A Nascent Kaleidoscope

Chapter 545: + Looking Glass Part 7

It was a surprise to learn this newfound information. Perhaps though, it made sense in hindsight and I probably should have given it consideration previously.

Right, as I looked back on all my previous thoughts about how the Magic here worked, and the strange inconsistencies, it really did make sense.

Wands choose their owner.

The average Wizards and Witches here don't need to understand how their Spells work because there's an underlying mechanism that shouldered part of the burden in spellcasting. Oh, I was sure without a shadow of a doubt that the truly great Wizards and Witches here knew how their Magic and Spells truly worked. But for the mediocre, they were content to simply wave their wands without asking any questions.

"Wilhelm?" Artoria spoke, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"You went silent and stared off blankly."

"Sorry, got lost in thought, lots of things are clicking into place now. Right, I said that the Magic here is alive." I tapped my chin.

"Oh no, nothing like that." I quickly waived off those concerns or thoughts. "It's….." Jeez, how do I phrase it? "I would say it's closer to back home with the world."

"The dual aspects of the world and humanity?" Artoria asked.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Are you concerned?"

"Concerned?" I pondered her question. "No. Taken by surprise and with a mild amount of trepidation, perhaps. But I don't have any overt concern. It's simply the makeup of the world and how it operates. I never thought that Magic would have an unconscious will associated with it.

Though, correlating it to Gaia or Alaya wouldn't be a perfect fit either, I think.

It's more like…

"It's like Heaven's System from back home. Maybe with less intelligence." Knowing what I do, that's about the best approximation I could make. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I wasn't.

But as I said before, I wasn't overly concerned. Especially since Medea didn't seem concerned either when she in particular wanted nothing to do with 'higher powers' if she could help it.

"I see, and how does this correlate to the oddities I experienced?" She asked.

"Ah, If I had to hazard a guess. A Magical Species swore Magical Oaths to King Arthur."

She furrowed her brow, letting out a small sigh. "The World – no, the Magic here recognizes me as King Arthur."

As a Servant, she quite literally wears her history and legend around her. With Magic being alive, it would be more strange for things not to be this way.

She caught on quick. "That's my thought. Magic seems much more interwoven in the history of this world just as well. A more active user base across the centuries. I would say your existence, or rather your alternate's existence held significance in a metaphysical sense for this country."

She had several prophecies about her back home. That might mean a lot more here where Magic was alive.

It's utterly fascinating to truly think about.

Magic – Magical Energy at its core – Mana, the lifeblood of a planet. Rather than the Planet itself developing its will, the Magic did instead.

It's like…..if my hands were the 'brain' of my body instead of, well, my brain.

"If you feel no concern, I will not dwell on it. I do not intend to spend an overt amount of time here." She said simply. "Does the nature of this place have any significance for you?"

"Not…really?" I mean beyond the few people I care about living here for the time being, I didn't really have any attachments. I had a few ideas about some experiments for here when I have time.

I took out my wand and rolled it between my fingers.

"You could always learn magic too if you wanted. The nature of it here makes it even better as a starting place than I initially thought." I shot her a smile.

She let out a small laugh. "I have no desire. If I require any Magical ability, I have both you and Rin to assist me." She finished with a smile.

"I won't try to convince you if you don't want to. But I will say, you're missing out on something particularly good."

"Something good?" She repeated. "Beyond the convenience of spellcraft, I fail to see what I am missing."

I pointed my wand at her, well, rather at her chest area. "Here's one of the basic spells the kids here learn early on. Alohomora!"

She stared at me, twitching slightly. "Wilhelm, did you just use magic to unhook my bra?"

"Yes. Yes I did." I said proudly.

One of the handful of spells I actually went over in my spare time, which I will rectify. But it's a spell for 'unlocking' things. Which can be interpreted and used rather…. subjectively.

I love magic.

She had to awkwardly pull her bra out from her sleeve, giving me a look before depositing it into her bracelet.

"You are aware that simply asking me would result in the same outcome, yes?" Artoria stated.

"…..so if I asked you to take your shirt off."

She started unbuttoning her shirt. "As long as you make it so no one else can see us."

Yes Ma'am.

I really love magic.

[***]

"Knock knock." I opened the door to Yasaka's office with Artoria in tow. "Are we disturbing anything?"

"Not at all, come in." My beautiful Fox smiled.

"Hello Yasaka." Artoria greeted with an equally beautiful smile.

"Hello Dear, did you have fun?"

"It was an interesting experience. I have no desire towards Magic, but the culture there was refreshing in a way." She nodded.

We both sat in the empty seats opposite of Yasaka.

Yasaka looked at Artoria, her nose twitching and she shot her a knowing smile. My Artoria on the other hand, flushed slightly, avoiding her gaze.

She does have quite the nose.

"How are you doing?" I asked.

Yasaka's expression changed silently, but it never dipped back into the melancholy from earlier today. "I'm good. I'll be good, I should say. I just needed some time to let it sink in that our little fox is gone for a while."

I didn't say anything, but truthfully, I thought both Yasaka and Kunou were a tad too dependent on one another. Which may sound odd considering they were mother and daughter, but Kunou needed the opportunity to leave the nest.

"Did Arthur deliver the supplies you ordered?" Artoria asked.

"Yes, he also told me what happened. I shouldn't be surprised, It seems there's always something." She lightly chuckled. "Thank you for helping with that, it completely escaped me that I needed to pick that up when we were over there."

"It's no trouble, I am happy to help." Artoria said straightforwardly. "Have you decided then?"

And just like that the atmosphere shifted and Yasaka's expression hardened, borderline sharp even. "That's right, if it's all the same, I want to announce that the invasion will begin in a week."

"I'll finish up what's needed on my end to make that work. I'll need Avalon and the Harp that you won over from the Angels." I already had the preliminary stuff out of the way, it was only a matter of bridging the material world and the realm of the Fae.

I was fairly confident in getting it finished in that time frame, but worst case, I could call in help from Gramps.

Artoria without a second thought handed Avalon over to me.

It always made my heart feel good knowing she trusted me with something so precious without any secondary thoughts.

Yasaka also set the Harp on her desk, it was rather large to the point where it nearly fell over.

"And what about preparations for the invasion?" I took both items and put them properly away.

"You're finally asking about that, hmm?" Yasaka chuckled.

Yeah, I hadn't had much of a hand in that besides a more logistics role of gathering resources or helping on the outside.

I could freely admit that commanding an army or being a general was not one of my talents nor something I had any real experience with. And I wasn't going to interrupt the people who did know what they were doing.

Yasaka got up from her desk, stretching her back. "Why don't we go inspect things" She held out her hand. "Artoria's Knights and my Soldiers are in about the same area. You've been to the training fields at the edge of the city."

I knew what she was asking and opened a portal without any extra prompt.

"Mordred should be leading the training today. She will be happy to have visitors." Artoria smiled as the three of us went through the portal, stepping out onto the training fields.

Very quickly, the forces of the Youkai and allies came into view.

Sprawling tents and newly established structures were seen methodically placed. And of course, the tens of thousands of different Youkai were all over the place.

Very quickly, a shadow appeared overhead and landed onto the ground in front of us.

Soma was kneeling towards Yasaka, and dozens more Tengu joined him at impressive speed.

"Lady Yasaka, you grace us with your presence." Soma led them in kneeling towards her.

"Don't mind me, I'm just taking Wilhelm to inspect our forces." Yasaka nodded to them, basically telling them to go about their business. "Return to what you were doing."

"At your leave." The Tengu quickly dispersed on the winds and returned to the corners of the training fields.

They were stronger than I remembered.

"I've had Soma train with them for a while now." Yasaka hummed as she led us across the fields. "He's gotten much stronger and really, the fervor has incited quite a bit of growth across everyone."

"A structured and grouped training regime is often more beneficial to the average warrior or soldier." Artoria nodded. "I had many Knights under my care who had average talent and skill but were able to push themselves far beyond what they would have individually."

"Are we lacking anything? Resources, money, that sort of deal?" I couldn't do anything about manpower, but for other things, there were options.

"The order we just got from those Goblins was to fill the gap while the Norse get their matters sorted. They still owe us quite a bit of supplies – primarily Iron Weaponry, but I wasn't going to push them considering what happened recently."

"Odin is probably grateful for that." I mused.

She grinned. "We're set on weapons for now, but obviously we'll want a steady supply continuously. Our trade with Whiterun has been going on without a hitch. It's been a continuous and large source of income. Not to mention we've been able to buy surplus of other things from that region while filling them with things they're lacking."

"You mentioned a while ago that the attempts at planting the herbs and regents from Skyrim had proved successful." I should check up on the Yggdamillennia family as well, I'm sure they have a significant amount waiting for me to retrieve.

"We've started production and already have a turnout. We have a supply right now that should last us for the initial invasion, and with our own production, we will have a steady supply." Yasaka replied.

"Is the Church still going to make due on their promises?" I was a little hesitant because of the….incident.

"I've been in contact with them, the promises still hold."

Good because they were going to play a rather significant role if we wanted to make a foothold in a place like the Fae Realms.

"The Devils also finished their final delivery. Most of what they supplied was simply 'money' but they also gave a not insignificant amount of raw materials."

"No problems there?"

"Well, they certainly tried to put their foot in the door for other things, but I was able to keep them out."

That's to be expected.

"Overall, we're in a rather good spot. I wouldn't say no to getting more stuff, but we're in no way hurting right now." Yasaka finished.

"We're here." Artoria stated, as we approached a sectioned off area.

Well, I say sectioned off, but it's not like someone couldn't just come and go.

Very quickly, we found the Pendragon family training.

Roughly a thousand I could see from my initial estimate. All donned in full Plate Armor holding their weapons and swinging them in unison.

At the front, Mordred stood there with Clarent out, watching them intently.

I noticed a few other faces such as Arthur also weaved between the crowd, helping where he needed.

"Father?" Mordred perked up noticing us.

"Hello Mordred, we came to visit, I hope we aren't disturbing you." She replied.

"Not at all!" Mordred seemed rather happy.

"Don't mind us dear, we're just taking Wilhelm to inspect things." Yasaka smiled.

I waved to Mordred, but looked more towards the Knights.

"So we got a time table then, huh?" She settled, leaning on Clarent as it stabbed into the ground.

"You are perceptive as always." Artoria nodded and Mordred brightened considerably at the small compliment. "You have done a wonderful job, Mordred. Could you please tell Wilhelm about the Knights under our command?"

"Of course, Father!" she puffed up proudly. "We got 1014 Knights, and 102 Magicians ready to fight. At a minimum, we got every single one of them to what they call Mid-Class around here. About a third of them are High-Class."

"That's impressive." And I was being genuine with my compliment. I recalled when we invaded the Pendragon Castle that they barely had any High-Class people under their banner.

Not to mention that at a minimum they're all Mid-Class.

I vaguely recall Venelana telling me that in the standing armies for the Underworld, the average Devil is Low-Class.

Obviously those 'rankings' are rather vague. A baseline human is also 'low class' but at the same time, certain humans who stepped into the supernatural world and learned various things, while still being called 'low class' could kill hundreds of baseline humans without issue.

It's always been just a vague and general 'ranking'.

"How did you manage to do that in such a short time?" It'd only been a few months.

"Heh, just taught them to properly make themselves stronger mostly. Shit, people here can use their Magical Energy so much easier than back home, but they're so wasteful about it. They aint gonna be doing anything like using a Mana Burst or whatever, but something closer to Reinforcement isn't difficult." Mordred said proudly.

She was heavily underselling the amount of effort they must have put in.

They've been doing a lot of work that I haven't seen until now.

"I see that they all have two swords at their hips." I noticed, voicing my thoughts.

"One's the whole Iron thing, the other is a proper sword just in case." Mordred said simply.

"By nature, the Iron Swords are not as sturdy, too brittle compared to steel, even if they are a weakness to our foes. We thought it appropriate to carry both. Even if a steel sword does not hold the same weakness it is still a sharp edge that can harm them." Artoria added.

True, a sharp sword backed by a knight with that amount of strength can just as much cut off the head of a fairy. Iron simply is an innate weakness that the creatures of that realm hold.

Technically, it's not Iron exactly as Fae also have a certain aversion to Fire, if to a lesser extent. It's a link to civilization, Iron was perhaps the biggest contributor to the building of human society. Though, that's technically wrong too as it's not quite Civilization that Fae have an aversion to, rather it's Order.

They're chaotic beings, even back home because they're aligned with Nature as Nature Spirits. Here, it's different, but they're still creatures that hold opposite existences to the idea of Order that permeates the human world.

It's why the Church's methods are so effective against them. A structured and orderly form of worship backed by the belief of billions of Humans etched into the civilization of humanity itself.

The Church's Holy Power is poison to Devils. The Church's structure and belief is poison to Fae.

Kinda of amusing to think about.

I'd hazard a guess it's the reason that the Fae retreated almost completely from the world, it became much too 'orderly' for them to live here any longer. Or maybe, I'm wrong, who knows.

"The Magicians are training with the Druids and some Youkai people who do similar things. You wanna go check them out too?" Mordred offered.

I'm already here, I should familiarize myself with what's going on now that there's a countdown.

[***]

I let out a breath, stepping out of a portal onto a rooftop near the center of Youkai Kyoto.

I just looked out and watched the city below and thousands upon thousands of faces walked down the streets for their daily lives. The vast majority of them were Youkai, but at the same time, they were all so different yet coexisted here without issue.

I admit, I was worried about this place being attacked in response to our invasion.

This was my home and I would be damned if I saw it harmed without doing anything preemptively. With a short burst of Shunpo, I arrived at a familiar 'structure' not far away.

An Obelisk.

I made this thing how long ago?

An automated Magical Defense Terminal. It was originally just a proof of concept, but there were now hundreds scattered around Kyoto in preparation.

I put a hand on it to make sure it was still operating correctly. It hadn't been triggered just yet and it still housed hundreds of Talismans ready to deploy should the situation call for it.

Jinn had taken up the job of implementing defenses for Kyoto in the interim. She copied my Obelisks and more. There were a crazy amount of Magical Defenses ready to be 'activated' in the event of an invasion.

Yasaka did mention that they had it under control when the Devils brought up 'protecting' Kyoto as part of payment, and that Jinn said she would handle it, but to see it in person was an entirely different matter.

Jinn was such a hard worker, I needed to do something special for her.

[Brat!] Ddraig's voice suddenly resounded in my head.

"Hmm?"

[Don't talk! Listen to me, I need you to stand very still and don't turn around.]

….Ddraig, what's wrong?

[I didn't notice her until now! She's always been stupidly good at hiding her presence! Stay calm, don't draw attention to yourself, hopefully she didn't notice –]

"So this is your new host, Great Welsh."

I heard a feminine voice and turned around, much to Ddraig's panicking.

Pale blue hair, with blue eyes and matching blue dress. I almost mistook her hair for flowing water at first glance.

I was genuinely surprised I didn't notice her until Ddraig said something and she was standing this close to me because my instincts immediately flared up once she entered my 'perception'.

Stronger than the Heretic God I recently fought.

She stared at me, as if waiting for me to respond.

[Do something!]

What do you want me to do!?

[Anything! Pull some of your bullshit!]

Alright, I got something.

"Sorry, you got the wrong person." I replied without missing a beat.

[…..we're dead.]

"Really?" She tilted her head.

"Yup."

"Oh, my apologies. I'll be on my way then."

I did an about face and took a step to walk away, only for the same woman to be standing in front of me. But this time, her aura enveloped the area and the phantom image of a massive blue dragon looked down on me.

"Did you think I would say that?" She narrowed her eyes. "I am Tiamat, and I am owed a Debt."

[***]

"Son…."

"I was young and stupid, okay?" I sighed, covering my face after mom learned how Meridia and I first met. I don't think I needed to mention how it would have only taken her a snap of her fingers to make me disappear if she were in a bad mood.

It all worked out in the end, so chalk it up to a life lesson.

"More like young and horny." Scáthach snorted.

….well, she isn't wrong.

"I think it more erred on the side of young and stupid, personally. I think my situation was young and horny." Venelana spoke.

I groaned, letting my head hit the table.

"Actually, I'm happy I'm here right now." My other self smiled happily. "I really want to hear more now."

Mom had a rather pensive face and I had no idea what she was thinking. Eventually she shook her head with a sigh. "I'll just blame your father."

"Hey!"

"Not you, the bad version of you." Mom corrected.

"Oh okay. Yeah I agree, he sounds like a dick." My alternate father nodded along.

I forced myself from throwing out an insulting retort without thinking. I had to remind myself that this wasn't my version of my father, thus it would have been needlessly rude.

"And which one is she?" Mom asked, pointing at my phone that was still on the table.

I grabbed it, flicking the screen to the side until it landed on Meridia and slid it back over to her.

"She's pretty."

"Yeah, she is." I found myself smiling.

The back door slid open as someone had rejoined us. "Why did everyone leave me out there!?" Issei whined, limping back inside.

"Woops, sorry Issei, we forgot about you." Rias blushed a little, looking away.

"I didn't." I responded.

"You threw a brick at me!" Issei pointed at me looking pissed off.

"Nah, that wasn't me." I said with a completely serious face.

"Screw you, handsome bastard!" Issei whined some more. "I would have won if – "

Rias clapped her hands, interrupting him. "Alright Issei, if you're going to rejoin us, stop making a scene." She forced out, probably because of the glare that mom was giving her. "We'll talk about the 'fight' later."

Issei grumbled and sat down next to her. "Who's the girl with the tails and ears?" He looked at Kunou.

"That's my daughter and if you make a single comment about her body, there is not a single person in this room that can stop me from ripping your head off." I narrowed my eyes.

I may put up with it and be annoyed with the others, but that absolutely is not acceptable towards my daughter.

The message seemed to get across because he shrank back under my stare.

"Why am I not surprised that you ventured to a world unknown and all you did was seek out women." Glasses girl scoffed.

I rolled my eyes. "Yup."

She just scoffed again.

Well fuck you too.

Mom only wanted to know about my girls, then so be it. "That was how I met Meridia. I then corrected the mistakes I made and went off to the world I intended. It was another Earth and I had memories of it from before, so it was easy to find the Mages Association over there and get inside. That's when I met Artoria for the first time."

"The blonde lass with the hair in the bun." Scáthach pointed out to my mom.

"Aww, she's adorable." Mom cooed.

"That's Auntie Artoria." Kunou smiled. "She's really nice and she showed me how to use a sword. Oh Daddy, show your cool sword!"

Oh, I forgot about my sword! Well, I do so love showing off my treasures.

"Right, this is my sword I had made in Skyrim, it helps me cast my magic." I said proudly, putting Mirage onto the table. "And also Dawnbreaker, the sword I got from Meridia." I set it down together.

Half the table recoiled at the sight of a 'holy weapon', I think it took them a moment to realize they weren't going to burst into flames.

"That is….a powerful sword." My Alternate father's smile twitched.

I liked when people praised my treasures.

"Right, and that was when I met Artoria for the first time as I said. Gramp's student was having a spar with someone else and she was sitting off to the side. I recognized her immediately and I admittedly admired her for a long time."

"Didn't you say you met her for the first time?" My mom tilted her head.

"Oh right." I almost forgot. "Her name is Artoria Pendragon, but you would probably know her better by King Arthur."

They went silent.

"Like, from the stories?" My other self asked.

"Yeah, except the King Arthur from there was a woman who hid her gender during her rule." I clarified.

"A reincarnation?" Rias asked.

"Nope, the literal King Arthur" I reiterated.

"Did she never die in that world then and lived that entire time!?"

"Well, it's complicated." I pursed my lips thinking how best to briefly explain this. "Over there, when someone who is famous and was worshiped after their death, they ascend to the metaphysical realm known as the Throne of Heroes and become Heroic Spirits. In specific circumstances, it's technically possible to summon a portion of the Heroic Spirit into a container known as a 'Servant'. Artoria is a Saber Class Servant and was summoned by Rin during something known as the Holy Grail War."

"Holy Grail?!" My Alternate Father reacted more expressive than any other point.

"Wah…brother?" Rias looked at him.

Venelana, the other Venelana looked at rias. "His reaction is understandable, the Holy Grail is a...volatile Sacred Gear. Atleast over here it is, I don't know anything about over there. But every time it's wielder appears here, something happens that gets recorded in the annals of history."

"I haven't run into the one from here, but it's a bit different. For one, it's not that Holy Grail. A long time ago, a family of Mages came together and utilized an aspect of True Magic, were able to craft the Heaven's Feel ritual. Essentially, it's a battle royale between Seven Servants and their summoners – called Masters. The Ritual is completed once only one Servant remains, and the winners get to utilize the 'Holy Grail' – which was only named such after the Church started interfering with the Ritual – and make a wish."

"There is…a lot to unpack there." My other self said.

"And what do you mean by a 'wish'? I've heard plenty of stories where that goes wrong." My mom asked.

"Well, normally, it would be just that. A near omnipotent wish, but that isn't to say it's not without certain limitations. As for this particular circumstance, the 'Grail' was corrupted by an Evil God trying to manifest into the world. Any wish would bring about calamity, so Rin and Artoria utilized her Noble Phantasm to destroy the Grail."

"Noble Phantasm!?" Several of them repeated.

"A Noble Phantasm is usually the armament of a Heroic Spirit – They're Crystallized Legends." I took that opportunity to put Ascalon onto the table. "This is a Noble Phantasm, I picked up – Ascalon."

"What!?" Issei's Boosted Gear lit up as his Ddraig exclaimed in shock. "I can feel the Dragon Slaying power of that sword and it's significantly stronger than the one I recall in the past."

"Isn't Ascalon supposed to be a Holy Sword, why can't I feel anything Holy from it?" Rias asked.

"It was wielded by Saint George, but it was more a Dragon Slayer sword back there." I shrugged.

"If a Noble Phantasm, is the 'weapon' of these 'Servants' and you claim that she is King Arthur, then that implies her weapon is the famous Excalibur, correct?" Glasses Girl asked. "So it never broke over there?"

It was my turn to scoff. "Don't compare the toy here with her sword. Excalibur over there, it's the strongest weapon of the planet."

Truthfully, I didn't feel like sitting here explaining every little detail of my home.

"Well, I don't understand much of that, but I suppose it gives me some sort of context." Mom just smiled while rubbing Kunou's head. Kunou of course was just happily listening to the story without a care in the world. "Keep going, tell me about my daughter~"

Despite it seeming like others wanted to ask me questions, I ignored their looks and continuing. "There's not much to say. I met up with Zelretch –"

"Wait, the guy you reincarnated from!?" My other self exclaimed.

"He did it at some point in the future, at that point in time, it was barely a theory so I made sure to catch up with him."

"….that sounds awkward."

"It was, but I just called him gramps to make it easier." To be honest, despite being from Zelretch, I felt like my own person at this point.

"Wait, you're saying he did it intentionally?" Glasses girl's eyes widened. "How is that possible!? If anyone could just 'reincarnate' themselves, it would be more widespread."

"Because it's Zelretch and he doesn't do things by common sense."

"That's not an answer!"

"Anyways, I met up with Gramps and got a bit closer to Artoria. But at that point, I was focused more on looking for a teacher." I looked up and smiled at Scáthach. "With Gramp's help, I was able to open a path to the Land of Shadows where I met Scáthach." I snapped my fingers, remembering something else. "Oh yeah, almost forgot I also got my staff from Skyrim – the Staff of Magnus – a Divine Construct owned by the God of Magic from there." It was important to open the way, so I put it on the table.

Glasses girl crossed her arms. "Did you steal this one too?"

"Hey, yeah, you stole the Boosted Gear! You never said anything about that!" Issei stood up, pointing at me.

"Yeah, what's your point?" I rolled my eyes.

"Give it back, my other self needs it to build his dream harem!"

"So you're saying you're useless without Ddraig?"

Mom's hand was quickly pulling on my cheek. "Stop starting fights. And Issei, worry about yourself, you still have brick marks on your face."

"I didn't notice any difference." I managed to get out before mom pulled even harder.

"You are preoccupied, shall I speak of our first encounter, student?" Scáthach put a hand on my shoulder.

"Do what you want." I sighed.

Did she know I didn't really want to talk about it?

"I remember that young boy approaching me through the harsh cold and hordes of undead monsters that populated my realm. He came upon me and asked me to be his teacher, I couldn't deny his request due to the effort it took to reach me." She smiled in nostalgia. "It took much effort to beat out his arrogance."

"Seems you failed in that regard." Sona snarked.

"Yes, but thankfully I was able to teach him taste it seems." Scáthach replied, not missing a beat.

Sona just had her mouth hang open, clearly not expecting a jab back like that.

"I love you so much." I looked up at her with a big grin.

"Hush." She snorted, pushing my head down. "He spent a few years under my tutelage until he reached a point I was satisfied with." Her expression changed, a sad smile as she looked down at me. "However, I wronged him."

"It's fine…"

"There is no need to defend me." I felt her hand run through my hair.

"….Wilhelm, what happened?" My mom asked, noticing the obvious tone.

"I was tired and weary of life after being forced to remain within the Realm of Shadows for thousands of years. Due to the conditions of my existence, I was forever bound and unable to leave." She spoke softly. "Knowing that he felt strongly towards me, I still asked him to kill me so I could die in battle."

"You're one of those 'Servants', aren't you?" My Alternate Father spoke.

"I am." She confirmed.

"But how – "

"This student of mine…" She smiled a bit warmer. "He foolishly threw himself into another Grail War and fought his way to a victory just to bring me back."

"….because I didn't want to live my life without you." I mumbled.

"How could I not accept those kinds of feelings?"

The atmosphere got a lot heavier at her admittance. "I also got a new sword." I changed the subject, putting Whisper onto the table. "And also, I have her old spear." I added Gae Bolg.

Kunou pushed out of mom's arms and came up to hug me.

She really was a perceptive little girl.

Venelana also came over and wrapped her arms around me. "Why don't we take a few minutes, hmm?"

"That sounds like an excellent idea!" Mom clapped her hands. "Why don't I go make some snacks and get some drinks ready since we're going to be here for awhile. Wilhelm dear, why don't you show your daughter where you grew up?" Mom smiled.

I know she was trying to give me a moment to collect myself, but genuinely, I had nothing good to say about this place. But even so, I took the offer because I didn't realize how much this whole thing still hit me.

I don't think I've ever shared the story with other people outside of my immediate group, it felt…..weird.

"Come on sweetie, why don't I show you around?" I took Kunou's hand as I led her away, putting a little bit of distance between me and them.

Really….it's almost a bit overwhelming in all honesty. Seeing the faces of people I have a lot of intense feelings towards, both good and bad, in one room like that in addition to everything else.

"Daddy, you went to school around here right?" Kunou asked as we walked out the front door, as I intended to just go for a short walk with her around the neighborhood.

I may have exaggerated even in my own head. I suppose not everything about this place was bad, I had some decent memories of the general town. There was an arcade a few blocks away that I spent some time at. There was a nearby park that I enjoyed taking walks through. There was an aquarium that I also snuck into a time or two because I liked seeing the various sea creatures and it was a nice quiet place for me to relax.

"It's…..not too far away." I measured the distance in my head.

"Can we go see it? I wanna see where Dad went to school."

Well, the school was certainly a place I had mixed feelings about. "Alright, I suppose we could go check it out." It's way after school hours so there shouldn't be any students there. A short trip there wouldn't be remiss. "Let's go."

[***]

Kunou atleast enjoyed the short walk to the school. I don't know what was so exciting about the walk, but she took it all in with wonder.

And she kept asking me about everything I passed.

Is it normal for kids to want to know about their parent's history like this? I would ask Yasaka about it later? Or maybe Mom could answer that question. She probably has good parenting advice for me since I have no idea what I'm doing the vast majority of the time.

"Here we are, Kuoh Academy." I can admit that seeing the front gate hit me with nostalgia.

"Can we go inside!?" Kunou looked at me, pleading.

I relented, and even though the gate was closed, I picked her up and hopped over.

Well, the front doors weren't locked, not surprising considering the Devils basically come and go after school at their leisure.

We walked right inside with Kunou looking left and right and she had a rather strange look on her face.

"What's wrong?" I finally asked.

"I thought it would be different." She admitted.

"You thought it would be more exciting?"

"Everyone talked about Devils back home I thought if they ran the school, it would be different." She nodded.

Ah.

"Sorry to disappoint, it's a rather normal school. But why don't I show you one of my favorite spots?" I had a secret spot in the auditorium where the Theatre Club practiced every day after school. There was a half-room that was walled over that you could get into by removing an air vent. "It's a secret room that no one knows about."

"A secret room?" Her eyes widened and she smiled brightly.

"Takao?" A voice called out and I snapped towards the source, recognizing it as one of Rias's peerage that I met back home as well. "…..Takao?" He said again, his brow furrowing once he got closer.

I looked at Kunou and she looked back at me and I slowly had a smile form on my face. "That's right, it's me Takao. What's wrong, Kiba?" I'm fairly sure that was his name.

Kunou held a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

"….why do you look….?" He seemingly had trouble finding the right words.

"Uh….magic accident…?" It was the first thing I thought of off the top of my head.

Kunou was giggling under her hands.

He just blinked. "You're taller…and your hair..?"

"Yeah, don't worry it'll wear off later." I nodded, projecting confidence in my answer despite utterly bullshitting.

"…..right." He clearly believed me. "And….this is?"

"Oh…um, this is Kunou I'm…..watching over her because everyone else was busy handling the magic accident that I mentioned a moment ago and since I'm basically useless, I figured I could babysit for a little while. She's a Youkai, but don't worry about that." I reassured him.

"…..right."

I just crossed my arms. "You're welcome to give them a call. Even….Dad is there because of the magic accident." The funny thing is, technically, I wasn't lying.

That seemingly made him relent a bit. "How long is Rias going to be? Riser Phenex is going to be here any minute, she was supposed to be here. Not to mention Akeno and Issei ran off not long ago and she's nowhere to be found either." He rubbed his head, letting out a sigh. "I actually tried calling, but they weren't answering, I was about to run over there until I saw you."

Holy crap, did they just completely forget about something important in the wake of me appearing? Riser Phenex, wasn't the guy she was supposed to marry, right? Was he coming to talk about something important? Didn't they already have a rating game or whatever to settle it in Rias's favor, what was he popping over here for?

Well, I could imagine there were a lot of things that needed to be settled in the aftermath of that kind of incident.

Well, as their Elder, I should handle the situation in their place.

"Don't worry, let me handle it!" I puffed up my chest.

"…come again?"

"I mean, I can entertain them at least. You know, as the son of Lucifer, they would have to give me face." I threw out the quickest bullshit reason I could think of.

"…..are you sure?" He sounded skeptical. "This sounds like a horrible idea."

"Do you have a better suggestion?"

"We could just tell him that there was an emergency and postpone the meeting." He replied with….admittedly a logical response and probably the most reasonable one as well.

However…..

"Sona said doing something like that is bad."

"Really?" He tilted his head.

"Yup, that's totally something my painfully plain girlfriend would say." I nodded.

"What?"

"I said, that's something my girlfriend said, at some point….."

…probably.

Maybe.

He rubbed his chin. "I guess she would know better."

"Wonderful, let's go to the Occult Club!" I have no doubt that's where they would be meeting.

"….the Occult Research Club." He corrected me, with a strange look shot my way.

"That's the one." I pat his shoulder. "Come along Kunou, we're going to meet a Phenex!"

[***]

A/N

Swiggity Swooty, Tiamat coming for Ddraig's booty.

Fae War starting very quickly, just settling the pre-war stuff. Next part of Looking Glass and Kunou's adventures are up on P.a.t.r.e.o.n.

If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone

I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name.