Chapter 7: EA
The group met up outside of the school. Immediately Stiyl and Alex could feel the mana that was pulsating out. There was a fairly strong barrier around the entire complex, yet it wouldn't stop them from entering but from leaving.
Alex brought forth his armor and the group readied themselves.
Previously, Alex gave index a necklace to wear from his gate, it would stop a limited amount of projectiles under the rank of a 'D' rank noble phantasm. Unfortunately, it was the best he could come up with at the moment. He didn't have the innate psychic link to the gate like Gilgamesh did, he had to learn the items individually and figure out everything that was inside. It would take a very long time to do this. There was more to it than just spamming pointy things and firing them at his target.
Index of course didn't recognize the necklace nor did stiyl who was getting a bit annoyed at all the 'things' that were popping up around the mysterious man that was unknown. Even though he was rather young, Stiyl was a very accomplished magician in his right and it hurt his pride a bit to be ignorant of so much.
As the group walked through the 'barrier' that surrounded the school, Alex was mulling over the extra information that was in the folder that Stiyl gave. Apparently this alchemist achived something that many sought after, he was able to project his 'mind' over the world and control it within his domain. It sounded an awful lot like a reality marble, but he doubted the man had actually breached that realm. If it was the latter, he did have a weapon capable to shattering it, though he was hesitant to bring it out.
He was analyzing everything he saw even though technically he 'knew' what was going to happen. He was familiar with the show but as previously he found out when he saw Rider for the first time, the media portrayal isn't always 100% accurate. He could use it as a basis but he couldn't get complacent in his knowledge. He had to be ready incase the man's ability was actually something akin to a reality marble.
They all noticed something odd as they walked into the school, the barrier apparently warped space to a small extent. It isolated those 'inside' and those 'outside'. If you were 'inside' you could see everything that was truly happening and if you were 'outside' you became oblivious to even the dead bodies that were thrown across the ground as they walked into the school.
Stiyl sighed at the scene as he proceeded to do his duty as a priest and give the corpse it's last rites.
Alex noted the corpse and what he was wearing. The man who died was a knight. He recalled the scene from the plot, one of the 13 Roman Catholic knights. Though he did not have love for the church as a whole, he silently prayed for the fallen knight.
"Don't look away." Alex said to Touma who was having trouble looking at the scene.
"This is the moonlit world, to walk in this world is to walk with death. Steel yourself and push forward, you don't have to get used to death, but you can't falter to it." Alex said as index was grabbing onto him.
This world wasn't fair, it didn't play by the 'rules' sometimes it came down to kill or be killed. Touma didn't have to become a cold-blooded killer to survive, but he needed to accept this aspect if he wished to protect index. It wasn't something that could be taught through training.
Stiyl overheard the conversation, he agreed with the man and didn't have anything to add. Though he made a note of 'moonlit world'. He had never heard of an organization refer to their 'world' as such. Another clue towards the man's identity.
"Let's go." Stiyl said after he finished his prayers.
The group continued to cautiously make their way through the corridors. Alex 'knew' what was going to happen, so he was mentally preparing. He was trying his best not to deviate away from the general plot, even though he was making some changes such as bringing Index along. He wanted to be able to at least have an idea of what was going to happen.
As Touma entered a room that looked like a cafeteria, all the students who were inside stopped what they were doing and stared at the newcomers.
A moment later, they went into a sort of trance and started chanting. Dozens of magical orbs sprang up and shot towards the group.
Alex moved, a golden ripple appeared, and a red spear made its way into his hand. With a flurry of wind, the spear in his hand pierced through all the oncoming orbs.
"Gae Dearg, the Crimson Rose of Exorcism." Stiyl said. Even he recognized this weapon. It was a weapon that could pierce through magic or magic related effects. It was supposedly lost for centuries.
"Can you help me put them to sleep?" Alex said as the group regained their composure.
"Not my specialty, but I can manage." Stiyl responded.
They both quickly made their way to the students who were being controlled and were using various magic and magecraft to forcefully put them to sleep.
The magic that was controlling the students, was emanating from a different part of the school, it wasn't possible to sever the connection if they remained inside its domain.
"Gregorian Chant" Stiyl said with disgust.
"That bastard is using these kids to compensate for the 3,333 monks required to chant the spell."
"We should keep going, I don't know if any espers are in the school and if they're forced to perform magic, they could be in danger." Alex said. His words caused the other's eyes to widen. They had not considered that aspect, magic and espers did not mix. There had been experiments in the past to try to combine the two in one vessel but that had been met with horrible consequences.
The group continued their way through the school, index was very sensitive towards residual mana signatures so she led the group to the direction where the 'control' room was located.
They continued to run into more student groups and various defense systems. There were some golems made through alchemy that came as well, but they were easy to deal with for Alex's group. Touma even managed to fight a few and defeat them without suffering any significant injuries. The training was paying off.
Index continued to lead the group towards what appeared to be an auditorium. Alex was a bit on guard since they had not ran into the 'fake' Aureolus. It was barely above a golem in most aspects, the real man just basically downloaded his thoughts into a fake body and 'programmed' the creature to act like him. It lacked anything close to a soul and was just a magical robot. Though it was probably more complicated than that, there wasn't much a difference.
As they group pushed open the doors, they heard hundreds of students chanting a familiar spell. The seats were full of every student at the cram school and on the stage was the man himself.
Alex saw what was happening on the stage. The 'real' Aureolus was destroying the fake.
"I welcome you my guests to this wonderful event." He said as he drove a sharp object into the back of the 'fake'.
"I wasn't expecting my most honored guest to appear, and I didn't want this rabid dog running around and potentially hurting my dear Index." He said as he finally finished off the fake.
He did not have any sentimental feelings towards the creature he created. It was merely an experiment that bore a bit of fruit, but he didn't want it to endanger his true objective with his nonsense about surpassing the human boundary while staying human. He cared not for that, he only wanted to save his precious Index.
That was his entire goal, he fell in love with that innocent smile of hers even when she should have given into despair at her circumstance. He swore he would save her from the torment and help her overcome her problem of having to wipe her memory every year. That's why he wanted to attract a vampire, so he could make her something more than human. He didn't care about anyone or anything else.
As the group made their way down to stairs to join the alchemist on the stage, he motioned for behind the curtain and for his partner to join him.
"I found a way to solve your problem my dear Index." He said with a creep smile.
"With this young lady's ability, I can bring a vampire here and help you surpass your human shortcomings." He said with glee.
The woman in question was the aforementioned 'deep blood'.
"You kidnapped an entire school for this?!" Touma said in rage.
"It doesn't matter as long as I can save her." He responded bluntly. He had long gone over the deep end, he had become 'warped'.
"She's already been fixed." Alex stated.
The man turned to look at the knight.
"You…..you're lying" He said after a moment. His expression became somewhat ugly.
"It was all a lie by the church, they were erasing her memory to control her. They didn't want their 'library' to have any thoughts of running away." Alex said.
" No…no..no.no.no.no.no" Aureolus said. As he reached into his pocket and took out a large needle.
He poked a certain acupuncture point on his neck and the world around them started to change somewhat.
The color of the school started to change and some of the building started to warp.
"This is my world! I can rewrite reality as I choose" He said with a maniacal grin.
Stiyl, Index, and Touma started to shiver at the feeling around them. They could feel something 'wrong' with the world. It was like their entire perception of reality was being altered.
He looked on at their expressions, he was relishing in the despair of the group until his eyes landed on Alex.
"You!, you look down on me?" He yelled at Alex. He was a god here, he controlled everything. How dare this mortal look at him like he was not?
"On the contrary, It's almost unbelievable that you almost created a reality marble even if you cheated a little." Alex said in praise.
"W….what?" The man asked, he never heard the term before.
"A reality marble, projecting your inner world to overwrite reality. It's something so rare, less than 10 humans in the course of history had one. I praise you for your efforts" Alex said. It was much more he had seen in the show. This was honestly praiseworthy, he would have immediately had a sealing designation put on him back in the fate universe if this got out.
"You're missing some key elements though. But it's not like you can just fix that part. There is a reason very few humans can create a reality marble. It requires that the person become 'distorted'. It's something beyond human understanding that borders True Magic. To get this far without that is really quite astonishing." Alex reiterated.
"Don't talk like you can understand my genius!" He yelled.
"I only speak from experience, my brother in law has one. Though I'm not quite sure its something to brag about." Alex responded. He was referring to Shirou as his brother in law.
"Enough of your nonsense, die" He commanded. He was expecting the knight in front of him to explode but nothing happened.
"Sorry, your magic can't break my innate magic resistance." Alex responded.
"But this technique is indeed dangerous, I won't give you another chance to attack." Alex finished as he appeared in front of the man and decapitated him with invisible air.
"Rule number one, never let a magic user free-cast." Alex said towards the group.
Just as Alex was turning back to walk towards his group, he felt a shiver down his spine. He noticed that the 'world' around him was still murky and was starting to get worse instead of returning to normal.
His eyes widened as he bolted as fast as he could towards the group and grabbed them to get some distance from where they were standing.
He managed to get some distance as the corpse of Aureolus started to warp in a strange taint and deform. His severed head was pulled back onto his body by a strange black energy and his body stood up. Gone were the eyes that held life in them from before, what ever was happening to him, the man previously was gone.
As his essence started to distort, so did the world around them. The fake world was starting to turn 'real'. It was no longer a fake reality marble, it was turning into a real one.
Alex fired off several nameless noble phantasms at the body, only to be intercepted by the reality marble. It still held the essence of 'changing reality at a whim' but it was now darker. Something was seeping inside and encroaching on this reality.
Various objects were created and dark tendrils of energy shot forth to block all the shots that were coming out of the gate.
Alex was trying to be a bit careful, he didn't know what this 'true' reality marble could do but he also needed to keep pushing.
"Vajra" He said as an odd shaped 'weapon' poked out of a golden ripple.
Lightning shot out of the weapon and made it's way towards the 'thing' that had occupied the alchemist. It shot through the dark energy and any objects that were summoned forth to block it. IT was a B++ ranked attack, he doubted anything the Alchemist could think up would stand up to that kind of power.
Alex was correct in his thinking, the lightning pushed through everything and shot at the creature. It burst through his body and continued on into the reality marble's distance.
To his surprise though, the reality marble wasn't dissipating. He continued to watch as the body of the creature returned to normal as if nothing happened.
Alex didn't let up as a few more powerful weapons shot forth, these were immortal killers. Among them being Harpe.
As they tore through the flesh once again, the creature returned to normal as if nothing happened.
Alex was confused for a moment until it finally clicked. He wasn't healing, he was changing reality to where he was never hurt in the first place.
As Alex was coming to this conclusion, the creature made his attack. He materialized several missiles and shot them at the group.
"SHIT." Alex said as he brought forth a giant shield to block the explosions.
It was the 'shield of the gods' from the gate of Babylon.
"If he can create a nuke..." Alex thought as he turned to look at the group who were trying to stand up after that explosion.
"Shit….." He said quietly.
"I didn't want to have to use this...." He said again. He truly didn't. If he never had to use this weapon he would be happy. He quickly weighed his options, he might be able to purify the creature with Excalibur, but at the same time the creature might be able to warp reality and get out of the way. He didn't know the full extent of this reality marble and he didn't have the leisure to test it since there were people he needed to protect here with him. He had to end it quickly for their sake.
He held out his had as a single golden ripple opened up.
A golden object appeared in his hand, the best description would be some kind of key.
"This is probably the first time this will be used to protect" Alex mused.
He held the key pointing towards the sky and turned it. Hundreds of thousands of red lines made of a strange crystal shot up in the sky before abruptly coming back down into the key. The key disappeared, and a golden sphere took its place, inside was a 3d representation of the Earth.
The only item locked behind a key inside the vault of Gilgamesh.
The weapon started to drop out of the sphere and made it's way into his hand. The group looked on as a shiver ran down their spines. They looked on at the object that had just come out, there were no words to describe it. It was not something that should exist. It screamed death and destruction to them.
Alex raised the familiar weapon up high. It was a sword that could never be described as such. It had no edge nor a point, yet it was sharper than almost any other blade. It had three cylindrical sections on what should have been the blade. There were various lines running through the 'blade' it was impossible to analyze or understand, it was beyond human understanding.
The three sections started to spin and a torrent of red energy shot outward.
It was the only Anti-World Noble Phantasm. EA The Sword of Rupture.
"Lets see you recover from a weapon that's capable of destroying worlds" Alex said.
His words shocked the group behind him, they did not doubt him after feeling the power from the thing he held.
"Enuma Elish" Alex said as he swung the blade.
An invisible force shot out and reaped anything in its path. The ground fractured, and the sky broke apart. The very space around them was starting to be destroyed. The creature let out an ungodly scream as the 'thing' that was possessing the corpse was removed from existence along with the world around it.
The reality marble wasn't shut off from the source dying, it was destroyed due to the weapon.
As the final visages of the foreign world were dissipating, the scars that remained also began to heal. The brunt of the damage was taken by the reality marble, Alex didn't think whatever force ruled this world's consciousness would retaliate against him for what little damage it had to fix on the outside.
Alex quickly put the weapon away back in the vault as the world returned to normal. The kids from the school were not pulled into that world, they were originally supplying it energy from the outside, but they passed out when the man originally died.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT" Stiyl roared at the knight.
That was not something that should ever exist in this world. It frightened those who saw it to their very core, it was where the concept of hell originally came from. It was the weapon that split the heavens and the earth when the planet was but a molten rock, and he used in in the middle of a city for the world to feel. Even if there was a reality marble present, it's power would be felt by all when it tore through the fake world.
Alex didn't regret though; his job was to protect index. This wasn't like previously where he was just showing off, he needed to end that quickly. He did not know what would happen if the creature continued to push that reality marble to its greatest extent. It had the ability to warp reality, that wasn't something he could play around with when there were lives at stake.
"Do you really want to know?" Alex said with seriousness.
Stiyl looked at him, he had never seen this expression on the mysterious man's face before. It was clearly something that would shake his whole foundation.
"Fuck....." Stiyl said, admitting defeat. He truly did not want to know, he would rather be ignorant.
"I can't keep this to myself...I'm going to have to report this to my superiors." Stiyl said hesitantly to the knight.
"It's fine, I revealed it after considering all of that." Alex reassured the shaken magician.
There had been a lot to take in the last few minutes. Stiyl wasn't even sure he could understand half of what just had happened.
Index and Touma were still shocked and shaking from that experience. All things considered, these were two ignorant kids that had just experienced something that even grown ups would wet themselves at.
Luckily, the 'deep blood' girl hadn't been pulled into the world like they were initially. She only felt the aftereffects but had long since passed out.
"Should probably call this in to whoever is supporting you from within the city." Alex said to stiyl who was still lost in thought.
"I'll get these two home…." Alex said again as he looked at the two frightened children.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Coraulten
Coraulten Probably one more chapter later today.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone