The Lord of Flies: Chapter 1

Planning Ahead

Night time in Fuyuki during early January was quite the idyllic place to walk around and just soak in the scenery. Not even the biting cold of the wee hours could take away from the beauty of it all. From the slowly drifting snowflakes falling from the sky and the almost ethereal feeling of the city as it covered everything in a light dusting of it to the moon light bathing the landscape with its cool soft light, it was no wonder people wanted to stay here despite all the disasters.

Unfortunately for me however, I simply did not have the time to wander around and enjoy the sight. Sitting atop the second hand bike I bought, I pedaled hard to ward off the cold, looping around the city as I refamiliarized myself with every street in the city.

I, or rather, Shinji already knew it but he stuck close to his usual paths. There were some back alleys I discovered in my search that I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t go out at night. While the sleepy city wasn’t so active during the night, I knew I should still be careful while going outside. There were monsters not only in my home but at the church.

As for why I was outside so late at night, risking a possible encounter with a certain blonde, instead of staying home, the reason was twofold. Making a sharp turn, I then straight for the lonely mountain at the edge of the town, gritting my teeth as I pushed my legs to its limits.

One, I really need to get out of there lest I go insane from paranoia. Yes, it was quiet but the knowledge of the creatures crawling under the walls of the mansion made my skin crawl. There was also the matter of running away from Sakura. I was a coward, I’ll admit that but he didn’t want to deal with that right now, not when I don't even have a servant just yet, much less any actual power to do something. Me being away might even be a net positive for her… maybe.

As for the other reason, it was why I was heading straight for Ryuudou Temple. Skidding to a stop, I panted as I stood before the steps of the temple and found… nobody down at the foot of the mountain.

“Shit, not today I guess,” I clicked my tongue in disappointment as I leaned on the handlebars while I let myself cool down, sweat covering my now much younger body. “At least I don’t have to build up cardio,” I muttered, reluctantly giving Shinji his due. The boy was far more physically active than I was.

Still, my prize and my reason to be here was not present. Medea, the Caster of the 5th Holy Grail War, has either not been summoned yet or has yet to betray her master. Looking up, the cloudless night should have tipped me off but I couldn’t leave things to chance. I needed to get to Medea first to increase my chance of winning this damn war.

“Why the hell do I even want to be in this war?” I grumbled before freezing as I heard buzzing in the tree line. Whipping around, heart pounding as I strained my ear, eyes open for any signs of worms yet as the seconds passed by, it became clear that nothing was there. I relaxed, shaking my head at how jumpy I was. It was probably just some cicada or something but it was hard being so complacent when I, or rather, Shinji made a deal with the devil.

Turns out, Shinji already promised the old man that he was going to take the goddamn grail. Whether I like it or not, I was in here for the long haul. I could run… and I already have a bike to my name but could I even out run an ancient magus the likes of Zouken? I had no money nor any relatives to call upon outside of Fuyuki. He’s already a dick to his family, what would happen if I cross him of all things?

“There’s really no way out of this huh?” I whispered as I dismounted from my bike and brought it over to a nearby bench for the tourist heading up to Ryuudou temple. Sitting down, I looked up at the clear night sky and let my mind wonder.

“If… If I’m going to live through this war… I need to plan,” I said out aloud, knowing full well no one was going to be her. This was near the outskirts of the town and while the school is nearby, it’s not like anyone would be out here especially on the weekends… aside from Issei Ryuudou.

Shaking my head, I focused on why I was here. “Caster, Caster will be the key,” She simply was that powerful and impactful and that’s with her having no master to call her own. She became a one man army and it took several people teaming up to get her out of her hole. She even gets to capture some servants in some time line.

There is her epithet, the witch of betrayal, but… was she that betrayed people or the one constantly on the end of betrayal? It was time like this that I wished I paid a bit more attention to the characters. I don’t exactly know what her wish is but if Kozuki-sensei could recruit her and have her as a devoted wife of all things… It should be easy enough right? It’s not like I even have a wish… or rather, I wasn’t sure if my wish was even possible.

Getting my mind back to my old self sounds like it would take the likes of true magic to pull off and even then… could I just be a copy? There was also the muddy matter of the grail… it was not going to be pretty if that certain timeline came to pass. “I’ll worry about this later. Focus on what you need now,”

Humming, I then said, “Saber… I need her on my side,” I… might be a bit attracted to her as well and his reasons might be not pure but she’s a powerhouse. Having Medea, Saber and whoever Sakura summons would make quite the formidable team. It’ll just be a matter of who gets the wish to get that alliance off the ground.

“I should give Shirou a visit,” I mused out loud as I felt a smile crept up to my face, “Maybe I should hook him up with Sakura?” I wondered before I grimaced at the thought, “So much for trying to become a better Shinji when I’m already thinking of whoring out Sakura,”

Slumping against my seat, I let out a sigh as I whispered, “Man, This is so fucked up…”

Here I was, stuck in another world without my friends or family to turn to or ask for advice. I wasn’t built for this kind of stuff. I was not a great hero or some genius who can think on the fly, I was just my plain old self. “How am I going to get out of this intact?”

Straightening up, I slapped my cheeks before shaking my head. “God damn it, listen to yourself man,” I hissed out as I stood up before pacing around. Mopping about wouldn’t get me anywhere, action was needed.

I’ve already taken my first step forward so why stop now. Just one step at a time, one leg after another. So the goals so far is get Medea which could prevent the fuck up that was Ryuudou temple and false Assassin, create an alliance with the masters so we can maybe possibly deal with that golden haired freak, and then deal with that thing that was the fuck corrupted grail.

Ambitious, yes, given how I could horribly die in the process but the alternative was just sitting by and possibly watching the world turn to shit. From what I little I could remember, there were a fuck ton of ways that Shirou could die thus put this entire world in danger so it was hard to rely on Shirou. How can I put everything on his shoulder when I could help in my own way…

Still, these goals I have were long term goals as I couldn’t act on them just yet. What are some short term goals I could take? What steps could I take to prepare myself when shit hits the fan. Clenching my fist, I tried to dig in my memories, trying to remember why Shinji wasn’t a Magus.

They were not my memories but they came to me as easily as my own. I had Circuits… the problem was they were effectively blocked, malformed even. I could still hear the words of Grandfather ringing in my ears. “Nothing short of a miracle could unlock those useless circuits of yours so if you have nothing else to ask, get out of my sight.”

Such cruel words… but maybe a necessity. “A miracle huh?” I whispered as I paused, my mind whirling of the possibilities. In this world, a lot of things are impossible… that is it you don’t actually put the effort on it. Why really on waiting for the grail for a miracle when I could lower the bar? What if there was something that could maybe… shape the very body of someone?

“No… maybe, too dangerous…” I hesitated, “But… it’s technically the fastest way as well,”

It was effectively suicide by magecraft yes but it could be possible… that is if I could shape those worms to suit me instead of having them suit to what Grandfather wants. “The only question is… how am I going to pull that off?”

A/N:

Got a bit side tracked while working on Shiki. Also, yeah, I have a lot more dialogue ready for this fic :V, enough that I can keep working but I need to work on the winners which is Shiki and Absolution.