Author Note: Sorry for posting a chapter so late. I've had part of a busy week with quite a few distractions.
Previously I was working on a story about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, but I decided to drop the idea (for now) and focus on Fate-verse/CCH Universe.
When I decided what to write this week, my younger brother introduced me to an application for creating images from written text.
At least I was able to create illustrations for Luz Noceda (Caster) and Amity Blight (Saber) to my liking.
If you're interested in seeing what I've done, go to AO3 and search my parallel story: Fate Owl: Archive..
In the Ascension section there are links to see the images.
XXX"
Story Arc: Welcome to the Fourth Holy Grail War
Episode 1: Summoning the Heroic Spirits (II)
Chapter 1: Two eccentric witches in a castle
Synopsis: It has been a few days since Kiritsugu and Irisviel summoned their Servants.
Kiritsugu invoked Saber, aka Artoria Pendragon, the King of Knights.
Irisviel invoked Caster, alias Lumity, i.e. Luz Noceda and Amity Blight.
Unfortunately, their first meeting wasn't peaceful or friendly.
XXX
POV Narrator
In the extreme north of Germany, in a snow-covered valley, where it is so cold, that penguins can walk freely.
You can find the Einzbern castle, the stronghold of a prestigious clan of alchemists, a dignified and noble place. Sadly the place has become less respectable (pompous) due to a certain witch couple that was invoked not too long ago.
XXX
Outside the castle.
For once, the old valley isn't hit by a snowstorm, such an event happens once or twice a month.
Taking advantage of the clear sky, a tired father, who has recently gained two additional headaches, went out with his daughter towards the woods.
With war approaching and an unusual Caster being summoned, Kiritsugu decided to allow himself a rare moment of happiness and peace: to play with his daughter, Illyasviel or Illya for short.
XXX
Inside the castle, behind a window, three pairs of eyes are watching the small figures of the father and daughter playing at the entrance to the wood.
The first pair of eyes, green in color, belongs to Saber, alias King Arthur or Artoria Pendragon. She is dressed in her blue and white colored dress, minus the medieval armour.
The second and third pair of brown and gold eyes belong to Caster Lumity, alias Luz and Amity, two Servants for the price of one.
The two witches did not remain in the clothes with which they were invoked. Both using a little magic changed their clothes.
Luz wears a dark purple jacket, a purple and white striped shirt, baggy yellow pants with small patches, and purple sneakers.
Amity dresses in a black mid-sleeved dress with a gray belt fastened around her waist, red tights and black heeled boots with golden crescent moon buckles.
The three women who have become Heroic Spirits, each of them are showing a different expression.
Artoria is frowning a bit with a stiff expression, showing perplexity.
Luz smiles faintly with a nostalgic expression, clearly the Good Witch is remembering something pleasant.
Luz's fiancée seems to share her lover's feelings.
But inside Amity's sweet eyes, there's a drop of... something that shouldn't be there.
The silence of the room was broken with the arrival of Irisviel who immediately noticed the three Heroic Spirits.
"What are you watching, Saber, White Caster, Violet Caster?" She asks Irisviel, in a curious tone, as she approaches her Servant and her husband's Servant.
Having two people share the same name can be confusing, so Irisviel decided to add a color to the name to distinguish the two witches.
Luz is White Caster, because she is dressed in white.
Amity is Violet Caster, because she has purple hair.
Returning to the scene; the words of the white-haired and red-eyed woman seem to have brought the three women back to reality.
Saber turns and replies to Irisviel, "...Kiritsugu and your daughter are playing in the forest outside."
Irisviel approaches the window, standing between Saber and Caster, to be able to talk to them and see a sweet moment between two of her most important people in the world.
Beside him, Irisviel watched from the window. That was the moment Kiritsugu rushed into the forest carrying Ilyasviel on his back.
"You are surprised to see Kiritsugu like this, aren't you?" Irisviel asks, sensing the reason for Artoria's puzzlement.
Saber nodded honestly to the smiling Irisviel.
"To be honest, I was under the impression that my Master was a colder hearted person." Artoria said, not holding her tongue to describe Kiritsugu's personality.
At Saber's words, Irisviel gave a sheepish smile.
" I'm not surprised to discover this side of Kiritsugu." Luz said, getting the attention of Saber and Irisviel.
"My best friend was a bit like him, an ice prince who seems unperturbed by any tragedy and indifferent to everything. But inside he was a puppy who wants a cuddle, even if he never admits it." Luz said, with a childish smile, remembering a certain Detective Kuutsundere.
"Mi sol, I think you are wrong in comparing Emiya with Belmont. At first glance they may look alike, but in reality they are as different as pyrite and gold." Amity said, she clearly disagrees with her loved one.
The purple-haired witch turns in Irisviel's direction.
"Master, Saber, I don't want to offend either of you, but I really don't like your husband/Master." Amity said, trying not to insult her allies, but she doesn't hide her opinion.
At Saber's words and Violet Caster's unsympathetic comment, Irisviel gave a sheepish smile.
"Well, that's not without reason. Kiritsugu is a complicated person and you two didn't make a good first impression." Irisviel said, remembering very well what the meeting between Caster Lumity, Saber and Kiritsugu was like.
XXX
A few days ago.
After Kiritsugu succeeded he successfully invoked Saber.
Something unexpected happened, Irisviel gained Command Seals and was able to summon two Servants for the price of one.
Once the two witches recited the Servants' signature line, they took notice of their surroundings, finding it disturbing and incriminating.
The elegant and expensive chapel displays images of a white-haired, red-eyed woman, just like their Master, who is on her knees in pain.
Nearby are a cold-eyed man, who appears not to belong to this place, with his right hand engraved with command seals, and accompanied by an unknown Servant.
Such a scene suggests that an enemy Master and his Servant attempted to eliminate Caster's Master during the invocation.
With that perspective, it's no surprise that Caster Lumity decided to act and ask questions later.
The purple-haired witch with a quick movement of her hand created a luminous circle, preparing her own magic
Saber unable to take risks and allow the spell to complete, lunges forward, swinging his sword wrapped in the winds.
Unfortunately, for Saber, the magic of the Boiling Isles works faster and more versatile than the ordinary magic of this world.
A combination of mud and purple slime appeared between Saber and Violet Caster, molding to create a defensive wall.
Saber's sword passed through the wall of slime easily, perhaps too easily, as if the texture of the wall were more liquid than solid.
" What ?!" Saber exclaims in a surprised tone. Suddenly, she is no longer able to move her sword.
This is possible, because when Excalibur passed through the mud wall, it solidified, locking the sword inside.
"Mana Burst!" Saber exclaims, without a moment's hesitation, concentrating his magical energy into the sword, to transform the veil of wind into a small tornado.
The solidified mud wall could not hold the power of the wind for too long, in three seconds it exploded from the inside.
In all, the defensive wall and the move to invoke the wind earned the two witches about seven seconds of time.
When the wall was destroyed, Artoria was able to glimpse the two witches.
The witch dressed in white has drawn a symbol in mid-air that Saber might call a rune.
Seven seconds, more than enough time for the Good Witch to create a glyph of medium level.
FLASH!
A blast of light hit Saber full on, blinding her indefinitely.
Then, the glyph begins to fire as if it were a machine gun, its projectiles being constructs of light in the shape of arrowheads.
This is the power of an average level gryphon from the point of view of the most powerful witch who has perfected this magical art in a lifetime.
A third-rate Servant could die if he receives such a blow at close range.
But Saber is Artoria Pendragon, the King of Knights, a first-class Servant, endowed with Instinct and a high Magic Resistance.
Closing her eyes that have become a ball and chain, Saber steps back and swings her sword to block all projectiles of solid light.
"Haaa." Artoria grits her teeth as several of her blows graze her, damaging her left shoulder and causing minor damage to her armor.
"Impressive, but I've seen better!" Amity said, drawing a large circle in front of her, then she crosses it.
In an instant, Amity's body was covered in mudstone, forming a dark purple feline-designed armor, and a mudstone sword appeared in her right hand.
The armored witch lunges forward, ready to attack the Knight King directly.
" I'll let you take care of the knight, I'll see how our Master is, once he's safe I'll help you." Luz said, before running towards Irisviel, believing she was in danger.
At that moment, Kiritsugu finally recovered from the shock of the impossible events that just happened.
The mercenary takes out his gun which he always keeps with him just in case.
Kiritsugu wants to approach Irisviel, take her and take her out of the chapel which has turned into a battlefield between Heroic Spirits.
But the speed of a human cannot be compared to the sheer raw power of a Servant.
Before Kiritsugu knew it, the Good Witch stood before Irisviel, putting herself in a defensive stance, holding the scepter pointed at him.
"I don't know who you are or what you want from my Master, but if you try to pull the trigger, you'll lose your entire arm." Luz said, the tip of her scepter emitting a golden glow.
'I think for once I'll have to proceed with a diplomatic approach.' Think Kiritsugu, managing to keep calm, even with a Servant in front of him, threatening him.
For once in his life, Kiritsugu drops his gun on the floor and throws his hands up in the air.
" In the middle there is a misunderstanding, Saber and I are not your enemies, rather we are your allies.
Your Master is my wife, who accidentally invoked you shortly after I invoked Saber." Kiritsugu explained the situation as briefly and simply as possible, not wanting to lose a potential asset in an internal fight.
The scepter's glow has dimmed, but hasn't gone away.
The Good Witch turns to Irisviel, wishing for an answer directly from her.
Irisviel has thus far remained silent due to the enormous physical and spiritual effort expended to make an irregular invocation.
"Master, is this man telling the truth?" He asks Luz, while she keeps an eye on Kiritsugu, in case she does something dangerous.
Somehow Luz's words rebooted Irisviel's brain, allowing her to recover.
"Yes, Kiritsugu is my husband! You don't have to fight Saber! Please!" Irisviel exclaims, trying to get up to appease her Servant, only to fall to her knees.
"My Corazón, stop fighting, everything was a big misunderstanding!" Luz yells aloud as she lends a helping hand to Irisviel.
Artoria and Amity, who have been exchanging sword blows with each other so far, have stopped for the moment.
"Are you sure, my Sol?" Amity asks, without taking her eyes off Saber, who has more or less recovered her vision.
" Our Master and Saber's Master are husband and wife, our invocation came as a surprise to everyone." Luz said, looking embarrassed about what had happened.
"No matter where or when, the two of us always end up in the strangest and most unusual situations." Amity said, as she waves her hand away from her solidified mud armor and weapon.
"That's part of my charm, I'm a dangerous woman." Luz said, starting her arms, trying to look like a femme fatale, but she just looks like a cute nerdy girl.
Amity rolls her eyes, but the smile on her face shows that she likes it when Luz acts like this.
The purple-haired witch turns to the King of Knights and holds out her hand, acting more mature than Luz.
"Saber, no hard feelings?
I acted on the assumption that my Master was being attacked, surely you would have done the same if you were in our position." Amity said, wanting to make peace with Saber, to prevent future unnecessary conflicts.
Artoria stands looking at Amity's hand.
A modern-day person might need a long time to decide whether or not to accept Amity's apology.
But Artoria, having been born in the late Middle Ages in an age of conflict, where today's enemy is tomorrow's friend, didn't have to think too long.
Saber's armor and weapon have disappeared as if by magic, then he reaches out and shakes Amity's hand.
"I accept your apology and turn a blind eye this time, but the next time we fight, things won't end peacefully." Saber said, willing to forgive Caster's attack.
But if either witch tries to fight her again, her clemency will end.
Kiritsugu without having to worry about being attacked by the two witches, takes his gun back and puts it back, then approaches Irisviel.
Luz not wanting to come between husband and wife, allows Kiritsugu to take his place as a human crutch.
"Are you okay, Iri?" He asks Kiritsugu as he helps the white-haired, red-eyed woman to her feet.
"I'm slightly dizzy and tired." Irisviel said, appreciating her husband's thoughtfulness of her that she doesn't go out every day.
"I can't believe I became a Master and summoned a Servant or two Servants?" Irisviel said, slightly confused by the presence of the two witches claiming to be Caster.
"This changes all our plans, we have to rearrange everything from scratch." Kiritsugu said, returning to his assassin mentality, concentrating on achieving his goal, winning the Holy Grail War.
While the bride and groom are talking to each other, Luz approaches Saber and his fantastic girlfriend.
"All is well, when it ends well." Said the Good Witch, with a smile on her lips, happy that the problem was solved, without causing casualties.
After these words, Luz approaches Amity and grabs his hand.
"Mi Sol, what do you want to do?" asks Amity, letting Luz take her wherever she wants.
Taking less than fifteen steps, the two witches returned inside the invocation circle.
" We have to redo our entrance first, we couldn't finish it properly." Luz said, planning to do a little light show.
" It is necessary ?" Saber asks, raising an eyebrow, seeing nothing useful in the Good Witch's plans.
"Deception and theatrics are powerful tools, especially theatrics!" Luz exclaims, slamming her scepter on the floor, causing the summoning circle to light up again.
"You know what, mi Sol, I'm going to leave the stage to you." Amity said, stepping out of the bright circle, not wanting to get involved in this game…if there are any people watching.
"As you wish, my dear Corazón." Luz said, willingly accepting the spotlight for herself alone.
"I am Caster, The Good Witch!
Child of the Human Realm, student of the Demon Realm, And Warrior of peace!
Nice to join this adventure, Master ! Luz declares in a dramatic voice, as she turns and passes her scepter over her creating a rainbow and lots of little bright stars…before the rainbow caught fire…and burned the tip of her hat.
"Star, he wasn't kidding, rainbows are extremely flammable!" shouts Luz, throwing her hat on the ground to keep from burning her head.
Fortunately, a simple glyph was enough to invoke water and put out the flames.
'Have I been embarrassed by such a witch?' Think Saber, losing some faith in the ability of the witch in white.
'Iri what did you invoke ?' Thinks Kiritsugu, starting to mentally create plans to use the Good Witch as a distraction or canon meat.
While two of the three viewers weren't impressed with Luz's skills, the same couldn't be said of Irisviel.
" Beautiful, I've never seen a spell that invokes a flaming rainbow !" Irisviel exclaims, acting like a child in front of a magic show.
"I understand, that at first glance, the Good Witch doesn't seem like a powerful Caster. But I can swear, that when things get serious, she is more than capable." Amity said, sensing that her allies are wary of the trustworthiness of her lover.
Seeing that Irisviel is well and the Good Witch seems ready to try again to give her presentation, Kiritsugu just turned his back on this circus and walked out of the chapel.
XXX
Returning to the present.
The four women are still standing in front of the window and discussing among themselves.
"That doesn't excuse Emiya's rude treatment. Even my ugly sorceress mother had the decency to speak to me or good manners." Amity said, with an annoyed frown.
' If Amity mentions her mother, it means that Kiritsugu doesn't like her at all.' Thinks Luz, knowing her beloved, being able to easily understand Amity's moods from a few words.
" I'm sorry for you, Saber. My Corazón and I got Irisviel, an ideal person to be our anchor for this world.
While you, you get a lonely man, surely if it wasn't a hyper-specialized Catalyst, you wouldn't have had Emiya as a Master." Amity hinted at two things:
One, she is sorry for Saber's misfortune to be given a Master so incompatible with her.
Two, she doesn't support Kiritsugu Emiya's attitude towards them.
'I'm sorry Kiritsugu, but I can't defend you.' Think Irisviel, aware that Violet Caster's discontent was born of existing reasons.
Since the day Saber, White Caster and Violet Caster appeared, none of them have received a word from Kiritsugu.
In the eyes of normal mages, Servants are just tools to serve the Masters for the duration of the Holy Grail War.
However, Kiritsugu's attitude towards Saber and the two witches is excessive.
Without even speaking to them, ignoring their questions, barely looking at them, Kiritsugu keeps pushing back the Heroic Spirits with which he is supposed to win the Holy Grail War.
Though she didn't want to show it, Saber is definitely very dissatisfied with that man's attitude. Which Amity isn't afraid to do.
"Well, it looks like I have to again help an antisocial person communicate with the rest of the team and vice versa." Luz said, as she draws a glyph in mid-air, invoking her witch's cloak and hat.
"White Caster, do you think you can help Kiritsugu open up?" Irisviel asks, in a hopeful tone.
Not even the white-haired, red-eyed woman is happy with the current situation between her husband and the Servants on their side.
If the Good Witch can bring out the kinder side of Kiritsugu, surely things can improve for them.
"Master, I've spent 90% of my life keeping my love and my best friend from killing each other. Kiritsugu's case is nothing compared to what I'm used to." Luz said of her puffing out her chest, sure her long experience as "Watson" can be of use.
' Maybe we didn't kill each other. But time and time again, our rivalry has reached extreme levels.' Think Amity, with a certain embarrassment. The purple-haired witch tries not to think about the numerous times Luz has had to arbitrate or mediate during her challenges.
The Good Witch opened the window, letting the cool, cold valley air into the room.
"First of all we have to get to Kiritsugu. Who among you wants to fly on a magic staff?" Luz asks, summoning into her hands her magical scepter, topped with a totem in the shape of a snake.
" Did you mean flying broom ?" Irisviel asks, believing White Caster may be confusing us.
The purple-haired witch shakes her head left and right, the universal sign for no.
"It's a pretty common mistake, but we don't use brooms to fly, we use our Palisman in their magic staff form." Amity explained, as she takes out her magical scepter which has a totem in the shape of a cat on top.
The eyes of both totems begin to glow, then fly out of their witches' hands, floating horizontally one meter above the floor.
Looking at these two magical staffs, one of the gifts received from the Holy Grail was activated.
In addition to the Seals of Command, Irisviel has received some kind of special vision, a kind of clairvoyance that allows her to discover information about the Servants and their Noble Phantasms.
A table with information about Luz and Amity has appeared in Irisviel's head.
"Stringbean & Ghost: The Palismans of a witchs. C-rank Noble Phantasm,Anti-Unit/Support type." Irisviel whispers the names and stats of the two Noble Phantasms.
Unaware of Irisviel's special sight; each of the two witches sat on her magic staff, beckoning their companions to step on top of her.
'Merlin would laugh seeing me ride a broomstick.' Think Saber, "riding" on Amity's cane.
"I can't believe I'm about to fly on a magic staff." Irisviel said, in a happy tone, as she sits down behind Luz, placing her hands around the Good Witch's narrow waist.
"Irisviel, be careful where you put your hands!" Amity declares loudly, bringing out the jealous and overprotective side of her.
The purple-haired witch doesn't like to see anyone approaching Luz's private space, especially a beautiful woman like Irisviel.
Luz let out a small sigh and said nothing about Amity's jealousy, knowing that her beloved fiancée won't do anything foolish, like hurt their Master.
"Let's go implement the greatest cliché in history: locking people in an isolated place to solve their problems." Luz said, determined to fix or at least try to fix Kiritsugu's attitude.
A little mischievous smile appeared on Amity's lips.
'I'll love to see how Emiya looks when she meets Hooty.' Amity thinks, sensing where Kiritsugu will be locked up.
The Owl House is about to receive in new guests.
Continues ...