Morpheus assessed his physical condition. Though he was neither a Servant nor a Heroic Spirit, his presence here, likely facilitated by the Holy Grail's power, granted him peculiar traits.
As he had told Rin Tohsaka, his class was Archer, qualifying him for the Holy Grail War.
He also possessed abilities unique to Servants, such as spiritualization... a grand magecraft etched into his body, a rule intrinsic to this world.
Additionally, the Holy Grail's designation of him as Archer enhanced his archery skills, as if forcibly aligning his abilities to match the class's characteristics.
Finally, there were Rin's Command Spells.
Command Spells, granted by the Holy Grail to Masters, were the crystallization of grand magecraft meant to fully control Servants. The clearer the command, the stronger the effect, even enabling a Servant incapable of instant movement to cross space and appear at their Master's side.
This powerful binding, treating Servants like slaves, had minimal effect on Morpheus. If compared to anything, it was merely a connection linking him to Rin Tohsaka, affirming their contract.
The Command Spells could influence him, such as teleporting him to Rin's side, but only with his consent. Without it, the commands would fail.
Yet, because of the Command Spells, Morpheus, who didn't need external magical energy, could draw from Rin's reserves, using it to sustain himself.
"It's like having all the rights and none of the obligations…" Morpheus muttered, washing the dishes in the sink.
Though he could clean them with magic, he preferred doing it by hand. Relying on magic for everything risked laziness.
After finishing, Morpheus glanced outside. Fuyuki City was quiet at night.
This was expected, as the Tohsaka residence wasn't in the city center but in Miyama Town's highest point, near the Matou household.
This was the Western-style residential area, with the Tohsaka home being a large mansion complete with a courtyard and a pool... though the pool was long neglected. Beneath the house, the basement served as a magus's workshop.
This was only natural. The household's sole caretaker was a high school girl, busy with school and studying magecraft, with no servants to maintain such a vast estate.
Neglect was inevitable.
Morpheus checked if Rin was asleep. Seeing she was, he left the Tohsaka residence and headed elsewhere.
He was going to Ryuudou Temple.
Located on Mount Enzo, Ryuudou Temple was the central hub of the Holy Grail.
If his memory was correct, a witch named Medea currently occupied it, secretly summoning Sasaki Kojirou as an Assassin-class Servant.
At this point, Medea would have already killed her first Master. Her second was Kuzuki Souichirou, a former assassin turned high school teacher... a suspicious man who somehow ended up in that role.
"Troublesome. The history I came from was likely the Age of Gods in FGO's Proper Human History…" Morpheus mused, falling into thought.
"No, I can't be certain it was FGO's Proper Human History. It could be the Age of Gods from another Nasuverse. This creates an issue... I can't determine what happened in this world's Age of Gods or which characters will appear in this Fifth Holy Grail War."
The thought gave Morpheus a headache.
"So how does the Throne of Heroes work in Nasuverse? Is it a singular Throne combining all parallel worlds, or does each parallel world have its own?
"If it's the former, the Throne would be a collective of all Nasuverse's parallel universes… Are they infinite? I don't think so… I recall a pruning phenomenon, something about insufficient energy…"
As a casual fan, Morpheus racked his brain for Nasuverse's lore.
"Forget it. Whether the parallel worlds are finite or infinite, if the Throne exists independently, it's a composite of all world lines.
"So, whether it's the Medea I know, the Medea from Nasuverse's stories, or even a Medea who became an Earth Queen, the Throne would contain all possibilities of 'Medea.'
"But if each parallel world has its own Throne, there'd be countless different Medeas, each unique to their world. Some became Heroic Spirits, while others might not have achieved the feats required.
"Like in the original story, betraying her husband, killing his lover, and her children... that counts as a feat for becoming a Heroic Spirit…
"But that means meeting my Medea is highly unlikely. I'm here because my jewel, caught in space-time turbulence, became the catalyst for my participation in this Holy Grail War…
"Medea doesn't have such a catalyst… so the Medea here is likely the one tied to Jason…"
With this in mind, Morpheus arrived at Ryuudou Temple, finding it perfectly normal, with no bounded fields.
The legendary gatekeeper monk was nowhere to be seen... it was just an ordinary temple.
This puzzled Morpheus.
"Did I come too early? Or is this world's Holy Grail War not the Fifth Holy Grail War I know?"
The situation felt disjointed.
He headed into the city, arriving at the Emiya residence.
It was quiet, with no trace of a Servant.
"That doesn't prove anything. In the original timeline, Rin summons the future Shirou Emiya early, while Shirou summons Artoria much later.
"At this point, Matou Sakura has summoned Medusa, and Illya has summoned Heracles…
"Should I check on Heracles? Or visit the Matou residence?"
The urge was hard to suppress, but Morpheus forced it down.
"No, both the Matou and Einzbern residences have bounded fields. I could break through, but I'd likely be detected, causing unnecessary trouble.
"Let's count this world's tragedies: Matou Sakura, tragedy number one; Illya, tragedy number two; and my alternate-world sister, Bazett, who's likely already lost her arm and Cu Chulainn to Kirei Kotomine."
Morpheus sighed, rubbing the corner of his eye, feeling the situation growing complicated.
He reached into his trench coat and pulled out a deck of cards.
Clearly, they were Tarot cards, bought for a few pounds in England. Crafted with intricate industrial designs and reinforced with brass edges to prevent damage.
Though he'd never used them and they were mere imitations without true spiritual properties, they still held faint power.
Morpheus laid them out, beginning a divination he wasn't particularly skilled at... a disgrace to the Golden Dawn's magical system.
Divination!
But however poor his skill, it was genuine, far surpassing street charlatans.
After a round of divination, Morpheus confirmed what he sought.
"Bazett is alive and, for now, safe... no immediate danger. But the results show she's in a peculiar state… unconscious yet awake? Her body's in a coma, but her mind is active?"
The answer was vague. With no other option, Morpheus divined again, adjusting his approach based on the first result, yielding new, though limited, information.
"A special force is protecting Bazett, keeping her alive, but she's recovering slowly… She can only be found at the right moment… a moment tied to Fuyuki City itself… a catalyst with immense power…"
Morpheus tried another divination but found no further clarity.
Abandoning the effort, he rubbed his chin, piecing together his thoughts.
"Related to Fuyuki, with great power as the catalyst… So, it's tied to the Holy Grail?
"This is such a hassle. If I knew more about this world's original lore, I wouldn't be so passive."
Morpheus's gaze turned cold, fixing on a distant point... Fuyuki's new downtown, where a church stood.
Unconcealed killing intent burned in his eyes!
***
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