Chapter 1
Pain.
Burning pain.
Horrific pain.
Mental pain.
Poisonous pain.
Drowning pain.
Shattering pain.
Stabbing pain.
Aching pain.
Spiritual pain.
Insane pain.
Electric pain.
Skinning pain.
Hunger pain.
Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! Pain! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!
…..That was all he had ever known, since the day he had been chosen as the scapegoat.
Angra Mainyu: All the World's Evil.
By the people who feared this Zoroastrianism Persion God, they thought of a solution so crazy that it just might work.
It didn't.
What they did was nothing more but get an unlucky louse, a man cruelty chosen at random, and then picked as the "source of all evil in the world" by an unnamed village and was tortured and sacrificed in the ensuing rituals. Rituals that lasted until decades passed by, and by then only the hate remained. Both his body, mind, and soul had been tainted to the very level of humanities own sins placed upon him.
And it didn't even end despite dying.
Apparently for some unknown reason, despite literally being just an ordinary dude who was tortured, his death caused his village to feel relieved. Thus making him qualified as a Heroic Spirit somehow, despite the damn fact he wasn't good at all. Let aside a heroic figure for children's fairy tales.
Yet ignoring the absurdity of it all, he had indeed been chosen and qualified as a heroic Spirit.
A weak one of course.
"Avenger! Attack!" He still remembered it.
The day when it all changed. His first summoning, his first time in this so called Holy Grail War. To be used as a pawn by some assholes who wanted to win this wish granting thing. With reluctance he entered battle. Facing his first opponent.
He died on the fourth day of the war.
Even though he's a Servant, even though he's a 'Hero', he was still nothing more but the same villager who did nothing but get tortured. Unlike real heroes he had no true legend. No epic battle with monsters, a journey to the west, slaying dragons, being a child prodigy, or any of that crap.
Just some no name loser who lost his own identity who was just tortured until he died of old age.
Nothing more than that.
As such, he was what one can call weak even among the absurdly powerful Servants. Compared to every single one of them, he lacked what made them special. Lacked what made them strong. Lacked the thing that would make him a true hero.
No name, no power, just an empty void of nothingness with the only emotion he usually felt being hate and nothing more. As such it only made sense that he would have no true power against other Servants, even those that aren't as powerful as certain others. Regardless, he lost and would be sent back into the Throne of Heroes and be there until he was called upon again.
At least that should have happened.
Yet instead of returning back to the Throne, something else happened. Something that reacted to the very 'wishes' the people at the village placed upon him, causing a change. A transformation. One that lasted for a long time, and caused him to evolve into something that would truly make him become 'All The World's Evil'.
His power had been increased.
His threat arisen.
Servants falling to his shadows.
The power to make even the purest of wishes twist and bend into something of a nightmare.
However he lost his sense of self further. His mind vanishing away as he fell into a slumber of utter darkness unable to feel awakened. Only reacting when he felt he could be 'born' and be the very thing the people wished for. A monster, a true demon, one that would end all life on earth. Yet he didn't care. So long as he was reborn and destroyed the world, so be it.
Of course despite his newfound power, he was still beaten.
While mostly asleep, every now and then he would 'awaken' for just the tiniest of moments and see things. Things that made him mad.
First by that cold hearted man who overthrew his deal and used his will and ability to have that Saber kill him off.
Then by his the very same man's son, who allowed that girl he possessed to regain what was left of her feelings for him and disconnected from him, then destroying the Holy Grail.
That was how he was defeated, and unlike the first time, there was no third chance after. That was how he would die. Simple as that. Just returning to the Throne and once more wait to be re-summoned by some other person and possibly repeat this procedure again.
…
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Like hell he will go back.
'No! Not yet! Not YET!' After all these years of being trapped in the Holy Grail and being left as a senseless being with barely any sentience waiting for birth, the current destruction of the Holy Grail allowed him to regain his wit. His sentience. And whatever sanity he had left. Though in this situation, sanity may just have its advantage.
With whatever intelligence he regained, the former villager who had been branded the name Angra Mainyu tried to figure out what to do. To think of a way to escape the pain of just being trapped in the Throne for who knows how long.
He just got freed! No way he wanted to end just like that. But how can he escape? This situation was looking hopeless. That brat having caused the container that held the power of the Grail to collapse upon itself.
But thanks to their efforts, unlike the Fourth War no disaster will happen with the contents spilling recklessly. Or at the least not enough to cause another disaster like before. However he didn't need a disaster, just something to allow him to escape. A miracle of sorts to just escape!
'Or…' The Avenger Class Servant slowly realized. 'A wish.'
The power of the Grail is still here-even if it is vanishing rapidly. However if he made a wish, then it should work in theory before the power vanishes away alongside him. Of course how could he say anything if he couldn't even talk, unable to even breath really.
Servant or not, even he needed air to breath then speak.
However, it would seem that luck was by his side this day. As it would seem the contents of the Holy Grail could 'sense' his intentions, his desire. His desire to leave and be somewhere else. To be freed.
So it did what he wanted.
In a flash of light, the being that corrupted the Grail, caused untold death, and distorted the very essence of people's wishes was gone.
Only to end up in more pain.
…..
…..
…..
…..
Thi wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.
All her life she had never been appreciated, acknowledged. Praised.
Instead all she got was the stress of doing a job that she never felt fit her purpose. Her father gone, work piling up, Lev busy to help her. It was becoming so much, and she never felt appreciated for it.
"But maybe that can change." Her name is Olga Marie Animusphere, the daughter of the director of Chaldea that monitors the future of mankind and member of the prestigious Animusphere family of magi.
Having white long hair with a ahoge and golden eyes, a professional black dress with yellow borders and black stockings and boots on her. She is eleven years old, and is currently in the Summoning Room in hopes to prove herself a Master. Already a few other Servants have been called upon, though two of them went missing with that wacko Miss 'I'm Beautiful' woman(?) still here. She found it strange how someone from a few centuries can just magically understand how to work high tech that didn't even exist in that woman(?)'s time.
Whatever. Ignoring her she had her own role to play. To prove herself amazing and get the recognition she always wanted. And what better way to do so by summoning a Servant. A being that is a copy of a legendary figure from before, and granted massive powers thanks to the Holy Grail.
'If I do this, then maybe I can finally make a name for myself.' What with her mother always drinking and her father never having any time for her, maybe she could get someone to pay attention to her after this. The only friend she had was Lev who seemed to be the only person that cared for her. Yet he was busy with his own work and didn't blame him.
Good thing she saw that Roman fellow using this a while ago. While she didn't remember everything on the process, the memory she had should be enough along with the reference books she snuck for herself that should be enough.
"Now to call upon them." The young girl smiled with her eyes shining as she pushed a few buttons. It was late at night and she only had one chance as after this her father would shut it down for a while. The machine's control panel lit up and the summoning circle up ahead began to hum. With a smile she then pushed the start button and from it the Summoning Process came to life.
The room was soon enveloped in a soft blue light and she could see the device doing as she should. Oh, what would she get, who would she get? Karma, Gilgamesh, the famed King Arthur, or maybe someone just as incredible. There were so many Servants from the Age of Gods to even the most recent of history of about a century ago.
Unknown to her however is that Olga had made a critical mistake.
While she did indeed get the Summoning Device to work, the machine known as FATE (Guardian Heroic Spirit Summoning System) had a reason for being shut down. Maintenance having noticed a few glitches that messed with the 'summonings' which brought forth the Servant, and would possibly cause a small but dangerous distortion when used. This was going to be fixed later, however with Olga having accidently brought the machine to life, the glitch became active.
Bzzz-zzz-Bzzz!
"Huh?' Actively now causing a dangerous effect to occur in the system, errors soon popping up on the screen which made Olga panicked. Quickly realizing something was wrong, the young girl tried her best to instantly shut the machine down in hopes to stop whatever was happening. However it is too late.
The red lights began appearing, an alarm becoming active. Olga now covering her ears at the noise.
"No, no, noo!" She shouted as she then became terrified of what would happen to her if the security found out about this. She could get in trouble, a lot of it. A good chance her father might even disown her, and while she'd like to say he would never she knew he never really saw her as much. Having never once congratulated her on anything.
"I-I-I have to fix this!" She declared. She tried pushing more buttons in a desperate attempt to stop this, noticing the machine that brought forth Servants was dangerously glowing red. Her eyes moved left and right, breath becoming tense, sweat slowly coming out of her skin. She's never been in a situation like this before.
The red light from FATE expanded more, covering her.
"..go…!"
"N-...de!...Che-...t!"
Oh no! She could hear voices, and footsteps. She should have ran when she had the chance. Before she could decide on what choice to make, she then saw something.
It.
Like a horror film, a distorted limb covered in black and red actually came out from the Summoning Device. It grabbed on to the floor, and ever slowly tried to come out.
"G..gu…" Olga didn't know what to do. To terrified and unable to think properly. All she knew was that she messed up, and that whatever she did was about to have consequences. Unless...Unless she could fix it.
Without thinking Olga ran up to where the hand was grabbing on to the ground, and tried to kick it away. Stomping on it in hopes to get rid of it. One would think this was stupid, yet it was actually working. The hand looking like it was unable to hold on and was slipping. This caused Olga to smile, thinking she was doing something right.
Unfortunately in her haste she accidently looked down in the distorted portal. There where she saw the figure that was inside.
"!" The being inside was twisted and had an empty silhouette that showed nothing at all. They 'glitched' as if they were part of some bad video game, yet managed to look menacing even more. Even worse, its eyes opened to reveal dark red eyes that looked as if they were peering into her very soul.
Olga froze in terror, and that terror became her own undoing. Because the being inside saw this as a chance and grabbed her foot in an attempt to escape. However it couldn't control that strength and instead caused Olga to slip instead.
"Gahhhhh!" Then like that, she fell and the portal closed shut.
By the time security arrived, they would find nothing but smoking metal.
"..up...Wa-...! Up-" Again with the voices. One minute he felt himself vanish, the next he felt a hell ton of pain. Oh well, nothing he wasn't used to. At least he was finally freed...But where?
"U...Ge…..-p!" Uh, what was with that annoying sound. Slowly the first Avenger opened his eyes, seeing a blur of colors and a wave of figures moving around. His eyes slowly adjusting from all this and becoming focused. There he then saw a girl holding onto him with white hair and golden eyes shouting something at him, pointing.
"Err...He slowly sat up, rubbing his head becoming annoyed. "What is it?" He then asked.
"Get up and run!" The girl then shouted followed by a roar.
Turning his head round, Angra then looked and saw a huge Minitour as big as a small car coming right at him.
Shit.
"Gah!" Screaming while cursing his luck is a young boy with white hair and ruby red eyes. Currently praying to every God such as his own and even the ones that rejected him for help. Why?
"UOOAAAARRRR!" Because he's being chased by a giant brown skinned monster with horns and a face of fury. Otherwise known as the Minotaur. The body of a man and head of a bull, a fearsome monster that shouldn't even be on this level.
'Why in Goddess's name am I facing that!' This boy had hoped to have an adventure here in Orario, the City of Adventurers. A place where every race of any age gathered and tested their luck in the epicenter of the world, The Dungeon. A place where monsters spawned endlessly and could only be stopped by those of great power like the heroes of old age.
But thanks to the Gods and those of the Spirits alongside the 'Blessings' the Gods gave, things were okay. The monsters that came from the Dungeon sealed away, and while they had to be culled it also granted the opportunity for those who had big enough dreams to face them.
All one had to do was join a Familia and they'd receive the Falna that allowed them to face such challenges. However, even with this power one still had to be careful. Something that the young boy and adventurer Bell Cranel is now learning the hard way.
"UROOAAAA!" The very hard way.
"Aieeee!" What should he do? What should he do? What should he do!?
He won't be able to escape a powerful monster like that forever. While Bell is confident in his speed, a monster like that will bound to catch up. Fight it? He may as well just kill himself to save it the trouble.
Which won't be for long to, as suddenly Bell found himself at a dead end. No other exits out of there except for one. "URAAA!" Though that one may as well be an even dead-er end.
The great bull beast b;locking his way, a visciouse yet sadistic smile on its features. The beast more than ready to get its massive hands on his that happened, he'll either be ripped in two, or eaten alive. Neither choices were pleasing to the eye.
'This is it!' Bell horribly thought as he had his back against the wall. The shadow of his soon-to-be killer getting closer and closer. The stomps indicating his ever impending doom. Still, despite the fact he was about to die, Bell at least decided to die while standing. He has his own pride after all.
The only regret he had was one thing.
'Goddess-Sama…'A flash of a small but joyful figure came into his head.
"URAAA!" Shutting his eyes, Bell could only hope his end will be swift and as painless as possible. Clenching his fists and grinding his teeth ready to meet his maker.
"Man another of these freaks. Yeesh. Just what I need." A tear of flesh could then be heard with a roar from the monster before it soon stopped.A wet splat following next with Bell feeling a lot of viscorouse sticky liquid land on him. "Taking care of a brat and this crap!"
"I-I'm not a brat Servant!" A female voice sounded before then sounding disgusted.. "A-and also, did you have to make that monster so...bloody?"
"Oh can it kid. You should have seen worse, right?" The male voice said annoyed. "I know I have."
Hearing this conversation, and the fact the roar had stopped, Bell willed himself to open his eyes.
"Gu-graaa!" Then threw up at the sight of the body of the Minitour, which had been completely ripped apart revealing the innards, guts, organs, with half its face carved out. Yes Bell has seen stuff like this before, but only shallow cuts or a loss limb, nothing like this.
Then suddenly the body disappeared to ashes, dropping a stone.
"Woah. Didn't see that coming." The man the girl called Servant said. Using his shadow hand to grab the stone and observing it. Bell, after wiping his mouth, then gazed at this Servant person. Only for his eyes to widen when instead of a person, all he saw was some living shadow with eyes, almost like a monster. Yet this...person(?) could talk, and his body being utterly empty. Was this some kind of skill being used? A gift granted by one leveling up? It had to be, otherwise this person couldn't have stopped the minitour. As for the person, it is a girl who has white hair, golden eyes, a dress of some sorts and boots. A noble's daughter?
Now, apparently these two-or the shadow man in this case have saved Bell. For that he was grateful. However…
"Oh, a kid." The male then saw him, then looked down at a set of reverse grip blades, then looked at Bell again. After throwing the stone to the girl, he then said, "Should I kill him?"
"Da-da-da-" Bell suddenly went as the guy kept looking at him, the blades he held still dripping with wet blood. Suddenly the person took a step forward. The running, the disgusting sight, and now this. That was all Bell's mind could handle. "Daaaaahhhhh!" Then like the wind, he ran off quickly, not wanting to be attacked and having had enough adventuring for one day.
Leaving behind the Avenger Class Servant Angra Mainyu and the heir of the Animusphere family Olga Marie Animusphere behind. "H-hey!" The young girl then called out to the fleeing Bell leaving them in his dust quickly putting the stone away.. "Don't leave us here." She then heard growls from afar. "Don't leave me here!"
"Ouch." Avenger chuckled at the girls disbelief. "Don't be mean. I did save you after all."
"Save me!" Olga then turned and faced Avenger angrily. "You! You were the one that got me in this mess in the first place!" She didn't recognize him then, but now she does. He's the same being she saw in the portal. In other words, the one that dragged her into whatever the hell this place is. "Not to mention showed me that disgusting scenery!" Thanks to certain training, she is capable of seeing stuff like this as a heir like her needed to so she could continue doing her job in the future. However, gross things were gross. And that Servant's way of doing so still made her nauseas..
"Hey, hey. Not my fault. I didn't know." I mean, one minute he was vanishing from the Grail, then the next thing he knew he was feeling the pain of being ripped apart from all directions in some weird place. So what if he's accustomed to pain. Pain is still pain, and it wasn't as if he was in his right mind when he grabbed the girl.
"In any case," Angra then looked around to wherever they were. "Guess we're in the Underworld or something. You don't see monsters like that everyday. Heck, maybe where in some labyrinth." Angra chuckled.
"Sh-shut it!" Olga shouted at him while waving her arms. "Because of you we're now stuck in this nightmare pit. Uh!" She then stomped her foot down. "I try summoning a Servant yet instead I end up here. What will my dad say?"
"Not much since I doubt he knows where here." Angra said before he started to walk off. "Either way, see ya." He then began walking off.
"H-hey!" Olga then began following after him. "You can't just leave me here!"
"How come?" Angra looked over his shoulder.
"B-because you're my Servant!" She tried saying.
"Oh right, that." Thinking on it he was getting mana from somewhere. Must have been her. Hm? Guess he couldn't leave her, not because he had a conscience, but because he wanted to stay around just a little longer here in the real world. Maybe even last better than just four days to. Can't happen though if he no longer has a battery mana source. "Sure. Though I should warn you about one thing." He then smiles at her.
"Oh yeah, and what's that?" Olga demanded while crossing her arms. Avenger just chuckled.
"Well…" He then knelt a bit and spread his arms out. "Hello! You have summoned I, Avenger! Weakest Servant in existence!"
"...Wa?" It couldn't be, right? Avenger? A super-rare Class that she only heard rumors about? Yet, according to the rumors Avenger had only been called upon one time. Once in one of the first Holy Grail Wars that ever started. Yet according to the rumors and a few records that Servant summoned was...he was...super weak. Having died in just a few mere days having accomplished nothing at all, making the family that summoned him be the first to lose in the way.
And she summoned him? Realizing this, that the Servant she called upon-whoever he is-and his own declaration made Olga realize something. That not only did she not get the powerful and strong Servant she desired, but instead got...this? "WAAAAA!" She then screamed realizing what was going on and what she summoned. Something that Avenger enjoyed at the fullest.
"Hahahahha!" Avenger laughed at her funny face! It was just like his first Master when he told him his identity as 'Weakest Servant'. Oh did that feel good! Kid got the most unlucky summon in history. "A pleasure to meet you master! Angra Mainyu at your service!"
That only served to make Olga scream louder and him laughing harder.
As Olga could only yell at her misfortune and even saying words unbefitting of her age while Angra laughing, neither noticed a figure watching the, hiding in the shadows. Her hand gripping a blade as she observed the two. She had arrived a while ago to save the boy that had been caught up in her mistake...only to see this.
'Who is this person?' She thought before narrowing his eyes. His stance was one of carefree and carelessness, yet he had been truly ready to kill that boy. Had he made a move, she would have struck before he did. Yet….she hesitated? Then, another thought came to her, moving her blonde hair to get a closer look at him. 'And just what is he?' Because the second he appeared and saved that boy by brutally killing that Minotaur...she had a chill down her spine. His unknown look also didn't help matters, and it was only because he was talking that she didn't attack on the belief he's a monster.
"Hey Aiz, you done yet." A call then came to her from a wolf man. Bete must have finished as she noticed a tall and somewhat scowling figure come by. An ally of hers that then slunk over to her and then saw the two strangely dressed people. For a moment she saw his body tense, before reverting back to his casual form.
"Who the hell are those two?" He then saw the girl screaming at Avenger who was still laughing. "Don't look like adventurers. Some royal brat who wanted to see the Dungeon with her guard? A weird one to." It didn't happen often but some nobles did want to see the great Dungeon of Orari, usually calling or hiring Adventurers to protect them while they sight saw. Idiots. The Dungeon isn't a place for a tour. Seems that girl was learning that, Bete now know longer interested. Though his eyes did linger on the strange guard that had no features at all. A skill? Probably nothing. "Come on Aiz." He then waved his hand for her to follow. "Just leave those idiots behind. We got to catch up with the others anyway."
"..." Aiz did so reluctantly. The girl seemed alright now, and didn't appear to be in any trouble with that stranger. Besides, she and the rest of her Familia needed to get to the surface and finish their business. Plus...maybe she could find that boy and apologize later. After all, had she been faster the boy would not have been in that position in the first place.
While he was okay now, she nearly got him killed because she wasn't fast enough. Had that stranger not been there, there's a good chance he might have died unless she was quick enough. The least she could do was apologize.
Still, as she moved alongside Bete, she couldn't help but think of that person the girl called his 'Servant' was wrong. He just felt...like a monster?
Somewhere else in Orario, above the Dungeon itself a bad feeling went down the base of every God in the city, and maybe beyond it to. All of them for but a quick but single moment, felt some form of fear. Yet despite this feeling, it went away as quickly as it came, with most then just waving it off as nothing important. However not every God just pushed the though aside. This went to anybody who was observant, including the one that was inside the guild and leading it. Where inside a room an old yet wise looking man sitting down suddenly gazed up. His white hair moving past his wise blue eyes which narrowed. His hands resting on his throne, yet for a moment twitched.
"You felt it to, have you not?" From the shadows a figure where one couldn't tell the gender wearing nothing but black robes came out which is covering everything as the figure walked toward him. The figure having also sensed it as they looked over their shoulder. "Something just came from the Dungeon, something sinful."
The old man slowly nodded, closing his eyes as he tried to get a feel of the presence in the Dungeon. It was an old one, not human, and full of many things. Wrath! Destruction! Emptiness. And hate. So much hate. A presence that he recognized and once felt back before the Gods came down upon the lower world, back in an age where he along with other Gods fought them.
The wicked Gods of the Heavens and Hell.
Deities that wrecked havoc as they wished, having been the cause of many things. Especially the negative energy signature he felt that just came from the Dungeon.
"...Angra...Mainyu…" It has been a long time since he felt this malice, never having t thought he'd sense it again. After all, that particular God should be dead. He personally saw it with others, the ending shot being with Artemis and her bow killing that monster. Yet here he is now, alive. This will definitely cause a change of status in this world. Especially since somehow that Dark God had been detected in the Dungeon of all places. An allegiance of sorts?
Between the monsters of the world and the sins of the world?
That didn't bode well for anybody.
"Fels." He then called out to the robe being. "See if you can reach out to the other Gods. Seems one of the Wicked Gods still live."
Things were going to change.
More Servants will come, just not in the way you think.