Tokiomi Tohsaka waited patiently while his wife Aoi finished pouring tea for their guest. Once that was done, and everyone was settled in, he spoke up. "Any luck, Zouken?"
Zouken Matou snarled in derision, "Not a shade of a hope. Turns out the fool wasn't satisfied to simply get a vasectomy. He had to go and get himself surgically castrated."
The others winced, and Tokiomi noted, "so there's no chance of him fathering a heir for the family, whether legally or a bastard. You can't even 'acquire' his seed to have a homunculus coined."
The three sipped their tea in silence as they contemplated the situation. The ending of a magical family was always a shame, but for one to be felled in such an ignominious fashion was particularly galling.
"Have you given any thought to my proposition? You know that the Matou crest isn't bound to just my family, so there's no reason I can't have your other daughter adopted as heir."
Aoi's only reaction to the possibility of losing one of her children was a suppressed wince, but Tokiomi put his hand over hers in reassurance. "We considered it, and if either of them had any more potential than the other, if both of them had the same elemental alignment, or if there was no other option..."
He spread his arms and shrugged.
Zouken simply harumphed, "so you are going to use the Ore Scales trait you inherited from the Edelfelt's through your mother to pass the family crest to both of your daughters. I take it then that you've already began their training?"
"Of course. It would be an insult not to do so, given their genius and potential."
"Oh?"
Tokiomi's pride fairly shone from him. "Forty magic circuits each, with a capacity of handling a thousand units of prana at a time. Genius level intelligence, though Rin tends to be more rash, while Sakura is the more patient one. Interestingly, that seems to be a reflection of their elemental alignments. Rin is an Average One, with an affinity for all of the physical elements. Perfect for a western magus. Sakura, on the other hand, has an affinity for emptiness, which will allow her to command spirits. Suitable for an eastern magus."
"So how do you plan to get proper training for your younger, then?" asked Zouken. "It's not like the Tohsaka have any history of practicing eastern magecraft."
"True, but I've been able to make arrangements with the Ryuudouji Temple for her training. There may not be any capable hyoujutsu practitioners there now, but they do remember, and they do have the records."
"So what have you started trained them in so far?"
"We decided to start training them both early. My elder has just finished mastering the basic fundamentals, while my younger is only a year away from the same. Reinforcement and alteration of existing materials, and projection based upon their elemental affinities, pretty much."
"Not bad. What about self-directed reinforcement?"
"That should take another two years. So about the same time as they achieve basic mastery in bajiquan and piquazhang."
"Impressive." Zouken paused momentarily, "though I do have to wonder why you'd bother to waste time teaching them the basics, since they're already impressed in your family crest."
Tokiomi raised an eyebrow, "did you ever consider the likelihood that might be the reason why the magical potential of your bloodline has atrophied over the generations?"
Zouken was rather nonplused, but covered it by taking a sip of his tea.
"Then there's the morality of implanting your crest into someone who isn't a magus. 'To be a magus is to walk with death' is the fundamental tenet of all who practice magecraft, but it certainly doesn't apply to those who don't accept and follow the path."
"So that's why you spoke of teaching your daughters the basics," replied Zouken, "but nothing of the family magecrafts. Kariya spoke to you about why he fled his duties."
"To Aoi, actually," Tokiomi confirmed. "He wanted her to know why he chose to drop his suit so abruptly."
"You weren't certain that you'd be able to make use of the Ore Scales trait, were you?" Zouken realized. "You wanted to be sure that if it couldn't work, and I did come to you, that whichever daughter I adopted as heir would be able to embrace the worms, and not be burdened by them."
"The worms themselves were never a problem. A symbiotic, living thaumaturgical crest that subsists on the excess od which would normally be lost to the world as mana, but which can be sacrificed for additional prana, since they don't have any magic circuits themselves. Which can also assume the form and function of the body's tissues, thus restoring damage. Assuming, of course, that the subject is a magus with both sufficient magical ability, and who is still young enough to accept a crest."
"Actually, the upcoming Grail War is already presenting an opportunity to improve on the crest worms," Zouken presented.
Tokiomi didn't bother wasting the effort to hide his interest. He was a magus, after all, and the fact that Zouken was bringing the matter up was telling in and of itself.
"You are, of course, aware that, following the debacle that was the last Grail War in '32, the Einzbern have decided to use a homunculus as the Lesser Grail, instead of an inanimate vessel," Zouken began.
"It makes sense," Tokiomi replied. "The Lesser Grail needs to be able to contain the released mana from the sacrificed Servants. Homunculi are designed to take in mana and store it within their magic circuits, which themselves have a capacity far beyond any human magus. So attuning one to serve as a Lesser Grail is certainly feasible."
"It's not perfect," continued Zouken. "The Vessel is expected to quickly lose it's ability to be anything but a container as the Servants are sacrificed, with all other functions being discarded to that end."
"That rather seems to defeat the whole point of the matter," Tokiomi noted. "What's the point of giving the Vessel the ability to protect itself, if it's going to lose that ability by the time the War is half over?"
Zouken could only shrug. "Nevertheless, it only makes things easier."
Tokiomi raised an eyebrow, "Is that your plan? To capture the Vessel at the end of the War and incorporate its magic circuits into the worms?"
"Of course! I couldn't imbue the crest worms with normal magic circuits, because that would restrict them to a particular family.
"I think I'm beginning to understand your interest in the vessel." Tokiomi didn't bother to hide his interest. He was a magus, after all. "If you can incorporate the remnants of the vessel, after the war, into a new breed of crest worms, they will gain their own magical circuits, which won't conflict with that particular capability."
"Better yet," Zouken spoke proudly. "They should also gain the homunculi's fundamental ability to absorb and store mana, as well as od."
"Nothing else, though," noted Tokiomi. "Since you already mentioned that the stress of containing the mana of the sacrificed Servants will destroy everything else about the vessel."
"Which, at least, will keep the Einzberns off my back."
"You're still going to need a host for your improved worms," mused Tokiomi. "One strong enough to actually make use of them."
"The average magus would be far too weak," Zouken agreed. "Also, it would be advantageous to use a female."
"What do you mean?" asked Tokiomi, though he suspected the answer.
"Each of the worms has only a finite capacity for storing prana. As such, they must increase their numbers when absorbing it," explained Zouken. "Since they have a material existence, this requires a supply of biomass. Normally, this isn't a problem. The same metabolic processes that produce od ensure a more than sufficient supply."
"But the improved worms will be absorbing mana from the environment," realized Tokiomi. "They'll need a source of compatible biomass beyond that normally produced by the subject's body."
"Cannibalism is one option, in theory," stated Zouken, "but hardly a desirable one. Too noteworthy, for one thing."
"Too say the least," replied Tokiomi flatly.
"The obvious answer is to make use of the placenta," continued Zouken blandly. "The female body produces and discards it monthly, so why not make use of it."
"Sounds good so far. But how is it going to affect her."
Zouken paused to think about it. Long experience, combined with the very nature of his family's thaumaturgical crest had long since made him a master of human biochemistry. "Estrogen levels will need to be maximized, to ensure that there is as much of it as possible. However, when the worms consume her placenta each month, they'll release a massive surge of testosterone that will cause her level of sexual arousal to spike to levels that will, given enough repetitions, ensure she goes insane, unless she gets release each month. Whether she wants to or not."
"Is there any way to ameliorate the problem?"
"If her testosterone levels could also be kept high, the constant state of heightened arousal would ensure that the spike wouldn't have such a debilitating effect. However, that would make the necessity of her having a steady partner even more critical, and without risking any outsiders becoming suspicious."
"You were planning on using Shinji, weren't you? Are you sure that's such a good idea? Considering both how thin the Matou blood already is, and how he's likely to react to finding out that he can't be the heir? You're providing him with the perfect target for his frustrations, especially if he can't keep up."
"Unfortunately true," Zouken grumbled, "but I have no intention of the experiment failing due to the subject's insanity."
"And if it should fail because she ends up killing herself?"
"So what would you suggest?"
"Is there any reason to be limited to a single subject? If you could implant the improved worms into two subjects with comparable potential, they can serve to keep each other sane. Especially if they're raised together, as sisters, so that outsiders can be kept clueless."
"A reasonable solution," noted Zouken, "but where am I going to find two suitable subjects? It will be hard enough finding just one."
"I believe we might be able to come to an agreement," Tokiomi replied.
"Ah," said Zouken, "so the Matou is to be absorbed by the Tokiomi. So be it. Though forgive me if I choose to also pursue other options as well."
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(Posted Fri, 12 Jul 2013 08:17)
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