Chapter 1: The Birth and Beginning
Disclaimer; I do not own Highschool DxD or the Fate universe
All Shirou could see was corruption, the taint from the Grail was all around him. Cradled in his arms were the two most precious things to him in this reality. Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou, the latter of which had been corrupted by the shards of the lesser grail, embedded into her by her adoptive grandfather, Zouken, the twisted son of a bitch. He and Rin had come with the goal of saving Sakura and destroying the Grail once and for all but their plan had failed miserably and while they managed to stop the birth of all the world's evil, he was now about to die, having not saved Sakura. Once he had dealt with Saber Alter, after Gilgamesh had made his appearance and provided the necessary distraction for Shirou to use Rule breaker. Caster's noble phantasm that can sever any magical bond between master and servant, to cut her ties from the corrupt grail. He then made his way inside the chamber where the grail was located only to see Rin and Sakura, both nearly dead. He quickly made his way up to them and cradled both of them in his hands which is where he was now.
"Senpai…. thank you…" Sakura managed to cough out during her final moments.
"Save your strength Sakura…. please…everything will be okay now" Shirou softly stated to her as tears ran down his face. Sakura could only nod as he felt her go limb as what remained of her life faded.
"I just wish…that I could have lived happily with you both. After all you two were all I had left." Shirou cried as he held the two sisters close before a bright light envelop them all.
"Your wish has been granted" A soft voice informed Shirou before his vision faded into black.
-?, Underworld-
A young boy walked through an endless sea of fire and rubble, something familiar about this situation seemed to echo in the boy's soul as he kept walking through the fire, knowing that if he stopped he would die.
He kept walking even as screams and pleas for help echoed around him though soon enough he found himself looking up at the purple sky as rain poured down around him, the flames slowly dying out.
'I….bone…..sword'
These worlds echoed through the young boy's mind, yet he had no idea what they meant or make any sense of them at all. As the last of the boy's strength was fading he reached up to the sky defiantly, desperately trying to hold on to his life and as his hand dropped it was caught by a man with green hair.
"To think you are the only survivor of this catastrophe" The man stated, smiling as tears softly rolled down his face as the boy could only look on as he felt his eyes drooping. Maybe one day he could be as happy as the man before him was, by saving people but before he fell unconscious he saw an empty hill with gears in the sky above.
The next time he woke up, he saw the same green haired man and a white-haired man, both men looked feminine, sitting beside him in a white room. The green haired man looked over and smiled seeing him awake and stood up before moving closer to the bed.
"Hello, my name is Ajuka. What is your name?" The man, now known to Shirou as Ajuka asked softly and while a part of Shirou instinctively wanted to fear the man before him, his mind brought back the memory of Ajuka beaming with happiness as he grasped his hand.
"Shirou…. just Shirou" Shirou mumbled as he tried to remember his last name but nothing came to him, almost as if the fire had rebirthed him, leaving nothing of his past but his first name.
"Well Shirou, I would like to make you an offer, you can either be taken to an orphanage run by the Gremory clan or you can come with me." Ajuka offered "But be warned that if you come with me it will be tough and you'll have to experience hardships and a lot of danger."
For Shirou he didn't want to be in an orphanage, he wanted to be able to save people and experience the happiness Ajuka did when he found him in the fire so the choice was obvious.
"I want to go with you." Shirou answered almost immediately after Ajuka asked him, no hesitation present in his voice.
"Very well, then I shall return in a couple of days once your back to full health" Ajuka state softly as he and the white-haired man, who bowed before he left, exited the room.
During his time of recovery a girl with short black hair came and read books to him. She arrived every day just after lunch and would read to him until the afternoon. She told him her name was Sona Sitri and that her family oversaw the hospital he was currently staying in and she been asked to read to him to keep him company as he healed. When she came and read they did not converse to much other than him asking her questions about the book she was reading though he enjoyed her company nonetheless.
After a week of being in hospital he was finally able to be released as the doctors had told him he now had a clean bill of health and true to his word, Ajuka was in the lobby when he was released along with the white-haired man and a new face he hadn't seen before. She was a long dark-haired woman who looked around in her twenties.
"Ah Shirou morning, let me introduce you to my Queen Karna and my wife Zira Astaroth, formerly Valac." Ajuka introduced as he gestured to the white-haired male and the black haired female respectively. Karna bowed in greeting to his masters adopted son and Zira moved over to Shirou and knelt down next to him before sweeping him up in a tight hug.
"Your so cute! Welcome to the family.' She exclaimed with a massive smile as she hugged him tightly into her bust.
"Darling be careful, he needs air" Ajuka stated to his wife who had a quick look of realization before she let the boy out of her grasp. Shirou gasped for air after being released but had a small smile on his face at the affection. As they exited the hospital Sona stood in front of him with a person who had twin black pigtails and looked much like Sona.
"Bye Shirou, I hope to read to you again sometime." Sona said with a sad smile on her face at Shirou leaving. She had enjoyed her time reading to him as he seemed quite absorbed in the books she was reading about human heroes of legend and was quite inquisitive.
"I'd enjoy that" Shirou replied softly with a smile before he, Ajuka, Karna and Zira disappeared into a magic circle.
-8 Years Later-
The sounds of metal clashing against metal echoed around the training area of the Astaroth estate and if someone were to look at where the sounds originated from they would only see the two combatants when their blades clashed otherwise they were moving at speeds beyond normal human comprehension.
The two combatants were Shirou, who was now 12 years of age and Ajuka's Queen Karna. Shirou was wielding two falchions known as Kanshou and Bakuya, the married swords. Karna however was wielding a basic spear as he was not permitted to use his own spear unless given explicit permission by his king.
"Good, Lord Shirou you've improved exceptionally since we last spared. Continue to grow at this pace and I will look forward to fighting you with my full power" Karna Stated to Shirou as he lowered his weapon signalling the end of the sparring match.
"Well fought my son. Your magical abilities have greatly improved since we began your training 4 years ago." A voice called out from the edge of the allocated sparring ring. Shirou looked to see his adopted father, Ajuka, standing there with a smile on his face.
"Well making swords is the only thing I can learn so I have to master it." Shirou stated to his father as he gazed down at his blades in his hand. Ajuka had taken him around the world to see as many swords as he could get his hands on so that Shirou could practise and expanded what he could copy with his unique brand of magic.
"Well im very proud of you and so is your mother." Ajuka stated with a small smile as he ruffled Shirou's hair. From a window on the upper levels of the Astaroth manor, a short green haired boy, a few years younger than Shirou seethed with anger and jealousy.
"Ever since he was taken in by my brother, its been nothing but praise and love towards him, even by mother and father even when he isn't a true Astaroth." The young boy hissed in anger before he turned away and finished getting ready. He had to attend his high class promotion ceremony along with the fake as it was decided that they would both be getting their pieces together.
"Shirou it's time for you to become a King and receive your evil pieces." Ajuka told Shirou who beamed with happiness at the news. "First your mother wants to see you and dress you up into an attire suitable."
Shirou nodded as a magic circle was summoned by Ajuka under his feet and soon took Shirou back home to his mother so that she could prepare him for the upcoming ceremony.
-In the Capital Lilith, The High Class Ceremony-
"Shirou Astaroth please step forward" Sirzech Lucifer stated as Shirou stood up and walked up onto the stage which was set up in front of the 4 thrones of the Satans. "Shirou Astaroth, We the Four lords of Hell and the Elder Council hereby recognize that you have reached the realm of High class and hereby grant you the title of Margrave."
Shirou knelt in front of Sirzech on one knee and accepted the certificate symbolising his status as a high class devil before rising up when gestured and returned to his seat. Next came the crowning ceremony in which Shirou knelt down in front of Falbium Asmodeus, who he had chosen before the ceremony to receive his crown from. Falbium did not speak a word, only softly smiling as he placed the golden crown on top of Shirou's head as the crowd gathered applauded as all the Devils who had been up for promotion received their crowns as well from one of the Satans they chose.
The final part of the ceremony, the part in which every devil who was being promoted to high class was waiting for. The final part had Lord Lucifer summon forth a black monument that was shaped like a king piece from chess and one by one, each devil one by one made their way to the monument and placed their hand upon it. The monument was bathed in a crimson light and the hand print of each devil remained on the monument for a couple of seconds before it vanished. Once this was complete, each devil received their evil pieces, a set of chess pieces that had the normal amount of chess pieces for one side but lacked a king piece.
As Shirou gained his chest pieces an image of a blonde haired king sitting on a throne surrounded by knights all talking popped into his head.
'I will be a king, a king that will be kind.' Shirou announced in his head as he smiled proudly at his pieces.
A/N: Hello readers and thank you for reading the first chapter of The Lord of Swords. What did you think of the chapter and if you have any questions feel free to pm me or put them in a review and if i'm able to answer them without giving away future plot i will. Once again thank you all for reading and this story is far from over.