A Dishonored Demigod

The Human Problem

Perseus kicks his feet up on the patio table outside one of the many coffee shops in the city as he recounts his talk with Caster,"He really is one heck of a maniac."
"Hmm," Kariya hums while sipping his coffee,"that doesn't sound so bad."
Perseus cocks an eyebrow,"You're kidding right? I thought you'd understand more clearly since you have Berserker as your servant. Madness differs greatly from person to person based on their mentality. Some insane people can remain calm while slicing someone's throat, and only grumble when the blood stains their clothes. This guy though really seemed off even when I compare him to some crazies I know. He almost seemed to have a corrupted mentality."
Kariya stops drinking and sets his coffee down,"Now that you mention it, it does seem strange. All the records the Mataou family had on heroes always mentioned that Gilles de Rais would be a candidate for Saber. He never had a connection to magic, except when he backed a priest trying to summon demons."
Perseus files that away for later,"Got it. Now I think It's time to get down to why we're meeting. You finally want to get the worms removed?"
He nods and Perseus grabs his arm before the two are swallowed up by the shadows. They emerge in the temple Perseus renovated and can see Berserker attentively listening to Sakura as she reads a book. The two men silently slip through an entrance even deeper into the temple and into an empty room. Perseus has Kariya lay down and reaches into his shadow,"I'm gonna warn you right now that this is gonna hurt like you wouldn't believe. Your worms are in much deeper than Sakura's were when I destroyed them. However that will be a benefit to you since I can modify the shells to act as circuits. You ready?"
Kariya nods and Perseus withdraws Excalibur and lays the tip on Kariya's forehead,"Divine Blade: Song of Heaven."
The process of purification takes much more energy than he anticipated, that and converting the worms to usable magic circuits causes Perseus to sweat from the strain of supporting Excalibur with his own immortal spark. As he continues Kariya starts to twitch and his lips open in a wordless scream while the worms beneath the skin on the left side of his face writhe angrily. Pure golden energy creeps across Kariya's face and beneath the tracksuit he's wearing as the twitching starts to become spasms. Just when the strain of using Excalibur becomes too great the golden energy retreats back into the sword and Kariya goes limp while Perseus has to use the sword as a cane.
He huffs for a minute while sweat drips down his face and splashes onto the ground. He holds a hand out and notices the faint glow that gives away his immortality is gone. His eyes widen and he quickly presses a finger against Excalibur's edge to draw blood, blood! Not the green poison or the black ichor that replaced his human blood, but ruby red blood!
"What the hell?" Perseus mutters.
He tests his theory by attempting to form a cero but his arm starts to burn before the orb even forms,"This ain't good."
"You're telling me."
Thrafsma's voice is weak and soft,"That spell ejected me and Empathy from your soul. Right now we're waiting for your immortality to recover. Until then you're on your own."
Perseus sighs but nods in understanding,"Got it. Get better soon guys. With all the crap going on now I really don't want to be caught off guard."
As he finishes speaking to Thrafsma Kariya comes around and opens his eyes to show the single light blue is now a matching black. He rubs his head and feels the left side of his face," They're gone. You actually did it. They're gone!"
He laughs and gets up while shaking Perseus' hand vigorously,"Thank you so much!"
Perseus gives him a weak grin,"Heh, no problem."
Kariya stares at him for a moment before gasping,"You're stats! They've all dropped dramatically!"
Perseus chuckles,"Yeah. Apparently this is what happens when I supply my sword with the spark that anchors all servants to this world. I should hopefully be fine in a few hours."
Kariya nods and helps him out to where Sakura is with Berserker,"You're worms did become circuits right? I'd hate for something to have gone wrong during that."
The left side of Kariya's face is covered in glowing blue lines that crisscross down and reach to his left hand,"It worked and I haven't felt this good in ages!"
Perseus smiles,"Good. That should help you support Berserker from now on. Speaking of the big guy, would you be fine if we had a mock battle? I need to see what I'm still capable of."
Kariya obliges the request and the two reach where Sakura and Berserker sit reading. The little girl looks up and notices her restored uncle, save for his white hair,"Uncle Kariya! You're all better!"
He chuckles and catches her when she slams into him for a hug,"Yeah this old man still has some life in him."
Perseus leaves the two to have a true reunion and taps Berserker on his armored shoulder,"Come on big guy. I need a sparring partner."
The giant follows after him as he exits the temple and enters the open space in the center of the building,"Catch!"
Berserker grabs Excalibur from the air while Dyrnwyn bursts into glorious white fire. The giant is still like a statue for a short time and Perseus cocks an eyebrow,"Hey big guy you alright? I know it isn't Arondight but then again the two were similar in form."
The giant remains still and Perseus grows annoyed,"You listening?! Face me Lancelot du Lac! And with your full potential!"
The black knight roars and red veins of energy corrupt Excalibur as he dashes forward. Perseus uses both hands to grip Dyrnwyn as the knight's overhead strike crashes against the steel. Perseus quickly angles his blade so Excalibur slides to the side and jumps back to gain some distance and come up with a game plan,"Planning. How long has it been since I've actually used tactics and not just rushed in relying on Thrafsma's natural armor? I've gotta be careful though since another hit like that could break both my arms if I blocked it head on."
His musings are cut short when he's forced to duck under Excalibur as it sails over his face,"However," and the veins in his left arm bulge along with the muscles,"I've still got some power!"
His fist slams against the armor covering Berserker's torso and the force of a magnitude 3 earthquake slams into him. The knight is lifted up and thrown through the air for s few yards but manages to land on his feet and braces himself with both hands gripping Excalibur. When a leaf falls from one of the trees the two charge forward and Perseus bares Dyrnwyn in front of himself,"Shine!"
The fire covering the sword intensifies for a brief second to blind Berserker while Perseus tries to slash across his chest-plate. The black knight somehow manages to block the blow and Perseus has to duck an iron-clad fist that tries to knock his head off. The two dislodge and Perseus' arm is shaking slightly before he makes a fist and raises his sword once more before swiftly turning on his heel and dashes towards the wall of the temple. Berserker is right on his tail as he approaches and he raises his left foot while channeling some of his power before slamming it down. The ground under him cracks and upheaves itself to let him jump onto the roof of the temple.
He lands softly before a shadow passes overhead and Berserker crashes down a few yards in front of him. Beads of sweat drip off Perseus forehead and causes his hair to stick to his head even as he approaches Berserker once more. When he's close enough he lashes out with his sword and its knocked from his hand and spins into the air directly over his head. Berserker swings downwards and his sword imbeds itself up to the hilt in the stone. The dust created acts as a veil to keep the knight from seeing if he wounded his opponent. Above him, unable to be seen, Perseus grabs his sword after performing a draining Blink to the temporary rune places on Dyrnwyn's handle and grabs it with both hands,"Varýtita!"
He drops like an anvil and Dyrnwyn's flames cover him in a bubble,"Metéoro!"
Down below the dust clears enough for Berserker to see the shadow descending on him and looks up to see his opponent crashing down on him in a literal blaze of glory. Discarding Excalibur he raises both hands and catches Dyrnwyn between them, struggling as he attempts to corrupt the blade. It's a battle between two unyielding wills as the red veins are stopped at half the blade's length. Both are struggling and Berserker is forced to a knee while the fire surrounding Perseus dims. The corruption slowly crawls over the rest of the blade and the fire flickers dimly. Berserker, sure of his victory, draws Perseus in close to disarm him when an explosion of blue fire throws him onto his back and the tip of Dyrnwyn is pressed against his throat,"Yield."
The knight nods his head and looks up to see a creature made of blue fire looming over Perseus' shoulder. It snarls at him but is drawn back into Dyrnwyn when Perseus lowers the blade,"That was good. Very good. Thanks for helping me find my limits, Berserker."
The servant nods and burst into particles of darkness that quickly dissipate in the air. Perseus is left alone to wearily withdraw Excalibur and stash both of his swords in his shadow before sitting down, hard! He gasps for breath as the adrenaline fades and a deep tiredness fills his body,"So I can still use a very limited amount of my lord's power. At the very least my earthquakes cost nearly no energy, and Dyrnwyn's fire comes from the blade itself. I wonder though."
He looks down at his left arm and the skin, muscles, and veins start to rot until only clean bones are left. He summons a Darkling and it appears with what he desired,"Here ya go boss!"
Perseus grips one of the souls from the Darknesses' countless stash and tries to eat it. The soul lodges in his throat and he coughs it up before he chokes. The small orb floats a few millimeters above the ground and in frustration Perseus grabs it with Soul Touch and accidentally crushes it. The small wisps of smoke from the crushed soul swirl around the skeletal arm and enters his mouth like fine dust. He coughs violently and feels something warm flowing through his body and trickling into his soul. It isn't much, equivalent to a few drops of water in a barrel, but it's something!
He quickly reaches into his shadow and draws out more souls before crushing them and absorbing the immortal aspect of the souls. After his twentieth soul his stomach starts doing flips and he groans,"Wow. So you can overdose on souls."
He rolls onto his side and waits for the pain to pass before getting up when a creeper slithers up and purrs when Perseus runs his hand over the crests on its back,"Hello my friend. Tell me, what you've discovered about the other masters?"
The creeper hisses and screeches but Perseus is able to understand him since he's the host of the Darkness,"So Caster paid a visit to Saber's masters?"
It hisses some more and Perseus sits up, now interested with what transpired the previous night,"Lancer showed up and helped her while his master tried to take out Kiritsugu Emiya? How'd that turn out?"
The creeper screeches and Perseus pales,"He has bullets? Bullets that destroy magic circuits through contact with a person's magic?! Now I can see why he's feared by magnus."
He lies down and feels the creeper slither next to him and over his torso before hissing softly. Perseus' eyes shoot open,"What? He wants to withdraw?"
The creeper bobs its head and hisses one last time before curling up to take a nap,"Huh. So he really doesn't want his wife to die to summon the grail. The only two things stopping him are his dream, and the fact his daughter is in Germany."
He closes his eyes and grins,"I've always wanted to visit Germany."