Chapter 1

??? POV

Who was I?

That was the question that plagued my consciousness as soon as I awoke.

Was I Shinji Matou? He is the son of Emilia and Byakuya Matou. An arrogant and impulsive person who looked down on everyone around him not because he was strong but due to his inferiority complex, which changed to a superiority complex when he gained power over the one he perceived to have taken his rightful place.

Or was I Alexander Dusklight? He is the son of Elias and Isabella Dusklight. A kindhearted person who would lay down his life for those he considered family. But he was also someone who was capable of cold logic, just like he was years ago.

But as time went on, even that question didn't matter as the memories and experiences from both of those people began to mix, forming a new personality and bringing both the good and the bad with them.

So what if one of my memories showed me being the worst person imaginable? So what if I couldn't distinguish between reality and fiction? All that mattered was that I was me and I was living now. So whether I was Shinjii Matou or Alexander Dusklight, I know that I am alive.

[***]

My eyes immediately snapped open, awakening me from the realm of unconsciousness. Looking around, I saw that I was sitting in a classroom with several other kids my age.

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*

"Alright everyone, it's time for you all to head home. Make sure you stay safe out there." The teacher said it with a smile.

Standing up, I grabbed my backpack and left the classroom. As I walked through the hallways, I began going through my new memories.

Well, I guess they weren't exactly new memories per se, since I was both Shinji and Alexander.

Anyway, with the memories in my head, I knew exactly what I was getting into in this world.

This was the Nasuverse, a world with hundreds of strong powerhouses that could kill me without a second thought. So the only natural response to the situation I found myself in was to get so strong that I was at the same level as them.

But to do that, I would need magic, and I didn't even know if I had magic circuits.

Magic circuits are a pseudo-nervous system that spreads itself through the human body, which is what qualifies a person to be a magus. While it does spread through the body, that is just a physical expression of the magic circuits that reside in the soul. Magic circuits have two distinct functions: the first is to convert life force into magical energy, and the second is to allow their owner to access thaumaturgical foundations, also known as a greater magic formula.

But given what I knew about the soul and how it worked, there was a slim chance I even had magic circuits. The soul was completely independent from the body, carrying and storing the memories, mind, and magic circuits of an individual. And since you are born with a set number of circuits, someone like Alexander wouldn't even have circuits, and while Shinji had some, it would take something like a holy grail to start them up.

But that was barely even the tip of the iceberg in my concerns. Also, due to my knowledge of the soul, I knew that the soul also had genes of its own similar to the genes in the body, so no matter if the soul was in a different body than it originally was, the body would eventually go back to looking like the original.

So how wasn't my body falling apart at the seams due to having two souls? As soon as Alexander came into the picture, I should have died due to the contradiction between Alexander's and Shinji's souls. And while there were some people who had achieved similar things with the soul, like Michael Roa Vladamjong and Darius Ainsworth, they used things that made it so it wasn't really them placing a soul in another body. And while Hassan of the Hundred Faces had a compartmentalized soul, it was still just one soul. And even Pseudo-Servants either existed due the compatibility of the host's soul and the servants soul or the servant granted the host the abilities and then left.

But I have no choice but to try. I wasn't going to just sit back and let the world dictate my life in this world.

Now I believe there is a magical ritual to unlock magic circuits that Zouken used on me when I was younger to try and unlock my magic circuits. I just need to find out how to do it myself.

At the time I was stuck in my head, I had traveled all the way home to the Matou mansion.

The Matou mansion was as dreary as my memories showed it to be. Even though it was only the afternoon and the sun was beaming down brightly, the mansion still seemed to be covered in shadow. And from what I now knew, the place wasn't just creepy; it was downright terrifying.

But I had no choice but to swallow my fear and walk up to the mansion. As I walked inside the mansion, I immediately headed off to my room.

Once I had dropped off my bag in my room, I quickly made my way through the mansion until I arrived at my father's study.

Opening the door slowly, I peeked inside the dimly lit study and saw Byakuya lying on the couch, knocked out, and judging by the empty bottles of wine that were around him, I could figure out what had knocked him out.

Whatever, it just makes getting what I need easier. Byakuya may have been a subpar mage, but he was still a magus, and hopefully he had some information on magecraft.

Sneaking inside and past Byakuya, I began looking through the various books on his bookshelf.

After looking around for a couple of minutes, I found several books on basic magecraft theories, which I took with me to my room, where I began reading them.

A couple of hours later, I found the ritual that I was looking for. Taking a piece of paper and pencil out of my bag, I began writing down the incantation that was required as well as redrawing the magic circle needed.

I'll try it tomorrow before I head home.

[***]

It was the next day, and I was making my way to the Einzbern Forest. But I wasn't heading to Einzbern Castle; I was heading somewhere that was much more manageable for me: one of the Edelfelt sister mansions.

During the Third Holy Grail War, the Edelfelt family actually participated. But due to the family's unique sorcery trait called Scales Conversion, that allowed the Edelfelt family to have two heirs instead of the usual one. They used that to their advantage in the Grail War to summon a servant, but instead of a single servant, they summoned two different aspects of the same servant.

But the two sisters were antagonistic with each other, and in the end, they lost the war, with the older sister running away back to Finland and the younger sister going on to marry into the Tohsaka family and later become the mother of Tokiomi Tohsaka.

Due to their antagonistic tendency toward each other, the two sisters had two different mansions built for their personal use. One was built near the church, while the other was built in the Einzbern Forest.

It had been fifty-four years since the Third Holy Grail War, and I was hoping that the bounded fields and stuff had lost most of their strength in that long period of inactivity.

After walking through the Einzbern Forest for a couple more minutes, I arrived at the clearing where the Edelfelt mansion stood.

As expected of an abandoned building, the brickwork was falling apart, and vines crawled up the walls.

"Well, then let's get started." Reaching into my backpack, I pulled out one of the pebbles I picked up on the way here and threw it at the building.

The pebble flew through the air and struck the side of the building. I stood in place for several seconds, and once I saw that nothing had happened, I made my way inside the mansion.

After that, I continued to go through the mansion, throwing pebbles to see if any magecraft would deal with it.

After searching through the place for a couple of minutes, I ended up in the basement.

"So this is a magic workshop, huh?" Looking around, I saw many empty shelves that probably once held tomes on magecraft, and the floor had faded magic circles on them. The only thing left down here were several desks that were covered in dust.

Walking over to the desk, I began rummaging through the drawers. In them, I found some gemstones, and judging by the slight glow they had, I assumed they still had magical energy in them.

"Alright! With this, I should have an easier time with this ritual." Reaching into my backpack, I pulled out the paper from yesterday and some chalk I 'borrowed' from the school.

Using my paper as a guide, I began drawing the magic circle on the ground, making sure to follow what I drew carefully.

"God, I wish I had a phone right now." With a phone, I could have just taken a photo of the page, and I just had to hope this circle didn't explode in my face.

Once I finished the magic circle, I placed the gems inside the circle as well, each in a cardinal direction.

Now I stood in the center of the circle, ready to get this ritual underway. With my paper in hand, I began to recite what I had written.

"Dykhaniye Planety (Breath of the Planet)"

As soon as the words left my mouth, the magic circle activated, changing the chalk's white color to a glowing blue. The gems that were also placed began to melt down into the circle.

"Razbudit moyu spyashchuyu dushu! (Awaken my dormant soul!)"

As soon as I finished speaking, a blue mist began to rise from the circle. The blue mist encircled me before entering my body. In an instant, I felt a shock go through my body and an image flash through my mind: a radiant, ethereal key being turned in a watery lock.

"Wow!?" I couldn't help but gasp in shock as I looked down at my arms, which were covered in dark blue circuit-like patterns.

While I was excited to see that I actually had circuits, I didn't have time to dawdle around. I hadn't run into Zouken yet, and I didn't want to grab that monster's attention.

With his crest worm familiars, Zouken could keep a tight look at all the key locations of Fuyuki.

So with a thought, I used the ability that Alexander asked for during his reincarnation.

Using the knowledge of the ability, I created what would help me conceal my magical energy.

In a flash of magical energy, a plain silver ring appeared in my hand.

"Alright, I just need to close my circuits." Closing my eyes, I imagined the lock and key once again, but this time the key turned back. Immediately, the circuit patterns on my arms faded away.

Slipping the ring onto my finger, I packed up my bag and immediately booked it out of the mansion. I didn't want to get caught being anywhere near this place if someone came searching for the surge of magical energy I just released.

"But hopefully this ring keeps me hidden." Looking down at the ring, I couldn't help but marvel that I had made something like this.

Thinking back, Alexander made the right decision, getting something on the level of true magic in his hand.

The ability in question was called the Arc of Embodiment. It was an ancient magic from the Fairy Tail franchise, and it allowed its users to create anything from their imagination. The only limitation was the amount of magical energy needed to make the thing in question.

Alexander had chosen it to accompany all the wikis he'd read in his life.

But I'm definitely going to have to hide it so I don't get experimented on in the future.

In this world, people with special thaumaturgical abilities that can't be acquired through study were given a sealing designation.

Said to be the 'highest honor' in the Mage's Association, with the Mage's Association going to great lengths to acquire that precious person.

But in reality, it was more like a death sentence. The designated magi have their brains, eyeballs, nerves, and magic circuits extracted and pickled in preservation fluid so that they may be incarcerated, becoming samples preserved in their present conditions and levels of ability for study.

"Yeah, I definitely don't want that to happen to me."

After running for about half an hour while taking some breaks, I finally arrived back home. Going inside, I was shocked at what I saw.

Standing in the foyer was Zouken. He looked just as old and decrepit as my memories showed him to be. And his presence caused every fiber of my being to be terrified.

And beside him, a girl with brown hair and blue eyes stood with a forlorn expression on her face.

"Ah, Shinji, you're just in time to meet your new sister, Sakura Matou," Zouken said with a creepy smile on his face.