Dream of The Beginning

"It's actually you!" 

The holy maiden, Jeanne d'Arc, was aghast when she saw the resemblance between the man in front of her now with the one in her previous vision.

Looking at the devastated surroundings, the remaining battered Servants, and the dark knight who was shrouded by black flame like a dark robe...

She couldn't help feeling that her vision had come true at that moment. From then on, she opted for observing him further before deciding on which course of action she should take.

If he were really a menace to the world...

Ryan pushed Aisha away for a moment as he returned his attention on the unconscious Sakura Matou. 

"Ahh." Aisha pouted slightly when she saw him giving his care to another woman, and it was right in front of her to boot. 

Ryan caressed Sakura's hair softly as he performed a healing magecraft on her. 

With his current expertise in magecraft, even a simple healing spell from him could already heal most of physical injuries. However, since Sakura's case was special, he also used the Demon King Arcane Art to devour the contamination inside her. 

It didn't take long time before he was finished healing Sakura. He then flashed in front of Shirou as he smiled lightly, "Take care of her, little brother. And, live well." 

While Shirou was stunned by Ryan's sudden appearance and words, he was still quick to catch Sakura. 

"Brother? How in the world…?" 

The surprise and confusion on Shirou's face was clear as day when he heard the dark knight's words. 

At that moment, Artoria Saber came toward the dark knight, holding the holy sword tightly. 

She felt anger rising in her calm heart when she finally saw the true face of the person who disparaged the entire Holy Grail War she was betting her life and ideals for. 

She suppressed her anger as she shot him a question coldly, "What do you want exactly?"

Ryan stopped in his track. He looked back at Artoria, and smiled in an extremely shameless manner, "I just want to annoy you, Artoria."

Thinking back on their battle, actually even if those spears really fall, it would only stop right above the city. Although it would definitely scare the hella shit out of the citizen, but it won't crush them.

Even so, the headline for the news later would probably be: Shock! A Giant Spear hanging on the sky– will it crush us?! 

Ryan chuckled a little when he thought about the possible reaction from those magus on the Clock Tower and Fuyuki City's residents.

He smiled faintly, "That was fun, no, My dear King of Knights?"

"You…!" 

Seeing that Ryan seemed to have a beef with one of the opposing Servants, Aisha watched quietly as she retreated beside Tomoe Gozen. She didn't intend to restrict Ryan too much.

She was able to read the room and maintain a proper distance between them for now. 

Aisha didn't rise through her current status and power through only her beauty. She was, in fact, a clever woman. 

Since Ryan seemed like he already had other women in his current life, if she was too pushy on him, it would only made Ryan distance himself away from her.

If anything, what she would do now would be the line-hook-sinker tactic. 

Slowly, gently, and swiftly. 

Slowly soak him in their memories together; gently stroke his passion for her like a fisherman pulling and letting go their line to gradually ensnare their prey; then when the opportune moment arrives, strike swiftly to not give him a chance to refuse. 

'At that time, no matter how many women he has, my position won't be shaken.' Aisha smiled faintly as she watched Ryan confronting Artoria Saber.

Ryan continued indifferently, "What about you, Artoria? You resent me for disturbing the Holy Grail War, for preventing you from your chance to get the famed Holy Grail… but, have you ever thought if this so-called 'Holy Grail' could even realize your wish?

"Even if it did realize your wish, do you know what would happen to your kingdom if you didn't take the sword of selection?"

Ryan walked toward Artoria Saber. His eyes stared deeply into hers.

There, he could faintly see the shadow of another Artoria who chose not to take the sword of selection and grew up as a young maiden of small nobility family.

Artoria raised Excalibur as her suppressed anger burst forth, she grazed his neck as she retorted, "What do you even know about me? Keep your thought to yourself! I just know that it was a mistake for me to take that sword!"

A line of blood appeared on Ryan's neck as it was grazed slightly. At that moment, if she forced the holy sword any deeper, Artoria might really cut his head off.

Even so, Ryan still stared indifferently at Artoria, 

"The present humanity, the Proper Human History, is built upon countless failures and sacrifices of our past. Do you think it would remain the same if you truly rectify your 'mistake'? Do you want to sacrifice the entire Proper Human History just to rectify your failure? To begin with, that was not even your fault.

"The threads of destiny already woven such intricate events leading to your end. Even if you are able to go back into the past, and choose not to take the sword of selection, the eventual end of your kingdom was already determined. Moreover, its destruction might even arrive faster without your existence, Artoria." 

"Lies! Without me as the king, Britain would not fall…!"

Ryan sighed, "Really, what a pain. If you don't believe me, how about you see it for yourself?" 

He suddenly pointed his finger toward the middle of Artoria's eyebrows. 

Artoria instinctively attempted to dodge Ryan's finger which glowed with six-colored light. However, her attempt was futile as Ryan was faster than her.

The moment Ryan lightly tapped on her forehead, Artoria immediately turned quiet. She was motionless, and her gaze was blank.

Yet, if one peered deeper into her eyes, one would probably see the images of Artoria living a different life from what she had lived up until this point. 

"What did you do to Saber?!" Shirou shouted in panic when he saw Saber suddenly turned motionless. 

"Calm yourself. She is just 'sleeping'." Ryan muttered calmly as he flashed away. 

'[Thousand Lives Samsara]. It is a little application of my Sixth Magic. Experience it for yourself, Artoria.' 

With his doppelganger was almost finished devouring Avenger and the Greater Grail, this Holy Grail War would be forced to end soon. That meant Artoria Saber and these remaining Servants would also disappear not too long after. 

'This end was already predetermined the moment I arrived here.' 

He was meant to be a distraction to keep these group of Masters and Servants here, while his doppelganger went ahead to devour Avenger and the Greater Grail. 

When Ryan appeared again, he was now in front of Caster Medea. 

He was indifferent when he looked at Kuzuki Souichirou, who had died from the recent battle, was lying coldly on Medea's arm.

"…are you here just to mock us, like what you did to that girl Saber?" 

Medea was looking at Ryan with eyes full of hate and indignation as she sat by Kuzuki's corpse.

If only the young man in front of her didn't crush her defense so easily and disrupted their faction's formation, then perhaps…

Ryan was quiet.

At his behest, six-colored wheel of light bloomed magnificently behind him. Its light descended upon Caster Medea and the corpse of Kuzuki Souichirou.

"This is…! Who are you?!" 

It was the first time since she finished her tutelage at Goddess Hecate's temple that Medea was shocked by the 'magecraft' of a modern human.

'No! Calling it a magecraft is an affront to this sorcery! This is a miracle that no amount of magecraft can ever hope to replicate!'

A tremor ran violently inside her mind as she already saw through the true nature of what Ryan was doing.

"I am not here to mock you. Instead, I have a deal to offer you. 

"I can help you to resurrect him, princess Medea. However, do you have what it takes to pay the price for my help?"

A small grin appeared on Ryan's face when he saw the look of alarm on Medea. He thought, 'As expected of a witch whose magecraft is close to True Magic. She is quick to catch on.' 

Medea finally had a sliver of hope in her heart, so how could she let go of this chance easily? 

"What do you want, young man? Just speak it, I will agree to anything you want. As long as you manage to revive him–!"

Like a demon of temptation whispering their alluring lies, Ryan smiled faintly, "I want your most precious, Medea. I want ***." 

Ryan was whispering softly. However, when Medea finally heard what he wanted, she couldn't help feeling dismayed. 

She glared angrily at Ryan, "What a despicable scum!" 

"Oh my~ thank you for the praise. Anyway, I won't force you. Besides, I won't gain anything from helping you. Either you agree to it, or not. This is all~ your own choice, alright?" 

Leaving the troubled Medea, Ryan then appeared in front of Rin Tohsaka. 

"...I see. You are definitely more of my type, Rin. No wonder 'I' married you in the end." Ryan checked her up and down as he smirked. He also didn't forget to heal her hand and the internal injuries she received during the recent battle. 

"Wha-! What are you talking about?! M-ma-marriage?! Who wants to marry you, dumbass!" 

Rin wanted to escape from his grasp, but she lacked the strength to do so. When she heard what Ryan said, her face turned red like a ripe tomato. She was panicked. However, for some reason the idea of them married each other didn't cause her much repulsion than she thought. 

"Well, that's exactly the reason; you are someone worth teasing, Rin. Your reaction is just so… priceless. Maybe I should just kidnap you after all?" 

EMIYA (Archer) stepped forward to shield Rin behind him. He looked at Ryan warily, "You… for real?" 

Seeing that, Ryan chuckled a little. He grinned, "I was joking of course. However, if things have been different, I am certain that I would definitely take her away with me." 

Ryan left Rin and EMIYA (Archer) with a smirk soon after he finished healing her. 

On his way back, he also visited Illyasviel to heal her. Though, most of her injuries had been healed by herself. 

As he returned to Aisha, Ryan looked toward Kazuki, Mikaela and Arthur, "Why are you all still staying here? Do you want me to invite you?"

A shudder ran through their back when they saw Ryan looking coldly at their direction.

Kazuki laughed awkwardly, "Well, looks like we passed the first stage. See you in the second stage, Ryan."

Oh, God! I still cherish my life, don't let me meet him again! Although it is a pity I can't get more points beside the reward just now, but...

Kazuki Kei then glanced toward Nero Claudius beside him. In fact, she was his primary objective this time.

Of course, it would be better if he could amass more points in this trial, however his main motivation to join the trial this time was to summon her – Nero Claudius.

'Good grief. It's fortunate that I still have enough points to redeem a retainer spot. Even if I'll likely go broke for a while later, it's worth it.'

Kazuki nodded. He held Nero closely to him as they soon disappeared into a flash of light.

"…good grief. What a close shave…" Arthur sighed slightly.

It was regrettable that he only managed to kill one of the opposing Master before the trial ended. Although, if their faction really managed to eliminate the opposing faction, he would also have to face the two monsters; Kizuna and Ryan. 

That was something he was not willing to experience at all. So, it was better to call it quit now.

Soon, Arthur Blair also disappeared in a flash of light, followed by Medea Lily behind him.

Mikaela looked deeply at Ryan. She appeared to have wanted to say more, but she merely left some words of reminder to him,

"The next stage is a free-for-all battle, if you do need some kind of aid, you can find us in Valhalla. And, beware of the Olympians."

She left some confusing words to Ryan before she also disappeared in a flash along with Osakabehime. 

Aisha looked weirdly at Ryan, "What's your relation with those guys from Valhalla?"

Valhalla? I don't know shit about any of them. Why'd they be kind to me? Unless there is something they want from me?

Ryan shook his head slightly as he undid the [Soul Contract].

"I don't know any of them. Let's talk about this later. Anyway, why are they disappearing one after another?? I only wanted to tell them to scram back to the hotel, though." Ryan muttered lightly, then he turned toward Ushiwakamaru who looked like a puppy who just did something wrong.  

"Rider, you too, return to the hotel. I will deal with you later." 

Ushiwakamaru jolted slightly when she heard Ryan. She looked awkward, "Roger, Master." 

Thus, she returned quietly to the hotel while feeling uneasy about the punishment she might receive later…  

After Ushiwakamaru disappeared, Aisha told Tomoe to turn into her spiritual state. She then looked strangely at Ryan, 

"Don't you know? We would be transported to battlefield of the second stage soon. They just decided to be transported at this instant."

"What?! How long before we get transported?" Ryan frowned.

This was an unexpected development for his plan. As a matter of fact, he still had other matters to do before leaving for the next stage of trial.

Devouring Avenger and the Greater Grail this time was only one of his objectives.

There was also the experiment to recreate True Ether, and also finding a method to break the last Common Sense of Mystery left in the world. 

After all, if he wanted to truly combine magecraft and science, he needed to synergize both Common Senses first.

What he wanted to do was simple: break both Common Senses, then merge them together to create a new Common Sense which supported those two systems.  

Later on, after the underlying new Common Sense was created and accepted by the masses, the world could only follow the trend. 

Surely there would be a lot of resistance from the world itself or from the remnants of the Age of Gods, but with him holding the fort here, those resistances wouldn't be much of a problem for him. 

Him spreading that formula for converting electricity into mana was in fact a stepping stone to confuse the line of two Common Senses. 

Like a poison on the current system, the more it was spread and used by both magus and normal human, the more the line of two Common Senses would be blurred. Eventually, those two Common Senses would become one and turned into a completely new Common Sense. 

Yet, that method was quite slow. To make it faster, he wanted to tear the last veil of magecraft, and exposed it to the masses all around the world. 

He wanted to try it by spreading fear and curiosity over the lance hanging on the sky to Fuyuki City's residents, but… they were already destroyed by Artoria Saber... 

Aisha narrowed her eyes as she explained, "At most 48 hours. But, we can also choose to get transported now, as it would be to our advantage to seek allies or choose our base for the upcoming battle."

"I see." 

'…really, anything that can go wrong will go wrong, eh…' Ryan sighed silently.

"How about you, Aisha? Why don't you go first to scout the place for us?" Ryan smiled lightly. He glanced at Aisha who was still following him around.

Aisha smiled sweetly in return, "Why? You want me to leave, so you can cheat with other women? You sure have a death wish, Ryan. Hehe~ I won't let you leave my sight." 

"…" 

'Well, I really need to ditch you for a while. Don't blame me if things get nasty, girl,' thought Ryan as a faint smile appeared on his lips.  

Then, without any warning, Ryan suddenly ran away from Aisha. 

"I can't beat you, but I can still run away!" 

The way he ran was like how a gallant knight heading to battlefield. However, his words of cowardice really didn't match up to his image at that time… 

"Ahh?!" 

Those people left at Emiya Residence could only stare unblinkingly at the weird duo that just left the place. 

Jeanne was staring at the dark knight as he ran away with some confusion in her eyes. 

From what she saw, although that dark knight seemed to be evil, but he had never really hurt these Masters of opposing faction when he fought. He taunted and made them angry, crushed their spirit with overwhelming power, but he never went for the kill. He only fought their Servants. 

'He is more of an eccentric man, rather than evil… then, why did that revelation come to me?' 

However, soon after the shadow of 'Ryan' and Aisha were gone, another Ryan appeared again among them. He became their focal point once more. 

"What? You want to try ganging up on me again? Nah, forget it. You all just won't cut it. You better enjoy your moment before the Greater Grail disappear for good from this city." 

"You…what did you do to the Greater Grail? And how'd you know about it?!" Rin became really flustered now. 

The essence of the entire Fuyuki Holy Grail War, its foundation, was the Greater Grail. If there was something wrong with it, then all their efforts in these years would be for naught. 

"Ahh, guess I haven't said it, yeah? I am the winner of the Fifth Fuyuki Holy Grail War in my worldline, so of course I know about the Holy Grail War system. 

"In fact, it was your ancestor – old man Zelretch – who sent me here, Rin. I am not someone from this worldline."