From Mortal To Divinity

The Clock Tower, currently the headquarters and main branch of the Mage's Association, and has existed for centuries. Starting out as a simple underground base/bunker, the Clock Tower has evolved along the country it is in. It is located at the British Museum. Specifically, the museum is where the entrance to it is situated, with the Clock Tower and its facilities being underground, extending from Regent's Park up until Westminster. The Clock Tower was originally only the Mage's Association headquarters in London, but in the hundreds of years since its establishment, it has expanded, and more facilities were added. Now it is the largest magical fortress in the World of Magecraft, protected by hundreds of defensive contraptions, and would not be destroyed even if the Earth itself was. Of course if one were to ask for my personal opinion, I would kindly disagree as my castle has every single defensive measure that the Clock Tower possesses and more. After all, I did not spend around a thousand years sitting with my legs crossed in an attempt to figure out how one may gain control of prophetic dreams and turn it into clairvoyance.

"Vice-Director!" a voice shouts, freeing me of my thoughts. "Vice-Director, we have a situation."

Turning to face the voice, I come across Waver Velvet, or Lord El-Melloi II, jogging to catch up to me. He was promoted to the position after he participated in a Lesser Grail War to prove to his teacher, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, that someone from a small lineage can compete with one who possesses a lineage that traces back to centuries. Waver's theory is to increase one's potential through effort and experience, which would allow a new mage to overcome the handicap of being generations behind. Unfortunately for the bright young man, this is the nasuverse and not a shonen type universe. Here older is always better, it is why servants such as Karna, Gilgamesh, etc…, will always be more powerful than newer heroes. Not only due to what they have accomplished in their legends, but also due to how old their legends are. In an old family, the magic crest is always passed from generation to generation, and it keeps all the knowledge and decades of work of the magus. The bloodline will also continuously bring out children with more and better circuits compared to the newer ones unless one has horrible luck, or uses their dying body to sire new children, similar to what Zouken Matou did.

However, although Waver's paper on the subject is wrong, his survival in a Grail War, albeit a Lesser one, earned him the Archibald family's respect. When Kayneth himself died in a similar War, the Archibalds bestowed on to him the same position as his Fate/Zero counterpart.

"Lord El-Melloi II,-" I say as he catches up to me. "-what situation could be so dire that you, yourself, felt the need to personally inform me in such a manner, and at this ungodly hour of the day?"

"It's not me that's looking for you." he answers as he catches his breath. "Vice-Director Barthomeloi is the one who ordered me to find you. She says that it is an urgent matter."

"Very well, you may return to your duties." I tell him as I turn to where he came from, the direction of Lorelei's office, and begin to make my way to it.

"I honestly want to." he answers as he follows me. "But apparently she needs me for this meeting too."

"Do you perhaps know what this meeting is about?" I ask him as I place my gloved hands in the pocket of my trousers.

"I believe that it's about the Greater Grail. I saw the heads of the Einzbern and Tohsaka families heading towards her office." he answers.

It seems that the time has come.Although I already knew that it would be some time this year considering that it is two thousand and four, and the Grail War in Apocrypha is stated to occur around the same time as the one in Fate/Stay Night.

Arriving at the door of Lorelei's office, I hear Tokiomi's voice suggest that the Association stay out of their affairs.

"Unfortunately for you Tohsaka,-" I say as I walk in. "-that decision is no longer up to you."

Hearing my voice, the room's occupants turn to face me.

"Ambrosius,-" says Lorelei Barthomeloi from her seat behind her desk. "-I am glad that you could join us in such a timely fashion."

Lorelei Barthomeloi, the second Vice-Director of the Mage's Association, known as "The Queen" of London's Clock Tower, and the current head of the Barthomeloi family. Standing at five feet two inches with grey eyes and brown hair tied into a ponytail, she does not strike an intimidating figure with her looks, nor with her stature. Rather it is her domineering presence along with her reputation that makes the majority of those that meet her fear. She is what one would call pretty, instead of s.e.xy, or beautiful.

She shares her family's great sense of aristocracy and pride in their heritage, viewing the name 'Lorelei' to be just an insignificant name stuck on to her last name, 'Barthomeloi'. While the Barthomeloi have a completely irrational hatred towards vampires, Lorelei's own hatred is on another entirely different level than that of any of the past members of her family, and even she cannot understand why it is so strong. She spends most of her time hunting them as if it were natural, often ignores her work as the Vice Director, and even lends herself to the Church as a vampire hunter. It is through these hunts that she and I have grown to respect one another. Me due to her lacking an unnecessary amount of arrogance, unlike a certain wench that is her ancestor. While she respects me due my ability and the 'Malphas family' having a history of hunting down Dead Apostles.

"I presume that this topic relays to the Greater Grail's theft." I say as I close the door behind Waver.

"You are correct." she answers as she places her elbows on her desk and rests her chin on her interlocked fingers. "Unfortunately the situation is far more dire. The Yggdmillennia family has made it known that it was they who orchestrated the theft of the Greater Grail, and are now declaring themselves independent from the Association."

"I propose that the Association leave the matter of the Greater Grail to us, the founding families." says Tokiomi from his seat across Lorelei.

Similar to in Fate/Zero, Tokiomi stands at five feet eight inches with blue eyes. He is a well-dressed man clad in a white, long sleeve shirt with a crimson tuxedo over it that has black buttons, a blue ribbon, and brown shoes. Unlike his Fate/Zero counterpart however, his elegant black hair and goatee are starting to gray, most likely due to stress as from what I can gather he is very much still in his middle ages.

"As stated earlier Tohsaka, it is no longer your decision to make. As of now this matter is officially the Mage's Association situation." I tell him. "This is no longer about the Greater Grail being stolen, rather it is now about the future of magecraft."

"How?" demands Tokiomi as his calm persona starts to crack, it is obvious that he sees the Greater Grail's theft as his failure and a stain on the Tohsaka name.

"Is it not obvious?" answers Lorelei. "Should the Yggdmillennia family succeed in creating their own Mage's Association, the World of Magecraft will now be split into two factions. The Mage's Association and the Yggdmillennia family. Not even you are naive enough to believe that we shall coexist peacefully, especially since the Yggdmillennia holds a significant amount of hatred for the Association due to its special ties with the Malphas family."

Please. Special ties does not even begin to explain the relationship between me and the Mage's Association. As far as the majority of the population is concerned, my 'family's' faction runs this entire organisation with the Barthomeloi faction coming in second place. As for the Yggdmillennia family's concern, the Association is synonymous with the Malphas family. It has been this way ever since Claudius Yggdmillennia attempted to make me share my secrets with his scheme in front of the Clock Tower's founding families.

"That would be disastrous." states Waver. "Should the World of Magecraft really be split into two factions that hate each other, the issuing battle would threaten to reveal magecraft to the world along with causing the deaths of countless families. Especially if the Yggdmillennia have already summoned the servants."

Waver's words cause Tokiomi's eyes to widen as he thinks of the implications.

"Do you truly believe that the Yggdmillennia family would have summoned the seven servants already?" asks the room's fifth occupant, Jubstacheit Von Einzbern, the eight head of the Eiznbern family, and also known as Old Man Acht.

He stands at six feet tall, has white hair and beard, and wears a long white robe with gold accents.

"I believe that they already did." replies Waver. "Otherwise they wouldn't have made that claim since doing so would bring the full might of the Association on them."

"And the servants are the only ones that can protect them from the Association. Especially if both Vice-Directors personally led the charge. Even they cannot win against seven servants." replies Tokiomi as he looks at me.

In response I simply shrug and offer him an amused smile. It honestly depends on who those servants are. Seven servants as weak as Angra Mainyu would simply be slaughtered by either one of us single handedly.

"Unfortunately for them,-" I say before anyone else can speak. "-there is a failsafe embedded in the Grail should seven individuals ally and summon their servants to provide a united front."

Before they can ask me what it is, I simply take my right hand from my pocket and remove my glove, showcasing a set of command seals.

"When Zelretch helped your families form the system, he came to my father for advice. To which my father provided him with possible catastrophic scenarios and failsafes for said scenarios. This is one such situation." I explain.

"When did you receive them?" asks Tokiomi as he leans forward, and Old Man Acht narrows his eyes.

"This morning." I simply answer as I once again place my gloves on. "Once the failsafe activates, the Grail chooses seven more masters and bestows a set of command seals upon them. At that point the Grail is no longer seven masters facing one another, rather a team of seven masters facing another team of seven masters."

"Would you happen to know any of the other masters?" asks Lorelei.

"Only two for certain, and I suspect the identity of one more." I answer her. "The other masters are my twin sisters."

"Sisters?" questions Lorelei in shock. "I have only heard of one sister, Scathach, who apparently looks identical to her namesake."

Naturally that is what everyone has heard because it is what we want for the Association to know this time. Other than what we tell the Association and rumours, no one truly knows anything about the 'Malphas family'. As such the only concrete piece of information that they have about us are sparse. For one they believe that I am Ambrosius Malphas III, the original Scathach and Ambrosius are dead, and that for the first time ever the Malphas family has produced a woman. Not only is said woman as powerful as her brother, but she also takes after her namesake, Scathach. Which is why hearing of a third sibling would be surprising.

"She is adopted." I explain. "There is nothing special about her. Father simply took pity on a somewhat talented child with no lineage and brought her into the family. She can barely be considered a magus, and it frankly baffles me as to why the Grail would choose her"

Although I say this with a straight face, I cannot help but feel for the poor fools that will underestimate Morgan due to this statement. The plan is simple, while Scathach, Azula and I act in the spotlight, Morgan will be operating in the shadows while everyone underestimates her. While Scathach and I believe ourselves to be powerful enough to win with the help of our servants and Azula, we do not wish to put all of our eggs in one basket. As for why I would make her presence known if I want her to operate in the shadows, the answer is simple. Ruler would not take kindly to an outsider helping a faction, and this time I honestly doubt that there will be a problem with her summoning. All that is left now is to find Azula before the summoning. We have absolutely no idea where she is, and the only reason why we continue searching for her is because we know that she will appear in this jump sometime before the War begins.

"Now we simply need to identify the remaining three masters." says Old Man Acht, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"According to the Grail's system, each of the founding families will have one representative." explains Tokiomi. "That easily accounts for the remaining masters."

"Speaking of families,-" I say with distaste. "-where is that disgusting worm, Zouken. He should also be present, considering that this also concerns his family."

"We do not know." answers Tokiomi. "He has gone missing, and none have been able to contact him."

"There has been a rumour that a girl claiming to be a Matou has been seen around the Clock Tower." states Waver. "Apparently she has quite the close ties with the Edelfelt family."

"When did he go missing?" asks Lorelei.

"Ten years ago." answers Tokiomi.

"What happened ten years ago?" I ask him.

"Excuse me?" asks Tokiomi.

"You are certain that it happened ten years ago." I tell him. "You cannot possibly be certain unless you and he had some form of contact with one another, and from what I can gather your families are not close at all, choosing only to interact with one another during a Grail War. Therefore the only way for you to know the date precisely is if you had contacted him ten years ago, when there was not a Grail War happening."

"Ten years ago,-" he answers with a frown ��-my daughter Sakura was adopted into the Matou family. Afterwards he was never heard from again. Not even when I attempted to contact him for some business related matters."

"If he does not make his presence known, then we will have to proceed without him." answers Lorelei. "Once we have confirmed the identities of all the masters, then they all assemble here and Ambrosius shall be their leader."

"Is there anything else that needs to be discussed?" I ask.

"As the head of the Eiznbern family,-" says Old Man Acht as he stands up. "-I withdraw the Einzbern from the Grail War."

Of course he would, he knows that he has nothing to gain from it. Should the Yggdmillennia win then they will make use of it, and should I win then the Malphas family will make use of it. Especially since three participants belong to said family.

"And what of the Tohsaka family?" I ask Tokiomi as I ignore Old Man Acht as he exits.

"Should we receive a set of command seals, then we will participate." answers Tokiomi as he gets up and leaves.

Tokiomi is smart, he should know that he will nor receive the Grail even if the Association wins. I can only think of one reason why he would participate himself or allow Rin to participate. For the experience and prestige. Waver survived a Lesser Grail War, and look how far he has come. Should Rin accomplish the same, she may reach further than Waver and any Tohsaka ancestor. Especially since she is a genius with a long lineage.

"Originally I had asked for your presence to provide us with an insight on the Grail Wars." says Lorelei to Waver. "However, it seems that your aid will no longer be required. You may return to your duties."

With a nod Waver walks out of the room.

"Do you need something?" I ask Lorelei as she stares at me.

"Come back alive." she tells me. "We still have not determined which one of us is the best Dead Apostle hunter."

"Right." I simply answer with an amused smile as I leave her office.

Unfortunately for her that question will remain unanswered as I have no intention of returning after winning the Grail War. Besides, it really is not fair considering the fact that I have been constantly holding back in the Dead Apostle hunts. After all, not a single one of them are even remotely on par with Crimson Moon, and the only one that is close makes it a habit of hunting her kind. With a sigh I teleport to my castle to prepare for a more thorough search for Azula. Something tells me that she has been around all along and has been training. I would not be surprised if she became too invested in her training. I can feel her through the parabatai bond, I simply cannot pinpoint her exact location.