i_s_l_a_n_d_rp | The Ultimate Anti-Climax of Ultimate History?

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[fullmetal alchemist] edward elric

The Ultimate Anti-Climax of Ultimate History?

[So, all of you islanders have been recovering from the horrors of the Zombie Island Mish-Mash of Nuclear AWESOME, doing your island-y things. That's cool, so has Ed, off being his usual slightly-reclusive self and blowing things up in his Gilligan-lab to pass the time. Life returns to what passes for normal here, right?

...and then there's the note. Of course your first thought is 'Oh God, another event?' as would be the logical train of thought--

Wait a minute. Wedding invitation? Of the island and--WHAT?! And on top of that you're free to leave for home or wherever you like?]

...there's no way. This has to be a trick.

(( MINGLE POST HO!!! Are you skeptical of this ~*gift from the heavens*~ as Edward is? Are you one of the insanely hopeful that shall plan for where you'll go? Need to start making tearful goodbyes to your long-time buddies? Shanghai some fellow islanders to your homeworld for nefarious purposes? Get pissed at being brought here recently just to leave? Flip out and go find some Black Materia to call down Mete--wait.

So yeah. Post, mingle, have fun! And assume this is the day of the note-arrival, obvs. ~~Mods, if this is out of line, feel free to stake me out for the vultures. *A*b~~ ))

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It all started with a foretelling that my parents would be granted with a successor to their throne. However, what they did not expect was for a girl to be born. The world itself was mainly set with a male hierarchy in mind, so I could not grant my parents wishes. I was sent to my uncles, where I decided, with nothing better to do, to take up sword practice. I may look unfit for such a thing, but you could say I have the might of a dragon flowing through my veins.

But, peace would not last. Invaders from another country came to ours, and my father could no longer take to the throne, causing our armies to lose their morale. Our country needed a king, and with no rightful heir to be had, a 'contest', if you will, was held.

Whomever could pull this sword from the stone, will be our next King. Many knights and others, from near to far, all came to try their hand at the sword, but none could pull it from the stone.

After everyone left, to do their own business, I came to the sword. I was warned, by a certain magician, that, I was better off not taking the sword out. That I should probably remain the normal girl that I was. Even so, I pulled the sword from the stone.

It was at that point that I needed to give everything I had to my country. For that, I could not be who I used to be. You could hardly call me human again at that point. Arturia died, and King Arthur was left standing for the next twelve years.

This was my first mistake.

...

[ holy fucking shit now he just feels like a farmboy

AND HE WANTS TO HEAR MORE like the hero fanboy he is ] Go on.

I had the magician help me with a guise of being male. Even now, with the right set of clothes, I could easily pass as a slender man. To keep up my role, I even had a bride. Of course, she was in on what was actually happening, but she cared not.

I fought by my men. To them and my enemies, I was an unstoppable force of death. But with myself, a war is won by numbers.

... In order to hold back the invading forces and support our own and to ascertain the future of my country, I had to drought local villages for supplies. Of course, my soldiers did not think well of this. They must have thought that it was pointless, that with just me, victory was assured. And even then, they likely did not wish for a king who was but a shell of a person.

The sword that chose me as king eventually broke. It was more of a ceremonial sword, then one made for battle anyway, but... I believe it was over what I had done. I was brought to a lake, where I was asked a question.

Zack, let me ask you that same question. What is more important, a sword that can cut anything or a sheath that will let you survive anything?

... Man, if you asked me that question before everything that happened, I'd have a different answer.

But the sheath is more important, I'd say.

Yes. I had thought at the time, that if I could cut everything before they could cut me, what use would the sheath be? I was called a fool. But even so, I was bestowed with the holy sword, Excalibur and it's sheath. Just as was said, this sword would not break and no man could stand up to it, and the sheath let me heal any wound that I would take. It had also stopped my aging. I am actually in my late twenties, perhaps thirties by now.

But everything started to go wrong. The sheath was eventually stolen, one of my best knights fell for Guinevere, my wife, as did she for him... for rather obvious reasons. I knew of this, and I was happy for the both of them. But, that was not to be, as word had reached outside of what they were doing, and to preserve what stability our country had, I... had to execute Guinevere. I couldn't forgive myself for what had happened. My knights hardly trusted me, I still had not won the war, I even had harm those close to me to keep going. I hated it. I wanted to undo it. I thought I had failed, failed as a person, as a king, as a knight, as a friend.

I wanted to undo the ceremony that chose me as King, I wanted a better person to be chosen, someone that would not make the mistakes that I did. To do this, there were tales of an item, said to grant any wish. The Holy Grail. In desperation, I rounded some my men in search for this item. But that too ended in failure.

Once when I returned, I was met with a startling sight. My own armies facing me down. It was a mass betrayal. They had grown weary of my rule, and sought to usurp it with force. I believe now the one who led them was a magically created human who bore my semblance. A true strike to the throne would require a next of kin for it to go over without issues, but I of course could not father a child, and having one myself would just create problems.

It was a long battle with few still on my side and many on the other side, but at the end... I stood over the field of bodies. I had won, but just because I won... did not mean I would see the next day. Convinced even more of my failings, I pleaded with the world, desperately asking for the grail so that my wish could be granted.

And so, my pleading was answered. My body was frozen in time, in a way, as my spirit could then attempt to reach the grail. Although time itself had continued and recorded my death, it had not truly happened for me until I laid hands on the grail.

[ And he listens, quietly. ]

... You're right. Facing down an army of faceless people in your way is nothing compared to facing the army you lead that betrayed you. That sounds a lot harder than what I had to go through-- I don't know if I could do it, king or hero or not.

... Not that I meant to make light of your situation. It still must have been hard. But I had hoped to bring you some form of peace, somehow...

No, I didn't think that.

I think your intentions were noble, even if they didn't lead you down the path you hoped. I've seen a lot of people like that in my life, and I don't think any less of them for it.

... And yet, that still is not the end to my story.

You can go on, if you want.

First off, I need to explain some things. To hell with regulations, I feel like talking.

There exists many items simply named after the Holy Grail. Whether they were true or not, who knows. But we are going to focus on one kind. In a country called Japan, there is a War, simply called the Holy Grail War. Despite being called a war, only 7 people participate. Magi, people who can use magic in the modern age, years beyond my own.

To compete for the grail, they summon a hero for their own, under seven classes. Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin and Berserker. These classes are used to fit the hero in an understandable nature. The two are then known as Master and Servant, and the Master has three seals in which they can forcefully order the Servant to do an action, or to temporarily empower them. The Servant requires the Master, as simply being in the world as a spirit drains them of a spirit life, if you will, and must leech of the Master to remain.

... In case you're wondering, I do not have this issue here.

The two must then face up against the other six pairs. While the Servant is a hard target, the Master is not. At the end, the one left standing is awarded with the grail, but only the Servant can touch it... to be honest I really don't know how it's all supposed to work at the end there.

[ TRYING TO... PROCESS... ]

I, uh-- wow. That... sounds complicated to deal with, home or not.

Now then. I was summoned during the Fourth war using my recovered sheath. To a man named Kiritsugu Emiya.

*despite being mostly stable for a while, her face visibly winced just now*

I had a hard time trying to relate to that man. He knew who he was trying to summon, but when I showed up... he ignored me completely. If there is one thing I can safely be proud of, it is my skill as a warrior. And yet, just because of the fact I am a woman, he and I never truly spoke to each other. Instead, he had left his wife, Irisviel, to be with me.

... She was someone who I could actually call a friend. She was sheltered, having lived in her mansion for her entire life, her only means of knowing what the world outside was like from Kiritsugu. They even had a daughter. To say I was surprised to see the same man who had turned his back on me, to happily play with his daughter in the snow would be an understatement.

But the three of us would have to soon leave, however, only Irisviel and I would be together. She acted as my Master, while Kiritsugu lay back and used underhanded means to attain the grail. I could not believe the lengths that he went...

When we reached the site of the soon to be had battle, I had to be dressed as a bodyguard. Irisviel had this odd delight in doing so. But there was a reason for it. Normally a Servant is capable of turning invisible, to carefully watch their Master and to lower consumption. But as I am a special exception, I could not do this. The reason for an invisible eye is because normally, Magi are not allowed to involve normal people in the world of magic. Of course, there are those who simply slaughter them anyway.

I'll try to keep things brief here. Suffice to say, things went to hell. The Caster of this war, Gilles De Rais, who had thought I was Joan of Arc, saying I fit her image exactly, was a Necromancer. At one point during the war, he had... used what I can only assume was the bodies of many to form a giant monster. There was no way to get near the creature, I had to work together with Rider and Lancer. In the end, I was forced to unveil Excalibur and clear the beast with one slash.

But that was not the end of my troubles. There was also the Berserker of the war. I was his chosen target above anyone else. But there was a reason for this... during our final showdown with each other, his mask fell off... it was Lancelot, my knight who had served me well over the years and was the one who got involved with Guinevere. His Master must have had something happen to him around that time too, as it was not a true end to a fight.

Then... there was the Archer. The 'King of Heroes', Gilgamesh. A man who had everything, who said he ruled everything and cared not for the sake of others. He was powerful. Too powerful. He could fire off hundreds of weapons as if they were projectiles, just by glancing. But that is not what angers me the most about him. It's that he thinks of me as his own 'special treasure'. A rare diamond in a world of filth.

I detest that man. But even so, I could not finish him off. We were the last two around, yet, the grail was still in a form of completion. Kiritsugu, using one of the Command Seals, ordered me to destroy the grail.

... As that was the last seal, I had left after that point, hating what had happened. I was not there, but what resulted from what happened destroyed a section of the city. I would rather not try to detail everything else about it.

...

[ He honestly can't say anything. Oh my god. ] Holy...

Kiritsugu was hired by Irisviels family to acquire the Holy Grail. I can only guess how that must have went over...

... Anyway, I bet even that's not the end, right?

No. Ten years later... well, ten years for the ones still on the mortal plane, the fifth war was to begin. This wasn't normal though, but I guess my and Kiritsugu's actions caused everything to be a little weird.

... This time I was summoned once again. By accident. I'm still not entirely sure how that happened. I did not think summoning circles worked like that.

... Really? It sounds like there's a lot of rules involved.

There are. This war was just complicated.

I was summoned to Shirou Emiya... Kiritsugu's adopted son. From what Shirou told me, I was surprised to hear how much he changed during those ten years. As for Shirou himself... he wanted to be a hero. Someone who could save everyone. Although he had no idea what he was getting into, he still accepted his role as a Master, but not to win. He wanted to make sure no one with ill intents lasted to the end.

... He had the slight problem of being a very lackluster magus however. A Servants strength is ties with their Master, and as such... I was severely underpowered, made most evident by what soon came.

We were met with this wars Berserker. An ancient man who literally had the blood of the gods flowing through him. He stood about as tall as most of the trees here, and looked just as powerful as he was. Just swinging whatever he had with him razed the ground.

Normally I would have been more of a match for him, I was outclassed eventually. But... Shirou took a hit for me. He could not bear to let someone else suffer like that... so he took a hit that should have killed him. He was clearly missing a part of him. But even so, he lived and in fact, looked normal later.

He said that this has never happened before. Care to take a guess?

Was it the sheath?

! Yes, it was. I don't know how he did it, but Kiritsugu had put Excalibur's sheath into Shirou. The sheath, without me, should only have minimal healing powers, but even just a slight connection to me insured that Shirou could survive far more than he should be able to.

Bravo, even I did not realize this until much later.

Well, you said yourself that the sheath could heal anything earlier. If Shirou took a hit like that, so far there's only one thing in your story I know can do that.

But go on.

Ah, yes, of course.

We had to work another Master, Rin Tohsaka. I had near fatally injured her Servant, and in exchange for actually knowing what to do, she wanted to use Shirou and I for help. Although Shirou may perhaps be a little too trusting, Rin was not a bad person.

The next significant event to happen was Rider. I had faced her on the roof of a tall building, which we scaled the side of. She took to the air, riding on a winged horse. Her speed and maneuverability, were too much for me, but I still had one option that I could use. With my sword of light, I was able to strike her down, and as we were above the city, there was nor risk of destroying everything in sight.

But... as I was underpowered, I became dangerously close to fading away. Unable to protect Shirou, he captured by an enemy Master, and taken deep into the woods to a mansion... one that I have been to before.

It was the Master of Berserker, Ilyasviel. Irisviel and Kiritsugu's daughter. Who still looked as old as when I first saw her. I doubt she knew who I was.

[ ... jesus ]

And what happened then?

Rin, her recovered Servant and I, decided to rush to the mansion. We managed to rescue Shirou... even if he had untied himself and though hiding under the bed was a good idea. But Ilyasviel found us.

Archer, Rin Servant, stayed behind to buy us some time. Although it turns out he managed far more than that...

We had fled into woods, and hid for the night in an abandoned shack. We needed a plan if we wanted to leave, and I needed to have the power to stand on my own. Measures were taken to ensure this and we had a strategy.

And it would have worked. The plan was for Rin to take Berserker by surprise and use all of her magic gems at once to destroy him. The problem arose when we learned that he had multiple lives. If it were any other Servant, Rin would have won. But after Archer was done with him, he only had around six or so left.

It had seemed things were going to be impossible but then Shirou did something. He created a sword from his body. It was the sword I pulled from the stone, Caliburn. I believe he saw it in a dream. But, as he was not the rightfully chosen king, it did not last him long... he tried again and that time I stepped in to help. With one strike we managed to finish off the rest of Berserkers lives.

However... that left Ilyasviel devastated.

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