Summer camp where we forbidden to use "swords"

by tanor

Summary:

Welcome to summer camp.

Enjoy hiking in pristine woods, meeting new friends, and hunting devils.

Just remember Christian scout is a chaste scout.

Chapter 1

“Now show me your glory,” I prayed as sincerely as I could. I used to be an atheist, then one night I went to bed normally, had a very evocative dream, and woke from it in a bus that just entered a teen summer camp in a world where God was real and had a radio show. A very vivid dream. It had yet to fade as normal dreams do.

Usually, after awakening, most of my dreams would fade, but this one was persistent. Almost like a memory. I mean that had happened a few times before, that being that few moments after I had awoken I had been confused about what was real memory and what was a dream, but not to this extent. In the normal course of events, I would sort out what was real and what was not a few seconds, minutes at most, after waking, but not this time. It was almost like I really lived through the Holy Grail War as gender-flipped Rin. Which was even more absurd than what was now happening. And not just one Holy Grail War, but ten very different ones. So I choose to ignore that dream for now and turn myself to the other problem.

The other problem was that my whole belief system had been proven entirely wrong. Also, I was back to being fifteen and I was transported somewhere in the USA. But those were minor things compared to proof of God being real. But I don’t know if I was influenced by that dream of being a Nasu-verse magus, or it was just my nature, but when faced with such mystery I really wanted to dissect it.

”I humbly ask for a sign, let the number be six,” I continued, and then threw a die. If god is real, does He answer prayers? The answer surprisingly was yes, or at least He seemed to answer some of mine. Experimentally I confirmed that my prayers that asked for possible results were answered. Things like getting chosen numbers when throwing dice. Trying to turn water into wine, or even orange juice, to start a fire, or to turn apples into salt have all failed. I tried that at dinner. They served one little after we had arrived at camp. On the other hand, fixing dice rolls worked surprisingly well. I guess that meant that God did after all play dice with the Universe. 

Five. I didn’t work every time, but with enough repetition, there was a statistical anomaly. I had tried also to specify getting larger numbers, rather than specify which one. That resulted in uneven distribution, rather than just getting peaks at chosen numbers. Prayers were flexible.  I also noted that the elaborateness of prayer helps, as well as quoting from the bible. I was not sure about sincerity, since that was hard to measure objectively. One thing I also avoided was using anybody else as a test subject. Besides practical problems, like how to convince someone to participate, there was also the question of ethics. I would say that I was not being influenced by that dream, but for magus from that particular source, Rin was surprisingly ethical. Even his demon flop house run by yakuza was surprisingly above board. Surprisingly considering my dream self had been raised by that false priest. Well false for a Christian. He had been pretty proper for the priest of Arhiman. Ill thoughts, ill words, ill deeds. I really needed to stop thinking of that dream. It was bad for my sanity. 

And by ethical problems, I meant what would happen once I got results. After all, I was struck at a religious camp, in a world where people were very serious about religion, which was very understandable since they had proof that God was real, and rather vocal about what He wanted. And worship and obedience were a big part of it. So devising a test that could objectively measure the strength of prayer in such a situation seemed like a bad idea. Although if I could keep the results to myself. No. Not even that.

I marked the result in a notebook and took the dice back in my hand. Pity I didn’t have better equipment. I would like to take some physics tests with this. What results would a prayer: let the light behave more like a particle, give? Could prayer influence quantum mechanics? Pity that I only had a laic understanding of that. After all, I studied computing and not physics. But still, if prayer mainly, or perhaps even only,  influenced random events did that mean that not only God played dice with the Universe, but he also cheated?

Just as I was to go for the next toss and prayer, someone tapped my shoulder and said ”I am done, Mercury. The bathroom is free.”

So first Mercury. That name was written on my underwear. I arrived at the camp with more than just clothes on my back. Not much more. I had just one bag with me; in it were underclothes, white briefs, and t-shirts, about a week's worth, socks, also about seven pairs, one camp uniform, nightclothes, old time radio, a strange diode, a bible, and single key. No toiletries though. I supposed that I would get that at the camp. There were surprisingly few clothes. I had generally packed much more when going on vacation. And should I have had a spare uniform?

So when I arrived, I learned I was to be addressed by that name. So it wasn’t a brand of briefs, as I thought at first. If there was a last name to go with I didn’t know it, and had really no way to ask. I looked a lot like I remember I looked at fifteen, brown eyes, brown hair, and still long, androgynous face. I used to be mistaken for a girl a lot when I was younger, and I think I was a bit thinner and in better shape then I was then. Maybe even a bit prettier. Not that I spent a lot of time looking into the mirror. It was hard to remember. Still had a swimmer build, which was to be expected, since I was in the swim club at that age. I switched to karate the next year.

I recognized the voice. It was Mars. I also didn’t know his last name. Ha was introduced to me almost immediately after we arrived at camp. No one used their last names at camp, not even the adults. He was my official camp buddy. It was the policy this summer camp to assign campers in pairs, two pairs per cabin, although since the number of campers wasn’t divisible by four, Mars and me had a cabin to ourselves. At least it was an even number of kids, so no one was left alone. Mars was tall, but a little shorter than me and was an Asian redhead.

I easily recognized his voice because it was familiar from that dream. He looked remarkably similar to Emiya, not the drawn representation, but one from that almost real dream.  And his voice matched. More or less. He did have a white streak in his hair, and that reminded me of Archer. The familiarity led my body to react. I hoped that he wouldn’t notice. It would be so embarrassing. In the dream, I had to use the infamous sex-based prana transfer ritual to sustain my, Rin’s,  Servant. Not that I, Rin, had made a mistake in the summoning ritual, it was a little feature that was created by Toshaka to protect themselves from betrayal. In the dream, Toshaka family art included among other things sex magic. So they modified the summoning ritual so the only way Servant summoned by the modified ritual could get prana was through one specific sexually based prana transfer ritual^[1]. Yes, it was that kind of dream.

“Thanks,” I replied after a bit too long pause. I had gotten lost in my head again. At this rate, Mars would probably think that I don’t like him or that I was shy. Or that I was a complete airhead. Or maybe… My face felt warm. No. I was blushing. I resisted the urge to look at my pants and look if anything was visible.

I put down my notebook and dice, took a towel and nightwear, some sort of short-sleeved pajamas, and went to the bathroom. The cabin that was assigned to two of us was meant for four, so it had four beds and a large bathroom. Those were the only two rooms in it. Meals, as dinner we already had, were held in communal barracks meant for it that also contained a kitchen.

The bathroom was one large room with shower stalls at the wall across doors, toilets on one side, and wash basins on the other. There were four showers stalls and four wash basins but only two toilets. There was no separation between them. There were toiletries, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, and body wash,  near the shower stalls and wash basins. Also two toothbrushes, one still unpacked.

I put a towel and night clothes on a hook on the wall near the shower stalls and then stripped. I hung the clothes that I wore next to the ones already I had hanged.

I tied my hair back, so it would not get wet. For some reason, long hair felt strange, even though I had worn long hair since I was twelve or so. Perhaps because Rin’s hair was rather short. I went to the shower. As I started the water in the showers I looked at my hand. I almost expected to see Command Seals. That dream really felt like a memory.

The water had cleared my head. Too many shocks for the day. Once I slept I hoped that things would get better. Perhaps dream memories were not fading because I was still dreaming? Perhaps I would wake tomorrow in my bed at home, and all of this became just a faded memory? I could only hope.

I dried myself and put on just pajama bottoms. I would put on a top after washing my teeth. I unpacked my toothbrush and went to wash my teeth. I looked at myself in the mirror over the wash basin. My face was really much prettier than I remembered from my pictures at that age. Then I looked down toward my chest, wondering if it had been improved too. I froze, toothbrush hanging in my mouth. This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real. I blinked, yet it still remained. The black swirling tattoo was still prominently displayed on my chest. Tohsaka magic crest. Ten generations of magic research and part of the soul of each researcher.

I should not have it. And yet I felt I should. I was not Rin Tohsaka, yet I remember being him. But also remember being someone else. Calm.

The first postulate of the Kaleidoscope: Presume infinity and everything is true, somewhere. So it was possible that I was both. There were a lot of similarities in both personalities. We were both rational people. Researchers at the hearth. Although Rin was so much more talented than me. But that didn't matter. I knew that alternate could be wildly different. It was one of my lessons in second magic. I meant Rin’s lessons. This was confusing enough when I thought it was a dream.

Before I jumped to a conclusion I had to check my facts.  Was this thing on my chest really a magical crest or did it just look like it? I had to get an answer to that question. I imagined a gem, utterly perfect. And then I imagine it shattering. Fire flowed through me. It was a sensation that was both familiar and utterly alien.

As fire flowed into the tattoo, I could access the mental library. There were spells ready to be cast there. I knew those spells. So it was real.

I stopped there because I remembered where I was. Since God was real and taking an active interest, I did want to risk running afoul of “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” So no magecraft, until I was sure it was safe. I needed more research before doing any magic.

So one hypothesis was that I was still dreaming. No real way to prove or disprove that. Another was that both here and before were real, and this was the result of the use of Second Magic.

I could do nothing to test the first hypothesis except wait for me to awaken. And since the first part of this dream subjectively ran for more than a decade, that could take a while. I would act as if the second hypothesis is true. This calmed me. I continued to wash my teeth while I continued to make further hypotheses.

One: this could be another lesson about Kaleidoscope. In that case, I should look at clues, about what the lesson was about. But it was not like the other lessons. There I had a clear objective, win that iteration of the Holy Grail War, and a general overview of the situation. Perhaps I had graduated to harder lessons. Or more worryingly:

Two: this could be the result of my improper use of Second Magic. I had been warned about many passable dangers. Like flinging myself into other realities, unplanned merging with alternates… In that case, the situation could be much trickier.

I finished cleaning my teeth and moved to wash my face. I needed a plan. The water helped to further clear my head and I understood. No, what I really needed was to sort myself. Any plan I made while still so confused would be worthless at best, and probably utter disaster at worst.

I dried my face and then went and put on a pajama top. So the first thing I needed to do was to merge two sets of memories that I had. Luckily Rin's sets of memories contained lessons of Second Magic, and among them were mental exercises on how to merge oneself with an alternate. I am not sure that I count as Rin's alternate but it should work.

The basics: set one set of memories as a base, then graft the other on it. Since I still mostly felt like Sasha I would use that base. New me was to be named Mercury. It would be best to use a new name, and there were no new memories associated with it. It was a blank spot perfect for what I am about to do. 

The first step was knowledge. I had to find things we both knew to be true. Like basic math and sciences. I also had to see where our knowledge was different. I knew more about math, but Rin was better at chemistry, especially mineralogy, and biology. Then there was the occult. There Rin was the clear winner. Technology, especially computers, was where I shined. 

The second step, compare personal lives.

I was older than Rin, but Rin had a much more active and interesting life. We were both academics, although our fields of study were radically different. And mine was much safer. For difference then magecraft, artificial intelligence in Sasha’s world was yet to get to a level high enough for machines to try to revolt and murder their makers. I used to practice karate, but had never been in a serious fight, and had gotten back to swimming for recreation. Rin on the other hand practiced Kempo, and between the original Holy Grail War, Zelthech exams, and occasional Enforcer attack he was very used to fighting. After all, Rin had received the highest “honor” Clockwork awarded. The Sealing Designation. 

Enough for now. Too many memories. I shouldn’t do this in the bathroom. I would continue once I was in bed. Sleep also should be helpful.

I picked up the towel and clothes I had worn when I arrived at camp. I did need to put towels to dry, but clothes I could pack them away. I won't be needing them at camp. I would be expected to wear that uniform from now until we are sent home. But where was home? I had no memory of this world save what I gained after I woke on that bus. One thing at a time. I would face that problem when it arrived, and no sooner.

“I am done,” I said and went to store my briefs and my T-shirt with Mars’ dirty underwear. He also wore briefs. I could see part of his name on it. Socks too. The staff would take them and wash them all together, before drying them and giving them back. There was a good reason why every piece had my name stitched on. 

I went back to bed. I should have looked at the items I got. Tried to find some clue, but I was distracted by Mars. He looked so much like Shiro. He was a bit more tanned than Rin’s apprentice but paler than Rin’s servant. Rather inappropriate memories intruded, mixed with domestic ones.

Rin was much closer to Archer, especially since that ritual was supposed to last just one short war, not a decade. So they had regular sex for over a decade. That's practically being married. And Shiro left after learning enough to play a superhero.

Fortunately between Rin’s lesson and Archer's “help”, Shiro was able to satisfy his hero fetish in a much less self-destructive way. Safe, sane, and consensual. It seemed that there were more similarities between BDSM and superhero lifestyles than just latex.

“Do you need something?” his voice intruded on my reminiscing. I had been staring at him for probably too long. How rude of me.

“Sorry, you look a bit familiar.” I sighed and replied. I looked at my bare hand. He was gone. Our contract was broken. I could no longer feel him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He sounded compassionate as he said that. That tone that people use when they see strangers in pain. Was I in pain? I don’t know. I mostly felt empty.

“No,” I replied, “There is no point.”

I turned my back to him. I should have continued sorting my memories. I should have looked into what I had in my bag for clues. But did it really matter? He was gone. Even if I found a way to summon him again he wouldn’t remember the time we spent together. Or worse he would remember that and all the time he had acted as Counter Guardian in between. But even worse was the emptiness where our bond was.

I was tired. Too many things have happened today. I closed my eyes and tried to think of nothing. I didn’t ask Mars to turn down the lights. They didn’t bother me, and talking to him right now was too much effort.

 

^[1] Whether Tokimi in this timeline skipped using that ritual because of alliance with the church or taught it to his “trusted” apprentice I leave it to your imagination. Rin of that timeline and therefore I had no idea.

Chapter 2: Interlude: (Super)hero magic lesson

Summary:

While dreaming, the past is shown

Dinner was awkward. Well, it was awkward for Shirou, it seemed normal for anyone else. He just couldn’t get it out of his head. Seeing Saber naked.

Afterwards he opened the window by the porch and was cooling his head off.

“Shirou you are here,” the person he was thinking about interrupted.

"S-Saber…!?” Shirou said, hating how his voice sounded. “W-What? Is there some business?"

"I believe you have one and not me. I thought you were to learn magic from Rin at night."

"Oh." So it wasn’t about that incident. He didn't know whether he was relieved or disappointed, but disastraction was welcome.

"I totally forgot. Thanks, I'll go right away!"

It didn't take long for him to come to the guest room where Rin was. Even in his own head Shirous found it strange to refer to Tohsaka as Rin. They had gone to the same school, but were just acquaintances, not close enough to use each other's first name before. Ever since they found out that both practiced magecraft Rin had insisted that they do. He knocked first, even this was his house it was only polite,

“Shirou?” Rin’s voice as he answered to Shirou knocking was a little breathless, “It’s fine. I don’t have my hands free at the moment, so just come on in.” 

Rin was facing the door Shirous just opened. Over his torso he wore a bright red shirt. It looked expensive. But it was what he had below the belt that drew attention. Or rather what he didn't. He appeared naked from the waist down, and Shiro could see why Rin couldn’t be bothered to open the door. His hands were too busy playing with his cock.  Shirou knew he should have turned away, but seeing always calm, elegant Rin with his pants down to his ankles, mastubating with abandon paralized redhead. It wasn’t just that Rin was a fine looking boy. Better then fine even, he was gorgeous. The sort of beauty that formed fan clubs and made people stop and stare on the street. It was also that it was Rin. If Shirou had run into Shinji jerking off in his guest room or even in the school bathroom, he would have turned away and ignored the whole situation. But in school he was always so prim and proper. Shirou never even heard him swear, or make a dirty joke.. Seeing him like this… And there was also that look of challenge than Rin had, accompanied by a little smug little smirk. It was practically daring Shirou to look away. Shirou tried to look him in the eye, but his gaze kept slipping downwards. Rin’s fingers were long and they moved with deft precision over Rin’s cock. Rin speeded up the pace, closing his hand into fist and pumping his hips for more thrust. He placed his other hand hupped at the head of his cosk and then came. He managed to capture all of the cum in the palm of his left hand. Rin then used his right to take a gem from the table

“Only two tents. It’s to be expected, I do need to reserve some in case of an emergency.” Rin murmured to himself looking at the gem, then looked up to Shirou and said, “You were late so I started without you.”

“So? This was not an accident…” Shirou said more to himself than to Rin. First Saber and now this. Was he surrounded by exhibitions? For a moment an image flickered in his mind eye: a dinner like one they just had, but everyone else was naked. Stargley being the only dressed person felt almost embarrassed as the only naked one.

“No,” Rin replied. He took a wet wipe and beagin to clean his hands, gem and his dick, while he calmly lectured, “It was meant to be part of the lesson. See, as you should already know body fluids are a useful reagent for magecraft. Urine and spit are too diluted, too weak for general use, although there are some spells that use them. Blood is most commonly used, even if it's bothersome to collect. Male mages have an alternative as you have just seen. But let’s not jump ahead. You were training your body with Saber during the day, right? Then you should train what's inside during the night.”

Phrasing! Shirou was worrying that he was turning into a complete pervert. Training his body with Saber and his insides with Rin..

Shirou gulped and then managed to say, “Can we start now?’

“Yes. Of course.” Rin agreed. He had finished cleaning himself, so he pulled up his underwear then his pants back on. “You said that you only know to do reinforcement?” 

“Yes but,” Shirou interrupted, “could I ask something first? What were you doing? I mean, there had to be a reason for doing that in front of an audience?”

“That?” Rin replied, amused. His lips formed a soft smirk. For a moment and then it was gone. He then continued, in a serious tone, “Well I suppose it’s my fault. That demonstration was supposed to come at the end of lecture, but you were late and I got impatient. I was storing excess magical energy in that jewel. Since you can use some magic, I assume that you know what magic energy is. Do you  know about its basic categorisation in two types?”

That much Shirou knew. One was magic energy contained within a body of mage, and other was free flowing energy in the world, “Small and large source?”

“I will not be covering a large source for now. Formal craft can be useful, but not during the active conflict.” Rin continued to explain. “Especially one fast-paced at this. And besides, you won't be needing much knowledge to act as my assistant if there was a need. I don’t expect they will be, since I don’t use it much. So then let's return to the small source: magical energy contained in the body of the practitioner. One problem with it, and the reason we call it a small source, is that it is limited. Therefore over time, magi have devised many ways to overcome that limitation.  One is what you just have seen me do, store energy in an outside container. That has its own limitations, and since it's part of my family art I will not elaborate on it. Another is the reason why most magi have heirs instead of trying to turn themself into immortal abominations. I of course speak of Magic Crest. Of course, Magic Crest does more than just increase magical energy contained in the body of the practitioner, it also contains spells then previous holders of it had mastered. It can cast spells automatically and allow you to use magics that you have not acquired yet. In that way, work on one mage turns into work of generations. Each new generation builds on the achievement of its predecessors. Even if you personally only learned reinforcement spells you have in your Magic Crest will be of great use. I will, of course, not be asking for any details, but could you provide some general overview?”

This was what Shirou had been told: the work of magic Kiritsugu possessed, the Magic Crest passed down the Emiya family, could only be passed on to a blood relation. A Magic Crest forced a rejection on those with no blood relation. So, as an adopted son, he could not receive the Emiya family Magic Crest. That was also private, Shirou only said, “I don’t have one. Father had one, but didn’t pass it to me.”

“I see. I heard of that happening,” Rin replied. He seemed to try to sound sympathetic but came out more disappointed. Rin sighed, used the right-hand massage bridge of his nose, then continued  “Well, we will work what we have. Do mind demonstrating your magic?”

“No, I don’t mind.”

“Good.” Rin then went and took half a dozen wax candles. Gave to Shirou and said, “I had prepared these since I knew that I would like to see you cast spells in a controlled setting. They are cheap so it doesn’t matter if you ruin them. But they should suffice for demonstration.” 

Shirou moved to take one of the candles Rin held out to him with an encouraging smile.

“Just one more thing,” Rin said, grabbing Shirou’s hand. He brought it to his lips, then licked it.

“What!?” Shirou drew back.

“I have used my saliva to help me monitor what you are about to do?” Rin explained, growing, “Have you already forgotten what I told you?”

“Ahh, that's what you were doing.”

Holding a candle in both hands, Shirou closed his eyes, started to breathe slowly, and began to empty his mind. He was rigid with tension. Although he did it every night, he failed much more often than he succeeded. A number of cheap candles showed that Rin didn’t have high expectations of him, but for some reason, he didn’t want to fail.

“Just reinforce the candle’s durability, don’t try anything fancy for now," Rin instructed, in a calm,  soothing voice. Shirou could feel him place his hand on Shirou’s forehead. The hand was strangely cool. Trying not to think where that hand has been, Shirou relaxed. Now calm, he focused his mind on the candle. He had to do what he had always done. Create and install Magic Circuit. He could feel it, the sensation of a burning rod inserted in the backbone. Once that succeeded, all he had to do was pour in the correct amount of magical energy for the wax and...

The candle shattered.

“Well, I was worried that my detection skills were bad. I had several theories why I had missed mage not only in my territory but in the very school I spent so much of my time. I had thought that you knew some advanced concealment spells, but I never thought I missed you because you were so incompetent at being a mage.” He could hear Rin rant as he recovered from the shock. He knew that he had little talent for magic, but to hear Rin say it like that was a bit hurtful.

“I mean I was certain that trope: we taught him wrong as a joke; belongs in a bad novel not in real life.” Rin continued, really getting into it.

Shirou could not let that stand, so he interrupted Rin, “I don't get what you're saying, but don't insult my father. It's my fault that I don't have any talent, so my father has nothing to do with it."

“I don't know how much talent you have or don't have, considering that you lack very basics. Considering your performance in school I don’t think that you have any learning disabilities, so the only one I can blame is your instructor. But there is no point in being angry at someone who is gone. I just have to do batter.” Rin declared calming at last.

“I could try another one,” Shirou suggested. He was certain that he would succeed in a few tries.

“Just attempting it again without correcting you is wasteful,” Rin said, “Can you at least explain what you were thinking that you were doing?”

“Making a Magic Circuit?” Shirou replied, confused. That was what he had done? Right? That was what he always did.

“Are asking me or telling me?” Rin said, “Never mind. That was not what you were doing. If you had actually managed to create a functional spiritual organ… What you were doing was both reckless and hardly useful. I’m not sure how you managed not to cripple yourself. Perhaps you do have some talent. Now listen, the first magic is usually something that is done to Magus rather than something Magus does. Running the magical energy through dormant circuits they are forcibly ‘opened’. They are a few exceptions but you are not really one of them. Once they are forcibly ‘opened’, depending on circumstances a Magus makes his own mental trigger to activate his Circuits at will from then on. So that would be our next step? Opening your circuits. Do you agree?”

“Yes,” Shirou agreed, being able to progress as a Magus filled with unexpected hope. Finally, he could be more like his father. But with hope came fear. What if he truly was untalented? “But what if I don't have any Magic Circuits to open?”

It was a reasonable fear. Shirou was adopted by his father and didn’t know his past. The chance that he belonged to the lineage of magi was minuscule. A normal person rarely acquired Magic Circuits. So if he had none, that would be expected.

“Then it would be better if we found it right now,” Rin asserted his gaze stern. “But I don’t think that is the case. In my opinion, what you did before would not work without latent Magic Circuits. Which just makes it even more useless. Although I cannot speak of their number or quality.” Rin sighed, then relaxed.  “Well, then this is it. We are done for tonight.”

“We are?” Shirou asked, “What about opening my Magic Circuits?”

“That’s what I had planned to do tomorrow,” Rin returned. He frowned, and then added, “Did you think we would be doing it right now? I would need a few things to prepare if we are to do it safely.”

He wasn’t certain that he could take the whole thinking about it so Shirou just had to ask, “Is there any way to do it tonight?”

“So impatient,” Rin replied in a teasing tone, then continued more seriously, “But you do have a point. We are at war, so this delay may mean the difference between victory and defeat. Although it would be safer if I had time to prepare some medicine, we could take a risk. You are not a child, so that opens us some options.” Rin stopped for a moment, obviously thinking. When he continued to speak, he was less speaking to Shirou, more to himself, “I could just shove it into you…  But that would be a waste. Maybe if we did that… But I am low on mana.  Hmm…” Another pause this one longer. Rin's eyes were unfocused as he was looking at something he could see. “Well, this counts as an emergency. That could work.” Rin then focused completely on Shirou and said, ”I need to curse you.”

“Curse me?” Shirou gulped. That didn’t sound so good.

“Yes, there was a warning about this curse, that if it was used on non-mage as a side effect it will open their Magic Circuits,” Rin explained, “That is just what we need!”

“What about the main effect?”

“Main effect?”

“The purpose of the curse,” Shirou tried to explain, ”What it will do to me?”

“Well curse was supposed to incapacitate and ready the subject for the harvest of magical energy,” Rin said, ”Do you know how spider venom works? It paralyzes the victim and then uses the victim's own bloodstream to slowly digest the victim from the inside out. So the spider can slurp it all up. The curse works on a similar principle, it infiltrates the subject organs for producing and storing magical energy, in humans a Magic Circuits, and sets it to overdrive converting life energy into magic energy while incapacitating the subject. It also prepares the subject for later harvest by the caster of the curse. Since it’s noted that the curse could be addictive if used often, it should not be more unpleasant than you could bear. From what I had seen from your attempt at reinforcement you have high pain tolerance.”   

There was something about how Rin described the curse. “Have you ever cursed anyone with it before?”

“No,” Rin replied, “I never had an ethical opportunity. It’s one of the spells I have in my Magic Crest. I am actually quite excited to see it in action. Well, it’s still your choice. If you want we could wait for tomorrow and do it in an orthodox way.”

“No. Let's do it now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“If you are sure, then strip,” Rin said, and began to take off his own clothes.

“Strip!?” Shirou exclaimed. “Why?”

“Well, we could remain dressed, but will probably mess up our clothes. It's more convenient to do it naked.” Rin was taking his pants now, “You can keep your socks if you want.”

Shirou was definitely not worried about keeping his socks on. But since Rin was striping he began to do the same. It was no big deal if they were both naked since it was for a spell. And it was not big that he saw Rin jacking off. They were both guys, those things happened. Even if Rin planned it as a demonstration of magic. Soon they were both naked. Shirou had chosen not to keep his socks.

“Now what?” Shirou said, nervous. Being naked and alone with Rin was strange. For some reason, the atmosphere was filled with tension Or at least that was how he felt. Rin on the other hand seemed completely relaxed. In some way, it reminded Shirou of what happened with Saber. In others, it was completely different.

“Now I get to curse you,” Rin said. “Usually casting this curse would be more costly, but since you’re a willing participant in this we can do it easier. By doing actions that align conceptually with this curse, and using body fluids to facilitate the transfer of curse we could significantly raise its efficiency.”

Rin stopped talking, then waited for Shirou to respond. Even when they were both naked, he was still teaching. Shirou thought about what he knew and what Rin had said tonight, and he spoke his conclusion, ”I need to drink your blood?”

“You did listen.” Rim smiled as he said that. “It's a passable deduction with what you know, but incorrect. Curses can certainly be transmitted through you drinking my blood or even me drinking yours. For blood, establishing a link is what is important. But it’s not optimal for this one. So, not blood.”

Wait. They were naked, so as not to ruin their clothes. Rin had mentioned it could also be used in some cases. They wouldn’t need to strip if Rin was just to spit on him. “You are going to pee on me!?”

“What!? How did you come to that idea?” Rin exclaimed, then after it added more calmly, “No I see, I did mention urine as one of the body fluids that could be used in that way. Would that even work? Well, it does have more resonance than blood. Actually, now that I think about it maybe even have better resonance, but weaker transfer potential. It was a good guess, and perhaps something I should research once this war is over. Good work. It isn’t spit. By process of elimination that would make it:”

It was easy to guess now. That didn’t make him feel much better. Resigned Shirou said, “This curse is sex-based?”

“Yes,” Rin directly said. There was no trace of hesitation or shame in his voice. “I thought I had mentioned that.”

“No, you did not,” Shirou was firm in that. He was uncomfortable talking about sex magic while naked. He didn’t know how Rin could be so relaxed.

“Then I am even more impressed by you,” Rin said, sounding pleased, “You have reached the correct conclusion from the available data. Although I’m teaching you for now because we are allies in this war, if we both survive it, I won't be opposed to taking you as an apprentice.”

On one hand, Shirou was pleased with the thought of continued study under Rin, even if Rin did put him in slightly uncomfortable situations. Even with this one lecture, he felt that had advanced a lot. Also, it felt good to be praised by the other boy. On the other hand, he disliked that people could and probably would die in this war. Well, he just had to stop people from dying.

There was also another matter. Now that Rin had confirmed it, Shirou understood what he had agreed on. For a moment he thought about backing out. Rin would surely understand. But on other hand, he would have to wait the whole day wondering if he had any Magic Circuits. Also, the thought of Rin wasting unneeded resources on him was unpleasant. Shirou really disliked burdening others. Rin had already done much for him.

Shirou didn’t know what to say about Rin's semi-offer, so he tried with “I would like that.” Even to him, it seemed inadequate so he hurried with, “So how are we doing this?”

Rin spent a few seconds looking at him, then explained, “Well there are two parts. One: we need to get my curse-charged semen into your body. Two: once the curse takes hold I will harvest it from you. After all, that seems the safest way to end it.”

“Into my body…Do I need to prepare...” Shirou didn’t know much about sex, even less about sex between two men, but he knew the basics. Like where each part went.

“Swallowing will be enough, “ Rin interrupted him.

“Swallow… I can do that.” Shirou said, relieved. He wasn’t ready for the other thing. Although he was a bit, a very little bit curious.

“Now I could come into my hand again, and you could lick from there,” Rin said, “But it would be better the fresher semen is. Less chance for the curse to dissipate. So taking my penis in your mouth would be best.”

“Ok...” Shirou could do that. Rin said it would be best, and he trusted Rin. Even if the newly revealed Magus Rin was much different from how Rin usually acted in school, the things he admired about the other boy were the same.

Meanwhile, Rin went and sat on the bed. “Come”, he said, spreading his legs. He was already hard. The black lines spread all over his chest forming an impressive-looking tattoo.

Shirou obeyed. He went and kneeled between Rin's legs. It was the first time he had seen a dick from this close. It was different from his own, thinner and maybe a little longer. He had expected that would be a bit disgusted by it but like all parts of Rin, it was very pretty. Perfectly symmetrical, without any blemishes. Small bush of hail at the root, black as the color of Rin’s hair.

“Put it in your mouth,” Rin said. It seemed that he had spent too much time looking at it. Shirou tried to follow instructions. First the head and he tried more. The taste was not so bad.

“Mind the teeth,” he could hear Rin speaking. “Just do what comes naturally.”

Shirou tried to open his mouth wider and took more and more of the length until it hit his throat. He began to gag but managed to spot. He then tried going up and down.

“Use your tongue,” he heard Rin's voice. He had the same breathless tone he had when Shirou first entered the room. Somehow knowing that he had done it, filled Shirou with a strange sort of pride. Even if they were doing this only for Magus reasons. Shirou followed the instruction he was given and began to lick Rin’s cock.  He alternated between licking and sucking. Lost in what he was doing, Rin's cum filling his mouth came as surprise. It was strangely warm and it tingled on Shirou's tongue. The taste was strange, but also strangely pleasant, not that Shirou ever tasted cum, not even his own.

“All right, swallow that,” Rin instructed him, pulling his cock out of Shirou's mouth.

Shirou swallowed.

For a moment nothing happened. Then a fire spread from his stomach. His body was burning. His limbs go numb, and he begins to fall into Rins lap. Rin deftly caught him.

“Ahh... I didn’t think this through,” Rin murmured, “Let's get you in a better position.”

As Rin moved Shirou's unresponsive body, managing to place him lying on the back, on the floor of the room Shirou could feel a familiar fiery pain in his back. It was a sensation he knew well, the feeling of failure. What he felt now, was the same thing he had felt each time he failed to construct Magic Circuit. The fire that burned through Shirou caused more than pain. He burned with lust. Shirou's cock was so hard that it was almost painful, and his senses were dialed to eleven. He was especially sensitive to Rin's touch. Wherever their bare skin touched he felt pleasurable tingling. 

“Please…”  Shirou pleaded. For what, he didn’t know.

Rin sat on Shirou's stomach and placed his right hand on Shirou's forehead. His touch was so good. But Shirou wanted more. Shirou burned, but the pain was sublimated by need. The fire consumed Shirou piece by piece until that remained was fire and Rin.

“It seems that it had worked as intended. Now let's finish it.” he could hear Rin speak, but the meaning of the words escaped him. Next, he could feel Rin's mouth on his cock. It was so pleasantly cool. Each touch, and lick made the fire burn hotter, and yet he longed to burn. His whole being focused on his cock and Rin moth. Anything else seemed to fade from existence. As if it was called by Rin all of the fire in his body gathered in his cock. It was agony. It was ecstasy. And then the explosion. All the strength left Shirou’s body leaving him pleasantly numb.

Rin was on the floor next to him. “Are you ok?” he asked.

Shirou thought for a moment. He was in no pain. Actually, he felt quite good, although exhausted. He could also feel something new in his body, and yet something that was always there. “Yes, just tired.”

“I have good news. You have Magic Circuits and a decent amount of them. We get more precise numbers tomorrow. I know that you want to test them right now but leave them at least until morning. You should be completely out of magic energy.” Shirou attentively listened to Rin’s explanation. It seemed that this evening's lesson was a success.

 

Notes:

If it was unclear this happened during a “dream”. So count it as flash back. Well, this was supposed to be a short interlude, but it grew. Things are a bit different since this Rin is different (not just male), but I am not sure if I conveyed it well. I am not completely pleased with sex scenes. Tell me what you think about it. An important thing here is shown how this Rin first cast his favorite cure. Truly this was inspiring since I was rereading VN trying to find what spell Rin used and came to perls like: “I don’t have my hands free at the moment, so just come on in”, “You were training your body with Saber during the day, right? Then you should train what's inside during the night.”, and ““All right, swallow that,” which are direct quotes from VN.

Chapter 3

“And we finish this morning episode with a thought for the day: those who live by the sword, die by the sword, but what of the sword itself?” God spoke from the radio. Not my radio. Mars had turned on his own and was listening to it. God’s radio station was perhaps not the most cheerful thing to listen to in the morning, but it was the only station available on that radio. And that was only electronic that was allowed at camp.

The rest didn’t help as much as I had hoped. My dreams consisted of disjointed memories from both of my lives, and I was still far from sorting myself. But it was a little better. As a grounding exercise, I focus my thoughts on short summary of Rin’s life. Strangely I had no need to do so with Sasha’s. Those memories felt more settled and somehow more stable and older. That was not right. I needed to note that anomaly. When devising an hypothesis anomalies like this must be accounted for. If my initial hypothesis was correct: that Rin was the origin of the phenomena; then Rin's memories should have felt most stable, and Sasha's memories should have felt like the latest addition, not the reverse. I needed to think more about that. And one other thing. Qhy the hell Sasha had memories of an alternate timeline with the female version of Rin as a video game? And anime. And manga.     

Well, it could be proof of the Narrative Resonance Hypothesis. That theory tried to explain the similarity of stories among parallel words. That theory stated that if the events which were significant in some way were recorded outside time and the word axis. From there they seeped into the unconscious mind, inspiring storytellers. Counterpoint was Narrative Limitation Hypothesis, which stated that stories were similar because there were limited ways to tell stories that would be pleasing to humans. Proving either one was seriously hampered by a limited number of qualified observers of parallel words.

The problem with applying that hypothesis to this particular circumstance, Sasha knowing a version of part of Rin’s life as a story, the medium was not really important here, was the significance of the event. Perhaps it was the summoning of Servants that significantly strengthened resonance since most stories Sasha knew from that set of Worlds were centered around them.

Enough. I was running in circles. Perhaps some water would help.

This morning we washed together. My bare hand, where I still expected to see Command Seals that I wore for so long, was painful to look at. It was the remainder what, who, I had lost. In truth, I also missed other people I had left, from both lives, but they would all survive without me, while Archer's very existence depended on me. That was generally true of any Master Servant pair since Servants need a Master to stay anchored in the world. Thanks to the “improvement” devised by Tohsaka for the summoning ritual Servat summoned by it, like my Archer, would not only be unable to take another Master but also would only be able to replenish magical energy in a very specific way. The modification of the summoning ritual was based on the Mystery “Angels who defile themself by having sex with a human shell be bound to Earth”, as it was written in the Book of Enoch, and in that way staining the spiritual bodies of the Servants with the dust of mortality. It took four lines to be added at the end of the ritual, not unlike the modification to summon berzerkers, which were burned in my memory.

‘And this is the wrath of God, that these things should be thus.’

‘And this is the grace of God, that these things should be thus.’

‘Wherefore I charge you that ye come unto me in the Beginning; for if ye take but one step in this Path, ye must arrive inevitably at the end thereof.’

‘This Path is beyond Life and Death; it is also beyond Love; but that ye know not, for ye know not Love.’

Although this method imposed limitations, like limiting prana transfer to the consumption of union, and making it the only way for Servant to regain prana, it also made both the transfer so much more efficient and bound Servant more closely to the World, increasing both powers of Servant and reducing Servants upkeep.   

Other people that I knew I would potentially meet again in the future, but he was almost certainly gone. How? The same thing that most probably got me in this predicament Kaleidoscope: Operation of Parallel Words, the Second True Magic. I participated in nine more Holy Grail Wars besides the first one to learn more about Second Magic. I can say this about Wizard Marshall Zelretch, his lessons were cheap, in that he didn’t charge anything for them, but end-of-year exams were literally murder.

Once more I got lost in thoughts. If this continued I would need a map. I finished washing and went to take care of my hair, but there was one problem. Among the things packed in my bag, there was one necessity missing, a brush. I could make one using magic, ordinary brush was simple enough to create using Gradation Air, but until I read that bible no magic for me. And maybe it would be better to borrow one. I could have asked Mars, but his hair was short, so he probably used a comb. I could use it too with my longer hair. I had done that before, but I didn’t really like to use a comb on my hair. A brush would be better. Also, I was avoiding talking to him. That I had to stop. Just because of whom he reminded me was no reason to ruin a kid's summer vacation. Buddies were assigned for the whole duration. So I just used my fingers to try to make hail look more presentable.

“Mars..” I tried to start a conversation after we exited the bathroom and started changing out nightclothes into our camp uniforms. They were similar, the same beige slacks, and brown vests that we wore over our t-shirts. Dull, but serviceable.

“Yes?” Mar put on his vest, finishing dressing as he replied. That wasn't the first thing we said to each other this morning. We had exchanged standard greetings when we had been woken by the announcement system. It seems that camp organizers preferred to assure that all kids at camp would be awakened early enough to have to wash before breakfast.

Whatever I planned to say next, and I was not sure what I wanted to say, I wasn’t very good at breaking the ice, was interrupted by another announcement, “Scouts, please gather in Manna cabin. Breakfast starts in 15 minutes.” Good thing that I also had finished, so we could leave.

This was a scouting-themed camp, so naturally, adults called campers scouts. Though the uniforms were not what I had expected from scouts. As Sasha, I had gone to summer camps, almost every summer. Both those were English and math camps. As Rin I had never gone to any summer camp, duties as second owner and training precluded doing so before the first Holy Grail War I took part in. After it, there really was no time.

I picked the bible as we went out. I know it's strange to bring it to breakfast, but I wasn’t sure that I would be going back to our cabin right afterward and I had planned to look it over. Our cabin did have a name. It was written on a big wooden plank over the door. It was “Luke.” All cabins had a name that was displayed in the same manner. Like “Manna” where we were going now, or “John”, “Matthew” and “Mark” the cabins for the other three groups of scouts, who were also just exiting their cabins. We looked much the same in our uniforms. Although I thought that scouts should have had very distinctive uniforms, what we wore was not it. There were two more named cabins in the camp, “Peter” where adults slept, and “Thomas” which was an ambulance. There was also an unnamed warehouse that doubled as a garage.

We joined others. Mars greeted them first. Unlike me, he remembered some of their names. I just couldn't bother. In the “Manna” cabin there were five tables, one for each scout cabin and one for adults. So Mars and I had a table for ourselves. For this meal one of the other groups was drafted to help with setting tables. I wonder what would happen when it was our turn. Would counselors assign us more help or did they just expect us two to do it? No matter. For breakfast, we had some sort of porridge with dried fruit and honey. I started to eat, but when I looked at my bare hand, I lost my appetite. I forced myself to eat.

“It's not that bad, although I would have cooked it a little more,” Mars said to me, obviously noticing that I was not very enthusiastic about this breakfast.

The food was not bad, and I usually liked sweet things. But still, I grabbed any excuse to pause eating, “So know how to cook. Do you like it?”

“I suppose so,” he replied. He sounded indifferent. It was strange to Emiya Shirou’s alternate that didn’t enjoy cooking. If Mars was his alternate. I still had proof of that except that he looked like him. Which was pretty thin.  

“Well, maybe we could volunteer to help in the kitchen if you like it?” Camp buddies are supposed to stay together most of the time. So, there would be no point in just one volunteer. And we would have to do some chores, cooking was too bad.

He grunted affirmatively, and then returned to the meal. I forced myself to eat even if I wasn’t hungry. When the meal ended, we were yet to be dismissed. The same group of scouts that had laid the table now picked used utensils and took them away. Then they closed all the windows and pulled the curtains.

There were four adults at camp: Camp Director, Bonfire Captain, Cook, and Nurse. All were male.  As we are campers as I had seen. If adults had names beside those tiles I didn't know them. They were just introduced to us by their jobs. Each of them doubled as the main counselor for the cabin. The Camp Director was in charge of our cabin. He was a busy man, so we met him only briefly yesterday when he took us to our cabin.

He called me and Mars and ordered us “Go to the side room.  There you will find a projector and screen. The projector should be on the third shelf from the left. Don't forget to bring an extension cable.”

We did as he asked. If I was in a better mood I would have spent more time looking at odds and ends inside the room, but I mostly ignored strange packages, sirens, crystals, light bulbs, and several stacks of incense. Was that bottle labeled myrth? No matter, I grabbed a projector and an extension cable. It was a bit unwieldy but I could carry it alone. Mars had grabbed the screen. It was taller than he was.

With some difficulties, we both managed to safely bring them back to the dining room. I went to the staff table, while Mars went to set the screen. After that was done we went back to our table. 

Scout's motto was: be prepared. Be prepared for what? In this case: possession by the devil.

“God has created men in His image. Devil is jealous of that fact. Therefore the first sign of possession is loss of human form,” Camp Director lectured. I didn’t know how one could make possession sound dull, but he managed it.

The pictures didn't help. Stick figure. Arrow pointing to next…? Well, I didn’t know what that was supposed to be. I look a bit like that ink blot that was part of psych tests. I wondered why he bothered with the projector. When that dubious priest taught Rin about he had much better, much more gruesome pictures.

Although the reasoning was different, the result of daemonic possession was remarkably similar to what Rin had learned. I really should stop doing it. I had to accept that Rim and old me and the newest me were all the same. Otherwise, I could develop multiple personalities. No one needed yet another mad mage.  

How curious. Rin's earlier memories felt a bit less like mine. Perhaps another clue about what had happened?

But to return to the previous topic. Whether the devil was transforming sinners because of jealousy of divinely inspired human form, or the daemon was imposing alien login onto its host to better fulfill host desires, results were almost identical.

“Note that once it begins possession advances quickly. It takes from five minutes to half an hour, depending on  a sinner.” I returned my attention to the lecture. I had gotten lost in my head once again. The map would be insufficient, what I needed was a mental GPS. I would say that it was dual memories that led to that, both Rin and I had a slight problem with paying attention. 

Next slide two stick figures with crosses versus the inkblot. Arrow. Three stick figures. I think that they were praying or celebrating or both.

“Once it starts it could not be reversed until the devil fully manifests. But once the devil is defeated, possession is fully reversible. Do not worry: There is nothing to fear when there are two against the devil. That is the reason why you were assigned in pairs. As long as trust in God and each other, you will always triumph over the devil”

There is nothing to fear when there are two against the devil. I have heard that before. But where?

“Once the devil is cast out, the host will eventually return to normal. That may be some temporary side effects. But they pass quickly.” How fortunate.

That was all? Did we carry that projector and screen for only that? I wonder if there was an exorcism badge? If I remember correctly scouts should be getting badges for all sorts of activities, like knot tying for example.

Mars and I dragged back equipment back to the side room. This time I took the screen, and he dealt with the projector.

After breakfast, we had a patrol, which meant hiking through the woods. Nurse and Captain Bonfire were to lead it. Before we went they had inspected us, by us I meant all of the scouts. 

“Bible? Well, it's a little old-fashioned, but you can do it like that if you want.”

They didn’t check for water bottles as I expected, but for radios, like one I found in my bag. It seemed that every camper had one just like that. I left mine at the cabin, but it seemed that the bible was a good substitute. For what? I suppose I would find out.

They set us in a single colon two by two, pairing camp-selected buddies. At least they didn’t ask us to hold hands. The adults were at the front and back. Both were carrying long wooden poles, I think they were about a head or so above their heads, with two sirens on top of each one. I noticed there were a lot of those all over camp. I meant sirens, not poles. Although there were few poles too. And one flag.

I tried to talk to Mars during the patrol slash hike, but the adults stopped chatting. We marched in silence. No songs, no talking. Nothing but sounds of nature, and radios speaking with the voice of God.

The woods were pretty, but not very interesting. Perhaps there was some wisdom to be had from the radio, but I wasn’t in the mood to listen to it. I could have read the bible, it wouldn’t be the first time I read and walked, but it would be impolite to do it company. Thus having nothing better to do I revised Rin’s life. Memories of my multiple lives had mostly settled, but I still mixed them a bit from time to time.

In that life, my oldest memories started at age 10. The first memory I had was of the hospital, and of the priest sitting beside my bed. From what I had been told, by that dubius priest no less, there had been complications in transferring the Magic Crest. The last thing Tokimi, calling him father would be strange since I had absolutely no memory of him, had given to me was the cause of me forgetting him. Irony at its finest. That man had explained that I was so compatible with information stored in Magic Crest, that it had overwritten my personal memories. At that time I had no reason to doubt him.

The priest's name had been Kotomine Kirei. And had become both my guardian and teacher in magecraft. I didn’t want to think of those times. Not because the time spent with him was completely horrible. But because it wasn’t... After all, he understood well for there to be betrayal he had to be trusted before it. And for that betrayal to really hurt there has to be love.

I stopped there. Some things were better forgotten. Maybe listening to the radio would help. I moved a little closer to Mars, and gestured toward his radio. He was quite willing to share it.

Listening to the voice on the radio gained me nothing but boredom. It was some meaningless parable about salvation and duty. From the reactions of Mars, it seemed that was something personal for him in that program. I didn’t like his expression. It reminded me too much of Kirei’s parishioners after his annual new year service. We weren’t allowed to talk, so grabbed his hand, and tried to offer what comfort I could.

It seemed to help a little. We continued walking and listening, but I stopped paying attention to it. What did pay attention to was Mars' expression. Whenever I felt that he was too down, I would squeeze his hand, and bump into his shoulder. Anything to distract him. I had been ignoring him a bit, because of who he kept reminding me of. My usual approach to negative emotions was avoidance, but I promised myself I would be a better camp buddy. So I tried. I continued doing that until the sermon ended, and then I let go of his hand.

After that came a musical number. It was God's favorite song. You know, one that was much like the dwarven song “Gold” from Discworld, just replaced gold with glory. I didn’t know if it was sung by actual seraphim but the voices were lovely. Woods were old, with massive trees casting everything in shadow. Just how I liked them. The path we were walking was a bit overgrown, but since Mars and I were near the end column it didn’t bother us.

We walked for about an hour when it happened. It started first with a musical number suddenly ending on the radio, and a new sermon began.

“...rot that sets in the soul will be visible in flesh.” I missed the first part. I had stopped paying attention to it, so didn’t notice when the music ended. “Cure it with fire and water. Even those who wander alone through the dark woods are not lost as long as there are those who pray for them. Let us all take a moment to pray for lost strangers.” That was not requested. That tone expected obedience. “It is certain that the devil is coming. Now we return to musical number: ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory”

The sirens mounted on poles held by adults began to wail. There was a stench of decay in the air. At first weak, but quickly grew stronger. And with stench, there was a presence. It was like the presence of a strong tainted source of magical energy, but somehow still different. I couldn’t explain how. Leaves fell from above like strange green rain.

I prepared myself for combat. I took a loose stance, transferred my bible in my left hand, and opened my Magic Circuits. I was lost past needing to chant for a such simple action. Just quick visualization. Much of my magecraft required prepared reagents, like for example jewels that I had already filled with magic energy, and I was not used to fighting without my partner. But I was hardly helpless.

I heard a tree falling. More than one tree. I turned towards the sound. I was not only one.

“Get ready!” Bonfire Captain commanded. Other scouts obeyed, brandishing their radios as weapons. Well almost all. I didn’t have one and Mars dropped his. Antennas of radios lit with various elements. One burned with fire, one crackled with electricity, one dripped water, and yet another was surrounded by a cloud of butterflies. With that clue, I finally understood in which world I was. Another world known to me from Sasha’s memories. I was doing it again. From my memories. I knew this one as a video game, more precisely another visual novel. The title was We Know the Devil. Unfortunately, there was so much less material about it. Just one short game. But what I knew was enough. I now knew the rules I had to obey. I closed my circuits. I would have no need for them. I didn’t need to recreate a miracle, I just had to ask for one.

There was just one tiny problem: I had left my radio at the cabin. Then I remembered what the Bonfire Captain had said to me: “Bible? Well, it's a little old-fashioned, but you can do it like that if you want.” So that was what he meant. I suppose there had been devil sightings before radio. I took my bible in my right hand and opened it as if I was going to read it. I focused. I was used to using magecraft but this was not magecraft. At its most basic art of magecraft is the art of transgression. To use it was to inflict one’s will upon the world. This was different. I simply asked and was given.

Miracle manifested as a swarm of metallic marbles that orbited me. Somehow, by instinct, I knew two things about them. One: those marbles were actually droplets of quicksilver, and thus liquid. I noted elemental alignment with the new name, but that was to be expected from what I knew of this world. Second: they would obey my will.  In execution what I have done bore some resemblance to Formal craft, after all, I was not using my own power, but there were glaring differences. Like lack of structured ritual or need any secret knowledge, I just asked. There was also that I could not sense any magical energy from orbs of quicksilver. It was true that the devil's presence overpowered my senses, and that stench didn’t help, but the orbs were close enough that I should be able to sense any magical energy in them if it was present. There was also a question why mercury? I was what magi call an Average One, the title given to those who have an affinity for Five Great Elements. Before I had no special affinity for quicksilver. Was it because of my newest name?   

I took a second to look for Mars. I was a bit worried. After all, he had dropped his radio. I shouldn’t have bothered. Mars had, even without a radio, managed to conjure a sword.

Heralded by more crashing sounds, the devil had arrived. If it wasn’t so disgusting it would almost look comical. Round body, almost like a ball, with stick thin, unnaturally long limbs. All four limbs ended in something that looked like a cross between bird claws and human fingers. It was covered in blackish filth, so much that it constantly dripped from him. Its head looked more like a pile of dirt, haphazardly placed on its body than a real head. It had no features, no eyes, mouth, or nose. Where it, or the pieces of filth that separated from it, touched the earth rot spread. When rot reached the trees they would crack and fall. That was the source of the nose.

“Wait,” Captain Bonfire gave the second command, but I could see that Mars had already disobeyed him. He was running towards the devil. How familiar. With a gesture, I sent most of the quicksilver to Mars. Mars covered more ground running than I expected. He was a little too fast. Perhaps he had already managed to transform. I remember that transformation sequences were mentioned in the game, but since the protagonists were forbidden to use them I had no idea what they looked like.

When Mars was about halfway to the devil it started to shake, like a wet dog trying to dry its fur. The pieces of filth flew everywhere. I used mercury that I controlled to intercept those pieces of filth that would have stuck either me or my buddy. It was easier than I expected. I didn’t need to guide each orb to each particle of filth, the will to protect was enough. Where filth touched mercury it crumbled into orange dust, and no longer responded to my commands. I heard cries of pain. It seemed that not all were able to protect themself from the devil's attack.

This was getting dangerous. Is playing with new powers worth it? But then I was short on my usual reagents, and if I used something different from others they may turn on me, which could make this situation even more problematic.

“Get back here!” Captain Bonfire yelled at Mars. My buddy ignored him and continued to advance toward the devil. He was nearing the rot that had spread from the earth touched by the devil’s feet. I didn’t even want to think what would happen if he stepped on it. Considering what had happened to trees, nothing good.

I remembered that praying helped. There was nothing like that in the game, but the first thing I did when I realized that God was very active was test whether prayer worked. The results were positive, although I needed to add being able to summon and control mercury to it.

”O Lord, in your mercy grant him a safe path!”. It wasn’t very good prayer, but it was the best I could do at the moment. I wasn’t someone who was used to praying. Mostly because it had been useless.

I cast down the last of the mercury to create a path on the tainted ground. As soon as the mercury touched the soil it crumbled into orange dust. I didn't have enough to make a full line, just a series of small islands in the sea of rot, but Mars easily jumped from one to another.

I needed more mercury, so I silently asked for more. No time for prayer.

Mars was close enough that the devil had tried to strike him with long arms. There was no skill, no elegance in that act. It looked more like what a civilian panicking would do when attacked. If it wasn’t done by a monster.

Mars cut off the devil's left leg. It lost balance and fell forward. It began to tumble towards me and the rest of the scouts, like some sort of grotesque ball. A new batch of mercury had arrived. Once more a cloud of small orbs of liquid metal orbited my body.

Vines sprouted and rocks burst from the ground, impeding the devil's path.  Lighting, fire, ice, light, and many other things all struck the devil. I was in utter chaos, as all of the other scouts unleashed their elemental power. Yet all of that barely slowed the devil. For vines withered, stone crumbled, the light dimmed and all things decayed at its touch.

I didn’t join that barrage. If Mars acted as he had done before he would again rush the devil. So I made another safe path. I couldn’t see what I was doing, so I just willed it, and hoped that it would work.

”O Lord, in your mercy grant him a safe path!” Prayer worked once. I just had to treat it like an aria. Use self-hypnosis to imitate the faith I lacked. After a magus believing in just six impossible things before breakfast would be a mark of incompetence. ‘Benevolent omnipotent being who genuinely cares about me in particular’ should be easy.

The devil stopped. It stood up. It seemed that his leg had already regenerated. I could see discolored patches where the attack struck him on its hide, but it was already healing fast. 

It began to shake again. And I was without any mercury. Perhaps it was time to use magecraft. I was willing to play by the rules of this world for now. I hadn’t thought that we were in much danger, since in the game they dealt with such manifestations of the devil with just two, and there were over ten of us here. I needed something to block the attack. Both for me and anyone else. Something simple.

But before I could do anything Mars struck. He had jumped between the thing's legs and cut the bottom of its body. Filth fell from the cut like a disgusting black waterfall. The devil dissolved and the only thing that remained was a puddle of filth. And a human body in that puddle.

In the aftermath, Captain Bonfire went to reassure scouts and give commendations and lectures about our conduit. Short commendation to me, nothing more than “Good work,” and long lecture about recklessness, and dropping his radio, to Mars. From the mulish expression on the redhead’s face, I didn't think it would do much good. Even if I kind of agreed with it.

When Mars picked up his radio, luckily it was undamaged, I noticed one thing. His swords had disappeared. Strange since other things like orange dust, or rocks or water and other things that were conjured had remained. I hope someone would clean that up. If that orange dust was what I thought it was, mercury oxide, it was poisonous. 

Meanwhile, Nurse had somehow managed to improvise a stretcher, and had put the body from the puddle on it.  He assigned four boys to carry it.

We then began to march back to the camp.

As before, we walked in pairs. I used that time to try to recall what I remembered of the setting. It wasn't much, not only it was a long time ago I had played that game, but there was that it was rather short. You could have finished the route in about half an hour at most. And there were only four routes at most. I just hope that I wasn't in the True Ending. Inspiring to read, not so much to experience. 

What did I remember? There was God and the Devil on the radio, but I already knew about God and had no interest in talking to the Devil. Even if she, well at least in the game, was supposedly much nicer. Tell it to the poor sucker we had just beat up.

What else? There was weird tech. Like those radios that could catch messages from God and serve as holy symbols, or those sirens that I now remember could raise alarm at the presence of malevolent supernatural entities. There was also something about how they were made, but it escaped for a moment. I just need to get to the cabin and examine mine.

And yet another thing. What to do about Mars? I was almost certain that he was an alternate Shirou Emiya. Does that mean Mercury was my alternate? I wish I had Mercury's memories as I had Rin’s and Sasha’s. I knew too little about this World.

And once again my mind wandered. Why was it so hard to think of him? He was a Servant. I knew that what we had had no future. I knew it was wrong. The lesson that came with the introduction to necromancy, to love the Dead, was to be moored in the past.

But Mars was not him. He was also not my former apprentice. He was his own person and a teenager at that. I should treat him like that. Even if it was hard. Especially since it was hard.

 

 

Notes:

Additional verses to the ritual belong to Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni by Aleister Crowley. That starts with ‘This is the secret of the Holy Graal, that is the sacred vessel of our Lady the Scarlet Woman, Babalon the Mother of Abominations, the bride of Chaos, that rideth upon our Lord the Beast.’ Since he does not appear in Fate (that I can remember or find on wiki) I think I will use some of his work as Foundation for SI sex magic. And some quotes for arias.

Chapter 4

The smell didn’t go away with the devil. So when we arrived back at the camp, they sent all of us to our cabins to clean up. Since Mars was in a much worse state than me, I let him go first. Well, we could go together, but with how he smelled I preferred to wait.

While I waited, I finally started to look over the items that came with me. There were a lot of them so it was a matter of priority. Here was the list of interesting items that came with me: a key, a diode, a radio, and a bible.

I was curious about how radio worked, but as Mars should be finishing soon, I didn’t have time to properly examine it, and by that, I meant starting with putting it apart and then back together. I reluctantly put the radio aside for later.

Next the key. When I looked for it where I left it, in the bag, it was gone. I spent a few minutes searching for it, only to find it in my pocket. I didn’t remember putting it there. A key. It was a small modern metal key. Thin, with teeth through all of its length. I had no idea what it unlocked for one I was yet to see any locks at this camp. Maybe there were some in the ambulance or in the counselor's cabin, but why did I have to key for that? I had no idea. I put it back in the bag.

The strange diode was where I had left it. It was an old-fashioned diode, with two wires at each end and a body made of glass. There was some sort of red crystal in the glass, zincite by the looks of it. All colors of zincite had a strong Solar Plexus and Navel Chakra connection, making it energizing and mood-lifting. It bestowed inner strength, and it could aid grounding. Zincite was considered a synthesis mineral, as it brings together many aspects of self. There was also a strange sense of potency about it. I put it next to the radio. I would examine them together later.

Last the bible. It was a sort of bible you could find on the nightstand of a motel. Black covers. Strangely it did have an index. It was easy to find what I wanted. The passages were mostly the same as the ones I was used to., but forbidden things were more clearly defined. What was even better was that the text was cross-referenced, and there was quite a lot of annotation. So to summarise what magic was forbidden: one necromancy, two predicting the future, three using human sacrifice, four astromancy, although it was uncertain if only predicting the future using was forbidden, or it was a general ban, and five communing with spirits. And there was one more thing, sexual immorality was mentioned in a lot of passages concerning magic so that cut a lot of my arsenal. Not that I planned to use those spells here. That part of Toshaka's legacy came from heretical Christian text, a more recent addendum to the  Book of Enoch said to be dictated by one of the fallen Watchers, although it wasn’t mentioned which one, just that it wasn’t of twenty leaders. But they still left the other two main parts of my magic arsenal as well as other miscellaneous spells I knew. That lifted a load off my chest, how would I leave this world using magic if I had been forbidden from using it?   

I continued to flip through the bible without a clear purpose and found that there were some free pages stuck in it. Some pamphlets and a comic strip. One of the pamphlets was about the dangers of masturbation. Possession was included. One was about the dangers of vanity. Possession was also included. I left pamphlets and moved to the comics. That seemed the most interesting thing there.

I was fond of comics. I used to have a large collection. It wasn’t that I outgrew them, I merely started reading them on the computer. You see, there was a little problem with storage. Also, there was one that was very special to me. It was a superhero comic book. And later a cartoon and video game. There were even propositions for live-action films. It was the one that had been created by me, although I was not the one who drew it. Nor was I one who created its plot. You may say that it was based on a true story.  After the first war, I had taken Shirou, the living one, as an apprentice. Guiding others to the truth was the duty of the Wise. But there was a limit to what I could teach him. Both because of his own talents and interests and because I was not about to initiate him into those Mysteries that should be limited to my successor only. Magi generally disdained practical uses of magecraft, but I have found that it was a productive way to train apprentices. Nice way to keep them motivated. The trouble was there were a limited number of people that needed saving nearby. Well, to be honest, there was also my yearly Holy Grail War. Shirou didn’t take well that I would be in peril without him. Even if I had Archer with me. Especially because I had Archer with me. So he had chosen to travel.   

In truth, I hadn’t thought then that it was a bad way for Shirou to advance his craft, and I still didn’t. It suited his personality. It was my belief that we should all seek Truth in our own way.  Perhaps it was because I had already reached the end of the path that all magi walk before I started to shave. Or perhaps I was simply wrong. After all, I had stumbled onto the path to Root completely by accident. I knew that most magi believed that I gained used grail to open the path, and I let them keep that assumption. In truth, I had become a Magician almost a year before Fifth started.

As a parting gift, I gave him a mystic code. A superhero suit. Skintight, with a cape. Half cape, it would be a shame to cover that behind. By giving a mystic code appearance that evoked the image of a comic book superhero, I could more easily tie it to its generic power that was expected of a comic book superhero. More people believed in superheroes than in fairies. But it was one particular function that gave birth to my favorite comic. The was a pair of linked gems, one as part of the suit, the other linked with a familiar that had residual memories of several dead comic book illustrators and writers. I hadn’t expected much from publishing the resulting comics. I had mostly done this to both strengthen the spell and create plausible deniability. How popular it became came as a surprise. As well as one other thing. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one with this idea, because there were whole issues where Shirou had to fight what appeared to be supervillains. So that was the origin of my favorite comic. I was even in it as a mysterious teacher figure. Like Ra to Batman. 

The comic strip tucked in the bible was a short one, just two pages. No title, but the content was amusing. It is a magical boy Jesus versus demon Legion. It was an interesting interpretation of that part of the bible. I called magical boy Jesus because Savior looked like fourteen at most in that comic, and even had a transformation sequence. Legion on the other hand looked like a human ball, and by that, I mean a giant ball made of humans. Or perhaps an orgy. It was hard to tell. 

“I have heard what happened. So I have come to see if you two are all right,” the voice interpreted my reading. I looked up from the comic, and it was Director. “Where is the other one?”

“In the shower,” I replied. I wanted to ask if the man we rescued from possession was all right, but he spoke first.

“Alone?” I didn’t like his tone. He sounded both accusing and surprised.

“Yes?”

“You shouldn’t have left him alone, especially not now,” he lectured, “We assign buddies for a reason. He could still be hurt, slip and fall in the shower, or be overcome with lust and start to masturbate.”

“What!?’ He didn’t just say that.

“I know that you believe that he would never do that,” he reassured me, completely missing the point, “But near-death experiences can affect us strangely. All that adrenaline. But we are stronger together because we can hold each up when we are weak.”

Nice speech. If only it wasn’t about preventing a boy from jerking off. But then considering the consequences. But I couldn't believe that just masturbation was enough to get possessed. Otherwise, the world would be overrun by the devil.

“Now strip,” he then calmly commanded.

“Why?” That was unexpected.

“I came here among other things to take your uniforms, so they could be properly cleaned. Those two should have done so before sending you all back to your cabins. I suppose there is no replacement for experience. Where are the other boy’s clothes?”

“In the hamper.”

“Then I will have to take it too. Come let us join...” He made a small pause there. “Mars?”

“You are coming too?” I mean there were things to be said about adults who visit naked young boys in bathrooms.

“Yes, I need to look him over. Also, he deserves a lecture for what he did. Truly he deserves more than a lecture, but we don’t use corporal punishment here.” He then began to mumble. I just caught a few words like ‘spare the rod’, ‘weak ass’, and ‘liberals’.

I stripped naked, and we went together to the bathroom. To my disappointment, Mars hadn't been so overcome with lust that had started wildly pleasuring himself. He was just under the shower. I was being sarcastic there. I was in no mood to deal with another devil.

This was the first time I saw Mars completely naked. The water flowing over his back framed his muscles perfectly. He had a lot of muscles for fourteen old. But I suppose that would be needed for a junior devil hunter. My eyes were drawn a little downwards. Firm ass. Now I was one in danger of being overtaken by lust. Luckily, I had the Camp Director at my side to help cool the ardor.

“Mars!” I called him since he had his back turned towards the door and had seen us coming in.

“What are you doing here!?” He cried after he turned and saw us both. He used his hand to cover his genitals, but not before I caught a good glimpse. Natural redhead. Not that I doubted.

“A scout does not leave his buddy alone,” the Director lectured, and then commanded, “Come here. I need to check if you are hurt.”

“I’m not injured,” Mars sullenly replied, but complied with the order. Director had him place his hands over his head and then checked his body. He even had Mars open his mouth to look inside. Even with that, the exam was quickly over. Surprisingly Mars was completely unharmed.

“Good. Now I will not keep you long so I will only say this: Zeal is to be commended, but obedience is a virtue. Next time take time to listen. And for you both, keep together always. When we are alone we may be tempted to sin.” And with those words, he simply left.

I stood there naked, feeling a bit awkward. It helped that Mars was naked too. 

“Tempted to sin?” Mars asked, sounding amused.

“He meant,” and here I paused, since Mars was fourteen, “playing with ourselves. He was more explicit earlier.”

“So you here to prevent that?” He sounded even more amused. “What would you do if I started right now? Grab my hands.”

“Only if you will do the same for me.” I only partly joked, and joined him in the shower.

After the shower, we both lounged in the room in just briefs. I had taken my radio out and was looking it over. I would need a screwdriver to open it up.

“Did he have to take our shoes too?” Mars complained.

“Considering where yours had been,” I replied. Structural Grasping would really help here. There was another reason that I was reluctant to use magecraft, besides possibly avoiding the wrath of God. Magecraft was sorely dependent upon the world, or more precisely Thaumaturgical Foundation inscribed upon it. I had neither place nor time to ascertain which of my spells would work. I had to start sometime. And being alone in a cabin with Mars was good enough, Alone would be preferable, but since Mars was my camp buddy that was unlikely to happen. I suppose I could go to the bathroom, and pretend to take a dump… No. I was careful not to activate my crest while I was casting the spell. There were no abnormalities, it worked perfectly. I could see in my mind's eye a complete schematic radio. And there was one curious thing, it was as if there was another schematic under the first one.

Mars was loudly shifting. I stopped what I was doing, “Are you alright?”

“What? No, I thought I smelled something familiar. Never mind.” 

I put the radio down. I had said to myself that I would pay more attention to Mars. Radio can wait. “So no shoes.”

“No shoes.” There was a minor pause, then he said, “We haven't talked much have we?’

“Well, we only met yesterday.” I tried to joke. It sounded like an excuse even to me.

Mars smiled. He had a nice smile, although it also seemed sad. “No, I didn't mean it like that. I know that I remind you of someone who is gone.” He gestured, then added, sounding gentle. “You don’t have to talk about it until you are ready.” He paused for a moment there before he continued, “That wasn’t what I wanted to talk about. I have also been distant.” Another pause. “What I wanted to say…”

“You don’t have to talk about it until you are ready,” I said back to him, repeating his words. I felt even more guilty. In truth, I failed to notice that there was something wrong. 

“No. I want to talk. Just... I don’t know how to say this. For a long time, I didn’t think there was any future for me, so I lived in the moment.”

“Were you sick?” I had to ask.

“You could say that. But then a miracle happened.”

A miracle. I suppose it was possible in this world.

“I’m happy for you. So you are all right now? Healthy?”

“Yes, but that isn’t the problem. I don’t know what to do.”

“Was that reason you were so reckless with the devil in the woods?”

“I wasn’t being reckless,” he said. He seemed to want to say more but then he stopped.

There was an awkward pause, then I asked, “Are you worried about relapse?”

“No,” he replied, “my condition was my own fault. I know better now.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Was he right, or was he needlessly blaming himself? So then I changed the topic, “Well, I think we fought well together.”

Mars smirked this time. For a moment I could have sworn that I was looking at Archer. “Yes. Not as good as my old partner, but you did well.”

“You old partner? Is he here at camp? Could you introduce us?”

“No, he is far too old for this camp. But I promise to let you meet him when he comes to pick me up.”

Since the Director took our only uniforms, Mars and I went to lunch dressed only in our undershirts and briefs. The trouble with going so sparsely dressed was mainly a lack of pockets. Well, there was an embarrassment, but I was something of exhibitionist, and maybe cold, but it was a rather warm summer.  

We passed by the victim we had rescued on the way to the “Manna” cabin. Adults had him hanged by his hands and had set up a hose to constantly pour water on him. There was a pool of filthy water under his feet.

I wanted to take a sample of that water. This morning, when I had listened to that lecture I had thought that I knew what being possessed by the devil meant. After seeing the phenomena in person, and remembering some additional information about four more cases, although they were second-hand accounts, through a less-than-accurate medium, I could only conclude that I was probably wrong. And not only me, but also the director, and those from whom he had learned those theories. I wanted, no I needed more data. Approaching the victim was out, there were too many witnesses, and I had yet to test whether hypnosis worked. On one hand, all of the scouts, and almost certainly adults had some sort of supernatural power, on the other as I have seen that power didn’t require any control of magical energy as I knew it. So it could have been that they were susceptible to hypnosis or utterly resistant. No way to tell. Since I wanted more information, the most basic divination, simple Structural Grasping of the victim, and water carrying the taint would serve two goals. Using distance through vision would certainly be possible, although it would result in a loss of data. I wish I had some gems, so I could do more advanced divination.

Interesting. And data that I was getting from it. That could mean… But first.

“Mars, why are you sniffing me.” Because while I was focused on the spell, which from outside should just look like me staring at the victim, Mars had gotten really close to me and started to inhale my scent.

“I thought I smelled it,” he mumbled more to himself, then he said to me, changing the subject. “Do you think he will be alright?”

According to the game: “He should be. Once they wash all of the remaining pieces of the devil.”

When we arrived, we saw that we weren’t the only ones without uniforms. Every kid at lunch was wearing only their underwear. The same group of scouts from breakfast served lunch too.

“Silence,” the Director said, “You will receive your uniforms tomorrow after they are properly cleaned. After lunch, we will have a fun afternoon. First wall climbing, then rope pulling, and we are finishing with transformation sequence training.”

As with many things in camp, wall climbing was done in pairs. The bodies were tied with rope, so if one fell there was a chance that the other one could either pull one up or more likely that they both fell together. Falling was not dangerous, there was an inflatable landing zone. 

The wall was wide enough that four pairs could climb it together, so were divided into two groups.

“Come on!” Mars yelled. He was much faster than me. Perhaps he has done this before.

“Coming!” I yelled back. This was trickier than I thought but strangely fun.

Afterward, I lied on the ground exhausted, while Mars sat next to me.

“Have you done this before?” I had to ask.

“No.”

“Really, you were quite good. Sorry I couldn't keep up.”

“Did you have fun?”

“Yes. More than I expected.”

“That’s what matters most.”

When the other group finished, Cook gave us a five minutes pause and went somewhere. Mars went to talk with other scouts, while I rested some more.

Cook was soon back carrying a tray. On it were a lot of cheap rosaries with small crosses on them.

“In the next round, you can use your gifts.”

We each took on. I put mine on my right hand.

I could have done this alone, but the point was to both have fun. “You make a platform, I will take us up.”

Mars was holding his rosary a little bit away from his body like it was going to bite him. He then came next to me, nudged me, and whispered “How do I use this?”

I was confused. Didn’t he summon swords just this morning? But still, I tried to explain, “Just like prayer. Focus on what you think connects you with the Divine. Ask and you shall be given.”

He seemed to think about it for a moment then raised his hand and said “So I pray...”

It started with a single black spot, the iron sand multiplied and the blades unruffled like a flower. Of course, the platform was made of swords. But we stood comfortably on it barefooted, sharp points faced outwards. I needed no words. I asked and the quicksilver answered. It gathered under the iron. With a simple gesture, the platform lurched upwards. We were flying.

Then I realized that I didn’t really think this through. “Jump,” I yelled as we reached the top of the wall, and jumped.

I landed on a wall and would have toppled over if Mars hadn’t caught me.

“This was fun!” he exclaimed smiling. I smiled back.

We sat on the wall for a moment, watching how other scouts used their various powers. One covered the wall with vines, another raised a rampart of earth. The last group did not even use their gifts. I suppose neither boy had an applicable one. This time we were first up.

The rope pulling was organized by cabins. Since there were just two of us in ours, Mars and I were roped in as judges. Either they all were good kids and no one tried cheating or they were good cheaters. Mark cabin won in the end and they were given the right to speak in tongues the next day.

Afterward, there was a short period of rest. Cook had brought chilled lemonade in a plastic cup. And finally: transformation sequence training.

“This is both the easiest and the hardest thing you will ever do. Not everyone can manage it. At the core it is very simple: by letting the Holy Spirit into your soul, you can transform into an altered, empowered state. To be filled and led by the Spirit of God does not require any great spiritual work on our part. It does not require a specific prayer or a holy and sinless life before the Holy Spirit enters into us.”

Bonfire Captain was one that lectured us on how to do it. We, scouts, stood in a single line, that he walked up and down while lecturing.

“You just need to let it in.”

Visualization was one basic tool of magecraft, so I had been trained well in it. Association was also important. I imagined myself opening like a flower, welcoming sunlight. And for a moment I could almost feel, soothing golden light like I was sunbathing naked.

I found myself completely dressed. In a crisp, demure outfit, which looked very similar to one I usually had worn to Sunday mass. I used to go regularly, while Kirei had been alive. Silk shirt, red as blood, black pants, and jacked. Elegant, yet humble. And a single silver cross, hanging around my neck completed the look.

Transformed, I stood dressed in the garb of righteousness (cruelty). 

I was the first to have managed it.

“Good. Not go there,” the counselor said, showing me towards the empty field, “and practice with your gift.” 

I went. It was a bit strange having shoes, after walking barefoot the whole afternoon. I looked at my feet: black dress shoes. They were strangely comfortable, even better than sneakers.

First thing I tried summoning mercury. That was what I needed to be seen doing. It came even easier and in greater quantities. It was also faster and more responsive. Also, I needed no holy symbol while I was in this state.

Testing it, I first started with basic shapes, orbs, cubes, and pyramids. Then I tied more complex things like animals. Finishing with a model of the solar system.

Compared to both magecraft and True Magic, this new ability was very plug-and-play. It was so user-friendly. I needed no comprehension, I just have to ask, and it would be done. But on the other hand it was black boxed. I could improve it, modify it. It had its limited use and that was it.

I created a double made of mercury and pretended to examine it, while I really looked into my magical circuits. Somehow they have jumped in quality.

I think that half of Clocktower would generally repent for this opportunity. While the other half would hunt these children for dissection.

But that was not all. There was one more thing to do. A thing I could, after a decade of practice, manage for about half of a second. The second postulate of the Kaleidoscope was something that they discovered in quantum mechanics: an observer influences the event. A master could by just observing choose which of the potential parallel universes becomes a real one. Someone at my level could only watch the timeline branching from their own decision for a very short time.

Simple was best. In one branch double raised right arm. On the other left.

Second. Two. And my magical energy was exhausted. I could no longer observe both. I chose the left, and the other one faded. That was quite an improvement. Still too weak for practical use. But I was satisfied.

It would take a few days for my prana to recover, so I continued to practice with what needed none. Summoning, dismissing, and controlling quicksilver.

We practiced until dinner. In the end, only four more boys joined me after succeeding. But the counselor seemed happy with the results. Mars wasn't one of them.

“That outfit,” Mars said during dinner, “It kind of reminds me of my old partner.”

“Really.” I was interested in this world beyond this camp so prompted him to continue. “He can do the transformation sequence too?”

Mars just looked at me. And then began to chuckle as if to some private joke. “No. It just seems like something he would wear. But it’s not just that. I mean I don’t know anyone else who could manage to look elegant in just their underwear, but you have managed that whole day. That outfit just drew a point home.”

“Thanks?” I didn’t know what to say to that. It wasn’t something that consciously did. So I changed the topic, “I’m sure you can manage to do it.”

“I’m not worried about that.” Well, as long he was confident in his skills.

So our evening chores were to check all the sirens. When I asked about the cooking chore Director informed me that chores were pre-assigned to the cabin.

Sirens served as an early warning system. As I had seen this morning when the devil appeared they would wail in alarm. But they could malfunction so they had to be checked regularly. After all one could never know when the devil would appear.

“So how are we going to do this?” I asked. Checking sirens, and even fixing them wouldn’t have been too difficult. I had looked at schematics from the radio and was well-versed in occultism. Radio seemed to be based on the principle of western alchemy, although the fact that it worked went against many theories of Modern Magecraft. But then this was a different world. I didn't need to know the underlying principles for repair work. Although now I thought about them it seemed that I did. And I had some ideas on how to apply them to my magecraft, or maybe even my magic. Could I use normal batteries to store magic? They would certainly be cheaper than jewels. Or would a data storage medium be better?

“I am good with mechanics, so I will check them,” Mars said, breaking my line of thought, “You can hold the ladder."

Work went quickly, even with lots of sirens in the camp. Although I could have sworn that I felt a trace of magical energy from Mars a few times.

There was a campfire afterward. We roasted smores and Capan Bonfire led in a few songs. With that my second night at camp ended.

Notes:

Still no sex, but SI is in God's country, so the rule is: look but don’t touch (even yourself). That little bit of second magic was inspired by “Observer. Or, Character Creation” in Fate Strange/Fake.

Elegance and affinity setting tech come from perks, but SI has no idea that has perks. Am I conveying that right?

Chapter 5

The same pattern was repeated in the following days. Breakfast, then patrol hike until lunch, then after lunch, planned activities until dinner, and after dinner playing around a bonfire. So my days were filled with idyllic terror.

Not only it was possible for anyone to suddenly be possessed by the devil, but from what I had seen from that one example possession may be the best term to use because that was something I could and would fight. In the game, it was said: “Humans are much more likely to kill you than the devil is. Statistically.” Which was confusing. How? The murder was a sin. Major one. So if someone was contemplating that one, he should have been instantly possessed. Maybe they meant accidents? And there was the other thing, one I couldn’t fight. That could also happen to me. And by all means, it should already have happened. After all, I was a heretic, blasphemer, necromancer, and sodomite. In both the strict biblical sense, in that I “hungered for strange flesh”. Heroic Spirits would certainly count as higher existence. And in a more modern interpretation in that that I liked sex with a man.

So why was I still human? Uncertainty gnawed at me at a quiet time. I tried to ignore it as much as could because there was nothing I could do.

With each breakfast came a new lecture from the Camp Director. Mars and I set and, after a lecture, removed the projector and screen. I used that time to snag some pieces of quartz from the side room. Not exactly expensive jewels, but they were still useful. There were some pieces of rock crystal, which could be useful for healing or communication, some amethyst that had the ability to expand the higher mind also enhances one’s creativity and passion, and I even found a piece of onyx, for strength, stability, and fortitude. Poor selection, especially since I was used to much more. One of my ancestors had managed to contract, so I was used to having unending high-quality jewels at hand. Naturally, there were several stipulations, like that I was forbidden to use those particular gems for any other purpose save magecraft, and that they were replaced only when used, so I could not hoard them. 

Still, this was better than nothing. I also managed to get a pack of AA batteries.

About lectures, they continued to be accompanied by poorly drawn pictures and were generally uninformative. The Camp Director clearly lacked a gift for teaching. Subjects varied, for example, there was one about maintaining our radios and the danger of accidentally listening to the devil. One about sex ed, which could be summarized as don’t. One was about the danger of drugs, which looked more to be about a witch called “Granny Drugs”, who liked to take young boys on rides in her automobile, than any chemical substance. One was about gay sex, which looked like it was about drugs. I especially noted Director's claims, that gay sex was “addictive” and “much better than regular sex” which we also weren’t supposed to indulge in. One about basic hygiene, and other similar subjects.

We didn't encounter another devil, so patrols were peaceful hikes in the woods. We still weren't allowed to chat during those walks, so they were silent except for the voice of God from the radio. I pretended to listen but didn’t really. In the game, the protagonist said that god sounded ‘like the very mean boy that ever talked to you’. Me, He just reminded me of Kirei. Each word was meant to wound and to make that hurt the listeners' own fault.

After lunch, we had the planned activities. And by that, I meant mostly sporty games. Most of them were to be done in pairs, scouts and his assigned buddy like a three-legged race, some individually like that archery competition, which Mars easily won by the way, and some larger groups, like a game of football, no wait, we were in America so it was called soccer.

We also had a lot of events where we incorporated our god-given elemental powers. Like shooting at targets with elements, paired obstacle races with the use of powers, and using our powers in an artistic fashion, also in pairs. Mars and I made a giant metal cherry tree. He made the trunk and branches with iron and I made quicksilver leaves then morphed them into flowers, and then had petals rain down. And then had put it all back. 

Approximately one powered for one unpowered event. I won nearly all those events, and all of the paired ones.

The more time passed, the more Mars and I worked better together. It was easy to cooperate with him because the way acted was very similar to what I was used to from Archer.

In the evenings, before the bonfire, Mars and I had to regularly check the sirens. I used that time to ask him about mechanics since he was well-versed in that area. When to use crystal, when to carve alchemical symbols, and when to just use wires. The more we talked about it, the better his explanation became, and also I had some sort of weird instinct about it, and the more I could see how I could apply principles to my own craft. He also explained to me how the radios we all had worked. I had already gotten its blueprint using divination, but that wasn’t enough. Types of radio we all had turned to be a crystal radio receiver, also called a crystal set, a simple radio receiver, popular in the early days of radio. It used only the power of the received radio signal to produce sound, needing no external power. It was named for its most important component, a crystal detector. That would be that diode I had. I seemed to have a spare. Crystal radios were the simplest type of radio receiver and could be made with a few inexpensive parts, such as a wire for an antenna, a coil of wire, a capacitor, a crystal detector, and speakers. Of course, in one we had some parts that were either replaced, like capacitors, or enchanted like speakers by occult elements. 

After the bonfire, before going to bed, I would charge my stash with magical energy. There that old-fashioned diode, which I now, thanks to Mars, knew that called the crystodyne diode, had proven to be a better conductor for prana than even my bodily fluids. It also stabilized the flow.

There was a nasty storm about two weeks in. The temperature dropped rapidly and there were thunder, rain, and very strong winds. So we were stuck in our cabins. It was so bad that adults were delivering food to Mars and me, and I suppose other scouts.

Mars was playing on his smartphone. Until this storm, I didn’t even know that he had one. Meanwhile, I was examining the radio. I had it set in a triangle marked with charged rock crystal, amethyst, and onyx. It was turned off. I wasn’t trying to measure what happened while God was speaking. Not yet. Between Mars’ lessons and the weird instinct I had about this world's technology, I understood how it worked, now I was trying to figure out why. I was failing in that.

Then for the next experiment, I used gems as focusing lenses. I was trying to see better that second set of information that was hidden under the obvious one. A schematic appeared in my mind. A familiar one. A notably powerful magical gem that was attached to a well-made and fancy metal necklace. A gem was a ruby, but not just any ruby. Before it was mined it had spent millennia in the presence of a powerful nature spirit. The necklace was made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver that can be found naturally on the earth, and each link was engraved with a different symbol. Together they formed the Mystic Code that I was quite familiar with since it was created and later passed down through generations by my family.  It was capable of holding a large amount of magical energy, enough to match a dozen full-grown magi's maximum capacities with ease. Drawing forth the energy within was near instantaneously, just as fast as naturally using my own energy. Storing magical energy in the gem was just as quick and easy. In short, it was a worthy legacy of the family of magi, one I had thought was lost to me. But what was its blueprint doing within the radio?

“Where did you get that,” Mars growled interrupting my musing. What was talking about? Then I noticed, as I had observed the second schematic using divination radio had transformed into the necklace.

I looked into Mars’ eyes. There was no time like now to test whether hypnosis worked. I had no idea what exactly he saw, but it would be best if he forgot it.

It didn’t work, because next, I was on my back, with Mars sitting on my stomach, his right hand pressed on my chest... He was so fast. I was prepared to blast him when one word from him stopped me.

“Rin?” he said softly. I felt his magical energy probing for Magical Crest. Could it be? Suddenly a lot of things that happened started to make more sense. Sword, he used to fight the devil the first day. What appeared to be recklessness, and now I could see that he was just protecting what he saw as kids. Him smelling me every time I used magic. And other small things. Perhaps I should have seen this earlier, but I had just assumed that he was an alternate and left at that. I slowly unbuttoned my shirt, bared my chest, and activated my Magic Crest. “Rin!” he exclaimed, sounding very happy.

“So Shirou or Archer?” I said, and added with little sarcasm, “If it is Shinji I’m going to be so disappointed.”

“Do I look like Shinji?”

“Do I look like RIn?” I countered.

“Archer,” he said.”So Master…”

“Don’t call me that now. Not only is the contract broken, but also that would sound weird coming from two kids.” I said. His setting on my stomach was not nearly unpleasant, and that was a problem.  “Now get off me!”

“Do I have to?” he asked, in a sultry tone. He used his hand to play with my nipple, while his ass ground into my crotch. I was already hard, and friction was… I was so tempted. It had been weeks, and having him back… But…

“Idiot!” I shouted, grabbing his hand. “Don’t forget where we are. I prefer you human-shaped.”

I pushed him off. And then spent the next few moments thinking unsexy thoughts, while my erection went away. Being a teenager again was hard, pun intended.

“So, are you alive now?” I asked, “I mean there is no longer a contract between us. And you seem perfectly human.”

“Everything is fine. I have a perfectly normal human body,” he said, pausing for a moment. From prior experience, I know that what would come next would either be ridiculous or teasing. “Except I now have a magical core.”

Ridiculous it was. Since when was magical core perfectly normal for humans? “I need to examine you.” Because from experience I knew better than to trust him when he said that he was fine.

“So now you want to play doctor,” he said, teasing, “Should I strip?”

“Be serious. This World is a way as dangerous as the one we came from. To us, it could be even more dangerous since dangers are not what we are used to. It seems that the Age of Gods here had not ended, as much as it has become the Age of a single God. Thus His decrees must be treated with all the caution they deserve.” I then added a quote from the bible: “John 3:8-10. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this, it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” I paused for a moment: “Do you understand? I don't know what the threshold of sin needed for so-called possession to occur, but that was something that we shouldn't experiment with. Lucky it seems, at least for two of us, that appearance of compliance with God’s degrees is enough to appraise him. I don't know if it is a general case or a consequence of our entry into this World.” But I suspected later since I knew that the thought crimes were enough in the game. “But we really shouldn't take any risk”

“How do you know that as you have said ‘appearance  of compliance with God’s degrees is enough to appraise him’?”

“Because both of us remain human-shaped. Although I suspect we came really close just now. Sex, especially gay sex seems to be one of His triggers.”

“Careful. That sounds a lot like blasphemy.” His warning this time was completely serious.

“You are right. No more talk about that. We are going to pretend to be perfect little lambs and hope that it will be enough. Until we leave this world that is.” I also needed to edit my thoughts more, to avoid such slips.

“Any luck with that?”

“No. Just opening a portal anywhere is still beyond my skill. I need a weak spot. I am yet to find one.” I said and then changed the topic, “By the way, how are you so good with this world's technology, and I use that term loosely?”

He shrugged, “I just am. I mean what I knew of mechanics just somehow translated. I didn’t think about it much. Just like you and those batteries I suppose.”

“You noticed that.” He was always more perceptive of the two of us. “Of course you did. Yes, it is possible to use batteries as reagents, although the quality is poor. But that could be either because those were cheap batteries, or because they were not really suited to that magecraft. Or both.”

“So what is the plan,” and there was a deliberate pause, “Master.”

He was doing that deliberately. Of course, he was. For a moment I wondered if spanking him was a sin. I could do that now, he was no longer a Servant, so it could work. Then reluctantly concluded that yes it would be a sin. I would, and I suspect him as well, enjoy it too much. “Don't call me that. Done call me Rin either. From now on call me Mercury. You are no longer a Servant, but we could try to pass Archer as a nickname. Especially since you're so good at archery.”

“Mars will do,” he replied.

“So our plans. We are going to spend a relaxing,” frustrating, terrifying, ”summer here, while I look for a way home. We are due for a little vacation.” Although to be honest I would spend a vacation in Child of Ainnash than here.

He nodded. Well, it wasn’t as if we could do anything else. “Another thing, how did you transform radio into that?”

“Use a divination spell on it. Under normal data, you should be able to see another set. Focus on it.” I instructed. The necklace turned back to the radio. So my theory was correct. Those objects are superimposed on one another. The necklace must have followed me to this word. But why? And how?

“Are there any other such objects?” he asked.

“That’s a good question, let's examine everything we have.” Once we knew what to look for it was easy to find. In the end, we found three more. My uniform was one of them, and it changed into a book containing Mars' biography, while he had been Emiya Shiro, before his first death. There were several rather amusing incidents in it, including one where he had saved a room full of people in a cocktail dresses. It turned out that he had to infiltrate the drag queen party to save them all from a bigot. The second was Mars’s radio. It changed into a bow. And last was a rather creepy stuffed toy. It looked like someone tried to make a stuffed angel, but kept to the original description from the bible. It changed to a familiar wooden sword with a cute yellow tiger accessory.

A suspicious key wasn’t one of the morphing objects. All that divination revealed about it was that it was key. Nothing more.

I had projected blackboards and two pieces of chalk. Graduation Air may have been useless for conjuring reagents for spells, but was useful for creating cheap, temporary props. I especially liked to use it as a visual aid for brainstorming and lecturing. “So to summarise. We have four objects, which somehow belong to both this and our World,” although there was nothing from Sasha’s. “Two of them among my things, two among yours. Both radios are among them. Your items turn to weapons, while mine to a book and Mystic Code. Any ideas?”

“Not really,” he sat on the bed watching me. I offered him a piece of chalk, and he took it. But he was just playing with it.

“Radio could be the key. I mean bow for Archer, and that gem to represent my magecraft?” I theorized.

“It doesn’t really fit,” he countered, “that bow is something that is more fitting for high school competition than Heroic Spirit.”

“Maybe it's a personal connection,” I tried again, “You were a member of a high school archery club. When you were alive. First time I mean.”

“And that necklace had been in your family for quite some time,” he agreed, “But what about the other two items? Because that shianni is Taiga’s. I recognize that accessory.”

“What about its history?” He should be able to see it at glance. After all, it was a “sword”.

“That is strange. It doesn’t seem to have one.” What? “But I can read this among its properties: It is completely normal and any feelings of impending, utter doom that surround the blade and its wielder are simply imaginations on behalf of the viewer. If such an aura did exist, it would be quite effective in unbalancing any opponents the wielder might have. But such an idea is obviously foolish. That is a direct quote.”

“Quote from what? Divination does not work that way! Next, you are going to tell me you are getting information nicely packaged in floating blue boxes!” I took a few seconds to calm down.“But is it true?”

“One way to find out,” he smirked. He took a wooden blade and took a loose stance. Presumably, someone who knew sword fighting styles would recognize it, but my fighting technique was primarily barehanded. This must be his revenge for all the times I used him as a test subject. Well, it worked as advertised, including that small suggestion that the sword was completely normal.

“It works,” I grumbled. “Now put it down. Now about that book. That would be connected to you, but we found among my stuff.”

“Well, it could be yours in a way. You have after all summoned me.”

I raised my eyebrow. We brainstormed some more, but we couldn’t reach any solid conclusion. So I dismissed the blackboard.

“I'm glad that you are here with me,” I had to say. That I was glad he wasn’t dead I omitted. That would be too morbid.

“Always,” he said. It was a nice sentiment, but…

“After all, you stayed with me,” I said. Not that I begrudge other Shirou from leaving. Not really. Not much. But to be fair I added, “Not that you had a choice.”

“Now I do,” he said. That was true. He no longer needed our contract.

“Now you do,” I confirmed. Would he inform me that he was leaving now? Or that we were to be just friends. Of course, if it that was his will I should accept it. Or maybe…

He smiled, a soft gentle smile, “Of course, I am staying with you. Even if I am no longer a Servant, you are still my Master. And consider this additional motivation for leaving this World, once we leave we will continue our usual fun.”

That was a relief, but still, “I don’t need any additional motivation  to escape this…” Stop. I shouldn’t even think about it. I erased any such dangerous thought. This World was a beautiful garden, overseen by a benevolent Shepherd. Don’t think about why shepherds keep sheep.

“So did you ever want as a kid to go to summer camp like this?” he said changing the topic.

“Yes,” I replied sarcastically, “I begged that dubious priest to take me to junior executor camp, but no heretics were allowed.” 

In the month and a half that has passed since there was absolutely no progress in escaping this World. Using that spare diode and some other spare parts we were given access to fix sirens, I had with some help from Mars I managed to cobble together a detector for the weak spots in the World. It either wasn’t working or there were no weak spots nearby. Luckily no scout from this camp had fallen to the devil in that time either. Mars and I had become leaders of the scouts, which could have been expected since even if we were trapped in the bodies of teenagers, we weren't actually one. My stash of objects imbued with magical energy grew. Of fourteen scouts, nine, including me, had managed to learn the transformation sequence. Mars wasn’t one of them.

It happened in the afternoon. We were just finished another obstacle course and were relaxing drinking lemonade. The Camp came, which was unusual. He never joined us in planned activities.

“I have terrible news,” he addressed all of the scouts. “Summer scouts camp had completely fallen to the devil. They are troubled youths, but for the whole camp to fall…  Now join me in prayer for those poor souls.”

So that was it. It seemed that we were in a True Ending.  

 

Notes:

So big revelation. Who suspected that Mars was not what he seemed? Have I done foreshadowing right?

Chapter 6

It was a strange war.

For it was a war between those who so loved the World and wished to save it, and those who were so tired of the World that they could do nothing but reject it.

A children's crusade. For adults, those who were certain of their place in the world had proven too brittle to last.

By either category Mars and I had no place here. But we were still here, pretending to be teenagers, pretending to care. By now we had gotten really good at pretending.

It began with the fall of Summer Scout camp. The fallout from the incident was easy for me to ignore. Not so much for Mars.

“They are frightened,” he said to me the next day. The patrol was canceled, and with nothing to replace it, scouts just milled aimlessly around camp. The camp counselors could have organized something as a distraction, but I suppose they had their own problems.

“Of course they are. They're too used to Him winning. They may have lost individuals to the devil, but never en mass like this." I commented, shrugging, “It will get worse before it gets better.”

“You know something?’ His gaze was sharp. If I didn’t know him as well as I did it would almost sound like an accusation, but he was merely asking to share my take on the situation. He knew that I needed to be prompted from time to time, or I would just keep all my thoughts to myself.

“Know is too strong a word.” After all, we entered the period after the end of the game. The future from here on out remained unwritten. But from what I knew from both the game and from what I've encountered in this world, some worrying conclusions could be drawn.

“But I have my suspicions. The devil we met in the woods was a failure. A stillborn. If the whole camp has fallen, I don't think we've seen the end result yet.”

“We need to help,” he said, his conviction plain as day. That was what I liked about him. Even though his ideals had betrayed him, and he betrayed them in turn, he was still someone who wished to save others.

A masochist after my own heart.

‘False hope is more often than not worse than no hope at all.’, was not what I said aloud. But there must've been something in my expression or body language because Mars just looked at me with those sad, disappointed eyes.

So instead, I said, ”There is one thing we could do.”

“You have a plan?” he asked.

“A simple, but hopefully effective one. You gather them all up in one place. Meanwhile, I need to look through the bible for some proper psalms. To promise, even by implication, that things will get better will backfire if they get worse. I need some quotes on enduring tribulations,” Singing should help lift everyone’s spirits, or at least put some morale into them.

Kirei's mandatory choir boy duty was finally paying off, I suppose.

I went back to the cabin to get my bible. It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for since the bible I had was so well-indexed and cross-referenced.

When I went out, I saw that Mars had managed to gather most of the campers in one large group. They were all eerily silent. I would've expected a large group of children to be noisier as they talked to each other, maybe even horsed around a little. But they were just... listless.

Joining him, I whispered, “Are they ready?”

He just nodded, so I cleared my throat and started my performance.

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”

A singing voice wasn't something I had a natural gift for, but it's not like I'm tone-deaf. It's one of the few areas where I'm mediocre really. The first verse was sung by me and Mars alone, but at the second one more scouts joined, and by the third, they were all singing along.

As our voices spread, passing campers came in and joined, and even some adults paused to listen. It seemed to help, more so than I thought it would.

The next day, at breakfast, the Camp Director announced that the situation was being handled.

“I don’t deny that what happened was a tragedy. The laxness and lack of faith allowed the whole camp to succumb to the devil. But you needn't fear that happening here, we have no troubled children here. After all, one bad apple spoiled the whole bunch.” He paused there, to take a sip of water. “The devil doesn't get to win. Even as I speak, the proper response is being organized from other nearby camps, with better, more pious scouts; the scouts have volunteered to go and cleanse the devil's lair. We should be hearing good news by dinner.”

We didn’t get good news at dinner, but we did get bad news at breakfast the next day.

"Idle hands are the devil's playthings!" The Director's pronounced, simmering with a visible rage. “Obviously the scouts were lazy. Unprepared. Unworthy of the sacred task bestowed upon them! That will not happen here. Today, we are starting a new intensive training program!”

The next day and those that followed weren’t much fun. They started with a lecture after breakfast about the weakness of today's youth.

Followed by a whole day of training, interrupted by a short lunch. There were injuries. Nothing serious yet, but there were twisted ankles and some burns.

There was no singing around the bonfire in the evening. Everyone was just too tired.

“Stop pacing,” I said to Mars while I dug out a small hole. The fourth one tonight. “You're supposed to keep watch.”

“Everyone is asleep,” he almost snarled. “Are sure we can’t do more?”

“Even this may be too much,” I replied. I placed the rock crystal charged with my magical energy into the hole and covered it up. Now there would be four of them, each in a cardinal direction, surrounding the ambulance, ”Last thing we need is a witch hunt.”

“Alright,” I said, dusting off my hands. “Now we pray.”

“Pray?” He asked. ”That isn’t how you usually set something like this.”

“Usually I have better reagents. We need to do some legwork to help shore up the difference. So, prayers.” I hated praying. I didn’t know exactly why, I thought I could use it as a simple verbal component of a spell, and it worked. It needed a mental component to work better, that was the same with other magic I knew.

Just... something about it rubbed me the wrong way.

“Mercury?” He put his hand on my shoulder, “Are you alright?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm myself. “I agreed that we should do this. It’s just, I have a limited stock of charged rock crystals.”

Spending them now, we wouldn’t have them for later. But then if this prevented more serious injuries, they would be well spent.

But that wasn’t the root of the problem.

The problem was with Mars, and with me to a lesser extent.

Reverting back into a teenager had consequences. I haven’t even bothered to learn a single camper’s name, besides Mars’, and I've been with them for two months.

And Mars was acting a bit more like Shirou, which made me worry that he would do something stupid.

“Just promise that you won't do something stupid. Like, run off to fight the devil in its lair.”

“Do I look like that fool?” Was that a rhetorical question? Because, with the sole exception of that single while lock of hair, he looked exactly like his younger self. “Besides the adults have it handled.”

I was not as sure about that as he was. 

As we have been informed this morning, there was a large group, practically a small army, of adult exorcists gathering to deal with the fallen camp. For now, the fallen were content to stay where they were, so the government or church, or whoever was in charge of organizing it, was taking time to gather as many skilled people as possible.

It was supposed to be a surefire way to deal with the crisis.

But I had my doubts.

An apple for a whole world. Was that just youthful arrogance, or could they actually be a serious threat? And what would happen if they continue to be successful?

There had been a time when humanity had disappointed God.

I liked swimming but not that much.

The prayer helped. Knitting together streams of magical energy was never this easy back home. The random movement of energy was almost always just where I needed it to be without having to micromanage every last thing.

“We’re done here. Let's go to bed, I’m tired.”

On the tenth day after the original incident, we got the news that the attack was finally ready.

On the eleventh, there was no wake-up call.

“Shock,” Mars said after we found four adults in their cabin unresponsive. It wasn't much larger than ours, but it had three separate rooms for our two. Bedroom, bath, and place we found them, some kind of office. “Or complete mental breakdown? I’m not much than a field medic.”

“If it was physical, I could maybe do something with a rock crystal. I still have few left, but mental?” I was looking to see if there was anything they could be of help with. Why were they in this room? There was nothing here than an old-fashioned computer. “I could try hypnotism, but that could make the situation even worse. Let's just get them to the ambulance for now. Then I’m coming back here to look at the computer. Maybe we could get some news. You talk to other kids. And make breakfast.”

We carried the Director first. When we went back, some other scouts emerged from their cabin and quickly went to help us. They asked about what happened, but we didn’t have any real answers.

After we moved adults to the ambulance, I went, with another scout, back to the office. Others left with Mars.

“Look if there are any clues here,” I said to the slim blonde boy, who had accompanied me here. He was a little shorter than me, and appeared to be the same age or a little bit younger.“I will see if there is anything on the computer.”

I started the machine. Luckily there was no password required. No internet connection. I mean there seemed to be, but it wasn’t working currently. Schedules. Constant information for campers. That could be useful. I mean I was sure that would help morale if scouts were able to speak with their parents. There was no contact information for me or Mars. Strange, but currently irrelevant. Contact information for emergencies. That would be useful. Plans. They had pictures of us. I didn’t notice them taking them.

It was when I arrived at the official camp mail, I found out what happened. Once more poor cyber security came to the rescue. They had the password in a text file right on the desktop.

It was worse than I thought. Army had been routed, and what was worse, new converts were not content to stay in the lost camp but had begun to spread. Orders for our camp were simple. Fortify the camp and wait for someone to come and pick us up.

“Phone is not working.” the boy said. It seemed that he had been done for some time and waiting for me to finish.

Just what we needed. It did render all that contact information utterly useless. “I think I know what happened. But I really don’t want to tell it twice. Let's go join others.”

When we arrived at the “Manna” cabin, the usual crew was already setting breakfast. It smelled much better than when Cook was making it. Mars was at our table.

“Excuse me!” I yelled, Scouts quieted, and turned their attention to me.”I know what has happened, but first, you must calm down. Sit.”

I waited until they were all seated and quiet, then I continued speaking, “First, all counselors are in an ambulance. There is nothing physically wrong with them, but they still need time to recover. Someone needs to watch over them. Volunteers?”

Scouts that were under Nurse leadership raised their hands. I suppose that made sense.

“Good,” I said. “Ow, please don’t panic. The news is bad. The ones sent to quell the devil, have failed. But we must be part of the solution, and not yet another problem in this crisis. We have simple orders, stay put and wait. Here we are safe, and we will remain so. I know that all of you want to be with your families, but getting us to them just isn’t practical for now. Running off and trying to get to them would just create trouble for other people when there is much to do. So lets us not be selfish. Let su trust in God and pray that we, and our families, will endure this time of tribulation.”

Not the best speech, but they seemed to take it well.

It was easy organizing scouts. This was a camp for Good KIds. They were used to being obedient and quiet. We just had to keep everything going until someone came to pick us up.

We had to cover adult jobs, at least until they recovered. But fortunately, they didn’t do much. Scouts would continue doing their chores. Mars would take over Cook's duties, which would improve morale since he was so much better at it. I would look over sirens, alone, since Mars would be busy. And since I had less to do, they had saddled me with general organization, which was talking to everyone and seeing that all that needed to be done was actually done.

The next week was quiet. Adults recovered somewhat, but they were listless and depressed. At least Nurse would be available in case of an emergency.

That lack of communication may have even helped. Since we had no contact with the outside world, and no one possessed by the devil assaulted us, we could imagine that situation was being handled. I encouraged that way of thinking. There was nothing we could do for now, and panic or depression wouldn’t help anyone. 

And then they arrived.

An older girl and a younger boy.

They drove an old bus into the camp, somewhen about noon.

They had some bearing news of the outside world and looking for reinforcement.

First was more detailed about what happened at Summer Scouts camp. Some of what I knew from the game and some of what was new.

It seemed that the first attack was not a complete failure, although many were lost during the attack, some managed to retreat, and they even managed to save one of the Summer Scouts campers. From him, they learned what exactly had happened. Summer Scouts practiced trial by fire, in that they would place three troubled children in a remote cabin, so one would get possessed and the other two deal with the possessed one.

Something went wrong with Group West. All three got possessed together. And they were different. Usually, the devil works alone. Even when there were multiple possessed at the same place they rarely exhibited teamwork. These three were different. Something new. Something dangerous. And they even gave themselves a new collective name. Three Worse Girls since Eve. Even though one of their group was a boy. And there were minor things, like that they were slightly less repulsive looking than the normal devil.

The survivors reported that to authorities, but they were not believed. People had been fighting the devil for a long time, and there had not been any surprises in that war.   

And then disaster with adult exorcists. They didn’t know much about what exactly happened, only that it was going well at first then, and this was what they later learned from those rescued, they had been hit by former Group West. From all testimonies, they were on another level.

So after that, survivors of the first attack recruited other scouts to try to keep the worse contained. Which was relatively easy since most of those who stayed didn't really want to leave the grounds of the former Summer Scout camp.       

And for those taken by the devil who had left, even if they were slightly better at cooperating than usual kind of possessed, they still dispersed in small groups.

The main problem was both panic and despair, as well as a lack of adult exorcists. Most of them and most skilled of them had been on that assault. There was another problem. Teenagers who were rescued were mostly ready to fight again for God, but adults were less resilient.

With that, they finished their tale and asked for help.

The other scouts were eager to do something. To contribute. There was no dissent. There were really Good Kids. So they followed messengers to the fallen camp. Mars and I went with them. It wasn’t as if we could leave them.

When we arrived we found that this fight has evolved into some strange sort of siege, that there was a place to be defended, and that it was mainly a battle of attrition. But there was no fortification, and the defenders needed no supplies. We went into woods that surrounded what was once the camp of Summer Scouts to hunt the devil, and the devil hunted us at the same time.

Those woods had been transformed into a place of chaos and madness. There were trees whose leaves were made of songs, and brooks made of rainbows. The time and space were twisted, one step could take you miles, and at the same time last for an hour. It was worse closer to the former camp. 

Each morning leaders of the scouts met in a large tent. From what I heard, since that was before I had arrived, they at first would meet in the evening, but that had proven inefficient.

I was one of the leaders. The rest of the scouts from my camp had dumped that duty on me like a hot potato. In truth, I was the one hosting these meetings. It used to rotate, but I made the mistake of letting Mars make tea and cookies for the first one I hosted.

“We have lost seven and managed to rescue four,” the blond boy, about sixteen in age reported. Slender and effeminate.  His name was Ganymede, and there was something hollow in his voice. There was little death in this war, but there were casualties. We hunted the devil to decrease their numbers, and they hunted us to increase them. The forced conversion was the main weapon here. But there were consequences as could be seen with Ganymede. He was captured, turned into one of them, and later rescued. It was like something was missing from him, and he also forgot what was which was missing. It was common among those who we rescued. Most of them needed to be replaced by fresh recruits. “Two are still recovering, one had chosen to stay. The last one will be leaving.”

“And that is allowed!?” Man in gray exclaimed. He was the representative of government I suppose, and the only adult, since Mars and I didn’t count, in these meetings. He was replacing the last one, which was recalled a few days ago. If he lasted more than a few days, I may be bothered to learn his name. For now, he was just a Representative.    

“Of course, it’s allowed. We need only volunteers. Unwilling would be worse than useless,” the one who replied to him was a tall girl named Elara. She and her partner, a smaller boy named Puck, who was currently stuffing his mouth with cookies, were here nearly from the beginning of the crisis. They went to a nearby camp and were the last remains of the first responders. Going by seniority, she was one who should be hosting these meetings, but she had neither temperament nor inclination for it.

I was glad for her intervention. Triton looked like he was going to punch the man in the grey suit. Triton was Ganymede’s partner. He was a blue-haired boy, with a swimmer build, a little shorter than me. He wasn't with his partner when Ganymede was captured. He had hurt his ankle a day before. Ever since we had gotten Ganymede back he had been a little overprotective.

“No one lost,” Elara continued. “Rescued two. Both are still in recovery.”

I nodded. And said “Dia?”

The black-haired boy stooped sipping his tea and answered, “We lost two, gained five. Two are leaving, and three are still in recovery.”

I moved to the next one. “Tarvos?”

“I have excellent news,“ a tall brown-haired boy enthusiastically replied. “No losses, but we managed to rescue five. Four are staying. We have excellent news about the last one. It is a Bonfire Captain of the Summer Scouts.”

That was really excellent news. The longer one was inhabited by the devil, the more troublesome it became. He was the adult at the site of the incident. From those who were changed at the fall of the camp, only two scouts from group South and the whole group West remained.

The rest leaders continued giving reports on loss and gain. It was relatively good news. Slowly but surely we were winning.

“Ten saved with no losses, eight are staying” I gave my report. As usual, my group numbers were the best. But then Mars and I were cheating. Between Mars' ability to smell supernatural phenomena and my sensitivity to disruptions in space-time, we managed to keep our whole group together and hunt efficiently. I even used some magecraft to heal those we rescued. Although I was running low on rock crystal. And that piece of onyx was nearly spent as well. “If no one has anything to do we should finish this and get back to work.”

“That’s all!” the representative voice was shrill. I hoped that he wouldn’t be taken by the devil. It happened to one before the last one. “You need to get better. This has to end.” As if all his energy was spent he slumped back. I was right, he won't last much longer.

After the meeting ended, our group was back in the woods hunting for the devil.

As another devil fell apart revealing the human boy contained within I finally managed to get a large sample size to form a believable hypothesis.

“The devil is but a shadow man cast in the light of God,” I quoted the game, and this world since I managed to find that passage in it. What I didn’t say was what came after that in the game, God's own words: ‘The meaning of this parable was there is no devil’. What I did say was, ”I think I finally understand”

Pieces of the devil, pieces of ether corrupted by this boy’s element, floated away from him. That was the first clue, residue for both old and new devils was practically the same. If they were made of the same thing why were they so different?

The truth was they really weren’t.

We all had parts of us that proudly showed in light, and those parts we hid in shadows.

To be possessed, no more accurately was to say, to become one with the devil that had to be reversed. Like turning around so your back was to the light and you were gazing into the shadow.

The devil was disgusting because we were disgusted by those parts of ourselves.

The devil was terrifying because we feared those parts of ourselves.

And what if someone came and said that those parts we hid were alright? That they were beautiful, unique, and what made us special. Then you get a new breed of the devil.

“What utterly useless bit of knowledge. Truly to increase one's wisdom was to increase one's suffering.” I said, kneeling by the boy. With one step incantation, I used one of the last rock crystals to quicken his recovery. In the best scenario, he would join our hunt, in worse at least we wouldn’t need to carry him. The piece of quartz crumbled, used up.

The boy opened his eyes and suddenly grabbed my hand. He yelled, “This is an ambush. They are coming!”

He didn’t need to say more, we all know what he meant. So I gave orders, “As we planned. Mars and I will stay, you run back to the camp. No arguments. In this battle, you would only be a distraction.”

I turned towards Mars as they left, ”Like old times, right.”

He had shifted his radio to bow, and replied, “As they say it here, there  is nothing to fear when there are two against the devil.”

I shifted mine into a necklace and put it around my neck. It would serve as a connection to the divine, but it would leave my hands free. “Let's arrange terrain more to our advantage.”

Mars nodded and began to recite his aria, finishing with, “So as I pray, Unlimited Blade Works.”

The fire bloomed around us like the incoming tide, Archer's Reality Marble turning the surrounding landscape into a familiar wasteland of sand and weaponry.

But there were differences. This Reality Marble was a reflection of his Inner World, and that was not static. Like that bright star that shined high in the sky. It appeared somewhen after the first war.

And there was something new. The sand was black. And from the smell, I think it was iron.

A thick haze formed from embers and wisps of black smog rising from the ground, produced by the forging of iron, cleared showing the horizon and with it our enemy.

An army of three.

Unlimited Blade Works drowned under the oncoming sea. A flood of biblical proportions, consuming the land in a parody of an embrace, taking countless swords under its alien currents even as it approaches us.

Above the sea was a storm of hands that covered the sky. They reached out from the sky to take gears. Some to polish, repelling rust with their touch. Some gears the storm hands rearranged into strange, alien configurations that defied space and logic. Some they merely picked up to place them back down again, as though after examining them before deeming that they had been where they should be.

Between the intrusive storm and impossible sea, danced a being of light. It was the multitude, yet singular. Its wings touched the sea and caressed the hands of the storm. Its light was the harsh glare of the summer sun, and yet it was also the gentle tickle of a fire's warmth. It gently coaxed out sins from the most secretive part of your soul and radiated approval and encouragement where He would only scorn and condemn.

That was how the wishes were granted (by the devil).

Once there was a girl named Jupiter, who yearned to touch and be touched, to hurt and be hurt. But her mother taught her that it wasn't polite to touch others and her father taught her that as a girl she had to protect herself. She had done everything that was asked of her, but her heart betrayed her. So she let the devil in.

Once there was a girl named Neptune, who drowned in bitterness at the unfairness of the world. Why did people have to prove that they were good? Why did they have to cut away pieces of themselves? Why were they judged? So she let the devil in.

Once there was a boy named Venus, who was gentle and kind. But he suffered from a sin of pride for he could not accept God's plan for him. He yearned for something different, to be something different. So she let the devil in.

Without words, they called us. To cast away everything that made us unhappy. To abandon the tyranny of God and be finally free. 

I was tempted, so very tempted. To take Mars and join them. There was no place for us in this World, and they promised that there was a place for everyone in theirs.

But I looked at Mars and I saw that he was in pain. This was not the land of God, his soul that they were altering. An error on our part, a miscalculation of what they could do to this place.

And there were other worlds.

"They're still too far out for me," I said, looking at the enemy.

Mars nodded and said “Then I will strike first. That is the role of an archer.”

He answered the oncoming storm with a typhoon of swords, flying through the air like a school of fish through water.

But the hands seemed endless. Cut one apart and three new ones took their place. The light revealed the swords for the fakes they were and can you truly wound the sea with a sword, no matter how many?

"Stop," I commanded. They were closer now. "We need to stall them. Don't use magecraft. Have faith in His power." Even now I had to pretend. Especially now.

"A dedication to God," he said and smirked. He drew another sword. For a moment I thought that had somehow brought Caliburn, but it was another Holly Sword, one I didn't recognize. With a decisive strike, he planted it in the ground. He spoke the name of the Noble Phantasm, but it was less a bold declaration and more a soft prayer. So I missed it.

The sword burned with harsh light, driving out all other sources of illumination until it resembled a glowing cross.

By His light, iron sand obeyed Mars, and built a dam, to halt the sea's approach. Light tried to burn it, to undo His miracles, so I brought mercury, created mirrors to reflect its assaults into the sea, creating great explosions of steam. Hands descended, shattering my mirrors with unearthly might. But they were liquid and easy to reform. Mars rained swords up into the hands, ripping them apart, but there were always more.

We were human, fighting off those who had discarded their human form, casting it away like an old dress they had outgrown.

The dam broke. The sea advanced.

Eventually, it reached us and we stood no more on a hill, but on an island The light blinded us, and the hands above were reaching down, to touch us, to caress us, to change us.

I had one last gamble to play. 

I didn’t use sorcery much, for most things magecraft was more efficient. Although it was potentially much more powerful, true magic was much harder to master. But there were things that only powers that reach beyond the limits of the world could accomplish.

They may have seemed invincible, but they had been defeated. Not in this world, but in parallel timelines. One timeline for each defeat.

That was the power of friendship. Like all power, it was a double-edged sword. The friends could lift you up, but you could also pull them down.

I just had to look in the right place. The places where only one falls.

“Bonds,” with this incantation I started the spell. A new spell was created on the spot just for this occasion.

Energy requirements were steep.

But I have conserved magical energy for this. I used it all, all remaining gems, and even batteries, all power within my circuits and crest, and all power within my mystic code necklace.

Even with all that at my level, I would have only a moment.

But that moment was all I needed.

They came.

They came to answer my summons.

They came to destroy the devil.

They came to save a dear friend.

There were six of them. Three sets of twins (alternates). Four girls and two boys.

A girl and boy face the sea.

Two girls stand against the light.

A boy and a girl oppose the storm.

But there was nothing to fear when there were two against the devil.

They strike.

He brought the light. She brought the storm. Sea parted. The devil was destroyed and the girl was saved.

One girl brought water. The other one brought a storm. The light shattered into a rainbow. The devil was destroyed and the boy was saved.

She brought water. He brought the light. Storm stilled. The devil was destroyed and the girl was saved.

Nine of them stand together. Three sets of three. An eyeblink later and there were only three. Lying prone in the iron sand of Mars’ manifest soul.

I fall to my knees. I had given everything I had. I was so tired. This had been almost beyond my skill. If I hadn’t had that transformation sequence...

Mars put a hand on my shoulder.”Is it done?”

“Yes,” I replied, “It is done.”

The desert faded, revealing the forest glade. And then even the forest glade began to fade. So tired.

Notes:

I have decided to port from QQ. Not sure how good it is since it is my first fic, but until it reaches where it is on QQ I will post rather quickly.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Is a "sword" a euphuism?