C220: Rescue
Alt Title teaser: Kirei's Bounty
Date published: 5/18/2025.
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"Why am I being made to wear a maid Outfit?" The lovely Nubian Queen requests an answer to her frilly outfit that she has only accepted to wear for its due value and the fact that while possibly more enticing, is less revealing than her original outfit. It certainly helps that it's defensive factors far outstrip half her defensive measures, this saves her plenty of headache should she get into a fight.
Such a result is natural when the french style maid outfit has its primary structure made out of dragon scales that had been mystically thinned out into thread courtesy of Senji Muramasa's technique that he had developed long ago before the war of Ragnarok years ago.
This technique had developed from it's original form of simply turning metallic ingots into thread. After years of work, he had been able to do the same to both divine and magical materials. His work and techniques had especially skyrocketed once Senji had met the giant slave Axel had appropriated from the Khorne.
He had gained the ability to infuse various elemental energies into anything he makes, it's similar to the Crozzo bloodline but Welf's ability relied on the spirits favor. This grants the creation of magical weapons related to the magical elements. Muramasa instead is able to touch upon laws thanks to his own self developed smithing divinity that allows him to burn laws onto his items.
The simplest way of describing this would be to say that materials from a creature that is good at stealth such as camouflage could be used and empowered by Senji to allow the owner of the new item made from that creature to become invisible instead of simply enhanced camo.
That is the current level of the hero named Senji Muramasa but in this case, the maid outfit was a failed attempt at localized divinity. Such a concept means to allow the wearer to become a pseudo god under Axel's banner. As a failed attempt, it naturally does not have this effect and instead is purely physical armor but since it had touched upon divinity, it does have a bit of soul enforcing/protecting functionality.
Axel is sure that when he finally reveals the truth of the maid outfit to Sheba, she would be annoyed she wasn't given a proper dress earlier but he is banking more on her capitalistic nature to help come up with more products that could be released on an exclusive level. Tons more money and connection which would go a long way for Axel, even if he doesnt care about money. For now he will only reveal a bit of his thoughts about the dress.
"The answer is quite obvious, it's for ease of Sexual relief. Should you ever choose to sell your body to me, I naturally won't decline. I have plenty of money after all." His callous answer makes Sheba glare at him for a while before she processes how much money she could realistically siphon out of him without going too far with it. She is, after all, a married woman.
While she had never been too promiscuous with her husband Solomon, both have kingdoms/empires to manage and Solomon also had hundreds of thousands, if not billions of wives and was forced to spend quite a bit of time with them, only making time for her during formal settings which had allowed them to keep a steady relationship but as a profit seeker, Sheba had not much interest in carnal experience, not to say that she neglected the knowledge aspect should she ever go through with it.
"Young men are all the same, thinking with the lower half of their bodies, though i'll forgive you this time around for thinking i'll sleep with you so easily." While she says this, she doesnt completely believe that Axel is being truthful with her. While she can't ready his full intentions, she can instinctively smell the money in the air around her.
"I'm allowed to have dirty thoughts as I wish. Just because you rejected me now doesnt mean I have already envisioned it. Now it's just a matter of reaching the point where you would do so willingly" He remarks and Sheba seems to scoff at his lewd thoughts.
"Now, my master, you have summoned me for the holy war, what plan, if you have any, do you have to win?"
"Oh, I'm not interested in the grail. It's corrupted anyways so the winner is just the ultimate loser." His sudden revelation shocks Sheba who has a downtrodden expression as she stares at her hands whilst contemplating, 'then what is the point of any effort me and the rest are exerting for the grail'.
"But if you have no interest then why summon me"
"I told you. I wanted a capable assistant and possibly a maid. Oh right. I almost forgot" Axel reexplains and then snaps his fingers. Sheba feels the loss of connection to the Fuyuki leylines as her entire mana dependence is now handled by Axel alone. Instead of weakening, she feels various restraints that were originally placed on her to limit her overall destructive power are unsealed. Her connection to the throne of heroes also reveals a few new changes that occurs, subtle modifications to her Saint Graph.
"I..I can grow stronger now? My dear perverted master, what have you done to the throne of heroes?" She questions with an inquisitive tone as she can feel as if she was granted a completely new living body, allowing her to create new legends, exercise to enhance her physical attributes or even develop new spells to permanently surpass her original state of being when she died and was promptly recorded in the throne of heroes.
Such a thing should not be possible but the throne allows it under the circumstance that she and any other servants continue to be fully bound to Axel. Of course this physical state means that she cant enter her spiritual state to remain invisible to non-magical folk but also the return of many mortal issues.
The most prominent amongst these is hunger as she now requires food to sustain her physical strength while her spiritual and mental strength is reliant fully on Axel's seemingly endless supply of mana. Of course this is simply one issue amongst many but within her long life, she has handled greater issues than this.
"My connection to the throne can be described as having stocks in a company, since I have enough 'Shares', I can grant advice or propositions on how the company works." The explanation is simple and sweet for Sheba to understand but as Axel did not give a proper reason for his ability to do this, she is limited in what she can ask about as Axel has not given any more details about how he made this possible.
"What shall be the first task you wish to give me, master?" Sheba can only relent in her questions as she believes that most if not everything will be revealed to her sooner or later. Axel nods in response to the change in questions. The door opens and Luna walks in once more.
"Luna will teach you the basics of how my business currently works as well as a small artifact to hide your ears and tail from the regular and magical communities. You can then study under my wife to understand the greater intricacies before you take over as manager for our store." He explains the general plan of action for Caster, which she doesnt decline since she wishes to commit herself to making money in the first place. As she leaves with Luna, she doesnt forget to collect the gold bars which were in the basement as they naturally belonged to her now. Where she hid them is a female mystery and Axel will not question it.
Axel leans back in his chair, his head raised high and his eyes closed as he simply breaths for a few moments before getting up and walking through a portal.
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At the same time Axel is walking through the portal, much further away, in a recluse side of Miyama town, Fuyuki is a church. Kirei Kotomine, a member of the church, who along with his father, Risei Kotomine, had been designated as overseers for this year's Holy Grail War. Yet what should have been a peaceful time for the church members as even with wide scale destruction, servants typically only fought other servants. It is rare for a certain to go out of his way to the church and unleash a deluge of shadow monsters to kill Risei.
Kirei now kneels beside his dying father who shares the multiple command seals to Kirei. The not yet crazy priest seals his father into a coffin and cleans up the mess but the destruction of the windows and blood spilled when the called upon masters of this holy grail war arrive.
Tokiomi is the first to be shocked by the destruction as he rushes in to spot the Kirei Kotomine who is praying before an open casket of Risei Kotomine. Before Tokiomi can ask what happened.
"Please hold your words for when the other masters arrive, I have a request for you all" Kirei states and Tokiomi Tohsaka acquiesce due to his students words. He can realize the gravity of the situation might be related to the holy grail war and which is why Kirei summoned all the masters he could.
It is only half an hour later when Waver Velvet, Irisveil von Einsberg, Kayneth El-Melloi, Kariya Matou and with the already arrived Tokiomi Tohsaka, make up all but one master in this war. Of course, this is all under the assumption that the master of Assassin was not invited since it's thought that Tokiomi's archer had killed him already. What they didn't know was that Kirei Kotomine, the so called impartial judge was his master and only 1 of a few hundred versions of his assassin, afterall, it was Hassan of a hundred faces.
"Welcome everyone, and thank you for coming in these dark times." Kirei greets everyone as he slowly opens the casket to show to all the previous overseer of the Holy Grail War. There is a multitude of horrific expressions as they realize the severity of the situation.
"I'm sure many of you have sensed the hum of Prana (mana) from the leyline due to the arrival of the final servant, Caster. It is likely that the casters master was someone who has no magical experience which is why its strain on the ley line is so high. While this drain has disappeared, that is likely because Caster had finished casting spells here to kill my father."
"My request is this, as the newly promoted senior Overseer of the Holy Grail War" he reveals his arm which now bears the multitude of command seals from past wars which had been passed down from overseer to overseer. "I shall grant the master whose servant takes down Caster 3 new command seals."
Gasps of shock spread throughout the chapel as this is an unprecedented offer. Yet their shock doesnt end as kirei moves to provide papers describing the appearance of Gilles De Rais and what type of magic he used during his attack. He also goes on to describe how the servant was flickering in and out of his spiritual form due to the lack of mana. Something Kariya understands quite well whenever he denies Berserker any mana to continue his ravenous onslaught.
Hearing the decree and reading the information, all masters take their leave while Kirei continues his prayers and then proceeds to bury his father.
Back with Axel, after stepping through the portal, he finds himself before an aged creaky house. The description only fits due to two features, it looks like an abandoned nightmare house during the night while the other reason is due to the assortment of bugs known as Crest Worms that crawl around in every corner of the house, acting as spies and extensions of the house's master.
Indeed, this is the infamous Matou residence. Home to Zouken Matou, Shinji Matou, and Kariya Matou (though he is estranged with his family due to his lack of talent but sacrificed himself to try keeping Sakura Tohsaka safe). The Matou family is one of the three families of Fuyuki that had contributed to the creation of the Holy Grail War. It was them that had created the command seals used by the masters in the war.
Axel begins to simply walk forward, he had already scouted out the whole house's arrangement so he knows exactly what he is looking for and where. Of course the corrupted mana leaking from the basement is an obvious indicator.
Axel simply walks through the door as it splinters upon contact with his body. He repeats this process for quite a few more doors until he reaches the entrance to the basement and stops. Mostly because his way is now blocked by a feeble looking old man.
Wearing a green shirt with a deep blue haori and a black overcoat to cover most of it all up, making him look quite plain. Short and hunched over with a completely bald head with only a walking stick to support him. His eyes are black with silver or grayish white pupils. This is Zouken Matou, the ringleader of the Matou family.
"Myyy, what a spirited young man, but why are you here and wrecking my home? Answer me Axel Gram" he starts off with a kind looking expression, showing great sympathy and curiosity or perhaps ignorance but he notices that Axel is not fooled by this and Zouken changes to a darker appearance as his kind looking face shifts to a devious expression as he bares his magical energy.
Axel stares down the old man with a cold expression before he points to the door.
"I'm laying claim to the only thing of value at the bottom of that room. If you stop me, i'll just exterminate you like the bug you are. Make your choice."
"Kekekeke. Young mages who don't come from magical lineages are always so bo…Ah" as Zouken continues to stand his ground and even spout off. Axel clenches his fist and Zouken feels the death of tens of thousands of insects that are spread out throughout the house.
"Stand aside or perish with them. Your actions are the only answer I seek, not your words worm" the newly started stare down ends as Zouken backs away in fear of his potential mysterious death. With his false immortality, he still has grand plans for the holy grail. As such he can only stand aside as he makes proper plans to focus on Axel and all that he can find out about him.
Axel no longer pays any mind to Zouken as he is incapable of harming anyone Axel cares about. He proceeds to walk through the literal door once more then makes his way down the rounding staircases that lead to a pit.
The pit is filled with insects crawling all over the place in excitement. These are all crest worms, the very thing that burrowed into Kariya Matou a talentless man who chose his own suffering in exchange for Sakuras but Zouken, the worm he is, did not follow through on his end of the deal and still ditched the little 6 year old girl into this pit.
Axel summons a flame which illuminates the room, this shows that the girl he came here for is unconscious and on the other end of the room, covered in bugs. The worms near Axel screech in terror and that only grows louder as Axel slams the black flame in his hand onto his body.
His body bursts into flames as he steps further down the stairs and the fire burns any and all insects that come in contact with him, he makes his way over to Sakura as the number of bugs rapidly decreases that the little girl is practically lowered into his hands. The fire burns the insects on her but does not burn her. She doesn't deserve such a sensation when Axel is doing his very best to save her.
With Sakura 'Matou' held by Axel in a Princess Carry, he makes his way out of the building, Zouken grinds his immaculate fake teeth together in frustration at Axels blatant disregard of Mage Code of conduct. Though that simply means he can use unlawful means against him as well but he will bide his time until that happens.
Axel makes his way back to his home where he sets Sakura down in a perfectly new pink futon. Kaoruko is beside him as she examines the little girl. She has half a head of hair of brown-black while the other half is turning to a shade of purple due to the effect of the crest worms burrowing into her body. A single red ribbon remains tied to her hair, a momento of her blood related sisters who remained behind in the Tohsaka family while she was given away.
"Poor girl. She doesnt deserve such a fate"
"Thats why we are here to help her" Axel reaffirms as he channels his [Great Devourer] into it's previous gluttony forms so it has an aura form that takes the shape of a skinny chinese dragon or perhaps a snake as it begins to burrow into Sakura's body and consume every crest worm, but as it does, he also releases healing energy to help whatever modified magic circuits in her body to return to their original form. Slowly her purple hair loses color and becomes white. Perhaps one day she will regain her original hair color on that side of her head but this is the best he can do for now without impeding in her natural growth and development.
He continues this healing process for about an hour before finally breathing a sigh of relief in his success. He covers the little girl up in the Futon and exits the room, leaving Kaoruko and Luna to watch over the girl. But as Axel makes his way to his bedroom, he stops upon hearing a new voice.
"Papa…Who is that girl?"
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Alt Title: Designation of Duty, Meeting in the Church, Healing and future.
Word count: 3073
Drop a comment if you wanna judge my writing or the story. I'll try to respond, especially if you're confused or anything.