Fate Blades Online

[One-Shot]

Decision To Nightmare

The Operation Of Parallel Worlds... it certainly is an amusing True Magic

Two men sat faced each other as they sat upon opposite sides of the same small round table topped with some sweets and tea.

On one side was an old man who was known by many names - such as the Wizard Marshall, the Old Man Of The Jewels, or simply as Kaleidoscope - this person was none other than Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg the only Sorcerer in the entire world capable of utilizing the Second True Magic - Operation Of Parallel Worlds.

On the other side sat a younger man with tanned skin, short white hair, and steely gray eyes, he was dressed in a stylish coat of blue with tight yet flexible black armor beneath. The son of the Magus Killer, the former master of Arturia Pendragon, the Faker; he was Shirou Emiya, a man who proclaimed himself an Ally Of Justice - a hero.

The Old Man Of The Jewels was the first person to speak and he did so in a rather cheery tone.

"There are many worlds, boy. Some so similar that the difference is but a reflection, some so similar that the only difference is but a flickering moment, some so similar that the only difference is but a mere minor change in whim. Then there are those worlds that are so different the mere realization that they're still parallel to our own is quite amazing. I have seen and visited many worlds, boy, and it is always amusing that you seem to be on the forefront of my mind."

Zelretch picked up his cup of tea and gracefully took a large sip, "Tellings of your life during the Fifth Holy Grail War heading into a different direction... multiple Servants under your service, the acquistion of many more lovers, a history of skill rather than that of a lucky fool. Or tellings of your later life being flipped around entirely... being summoned to another world in service of a little pink-haired master, getting involved in another secret tournament with aliens not of our typical world, appearing at a world where magic is widely accepted and used, or being sent to a world with towering dungeons filled to the brim with treasure. Your life stories have always been greatly entertaining for me, boy."

The old man grinned, "Some because of fate, some because of coincidence, some completely accidental; but, overall, many of these incidents occur for my own personal amusement."

Shirou was a polite man but he couldn't help himself but to sigh slightly in bother. He calmly took a sip of his own tea before speaking.

"So, just like those other worlds you've seen... are you planning to send me into another dimension, Wizard Marshall?"

The user of the Second Magic chuckled, "That would depend on you, boy. There are times where I do not ask for permission, times where it is necessary to do so or times where you have no alternative but to die, and then there are moments - like this - where you have a choice in the matter," his red eyes shone under the moderate lighting of the room, "I have seen a world within a world, boy; a somewhat intriguing world. It is something you may think of to be akin to a God with a Reality Marble."

"...And what has this 'God' done?" Shirou asked curiously.

"The 'God' has done many things," Zelretch's grin disappeared into a neutral expression, "But for this particular scenario, you may know that he has taken hostage of 10,000 humans into his 'Reality Marble.' These hostages are to then earn their freedom, to keep fighting until they reach the top of the world, and only then can they escape from their imprisonment. In some instances they succeed in their goal, in some worlds they find a way to escape before then, and in others - well - they fail utterly with no survivors."

Shirou spoke as calmly as he could, even though in the inside he felt like a sword being slowly unsheathed, "And in this scenario... are you saying that those 10,000 people are going to die?" Shirou life's was dedicated to saving the life of others - even complete strangers - for no thanks, for no gratitude or gifts, but his own satisfaction to save people.

He knew where this conversation was already going and his answer was already predetermined.

"Well now," The Wizard Marshall lips curled upward, he leaned back onto his chair and clasped his hands together, "Whether I've seen that world's failure or success... or whether all ten-thousand is lost or merely just one life is gone... it doesn't matter to you, correct?"

"That's right," Shirou nodded his head, "Whether those people escape or not in the end, nor whether it is a single one compared to the ten-thousand many, the scale doesn't matter to me. The only fact I see before my eyes is that someone's life is in danger; whoever they are - as long as they are within my sight - I will save them because I am an Ally Of Justice." He stood up from his seat filled with determination, "My decision should have been obvious to you since the very beginning, shouldn't it, Kaleidoscope?"

The old man snorted, "Of course. I've already said it before, boy: I have visited many worlds with you at the forefront of my mind. Your character was something I knew even before I arrived here."

"This entire conversation was pointless then," the son of the Magus Killer sighed.

Zelretch closed his eyes and began a short monologue, "Perhaps a single action will change the world or perhaps a lone act may do nothing at all. But it is as you say: the scale does not matter; parallel worlds are born from even the merest of differences." His hand reached out and grasped a cane that rested to the side of his chair, he opened his eyes and spoke firmly, "Whether our conversation was pointless or not... that would depend, boy, do you believe in Fate?"

"I don't believe in an unchangeable future, as the future is shaped by our actions."

The Wizard Marshall grinned ferociously, "A magnificent answer, boy."

He raised his cane slightly above the floor and pushed it down, there was a noise of a quiet tap and then the young white-haired man disappeared from the room: Shirou Emiya was sent immediately to another dimension.

The old vampire casually picked up his cup and took a sip of his tea, "Parallel worlds are born from even the merest of differences... In a way, it could be said that their basis is from the concept of 'what if.' So..." he turned his head around, "What if it was you who has sent him on his way instead of I?"

Across the room there was another person here. Another Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. This man was the real Wizard Marshall who belonged specically to this world.

That other Kischur rubbed his chin and chuckled, "Well now, to answer that... would you like to travel with me to the closest world and find out then?"

The outsider Zelretch laughed jovially, "Hahaha! The Operation Of Parallel Worlds... it certainly is an amusing True Magic," he pushed off his chair and walked over to Kischur, "Let us be off then!" And the two users of the Kaleidoscope vanished in a flash.

[...]

Shirou Emiya last remembered that he was at his private safe-house and was talking with the Old Man Of The Jewels. The next he awoke, he realized that he was - for some reason - lying on the ground somewhere else in a forested area. He had a inkling about how he had arrived here...

Traveling between dimensions was nothing any ordinary beings could do but it was also something that ordinary beings could not safely travel into even with protection. The trip itself could utterly destroy a lesser-being's mind due to its true and incomprehensible nature. Whenever the Wizard Marshall sent others to another dimension he would force their mind to sleep and become blank, otherwise they would not survive the horrors of traveling in between dimensions.

The Operation Of Parallel Worlds; it could be said that every world was parallel to one another - even if the worlds were as different as night and day, no matter the distance they were still, ultimately, parallel to one another. For Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg who could pick and choose to enter any of the infinitely number of parallel worlds as though they were in the palm of his hand... only he knew about the unknown 'world' that laid in between them.

Shirou placed his hands onto his forehead and grimaced, he had an immense headache. He felt like he had been thrown into a freezer and was frozen instantly on the spot, only to be brought out the next and then thawed out with a flaming hammer.

The Ally Of Justice groaned and mumbled, "Is that what jumping through dimensions feels like...?" He sat himself up and continued to rub his forehead. He felt disoriented and his chest area was quite uncomfortable as well.

He took a deep breath in and then a deep breath out.

He opened his eyes and brushed aside some loose strands of white hair. He then immediately noticed a peculiar sight, in the upper-right hand corner of his view, there was a long green-bar with numbers and the name 'EMIYA' to the left of it; no matter where he would look, it would dutifully follow him.

"That... what is that?" he mumbled to himself.

Shirou then abruptly blinked, "That is..." and then he blinked some more and anxiously licked his lips. For some reason, he was not sweating - even though he felt like he should be sweating a storm right now. "Eh? This is...?!"

His trembling increased as thin arms and legs that could not belong to him moved into his view and his once form-fitting clothes and armor were now too baggy on his now shrunken body-frame.

"Ah...! Why...?" Shirou grew wide-eye as an undeniable shiver ran down his body. He had faced many things, many fantasical, strange, but also deadly things during his participation of the Fifth Holy Grail War, but this... this was beyond his comprehension and expertise.

The Ally Of Justice screamed out in a high-pitched voice:

"WHY DID I BECOME A GIRL?!"

Author Notes

Thank you for reading this prologue-ish one-shot!

Oh boy, oh boy, do I like coming up with one-shots... Anyway, this one-shot was just for some practice; thank you, MorinoRyoushi, for the idea of a FSNxSAO story.

I have no idea what Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg is like. All I know is that he has a sense of humor, anyways, I certainly love the dialogue I wrote for him.

As we can see, this Shirou Emiya is fairly distorted. But how distorted is he? Is he from F-route where this is never addressed or is he from UBW-route where he will never regret it? Well, I always enjoy using a mixed-version for him as it allows for a bit more freedom in defining his character (considering how much this one-shot talks about parallel worlds, this could easily be an AU-Shirou Emiya and not just a differently interpreted one). So - from the clues I've left - I'll just leave this Shirou's history and personality to your imagination.

Also, why is Shirou Emiya suddenly a girl? You see, in this one-shot, dimensional travel is not a simple thing. There are worlds which erase things that do not belong, there are worlds which actively fight back against dimensional interferences, there are worlds where dimensional traveling has different rules... To fight back against these many scenarios, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg - as the user of the Second True Magic - has an ability to stabilize his existence as it is.

But, like I said, Zelretch has a sense of humor - as long as Shirou got there safely then whether he came out as an adult or child, man or woman, human or not, all of those don't matter. Since Shirou was thrown directly into the Sword Art Online game by means that can't normally be understood or should even exist at all, you could say that his data was corrupted and when the Cardinal System ran a patch to fix him... well, here we are.

So how is the Sword Art Online!Universe which Shirou Emiya landed in? Well, it could be a unique one designed just for this story (if it went out of one-shot status - which, I'm sure in another world, it did happen), it could be the canon SAO (either based on the light novels, anime, or manga), or... it could amusingly be an AU version of my Sword Art Online story, Knights In The Nightmare, except the biggest difference is that Shirou Emiya is in it this time around (again, thank you, MorinoRyoushi, for the idea).

So, ultimately, this one-shot can be primarily summarized as: What if Shirou Emiya was sent to Knights In The Nightmare as a girl?

Well... I admit that for this one-shot he clearly doesn't actually do anything in the KITN-verse but that was the gist of the idea about what was supposed to happen anyways...

If anyone wants to adopt (or do whatever) to these stories/ideas, then please feel free to do so.