8 C7- Prelude to 'Holy' Cat Wars

"You never said why you are here," Marcus asked the black-haired twin tails. His question got her stiff and nervous.

"... well… it's complicated, my grandmother is from this part of the world, and there is something I need to prepare in one year." She answered with some vagueness. 

The alchemist teen smiled at that, he knows what she is talking about, so he decided to see how far will this whole thing go and when she is planning to reveal herself as a Mage.

Now that he thought about this, he realised… His security didn't pick up anything… How did Rin slip in? 

All his senses went on her and he realised that there is no mana signature on her at all…

'She didn't use mana for some time or she is hiding it somehow!?' Marcus thought for a bit, and now he realised that he has messed up! 

Mages like her could easily slip into his territory without any difficulties, though he is doubtful that they know how the sensors work on his Boundary Field, it's a Triple Core Reactor variant. Something he developed himself. 

'Sigh…I need to get back home and fix this… Though how? Picking up on mana emissions is the easiest way to do it. However, I don't have the means to pierce and look into human bodies… Such a thing is quite taxing to create and even regular people would notice such a thing.' 

"Anyway! What do you think about my food!? This is the first time I am cooking Japanese food with products made in Europe!"

Rin wanted to divert the conversation as much as possible from the reason why she was there.

"Not bad, truthfully said, it was a breath of fresh air, I haven't tasted different culture food in years!"

The black-haired twin tails picked on that, the way he told me felt…strange!

"Glad to hear that! Maybe next time you can cook for me?" She asked him, with the intention of having another 'date'! Yes, her knowledge from books is telling her that this was a pseudo-date! 

"Sure, I suppose my mother will want to see you again," Marcus said with a thoughtful look and quite a casual look. This made Rin blush for a bit!

'Is he serious!? He is so casual about this! Is this a European thing!?'

Though after pushing that shyness away, giddiness erupted from her stomach! This is the perfect opportunity! To build foundations for what she wants in the end game!

Not only that but Marcus made it easier for her! Because from her understanding, his parents are quite normal. So all she needs to do is be the perfect girl material! It would be much, much harder if his parents were Magi. 

"That's great! Do you have a specific date?" She asked curiously, wanting to solidify this instead of being just a verbal mention.

"Hmm… Today is…" He thought about it for a bit before clarifying." In two more days. She will be free."

"Saturday isn't it?"

"Yep, anyway… Thanks for the meal Rin."

"No, thank you for the help, you are a lifesaver, I saved myself several hours of pointless wandering." The girl said with a bright smile, which made Marcus take a deep breath and control himself. This was brutal… For him.

He would rather face the Eastern Federation in war once again instead of being smiled at like this… Rin is powerful…very powerful… indeed!

"It was nothing. I am not that good at grocery shopping anyway. My mother is the expert here." Marcus quickly deflected his 'achievements' in this… was it a date? Sorta?

"Still, help is help." 

After finishing the food, Marcus helped the girl with dishes which she insisted at first that she will do, but in the end, she caved in and accepted it, hell. In the end, she blushed like a tomato as she realised that he is delivering his punishment on her… She was the one who was supposed to woo him!

Now she is suffering from this! In the end, after all the cleaning was done the Alchemist-turned-teen was about to leave. The Black Haired Twin Tail girl decided to finish the day with something he will remember her by!

So, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

Marcus' eyes bulged out wide as he for a second took a step back. 

This was something he didn't foresee! Like this whole day was like…out of control! And this just proves it!

"Thanks!" 

The Alchemist just nodded and mechanically turned around and left.

The moment Rin closed her doors she leaned her back at it. A deep sigh escaped from her mouth. She succeeded on her first day! It was a huge success! 

The black haired twin tails girl smiled, there was a small blush on her cheeks. It was quite something else when she heard what his mother said! 

All the signs are there! Just thinking about that excitement started to rise from her gut and almost got out of control!

She swiftly returned to her room, the thing was while this excitement helped her with fighting off her tiredness. It was not enough to sustain her.

Around 10 minutes later she was asleep like a log. Rin wasn't even able to get out of her clothes, the jet lag and the travel half across the world finally caught up with her.

~~~ 

As Marcus got out of the flat complex he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and accessed the Boundary Field, he dived in and scanned the surroundings and figured out the positions of people between his current location and his house.

Seeing that the coast is clear, he channelled his mana and made the ground underneath him pull him in and then launch like a slingshot shot a rock towards his house. 

Five seconds later he elegantly landed in front of his house, the ground rose and gently caught him, there were no excess sounds or anything like that. 

He then swiftly walked into the driveway, passing his mother's car. He arrived in front of the garage, passed it, and walked at the back.

That moment the sensors at the back of the garage picked him up, and the ground moved revealing stairs. 

The Alchemist swiftly descended into his workshop. Once in the lobby room, his gaze went to the wardrobe. He walked over and opened it and pulled out his training clothes. 

Changing out of his school clothes and putting on his excise clothes he swiftly walked into his gym. 

The previously 40 metres deep wall was now 120 metres, with many different ledges for balance training.

There is a reason why he was this robust, Marcus developed a certain obsession with being in perfect shape. 

So now…when he has this weird feeling, something which he didn't have for a very LONG TIME, he doesn't remember when he had this much excitement in his body, he needs to get tired, like really tired to get down to controllable levels.

This is why the very first thing which came to his mind was to get back to mountaineering!

Jumping down 120 metres is easy, as the ground was specifically prepared to absorb the force of the landing. The very same force is then recycled and added to the mana pools as recycled liquid mana. He is all about efficiency. 

Without wasting much time he then proceeded with his exercise.

~~~ 

"This is just like how it was with my older sister," Thrud said to Fae Artoria as they watched Marcus going all out climbing the wall. 

"Older sister?" The fellow blonde was curious about this.

"Yes sister Brynhildr, she is the first Valkyrie and the one who falls in love with a Hero Sigurd. She ends up being punished by Allfather. 

Master actions are…similar to what my elder sister did." The blonde Valkyrie said with some concern she has weird feelings of her own. When she sees him doing all that. Her mind is telling her that she is becoming weird as well.

Not that she is acting on it as her Master does!

"He is acting… 'weird'," Thrud said with a frown.

She still remembers how that black-haired girl kissed him, that moment her whole being just froze. She had no idea what to do.

This was something her Valkyrie programming doesn't have a response to.

"I suppose…he does… he skipped his regular routines… For the first time in years." The Caster said with a frown of her own.

That's right! Marcus for the first time since he started his routines, broke the cycle he has been using for at least 3 years now.

Eventually, after 4 hours and climbing three times Marcus dropped himself from the top and landed on the ground. He was very tired and extremely sweaty. 

Though he was feeling much better, it was finally out of his system.

""Master!""

The pair of blondes appeared next to him, there was some worry in their eyes.

"Get me some water."

"On it."

The Valkyrie activated her flying ability and flew up to the top and then went to the lobby to get a bottle of water.

While at that time, the Caster cast a simple muscle-soothing spell on him.

"Are you okay?" 

"... I am fine… Just…was caught by surprise. Females are so chaotic…" He said without even caring.

This made Artoria slightly pout.

"Are we?" She said with a huff.

"You tell me? You are a female and a Fae. So you should know for the best." As he said that he slowly got into a sitting position.

"...Hmph!...I think… is it an emotional thing? Driven by more emotions?"

"...I see… Make sense, truthfully never bothered with this in my previous life, I discarded such…trivial things when I Achieved true freedom in space. Go anywhere, do anything, with a limitless amount of space and all those anomalies all over the Cosmos, such a trivial thing was not needed. All I needed was logic and reason. And what she did was to dismantle it."

"...Doesn't…that… Sounds far too lonely? In an empty void with nothing but yourself?"

To her words, he simply had a thoughtful look… He then got his water in the next few seconds. He took the bottle from his Valkyrie and proceeded to drink it while thinking about it.

Once he finished half of the water he finally gave his answer to her.

"Not quite, I did what I always did, research, develop, create and study, though I did have LEGION, my artificial intelligence. However, at the same time I wouldn't mind another smart person."

Hearing that Artoria slowly nodded. It made some sense to her. The answer fits his character. Sorta? She is not experienced enough to question it.

After drinking his water and resting for a short while he got up on his feet and used his mana to jump on top.

He then proceeded to take a shower and change his clothes. By that point, his maid was already on his case. Taking his sweaty clothes for a wash. 

Once he was done with his shower he went to his workshop and turned on his computer. Checking all the readings, everything which happened when he was not around. 

The sensory data is partially there, he is still working on things like digitising reports instead of using in-person ones.

Over the years the space expansion for the workshop is nearly finished. 

His Homunculi have carved out neatly 3 square kilometres of space.

Some of the adjustments were done as the land above is not always even, there is a man-made pond next to the stadium where the corner of his workshop space is. So he needed to adjust the depth of the pond. No one noticed yet that the pond was less…deep.

Apart from that, he did some calculations and realised that he will need another two Triple Core Reactors. This is to generate the resources which he will need to build his future projects.

The workshop itself can't be considered a workshop anymore, it was more like a base.

The workshop itself is separated into two areas and connected by a road. This road has an exit to the outside. This was the very same underground road that Artoria Alter used with her bike for the first time.

He expanded on it and built a storage area for vehicles. In the future, it will have transport shuttles and another array of transport. Marcus is thinking of keeping his cars here as well.

Then the newly expanded base itself is a huge 3-kilometre size square, it's quite big, and he doubts there are that many military bases of this size.

The place is split into three sections Drydock A, R&D, and Drydock B. 

The R&D runs through the middle while the Drydocks are to the sides.

Once it's finished the Assembly Line, and Matter Converter will be around 800 metres long. It's absurdly enormous. It's something he never built of such size in his previous life.

Something which makes him quite excited…

'Not as excited as Rin…' One treacherous side of him whispered into his ear.

'Yes, we can agree on that…' Marcus is not a small brat who can't accept a simple thing…

He accepted the fact that his childhood crush from a GAME of all places, has a massive pull on him.

Well, it's no longer a game, more like a game turned into reality.

After thinking about the twin tail girl he looked at how his R&D is going to look. It's several floors of specified facilities. On the bottom floor, there are two Triple Core Reactors which will be situated at the North and South points.

In between them, there will be Mana Pools. This whole floor is just that, energy. The floor above is a Matter Convertor, several of them which transmute Liquid Mana into any raw material one needs. One could say this floor is raw material processing.

Then the third floor is Assembly Lines, stretching through the whole floor. It's simply enormous… one could call this floor THE Factory.

Then a floor above is Homunculi Chambers & Maintenance, H.C.M for short. It has everything one needs to maintain and run Homunculi. Eventually, it will expand into Iron Legion Headquarters. 

And finally, the final floor is the R&D itself, Technomancy development, Biological wing, and expanded sections of Computer databases; it will have supersized Designing rooms.

Though all of this is still in the early stages as Marcus is still thinking about the arrangements. Though the easiest part is already under construction. The two Triple Core Reactors, followed by the pool, the water pools are already done, and they are massive in size.

After seeing it in person Marcus was feeling quite nostalgic seeing this much water.

He still remembers that massive Aquatic world. The amount of water was absurd, he quite misses it. This made him think, should he make a nice beach somewhere? 

Not in this place, Nah, he feels constrained on Earth, only when he is in space he will feel true Freedom.

'Maybe continue that work on the atmosphere towers? Those kyber crystals make good focusing lenses… I could in theory make atmospheric control on a planetary scale.'

Before Marcus' unfortunate demise in his previous life, he still doesn't know what happened, but his theory was that one of the close-by suns went supernova. As he died without feeling anything or he didn't even react to anything.

Regardless, before his death after finding crystals which he dubbed Kyber crystal in an inverted world. He dubbed such a place Extraterrestrial World number 17. The crystal had an incredible focusing effect of energy when you channel through it. 

Discovering them one could say had the potential for multiple breakthroughs in Marcus technomancy.

One of the ideas he had was to terraform a world. One of the ideas was to place Atmosphere towers in the poles, one each, and then another four on the equator. The Kyber crystals would create a connection between all six towers which would allow the creation of an energy net that could allow the release of terraforming gases. 

The true power of this is to potentially control the atmosphere, as in for a world like Mars which has a weak magnetic field, or Venus which has a slow rotation speed such towers would help in the creation of habitability.

However, at this moment he doesn't have the infrastructure for such a huge operation.

'Thankfully, I am on that way.'

After looking at the pools and thinking about terraforming worlds Marcus turned around and walked out.

He bypassed one of the Reactor rooms which was under construction. He could see all the white-haired homunculi working on the walls.

The concept of mass production of hyper compression capable gauntlets… Is still strange for him. It was one of his greatest discoveries. Allow atoms to bond and compress so hard that even light or sound can't pass? He only mastered this in space. Now he has the Homunculi army using it on a large scale and making two reactors for him!

'I guess, I still need to get over the fact that I am expanding rapidly…'

One could say he still has the pseudo-mentality that Alchemist should be a solo show, even though he has three Servants. Well, Servants are technically his power and not a separate entity. In a sense, they are still classified as peak familiars which belong to a mage.

However, now seeing how these Homunculi uses his tech like this without much of his input. It was a strange wake-up call that he is moving in a different direction than he is used to.

'This day is strange in general…'

After walking past the reactor room he ended up in one of the lifts he pressed the top button and the lift started to take him up.

Lifts like any building were built first. There are at least 8 lifts and 4 extremely large ones. This was to allow massive amounts of resources to move around the five floors.

While the amount of dirt he got from carving out space is quite a bit he is rapidly burning through it with the creation of his R&D section. The reactors will take a lot but once they are complete, they will start creating that energy and liquid mana.

'I do need to start designing those ships.'

The general idea is that his ships will be around 1 kilometre long and will be dagger-shaped. It's him paying respects to his favourite space opera franchise. However, apart from that he has another idea.

Another reason for such a large size is that he is planning to make them fully self-sustainable. Space is a very, VERY harsh place. He knows that from experience. 

This is why he is going with such an ideology for his ships.

'Yes, but first I need to start designing…'

A certain girl has thrown an oak log into his thinking machine, and even now his thoughts wander toward how she did all that to him.

Eventually, the lift arrived at a wide corridor at the top floor of his future R&D. The place is wide and the ceiling is high, the whole floor is like this because he will be recreating his lost technomancy, like his Iron Wolf suits, Gravity based technomancy like the Hyperion Core, he needs his sublight and FTL to explore and expand in his solar system.

"What do you think? Pretty fast isn't it?" The Fae said with a slightly impressed tone. She loves all of this development. happening around her!

"We will be starting the reactors one at a time," Marcus mentioned to her, he has no confidence that he will make the designs on time. 

So he doesn't want the mana pools to overflow with all these excess materials…

Though his Servant understood him, the Fae is smart, and already understands his system.

"Yes, I suppose you are right, even now we are still gaining all that excess mana in the main workshop even when all these lights are powered by that single reactor! The amount of energy it generates is simply absurd." While the amount of Liquid mana being generated in the main workshop pool is much lower it's still there. So, she can bet the amount of liquid Mana's three reactors will make will be absurd!

"Indeed… with the new interferences in my life, my schedule which I made prior can be thrown out of the window."

The blonde Fae slightly frowned, and so did the maid who was at the back. Her yellow eyes slightly gleamed, as she slightly remembers this twin-tail girl, though her memory is fuzzy on her. It was a very long time for the maid.

"...Master… You should have already noticed that this girl—"

"Is here for me, I know, I don't need to be told by my Servant that she is planning to woo me." 

His Caster sighed in relief, she is glad that he is not blind.

"Her name is Rin Tohsaka and she is the current Head of the Tohsaka family from the city of Fuyuki, Japan, she comes from one of the three Founding families which created the Holy Grail ritual in her city. She is here for two reasons. 

One is my Alchemy, her family's magic is all about Gems, and second, she is here because I know how to summon superior Servants."

 All three Servants who were with him including Valkyrie Thrud were impressed by the information he already had on this girl!

"...This…Did you meet her in your previous life? Wait! Is she a crush from your previous life? This makes so much sense!" 

At that moment Marcus did a simple hammer smack on top of the Blonde's Fae head. This made her smirk for a bit. She realised that her Master HAS some sort of crush related to his past life.

"Master… I suggest caution, as a Servant from a parallel world I can guarantee that the girl you know from your previous life and now are two different beings." Alter Maid said with a serious tone.

"Yes, I know. The key difference is that she is not in Japan—"

At that moment Marcus' eyes widened as he saw another vision!

A limousine just descended from the Highway and is moving toward his Town. 

Inside this limousine, there are two mage girls! One is blonde and the other is White-haired. They were radiating nobility, old blood.

"Master! This…"

"It appears they are doing a Morgan route…" Alter said with a frown. This kind of route is the most… Annoying for her!

"Morgan route?" The Fae was confused, the Morgan route she knows is pure brutal magic force accompanied by a miasma of Dark magic and showers of pure destruction and death.

"Yes, my older sister seduced a lot of people and tried to use them to destroy Camelot." 

"Seduction?" Blonde Fae exclaimed with an even more confused look. She can't imagine Morgan and seduction used in the same sentence. 

"It appears my sister is different from the one you know, but yes she is a well-known witch in the history of my world"

"Same here." Marcus chipped in from the side as he crossed his arms and started to think. He now has 4 four females with similar ages to his current body.

'So they went with a very soft approach to get to me. I see. I should have known that such a thing is possible, I guess my rigid mind never expected the seduction of all things.'

"A witch approach to get you… What are your orders, Master?" Thrud asked with a frown, her red eyes had certain urgency in them, she doesn't like witches, it sounds wrong for a warrior like her.

"Nothing, I don't need to do anything, let them do these things, plot or whatever, I have the home advantage here. This is my fortress, if need be I can simply retreat here and focus on my work. If they think they can easily get me. Then they are wrong." 

For a second Marcus got serious, he recalled a similar event in his early life, when he just won the War for the West. There were a bunch of Gold diggers who wanted to bask in his fame. 

It didn't work. This situation is not that different, instead of Fame they want his Servants and Alchemy. 

Getting his Alchemy is MUCH harder than his fame, fame meant nothing to him, yet they could not get it, he does not even mention Alchemy!

"Understood."

~~~~~~Later~~~~~~ 

Marcus returned to his house after doing the check-up on the expansion. He ended up laying in his bed with his notebook in his hands. He was checking his previous drawings. 

At the same time, he was thinking about the newcomers. He doesn't recall any of them. His Fate knowledge is abysmal, by this point especially when it comes to things not related to specific Servants.

He remembered Valkyries that well because of their relationship to the Norse, and Runes make a huge part of his life after all.

"Thrud."

"Yes?" The Valkyrie manifested next to his bed.

"Do you think I will be able to understand other Primeval Runes?" The Grand Alchemist's question got Valkyrie thoughtful.

"...I do believe you will learn or even develop more of them as you progress with your Magecraft study, your Gravity Primeval Rune is the culmination of your study of this phenomenon and put it into runes.

However… teaching you what I know is quite difficult… Allfather learned his Primeval Runes from Yggdrasil and added that knowledge when he created us." 

Marcus for a second closed his eyes and proceeded with what she said.

"I see…it makes sense… You need to grasp everything about the thing you want and then weave magic through your intent. Primeval rune is just the apex of it." 

"Yes, as expected you understand this because you create one of your own," Thrud said with a small amount of happiness, her professional Valkyrie persona slightly cracked there. Her pair of small wings on her head twitched almost as if looking for a dead warrior to bring to Valhalla.

"Sad to say it took me over a century of studying and developing to grasp what I was doing." The Alchemist-turned-teen said with a tired sigh.

"...Yes, but from my understanding, you created it without even knowing what you were doing. This time it would be different."

Marcus this time smirked, so she is now giving him a pep talk? It appears it took him a year to dismantle the opposition which was these girls' programming.

"Not bad. You can give a small inspiring speech now, Thrud."

Her eyes slightly widened before some blush crept on her cheeks.

"Master…I wasn't trying…" 

"Yes, I know, It came up naturally, and that is a good thing, you are developing, even as a Servant." 

"...As you say, may I go now?" 

Once more the Alchemist closed his eyes and snorted, running away from him. Well, sure, he just wanted to confirm the thing about the Primeval runes.

"That's fine." 

Not that she is going anywhere, she just wants to enter Spirit mode and forget that this conversation even happened.

After a short talk with Thrud, Marcus went back to his notebook. He did take a lot of notes on runic programming and algorithms, but not many on designs, one of them being the Iron Wolf suit and its alternatives, some of the weapons like the close-range plasma pikes. On the vehicles, he drew the successor to Alter's bike. Though nothing on other modes of travelling.

So after making up his mind he got up from the bed and went over and took a seat on his chair and placed the notebook on the table he pulled out an array of pencils and started to draw. On the same page where he drew that awkward line when he saw Rin in his classroom of all things.

Yes, he erased that line and proceeded to draw his Star Destroyer.

It's dagger shaped because the front of the ship has the concentration of the weaponry. In other words in a frontal battle, the ship can dish out most of the damage. Though Marcus does think of alternatives, always being on the broadside of the ship is important as well. 

In other words, he has to include WHAT IF scenarios, like what if people will get their hands on his ships? So he needed to make these ships powerful in a broadside exchange too!

So the multitude of canons, Anti-gravity torpedoes. 

'Superior Capital ships as well… Though those going have to wait.' 

As he was thinking he got the shape, but this is where he is in a pickle… He won't be doing Imperial Star Destroyers from Star Wars directly. 

People know them, they know their weaknesses, they know where the bridge is, and it stands out like a sore thumb.

Instead, after some research, he stumbled upon the most dreaded ship the New Republic has ever built, the Nebula Class Star Destroyer.

The apex of the dagger-shaped ship with the bridge being extremely close to the ship's hull doesn't stick out that much and the size is extremely close to the size of his Drydocks.

For this Marcus had to check the internet, there are very few pictures of this ship ever made. For the simple reason that this is from the extended universe and quite obscure. 

So the Alchemist used the pictures to draw how the ship will look like. With alchemy, his ships will look like they are carved from simple sources.

It will be beautiful, However with the easiest part done now the hard part started with the interior.

"Mark!" 

The Alchemist-turned-teen stiffed for a bit, he heard his father's voice, it was quite happy! In a teasing kind of way.

'Oh, by all the cosmic gods up there, I don't want to be part of this upcoming conversation.'

Sure enough, his father entered his room and looked at him with a smirk. Marcus was sitting in one of his favourite comfy chairs, the other one being in his workshop which is the same model. 

He looked at his father who took a seat on his bed and proceeded to question.

"I have heard that you have been SHOPPING with a GIRL." Marcus' father Roland on purpose highlighted those two words which are quite absurdly rare with his son. For one the shops are like diseases for his son who simply doesn't like going there. He has no idea what happens but it started several years ago. 

Then the concept of females doesn't truly exist with his Son as well. It is like they are invisible to him. The only ones he acknowledged to some extent is his cousin from his father's side.

Which again is family so he talks with them.

So, it was simply crazy to know that he took a girl to shop. It took his mother several minutes to persuade him that it was the truth and that Marcus was in a shop with a girl!

"Yes, Rin just transferred here from Japan and her fridge was empty so I helped her with grocery shopping." 

"Oh!? Japan? Curious….very curious… You know… Between you and me, it will be fantastic if you date her son." Roland said with a knowing smile as he looked at his son who had a realising look.

"I know what you mean. We would have an excuse to visit that country." Marcus now had a thoughtful look. He could develop some flying vehicles to visit the country. But that creates a set of issues, which is normal people and how noisy they are when they see anti-gravity transport like that.

"Indeed. Cars imported from such countries would sell for quite a bit." 

Marcus slowly nodded at him, though he did grimace.

"Yet, I doubt mother would be happy to know that we are planning to do such a thing. You know importing cars from half across the world is quite expensive." While the Alchemist's sense of money value is extremely warped, like…he doesn't know the prices of a lot of things. Though he does now to some extent thanks to Rin's shopping trip. He still knows that importing things from half of the world is very expensive.

"Come now! Where is your sense of adventure?" 

'I see… So this is where I inherited this sense of adventure?'

Yep, where his father is obsessed with cars, which should be normally obsession with magic or in this case Alchemy, since his father doesn't have any idea about this art he needed to divert that obsession into something. This is how he got his obsession with machines. 

Marcus was the same, more like it mutated, he started with machines then discovered Alchemy, and by fusing the pair he got his Technomancy. Runes ended up as a consolation prize as he needed to make technomancy work in some way.

"I would have it if you hatch a working plan first." The Alchemist said with an eye roll.

"True, well, anyway, continue to work on a relationship with Rin! It should be a fascinating experience for you, not everyday you have a chance to exchange and experience cultures like this." Roland said with a small smirk, what he said is true to a certain level. For a normal person to interact with or even have a girl from halfway across the world requires a certain amount of dedication. Like visiting that county, living there, etc. 

However, at this moment the chunk of things has been removed. An incredible opportunity. 

Though Roland, Marcus' Father has no idea what is truly happening behind all these actions by Rin or by the other 3 females who invaded his hometown.

He should be ready for a surprise… as all four are planning to invade Marcus' life in some form.

~~~

After Father talked to his son, it was his mother's turn a few hours later, however, it was quite a weird conversation.

"So did Rin cook for you after the shopping?" 

"Huh? What happened? Mark, you didn't say that you guys already had a date! That's my boy!" Roland proudly praised his son who already had his first date on the first day!

"She did, it was the deal, I will help her shop. She will cook for me, though I did promise I will cook for her in a few days. I did say she can come over when you have a day off." Marcus explained smoothly, trying to sound as if it was not a big deal though his parents can see through it. He is fighting his embarrassment extremely fiercely.

"That's my boy!" Once again his father exclaimed happily he is extra happy about this! For the simple reason that he will have an excuse to pay a ridiculous price for those tickets to Japan.

And buy a few cars from the dealerships in that country of course!

Though Marcus' mother thought it was this way because he is happy about his son finding such a beautiful girl!

"Yes, well, she will be here Saturday, and I will be cooking on that."

"Sure, thing, make sure you don't forget to prepare appropriate dishes as her taste palette is different from ours." His mother, Rose, reminded him that their tastes are different from ours. She is not wrong. It was a refreshing feeling to eat different food. He is not new to this, in his 173 years on Earth in his previous life he did taste quite a bit of dishes.

He still remembers the specific year when he left the Planet for good.

Though he got pulled back from his thoughts as he saw his parents looking at him with a smirk. They all thought he was thinking about Rin while In truth he remembers how he destroyed his workshop before flying off…

"I am quite aware of that mother, the issue is what to do." 

"Well you have time~ so think over how to impress Rin." Rose, Marcus' mother said with a teasing tone.

"Right… I will think about it." 

That moment Marcus thought about the array of dishes he knows, which are not that heavy for the stomach.

"You better do it! This is a great opportunity for you! She is so adorable!"

Now Marcus just rolled his eyes at her, sometimes he is annoyed how his parents don't have confidence in him.

"Oh! You still haven't told us what she looks like!"

'Oh, Gods… just let this end!'

He can even feel how his pair of Artoria Servants are having fun as well with their listening in!

~~~~~~Next Day~~~~~~ 

Marcus was wondering where Rin was, the classes were about to start and she was not in the class. For a second he leaned back into the seat and closed his eyes. He accessed the Boundary field, and since he knows where she lives, it was easy for him to track where the girl was.

Funny enough, he saw her sleeping without a care in the world.

'That girl, I am jealous, I thought she was the top student in her previous school. Maybe I am remembering it wrong?' 

The teen smirked for a bit before sensing that one of the invading girls was in the school.

'That purple-haired girl is in my school?'

As he used the boundary field to find her, he realised that she was looking at her. Sensing him looking at her via mana!

The purple-haired twin-tail girl smiled at him for a bit. Before stopping to pay attention to him!

'Damn…those glasses… She looks beautiful!' Now that he was able to see her properly instead of moving the car he realised that she was as dangerous as Rin.

This girl had a similar style! Twin tails and beautiful legs. 

'By all the Cosmic Gods! Do these girls know what I like!? This is way too dangerous! At least in this reality, they try harder to get to me!'

For a moment he remembered how shit it was in his last life. Like as if general beauty would do anything! It's bullshit! People have specific tastes which deliver that super-effective attack.

'Why the hell am I treating this like some sort of Turn-based game!?'

For a second Marcus frowned, internally he slightly panicked that he will be entering his second battle so soon. He didn't expect this purple-haired girl to pull the same move as Rin did.

Though it did make sense, however, his stupid lack of foresight in this regard made him ignore this probability.

'I am better at predicting technology development than this weirdness!'

Internally the Alchemist lamented his lack of understanding in this specific field. However, he always reminds himself that he can just lock himself up and just don't care about the outside world.

Though he will do that in the worst case OR it depends on how he will be annoyed by these four female invaders.

He can always send a Homunculus to pretend to be him. While it takes time to prepare such a thing, he doesn't want to lose his school time inspiration time. 

In the worst case, he can just do that. But his innovation time would take a nosedive.

'Well you can't just have both, not yet thought, I need to develop a few things before I will be untouchable.' 

Marcus' true freedom is when no world's powers can tell him what to do. Only then he will be truly free and this time if he will leave this world then it will be under his conditions.

"Mark, what the hell! The guys just said that we are getting another transfer student!" Victor said with an almost hissing tone. He is feeling that it's related to his best buddy here!

It just makes sense! He is the only guy he knows who could pull off something like this! 

"Yes, I know."

"You do!?"

"Yes, she can use IT… So be careful." 

His deskmate's eyes widened when he heard that!

"So, she is here for you!"

The Grand Alchemist slowly nodded as he saw the vice Principal enter the classroom with a purple-haired girl following after.

The homeroom teacher looked baffled seeing another transfer student!

After a few quick words, the vice-principal left. The girl was then asked to introduce herself before the whole class.

"Hello everyone, my name is Sion Eltnam Sokaris! Take care of me!" The purple-haired girl introduced herself, her name didn't truly ring any bells to Marcus. But, for the rest of the class, such a long and intricate name was an indication that she was of old blood. Which was not wrong, her background is very special.

"Damn…Mark, what kind of stuff did you unleash to get the attention of such people?" Victor asked him as he noticed the girl's hair and how she was looking at their desk! 

"You could say the only reason they are here is because of my Alchemy," Marcus said while he had a short stare with Sion. The girl of course noticed that it was her target. No one else has this much mana in this room.

"We still have a few seats, why don't you sit in front of Victor." 

As the homeroom teacher said the Alchemist snorted, so Sion will be sitting with Rin? Now that just precious, two rivals for his attention have to share a table?

'I see… This might work… I might survive this. The only thing I need to do is allow these cats to fight each other, while I take my distance and continue with my work.' Marcus finally saw some sort of way to get out of this chaotic situation. 

As he was thinking about this Sion took her seat in front of Victor who slightly paled when he saw this girl sitting in front of him.

~~~~~~Sion~~~~~~ 

'So this is my future Boyfriend? Not bad, the aura of his is quite intense, and on an extremely tight leash.

Curious, how long did he practise Alchemy to reach such control? 

Hehe, you just continue to get more mysterious. Though I do know your end goal, mister mysterious Alchemist, now I just need to position myself to learn those secrets.' As Sion was thinking about this she took her seat and proceeded to listen to what this teacher will tell. This was her first time attending a school instead of the private lectures she used to have at Atlas Academy.

Not that her attention lasted for long, but she realised that this material is not useful to her and her plan. Though she would think differently if HE was interested in it.

If he was she could use such material to get closer to him. But so far from her understanding, he was more interested in looking at her back.

The funny thing was, he knows that she is Magus and he knows that she knows about him. So there's quite a vague ambiguity between them.

Eventually, the class ended and people were about to walk toward Sion. However, the purple-haired girl simply turned to her right and toward Marcus who was looking at her the whole time.

"Marcus Goldman, yes? Might I talk with you?"

*BANG* 

At that moment one of the teen's banged his head into the table. Not only that but half of the females now looked at her as if she was their mortal enemy.

'Someone quite famous among the females. Curious, quite curious.'

"Sure. What can I do for you, Sion?" Marcus asked her nicely but his eyes were telling her different things.

'Quite serious aren't you? I only wish to speak but this guy is ready to kill me!' 

The purple-haired girl could sense the hidden killing intent, he was ready to end her if she showed any sort of dangerous element. 

In front of the whole class if need be! That just shows how serious he is about his turf! 

"As I was saying… Can we talk in private?" 

The moment she said that the class went into another uproar!

"Sure, let's see what you are ready to say." 

Marcus said that as he stood up from his seat. Sion followed after him. The pair walked out of the classroom.

"Hmm?"

The Alchemist's friend looked to the side and saw how his deskmate's notebook ended up in Marcus' backpack and got sealed off magically.

"Damn…even his spirits are with him, that's so cool!"

~~~ 

"Make sure we get some privacy, Artoria," Marcus spoke via his connection with Caster.

"On it."

Sion quickly noticed something has changed around them. She noticed that people simply didn't notice them anymore. 

'An Illusion? He didn't make it… I see…a Caster perhaps?'

"We are more than secure to talk, tell me why a Magus like you is in such a remote place in the middle of nowhere Europe?"

"Middle of nowhere? You're quite looking down on this part of the world." 

"*Snort* it is what it is. I don't have much respect for how the current situation is arranged." 

"I See… Well, you already know my name, but let me formally introduce myself anyway. Sion Eltnam Sokaris, I am the Heiress of Atlas Academy of Alchemists."

The moment Marcus heard the name of her place he had a flashback of a girl similar to this one, but she had long braided hair…

'Tsukihime? Is it?' For a second he frowned.

"Never heard about it."

Sion sighed with some sweat dripping down from her forehead. The girl can't believe this! This guy is a beast of Alchemy but he doesn't know the premier Alchemy school!?

In truth, he might know it but his talents and Hikikomori lifestyle pushed any of such schools out of his mind. He doesn't need them to develop his art!

"...This…there are three associations for Magecraft in this world, one of them being Atlas Academy which has the best alchemists in the world! Our creations are so potent that we don't allow them to be taken outside because it would destroy the world!" She said that with a small smile as she pushed her glasses up. Sion could see that her talk is affecting him! She always thought that her talking about Atlas would pique his attention.

After he is planning something for this world, the world-destroying weapon would open him up to her!

"That's some swagger there, but if I will create anything like that I would keep it to myself, so no, I would rather stay without your Academy knowledge."

'Not that there is much for me to learn of alchemy on Earth, only space holds greater secrets.' 

Though, Sion smiled when she heard that.

"I knew that I would fail, but still, I needed to try." The purple-haired girl said with a disappointed tone, but not resigned.

"This is why I would like to request you to allow me to stay in this town."

"Excuse me?"

"That's right, I will help you in any way I can to protect this place from any sort of threat from outside. Dead Apostles or any sort of twisted Magus. The only thing I ask is for you to allow me to stay in this place." She proposed this quite seriously.

"...What for?"

"For you, obviously. I won't be leaving until you accept my proposal." Sion said that without beating around the bush.

"...You…what if I force you out?" He asked while his mana roared to life. 

The girl for a second gulped down. At that moment one of his Servants manifested next to him as well. It was a female with long blond hair; she had a shield and a spear made from energy. Her mana signature was quite seriously potent…

'He packs some serious power!' She gulped down nervously.

"Are you sure? I didn't do anything to provoke you… I am even willing to help you out with security! I am very good with Alchemy!" As she said all these things her voice was that of a wrongly accused young lady.

'Hmm… If I get rid of her, then the cat wars will be much smaller…Those two could capitalise and remove Rin…but then they would double-team me… Do I even want Rin to be gone?'

Marcus thought to himself before lowering his mana signature, sensing her Master backing down Thrud disappeared as well.

"Fine. You can stay, however, I will be watching, if you try anything I will be removing you." The Alchemist-turned-teen said with a frown. He still has no idea if this is the right thing to do however, for now, he will bear with it.

"My Thanks! I already know that you have one of your Servants watching me so it doesn't change anything. Only that I made it official."

"You are confident aren't you?"

"I am! I know that my chances are quite high."

"Chances?"

"Yep! You see… Other ladies who arrived in this town don't have similar styles of Magecraft to yours, while mine does. So I have the best chance of being noticed by you." 

Once again Marcus simply took a deep breath. This girl… actively told him that she has a 'chance' only a minute later after he threatened to remove her!

"You think I need a girl?"

"You do! You have kept staring at my glasses, at my hair~" She said that with a small smirk and blush. 

'She is good… Picking up on such small things.' 

"...I see…"

"Yep! Don't forget apart from general attraction I study the very same style of magecraft—" Before she gives him more reasons why she fits the best the bell starts to ring.

The purple-haired girl clicked her tongue, she was annoyed by this interruption.

"Yes, though you may be right, however, I still don't know you that well. For now, let's return to the class."

Sion simply nodded at him, she will get another chance, especially since she confirmed that he has a certain attraction to her!

~~~~~~With Rin~~~~~~ 

A pair of blue eyes groggily opened up, and the girl noticed that it was an unfamiliar ceiling. For a second she had a thoughtful look, she then recalled what happened, what she did… For a second she blushed. It was a short one, but she did blush.

Once she got it over, the girl got up into a sitting position, her eyes ending up on a clock on the wall.

She looked at the time, it took her a few moments to process what she saw! 

…

…

…

"N-No! Oh hell no! After all the things I did yesterday now I slept over my second day at school! At such a crucial time no less!!!"

Rin jumped out of her bed and started to look for her clothes, she knew she undressed in the middle of the night.

So she quickly scrambled to dress up!

"I knew it was too good! My Toshaka luck always fails at crucial times!" 

She realised that she might as well lose her advantage! As girls from Clock Tower or Atlas Academy might as well be transferred into his school already!

"Not good! At all!" Her imagination was going wild, so she swiftly dressed up and checked her school books, and went to the kitchen. Thinking about what to eat before realising that she has no time!

By her rough calculation, it should already be the 4th period.

So instead she grabbed some money and rushed out through the doors.

The girl almost used Reinforcement but she controlled herself as she recalled the Boundary Field. It's not the time yet to reveal herself! 

So instead she controlled herself and calmed down a little bit. 

'Thankfully the education system in this place is not as serious as in Fuyuki.'

It only took her less than 7 minutes to walk to the school at her slightly rushed speed but she did end up inside the building during the break period. Rin then pulled out the class schedule and found out that the fifth period for her class is History. So, according to Marcus history is on the third floor. 

Not only that but she smirked for a bit! In history, she is sitting with him! That's just the perfect opportunity to speak! However now she got self-conscious and inspected her hair. 

But then she can use her slightly ruffled looks to get more of his attention, she wants to see if he will ask her about her situation!

So swiftly she got up the stairs to the third floor. Walking through the corridors and ignoring everyone else, her eyes were on the classroom doors. She saw that a bunch of classmates were chatting outside the classroom during break time but she ignored them. She knows from yesterday's experience that Marcus spends his break time sitting at his desk. 

However, the moment she was in the class her eyes bulged out! Her spot has been occupied! Someone else is sitting with him! 

She narrowed her eyes, her instincts telling her this purple-haired girl was a Magus!

'Why this bitch! I had to persuade that guy to give the seat to me! Now… Someone took it from me!' Internally she growled, like a lion whose place has been taken!

Rin walked over swiftly, she decided not to make a scene! After all, she can't show her jealous side! Nope! She has to look perfect, maybe Marcus likes when she shows a graceful side which allows new girls to sit with him!

"Morning, sorry for being late! I still haven't adjusted to this time zone!" Rin said that while sitting down in the seat in front of Marcus. She doesn't give a damn if someone else sits here! She won't be compromising on this!

And so… Rin and Sion finally meet, and the opening shots of what is called the War for Marcus soon are going to be heard!

Marcus, who was sitting in his seat, could only lean his head into his left palm, while his right hand was doodling on his notebook. 

'This is going to be something else…' He felt the air setting stiff between those two.

~~~

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