Chapter 8: Chapter 8 A Mission (II)
"Long time no see, Erza." The white-haired teen said, but the expression of the redhead darkened as she walked up to him. Her walk turns to a full sprint as she tackles him down, holding him with both arms.
"Ow..." She collided with him, his head hitting the ground, feeling both her arms around him. "Erza... that-" He didn't get to finish before feeling himself being lifted up by her. "Heh?"
"Let's go back to Fairy Tail." Erza said with confidence, carrying the white hair in her arms.
"Heh? Wait Erza! Put me down!" The white hair teen said, but the redhead didn't listen and only continued walking as many stared at her. People notice Erza's guild mark, seeing that she is a Fairy Tail mage, they are confused seeing Erza holding her arms up like she is carrying something, but they don't intervene or ask what she is doing, as Fairy Tail mages have quite a reputation for destruction.
Standing back, the white hair looks at Erza retrieving back as she didn't notice Fate slipped off her.
[Misdirection] - The user can lower his presence to the point of almost nonexistence, diverting the attention to others around him.
'Sorry Erza, but I haven't finished my mission yet.' He turns away walking opposite from her direction. He remembered the happy smile she gave him, making him stop at his track, but he then remembered in the show, Erza had a crush on Jellal. And now she might still have the same feelings for him, and the only reason she cares about him is because she is using him to cope with her feelings, seeing how they both came from the Tower of Heaven. And no one else in the guild can understand her as he did.
"Maybe..." 'I shouldn't have intervened with the main story. Seeing how it was my fault that everything is fuck up. I was the one who brought the magic system from Type-Moon into this world and, in turn, brought a Holy Grail War into this place. So I should be the one to clean this up.' He thought before closing his eyes, strengthening his resolve, and walking away.
'Fate, you sense that?' Scathach voice rang in Fate's mind through their mental connection.
'Yeah, [Presence Detection] told me exactly where to go.' He answers, running toward the west in the direction of the Black Forest.
With Erza.
"You know if you want training you could have just-" Erza turned to find the one she was supposedly carrying was missing. "EHHH!?"
Her shocked gasp and yell gained the attention of the people around her, since from what they noticed Erza had her arms up like she was carrying something despite not holding anything and was talking to herself.
"Fate!?" Erza called out, not seeing the white-haired teen anywhere. "Oh! C'mon! I won't let you run away just like that!"
Erza ran off looking for him until a villager told her about seeing a white-haired boy run toward the Black Forest.
'C'mon Fate, where are you!? I won't let you run off again.' Erza grits her teeth running into the forest before her instinct suddenly flares up, as she rolls to her right as multiple black chains stabbed the ground where she was. "What the!?"
Looking up Erza saw Scathach holding her red spear jumping back as a figure that was completely pitch black from head to toe, black chains came out to strike her, she quickly knocked away the chains with her spear as pitch black weapon where launched at her only for them to be cut by a warrior that is almost shirtless. A long white kimono on his back is held by his left hand keeping it from falling off, his other hand is holding a blade.
"Fate?" Erza uttered seeing the male with white messy hair and icy blue eyes. More chains came out trying to strike the two of them, Scathach jump back landing on a tree branch before jumping from tree to tree avoiding the black chains and weapons flying at her.
More chains and weapons fly at Fate, raising the blade in his hand, he cuts and knocks them away before his eyes narrow to his right seeing a redhead that is on the ground, as he tries to block another hit, the blade in his hand broke forcing him to jump back. Noticing Erza the Shadow Servant turns to her and launches chains out at her.
"Tch!" Fate ran toward Erza's direction, his body glows turning back to his regular clothes. Seeing this Erza requipped her sword and tried to deflect the chains using her own strength. If this were the grown-up and more experienced Erza then Fate knew she could handle it, but this was a much younger Erza, who hasn't even become an S-Class Mage yet.
Raising his hand requipping a spellbook, Fate ripped off a page and threw it out, the runes on the page flared up as a magic barrier appeared in front of Erza, blocking the chains moment before it could hit her.
'This is... his runes.' Erza thought recalling how Fate [Primordial Rune Magic] was only used to enchant items or give buffs. Not expecting him to be able to create a defensive barrier like this.
Fate then requipped a Class Card showing the image of a man wielding two daggers, his index finger tapping at it two times.
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His clothes change turning into a dark blue kimono, a dark red leather jacket with dark brown boots. His left hand wields a small knife. Now having the ability of the Assassin Servant: Ryougi Shiki. His icy blue eyes flare up, and using his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, he can see the many "points" and "lines" of death.
Rushing forward, Fate held his knife tightly in his hands, avoiding some of the chains and weapons coming at him, and as for those that he couldn't avoid, Fate directly brought his knife up, tracing "lines" of death and stabbing the "points" of death in them, destroying the chains and weapons with ease.
"Wow..." Erza uttered as Fate charged forward to cut off the chains and weapons, Erza was impressed with his swift and fast movement, twitching the knife on his hand to a reverse grip before a chain wrapped around Fate's left hand stopping him on his track, he tries to cut the line of death with his knife but a chain hit his leg making the Extra lost balance almost falling to his knees, more chains came out and wrap around his arms, body, and neck binding him in place.
As more chains and weapons came out ready to pierce him, Erza's eyes widened seeing this she quickly pushed herself up and charged, forward ready to stand in front of him wanting to use her body to shield him.
Gae Bolg Alternative!
But before she could even reach him, Fate tilted his head to the left as a crimson-red spear soared through the air, barely missing his head. The strong wind created by the spear made his somewhat long hair wave lightly, causing no harm to him. The Shadow Servant seemed surprised, caught off guard by this combo attack.
When using his Assassin Class: Ryougi Shiki. Fate's origin became "Nothingness" causing the Shadow Servant to sense from him, nothingness, and by using his own body as a cover for the crimson Spear of Impaling Barbed Death, the Shadow Servant wasn't able to detect the bloodlust coming from it.
The red spear pierced the body of the Shadow Servant from the front, its red tip came out from the Shadow Servant's back pinning it on the ground, its body began to glow a golden light as the servant disappeared turning into a card before falling on the ground, and all the chains and weapons disappear.
"Huh? What!?" Erza was confused not fully understanding what just happened but Fate just walked past her, his clothes turning back to normal as he picked up the card on the ground.
"Just a bit more." Fate said, looking at the card, the red spear suddenly rose and flew back to Scathach's hand, catching it, the purple-haired woman just walked up to Fate, with her spear resting on her shoulder.
"Fate! What was that!? What is going on?" Erza asks, walking up to Fate and Scathach. "And... Who is her?" She points at Scathach seeing how huge her chest it compared to her, making her feel inferior.
"I am the brat's mother." Scathach said with a smile dismissing her spear before placing a hand on her hips while letting her other arm rest on top of Fate's head and leaning her body against him a bit.
The scarlet-haired teen's eyes widen before quickly bowing her head. "I-I-I am Erza Scarlet... It is an honor to meet you!"
"So this is the girl that you mention." Scathach turns to her adopted son before her gaze narrows back to the scarlet-haired girl. "A magical knight. You have good taste, give her a few years and she will be a beauty."
Erza's face blushed hearing the woman who is Fate's adopted mother compliment her, while Fate just rolled his eyes, already made up his mind to not get involved with the story so Erza and him being together is nothing more than a fantasy to him.
"Alright then, let's get going, our job isn't finished yet." Scathach said, pulling her arm back and earning a nod from Fate while Erza looked somewhat confused. The white-haired teen held the Lancer Card before adding his magic energy to it.
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His body glows as his clothes change now wearing a really large oversized white shirt with a long necklace with a golden spike.
Condition Unlock: [Pseudo Perfect Form (Clay)] [Living Weapon (Clay)]
Talent Upgraded: [Presence Detection]
+500SP
+Bonus 100SP
Sixth Class Card: +2 points
"Wow." Erza looks in awe seeing Fate use what she guesses to be [Requip Magic]. Kneeling down Fate places his hand on the ground, activating [Presence Detection] sensing through the planet as he is able to notice the location of the last Shadow Servant, which is just an 8063km distance away from them.
The Extra stands up, his left eye twitches repeatedly his face shows a dumbfounded and annoyed look. Scathach immediately realizes this before letting out a sigh, she already knows what might be the cause of his reaction. "Alright, which direction?" She asked the way they had been tracking the Class Cards was by using [Presence Detection] and the cards to track their direction like a compass, but now his skill increased along with using the power of the Lancer Servant: Enkidu. His [Presence Detection] has a major boost letting him track to a much further distance while also telling him the distance between him and the things he is trying to track.
Fate just points in a direction before saying. "8063km that way."
Erza was still confused, but Scathach took a long sigh, placing a hand on her face. "This is going to be very annoying since we just came from that direction."
"Uhhh. Fate I thought you were on a training trip?" Erza asks somewhat timidly, facing her friend whom she hasn't seen in years.
"I am. But I am also on a mission." Fate answered as Scathach began walking in the direction of the Shadow Servant before he followed. Making the redhead run after him.
"So when are you going to come back to Fairy Tail?" Erza asked, hoping that Fate would come back to Fairy Tail. She had been training and waiting for him to return, but even after two years he didn't come back much to her disappointment, but she still hoped he would return.
"I am almost done, I will return to Fairy Tail sooner or later." Fate tells a half-truth, his mind already made up to not get involved with the main story anymore, at best, he would return during the Battle of Fairy Tail to kick Laxus's ass before leaving again.
Hearing this made Erza's eyes widen in joy, many thought he wouldn't return seeing how he disappeared and didn't return. Erza and many others try to find his house, the place he was staying at, in the hope of finding any clue that could tell them where he had gone off to, but no matter how hard they look, they can't find it. The runes he placed around his old tree house always kept them a few steps away from ever noticing it.
"Really!?" Her eyes widen hearing Fate is about to be done with whatever he is doing, she didn't even bother too much with the whole Class Cards or Shadow Servant anymore the only thing on her mind now is "Fate is going to return to Fairy Tail."
"Promise!?" Erza asks holding onto Fate's hand with a hopeful look in her eyes.
"I'll try." He said with a smile, although, not wanting to get involved with the main story anymore but he knew there was still something he needed to do.
He maybe could have avoided the other event if he played his cards right, but he would rather not get involved more, knowing how dark the story could get if it strayed off from the main story.
Not to mention he might have more problems to deal with seeing how something that shouldn't even be in Fairy Tail has appeared.
On his journey, he sees many somewhat disturbing things that shouldn't even be in Fairy Tail, so before anything, he wants to figure out why or how it's here. Judging by his E-Rank Past Life's Luck it won't be too surprising if he suddenly became the Evil of Humanity that everyone in this world will try to kill.
Fate gave Erza a warm smile, trying to reassure her to trust his words, even if it is a lie. The Extra knew how stubborn Fairy Tail Mages could get, so it would be for the best if he could just convince her to go back, he would rather Erza go back to Fairy Tail and wait for him a couple of years instead of following him 8063km to fight a Shadow Servant that could kill her.
The last Class Card must be Rider seeing how he now has obtained the other six classes. And it could range from Medusa, Queen Medb, Iskandar, or even worse Ozymandias. The last few shadow servants he and his mother fought were very dangerous, from Medea to Ryougi Shiki then Enkidu.
He was lucky enough that Archer was Oda Nobunaga and Caster was Medea instead of Gilgamesh, Fate is sure he would have died multiple times if either one of them were the King of Heroes.
"This year... I am going to enter the S-class trial. Could you come to cheer for me?" Erza asks somewhat nervously, hoping he will come back to watch her become S-class. Much to her disappointment seeing Fate didn't respond to her immediately.
"..."
"I will try." He finally said after a long awkward pause, which didn't do much to convince the redhead. But she just nodded, accepting his word and hoping that he would come to see her. Fate immediately realizes Erza isn't fully convinced and she would most likely go and try to look for him once she is done with the S-class trial.
Thinking for a bit before he decided to requip one of the swords that he forged thanks to the ability of the Curse Blacksmith Senji Muramasa. He was able to forge his own weapon but due to a side effect from using the blacksmith's ability he also gained pride when making his blade and wanted to create the ultimate sword, yet he didn't see any of the swords he created as a good sword despite Scathach and many others saying otherwise. To him and the spirit of the old blacksmith, those swords he created were all failures not worthy of being called the ultimate blade.
The ultimate sword he is aiming for is something that can purge the hate. A katana that cleaves through fate, destiny, and karma. That can purge one's cause itself. That is the sword he dreamed of creating.
"This is..." Erza was shocked by the sword Fate just gave her, a simple white katana with a white scabbard, the blade was extremely sharp with moon crescents moving on its sharp edge.
"Masako..." Fate said before folding his arms. "One of my imperfect creation."
This made Erza blink a couple of times in confusion as she tried to make sure she heard his words right. "Imperfect?"
"Don't pay too much attention to it. The boy wanted to make the ultimate sword that can cut karma itself, so he viewed almost all the swords he created are inferior." Scathach said, not even turning back to the two teens behind her.
"Oh, okay..." Erza said staring back into the blade feeling mesmerized by its beauty yet her friend saw this was imperfect.
Just what kind of sword did her friend want to create?
"So Erza, take care. Adios!" He said not giving Erza time to respond, he jumped up as his body now a [Living Weapon] wielding the power of the ultimate weapon Enkidu, he float up and Scathach turned to spirit form before grabbing onto her adopted son as they flew toward the direction for the last Shadow Servant.
The mother and son flew towards the direction of their next target.
"Fate, let rest a bit. Your magic energy might have almost fully recovered, but you haven't slept in 2 days." Scathach said, looking at her adopted son, although knowing that her son isn't normal, as he heals much faster than regular humans, and his mind is completely different from children his age. Scathach still treats him like how she would treat her own child, pushing him to his limit while making sure he gets enough rest so he doesn't overwork himself to death.
Fighting the Shadow Servant Medea was a pain in the ass, as she set up traps, stay up high in the air while spamming her magic blast. Almost any magic attack they throw at her gets canceled or countered by her magic, forcing Scathach to adapt and dive into her Caster Class to somewhat counter the Witch of Betrayal.
But after gaining the Caster Card, the Extra has been busy studying more about magic, learning as much as he could to the point of not eating probably nor even sleeping for days. This makes Scathach annoyed seeing how her son didn't care for his own well-being, so she decided to kick his ass and force him to eat, bathe, then sleep for at least 8 hours.
"Right." Fate said, looking down for a good place to set up camp, he would rather avoid getting chased by one of the fastest beings alive with spears that can kill gods. He isn't sure even [Death Door] could save him.
Fate flew down to a nearby lake, canceling his connection with the Class Card as the mother and son began to set up camp to rest, well, more like Scathach set up protective runes around them while Fate gathered woods, created a fire, hunted a board for food, and cooked it.
After some time they lay inside their sleeping bags inside a protective bounded field. As a Servant, she might not need rest, but she needed to set a good example for her son, if not, then she knew one day, he would most likely fall asleep only to wake up in the Land of Shadows.
"Hey son, what do you want to do once this is over?" Scathach asks, looking up at the star.
"Well, I guess I could go back to Fairy Tail when I hit 15 for a bit, before continuing to go on this journey until I reach 19 to come back to Fairy Tail for the last time." Fate said which made Scathach raise a brow at how specific he said it. "Or maybe I shouldn't even come back when I hit 15."
"Oh? Won't that hurt Little Red's heart?" She asks, narrowing her eyes at the boy next to her. "You'll never get a wife thinking like that..." she remarks before continuing. "Why don't you just leave the guild altogether?"
"It's complicated." He answered, knowing full well if he just left the guild, then when the battle of Fairy Tail would happen, he couldn't intervene seeing how it had nothing to do with him at that point.
If he could keep the storyline on a similar path to the main story then it would be one of the best outcomes, since almost no main character dies. If he gets involved too much, then someone important might die.
And that causes a chain of domino effects that may lead to more deaths. That will soon drive this world into chaos.
The following day, Fate and Scathach continued their journey toward the location of the last remaining Shadow Servant. Their path led them to a cave nestled within the mountains, beyond the ruins of an already burned-down village.
However, before they could reach their intended destination, an unexpected presence diverted their course.
Standing amidst the remains of a nearby church—a crumbling structure not far from the village—they felt a presence that shouldn't exist in this Grail-less world. It was an unmistakable aura, one that carried both holiness and deception in equal measure.
Fate's sharp gaze scanned the ruins, and soon, a figure emerged from the broken structure.
"My, my... so you two are the ones who uncovered this Grail-less world."
The voice was calm, almost amused, yet layered with an unreadable depth. Standing before them was a priest, adorned in a red holy shroud, a golden cross hanging from his neck. Over his cassock, a crimson stole rested, its fabric swaying slightly in the cold breeze.
His expression was serene, his smile composed—too composed.
Fate scoffed at the man's artificial persona, already finding it irritating recalling how a similar priest also look calm and normal on the surface while having a bad personality. Beside him, Scathach remained silent, but her narrowed crimson eyes bore into the priest.
The priest remained unfazed, his smile never wavering as he inclined his head slightly.
"Allow me to introduce myself." His voice carried the same unsettling calm. "I am Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, Servant of the Ruler class."