Micheal opened his eyes and looked out into a blackened void. He looked around putting a hand into his pocket as he started walking forward through the void. He didn't know where he was but he knew it was in here somewhere. As he moved he felt pain as curses latched onto his skin like fishhooks. He ignored them and kept walking forward. He knew that as long as he kept marching forward he would see her again at the end of all this. The curses grew in number, latching onto his skin trying to slow him down, to stop him from his goal, but he moved forward regardless. After walking for what felt like hours he reached a point where the curses felt the densest and noticed a hole floating in the air at his eye level from which curses flowed out like a steady river.
He stopped in front of it feeling the curses pool around his ankles and stared at the hole as it seemed to look back at him. He pulled his right hand out of his pocket, briefly looking at his spent command seals on the back of his hand, and then turned it palm up inbetween him and the hole. He closed his eyes and stimulated his origin for what was likely the final time as he pushed his eyes beyond their fullest potential,
and when he opened his eyes he [Saw/Perceived/Witnessed] everything.
Immediately the [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] assaulted his mind with curses to prevent him from [seeing] its weakness. He stared into the Abyss unblinking as blood began to freely drip from his eyes as [The Seven Virtues/Heaven/Divinity] began to gather in his upward facing palm illuminating the [Center] for the first time in its entire existence turning it from a blackened void of curses into half light-half dark as the Void tried to fight back against him.
Micheal felt the [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] gather its power and spear him through with concentrated curses. He coughed blood as he felt one pierce a lung. He smiled a bloody smile and held out his left hand palm down as he felt the curses begin to erode his senses. He closed his eyes and remembered what she had gone through. What she was currently going through to make this plan work.
He opened his eyes and in his left hand he gathered [The Seven Sins/Hell/The Absence of God] into a roiling ball of blackened fire. He then stared at the [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] and aligned his hands together fingers facing upwards. More curses cut through him and he felt his [Origin/Core/Soul/True Self] slowly being torn apart.
His smile widened at the [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] and he [felt] it shiver as his smile turned into one reminiscent of the woman he loved. The same woman who was using her hellfire to hold back the grail mud on her own.
He slammed his palms together right as a lance of curses reached for his face only for the lance to stop millimeters from his face and begin to crumble away as the shockwave that spawned from the combination of both [Heaven] and [Hell] blew the [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] apart curse by curse, layer by layer.
The [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] howled as it was blown away into dust until finally it left Micheal standing in a white void that seemed to go on forever. It was only then that the wounds the Grails Corruption had inflicted on him finally registered to him and he fell to a knee as he felt every cell in his body scream all at the same. He grit his teeth as he fell forward onto his stomach. He managed to turn his head to the side after he fell only to see the tips of his fingers slowly dissolving into golden particles, right as he felt his mind begin to fade. He smiled and closed his eyes,
"Alright Jeanne. The rest is on you. I'm gonna rest for a bit…"
~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeanne D'Arc Alter screamed, feeling her fingers crack and bleed from the curses the Grail Mud was burning into her as she reached out to touch the Holy Grail. She gritted her teeth and flooded the ground under her with more fire blowing the grail mud that had come up to above her knees away from her. She lunged for the grail only to be knocked aside by that damn Blackened King of Knights. She slid through the mud as she felt the third command seal Micheal had given her start to wear off. She summoned her sword and pointed it at the Fallen King as flames erupted from the ground and surged towards the Blackened Saber who leveled a Darkened Excalibur in response and shot forward using Invisible Air to both avoid the flames and get in close to Jeanne to strike. Jeanne twirled her flagspear deflecting the blade to the side as she swung her own sword in a strike meant to cleave the Fallen Saber from shoulder to hip.
Saber turned outward using the momentum of her sword being deflected to spin to Jeannes right only to come out of the spin with a kick aimed at Jeannes leg. Jeanne sidestepped and pushed off to get some distance. She leveled her sword at Blackened Saber and felt her rage burn hotter as she stoked her flames to be able to burn the air itself,
"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER THAN THIS. WHAT HAPPENED TO WANTING TO SAVE YOUR COUNTRY." Jeanne screamed as she felt her flames start to burn the grail mud around them. She glanced to her left and saw the Grail still spewing mud. She had to destroy the grail and the Darkened Saber in one shot but-
If she did she'd never get Micheal back.
The Darkened Artoria took advantage of Jeannes distraction and dashed forward, the air cracking behind her, as she rushed Jeanne stabbing forward with the Blackened Excalibur. Jeanne dodged but was slowed down by the mud that had enveloped her legs again causing the blade to nick the side of her neck. Jeanne clenched her fist and drove her gauntlet into the side of the blackened curiass Saber was wearing, denting it, and knocking her through the miasma of the mud and into the wall of the building. Jeanne's vision blurred as the curses continued to pile up and she staggered a bit while trying to make it back to the grail. She had to make her wish. She had to. It was the only way to fix everything.
Jeannes sixth sense screamed at her and she ducked as the blade of the Darkened Excalibur swung over where her head had been fractions of a second before causing it cut a few strands of her ashen white hair. She kicked out behind her and struck Saber in the center of her chest knocking her back a bit. She put that foot down, flooded herself with the last of the mana of the remaining Command Seal, and lunged for the grail right managing to get her fingers around the rim of it as time to seemed to slow down as light shot out of the cup, through the broken ceiling into the night sky above.
"Not fast enough!" Came the monotone voice of Saber as Jeanne felt the woman cut off her leg at the knee but Jeanne didn't care. She had gotten the grail. She firmed her grip on the lip of the cup and right as the Blackened Artoria drove her Darkened Excalibur through her heart she screamed her wish to the heavens.
--In a previous life--
Anthony grumbled as the metal detector was waved over his person. He had to get to his supervisors to ask what the hell had happened but instead it seemed like the universe was intent on slowing him down. Finally the guard grunted and waved him forward allowing Micheal through the security checkpoint as he pulled his lab coat back on along with the lanyard that served as his security pass. He walked up to the elevator and pressed the button to open the doors. He waited a few minutes, pressing the button every so often, as the sound of him grinding his teeth together became more audible to passers by,
"Isn't that the guy in charge of the Electromagnetic propulsion lab?"
"Yeah the same lab that just got its funding cut. We should keep moving. I've rumors about him being quick to anger…."
He idly rubbed his temple with two fingers ignoring the people that had walked by him. He had had a headache all week and that was before he got the email stating that all his staff had been laid off and his entire section was being defunded. He glanced to his right at their retreating backs and saw that their coats had the colors for the Quantum Lab. His face turned into a glare, he curled his hand into a fist, and punched the button for the elevator. Nothing happened at first and he was about to move to the stairs when the elevator finally dinged open and he stepped inside stabbing a finger at the button for the floor his lab was on. He rubbed his head again as the headache pulsed in time with his heartbeat.
Anthony had graduated top of his class almost five years ago in 2024 and had almost immediately been flooded with offers to do more of his work under various groups. He had finally decided on one group that seemed promising: the Orleans Research Institute in France. This had, of course, meant that he had had to pack up his entire life as he had known it and moved from the Tennessee Valley in the United States to Orleans, France. The entire time this was happening he had been practicing his french as well and by the time he landed he could at least ask a few questions and thank people. It wasn't elegant but he could still barely talk with people if he needed to. He had only achieved fluency about a year and a half ago.
Only recently something had been affecting their tests that he firmly blamed on the new Quantum Development Lab. His lab was testing the use of Electromagnetic cannons to launch satelite parts into low earth orbit to cut back on the use of rockets and therefore limit the amount of orbiting debris in that same part of the earths orbit . They had had a successful test just the month before even! They had successfully deployed a mock satellite and got it into Geo-stationary orbit. As far as he knew it was still up there.
The elevator jerked suddenly making Anthony stumble as the power flickered. He stared at the floor reader and panicked as he watched it blink out as the lights overhead cut out. He swore and pulled out his phone, turning on the flashlight function, and looked at the panel for the elevator to see if there was some emergency function. Not seeing one he kicked the wall of the elevator in frustration which only led him to bruising his toes through his work shoes. Then he heard creaking from overhead and he snapped his head up right as he heard what sounded like guitar strings snapping under strain. He quickly opened the call function on his phone and dialed for emergency services right as the floor of the elevator fell out from under him.
The last thing he remembered was the sensation of weightlessness as he realized he was going to die and closed his eyes….
He waited
and waited
and waited some more for the feeling of hitting the bottom of the elevator shaft. Gingerly he opened an eye and saw he was looking out at a black void. He felt a brief sense of vertigo as he couldn't tell if he was standing upright or not. He tried to move his arm to look at his phone but didn't feel any response from his body. He looked "down" and didn't see anything. As he began to panic and look around for anything he saw a pulsing blue light to his left and he turned to look up at it.
"Greetings. You have been selected to correct the 4th Holy Grail war."
If Anthony had a mouth it would have fallen open so instead he focused on trying to speak instead,
"erm….Hi. I'm Anthony. Where am I?"
The blue light pulsed as if considering its answer. He couldn't make heads or tails of its voice but it sounded vaguely feminine so he decided it was a "she",
"You're original body has perished. You have been selecte-"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'PERISHED'? I DIED? HOW?"
The light pulsed again a bit faster as if annoyed he had interrupted it,
"You died after impacting the bottom of the elevator shaft due to a quantum disturbance that-"
"THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS. I'LL KILL THEM."
The light pulsed again and Anthony briefly felt his sense of self fade a bit before it returned to normal. He looked up at the light and got the impression it was not impressed with him.
"If you continue to act disagreeably I will be forced to remove you from this plane and get another."
"So you're the one who just made me feel...all that?"
"Correct. Continued disagreeable behavior will result in your removal from the selection process."
"Will I go back home if I do get 'removed' as you've put it?"
"Reminder: You have perished. You would be going back to a body that fundamentally cannot accept you as you are now."
Anthony sighed and briefly wished he had something to drink. He settled for glaring at the light,
"Okay then. I can't go back to my body and you say if I act up I'll be 'removed' which I assume means ejected into the void around us."
"A succinct summary."
"Great…. So whats this crap about a 'grail war'?"
"The 4th Holy Grail War in Fuyuki Japan needs to be corrected as it is currently heading in a direction that would be...undesirable."
"And you somehow think I can 'fix' this. As I am. Right now. What I am assuming is a soul floating in wherever the fuck this is."
The blue light pulsed and a several holographic displays hovered in front of him. He attempted to reach out to touch one and saw that he could swipe up and down as though it was a touchscreen.
"...Explain all this to me. What are "magic circuits"? A "Crest"? The hell's an "affinity?"
He looked back up at the Blue light only for it to fuzz with static briefly, flash red, then flash green, then gold, and then back the blue it was before.
"Excuse me. I need to discuss something with the others."
"Wait. Others? Can you at least tell me what the hell a grail wa- and she's gone…. Fucks sake."
Anthony briefly stared at the space the blue light had been floating in before looking back down at the displays. They all had the same categories but had different things listed under them. One by one he flicked through them all trying to see if he could brute force any understanding through just reading the content.
Some amount of time later, he couldn't tell if it was minutes or hours, the blue light came back. He narrowed his eyes at it as the light seemed….off. Suddenly the displays all blinked out of existence and were replaced with one display,
"After...considering your position, consulting the others, as well as what will be required of you both in the grail war and potentially beyond, I was advised to prepare you this individual. Please read it."
Anthony arched an eyebrow and read the new display floating in front of him,
Magic Circuits: 86 (Quality: High-EX)
Crest: Lafaire (Age: 1,216 Accumulated) (Included Circuits: 105)
Attribute: Heavenly Aim; Heaven/Hell (!!!)
Elements: Fire; Earth; Lightning; Holy (!!!)
Origin: Saint XI (!!!)
Eyes: Jewel eyes of [ERROR] (!!!)
Family: Lafaire
Appearance: [Ineligible to change]
Age: 12 years (as of the creation this document)
Time until 4th Holy Grail War: Less than 10 years
Anthony read over it again and tried to make sense of what he was reading. He sighed and looked up at the light as it floated there
"I don't understand any of this aside from the fact that this person is a child currently and I am supposed to what? Take over their body?"
The Blue light flickered and spun for a few seconds before saying matter-of-factly,
"Micheal Lafaire is currently in a coma due to complete soul death. The only thing remaining is his physical body. Everything else bar his magical circuits have been removed due to previously stated soul death. He entered the coma during the final part of the crest implantation process and has been in said coma for approximately 1 year and 3 months."
"So what? I'd be pretending to be someones kid as they come out of a coma? Thats inhumane."
"Adjusting parameters…"
The display updated and under the "Age:" category was a subheading: "Memories of immediate contacts will be altered to adjust to your soul taking over. You will inherit all training and knowledge that Micheal Lafaire received up to entering his coma alongside specific knowledge to give you a basic understanding of the Moonlit World on top of whatever schooling he received up to the point of entering the aforementioned coma."
Anthony grunted realizing bitterly that this was the most he was going to get. He scanned back up the display and found he had another question,
"Okay fine. I'm still not okay with turning back into a 12 year old and going through puberty again but whatever. I do have more questions."
The blue light spun a little as if considering before it bobbed in place.
"You may ask some questions."
Anthony nodded and looked back at the display debating what to ask first. Eventually he figured he'd start with what was bugging him the most,
"Why do these 'jewel eyes' have an error for whatever they are."
The light blinked and spun rapidly before briefly turning gold again. It turned back to blue,
"I am not at liberty to say but be assured that they are incredibly potent. Explanations of Mystic eyes will be included in the knowledge you receive upon awakening."
"...Right. Okay next question then. Whats with the triple exclamation points next to some of these?"
"That indicates that those facets of yourself may change or be augmented as you grow older or energies within yourself."
"The eyes have them."
The light spun again,
"Again: I am not at liberty to say at this time."
Anthony grunted and decided to try a different question
"Okay explain "Heavenly Aim", "Saint XI" and "Heaven/Hell" then."
The light spun rapidly again and blinked between white and red so fast that Anthony was pretty sure he'd have a seizure if he was still alive. Eventually the light returned to normal and tilted to the side,
"I can only tell you in detail about 'Heavenly Aim': This attribute allows you to never miss anything that you think you can hit no matter how remote or distant. The other two you will need help in fully realizing the potential of both them. This is due to them being….outside of my control since they have been given to you by Someone Else."
Anthony stared at the light impassively for several seconds.
"If you assume that staring at me will encourage me to divulge further information I regret to inform you that you are wasting your time."
He sighed at the smugness in the Lights voice, and looked back at the display,
"What do you mean by 'never miss anything'? Like if I take a shot with a gun as long as I think I can make the shot it lands no matter the distance?"
"In essence yes. Barring anything in-between you and your target, you will land any shot on anything you think you can hit."
"You make it sound like I can 'hit' things other than targets."
The light spun a bit only to dim then brighten several times before its glow stabilized. Anthony got the feeling it was laughing at him. He frowned,
"Explain more about Heavenly Aim. Please." He ground out as patiently as he could.
The light spun a bit more and then started speaking as though he were a small child,
"The Attribute 'Heavenly Aim', in essence, allows you to never miss any target be it physical, spiritual, or otherwise by affecting causality to make sure that whatever you fired at it will always hit barring anything between you and your target."
"So what if between the time I take the shot and it hitting my target my target moves behind something that can't be shot through? Bullet Proof materials exist."
"I never said it had to be a firearm. As for your target moving behind something to block the shot, my advice to you is to have your shot...'negate' the obstacle."
"….Something to experiment with then. Alright, I have more questions."
The light bobbed in place twice and the pulsed a few times,
"Go ahead but do be aware that your current place is in danger."
If Anthony had had a body he would have felt a chill run down his spine,
"What do you mean."
"There are currently 107 other people currently in the selection process for this role in the 4th Holy Grail War at least 17 of which are currently finalizing their reincarnations. If you wish to have your questions answered you may lose your current spot at the front of the line at which point you will be removed."
Anthony swore, "Fucking hells- Fine! Fine! I accept! Strong arm me some more why don't you!"
The blue light pulsed and seemed to be smugly happy,
"Congratulations on accepting the offer. If I may give you one last piece of advice for free."
Anthony looked up at the light as his vision dimmed slowly,
"Try not to piss her off right out of the gate."
Who was she talking about…?