Dio slowly opened his eyes, finding himself in the Nurse's office in the school infirmary.
He slowly sat up in bed, rubbing the sides of his head. "... That was close," he whispered under his breath. "Way too close... Had it not been for Leo, I wouldn't have even qualified for the war..."
Having cleared the preliminaries, Dio's memories had finally returned, and he now remembered everything about this place that explained all the unusual anomalies.
Seventeen years ago, Dio had died in a car accident and had then found himself being born once again. He had regained his memories at six years old and had learned that he wasn't in an ordinary world not long after. He was in the world of Fate/Extra.
How did he know about that?
Because he had seen the news the very next day, talking about the Moon Cell.
From there, he had fought and struggled to survive in a world run rampant by terrorists- where technology was repeatedly blocked from truly progressing by the Harwey family.
And learning Magecraft to survive? Forget it, the World's Mana had been dried up by a ritual several decades prior- even if he wanted to learn Magecraft it was just impossible. Magecraft was practically an open secret now that it was all but worthless, with people instead putting all their focus on the Moon Cell.
He didn't even have any sort of Isekai gift like a System or anything- he only had himself to rely on.
For eleven years, Dio had fought to survive through war zones and hell. Making and losing friends, nearly dying countless times, backstabbing people before they could backstab him- all for the purpose of having a chance at getting his hands on the Moon Cell's Holy Grail.
Hacking his way into the Moon Cell for the preliminaries hadn't been easy, but he'd managed it... After that, he knew it was all up to chance. He needed to hope, desperately hope, that he would find a way to become a Master and participate in the war.
And Dio's wish for the grail?
Truthfully, even if he didn't know what it was he wanted.
Maybe he wanted the Regalia- the Divine Authority of the Moon Cell- to become its lord and prepare for the awakening of Velber 02 in order to combat the Umbral Star?
Maybe he wanted to end war on Earth and allow technology to progress again so they could avoid the ever-daunting possibility of the Land of Steel and instead move onto the Age of Stars.
Regardless of what he wanted, Dio was now within the Holy Grail War. And thus, he had to fight.
Defeat... Meant death.
"I see that you're finally awake, Master," a girl's voice spoke, drawing Dio's attention as crimson light briefly manifested before it faded away- revealing the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Oda Nobunaga.
When she had been summoned, the woman had been nude. Now, however, she was wearing the school uniform of Tsukumihara Academy- a brown jacket and brown skirt. The symbol of the Oda Clan was embroidered on the chest instead of the school's logo, and she wore a red ribbon instead of a blue one. Over it, she wore a red cape held together by a circular golden fastener- also with the symbol of the Oda Clan. She wore black tights underneath her skirt, with black gloves on her hands. Her outfit was stopped off with a cap on her head, once more bearing the Oda Clan symbol.
It was clear- Nobunaga wasn't planning to hide her identity in the slightest during this grail war.
Of course, Dio had already expected something like this. He had a good grasp on Nobunaga's personality thanks to various series from his past life, and so he didn't complain about it... Rather, he was just glad she'd put on some clothes at all.
"Yes," he nodded. "My memories have returned safely as well," he slowly climbed out of the bed, stretching his legs out with a sigh. "Allow me to introduce myself properly, my Warlord. My name is Dio Vincenzo. I suppose it was only fitting that I, who walked through hell, found a Demon King at the end of my path."
Nobu merely laughed in amusement at his words. "Wahahaha! I wasn't expecting such a Master to summon me, but I have a feeling this Holy Grail War will be very interesting!" She grinned. "So then, Master, what's our first order of business?"
"Forgive me for interrupting," a soft voice spoke up, and both of them turned their eyes to look at Sakura Matou.
That was right, this Sakura wasn't Shinji's little sister. She was an Artificial Intelligence within the Moon Cell that acted as the nurse at school, allowing Masters and Servants to get basic aid if needed- though she couldn't help with more complex things. She also served as something of a small guide for Masters who had recently awoken.
"Congratulations on passing the preliminaries, Dio-senpai," she smiled kindly, still referring to Dio as Senpai even now that her programming had been fixed from what Shinji had adjusted for his persona in the Moon Cell. "With your awakening, the Holy Grail War will begin."
She lifted her hand and blue squares of light- data- streamed around her hand before they formed what looked like a smartphone. "This is your Terminal," she told him. "Using it, you can check your own information and information you've gathered and compiled on other Masters and Servants. It will automatically record information around you and set appropriate reminders for you so you can keep on top of your tasks. It will inform you whenever the Cipher Keys are generated in the Labyrinth. You can also use it for a little bit of Spiritron Hacking."
"Got it," he nodded and took the terminal, slipping it into his pocket. "Thank you for your help, Sakura- both now and back before I got my memories back."
For a moment, it looked like a blush rose to her cheeks, before it faded away and she nodded. "I am happy to help, Senpai."
He gave Sakura a nod, grateful, before Nobu vanished in red light. He left the Nurse's office, closing the door behind him and taking a deep breath as he saw various people standing through the halls...
If only they truly understood that, in seven weeks, the halls would be down to only two humans...
Dio took a breath and walked up to the window, staring at his slight reflection to look at himself.
He wasn't skilled enough of a hacker to influence his appearance in the preliminaries, but now his real appearance was reflected in his avatar- as he'd had set up before getting into SE.RA.PH. His hair was long, flowing down to his shoulders, purple and messy. His eyes were bright red- perfectly matching Nobu's own. He wasn't a good judge on if he was handsome or not, he felt far too jaded to ever consider his appearance.
Yes, this was who he really was- not that generic NPC appearance he'd had before.
"You're quite the looker, aren't you Master?" Nobu teased with a grin. "Perfectly suited to me."
"Thanks for the compliment," Dio told her, turning away and walked through the halls, ignoring the murmurs and looks he got.
He slowly walked up the stairs, making his way up to the rooftop. He was in desperate need of some air, away from others... Luckily, few people went up to the roof- it would be a good place for him to clear his head.
Dio stepped out onto the roof, taking a nice deep breath as he basked in the fresh air- even if it was all simulated, the air was clean, and it helped clear his mind a little bit.
He stopped as he saw a girl standing near the railing, staring out at the distant digital scenery. She wore a tight red turtleneck top with a cross symbol on the chest, with a black skirt around her waist. A pair of long black boots ran up all the way to her thighs. Her black hair was tied in twin tails with black ribbons, her aqua eyes reflecting the light. As a small breeze came by, her skirt picked up just slightly- revealing something was strapped under her skirt… Likely some sort of defence item just in case.
"Hm?" The girl turned around, her eyes landing on him. "Oya? Someone else came up here. How rare- usually I have this place all to myself."
"Sorry for intruding, Tohsaka," he nodded at her. "I just wanted some air."
"Ah, I see my reputation precedes me," she smirked, eyeing him up slowly, a hand on her ample hips. "And who are you? you don't seem familiar to me at all."
"We've met before, briefly," he told her. "I came up to the roof the other day, and you tried to touch my face- only for SE.RA.PH to repel you, and you vanished right in front of me."
She paused, her eyes lighting up with recognition. "You weren't an NPC? I thought for sure you were..."
"Unfortunately, I'm not a very good Spiritron Hacker," he admitted freely. "I could only take my current appearance once I entered the war- it was a pre-fulfilled condition."
"I see... And your name? You know me, but I'm afraid I don't know you."
"I'm Dio," he told her. "Dio Vincenzo. I don't expect you to know me."
Rin's gaze sharpened. "No, I do."
Dio paused as he looked at her in surprise. "You... Do?"
She gave a nod. "Your name is whispered among people- someone who walked through warzones as a child, and yet still lives to tell the tale. They say you'll do whatever you have to in order to survive... And so, they call you the Survivor."
Survivor... How perfect and annoying of a name.
"I do hope you won't hold that against me," he smiled tiredly. "All I wanted was to live."
She waved it off. "It's not as if my hands are exactly clean- I won't hold it against you... Though, of course, I hope you don't expect me to go easy on you, right?"
He raised an eye at her. "Do I look like my name is Shinji Matou?"
Rin laughed in amusement at that. "Haha, that's true! You are quite different from Shinji Matou- you don't expect anyone to take it easy on you, do you?"
Dio merely smiled bitterly. "I'd love for people to take it easy on me, but I'm realistic... And besides, Shinji probably still sees all of this as just a game- he probably thinks 'Death' means death of the Avatar."
She rolled her eyes. "What a fool, I'd be surprised if he makes it past the second round."
"Not the first?"
"There's always a chance he gets paired up with someone who doesn't know what they're doing."
He nodded; there was truth in her words. Some people could stumble upon this Grail War purely by chance- just like Hakuno Kishinami would have if Dio hadn't become the final Master Candidate instead.
He wondered- did Hakuno still exist as a Cyber Ghost? Wandering around, trying to find their memories and who they were?
Well, it didn't involve him for now- he'd worry about it if it came up as an issue.
"For what it's worth, I hope I don't have to fight you until the end," he told Rin. "This talk has been... Nice, and I'd like to talk to you again in the future if the opportunity arises." He gave her a warm smile to show his sincerity.
There was a tiny tint of red on Rin's cheeks when he smiled, but it was so faint that he didn't even notice it. "Hmph, I suppose you haven't been the worst company- better than Shinji at the least," she smirked. "Then again, that's not a very high bar. I suppose if I have some spare time, I can chat with you from time to time."
"I'll look forward to it," he nodded at her. "See you around," he turned and walked away, closing the door to the roof behind him as he left.
"Smooth, Master," Nobu teased with amusement. "Little Casanova, are you?"
"I wish," he grunted, making his way to the stairs before he was frozen in place.
[Charm increase detected. Billionfold Return Activated.]
Suddenly, Dio heard Nobu make a small 'eep' of surprise. "Archer? Is something wrong?"
"Y- you caught me off guard," she said, her voice slightly flustered. "Maybe SE.RA.PH wasn't displaying your body properly until now- I wasn't aware that you were so handsome, Dio."
What...? Handsome? Him? He'd always been average, at least in his own eyes... What was this billionfold return exactly? He'd never seen such a thing before...
'Wait... Is this my... Cheat?'
[Supernatural Power Detected. Requirements fulfilled. Welcome to the Multiverse Chatroom.]
His eyes widened... This Moon Cell Holy Grail War had just changed drastically.
***
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