AN: Alright, new story! It's been a while since I've posted one of these. The basis of this story comes from two things, an observation, about the timelines of SAO and Fate, and a theory about Demi-Servants. The first of these is of course the simpler, FSN occurs in 2004, with the previous Grail war happening 10 years before that, the grail war was accelerated since no wish was made despite the ritual being completed, changing the interval from 50 years to 10. SAO, starts in November of 2022, and the players escape the game in October of 2024. Also of importance is the time of year the Grail War occurs during, in Fate Zero and FSN we never get a solid date, however we do see snow appear in both though rarely. This implies that the war takes place late in the year, November or December in all likeliness. My beta actually has some head canon that the first day of the actual Grail War is December 12th since that's the release date of the first volume of the light novel.

Regardless all that matter is that the dates line up perfectly so that, if Saber's Excalibur had damaged the Grail more in the 5th war than the 4th thus delaying the Grail's activation to 20 years later, the Grail War would occur during the time in between the Aincrad and Alfheim arcs of SAO.

Second is a Fate based theory on Demi-Servants. Now, we only have two canon Demi-Servants, Sieg and Mashu, so information on how they function is limited at best but my theory goes a little like this. First, should a human who would go to the Throne of Heroes on death be used as the container for a Demi-Servant they would be guaranteed to summon themselves. This works because they function as their own catalyst, different from the idea of Shirou summoning EMIYA or No Name because by becoming a Counter Guardian and making a contract with the Moon Cell these versions of Shirou lost their identity of 'Shirou Emiya', and because the Throne exists outside of time and space, meaning all Heroic Spirits have always been and will always be inside of it already.

Second, they would receive a 'fuller' version of the Heroic Spirits power than normal for any Servant. Part of both Demi-Servants and Psuedo-Servants summonings is that their power changes and is lessened based on their new container, restricted by their compatibility and changed by the hosts other skills and personality. Now, the compatibility for the original of a Heroic spirit would literally be the absolute maximum of a host, expanding their power. To me this removes the normal limits of a Servant, actually making them in essence 'classless', where they bring the full brunt of their Skills and Noble Phantasms while losing any benefits a class would normally give them, aka class skills they wouldn't normally posses.

Now, as most of you have guessed by now this story involves Kirito being transformed into a Demi-Servant, and while the above paragraph may make you concerned about Kirito being OP, I can assure that won't be a problem. Kirito is a Demi-Servant, he doesn't know how to use any of his Noble Phantasms by default, and due to the fact that this is just after SAO and before any adventures in ALO, GGO, or in the Alicization arc for those of you that know it, he won't even know what half his Noble Phantasms ARE. In fact, I don't plan to have him discover all of his Noble Phantasms in this story, seeing as one, there are too many potential Noble Phantasms there that having all of them would actually make him OP, and two, SAO and Kirito's adventures aren't actually over meaning there could be Noble Phantasms he would have that I don't know about.

Now, this entire AN has been about Kirito and SAO, so let's take a moment to talk about FSN, Rin and Shirou. This is a standard True Route Bladeworks Shirou, twenty years after the Grail War. For those in the know they'll realize that EMIYA dies in his mid-forties, making this Shirou almost as old. But that does not make him as experienced, since EMIYA has an unknown number of decades or even centuries of service as a Counter Guardian. Though the memories Shirou received from EMIYA in the 5th Grail War make him roughly as skilled as EMIYA. The biggest difference between the two is actually quite simple. Archer is a Servant, Shirou is a human. This has two main effects outside of the obvious, ie astralization, sharing senses with a Master commands seals etc, one, while their reinforcement is roughly the same Archer starts with a much better base than Shirou, meaning he gets more out of his reinforcement and can do more of it. Second, Archer gets his prana from Rin in the 5th Grail War, Shirou is reliant on his own circuits. This means Shirou has much less prana available, so less tracing, less Noble Phantasms, less reinforcing, you get it.

Last and least important is Rin, just because there's the least to explain. There's no Kaliedoscope, no Class Cards, no funny business. Just Gemcraft, Gandr, and the basics. And while she and Shirou are in a relationship and have been since the Grail War that's is minor at best here. There's a reason this story lacks pairings.

That's it then. I'm glad you decided to check this out and surprised you actually read that AN. I mean, damn was that long, but I wanted to answer all the obvious review questions. Have fun and I hope you enjoy Chapter 1 of From the Game to the Grail.

I looked away from the green stick figure as I started to cross the intersection, my hands stuffed into the pockets of my black coat as my breath came out in heavy clouds, visible in the morning's cold air.

I pulled my phone out of one pocket, pushing the button so I could see the time, 7:43 the display read. I hadn't planned to leave the house this early today, actually I hadn't planned to leave the house at all.

I didn't have any therapy scheduled and I had visited Asuna just yesterday. Of course that all went out the window when I had gotten that message. I took a left after crossing the road, making my way through the morning foot traffic as I sought my objective.

It was strange not to have cursors popping up or lacking any sort of hud in my field of view, and I kept having to remind myself that these were all real people, not NPCs.

I let out a soft sigh as I ducked into a small alleyway going about halfway through it before ducking into an entryway and pushing open the door. I took a moment to relish the warmth of the heated interior before scanning over the room to see if the one I was supposed to meet was here.

I wasn't surprised that she wasn't, we weren't supposed to meet for about fifteen more minutes. In fact the only one here was the owner, no surprise that since the place wasn't actually open yet.

"Hey Agil." I called out to the only man there, a veritable giant of a man, over six feet tall dark skin and a bald head he cut an imposing image despite the nice button down white t-shirt he wore.

"Oi Kirito. How are you doing?" He turned away from the numerous bottles and glasses that he had been inspecting, shelved behind the bar. The place normally served alcohol during the evenings and nights but during the day it was a cafe selling non alcoholic drinks and food.

"Good as can be expected." I spoke as I moved to the bar and wearily took a seat. The Dicey Cafe wasn't too far from the train station but it hadn't been more then a month and half since the game ended and even walking short distances was tiring. I looked back up to the massive man, his size only slightly diminished by the way he seemed skinnier and his clothes baggy. "She's not here yet?"

"No," the man shook his head, "what'd she even message you about? I had to come here early and unlock the place just so you two could have a little rendezvous." I was a little surprised he hadn't been told anything, but then again she'd always been rather secretive and giving out any information for free was uncommon enough for her.

"She didn't say much just something about a wish and a way to save Asuna." I could see the way that the pieces connected in Agil's eyes. It was no secret that I'd been desperate to help her since she hadn't woken at the end of the game.

"I see. Well I don't know about wishes or anything but if you need my help you just have to ask. You and Asuna saved all of us back in the game, now it's our turn to help you two in anyway we can." As he spoke he placed an empty mug in front of me before beginning to fill it with coffee.

"Thanks." I didn't say whether it was for the offer or the coffee, but I was really just grateful in general.

Once he was done filling the cup I picked it up and took a sip without adding any sweetner, the bitter taste would help wake me up as much as the caffeine. I absentmindedly rubbed my leg as I sat, I had left behind my crutches today, I had thought I could make it here without them and while I was right I was feeling the strain from the effort.

"How's your therapy going? I'm sure it's a lot harder to kick out rowdy customers now than it was before." I gave Agil a smirk as I spoke. He was well known as one of the most intimidating players in the game, most players had been pretty serious gamers and a side effect of that very few had been what you could call physically fit.

Agil despite being a gamer hadn't just been an exception, he'd been an exception within the exceptions not only being healthy but also what you'd call buff, now though after two years of atrophy Agil was thin and weak, not as bad as many other players, myself included, were, but he was nowhere near the strength he had been before SAO.

"Therapy is going good actually. And surprisingly it's easier to throw out some sorry drunks than before. After all no wasted social worker could be as terrifying as Skull Reaper." I felt Agil's booming laughter echo in my ears and gave my own soft chuckle as I sipped more of my coffee.

"Yeah, I guess so. My mom has been trying to keep me at home more, worried that I might not be as good as I say, she doesn't realize taking her glares is waaaaay easier than taking on Gleam Eyes." That sent the bartender into another peal of laughter and I couldn't help but smile. I raised my cup again before shifting in my seat as I realized that something simply felt off. It took me a moment to realize what it was and then I could only sigh.

"Why the long face?"

"It doesn't feel right, not having my swords on me." I looked back up to Agil as I set my cup down and saw a empathetic smile on the man's face.

"Yeah, every once in a while when I leave the Cafe I'll take a moment to try and equip my axe before I remember that I don't even have it anymore." The giant of a man brought his hand to the back of his head and began to scratch his bald head.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be out, but it doesn't feel right,. This doesn't feel like where I belong anymore. And I know I'm doing better than most, I've still got a store to manage I still have to wrestle with drunks every once in a while. You got two years of school to catch up on, Klein is out of a job and moved back in with his folks, and how many people do you think got out of the game to find out their partner had left them?" I saw Agil begin to sigh but the only sound I heard was the bell as the door to the cafe opened.

"Hello Kii-bou~!" I didn't have to turn around to know who was here but I did anyway. Rather than walking, skipping into the shop was a fairly short girl, dirty blonde hair green eyes and a button nose. Rather than the brown hooded cloak I almost always saw her in she wore a light blue sweat jacket and it didn't surprise me one bit to see she had the hood up. Her tight navy blue jeans covered her legs and I couldn't help but notice that she didn't look all that different in the game, she wasn't particularly skinny or out of shape like I'd expect from a fellow survivor.

"Hello to you too Argo. I'm glad to see you're doing well." I game a small smile as I spoke, I wasn't lying or just being polite after all. I hadn't spoken to Argo since the game was cleared around a month ago and while we had contacted each other more often as business partners than anything else she was someone I'd readily and openly call a friend.

"Of course I'm doing great. An innocent cute girl like me can't let any sort of physical ailment get in the way of my looks!" She even made a little pose as she spoke, leaning forwards a bit and placing her pointer finger on the edge of her mouth.

"Normally a 'innocent cute girl like you' wouldn't be calling themselves one in the first place." Despite my words there was no malice in my voice, in fact I was a little happy to see that Argo wasn't any different outside of the game.

"Teehee~, I didn't realize you thought about me like that Kii-bou, but don't you have a girlfriend?" She sat on the barstool to my left as she spoke and Agil began pouring her a cup of the same coffee I had in front of me. " What would Aa-chan think?" And just like that my demeanor turned serious.

"Argo." My words were no longer lighthearted and jovial, and my tone left no room for banter. This wasn't the tone I took when bartering with Agil or dining with Fuurinkazan, this was how I spoke when planning boss fights, flat and serious. "Do you really have a way to save Asuna?"

I wasn't the only one who turned serious at the change of discussion topic, it was really truly rare to see Argo when she wasn't joking at all, and this was one of those few times. "Agil, do you think Kirito and I could discuss this in private?" Nothing drove home her seriousness like the lack of a certain nickname.

"Oi, don't act like I'm not involved." Agil apparently took offence to Argo's request. "These two saved my life too, Kirito's a good friend and you're the one that asked to meet here. I'm wanna stay and listen and if there's any way I can help I want in too damnit."

I did my best to conceal my smile behind a cup of coffee. I hadn't had friends I could trust to watch my back like this before SAO, and even now I could count those I trusted with my life on my fingers, and those I'd trust with Asuna's life on one hand. Agil easily made both lists and while I didn't want to drag anyone else into this, whatever this is, it looked like Agil might be the one doing the dragging not me.

*sigh*, I turned over to Argo, surprised to hear the exasperated sigh she gave out. "Agil." Her tone was different than I had ever heard it before, off. Like the words she stated were more of a formality or that she saw this part of the conversation as nothing more than a task to be completed. "Don't you need to go take inventory in the stockroom?"

"Er, inventory? Yeah, yeah I do but that can wait this is mor-"

"Don't worry, Kirito or I can fill you in later, we'll tell you if there's any way you can help." Argo didn't let Agil finish his protest and just started talking over him, and then I realized I had heard her use this tone of voice before. Her, me, Agil, and most other people I had interacted with over the last two years had spoken like this. It was like she was talking to an NPC.

"Alright then." Agil's voice seemed, distant almost, as he spoke. "I'm gonna go take inventory, you can lock the front door when you leave right Kirito?" I barely had time to nod in response as Agil turned and left through the back door in the bar, too deep in my own fast paced thoughts.

"Argo-" I made to ask her what she'd done but this time I was the one interrupted.

"Kirito, I can guarantee that if we succeed that you'll be able to save to save Asuna but I need to know what you're willing to do to save her." Argo didn't look to me as she spoke, her gaze fixed on the door through which Agil had left.

The look she had, it wasn't quite distaste, more so discomfort or regret, as if whatever she had done to Agil she wished she didn't have to, but had been forced to in the end. I was more glad that I saw that emotion on her face then I'd care to admit. I wouldn't have known what to do if the Argo I knew was gone, replaced with someone willing and able to treat her friends like NPCs without remorse.

"Anything." I answered her question without hesitation. "I'd go back into SAO at the drop of a hat if it meant I had even the slimmest of chances of helping her."

"What if I told you it was more dangerous than SAO?" I blinked, stunned at the idea for a moment. "And that the odds of us winning, or even surviving, were even lower?"

"I'd do it anyway." I gave a firm nod before pausing a moment. "Well, I'd like to say that but you didn't say 'the odds of you surviving', you said us, and while I'm more than happy to put my life on the line I don't feel comfortable risking yours for my selfishness." I rubbed the back of my head as I spoke, and something in either my words or the action gained a smile from Argo, the first I'd seen in the room since Asuna had been brought up.

"Don't worry about that. Honestly I'll be doing this either way so I just need to figure out if you'll be helping me." She looked away from me again, the smile fading as she stared into the drink Agil had given her before he left.

"Then of course I'll help. Even if I didn't have the chance to save Asuna I can't let you do something so risky on your own." Instead of a reaction I'd expect like smile or an exasperated sigh or even some insult to my intelligence the girl sitting next to me bit her lip in nervousness before dry swallowing and continuing to talk.

"What if I said you'd have to kill someone? Multiple someones?" I flinched back at Argo's words and what they implied. She was asking me to kill? To become a murderer? No, that's not right, I was already a killer afterall.

"Will they, will they be innocent?" I could barely voice the question over the sound of my own heartbeat.

"Kirito," The pure sadness in Argo's voice was perhaps one of the most heart wrenching things I'd ever heard, certainly the most outside of SAO. "That doesn't make as big of a difference as you'd think."

"I know that, I have killed before after all. Twice in the Laughing Coffin raid, once when a member tried to kill me and Asuna, and even Kayaba died by my hand. I know that just because they too were killers doesn't make it easier, but I don't think I could stand the thought of having killed an innocent person." I paused a moment considering if I should even say the rest of my thoughts before I decided to put it all out there.

"And I don't think Asuna could stand the thought of being saved by such an act either." The pause between my words and Argo's reply couldn't have been more than a few seconds but it felt like eternity.

"They won't be innocent. Some of them may not have killed before, but they'll be doing this with the same idea as you, that they will have to kill to win as well." I paused to take in her words, to truly consider what I was about to do. I knew that Asuna wouldn't want me to do it, she wouldn't want another life taken for the sake of her own, it had shaken her up enough when I'd killed Kuradeel, but even that wouldn't compare to her thoughts on me risking my own life once again.

The more I thought about it the more reasons I came up with not to do it. It was dangerous. Argo had done something weird to Agil. I'd be forced to kill again. My body was still recovering from SAO. Asuna wasn't even in immediate danger.

I could try to find a solution elsewhere. I could wait until the Japanese government helped her. But despite all of that there were two things that made the decision for me.

The sight of Asuna, my wife in that other world, wasting away on that hospital bed, her mind kept captive who knows where. And the girl beside me, desperately trying to hide the fear on her face at the thought that I might turn her down, and she'd be forced to face whatever this is on her own.

I never took the rational choice of action in the past before anyway.

"I'm in." The look of pure joy on Argo's face that she quickly tried to bury under that business facade of hers put an equal grin on my own face. "So, what now?" It was time to figure out what I was actually getting myself into, enough with the vague warnings.

"Well." Argo seemed to be juggling a few thoughts in her head, probably thoughts about where to start the explanation, it didn't take long for her to decide. "Now I tell you about the Moonlight world."

I adjusted my position in my seat as a notification went off over the plane's intercom. Looking over to the girl seated next to me I put a hand on her shoulder and began to gently shake her.

"Rin, we're starting to land." I waited a second to see the results of my efforts. No reaction, wait no, she turned over in her sleep, laying on her side now facing away from me.

"Rin." I spoke a bit louder this time and shook her a bit more. Nothing "Rin." I tried again and what they say about the third time turned out to be more than just a saying.

"Funyaa~." The girl stretched out a bit as she started to come back to the waking world. "Eh, Shirou? Are we landing soon?"

"Yeah, we're just starting to descend so I figured you'd want to be woken up."

"Ah, yeah thanks." RIn continued to shift in her seat until she was sitting in a more proper position, looking at her straight backed elegant posture it was hard to believe that she had been snoozing and stretching as she dozed just moments ago, or it would have been if not for one minor detail.

"Rin." The girl turned her head a few degrees to look at me as I called her name. "There's drool on the corner of your mouth."

"Eh?" Upon realizing what I'd said the magus began scrambling, wiping not just the corner but her entire mouth with her sleeve. I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. That turned out to be a mistake as as soon as she heard me I noticed an evil glint appear in Rin's eyes.

"Oh Shirou, I just took a short nap next to you and now my face is covered in all these strange fluids. I didn't realize you were into that sort of thing." My small chuckle quickly turned into a desperate cough.

"Oi oi, you know it's just drool, and I had nothing to do with it. Don't say misleading things!" I leaned in closer and grabbed her shoulders to her as I spoke my voice barely above a whisper to try avoiding causing a scene.

"And now that I'm awake you grab me and try to hide what has happened?" Rin faked a flinch as I grabbed her turning away from me as if she'd been struck. Then suddenly she gave a sigh and her joking manner disappeared. "Archer, we've done this before. We know what we're doing."

I blinked and let go of her shoulders as I realized it was Rin's Servant that had saved me, I may have to thank her later. "What'd Archer say?"

"Just that we should be taking this more seriously." I let out another small laugh, this one hopefully Rin wouldn't make me regret.

"Despite how it looks this is us taking it seriously." I spoke to the thin air around us, knowing that even if I couldn't hear her that Archer could hear me.

"A little lightheartedness is good before battles, keeps you from getting too stressed out and forgetting some important factor or piece of equipment. And if you spend every hour leading up to a fight on high alert you'll burn yourself out."

I'd learnt a lot over my time hunting Dead Apostles and Sealing Designees. "Besides what Rin said is true, we have fought in the previous Grail War, Rin was even the victor."

"Archer says she still doesn't see how we could've fought in the previous war. Hey, don't call me old!" I ignored the second part of what RIn said and chose to focus on what wouldn't earn me later retribution from the woman.

"Well while there's normally supposed to fifty years between Grail Wars this time it was only twenty, before that it was ten. And we are a bit older than we look, magecraft makes it easy to cheat." I gave a small smile towards an empty spot in the middle of the plane, where I knew Archer was standing due to my own mystical senses.

I felt a sudden small jolt in my body and it only took a second for me to realize that it was the wheels of the plane touching the ground. Rather than scrambling to get ready to leave I instead leaned further back in my seat and relaxed, it was far from my first time on a plane and I knew it was best to simply wait for others to get off first rather than get involved in the madness of people trying to leave.

"We're much better prepared than last time anyway." I looked away from where Archer was to see Rin talking. "We've got two bases of operation, in the form of the Tohsaka manor and Shirou's place, both with established bounded fields. I've got plenty of gems from the last twenty years stocked up, Shirou may not be a Servant himself but he can hold one off in a melee or even snipe them from afar. And we probably have more direct experience with the Grail Wars than any other master in the war. If we play our cards right and watch our backs, with a little luck we'll be able to actually destroy the Grail this time." I let out an annoyed huff at that.

"I still find it hard to believe that not even Excalibur was capable of fully destroying the Grail." Excalibur was one of the most powerful Noble Phantasms I knew of, the only one that exceeded it in raw power was Ea. "And if Excalibur couldn't do it than how are we supposed to destroy it this time?" Saber wasn't here this time.

While Rin, as the last Tohsaka, had become a master I myself hadn't been chosen by the Grail. And when Rin summoned she hadn't obtained the King of Knights, EMIYA, or any Servant from the fifth war. Despite using Avalon itself as a catalyst something had gone wrong, I don't know if it was because Arturia had no desire for the Grail after seeing its corruption last time, or if it was due to Angra Mainyu's interference or if it was simply because of how damaged and distorted the Grail had become since the Third War, but the fact was that the Servant we were left with wasn't Saber, and while that didn't mean we couldn't win the war, the Archer Rin had called forth lacked any raw destructive power that was anywhere close to Excalibur.

"We really can't predict our situation at the end of the war based on we have now Shirou, you should know that better than anyone." I ran my fingers through my hair at Rin's words, they were difficult to refute because of just how true they were.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the third rate magus that went on to kill the King of Heroes. But that still doesn't mean we'll be able to destroy the Grail. I just don't see us obtaining some ability or ally more powerful than Excalibur by the end of the war." The one hand in my hair became two as I ran my fingers through my whitened hair in thought and stress.

I perked up as I noticed Rin's eyes move to where her Servant should be. I turned my own vision, letting my arms drop as I did so, to notice that the aisle was clearing out. "Archer says that while she doesn't have the raw power of the King of Knights she still believes in her own power as a Servant. She thinks she'll be enough to protect both of us."

I couldn't see Rin's face but I could practically hear her smirk in her next words. "And she still can't believe you beating Gilgamesh was anything but a fluke." I gave out a snort of laughter at that. The idea of a human matching any Servant, especially one like Gilgamesh, was preposterous for good reason.

Unlike a few thousand years ago Heroic Spirits weren't being created nearly as often now as back then. There were a lot of reasons for it, the end of the Age of Gods meant no more Phantasmal Beasts to slay, wars were far less common, some magus even claimed guns were cause.

Simply put the world was more peaceful now than it had been in millennia, ever since the first humans had set foot on this land, and that meant there weren't nearly as many people with the potential to become Heroic Spirits, so the idea that a human from this age could match a Heroic Spirit from the Age of Gods was truly as unbelievable as Archer thought.

"Hmmm, I suppose it was something of a fluke." The admission didn't so much as sting my pride, it was true after all so why would it? "I mean, my own skill set is almost perfectly built to counter Gilgamesh's, and he wasn't taking me seriously for most of the fight. The only reason that I won in the end was because he didn't try to use Ea until it was too late." I stood up and opened the overhead luggage compartment as I did, grabbing both my own and Rin's bags as I did. Rin herself stood and waited for me to begin walking through the much clearer hall before following me.

"Did either of us tell you about the Master of Caster from the previous war?" I spoke to Archer despite knowing she couldn't directly reply to me, a quick shake of the head from Rin gave me my answer though.

"He was an assassin, used a strange type of martial arts emphasizing flexibility in the limbs, it was almost like fighting a horde of snakes. Saber was almost killed by him." I paused to let that sink in for Rin's Servant before continuing.

"Now, he did have some of Caster's mysteries reinforcing him, and even with that he only managed it because Saber had never fought an opponent like Kuzuki and he was able to capitalize on that to wound her. But it still means that he was skilled enough to fight on the level of a Servant despite being human. People like him and I may be extremely rare, one in a thousand or a million, but we're still out there."

"And if you were to encounter those sorts of people, well, where else would you find them but the Grail War?" I gave a small smile as I finished speaking. Archer was a stubborn and self righteous woman, but she was also smart and clever. Even if she didn't agree with me she'd remember that it might be possible. She would still be surprised if a human managed to match her, but she wouldn't be shocked into inaction.

Getting off of the plane was significantly easier than getting on. There was still a good deal of security, and the extra scrutiny meant Rin and I couldn't discuss magecraft or the Moonlight world, but we managed to get through it all without any major incidents. I was just about to bring the Grail War back up when I was attacked.

"SHIIIIIIIROU! I MISSED YOU!" A ballistic Fuji-nee slammed into my gut and despite my size and strength I felt myself stagger back a step and barely avoid falling.

"Urk, F-fuji-nee. I know it's been a while but you're starting to make a scene." I was glad for my tanned skin, despite how it made me resemble the last wars Archer, because it also hid my blush. Between her yell and the way she charged me quite a few people were looking at the three of us.

"Shirou I missed you sooooo much! The house is so empty with no one around and since Sakura-chan stopped cooking for me all I've been eating is take out!" Taiga continued grasping me as she spoke, kneeling on the ground and rubbing her face on my belly as she cried.

"Oi, oi, oi! You're making a scene Fuji-nee! And wait, was it me that you missed or my food?!" I felt something bump into me and in my surprise my grasp on the luggage in my hands slipped. I looked up from the sobbing english teacher on my waist to see Rin walking away, her luggage in one hand as she went.

"Hey! Rin! Where are you going? Come back and help me!" I called after her and tried to give chase but with Fuji-nee clinging to me I wasn't going far. Rin paused for a moment, turning her head to look at me a look of utter confusion on her face.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" After uttering that she turned back and continued on at her leisurely pace.

"Hey! Don't pretend you don't know me. Get back here. RIN! RIN!"

"So, uh, magic is real?" I followed Argo down the sidewalk as we moved. We had left the Dicey Cafe a few minutes ago, and while Argo had explained a lot there were still millions of question in my head.

"Yeah, though what I and other magus use is called magecraft. Magic is different, kind of like a higher level of magecraft. It'd be like comparing your Dual Wield skill to the one handed sword skill. One can be attained by anyone with the right attributes the other is simply impossible for almost anyone to obtain."

"Alright, so there's no way to get Asuna out with magecraft? Or at least without the Holy Grail?" The Holy Grail, that was a big thing I was hung up on, not just because it was apparently how we'd be saving Asuna but also because, as a gamer, I'd heard quite a lot about it in various pieces of fiction and to know it was real, and apparently in Japan of all places, was quite shocking.

"There probably is a way to help Aa-chan without the Grail, it's just that I don't know about it. I've been out of the loop for two years Kii-bou and I only realized that the Grail War was starting this morning. There's almost certainly another way out there, but if we wanted to research the mystery ourselves it could take years, and if we wanted to hire another to do it for us it'd take millions of yen at least and a trip to England. Plus it'd be way riskier for Aa-chan than the Grail." I blinked a few times, the answer wasn't quite as simple as I'd thought and it was taking a moment to absorb what she'd said.

"Okay then. So, the Grail War is fought with seven Masters and Servants, you were chosen as one of the seven Masters and you haven't summoned yet." I tried to review what I knew about how the War was actually fought. It was surprisingly simple.

"Yeah, the seven classes of Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Berserker, and Assassin. I don't know who has and hasn't summoned or even who most of the masters are."

"Most? That implies you know who some are." That could be important information.

"Yeah, see of the seven Masters three are randomly selected, I'm one of them, and four are determined by other magus, one from each of the three founding families, the Tohsaka, Makiri, Matou these days, and Einzbern. The fourth is a chosen representative of the Clock Tower, it's not impossible to find out who that is but I don't have enough political clout or contacts after being in SAO for two years to figure it out." I nodded, it made sense that, like all the other Survivors, Argo was out of the loop in her profession, even if that profession was mystical.

"What about the families?" Even if she couldn't find out who this Clock Tower had chosen the families were probably a different story.

"With the families the head is allowed to chose a representative within their family to become a Master. In the Fourth war the Einzbern actually chose a mercenary to fight and had him marry into the family. But since that war ended with the mercenary betraying the Einzbern I doubt anyone will try that again. Anyway the easiest one is Tohsaka, the current head is actually their last living member." Argo took a moment to clear her throat in a way I was very familiar with. She'd do this whenever someone bought some particularly detailed information that she would then repeat to them word for word.

"Tohsaka Rin is thirty seven years old, specializes in her families mysteries of gemcraft and the gandr curse. Her family crest contains both of these mysteries as well as others, including high level reinforcement. She was the victor of the Fifth Grail war, with the Servant Saber, a short woman with blonde hair and green eyes who wielded an invisible sword, and has spent the twenty years since then studying at the Clock Tower."

I paused for a second hoping to figure out what any of that meant before realizing that was pointless. "Err, so I guess I'm kinda a noob here aren't I?" That earned a laugh from Argo and it was good to see she wasn't too stressed about this.

"Yeah, you are aren't you? Well gemcraft is a mystery related to creating mystic code, enchanted items essentially. The Tohsaka store their prana, think MP, in gems and using that energy they create various effects. They're expensive to create in both terms of time and money but the effects they have are as powerful as you'd expect, gemcraft is one type of mystery strong enough to damage most Servants if the gems are used liberally enough." Argo turned and looked back to me as she spoke to make sure I was listening.

"Gandr on the other hand is a relatively weak curse used normally. It's finnish in origin and causes whoever is struck by it to feel nauseous and potentially start vomiting if the suffer enough. However the curse can be supercharged to become what's known as a Fin shot, these can potentially kill a normal human if hit and even against magus can be fatal with enough hits. Lastly is reinforcement, it's as simple as it sounds, just enhancing an items properties. The Tohsaka crest though focuses this on their bodies so while it's not to the level of a Servant Rin will be stronger and faster then you'd expect." I nodded at her words, that was everything that she'd mentioned before and while I still had more questions most of them could wait.

"Anything else about her I should know?"

"Yeah, her boyfriend." I blinked a few times before my thoughts on that were sorted.

"Boyfriend?" I had expected a lot of things but not a run down on her love life.

"Yeah, well, they used to be lovers, not sure where they're at now but they were both Masters in the Fifth war. Shirou Emiya is his name and he was the original Master of Saber. Now he's a freelancer that works out of Clock Tower, freelancers are essentially mercs by the way." Argo preempted my question this time.

"While he's not a first generation Magus, he was adopted by the previous Emiya and therefore is unable to use the family mysteries or inherit their crest, so there's a lot less known about him. However he's shown a unique ability in two fields, creation of temporary powerful mystic codes, mostly swords but also other bladed weapons like spears and axes or even shields, and object reading with similar weapons." That, that sounded bad for us.

"Is it possible that he could figure out a Servants identity by reading their weapons?" That was the first tactical use that came to mind when I thought of his abilities. Servant's identities were meant to be kept secret, since knowing who they were could lead you to finding their weaknesses and strengths.

"Actually some people think that's how Rin won the previous war, her and Shirou were allies, close enough that Saber willingly became Rin's Servant when her contract with Shirou was broken. That's just a theory though and I have ways around that anyway so don't worry about it." Argo casually waved off my concerns, she'd apparently already considered that, not that I was surprised, as The Rat obtaining and analyzing information was her specialty.

"The bigger concern are his abilities in combat. There's quite a lot of reports of him matching Dead Apostles in head on combat while on missions, I know you don't know what those are Ki-bou, but just know they're roughly as powerful as Servants so that makes him dangerous." I nodded at her words, we'd be talking until the Grail War ended if she told me every bit of information on the Moonlight world she knew.

"How does he fight then?" There were a lot of ways to fight with swords, and if he was an opponent we'd be facing it'd be best to know.

"Most often he's seen dual wielding twin chinese falchions or shooting his created weapons with a massive black bow. There are reports of him using guns in some missions but I doubt he'll bring any to the Grail War, they don't work on Servants unless the gun or bullet is enchanted." While everything she said was important one part stuck out to me for personal reasons.

"He's a dual wielder too?"

"Yep, two chinese falchions, one black one white. Reports say he throws them sometimes and there seems to be some kind of magnetism or attraction on them that causes them to fly weird. He can also create new ones mid fight if need be." Argo stopped walking as we got to a crosswalk asn looked to me.

"Well, as a fellow dual wielder what's your professional analysis?" It was strange to be compared to someone who used swords in real life but the physics engine in SAO was so realistic that I could probably fight the same way here as I had there if my body was stronger.

"Hmmm, well he uses falchions right? Those are much shorter than the kind of swords I use so he's probably got more problems with reach." I paused for a moment as I considered something. "How tall is he?"

"Very for a japanese, almost two meters." I nodded, that changed things.

"So not as many problems with reach as I'd expect but still needs to be cautious about overextending or he'll lose a limb. I'd bet he either fights very aggressively or defensively. Either rushing in close and using his shorter blades to score hits while the opponent is too close to attack, or staying back just far enough that he can hit them while using one blade to attack or defend. If he's good he'll switch up which one he uses for what, either to keep his opponent guessing or to use whichever is in better position, if he isn't he'll just use his off hand to guard and his primary to attack." That was what I'd done when I first got dual wield after all. In some of my earliest fights I'd actually forgotten about my second sword at times and neglected to take advantage of it.

"Alright, well Rin is almost surely the Tohsaka Master though it's possible she gave Shirou the command seals instead."

"Command seals are the things that let you summon and control Servants right?" I had heard about it before but I wanted to make sure.

"Yeah, three absolute commands. Though I say absolute but Servants can disobey if they will it strongly enough or if the command is too vague. Also some will seek revenge if they abhor the commands they were given enough." The crosswalk flicked to green and Argo, I, and everyone else who had been standing around began walking.

"As for the Matou, the main family has only three members, Shinji Matou, Sakura Matou, and Zouken Matou. Shinji was the Master of Rider in the previous war and during it lost his ability to walk, so we should expect either Zouken or Sakura. Not much is known about Sakura but Zouken is something of an open secret." Argo pauses as we turned a corner and came to a train station. Apparently we were heading to Fuyuki to deal with a few things, when I'd asked earlier Argo had merely assured me that we'd be back early enough and that it had to be taken care of there.

"Zouken is actually a few hundred years old, he uses worms as his familiars and by using them to store his soul he can survive the destruction of his body so long as he finds a new one. As far as fighting goes he tends to use his familiars for his dirty work, sending them to assault the opponent often having them burrow into their bodies and feast on their flesh to kill them." I turned a little green at her words, SAO had featured some truly disgusting and horrifying monsters but nothing on this level.

"Killing him is really hard because you have to either completely isolate his soul or destroy everyone of his familiars. I've got a way around that too so don't worry about making sure he stays dead, just killing him." I nodded at her words but something about this was starting to seem fishy.

"Hey, why do you know so much about the families and have so many counters to their abilities anyway? I know you're really good with information but that doesn't cut it here." Of the two families we talked about already Argo seemed to know everything there was to know about both, and she had already admitted to not knowing the Grail War was even occurring now until this morning.

"Hmmm, well it's actually quite simple. My family moved to Fuyuki after the Fifth war, they had desired to participate in the Grail War for a while and had hoped to be in Fuyuki when the Grail started choosing Masters. But when the war started ten years after the previous instead of fifty the current head, my father decided to move to Fuyuki secretly and simply live there in anticipation of the War starting at an unusual time again. The last war was in 2004, and my parents moved in in 2005. I was born around five years later and I've been here since."

"Ah, so the name Argo is?"

"From the Argonauts, and my real name is Arete Gikas, first name Arete surname Gikas, call me Argo though." She gave me a smile as she gave me her name, and I could only rub the back of my head in embarrassment as I realized I hadn't even known it until now.

"Kirigaya Kazuto, family name Kirigaya. Feel free to call me Kirito though." I nodded as I spoke, I was better known amoung my friends in SAO, Argo included, as Kirito already, and while I wouldn't tell my family after two years with it as my only name I felt more comfortable as Kirito than I did Kazuto.

"Hmmm, nah. I think I'll keep calling you Kii-bou~!" I let out an automatic sigh and my head fell low when I heard Argo's reply.

"Please, don't." I only fell more into despair when Argo let out a giggle instead of a proper response. I knew it was too much to hope that giving her my real name would free me from that nickname but still I hoped.

"Anyway, what about the third family, the Einzbern right?" I tried to steer the conversation back to the main topic as Argo and I stopped to wait for a train.

"Well, that one is the hardest. Not because the Einzbern aren't well known, they're actually the most famous of the families. But they're also the largest." Ah, that explained it.

"So you can't predict who will be their master?" The other two families had been relatively small, actually RIn was the only Tohsaka and Argo had said the Matou only had two viable candidates. I suppose it was too much to ask for all three to be like that though.

"No, not really. The only well known member of the Einzbern is their head Jubstacheit von Einzbern, but he's been alive since the second war. He's actually some kinda golem or homunculus and since he hasn't participated in a Grail War since the third I doubt he'll do so this time." Argo paused as a train rolled up and we boarded.

It was still too early for lunch but late enough that no one was still on their way to work or school, so there weren't many people on board. I took a seat on one of the benches, my atrophied body exhausted from standing and walking too much.

"Anyway the Einzbern in general have two specialties. Their Wishcraft and their ability to create homunculi. Wishcraft is a Sorcery Trait, a genetic mystery essentially that almost every member of their family is capable of. It's a sort of brute force magecraft, a lot like the Grail actually, where rather than complex spellwork they simply throw enough prana at the problem until everything's better." Argo gave a small shrug as if she hadn't just implied the EInzbern could accomplish anything they wanted with enough raw power.

"Well, what about homunculi? Those are those, fake human things right?" I was somewhat familiar with the name from video games.

"Yeah, the Einzbern are the world's best crafters for Homunculi. They've managed to create some with physical abilities rivaling weak Servants, and others that have so much prana that they'd beat some of the most powerful magus for reserves even with a magic crest. Of course they can't replicate the skill of a Servant and these traits drain most of the homuncli's lifespan. And they can't exactly combine these traits into one individual either, it's strength or prana not both."

"So, the Einzbern Master will probably be some family member who can brute force their magecraft. with a horde of OP homunculi, and a Servant to back them up?" I crossed my arms as I thought out loud. This stuff was starting to get confusing. It was like starting a new game just to have the tutorial throw a ton of lore and game mechanics thrown at you, and be expected to remember it all later without a chance to practice.

"It could also be a homunculus itself as the Master, in the Fifth War a Homunculus was the master, and in the Fourth a homunculus was used as a fake master to draw attention away from the real Master." Argo seemed to perk up a bit as she remembered something. "Oh yeah, the Einzbern and their creations all tend to have really white hair, red eyes, and pale skin. So watch out for those traits cuz they're a good indicator for finding Einzberns."

"Got it." I nodded as I spoke, before pausing as one last important question came to mind. "Oh, yeah, one last thing."

"Go ahead, shoot."

"How am I supposed to help you? I mean, I'm not a Master or even a Magus like you, and I'm so weak I can barely walk not to mention fight." There was a reason that it was willing and able, not just willing. I'd put my life on the line for almost every floor boss we'd fought in Aincrad, but in those at least I'd known I could make a difference.

Here it was like bringing a rear liner in to fight the floor 50 boss. Even if they knew how to fight and were willing to risk their life they couldn't accomplish anything by being there. I thought I'd be in the same situation here but one of Argo the Rat's patented smirks raised my concerns rather than alleviating them.

"You let me worry about that."

"Come in, make yourself at home." Argo spoke as we walked in the door. I bent over and untied my black boots while Argo flipped her hood down and kicked off her shoes. It was nearly two o'clock and we had just gotten to Argo's place in Fuyuki. It was a small two story home, like any other in the suburban area that she apparently lived in. Looking around the entryway it all looked completely normal, though I don't really know what I was expecting. There's no way they'd have anything strange like magic circles or ancient artifacts out in the open. There was one thing that I had been expecting that the place lacked though.

"Er, Argo?"

"Yes Ki-bou?"

"Where are your parents?" Though Argo had explained that we were going to her place I hadn't realized that we'd be there alone.

"Haaah? Is Ki-bou embarrassed to be alone with such a cute girl? Don't get any dirty thoughts Ki-bou, you have Aa-chan after all~." I couldn't help but blush at that. The thought hadn't crossed my mind, and I was faithful to Asuna, but Argo was still a girl and I was a young man.

"Seriously Argo, where are your parents? Aren't they magus like you?" As I said those words a thought crossed my mind. "Actually, why were you chosen and not either of your parents. Weren't they the ones who moved here just for the Grail after all?" All this time there had been a piece of Argo's story that didn't add up, I hadn't thought about it too much since I trusted her and the issue was minimal but with the answer staring me in the face I couldn't help but ask.

Argo herself seemed to realize that she was caught and looked away from me and rubber the back of her neck. "Well, my parents aren't around anymore." I didn't say anything, simply waited through the pause Argo took to let her continue.

"They died while we were all stuck in SAO. It was normal Magus stuff, politics. They both got killed and I was left alive part cuz Clock Tower doesn't like killing off lineages and part cuz I was comatose. Anyway I wake up from the game and realize that I'm the new head of the Gikas. So when the Grail War started it musta chose me cuz my parents were so obsessed with it and I'm their heir."

"I, I'm sorry for your loss." It was all I could say.

"Don't worry about it. Magus families tend to not be too close and people die all the time. They say that to be a magus is to walk with death, and that's not just cuz our mysteries are so dangerous." Argo turned around and began walking into the house. "C'mon, we got work to do."

I took a few quick steps to catch up to the girl's head start before slowing down to keep pace. "So, how do I fit into all this? And for that matter what can you do as a magus?" My second question got a chuckle out of Argo and I didn't know why until she explained.

"A normal magus would kill you for asking that Ki-bou. Magus are very secretive about their mysteries. But to answer your question the Gikas family has specialized in controlling information for generations. We're one of the only families who has Structural Analysis in our Magic Crest." I pretended to know what that meant.

"But our real skill is in listening bounded fields and reconnaissance familiars." Argo led me up to an ordinary looking wall before placing her hand on a portion of it and pushing in to reveal a hidden door. "And as of my parents and myself we've done a lot of research on the Grail and Servants, with our information networks finding and building on what knowledge already existed was pretty easy."

As we walked down a set of stone stairs, very out of place for a japanese home, I noticed a large number of weapons hung on the walls we passed, everything from swords and shields to whips and crossbows. "We also started to specialize in medieval weaponry, the kind of stuff you'd expect Servants to use, as a part of what we found with our research."

As Argo talked we came to the bottom of the stairs and arrived in a large spacious room. Along one wall sat a large wooden desk, a single chair in front of it, the surface covered in papers, books both open and closed, and various writing implements. The opposite wall was covered in bookshelves as tall as the room. The back was covered in various patterns and inscriptions, what looked to be runes and or magic circles.

"Now this is what I expected from a mage." I looked around the room as I spoke. Shelves of mystic tomes, walls covered in magic circles and runes, and a desk covered on notes of the magical and mysterious. I took a half step forwards before looking to the floor and noticing another magic circle. I was surprised I hadn't seen it before, not just because of its size, it covered the entirety of the floor, about three meters diameter, but also because it was giving off a soft blue glow.

"That," Argo cut in noticing my attention, "is the circle used for the Summon Servant ritual. It's supposed to be drawn a few days, a week at most, in advance to soak in ambient mana. My parents drew it when we moved in." I gave that a moment of thought before I realized what she was implying.

"Wait, that circle has been here for almost two decades?!" I didn't know much, scratch that, I didn't really know anything about how magecraft worked, but when a spell was supposed to take a few days and instead took a couple decades, well it was simple to say it'd probably affect the results.

"Yep, my mother and father didn't actually know if they were going to be chosen by the Grail, but they figured that they'd just work under the assumption that one day, one member of the Gikas family would become a Master, and then all the work would pay off." She gave a small shrug, indicating 'what can you do?' as if it was someone else's problem and not her parents life's work.

"Anyway the Summon Servant mystery is actually pretty simple, the circle and chant that are used with them just take away from the drain on the magus and help to focus the spell. The Grail itself does all the heavy lifting. So rather than giving you a ultra rare Servant from your gacha or giving your common a super stat booster the circle my family made actually changes how the Servant is summoned." Argo spun around to look at me as she spoke, and there was a glint in her eye as she said that, one that did anything but make me feel safe.

"W-what do you mean by that?" I did my best to keep my nervousness out of my voice and I knew very well that I'd failed when I saw a toothy grin explode on that Rat's face.

"You see the reason that the Gikas have been practicing with medieval weaponry is because while we were researching Heroic Spirits we came across the idea of Pseudo-Servants and Demi-Servants." My initial fear of bodily harm was abated by my sense of confusion.

"Wait, so, some kind of fake Servants? Wouldn't they be weaker than normal then?" This hadn't come up before and for some reason I think that had been by Argo's plan.

"Not really. You see Pseudo-Servants are Heroic Spirits that would normally not be able to be summoned as Servants for various reasons. Some because they weren't human to begin with, some because they weren't famous enough, others because their legends were forgotten by humans. The problem though is that a Pseudo-Servant needs a premade class container rather than one provided by the Grail, and no golem or homunculus would cut it."

"It needs to be a human, doesn't it?" I cut Argo off myself. It was obvious enough where this was going.

"Yeah, it's not like it's a human sacrifice or anything. The human and Heroic Spirit would merge together, forming a separate personality from either. And once the war ends the Heroic Spirit would leave the body returning the host to a mostly normal human."

"Mostly?" I feel like she had just brushed over something rather important.

"Anyway that was what my parents were focusing on, using Pseudo-Servants as a method to summon Servants more powerful than normal and using weapons training to make the vessel for the Servant more suitable to possession."

Argo turned away from me and began walking towards the desk at one end of the room. Not bothering to seat herself she began shuffling through papers searching for something.

"That was my original plan as well, but then I got to thinking. It started when I realized that I could use the Grail to help Asuna, and I realized that if I could convince you to help you'd be a great vessel for a Pseudo-Servant, even with your atrophied body your reaction times, battle instinct experience, and sword skills would be a huge buff to any Servant especially a Saber."

"I-I'm not all that great. I only ever fought in Aincrad, and even then almost exclusively against mobs. I doubt I'd do so well against human opponents." I could only scratch the back of my head and look down in embarrassment at Argo's sincere compliments. "Plus I was the highest level player in the game, what am I supposed to do without my stats?"

"Kirito." I looked back up to see Argo staring at me, her face dead set, the picture of seriousness. "I sincerely believe that if you had your in game abilities you could match or even surpass other Servants, and my plan for the Grail War is to give them to you."

"W-what? How?" I couldn't say I hadn't thought about it myself. The idea of having my avatar from SAO in real life, of being strong enough to lift hundreds of kilograms, fast enough to run on walls, being able to jump rooftops, of not being constrained by this weak body.

"Demi-Servants." Argo turned back to the desk behind her and grabbed journal, holding it out to me and giving me that look that said she'd had her cake and eaten it too. I grabbed it and began to look it over, theories I couldn't understand the basis of, diagrams for magic circles that I couldn't tell the difference between, and chants in languages I couldn't read. But what little I could read was shocking.

"'Demi-Servants, when a Heroic Spirit willing grants their abilities to a mortal, the mortal will gain the ability to call on the Servants skills, stats, and Noble Phantasm. The new Demi-Servant will not suffer any changes to their personality or physical characteristics. The Demi-Servant can obtain prana through the usual methods for a Servant or through their own magic circuits if the mortal was a magus before hand. It is decided that while Demi-Servants are powerful there is no human that could make use of a Servant's abilities to the same level as the Heroic Spirit themself.'" I blinked, shocked at what this was implying.

"Well, when my parents wrote this up they didn't consider the possibility of a encountering the original of a Heroic Spirit."

"Argo, I, I'm no hero. I'm just some solo player who managed to kill the final boss. I can't compare to people like Herakles or Nobunaga."

"Oh yes you are." Argo walked up and poked my in the chest as she spoke, it actually hurt too since I was still weak and she apparently was fine due to whatever magecraft she had been using to keep her body from atrophying. "You are the Black Swordsman of Aincrad, the Dual Wielder. You Soloed a Floor Boss, you beat Kayaba and freed over six thousand people, and that's not counting how many people you saved fighting PKers or Floor Bosses. You are one of a new generation of Heroic Spirits from SAO, you and Asuna and even that bastard Kayaba. And of every possible Servant I could get I want to fight alongside Servant Saber, Kirito."

I dry swallowed as she glared at me waiting for me to respond. "You, do you really think that we can do this?"

"Of course!"

I stood straight and looked Argo in the eye this time. "And, and we can save Asuna like this?" The smirk on Argo's face gave me my answer even as she started to speak.

"I give it Argo the Rat's seal of approval." I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding,

"Alright, let's do this then."