Chapter 104 - My SI Stash #3 - Any Means Necessary by EiriFllyn (WormXFate/stay night) (2/2)

Then he turned around and winked at me.

What?

I had no time to think on what that meant before the horde of summoned monsters came upon us, Zelretch's dagger-sword flashed, and-

—the world went white.

My eyes burned with the sight, and teared up even as the white gave way to a kaleidoscope of strange things I couldn't comprehend.

”AHHHH!” I screamed as I saw what should not have been seen and curled up into a ball whimpering.

After what felt like an eternity, I was left with only silence. I blinked open my eyes and shifted my groaning muscles until I was sitting upright, looking around. The entire forest was nothing more than a wasteland, and only a small circle below me was untouched.

”What, what the hell...” I murmured to myself.

Ominous roars sounded in the distance. I squinted and looked around again, and saw shadows moving in the distance.

The summoned monsters! Then about a hundred metres away from me, monstrous and bulbous things ripped out of the ground and rose up, surrounding me.

I watched in morbid fascination as they climbed up slowly from the ground like zombies. I guess it was really the end. I couldn't possibly fight my way through this horde.

”RandomBystander1, Master Zelretch has authorized me to establish a partnership contract between you and me. Do you wish to become my wielder?” The Kaleidostick suddenly floated in front of me.

Or maybe not. Was this the legendary plot armour? A Deus Ex Machina that would save me! If fictional things were real, then I had to be a main character if I was getting an opportunity like this.

”What does that involve? What are our obligations to each other?” I immediately asked.

”We will conduct a ritual to establish the magical contract and form a soul-based prana link. A wielder can access all of my powers by mental command and share senses. Conversely, you may grant control of your body to me at will. As you do not possess Magic Circuits some functions will be limited. Our obligations are mutual and are as follows: we must protect the other from harm by any means necessary, we must act to prevent attempts to break the contract if either partner is unwilling, neither can harm or seek to harm the other without consent. Once formed, the partnership bond will begin a process of mental and prana-based attunement. If the bond is later broken, there may be unpredictable consequences.” The Kaleidostick explained robotically.

That was a very helpful explanation, but it also raised some questions. This contract appeared different to what I knew of Kaleidosticks from the fictional franchise, and the bond seemed to be much more permanent.

”Is it possible for you to have more than one wielder? And can I be bonded to more than one Kaleidostick?”

”Such a course of action has never been tested and would be highly inadvisable. There may be unpredictable consequences, such as sudden death.”

Well, that also answered my question about what ”unpredictable consequences” might result from the bond breaking.

The monsters seemed confused for a moment, and randomly wandered around, but I knew I was running out of time. Sooner or later they would come for me.

”Alright, I want to be your wielder! What do I do?”

”Please apply some blood to your palm and grab onto me, then repeat after me.”

I did as told, using the blood from my wounds earlier. Once my hand touched the wand, two magic circles formed above and beneath me.

The words of power rushed into my mind and I chanted almost in sync with the Kaleidostick.

”Let black and chalcedony be the essence. Let onyx and agate form the foundation. Parallel and curved, let the bands close and open. Let blood be the tribute, and the Second bear witness. I hereby declare, our will shall be as one. An oath is sworn. I shall attain all the virtues of Heaven, I shall have dominion over all evils of Hell. Through the infinite realities, all lines shall converge!”

When the chant that Zelretch must have borrowed partially from the Servant Summoning Ritual was over, I felt something connect with me, and both the Kaleidostick and I glowed with a multicolored aura with a line of pure black running through it.

Soon the glow and the magic circles disappeared.

'New User Registered. Designated: RandomBystander1. Access Level: Full Administrator. Agate awaiting further instructions', Agate's voice came into my mind complete with subtitles flashing through my thoughts.

”Did you just talk to my mind?” I asked out loud.

'Yes, User RandomBystander1,' Agate answered me.

'Why was I registered as RandomBystander1? And what does my access level mean?' I thought back.

'RandomBystander1 was the designation for you set by BetterThanBlue, also known as Master Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. Full Administrator access allows complete use, read, and write access to all of my functions and programming. He has also left you a message: I am sorry you were caught up in my mess, young man. Unfortunately this enemy is extraordinarily powerful and while I'm no slouch myself, I know not for certain that I can protect you. I am giving you Kaleido Agate to help you escape. Please take care of Agate and I would appreciate it if you could collect some data on alternate reality traveling for me in your journeys. Best of luck to you.'

Wow! Thanks Zelretch, what an upstanding guy. I can even forgive the troll name he gave me.

'Okay, I want to change my designation,' I ordered.

'Request denied.'

'What? Don't I have full administrative access?'

'RandomBystander1 has full administrative access except for anything locked by Ultimate Administrator BetterThanBlue.'

...really?

I almost thought Zelretch's trollish behavior was just merely fanon from how serious he acted earlier. Just great. I better not turn into a magical girl.

No seriously, this was bullshit. I just formed a permanent contract with the Kaleidostick and somehow Zelretch could still override me, even though the wand just told me there could only be one wielder. That made zero sense.

But that wasn't important, the monsters had gotten their bearings and were now advancing towards me.

'So, how do we fight them?'

'I do not have any combat programs installed and cannot answer your query.'

I resisted the urge to scream in rage. Maybe not having combat programs just meant the Kaleidostick didn't know how to use what it had.

'What kind of offensive and defensive spells do you have?'

'I do not have any offensive or defensive spells.'

”Damn! You have got to be kidding me!” I cursed aloud. This was even worse than turning into a magical girl!

What was even the point of wielding a Kaleidostick that didn't have any magic?

'Agate, can you at least get us out of here then? Somewhere without other people?'

'Negative. I do not have any installed transportation protocols other than ARMP: User Travel. This module does not include any targeting function except by Waypoints established during prior travels or semi-random targeting by distance in Kaleidospace.'

'What are the Waypoints available?'

'There are currently 2 Waypoints: this location and Kaleido Schweinorg Origin Primary. Kaleido Schweinorg Origin Primary is currently inaccessible due to destabilization in Kaleidospace.'

'That's it?! We can't go anywhere else?'

'I can attempt to randomly open a Pathway to an unknown habitable world by shortest distance in Kaleidospace.'

'Wait, how can it be random if we target the shortest distance?'

'Kaleidospace does not have fixed locations and distances. A Waypoint is a beacon that eliminates the randomness, but any other targeting method is semi-random.'

The entire mental conversation took only 10 seconds.

'Alright fine! Let's go to a random world close to this one then!'

'Understood. ARMP engaged. User Travel initializing. Destination selected: Random by Shortest Distance. 10 seconds required to construct pathway. Please hold.'

I couldn't help but smirk. Amazing. I hoped this wasn't just a dream. With this power…the possibilities were endless! If I played my cards right, all of creation was within my grasp!

My thoughts went to that unreasonable Planeswalker. My eyes darkened in hate. How dare he look down on me…being born with such power, to be given a Spark for nothing, he was nothing without his good fortune!

Then my hate ebbed away and my eyes gleamed with anticipation. That Planeswalker was just a fool, only worth my attention for the power he wielded. But if not for him perhaps I wouldn't have met such a golden opportunity. In the end, he would become a stepping stone for me on the path to true power. Unless Zelretch successfully killed him, I would likely meet him again, so I had to get stronger as fast as possible. There could be any number of such fanatical fools that would want to kill me for stupid reasons, and the only way to assure my safety was to become more powerful than them! That would be a daunting task, considering the sheer potential that I knew old Planeswalkers had, especially as time was on their side.

I would escape and hide and build up my strength…

It would mean leaving everything behind on Earth. I couldn't risk returning here anytime soon, what with the monsters and the possibility of the Planeswalker coming back.

My money, connections, subordinates…I would have to completely start over. That didn't sound so bad, actually…

It would be an adventure unlike any other! Full of risk and opportunity…and the beginning of a new story—my story!

Even if I had nothing again…I would go even farther this time, I would reach beyond the heavens and grasp infinity!

O O O

The trip was underwhelming. One moment I was in a wasteland of a forest in the dark of night, the next I was in an alleyway in a city in the pale light of early evening.

I was still injured and I didn't know how severe the injuries were, so reappearing in a modern city was a good thing, I think. I could walk at least, and it didn't feel like any bones were broken, which was a miracle, or maybe my placebo cultivation exercises actually had some kind of effect? I mean if Zelretch was real, maybe Qi cultivation was real too.

But first things first, gather information and get some medical attention.

'Agate, can you hide yourself somehow?' I transmitted mentally.

'Yes, I can phase out of sync with this reality to hide or avoid enemy attacks.'

Excellent, I didn't have to worry about somebody stealing Agate then.

After a few minutes of wandering, I found a newspaper stand. In big letters one of the papers it showed ”BROCKTON DAILY”.

No way.

I recognized this place from a story I'd read before.

I put the paper back in its stand and left quickly. It was April 3, 2011. That was…seven days before Skitter fought Lung?

I didn't know the timeline perfectly and I was missing tons of details. I only knew the big things, and never even properly finished the canon storyline, so a lot of my ”knowledge” was coming from fanfiction.

But I knew at least, that I didn't want to stay here. Changing Taylor's fate, helping to save the world, are you kidding?

Leviathan was going to attack in a month! I'm just a helpless normal, and there was no easy way to power up in this setting. It was be really hard to survive in this crazy grim world, and that was even assuming canon was reliable, which it probably wasn't. Maybe Cauldron had Masters and would come for me as soon as they find out about Agate and magical realities.

Hell, maybe they were already observing me!

Under the setting sun, I rushed to an abandoned alleyway as fast as I could.

'Agate, can you bring us to another world? This place isn't safe,' I asked.

'There seems to be a problem. I have detected a barrier over this Reality Cl_u_s_ter, which is now blocking the formation of a Pathway outside the local Reality Cl_u_s_ter,' the answer came.

What? CRAP! Scion had locked off Earth-Bet and the other parallel Earth dimensions that were part of the cycle, didn't he? Did he notice intruders getting in?

I could feel myself beginning to hyperventilate and my heart pounding in my ears. I was trapped in a world where normals were just fodder, background characters to be wiped out by the billions, mere statistics on a book.

'My analysis suggests that it may be possible to break through the barrier preventing access to other Reality Cl_u_s_ters. I can continue analyzing in an attempt to develop a method of breaking through.'

I could handle this! I always wanted excitement, didn't I? It wasn't impossible to survive, and even thrive with what I knew. I had to calm down and think, use my vaunted intelligence and d_e_s_i_r_e, and obtain the power waiting to be grabbed.

Deep breaths.

”Hey, give me your wallet!”

My eyes darted to the source of the voice. A hooded and ragged guy with a knife was stalking towards me from the entrance of the alley.

I narrowed my eyes and took in the cliché scene. I should have expected it though. Brockton Bay was a dying city, full of criminals and a gradually declining economy.

I began to chuckle.

”F_u_c_k, you loose in the head? I'm mugging you, bastard!” He waved his knife menacingly.

My entire body tingled with adrenaline, and I burst forward.

I could see the unlucky mugger's eyes widening as he thrust his knife in front of him reflexively.

Useless. I knew that most criminals didn't have the resolve not to hesitate, they wouldn't know what to do if they suddenly became the hunted. He was a mugger, not a killer, and I–

grabbed his knife wrist and twisted, pivoting on my right foot, and using the reactionary force on my h_i_p_s and another step with my left foot to bounce back and strike his chin with my elbow

—had experience in violent confrontations against people more dangerous than him.

It was just a shame that I lost my gun when I nearly tripped in the forest on my Earth.

A sickening crunch resounded in the alley, and the pathetic fool couldn't even spit out the blood before I followed up with a kick to the groin. He crumpled towards the ground but I helped him along by smashing his face with a punch. His head cracked against the hard concrete.

I straddled on top of his unmoving body and checked for life signs. He was just unconscious and bleeding from his mouth and head injury.

Ugh, crap, the pains all over my body that I had forgotten with the adrenaline were coming back.

I took off the gloves he was conveniently wearing and put them on my own hands before searching him for useful things. In the end, I took his wallet, some keys, a switchblade, and phone but left his clothes alone. He didn't seem to be affiliated with any gang but I didn't want to risk any buddies of his recognizing the clothing. Of course I took out the sim card on his phone before taking it. It was just a flip phone, nothing compared to my smartphone that I still had with me, but I had other purposes for it.

That done, I made my way out of there and found a nearby bus stop. Within a few minutes a bus came by and I got on, paying with a few coins from the mugger.

It didn't matter where the bus was going, I just went on to grab one of those free transit maps I figured would be hanging around inside of buses like they are on a lot of transit systems back on my Earth.

I was right and examined my new map until I found Brockton Bay General Hospital. Time to see what my options were for fixing my injuries.

This world was full of ”capes”, also known as ”parahumans” with powers. There were superheroes and villains, and organizations dedicated to their regulation and governance. The Parahuman Response Team (PRT), which was made up of normals, and the Protectorate, the cape policing organization. Brocton Bay was on the east coast of the USA, and these organizations covered Canada and the USA, plus some parts of Europe.

If I was to survive this in this world, I needed the power of capes.