Glinting Edge

{College Town Dorm Room. Clock Tower, London. 2004}

Contrary to the views of last century and my own metaknowledge, the Clock Tower was, in fact, NOT a cutthroat battlefield of politics and constant warring for mystic resources. Not to the extent it was several decades back, at least.

That wasn't to say it was safe. Root forbid, when a cocky upstart actually crosses your typical Magus, one should always still expect something lethal or homicidal to happen. But records and historical accounts told by multiple higher ups did conclude the M.A. was getting...softer in a sense.

The drastically lower mage population of the present was probably a testament to that; the cause of which was because of a certain popularization of the Heaven's Feel ritual - the offshoots, that is.

But by Akasha, there were a whole lot of offshoots.

It gained traction back in the 60's when it was supposedly found by a member of the M.A. in a material expedition. And when THAT fact, along with some important notes and ritual components, was released to the wider magus population, things...escalated.

1969 was when it truly gained attention, when an as of yet unnamed member of the Church was told to have sponsored that particular Subcategory Holy Grail War. 5 Heroic Spirits distilled into Servant containers were summoned by their Masters. A several day long War was fought, with feats of the Servants themselves recorded by some surveillance spells, surpassing the physical and magical abilities of modern mystics by a considerable margin. The first 3 Servants died, and the last pair were drawn into a stalemate till their deaths.

And then a wish was made on that chalice, for one's family and Magic Crest to ascend and prosper.

The anecdotes ended there, when several Association Enforcer units were ordered to cull an entire bloodline a week later.

But by then, the magi in the know already had their proof of concept.

Things spiralled to where they were now. With at least 1 offshoot Grail War being officially recorded every year, the magus population in the entire M.A. only numbering a 5 digit number, the Clock Tower taking on a stricter non-hostility policy than it has in centuries, and the M.A.'s increased number of Enforcer Cells across Europe to better maintain their policies on magical secrecy.

Frankly, they made a good decision in 1985 to implement those policies on non-hostility and formal combat agreements. It was a good ethical step for long term improvement. Father, when he was still alive, sometimes told Fiore and I about how he saw a corpse in the hallways at least once week when heading to his next class. It didn't stop the more covert and subtle magical foolery, but it definitely mitigated a lot of potential losses of lives and limbs. So, that was progress.

The lesser amount of harvesters and producers for mystical resources, as well as fewer students to ransack money from, was obviously not a good thing for the Clock Tower as a whole too. It was technically still an educational institution, after all. You think student tuitions and teacher salaries were a joke for a secret magical society? Think again.

Now I was just rambling. I still had a sister to care for, one who painted herself a target for forbidden knowledge.

In our dorm room, I stood an entire head in front of her, and heard the whirring exoskeleton on her lower body as she fidgeted under my judging stare.

"Y'know, I expected more than just a survillance spell. Though I guess most are just too intimidated to do more than that." I said after hearing how Fei's presentation went. I also double checked with my Pure Eyes that, yes, the surveillance spell on her bag was indeed exorcised. "But you do know you're probably going on a watchlist because of it, right?"

"That's exactly what I said." Pemetrekis, Trixy as I liked to call her, commented as she sat at the dining table, with the bread and tea that my inborn hospitality demanded I offer to her.

"Yes, I know. But! It was for a good cause." She quickly switched from apologetic to defensive.

I stopped her with an open hand gesture before she could continue, "No no, I get that it was for a good cause. Many limbs and cicuits will be saved because of your improved foundational exercise. What I don't get is...WHY did you present something that'll bring dangerous attention to you?"

I omitted the fact that it was a project Fiore spent many months on, since the part time Enforcer was still here. Fei and I agreed that she herself would present the modified version of it, structurally different from the infamous chalice shape and less efficient than the base ritual - but it would still be a notable anecdote to her magical resumé.

No, she played a risky move with this, and now we had a possible jeopardy in our hands.

"Because it will help us in the long run."

"...I see." I slowly said. It wasn't meant to mock. I really did see where she was going with this, even if she neglected to acknowledge the amount of danger it would bring.

"I don't." Trixy said. "An image or shape evokes a lot, and the Ether Grail you showed us was making the professor more aloof by the end. Well, him and a good majority of our class. Didn't you see Stillwater teleport away once the bell rang?"

Fiore rose an eyebrow. "But she's a spiritual evoker? She just established a bounded apportation using void matri-"

"I don't need to know that." Trixy interrupted with a bit of force, respecting an unwritten law of a taboo among magi. Don't divulge another's personal magecraft. Too bad my sister saw advanced stuff as basic when it came to spirits. "The point is that I'm also concerned why you did it. I respect your spirit and goodwill for our field of magecraft, I really do. You've indirectly saved my arms and internal organs on the field several times, and I'm grateful for that. I'm just wondering why you thought it was a good idea to revolutionise our basics in such a...precarious way."

Trixy turned to look at me. "And also why your brother seems to now be on your side in this. I thought you were supposed to be the cautious and pragmatic sibling?"

"Are you calling me impractical?"

"Are you calling me cautious?" I responded after Fei, to which we both shared a short laugh.

Pemetrekis sighed. "This is why I'm an Enforcer and not a Magus. Seriously, what kind of play are you two fumbling on about?"

"Hey, I resent that statement as a mercenary thaumaturge. I'm just following along my sister's games and providing advice where I can."

"Forvedge." Trixy emphasized, expression evidently tired from our tangent.

"Oh, umm..."

"..."

"..."

"Clout?"

"...that just sounds wrong coming out of your mouth. I know you can technically sum it that way, but please take it back." I flatly said, while Trixy nodded.

"It was, uh, it was for recognition! Sure, the presentation could be interpreted as being a possible conspirator to the Grail rituals, but I've already accomplished enough to make it not seem that way." Fiore fumbled a bit.

"...you think it'll be written off as a Flat Escardos incident?" Trixy said her conclusion.

"Exactly!"

"Woah, wait, why're you guys mentioning Flat about this?" I asked.

"Wouldn't you know? You were his classmate for a while in Modern Magecraft Theories." Trixy asked.

"Uhhh...?" I reminisced on the relative inaccuracy of what I experienced in that class of nuts.

-0-0-0-

"Professor, Professor! Le Chien ate my homework!" A blonde teen pointed to a fellow blonde teen.

"I did not!"

"He also peed on my table!"

There was suddenly a glowing blue werewolf in the room chasing the student.

Lord El-Melloi II let out a mix between a groan and sigh, while I blinked at the scene. Just another Tuesday.

-0-0-0-

"Flat, would you mind elaborating on why the Individual Fundamentals department has been calling my office the entire morning...about an 'unclassified Reverse Side reality marble'?" Professor Velvet asked in a clipped tone before the lecture started.

"They just had so much glass and void dust lying around! I thought I'd help them a bit with cleaning up the residual curses around!" The young mad genius said...as if that made any more sense.

"...you are going to come with me. And you are going to dispel the marble and Fae facsimiles you summoned."

"Yes sir!" He never lost his jolly tone.

-0-0-0-

I snapped back to reality.

"...you mean the part where he's known as a mad magical genius or a magically mad genius?"

"Mad magical genius." Fiore nodded.

"Yup. I can vouch for that."

"Right. So you're telling me that you can dissuade the higher ups from putting a Sealing Designation on you?" Trixy asked my sister.

I raised my hand, "I can vouch for that too. Fei's a savant with dozens of published articles on the S.E. field as a whole. I don't think people who know about her would be surprised at this point."

"Hm. I guess that's just true. Hope you never have to be branded though, Fiore. You don't deserve that level of restriction."

"Thank you, Pem."

"Not like it'll do them any good." I added. "She's heir to Yggdmillennia. As long as he has any say about it, Darnic would never allow her to be a prisoner of the Mage's Association."

"That's good to know at least." Trixy got up from her seat. "I should get going now. Thank you for the bread and tea, Caules. And see you next term or whenever, Fiore."

We said our goodbyes to the Enforcer, and were left alone in the room.

I led Fei to our bunk bed where she, obviously, sat at the bottom bunk. The whirring of her Mystic Code stopped, unclasping from her waist and transforming into a clunky yet compact box.

I was especially proud of the work it took to build the thing. It was a sibling team effort from 4 years ago that I put my all into. A collaboration of Fei's expertise and my mastery in the basics, it was made to be both low cost, durable, and prana efficient. Though at this point, my sister was already leagues above me in her chosen field, and had already made her own improvements to this latest model.

Ardent Stilts - she had called it.

...yeah, we were both bad at names.

She couldn't wear it in mundane places for obvious reasons, but it gave her some of the normality I wanted to introduce to her.

Being a magic wielding mercenary was fantastical and thrill inducing, sure, but I still liked my moments of peace and quiet...until the War rolls by, of course.

"So how was your week? You know, apart from walking the edge for the sake of progess." I asked, taking off my glasses to the sight of the blue fountain of prana my sister was.

She groaned, lying unto her pillow with a thump.

"Tiring. I'm getting another research paper approved by the dean, but I guess this puts a halt to things. Also need more materials and essence to figure out improvements for the Bronze Links. Oh! Speaking of material, have you found what happened to Mr. Sulfrum?"

"Ah, right..." I squinted at the wall, remembering the encounter.

"Your tone suggests bad news, Cal. Is this bad news?"

"Sadly. He was practically on death's door by the time we found him. Botched invocation turned him into a phantasmal chimera. He burned everything in his workshop while fighting us, and the only thing left were his ashes."

Hell, we had to collect his ashes for mystic material as well. We actually haggled a decent price for it.

"Oh, that..." She stared blankly upward. "That really is bad news. My condolences to him."

"He was pretty reliable, wasn't he?"

"One of our main suppliers, yes. I'm just having a moment to think about that. I keep forgetting how much...risk there always is. Let me guess, Phoenix or fire djinn invocation?"

"Phoenix." I idly scratched the back of my palm, feeling a slight itch.

"Another failed immortality then. He was Ether aligned, darn it. Why could he be that reckless?" She closed her eyes. "Let's change the subject-"

Someone knocked at the door. My Pure Eyes saw no mystic build up for an attack.

"Hello? Oh, hey Goredolf. What brings you here?" I opened the door for a young chubby teen with straw blond hair. Beside him was the typical homunculus of the Musik branch, with pale brown hair, ruby eyes, and in a white uniform.

"Afternoon, Caules." He greeted, and pulled out a letter. "Father asked me to bring this to you. He said it's about Lord Darnic announcing a clan-wide assembly next month."

I blinked, my heart stopping for a second before accepting the letter. "Huh. Wonder if I'm invited."

"I suppose so? Father said all branch heads exclusively are supposed to meet at the location, though it also says they're allowed chaperones. It sounds important."

"That it does. Thanks for the delivery, Mr Musik Man."

"Please never call me that again." He said, then patted his sling bag. "I still have to bring a few more letters to the clan members upstairs. Bye, Forvedge."

"See ya."

I closed the door, then looked at the letter in my hand.

A quick casting of Structural Grasp revealed its contents and history to me. The weak concealment magic providing no protection against my brute forced spell.

I stared at it for a tense minute.

"Cal, what does the letter from Grandfather say? I don't like the look you have when you Grasped it."

My gaze went to Fiore, and I went and handed the letter to her.

"Just a bad feeling, that's all."

She read through it as I stood with my back to the wall, trying to keep myself from pacing. I heard my heart beating in my ears as my calm Breathing kept my panic from showing.

Fiore hummed. "It looks like we're going to Transylvania next week. It's an assembly of sorts. For it to be held in the Fortress of Millennia, it's bound to be something big. Grandfather's even advising us to bring our prized Mystic Codes. I'll have to assign you as my chaperone though. If you're free that is. What do you think?"

Breathe, Caules.

"As if I'd leave you alone with a bunch of stuck ups. When do we pack up?"

For the past minute I'd been feeling my hand through the hidden pocket in my shirt, reassuring myself that the item was still there. I'd been keeping "it" around just in case the scenario happened - it was the most expensive thing I've ever owned, but it was worth every pound.

With the amount of Grail Wars occuring, it just seemed like common sense to keep a summoning catalyst in your back pocket. This was mine - a lustrous bronze fragment, reflective enough to act like a small mirror.

The script was flipped from the moment I gained memories from another life. I think it was time to drive a train further off the rails.

-0-0-0-

AN: More than 2 months since the last update? Damn. IRL stuff beating back muse-chan does not do well for my writing motivation. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go watch a Grim Reaper be a GM in a tabletop rpg.