The Chosen One 05 (Patreon)

"it's gonna be okay, everything is alright, he's not here to bully you anymore..." Right now I'm giving a lap pillow to a girl and comforting her. "You did your best too, so don't feel sad." That girl is not Illya by the way, it's Absolute Demise.

The Eternal Ice Princess doesn't react, but I can tell she's calmer now. She isn't as communicative as Regulus, but according to him she has feelings, so I can't ignore the fact that her head got sniped.

And now that I have done that, it's time to talk with the other girl in the room. "S-so hey Illya, are you feeling better...?" She pretty much hasn't said a word since yesterday, and that didn't change even when I told her about the whole spider thing.

She nods. "Yes, my apologies for my recent lack of decorum." Nobody needs to apologize for crying. "And thank you for letting me stay here, even if my castle is much better." Are you a ice princess too?

I send her a smile. "I should be thanking you, since you saved me and all." She doesn't respond. Right now she's probably regretting that she got involved at all. "And... sorry that I got him killed." She was clearly attached to Berserker, even if he was literally mad.

She waves me off. "No need to apologize. As a Master I would have encountered Gilgamesh eventually. We actually managed to get closer to beating him due to your weapon anyways." Sadly getting closer doesn't mean much.

I look down, and a sigh escapes my mouth. "Illya, I most likely won't manage to grow strong enough in time to defeat Gilgamesh." Let's say the Holy Grail War lasts two more weeks, and that I keep training as hard as I have been so far...

That's two more Longinus, assuming my growth remains consistent. And I don't think having any more of these weapons would be enough. And the war could last even less than two weeks anyways...

Illya nods. "I figured. At least the spider will kill him eventually." She talks almost as if she knows what it is. And she probably does, but right now I don't have time to worry about that.

A smile slowly appears on her face. "Well, I guess I'll just enjoy myself until it's time for him to kill us!" She giggles. "Make sure to entertain me Big Bro, if you want to apologize, that's the way to go!" That's...

I shake my head. "I said I couldn't get strong enough to kill him by myself, but I never said I wouldn't kill him at all. So sorry about killing your hedonistic lifestyle before it even begins." I cannot let him destroy two countries. Obviously.

She hums. "Oh? Then what is the plan?"

I join my hands together. "Gilgamesh is absurdly strong, and at this point everyone should know that." I think. Surely people realized what happened? "And at that point, joining forces to defeat him is something that could happen."

"That said, I imagine Masters are a bit too paranoid to extend a hand to another. That's why I will act like a third party, recruiting everyone to beat him up." Finding the Masters is still a problem of course, but this is the best plan I could think of yesterday.

I also thought about targeting Gilgamesh's Master, whoever they are, but... he's clearly an Archer. From what I understand of the Grail War and its classes, that means he will stick around after his Master is gone.

Illya laughs. "So you plan to throw a bunch of losers at him until he falls?" Y-yes? "It won't work. Gilgamesh is the type who would win a war all by himself." I don't doubt that, it's just that I couldn't think of anything else.

Still, in the end her comment ended up lowering my already low morale. Training won't be enough, and ganging up on him won't be enough... Is there really no way to win here?

Regulus interjects. "Wielder, the girl is most likely right." Ah, so even he agrees. "But there's no reason why you shouldn't try anyways. A miracle could always happen." So in the end I just have to hope for a lucky break?

Illya scoffs. "It won't. And then we will have wasted all of our time with worrying when we should have enjoyed ourselves." I'd like to say she's throwing the towel too easily, but there is merit to what she's saying.

And I have a responsibility to her too so... "Feel free to enjoy yourself Illya, I'll give you all the money you need to do so." Though I doubt she's isn't rich anyways.

She smiles. "Great, then let's go play outside today." She really is a child in the end... "I want another popsicle." And now she's making me remember about something which a child really shouldn't do!

Ignoring that though... "Illya, I won't stop you from enjoying yourself, but I will focus on stopping Gilgamesh." Like I said before, I have a responsibility to her. And part of that responsibility is saving her from some golden maniac.

She rolls her eyes. "You're no fun." And now she's looking away while pouting. Did I miss some points just now? Is trying to stop our deaths considered not romantic!? Not that I care about that of course!

Regulus smiles. "That's my wielder. So do you have any ideas about how to go about this whole recruitment process?"

My smile however, is very awkward. "I sort of do...? I can try to find Tohsaka-Senpai and ask for her help at least." She might even have a stronger Servant than Gilgamesh! She didn't summon him like father did after all, and surely that was due to her own choice.

Immediately Regulus' smile dies. "I think she might be the one Master who refuses to help, considering what you have done... Also, we messed up her routine, so finding her will be hard." I know. She's probably not on her mansion, or the school anymore.

Illya raises an eyebrow. "You two are talking about Rin Tohsaka right? What happened for you to make her you enemy?" Oh boy.

I scratch my head in embarrassment. "I ended up wrecking her workshop and stealing some stuff." Her eyes widen. "Um... she shouldn't know it was me though. Hopefully." And I can always apologize and return the things I stole.

Yeah, I don't think that will work. It's a pretty simple situation, if Tohsaka knows what I did, then I'm permanently her enemy. Hopefully she would consider Gilgamesh to be a more urgent threat though.

Illya snorts. "Normally I would call you stupid for doing something like that when you're not even a Master, but I get it." You do!? Well, you did seem to love wrecking stuff when Berserker was still around.

Leaving that aside though... "There's also another Master I could possibly contact. The Matous... if they are one at all." Thankfully I haven't burned any bridges there, even if I wanted to.

"Which is why I'll go to school today. If Rin is there, great, if she isn't... I can still talk with either Sakura or Shinji." The latter obviously can't be a Master, but he should be aware of what's going on.

Regulus raises an eyebrow. "You plan to waste an entire day with school?"

I shake my head. "Nope, I'll just see if they're there and talk with them. Once that's done with I'll go back home, I can't exactly be stopped after all." Such actions will probably cause trouble once the war is over, but it can't be helped.

I can't waste time after all, so I'll come back and train until nighttime. Then I'll go hunt for Masters, though this time it won't be to kill them of course, it will be so I can form the anti-Gilgamesh Justice League.

Illya interjects. "Are you seriously planning to go on with this...? If it's because of your country, then don't worry. The planets have mechanisms of defense, they won't allow a Heroic Spirit to wipe out two nations." Well, that's good to know.

But there's more to it than that. "I see, but I doubt these mechanisms will protect you, so I have to act." Also, it goes without saying, but I don't want to die. Specially when I have a big spider to fight in a year.

Illya's face becomes red. "You... fine then! I just wanted to have some fun before the end, but if you want to waste your time, feel free!" Geez, it's not I'll stop her from going outside and having fun.

"Illya, trust me, as much as I want to party hard... or cry while I listen to Radiohead... I can't. It would be wrong to do so, I have to act." If it was just my life on the line... but it isn't.

I do still wish I could throw this responsibility onto somebody else's hands though. Why doesn't that fake janitor awaken superpowers and save everybody already, damn it!?

Her eye twitches. "Radiohead...?" She then shakes her head. "Ugh, whatever. I'll be counting on you then, so make sure you don't come home late." Hah, that's the first time someone said something like that to me.

"That's a pretty hard ask, but I'll try."



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"Well, at least the day is nice and sunny." Being back on school grounds feels weird. I mean, I haven't stepped foot in here since my training started.

And... even if it is indeed a nice day, something feels wrong. Something has been feeling wrong ever since I got here in fact. I don't know what it is, but I also don't have time to worry about it right now.

I have to find one of the Masters before a teacher comes to question me. Though even if they do come, I'll just walk away. I mean, I haven't even bought my school bag... I did come in uniform though.

Mostly because I felt I would bring too much attention if I didn't, but who knows, this school is weird so maybe they wouldn't care. There was an... erm... earthquake yesterday and yet classes weren't canceled after all.

I scan my surroundings, trying to find my target before the bell rings, and... "That's better than nothing..." I find a blue haired man chatting up a bunch of girls. Hopefully he doesn't get too pissed about me interrupting him.

I take a deep breath as I approach him. "E-excuse me, can we talk Matou-Senpai?" This feels super awkward, specially since one of the girls is sending me a shocked look. She must be from my class.

He immediately glares at me. "Hah? Who do you thin-." And then his eyes soften. "Oh, it's you. Sure, we can talk, what do you need?" Wow, is this some legendary camaraderie or what!?

I clear my throat. "We actually need to talk about it in private..." He raises an eyebrow. "Because... um... it's related to that Holy Grail War video game." Ah!? What am I saying!? I wish I could magically raise my charisma...

His eyes widen. "That's... Yeah, we should go talk in private." Awesome. "Let's to the guy's bathroom or something." Ugh, that sounds awful, but I guess we aren't getting any place better than that.

Gotta wonder why the girls are staring at us and blushing though.

...

"So, did the Matou's summon a Servant?" I might as well ask the most important question first. If I receive a big fat no, then that's a shame, but nothing can be done about it.

Shinji smirks. "What do you think?" With a snap of his fingers a tall woman wearing a blindfold appears behind him. "This is Rider. She's super hot, isn't she?" Yeah, and her class certainly has certain... implications.

But... "She's a bit too tall for me." I prefer girls like Illya, even if I would still go out with someone like Rider if I had the chance. Wait, what the hell am I saying!? It's definitely quite rude considering Rider just flinched...

Shinji snorts. "Someone has bad taste!" I can't deny that...

Leaving that aside for now. "So, is she Sakura's Servant?" I don't know why she would be following Shinji, but maybe this is part of some plan they cooked up. Either way, it's a good thing I didn't attack the Matou's mansion yesterday.

His grin dies out. "No, she's mine." I don't buy that for a second, but I won't pry into someone's strategy. At least not when I'm trying to make an alliance. "So, now that I've showed you my Servant, what do you plan on doing?"

I awkwardly smile. "I'm planning to ask you if you want to be a member of the Justice League." He raises an eyebrow, but I imagine he got the reference. "I'm putting a team together... Well, did you see the stuff that went down tonight?" Hopefully what I'm talking about is obvious.

He nods. "Of course I did... Well, I didn't exactly see it, but I know two Servants clashed. Why is that important though?" So the battle against Gilgamesh really is common knowledge at this point...

"I'm getting there. Basically last night Gilgamesh, presumably of the Archer class, fought Heracles of the Berserker class." Both of their jaws hit the floor, those are some crazy true names after all. "And Berserker lost, badly. He's out of the war."

"And now I'm working with the Master... Well, Ex-Master of Berserker, to bring Gilgamesh down. I figured since he is way too strong ganging up on him would be a good idea." I hope he accepts it without much of a fuss.

Shinji hums. "I can't say I'm against that idea... and I do appreciate learning some true names." It's good to see that he sees my side. "What exactly can this Gilgamesh do anyways? Oh, and do you have any other allies or am I the first?"

Those are reasonable enough questions. "Gilgamesh has thousands of Noble Phantasms that he fires off using portals." He immediately goes pale. "He also has a super strong armor, chains that counter the divine, and some sort of intel gathering ability." He's terrifying.

Shinji immediately objects. "Bullshit, there's no way such a game breaking Servant could exist. Summoning him would be the biggest cheat ever." Yeah, which is probably why people summon him in the first place.

Rider actually comes to my defense. "Master, I would expect no less from someone capable of bringing down Heracles of all monsters." This is the first time I'm hearing her voice... It really suits her. If she was just a bit shorter...

Well, I might as well continue. "And about our allies... You're pretty much my Superman right now." I don't even know if he reads comics, but whatever. "I was planning on talking with Tohsaka-Senpai though. If she showed up to school that is." She will be my Batman.

He crosses his arms. "You're willing to beg to her of all people? Shit must be really bad then..." Trust me, I don't like it either. "But yeah, she showed up. She didn't bring her Servant though, or at least Rider can't feel them." For real!?

What is she thinking!? No, I know exactly what she's thinking. My sister is probably super prideful, I can bet that after what happened she decided leaving her Servant back home to protect her base was a good idea. She's probably thinking no Master will attack her in broad daylight.

I smile. "I definitely would prefer to do this without her, but I'll swallow my pride." Illya is counting on me after all.

The bell rings, signalling the start of the school day. Shinji sighs. "How annoying... Well, who cares if I'm a bit late." I agree that it's annoying, talking with Rin will be harder now. "Anyways, I'm in. Let's put that Gilgamesh guy in his place." Superman get! Soon Starro will be defeated!

"With that said... why are you still after this Gilgamesh asshole? I imagine the Master of Berserker is doing out of spite, but why you?" Surprisingly enough Illya isn't in this solely because of spite, though that probably plays a big part.

I suppose I don't mind telling him why. "Because Gilgamesh is specifically targeting me. You see, recently some bird... thing got some some super weapons and fixed my mana troubles. Gilgamesh feels like I di-" He cuts me off.

"You mockin' me, Daichi?" He suddenly sounds super angry. And then I realize that just like me, he must have been jealous of Sakura. I probably shouldn't have brought up the fact that I now have mana.

"Of course not, sorry if it came out that way." I understand him after all. In fact maybe he even has it worse than me, considering he's watching Sakura turn into Merlin in his own house, and yet he can do nothing.

"Rider, kill him." Hah?

There's a heavy feeling in my stomach. "Argh!?" It's Rider's boot, she kicked me there without any mercy at all.

I should be dead, because no normal human would have survived something like that, but thanks to my training I actually broke into the supernatural already. That's why instead of being turned into red paste, I fly through the air, and hit a window.

And then break that window. Rider essentially sends me outside of the school, and I fall like a brick. The worst part is that I don't have the skill to maneuver myself and end up hitting my head on the ground.

My vision goes white, and it feels like the world is shaking. I might vomit... "W-what the hell...?" Who attacks someone just because they have magical powers!?

Right, me... I do that... Karma has really been hating me recently.

"You survived that...?" I hear Rider's voice, she sounds genuinely impressed. "Well, this time I will make sure to end you." I look at her and see five people. Not because she has some cloning ability, but because I definitely have a concussion.

I try my best to get up, holding back from vomiting. "How about... we don't do that, and we go back to talking about alliances instead?" My words are coming out slow, talking itself is difficult.

I raise a hand and touch my forehead. It feels sticky and hot, and once I lower my hand, I see that it is now covered in blood. This is bad, like really bad. Even if I was at a hundred percent I would struggle with beating a Servant, in fact it would be impossible. With my head wounded though...? Somehow it's worse than just impossible.

She tilts her head. "No can do. You're bad at diplomacy." And then she throws something at me, but my vision is all blurry, so I can't quite tell what it is.

What I can tell however, is that it's aimed at me, and that I will die if I'm hit. So I summon Regulus in axe form, and through a miracle I hit it midair, sending it flying away. I couldn't copy Heracles and send it at her, but at least I survived.

Rider... the pink blur that is Rider seems impressed yet again. "You certainly have good reflexes, and you also weren't lying about the weapons..." She's talking quite calmly, probably because she's playing around with her food like a cat.

There's something I noticed though. She's... I wouldn't say slow, but she might as well be a snail compared to Heracles and Gilgamesh. Still far above me, and I do have a concussion, but maybe I have a fighting chance. At least I do until she gets serious.

Time to lock-in. "Absolute Demise." I summon the giant doll behind me, and before Rider can do anything about it, I use the Eternal Ice Princess to send a wave of ice at her.

Not like when I tried freezing everything when fighting Gilgamesh though, that would be way too slow and I learned my lesson. Instead I focus specifically on freezing the ground, creating a floor of ice.

And then I dash forward, using the ice to slide and gain more speed. Fighting a Servant in close quarters isn't wise, but fighting a Servant at all isn't wise in the first place. I won't win unless I aim at the one percent chance of lending a blow.

Once I get close, I try cutting her in half... which Rider easily dodges. It's creepy seeing her move, it's like a snake. "Oh?" She seems to be interested in Absolute Demise, barely paying me any attention.

Which is why I then drop the axe, allowing Regulus to turn back into his lion form. He rushes at her without a word, trying to claw at her head. As expected of a Servant however, she manages to dodge.

Kind of... he does hit her arm. Before she can counterattack however, I call back Regulus into my soul. And then I call him out in axe mode once again. I hadn't thought about it before, but recalling a Longinus can be a surprisingly good tool.

She looks at the wounded arm, and makes no comment, but I can tell something is about to change. To be honest, I desperately want to make some comment calling her a failure for getting hit, but this isn't the time for that.

The moment she gets serious I die, so I should just be grateful I landed such a miraculous hit like that.

Rider slowly smiles, it feels me with apprehension.

Specially when she jumps to a tree and... then to another tree, and another, and another. I take back what I said before, she's definitely super fast, and now she's encircling me... This concussion isn't helping either, just watching her move makes me wanna throw up.

Now where is she gonna attack from?

Ah, it's obvious, so I call Absolute Demise back to my soul, and then resummon her again. It's good that I did it so that quickly, because the gigantic ice doll acts as a shield to my back, protecting my neck from being pierced by Rider's weapon.

She jumps back to a tree. "Definitely good reflexes. It has been some time since I killed prey that is both easy and hard at the sime time..." She licks her lips. "Reminds me of the good old times."

My grip on Regulus Nemea gets tighter, I have nothing to say to her, not when all my concentration is going into not passing out. That hit to the head has really messed me up... Though I guess at least I can't really focus on the pain my stomach is in right now. Mostly because I can't focus on anything.

And then Rider moves appearing to my side. I try cutting her down, but in a flash she jumped back to another tree. In the end she managed to slash my shoulder, and I only hit air.

The process repeats itself again and again. A slash to my other shoulder, a slash to one of my ribs, to one of my knees, to one of my legs, even to one of my cheeks. Even as I desperately try to counterattack using my axe or the Princess, I can only protect my vital spots.

She giggles. "Yes, I definitely missed this." I have a feeling things are about to end.

I close my eyes, just for a second. In that one second she takes another chunk of my arm, and Princess ends up saving me. Closing my eyes was a mistake, but I just feel...

I'm really tired.

"Ah. My blood..." Yeah, that's probably why I'm getting tired. Rider is slowly tearing me apart, and that combined with the hit I took to my head means I will pass out soon. It goes without saying, but me passing out means my death.

Welp, I guess I ended up going out two weeks faster than I expected. That's no big deal, specially since Gilgamesh would have granted me a much worse death than this. In that way this might as well be heaven.

I expose my neck, and begin holding my axe with one hand, I will need the other.

I can't die just now. My head is a bit tired to think exactly why that is, but I think I remember someone saying they were counting on me. That was nice, nobody ever said that to me before.

As expected, Rider takes the greedy win I just showed her. In the end that plays to my favor, and so...

I manage to grab her with that free hand, she of course immediately tries to retreat, but the second I hold her back is enough, because the Eternal Ice Princess helps me in holding her down as well.

Rider struggles against our hold, and almost breaks free... but then a massive dog bites her leg, helpind us in holding her down. Once he appears pain immediately floods my body... I get why, three Longinus are way too much for me right now.

But that doesn't matter. "You know... I have been thinking... You're way faster than me, but when it comes to strength I might be your equal." Which is why I exposed my neck. If I knew where she would attack, maybe that speed difference wouldn't matter much.

I raise my axe... And then with all my strength I slash at her sides. "Ugh..." My axe cuts through her ribs, getting stuck in her. A Servant is tough however, so I don't manage to kill her in one blow.

Apparently the fear of death actually gives Rider enough strength to escape however, because she kicks me away. Still, it's clear that she's way too wounded to fight, considering the blow she tooks.

She puts a hand on her wound. "A modern hero huh...?" Oh, she sounds pretty mad, that's bad. She might start taking me seriously. "Don't go getting too cocky now." She's keeping an eye on the dog, who is growling at her.

I smile. "Well, I am aiming on becoming Heracles. So if Sakura wants to kill her twin brother, she will have to send her A game." I probably shouldn't mock her... But I think this fight is over. I at least managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat.

Rider seems shocked for some reason. "Twin...?" And then she disappears, probably going away to heal. I guess she must have not know about our family connection.

So in the end this upgraded from a loss into a draw, and then into a victory. Cool. "Gotta... gotta go back to Illya." I dismiss all my three Longinus immediately, and the pain running through my body diminishes a bit.

I started slowly walking back towards the school. I gotta get healed, or I'll die. If I die I won't make back home. If I don't make back home I'll disappoint Illya. She's counting on me. She said so.

Step after step. Suddenly I'm inside of the school. "Did I pass out...?" Yeah, I think I passed out and my body moved on it's own. I'm now close to the first years class.

I can't go in there, Sakura is in there. If I enter she will kill me, and if I die I can't go back to Illya, which means she was wrong to count on me. So I need to think of someone else, someone who would help even a dead man like me.

I start walking to the stairs, I gotta get the fake janitor, he would help a guy like me. So even though it's hell, and I pass out a couple more times, I slowly make my way up the stairs. I almost feel grateful for Gilgamesh in a way...

If he hadn't introduced me to the pain of having a sword impaled in my leg, and then the pain of having that sword taken out... I would definitely have failed to pull this off.

After what feels like an eternity, I'm in front of the hero's class. I open the door and I'm immediately greeted by Fujimura-Sensei. "Oi, you're supposed to knock before you en-, oh my gosh!" Hah, she looks terrifed... I must look awful.

I can barely see at this point, maybe because blood has fallen on my eyes, or maybe because of the concussion, but nonetheless I walk-in and start analyzing the students. At this point they're all blurry, but he's pretty unique looking, so it should be fine.

I see a terrified Issei, I see a terried big sis, and finally... "Shirou, help me..." He is her big brother after all, whatever that means.

My strength runs out, and I collapse.