Chapter 55: Filler + Some Recuperating & Stale Meme

After the 4th year, the deal was fulfilled and Kiritsugu returned to Einzbern to reunite with his family and hopefully bring them away from Ray as he never fully trusted Ray, a Magician that can bring forth destruction unimaginable for normal Magus.

Though he failed not because of Ray but Irisviel and Illyasviel who declined and chose to stay with Einzbern and serve the new head of the family as every Homunculus of Einzbern are created to.

Begrudgingly, Kiritsugu agreed but still remained wary of Ray and stayed in another home near the main house of Einzbern with his family as a form of compromise between him and his wife and daughter.

He also carried his role till the end with Emiya Shirou as he faked his death before disappearing from his adopted son after imparting his ideal as hero of justice.

———

Ray, after losing his system. He had become lost and distraught in his future progression.

One can say, he became afraid and lost his prior confidence of reaching greater power to exact vengeance upon Ray Elliot. He was given a wake up call from his delusion as the main character of a story and remembered he was nothing more than a normal human induced by the thrill and power trip of getting a system, dreaming to become like his creation.

Ray was woken up from his delusion and forced to think rationally about his future without the system to give him affirmation that he is going down the 'correct path'.

He took everything Ray Elliot said at face value that his 'tutorial' had ended because he knew his own creation very well. A coldblooded and calculative person behind the veil of a troll or prankster that found entertainment from the suffering of others. Just like himself prior to his reincarnation.

Reap what you sow, they said.

However, with encouragement and support from Tanya and Charlotte who show full support for him. He found a new reason to strive forward. That is to keep them safe for what will come in the future.

He knew, once he lay low or in other words, no longer 'entertaining' for Ray Elliot. Troubles will come his way and possibly will harm those he truly cared about.

Want it or not, he must not look back and keep going forward. He mustn't let anything stop him. Not even himself, he vowed. He must seek strength. Strength that will allow him to break free from his greatest fear regardless of method.

He was reminded of the quote, no pain no gain. Nothing will be gained without a sacrifice and firm commitment.

Equipped with new found resolve, he opened his eyes that glowed with a glint of firm purpose. He activates the Bounded Field and Wards to the maximum before ejecting from his physical body to enter Akasha once again.

———

Reaching the boundary of the universe, Ray willed his spiritual body to dive into the Swirl of Root. His goal is the Throne of Heroes. The place where the heroic spirit will reach and where all their information is recorded.

The moment he touched down in the realm of nothingness, his head assaulted by intense pain. It felt like his head swelled up too much that his very being is at the verge of imploding. His mind is already losing itself, comprehending information beyond what a mortal mind could, the truth of the universe.

"Pain! It's too painful! AHHHH!!!" Ray screamed.

If one were to look at Ray right now, one can see his spiritual body constantly expand and deflate again back to its original appearance. Again and again until all the information retaining his Third Magic, Heaven's Feel had been fully crammed into his head.

His body expands because his soul is increasing its size to accommodate the information. Then it deflated after the Third Magic reform his soul to restore back to his original form. If it didn't, his soul would mutate horribly into eldritch-like monstrosities as his soul continued to expand to accomodate the information.

At the distance, certain Dead Apostle is observing the occurrence just a step outside the Boundary of Nothingness with surprise that someone would be this suicidal by forcing his soul to twist and tear while forcefully cram all the information available into his soul.

Even him, the infamous Magician, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg had carefully spent time understanding his Second Magic instead of using such forceful methods.

"Worst case possible, he will go mad after obtaining the forbidden knowledge. If he doesn't, he will ascend to a higher dimension." Zelretch guessing while continuing to observe with intrigue.

Back to Ray.

He didn't know how much time had passed, all he knew was an endless cycle of agonizing pain as knowledge he cannot even understand is being etched onto his very soul while being torn apart and regenerated.

The experience had numbed him to pain as he tried to retain his clarity.

The dark void in his sight, he extended his hand as if trying to reach it but to no avail, he was out of reach.

He even wonders what he is doing here to begin with. What is he trying to achieve?

"Where am I?" He looks at his arm that overlaps the void in his sight, trying to reach it.

"Who am I?" He asked but his mind couldn't form an answer anymore without any coherent memories anymore which had been piled by countless new knowledge.

"What am I?" He retracts his arm awkwardly and touches his face that feels foreign to himself.

He tried to remember but he couldn't. He just can't remember it anymore. An important part of himself.

It's painful. Much more than what he had experienced. It was like his very being was shouting in pain, every cell from his head to his toes. His soul is rejecting itself.

His body suddenly squirmed and swelled like malignant tumors growing at rate visible to eyes.

"Not good!" Zelretch shouted in panic when it went with neither of his guesses.

Ray lost his sense of self.

His soul had reached a critical point of density where it could no longer compress further and now had burst the mould that kept its shape.

Zelretch quickly tried to pull Ray out of Akasha but something else happened.

An intense halo of green light appeared out of nowhere which manifested as a gigantic tree which temporarily occupied the Boundary of Nothingness and introduced matter within the space.

Avatar of a green woman appeared and enveloped Ray before the tree's jade green leaves flew off the branches by a gust of wind and gathered to formed a cocoon on the giant hand that enveloped Ray before everything vanished alongside him, leaving Zelretch with bitter taste in his mouth.

"Of course. Which RAY didn't have OP waifu assisting him in the shadows. Ptooi." The grumbling old Dead Apostle Ancestor opens a space-time tunnel back to his lair to brood over his bad mood.

———

"Hmm…" Ray suddenly woke up feeling out of place because he rarely takes a sleep.

Much less till morning when he felt the light through his partially opened eyelids.

He tried to rise up but felt something heavy on his arms. He instantly opened his eyes wide and checked.

"Shit, almost gave me a heart attack." Ray mumbled before sighing softly and laid back on the bed.

It was Tanya and Charlotte, who seemed to be sleeping in his arms. He thinks he just dragged someone else into the bed again.

He raised his hands and slowly rubbed their fluffy hairs which felt very therapeutic whenever he felt his mind was in a mess.

He remembered what he did. The results were honestly very impressive as he truly understood the real worth of the Third Magic. An ability that borders on authority to manipulate a soul.

He is now equipped with the necessary tools to obtain the power he needs.

A soul is what contains a person's memory and mind. If he can manipulate a soul. Foe can be friends. What others have, he can also have. Blurring the lines between soul and body to replace the need of physical body and reach immortality is just the side benefits of it.

That's how he sees the ability would function.

To test out his theory, Ray grants himself an artificial memory. Memory that contains a lifetime's worth of swordsmanship techniques of a fictional character and it worked!

He can create even memories that never existed in this world and make it a reality. He himself also didn't have an explanation as the very nature of True Magic is because it is magic. Something that is incomprehensible, a miracle or else, it would have been called magecraft instead of Magic

Ray could only imagine the limit of what he can do with it. He sort of regrets skipping on anime like Naruto, Bleach and One Piece. Those treasure troves of abilities he can make use of.

He let his mind relax a bit and looked at Tanya and Charlotte with more resolute eyes. Even without the system, he can have a shot against the final boss, Ray Elliot.

*Stomp*

*Stomp*

*Stomp*

Ray who are about to get a rest and sleep with his woman suddenly felt an ominous s-

*Smash!*

"GET YO ASS HERE RAY!" Alma suddenly smashed into his bedroom, waking both who are sleeping and gives Ray a shock.

"Huh? Ray!"x2 The half awoken Tanya and Charlotte that was rudely woken up and ready to beat the person disturbing their sleep suddenly abandoned the thought and worriedly look at Ray.

"UNFILIAL CHILD!" Alma shouted and jumped on top of Ray before slapping some sense into his brain.

Ray wanted to ask since when did he become her child… or son? But he wasn't given the chance as he is getting his ass handed over by a beautiful looking milf elf with the strength of a King Kong in her dainty looking arms.

"How dare you do such suicidal act? Do you not think about the others that worried to death looking at you bleed to death and exploded into bits!"

*Smack!*

"Do you not care about me who almost shocked to death hearing the news about your body suddenly exploded in your workshop!"

*Slap!*

"I-I don't r-" Ray was silenced before he can continue.

*Smack!*

"You dare talk back to your mother! Let me see how I whoop your ass black and blue after this and rethink your future decisions!" Alma basically tearing the collar of his shirt with her powerful grip and shaking.

"Sowwy…" Ray muttered with his swolled cheeks.

Considering how hard Alma had slapped, Ray was surprised his head still intact instead of bursting like a watermelon.

This continued until Alma finally calmed down and take a sit on a chair while huffing to control her still boiling anger.

Tanya and Charlotte went to calm Alma down instead of helping Ray. Making him feeling betrayed that even Charlotte, the ever-loyal one are ignoring him.

Ray couldn't remember the aftermath of his reckless behaviour in the Boundary of Nothingness.

After Alma calmed down, she look at Ray with a disapproving and dissapointed look at him.

"Have you went mad? Don't you know the very nature of that place which is called Akasha?" Alma said in an interrogating tone with her arm crossed and staring at his eyes.

"Of course I know. It's where all the information from the dawn of creation till it's dusk are stored…"

"Then! Why? Why are you that reckless to dive head first into that place?" Her anger suddenly boils again but she holds it back while gripping her fist tightly. "If not for my timely arrival, you would have entered the Realm of Nothingness and permanently stuck there and entered nirvana."

Ray realized he really had nothing to say to defend himself since he 'technically' just decided to yolo it with a do or die attempt. He could only rub his head sheepishly and lower his head.

"You! I didn't spend my time and effort, showing my support for you to kill yourself!" This time, it's Tanya's turn to get mad and conjure a baton to beat him to death herself before he can kill himself with his stupid.

"Don't stop me! Let me break his limbs so he won't need to leave his bed anymore." Tanya pounced on Ray but held back by Charlotte and Alma that quickly restrained her, strap her to the chair and gave her a dose of tranquilizing drug by Alma with a flower she created.

Ray quietly tries to slip out the room, tip-toeing to the door and almost slipped out when Charlotte is standing outside the door he just opened.

Ray looked startled like a cat that had its tail stepped on.

"Uh… Char…" Ray slips out and closes the door behind him while Alma tends to Tanya.

Unsure what to say, his only goal is to escape. But Charlotte moved her hand to Ray's shoulder.

"Master. Perhaps Tanya is right. All Char what's is Master's attention and affection. Nothing else. None of those require the Master to have legs or both arms. One is enough." Her grip becomes strong suddenly and holds Ray on his feet. "Char is afraid that Master will make another stupid decision and actually leave us behind."

For the first time, his Precognition worked to its limit.

The sword he crafted for Charlotte will be cleaved through his legs and then his left arm as Charlotte previously described.

What if this is what Ray Elliot actually meant! They had never gone mad like this to actually be serious about making him a cripple that can never hope to see the sun anymore.

"Fuck!" "Time Alter, Square Accel."

A brief discoloration of the surroundings in Ray's sight as the world slowed. But in actuality, it's a reality marble that envelops his body and accelerates the time for himself.

Ray lower his arms and bend his body forward for a barrel roll before creating a portal in front of him that brings him directly to the safest location in the entire castle, his Workshop that has various Bounded Fields and Wards to protect him.

"I'll be dead if I stay for another second." Ray grumbled and cursed Ray Elliot for turning his life upside down.

Huddling under the safety of his Bounded Fields and Wards that he activated to prevent everyone from entering.

With a breath of relief, he fell limp on a couch that he had in his Workshop when he needed a rest.

"Huff.. huff.. just what is wrong with them…" Ray asked but received no reply. Not that he intends to get any.

"Isn't it, onii-chan's fault?" A voice behind him replied with a sweet, child-like innocent voice.

Ray's fight flight instinct literally stomps on the pedal and his body jolts up from the couch in an unnatural manner before he turns to the assailant.

Her hollow eyes on her sweet smiling face felt extremely creepy that his body hair stood up straight. Light sinks into her shadow and hollow eyes that stare at him as if he is a meat on a cutting board.

"S-sakura?" Ray stuttered as he fell and stumbled on his feets.

The signature ribbons-like tentacles and red crack that spread on her skin.

"No! Help! HELP!!!" Ray shouted like a pussy he are while Ray Elliot is enjoying a bucket of popcorn with Ravel, wearing 3D glasses.

"Uwahh! That girl is creepy!" Ravel hugs Elliot's arm and huddles closer to hide her eyes from the cinema screen.

"Is it?" Elliot questioned before dismissing it as the main character of the story suddenly jolted awake on his bed with his body soaked with cold sweat.

———

"Haah haah haah…" Ray exhales loudly as he just woke up from a nightmare. It was so vivid that he almost shit his pants especially when Sakura was suddenly possessed by Angra Mainyu inside his locked Workshop.

"It's just a nightmare. Just a dream…" Ray gulped and then assessed the situation.

It was identical with his dream. White shirt and in the same room, tucked in the bed.

He hesitantly reached his arm to the blanket and pulled it open. Tanya and Charlotte soundly asleep under it, huddle closer to Ray for warmth.

Instantly the Restart sound from the Rezero anime player in his mind. An illusion perhaps.

*Stomp*

*Stomp*

It seems like the sequence is starting again and his heart rate has already exceeded 120 and continues to rise rapidly.

He did the most rational thing any panicked person would.

Run.

He jumped off the bed and through the window to make his escape. Used his hand to soften his landing on the snow covered ground and a roll before running on his feets.

Fuck everything else. They can wait. But this, this can't.

"Joestar secret technique, Nigerundayo!" He unconsciously used Third Magic to add an ability out of sheer instinct before fleeing for his life.

—————