The Chosen One 13 (Patreon)

"Identify yourself. What is your class?" Saber immediately steps forward with the intent of defending us.

I don't protest, because while I would prefer for this to end with us having a new ally, I also understand that a bloodthirsty Servant could cut through me before I had any chance to defend myself.

With my current abilities I should play support, instead of being a frontline fighter. I will maybe use Canis Lykaon to get a sneak attack, while using Absolute Demise to shift the battlefield in my favor.

Still, due to the fact that so far the battle hasn't started, I don't call any of my Longinus. Saber is powerful, so I'm sure this moment of neutrality won't negatively impact her. And if I did summon my weapons, the unknown Servant would probably attack us immediately.

He smiles. "Of course, though in such a situation shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" He gets into a fighting stance. "Nonetheless, as unbelievable as it may seem, I am of the Assassin Class." That...

Probably means he isn't a big threat, he is meant to hunt down Masters of course, not to kill Servants. This means that so far the only classes remaining are Lancer, and Caster, and Gilgamesh should take one of those. As crazy as it sounds, maybe he's a Caster? With all those portal it would make sense...

Saber smiles back. "For an Assassin Servant you don't seem to like hiding in the shadows." That is true, he didn't try to kill any of the Masters here. "I'm the Saber Servant of this war."

Much like Assassin, she gets in a battle position. "Normally here is where introductions would end. However my Master is quite peculiar and so, allow me to reveal my true name. I am King Arthur, King of Knights." That's such a cool title...!

His eyes widen. "That's..." He's clearly quite shocked, and that's to be expected. Amongst Heroic Spirits, surely Artoria is one of the strongest to ever exist.

Illya immediately bursts with laughter. "That's right, let despair consume you!" He seems more excited than anything. "My Saber is invincible after all, a mere Assassin can't stop us!" So it's power trip time, huh?

He chuckles. "Is that so...? Well, since my enemy was gracious enough to reveal their true name, then I suppose I must do the same. I am Sasaki Kojirou... It's a pleasure to meet everyone here." Holy shit.

I was expecting him to be some nobody from the warring states or something, not to be one of the greatest swordsmen ever! How the hell did he end up being an Assassin!? I guess we did steal the Saber class, but even so...

Illya grins. "Oh wow, look, it's some nobody I never heard about." I feel kind of offended right now. "Enough with introductions, Saber bring me his hea-" And I cut her off. We can leave the scary threats for later.

"Actually...! We really aren't here to fight!" If we recruit Assassin then we will have most of the Servant on our side. I can't let this opportunity pass. "In fact, we much rather talk."

Illya sighs. "But..."

And then Rin glares at her. "But nothing!" Oh, my sister came to my defense. "I get why Daichi left you at home when he went recruiting other Masters." I wasn't really thinking about that, but it was indeed a lucky break.

A pouting Illya crosses her arms. "Whatever. But I'm stopping for Daichi, not you, Rin." And with Illya's command Saber immediately calms down. She's still ready for a fight, but I don't think she will pounce.

Kojirou raises an eyebrow. "Oh my, this is... quite something. Well, I don't mind chatting, but be aware that my job is guarding these temple gates." He sighs. "My Master will already chew me out for revealing my true name, so I cannot fail my task."

Rin crosses her arms. "I should have figured that a Master would make this place their base... Even if Saber would be a better shield than a Assassin of all things." I'm sure he has to be decently strong, right?

Saber sends her a questioning look. "Rin, does this place have something special to it?" She then looks around. "Admittedly I do feel... something weird around us." I wonder if my Longinus would feel it too.

Rin nods. "This place contains what is probably Fuyuki's strongest leyline. It's also surrounded by a barrier that guarantees a Servant can only enter through the front... Which is why Assassin is acting as a guard."

"To be honest, it's the perfect base. I didn't think any magus would take it though, mostly because this place is filled with normal people." Yeah, it goes without saying, but many monks live here.

Assassin sighs yet again. "Well, my Master is not the most... pleasant of individuals. If a normal human caught sight of us she would simply kill them." I see.

To be honest, I don't want to bring someone like that into our alliance. Though then again... I guess that's just the standard Magus mindset. As long as she isn't currently killing people, it should be fine.

He continues. "So, do any of you have a specific thing to talk about? I cannot serve tea, but my ears are open." I'm just glad Kojirou actually turned out to be super friendly.

I smile. "It's a bit of a complicated story, but we would like to make an alliance. I hope that's not immediately a deal breaker." Even if it is, his Master would probably change their mind once they heard all the details.

"An alliance huh? That definitely seems like something she would enjoy... Oh, and don't worry about my Master not being here physically. She is definitely watching." She's probably doing it through the connection between you two, isn't she?

I nod. "Got it. Well, the whole reason we are making an alliance is pretty simple. We met this Servant who's true name is Gilgamesh... and he's freakishly strong. Like having hundreds of Noble Phantasms strong."

"More than that, he threatened to destroy Japan." And Germany. And me. And Illya. I doubt other Masters would care about that though. "So this alliance was made with the express purpose of defeating him."

"Currently we have Saber, Rider and Archer as part of this alliance... Oh, and we also plan on joining together to destroy this weird monster that Archer found. That's the gist of it at least, but we can talk more about details later." Hopefully he joins, even if only due to peer pressure.

He doesn't respond for a while, and I can't help but grow nervous. Eventually yet another sigh escapes his mouth. "What a shame, since it seems my Master has decided to not show up, I can only assume she declined your offer." That's...

Mana cracks around Saber. "Is that so? I believe it would be wise for your Master to reconsider, Assassin." In the end this will turn into a fight... It's a shame. I would prefer if everyone got along.

He smiles. "I believe it is indeed that so. I also agree that it is a shame, but nothing can be done about it. Still, will you now point your sword at me, Saber?"

She nods. "Of course. This is still a Holy Grail War, and there is no reason for me to hold back against an enemy." Right. In the end our alliance will eventually fall too, Saber will fight everyone else when that happens.

Illya's grin returns. "Well, now that negotiations have failed... Go Saber! Cut his legs off and then mole-." Yeah, no. She really needs to calm down with the sexual assault threats, so I'm cutting her off.

"Wait! Can't your Master come and like... talk with us, Assassin?" He tilts his head, probably wondering why I'm still insisting on this. "I mean... there's no reason to decline this offer, right? We have three Servants on our side already."

He smiles. "If she wanted to show up, she would have done-." Suddenly a bright light appears above us. "Oh my. Were you staying there out of fear? As expected of a witch." I look above and see...

What is definitely a Servant, one that is flying. Yeah, that's definitely a Caster... Which means Gilgamesh is a Lancer. All Servants are now accounted for, and if I recruit these two, Gilgamesh will be literally facing the entirety of the war.

But Rin actually remarks something pretty interesting. "Wait, why is she showing up? There's no way she's Assassin's Master, is she?" That's... Is that even possible? It totally isn't, right?

Caster flies down, a smile on her face. "Just think of us as allies. And in this case, I shall speak for Assassin as well." Oh, so their Masters have an alliance... That's scary.

Assassin himself is not the scariest of guardians, even if he is a legendary swordsman, his class still holds him back. A Caster having access to the strongest leyline in Fuyuki though...? If Gilgamesh wasn't so troublesome she definitely would be my target.

Illya smiles. "Okay then, come back, Saber." In a second the knight is by her side. "I guess we will be talking about alliances, men killer." Caster simply smirks in response, however...

As the only man here besides Assassin, I can't help, but be a bit worried about that title! "Um... What do you mean by men killer, Illya?" There's no way Illya figured her true name with just a look, so this must relate to something else.

"Remember when I told you about how someone was exclusively targetting men?" I do, that was on our first meeting, so I nod. "Well, considering this Servant is clearly a Caster, she's the most likely candidate." Oh...

So she's been hurting people. Possibly killing them. "Got it. Well, I guess this is a war." So I'll let it pass for now... I have to wonder though, why is everyone staring at me with worried looks right now?

Slowly Rin puts a hand on my shoulder. "Daichi... Drop the axe." Ah, they're giving me worried looks because I subconsciously summoned Regulus Nemea.

I can only blush bright red. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me!" Maybe I felt afraid because I'm clearly the preferred target for this Servant? Who would expect sexism in the middle of a Holy Grail War!?

Regulus chuckles. "Hah! You have certainly been changing recently, Wielder! Or perhaps this is simply a consequence of being a normal person, just like the previous Red Dragon Emperor...?" I have no clue what he's talking about.

"Nonetheless this isn't time for a fight, let's carefully defeat one villain at the time, okay?" Ah, I get it. I just got pissed at what Caster has been doing, so I wanted to stop her. "Well, see ya la-. Um? What's this?"

"That's...! I understand, it must have happened back when your resolve to be with your family shined through..." I'm seriously confused right now. "I'll explain later."

I nod. "Okay...? Talk to you later, Regulus." And so I dismiss my Longinus. And now I'm met with the embarrassing task of explaining why I just summoned a golden axe for no explainable reason

Except Rin actually does that for me, sort of. "Well, I don't have an axe to summon, but I'm with Daichi here. I don't want to work with someone who targets innocent people." I didn't even announce my intention...

She just understood them, I guess... That's kind of embarrassing, but in a nice way. It's also surprising, coming from a magus and all.

What isn't surprising, is Saber's immediate agreement. "Indeed. Working with an evil witch will bring us no advantages." Those Morgan flashbacks must be going crazy right now, huh?

Illya sighs. "Well, I don't really care." As expected! "But if everyone is against it, it's not like I'm in need of a weakling Assassin and a weakling Caster." We totally are in need of them though, frustrating as it is.

Assassin... nods!? "Indeed, she is a cold and callous witch. If I could my blade would be removing her neck right now." You will shit talk even your ally!?

Caster blinks in confusion. "Huh?" She definitely didn't expect something like this. "I... I thought you four were here to convince me into joining this alliance...? Then why do I feel like I'm having to defend myself right now?" Ah.

It is true that normally we should be the ones having to throw gifts at Caster or something, but instead we are acting like this is some VIP club, and that she doesn't have the prestige to join us.

Rin shrugs. "Well, right now we are the ones with the advantage here. We have three Servants on our side, two of which are in the knight classes." And Saber will logically counter a Caster. "Oh, and Archer is on his way."

She must have called him using their mental link. Which means soon enough Caster won't even have the advantage of numbers in this little confrontation. Though considering she teleported earlier, I guess she could potentially escape.

Which would mean leaving her base to our mercy. Man, we really caught her in a awful situation, didn't we?

Caster's eye twitches. "You four..." I can't even blame her for being mad, we acting like a gang who came here to pressure her into joining our group, so it's understandable.

That said, I have no sympathy for a murderer. "Caster, in your... whatever the hell you've been doing, did you kill people?" It would be a lot easier to forgive her if she didn't. Or at least to ignore her crimes to a certain extent.

She shakes her head, a smile slowly appearing on her face. "I have not. The most I have done is put men in a coma, one which they will wake up from once the war is done." That's a lot more forgivable then murder...

Illya raises an eyebrow. "Okay, but can we get to the point and ask why men specifically?" Oh, we are finally asking that.

Caster's face gains the slightest of blushes as she mumbles to herself. "What's with the brats of today?" And then finally she answers the legendary question. "I just so happens that men tend to be very receptive to love potions, that's all." Wow, that makes this even worse.

I sigh. "Well, whatever it is, it's gotta stop. If you want to join our alliance together with Assassin..." He sends me a thumbs up. "Then no more of this coma stuff." Let's ignore the fact that technically we are the ones doing the recruiting.

Rin nods. "Yeah, I don't care if you start again once the Holy Grail War resumes it's normal progress, but our alliance, our rules." And if she does go back to hurting innocent people, she will be my priority to take down.

Caster looks to the sky, as if looking for answers which she can't find. "Heroes... somehow they've become even more annoying as time has come and gone. But fine, I'll suspend my activities until Gilgamesh and the Shadow are gone." Um...

You know, it was on the back of my mind, but her words have just confirmed something for me... Caster has been watching us. Now, this is obvious since she knew we here for an alliance, but she even knew about Gilgamesh and the Shadow.

I just hope she only watched our conversation with Assassin, and not literally everything until now. As a Caster though, there's a pretty high chance that she did. Which probably means she knows all about my Longinus.

Slowly a grin appears on her face, her gaze meets mine. "But it is a bit unfair though, that only one of us gets to go wild and be a threat to innocent people." It takes me some time for me to realize what she's talking about...

But then Illya puts it into words for me. "Daichi stopped his Juggernaut Drive before he hurt anyone, so shut up. Also, I'm the leader here, so if I want to keep him, I'll keep him." A lot of things happened just now.

First Caster confirmed that she has indeed been watching us, even if she won't say it outloud. And second, Illya showed that she probably came to the same conclusion as me, and realized Caster is the biggest peeper ever. I assume Saber and Rin must have put the pieces together too.

Caster tilts her head. "Right... My apologies, it's just that in my time a true hero would have just cut down this menace already." She definitely doesn't mean that apology. "Well, I suppose killing my future wand would be a waste." I'm definitely against that.

She continues. "And boy... judging me after you became a thief isn't exactly nice, you know?" Ah. She knows. Shit.

And of course it's Rin who reacts first. "A thief? What's that supposed to mean?" I'm dead. I ended up pissing off Caster so much that she's pulling a Saibaman on me, and taking both of us down.

Saber waves her off. "Rin, pay her no mind. Her ilk loves causing discord. There were many times when Morgan would accuse my allies of crimes, simply to break off my trust on them." And like that, this conversation dies.

But as Caster looks at me, I understand that a Sword of Damocles is hanging above my head, ready to fall at any moment she desires. I have given a witch ammo against me, and I can only stay silent. The power to observe the war from afar really is scary...

Illya smiles. "Yep, witches are just the worst." She's sending me an awkward look, she knows exactly what the witch is talking about, after all. "So, are you and Assassin in or not?"

Assassin raises an eyebrow towards his ally, and eventually Caster nods. "Yes, we will cooperate for now. At least I will. Assassin shall stay guarding this temple... That is not negotiationable." That's good news, but...

I can't really pay attention to it, all my focus is on Rin's face. I... Why am I making this even harder on myself? In a situation like this, there's only thing I can do. I must think what Regulus, Hercules and Perseus would do...

Well, they wouldn't have become thieves in the first place, but the second best thing to do is clear. I bow towards Rin, interrupting Caster. "Sorry, I was the one who wrecked your workshop! I also stole some stuff!" And there it is.

The Sword of Damocles disappears, I pick the damn thing up, and stab myself with it. I rather do that, then let Caster execute whenever she feels it's convenient.

"Eh?" Surprisingly enough that reaction comes Rin... and Caster.

Artoria and Kojirou are simply staring at me in silence, their eyes widened, and to be honest that silence makes me even more nervous. If the King of Knights and one of Japan's greatest swordsmen start thinking of me as scum, I might genuinely die.

Illya... blushes? I don't really understand what's going on with her head. "Cute..." I suddenly remember that she's definitely a sadist. She must be looking forward to my new eminent demise.

But I have to ignore all that, and explain myself to my big sister. "You see, I have a Longinus called Absolute Demise, it lets me freeze stuff, which is what I used to destroy your workshop! Though I also stole some stuff!"

"The truth is that I was planning on participating on the war, and I knew you were a easy target! A-and I also wanted to learn magic, which is a thing I can do now, so... No, nevermind that." This is not the time to make excuses.

"Sorry, I have been saying all this stuff about us being a family, but I was too scared to tell you this! Feel free to punish me somehow!" Eh? Why did I add the last part? Am I stupid? Probably. At least to a certain extant.

Rin puts her hands on my shoulders, I slowly raise my head to look at her and what I see is...

A demon. She's smiling, but I can definitely tell she's a demon. "You're giving all the stuff you stole back, okay Daichi?" I can only nod. "Good." And like that she releases me, but I can still feel that aura of death.

I have a feeling that even if I kowtow a million times it won't disappear, but I should just feel glad I got away with my life. I won't say I wasn't punished though, because Rin will definitely end me when I least expect it.

Caster's jaw has hit the floor. "That's it...?" Right, I totally destroyed the only advantage she had.

Assassin chuckles. "Even a thug may act like a gentleman towards a lady. Don't be surprised, Caster." Ah, the legendary Sasaki Kojirou called me a thug. It's all over for me... alternatively, I shall now worship Miyamoto Musashi.

Saber smiles. "He is my pupil after all!" At least I haven't lost the favor of my teacher. Actually I feel like I really am getting away with this far too easily... Is this the power of honesty!?

Caster grits her teeth. "Stop acting like fools! Don't you get it!? This man may have united you all, but he's a fraud!" Ouch... "He's definitely no hero!" Why the hell is Caster so mad at me!?

Illya pouts. "He united us all? That was actually me. I'm the leader here." If you say so. I do agree that I'm not some great leader or anything, this is just a good situation for something like a big alliance.

Saber glares at the witch. "Enough of this! Your tricks have failed! As they always will!" She mubles to herself. "This is the best Holy Grail War..." Please don't act like a Holy Grail War critic.

Rin nods. "Yeah... I mean, I'm piss-." She stops herself, but we all know what she was about to say. "Daichi and I weren't allies at the time, so I have nothing to say. And besides... destruction of property and theft are one thing, hurting a normal person is far worse." I...

I'm actually rendered speechless. That's a very unlike magus thing to say, and I think even my big sister realizes that, as she blushes soon after.

Caster sighs. "Ugh. Nonetheless, our alliance is now established. Now leave, contact me whenever you plan on attacking Gilgamesh or this Shadow." Ah, that's another problem on our way.

It's not like we have a method of finding that Servant or that monster after all, so that complicates things... Specially since Caster lives a few minutes away from our base, differently from the other Servants.

Well, there is a easy way to fix that of course. "By the way Caster, do you wanna go live with us?" I would extend that offer to Assassin, but apparently an alliance between the two of us is impossible. Maybe I should do so anyways?

Eh? Why... why is Caster laughing? "You think I will abandon my base of operations to go live with you, boy? You're certainly delusional enough to be a hero!" I've made a mistake just now, didn't I?

"Actually, now that I think about you're living with many women, aren't you?" Hah? "The Masters of Archer and Rider... Rider... Saber and her Master... Perhaps you are a pervert?" I should have never spoken up.

Naturally I'm sputtering. "Well, Rin and Sakura are related to me...! A-and Illya is..." Beautiful. I can't even lie to Caster, so I just look like an absolute fool. I bet Emiya-Senpai would have gracefully avoided this situation.

Rin interjects, saving my life, and yet dooming another person. "You're wrong, Caster. Daichi is as innocent as they come, the true pervert here is Saber." The knight gasps, but I can't feel pity right now, only relief.

"You mentioned Daichi being some super leader that made everybody join up, right? In that case he would be someone like Jason of the Argonauts, but that can't be the case, Saber pretty much turned him into the Medea of this tale." How tragic.

The knight obviously objects, a blush on her face. "That's enough Rin! We are in the presence of a witch!" And that witch looks like she wants to die right now, so we should indeed stop.

Besides, none of this matters right now, after all... "Okay, now that we got all the classes on our side, we might as well hunt down Gilgamesh or the Shadow." I guess we are going to do that once night falls.

Of course, finding these two will be complicated, but Caster will probably be watching us anyways, so she will join the fight once that moment comes. In that way her scrying abilities are really useful.

Caster raises an eyebrow. "You won't try to find Lancer? I didn't think you were the type to get cocky, boy." Hah? Maybe she actually doesn't know as much as I thought she did.

"Lancer is definitely Gilgamesh. So I guess in a way I will indeed try to find him." His portals must mean that he qualifies for any and all classes. So even though his style of combat is unusual, I won't question it.

Caster shakes her head. "Gilgamesh is not a Lancer." Eh? "The Lancer of this war has once confronted Assassin. He wears blue clothing, and wields a red spear. I believe he was scouting..." But that's...!

"If Gilgamesh isn't a Lancer, then what the hell is he!?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I hate this war.



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AN: I actually decided to browse through some old DxD fics, to pump some nostalgia through my veins. Most of them were pretty awful, and tended to just be canon rehash, but I'm grateful for their existence, because younger me definitely loved them.

With that said... I encountered a concerning amount of protagonists named Daichi. And now I'm wondering if my decision to name him was my mind subconsciously remembering that.

Nonetheless, I apologize.