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Chapter 36: Chapter 35

"I don\'t know how to handle this." Rin said flatly.

"If it makes you feel better, modern day devils aren\'t much different than humans, they don\'t go around stealing souls or anything." Well, mostly, I\'d rather not get into the whole mess with evil pieces. But they\'re honestly better than their demon ancestors.

"I\'ll freak out over this later then." Rin snorted. "I\'m pretty sure the church would go ballistic if they found out."

"Yeah, probably not a good idea to mention outside." The church does have a few monsters I would rather not tangle with right now. "It would probably be worse than the world-lines that the old man is a Dead Apostle."

"Wait, what?" Rin blinked in confusion again.

"Not relevant right now." Zelretch cut me off. "I believe we are getting sidetracked."

"Well, there isn\'t much more to my story, that was basically a month ago and I found myself in a world I didn\'t recognize, but I was able to gather some resources and figure some things out."

"Curious." Zelretch looked thoughtful. "I had some preliminary thoughts about such a phenomenon, but I had yet to truly put any effort into researching it as a plausible avenue."

"Why were you even looking into that?" Rin asked.

"That\'s...a good question I hadn\'t thought about yet." I was more concerned on the \'how\' and hadn\'t even touched the \'why\' yet. Nice job, Rin, you really are perceptive.

Zelretch stood up, moving towards a shelf in the corner, looking through a few books. "The Spider." He said simply.

My eyes widened, I hesitated ever so slightly. That answer caught me completely off guard. I thought it through and a realization dawned on me. "Was I supposed to be some kind of weapon then!?" I balled my fists, gritting the words out, but there was an obvious amount of venom present.

"Watch your tone." His said stoically, staring down at me.

I stood up, matching his gaze. "Is that why you decided to finally take in a student, is she another bullet in the chamber?"

Why did I have no memories of why I took Rin in as a student in my past life, unless it was intentional.

"I do not make disposable pawns." His words were direct and cut straight through all my rampant thoughts.

Fuck!

I knew that, I knew it.

Why am I acting like this? Jumping to conclusions is not something I do! It was just my old insecurities acting up.

Zelretch was many things, a liar was not one of them. I calmed myself down, lets hear everything out first, no need to just make assumptions with missing knowledge.

"I would like an explanation." Rin interjected, clearly unsure of what we were talking about.

"Have you not told her about the Spider yet?" I questioned him only for Zelretch to look slightly unsure. It was surprising to see that look if only for a moment.

"I have not, I did not wish to burden her with something like that before she was strong enough."

Yeah.....he did care about Rin I was jumping to conclusions here. I let out a breath I was holding in and fell back into my chair. "The Spider, also known as the Ultimate one of Mercury, or just Type-Mercury, it exists in the same realm as the Crimson Moon. The strongest creature born from the planet it originates from."

"An Aristoteles?" Rin whispered. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Is it going to awaken soon?" Artoria spoke for the first time in awhile.

"You would have information on it based on the Grail\'s systems." I muttered. "Yes, it should be awakening by the end of next century if nothing interferes."

"There\'s an Aristoteles on earth!?" Rin stood up, slamming her hands on the desk. "Why did no one tell me about this!?"

"It\'s not widely spread." Zelretch spoke up. "It was better to keep any foolish enough to approach it from getting ideas."

I stood up again, and started pacing around the room, I usually do my best thinking on my feet. "Is the Beast of Gaia active....and what about the White Princess?"

"Arcueid is sleeping, and the Beast is sealed for the moment." Zelretch responded.

The Beast of Gaia, the White Wolf. One of the planet\'s creations meant to \'destroy\' humanity. It had absolutely authority over human life, Primate Murder. It being sealed for now was good, a variable like that would be able to flip any boards we set up.

Arcueid Brunestud was another. The White Princess, the last True Ancestor and the only thing on the planet that could claim the title of \'Archetype Earth\', or the ultimate one of the Earth. When fully awakened with her power, she was something on the same level as the Spider. It was basically a creation of the Crimson Moon, Type-Moon, as a means to \'reincarnate\' onto Gaia without interference from the planet. Didn\'t work out in the end, but we got another powerful entity that could flip the board.

"How bad is the situation?" I finally asked.

"All my simulations have either failed or resulted in a pyrrhic victory." Zelretch admitted with no small amount of concern flashing across his face.

"Can someone please tell me what\'s going on?" Rin sighed. "I feel like everyone is talking around me."

I looked at her and then to Zelretch who gave a small nod. "It started when the Age of Gods began to decline. The planet foresaw that Humanity would kill it in the far future, eventually living on its dead husk. It sought out the only other figure that could judge it, another celestial body, and the Moon answered. That\'s where the story ends for most people as they all know the tale of Zelretch defeating the Crimson Moon. What most don\'t know about is a prophecy into the far future, where on its last breath, Gaia calls to the other Celestial Bodies to purge humanity from its corpse. Type-Mercury received the call thousands of years too early and crashed in the Rainforests of South America where it now slumbers."

"All data gathered so far indicates that the Spider will awaken within the next hundred years or so. I\'ve run countless simulations, creating new variables, and planning new strategies. But it seems like everything I have done so far only manages to trade the whole of humanity for its destruction in the best-case scenario." Zelretch finished.

"Which is where I apparently come in." I sighed, rubbing my temples.

"You\'re a reincarnation of Zelretch." Rin replied quietly. "It makes sense now."

Zelretch smiled. "Indeed." He looked over to me. "I had a thought a few years ago, about a \'me\' that wasn\'t bound to the same \'rules\' as I was."

Rules. That was it, that was what I was missing, so obvious! Zelretch is the Kaleidoscope, he has a certain \'authority\' that comes with that, things I couldn\'t do while he still exists. He can choose certain possibilities and force them to come true, that is one of his greatest \'treasures\'. A time-line he \'views\' will become the true one among the infinite possibilities. That\'s why he has to \'simulate\' instead of simply watching.

"I\'m not bound by the same rules, I lack your \'authority\' but I can do things you can\'t." I shared a look with him, he apparently already thought this out. "No wonder." I whispered.

"It\'s more than that, you aren\'t me" He smiled, almost grandfatherly.

"I\'m not you." I repeated, not quite sure how to feel after hearing that.

"What are we but our experiences? You have my memories but haven\'t lived through it, you are you and I am me." He said gently. "You will therefore think differently, do things I didn\'t and thus come to different conclusions."

I am not Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg.

I am just me.

And I was okay with that.

"I guess its too late to ask you for some training?" I snorted in laughter.

He smiled but shook his head. "It would be best for you to develop without my input."

Yeah, I already realized that, well fuck I\'m back to square one, but now the damn Spider is hanging over my head. "I guess that\'s why my memories end around here. How many other variables have you tried to introduce?"

I doubt I was the only \'thing\' he tried so far. Hell, I can only imagine he threw everything at the wall and hoped something stuck.

"Too many to count." He rubbed his eyes, looking much more tired that normal. "I\'ve wasted many resources with almost nothing to show for it. If you are here now though, that means something worked, and how knows, maybe others may also come to fruition at some point."

Rin was probably one of the easiest variables to introduce, a well trained apprentice adept at the Kaleidoscope would be invaluable.

No wonder he had her sit in on this discussion, it was better for everyone to be on the same page. He truly does not do things for no reason. Even Artoria being here, no doubt he meddled with the Grail War somehow, her Noble Phantasm would be invaluable in the future.

A sudden realization hit me. "The Holy Grail." Rin and Artoria both stared at me abruptly. "That\'s why you helped create it initially, allowed for its creation and why it persisted until now." No wonder that was another hole in my memories.

"Good." He nodded his head. "It is as you say, I had to suffer that infernal contraption because it allowed us some miniscule success against the Spider in some simulations."

It was unlikely the Counter Force would put any showing against the Spider if this world wasn\'t worth saving, it was just removing its direct interference and allow this \'branch\' to be cut from the \'tree\'. Being able to summon Heroic Spirits, servants, would be invaluable in the inevitable fight.

"What about the strategies from other world-lines, there are plenty that managed to survive past the spider\'s awakening."

He shook his head. "This world-line is....not unique but different than most. While either Gaia or Alaya are usually favored, this one is almost even, just barely in Alaya\'s favor. Most other strategies do not work because of this."

"...You made sure this was the world-line I popped into, didn\'t you?" I stopped in my tracks, and turned towards him.

His lips curled up into a smirk. "Well done."

"Since when have you been aware of me?" He said he hadn\'t even began to experiment with whatever allowed me to exist, so when did he notice me?

"The first time you used the Kaleidoscope." He didn\'t hide the truth.

"So, you know where to look for your future experiments then." I just nodded, I wasn\'t exactly upset, he was acting exactly as I would after all. It was a good world; the reincarnation cycle was much easier to meddle with since things like \'Sacred Gears\' were being reborn alongside human souls. I was willing to bet that was the system he piggybacked on to do this initially. "Well, I guess you wouldn\'t mind supporting me with resources?"

"What kind of grandfather would I be if I didn\'t give my little grandson some pocket change?" He raised an eyebrow, and we shared a small laugh.

Well, shit, now I need to find someone else to teach me....