A Gathering of Heroes part 2

Rome, Italy

Like a thief carrying a recent haul, a slender woman dodged through the crisp winter night through back allays and other dark spaces where sane people rightfully stayed away from. The particular stone in question was a relic of a bygone era when great empires united all the known world into a singular entity. Marked by a millennia of wind, rain, and heat it had once been part of a grand theater built by an empress who so loved the arts that she wished to showcase the talents of the empire's best and brightest. Or at least it was part of such a structure until several days ago when it's current owner, under cover of a unlit night, chiseled it from it's original foundry and hefted it back home as carefully as one could steal away a priceless relic of a bygone era.

It was not long before the man, dressed in a dark clothing and glasses meant to blend into the cold city night, finally arrived at her destination, an old apartment on the city's east side. Small and cramped, it was a room she had first rented years ago when she was a mere student of the magical arts. Though she had since become a competent Magus of some renown, her pay check, unlike her reputation, had remained small and unworthy of bragging about among her friend and colleagues. Thus the room she had rented long ago had since remained her home and base operations.

Dragging the fist sized piece of ancient architecture into a sparsely furnished room that often doubled as a space for working magic and magecraft far from the prying eyes of those jerks from next door who were always complaining about all the noise, explosions, and horrible wailing from beyond the edge of reality that seemed to constantly leek from her apartment door at all hours of the night.

"Well screw them." The black clad magus plainly stated as she began to draw the magical circle associated with the Fuyuki Grail War "This war is my ticket out of this crappy apartment and my chance to get away from all these idiots once and for all."

A few moments later she stood and admired her handy work, the summoning circle was perfect. All that was left was to summon the servant she had carefully selected as being her best chance to win the Grail War and claim the fortune and fame that came along with such a victory for herself. With one hand held palm open towards the circle she began the age old chant that had been handed down from one generation magus to another in hopes that someday someone would complete the ritual the Grail was constructed to carry out.

"Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg.
The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate.
Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill).
Repeat every five times.
Simply, shatter once filled.
――――I announce.
Your self is under me, my fate(doom) is in your sword.
In accordance with the resort of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer.
Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead.
You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――!"

Calling upon the ancient magic of the grail the door to the throne of heroes opened with a great roar of lightning and raw magical energy that knocked the summoner to the ground with a mighty thud. Then, aided by the eldritch power of the great Grail, a Legendary soul with an eye for art and the charisma to lead an empire emmerged from the depths of the Throne of Heroes. Clad in red and carrying herself in a manner befitting royalty, there was little question the ritual had been a complete success.

"Now, praetor, I ask a single question of thee." The short woman in red spoke. "Are you my master?"

The magus in black merely shook her head in agreement.

Fuyuki City, Japan

Upon a hill sat a church. A relic from the age in which Christianity first made headway into the nations of the east, the structure had long been a holy ground for those meant to partake in the Fuyuki Grail War. For under the surface ran a layline necessary for the ritual known only as Heaven's Feel, making it one of several locations across the city upon which the grail may manifest itself. For this reason the church was always heavily guarded by agents of the church, holy men who had been tasked with overseeing a conflict waged by their eteneral enemies.

Previously occupied by several generations of priests and other holy-types, it currently lie empty save for a certain errant soul who had long outstayed his welcome in the modern world. The man would have best fit the role of overseer was the son of man who had filled the role one war prior. Unfortunately, he had fallen victim, as so many often do, to the curse of the grail and his body and bones, or what was left of them, currently lay in a grave beside the church his father had once dwelled within.

The search for his replacement was a long one that culminated in a most unusual of selections. A young girl of fourteen with radiant silver hair and a tendency to dress in a manner most garish. The daughter of the man who would have filled the role, had he lived to see the present day, her calm, calculating demeanor and talent for deal with others made her the perfect candidate to oversee the newest Grail War.

Like many others, the silver haired girl was currently en route to Fuyuki with dreams of the Grail War dancing about in their waking minds. As she sat staring into the night sky from her seat aboard a private plane, she wondered how the war would play out and what brave soul would be granted the one-in-a-lifetime chance to have all their fondest desires come to fruition. She then remembered how the last war had played out and the massive fire that had claimed the lives of her father. She smirked, regardless of the outcome, this was going to be interesting.

For better or worse, the curtain would soon rise on the Fifth Holy Grail War.