How About You Guys Find a Different Savior

How about you find a different savior?

Author: Kirei Kotsuki

Synopsis:

Many years later, Xi Jianxi would recall the moment he first stepped into the Holy Grail War, perhaps fate had already been decided:

Thrown into the Shadow Realm with no knowledge, becoming Scathach's disciple.

Entrusted by Kirei with his daughter Karen, whom he couldn't raise, and adopting Sakura, Tokiomi's second daughter.

Just as he thought his parenting life in Fuyuki was beginning, he was chosen by the Grail again and given Command Spells.

He planned to summon Berserker to participate... and you're telling me the famous magus, the Fairy Queen Morgan, is the one who showed up?

"Since I'm always being pushed forward anyway, I might as well take the initiative."

Unless, even this thought was part of the calculation.

Fate Comprehensive Fanfiction

Volume 1: Zero

Volume 2: Case Files

Volume 3: The Fifth Holy Grail War (FGO Version Rework)

Volumes 4-6: London, North America, Camelot, Uruk Singularities

Volume 7: Temple of Time, CCC

Prologue: Land of the Dead

The young man, his body pushed to the brink of exhaustion, trudged along a rugged mountain path where all he could see was stone.

The sky was covered by heavy dark clouds, and sunlight couldn't penetrate the darkness.

A fierce wind, carrying the scent of death, blew towards him.

He had lost count of how many days it had been since he arrived in this place.

There was no distinction between day and night; no matter when, it was always overcast and gloomy.

"...It's just... like the Land of the Dead..."

He, Xi Jianxi, muttered to himself.

Xi Jianxi tightened his grip on the wooden stick he held, something he had found on the road that could barely serve as a weapon.

The reason he needed a weapon was simple—

As the wind swept through the mountain path, things like skeletons, undead, or phantoms materialized from the black mist.

The dead with dry, sunken, rotting faces, skeletons without a trace of muscle, and monsters hidden in the shadows of tattered cloaks, their faces completely obscured, only their eyes glowing like will-o'-the-wisps.

These "things" held rusty swords and spears in their hands.

Xi Jianxi knew he was surrounded.

They exuded a dangerous aura that was obvious at a glance.

He couldn't let them get close. Though these beings looked unsteady on their feet, their weapons swung with considerable force.

Seizing an opportunity, he dodged the swing of the first charging skeleton. His wooden stick accurately struck its cervical vertebrae, and its skull rolled on the ground before coming to a stop.

The skeleton swayed and fell backward.

All the monsters let out eerie, terrifying sounds and charged at Xi Jianxi one after another.

His stamina had long been depleted by countless rounds of such ambushes, seemingly at its limit yet also as if he were perpetually on the verge of death but unable to succumb.

But it was precisely this will to survive that allowed Xi Jianxi to gradually master methods of dealing with these monsters and fighting styles through repeated encounters.

The moment swords and spears were raised, he could anticipate the enemy's attack trajectory, avoid vital points, and counterattack.

His body moved like a combat machine, precisely engaging the monsters.

However, he was outnumbered, and the wooden stick was worn down and then shattered into pieces through repeated counterattacks.

Dodging the slash of a corpse, Xi Jianxi rolled backward, only to fall into the attack range of other monsters. Various weapons rained down densely.

Whoosh—

A sharp red light flashed, and all the monsters instantly turned to dust, along with their weapons.

"Oh? I didn't expect anyone to be able to step into this place alive at this point. I thought it was an illusion and came out to take a look, but I've actually found good material."

A sharp vermilion spear pointed at Xi Jianxi, its owner's voice clear, cold, and noble.

The wind, laced with the scent of death, still whistled past his cheeks, and the owner's long hair fluttered in the wind.

Even though he was utterly exhausted, and even though the other party was masked, he couldn't help but hold his breath at the peerless elegance of the woman before him.

"Since you have arrived in the Shadow Realm and met me, the ruler of this alien and demonic realm. Warrior, state your name."

The woman retracted her spear blade and planted it on the ground.

"Xi Jian... Tianxi..."

[Congratulations on surviving the Shadow Realm and meeting its Queen. But don't think it ends here; your journey, riddled with death, has only just begun?]

The moment Xi Jianxi spoke his name, it was as if someone was telling him this, not with a voice, but by directly engraving the information into his mind.

He could sense that he had stepped onto an unknown destiny.

Chapter 1: Sakura Tohsaka

Xi Jianxi narrowed his eyes. The sunlight streaming through the stained-glass window above the chapel blinded him.

He gradually came back to himself from a doze, surprised that he had dozed off in a place like this without realizing it.

Heavy, slow footsteps echoed through the wooden floor of the church. An elderly priest slowly approached, appearing to Xi Jianxi's left.

He was the priest in charge of this church, named Rin Tohsaka, and was nearly eighty years old. He appeared to have dim, hazy eyes, but the narrow slits conveyed that he had not become senile with age.

"You've been waiting impatiently, haven't you?" Father Tohsaka asked Xi Jianxi, who was much younger than him, in a very calm tone.

Xi Jianxi then retracted his arms from the wooden bench where they had been resting. He shifted from leaning back to sitting up, his right hand slowly lowering to rest on the silver-haired girl napping on his lap.

"No, I came for that matter today anyway, so waiting a little longer is fine," Xi Jianxi said dismissively. "More importantly, Father Tohsaka, your son still hasn't arrived."

"As you know, it's only been a year since he lost his wife. He's currently studying magecraft under Tokiomi, preparing for the Holy Grail War two years from now. He likely doesn't have the time to be distracted by meeting his daughter," Father Tohsaka explained sternly, his gaze falling on the little girl in Xi Jianxi's arms.

Kallen Ostia.

The child born to Father Rin Tohsaka's son, Kirei, and an Italian woman.

However, Kirei's wife passed away only two years after their marriage. At the time, Kirei knew he couldn't care for his two-year-old daughter, Kallen, himself, so he entrusted her to Xi Jianxi, who happened to be in Italy.

The two had previously undertaken missions together that required the cooperation of an executor from the Holy Church and a magus from the Mage's Association. Based on this relationship, Kallen was entrusted to Xi Jianxi.

However, Xi Jianxi had not yet decided whether to let Kallen change her surname and officially adopt her.

"That's truly a shame..." Xi Jianxi said, scratching his hair.

Whether he was genuinely unable to get away or simply didn't want to come, and felt nothing for the daughter he had entrusted away, Xi Jianxi remained reserved.

Kirei Tohsaka was a little... off.

That was the deepest impression Xi Jianxi had of him after working together on multiple missions with the priest.

"But seeing this child as she is now, entrusting her to you might have been Kirei's most correct choice," Father Tohsaka said. "Neither I nor Kirei could take good care of Kallen."

"Not at all, I just happened to want to settle down and thought it wouldn't be a problem," Xi Jianxi said with a smile, waving his hand to indicate it wasn't a big deal.

But in reality, he couldn't tell Father Tohsaka, or Kirei, that he was acting on the instructions of some strange "will."

[Mission: Adopt Kallen Ostia, successfully completed.]

If it weren't for this mission, Xi Jianxi wouldn't have been able to show up in Italy right when Kirei Tohsaka's wife passed away.

Xi Jianxi really wanted to complain about the necessity of doing such a thing.

But that will—perhaps it should be called the "System"—was simply unreliable.

The first time he encountered it was when he survived the Shadow Realm.

The second time was when he left the Shadow Realm and returned to the outer world, receiving the so-called [Shadow Realm Training Mission Reward].

And the reward... was merely the identity of a magus registered in the Mage's Association with no loopholes.

For the next four to five years, Xi Jianxi received no further missions.

He'd figured it out...

Xi Jianxi had more than once grumbled about this utterly unreliable system.

Only missions, only impossible punishments, with no clear rewards.

Sometimes there were rewards, but more often there weren't. Slavery was more humane than this thing...

As for today, Xi Jianxi and Kallen's appearance in Japan, at this Tohsaka church in Fuyuki City, was also for this reason.

[New Mission: Adopt the second daughter of the Tohsaka family, Sakura Tohsaka.]

[She is a rare talent, a prodigy magus with Imaginary Element, born once in a century. Be sure not to miss the opportune moment when the Tohsaka family is troubled by her exceptional talent?]

[If the mission fails, the only thing awaiting a weak magus is GAME OVER? Eheh~]

Eheh, my ass!

Just thinking about that smug, bratty tone made Xi Jianxi want to curse.

It was 1992 in Japan. Such concepts probably hadn't even been conceived yet.

—Although, sometimes, Xi Jianxi was also surprised by why he had such cross-era perceptions.

"Tokiomi has reached the church entrance and will be here shortly."

Rin Tohsaka was unaware of Xi Jianxi's thoughts. He simply admired the young man's consistently relaxed and unhurried demeanor.

After all, Xi Jianxi was also one of the rare excellent magi in the Mage's Association, having recently been awarded the rank of Pride.

He was in no way inferior to his proud son, Kirei.

"Is that so."

As soon as Xi Jianxi finished agreeing, the chapel doors were pushed open.

A man in a dark red suit walked in. Judging by his appearance, he wasn't much older than Xi Jianxi, who claimed to be just 20 years old, but his steady demeanor and dignified aura made him seem extraordinary.

Tokiomi Tohsaka.

This was the person Xi Jianxi had come to the church to meet today.

Tokiomi was accompanied by a little girl with black hair and blue eyes, who must have been Sakura Tohsaka.

Gently picking up the still-drowsy Karen, Xi Jianxi rose from the bench and turned to face the Tokiomi father and daughter as they walked down the aisle.

"Thank you for waiting, Mr. Xi Jianxi. This is my daughter, Sakura Tohsaka," Tokiomi introduced his timid daughter to Xi Jianxi.

On a day off, the church was filled with unfamiliar adults besides her father, and the solemn environment.

It was a situation that would frighten a child of that age.

"So you've finally decided to accept my request and entrust your beloved daughter to me for tutelage," Xi Jianxi said, also flashing a perfect smile.

Tokiomi spoke in an elegant voice, "To inherit magic from a disciple of the Grand Magus Touko Aozaki is an invaluable opportunity for Sakura."

No one knew Xi Jianxi's origins, nor his magical lineage, but more importantly, no one inquired.

However, he practiced magic that included the original Rune, so under the prompt of that trashy System, Xi Jianxi falsely claimed to be a disciple of Touko Aozaki.

Although, besides this, Tokiomi also had the Matou family in Fuyuki, and his estranged aunt's family, the Edelfelts, whom he hadn't spoken to in over sixty years.

But when Xi Jianxi conveyed his request through Rin Tohsaka, Tokiomi Tohsaka was still moved.

The original Rune and the art of puppetry were secrets that even Tokiomi Tohsaka could not attain, secrets from that Grand Magus Puppeteer.

If Sakura could become the successor of this magical lineage, Tokiomi wouldn't have to worry about her future anymore.

"Mm," Xi Jianxi nodded in satisfaction. This meant the mission could be successfully completed.