Y/n wandered aimlessly near Kabukichou, he was in wait for one of the coloraturas to spot him and try to nab him. The others had decided to rig one of them with a bomb, so Y/n decided he'd take things hilariously far. To put it rather simply, he had a certain song that he and a few of the more unhinged servants had remixed at the ready. A gremlinoid grin spread across his face as he spotted a small group of coloraturas rolling out.
Y/n: "The fact that Hundred Faces even helped with the song here... I love Chaldea."
The coloraturas spotted him and began to converge on his position. He only needed one to be intact, so he picked one out from the seven that were making their way towards him with malicious intent.
Y/n: "Lets give some new toys a test run."
Y/n smirked as he summoned Gungnir.
Y/n: "Who's ready to get a refit? I warn ya though, it might blow your mind."
Y/n internally cringed at himself for that horrendous joke. He then proceeded to dismantle six of the seven coloraturas. The seventh one was knocked out of commission by the haft of Gungnir rather than the blade.
Once he ensured the coast was clear, he dragged the coloratura back to the hideout where the others began to set about refitting it.
Once they opened its head though, there was a collective moment of shock as they found a human brain within.
Rin: "Th- That's..."
Shirou: "They use brains to make these things!?"
Emiya: "Tch, of course they do."
Artoria: "Scum..."
Edmond: "Phantom's gonna be feeling this one in his spirit origin for a while."
Y/n: "Agreed. Let's go. I want this to line up so we can set the bomb off at eleven minutes past nine."
Rin: "Why so specific?"
Y/n merely flashed her a manic grin as he and Edmond set about refitting the coloratura.
A while later, Phantom of the Opera was standing in the middle of Kabukichou with coloraturas surrounding him and a particular coloratura with a head of blonde hair.
Phantom: "Ah~ Christine! Christine! Such a beautiful melody on the air."
Phantom looked to the sky when he heard something approaching. Something loud.
(Just as a side note, please check out the comments of this vid. It's a fucking goldmine.)
Phantom did not recognise the song, in fact he found its sound to be rather offensive to his ears. However the coloratura that had been fitted with speakers which were blasting this particular track was in the middle of the street and surrounded by other coloraturas.
However at the exact minute of eleven minutes past nine, the coloratura exploded right as the beat dropped.
Phantom and Christine were both sent flying back, however they recovered quickly. Angered, Phantom began searching around frantically for his attackers.
Phantom: "Christine! Are you unharmed?"
Christine: "I am... Slightly dented..."
Phantom: "HOW DARE YOU!! SHOW YOURSELF!!"
Y/n chuckled before revealing himself.
Y/n: "Damn, the drop hit harder than both of the towers with that one!"
Phantom: "You! You would dare harm my Christine!?"
Y/n: "Both of your existences are what I would consider Haram, so I was only opening the door to let you fucks meet Allah."
Y/n could barely contain his laughter as he spoke. He knew for a fact that he would be pissing SO many people off right now and he loved every second of it.
Phantom: "DIE!!"
Phantom lunged at the magician, only to get bitch slapped away with immense force while Y/n laughed. This had been, by far, the stupidest thing he could do and he was enjoying it to the fullest.
The assassin's claws grazed past Y/n's face by mere millimetres as the magician laughed. Christine also lunged forwards with a shriek once she had recovered. The two swung wildly at Y/n as he avoided their strikes with ease.
His smirk never left his face as Phantom and Christine attempted relentlessly to strike him down, however he was just too fast for them to keep up with.
Kabukichou was ablaze as the crazed phantom of the opera tried to slash his opponent to ribbons, but Y/n kept toying with him and eventually blinded him with his own anger. In his relentless assault, he did not see Caenis dropping in from above to drive her spear through Christine until she shrieked in agony, causing Phantom to turn in a panic.
His eyes widened in horror as he saw Christine with Caenis' spear impaled through her head.
Caenis: "Hey. I'm boutta beat you to death with your girlfriend."
As she had promised, Caenis rushed forward and used Christine's mechanical body as a weapon while it was attached to the heft of her spear. Phantom was sent flying into a building with Christine's broken body going with him.
Caenis: "Ha! Too easy!"
Y/n: "Agreed. Which is why we should move, like right fuckin' now."
Caenis nodded as she and Y/n leapt into the air to avoid gunfire. Looking down, they saw a dark-skinned man with a buzzcut of white hair.
Y/n: "Emiya? No, wait. He's different."
Caenis: "Yeah, so edgy I can almost feel a blade on my wrist!"
Y/n: "Edgemiya?"
Caenis: "Edgemiya."
The two laughed again as the apparent Alter Emiya raised his head to glare at them.
Y/n: "Take a picture! It lasts longer!"
Alter was having none of it and turned to the men in combat suits behind him.
Edgemiya: "Hornets, shoot them down."
The men nodded and took aim before Y/n shouted down to them.
Y/n: "Now, hear me out here! How about you don't!?"
Caenis laughed as Y/n raised his hand skyward.
Y/n: "Let the Gjallarhorn sound and the end times begin! Vopn Ásgarðs!!"
At his behest, the skies sundered open as a rain of spears crashed down upon the soldiers. Edgemiya quickly took cover and cursed to himself.
Edgemiya: "Shit. That coulda been rough."
???: "Not as rough as this ass kickin'!"
Edgemiya reacted too late as Caenis appeared at his side and slammed the haft of her spear into his stomach. The archer retaliated by firing off a few rounds at her, only for them to be deflected by Caenis spinning her spear and deflecting them away from herself. Rushing forward, she was able to keep Edgemiya from firing at her by keeping up with her assault.
While she dealt with that, Y/n ruthlessly rained fire from above and slaughtered roughly seventy percent of the soldiers that had accompanied Edgemiya. Odin's power was seriously nothing to scoff at. However there were a few soldiers that had gotten to cover and were actively shooting at him.
Y/n: "Susanoo. You got anything I can use here?"
Susanoo: "Obviously. There's a certain sword I'm known for giving to my sister after all."
Y/n: "Ah right, that."
Y/n smirked as he descended and landed in the middle of the red light district. He saw the flames around him and his smirk widened.
Y/n: "Excellent."
Y/n stood up and straightened his posture before sensing the wind kicking up around him.
Y/n: "Flaming arrows. Open grassland. My death is not this day..."
Y/n extended his arm as the wind rushed around his hand and a peculiar looking sword formed in his grip. Y/n slowed his breathing and heart rate before opening his eyes and making a single slash with the sword.
Y/n: "... Kusanagi no Tsurugi!!"
The swing was so powerful that the buildings around the magician were promptly left with massive gashes in the concrete. The flames dissipated, however the soldiers who had been trying to hide simply were unable to do so as their upper halves were socially distanced from their lower halves.
Y/n: "THAT! WAS FUCKING COOL!!"
Susanoo: "My sister gave it a stupid ass name, but it's still a badass sword."
Y/n: "Fuck yeah! This shit boutta get wild!"
Y/n turned to Caenis and Edgemiya, who were still locked in combat. He promptly rushed over and joined in after manifesting Gungnir. Both he and Caenis proved to be too much for the Alter servant to handle, as such, when he saw an opening, Edgemiya leapt away from the two.
Edgemiya: "Hmph. Seems like you're more trouble than we bargained for. I'll be heading back for now. Try not to let Rider kill you."
Y/n: "So the wolf's a rider, eh? Nice."
Egdemiya was about to speak when a familiar face dropped in from above. Y/n recognised the midnight black skin and wrapped right arm of the assassin servant as he landed.
Y/n: "Cursed arm?"
Cursed arm turned to Y/n and nodded before turning back to Edgemiya.
Edgemiya: "Assassin."
Cursed Arm: "Alter."
Edgemiya: "You have no business here, Assassin. Get on your way."
Cursed Arm: "Not before you get a shift on."
Y/n noted the subtle difference in Cursed Arm's mannerisms. He seemed to be more serious than he usually was. Around Chaldea, Cursed Arm had revealed himself to be very easygoing and not at all what he seemed to be in the Camelot singularity.
Y/n narrowed his eyes as Edgemiya leapt up to the rooftops and got away.
Y/n: "... We'll let him go for now. C'mon, we gotta get back."
Caenis: "I'll say."
Upon their return to the hideout, Rin and Shirou immediately got to their feet when they saw Gungnir in Y/n's hand.
Rin: "Y/n! What the hell is that?"
Y/n: "Oh this? New toy I've been testing out."
Salter: "I find it hard to believe you would call a divine construct such as that a mere toy."
Y/n: "What part of that is out of character for me?"
Jalter: "He has a point, Ice queen bitch."
Salter: "You be silent."
Shirou: "I'd also like to know what the deal with that spear is."
Y/n: "It's Gungnir."
Rin: "... Fuckin' run that by me again?"
Emiya: "It's Odin's spear. Not something you wanna get hit by."
Caenis: "Especially when one of the noble phantasms Y/n can use is basically raining spears from Asgard!"
Mordred: "Fuckin' nice!"
Caenis: "Oh, now that I remember. Emiya, we met your alter out there."
Y/n: "Edgy bastard."
Emiya: "Shit. That makes things slightly more complex. What else did you learn?"
Y/n: "Christine's been taken out. As has Phantom. In the unlikely event that they come back however, I can easily beat 'em down again."
Caenis: "That Christine bitch seemed pretty pissed."
Y/n: "Agreed. I know Christine from the opera itself so I know she's not supposed to be that obsessive of an audience."
Rin: "You actually know the opera!?"
Y/n: "First of all, Nightwish did a cover of the title song. Second off, my mom was kinda obsessed with opera. In the years I spent with her, she took me to see the musical. After she died, Haruna and I mostly just stuck to video games and movies. Didn't really bother with musicals that much."
Edmond: "Christine is a compassionate character in the original story. Having to choose between her childhood friend and the Phantom, or as he's really known, Erik."
Mordred: "THAT MASKED FUCK'S CALLED ERIK!?"
Y/n caught a glimpse of Archer thinking to himself for a moment.
Y/n: "Something on your mind, Archer?"
Archer: "Oh? Ah, I was merely thinking to myself. Christine was not deemed to be a strong enough spirit to manifest, yes? That would make her a phantom spirit."
Artoria: "I see where you're going with this. You're saying that someone is summoning phantom spirits and binding them to automata and monsters."
Archer: "Hm, I think that's true in all but one case."
Y/n: "Rider."
Archer: "Precisely. If I am to hypothesise this correctly, the rider of Shinkuju is a composite spirit made up of two or more phantom spirits. One of which I believe to be obvious."
Y/n: "The headless horseman?"
Archer: "Potentially. However we may be overlooking something obvious. The wolf itself is impossibly huge and seems to have a will of its own."
Emiya: "You're saying that something might be controlling it?"
Archer: "Most likely. I'll bet that my evil side is cooking something up right at this very moment."
Cursed Arm: "Hm. Perhaps we should go for a little patrol. I can accompany one of the masters if it's fine."
Rin: "I dunno..."
Shirou: "No offence, but I kinda get a bad vibe from you."
Y/n: "So do I. Thankfully whatever's messing with my own senses only works in a large radius. The effect also seems to be weaker down here."
Cursed arm froze up. This wasn't something he expected. The plan had backfired immensely now. They weren't at his mercy...
He was at Y/n's.
Y/n: "My authority remaining from Ahura-Mazda gives me the same power as a Ruler servant. So why don't you save yourself the hassle and come clean, Yan Qing?"
Cursed Arm was stunned, however a chuckle escaped his lips before he turned into an amorphous blob and reformed himself into a tattooed young man.
Yan Qing: "Well I'll be damned. I wasn't expecting to be discovered like that. A ruler's authority ain't something to mess with, huh?"
Y/n: "Yan Qing. You're one of the hundred and eight stars of destiny. I don't recall you having the ability to shapeshift though. Which would lead me to believe you're also a composite spirit like Rider."
Yan Qing smirked despite his surprise, this guy was quick to catch on. Perhaps even too quick.
Yan Qing: "Well, you got me there. Old man Archer had me absorb a phantom spirit to become who I am. Said Phantom spirit was Doppelganger if you were wondering."
Y/n: "That checks out, yeah."
Archer: "Wait, Y/n. You said your authority works down here? Do you-"
Y/n: "Yes, I know. We'll discuss it once I deal with Yan Qing."
Yan Qing: "Heh, and after all the trouble the old man went through to make sure a Ruler couldn't fuck with us."
Y/n: "See, your first mistake was not taking a literal god's authority into account. Your other mistake was thinking I'd be perma-nerfed."
Yan Qing: "... So how likely am I to get out of here?"
Y/n: "Don't put up a fight and I'll consider letting you go."
Yan Qing: "I don't like the implication there."
Y/n: "Then you REALLY ain't gonna like this part. Yo! Eldritch gramps! Show me how to see other people's memories real quick."
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire room darkened and all colour was diluted until the world was almost completely greyscale as a menacing chuckle echoed around the room.
The only colour remaining was that of everyone's eyes.
Yan Qing found his blood running cold when he saw a shadow forming behind Y/n. The glowing red eyes of Azathoth then shone forth from within that shadow.
Azathoth: "It's a simple process. Though I blame Shub for not teaching you this sooner. Place your hand upon his head. Ensure your thumb rests upon the temple of his skull."
Yan Qing: "... This is gonna hurt, isn't it?"
Azathoth: "You may find the process to be excruciatingly painful, yes."
Rin and Shirou chose to look away and cover their ears as Y/n looked into Yan Qing's recent memories.
A few minutes passed when Y/n removed his hand from the assassin's head.
Y/n: "You can get a move on now."
Yan Qing, traumatised from the experience, immediately turned and hauled ass out the door.
Salter: "Do you not think it foolish to just let him go?"
Azathoth: "Oh, don't worry about that."
Y/n smirked before holding up his left hand as a black symbol in the shape of an eye appeared briefly on his skin.
Y/n: "It pays to see through the eyes of another. Especially when you want to know something."
Shirou: "When did you learn to do that?"
Y/n: "Peering into memories? Just now. Seeing through other people's eyes? Not long after the Temple of Time singularity. Mostly used it to keep Kiara from breaking into my room at night."
Rin and Shirou understood, from what they'd been told about Kiara, she was at the pinnacle of horny servants in sheer libido, only being matched by Chiyo, Aphrodite, and Kama.
Azathoth: "Regardless of its use in the past. This will be a good opportunity to gather information on our foe. I assume a demon god pillar is also here. Their repugnant stench hangs heavy in the air."
Shirou: "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Demon God Pillar? Wanna run that by us again?"
Jalter: "Basically a giant tentacle with hundreds of eyes that has a major vendetta against Chaldea at this point cuz we kinda killed their boss and ruined a plan they'd been cooking up for three millennia."
Rin: "You killed a demon king?"
Y/n: "Y'know how I have the ten rings of Solomon? The quote-unquote king of the demon god pillars was the Ars Goetia itself. I managed to roll that bitch with the Ars Theurgia noble phantasm."
Azathoth: "Indeed. However we can bully the sentient Moby Huge later. For now, we must focus on why there are so many phantom spirits around."
Y/n: "Bet. I'll meditate and peek in on what Yan Qing's doing."
Azathoth: "Good idea. I shall remain manifested until you awaken."
Y/n nodded before walking over and taking a seat on the couch next to Cavall. He then crossed his legs and shut his eyes.
Azathoth: "I suggest speaking in the native tongues of all the divinities within your mindscape to further focus your mind with their power."
Y/n merely deadpanned, he'd need to speak in old Norse, Chinese, Yoruba, Egyptian, R'Lyehian, Japanese, Gaelic and Greek as well as probably Latin if he was correct in assuming that Jupiter was chilling in there as well.
He ignored Azathoth however and simply focused his own mind as much as he could as he slipped into a meditative state.
It was time to see which pillar the team would be bullying.
End of Chapter.
Next Time: Phantom Pen.