Next Fate

It is the year 2004 in Fuyuki, Japan, and the city has undergone a few changes, the main one being the rise of the technology firm Snowfall Company. Snowfall rose nine years ago and quickly overtook all competition as they were producing technology that was at least decades, if not a century, ahead of other companies. Smart hologram projection cell phones, advanced communication towers that guaranteed wifi throughout Japan, China, Korea, Europe, and America, and complex robotics that replaced manual labor are just a few examples.

This meteoric rise was unprecedented and unstoppable as the CEO, Owner, and Head of the R&D Department of the Snowfall Company, Silva Branwen, used every means available to bypass red tape and blockages from rival companies. While his PR team kept his image mostly positive, rumors of blackmail, bribery, threats, assassinations, and manipulation persist, fueling his rise and infamy among various circles. Silva Branwen's recent Greenhouse Project is also gaining a lot of popularity amongst the masses as its goal is to end world hunger through the production of Food Bars and Nuitient Paste that can give the daily nuitrenial needs of humans at a fraction of the cost compared to buying food from grocery markets.

Aside from Silva's mundane side's reputation, he is feared in the Moonlit World as the Demon King of Japan. This reputation came about when the Foreign Entity hunted down heretical Mages and Dead Apostles and came across Barthomeloi Lorelei, The Queen of The Clock Tower. For reasons only the Branwen and Barthomeloi families know about, the two came to blows, and Silva won in a one-sided fashion. Speculations of an intense rivalry between The Demon King and The Queen are rampant among the Mage Association.

Another reason for Silva's reputation is that he wiped out whole Mage Families and took their research for himself when a few younger members of the families tried to take him out to earn the Barthomeloi Family's favor. The result is that a few Mage Families got wiped out, and Mage's Association did not do anything in response aside from extracting some monetary fines from the Branwen Family. This solidified his infamy and drew the interest of all Mages in what the Branwen Family Magecraft specializes in and the Mystery surrounding it.

Currently, there are only two members of the Branwen Family, the Family Head, Silva Branwen, and the Heiress of the Branwen Family, Sakura Matou Branwen, the adoptive daughter of Silva. The fact that someone could use the unknown Magecraft of the Branwen Family without carrying any blood relations made various Mages either look down on it or desire it for themselves. Unfortunately for the Mage Association, they lost more Mage Families and their research from trying to abduct Sakura which resulted in her gaining her own infamy as The Demon King's Daughter.

Sakura Matou Branwen earned this namesake by repeating what her adoptive father did a few years back through her own ability. Overall, an unspoken rule has arisen among Mages and Dead Apostles in the Moonlit World that is shared with the Barthomeloi Family. Don't mess with the Branwen Family. Much to the relief of several Mage Families, the Branwen Family is content to manage its mundane international business and not get involved with the politics of the Moonlit World, at least usually.

***

Sakura Matou Branwen, or as she prefers to be addressed, Sakura Branwen, is leaving school to head to her adoptive father's workplace downtown. The violet-haired and-eyed young woman soon found herself at the Snowfall Company's Fuyuki Headquarters. As she entered the lobby, she went toward the elevators that were guarded by Snowfall Knights, a security robot produced by the Snowfall Company. Anyone from the world of Remnant would recognize these robots as heavily modified Atlesian Knights.

The Snowfall Knights stopped Sakura by raising their riot shields and proceeded to scan her, then let her past them. The Demon King's Daughter placed her hand on the biometric scanner and was granted access to the top floor where she hoped to speak to Silva. After a short elevator ride, Sakura found herself on the top floor, and the doors opened to reveal a dozen Einzbern homunculi performing vast amounts of paperwork as secretaries. The violet-haired girl walked past them to go to the CEO's office and found it empty.

Sakura went to the stairs at the side of the office to reach Silva's lab, where she found her adoptive father working on his latest project. She walked up to him and called out.

" Otou-sama."

" Sakura? Give me a second to set everything down, and I will be right with you."

The violet-haired girl smiled as her heart warmed at how her adoptive father would always put aside everything else to speak to her when she wanted outside of things that required his undivided attention, that is. After Silva turns off his equipment, he removes his tech goggles and focuses on Sakura. Despite being in this world for ten years, Silva had not aged a day since he first arrived here; he wasn't immortal or unaging. Rather, time affects him differently since he is from another plane of reality, or at least that is his hypothesis.

" So, what brings you here, Sakura?"

The snow leopard faunus asked with a curious look. The violet-haired girl held up her right hand and revealed the Command Seals on the back of it, which shocked Silva to no end.

" How!? It's fifty years too early for the Grail to reappear!"

" I don't know, Otou-sama. They just appeared today, and I suspect Nee-chan has them as well."

" Rin too!?"

The Demon King ran his mind as to why the Holy Grail would manifest so early and start popping out Command Seals. It was not impossible to get the Holy Grail to manifest early, but the resources needed were not cost-effective nor abundant enough for Silva to consider gathering them. The snow leopard faunus decided to try and figure out who had the resources possible to make the Holy Grail appear this early, and only one person came to mind.

" Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, he is the only one with the theoretical resources that could have intentionally caused the Grail to manifest this early. Knowing that old trolling b*stard, he is up to something."

" Do I feel my ears burning?"

An old man with graying blonde hair, a well-kept beard, and red eyes appeared with a mischievous smirk appeared in Silva's lab; this was Kaleidoscope, the Wizard Marshal of the Clock Tower, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg himself. The Wizard Marshal joked.

" As the expression goes, speak of the devil, and he appears."

" You are probably a bigger nuisance than any devil, Zelretch."

Silva dryly quipped whole, raising his guard as much as possible along with Sakura, and Zelretch gestured for him to calm down.

" Now, now, young man, is that any way to treat your benefactor?"

" London."

The Demon King spat out with venom, bringing up a location where the old man "pranked" him, which actually turned into a rather annoying incident for Silva. Zelretch just grinned as he replied.

" I was just helping two lovebirds get together."

" Do you have a hand in getting the Grail to appear fifty years early, old man?"

The Demon King demanded, and the Wizard Marshal nodded as he explained.

" Yes, I just happen to have some items to help the Grail appear and thought to-."

" Bullsh*t somewhere else."

Silva called out as he did not trust Zelretch as far as he could throw him, which would, ironically, be pretty far. The old man shrugged and turned to greet Sakura.

" Hello, young miss Branwen, how are you?"

Sakura smiled as she took out her mech-shift Mystic Code weapon she made under Silva's tutelage. It was a mechanical bow that could change into a naginata made out of a violet-colored alloy with runes inscribed on it. The Demon King took in the violet-haired girl and raised her to be an equal of Remnant Huntsmen and Huntresses and even unlocked her Aura, which is mistaken as Magecraft by others that don't know the full story. Sakura used Air Graduation to conjure an arrow into her bow as she smiled and returned the greeting.

" I am well, Zelretch-sama."

Zelretch muttered under his breath with a strained smile.

" To think this World Line's Sakura is so much scarier than any other I know of and then some."

The Wizard Marshal gave the snow leopard man a curious look as he was a unique anomaly that only appeared in one World Line despite the practically infinite others. While other abnormalities have occurred here and there, they only affect singular World Lines that they appear in and do not interfere with other World Lines usually. Silva then asked with an annoyed look.

" Why are you here?"

" Oh, just letting you know that because you have all the current Masters on your side that you trigger the Apocrypha protocol of the Holy Grail. So expect seven Masters from the Mage Association, along with the seven Masters you are familiar with and allied with."

Zelretch grinned at Silva's stunned expression, and the Demon King cursed.

" F*cking perfect."