Moon and Caster

I woke up, which was a pretty good sign. I almost expected someone to be directly by my side when I woke up, yet there was no one… Well, Tamamo was… There. I supposed that saying she was 'there' was the proper way of dealing with the fact that she and Melusine were both out and glaring at each other while sitting on the floor next to the bed with intensity, sparks flying in that usual anime fashion where the two of them were more or less connected by 'beams' of electricity sparkling against each other, neither giving ground. They probably knew each other from Chaldea, which included the… True name.

To say the least, from what I could recall, Tamamo was not a fan of her history. Simply having it revealed was a considerable chance that she would fall into a sort of depression about being unworthy or something like that, or just in leftover sorrow and trauma of being treated like she had been. I was not entirely sure on that, and from what I did recall of her role in Grand Order, she had gotten over that pretty much, but every attempt to consider using her real name right now ended with her sad and her ears flat against her head. At least in my mind. Maybe it could go better than that, maybe not.

Even if the chance existed that Tamamo did not know Melusine, the chance that Melusine hadn't met Tamamo, or one of the other Tamamo Nine, in Chaldea was considerably lower. This meant she would still know the name which Tamamo did not want to be known, maybe had already used it as well. This was quite a troublesome situation right now, wasn't it…

…actually, wasn't Melusine's situation a lot worse than Tamamo's? One started out as a curious goddess trying to understand humanity who ended up betrayed and killed, after she herself killed the army that pursued her and the other was a Grand Dragon of sorts who probably destroyed armies on the regular, if there were even armies left to be destroyed… I would handle that when it comes to it. It was probably a difference in morality. Tamamo wanted to be good, to be accepted, while Albion and Melusine did not quite want the same.

Melusine had had that fairy that took her in as well. Aurora, wasn't she? A bitch from what I remember, but someone who had raised her, named her and everything, prevented her from becoming a second Albion immediately after she had been born from the decayed flesh and festering curses of the tragic dragon who failed to reach the ultimate goal. Still, that did not lead to the sort of morality where Melusine felt bad for those she killed. If I recall correctly.

For now, they were so focused on each other that they apparently hadn't seen me wake up… Even as I raised my hand and checked, seeing that I still had the Command Seals on the back of it. This was going to be a bit difficult to cover up, won't it… There were still some leftover sensations of pain when I started moving more. I had experienced worse after work and workouts though… I was pretty sure, at least.

Checking the time on the Daily Quest countdown and the clock, I was out for the entire absence of the sun. The dark of the night had only been settling in when I made the deal with Melusine, but now it was gradually getting to sunrise, which meant I having spent the last few hours in what was probably more of a coma than actually sleeping. Eh, close enough. Let's see… My stats were still the same but…

[Race Updated!

Young Fae Altered Dragon – Neither Dragon, Fae nor Human, yet all three at the same time. Faced with scrutiny, you will appear as human, yet your blood is that of a Dragon, all the while hints of otherworldly Fae magic are surrounding you. Just what are you?

Race Benefits:

Massively increased growth of all stats, [Dragon Heart], [Draconic Vitality]]

[[Dragon Heart Lv.1/10] – The factor of a Dragon. Rather than an actual heart, it refers to a Magic Core. The amount of magical energy produced is incomparable to a normal human and only further levels up as the Core further settles in and is pushed to its limits. It may be possible to update and improve the core through the utilization of other cores. MP is increased by x100]

[Perk Obtained!

[Draconic Vitality] – Vitality now reduces overall damage taken from external physical and magic attacks and the rate at which skills that function through vitality apply benefits is increased. A conceptual immunity to some attacks is granted as the user becomes more powerful]

[[Divine Dividing: Ray Horizon] has been updated with [Innocence Arondight]]

[[Total Concentration Breathing] has been updated to [Draconic Total Concentration Breath]

[Draconic Total Concentration Breath Lv.1/25] – An upgraded version of the previous technique. Increases HP and MP Regeneration, Strength, Dexterity, Quickness and Magic by 2% per skill level. The first attack within two seconds of activating the skill does 250% damage. While the skill is active, it is possible to apply certain effects to those around you, being capable of raising morale in allies and striking fear in enemies by the simple fact that you are breathing.]

I did not really have skills to improve beyond that in the first place. A two percent increase was nothing that actually increased my stats, but the damage bonus was… Going to be a bit of a strange one. If the skill is constantly activated, then I would lose out on the bonus, but gain permanent stats… So maybe I should only start trying to reach a constant state when I have triple digit stats…

In spite of the difference in race, there were no other physical changes on my body, just the Command Seals. "Good morning." I spoke, trying to work the pain out of my limbs, hopefully without needing to use drugs, medicine, or anything of the like.

"Ah! Good morning, Master!" Tamamo quickly moved away from her challenge by sharp eyes, smiling brightly at me.

"…good morning, Caster." For the time being, I would call her that. It was only after saying that that I realized the sheer further implications of her existence. I was in the Moon Cell's Holy Grail War with no actual knowledge of how to return to the Moon Cell right now. Ah wait… There was a button in the Terminal now… With a press, I felt myself falling and the colors shifting.

Aside for blurry vision, the next thing I knew, I was standing in the entrance to a certain school, lockers to either side of me, most likely containing shoes, yet the very nature and fact of what this place was… Disturbed me way too much to relax in the presence of even something so mundane as shoes, instead expecting some sort of monster or something to jump out of each one. Seeing the massive man standing just at the stairs did not help calm matters either.

He was tall, massive even, but I was trying to make myself as small as possible in this sort of situation, unable to really stand tall and proud in this moment. I did not belong here, or rather I did not want to belong here. However, the things that do not belong in the Moon Cell however are deleted. If the Moon Cell decided I was not supposed to be here, I would be erased and the very fact I was trying to deny my role meant I was asking to be deleted. Thus, I chose to simply be afraid for the time being and approached the man.

A small distraction was provided. Instead of a cross around his neck, he had a strange interlocking chain link that was probably some other religious symbol. None the less, I could think of nothing more or less of him than a priest. He was, after all, Father Kotomine Kirei, the bain of many and the one I had to more or less converse with right now. We just looked at each other for a few moments. I was not sure if I had to press some metaphysical button to start the conversation… He was probably just messing with me…

"Congratulations." He suddenly started talking without me doing anything, yet did not sound like he meant it. An NPC that he was, he probably hadn't gotten tired of repeating himself a hundred and twenty-eight times, so the sarcasm was probably entirely his own. "You have been deemed worthy to be a participant in the Holy Grail War. You may call me Father Kotomine. I am an NPC assigned the task of supervising the Holy Grail War. As of today you and your fellow magi have been given the honor of fighting in the Arena up ahead. The war is run as an elimination tournament, with the Grail being awarded to the last person standing. In other words, the participating Masters will kill each other until there is only one person left. Simple enough to understand, yes? Even a complete idiot should be able to understand the rules."

There were those who do not treat this seriously, who think this is just a game. At least there should have been. I was not sure if I was in the War I knew or if this was a fresh one. But the fact remained that some were incapable of understanding the rules and the very literal meaning of the killing of the opponents. At that, the elimination started at nine hundred ninety-nine potential candidates who were cut down to one hundred and twenty-eight. Those that did not make the cut were either killed trying to make it, or erased without ever knowing what was going on.

"Masters get a six day preparation period before Elimination Battles, which occur on the seventh day. I'd advise you to use the time given to devise the most efficient means of slaughtering your foe. On the seventh day, you and your foe will fight. The winner lives and the loser is… Deleted. That concludes the time for conversation. For today, concentrate on becoming accustomed to the inner workings of the Arena. The Arena entrance uses the same door you went through during the preliminaries. Good luck."

I knew all of that. We were also supposed to gather two 'Trigger' items which would actually allow us to fight in the Elimination Battle as without them, we would be erased immediately. There were, however, exceptions, such as Jinako who had supposedly made it for several rounds by sheer luck due to her opponents dying before she was to do battle, meaning she never had to leave her closet slash room, not even to collect the Triggers.

…speaking of, normally I was pretty sure we were supposed to get our own, private, room… But considering I was capable of leaving back to Kuoh, I probably had no reason or justification to actually ask for a room. Not that I even wanted to spend more time here than I absolutely had to.

In terms of gameplay, the day started at Midday, Morning was skipped and the actual Arena time was the Evening, so to say. The afternoon therefore was used for shopping, data gathering and so on, the morning just was not a part of things and the only appearance of the night was at the decided end at which the Arena is exited. The chance existed that I would not be able to leave the Arena and go back into it during the same day.

Either way, it was still morning and I had other business to attend to. The triggers could be collected on days five and six with the battle on day seven, but the fact remained that I, we, probably had to get stronger. A lot stronger. Even if Melusine and Tamamo working together could probably take on most Heroic Spirits, I myself had to get stronger as well and now I had a direct and convenient way to do so, as well as do some other things if they were the same.

For the time being however, I was more or less still on a schedule. While the first thought was to immediately turn around, I spun to a certain other direction, away from the Arena, not that Kirei said anything about it, instead just standing there like an NPC. At the end of the hallway was… The Nurse's office.

"Ah. Good morning." And there she was. An absolute cutie by the name of Sakura Matou, even if she wasn't Sakura herself, but an NPC based off of the appearance of Sakura for unknown reasons. I liked the Moon's idea, whatever brought it up, to make her the nurse. But I could be charmed by Sakura later. "Is there something you require?"

"…Bandages. I am not injured, I just want to cover up my Command Seals for… Reasons…"

"Oh… That is… Unusual." Even so, she got up from her seat… Her hair went all the way down to her heels, which was really strange to see in person. Most Masters in this war had a standard model while some were capable of making a unique, personal, model or maybe avatar would be the better term. Since I was far from the standard model, the assumption was probably there that I could have also edited the Seals somehow to be elsewhere… "Here you are."

"Thank you very much." With a quick bow, I went out of the room and started wrapping the bandages around my hand. If Sakura was Sakura, it would have been… Fine. Better? But trying something with an AI that probably only had so much that her programming allowed her to do was… A bit too desperate. Huh… I wonder what happened to BB… Was she before this time or would she be some time after…

Whatever the reason was, I realized that the bandages might not follow me into the normal world. Ah… Fuck.. Hm… I would just find some more there then. For the time being, I walked out of the building and found the empty track field in front of it. This was likely going to get me some weird looks from the other Masters, but that was fine. I could and would use this place and chance to run through my Daily Workout in relative peace!

…I had to hype myself up to actually get willing enough to go through with it…

o.O.o.O.o

I made a mistake. I made an absolutely massive mistake. My bones were only recently replaced and the pain hadn't passed me by yet, but I had put an absolute strain on my body which followed me even to the normal world as I walked to school as carefully as I could. The bandages were still on my hand though, which was a lot nicer a surprise. The massive increase to stat growth also proved itself, my Strength, Vitality, Dexterity and Quickness all jumping up to twenty, effectively doubling compared to what I had started off with this morning.

Of course, I did not really have anyone or anything to compare against just yet, aside for getting beaten up yesterday. I was not the only one who remembered that. Some of the girls whispered among themselves, questioning if they had actually beaten me up for me to move as sorely as I had been. Some accused me of acting like I was more hurt than I really was. The two perverts apologized and thanked me for staying behind and keeping them safe.

"Master… I feel like you need to explain some things." And there Tamamo was, in spirit form of course, demanding answers. Once more, the world went 'blue' as choices appeared.

[>[Talk about the System]

[Talk about the Moon Cell]

[Talk about Melusine]

[Talk about the Rumors]

[Lie]

[Ignore]

["More importantly, you look very cute."]

["Ah… By the way, I am sorry for just disappearing on you this morning…"]

["What do you want to talk about?]

["There is nothing to talk about."]]

Oh wow that's a lot of options… Let's see, if I can mix and match… "More importantly, you look very cute and I am sorry for just disappearing on you this morning." What a cheat that was…

[+5 Affection with Caster]

"Y-You won't get out of this that easily!" …I could hear her blush even if the notification hadn't popped up… Wait, affection? That could be dangerous…

[>[Talk about the System]

[Talk about the Moon Cell]

[Talk about Melusine]

[Talk about the Rumors]

[Lie]

[Ignore]

["More importantly, you look very cute."]

["Ah… By the way, I am sorry for just disappearing on you this morning…"]

["What do you want to talk about?]

["There is nothing to talk about."]]

Oh I have to continue… "…My most well-known feature is being a breast obsessed pervert." …the amount of actual control I had over the choices was strange considering I did not mean to say that so suddenly or as bluntly. "I-I mean… Before…" The choices showed up and I quickly continued into a particular next one. "I don't really have a magical background, but somehow I ended up in the Moon Cell and I think that caused some changes toward my personality and memories. But that only happened yesterday, so my former self is still the one known by everyone around me. I promise I am not that perverted anymore."

"I-Is that so… Well, you have me now, so it will be fine!"

[>["Don't kill anyone just for talking behind my back!"]

["So I can join the Holy Breast War instead?"]

["Moving on…"]]

…there are probably a lot of words that could be used which fit the situation better, but the one that came to mind was that Tamamo was… Ingenuine. She wasn't doing this because I was me. She was doing this because I was her Master, her summoner, her contractor. Whoever summoned her, she would act this way towards them and, if I recall, get a feel for their general personality and all that, deciding if they were 'right' for each other or not.

The chance existed that it was because she did like me for me, but it was… Considerably lower. Maybe I could ask her about it later, for now the best option would ultimately be…

"So I can join the Holy Breast War instead?"

"Certainly!" Damn, she was too immune to such a thing… Come to think of it, those were more or less her words, weren't it?

[>[Talk about the System]

[Talk about the Moon Cell]

[Talk about Melusine]

[Talk about the Rumors]

[Lie]

[Ignore]

["More importantly, you look very cute."]

["Ah… By the way, I am sorry for just disappearing on you this morning…"]

["What do you want to talk about?]

["There is nothing to talk about."]]

"…by the way, about Melusine…"

"Oh? So that's her name?" Tamamo's expression immediately fell from joy to… Restrained something or another. The sort of look one would get when talking about something that was just barely on the edge of outright upsetting the other individual.

"She hadn't introduced herself?"

{She saw me and immediately went on the offensive.} Melusine pointed out.

There was no convenient option for this and I couldn't exactly touch her, even if our link somehow let me feel her emotions and expressions. "…Caster, I… Will have the company of other women as well. This might end up in… Various ways. I do not know how exactly either. What I do know is… It is for the sake of the world. And my own. If you cannot… Accept that… Then I will be very, very, sad. Do you want to make me feel sad and bad?"

"But you have me!" She argued immediately.

"…why?"

"Huh?"

I am going to absolutely regret this. Tamamo is a user of Witchcraft and curses, not to mention being a Kami and thus capable of dishing out Divine Punishment. "We only just met a few hours ago and started talking a few minutes ago…" With everyone else ignoring me talking out loud, strangely enough. Might be an effect of the System. "But you're… Like this. And I don't feel like… You're honest."

"I-I—"

"So let's start from the beginning. My name is Hyoudou Issei and I know that Heroic Spirits have to keep their true names hidden so I won't make you tell me that here and now. But… Let's just start from the start? Please? If you can charm me and I can charm you, then… Everything is fine… But if you will be… Between me and those I want to be friends with… Then you're already sinking my affection scores toward you."

"Y-You don't mean that! …do you…?" Her sorrow was heart breaking…

"…you're cute and… I wouldn't mind it ending like that… But I don't feel like I can… Trust you being genuine with me right now. It feels like you're putting on an act. So if you… Really do like me, can we start from a better position? This is… Making me not very comfortable… And if I will lose friends and chances to have friends because of you then… I don't think I can like you as much as I want to like you… And as much as you hopefully want me to like you."

There was a long and uncomfortable silence. Classes had started, yet even the small buzz of the classroom and the lecture failed to truly and properly make the silence any shorter or better. It wasn't tense, just… Sorrowful. I totally ruined things with her, didn't I… Even so, I was not fully comfortable with her being like that, I was honest about that. And she was in possession of the Polygamist Castration Fist which was… Probably the greatest weapon that could be used against me in this sort of setting.

The Random Box had given me an HP potion and I was pretty sure that recovering HP would recover any wound, but that did not seem like it would be useful in this or that situation…

"…Okay." Huh? "I will just have to make an effort to properly charm you then! And if that means letting a few hussies near you, then I will just force myself to accept it no matter how much I don't want to!"

[>["…By the way, I have a date on Sunday."]

["By the way, I have a date on Sunday with a Fallen Angel."]

["By the way, I have a date on Sunday with a Fallen Angel who probably wants to skewer me like a shish-kebab."]

[Say nothing]]

"…By the way, I have a date on Sunday." The reaction was dramatic enough I suddenly could swear I heard glass breaking. "…I would prefer it if you didn't kill her, regardless of how the date ends, but torture may be acceptable."

"…huh?" She did not expect that.

"…Because of Melusine, the way she and I are… Bonded… The one who asked me out might end up trying to kill me at the end of the date, having planned it to be a shock and betrayal or something. But I know what she's planning and yes, I am still going on the date regardless. She'll probably kill me outright if I don't…"

I could feel her fury rising. The rest of the class probably could as well considering it was a mighty pressure that somehow managed to move a few chairs and tables around my own. "What do you mean?" Just about all mirth was gone and Tamamo was in full rage mode.

"Just because she is trying to kill and betray me, she doesn't deserve to die. Beyond that… She is a Fallen Angel… And I suppose I should explain Sacred Gears to you as well, among other things…"

From there, it was mostly explaining Chaldea, Melusine, the Lostbelts, Sacred Gears, the Great War and so on, the things I had already gone through with Melusine yesterday. Tamamo was probably hardly any less upset for the explanations themselves, but just talking about things other than the actual source of her fury let the flames of hate fan out and away quite a bit.

[Event Complete

+5 Charisma]

Oh, nice.

o.O.o.O.o

The Information Matrix was more or less tied to my knowledge. For example, I knew the skills and Noble Phantasms of Melusine and Tamamo, but the actual rank between A and EX eluded me for the time being, so the Information Matrix displayed nearly all of the information, from the basic skill description, skill list, Noble Phantasms and background of both girls, but the skills, stats and Noble Phantasms had question marks instead of ranks.

"…by the way…"

"Is it about the Devils?"

On the other hand, it did not seem like the Information Matrix truly automatically updated with all of the knowledge I had. Raynare hadn't shown up until I started interacting with her and I at least assumed that Rias and the gang would also be recorded in the Matrix once I actually start interacting with them. They were not in there, but considering I had to actually… Well, know things about them, they didn't have to be in the Matrix either as no new information would be provided.

"You know?!" It seems that Tamamo's attempt to warn me failed.

"…yes, and no exorcizing Devils without permission. Not all of them are… Well, evil. I think. Might be a bit of a matter of perspective… Cursing those who wronged them and eliminating runaway Devils probably seems evil for those that are cursed and being hunted. But over all, they are rather decent individuals."

Besides. It was time to return to the Moon Cell and see just where we stood in terms of power.