Before either of the two could panic, a mechanical double of the man who had suddenly disappeared filled in where he once was. The machine cracked its neck as hazel colored optics glow dimly as the machine exhaled cold air that lightly frosted the walls. The mechanical Wendigo speaks after clicking its tongue.
"Glad to see the test is a success, though good to see ya ladies again after a long time in the void building this body. Currently I can't physically be here as I am on a mandatory quest sanctioned by the Divines, so before that started the Undying let me do this. So allow me clarify something, this is a stand in body containing an identical and whole copy of my soul grown from a fragment. So I can be in two worlds at once without worrying everyone, just if something attacks my soul I will feel it even in this body. Because I'm still a singular person, not two copies of one person. I'm essentially partitioning my mind and soul currently to be in two places. Two different worlds with connections to me acting as a means to facilitate the initial bridge."
I could tell that explanation went over their heads, yet seeing them relax I clicked my tongue. The soft metallic fleshy tongue made a crisp clicking in my mouth. I didn't so much as flinch even when I felt the flames of Satan licking at my soul as my main body saved Rin's adoptive father. The flames burning away at my soul, death creeping up on me, yet my gamble paid off when the feeling stopped. Cracking my neck I asked Gaia something.
"So Gaia's question, do you happen to have an unfinished cauldron or a decommissioned one that I could take over? Because while you work on fixing everything down here, I think I will cover everything in orbit that you won't need, I'll also keep that signal which turns your functions, mainly Hades and Hephetaus for now, from reaching Earth until the source is right on top of us."
The digital woman perks up, standing straight as her gold flowing sash like dress hangs off her around her arms that start pulling up cauldrons. Rubbing my clawed hands together I began to debate which ones to take as I will need at most five, or one giant cauldron. A cauldron as massive as twenty five together for what I have planned to close off Earth from whatever the fuck was in space.
//\\ MB POV \\//
Dropping into the world that both the Undying and White God picked for my repayment for getting me out of the void between worlds. I got my bearings before spotting demon sized spores in the air converging onto a church, something within my mind clicked. Drawing Vindicare I charged, I could feel CHALDEA lighting up the tattoo covering my entire right arm that spilled over some onto my chest and back. CHALDEA was studying this world, all possibilities of it, and very like its legends. Both Heroic and Villainous legends for possible servants. Breaking through the doors I opened fire upon any demons feasting upon the priests that helped raise Rin and Yukio, Vindicare's shots ringing out with the echo of swords being drawn. One demon in particular got a nasty death sentence as swords burst out from every pore and hole on its body, the ghostly swords vibrating as the blood soaked them.
This was different from the start I knew, these were actual Imps and a few other weaker demon types. The "quest" also did say this was a Challenge Rating of twenty when I was getting sent here, so this was very likely a version on the verge of destruction if left alone. A timeline to be pruned from proper Human History if no one can stop its destruction. Side stepping a Black Hound, I kicked it in the ribs, the demonic dog whimpering as it was sent crashing through a wall as it died. Making my way to where Father Fujimoto and Rin should be, I cut down demons getting in my way, the spore-like demons following me like ducklings as the small demons were seemingly trying to become a new variation of my Necrotic Spores. They were honestly cute little buggers, so I accepted them as they came while remembering they were called Coal Tar. By the time I reached Fujimoto and Rin I had over twenty compact snake-like Coal Tar bodies following me as my own little spore snakes.
I saw Fujimoto resisting Satan, Rin looking on distraught with the sword containing his powers within it held in his grasp. My entrance didn't go unnoticed because CHALDEA's tattoo was glowing brightly and the Coal Tars in the room instantly formed another two Coal Tar Snakes that coiled around Rin protectively. The rest followed suit with a mental command, the ever faithful spores that have been with me since the start flooding from my body as I approached the possessed and resisting Fujimoto. The spores smothering the flames of Hell and eating away at the body of Fujimoto the best they could as the old Paladin held his body in place through will power that annoyed Satan. Flames licked at my body with every step closer, my eyes meeting those of Fujimoto the entire time.
"Trust me. I am no follower, I am no pawn to him, I am but the envoy and friend to someone I believe much scarier than him."
"Fahahahah! Not like I got much choice do I? SOMEONE SCARIER THAN ME? FAHAHAHA IF THIS PRIEST WASN'T DOING AN ANNOYING GOOD JOB AT RESISTING ME YOU'D BE DEAD ALREADY!"
Nodding my head I stretched out my right hand towards Fujimoto, CHALDEA answering my intentions as the last bastion of Humanity began the SERVANT Protocol.
"Hear my words
Hear my call
Hear my request
Guardian of the world
Guardian of the people
Judge, Jury, Executioner
Strong of will power
Strong of heart
Heed this beckoning from the throne
The world needs you once more
Guardian of the scales!"
My spores stopped smothering the blue flames off Hell and surged towards Fujimoto, devouring the priest's body with their necrotic energy. The flames of Hell covering my body, CHALDEA glowing brightly along my arm, from within the spores a light appeared before it destroyed them. In their place stood Shiro Fujimoto, a talisman appearing in his hand before he threw it at me. The piece of paper burning up as it slammed against my chest, the flames of Hell going out, my body and soul healing as Regenerate and a variant fixed the damage. I didn't bother checking Father Fujimoto's servant information aside from his class and it seems that this world brought him back as his complete legend given we're up against a Beast.
[Shiro Fujimoto - Grand Savior]
Cracking his neck the old priest looked around with a sigh, a cigarette in his mouth that he took a drag of while talking.
"Well I'll be, I didn't think I'd get brought back from the dead and in a different version of the world. Just sucks that you had to use my possessed self as the catalyst… though I have to thank you for that, getting possessed by that fucker hurt worse than the time Kuro turned half my organs into a slushie while drunk."
Shrugging, I glanced back towards Rin. The half demon was gripping his sword tightly as he looked at the servant with sadness in his eyes, his voice despondent as he asked something.
"You're dead aren't you? Because you don't smell like you used to… is it my fault? Did I cause all of this? Simply because I exist….?"
"No!/Never."
Both Fujimoto and I spoke at the same time causing Rin to recoil a bit with a flinch, Fujimoto walking up to him as my Coal Tar serpents left Rin and formed a hydra like serpent behind me. Their bodies moving quickly as they did this, green eyes squinting pleased when they came near me, smiles becoming more deranged and fanged.
"Rin, while I can't truly speak for the man you knew, if he's anything like me though then I think I can say this with certainty. Rin, you may be a son of Satan, the world may hate you, the world may want you dead, but I do not. I love you like my own son. Your my rambunctious son that tries his hardest to make others smile, you try to make the best food to make others happy and you even ENJOY cooking, because fuck all I certainly don't I'll burn water if I try. So even if this day was shit with the me you knew getting possessed by your sperm donor, I can say with certainty even if there may have been many reasons to save you, the main one I think we share is that we saved you because WE LOVE YOU. So chin up kid, you got a long road ahead of you that you sadly can't walk away from, however, know that both your father and I will be watching you with love and support. Even if I may have to be the one to beat sense back into you."
Sighing I broke this up, mentioning that there is one more soul to be saved before they likely die.
"Fujimoto, take us to Kuro. Rin and him would probably make good friends, and the poor cat would already know your dead…. He'll delude himself for a bit but eventually he'll lash out so it's best to set things straight and save him before he's killed or worse."
Fujimoto said nothing, a smoke cloud of nicotine filling the air before the priest moved quickly to go grab some "grenades" that he handed to Rin. The servant vanished after that, the two of us following suit as I took Rin away using Misty Step and Dimension Doors combination spell, Dimensional Steps. Yukio finds the church empty when he comes barging in, aside from dead bodies and demon remains he'll find no sign of Rin or Fujimoto. Meanwhile I eventually stopped moving quickly with Rin, a gust of mist and blowing outwards from where my feet stop while I set Rin down onto his feet. The teen looked sick but also curious at what I had just done.
"Before you ask, that was genuine magic, no demonic powers. Father Shiro Fujimoto… the version you met, is also made of magic to bring him here. Just as something called a Servant, the manifestation of a Heroic or Villainous Legend. Servants usually follow a standard seven classes. The main seven are Saber, Lancer, Berserker, Caster, Archer, Rider, and Assassin with a lot of extra classes. Also no summoned hero or villain can be wholly summoned, their legends are simply too large for that. Unless they're incarnated through a specific True Magic, or unless they're summoned as a Grand, which encompasses their entire legend while under a single class. Yet even as a Grand they're still not the whole person, the one you met is only a fraction of the man, a single instance, across all timelines and versions of this world."
Rin actually took that all in and looked a little dazed but also amazed. I didn't even look at the Coal Tars forming more snakes around me, I just let the fungal demons be. A serpent rubbing its face against one of my cheeks happily, my Circle of Spores just gladly kept accepting more of them into my control. I honestly didn't mind because they were cute little critters, dangerous in large numbers, but cute critters regardless. Rin looked at me just standing there as I had various Coal Tars serpents being cuddly on or around me.
Shaking my head when he was about to ask about the fondness they were showing, we got a move on. Fujimoto guided us by reappearing and then disappearing the entire way to our destination. When we reached the area we found Kuro staring at the gates intently. Pushing Rin forward as Fujimoto rematerialized once more, I physically remodeled my body back into being human once more. My skull mask resting over my face and upper head even then, my attempts to hide it once being futile. Following after the two and watching from the background, CHALDEA whispered in my mind about plans for Rin.
Because while Yukio is also a son of Satan, he's the one with virtually only a one percent risk of being possessed by him. Rin though was always at ninety-nine percent chance. He was just one bad outburst or day away from becoming possessed by their father. So CHALDEA has been informing of classes Servant Rin could appear as. Saber, Savior, Beast, Alter Ego, Archer, Paladin, Caster, Exorcist, and Watcher were classes he could manifest as so far if summoned as a servant. I thank the World within a World for its hard work through our connection, CHALDEA feeling as if it was flustered from the thanks.
It took a while but eventually we were all on our way to True Academy. The exorcist guiding, holding Rin hostage honestly, giving the half demon the stink eye or outright just being extremely hostile to him. This was going to be a very interesting meeting.
//\\ SB POV \\//
Beating a machine the size of a t-rex to death with its own tail, I glared at the next mother fucker that was trying to steal from my cauldron. The machine hijacked by Hades in this cycle flinched before attempting to flee as I began to move with a vengeance against the Extinction AI who was trying to upload some form of a corrupted Hephetaus into my cauldron.
"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU TRIED TO DIGITALLY FUCK MY PROPERTY WITHOUT CONSENT! SO LET ME BEAT YOU TO DEATH!"
{ERROR ERROR THIS IS NOT WITHIN CALCULATIONS. ERROR ERROR UNSUSTAINABLE ATTEMPT, SALVAGING FUNCTIONAL UNITS FOR FUTURE ATTEMPTS}
The Scarab being controlled by Hades was ripped apart as soon as I got my claws on it, the AI screaming threats and promises of death at me until the machine stopped working. Cleaning the fluids of the machine off my hands and body, I chuckled at how my main body was handling the Round Table of stuck up exorcists trying to bully Rin into submission. Kicking the dead machines as I head back into my cauldron I waved at the Scrappers Gaia controlled as they flooded the area to begin breaking down the machines that died. Walking back into the mega-cauldron I chuckled seeing Sasha off in a corner recounting her machine murders to Cannibal and four other old machines that were awakened as Warforged. The Warforged machines listen to the werewolf with rather rapt attention and insane cackles, every single one of them.
Walking a little further I entered the main hub of the cauldron, and greeted essentially mine, Sasha's, and Gaia's kid since we all worked on the cauldron's AI in some way.
"How are things looking, Manic?"
From the center console in the room a youthful blue eyed, black and red furred werewolf with a skull mask, and a white dress with gold trims appeared. The AI tilted her head at me before sticking up one finger, pulling up our space squid robot, Kraken, and mentioning a problem with it.
"The Kraken has been discovered to have an issue with its Sanctuary Generator. While the barrier of protection is able to link up with the ones of other Krakens, the power required to keep its modifications to the spell running have begun to melt them. On another note, the Fafnir's are working just fine at mining stray asteroids while the Fenrir's are doing good at cleaning up the floating tech junk in orbit. Humans really liked shooting shit into space. I'm still counting over six hundred thousand random pieces of junk thrown into space that aren't satellites or space stations. I mean there's a stove covered in frozen sexual fluids, blood, and what was once burnt flesh that was broken down by Fenrir-20 just a minute ago."
Sighing I scratched my head before bouncing ideas with the AI that's finally turning seventy tomorrow, honestly kids grow so fast these days. Harry turned thirty yesterday while his kids turned twelve a week ago, the grandkids beginning their second year at Hogwarts. The Jack's have been running around back at FATE as security forces since the Lost Belts have been getting a bit too rough for the Chaldea personnel. Just no one could access the Blue Exorcist doorway that took up one of the World Gates, so my fleshy main body is truly on its own unless the Undying permits someone to come and help. CHALDEA though has been keeping a rather extensively detailed file system of that universe's history and legends, Arthur REALLY wants to go impale Satan even if he'd die before he could.
It was also interesting to see that a Lost Belt Shiro Fujimoto was one of my Servants, the priest being from a Lost Belt where he never died until Yukio blew his brains out seeing as how Yukio was possessed and incarnated Satan. He only died fifteen years after Rin awoke his demon side and resisted his father to the point that Satan completely took over Yukio. Without giving his son a chance to resist before blowing the brains of Fujimoto out to punish Rin and enjoy his misery. The Lost Belt resolved itself after the only surviving person on Earth, the sole survivor after Satan took over everything was Rin, who permanently killed Yukio and their father. The half demon ended his own life shortly afterwards by erasing the Lost Belt by blowing himself up after not even attempting to stop his ascension as the new Satan from destroying everything.
"Yes… Yes I think making a miniturn Dwarf Star Dyson Sphere (DSDS) and using it as a power source for Kraken's could help. It would very likely keep the world wide barrier up and running for centuries until the Kraken's are destroyed or unless something strong punches through…. Can we make it together though? I want to work on a project together again after a decade of not doing so."
Shaking my head of distracting thoughts I just gave the AI a thumbs up, Manic glitching out a bit before coughing with her head turned to the side. Chuckling at the rather cute reaction from the AI that just puppy brained a bit there.