Chapter 6 - Fate of the Servants

Chapter 6 – Fate of the Servants

She had faith in her master.

However, one had to know that infinite power, meant infinite power.

Even if one used 0.01% of that power, it is still infinite, and everyone apart from a select few, would simply implode.

So then, why? Why was Medea even able to tap into this power?

Although she herself didn't know either, she knew there had to be some exterior force helping her. From accepting the merging of skills on her behalf, then further amplifying her abilities, to helping her control such power and perfectly keeping it in the boundaries of manageable.

And she was right. Unknown to anyone in the universe, Ciel was actually watching everything that happened.

(I'm not helping her because I want to, it's just for my darling master. Yup, that's right.

Wait, am I becoming a tsundere?)

Anyway, she was, in fact, the one that helped her. She was also the one that even enabled her to access Rimuru's soul corridor in the first place. The contract they had was only a servant-master one that was made possible by the holy grail way. There never was a way to establish a soul corridor between beings of this world, but Ciel took advantage of that and secretly set one up. One that, upon Rimuru's or Ciel's will, can be opened or closed.

It is a gamble however, since without sufficient control, the sheer density of power would collapse into itself and create a miniature black hole, and that would be very inconvenient to clean up.

...

"I-Impossible!" Gilgamesh stared in disbelief at the sheer... craziness and impossibleness? of what he was witnessing. In front of him, was a perfectly unscathed Medea – no, he could feel that she has become even more powerful.

As the dust settled, the same figure stood there, unmoving with a smile on her face. But on the inside, it was a different situation.

(That actually worked! THANK RIMURU! Wait, Rimuru?)

She then looked at the king of heroes, still in shock. Taking advantage of this, she used her, not [Skill Nemesis], but [Rule Breaker], and simply stabbed him. By doing this, any and all defences, contracts and anything else were removed completely from Gilgamesh, and he just stared at her, still not moving. She then got the same spear he used to punch a hole through her, and gave a quick jab.

He wasn't in a daze anymore however, and swiftly moved to the side, but was still grazed. And as he said, the toxins would spread and kill every cell.

As he began to swell and puke blood, Medea simply thought to herself, (should I leave him? I mean, people from the war would probably sort things out right? He wsan't summoned during this war but the previous one, so his body wouldn't disintegrate. How annoying, I'll just cast a barrier around him. Only mages would detect it, and they would deal with it.) She nodded to herself and did just that.

She then looked at him once more, and turned towards the convenience store. Whilst her barrier was being casted, the one Gilgamesh casted was fading away. And with a last death glare from Gilgamesh, his consciousness left him, and everything went black.

...

10 minutes later, a shadow appeared. He/she glided towards the dead body of the servant, as if knowing he was there. Without a trace of a sound or movement, the body slowly disappeared into the ground.

The shadow-like figure then left, as quickly as it came.

...

(Oh, that was quick. He's already gone)

Medea wasn't worried that someone might have revived him, or taken him away to experiment on, since she knew that he was thoroughly dead. There was no point to even try to break his body down, since every single cell was destroyed.

She simply thought that the authorities were quick to dispose of his body, and that was the end of it.

So, accompanied by her strange combination of items, she made her way back to the café.

*Ding. The bell sounded as she entered the building. The first thing she saw was Ciel drawing in some sort of marker on Rimuru's sleeping face. It was also strange how Rimuru hasn't woken yet, perhaps Ciel had something to do with it?

When she noticed her coming back, she simply gave her a nod and continued with whatever she was drawing, until Medea broke the silence first.

"Thank you."

At this moment, Ciel stopped but didn't look at her.

"I know it was you who helped me. I'm not going to ask why or how, but thank you for doing it anyway. I have brought the items back and I'll put it on this table. Please excuse me as I really need some time to adjust." She felt foolish for asking this question since she was meant to be working, but to her surprise Ciel simply nodded without saying a word.

With a small bow, she left for her room.

With no-one but Rimuru and Ciel in the café area, silence soon descended again as if nothing happened. However, if one looked closely, Ciel had a smile on her face.

She was happy that she survived and got stronger of course, but she was more happier about the fact that her gamble was right and how she would be of even more use to her master.

Cruel, I know.

...

"Gilgamesh was killed?" A certain priest muttered under his breath, "this has gotten problematic. Perhaps I should order all the masters to hunt the perpetrator down. Hmm..."

(Master, true assassin is on the move again.

Go kill him Lancer.

As you wish.)

(A/N Since Medea was saved and took in by Rimuru, true assassin was never summoned the way he did in the original timeline. What happened instead was some random NPC in the background summoned the assassin class, and then true assassin was then born from it and killed the master.)

Kirei Kotomine then looked down and smiled rather creepily, "well, there's no use thinking about it. I should worry about this assassin and the mysterious shadow." He then blended in with the darkness and left.

...

[Zambaniya]. A noble phantasm that gives the user the control of the enemy's heart was used on Lancer. Although he was able to resist until now, there was nothing he could do to resist his heart being stolen.

Through a last ditch effort of using his own noble phantasm [Gae Bolg], he almost successfully launched the attack, but before he could unleash it, his mind caught up to his body, and unfortunately he wasn't able to stay consciousness for long enough.

...

"SABER!" A red-haired teen cried.

"EXCALIBUR MORGAN!" Saber Alter shouted as she used her most powerful attack at berserker. Not even the ultimate servant Heracles was able to withstand it, and immediately died.

After reviving himself, he went to fight again, but to no avail as the same shadow-figure from back then made a move. It attacked berserker and consumed him.

After, both Saber and true assassin retreated with the shadow. And on the other side, were injured masters. The future Emiya Shirou gave his arm to the present Emiya Shirou, since he lost it in the battle.

...

Sakura Alter stabbed herself with her hand straight through the heart, and pulled out a disgusting worm like creature. This was Zouken Matou, a despicable and power-hungry person looking for immortality.

His main body was destroyed completely by Kotomine, but he didn't mind it. As long as he can reach his goal, it was fine. However, what he did not expect was the fact that he was discovered.

And this terrified him.

"Hello, Zouken." A creepy smile crept onto her face.

...

[Bellerophon]. A winged Pegasus with a female that has unnatural pink hair riding it suddenly zoomed forward and crashed into every wall with a dangerously powerful force. Along with her for this journey was Saber Alter, the one who defeated berserker with ease.

And finally, this farce was ended as Shirou stabbed her in the heart and she descended into the shadow.

Giving a look to the servant of the rider class Medusa, he continued on into the cave.

...

"You... Win." With his last breath, Kirei Kotomine collapsed onto the floor, never to awaken again.

Shirou, with slow steps, made his way in front of the grail. Although, he was impaled with weapons throughout his body. By using his future self's power, it was too much for him to handle, and started to destroy his body from the inside.

"It's okay to be selfish, oni-chan." The same girl from that night, Ilyasviel von Einsbern, was standing in front of him, with a smile on her face.

She knew this was goodbye, and that his brother was the winner. She also knew that his foolish brother might wish for world peace, or something like that, so she made it appear extra sad, so to persuade him to wish for his life.

"I wish..."

"I wish for someone that can help me to appear before me."

Although moderately surprised, this wasn't against the rules, so with one last look at her beloved brother, she walked towards the light, disregarding her brother behind her so desperately reaching out for her.

But little did she know that this wish actually changed her life, and this entire timeline.

Because the being that appeared in front of him, was none other than...

Rimuru himself.

...

Rimuru was peacefully minding his own business sleeping and slacking off at work, when suddenly a magic circle appeared below him. Ciel also noticed but just pretended she didn't.

Because of the sudden influx or a strange power (true magic), he woke up. He could have just dispersed it, but that was no fun. So after getting ready by mentally preparing himself, he accepted and disappeared.

Then, Ciel started laughing really hard. He didn't notice how he still had those drawings on his face.

...

After getting rid of the drawings on his face and secretly deciding to punish Ciel when he gets back, he looked down and noticed the same teenager on the floor, with spikes sticking out.

With what looked to be his last dying breath, he asked Rimuru for help. And fueled by curiosity, he nodded and healed him.

...

(Where is this?) Shirou floated in endless darkness, before a hand grabbed him by the throat and dragged him out of there.

Back to his physical body, he sat up and saw a familiar face – no, faces. Sitting next to him was Rin, Sakura and Rider (A/N I will call her Medusa from now on). Then, in front of them, was the same person they saw that night.

A goddess-like figure with blue hair and golden eyes that seem like they can see through everything. He stared at them for a while before starting the conversation, "soooooo, may I ask what happened."

Being the responsible person she is, Rin took the lead in explaining what happened. From what happened with Sakura, to what happened with their servants and themselves until now. Rimuru appeared to listen attentively on the outside, and although he actually did listen and process everything they said, he was thinking about not-very-sensitive things right now.

(Woah! That's so cool. It's just like an anime.)

"And that's about it until now. Shirou apparently wished for someone who could help him, and you appeared. The master of Caster. Please may you tell us how and why you are here?"

"Ah, okay. So basically yeah, I was minding my own business when suddenly I was teleported here. I didn't know what was happening and that's why I'm asking you. And by the way, I actually didn't summon Caster believe or not, I just found her on the streets."

Rin looked down and pondered a while. She eventually reached the conclusion of not worrying about it, "Okay, then let's not ask further about that topic then."

(Smart kid) Rimuru nodded in satisfaction.

"Shirou wished for someone who could help us, not just him. You managed to help him but not us, so may I ask how you would help us?" Rin followed up.

"Hmm. I actually don't know what I'm doing here. *Sigh fine. I'll just take your word for it. Name one thing you want. As long as it's not too ridiculous, I will grant it. Comprende?"

"That's fine then, please give us some time to discuss."

The four huddled in a circle just like the children did in primary school, and started whispering.

Rimuru found it almost comical how loud they were, since even without his abilities, he could still here them clearly.

"We should ask for unlimited gems" Rin

"We should ask for world peace" Shirou

"We should ask for incest to be allowed" Sakura

Then all three turned towards Sakura and gave weird looks. She blushed and looked down.

"How about we ask for something more appropriate." Medusa calmly said, "there are four of us, right. That's the equivalent of four wishes. Ignoring the fact that we somehow managed to work around the rules of the grail, we should use these four wishes sensibly.

He said that we cannot make ridiculous requests, so I'm thinking something along the lines of..."

As Medusa listed her potential wishes, the crowd fell silent and when she finished, they started applauding to her like she was a celebrity.

"Mm hm, that should work. Although I'm not sure about the last two."

"It's worth a shot."

They then approached Rimuru, who was about to fall asleep.

"We know what we want now."

"*Snort *pop h-huh. Oh it's you." He then put on a professional act. "Then tell me what you want then, remember, no wishing for love, death or more wishes yada yada."

"For our first wish, we want Medea to gain the [Independent Manifestation] skill."

"Granted."

The others were shocked at how quickly he accepted. They thought there would have to be some bargaining involved. Although Rin's expression didn't change, she was secretly celebrating on the inside.

"For our second wish, we wish for everyone innocent who was affected by this war to recover and live their lives like normal."

"Very justicy, sure granted."

"For our third and fourth wishes, we wish to revive Saber, otherwise known as Artoria Pendragon, and Ilyasviel von Einsbern, the one who summoned you."

When they were discussing the requests, Emiya was against this, since it went against his morales of not being selfish and benefitting society, just like a hero would, but one quick glare from everyone else shut him up, and he eventually agreed, surprisingly.

Rimuru closed his eyes and looked like he started thinking.

A moment of silence passed.

Everyone waited for Rimuru to speak, since they know themselves how ridiculous this sounded. But hey, the rules said no wishing for death but said nothing about life right?

After what felt like hours which was only a minute, Rimuru opened his eyes and looked at them. "Sure-"

Rin then jumped up and cheered. The others also smiled, but it was quickly wiped of when Rimuru followd up, "but-".

They all fell silent again.

"I want something in return."

He waited to see their reactions.

"You see, reviving someone and recovering their soul is easy for me, but I feel like I'm being scammed if I just do it like handing out some candy. So we'll do a sort of trade. You'll be on the winning end of course, but I still want to feel like I gained something. So, what do you guys have to offer."

They were shocked, but it was fine considering they were literally wishing to bring two people back to life. They didn't even question how Rimuru possessed the ability to grant life.

"I'll give [Blood-Fort-Andromeda]" (Medusa)

Rimuru nodded.

Shirou and Sakura didn't have anything special they possessed, since they were only human after all, however Rin quickly saved the day.

"I think this would compensate for all three of us." She took out a dagger from her waist and began explaining, "this dagger was given to my family by the wielder of the second true magic, Zelretch.

It is able to channel the energy of the multiverse and use it to condense powerful attacks. Although... I felt that the power wasn't usual when I used it. It felt more like it ran out, as if the multiverse was shut down. But I figured this would still be sufficient since you would probably find a way to fix it."

He stood deep in thought after hearing this.

(I have no need for it though. Buuuut Ciel did say she wanted a new knife to cut food with, since she always felt like her current one was too ordinary. This could be a present for her. Mm hm.)

He then nodded and smiled.

He pocketed the dagger, and then held his hand out towards Medusa, who then immediately felt a weird sensation, before noticing that indeed one of her noble phantasms has disappeared.

She wasn't alarmed however, and simply smiled.

But something unexpected happened.

Unbeknownst to anyone but her and Rimuru, an extra skill was added in during the transfer.

[Glasses]

The skill was actually extremely simple, but for Medusa it was life changing, since she felt that a specific something could happen if she used it.

And she did do that, as she took off her blindfold, a pair of glasses appeared on her face, and for the first time in her life, she looked around without the intention of harming someone.

It was a wonderful feeling, and she saw Rimuru. She then quickly bowed down and said the most sincerest thanks she could give.

And he just smiled to this.

...

Ilyasviel von Einsbern was the manfestation of the holy grail. It is the duty of the Einsbern family to become grail holders, and after it was achieved by a master, they would grant their wish and disappear. They were told that their ancestors were on the other side, so they didn't feel much regret.

This was, or was supposed to be Ilya's fate, but someone decided to interfere.

She was walking in a completely white corridor, and at the end, she saw a figure of her mother. She smiled and started running towards her, when suddenly a pitch-black portal opened couple meters away.

She then saw her mother smile and waving her off, before a hand appeared came out of the portal and dragged her in. She took one last look at her mother, who was smiling with tears of joy, and being unable to comprehend what is happening, she just gave up any resistance and let it be.

(If mother is smiling, then it shouldn't be dangerous. Perhaps this is what it feels like to pass through to the underworld.)

Little did she know, it wasn't, but was actually the completely opposite.

...

She found herself here once again.

Every time, she has failed in some way or another, and every time, she always returns to this same god damn place.

Above a mountain of bodies, lies the King of Britain, Artoria Pendragon. In front of her lays her beloved sword, manifested from the skill [Excalibur] bestowed upon her by the Lady of the Lake. She should be proud of her legend, and her achievements throughout her lifetime.

But she was not.

That was why she always answered a hero summoning if one happened, it was to reach the holy grail, and wish for the one request that has been on her mind for as long as she can remember.

Although when she told other kings of equal ranks with her, they simply scorned and mocked her stupidity, but she did not believe this, and still stubbornly stuck to it. The wish was actually very simple.

(I wish for someone else but me to become the King of Britain.)

One can actually understand why the other kings scorned her. It was because of the fact that even after all she did for her kingdom, she wasn't thankful and prideful, but was still blaming herself for all that has happened. A king should not be selfish, but to think about their county instead. She blamed herself for everyone that died during her battles, and blamed herself for the fact that she wasn't worthy enough since there were casualties.

This fact really pissed of the other kings.

A king should mourn the fallen, but look ahead optimistically and do what's best for their people, even if it meant sacrificing a hundred or a thousand people. As long as they are developing and moving forward for their subjects, then it was acceptable.

Artoria had pretty much everything. She had the most powerful weapons, most powerful skills, most powerful and loyal(?) subordinates and ruled over arguably the greatest empire of them all – Great Britain.

Yet she still wishes to replace herself for another in her stead?

These contradicting thoughts appeared inside her head ever since she was corrupted by the shadow. She felt like there was another her inside her mind, but couldn't do anything about it.

Whilst being swallowed up by her own thoughts, a similar looking portal from before opened up not far from her.

And out appeared a beautiful being with blue hair and golden eyes.

"Hey, the one named Artoria."

"???" She was alarmed and turned towards him.

"You're probably confused but hear me out kay? Basically, these people called Shirou, Rin, Sakura and Medusa wished for you and Ilya to be revived and brought back to them to the timeline where you were corrupted. Do you agree?"

She was definitely confused, but nonetheless decided to agree, after all, it would be better than being here.

"Good, but there's a problem you see. There are two of you, or more importantly, two egos. There's the normal you, Artoria, but then there's a corrupted version of you, for names sake lets just call her Alter.

My question is, who am I bringing back? Their request was to bring back Saber, known as Artoria Pendragon, but both of you are considered Artoria Pendragon.

So I will separate both of your egos from each other, and ask that question again."

Without waiting for a reply, Rimuru flicked her head, and two ethereal figures appeared, whilst the flesh body collapsed

One had a set of silver and blue armour, wielding a golden sword by her side.

The other had a set of black and purple armour, with a black mask across her face and a pitch-black sword that screamed menace by her side.

Their appearance weren't very similar, but their mindset were surprisingly similar, since both were extremely confused by the sudden turn of events.

""Interesting""

The thing was, both wanted to return and be the dominant personality, whilst the other is lost. However, that would account as desperation, and both were too prideful to do that, even Alter.

So then all three stared at each other for the next 10 minutes before Rimuru felt a headache coming for the tenth time of the day. He sighed and just looked down in defeat.

"Okay okay fine. If you aren't gonna choose yourself then I will choose for you. I'll make this fairly equal then. I'm not going to create another body, so you'll just have to share it.

Here's how it's gonna work, we'll start with the uncorrupted version. You will be in control of the body for exactly a week, before the other takes over, and vice versa. Basically, you will alternate between each other every week. But during this period, both will be able to know what's happening whilst the other is in charge, they just can't control the body. Think of it as being conscious but can't move."

Both thought about it and nodded.

"Good, then let's get this done."

A hole darker than the void appeared in his outstretched hand and both ghostly bodies as well as the real body were sucked inside.

(Finally, speaking to two kings like that was soooo stressful, I had to act confident but I was gonna give in under their stares. And why can't they make my job easier by deciding for themselves. It's just like the Octogram, pushing all responsibilities to me. Uhhh.....)

Complaining internally, he disappeared from the throne of heroes and returned back to the cave.