 'Say, mind doing me a favor and carry Neptune for a bit? I've been carrying her for thirty minutes now. My legs are hurting already…'
Hikaru's temper cooled down as he saw the still unconscious goddess, and makes a sigh, 'Alright then. By the way, can you lead the way to, uh…Planeptune? I'm kinda new around here, so I don't know the way.' Hikaru explained, before turning his back on IF and getting down on one knee, so that it would be easier for IF to place Neptune on his back. The brunette quickly understands and gently places Neptune on Hikaru's back, before making a relieved sigh as Hikaru stood up, now carrying Neptune.
'Is that so? You must be from another nation then. Oh well, I guess I'll help you out for helping watching over Neptune.' IF says, before stretching her arms and legs, cracking some joints in the process. 'Follow me, Emiya-kun, and Tia-san. We'll just have to follow the grass-cleared road to-wait, are you not going with us, Tia-san?' IF says in slight surprise, as their horned companion just stood at the mouth of the cave they were in, just shaking her head.
'Huh? Why won't you go with us, Tia-chan? You seriously aren't planning on staying here now, aren't you?' Hikaru asked, worry being obvious in his tone. He doesn't know if Tia has any combat abilities or not, but, why would she stay at a place filled with murderous robots to the brim?
'I can't…join…civilization.' Tia replied, earning her questioning looks from IF, who was surprised she can now hear the horned woman, and an even bigger look of worry from Hikaru.
'Well, if you really don't wanna come with-hey, what are you doing, Emiya-kun?' IF cut herself off, as while she was explaining, Hikaru casually just went to Tia, and with careful effort, managed to gently grab one of Tia's hands with one of his own.
Hikaru then proceeds to look Tia in the eyes.
'I don't know what your reason is, but…there's no way I'm leaving someone like you here!' Hikaru said with conviction, voicing out what he feels deep within. To leave someone like Tia alone…there's no way he could live with that. He won't be able to face his parents knowing that he left alone someone who might have been needing help and company all this time, 'If it's discrimination for not looking human, then, I'll kick the ass of anyone saying anything hurtful to you. If it's someone hitting on you, I'll swat them off. Whatever the case, I promise to not leave you alone, especially not in a dangerous place like this.' Hikaru explained, not losing eye contact nor his tone for a moment, 'And besides, I still need to repay my debt to you for saving us by leading us out of that cave. And we can't do that unless you're with us till the city. Isn't that right, IF-san?' Hikaru then takes a look at IF and winks, causing the brunette adventurer to sigh and scratch her head lightly.
So Emiya's one of those heroic wannabee types, IF thought. She can only hope his 'heroism' won't involve getting his ass in trouble for every people in need he sees and start producing swords out of thin air declaring 'I am the bone of my sword', just like that visual novel protagonist she watched from one of the games Neptune played. Seriously, she never thought heroic people can be actually so…distorted to the point that they'll dedicate their lives for the sake of others, without having their own joy in any form. Even Neptune was quite shocked with what she saw and had to transform into Purple Heart each time she had to play the game of that 'distorted' protagonist.
IF could simply pray that the heroic wannabee idiot in front of her isn't anyone like that.
'Yup, he has a point. So, as he said, whether you like or not, I'm taking you and Emiya-kun to Planeptune.' IF declared, before going beside Tia and gently grabbing her other free hand, or in IF's case, wrist. Tia had a look of surprise from her and Hikaru's actions, and was on the verge of somewhat crying, but is skillfully holding herself from doing so. She could only give a nod to both Hikaru and IF, both who smiled victoriously.
It had been a long time since anyone held her hand and smiled at her like this, the horned woman thought.
'Okay, Emiya-kun, I'll make sure she won't get away, so just follow us and focus your strength on carrying Neptune.' IF says, causing Hikaru to nod and let go of Tia, as IF did the same.
'Okay everyone, follow me till we reach the city, and till we reach a really tall, ornate building inside the city, okay?' IF announced, earning her a cheer from Hikaru and a small nod from Tia. IF sighed in relief at the two's obedience and led them on the side of the grass-less road, where the brunette adventurer took out her phone, unlocked it and dialed a set of numbers, and talked to someone at the other end of the line.
The conversation lasted for 5 minutes, with IF thanking the person on the other end of the line and promising to report the events that led her to where she is right now. Meanwhile, Hikaru quickly cuts in.
'So, what was that about IF-san? Preparing an inn or something?' Hikaru asked, causing IF to lightly shake her head and replied.
'Nope. I simply called the Basilicom and told them that Nep's with us, and asked them to send a transport van to where we are. Because, seriously, Planeptune is an hour's worth of walk from here.'
Hikaru nearly shouted 'Thank God' in relief.
Purple Heart wasn't the lightest of the beautiful women on the planet, after all.
-BGM Fades-
'You…it can't be…he truly is nowhere to be found?' Arturia clenched her fists as she digested the information that Rider has just given her. Had she not left home, then…
'I'm sorry…Had I restrained myself, and did things more competently-'
'Do not depreciate yourself, Rider. You did what you can, and you were at least there. You did more than what this…useless mother had done.' Saber cuts off Rider, with the former's eyes still downcast. If only, she stayed home…she could've fought the kidnapper herself and might've saved Hikaru. But then…
'Saber, don't go taking all the blame by yourself. I am at fault too. I should've agreed about leaving one of us back home.' Shirou intervened, his tone however, not discouraged or weakened. Instead, it reflects his resolve to look for his son after this. He cannot lost hope, no matter what, and he must make sure that Arturia thinks as such, as well.
'Hoh? Not to discourage that attempt, but, what are you going to do against the Goddess of War and Strategy, Emiya-kun? Tell her off that kidnapping people is wrong?' Tohsaka Rin cuts in, earning her a sigh from Shirou, who then shook his head and looked her in the eyes as he replied.
'I will simply do everything that I can to let my son escape to safety…if talking really will not settle things.' Shirou replied without skipping a beat, much to Rin's expectation.
'Now, now, nee-san, and Shirou-san. Don't you think we must focus on finding Hikaru-kun first? I remember Rider saying something about…black portals around the sky, if I heard her correctly.' Matou Sakura says, her tone kind and gentle. It was enough to shake Shirou and Rin from the small ignition of an incoming argument, and made the both of them sigh, as they remembered their new priority right now.
'Now that I think about it, she mentioned something like that. Rider, what about this portals you mentioned?' Rin quickly focuses her attention to the Servant of Mounts, who nods and takes a deep breath.
'The one I saw on the skies right above Shirou's house was where the monsters might have gone out from. While I was travelling on my way to there, I saw a dragon, with its tail cut, escape through the black hole that stood rather quietly. However, after I was knocked out by the Goddess, it seems the black hole had disappeared, as when I woke up, it was no longer there up in the skies above the Emiya residence.' Rider explained as clearly as she can.
'A black hole…you mean-'
'Yes, it's the same kind that has been popping out of random places in the world, as well as the one in Misaki. I…believe that it might be connected to the place where the Goddess of War might have taken Hikaru-kun into.' Rider finished, her eyes showing a look of assuredness and belief. If the monsters came out of there, then…it's also pretty damn obvious where the Goddess, who is not supposed to exist along with the Dragon and the goblins, would come out of.
A light of hope shimmer's in Arturia's eyes. If those black holes serve as a portal of sorts to the world that Hikaru is in, then-
'Shall we go and prepare for travelling, Rin? I cannot afford to stand idle. While I have great faith in my son's skills with a sword, I don't think it might prepare him for any enemy that doesn't resemble a human. Especially things like phantasmal beasts like dragons. Moreover, he has zero knowledge of magic, not even the basics.' Saber declares, her usual dignified, stoic manner of speaking having returned, along with a strong resolve. Shirou popped a small smile, as did Rin and the others in the room.
'And this is why I persuaded a certain somebody to let me teach Little-Saberface the basics of thaumaturgy. It's such a waste, admittedly, since Hikaru-kun had such potential. Oh well, what's happened has happened.' Rin commented, earning her a sheepish look from Shirou, much to her amusement. But logically, by the point of view of everyone in the room, it would have been a great help to Hikaru had he learned of magic and became a Magus. Shirou, however, vehemently protested against the idea, having gone through what it's like to be a magus himself. While Saber would have been alright with Hikaru learning magic, for the sake of his future, her concern for her son's safety eventually took over, and she ended up siding with Shirou on the matter.
'And I'll stand by my decision, Rin. I want Hikaru to live a normal life, and never cross paths with the Mage's Association, nor the Church. I won't change that.' Shirou declared, earning him a sigh of annoyance from Rin, and a face palm from Rider. Sakura could only smile softly, before calling out to everyone else.
'So, what shall be our course of action, nee-san? You are the one with the jurisdiction concerning the anomalies in Fuyuki, after all. That includes the black holes that appeared around here, yes?' Sakura reminded her sister, who gives a thumbs up, before clearing her throat.
'Yup. However, as we still don't know even just at least the basic nature of these things, I don't think we'll be doing any diving onto them anytime soon.' Rin declared, which prompted Arturia to react, only for Rin to quickly cut in and not let her speak, 'Let me finish, Saber. This is a matter concerning otherworldly contact, something that the Second Magic has a good grasp on. And thus…I believe that I shall contact the one expert concerning these matters…'
Everyone's eyes slightly widened when Rin mentioned 'Second Magic'. There are two people who are connected to it, the first one they know being Rin herself, and the other one being the Magus whom Rin as having an apprenticeship under…
'Wait…you're not talking about that person, aren't you? I know that he saved you in the Association's Court, and you're currently his apprentice, but…' Shirou voiced out his concern, still unable to trust the man whom Rin studies under.
'We have no choice Shirou. And besides, he's the Wizard Marshall, whose specialty IS Second Magic. When it comes to matters concerning other worlds and such, he's the only one we can rely on.' Rin declares, with firm resolve in her voice. This is the only way they can do something, and find something, even maybe just the smallest trail of what happened to Emiya Hikaru.
'Do you even know where he is?' Saber asked, an eyebrow raised. Rin simply chuckled and gave a small, relieved sigh.
'Fortunately, I do. But, let's move on to what we should do for now.' Rin assumes a commanding tone as she spoke, wanting to make the instructions she gives to be clear, 'First, there are currently three of those aforementioned black holes around Fuyuki. One is in the forested areas near Homurahara Academy, and is covered with an illusion based bounded field allowing only authorized Magus to come in. Second one is in the middle of the forests near the Einzbern Castle, with no bounded barrier needed for cover. Third…is in the Fuyuki Central Park, also covered with the same illusion type bounded field as the one near Homurahara. I will need at least two people watching each one, while I head overseas to meet Zeltrech. Until then, simply observe the black holes.'
'So, who's assigned to which area?' Rider asked.
'Saber and Shirou are to be the ones to observe in Fuyuki Central Park. Sakura and Rider are to observe the one in the forests near Homurahara. And by her own volition, Illya, her homunculus maids, and Berserker on the black hole in the forests near Einzbern Castle.' Rin announces, before putting four rolled up pieces of paper on the table, 'These are the scrolls containing the authorization insignia for the areas with the illusion type bounded field. Carry them with you so that you can nullify the illusion's effects and see the black hole even when you're outside the bounded field's area or inside it.' Rin explains, causing Shirou, Saber, Sakura, and Rider to pick the scrolls.
'Nee-san, when are you planning to go meet the Wizard Marshall? Have you readied your things yet? I can help you prepare, just in case.' Sakura says, looking her sister in the eye and assuring her that she is currently free to help out. Rin could only make a soft sigh as she replied.
'No need to worry, Sakura. I've gotten my preparations covered and am about to leave tomorrow! I'm going to stay at Emiya-kun's to make some last minute investigations tonight before sleeping, so you can head there tomorrow morning and help make breakfast. My flight's tomorrow night, anyway. And with that, we're done for now, everyone.' Rin says, while making a smile and giving her sister a thumbs up, to which Sakura replied with a smile of her own.
As everyone was preparing to leave for their respective homes, Arturia saw Rider, waiting beside the door of the meeting room from earlier. Wasting no time, the King of Knights approached the other Servant, a serious look in her eyes present.
'Rider…Can I talk to you for a moment?' Arturia says, her eyes meeting Rider's, who tilted her head in curiousity.
'This Goddess you fought…can you tell me more about her, and what she said about taking my son?' The King of Knights asked. From what she knew of greek mythology, the gods and goddesses mostly play around with mortals for the giggles. But, at times, it might be out of admiration as well. The last time Arturia remembered, that the Goddess of War and Strategy, Athena, only contacted mortals whom she deemed worthy of her aid, and all of them were heroes of great caliber in the matters of tactics and clever tricks in battle, like Odysseus.
So why would she kidnap someone normal with nothing more than just training with a sword, like Hikaru?
-BGM: 'When the Moon's reaching out the Stars' from Persona 3
'Holy crap…this is Planeptune?!' Hikaru's voice resounded throughout the insides of the van as the car drove through the roads of the Purple City of Progress, taking in the marvelous sight of the shops, buildings, cars, and almost every single futuristic objects they encounter during the trip. The large crowds of people added up to the lively atmosphere as well. In Hikaru's perspective, the whole place is what Tokyo would be like in a thousand years or so, when technology has finally struck the highest peak.
Everything looked so brand new to Hikaru, who is looking through the window like a child who went out of his house the first time, much to IF's amusement and barely held chuckling. Meanwhile, Tia, who is looking through the window on the side opposite to Hikaru, has a nostalgic look on her face.
It has been a while since she has been to civilization, she thought. It felt rather…calming to the horned woman.
Hikaru switches his attention from his side of the window, to the one at the front of the driver's seat, where he sees from afar multiple skyscrapers. Right in the center of all of them was the tallest one, as it boasted a design similar to the ones in the country of Dubai, which he saw in a magazine. Out of excitement, he proceeds to call out to IF.
'IF-san, the tallest skyscraper over there…what building is that? What's it for? Is it the main mall?' Hikaru asks, earning him the attention of the brunette, who answers with the same amused face she had earlier. To the latter, it felt like she is handling an overexcited child, something that she's planning to grill Hikaru about later.
'Well, that's the Basilicom, the sanctuary of the Goddess Purple Heart, and also the base of operation for her, her oracle, her knights, and her worshippers, which consists of all the people who work in the government, as well as occasional visitors from the normal people who pray at least once a week. You could say, it's Neptune's house itself. A rather busy house, that is.' IF explains, not including the part concerning Neptune's working habits. There's more than enough disappointments on that division already.
'Wow…wasn't expecting a church to be that tall and function as a house, a government center, and a place of worship at the same time. That's amazing!' Hikaru declared, causing IF to just nod with a smile, before checking her phone once again. It's nearly 4:00 in the afternoon, which means that there's going to be a lot of traffic en route to the Basilicom. Realizing this, IF turns her attention back to the rather excited Hikaru.
'Feel free to sit there a bit longer and take out your camera or something. There's going to be quite the traffic on the way, so we're gonna be seeing the sights for a bit longer.' IF says, prompting Hikaru to take out his own phone, and ready himself for anything he considers cool or awesome enough to take a picture of. Jinako surely is going to choke him in envy once he gets back home, he thought with excitement.
'Got it, IF-san!'
-BGM Fades-
It was was already evening when the van arrived at the Basilicom. Planeptune's traffic is something not to be underestimated. It was almost the same as that time Hikaru and his family went for a trip to Tokyo, and arrived there around evening using a car Shirou borrowed from a relative named Illyasveil von Einzbern, who is Shirou's adoptive older sister, and thus Hikaru's aunt. Due to work reasons on the said aunt's side, Hikaru never really met the woman, only knowing what she looked like from the pictures his father showed him.
The traffic at Tokyo caused the Emiya family to arrive at around 9:00 in the evening, despite arriving in the rather large city at 6:00. The time Hikaru spent in the car felt like the slowest moment of his life. His current experience in Planeptune, however, was not as boring. After all, it was a parallel world, with different architecture, culture...different everything. Even the sight of the strangely designed traffic lights and the surrounding roads, buildings, and cars were something that Hikaru took delight in snapping a picture of.
The van eventually makes a stop right on front of the Basilicom's main entrance. Its doors open, with IF coming out first, followed by Hikaru, then by Tia. IF then swiftly grabs and carries Neptune from the front seat, before turning her attention to her two other companions.
'Okay, the two of you, listen up. The moment we enter the Basilicom, just follow me quietly and no talking to anyone else, especially anyone asking about what happened to Neptune. I'm going to ask you about that myself later, Emiya-kun. Let's go.' IF says, before turning her back to her companions and heads for the Basilicom. Hikaru and Tia followed suite. However, instead of going straight through the gigantic main doors, IF went for the rather small automatic door just right at the left tip of the gigantic entrance doors. The door opens by itself, revealing a rather spacious elevator within.
'Let's ride in. Emiya-kun, choose the top floor.' IF instructs, before going inside the elevator, followed by her two companions right after. The elevator door closes as soon as all three are inside. The buttons for the floors are on the wall beside the doors, containing the options for floors 1st until 100th. Remembering IF's instructions, Hikaru presses the button for the 100th floor.
As the elevator ascended, the purple colored automatic doors suddenly turned crystal transparent, revealing a good view of Planeptune to the three as they went higher and higher up the floors of the Basilicom. Hikaru wastes no time and takes out his phone the moment almost all of Planeptune's city was in full view, and takes a picture of the city from above.
7 Minutes later…
Coming out of the elevator, Hikaru looked around for any employee that might disturb them, and as soon as the coast is clear, he whistles to the direction of the elevator, prompting IF, still carrying Neptune, and Tia to come out. Without wasting breath, IF quickly gestures for the other two to follow her, leading them through the long series of halls in the process. After a few minutes worth of walking, the brunette adventurer stops in front of a blue colored door, engraved with the number '2017', glowing in a red color, not unlike the color of a bright traffic light at red.
'Emiya-kun, hold Neptune for a short bit.' IF instructed, causing Hikaru to swiftly head for her back to take Purple Heart. As soon as Hikaru carried the Goddess, IF swiftly takes out one of her phones, unlocks it, and opens an app of some sort. After a few seconds, the red color of the number engraved on the door turns green, with the sound of unlocking being heard from its doorknob.
'Okay. Before you give me back Neptune, let me explain first. This is going to be your room in the meantime. While I would like to take you to Histoire for the circumstances with Neptune, I'm sure that all the...rumble you went through made sure you're pretty damn tired. No offense, but I saw how those two automatons beat the crap outta you, so I think you need the rest, Emiya-kun. I'll just have to take you to Histoire tomorrow.' IF informs the boy, before making a gesture to give back Neptune. Hikaru quickly obliges, feeling the tiredness of his body as IF-san nailed it. The moment Neptune gets off from his back, however, he quickly asks.
'Who is this Histoire you keep mentioning, IF-san?' The boy asks, causing IF to simply shake her head before replying.
'She's the oracle of Planeptune's Basilicom. Kind of like Neptune's...assistant, and the second highest ranked person of the nation. Don't worry, I'll inform her of your and Tia's stay here. So don't worry about it and rest up.' IF says with a tired smile, as the adventurer herself isn't so resistant from the after-effects of carrying Purple Heart for half a day's worth of time. The Goddess should really cut off some of her carbs, IF thought.
Hikaru gives her a nod, before heading for the door and opening it by the knob. However, before finally entering the room, Hikaru turns his attention back to IF.
'Thank you for this, IF-san. I guess I'll...see you tomorrow. You too, Tia-chan. Goodnight, everyone!' Hikaru makes a big, childish smile, before closing the door. Meanwhile, Tia was about to follow inside, only to be called out by IF the moment the horned woman nearly touched the doorknob of Hikaru's room.
'Ah, Tia-san, wait! You're supposed to sleep in a different room. Follow me, alright?' IF instructed, her surprise from Tia's action still dripping from the brunette's voice, if ever so slightly. Heading to the door beside Hikaru's room door, IF quickly gestures to Tia to follow her. The door of the room also had engravings, now also glowing green, with the numbers '2016'.
'Tia-san, here's your room. I still don't know what you were doing at the cave, but I'm sure that it tired you out. So rest up cause I'll be having questions for you and Emiya-kun tomorrow, okay?' IF says with a nod and a soft smile, before heading toward the halls, leaving Tia alone. The horned woman, however, did not enter her room, and instead stared at the door of Hikaru's room.
After checking the contents of the cabinet, Hikaru plops down on his bed, having changed from his blue and white track-suit to a set of pajamas...with purple flower decorations. Good thing it was only for sleeping purposes, Hikaru thought.
He still...cannot believe. All in the span of one day, he...met a goddess, ended up in a parallel world, fought monsters and automatons, survived those fights, met new people, met a real monster girl, and even got to sleep in basically the most important building in the whole nation he's staying in. He was already shocked when he learned of this facts, but, in order not to ruin the experience, he had to go with the flow.
But, even with all this, the sinking feeling of homesickness still lingers.
What could his parents be doing right now? Hikaru couldn't help but feel regret for doing this to them, even if he didn't have a choice to begin with. If only he was at least allowed to write a letter or make a video of goodbye to them...
There's the matter of his friends, as well. Especially, Jinako, Souji, and Riko...He left them too, without a word.
Tiredness washed over Hikaru even as he tried to force himself awake, with sleepiness finally creeping in as a result. His consciousness itself is slipping already, and, in the end, he closed his eyes...
Looks like not even his guilt can topple his current physical condition, it seems.
'Phew! Man, gotta tell Compa to cut off some of Neptune's supply of pudding! I felt like my back cracked or something!' IF loudly declared, having placed Purple Heart back in her room. With her second part of business done, she now stands in front of the door of the oracle's office, which was a large, purple colored double door, with ornate an ornately designed door knobs that resembled the handle of a key.
IF grabs both with her two hands, and twists them. The sound of something large unlocking echoed through the halls as IF opened the large doors.
'Ah, welcome back, IF-san.'
What greeted IF was a small, fairy-like being, whoa appears to be a fair skinned girl with dull blue eyes and soft blonde hair. Her bangs curl in both directions, with two, longer curled pieces of hair that reach her chest. The rest of her hair is worn up in pigtails held by a white, black, and blue head piece that covers her ears, and a pair of purple and gold ribbons. She wears a loose purple dress with spiked ruffle lining, along with gold accents and a loose green-teal tie. Her shoes are white with a mary-jane style, while her wings are in four pieces and resemble widespread butterfly wings. A smile on her face is brightly visible as she watched the brunette adventurer make a small bow.
'I'm back, Histoire-san.' IF replied.
'So, have you managed to track down Neptune?' Histoire asked, with excitement slightly dripping from her voice, much to IF's confusion. However, the brunette ignored this, and proceeded to report what had transpired on her searching for Neptune, who went missing two days ago after looking around for a dragon's nest that was said to have hidden a magical gate of some sort.
The moment IF finished her report, Histoire had a warm smile on her face. Looks like the plan worked after all.
'So, last time I remembered, you said something about Neptune searching for Planeptune's champion, for the prevention of the incoming disaster. I didn't see any champion looking or heroic looking guy with her at all. It was just some androgynous tracksuit-wearing weirdo who has some decent skills with a sword, who also picked the strange horned lady. Does this mean Neptune failed in her search?' IF asks, only for Histoire to make a soft sigh, before taking in a deep breath. Looks like this will be difficult. However, even if that's true, the truth...must be spoken.
'IF-san, the 'androgynous weirdo' is the champion...Also, please call him by name.'
Silence filled the oracle's room for a few seconds...before a burst of laughter from IF echoed all over the room as well as the halls outside the room. The sound was no different from a from a drunkard imitating a hyena for a span of 1 minute.
'AHAHAHAHA! PFFT-HAHAHA! Histoire, your jokes have improved, you know! What book were you reading before I got back? A manual on Saturday night comedy shows?! HAHAHA!' IF says in between breaths, her mind now unable to cope up. If more truths come out of Histoire's mouth right now...
'IF-san, I'm not joking at all. Emiya-san is the champion from the other world who'll summon the seven legendary heroes to fight against the being who shall bring forth 'The Fall' unto Gameindustri. He's...the one who'll help us save the world.' Histoire replied without skiipping a beat.
The cold air of doom embraced the brunette as the sound of a crystal breaking echoed in IF's mind before it broke down into a million pieces, in a similar way an overused gaming computer explodes from the overheating.
'Oh Godesses, why that idiot?! What the hell is this situation supposed to be, a cliche fantasy light novel?! Does that idiot even qualify?! What in the world is he even going to-' IF's screams echoed throughout the entire top floor of the Basilicom. Meanwhile, being the one in the front lines, Histoire casually clears her throat.
'If you're worried about his qualifications, I've taken care of that. I've called over someone who can mend any...disqualifications. In fact, she was the one who volunteered for this job. She is quite giddy about it, to be exact.' Histoire explained, prompting a look and a raised eyebrow from IF, who suddenly calmed down.
'So, who's this volunteer? And how is she gonna help?' IF questioned, only for her to recieve a small smile from the fairy-like being.
'It's MAGES.'
The moment those words flew out of Histoire's mouth, IF got into her knees, before declaring out of despair...
'First, you tell me some weirdo is going to save the world. Second thing you tell me, a chuunibyo IS going to ensure he saves the world?!'
Histoire could only sigh and let IF splurge out her shock at the revelations she took in tonight...
-BGM: 'It's the Shoguuuun!' from Gintama-
'OMG! Didn't think she was this forward! To think that someone else actually managed to sleep beside the champion before the goddess did. This isn't how this is supposed to happen!' The high pitched voice of a young girl jolted Hikaru out of his sleep, only for his attempt to wake up made futile by a pair of warm, soft yet strong arms hugged him and held him down back to bed, much to his shock. He quickly opens his eyes, and finds Tia as the primary culprit of holding him down. Surprisingly enough, the horned woman appears asleep, and as Hikaru guessed, unwilling to move.
Meanwhile, the purple haired girl, who was screaming earlier, dragged Hikaru swiftly by the feet, showing rather surprising strength for someone her size and stature.
'Whoa, what the hell, miss?! My back hurts! No, wait, screw that. Who are you, and what are ya doing in my room?!' Hikaru quickly reprimanded the purple haired little girl, who simply pouted at him.
Said girl has light purple hair reaching the below her chin, and has spiky tips. She has a pair of dark violet eyes, and fair skin. Her main clothing consists of a hoodie and a skirt, followed by a light-purple and white knee-socks and white tennis shoes.
'Of course I'd come in here. This entire place is my house, after all!' The girl decalres, before suddenly looking like she remembered something. She then proceeds to laugh sheepishly before talking again.
'Well, now that I think about it, you never saw me in this form, right? Then let me tell you who I am!' The girl raises her arms, before a pillar of light surrounds her body, causing Hikaru to cover his eyes. When the light subsided, what's left of the light is no longer the same girl, but...
'You're...wait, Neptune? Where...' Hikaru looked around, making sure he wasn't tricked or anything, '...say, did you see a weird, purple haired young girl somewhere? She was here right before you...'
'Oh, Hikaru-kun...swiftly changing subjects. Oh well. Let me make things simpler.' Purple Heart's body is surrounded by a lesser bright pillar of light, revealing...the girl from earlier. Hikaru's eyes almost fell of their sockets.
'Wait, you have a human form?!'
'I'm the one and only Neptune, Goddess of Planeptune! Now then...' Neptune quickly points to Tia, who's still asleep on Hiakru's bed, 'What's the meaning of this, Hikaru-kun?! I know you're possibly the son of a previous Eroge Protagonist and his main heroine, but, you jumped the H-Scenes too early, and with the wrong heroine too! How could you, when the main heroine was unconscious with you the whole day yesterday and you did not even grope her boobs, her butt, or at least her thighs, not even once! I'm really, really disappointed in you, you know!' Neptune ranted, with veins comically popping out all over her face. Meanwhile Hikaru could only stare at her before finally digesting the meaning of the words that came out of the goddess's mouth.
'Whoa, whoa, hold your unicorns, goddess! My dad wasn't even an eroge protagonist, nor was my mom someone's main heroine! And why the hell are you even accusing of an H-scene when I didn't do anything to Tia-chan? She's not even naked on bed! And also, there's no way I'd grope an unconscious goddess, or any lady that's knocked out in the 50 meter radius around me, for that matter.' Hikaru argued, not wanting one of those 'It's not what you think it looks like!' scenario from all the harem series he's encountered. Seriously, the problem with those protagonists is that they don't have even just the resemblance of a spine and balls to try and properly explain or argue that they were not doing anything perverted, he thought.
'Ho? And here I thought you'd be asleep for a little longer, Neptune.' The voice of IF echoed from outside the door, before it opens, revealing the brunette adventurer...with eye-bags and an extremely stressed face, much to the surprise of Hikaru and Neptune.
'Whoa, Iffy, you peeped on Hikaru and Tia-chan last night or something?! How long did they do it?!' Neptune suddenly interrogated her friend, much to Hikaru's annoyance.
'Damn it, Neptune! I told you, I don't remember Tia-chan going into my room last night. Stop making up stories!' The boy retorted.
IF, however, had the look of someone who has seen everything in the universe, and simply stared blankly at the two people in front of her, not giving any crap about their words. Instead, she proceeds to just do what she needs to do.
'Neptune, take Emiya-kun to Histoire, and have her explain his circumstances her in Planeptune. I'll go spread word about how we're all doomed, or something.' With that, IF closes the door, much to the actual surprise of both Hikaru and Neptune, who noticed something wrong about her attitude, having been used to the brunette's sharp tongue and wits.
'...Maybe she was expecting her route to be played and walked in on you and Tia-chan copulating, and it broke her heart? OMG, Iffy wanted the UNLIMITED IF WORKS route to start rather than let me win first! To think that she was as sly as she looked...' Neptune ranted once again, prompting Hikaru to plant his face to the ground before going back up and grabbing Neptune by the shoulder...
'That's what you're worried about?! Isn't IF-san your friend?! And also...There. Was. No. H-scene! And there's no way I'd fall for IF-san! I like my heroines being elf girls, complete with blond long hair and amazing body, just like Tuka Luna M*rceau from GATE! And I am most especially not into legal lolis! Even if they're goddesses! I mean, that's just disgusting, not to mention it can get anyone with a p0n0s into jail faster than they can 'she's legal'! If anything, legal lolis are the bane of visual novels and any love stories at all!' Hikaru retorted, causing Neptune to go pale, then blue, go down on her kness, before tears comically fell from her eyes...
'WAAAAH! *Sob* WAAAAAH!' Neptune bawled, much to Hikaru's exasparation. Did he go too far? No matter what the case, he has to stop this.
'Wa-wait, stop crying!'
'WAAAAAAH!'
'Damn it...I have no choice!' Hikaru took a deep breath. Why in the world does this happen to hi? He asked himself. But, not wanting to get in trouble with the goddess, he makes a decision...
...To go deeper.
'I did say I'm not into legal loli goddesses, but...I don't mind beautiful, tall, nice legged, busty goddesses with hairs in twin braids! Especially the braids! They're, like, every man's fantasy!' Hikaru blurted out, and...successfully stops the crying of the goddess before him. However, he quickly feels the pang of regret as soon as Neptune opened her mouth...
'Wait, you mean...you like me, Hikaru-kun?!'
'Wha...what?! Well, I, uh...' Hikaru quickly looked away from the goddess, panic suddenly invading his brain. How the hell is he supposed to respond to this, he asked himself. Any wrong move here will bury the nail into the coffin, and he'll just outright bury himself even more deeper than earlier...
Hikaru takes a deep breath...
'Well...can we wait till the heroine decision chapter or something?' Hikaru replied.
Neptune gave him an un-amused glare, filled with an intense 'I'm totally going to send you flying' look...
'I mean...can you wait till the dating events? You can't make me decide when I still don't know you that much, don't I?!'
That one made Neptune form a big smile.
'Aww, I was expecting you to panic more and dig yourself deeper! I even had to cry, too! Oh well, your panicked face was worth it. I'm totally gonna make you stick to my route after our first date event, Hikaru-kun! Just you wait!' Neptune declared, raising one of her hands with a victory sign, much to Hikaru's relief. So this is how difficult handling a woman can get, Hikaru thought. He suddenly felt great admiration for his father, for some reason. And also, did he just hear Neptune about wanting to troll him more?!
'...Weren't you supposed to take me to this Histoire person, Neptune-san?' Hikaru commented, causing Neptune to look at Hikaru and tilt her head, before finally remembering what she was supposed to do.
'Oh, right, right! Gotta take you to Histy for the plot exposition! Also, why are you adding honorifics to my name now? Just keep calling me Neptune, okay?' Neptune says, ending her sentence with a wink. Hikaru sighed, thanking his luck for the not-so outrageous request.
'Okay then. Neptune, it is. Say, mind giving me a few minutes? I need to wake Tia-chan first.' Hikaru says as he heads for the bed, and gently shakes the horned occupant. Meanwhile, Neptune only looked on in curiosity, especially concerning Tia's horns, not having seen anyone having such features before.
However, after 10 minute's worth of time and shaking someone wake has passed, Tia had no chance of waking up, and is in fact, now snoring a little louder than before, much to Hikaru's chagrin. Giving up on the attempt and not wanting to be rude to Tia, he simply decides to just do what he needs to do for this morning.
'Neptune, wait for me outside, okay? I...need to get changed.' Hikaru says, before pointing to the cabinet on the other end of the rather wide room. Neptune's eyes, however, drifted to Tia and the goddess proceeded to point a hand at Hikaru.
'You...you're going for that 'Molesting my sweet, shy onee-chan to wake her up' H-scene, aren't you, Hikaru-kun?!'
'Piss off and let me change, you perverted goddess!'
With that, Neptune found herself right outside Hikaru's room door.
-BGM Fades-
Hikaru found himself staring at the grandiose double doors of the Basilicom's dining room, admiring the foreign, ornate design that reminded him of ancient Greek architecture. Meanwhile, Tia, who has managed to wake up right after Hikaru was done changing, now joined him and Neptune in heading for the dining room, where both breakfast and Histoire herself awaits.
'So, are you ready, Hikaru-kun?' Neptune asked, prompting a rather energetic response from the boy.
'I don't know what are you asking me that for, but, I sure as hell am ready for whatever waits beyond that door. I'm sure the bacon, spam, and eggs waiting for me would agree too!' Hikaru says, while pumping a fist out of excitement at the thought of breakfast. Seeing this, Neptune turns her attention to Tia.
'How about you, Tia-chan? Are you ready too?' The Goddess asked.
'Umu...' Tia muttered as she nodded softly, before turning her attention back to Hikaru, then at the gate.
Neptune, seeing that her 'party' is ready, proceeds to open the double doors of the dining room, both opened at the same time.
What greeted Hikaru and Tia is a wide, large, oval shaped table with chairs around it, with someone waiting for them at the other end of the table, sitting. Getting inside the dining room Hikaru got a closer look, and almost had his soul jump off at what was sitting at the said chair...
'Holy crap, a real fairy! I mean...Good morning, miss!' Hikaru blurted out, much to Neptune's laughter, and Tia twitching at the word 'Fairy'. Meanwhile, Histoire makes a light, relieved sigh, after seeing Hikaru appearing to be in a comfortable condition. She could only hope the champion's condition stays this way after being told of his duties...
'Good morning. Please, have a seat first, and we shall have the introductions as we eat.' Histoire declares, with the voice of someone whom Hikaru described as a...kindergarten teacher. By all seriousness, Hikaru felt like the fairy-like being in front of him is simply talking to children, he thought as he took as seat near Histoire. Tia follows suite, swiftly robbing Neptune of the seat next to Hikaru, much to the goddess's chagrin. Neptune ends up sitting next to Histoire herself instead.
'Now that we are all seated, allow me to begin the introductions. I am Histoire, the physical manifestation of this world, known as Gameindustri. I am, what you can describe as this planet's will, for this world is my everything, and I am this world's everything. Although, as of right now, I am the acting oracle of Planeptune, due to the goddess's...working habits. Now then, who might you be, young man?' Histoire says, looking Hikaru in the eyes at the same time, with a sincere smile unfading from here face. Hikaru took a deep breath as he introduced himself.
'I'm Emiya Hikaru. I'm...an incoming first year student at Homurahara Academy, and am currently living with my parents. I have some experiences with the sword, although my experiences only included friendly competitions...till I arrived here.' Hikaru says, while doing his best not to sound rude, or bragging, for that matter. Moreover, what she mean by 'the planet's will'?
'Ah, I see. Then, Neptune has informed you of your...circumstances here, has she not?' Histoire asks, going straight to the point, and making sure that Hikaru is in the best condition to learn about his...duties.
Hikaru, in turn, shook his head, 'Neptune told about being some sort of champion, although I don't know why or how. She told me to ask you for the reason concerning that one.'
Histoire felt like palming her face, 'I see. Well then, allow me toe explain the reason fore your presence here, Emiya-kun.'
Clearing her throat, Histoire begins the explanation, 'You see, around six months ago, a transmission was detected at our technology division here at the Planeptune Basilicom, a transmission which contained...voices, which sounded frantic and warning, saying something about singularities, and timelines disoriented. At the same time, a letter was found deep beneath the altars of this Basilicom, containing a message from an organization that calls themselves 'Chaldea'. It said nothing more than to prepare ourselves for an incoming disaster, by the way of summoning 7 Servants, Heroes from Myths and Legends, to protect ourselves from this disaster. And, along with the letter, is a set of scrolls and books pertaining to something called 'Original Holy Grail War' Procession. Said books told the process of summoning 7 different catalysts from another world, to summon the legendary heroes associated with those catalysts. And true to the letter's warnings, various protals and monsters have appeared around Gameindustri, as well as dungeons containing foreign architecture and more monsters this world is never familliar with. We believe that these newly risen dungeons are the places containing the catalysts. Currently, there are 7 of these foreign dungeons on each of the four continents of Gameindustri.'
Hikaru stood, a little shocked from all the info he just absorbed. Disaster? Legendary Heroes? Catalysts? What? And why did he notice just now that the name of the planet sounds too ridiculous?
'So, where do I fit in?' Hikaru asked out of uncontrolled impulse.
'Ah, I'm getting to that part, Emiya-kun. Let me finish.' Histoire says, before clearing her throat once more and continuing her explanation, 'While it would sound so simple from someone's perspective, as the there is only one summoner required, there is a catch for the usage of the catalysts. As explained by our resident Master Magus, the only one capable of using these catalyst for summoning is another magus, or even just someone with the capability of magic, from the other world where these catalysts came from, due to the nature of their magic being only compatible to the mana of that world's natives. Hence, the reason why you were summoned here, by Neptune. To become this nation's champion, and become the 'Master' of the seven Heroic Spirits that shall save this world, under the guidance of the Goddess of your represented nation.' Histoire explained. Hikaru, however, after hearing the whole thing, was still a little shocked, but it did not stop him from asking some more questions.
'Wait, you said 'this nation's champion' and something about representing Planeptune specifically. Are the other nations having their own champions too?' Hikaru asked, unable to ignore the part about the other nations. Histoire gave a rather...sorrowful sigh, as she answered.
'Normally, the goddess of the four nations, as well as me, being the will of the world, set up a meeting concerning these matter. While the nations of Leanbox and Lowee had conceded and were in agreement with Planeptune being the base of operations as well as the champion's represented nation, the goddess of Lastation went into opposition on the agreement, and decided to summon her own champion to make use of the seven catalyst most likely lying in wait in the 7 otherworldly dungeons of her ruled continent. We tried everything we can to make her avert her decision, and join the agreement, but...she didn't back down.' Histoire explained, regret slightly dripping from the tone of her voice.
It was the same tone Hikaru noticed when his mother would explain her worries to his father, like that time Arturia found out Hikaru disobeyed her rules and went into a brawl with the local bullies, after catching wind of them bullying Jinako and stealing her money at the train station. Arturia's exasperation as she explained her regret of not being more strict with Hikaru to Shirou really reflected Histoire's current state of tone.
'Why did she disagree though? Doesn't she realize her planet is in danger or something?' Hikaru asked.
'She does, but...at the same time, her competitive tendencies and her pride had overcome that sense of duty. The moment she heard of the matters concerning the champions did not help either.' Histoire replied back, somewhat now aware of the next incoming question, and is readying herself for it.
'So, as this nation's champion, what am I supposed to do then?' Hikaru asked, much to Histoire's expectation. She takes a deep breath, before finally answering.
'You must summon all 7 servants from this continent, strengthen them, and take down all the Servants of Lastation's champion in combat, with no specific method needed. Do anything you can to win. That way, the Goddess of Lastation will back down, and send back her summoned champion. After that...we can focus on the more severe problems, which is, of course, find out in what form is the disaster that will come, and prepare our 7 Servants for its impending arrival.' Histoire explained, her voice having gone cold and serious, causing Hikaru to straighten up.
'So, will you take upon this duty, become this nation's champion, and save the world, Emiya Hikaru?' Histoire asks, maintaining the cold, stoic manner of speaking she had a little earlier, causing Hikaru to gulp slightly at the contrast between the fairy-like being's cute appearance and her serious demeanor.
This decision...this choice...will decide the fate of this world.
Hikaru never thought of going through this even when he arrived. In his expectations, his 'journey' would consist of going in on an adventure while finding his way home, making great memories and souvenirs along the way. The thought of becoming someone who'll save the world...never really crossed his mind.
Having been born in an era of peace, Hikaru had simple dreams and wishes. The thought of becoming a hero that saved the world...it had already disappeared along with his other childhood dreams. Even his father had told him that becoming a 'hero' who saves everyone, while indeed a beautiful ideal, is never an easy path to thread. At times, it may never even be worth it. But, at the same time, it was also how his father found happiness. The smiles of the people he saved...that is what made all the efforts worthwhile. Hikaru had proclaimed to his father about wanting to become like him, much to Shirou's exaspiration about not wanting his son to follow his path. But, eventually growing up, Hikaru avoided the path of a hero, upon realizing that becoming a 'hero worthy of legends' is truly impossible in the era he's born into.
For him to be given an opportunity to protect those very same people...Hikaru hesitated. Not out of fear...but out of uncontrolled joy. For him to finally prove his father that he can do it too. That he can achieve his father's dream of saving people...he can finally do it!
Hikaru takes a deep breath, in an attempt to quell his own inner excitement. He focuses his eyes onto Histoire's, before finally speaking up.
'Yes. I shall accept this duty, and I will fight as Planeptune's Champion. I will do everything I can to save everyone, and give it all I got to fight to save this world!' Hikaru loudly declared, surprising everyone in the room, who had the thought of him backing off at the large responsibility. Except for Tia, who gave little to no shits as she was busy eating her 4th plate of pancakes topped with maple syrup.
'Very well...While I am glad, I too, feel regret, for you to have accepted such heavy burden, especially for someone so young. And thus, I promise to help you with everything you need from now on, Champion Emiya.' Histoire says with a gentle voice, with a soft smile. Meanwhile, Neptune, unable to hold her hunger anymore longer, decides to jump in.
'Okay, now that the protagonist has avoided Bad End #1, let's eat our breakfast already!' Neptune loudly declares, readying her plate, spoon, and fork, and was about to grab the next plate of pancakes...only for Tia to snatch it away like a skilled basketball player making a steal.
'Nepu! Stop raiding the pancakes like you raided Hikaru-kun's pants yesterday, Tia-chan!'
The dining room fell silent. Histoire's jaw and Hikaru's dropped at the same time. Tia only had a look of confusion and tilts her head at Neptune. IF's maniacal laugh can be heard from the background.
'Um, Tia-san...is that true?' Histoire asks the horned woman, who shakes her head, much to Hikaru's relief and Neptune's disappointment. However, Hikaru quickly noticed something...from the way Histoire talked to Tia.
'Histoire-san, do you and Tia-chan know each other?' Hikaru asked out his curiousity once more, to which Histoire gave him a small nod as her reply.
'I guess you could say that she and I are old friends. She has been around for a long time now. Isn't that right, Tiama-'
'Tia...Just Tia.' Tia cuts off Histoire, who has a look of understanding and simply nods her head. Right after that, Tia then proceeds to call out to Hikaru.
'Little Hikaru...here...eat breakfast...and...no left overs...alright?' Tia says in her usual, lisp tone of voice, the action surprising Hikaru as the horned woman hands him a plate of pancakes. The boy makes no hesitation and accepts the plate of pancakes, causing Tia to smile nostalgically.
'Ah, thanks, Tia-chan. I'll make sure to leave no survivors!' Hikaru says, before placing down the plate of pancakes at his side of the table. However, before he could even grab his fork, he feels a familiar warm sensation on top of his head, and finds Tia...petting him, just like how Arturia would when he improves on his training back on his younger days.
'Hehehe...good boy...' Tia says with a happy smile, much to Hikaru's embarrassment and shock. Meanwhile, Neptune laughed her heart out while Histoire moved in to make sure her own supply of pancakes isn't depleted...
The group eventually had their breakfast, although Histoire took note of making sure pancake is only consumed three times a week.
After breakfast has been done, Hikaru, together with Histoire and Tia, headed for the Basilicom's main elevator, now currently heading down to the divine altar deep down in the Basilicom, as it was where the Master Magus had set up the summoning gate for the future summoning of the 7 Servants. Histoire thought that she could at least orient Hikaru on his teacher and mentor for the upcoming summonings, as well as have him learn the basics of magic, as instructed by the Master Magus herself. They only have 3 weeks before they begin the raid on the first catalyst dungeon, after all. So while Histoire works on the information regarding the dungeon, the Master Magus could at least make sure the Champion is well prepared.
The elevator makes a clinking sound, before stopping and opening its doors, revealing a place similar to where Hikaru found Tia: It was a gigantic, oval area that is as wide as a football stadium, surrounded by waterfalls. A gigantic, purple altar with a statue of Purple Heart is found on one end, while a double door gate is found at the other end. This time, the entrance to the place is smack dab in the middle of the area, where the elevator and its door stood. Beside the elevator stands a large house, resembling something that Hikaru saw as something that belongs to the late 18th century, like those in London at that era.
'Ah, welcome back Histoire...Oh, and who is that young man with you? And who is that horned woman who came along?' The voice of a young woman earned Hikaru's attention. He looks for the source, who then appears to be standing right next to the door of the large house. Said person is a young woman, around her late teens, appearing around 4 years older than Hikaru.
She has denim blue hair that reaches her waist, indigo eyes and a mole that sits just below her left eye. Her bangs have a slant cut to them. She wears a brownish witch hat with three gears; the top two criss-crossing each other around the crown. She also wears a white overcoat with brown details and a brown dress beneath it with a red tie. She also wears grey thigh-High stockings and black shoes. She also wields a staff that is curved at the top. A cheshire-like smile is present on her face.
'Ah, let me introduce you to the Magus who'll mentor you for the course your journey, Emiya-kun.' After saying that, Histoire gestures to the blue haired Magus as the fairy-like being spoke, 'This is MAGES, the resident Master Magus who volunteered to be your mentor, as well as the one who shall be helping us on the summoning of the Servants. MAGES, this young man here is Emiya Hikaru, the Champion of Planeptune, and the apprentice you'll be teaching till the threat of 'The Disaster' is over. And...Tia-san here is the occupant of the Altar cave, but was convinced by Emiya-kun to leave the cave, hence why...she will be with him for a while.' Histoire finished, earning her a nod from the magus, who then proceeds to turn her attention to Hikaru...
...And suddenly places her left hand on the boy's chest, and gropes it, much to Hikaru's shock. The latter quickly swats off MAGES' hand, his face really red from what just happened.
'What the bloody hell are you doing?!' Hikaru nearly shouted. Seriously, if some strangely dressed weirdo started groping you, one would be irritated as well, Hikaru thought.
'Ah, that hardness of muscle...you are of the male species, alright. I was simply having doubts, my dear apprentice, as your outer appearance, especially your face, didn't not even whisper a hint of testosterone. This is the Neptunia series we are talking about after all, and a male character who isn't a villain, a punching bag, or pretty damn ugly is unheard of. Unless you're a talking fish from the last main game.' MAGES bluntly stated, causing a face-palm from Hikaru, a small laugh from Histoire, and a head tilt from Tia.
'It seems the two of you are already getting along well. I shall take my leave, since I have to make sure that Neptune did finish the paperwork I left her. I also need to talk to Tia-san about rules concerning the rooms, so I'll be taking her with me. Till then, everyone.' Histoire makes a small bow, before finally flying to the elevator, followed by a hesitant Tia, who kept glancing back in worry of Hikaru as she left. Meanwhile, Hikaru is left alone with MAGES, who proceeds to call him out.
'Well, then, boy. From this point onwards, you shall refer to me as Sensei. Are we clear? Be proud, for you are the first apprentice of the Mad Magician, MAGES.! With a period, mind you.' MAGES says, while posing in a theatrical manner, something that reminded Hikaru of...JoJo's Bizarre Adv*ntures.
The actions of his sensei, it...
...It smells of chuunibyo. No, wait, everything about her is chuuni!
'Yes, sensei. I understand. I look forward to learning magic with you!' Hikaru makes a small bow, with MAGES making a satisfied smile at the boy's politeness. Said politeness is actually holding back his desire to blatantly point out the chuunibyo in front of him.
'Before we begin, allow to check on your Magic energy, apprentice.' With that said, MAGES swiftly moves behind Hikaru, and places a hand on his back, causing a bright green light to shine from where the hand of the magus is making contact.
'Apprentice...are you from a family of mages? If yes, what generation are you?' MAGES asked, causing Hikaru to scratch his head before answering.
'Well, I don't really know myself. Until recently, I've thought about them as normal people, with normal lives. Until Neptune visited me, I never knew father kept a large arsenal of...mythological weapons beneath the junk house of our home.' Hikaru explained, 'I brought one of those weapons with me, in fact. It's in the room I'm staying in. So yeah...father may have been a mage, or maybe not. I don't know myself.'
'...I see.' MAGES says, as she reads the result of her scan of the boy's body. While his father being a magus could explain Hikaru having magic energy, it...didn't explain the results of the analysis happening right now, like the large amount of energy he has, and his magic core. Hikaru's words does not imply that he...knew of the dragon blood that flows within him. Moreover, despite claiming to be normal, his magic energy is freshly ignited. Also, instead of the usual 'pot' shaped container of magic energy, Hikaru's have the shape of...veins. No, rather, they looked like computer circuits to MAGES. Is this the difference between the humans of the two worlds? Moreover, those circuits appear that they can be counted, as well.
Currently, the magic analysis shows that Hikaru has a total of 150 'circuits', with only twenty five active and usable, as the rest are recently overheated, and are still cooling down from sudden awakening and over-usage. Moreover, each circuit has smaller divisions, as each one of them contained 100 smaller branches, which MAGES decides to dub as 'sub-units'.
His elemental affinity...Sunlight.
What in the world?!
No, MAGES shook her head off from the temptations of conclusions. First, she has to make sure...
'Sensei, what are these Magic energy you talk about?' Hikaru asked.
'I shall explain them to you later. But, for now, I need you to tell me something important.' MAGES' voice takes a serious turn as she continues, 'What are the names of your parents? The ones before the marriage.'
Hikaru made a raised eyebrow at the question. Is it related to his father?
'Well, my father's name is Emiya Shirou. My mother, before marriage, was named Arturia Pendragon.'
MAGES' soul almost jumped out her body. Pendragon?! As in, those Pendragons?! MAGES shook her head. If her information gained from the strange, foreign books are correct, only the legendary hero and king named Arthur Pendragon received dragon blood, albeit artificially. If anything, the only ones from his bloodline gaining the same naturally composed, large amount of dragon blood like Hikaru would be Arthur's descendants. Hikaru himself may be one from a long, long line, the magus thought. Whatever the case, her apprentice's natural biological make-up makes him a seemingly natural candidate for becoming a magus, which is why his normality and lack of knowledge concerning magic baffles MAGES. If his father truly is a magus, why would he waste his son's potential?
At least, MAGES now knows the reason for Hikaru's large energy capacity and his natural magic core. Dragon blood is a powerful magic strengthening attribute, after all.
It might be possible that his mother had thick dragon blood in her as well, and her 9 months of carrying Hikaru to term might have allowed the dragon blood embedded into her own blood to mutate and affect the boy's growth and development in the womb.
'Oh, I see. Forgive my…nosy tendencies. I do have a bad habit of getting all sorts of trivial information about my students after all.' MAGES comments, before removing her hand from Hikaru's back. Taking a deep breath, MAGES suddenly teleports right in front of Hikaru in a flash of blue light. The magus has a satisfied look on her face as she decides to tell of what she discovered…partly.
'You currently have a total of 150 active magic circuits, with a sub-unit of 100 each. As of right now, however, due to the forced awakening of your...circuits due to whatever you may have done before arriving here, you can currently utilize only 25 out of 150, as the other 125 are in cooldown.' MAGES explained, leaving out the part of the dragon blood and the magic core, for learning reasons. Until Hikaru can prove himself worthy of using those abilities, and learning more of magic, he must not know all of his cards.
'I don't really understand that, but, does that mean I can learn and use magic, sensei?' Hikaru asked, albeit a little excited. MAGES simply gave him a small nod, before replying.
'It means that you have a lot of...tunnel ways to release your magic energy, apprentice. And yes, you can use magic. However, due to the restraints in time, we will have to go over the basic fundamentals of magic, and move over to application of knowledge as fast as we can. First, we shall have you learn basic terms, and as well as teach you how to activate and control your magic energy. I do not know of the structure and logic of magic from your world, but, whatever works here might be applicable to you as well.' MAGES explained, causing Hikaru to tilt his head. Now that he thought about it, he is from another world, and the way magic works in his world might be an entirely different animal than the one he's currently in.
'Then...please start, sensei!' Hikaru says, before making a small bow.
'Follow me then, apprentice. The workshop is in this house, after all. It will be like...our very own school. So, please pay attention.' With that, MAGES gestures to Hikaru with a...strange pose, once again. Hikaru swore he saw letters fly as his teacher posed and opened the door, with the letters forming words that reflect the sound effects of...whatever MAGES is doing. Just like JoJo's Biz*rre Adventures.
The only thing lacking right now would be his magic teacher sparkling fabulously with each pose she makes, Hikaru thought as he follows his teacher inside of the large, western house...
What greeted him inside...was pretty nostalgic to his eyes. What he found is basically what he'd dub as a mage's workshop in RPG's, with all the books, magic circle in the floor, the study table with magical looking artifacts on it, a set of stairs leading to the second floor where the mage's bedroom might be found, and a little armory on one side of the room containing the different staffs and magic equipment for the mage.
'Wow...so this is a real-life mage workshop...' Hikaru commented, causing MAGES to make a chuckle.
'Now, now, apprentice. We might be teacher and student, but I'm still a girl, you know. It is quite embarrassing for someone to stare this intently in what would count as my room.' MAGES declared, causing her apprentice to look at her...with a blank look, much to her surprise.
'...Okay.' Was Hikaru's plain reply. If it wasn't for the fact that MAGES would pose like a JoJo on each sentence she blurts out, Hikaru felt he would've fell for the harem protagonist baiting line. Meanwhile, MAGES feels a little disappointed about her lack of moe points.
'A-ahem. Take a seat on the floor, apprentice. I shall now begin discussing the basics of magic, and I want you to listen carefully, and take notes if need be.' MAGES says, before taking out a small notebook and pen, and passes to Hikaru, who takes them, sits on the floor, and focuses intently on MAGES.
'First and foremost, what is magic? The closest answer is and shall always be that it is a 'reenactment' of the supernatural, or miracles, which is not done by the physical and mental efforts of man known as science. Magic requires the physical, mental, and spiritual efforts of man to work, and one cannot work with even just one of the three missing. And...' MAGES begins her lecture, whilst Hikaru listened carefully, while taking notes, of course.
A day later, they began the lessons on how to draw, activate, and control magic energy, which MAGES dubs as mana.
It was by then that Hikaru learned his mental trigger for his magic, which is the sound of a large church tower bell ringing with full force once, and his aria, the 'trigger word' for his magic circuits to start up and fill up with mana ready for casting.
After two days of practicing drawing, activation, and control of mana, MAGES announces that they shall now move onto the basic support magic spells...
All through the lessons, Hikaru learned a lot of things, and he did with enthusiasm. He is learning magic, after all, something that he has always dreamed of as a child.
Romancing Saga Minstrel Isometric Exercises Online
And thus, began the first week of magic class for Emiya Hikaru...
On the sixth day of the fourth week and 2nd month of the magic class, inside MAGES' workshop...
'Very good. It seems that the short lessons and crash course on reinforcement and healing spells have broke through. Good job on making your first surviving that 50 meter fall, apprentice.' MAGES declared, clapping her hands rather proudly for her apprentice's achievement, and his fast learning speed.
Meanwhile, Hikaru is un-amused.
'Of course, it would work. I mean, why the bloody hell wouldn't it when you chucked me off straight from a helicopter straight into the sea! I saw my life flash before my eyes, damn it! My body still stings, too, since yesterday!' Hikaru complained, only for MAGES to make a sigh.
'But that's the point. To make sure you know how reinforcement and healing magic are supposed to work and what they are supposed to be used for as soon as possible...through a crash course. Get it, apprentice?' MAGES says with a smirk, earning her a groan from her apprentice. After finishing that line, MAGES proceeds to take out a stack of paper with an insignia on it, which glows with a white light.
'You still remember the basics on activating, drawing, and control, right?' MAGES asked, earning her a nod from Hikaru.
'Then, I want you to hold a piece of this paper, draw out your mana, and infuse it with the paper I gave you. No, not in the reinforcement method. Just mix your mana with the item, like how you would when you dip an entire paper into a bucket of water.' MAGES explained, giving a single piece of paper to Hikaru, who grabs one with both hands.
'What are these for anyway, sensei?' The apprentice asked, earning him a small nod from the magus, who proceeds to grab her own piece of the strange paper, before infusing it with her mana. In a split second, one corner of the paper lit up in fire, one turned into ice, one got fried with lightning, and the last corner got shredded by small blades of wind, while the very center of the paper disappeared suddenly. Hikaru's eyes showed surprise, earning him a proud smirk from MAGES, who proceeds to explain.
'This paper is used to detect and show a magus's elemental affinity by filtering it straight from freshly taken mana from a caster. The method done by the magic on the paper is something similar to a blood testing to determine blood type, or even DNA test. As you can see, I have the affinity of five different elements, although three of them are not of the basic five elements I told you about on the first week's discussion. However, we are here for your affinity, is it not?' MAGES then points out a finger to Hikaru, 'You did not forget your aria, did you not? Then, start now.' MAGES instructed, to which Hikaru quickly obeyed. Normally, this method is not needed as MAGES had already done an analysis...if Hikaru's elemental affinity was something common, that is.
Sunlight...MAGES had never encountered an elemental affinity like that before. Hence, the reason why she seeks how it truly works...by having it tested out on a material object that can draw it out without having Hikaru learn the slightly difficult elemental based spells, as there might not even be any existing for his element. There's also the issue of his Origin. MAGES made a sigh as she still doesn't have a way of determining those two things completely...
'Ignition, On.' The sound of a church tower bell rung in Hikaru's head, as he feels the ignition of the 25 circuits on his back. Mana 'bursts' out of them, causing a surge of magical energy around the room, and covered the entirety of his body in the form of golden light dancing around like flames, giving him the feeling of strengthening himself several times over, even without reinforcement. He quickly manipulates part of it to the paper in his hands, feeling slight heat from the object as his mana entered it. In a split second...
...The entire paper glows with a golden light, lighting up the whole room. No, rather, it was as if the paper became a miniature sun and made everything unnecessarily brighter.
'Apprentice, feel free to stop anytime now. I did not bring my sun glasses today.' MAGES instructs, while covering her eyes with her witch hat, meanwhile, Hikaru, who took the full brunt of his own light show, manages to draw back his mana even through the dizziness he's experiencing, his sight having taken the flash of light like a flash bang was ignited right in front of his face. In a split second, the light is gone.
'It seems that your element literally is sunlight. It will be hard to formulate spells, much less find you a spell from other elements that it can borrow from.' MAGES declares, while taking the piece of magical paper from Hikaru, who has just recovered from dizziness.
'Hmm…How about my reinforcement and healing spells? Is there a way I can utilize my Element into them?' Hikaru asks as MAGES goes to her study table, and takes out a book, entitled 'Vinheim School's Basic Offensive Spells'. The magus hands the book to Hikaru, who takes on a childish smile as he read the english written title of the book.
'Yes, it might be possible, as healing spells and reinforcement do no rely on a specific element. Also, now that you know of the basic support spells, a bit of non-elemental offensive spells would do well, for a beginner magus like yourself. For today, I want you to learn on how to cast those offensive spells. Starting tomorrow, and for this whole week, we shall spent the time outside practicing your spells in actual battle with monsters, both offensive and the support. We can't have you join us in the raid of the catalyst dungeons unprepared, after all.' MAGES instructs, emphasizing the last part. For him to lead the band of seven servants, he himself must not be a burden, and must know how to fight alongside them, especially at the the day where 'The Disaster' shall arrive. There's also the trust to be gained from these Servants, who are legendary heroes themselves, and that trust might be something related if their master is truly reliable as their back support in battle, for what legendary hero brings nothing but burden to the battle field?
In fact, from what Histoire told MAGES herself, these catalyst dungeons might be an opening trial to test the Master's worth, and if the Master truly is capable and deserving of the Servant's loyalty.
Speaking of strength, MAGES remembered something…
'Apprentice, concerning your…trigger for your start-up, is there truly no difference in your body between the time the aria is activated and when it is not?' MAGES asks, causing Hikaru to think back on the times he's activated his circuits for spell casting. Now that he thought about he, he…does feel more confident, hot blooded, and stronger while the Ignition is active, but the apprentice doubted that it involved physical strength as well. For all he knows, it might just be the spell making his heart beat faster and simply turning his balls into steel.
In short, his Ignition might just be boosting his ego other than allowing spell casting, and isn't really physically improving him while activated.
But then again, he never really took a physical strength test while his ignition state was activated. There's also the issue of getting tired after two usages of the aforementioned ignition, meaning that the current number of circuits he can use can't handle the strain of more than two tries, and each try can last for only 5 minutes as well.
He only used ignition once today, so he still has one more 'try' left, so…a physical test might be possible, Hikaru thought.
'Say, sensei, how about a physical strength test? We haven't had one to test my ignition's effects on my body, right?' Hikaru suggested. MAGES had a look of remembering something as she digested Hikaru's words, and remembers the plans she had for the said occasion. Said plans were never initiated as she was busy focusing on her apprentice's magic aptitude and learning.
'Very well. Take out your weapon. Here's your target.' MAGES suddenly announces, before raising her staff. A glyph appears on the area outside the workshop, and from it, an ice statue of an armored knight, with its shield raised, drops onto the ground. Hikaru stared at awe, before remembering he left his weapon back at his room.
'Uh, sensei, I…kinda left my sword upstairs, so can you give me a few minutes-'
'No need. Here.' MAGES cuts off Hikaru, before heading for her the small armory of her workshop, opens the cabinet, and takes out a normal, plain looking long sword. It has a red handle, a silver colored guard and blade. The magus passes it to Hikaru, who gives her a nod and an excited face.
'Okay, please follow me outside, sensei!' The apprentice says before heading outside, which MAGES follows after. Once they were outside, Hikaru takes up a combat stance, before charging forward and landing an overhead slash on the shield of the ice statue knight. Said attack bounced off without even making a dent on the ice shield. Hikaru backs off with a quick step, having treated the practice like an actual practice battle.
'Now, activate ignition state.' MAGES declares, earning a nod of affirmation from Hikaru.
-BGM: 'Sword of Promised Victory' from Fate/Zero-
'Ignition, On!' Hikaru shouted, causing the sound of church tower bell to ring in his head once more, this time at full force. Mana bursts out of his circuits once more, enveloping the rest of his body and his borrowed sword in the form of a golden light that danced around like flames. Hikaru charges at the statue again, executing a diagonal slash powered by his charge…
The swing cuts both the shield and the statue itself cleanly, and Hikaru, not really expecting it to happen and was expecting to bounce back from the supposed toughness of the statue, lost his balance and rolled on the floor disgracefully and comically while cursing as it occured, much to MAGES' amusement. However, MAGES is now sure of one thing…
That Hikaru's ignition really does affect his physical state, as well as any items he has on hand, since the long sword MAGES lent him was already pretty damn rusty and would have broken in half at the second swing. It appears that the apprentice's magic start up is more of a special magic trait than a normal magic activation. A unique passive ability, which deserves a proper name, MAGES thought as she approached her apprentice, who can barely stand from the tiredness of using his ignition a second time for the day.
The magus suddenly had a look of delight as she decides on what she should name the ability…
'Good work on the experiment, apprentice. Your ignition…we shall refer to it as Mana Ignition from this point on. For it is more of a special magic trait you possess, than just a simple start-up verse.' MAGES declared, much to Hikaru's relief. No, the fact that he was thankful for bring helped up is just part of it. The real reason for the relief he feels is the fact that his teacher did not give birth to magnificently chuunibyo nickname for his…special magic trait.
-BGM Fades-
'Phew…I'm beat. Can I rest for the day, sensei? I'm not sure I can keep casting after my second use.' Hikaru says, to which MAGES gave him a simple nod. The latter teleports into the work shop, before teleporting back outside and giving Hikaru the book of offensive spells MAGES gave earlier.
'Feel free to rest, apprentice. Do remember to read that book I gave you, learn its casting process, and come back here tomorrow, do you understand?' The magus instructs as Hikaru gave a small bow and left for the elevator. Coming back to the work shop, MAGES head for the area where her favorite couch was situated, and proceeds to rest herself.
'Haa…I only hope things will be just as smooth during the raids, and the Servant summonings. I can't imagine having to handle an uncooperative or a rouge Servant with ulterior motives…' MAGES says to herself, imagining the possibilities of future events. Moreover, her current apprentice…had an abnormal learning speed. Activation, drawing, and control of mana would take at least an entire month's time to be properly done, whilst the apprentice managed to smoothen the flow of mana from onto and out of his body smoothly after two days of whole day practice. Not to mention the quick learning of spells he did. While he didn't really master them, he managed to be able to use them more effectively than any other newbie would when given the same time limit he has. There's also his discovery of his Mana Ignition and his aria in such a short time, not to mention the recently discovered physical effects of his Mana Ignition, and his magic-centric biological make-up…
It was as if…he was meant to be a magus.
And thus, MAGES' confusion as to why Hikaru's might-be-a-magus father didn't raise the boy as one. So much potential, so many possibilities…left to rot in a normal life. For a magus like MAGES, it was the same as watching someone flaunt their ultimately high-spec gaming PC around, only for them to use it for office work and documental editing.
It was…wrong.
'Haah…What could be that other world be like…for someone like that apprentice of mine to be deprived of his potential…Are there also schools of magic there? If so, why isn't my apprentice in one? Just what…are the magus over there in that world, are like?…ZZZZZZ…' MAGES, not wanting to bother her own sleep, decides to just close her eyes and let her mind rest. For now, with no way to the other world, she could just…imagine what it's like over there…
'I'm back!' Hikaru announced, entering the dining room of the Basilicom's top floor. Already sitting around the table and eating are Histoire, Neptune, IF, Compa, and Tia. All of them greeted him as he sat down.
'Welcome back, Hikaru-kun. Please, join us for lunch.' Histoire greeted.
'Ah, Emiya-san, lunch is ready! Eat a lot today too, okay?' Greeted Compa, the resident nurse. She has a light creamy pink hair that is somewhat long and curls along the edges worn with a black headband with a C patched on the side. Her eyes match her hair color. She wears a tan-white wool styled tank top with big neck and un-attached sleeves and matching styled boots, but with small ribbons/fuzzy balls at the top. Compa also wears a red plaid skirt, a black choker with a small heart on it, black-brown kneesocks with light pink heart cut frills, and often carries a black hip purse, and heart shaped buttons. Like her headband, both her purse and the heart on the choker has a C logo
Hikaru met her on the third day of his training, as he went to the Basilicom's clinic to get some vitamin C medicines that MAGES requested. It was there that he met Compa, who as cleaning and patching up the wound of a maintenance employee who fell from a climbing ladder, and got a large would on the arms and legs as a result.
Compared to the rest of the people he met so far, with the exception of Histoire, Compa is…really normal. And really moe, too. Her demeanor reminded Hikaru of Matou Sakura, another family friend who visits the house almost regularly and even cooks for everyone. Hikaru really never thought of Matou-san as moe, though. She feels like a the gentle onee-chan sort of person…
'Little Hikaru…we have…Cordon Bleu…' Tia, with a smile, says in her trademark lisp voice that only Hikaru can hear, before handling him a plate full of Cordon Bleu's, an amount that can feed an entire class, much to Hikaru's surprise and happiness, 'Here…reserved some…for you…' Tia finished, her low volume manner of speaking not changing.
'Thanks, Tia-chan.' Hikaru says, before accepting the plate of Cordon Bleu's.
'Well, well, looks like someone came back whole from that drop at the sea…' IF started, giving a teasing look to Hikaru, who gave a raised eyebrow. IF just continues, 'So, how was the sky diving at sea yesterday, Emiya-kun? Did you see any mermaids?'
'I didn't see any mermaids. I saw angels carrying a 'Welcome to heaven' banner.' Hikaru retorted, much to IF's amused smirk. In Hikaru's eyes, it was…as if he was dealing with another Tohsaka Rin. Because, as he spent time in the Basilicom, he himself had been the target of IF's teasing and witty repartee.
All of which sounded so damn similar to Hikaru's family friend. IF's voice does not really help matters either. It was as if Tohsaka-san followed him into the parallel world to ensure his daily dose of suffering by teasing and critical comebacks would never end, no matter where he runs.
Hanging out with IF was starting to get scary, Hikaru thought. He could only imagine IF ripping her face off, revealing Tohsaka Rin inside all along.
'But, weren't angels supposed to be in air instead of water, Hikaru-kun?' Neptune chimed in.
'I saw them in a reflection on the water, okay?' Hikaru replied, before taking a look at the different foods on the table. Lots of meat based dishes, as well as round, cup sized tupper wares containing Frozen Brazo de Mercedes.
'Well, well, somebody went all out in the preparations. Was it Compa-san who prepared all this?' Hikaru asked, causing the resident nurse to nod proudly.
'Yep, she did! She's the best cook ever! You should totally taste her puddings too, Hikaru-kun! They're so sweet, soft, and bouncy, you'll be in heaven in seconds!' Neptune declared without any hesitation, nor care in the world, for that matter, resulting in the reddening of Compa's face, IF's smirk getting bigger, Histoire's sweat drop, and Hikaru's exasperation.
'Only when she cooks some pudding, then. I'm more of a black sambo person, though. Also, Compa-san, you should meet father! His cooking is pretty damn good, too!' Hikaru replied, believing himself to have avoided a bullet and wanted to endorse his father's cooking…to the residents of another world.
'Damn it, and here I thought he digs himself deeper and give me something to grill him with…oh well.' IF says aloud, much to Hikaru's surprise.
'Damn it, and here I thought I can have black mail material over Hikaru-kun! I even readied my recorder too!' Neptune added.
'Damn it…his brain…worked…No fun at all…' Tia chimed in, this time actually shocking Hikaru, who didn't expect even a drop of sadism out of Tia's gentle demeanor.
'Everyone, your thoughts are leaking!' Hikaru retorted aloud. The three suspects looked at him…then returned their attention to their food as they kept on making more plans to embarrass Hikaru…without giving a single care that their target is right beside them, much to Hikaru's annoyance.
'Now, everyone, please don't let your food get cold! The cook gets sad every time food is wasted, you know?' Compa called out to the bantering four, who all replied 'Yes, Compa-chan!' after seeing the rather adorable look of forced anger on Compa's face.
Histoire watched simply as she kept on eating, enjoying the peace while it still lasted…
On the last day of the 2nd month, the day before the raid of the first catalyst dungeon.
'So, do you think I am ready for tomorrow, sensei?' Hikaru asked the blue haired magus, who's currently sorting through her items in the holograph menu of her item disk, making sure to check her supply of mana potions and healing potions are still high enough.
'Yes, I do believe you're ready to go dungeon raiding…with a party on your side, of course. You're still too green for a solo raid, apprentice.' MAGES reminded Hikaru, who twitched as he just got found out spot on. The latter scratched his head while looking away.
'I didn't say anything about a solo raid or any of the sort.' Hikaru replied.
'I see. Have you gotten used to your item disk, yet?' MAGES asked her apprentice, to which he nodded and took out a blue colored item disk, with a red button in the middle. Two button, one red and one light blue, were situated at an edge of the disk.
'Yeah, I kinda am. Had to ask the store clerk to set up shortcut buttons for the healing potion and mana potion, though. I really don't want to scramble around my item menu in case of an emergency.' Hikaru explained. While having a disk with hammer-space and an interact-able menu is a good advantage, it will still be dangerous to even have to open the main menu of the disk and go through the different sections for each different items. As such, Hikaru decided that some shortcuts are needed.
'Good thinking.' MAGES declared, before closing the menu of her own item disk, and turning attention to Hikaru, 'We shall head for the last battle plan meeting at Histoire's office. Follow me, my apprentice, for it is time for the Mad Magician and her protege to make her appearance!' MAGES shouted out loud, whilst posing with letters magically forming around her at the same time, signifying more of the sound effects she makes. However, the moment she saw her apprentice stare at her blankly, she proceeds to give him a reprimanding look.
'Uh, lead the way?' Hikaru says sheepishly, only for MAGES to shake her head fervently.
'Boy, you are my apprentice, of the Mad Magician MAGES.! Why aren't you posing?! Won't you show pride as the protege of one of the best magus out there?!'
'Hell no! No way I'm doing those ridiculous poses of yours! And I'm not wasting mana for some fabulous special effects, either!'
MAGES sighed, as it seems converting someone into her kind appears to be difficult…
The meeting room had a tense atmosphere, one that is no different from a war council room. It also just happened that Neptune is asleep back in her room from all the gaming she had, much to Histoire's annoyance.
'Alright, everyone, we shall now start the last meeting for the raid of the first catalyst dungeon. IF-san, can you tell us of what you found in your scouting runs?' Histoire started, causing IF to take out a camera and presses buttons on it, causing it to release a holograph of a set of pictures, from what appears to be a familiar place to Hikaru.
'That's…a Shinto Temple. And looks quite abandoned too.' Hikaru commented at the state of the temple visible from the picture. There are leaves all over, the stairs are nearly filled to the brim with weed, and the wood from one of the buildings before the stairs appears to have been rotten for a long time. It was no different from a setting of a horror game.
'That's not the only thing I found, actually. Here, check out this one.' IF declared as she proceeds to swipe the holograph, transferring the gallery from number 1 to number 2.
Collective gasps resounded through the room as the pictures show a gigantic white snake, appearing to be at least 30 feet long, has glowing, demonic yellow eyes, and seems to breath blue colored flames. Hikaru gulped at the fact that the monster might be an unavoidable obstacle in the way to the summon catalyst he's supposed to look for.
'There were no random encounters around, at all. Only this over-sized, fire breathing dragon wannabee. Also, did you say you recognize the place, Emiya-kun?' IF asked, earning her a nod from the boy.
'It's a Shinto Temple. It's…kind of like a budget Basilicom. People go there to worship the gods and goddesses that reside there, and there are priests and priestesses to help with the people's prayer.' Hikaru explained. Despite his father having a good friend on the nearby temple in Fuyuki, he never really knows much of the specifics as he never really went there to pray anyway.
'I see…' Histoire replied with a saddened voice. What could have happened to the deities that reside there for their own variation of the Basilicom to end up so…rotten and abandoned?
'Have you found where the catalyst might be kept?' MAGES asked IF, who shook her head firmly, making the former sigh, 'And I was hoping we could avoid combat, considering the size of that thing.' MAGES commented, rearranging her witch hat.
'Not to sound arrogant here, but, even long before these catalyst dungeons arrived, we've already taken down even ancient dragons for a while now. If we do this carefully, we can and will win this, you know?' IF reassured, wanting to lift the morale. The blue haired magus simply smirked at IF.
'That is because we are in a party, and we have a hard hitting goddess with us. However, while we still have to take her with us on the raid as well, doesn't mean we won't have a part to play. Shall we discuss battle plans?' MAGES offered, to which IF soundly nodded.
'It's the usual boss tactic, with only minimal changes. Me and Neptune are the front-liners, and are the first to engage the enemy, as well as keep his attention at bay while landing as much blows as possible. MAGES will take the place of the main magic hitter, with Emiya-kun making sure she has enough space and time to cast her spells. Compa will hide somewhere in the back for healing, as usual. Any questions?' IF asked, with the group shaking their heads as an answer.
'Good. Let us rest up, then. The first step to save the world begins tomorrow, and we must be in our best forms. Good night, everyone.' Histoire announced, earning her a 'goodnight' from everyone else in the room as well, before they left for their respective rooms.
Hikaru laid down on his bed, looking at the ceiling as he tried to rest himself.
Despite having trained a lot during the last 2 months weeks, and even went on actual battles with monsters in the process, he still couldn't shake the feeling of nervousness that lingers in him. A gignatic, fire breathing snake…that's not something even a goblin or an orc will ever compare to.
But, at the same time, the frustration of not being a part of the front-liners also shook him. Not out of pride, and the position of being the mage's guard is actually useful in a fight, but…he still felt useless.
'I wonder…can I fight like a hero would, too?'
Those words lingered in Hikaru's mind even as he fell asleep…
The party of five, containing Hikaru, Neptune, IF, Compa, and MAGES stood at the entrance of the cave that leads to the rather dark and abandoned shinto temple. Formerly, there was only a small hill of flowers on where the cave once stood, solidifying the existence of the catalyst dungeon as a foreign element to the world.
'So, are you all ready?!' Neptune declared with energy. The rest of the party gave energetic nods with a smile, much to her delight.
'Damn right I am! Our story of saving the world begins here…Let's give that gigantic snake a fight that will forever be remembered as the beginning of a legend! Let's go!' Hikaru says as he raised Caliburn in an attempt to try and raise more moral.
While they were a little surprised, this didn't stop the party from feeling heated up and raising their weapons as well, before shouting 'Hell yeah!'.
The party goes into the cave…and after a few minutes, the party finds themselves walking in a wilderness in the middle of the night, with groups of flowers known as red dahlia glowing bright red, emanating the feeling of rage and betrayal with its reddish light. It was as if they entered a different dimension the moment they entered the cave.
The party simply moves forward…
After walking for 10 minutes straight, they find themselves between two old, rotten wood buildings, which are the same ones shown in IF's pictures. Hikaru felt a mix of nervousness and excitement start boiling in his chest as he looked up the set of stairs, and the entire place looking like something straight out of Fatal Fr*me not really helping matters.
'Alright, everyone, we're at the entrance now. Ready all your equipments!'
At IF's call, the party unleashes their weapons, readied at their hands. With that, they proceeded to walk the set of stairs, careful enough just in case the gigantic snake might jump onto them from above…
After thirty steps…
'Iffy, are we there yet?' Neptune asked.
'We nearly are. Keep walking.' IF replied.
After 50 steps…
'Are your sure this was the right temple, Iffy?' Compa asked, earning her a small nod from IF.
'YES. We're half-way there, so just walk, alright?' The brunette adventurer said.
After 85 steps…
'Oh, apprentice, your master's legs are bashed like a drunkard from a party of three days straight! Please carry her on piggy back!' MAGES chimed in, much to the veins that suddenly started plopping on Hikaru's forehead.
'Hell no!' Was the apprentice's reply.
After the 100th and final step…
'Hah…hah…hah…OH MY GAWD, are all the Basilicoms in your world without elevators, Hikaru-kun?!' Neptune complained as she quickly dropped on her knees after all the climbing, along with MAGES, who's also almost out of breath. The two looked they had a rough night with a bunch of orcs on ecstasy.
'I did say Shinto Temples are like budget Basilicoms. We have no elevators, only stairs and efforts. Step up your exercise game, Neptune.' Hikaru commented with a teasing smirk, much to Neptune's pouting face. Meanwhile, IF and Compa are now looking around, and are high on alert.
'Everyone, we're gonna head for the altar courtyard, where our big, scaly pet waits. Inform me when you've caught your breath and ready to transform, Neptune.' IF commented, to which Neptune gave an affirmative nod, while still huffing.
By exactly 10 minutes of rest, the party is now heated up once again, and with conviction, fighting spirit, and weapon in hand, they go forward towards the gate of the temple's altar courtyard, where the biggest obstacle awaits…
IF swiftly heads for one side of the gate's double doors, while Hikaru headed for the other door, before the both of them glanced at Neptune, as the signal for her to transform. The goddess quickly understands, and raises a hand as a purple pillar of light erupted around her. The pillar of light dissipates, leaving Purple Heart in place of the pre-teen version of the goddess.
'On the count of three…One, two…' On Purple Heart's words, Hikaru and IF got ready to open the door…
'…Three.'
The gate is pushed open, causing a blast of wind from inside. Purple Heart savors the cold touch of the air with a smile on her face, as if an expectation of hers was accomplished.
'Ahh…the cold air of a boss battle's omen. Is this how intense boss fights are in the other world?' Purple commented, while looking at Hikaru, who simply shook his head at those words.
'Nope. The current era is really peaceful. The time where people went on adventures like ours were, like, at least a hundred thousands of years ago in my world.' Hikaru explained, earning him a surprised look from the goddess.
'I see.' Purple Heart declared, before moving on the front of the group, 'Let's proceed, everyone!'
The party rushes into the gate, arriving at the insides of the courtyard…
-BGM: 'Grand Battle Theme' from Fate/Grand Order-
The moon shines brightly from the night sky, its light making a beautiful reflection on the skin of the gigantic snake who was in wait. As soon as it heard the party's footsteps inside the courtyard, the giant reptile twists its head to look at the party members.
Its glowing yellow eyes gave an unnerving air to the party, but it was not enough to even put a dent onto their resolve. In their minds and hearts, there is a monster that they must take down in front of them. And thus, their own stares did not falter against the beast's own.
Seeing the unshaken eyes of the humans before its own sight, the giant white snake bellowed out some azure flames in anger, before finally rearranging its body and charged towards the party.
'Everyone, dodge!' IF shouted, causing everyone to roll to the side as soon as the snake executed a biting charge, the party members barely dodging the fast attack. Without wasting time, IF, Hikaru, and Purple Heart charged towards the monster, and attempted to land multiple hits with their respective weapons. However, only a pair of hits were landed, as the giant snake reacted fast, and the skin felt like it had oil all over. The creature backs off a few meters away from the party, and cautiously starts locking its sights onto them.
'Alright, now, execute the planned formation!' Purple Heart roared, as she and IF charged towards the monster, while Hikaru moves in a defensive position in front of MAGES as she starts the chants for her spells, indicated by the ice blue glyph that danced around her as she chanted the casting verses.
The giant snake swiftly weaved through the attacks of IF and Purple Heart, its oily and tough skin showing only a few, shallow cuts from the attacks. However, this only caused a smirk on the brunette adventurer's as she draws back one of her katars, slips a hand onto her pockets, and quickly takes out a grenade. Purple Heart sees this, and decides to take the giant snake's attention. The goddess makes a risky maneuver by diving into the area near the lower neck and landing a hit-and-run attack, landing a slightly deeper wound than before, and earning her the snake's ire and attention.
The giant creature then attempts multiple high speed, wide open mouth bites at the goddess, which she then dodged multiple times in mid-air. In a split second, an explosion of flames scorched the back of the snake's head, thanks to IF's thrown incendiary grenade. As soon as the snake turns its attention to the brunette adventurer, a shout is heard.
'Conflagration Dust!' MAGES casts the name of the spell, its casting circle around here surging and exploding into flames. Hikaru, thanks to his training, could feel the large amount of mana burned through the spell casting. To be able to handle this amount and not screw up the casting...MAGES truly is a master magus. Hikaru couldn't even do reinforcement without screwing up in the last minute and send himself flying should he lose focus.
IF ran away from the giant snake as a cross of flames appeared right beneath the creature, and is just as large as the snake itself. More flames erupted the cross, landing several deep burns to the giant snake, and giving it wounds all over the body thanks to the shape of the flames. However, that was not the end as a powerful torrent of lava shot out of the cross's center, piercing the snake through before causing an explosion.
'Alright! Is it over?' Compa asked, readying her healing items and magic, just in case…
From the smoke of the explosion…bolts out the giant white snake, flying straight like an arrow towards MAGES' direction, blood flying from all its burnt wounds, and obviously attempting a do or die attack. On instinct, Hikaru swiftly…roundhouse kicks MAGES out of the way, before chanting his aria as the he became the only plausible target for the giant snake flying towards him.
'Ignition, On!' The sound of a church tower bell in full force swing echoes in Hikaru's mind as, followed by mana surging and bursting from the 25 circuits on his back, and embraces the entirety of his body in a form of a golden energy not unlike the sunlight. His circuits ready for use, Hikaru casts the defensive reinforcement spell name he learnt.
'Rakukaja!' Blue light envelops his body, toughening his skin and his tracksuit to a degree. He enters a defensive position as the giant snake opens its mouth in mid-air…
'Hikaru-kun!' Purple Heart tried to rush in…only for the ground to crack right after it presumably nabbed Hikaru, thanks to the force of its jump. The snake falls deep into the crevice it accidentally created, leaving a hole that led to a possibly endless darkness below.
'Crap! Neptune!' IF called out ot the goddess, who gets her signal, proceeds to carry the brunette adventurer on her free arm, and flies down to the darkness below…
-BGM Fades-
The giant snake landed on the ground with great force, causing great pain on its innards. That, combined with the pain of its earlier wounds, caused it to spit out Hikaru, who rolled onto the watery ground. The magus apprentice quickly regained his balance and focus, and rolled away before standing back up.
Hikaru quickly observes the environment around him. It appears that he had fallen down with the snake on a cavern of sorts. The ground has at least 5 centimeter's worth of water on it, and doesn't deprive anyone of movement speed. Around the walls of the cavern were clean, clear crystals sticking out, reflecting the light of the moon from above to the many other crystals around, creating a beautifully lit underground area. However, the magus apprentice did not have enough time to admire the place as the snake quickly regained its balance as well, although it seems to have lost some of its vigor from earlier, thanks to all the earlier wounds it received.
Hikaru gulped.
He asked himself: Will he be able to defeat it and survive?
No, he cannot have his doubts, now. He had accepted the duty of being the champion who will save the world. This battle…is his chance to prove his worth, his mettle as the so-called Champion of Planpetune. And thus…
Hikaru took a deep breath, and went into battle stance as the giant snake makes a fierce, dying roar at him. It appears that the beast won't go down without a fight, signified by the fierce stare from its eyes that never changed, filled to the brim with hatred and anger.
Hikaru stared back, his eyes filled with unflinching resolve. The will to run…overtaken by the will to live.
'If that's what you want, then fine. I'll show you…what I'm made of!'
-BGM: 'Apocalypsis Noctis' from Final Fantasy XV-
'I've still got three minutes worth of my first Mana Ignition…I must land a fatal hit before this runs out…and kill that snake at the duration of my second use!' Hikaru mentally noted, the snake raising its head, and charging at him. The moment the snake neared him by a few meters, time felt like it slowed down as Hikaru's heartbeat suddenly jumped rate. The magus apprentice rolls out of the way in time, not hurt by the attack. Although, as Hikaru himself noted, the attack is not as fierce as it was before it got wounded.
Wasting no time in getting back up, Hikaru sees the giant snake had quickly recovered from from its attack, and is already about to launch a second charge. However, it did not raise its head. Thus, meaning that the next attack…will not have as much force as the first hit.
Hikaru watched carefully, and in his expectation the giant snake thrusts its head, in lesser speed and power than before. It allowed the magus apprentice to dodge with a well-timed side step, allowing him to charge in and an overhead swing and a powered thrust to the right eye of the giant white snake, causing it to breath out blue flame around in panic and pain. Hikaru rolled away from the rampaging creature to a safe distance from the breath of flames.
Two minutes and thirty seconds left of the first Mana Ignition…
The giant snake backs off from where it could smell Hikaru, and with its remaining left eye, begins a set of quick, precise slamming and swiping attacks with its tail, which Hikaru dodged with quick side steps and some more rolls. However, the magus apprentice knew that the purpose of these attacks was not for offense, but…for stalling time.
Hikaru noted, before the swinging of the tail began, the snake raised its head, something similar to what Hikaru saw on an enemy eastern dragon back in the RPG's he played. This action of the giant snake…it was similar posture to when those eastern dragons in games would do when it's about to breath fire.
1 minute and thirty seconds left of the first Mana Ignition…
The giant white snake finally takes a deeper breath, with flames leaking out of its mouth…and the few wounds of its throat. Hikaru sees this in alert, rolls away from the snake's tail attacks, and takes a deep breath himself…
'Ignition, On! Rakukaja!' Hikaru consumes his second use of Mana Ignition and restarts the reinforcement spell in full force once more, causing another surge of golden light followed by blue light around his body. The snake finally charges its head in a distance near Hikaru, around 10 meters away from him…and breaths out blue flames at Hikaru at short range.
In a second, the place Hikaru stood in is covered in flames…as the giant white snake saw it. However, its left eye twitched in alarm as a golden shine tore through the flames it breath.
Hikaru, trusting the defensive power of his reinforcement for a suicidal maneuver, bolts towards the giant snake's open mouth through the flames…and this time, unlike the time with ice statue knight, Hikaru knew of the limits of the physical boost done by Mana Ignition, and exploited it alongside the defensive capabilities of his reinforcement spell. In seconds, he horizontally slashes upward the snake from its opened mouth, completely slicing off the upper head area of the giant snake that contained the brain and the upper tip of the spine.
The moment the chopped of head of the snake fell onto the ground, both it and the main body disintegrated into blue flames, unlike the monsters Hikaru fought earlier in Gameindustri. Moreover, Hikaru felt mana from the flames that the dead snake became, signifying origins of magic.
'It seems that creature…was made of magic. Unlike the ones around here, that eastern dragon rip-off didn't disintegrate into pixels. So this is something from my world, huh…Good thing I never go praying into temples! Ignition, Off.' Hikaru commented as he turns off his Mana Ignition, and falling down on his knees, and watching the rest of the flames in the air.
Much to his surprise, the flames converged into a single area, and exploded again, this time leaving a blue colored key. Hikaru stands up, and heads for the floating key. He grabs it, and was about to observe it further when he heard a voice from above…
'Hey, looking smug there, mister champion!' IF called out from above, carried by Purple Heart in one arm. The latter had a look of a parent watch her child get a gold medal at the Olympics, while the former simply had the smirk she usually has, but, this time, her eyes showed relief.
-BGM Fades-
'Ah, IF-san, and Neptune…Look what I got!' Hikaru says, raising the azure colored key he found. Purple Heart gently places IF to the ground, and heads for Hikaru before taking the key and…giving Hikaru a head pat, much to his embarrassment and red face.
'That was your first boss battle, was it not? Good job surviving, and seizing victory, my champion.' Purple says as she stopped the head pats, having enough amusements on Hikaru's flustered reactions.
'It's-it's not like I've won without the wounds it got earlier, so you guys are still part of the MVP's, you know?' Hikaru retorted, while attempting to hide his red face by looking away at the side. IF just chuckled as she just casually heads for Hikaru and pats his back. The magus apprentice grunted in pain as his muscles are currently in pain, and IF's pats are not helpng.
'Well, now, what's with that humble attitude, Mister Last Hitter? That's not like you! Where's that smug Emiya-kun a few moments earlier, before we entered the cave?' IF teased.
'Anyway, you know what we might use this one for?' Hikaru asked, pointing at the azure key in Purple Heart's hand. The goddess, in turn, looks around, and found a path lit by the moonlight reflecting crystals, leading somewhere. An expectant look grows on the goddess's face as she points to the path.
'Shall we check that suspiciously convenient pathway?' Purple Heart asks her two other companions, who nod in reply. With that, she tosses the key to Hikaru, who catches it.
'Follow me, everyone. We shall take the catalyst if the path leads us there, and call it a day after! I could really use some sweet, juicy steak right now…' Purple Heart complained, much to the laughter of her two companions, who found the goddess's hunger problems an iconic trait.
'Yeah, yeah, hold that stomach in, Neptune. We don't want you chewing on the catalyst now, don't we?' Hikaru commented, much to Purple Heart's exasperation and embarrassment.
'Yep. We can't screw up saving the world from the hunger problems of an overfed goddess, don't we, Emiya-kun?' IF chimed in as well, causing a glare at her and Hikaru from the goddess of Planeptune.
'Muu, you two are suddenly so buddy-buddy, and teaming up on me! Hmph, I'll just get the catalyst myself!' Purple Heart pouted before storming off in a way that Hikaru and IF found cute. However, remembering that it was Hikaru who had the key, the duo followed the purple goddess on the crystal lit path…
The trio eventually finds themselves in front of a large, metal double door. And as they guessed, there is indeed a keyhole for the key they got. Hikaru wastes no time, and opens the doors with glee, only for him to fail as his body is way too tired to even try to move large metallic double doors, to his embarrassment. And thus, Purple Heart and IF opened it instead.
'Wow…that box on the altar must be…' IF says as she eyes what she saw inside.
What greeted the trio is a stairwell, leading to an altar, surrounded by waterfalls at the top, where a shining, azure box lay, visible from where the party of three stood. With excitement overtaking them, the trio ran towards the altar. However, IF and Purple Heart stopped right before the end of the stairs, much to Hikaru's confusion.
'Uhh, why did you guys stop?' Hikaru asked, only for Purple Heart to shake her head and give him a smile as she spoke.
'To the last hitter goes the spoils. Grab that box, Hikaru-kun.' Purple Heart offered, followed by IF giving a nod to Hikaru when he looked at her. Seeing the support of his two party members, the magus apprentice heads for the altar, and grabs the azure colored box. The moment the box is no longer in physical contact with the altar, a strong earthquake rattles the area, surprising the trio. At the same time, blue colored glyphs surging with mana appeared beneath their feet.
'What the hell is happening?!' IF shouted.
'I don't know! Maybe some sort of alarm for the catalyst?!' Hikaru shouted back.
'Everyone, hold on!' Purple Heart joined in, as a pillar of blue light erupts from the glyphs beneath their feet…
After the pillar of blue light dissipates, the trio found themselves outside of the cave containing the catalyst dungeon. MAGES and Compa were with them too, as well. Before anyone could ask anything, however, the entire cave, along with everything inside, including the catalyst dungeon, disintegrated into blue flames that eventually dissipated into thin air, leaving naught but the hill of flowers that originally stood there before the forced arrival of the catalyst dungeon.
'Wow…so catalyst dungeons are a one-off kind of area, which dissipates as soon as the most important item is retrieved…So, where's the catalyst? I would like to test out the ritual the books I've read from Histoire had pointed out.' MAGES commented, looking at the hill of flowers. The master magus had planned to take some samples from the area, like pieces of wood and other items from the other world that it came from, but the lack of knowledge about it being a one-off area made MAGES take the area for granted as she planned a second visit.
'Yup, here's the box containing it.' Hikaru said as he raised the blue colored box in his hands. MAGES smiled, as the extraction was successful, and she could finally try the Heroic Spirit Summoning system she had read about, from one of the books that Histoire claimed to have been from the organization named Chaldea.
'Very well. Let us head back to the Basilicom as soon as possible. IF-san, please contact Histoire about our situation. Also, tell her to send a van to pick us up, for we are not in the state for the long walk we did a little earlier on the way here.' MAGES suggested to the brunette adventurer, who has already taken out her phone and dialed a set of numbers.
'Already on it, no worries.' IF replied.
'Phew, good job, everyone! I brought sandwiches with me today. Anyone hungry?' Compa called out with a gentle voice…resulting in Purple Heart, Hikaru, and MAGES lining up quickly, all of them looking so famished. Compa, however, was already happy at the fact that a lot of people are looking forward to her hand made food, and happily summons a picnic basket from her item disk.
And thus, while awaiting the van from the Basilicom, the party decided for a break for a few minutes…
The entire party now stands in front of the summoning gate in the lower levels of the Basilicom. Thanks to MAGES' workshop being just a few steps away, preparations for the summoning were done swiftly. The gates are already open. All that is left is to place the summoning catalyst in the middle of the magic circle drawn in front of the summoning gate, and for the summoning chant from the book to be said, and it's done.
Or so it is written in the books that MAGES got from Histoire.
The catalyst, something that Hikaru recognized as an old, rotting Japanese fan, is placed neatly in the very middle of the magic circle. The magus apprentice himself is standing in the direction that faces the opened summoning gate, where he could see a swirling blue space of sorts. The sight of it reminded him of a black hole.
'All preparations are done, apprentice. You may begin the summoning chant. You'll know it's successful if a red colored tattoo appears on your left hand after you finished chanting, and if your legendary hero appears on the middle of the magic circle, that is.' MAGES called out, making sure that her apprentice won't screw things up. And to make sure he won't, he was given an entire bottle of mana potion a little earlier, and was made to memorize the summoning chant, one thing he doubted about being from the book, considering his teacher's…chuuni tendencies.
'Okay, got it. Here I come!' Hikaru declared, before raising his left hand towards the summoning circle.
-BGM: 'Eiyuu Unmei no Uta' by EGOIST-
'Ye first, O silver, O iron.
O stone of the foundation, O Archduke of the Contract.
Hear me in the name of our great teacher, the Archmagus Schweinorg.
Let the descending winds be as a wall.
Let the gates in all directions be shut, rising above the crown, and let the three-forked roads to the Kingdom revolve.
Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut.
Five perfections for each repetition.
And now, let the filled sigils be annihilated in my stead!
Set.
Let thy body rest under my dominion, let my fate rest in thy blade.
If thou submitteth to the call of the Holy Grail, and if thou wilt obey this mind, this reason, then thou shalt respond.
I make my oath here.
I am that person who is become the virtue of all Heaven.
I am that person who is covered with the evil of all Hades.
But let thine eyes be clouded with chaos,
Thou, who art trapped in a cage of madness,
And I, who doth hold thy chain!
Thou seven heavens, clad in a trinity of words,
come past thy restraining rings, and be thou the hands that protect the balance-!'
The moment Hikaru finished the chant, the magic circle explodes in a torrent of blue flames. Everyone, with the exception of Hikaru, Histoire, and MAGES covered their eyes from the almost blinding pillar of azure that erupted.
The eventually dissipate, leaving someone in the middle of the magic circle. Hikaru almost lost his composure at the…beauty of the being that was summoned. It was as if a soft gale of warm air washed over him when he laid eyes on the summoned being…
What appeared before him is a young woman, looking like 5 years older than Hikaru is.
The woman has very light green hair, bright yellow eyes, and ivory skin. A pair of horns are situated on the sides of her head, pointing upwards. She wears a custom designed green and white kimono, which appears to have gold colored embroidery on the edges. The kimono itself has quite the high vertical cut on the area of the two legs, as the gaps managed to show her legs followed by her thigh-high socks. She wears a pair of ornate Japanese sandals for her feet as well.
She gives a bewitching look to Hikaru as she spoke.
'Servant, Kiyohime. Even though I look like this, I'm a Berserker you know? I'll be in your care, Master.' The woman, who calls herself Kiyohime, makes a slight bow, causing Hikaru to do the same…
'Wait, did she just say she's a…Berserker Class Servant?! Someone this cute is a Berserker?! As in, Guts-like BERSERKER?! And…where did I hear the name Kiyohime again?' Hikaru couldn't help but stare in disbelief at 'Berserker' the contradiction of her Servant class and her appearance. Meanwhile, Kiyohime casually takes out a folding fan, spreads it open, and elegantly covers her mouth as she lets out a small giggle at her master's actions.
'My, my, keep staring like that and I just might explode in flames, Master~!'
-BGM Fades-
Some Important Info on Mechanics concerning Magic and Magecraft on this fic – Taking to consideration that the two worlds are vastly different in almost everything, especially in the treatment of magic, I decided to infuse things at the most possible way available. Apparently, Magic is un-warped, un-weakened, and is basically public utility for those who can use it in the world of the Neptunia series, and there's also the fact that their world is basically in the Age of Gods while humanity is still able to progress.
Also, people there can use magic without divine assistance, unlike F/SN's Age of the Gods where people needed some sort of divine assistance to be able to use magic. Also, humans of the (This Fic's) Neptunia verse don't have magic circuits, as MAGES pointed out in this chapter. They have a different magical biology compared to F/SN's humans, and thus has also a different way of casting spells. The teachings of either magus is applicable to the magical biology of the other, however.
Also, why does MAGES work like an Earth Magus, you ask?
The system of magic in this Fic's Neptunia verse is has the same basic 'main frame' as the (This Fic's) Nasuverse magcraft, but the Neptunia verse's development and advancement deviates from the path that the Nasuverse Magic takes somewhere in the past. And yep, any more than this line will be spoilers for the fic.
Also, Kiyohime's first line here is based on here line when she gets picked up from the summoning gacha. No, seriously.
That would be all for now.
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Till next time, people!