(Heyyyy its me, your procrastinating author. It's fasting month and I have time to write my fic. So, here am I posting some chapters. Let's just hope life isn't as busy as normal month.)
Somewhere in the forest outside of Fuyuki city.
An hour ago. After entering the portal opened by Zelretch, Ray arrived in Fuyuki city. In a deserted alley behind a shopping street.
At that moment, Ray performed another transformation as his current appearance looked a little attention grabbing and instead adopted an ordinary appearance that none will find remarkable enough to be remembered.
He also changed his outfit to blend in easier with the crowd before he began to wander around Fuyuki, visiting the important places and people to verify his information and the timeline of the Holy Grail War.
Although he has Ego's Omnipresence to rely on for information. He still prefers to verify his information with his own eyes unless necessary.
Which brings the story to the present where he is about to take a visit to the Einzbern castle in the forest outside of the city.
Naturally, his reconnaissance task is performed in the mirror dimension using his special vision to see through the reality.
Although his current Avatar can be said to possess endless endurance and could reform no matter how much damage it took. This only applies to non conceptual attacks.
In Nasuverse, people with conceptual attacks are dime a dozen despite how rare they were. Especially in Fuyuki city where many of these people will converge due to the Holy Grail War.
The Holy Grail itself poses no attraction to Ray. Not to mention now it was corrupted and incapable of granting wishes.
The main objective of him coming to this god forsaken place is to copy several abilities useful for him and the Einzbern castle holds three main attractions.
The first and foremost is Illya herself possessing two of the three abilities he wants to copy and Berserker holding the third.
Arriving before the edge of the bounded field surrounding the Einzbern castle. Ray paused his steps and exited the mirror space.
Taking a deep breath and exhale, he lifts his fist in a punching pose before purplish veins start to appear along his raised arm, a clear sign of Honkai Corruption caused by exposure to said energy which exceeded his body's threshold.
*Bam!*
He released the punch which generated a powerful wind pressure that demolished everything in its path, including the traps along the path he cleared.
The misdirection effect of the bounded field had no effect on him as he continued his trekking into the Einzbern territory.
Not long after, he exited the woods and arrived at a clearing with the castle visible and also the rudely awakened owner along with her servants surrounding him with hostility.
The little girl with long silver hair and wearing a cute pyjama sitting on the shoulder of a muscular black giant gestured the two identical face maids to lower their weapon with a frown upon scrutinising the visible bare hands of the intruder, not finding the thing she was looking for.
"Speak. Who are you daring to intrude upon the territory of the Einzbern family?" She demanded after seeing Ray isn't a Master and thought he is a Magus considering his capabilities so far.
Naturally, not the kind to beat around the bush or bothered with deceptions. Ray stated his purpose clearly.
"Greeting, Magus of the Einzbern." Ray addressed this since she thought of him as a Magus and adopted this convenient identity.
"Pardon my untimely visit but I am in a hurry and wish to discuss a trade that will benefit both parties."
Ray didn't lie as he can't spend too much time in Fuyuki dealing with the Fifth Holy Grail War or he might miss the opportune time to return to Sirin.
"A trade?"
Illya mouthed the word and thought over it for a bit.
Considering how Ray hadn't introduced himself, perhaps that is on purpose. However, she had confidence in her Servant for protection as no modern Magi could be an opponent to a Servant.
Although in reality, a few of them could be like the Mage's Association Enforcer Bazett Fraga McRemitz or the Caster's Master, Soichiro Kuzuki, although with the help of Caster's Reinforcement Magecraft.
But that is beside the point.
Anyway, Illya didn't see him as a threat yet and was very confident she could kill Ray if he had other ulterior motives.
She accepted the offer. Although, her curiosity played a part in her decision too. She is curious what benefit could this stranger be talking about.
———
Inside the Einzbern castle's guest reception room. Illya sat opposite Ray with Berserker in spiritual form while the two homunculus maids served tea for Illya and coffee for Ray along with some assortment of refreshments which Illya already nibbled on one.
"So, what is this deal you are talking about?" She demanded again. "If you are just here to waste my time or trick me then you better think of a compensation for disturbing my rest." She said while aggressively taking a bite off the fragrant cookie in her hand.
Ray didn't react to her intimidation and instead purposely dragged the silence a little until her patience about to snap before he spoke out two familiar names.
"Irisviel von Einzbern"
"Kiritsugu Emiya"
Illya widened her eyes at the mention of the two names but immediately returned to calm like a calm lake surface.
"And?" She replied expressionlessly.
Any Magus with connections in the Clocktower or good information broker can find out this information as they are both quite renowned especially in the previous Holy Grail War.
Especially Kiritsugu Emiya, the infamous Magus Killer, the boogeyman in the supernatural side of the world feared by plenty of Magus.
Ray also remains unruffled as he drops the bomb that finally unsettled Illya enough for her to jump out from her seat bristling in agitation.
No, calling it agitation is downplaying her reaction. She is practically about to summon Berserker to kill this person in front of her out of anger.
Naturally, there is no lack of method to resurrect or revive the dead in Nasuverse. However, very few of it can be called true revival or resurrection as they always came with major side effects.
In her own mind, she naturally dismissed his claim as utter nonsense or a fool's gamble. Trying to use her to obtain the Holy Grail using the name for her loved ones.
Otherwise, she can't exactly explain why an unknown Magus that is neither a Master or related to the Einzbern family would come looking for her in this ungodly hour.
However, she didn't go through with her action when Ray casually lifted his hand to gesture to her to stop and listen to him first.
Ray didn't wait for her reply before he explained his viable method of reviving both Irisviel and Kiritsugu.
"I can resurrect them both as long as you help me acquire The Third Magic, Heaven's Feel."
"Lie! This is a lie! Heaven's Feel cannot resurrect a soul that had already died!"
Illya denied vehemently as the Einzbern family had the most information about the Third Magic as the family which once birthed, or rather, created the Third Magician.
The Einzbern family records the Third Magic. Its effect is only to preserve and transfer souls. It couldn't recreate something out of nothing as that is the domain of the First Magic.
A deceased soul is like a deleted file without any recovery option. Once it's gone, it's gone forever.
Unless Ray somehow possesses the complete minute memories, personalities, identity, fate, karma, causal existence and the spiritual imprint of the deceased person from the moment of their birth to death to recreate the soul.
Resurrecting a soul is basically impossible.
Yet, how could he so brazenly say he can do it?
There's no wonder Illya would deny his words this fiercely. As any Magus with sliver of understanding in soul can decisively say it's impossible without divine intervention to completely revive a fully dispersed soul.
But, Ray didn't care to refute her and instead said,
"What if I tell you… both of them are recorded in the Throne of Heroes?"
Her eyes immediately widened at his words and glazed over as she performed multiple confirmation in her mind before coming to a new conclusion.
The impossible suddenly became possible.
As mentioned before, the main function of the Third Magic is to preserve and transfer souls.
As Ray had said, both Irisviel and Kiritsugu soul templates are recorded in the Throne of Heroes. Then the complete record of their soul still exists in this world.
Which means as long as one has access to the Third Magic and the Throne of Heroes, extracting their complete soul and transferring those souls into a vessel could indeed resurrect both people from death.
Countless thoughts and calculations flashed through Illya's brain. She almost fried it as she pondered the veracity of his proposed method.
In the end, she fell back to her seat with a plop. Looking like a deflated balloon as she gazes up to Ray whom she now considered a madman.
No need to mention how he could have access to such information and come up with this convoluted idea. The thought of snatching away a Heroic Spirit from the Counter Force is basically asking to be made enemy by the Counter Force itself and he planned to snatch not just one. But two Heroic Spirits from the Throne of Heroes.
She can only describe someone like him as a madman. Yet, she also cannot deny that the information he brought is literally god send.
One must know that the Counter Force didn't only have a Heroic Spirit to employ. Alaya could manipulate the entirety of humanity itself to her will if necessary and it also has no concepts of past, present or future as they exist simultaneously.
This means that if Ray succeeds, he would make himself a big target for the Counter Force and have no place to hide on Earth no matter the time and place unless he fled into some pocket dimension or the Reverse Side.
Not even the Third Magic is a worthwhile exchange for the risk he would shoulder which made Illya somewhat wary.
The risk outweighs the benefit and Magus is not the kind with such a charitable mindset.
This means there is something else he covets that he thinks is worthwhile to be branded a wanted man by the Counter Force. However, she can't think of any and she didn't really care.
As long as Ray can deliver her promise. Even offering up the entire Einzbern family on the silver platter is possible. Not that it matters really if he is going to become the Third Magician as the entire Einzbern family itself is created for it.
If the Einzbern family found out Ray had become the Third Magician, they will offer themselves up willingly and she can trade this already done deal as an extra benefit.
"As long as you can prove to me my father and mother are Heroic Spirit, I will agree to this cooperation."
She didn't care about the Holy Grail War itself anymore as her attention turned fully toward Ray.
"This can be done."
"Good." Illya nodded before turning to Sella with a gesturing glance.
Sella nodded and stepped forward with a special parchment, feather pen and a bottle of ink.
Ray didn't immediately write up a Geis Contract and instead addressed the condition she proposed.
"To provide the proof, we would have to seize the Servant slot for Caster and Assassin."
"At this moment, both slots are still empty but soon Caster will be summoned and we must be quick to seize this opportunity."
Ray stood up decisively to the side and raised his left finger to tear open his right palm. Then he began to draw the summoning circle with his blood containing his powerful will directly on the cold marble floor.
On the side, Illya watched him draw the summoning circle with fluid movement, stood up and approached him with interest and anticipation.
"Do you have any spare homunculus body? Also, lend me the Dress of Heaven."
"Since Irisviel is not an orthodox Heroic Spirit, summoning her will require some extra steps." Ray explains while his eyes remain focused on the summoning circle.
Naturally, Ray knew none of this information himself and inquired about the requirements to summon Irisviel or rather the Holy Grail terminal that uses the Irisviel soul as template.
Since the Holy Grail terminal is technically categorised as Mother Earth type Divine Spirit, a vessel with sufficient compatibility is required just like Rin Tohsaka is the suitable vessel for Ishtar and Ereshkigal.
Thankfully, Irisviel being a homunculus means the vessel can be any homunculus. Although Justeaze series Homunculus have the highest compatibility, a normal homunculus created by Einzbern techniques is sufficient for temporary manifestation.
As for the Dress of Heaven, that is the summoning catalyst as it is literally the primary equipment worn by the Holy Grail Irisviel.
Without hesitation, Illya ordered Sella to go and fetch the Dress of Heaven. However, the homunculus body is a little difficult to obtain.
When she left from the Einzbern main house to Fuyuki City to participate the Holy Grail War, Illya only bring Sella and Leysritt along.
Now she regret her decision but mulling over it wouldn't fix the problem and she immediately thought of creating one on the spot while mentally calculating is she had enough material to create a homunculus.
Ray turn his head and glance at Illya before chiming,
"No need to create an actual homunculus. Just one that can last a few minutes is enough since it's purpose is merely as placeholder for the Servant summoning."
"Once summoned, the grail will create a more proper vessel anyway."
"Oh, that's make it much simpler." Illya replied before turning to the dazed Leysritt and order her to fetch the materials.
The previously fierce bodyguard homunculus turn lax once the earlier hostility had disappeared and reverted to her usual self.
Hearing Illya's order, Leysritt calmly walk out from the room leaving just Ray and Illya.
A few second later, Sella returned with an ornately carved box inscribed with magical symbols. Minutes after that Leysritt also returned with the material.
Once Illya created a homunculus body resembling Irisviel down to every detail, Ray divert his darting eyes and ordered the homunculus body to be dressed with the Dress of Heaven.
Then, the summoning ritual begin in earnest.
Once he started chanting the summoning spell, the magic array drawn using his blood suddenly glow with crimson brilliance as the blood splashes turn alive and transform into runic letters before arranging themselves into proper magic circle.
In truth, summoning ritual created by the three Magus Families for the Fuyuki Holy Grail War lack the capability to summon a Divine Spirit. However, here is where Ray's unique trait as an Outer God come to play.
The nature of an Outer God is a self contained system with its own unique law subjected to the Outer God's own will. Essentially a world of its own with it's own law that is utterly alien to the worlds in the physical realm that change according to the entity's own will.
Thus contact with an outerworldy existence always causes pollution as this is basically the result of conflicting laws clashing.
Using this trait to his advantage, Ray uses his blood as medium to alter the summoning circle with the help of Ego to go beyond it's designed purpose and target specifically to summon Holy Grail Irisviel which technically didn't even exist in the Throne of Heroes.
After a tense few minutes, the summoning circle finally dimmed and the homunculus body that lay in the summoning circle suddenly gained life as it's eyes flutter open with a dazed expression as she process everything in her mind before it shift to a confused frown.
However, that frown melted like snow under the sun when it's eyes saw the figure of Illya standing on the side with nervous anticipation and also anxiety.
Irisviel didn't immediately reach for Illya when she stood up with the quick assistance of the two maids and instead turn to the only man in the room with a slight frown.
Naturally, first and foremost as the terminal of the Holy Grail. Irisviel understood the impossibility of her being summoned and yet here she was summoned by this dangerous stranger.
However, being the Earth Mother Goddess endowed by the aspect of Irisviel's traits as a mother and wife. She does not concern herself by the heretical foreign power Ray displayed and instead bow down her head with solemn gratitude.
"You have my gratitude, Master. Although I do not yet know your purpose for summoning me. However, for this opportunity to reunite with my Little Illya, I am eternally grateful."
Truly, embodying the upbringing of a noble lady from the ancient Magus family of the Einzbern. Her etiquette is impeccable like a true noble lady.
Ray acknowledged her gratitude with a brief nod before turning toward the door. But not before speaking something to Illya.
"I have honoured the first part of my promise to you and I will proceed with Emiya Kiritsugu once I obtain his catalyst."
"By then, I hope you are ready to fulfil your part of the trade."
Ray left his parting words before leaving the room to the reuniting pair of mother and daughter.
His figure directly vanished with a snap of his finger as he disappeared into the mirror dimension.
—————