Golden Ascension- Fate c12

Rin was pacing back and forth in her flat, digesting what she had seen today in Marcus'' workshop.

“Can you stop doing that? My head is starting to spin!” Ishtar complained in Rin’s head.

“Shut up! I am thinking about what I saw!” the black-haired twin-tails girl said in an annoyed tone. But deep beneath that annoyance were wisps of fear.

“I know. I think I have fallen in love a couple of times with him throughout the day.” The Mesopotamian Goddess replied in an infatuated tone, making Rin grimace.

“Don’t you understand what he is planning to do?” The girl asked the Goddess.

“I am Goddess. Your values and common sense mean nothing to me. You should understand that people like him make the US break the taboo.” Ishtar’s voice slowly morphed into what makes her so notorious. Rin can sense deep lust and… wisps of madness?

Or something along those lines. The girl was feeling chills running through her back.

“Right? Ereshkigal? You agree with me?” Ishtar asked the fellow Goddess.

“Don’t lump me with your surface kin!” The Underworld Goddess loudly exclaimed before whispering her reply.

“But, yes. The basic principle is what Ishtar said.”

“Ugh…”

“Stop being such a spoiled sport! Just being the Empress of Cosmos is worth it!” Ishtar reminded her, but such a reminder only made Rin pale from the sheer scale of what it meant.

“S-Shut up! What do you even understand? You ruled your domain like a tyrant who has no understanding of how to do it! And you did that on a small land! Now imagine it at a galactic scale! You are going to mess up so bad that I can’t even imagine!”

The twin-tailed girl started to rant. 

“Gah! As if you know how I ruled!” The Goddess of Beauty got all defensive.

“I DO! You did it so poorly that history remembered you as one of the first-ever spoiled brats of the world!” The black-haired girl huffed before plopping down onto her bed and lying on her back while looking at the ceiling of her flat.

‘What a day…’

“Hmph! Those are all lies!” Ishtar didn’t believe a thing. How could she? She is heaven's chosen daughter!

“Just shut up. I need to think.” Rin groaned as she demanded the annoying Goddess to shut up! She needs ideas! She needs some sort of plan! How does she address what she learned?

The girl recalled all of their meetings in detail! As a Magus, she has trained her memory, not just her martial arts!

Eventually, she realised a simple thing. The current situation is the best. There is no overwhelming faction in the way. She is the direct source of all of this! That means all she needs to do is continue the way she was!

After all, Marcus will come to school tomorrow and attend the classes! All she needs to do is keep on building those bonds!

‘Hehe! This will work!’

“Don’t forget to kiss him! Hard!”

“Shut…the…hell…up!!!”

Or a Goddess will drive her mad before she achieves anything!

~~~

Just like Rin, Sion pondered what she saw. The purple-haired girl came to the same conclusion as Rin. She already expected that Marcus had a big secret.

An actual faction capable of ending society was part of the equation. That is why she arrived here in its infancy to be able to influence to some extent.

For a faction, being extremely self-made is even better for her.

‘In other words, my talent can be even more useful.’

The girl stroked her chin as she thought about the circumstances.

‘However, the competition…’

Sion realised that she would need to step up her game. The cuddling would need to increase, and most likely, some more intimate actions would be required.

The girl realised that she would need to strike a balance. If she is too easy, he can lose interest, and if she is too difficult, the same can happen.

Considering there are three other girls he can replace her with.

‘Hmm… let’s see how well I can juggle this.’

The purple-haired twin tails pondered to herself before deciding to take a shower.

~~~~~~Next Morning~~~~~~

Marcus’ eyelashes trembled as he opened his eyes. What he saw was a sea of two types of blonde. 

‘Right… I forgot.’

The Alchemist recalled that he allowed for both of them to sleep in his bed.

He realised that both of his Servants were quite the naughty girls who liked to cuddle like that.

“You two do know that I can sense when you are awake?” 

The pair stiffed.

“I am pretty sure dreams work differently for Servants?” He said with an amused tone.

“Yes. Well…” His Caster lifted her head while his Rider continued to lay as if nothing had happened.

“Servants don’t need to sleep. But the modifications we have, thanks to you, allow us to experience some of it.” Artoria said with a small, strained smile. Being caught like that makes her self-aware.

But Alter didn’t bother to move. Instead, she rubbed her face into his chest as if she were planning to continue to snooze and ignore the fact that it was morning.

Marcus raised his eyebrow as he realised that his maid was acting in a non-maid fashion…

To fix this, his hand went to her ass and squeezed her perky ass cheek. 

The pale blonde Rider stiffened as she lifted her head and looked at him.

“...Good morning, Master.”

“Do you require a morning kiss or something…more?” Alter asked with a small…lustful smile.

“W-What are you asking! A-Are all maids like that!?” The Fae asked with disbelief.

“I am a maid who loves her Master. So I am asking the most common questions, " the pale blonde maid said with an extremely straight face as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

“M-Master, is she… serious!?” Caster asked him as she could not believe what she was hearing!

“...Well…” 

At that moment, Rider gets close to him and kisses him on the lips. 

Artoria Caster gasped in disbelief that this Alter was such a naughty girl! How can this maid call herself a ‘King’ when she is doing such a shameless thing in front of other people?

For a couple of moments, a slurping sound spread through the room, and the Fae’s cheeks only got more rosy from hearing such a lewd sound!

Then, the maid started to moan. But Caster had this feeling that the Alter was doing that purpose!

Eventually, the maid pulled back and licked her lips. There was a smug look on her lips. 

“That’s how you wake up our Master, Caster.” Artoria Alter looked at the Fae. 

But at that moment, Marcus slapped her bum.

“Eep!”

Rider looked at her Master with a questioning look.

At that moment, he squeezed her nose.

“I don’t remember giving you such specific instructions.” He joked as he got out of the bed. Caster swiftly moved out from the way as he got out.

“Indeed… but you were not resisting… does that mean it's fine?”

The pale blonde maid realised that mid-sentence. 

A smirk started to appear on her lips. This is good! She will continue to tease him until they reach that point. Unlike those two girls, she doesn’t lack courage!

Marcus didn’t reply as he went to the bathroom for his morning shower.

As the Servants proceeded to return to their duties, in the spirit form Valkyrie, Thrud watched the whole thing closely.

She allowed her sisters to observe. They were drawing their ‘battle plans’ for the future.

Slowly… the ‘battle lines’ are getting drawn! 

~~~

The Alchemist wondered how the ‘war’ would progress from here on out. Yesterday, he revealed his workshop to the pair. He was pleasantly surprised at how both of them fared in that regard.

Sion was a wildcard, in his opinion, as he doesn’t remember much about her. While Rin… he recalls quite a bit about her. The greed of black-haired twin-tails is well known to him even after several centuries.

‘Well, let’s see what they will do. I do need a distraction…’  He scratched the back of his head as he recalled that he needed to come up with actual weaponry for his Star Destroyers.

His weapon-making experience is quite behind that of armour or infrastructure.

‘I could standartize Gravitas Fluctus. But that's mainstream. I need to restructure all of that.’

…

…

…

As Marcus mentally was drawing something similar to turbolasers, he felt someone was poking his side.

“Mark! Look at the clock!”

“Hmm?” The Alchemist looked at the clock. He has 15 minutes left until classes start.

“Right.”

He proceeded to stuff his sandwich in his mouth before finishing his tea and leaving the table as quickly as possible.

Sigh

“One of those really needs to become his girlfriend as soon as possible. It should straighten him up.”

As Rose commented, she felt the air in the room shift for a second before it disappeared.

“Hmm?”

She looked around. Was there someone in the room?

“I guess it was my imagination.”

Caster swiftly left the room as she was Marcus' constant companion.

…

…

…

As soon as Marcus left the room, he heard a familiar voice.

“I thought that you won’t come out.” 

He looked to the side and saw purple-haired twin tails leaning against a tree and waiting for him.

“Sion. Morning.”

The alchemist girl smiled, hearing him greeting her.

“Morning. We are quite late.”

“Don’t worry.”

He walked over to her side and effortlessly scooped her up.

His actions made her eyes widen for a second. She didn’t expect such close contact first thing in the morning!

Marcus smiled, seeing her react like that. 

“W-What are you…”

“Shh… you should be happy that I am doing this.” He said that as he looked at her long legs. Honestly, she was hot now that he was paying attention to her assets.

“Now, hold on.”

As he commented, he proceeded to ‘jump’. With a single powerful leap, he was tens of meters above the ground.

Instead of immediately falling, he proceeded to descend slowly like an aeroplane.

“You are utilising gravity. Wait, you can wield gravity like a magecraft.” 

The girl forgot about the proximity and instead marvelled at what she was looking for.

“Yeah. It took me decades to grasp how gravity works and utilise my magic.” He explained to her.

“...I suppose you can call it magic when you are using it like that.” Sion’s smile was slightly strained. Just having the ability to access gravity like that makes him an exceptionally powerful being.

Eventually, the pair landed behind a corner in a car park next to the forest, far away from the pedestrians.

“Did you make sure no one saw us?”

“Part of gravity. Yes. I made sure people's eyes see through us instead of us.” 

He explained to her as he took her hand and proceeded to walk.

Sion slowly nodded before looking at her hand.

‘Well, he is making it easier for me.’

~~~

Rin bit her lower lip as he saw how close the pair were. She just saw Marcus and Sion walk into the classroom as they were holding hands!

‘They barely made it on time!’

“There is still ten minutes on the clock. It's more than enough time.”

‘If this were Japan, they would be called lazy!’ the black-haired twin tails said with a huff.

“You are just jealous!” Ishtar commented that she was getting back at Rin for yesterday.

‘Shut up! Besides, we have a plan of action for today.’

“Yes. Food is a classic method of getting into man’s heart.” Ereshkigal said with a knowing tone, making Rin sagely nod.

‘Hmph! Don’t forget to feed him and sit on his lap.’ Ishtar’s comments made Rin turn stiff as she was feeding an image of her sitting on his lap while feeding the food she prepared.

‘Stop with your delusions! It's not that easy!’

“Please, I can guarantee he will be happy to feel you up!” The Goddess of Beauty continued to ‘feed’ that fire.

But it doesn’t help Rin! She needed to place her head on the table to hide her blush.

‘Stop this stupidity!’

“Hahaha, you crude Easterners are making me more amused by the day!”

‘It's called conservatism! It's time for you to learn that!’ Rin was close to starting to rant. The shamelessness of this Goddess is getting out of hand!

“Ha, I don’t care. Back in my lands, we call it crude.”

Before Rin even realised the bell started to ring, she lifted her head and looked at the front. To her surprise, Marcus and Sion were already sitting in their seats in front of her!

‘Damn you, Ishtar. Because of you, I missed my opportunity to greet him!’

“Not my fault that you are getting triggered by basic suggestions.” Rin could FEEL that shrug coming from the Goddess.

‘Just shut up. Let me focus.’ The twin-tail girl groaned. She had no energy to argue with her anymore. It was still early morning, and she was not an early person.

“Hmph… as if this is important.”

~~~

Marcus pondered for a second as he looked at his drawings. The interior of a Star Destroyer will be much bigger and more complex than his original Blackbird. 

‘The Triple Core I will need for this one will be at least three times bigger than the one I have now.

Maybe even bigger if I want it to generate excess energy.’

At the same time, he realised that he would need to store the liquid mana somewhere.

He might add an extra floor just to make sure there is enough extra energy.

The Hyperion Engine will use excess energy to shorten the charge of the ‘bridge’ buildup.

‘Now that I think about it. The Hyperion bridge does look like Byfrost they used to mention in Norse myths, and I summoned the Valkyries… is this a coincidence?’

“Hey, it's break time! I have your dinner.” Rin got his attention as she showed him a food container wrapped in a cloth.

“Oh, right.” Marcus’ eyes perked up when he saw the prepared food.

He closed his notebook and placed it in his backpack before standing up from his seat.

Sion saw it as well. She looked like she had missed a perfect opportunity!

‘Damn, I forgot about the daily intake!’ With her superior intelligence, sometimes even the most basic things… like food, can be overlooked.

“Nice. It appears you remembered our small deal.” Marcus took the offered food while commenting on the deal they agreed upon.

“Of course, I remember! It is important you know!” Rin said with a growing blush.

“If you say so, let’s go somewhere to eat.” He motioned her to follow him.

Sion was thinking of following, but she realised she would be a third wheel in this situation. Nope, she needs to adjust and adapt to this situation!

‘I suppose learning how to cook is on the menu.’

The alchemist girl did her reading, and she is learning how relationships work! It's symbiotic stuff! One needs to rely on another. The current society blurs this, but she did her study and understands that she needs to do her part to be supportive.

‘Well, it's her victory this time, but I will use this time to prepare myself.’

Sion thought that this move was purely Rin, but it was Marcus who set it up for Rin to take this as a victory, not even knowing that such a thing would happen.

~~~

Marcus took Rin to one of the less-used staircases. This was not Japan, where they could have dinner on the rooftop, so one of the staircases would do. They went to the 3rd floor, where the Physics classrooms are. There are days when this side of the school is not even in use so it can be quite deserted at specific times.

When the alchemist opened the food container, he was quite surprised by what he saw. The food was neatly arranged. He could see some rice, sausages, and some other stuff he couldn’t recall the name of. It had been ages since he had eaten proper Japanese dishes.

“Nice. I could make some bento boxes for you.” He offered to her, realising he could get a Japanese food experience from her; there was no need to go to Japan…

“OH… That’s a nice suggestion. These plastic containers are not that good for the type of food I cook.” Rin agreed with his suggestion.

“Great, but first, I will need to record some food for the bento boxes.” His creator and engineering mind started to think about how to make it happen.

“Wood? I suppose that could work. But You can use plastic as well.” The girl suggested as she got her spoon… For a second, she grimaced as she could not find chopsticks anywhere! This town is so remote that she could not find any sort of Asian-related stuff! Well, she might do something in the town centre, but she does not have any hope in that regard.

“Well, I could make some chopsticks for you as well,” he said with a smile as he saw her grimacing and making all sorts of expressions while using a regular spoon.

“...That would be great!”

“Good.”

The pair continued to eat. As Rin was getting used to the spoon, she eventually decided to talk, as she had competition waiting for her in the classroom. She only sees Sion as a possible adversary, as she thinks the other two are too late to the game.

“Say… how will I be able to share my hand-to-hand memories with your Homunculi? Is there some sort of spell which can do that?” She asked after closing her food container.

“How much do you know about mind-related magic?” 

Rin glossed over him, calling it magic; to her, it's magecraft. …Well, she knows he is not used to it, so she is not even trying to correct the term…

“Not much. My family never considered expanding on the basic magecraft provided by Clock Tower.”

“Clock Tower provided magecraft?” Marcus was surprised for a second.

“Yes. Like hypnosis, it was taught to my ancestors by the Clock Tower. Anyone who attends or interacts with Clock Tower offers to teach Hypnosis, mind partition and thought accelerator. 

These spells are used to deal with witnesses in case the magecraft is exposed to civilians.

That’s the only magecraft I know related to the mind.” Rin explained to him while wondering what he knew about mind stuff. 

“I see. Well, you are lucky then since I have more than 500 years of mind-related magic.” He smirked while saying that.

“...Your family studied mind-related magecraft?” Rin looked surprised that she thought they studied alchemy.

“Don’t look surprised. Alchemists always use mind arts to assist in the thought process. You don’t want stuff exploding in your face now, do you?

I expanded on it considerably when I had the chance.” He explained to her that he had her undivided attention.

“So… Gulp what do you know?” The black-haired twin-tails asked with barely hidden excitement.

“Quite a bit.” He lifted his finger and placed it on her forehead.

At that moment, Rin felt someone yanked her!

When she realised what was happening, she was standing on a watery surface in a white realm surrounded by clouds.

“Where—”

“This is your mind. I have expanded on mind magic by utilising mana waves. You see, when I first went on an interstellar trip, I already knew that a lot of things in the universe are made by waves.

The way the mind works is not different. Electrical pulses flow through our heads, telling our minds what to do. 

Those are our thoughts.

I worked on that. Achieving what you see here.” Marcus explained to her as he spoke around her before the clouds split apart, like the red sea, showing him standing in front of her.

“...What…”

“Below you is your psyche, the expanse is the limitless potential of human potential, and the clouds are your memories, " he explained to her while walking over with one hand in his pocket.

“...You created a method which allows you to perceive the mind in such a way!? And interact!?” Rin realised how broken such a method is.

“Indeed, I did spend a while improving it. Have you ever considered that a solar system is extremely similar to how atoms and nuclei behave?

One is spinning around another? Like how a planet is rotating around a sun or a moon around a planet?

One could only wonder what is holding them together?” He smiled while saying that.

“...Waves?” Rin's eyes widen for a second. She never considers comparing one with another.

“Indeed. Now, let’s start with memories. I want you to sort them out, like a library. Once you do that, your recall ability will improve.

Start with bookshelves.” a wooden bookshelf dropped next to her.

Rin looked at the bookshelf with an interested look.

Her hand went on it. Her eyes widened for a second as she felt wood.

“Your mind and memories find a corresponding memory of you touching wood and feeding you when you touch it.” He explained to her that a red couch appeared behind him, and he sat down.

Rin’s eyes widened again as he knew this couch! It was her father’s! 

“So you noticed, good. What you are looking at are things that assist you in perceiving things. The more used items these are, the easier it is for your brain to sort out.

For me, it was books as well, but as I got older, technology replaced books with data plates. “Your mind doesn’t know how it looks, so I can’t show you.” He took one of the clouds in his hand, and it became a book. 

He made it float to her.

“...How do I make clouds morph into books?” She asked him as she realised this was a memory of her magecraft training.

“This is your mind. Make it so.” He said with a shrug.

“...Easier said—” 

Sure enough, the clouds around her morphed into books…

Rin’ cheeks started to heat up, but she played it down and swiftly continued to sort them out.

“See…”

Marcus smiled as he looked around, but eventually, his eyes ended up on something.

“...”

“...”

“...”

He looked at a pair of Rins. One was black-haired and dressed in a gold and white bikini, while the other was blonde and dressed in black gothic clothes.

“...Hehehe...” One of them nervously laughed, and the other waved her hand awkwardly.

Both had strained smiles for some reason.

“I take it… you—” Marcus pointed at bikini-clad Rin. “You are Ishtar.” Then he moved his finger at black gothic-clad Rin.“ And you are Ereshkigal.”

“...Yes.”

“Yup.” 

The pair slightly recovered after the initial surprise greeting.

“I am surprised how your spell was able to allow us to take such a form.” Ereshkigal recovered as she coughed into her fist before changing the theme of conversation into the elephant in the room, the special realm they were in.

“This spell allows Rin to perceive her mind in a way she can understand after initial spell usage. Now that it happened, her mind subconsciously keeps it going for a price of a small amount of mana.” He explained while looking at Rin, who is sorting her memories at a rapid pace. She quickly learned how to do it.

“Impressive. I assume you came up with this after your long life?” The Underworld Goddess asked curiously.

“I expanded on what my family had in grimoires.” He clarified to them.

“The original spells were a bundle of non-connect magic. I made it into art with infinite potential.” 

“...Infinite?” Ishtar perked up when she heard it.

“This is a realm created by Rin’s mind. Just like any realm, this place can grow. If she spends enough time in its development she can achieve a spiritual immortality similar to you two.”

‘This is most likely how I survived and ended up here…’ Marcus said that part to himself.

“Oh!!! Wait! If she can improve this place, we can live here!” Ishtar's eyes gleamed like rubies. She could finally move around!

“In a way, yes. If she becomes strong enough, she can project you two into the outside world.” 

The pair’s eyes widened for a second as they realised that they could mingle in the real world if this were true!

“But, it will depend on her mana and what she wants. You two will depend on her goodwill.” Marcus smiled while looking at Ishtar specifically.

“This is an amazing magecraft!” Ishtar gushed as she imagined visiting all the shops and food stores and checking out all the landmarks!

She completely missed all of Marcus' hinting, like she didn’t see or understand a thing. The Goddess, through Rin, will be gracious enough to let her manifest and be free.

‘She is truly an Archer. Independent Action skill is messing with her brain, or she is naturally like that.’

The alchemist pondered on her silliness.

He then looked at Rin and saw that she had already managed to summon extra bookshelves, and most of the clouds had become books. The girl was natural at this.

Marcus walked over to her. He was followed by the pair of Goddesses.

“Not bad. Do you sense any difference?” He asked her while looking at her bookshelves. 

“Yes. My thoughts are much clearer, and I am calmed, too.” Rin slowly nodded. 

“Good. You finished the first stage. Next is for you to keep on building. Turn this place into a temple and a library.”

“...Temple? For those two?” Rin asked him as she saw the Goddess behind him. Ishtar was already feeling smug that it would be a temple for her.

“No, it's your temple, your monument representing your life force and mana. If you build those, you will have greater control over your life and mana.”

He snorted at the idea of having things built for Ishtar inside her mind realm.

“I-I see.” The black-haired Tohsaka Heiress calmed down. She was happy that Ishtar had no effect on him.

“So, how do I start?”

“Foundations, walls, and so on.” Just by mentioning this, Rin started to imagine, and under their feet, stone foundations appeared before walls descended from the sky and landed at the edges of the foundations.

“Hmph! Rin! I can help! Add some gold! Lots of gold!” Ishtar walked over to him and proceeded to hug her from behind her, starting to whisper what to add.

“Ishtar, don’t annoy her!” Ereshkigal went to Rin’s defence.

Marcus slightly smirked, seeing three Rins talking among themselves.

‘Well, this is quite a spectacle.’

The Alchemist had never seen anything like this before. He never had a company in his head before.

For now, he decided to leave Rin’s realm and appear back in school.

‘Well, I should fix mine since I taught her about it.’

Marcus closed his eyes and felt a tug on his back, a yank. He reopened his eyes and saw complete chaos.

Books and bookshelves were flying around, clouds were inside his library, large bowls that used to represent his life force and mana were no longer burning, and his statue, which represented his pillar of the psyche, had shattered and was floating all over the place, reminding him of an asteroid belt.

‘Well, I should have fixed him before, but honestly, with how my world has changed, there was not that much time to sit down and do it.’

With a sigh, he proceeded to arrange the books, reorganise his bookshelves, turn new memories into books and add them to the shelves, then repair his library and reignite the blue and red flames in the bowls.

He quickly fixed it and then proceeded to walk out of the library.

But then his eyes bulged out as he saw a huge red sun floating in the sky of his mind realm!

‘Betelgeuse!?’

The red giant he visited that one time. There is no way he will forget the unstable star from his first life.

But what is it doing in his mind!?

For a moment, he stared at the monstrosity. It was so huge that he could not see its boundaries! The sheer light it was emitting was turning everything into a deep crimson colour.

‘How did I not get blind yet… oh well..  mind world for the win.’

Marcus eventually snapped out, lifted his hand, and clenched it.

Pillars of ‘steel’ started to assemble and encase the huge star. Honestly… building a Dyson Sphere on something of this size is absurd…

But still, it was his mind, and he wanted to see if he could harden whatever was left of the Betelgeuse energy in his soul/mind. Maybe he could harness this energy and develop something truly unique to him!

As the Dyson Sphere was getting assembled, Marcus proceeded to rebuild his shattered buildings.

One of them is Mind Palace. The Greek-style Acropolis temple is rapidly rebuilding itself according to the memories he can now easily access.

A few moments later, the temple-like building was reassembled.

Marcus then placed his hand on the liquid-like ground. A surge of intent washed through the whole realm. A layer of white concrete appeared and sealed the liquid away.

This action created a protective layer for his psyche; something like hypnosis or mind-impacting magic was no longer capable of influencing him easily.

The mind temple, which is connected to his library, helps him stay focused and keep his thoughts clear from any interference. 

It's one of the reasons why his technology is so advanced.

With things rebuilt, Marcus walked to the centre of the Mind Palace and sat down on the floor in the middle of the temple.

He brought his hands close and proceeded to manifest his Mana core.

The Alchemist needs a physical representation of his core to have complete control over it.

Just like last time, it will be at the centre of his Mind Palace.

Once he had the orb, he let it fly to the centre of the Palace, where it started to grow in size. 

The core took nearly 60% of the whole temple, and Marcus made the Palace grow in size to counter that.

To balance out the sizes and make it look nice.

“Done.”

He whispered to himself before the orb became part of the Mind palace.

The moment it happened, Marcus got another layer of understanding of his energy reserves.

“I missed this –complete grasp of what I can do with it.” 

He sighed before walking back to the library.

The Alchemist proceeded to explore some of his memories. The oldest of his memories was something he could only recall bits and pieces of, but with his library. He could do it easily now.

Hell, he can even find something he might have missed when he was alive in his first life! It happened before. It can happen again.

With a smile, he checked the books from when he was rebuilding his second car, the 1966 Mustang, and his third car, the 2002 Nissan Skyline GTR…

A small smile appeared on his lips. Back then, he was a small kid who was living his dreams and had no idea how greedy the world could be.

Regardless, after checking those, he found an extensive bookshelf with memories he should have never had.

He opened one of them and saw a medieval world.

It took him a couple of minutes to understand what he saw. But then things became clear when he saw a golden sword.

What he saw were memories of one of his Servants, more specifically his Rider, when she was alive, and the fabled King Arthur, the King of Knights and the Promised King.

However, there is more to this, as he saw more memories, more like blurs, as he knows that a Heroic Spirit, a Servant, can’t maintain a large number of memories.

Many of them are erased after the summoning, but key eyes remain. For example, a specific Grail War turned her into Alter, and some memories after that include becoming Rider.

The Grand Order…

He was quite surprised that he had access to that many. But at the same time, it made sense, as his library picked everything that flowed through his subconsciousness. 

After checking Rider, he checked other ones, like his Caster ones. He was curious about Fae Britain.

But the one that made him feel cold sweat was his Valkyries.

“Allfather, we have returned—”

Thrud was giving her report to a being sitting on a Throne. The Godly existence was looking… at HIM!

He is certain of that! The Norse God was looking past Thrud and right at him! That one eye was gazing at him.

Marcus felt something touch his shoulder. He snapped out, closed the book, and looked around.

His breathing was erratic as he looked around.

“H-Holy shit. Can the gods of this reality reach through quantum physics or something!?” He said to himself as he took a deep breath.

“In a way.” 

He turned stiff as he saw a man standing next to him.

“Y-You.”

“Odin. I was waiting to meet you for a while. You helped quite a bit to make it happen, Marcus Goldman.” 

The godly being said while he looked around and eventually focused on the Alchemist. 

Marcus could see the ethereal complex of the god. He looked both young and old. The classic Norse leather and chainmail adorned his attire with the winged Viking helmet with one eye patch.

Some aesthetics of gold were on him as well. Making him look like a noble raider than a God…

“How?”

“Bifrost. Familiar with that, aren’t you?” The Viking deity smiled for a second.

“...What?”

“Come now. Do you believe it's the only means to cross the space of one universe? If you can cross one, why not another?” Odin motioned, and they left the library, appearing in a golden city. At the centre, there was a single tower on which they ended up standing. A balcony overlooked the entire city, and in the distance, a rainbow bridge led to a closed gate.

“But the difference in energy…”

“Ah, yes. Energy. You are still at the point that you are confined to such a concept.” Odin stroked his beard before sitting down on his throne.

“And you are not? Everything needs energy!” Marcus was confused by such a remark!

“There are different concepts of what is energy, Marcus Goldman.” There was a glint in the deity’s eyes as he said that.

“But enough about me. We are here to discuss you.” The Allfather smiled for a second as there was a certain mischief in his tone.

“...I suppose.” Marcus took a deep breath as he calmed himself. He is about to hear why Odin pulled him away from his mind realm. Honestly, the power of the Head of a Pantheon is disturbingly huge.

“Indeed. I am interested in you because you were able to create a permanent link between Norse and yourself.

You have summoned my daughters and re-created Bifrost.”

“Is Bifrost that important?” Marcus raised his eyebrow.

“It's a bridge.” Norse God looked at the bridge in the distance.

“It leads to nine realms for us, but over many years, even I haven’t figured out all of its limitations. It has led you to your second life, that much I am certain.”

Marcus’ left eyebrow went up when he heard that.

“Are you certain? I mean, it's a warp engine by all means, it warp space and allows to travel through the expanse…”

But then the alchemist realised something.

“So you realised.”

“It depends on the energy powering it and the frequency, technically…”

“Indeed. As you can see. What you achieved is enough for me to take notice of you.” 

The God’s tone made Marcus look at him seriously.

“The question is, are you a Knowledge and Wisdom seeker? Does the concept of conflict flow through you?”

“Do you wish to understand the secrets of the universe?’

He looked at Marcus with a critical eye, making him feel slightly uncomfortable.

“What are you getting at, Odin?” 

“I am getting at that. I want to inherit my Odin Force.” The Deity dropped the bombshell, making Marcus look at him weirdly.

“Odin… Force? I thought you had Divinity, not Force.” The Alchemist was confused, as he was certain he was in some fringe Fate world, not Marvel!

“You are not wrong at that assumption. I do possess Divinity. All Deities have a core, but a force is something else entirely.” 

Marcus looked confused at that explanation. It was the first time he had heard that.

“Through your explorations, you have grasped a fundamental FORCE of the universe.”

Odin hinted at what he meant.

“You mean the understanding of the laws of the universe?” 

“Precisely. You are one of the few freefalling mortals. You broke his shackles twice now.” 

The Deity continued to talk in a roundabout way, making Marcus more confused than necessary.

“Don’t look surprised. You broke through the shackles of longevity, one of the key cycles humans should not break by normal means.

And your second shackle is a spiritual one. Your soul is strong enough to transmigrate to another version of yourself without losing memories.” 

“...Are you sure such things are that impressive? There are many geniuses and practitioners of magic who can do what I did…” Marcus wasn’t that moved by these praises. He is certain there are people who achieved more than he did.

“You speak of the destined ones. Your destiny beyond being monetary wealthy was never meant to reach the spiritual immortality you possess now.”

The Alchemist frowned when he heard of ‘destiny.’ That’s gibberish he wants to stab with a spoon until it's dead or there is nothing left.

He hates predestined stuff like that. It’s like any hard work is meaningless because some godling wrote a paragraph about what he could achieve in a book with indifference.

“Such a thing is something not even Gods can ignore. By this point, you have lived long enough to understand that cycles exist and are inevitable.

Summer replaces winter, peace replaces war, and civilisation, no matter how advanced, will be replaced by another.

It’s how it is and how it always will be. However, I want to see how far you can resist…your Ragnarok.” 

Odin gave him a speech about something he had experienced first-hand and caused himself in his first life. 

“So I am a source of entertainment for you?” Marcus asked with a frown.

“No. I am not Loki. On that, you can relax. No, you are my successor.” 

The Alchemist turned teen eyes bulged out when he heard that.

“...”

“What do you say? Do you agree to inherit my Odin Force?” 

“...”

Marcus stared dumbly at him for a second. Before snapping out, his eyes refocused on the Norse Deity.

“I do. It's something I won’t ever want to miss.”

“Hahaha! Very well!”

Allfather lifted his hand, and a golden spear appeared in his hand.

“Then brace yourself. This might… hurt a little.”

“Wh—”

Before Marcus can comment, Odin stabs his golden spear into the alchemist.

The spear vanished before the deity drew a familiar Norse triangle symbol in the air and sent it into Marcus. The symbol fused with him, and lastly, Odin placed his finger on his forehead.

“Now it depends on you whether you can control my Force. If you fail, it's a pity; if you succeed, it's even better.

Regardless of what it is, it depends on your will.”

With a thunder smack, he realised he was sitting on the school's stairs. Cold sweat erupted from his forehead, and his breathing became erratic!

It has been centuries since he was out of his depth like this! 

‘Holy shit! What was that!?’

Marcus realised that he was yanked out from whatever realm and right into his physical body.

Is Odin capable of doing that merely as a wisp of a memory… or is it crossing dimensions in the form of Quantum Entanglement? 

Or something like that… he was not here in form, and yet he was able to control his mind realm, take him to what looked like his memory of Asgard and then yank forcefully back to his body.

Without him even feeling oppressed. 

‘Damn these gods!’

“Marcus? Are you okay? Did you see something?” Rin’s nervous voice brought him back to his senses.

“Hmm? No. Not really.” He shook his head as he slightly recovered from the shock. He decided to share a part of it to make her feel at ease.

“Since I helped you with your mind and memories, I thought I should do it with my one as well.” He slowly stood up while explaining to her.

“Turn out that it was a supernova which took me out. A red giant went supernova and killed me. Thankfully, my soul was quite strong. I have no idea how physical energy impacts the spiritual side of things, but part of that supernova came with me.” He explained to the twin tails while having a contemplating look.

“...What does that even mean? Are you saying you have a sun in your mind!?” Rin asked with a baffled expression. How does that even work!?

Marcus didn’t know either. All he could think of was the conceptual mumbo jumbo of Fate doing something to Betelgeuse he had inside his mind, or is it soul, and it's reflected in his mind realm?

Well, whatever it is, he will weaponise it to some degree once he finishes the Dyson Sphere.

“No idea, Rin. I never had such a thing before.” He looked away, still wondering what the whole thing was about Odin and Marcus becoming his successor and inheriting Odin Force.

Once he is back home, he will explore his mind again. That Deity left some gifts.

~~~

Thrud gazed at her Master in spirit form. Something has changed about him. His patterns were different. He looked more… thoughtful. It is as if you are thinking about something all the time.

He was like that before but never lost himself to his thoughts.

Eventually… her senses picked something up—something familiar and something that would give her…nostalgia.

The Valkyrie narrowed her eyes as her senses were pushed to the limit.

‘Allfather!?’ 

Her brain short-circuits for a second as her thoughts turn blank!

Why she can sense Odin Force wisps from her Master!?

“Ortlinde! Can you sense Odin Force from Master!? Quickly, check!” 

The blonde Valkyrie asked the black-haired one. The black-haired one was with her in the classroom, as she was instructed to watch Sion all the time.

“Odin Force?” For a second, she was confused, but she focused her mana senses on him and started to scan.

She didn’t sense a thing for a while, but as she dug deeper, she found it.

“H-He has it! But how!? I thought Allfather was dead after Ragnarok!” 

The pair started to gush like little girls who found something awesome.

“Maybe that is why we answered his call? Odin Force worked like a catalyst. Maybe the next cycle has started?” 

The blonde reasoned as she tried to understand what this meant. 

However, she is not the best thinker when it comes to putting clues together like this.

She is a warrior and will always be one.

“For now, we need to focus on doing our duty. We can discuss this more once the Master shows more signs of the Odin Force.”

Thrud reasoned, and Ortlinde agreed.

As the Valkyries were discussing this, Sion noticed changes in his behaviour as well. Instead of designing, he was writing Norse…

‘What did Tohsaka do? Why Norse?’

The Alchemist girl pondered as she wanted to know what they discussed.

Marcus ignored almost everything for now as he noticed an elephant in the room. 

He thought Betelgeuse was huge, but his mind realm is pure gold now. No doubt the spear disappeared upon Odin’s stab, and the other thing was the huge Odin’s runic triangle symbol inside his mind.

Both of them are bloating his mind realm.

A simple realisation dawned on him: Those items or energies are huge compared to his mind realm. So, to grasp them better, he needs to increase his understanding of what these things are.

More specifically, the triangle rune as it holds the secrets of the Odin Force.

“Did something happen?” Sion asked him as the bell rang and the classes had ended.

“Hmm? In a way.” He replied to her question as he proceeded to put his books and notebooks back into his backpack.

“Are you willing to share?” She asked him curiously.

“In my mind, I have Betelgeuse, the red giant star that ended my life in the previous life. It made me realise that my mind needs to grow to understand the requested size better.” He said in a plain voice as if he were explaining weather phenomena outside the building.

“...What?”

“Precisely my thoughts. I suppose you know what mind-related spells are? Like partitions and accelerators?” To his question, she nodded as she had used a form of it already.

“Well, I spend centuries improving them, eventually creating an art to create a mind realm. Something akin to a place where one allows the mind to perceive things in a physical sense. Something akin to giving a form to Life Energy and Mana.” He explained to her while swinging his backpack over his shoulder.

“I-If you can create that, then you are close to being able to create reality marbles at will!” Sion realised how incredible this ability was.

“Hmm, In a way. But it's more like spirit cultivation. That’s most likely the reason why I survived Betelgeuse going supernova.”

“...Betelgeuse…that’s a huge sun…” Sion slightly gulped down. As far as she is aware, if that star goes supernova, people on Earth will be able to see it without any assistance. It even makes night turn into a day while being many lightyears away.

That’s how big it is. So if someone stays close to it, it WILL cease to exist. Solar systems, planets, and other suns will simply blow up alongside Betelgeuse.

Honestly, she has no idea how Marcus survived such a thing. 

“It is. Now, do you want to come with me?” he asked her as he walked towards the doors.

“Yes. I do have some work to do at your workshop.” She swiftly caught up and ended up hugging his arm. Such an action from her is because the girl doesn’t want him to be that deep in his thoughts all the time! Instead, she will use her body to make him more attracted to her instead of sinking into his thoughts.

“...Yeah…” He looked at her breasts deforming around his arm. One thing is for sure… she does have quite a sinful body. It's not too big or small, just in the perfect middle, and has incredible legs.

Then, in the next second, his other hand also got occupied!

Rin had a small smirk on her lips. She will not lose against the alchemist girl who hasn’t done anything beyond hand-holding!

The Tohsaka Heiress is at the front, and she will keep that advantage no matter what! That means not allowing Sion to be alone with him!

“I am coming with you. Thanks to you, I already have an idea of how to share memories~” Rin said while looking at Sion to gauge her reaction.

“Y-You taught her your reality marble creation magecraft!?” The purple-haired twin tails asked as she felt ‘betrayed’. She needs that, too!

“Yes, since she will be sharing her hand-to-hand memories.” Marcus nodded as they left the classroom and proceeded to walk towards the staircase.

By this point, the school was already almost empty, the students practically dashing out the moment the bell rang… 

“A-Are you willing to share it with me? I am very interested in its creation and development!” Sion asked as she tried to sound as cute and sexy as possible, as well as pushing herself more into him.

Rin’s eyebrows twitched when she saw that. She tried to control herself and not start accusing her of seduction.

“I guess. Let’s return to my house first.” He could share with Sion, considering she would be leaving his side…ever. 

When Sion heard that, she smiled, and Rin pouted like a hamster. Here, she was thinking that she had an advantage.

“Don’t worry, now that we have proper physical forms, we could triple-team him!” Ishtar, being a ‘genius’ Goddess, suggested something that made Ereshkigal and Rin blush a storm!

“W-What are you suggesting, you pervert! I can’t believe I am related to you!” The Netherworld Goddess stuttered. Rin could feel that blush.

“You said it, not me.” Ishtar nonchalantly shrugged at that response.

‘Shut up, you two!’ The black-haired twin tails exclaimed in her mind. 

‘Let me focus on this first! Once we are at home, we can discuss future tactics!’

“Alright, sounds reasonable.”

“Indeed.”

The pair agreed. For now, it was peace and quiet in her head, which was a welcoming thing.

~~~~~~At Marcus Workshop~~~~~~

The pair looked around, still getting used to the sights. This was the first time they had explored independently without Marcus' assistance.

“Just how heavy do you think this thing is?” Rin asked Sion as they looked at the Triple Core in front of them. They could feel getting heavier just standing at the edge of the doors.

“I don’t think it follows common sense, considering it impacts the whole base and then the whole city,” Sion said with a pondering look.

“Still, the weight generates the power. I can assume the mass is according to the size. The ratio is what allows it to work like this,” Rin thought out loud.

“Not bad. I was thinking the same thing. However, I do believe there is friction inside it. It's what makes it heat up like that.” The purple-haired Alchemist reasoned as she saw the red glow from the centre of the core.”

The pair continued to speak some more before they were interrupted by the Maid Servant.

“There you are.” The maid walked over.

“Master finished his preparations. Your workbenches are finished. Now come over.” The pale blonde spoke with a voice full of authority.

The pair looked at the maid. They realised that this was not a ‘real’ maid. No maid should speak like that. But they can’t complain, considering this was a Servant with power they had no idea about.

“Understood.”

The pair walked back upstairs, where Marcus was overlooking a pair of tables with runes on them.

Sion swiftly walked over and inspected her new workplace.

“This will do. You prepared the basics for me.” The girl pushed her glasses up while inspecting his work.

“Now, I only need to figure out a transfer method.” She nodded to herself as Marcus solved half of the problem with his workbench idea.

“Yes, I can show you a couple of methods I have for multiplatform work.” He offered her more assistance, but Sion simply smiled at him.

“It's fine. I want to figure out this myself.” 

But at that moment, the Alchemist girl realised that she messed up!

As Rin ‘glided’ to his side like a butterfly.

“It's fine, you can help me. I don’t know how to use these things.” RIn said with a beautiful smile, her eyes telling a different tale as she felt smug at this victory!

Sion realised that she had messed up, and her pride as an alchemist made her forget that a guy’s natural instinct is to help a beauty in need.

“I–”

The purple-haired girl tried to save herself, but midway, she realised she would look far too desperate. In the end, she decided that this time around, it was Rin’s victory and pulled back.

“What?” Marcus looked at Sion.

“Nothing. You can focus on Tohsaka. She had no idea how alchemy or programming works. Considering traditional Magus families have a bad relationship with technology.”

Rin’s whole body trembled. She remembered all those times when stuff around her would cease to work or she would utilise it in a bad way…

Marcus looked at the Tohsaka Heiress, who was looking away at the time. A little bit of sweat was on her forehead as she tried to look like everything was fine.

Sion hit right on her head with that comment! As far as she is aware, technology doesn’t like the Tohsaka family at all!

“Rin?”

“W-What?” Rin looked at Marcus, but her eyes were not.

“Don’t worry. I will make sure you and technology get along in the future. I don’t want to embarrass myself in future, either.” The alchemist joked it would be ridiculous that one of his girls is a klutz with tech… An Empress of Technological Empire who can’t use tech…

Just how hilarious is that?

“I-I am fine…” Rin flustered for a second, but then her eyes widened before morphing into a smirk on her lips.

Did she just found a way to win the whole thing!? 

“...But…I don’t mind~ why don’t you show me how to build up confidence with technology?” The black-haired twin tails suddenly got quite forward as she leaned towards Marcus.

“...Sure. Follow me.” He took her to his side of the workshop.

Sion pushed her glasses as she looked at this development with a critical look. She has slightly messed up. But she knows she can get back at her. Alchemy binds them, and it's only a matter of time before they return to that rabbit hole. 

Once that happens, she will strike with all of her power.

‘You might have one today, Tohsaka. But this war only has begun. I am quite certain it will last for many years until one of us becomes his wife, but even then, it won’t end that easily…’

The girl realised a while ago that normal moral norms of simple marriage are not part of the equation. Does a man who dreams of Cosmic Conquest care about marrying or having a single woman? Sure, if he REALLY cares for one individual, that could happen… But the way this has developed will never happen.

That is why Sion believes that this ‘war’ for his attention will last for… a long time.