The Frail Master II

His master was weak and frail with form to match that he felt just touching her will make her snap in two, but with great mental strength to overcome her difficulties at a young age.

Skin so fair, soft and smooth due to never working a day in her life...with good reason.

Brown hair barely touching her shoulders and dark brown eyes. Her eyes framed with thick lashes and pink-matte lips stood out very much.

Had it been his era, she would be a popular princess with many suitors. She was more beautiful than any hime when he was alive.

And treats him kindly. As a person, not as a tool he should be.

Why?

'Why neh...because while I can use magecraft, I'm 'not' a magus.' said Amane, making quote marks in her room after a nighttime bath.

'Hai...?' Kotaro blinked, confused. He...didn't quite get it.

'Perhaps I'll be a bit clearer.' Amane giggled, making him sit down on her bed by beckoning him closer and patting the space to her right, so he sat down. 'Kotaro, I'm just a normal person before I came to know magecraft.' she said. 'I was never raised as a magus. But as a normal person. They are a kind of people who act on clinical logic, bordering on cold-blooded and insensitive, as well as horrible mentality in thinking the end justifies the means no matter what you do, even if its a heinous crime, and they are also utter failures as human beings. That magecraft, research to reach the Root of all Knowledge, producing heirs capable of being clan heads as to not lose face are more important to them than being a healthy loving family. A community of sociopathy and mad scientists. But once in a while, some magus children are born with a conscience, morality and humanity even if they were never taught those. However in turn, makes them so-called poor magus, reluctant to sacrifice lives for their rituals and research.'

'So you don't like magi.' Kotaro stated.

'Yeah.' said Amane. 'I learned all I could and since I was raised right, I decided never to become anything like them and just be content being a normal girl. Well, a girl who can use sorcery and fancy eyes at any rate.' she snorted.

'Special...eyes?'

'Yup.' Amane activated her mystic eyes. As a jewel-ranked eye, her eyes gain a glossy surface like gemstones. Her irises glow bright red-orange, and surrounding the pupil is a yellow-orange starburst, with her pupil being a red, four-pointed star. 'This is Mystic Eyes of Omniscient Sight. By asking any question I want answered while this is activated, I get answers. I learned about the existence of the Moonlit World this way...and by asking things, I learned magecraft too and a loooong list of efficient ways to train one's body, spirit and power, and many long lost arts. Its like I have my access to Akasha anyway through my eyes. I ask, and the world answers me.' Amane chuckled. 'I write down knowledge I gain, for my future children should they turn out magi as well.'

'Heee...' that got Kotaro amazed. Having the world itself as your teacher is too amazing to be real, but here it is!

'I'm saving up magical tomes. I write knowledge using magic and ink since my hands are...well...' Amane coughed awkwardly. Kotaro chuckled at that. 'And I bookbind my own books after getting supplies, I just hide them. I write every night after a bath, and then by taking disguises, I store my precious books elsewhere, too.'

'Mm. So you want to found your own mage family one day?'

'Yeah. But I'll make a different mage family. Since I accessed the Root anyway, we have no need of it. Gaining knowledge for our own use is sufficient enough.'

'And finally, what of our enemy?' Kotaro asked. He had been curious for so long. 'That you gave me the Dagger of Betrayal owned by Medea.'

'Mm. When I asked on who are the greatest threats to this world are, many beings and people showed up. I also learned ways in who would defeat them eventually, and the best methods how. The Counter Force will take care of them through these individuals and coincidences.' said Amane. 'But this one really needs serious interference which is why I joined this war...nobody joined this war that has two monsters in it and there's nobody to deal with it...so as a fellow mage who can access the Root as our enemy is another like me, we'll be the one taking steps.'

She showed a hologram image of Sajyou Manaka. 'Sajyou Manaka. She was born with direct access to the Root and with abnormally-powerful Magic Circuits she exceeds even Magus Lineages with a millennia's worth of history in power output even if she only has ten circuits. Sajyou Hiroki raised Manaka with this knowledge and expected her to use the Root to have all knowledge of Magecraft all Magi in the world knows. And she's shockingly proficient on her first try with everything.' she told him. 'She could have been a force of good had she been raised right, but she was an innocent girl raised as a magus, told that she must get what she wants by all means and as a magus, it is what she must do...and as magi go by logical, efficient choice...' Kotaro gulped at that. 'You can say her fool of a father raised a dangerous innocent monster who is now a threat to the world.'

'Our saving grace is that they have no idea that more powerful, ancient lost arts exist.' said Amane in relief. 'And that, is my weapon. Ancient Magecraft as my trump card and your usage of Rule Breaker.'

'Once the other Masters summoned their Servants...we're going to Tokyo.'

'We'll fight?'

'That, aaaaand we sabotage the Grail while everyone's still an ignoramus.' Amane grinned before going serious. 'That Holy Grail was designed to bring forth the Beast of the Bible as a servant for the winner. Having it around will be...catastrophic and Tokyo will be goners.' she stated gravely. 'The entire purpose of the Holy Grail War is to bring it into existence, planned by a heretic cardinal who stole an imitation Holy Grail from the Church and lying to the Mage's Association that it's a legit Grail for a subspecies Holy Grail War. It is to be a new being of a higher level of existence incarnated through the Greater Grail, a cauldron to give shape to it due to the shape of the Grail originating from Christianity, by using the souls of seven Servants as an ignition charge. Yours included.' Kotaro choked at that.

'So we'll slowly destroy the Grail with the people none-the-wiser?'

'Yes. The Grail spends considerable power bringing you guys to existence, and we Masters anchor you to this plane through our Command Spells and supplying you with Mana.' Amane told him. 'We will strike when the six others are summoned. I will direct you on what to do with Rulebreaker while I return the untainted mana back to the world. It is what we'll mostly do during this war. As much as I wanted to do it before, I can't be gone for long...'

'But right now...let's deal with the Grail.'

'Yes, Master.' Amane snapped her fingers to change out of her pajamas into a nice red dress, white tights and mary janes before stepping into a space portal she opened...and they're in front of the Grail.

The place was oozing of mana, of great power beyond comprehension, Kotaro thought.

'Our first step, is to clog the leylines feeding mana into this sham of a Grail...' Amane guided Kotaro into doing many things for her while she works in tandem with him.

Clogging the leylines leading to the Greater Grail by feeding it, so they will then redirect the leylines back to the World.

Return the Mana within the Grail to the World by opening a 'draining path'. An efficient, rapid rate of draining that can possibly be done. Take days it may be but by the time it's noticed, it's too late even beyond Manaka's ability to repair. Using Rulebreaker, destroying the taint of the mana within the Grail as well as it returns by stabbing it in a specific location. Due to the immense power around, Kotaro's presence is effectively concealed nobody, not even a Servant will notice them at work!

And finally, kill the Beast while its still weak that even they can kill it in its infant stage!

Three goals.

Kotaro spent three days following Amane's instructions, both supervised and not, and can only come help him at night.

By the time their process is complete, all that's left is to allow the drain to keep happening, until its time to kill the Beast, so they stayed home for the most part, leaving Rulebreaker where it was, protected from Manaka's sight in all means necessary.

xxx

'So it's OK to leave it like that, miss?' Kotaro asked Amane.

'Yes. For now, we do nothing. Let the Grail keep draining and return to the world.' said Amane. 'We need to drain enough so we can reach Beast with Rulebreaker without dying from all that Mana Pool. Then we will present evidence to the Church and dump it there, and let them deal with that bastard Cardinal while letting them run around like headless chickens on who cleaned up that bastard's mess.' she grinned. 'Sneakiness wins any day at times like these! We can relax for now!'

Kotaro sighed in relief.

It seems battles aren't necessary for now. His miss can focus more in recuperating to prepare for what lays ahead, when their little mischief as she puts it, is found out~

...and she only has Sajyou Manaka in her eyes. The other Magi and their Servants are irrelevant to her as her goal was preventing Beast's materialization and destroying the world.

Besides, he's more interested in what happened centuries after his time. This era almost 500 years past his time, looks interesting!

xxx

That night, Kotaro dreamed.

He dreamed of his miss' past.

"This must be the dream sequence." he thought. The master would dream of their servant's past, and servant would dream of their master's.

She lived a happy life and childhood.

Loved and cherished by her parents. A picture-perfect life for a family.

Kotaro's heart was touched by what he sees.

However, things went downhill when she was six years old, when an old man visited the family.

He came because of the father's request. Because Amane was unusually gifted and powerful with Sky Flames, the mafia will notice and put her in danger, so he hopes for her to be sealed for her safety. The old man agreed over the telephone and came.

However, when they sealed Amane when Nana was out shopping for dinner...Amane's life plunged downhill fast, that her life was in grave danger. The old man quickly unsealed her, but the damage was long done.

And what the sushi chef told him by word, is happening before Kotaro's eyes.

However.

What nobody knew?

His miss experienced seeing death...and encountering the freaking Counter Force and lived to tell the tale.

Because they knew she wasn't there on purpose. She was accidentally there, scared out of her wits and just wanted to go home. So 'Mr. Ghost' helped her go back home.

What felt like moments to her, was years in real time, as her body was in comatose for five years, and awakened to Mystic Eyes, and awakening her own dormant Magic Circuits.

She learned that she nearly died, but ended up in a different route where she was closest to the Root itself. The souls she saw, were of foolish people trying to reach the Root. And that blue light with red ring in the shape of an eye? She shut her eyes in time in fear of it because had she looked at it longer, she would awaken to Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. To quote the 'ghost', she was wise to look away, as there is nothing scarier than seeing death every day. But she glimpsed long enough to awaken to her own Mystic Eyes by some miracle.

And the ghost was the Counter Force, killing any fool who wasn't the destined one to reach the Root. There can only be destined five at a time. No more, no less. If you're 'not it', you DIE.

And he saw how his miss languished in rehabilitation, while helping herself more using sorcery and alchemy, using spells to pull goods out of nowhere for comfort and she did it all in secret when she was sure the nurses won't come, and when her mother leaves for home at 8 pm as in the Rehab Ward, no guests sleeping in allowed this time. At night, she was all alone in her pain, crying and sniffling to sleep after waiting for the alchemical medicines to work for her so she could sleep.

She also gained information about her father, his boss and Dying Will Flames in hopes it could help her out a bit more. But is in utter chagrin that against her will, she'll have to be a mafia boss one day when she had OTHER aspirations for the future! Said hopes for her future are innocently WHOLESOME by the way! Bad enough they took her childhood and now her future too?! She was so upset she asked a ton of questions she wants answers for, for a way out but sadly, Vongola screwed the pooch with their heirs so she's saddled with a very unwanted job, and has to find six elemental guardians to fill her Sky willing to fight with her by her side and perhaps, either clean up, or destroy Vongola so she and her elemental family can pursue a much better future for themselves than smell of blood and gunpowder.

Secret self-medication and using sorcery sped up her recovery, combined with flame-coated drugs that came from the Mafia through Vongola Organization...the clueless hospital and mother marveled at her fast recovery, that she can be discharged faster than a normal patient. But still needs to finish her rehab menu with a bright outlook on life...before being a mafia donna comes into her life, which she dreads.

He then woke up on his bed.

'So that's how it is...' Kotaro mused as he woke up from his sleep. On his vanity desk, was breakfast, and 2000 yen, his lunch money.

'Yosh, time to start my day as bodyguard. This isn't so bad. His masters are very likable females who are kind, gentle and a loving pair of mother and child who are trying their best to move forward from a difficult ordeal in their past.

He didn't like conflict to begin with anyway.