The moon was high in the sky, the light shining off of it illuminated two people overlooking a western mansion. The sprawling complex seemed old, and had elements of old Russian design in its foundation and exterior. This was the house of one of the three great families of the grail wars, The Matou family, and gazing at the structure was Shinji Matou and his adopted sister Sakura Matou.
"You ready to leave?" asked Shinji as he turned his gaze towards Sakura who looked at the mansion with indescribable emotion.
"I never really liked this place" she said with a tinge of scorn, "The only person here I could bear was Kariya, and he is dead." Shining leaned towards her and said, "Don't worry, by the end of the grail war, this place will be nothing but rubble." It was a promise he intended to keep, and eliminating the worms as much as possible. He gazed towards Sakura, who was the vessel for Zoukens soul, but Shinji had solved the problem with the help of the being next to them, Angra Mainyu, in the form of a dog.
"Can we hurry up and get out of here?!" he barked. Angra was given a dogs body for a vessel, and it ended up turning the white fur black with a reddish glow and occult markings. "Okay, okay" said Shinji with a sheepish smile as he turned towards the bounded field. He stretched out his hand as he called upon the mana that dwelt within him, and modified the field with a quick spell to play a looped feedback to hide their escape. It wont fool Zouken for long, but they need just enough time to go where they need to be. "There, we wont be tracked as long as we're careful" said Shinji.
"About time!" said Angra as they turned towards the forest surrounding the complex and began walking.
They walked through the surrounding woods until that came upon a clear sidewalk into Fuyuki city proper. Shinji had some knowledge of the world, on account of the memories he was given sometime ago from an American named Thomas Langsley. The day he received those memories , he felt disgust for what he would have become, his [Fate]. He wanted to avoid that outcome and go against [Fate].
He gazed at Sakura and wondered how he could have wanted to hurt her, defile her beauty and purity. He knew why, and while he could understand due to his upbringing in a mage household, he still felt it was unnecessary. A replacement that would be given his place as heir to the Matou magecraft, and with his knowledge, his didn't want anything to do with the vile craft of his lineage.
He glanced at his hands as he flared his circuits, making sure no one was around to see. He would have lacked the ability to use magecraft, but the memories came along with a few perks he was truly grateful for, the phenomenon given the name: Archmage, Scholar, and Gourmand.
Powers that would have made any mage foam from the mouth if they knew what they could do. He smirked as he thought of what he could do with these powers. He was pulled out of his thoughts as he spotted the place he was looking for, a building with a golden cup emblazoned on a sign that read 'Golden cup'.
"This place looks like a dump" said Angra bluntly as he spotted the multitude of dust and cobwebs that was built up. "Its a good thing were gonna clean ain't it" said Shinji as Angra replied, "What do you expect me to do?"
"Clean obviously" Shinji remarked as he opened the doors and Sakura grimaced as a thin film of dust tickeled her nose. "This really needs some taking care of" she remarked as Shinji went around the inside of the building and came back with some cleaning supplies. Magecraft can do many things, but cleaning by hands keeps you a little grounded, also its a waste for something like that.
It took a few hours but the building was as clean as a whistle. The dust was gone and the wood polished with lemon scents wafting off of it. the air felt fresh and the metal even shined like a bright star. It was fresh and clean, as fresh as a place in a city like Fuyuki can get.
"Well that was boring" said Angra as he put away a rag that smelled of wood polish of a lemon scent. "Wheres food?" he barked as Shinji crouched by the door and was carving symbols imbued with magical energy. "Hold on, I'm just setting up the bounded field" Shinji yelled as the final mark was set and the bounded field sprang to life, covering a wide area that even reached underground. it was very complex yet simple as well, and it was built for additions to be added through the casters magical signature.
"Alright, whose hungry?" asked Shinji with a smile as Angra and Sakura raised their hands as Shinji went to the kitchen and set the stoves alight. 'I think some ramen will do, simple and quick to make' said Shinji as he conjured the cookware and ingredients he needed for the recipe.
He filled a pot with water, and he got one of those baskets used in Ramen restaurants. As the water came to a boil, he added the noodles as he chopped up some green onion, prepared the chili oil, and even made some soft boiled eggs to help decorate the bowl. As the noodles softened, he for the broth ready which was a simple beef broth and put the noodles in. It didn't take long for him to get everything placed into the bowl and he brought everything out steaming hot.
"Order up!" said Shinji with a faint smile, wanting to say that famous phrase. "That looks good" said Angra as he took a pair of chopsticks with his paws and began eating with ease. It was quite unusual to see a dog eat like it had all the knowledge and ability to do so, but this was all the worlds evil using a dog like a vessel to interact with the world, so it seemed somewhat in line. "It does look good Shinji" said Sakura softly, entranced by the meal before her. "I can teach how to make it" offered Shinji as Sakura shook her head yes. it seemed the noodles won her over.
"I would love to expand my repertoire" she smiled. "Of course, I would be glad to teach you" Shinji smiled as they slurpped their noodles.
"Hey boss, what are we gonna do?" asked Angra. "I mean, the grail war isn't very far away and its likely to choose one of you guys to participate, and its not like Zouken will just leave you guys in peace."
"I know, but were gonna have to do work on it. We can reinforce the fields with your cursed mud as an added defens, the rest we will have to study up on" said Shinji.
"Well, we do have the books we stole from the manor. The only thing we did with them was destroy any potential tracker spells" said Sakura. "Yeah, we do have those, and we can pick up some new books to help supplement what we have" said Shinji. The meal finished in discussion of their plans, they cleaned up, and went to bed.
Well, Shinji tried to go to bed anyway, but the sight of a bird like bow with a glowing aura of divinity in reality, it makes it really hard to sleep.
"Who are you?" he asked as the boy looked at him and said something in a tongue he couldn't understand. "(*&*Y&*Y&&(&*)" "What?" "Sorry, I'm used to speaking to people on the same level of me."
The boy seemingly spoke in a gentle manner. His aura betrayed the youthful look. His instincts knew it was divinity, an inherent aspect in human psychology recognizing strength, and his upbringing in a mage household. The divinity he had though, was quite different than described in a book. "I'll reintroduce myself, my name is Metatron, you can call me met."
The name was a dead ringer in his mind. The speaker of God, one who directly writes down the edicts of God, seated right by his throne. He was a powerful being, on par with Lucifer, only surpassed by the powers of the Son and the Father. His essence was like a depth less light, and I felt the very fabric of the texture seemingly waver in his presence, as if reality itself was weakening.
"So, Met" Shinji began, the closeness of the nickname feeling alien to him. 'Why are you here?"
"Well, I wanted to check up on you" said Metatron, "And to give you some explanation of your current situation" Metatron smiled in a comfortable way, yet Shinji was still puzzled. "The memory and essence thing?" asked Shinji as Metatron nodded his head yes to his question.
"Yes. A man died and with a few wishes, chose to give his memories, experiences, and wishes to a world native. He was satisfied and wanted a being he once thought of as a false reality to break the mold, to deprive [Fate] of the oppurtunity to produce an evil character, a chance to succeed if you will" said Met.
"So I inherited his powers and memories because I was destined for...evil?" Shinji inquired as Metatron nodded. "Yes, the original Shinji was destined to become a horrible monster, a piece of work that would undeniably be damned. But you changed that fate. In fact, the breaking of ones original [Fate] is a stepping stone to elevating ones existence, the purpose for us reincarnating individuals" said Met. "Elevating existence?" Shinji said, inquiring to Met about his curiosity.
"To become like us, trancenders in a sense, but you need to grow your [Seed] of power given to you before we can take the next step. In fact, that is another purpose for my visit" said Met. "What oppurtunity?" asked Shinji. "I will provide a way to grow your [Seed], something added to the restaraunt, of course what it will be is a surprise of course" Met smiled. He waved his hand as golden energy enveloped the restaraunt and the bounded field, changing it, providing something miraculous to it. Of course, in the morning Shinji will figure out why.
"Well, I will visit to check up on you every so often. Of course, I blessed you and your patrons. So, make what you will of what I provide. Goodbye, Shinji" Finished Metatron as he disappeared in motes of golden light as Shinji was still left bewildered by the situation.
[A/N: Hello readers, this is Kurai as I publish the rewrite of the fanfic Shinji the Gourmand. I took a comments advice and decided to do a rewrite. I am gonna keep some plot elements, introduce some characters earlier( like Angra) and some later. I also took somethings I wrote out while writing this chapter out, like Angras human form. of course, I am hoping this meets your guys standards and offers a more fulfilling experience. Thank you for reading!]
+[Fate]: A guiding and control system that keeps the universe and all other worlds in check. Breaking ones [Fate] is the first step of transcendence. Breaking [Fate], is the act of demons and gods.