AN: Hiii folks, we're back, baby! So yeah, sorry I haven't been updating in a long time, but I honestly had the mother of all writer's blocks for this chapter, as I was quite uncertain what to do, and well, other ideas came pouring out of my head, but fear not, we're back in active rotation...albeit updates will still be hectic.

Now then, onto the Chapter!

A warning though, this chapter's story is only a 3,2k, and yes, even I'm absolutely flabbergasted at how big I made my Author notes this time around, but to be fair, I did rant a bit.

"Regular Speech"

'Thought'

"I got «Skills»for days."

(JPN"Foreign language that the MC doesn't know how to speak, and the author is too lazy to run the dialogue through a translator."JPN)

"Stray Devils, Malicious entities, etc, etc…"

*Beings sealed inside of Sacred Gears*

#Phones and other things equivalent to that, including Rating Game announcements, just to get that out of the way.#

[Gamer Data and Skills]

Disclaimer: I own nothing

[6 Hours after the end of Chapter 7…(Although it feels like Months)]

The training had gone…rather well, all things considered. After about five and a half hours, Asia had managed to topple the tree, although the poor little girl was quite exhausted, keeled over and panting, and a quick «Observation» told Edward that the exiled nun only had 3 MP left.

And as for what he had been doing while his adorable little pupil slaved away? Well, he had been gathering branches, among other things, sharpening the branches into skewers, engraved runes onto them to make them basically fire-proof, made a small campfire, took some squirrel meat out of his «Inventory», and began roasting their dinner.

"Well this has been a productive day," Edward said, handing Asia one of the nine squirrel kebab sticks, three for him, Asia and, Nixie after the little Water Elemental came back from his little errand.

"B-But, I did so poorly today…" Asia muttered, looking at the piece of skewered meat in her hands with a sad expression. The largest orb she had managed to make was about half as large as a soccer ball.

"The point of the exercise was to get you used to the feeling of Mana running through you," Edward said, taking another squirrel-kebab from the roast. "Of course you weren't going to do great at Attack Magic, you're too kind for that," he continued before blowing at the skewered barbecue in his hands, and took a bite.

'Should probably look into buying spices,' Edward thought as he chewed on the meat. Sure, it wasn't like the meat tasted like absolute scheiße, it was still edible, but definitely more akin to military rations than proper barbecue. Bland, edible, but not something you ate for fun.

"But still, you made good process tonight," he said, glancing at the toppled tree. Judging by the sounds he had heard while he was busy crafting, it had taken 12 shots, give or take two. "Tomorrow, we're going to be working on manipulating mana, and defensive magic, holding up a continuous barrier, to be specific." It'd serve as a good practice for keeping the Mana outside her body under control, which would be crucial for a Contract spell.

"…Alright, what's on your mind?" he asked, noting Asia's thoughtful expression, and that she hadn't taken a single bite yet.

"Well, I was wondering about the magic you used against Mr Dohnaseek," Asia explained, still remembering the fight between Mr Dohnaseek and Mr Edward.

"Oh, you mean this?" Edward flared his «Blut Vene» momentarily, and as Asia nodded, Edward continued. "Well, sad to say, it's not something I can teach." Well, he didn't think that it could be taught, considering it was more of a racial thing. Besides, Reinforcement could do the same thing, assuming that you had the skill to not accidentally mess your body up.

"Oh…"

Edward sighed. "Don't take it too badly. To be honest, I'm not what you'd call an expert Magic user." Not yet, anyway… "And to be honest, a lot of my spells are rather simple manipulation of Mana," He admitted, taking another bite of his kebab.

"Well I think you're still a great teacher," Asia said, trying to cheer Edward up.

Edward smiled at the attempt. "Tell you what, after we get you under protection, I'll try and teach you about Rune-based magic." It ought to come in handy for the blonde nun, and since it wasn't a strictly offensive magic, she shouldn't be struggling with it.

"But, I'm afraid it'll be brief, as there's a certain event I have to prepare for," Edward added, a cursed cup appearing in his mind's eye. Not only would he have to obtain the proper catalyst for summoning a Servant, but he'd also need to do some recon. Thankfully, he should be able to obtain a rather good catalyst while he was doing recon, he'd just have to be careful to avoid detection.

"Couldn't I come wit-"

"No. Absolutely not." Edward's cold statement caused Asia to flinch. "Asia, this event I'm going to participate in, it's not for the faint of heart," he began his explanation. "This event has seven magicians," he formed seven balls of light with his mana, each golf ball-sized orb holding an image of a human-shaped mannequin.

"And each participant must summon seven beings who have managed to make their mark on history, becoming legends that have immortalized themselves with their deeds and fame." Asia watched as seven more orbs formed, a small thread connecting one of the previous orbs to these new ones.

"These Legendary Souls, referred to as Servants, are divided into seven classes." Edward felt that using the Fate/Extra term was more fitting, as Anti-Heroes could be summoned as Servants.

"Berserker, Servant of Madness." An image of a man wearing the pelt of an animal, wielding two large cleavers formed in the orb.

"Caster, Servant of Spells and Sorcery." The next image that formed was that of an old man with a long flowing beard, wearing purple robes, and a staff in one hand, and a book in the other.

"Assassin, Servant of Assassinations." As Asia looked at the next figure, a pale-skinned man in dark garbs, a skull mask covering his face, and two daggers held tightly in his grasps.

"Rider, Servant of the Mount." A knight of indeterminate gender standing in a chariot, their left hand holding onto the reins of whatever was pulling the chariot, a spear in their right hand, and a sword sheathed at their side.

"Lancer, Servant of the Lance." A male knight wielding a spear, with a wide-brimmed hat adorning his head, something akin to a playful smile on his lips.

"Archer, Servant of the Bow." a female knight with her bow drawn, and arrow ready to be released.

"Saber, Servant of the Sword." And in the last orb, an image of a knight in full plate armor.

Obscuring the Servant orbs, Edward made the orbs of light coalesce briefly before separating, and they began spinning. "And with these seven pairs, they fight until only one Master and Servant remain, usually resulting in the deaths of the other participants," he explained, his expression turning sour as all but one of the paired orbs was snuffed out.

"T-That's horrible! Why would anyone participate in that death game?" Asia questioned, feeling a little sick at the prospect of the event her teacher was describing. And of course, she was scared at the prospect of him entering such a twisted game. But, maybe she could convince him to walk away from such a dangerous path.

Edward gave a dry laugh at her question. "A wish."

"What?"

"That's it. The winner of the Holy Grail War gets one wish granted to them, with the defeated Servants used as fuel for the Magic," "All they need to do is defeat the other Servants, and usually, the simplest way to do that is eliminating the other Masters,"

"Climb over the corpses of their competitors for a single. GOD-DAMN. Wish…"

"W-What wish would you ask of the…" Asia couldn't quite bring herself to refer to the wish-granting device as "The Holy Grail", but she needed to know if perhaps Mr Edward's wish could be granted without him needing to enter such a twisted, dare she say, heretical ritual, forcing Heroes of the past to fight one another, all just for a wish.

"What I'd wish for? Well, that's quite simple…" From that damn monkey's paw of a cup. Not a way back to his world, not for the power to destroy Trihexa, hell, not even for something as childish as world peace. No, his wish, while all too cliched in SI stories where the SI is aware of the Grail's corruption, was still a worthy one, and one that was absolutely necessary for the survival of not only himself, but the world… assuming that none of the gods could erase Angra Mainyu, but still, best to go with the fool-proof way of erasing that Zoroastrian scapegoat.

"For the Grail to destroy itself, without harming anything else."

"You see Asia, the Grail is tainted by a… curse of sorts," He'd rather not waste time explaining the concept of Angra Mainyu to her, not right now at least. "The curse turns any wish made upon the Grail into one that results in the destruction of the world." To be honest, he could understand some of Kirei Kotomine's desire for a wish to be made upon the tainted Grail. To see the hope-filled expression of a person who had fought their way through multiple trials and hardships twist into an expression of utter despair, horror and realization, the sheer schadenfreude from that was sure to bust his damn gut!

…But, the enjoyment was only there when he was sitting on the other side of the screen, simply watching man-made actors play out their role, not when he was on the side that would be torn asunder by the utterly retarded creation of an imbecilic village of manchildren, who simply ran away from the truth of humanity, picking a random child as the person who would "bear all the World's evils", as if such an act would truly make them good, especially since they proceeded to torture this "source of all evil" in their little rituals, not allowing him to die from anything but old age.

"But, why enter this savage ritual? Surely God would erase the curse?" Asia asked as she took another bite out of her meal. God wouldn't allow His children to be hurt, so if He hadn't already taken care of it, then surely if Mr Edward would bring it to the Church's attention, then his wish would be achieved, without having to risk his life. This was the honest, all too clear to see belief Asia held in her heart, even as an exiled nun.

And truly, if old YHWH was still kicking around, He would most certainly take action, but Edward doubted that the Christian God would be able to do anything. Angra Mainyu's Curse, now boosted by his utter farce of a legend, was quite literally drawing power from all the evils of mankind, and despite what some people may want to believe, in the young Quincy's mind, there was malice and evil in everyone, albeit in varying degrees, said amount shifting with time.

Even Asia, despite her kind nature, and unwavering faith in YHWH, still possessed some malice and things that could be described as "sinful" or "evil" by some admittedly idiotic people, evident by how she wishes, or will wish, or wished to get romantically involved with Issei Hyodou, only to be envious of others who vied for the current Boosted Gear wielder's attention, whether it be simply of their confidence or more developed bodies.

Granted, he could be wrong, as he wasn't omniscient, and truly, he wished that his belief of there being malice and sin in every person was wrong.

He knew that an easy way to draw forth malice from Asia right now would be to explain to her that the God she prayed to was dead, for what kind of omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and supposedly loving God that the Christian Church back in his world liked to push forward would let murder, rape, starvation, abuse and all other kinds of suffering and injustice happen?

To that, there would be only three logical answers. Either God simply didn't care, perhaps he enjoyed the suffering of mankind, or he never existed, not exactly true in this world, or that he was dead, so yeah, not all-powerful.

But, to do so would be too cruel, not to mention detrimental and unnecessary.

With a downcast expression, Edward spoke as he dismissed the orbs; "Asia…God can't fix everything." And if the Magus Association existed in this world, he was pretty sure that only human Magi were eligible for the Grail War, but then again, supposedly no Asian Servants should be summonable, but the 5th War sure proved that belief to be false.

"The Christian Mythos isn't the only one that's real, but the other ones are real as well," he continued, nearly shivering from fear from the thought. There were plenty of stories about Deities to know that in general, gods don't particularly care for the well-being of mortals, so yeah, Wars between Pantheons? He had no issue believing that those kind of things definitely happened.

Granted, there seemed to be a non-aggression pact going on that seemed to prevent the numerous deities from simply revealing themselves to the humans, aside from those who are high enough their religions' chain of command, but well, Gods, especially the Greeks, weren't exactly known for being honest, or the sort to honor their end of the bargain.

"And in quite a lot of those mythologies, there are creation Myths, many quite different from one another." Edward could remember a few odd ones, like that Finnish one where the world was born from the egg of a Swan.

Asia furrowed her brow at the thought. "But, which creation myth is true, if all the Pantheons are real?" She had heard about one myth where the world was born from a dove's egg that was being warmed up by a big snake, but she hadn't gotten far in reading the book about Greek Mythology, before Father Antonio saw her with the book, tore it from her hands, and walked away, mumbling something about "Books of Heretics and blasphemies".

"I don't know, but to be frank, it doesn't matter." Although it certainly got the gears of his mind turning.

"The key point is that all these pantheons exist, and yet, the non-magical part of humanity doesn't know for certain that their particular pantheon exists, why do you think that is, Asia?" Edward asked, taking another bite out of his meal as he waited for Asia to answer.

The exiled nun looked down thoughtfully. If all the religions did exist, including the deities, then wouldn't revealing themselves be good for everyone? The promise of an afterlife should inspire people to be kind and helpful to one another, or they'd face only eternal damnation when their time came. But, didn't some religions have just a single afterlife, for both the good and the bad? Oh, that, that might drive some people away from those faiths.

"There's… some kind of um… agreement? To keep things fair?" Asia proposed, somewhat uncertain of her answer.

Edward nodded, swallowing. "That's the gist of it, yeah." If the people knew that gods did exist, especially the ones famous for being destructive, they'd be stampeding over another, flocking to the pantheons they think would protect them, or grant them boons. Not to mention that the Angels would be in one hell of a disadvantage, what with YHWH dead.

"And because the ritual takes place here in Japan, where Christianity doesn't have much of an influence, God can't do anything without asking the local deities for permission, and well, the other Pantheons might see it as an attempt to claim the wish for the Church," Edward explained, before smiling and looking at the blonde nun, who was just about done with her piece of skewered meat.

"But don't worry, I know that at least three participants will help me in my task," He said reassuringly, as images of Rin, Shirou and Illya came to his mind. He knew that all three were the sort that wouldn't allow for Angra Mainyu to be born, well, assuming that the "Hero" Faction didn't interfere and decide to join in on the War.

"Now then, eat up, before the food gets cold," he said, taking another one from the fire as Asia nodded and began eating away at the barbecued rodent meat. Although, with the right application of heat-and-energy-related runes, he could supposedly preserve the heat for a longer time.

Man, he fucking loved Runes…

[45 Minutes later…]

"So, you set the stones in the places I asked?" Edward asked as Nixie strolled out of the woodwork, an empty sack in her hands. While he had earlier on set up a rather basic Bounded Field, meant to not only alert him of any trespassers but also to help in hiding any magical energy in the area, following the guidelines he found in one of the mansion's books. Granted, this place was remote away from Kuoh's main populated area that not many people would wander in here, and simply sending the magical energy into the lay lines could be used as a way of tracking him by a competent enough Magic User, or someone who was very familiar with lay lines.

And so, he had crafted some runestones, both to augment the Bounded Field with a spell that would deter people from approaching the area by emanating an ominous aura, and some traps to hinder, if not incapacitate the more supernaturally inclined intruders. The fear deterrent shouldn't be anything too volatile, simply make people feel really damn uncomfortable being here, make them feel like something might or might not be just outside of their field of visions. At most, it'd result in a ghost story being passed around in Kuoh, nothing that ought to catch the Devils' or Fallen Angels' attention.

But, because he didn't feel comfortable with leaving Asia to her lonesome self, he sent Nixie to set the stones in various places around the forest surrounding their little hideout.

"I even made sure that they were well-hidden!" Nixie answered with a cheery nod, plopping down next to her Summoner.

"Thank you, Nixie," Edward smiled as he watched the little Water elemental preen at the head-pat, leaning into it with her eyes closed and a happy, satisfied smile on the little Sprite's lips.

"Here, I saved you some grub," he said, handing one of the meat-sticks, the blue-haired elemental accepting it, and began tearing into it.

[On the outskirts of Kuoh…]

A venomous green magic circle burned itself onto a patch of grass inside a small forest clearing, an "A"-like symbol forming itself in the middle of it as a similarly colored dome of light formed over the symbol, black and green electricity crackling over its surface before it faded away, two cloaked figures now standing in the spot.

The two cloaked figures didn't say a word, only momentarily making eye-contact before they took off towards the direction of Kuoh city, their mission clear. They'd just need to avoid being noticed by the Sitri and Gremory heiress', and pinpoint where their target was hiding.

Failure was not an option.

AN: Soo... yeah, this was more on the shorter side, I know, but, I do have some good news, regarding my RWBY fic, well, semi-good, semi-bad news.

I'm rebooting it (sorta)

See, I've recently been reading a lot of Fate/ Stay Night/RWBY fics, and, well, with these two last Volumes, some of the stuff I had in mind for United We Stand is kinda useless, or redundant, like Jaune's Stand, which I had in mind to a booster, enhancing Jaune's physical specs, albeit quite likely to fuck up his body in the process, similar to One for All from MHA.

Now, this doesn't mean that the last couple of Volumes killed United we Stand, as I was already having some troubles balancing everything I had planned.

And so, in this SI fic, I'm only dropping one character from F/SN into RWBY, namely, Shirou Emiya, albeit I'm not sure which version of him.

I've already begun doing artwork of the SI, and Shirou's teammates. Albeit I'm lacking a team name, but I do know that Shirou will be leader, and no, I'm not going with SAPHR, because that would be a tad too on the nose, considering what I have planned for the team.

Now then, onto the chapter stuff!

I know that some of the stuff I put in the chapter might offend some people, but I would just like to say that while I'm not a religious person, I don't think any less of people who are religious...I simply have an issue with the concept of a God, especially an all-powerful, all-knowing, benevolent one, and let's just leave it at that.

Now, some of you who don't know much about Angra Mainyu, beyond what you know from the anime, and some fanfics, let me explain what I meant by calling him/it a "scapegoat".

See, while Angra Mainyu, the Avenger-class Servant, might be the Zoroastrian embodiment of Evil, his legend, and his entire being is utterly false and artificial, but not in the same way that Sasaki Kojiro's/Fake Assassin's not a true Heroic Spirit.

Sasaki Kojiro never existed, albeit his legend etched itself into history, but since he never existed, he'd normally be unable to be summoned for a Grail War, and his existence is more similar to a Wraith, or a Demi-Servant.

Angra Mainyu however did exist, but he wasn't an embodiment of evil, or even a Magus, or anything special. He was just a random kid in a village, a village who believed that from the moment humans are born, there is evil in them.

Since to them, it was impossible to be freed from malice just through clean, righteous living, the only way to realize the true goodness of human beings was to force "all the evils of the world" onto one person and blame him as the true source of any human evil. If one person embodies all the evils of the world, the rest of the people cannot be evil, no matter what. This was the simple, childlike theory they all invested in.

And so, one person at random was chosen to "carry" the blame for all the evils in the world, and that person was this very kid, who was then continuously tortured by the village, the villagers carving every curse word onto his skin, keeping him alive through some form of Magecraft, which also made sure that he'd die only from old age.

Although this ritual was completely moronic and self-defeating, it did give the people peace of mind, and so, technically Angra Mainyu was legible for entering the Throne of Heroes.

So, to put it bluntly, his entire legend is a farce, the result of a childish concept, whereupon the people of the village passed the blame for every evil deed onto one child, claiming themselves to be "Good", even as they carved into the child's body.

Honestly, I understand why Angra Mainyu is a Shirou-face, as both of them are Fakers, albeit Emiya at least got his ticket into the ToH by his own deeds, not by being the most inhumane of placebo cures.

Reviews Answered:

Guest'a {Sep 20, 2017]:

Guest {Sep 20, 2017]: I apologize for taking so long with it.

Gurat {Sep 20, 2017]: Hehhehehee... the Canon was already out the window, this is just the first, one caused by the SI himself...well, unless you count him killing Vizer.

Ti sirius {Sep 21, 2017]: As I explained in an earlier chapter, Q-Edward has a timestamp for when the Fuyuki city fire happened, a little over 9 years ago. So yeah, even if it was a completely different fire (Unlikely, considering how it was listed to have spread to about half the city, and started from the fucking spot where the Canon Fuyuki fire started), Q-Edward would rather prepare for a war that might not come, rather than ignore the possibility of a Genocidal Zoroastrian scapegoat being unleashed onto the world.

So please, in the future, read the chapters before you post a comment that was quite clearly answered in the story, as it is quite annoying to have to deal with those types of comments, and makes me feel like maybe I should just put stuff like that in big, bolded letters for you guys to notice.

Cf96 {Sep 21, 2017]: Thank you for the kind words.

Guest {Sep 21, 2017]: I hope that this chapter managed to at least impressed at least a little bit, although I doubt it, what with the lack of action...

Guest {Nov 26, 2017]: *Sigh of frustration* As I have stated in previous Review answers, Q-Ed is the ONE AND ONLY Quincy in the DxD-verse, ergo, none of the Wandenreich's shit exists there, including the shadow empire.

Guest {Jan 1, 2018]: I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope that you'll enjoy the rest of the story as well.