The Holy Man of The Church Creek

62

The Origins of Marbas the Grand Unifier
T

he Great Demon Marbas is undoubtedly one of the most important figures of this Era.
Even if only factoring his heritage, his importance shines. He is the last pure Demon of the Seventy-two, the heir of the will of the original four Satans, and the final son of House Marbas.
By his Power and his Will, did he unite a fractured Underworld tearing itself apart at the end of the catastrophic Great War. He rescued it from calamity as the Old Satan Loyalists inadvertently unleashed the remnants of the Heavenly Father's fury in the Valley of Revelations at great personal cost.
From that sacrifice did he eventually become something greater. He unified the power of Heaven above, the bravery of Humanity, and his own terrible demonic power into the nexus of power he is today.
Yet he was not satisfied with uniting the Underworld, and the three aspects into himself. He then unified the Three Factions of the Abrahamic Faith into one, then united most of the world's pantheons into a Grand Alliance to stand tall against the premature Armageddon the Khaos Brigade unleashed upon the world when they freed Trihexa.
And then after the climactic battle did he unify the halves of the world. Past and Present. Mundane and Supernatural. Instead of working with the other Pantheons to restore the great masquerade to keep the majority of Humanity in ignorance, he worked to instead integrate Humanity into the fold, leading to a restoration of several faiths that participated in the battles against Trihexa, with notably the Greek Pantheon's resurgence in popularity.
To help salve the wounds in the hearts of the nations, several heroes of eld, summoned at Marbas's command opted to remain in the present, to inspire the next generation of heroes.
At his will did even the Original Goetia return, to once more guide and protect the underworld, unseen but present.
Lastly, Marbas did what not even the original Heavenly Father could, and ceased most of the bitter infighting between the branches of his faith: Christianity, Judiasm, Islam, and all the other sub-factions sprawling from their wake. Only the most fanatical of those factions still wish to continue the fight. The others merely compete with each other to prove that their interpretation best embodies their lord's will like siblings that recognize each other, but compete to be the favorite.
But even today the Great Marbas lives up to his other title, the Unfathomable, for his origins still lay hidden in the midst of the past. The man himself is reluctant to speak of it, but upon interviewing the Devils he met and saved during the Civil War, and the humans that met and followed Marbas's human self during the Sword Trials, a clearer yet murky picture begins to form.
Sona Sitri's initial conjecture that the current human form is a result of the Great Marbas's demonic energy balancing out with the Heavenly Father's at the end of the civil war has been recently dismissed as partially incorrect by underworld scholars today.
However, she is still regarded as the first to gain a true inkling to his nature, as expected of a young genius.
Based on what evidence we of the new House Dantalion were able to compile, this is the current theory of Marbas's history.
In the waning years of the Great War between the Three Factions, the Old Satans took a child with a high latent demonic blood of House Marbas and experimented on him, devising a way to amplify and further purify the devil into a demon of eld. In doing so, they had amplified the power and the raw amount of evil the child had into becoming the Demon Marbas we know today.
But in their folly to create a demon to lead the Underworld against the Heavens, they prevented any "good" from manifesting in the child believing that a demon must contain nothing but pure "evil." In their mistaken beliefs, they were able to awaken the child into becoming a demon, but leaving it an empty husk with great power but no motivation or drive. The power was there, but a suitable vessel was missing.
There cannot be darkness without light, good without evil, no ego without id. Marbas was powerful, but woefully incomplete.
Disappointed in their initial failure, the Old Satans moved onto other projects in order to gain an advantage in the war. One of these projects involved several humans used for experimentation, some of whom were able to escape.
It is currently hypothesized that in the final months of the war, one of these humans was able to interact with a young Marbas and eventually become his host, which would explain the vast difference in appearance between the Great Marbas and the other members of his family. During this time, it is believed that Marbas slowly developed his personality as he integrated with the human that accepted him. He was raised in seclusion by his father after the Old Satans fell in battle against the Heavenly Father.
During the Civil War, House Marbas made several overtures to garner support for a 'true' heir of the Underworld. It is suspected that when the Old Satan Loyalists attempted to renew the Great War in the memory of their fallen Great Satans, Marbas's father attempted to dissuade them and wait.
Unfortunately, the Old Satan Faction wouldn't listen, preventing Marbas's father from announcing the existence of the young Marbas to the Underworld as a whole out of concern for his safety. Ambitious devils could have easily affected the young Marbas's mental state.
So did the war rage in the Underworld. Devils fought Devils in a foolish struggle that nearly destroyed them all when it's fires eventually reached Marbas's lands. The Old Satan Loyalists, ignorantly attacked House Marbas, nearly razing it to the ground before the Young Marbas finally awoke, and crushed the foolish devils underneath his power.
And thus, did the Demon of the Underworld make his name known.
As the war raged, Marbas's personality developed further as the growing bonds between himself and the Satans grew, especially with Serafall Sitri who many believed was his main motivator. Why else would he take up arms only when he'd not done so before. It must have been love. The start of a love that would be called a tragedy for years.
Their bond grew so potent that when the Remnants of the Heavenly Father were accidentally unleashed upon the underworld, he chose to sacrifice himself to save the one he came to love, unwittingly embodying the very virtues that the Heavenly Father himself championed. So, when the heavenly power flowed into Marbas, it was assimilated in harmony instead of mutual destruction.
A trinity of Man, Devil, and Holy would soon be formed.
Unfortunately, as the powers merged, their form became unstable, resulting in their body temporarily disintegrating, leading the Satans and the Old Satan Loyalists present in the Valley of Revelations to believe their leader had fallen.
A grim and uneasy peace followed in the Underworld from his absence, which was thankfully held together by the then New Great Satans.
Unfortunately, most information of what happened between the end of the Civil War and Marbas arriving in a Church Creek in Italy isn't known.
Based on what little information we were able to glean from childhood companions of Marbas: the mysterious magician Tohsaka Rin, and the spirit of Arthur and Lefay Pendragon's sister Arturia, Marbas was found by a human magician by the name of Kiritsugu Emiya, who according to the pair was an assassin specialized in silencing magicians and other supernatural beings that threatened the secrecy of magical society.
Despite the efforts of the new House Dantalion, the Grigori, Vatican, and various societies throughout the world, no records of the man, Tohsaka Rin, or Arturia Pendragon were ever found. Yet Marbas himself vouches for their histories, and every truth-seeking artifact used confirms their claims. This impossibility has led the Grigory to create multiple societies to search for knowledge lost and forgotten by even the Gods, and has led to a wealth of new discoveries.
From what little we know from interviews of Marbas and his mysterious childhood companions, what we do know is that he spent most of his recent youth as a human, utterly unaware of his origins as his memories were sealed. It was not until a climatic battle against a fragment of the evil that existed within the Trihexa did Marbas slowly begin to awaken.
After that battle, Marbas was separated from his companions and found himself in Italy, where he wandered into a simple church by a creek, meeting his future second wife, Xenovia Quarta. During his year-long stay in Italy, Marbas slowly began to awaken the powers of the Heavenly Father within him. Much of what we know during this time are from interviews given by his second wife, who eagerly went into great detail of Marbas's exploits.
Based on her testimony, scholars believe that Marbas's awakening began during the second sword trial, the Gate of Inner Vision. During this trial the participants were given a choice, to condemn one group, or another. According to Xenovia, Marbas was given a choice, between condemning a child to bear all the world's evils, or condemn the remorseful people sacrificing the child. He chose neither and instead opted to bear the burdens himself.
It is theorized that this vision was based on the actions of the original human that interacted with the empty Marbas in the distant past, and acted as the catalyst for Marbas's return.
As the Sword Trials progressed, the Heavenly Father was able to manifest once more within him, giving him guidance as they both recovered, enabling the Heavenly Father to recover first before Marbas's demonic side. Despite this, the Heavenly Father decided to remain within Marbas and to continue to support him.
Marbas himself did not fully reawaken until the Battle of Kuoh Academy, where the misguided Khaos Brigade attempted to sabotage the peace treaty that Marbas supported. Once again the Old Satan Loyalists stood against Marbas, but unlike during the civil war, they did not resist further upon discovering their mistake.
From the wake of that battle, the Three Factions united under its rightful ruler, and what few fools that could not accept the natural order were purged, either during the war against Trihexia, or the attacks leading up to it. It was during this time that Marbas first divided into the three that comprised of himself, the Heavenly Father, and the Demon Marbas. Since then, Marbas has rarely divided himself, preferring to stay whole and merely shift aspects as needed to protect his kingdom.
And so, even now we grow under the protective gaze of Marbas, he who unified the world, he who holds absolute power.
He who is the blessed three.
The future is now in the hands of his children.
Excerpt from Chronicles of the Ages, Prelude of a Golden Age
-Third Chronicler, Kovaras Dantalion.
Thanks for reading and all the support for this story! If the future wills it, I have a sequel in mind featuring Sakura Toujou
Thanks to my newest patrons: Levi F, Owen M., Sedition, Caedmon C., Jacob W,. and George A!
Next update: Fate: Parallels
P a treon. com (slash) Parcasious
Fiction Press: Survivor's Log: Reflections (New novel coming out near December)
Book link: Fatedlegacydark. ca
Summary of book:
Death. Grief. Ruin. Nothing was left unchanged after an unexplained tragedy led to the loss of millions across the world in key locations. Cities were reduced to wastelands of steel and concrete, and many were forced into migration. When events leading to the prior tragedy occur once more, Kevin Black was going to have to learn that sometimes mysteries were better left unsolved. Trapped with his friends in the world of a ruined city filled with monsters, the journey out would be far more perilous than the journey in.