Fate/Heroes - Chapter 38

Gray looked down at the scattered bloodied bodies, the heavy scent of blood overpowered the other scents of iron and gunpowder. The request he had received from Talia had been completed, and any further ties to the League would only be to Talia, not to the League itself.

The Old Man of the Mountain had been really adamant about Gray ȧssisting the beautiful woman, so much so that even the other Heroic Spirits in the other Class Cards had made fun of him, despite earning their ire of the former Grand Servant.

There was over three levels to their underground base and even Gray had been surprised about just how many members there actually was in the Empty Coffin Gang.

“Over 30 members in the night club on the first floor. Over 100 members in the armory and sleeping areas for the gang, as well as a kitchen and lounge. And another 100 on the bottom floor. Just what are they hiding in here?”.

Gray’s gaze was drawn to the various boxes in this formerly locked room. Despite the bloody mess he had left behind, all the boxes had the same word on them.

“Church of Areopagus? What the fuċk?”.

The cases were all locked with a rotational lock that needed a certain number sequence to obtain them. It would be a problem for a normal human to get into said case, but someone like Gray however-.

With a strength exceeding that of even Superboy, Gray cracked open the closest case in front of him, his eyes widening at what he had just found.

“The Helmet of Hades!…. or at least a copy of it?”.

The discerning eye of Rider, Shielder and Archer told Gray that his hat or helmet was just a copy of the original Noble Phantasm. Since the Age of Gods never ended in this world and magecraft never degenerated, the fake Noble Phantasm wold be about as as strong as a Projected version of it.

“Tauropolos… Durindana…. Goddess of War…. Harpe…. Winged Sandals…. Perseus’ Mantle…. Mirror-Shield…. The Pelt of the Calydonian Boar…. Even copies of Zeus’ thunderbolt, Poseidon’s trident and Hades two-pronged fork!”.

The copies of the legendary Greek artifacts astounded all of the Heroic Spirits in Gray’s possession. Despite just being copies, to be able to create such weapons in such likeness of the original, one must’ve at least seen the original copies in order to create such excellent fakes.

Gray instantly changed his Class Card, and his skull mask and black armor vanished, replacing itself with a silver rune armor with a red sash around his ċhėst.

Using [Dromeus Komētēs: Comet Form], the green streaked speedster moved the cases containing the copies of all the Noble Phantasm’s into his penthouse, taking several minutes to make the dozen round trips or so. Just leaving the copies of these Noble Phantasms’ were dangerous considering the League of Assassins were going to use this location in the near future.

Even Assassin, who was unusually biased towards Talia agreed to Gray moving the copies Harpe and Tauropolos to his penthouse. If wouldn’t be a good idea if the League used these weapons against him in the future, if he just left them lying around.

Once Gray had moved all the weapons, his eyes narrowed, and his Class Card changed once more, his eyes turning red and his hair a dark purple, his bearing changing along with the change in hair color.

Using magecraft to enhance his eyes, Gray noticed a hidden safe in the floor beneath one of the metahumans, whose massive body nearly completely hid the compartment from Gray’s magically enhanced eyes.

Just like before with the cases containing the Noble Phantasms’, Gray ripped open the compartment revealing stacks of cash and jewelry, with several folders containing thick paper in the corner.

Despite the large amount of money, probably several million dollars in illegally obtained blood money, Gray instantly went for the folders, pushing everything off the only desk in the room as he looked down at the information in front of him.

“The Church of Areopagus. Founded in the 1950’s after World War II as a small church originating from Greece. It helped those in tough times to get back on their feet in the aftermath of the Second World War, creating dozens of orphanages all across Europe before coming to America in the 80’s…..”.

A confused look rose up onto Gray’s face as the information didn’t seem relevant towards how they obtained such weaponry.

“The Church was just a cover however as the main reason for establishing the Church was to accumulate those viable enough to receive “his” blessing? Those who were blessed by our god found themselves imbued with great strength and longevity, not unlike the descendants of heretic gods…..

“They were gifted with massive amounts of wealth and told to scour the Earth for others like them, with the willingness to serve our god. The Empty Coffin Gang is just a front for the Church of Areopagus in New York, and will come to the battlefield on the day of reckoning? Signed, Damon Frankston, bishop of the Church of Areopagus”.

Gray looked down at the folders in front on him, scrolling through them with his enhanced speed.

The second folder contained the details of every members of the Empty Coffin Gang in New York. It listed their secondary hideouts, both in America as well as the rest of the world. The sheer number of branches of the Church of Areopagus was enormous.

America, Britain, Australia, Russia, China, Japan, India, Egypt, Canada, Saudi Arabia. Every major country around the world had at least one branch of the Church of Areopagus in every major city. The number of supporters of the Church must’ve been in the tens of thousands, if not the hundreds of thousands.

Gray’s eyes turned to the third and final folder…

“On the last day of summer, the members of the Church of Areopagus shall head towards the land hidden from the world. The island hidden by the heretic gods shall be revealed to us by our God, the one true God of War. We shall follow our God into battle as he wages war against the Amazons. The Justice League will not be a problem. Our God has already foreseen their arrival and made counter-measures against them”.

Quickly checking the date, Gray saw that today was the 28th of February, roughly two or so months had passed since he arrived in this universe, and became a Pseudo-Servant….

An image fell out of the bottom of the folder, one that Gray recognized even without his memories as modern day Turkey on the right, and modern day Greece on the left. A massive red “x” was placed over an empty plot of ocean, and Gray put the pieces together instantly in his mind.

“That’s Themiscyra. The home of Wonder Woman….”.

Cogs turned in the mind of the Pseudo-Servant. A plan slowly formed in his mind as the young man’s smile grew.