Nightmare Mandala

Chapter 2: Charge

The aged guildmaster reclined in his chair, staring the oak ceiling as he mentally reviewed the last two days. Outside the shut door he heard the minor brawls in the main hall and was at ease. Everything was as it should be. His office was still covered in loose papers and books, magical trinkets and other artifacts collected over a lifetime were tossed haphazardly among his books, somewhere in those depths was his personal research long since abandoned.

The previous days had been exhausting days of travel and shadowy meetings. In the middle of the night of a messenger arrived at the doors of Fairy Tail with a message. The messenger had said only one word to him and left the old guildmaster trembling. The word, the dread name, was beyond even the infamous dark mage himself in the old man's mind. To utter it even five decades later left him trembling and long forgotten fear to reawaken. The dread name was of an earlier age of Fiore, when the wizards ran free to do as they pleased, the days of his childhood long past.

Against those who bore the dread name Fairy Tail had first formed. The first master had been dedicated to her life to shattering that organization and their followers. He could till recall her titanic battles and the destruction the enemy had wrought. He recalled his own battles with their followers and, perhaps more traumatic, his battle with their members. The old scar on back throbbed in pain at the mere thought of those days before the Magic Council, back before Fiore was at peace.

With the messenger's words ringing in his ears he had come to the headquarters of the Magic Council with fear driving him. Of all the forces in the word, this one was the one had least wanted to every see again. His children, his guild didn't deserve to suffer under the hand of those monsters from his era. They were children of peace and plenty, not of the war and famine. If he could stop their dread organization then he would offer everything even though it would not be enough.

That name cut too deeply.

That name chilled his very soul.

The name stung for the countless monsters it brought to light.

That name brought righteous anger.

That name brought darkness and agony.

And worse of all, deep in his heart and soul, he knew that the world needed them. To defend against the monsters of his age they were needed. They alone had the experience and the power to deal with their own monsters were other mages would be torn apart. Mavis and the other founders might have tried to stand against the demons who came with that dread name, but they were not enough. It was never enough, always wizards came up just short when it came to those monsters in the dark. He was sure that even the current generation of S ranked wizards would fail to combat the threats that dread organization fought.

There were no mere mortals among those people, only monsters suited to fight monsters. It was only good fortune that they had no interest in seizing power. He sincerely doubted there were enough survivors of his generation willing to hold the line, to fight in a war the Magic Council actively sought to prevent. Like the inexorable gears he could feel the flow of time tick towards their resurgence. Nearly a hundred years ago that organization had arisen out of nowhere and joined the ongoing wars of Fiore.

Now they return once more unchanged and fierce as ever. Confidence, arrogance, power and wealth were theirs to command. They had axes to grind with many of his generation. Decades wallowing in the darkness and obscurity had not weakened them the slightest, if anything they thrived. He couldn't forget the Battle of the Ten Suns or the horrors unleashed there by both sides and the merciless slaughter of innocents by mere accidents by both sides. He was still haunted by the memory of civilians caught in the crossfire or destroyed simply for seeing what was not to be seen. He and his generation were not blameless, Mavis and the others who had first fought were hardly blameless. All bore blood enough for twenty lifetimes upon their hands, but in the end it had brought this current golden age to Fiore.

For this Golden Age he would willingly bear the burden for the sins of the past and keep his guild, his children, from the same dreadful world he grew up in. Hope and friendship were the way forward, not power and research that had made the dread organization so powerful.

But the gears of time had come full circle. With each click and clank he felt the moment coming; the return of darkness in an age of light. The Dragons were gone, the demons sealed, the dark mages scattered and the dark guilds largely powerless. Erza, Natsu, Mira, Wendy and all the other others had no role to play in the combat of the greater threats. Children of peace should not have to fight their elder's old battles, yet time betrayed him.

With a heavy heart and burdened soul, he looked down at his desk were seven cards lay in order. Each bore a name, written in the alien script and a figured inside an ornate gear. The calling card of darkness, the Seven Signs of-

He couldn't quiet bring himself to utter the name. It was needed though. It was past time to move beyond his fear. Today had to be the rebirth of the wizard soldier who had fought his entire youth. Today was the day he would say the name of the damned and the lost who turned away from the light and dark, who saw not good or evil, and whose very name rang with a dark tone-

Outside the town clock rang.

"Clocktower."

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Shirou was torn as looked out the window to the street below. A part of him wanted to intervene and the other wanted to observe these new mysteries in action. Below in the mid-morning light, while the townsfolk went about their business, two dozen men swaggered down the street. At regular intervals they would stop, mull about in front some shop or house while some of their number entered loudly demanding money. A few brave souls had refused and he had watched in objective horror as these rouges, he refused to horror them with the title of mage, beat several shopkeepers.

Several of the men appeared to use elements, others summoning various elements around their weapons, and still other used a strange kind of limited self-transfiguration to appear more like animals and gain the strength of that beast if the broken walls were anything to go by. What angered him the most was his lack of any ability to help them. To move against them would set Lorelei against him; a pragmatic man never set himself against the Queen without good reason.

He would remain pragmatic and gather intelligence. The band of thugs loitered in front of one of the larger shops for the moment when he looked back towards the bed. Lorelei was still abed, even as this hour. It was rare enough that the Queen let the daylight slip past her like this. He could count on one hand the number of times he had seen her sleep well past the rising of the sun and most of those were due to long days fighting Dead Apostles. It was as if he had risen earlier by any great margin, only a mere twenty minutes or so.

She rolled over towards, shifting to grasp at the pillow. Sometime in the night her hair had come unbound and was splayed about her. He smiled softly; it did so remind him of Rin. Lorelei had the noble image a queen in her waking hours, but it was something else to see her like this. It always felt as though she was implicating trusting him beyond what he would call reasonable. He was distorted after all. The logical thing was not to become too close to such a distorted magus, though he failed at times to see that distortion people spoke of. No matter the case, while she slept Lorelei looked at any other beautiful woman asleep and he was not about to wake her to ruin the moment.

Instead the gang of thugs took that auspicious honor. Something had caught their eye and they were suddenly charging loudly in the direction of the inn. He heard explosions and crackles that seemed to be the telltale signs of their magic abilities and drew back the firing pin as he turned his attention back to the street. He heard the sheets move and the bed creak as Lorelei presumably arose.

"What is this racket Emiya?"

"The thugs extorting the townsfolk. Two dozen men, at least half have local mysteries or the ability to use some kind of the magic. The other half hasn't used anything I'd call a mystery, but they all have weapons," he replied, ingrained reporting deeply conditioned coming to the forefront.

He heard her getting dressed as he traced a nameless longbow. The thugs had come, whooping and hollering, to the door of the inn like bloodhounds after a boar. "They're here," he informed her dispassionately. It would be rather hard to dislodge the fighting from the building from this angle.

Lorelei came to the window and folded her arms across her chest as she too observed them. "Motely brigands," she stated definitively.

"Motely armed and magical brigands," he corrected as he assessed the location of the identified mages. It was very likely the mages who were using their power for intimidation were the weakest seeking to look powerful or the strongest and thusly supremely confident in their powers. "I've seen elemental manipulation, possible Mystic Codes in the form of weapons, and short term self-transfiguration of limbs."

"Elementary tricks," she stated as the sounds of a fight reached them from the floor below. "It would seem they have entered the building."

"Would you like to intervene?" He wanted nothing more than to help right now. These men were hardly bright, openly running their racketeering operation, and he wasn't about to let walk away freely.

The sound of fighting below halted before she spoke. "It would appear that the fight has ended without us."

He would have responded, but what he saw in the street chilled him. The brigands were dragging the innkeeper Isaac into the street. The man was already showing the signs of bruising and was bleeding from several cuts to the face. His clothes were torn, but Shirou caught site of the necklace with a familiar stone in it. "The fool. He made it into a necklace," he growled in anger.

Lorelei tensed up beside him and squeezed her arm tightly. "I was hoping to avoid this…" she said quietly. "That fool was taken by the cut and now by brigands. If they interrogate him then he will give us as the source of the gem. This cannot be allowed."

Finally, inwardly he rejoiced. She had just loosed his chains and he was free to do what he did best. "The plan?"

"We follow them when they return to their base camp. Then we shall strike and leave nothing standing."

"Extermination? Isn't that a bit far?" he questioned, suddenly unsure he wanted to be freed of those chains.

"Isaac will break and they will come here seeking us as gem merchants with their most powerful fighters. We have no such proof of our station; hence they will fight us in the town as compensation. We shall win and the people will talk about us. They will spread the word and any chance of secrecy will be lost. We know too little of this…world to deal with it more powerful inhabitants. Thus we must ensure the silence of the innkeeper and the brigands," she said, calmly as they watched the brigands drag Isaac away towards the other side of the town.

He was loath to admit it, but he had plotted out a similar scenario and came to a similar conclusion. Killing monsters and vampires was a simple matter; these men were unknowns but clearly a danger to town. One day they would make a mistake and someone would die or a building would burn, then many more would suffer. That reasoning made it no easier to accept an order for extermination. He wasn't a Counter Guardian. He wasn't Archer. He would do this in the interest of Lorelei. "I would assume you want this down quietly," he asked though he knew the answer as he let the bow disappear.

She nodded sharply. "They are leaving. We will shadow them." As she finished speaking she opened the window as far as it would go and placed a leg on the frame before looking back at him. "You might want your coat."

With that she was off and Shirou realized he forgotten the coat this morning. Quickly he seized it as he reinforced his body pushing will beyond his normal level with ease. Throwing it on, he didn't bother to cinch it to his body as he leapt from the window to the street below. On the other side of the street Lorelei waited on the roof.

As he landed he was glad the most of the townsfolk were still indoors. They would not have to explain anything yet. With a short run and another jump he joined Lorelei who nodded approvingly as he landed.

"We hunt when you're ready Emiya," she said, gesturing towards the unbuttoned coat.

Quickly and slightly red face in embarrassment he cinched up the coat; he made it point to keep the coat close to his body to avoid appearing like the various groups of American demon hunters who had taken the open coat fashion as their own. There was no need for further speech between them. They knew this dance well. He met her eyes and nodded once.

The hunt was afoot.

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Fortunately the men had retreated to the hilly woods as he had hoped. Unfortunately they had retreated into what was a rather defensible hilltop fort. He hid in the shadow of the trees as he studied the layout of their fort form a rather large distant for a normal human. The tall hill was surrounded on three sides by loose gravel and large steep boulders, neither seemingly natural based upon the other rocks had had seen. It would be a pain to climb the loose gravel without making a sound and let along fight on the incline. An assault from that direct would be slow and fraught with the risk of detection.

The hill front of the fort faced a gentle incline that ran down to a wide river with a long stone bridge. The natural chokepoint was manned by several guards in a tower, all ill equipped if they were not mages. The opposite hill the guard tower watched had been cleared of trees along with the other three sides of the hill. Whoever had designed this fort knew the basic weakness of such a building and sought to address them, but he was hardly daunted. So far as he could tell there were no obvious wards or Bounded Fields set up, but he would have to wait for Lorelei to confirm that.

The fort's original engineer had wanted to force his foe into either a high speed attack, long range bombardment, or sniping; that much as clear to him already. If the brigands who manned the fort were of any degree of competency then they would notice sniping when their friends began to fall. A high speed assault would work, but they might well be seen and give them time to prepare. With the river too fast and fairly sizable, it would not be a simple matter to keep his presence hidden. These brigands did send out small patrols up and down the river banks seemingly at random. That option was fraught with too many unknowns for the moment.

In theory he could bombard them with Broken Phantasms from across the river, but he doubted he could keep up a long barrage or guarantee it would even work. They might well have reactionary Bounded Fields lying in wait. His traced swords were closer to their originals and he had yet to trace a powerful Phantasm from his arsenal. A part of was fearful to open that door. To wield the weapons of heroes and monsters as they had originally been meant was a dangerous thought for the mere thrill he felt.

Perhaps he could recreate Excalibur as a perfect copy… He shook his head to clear the thought away. The weaker Phantasms were still reliable. Another time would come to test out the limits of his power in this new world. A branch snapped behind him.

Whirling around he drew the Traced bow and nameless sword to his cheek before he saw whom he pointed it at.

Lorelei gave him a level stare, her boot still on the small stick she had purposefully broken. "What have you learned?"

He lowered the bow and turned back to the fort. "A daytime attack would be ill advised and a night raid too risky, but either way the front door seems to be the best way short of flying in. Don't know about the Fields though."

"Several in fact," she said quietly at his side. "Standard bounded work for such a location, reinforced walls and buildings as well as proximity alarm around the main building. There are several others of an unknown quality, but all appear to be recent work. Raw power could overcome most while breaking them down would take too long. There is no reason to leave this place standing," she finished with a tone of finality.

"A high speed assault on the guard tower, smash the bridge and gate, kill everything that moves," he said flatly. Every fiber of his soul called out for him to reign in Lorelei's anger and leave this place with the minimum number of dead, but his mind knew differently. She was correct and he hated it. These men were sons with mothers, sisters, families and friends. Granted they had chosen to turn to banditry, but at their core they remained humans trying to survive in a world that didn't seem all that friendly from what little he knew. It didn't seem nearly as bleak as their old world…

"These are no humans Emiya. These are not us. These are Types to us," Lorelei said staring him steadily. "As a magus we deal with Types. They look like humans, speak like a human, and use a parody of magic like a magus, but they are not us. If you turn here where you go? Will you let a vampire walk freely?"

"Oh course not!" he responded automatically. The mere idea of letting a vampire go free was appalling to him. The undead were monsters to be slain for the good of humanity. Then it dawn on him. Her reasoning was unfortunately correct. These were Types, they were not home anymore. To protect themselves the unnatural Types had to die, to save themselves, to save those he cared for. The hero's path was to protect his own. At the moment his own were scattered if even in this world, but they were still around. "Time hasn't be altered, but the location. Everyone is still out there and I have to protect them," he muttered softly y to himself as looked towards the fort.

"Good, harden your heart and leave nothing behind."

He would protect those he cared for and those who he thought deserved it even though he knew Lorelei was wrong. These people in this other space were not as alien as she wanted him to believe. They were still humans. He would put an end to their lives here, but he would not let Lorelei fall into her own darkness. He would not have the Queen blinded her own need to protect her people.

He bit back a bitter laugh. No choice was ever two sided. The right action could be taken for the wrong reason or the right reason. The wrong reason could be taken for the right action or the wrong action. Rin had forced that message into his skull trying to fix what she called his hero complex, but he didn't want to think that way. It was far easier to think in terms of absolutes.

It wasn't until the Apostle hunts with Lorelei and her fellow hunters that he had realized the nature of the world. A father seeking a cure for his daughter turned to the undead only to save her at the cost of their entire village and a little more. A son trying to fulfill his father's dying wish and accidently unleashing a vampire upon the remainder of his family. A town which gladly offered shelter to a desperate vampire only to be turned in the night by t the very man who they sought to save.

Reasons and actions, experiences and theory had changed him. He was the summation of his experiences driven by the inexhaustible will to carry on as the protector, a hero born of fake ideals. Shirou Emiya was not the hero his father had in mind all those years ago when the man had mentioned his dream nor was Shirou Emiya the hero Archer had tried and failed to become. His father had made a choice of what type of hero he wanted to be, Archer chose to be as he was, but Shirou Emiya was neither of them. Inwardly he was mature enough to acknowledge that. He was the hero, unlike and not too dissimilar from the countless throngs who thought themselves heroes. To want to be a hero was not an alien thought, but a common thought to be entrained. Most had no power to act upon it. He had the power to act upon it even if logic and the world told him not too.

Maybe this world or their own would not see him as a hero, but would be the hero that the those he protected needed; Rin, Lorelei and the rest who had found their way into his warped perception. To protect a few was enough, then protect a few more later, then a few more after that; that was his calling. That was his hero, les pragmatic than his father's or Archer's heroes but he was neither man. He was the singular existence known as Shirou Emiya, hero to some and villain to others.

He raised the bow and Traced the sword he knew would deal with the tower; Skaerkling, the sword of Sigtryggr, the heirloom sword of the House of Ivar said to have been forged with steel and ice in the ancient days where it was quenched in the boiling cauldron of a volcano. "I will deal with the tower."

Lorelei nodded approvingly, giving the sword shaped as an arrow an approving look. "An adequate tool. One to the tower, one to the gate. I shall entrap our prey in a sea of rock and flame. Fire upon the moment I complete the incantation. Keep their attention and I shall end this bring an end to this hilltop with purifying lightning."

He only nodded and drew back the string. Focusing on his target, his eyes studied the stone work of the tower, seeking any visible weaknesses to ensure total destruction. One of the brigands paced at the top of the tower, tense with nervous energy. Two more men sat at the base where one was attempting to start a fire. Skaerkling would be enough to deal with all three even if there were back in their home world. Beside him Lorelei began to chant quietly.

"Pale lords of the deep earth, hear the call of stone and magma from dark halls."

The first line. He tightened his grip then let it loosen slightly. There would be no escape from that fort.

"From the vaults below come forth with the primal fire which dwells below."

The abundant mana of this world made an already monstrous figure like Lorelei even more powerful. Normally she reserved is piece of work for trapping Dead Aspotles. Apparently she would be taking this entire operation seriously. Her voice rose slightly as she came to the last line. He was ready to fire.

"Arise for blood and fire, Black Vault!"

Before the last word left her mouth he let the arrow fly. The thunder roared and the earth groaned. Skaerkling collided with the tower in a cascade of light. Men died. Confused shouts and roaring orders as he charged forward. The earth shook violently one more time before he crossed the now crumbling bridge.

His blood pounded as he traced another Skaerkling and aimed towards the gate. Massive columns of black earth, wreathed in hellish flames, arose to isolate the fort. The gate was an easy shot. Skaerkling struck true. For a moment the gates glittered as the two magical forces met then with a roar Skreakling exploded. The gate crumbled and the bounded field collapsed in a shimmer of gold.

Over the ruins of the tower he charged, letting his bow vanish in a shower of iridescent sparks. In its place he Traced Kanshou and Bakuya. The familiar weight of the married blades was comforting. AS he charged over remains of the tower, Skreakling had left only the base somewhat intact, he saw two heads both still wearing stunned looks and little else of their body. An arm lay under some rubble, but he charged on. If the third man was not dead then he was too wounded to fight on.

From the shattered gates, the masonry overhead starting to fall, he saw the charge of five men. Without a moment's hesitation he adjusted his course to meet them head on. More of their allies were taking to the battlements and he could make out some bringing out bows. The sky roared again with the crackle of thunder and lighting. Bolts of lighting obeyed their mistress's commands, striking at the battlements as he closed in on the five mages.

One tripped over his own feet, instantly his aflame hand vanished as he tumbled to the ground with a surprise look. Shirou threw the Chinese sabers, even as he traced another pair. The man died with the same look of surprise as his head was carried along with Kanshou as Bakuya eviscerated him.

Two of the other mages paused momentarily, confusion turning to horror at the fate of their comrade, but the other two paid no heed. One, a stocky bald man, summoned a frightful barbed spear from nowhere, while his companion seemingly cackled with energy. The second man, with long hair tied into a braid, summoned some like of transparent wings and seemingly glowed with a unnatural blue tint. Lighting danced between his fingers as he rushed forward, even faster than before.

Already Shioru committed the barbed spear to memory, but had no time to examine it. The lighting mage was upon him. The man lashed out with a solid forward strike, lighting dancing between his fingers. In a moment Shioru had a good idea what he planned. Side stepping he brought Kanshou in a wipe sweeping uppercut as he threw Bakuya with his left. The lighting from the mage's hand roared forward where he had been even as he felt Kanshou bite into the strange blue glow, leaving the amn's arm attached.

Armor.The blue tint was acting as a kind of passive barrier around the body. His armed convulsed as slightly as a static shock ran through Kanshou and into his arm. To a lesser magus it might have left them paralyzed, but his right hand's nerves had been destroyed nearly two years ago in battle. It was only a minor inconvenience.

Instinctively he threw himself to the left. The air hissed as the spear passed where he had been standing and the earth erupted. He felt shards of rock collide with his body. The spearman was blocking the lighting mage as he hurled Kanshou towards the pair. As excepted the spearman saw the incoming projectile and whirled his spear about, sending the blade flying, but he was already traced a new blade, Gewaltiger the sword of a fearful Saxon warrior famed for his ability to exploit flaws in his enemies weapons.

Instead of attacked he reshaped Gewaltiger as arrow and threw the blade with his free hand. The lighting mage had fallen back slightly and was circling around. The spearman smirked, confident in his skills to stop the next sword, but having no knowledge of Shirou's true intent.

Once more the man spun the magical spear with a flash of some kind of magical light. Then came the impact. For a moment the world stopped. The spear halted, Gewaltiger just touching the base of the spearhead. The banded metal, blacken iron inlaid with golden runes to bind the spearhead to the shaft vanished. The metal head cracked. The shaft aged in a moment becoming little more than rotting wood. The metal head shattered.

Shirou saw the shocked face of the spearman before he was in the man's face. Bakuya slit his throat and the man died holding the remains of the spear among the shards of the spear head. The lighting mage looked on in equal shock but was quick to recover.

"Loren loved that spear!" the lighting mage screamed as he charged.

Reckless.Shirou easily threw Bakuya towards one of the other bandit mages who had yet to engage, but he man easily blocked the blow with an arm made of stone, suffering only a slight scratch. He traced another set of the married sabers as twisted past the lighting mage in that reckless charge. With the skill born of experience he aimed for the neck, where the light like armor seemed to vanish.

Kanshou tasted blood. The man fell, spinal cord severed and gasping for breath as his momentum propelled him onwards. Wasting no time Shioru engaged the last two mages. Overhead the lighting strikes were getting more and more frequent. Soon Lorelei would be ready to unleash absolute hell on this place.

The transformed mage, his skin like some kind of worked stone, roared a battle cry and rushed him. Each step the mage took his body took on more and more appeared like some kind of living golem of worked stone. Getting hit by a golem three times the size of man would not be pleasant. The mage brought his hands down trying to smash him with a single strike, but Shirou threw himself under the mage as he traced a hammer. With the hammer, who name was Devon, he smashed the golem mage's leg with the same ease the English siege engineer had smashed the walls of the French castle.

The man's leg shattered in a shower of stone and he rolled away to take a moment to breath as Devon faded away. The other mage, clad in thin robes of many colors, was surrounded by glowing runes, seemingly chanting with his eyes shut, but not for long. The golem mage was screaming in pain, cursing at him but he heard nothing.

The chanting mage opened his eyes, blazing white with some kind of spell, and raised his hands. Shirou traced Kanshou and Bakuya, throwing the sabers wide while he traced another pair and threw them. The mage would not be allowed to finish his spell. White spell circles gathered around the mage's outstretched hands.

"Thirteen Brothers of Thirteenth Kaleidoscope!" the man intoned as deeply as one with such a nasally voice might.

The world exploded in all the colors of rainbow around Shirou as he charged on. He let his instincts guide him, throwing himself clear of the explosions as streaks of light in thirteen different colors sought his life. He could feel the thrown sabers returning. In the seconds since he threw them and the mage unleased his spell they were finally coming back towards him. Threw them harder than I thought he mused as he rolled out of the way of a bolt of red light.

The barrage of spells missiles was ending and he attacked. The mage panicked, fear on his youthful face, and turned and started to run back towards the shattered gate. Shirou gave chase. The young mage would suffer less at his end rather than Lorelei's spell. With Reinforcement pumping through his body he easily caught up to the man and delivered a mighty slash across the back, shattering body and organ with the twin sabers. The young man died choking on his words, face down in the rubble of the gate.

"Hold it right 'ere!"

He heard the command, but took stock of the inner yard. Less than a dozen mages were scattered about, most hidden under wooden shelters built against the inner wall. Several were trying to move their wounded comrades from the top of the wall and many more bodies were found to be in front of him. The lighting had turned the earth to glass in places and in some he could see bits of blood and flesh. Lorelei's lighting was as deadly as ever it seemed. Several were on the wall trying to deal with the massive slabs of stone while one of there number tried to shield them from the lighting.

"What is da meaning of 'his?" one of the mages, a lavishly dressed man in a silks carrying a staff shaped like a question mark. "Whyda kill ma bro? What 'hey hell we ever do to ya?" he demand, pushing another two mages aside.

Ironically the man's words were punctuated by another bolt of lightning hitting the far side of the courtyard. He would not waste words here. These were dead men and the dead were to be put to rest. Such as the command of the Queen. Overhead the storm was getting worse. Mentally he began the countdown. "Thirty-two seconds," he whispered as he took up his stance, so vaguely reminiscent of Archers yet fundamentally a different stance meant to attack.

"Wha'? I didn't hear ya? Whyda kill ma brother ya bastard?" the man demanded, anger in his pudgy face. He took a few angry steps forward and pointed the staff forwards. "Ma name is David Hersen and ya killed ma brother. As da leader of these here men I can't let ya get away with it."

Twenty-five seconds. He only had to keep them distracted for twenty seconds then fall back. The mage team on the wall would have to die on the off chance they survived and made it through Lorelei's burning earth. Once more he traced his bow and Skaerkling. In a single instance, he ignored the shocked look from the bandit leader and ignored the man as he raised his staff. With a single motion he drew the arrow shaped sword back, aimed for the mages on the wall and it fly.

It exploded and he was already tracing another copying of Skaerkling. The bandit leader charged him, summoning a plethora of flowery spikes before him, but Shirou aimed for his men watching their leader with awe and fear directed toward him. Skaerkling was set loose, glancing over the leader's shoulder causing the man to halt suddenly.

"Ha! Ya missed ya bast-"

Whatever the leader had to saw was cut off by the explosion of Skaerkling and screams of the dying. Bits of stone and flesh were scattered about and the leader turned around to stare at wher his men ahd once been. Now there were only the dead and the dying.

"Wa-! What 'hey hell? What kind of monster are ya?" he whispered in horror.

Twelve seconds. Any mages in the main building would be destroyed when Lorelei brought her wrath down on them. Only this man remained and then he would be free to excavate. Once more he called up Kanshou and Bakuya to deal the final blow. He threw himself into dead run aimed at the leader's exposed back, Kanshou and Bakuya held in front of him. Soon this dead man would join his brother.

The man's instinct seemed to kick in as he whirled about, staff at the ready, but not the experience brunt into his muscles to block so obvious a strike.

To any foe from back home this would insanity, such a move would have surely resulted in his death, but time was not his ally. This was the surest way to end the conflict here. At the last moment he adjusted Kanshou angle to compensate for the intervening staff. Both sabers sank into the man as they fell to the ground.

The leader hacked up blood from ruined lungs, gasping for breath that would not come. "Had you not turned around I would have struck the heart and ended this with less pain," Shirou informed the man sadly. "A clean blow is better than what is to come." He let go of the hilts and let them dissolve in motes of light as he stood.

Seven seconds. He turned to leave as the leader breathed his last. Shirou ran, out past the shattered gate, past the wounded golem mage still cursing him as struggled to hold back the blood, past the lighting mage and his spear wielding friend, beyond the blasted tower and over the water as quick as he could.

Behind him he heard the roar grow. It was as if the sea itself where bellowing, all the wrath of the elements mustered in the razor winds, static charges foretelling of the doom soon to come and the overwhelming smell of prana as Lorelei finished her spell. Halfway to the tree lien he halted, winded only slightly, as he turned back to watch the final moments.

Over the fort great black storm clouds, blacker than night flashed with lighting of a ten thousand storms as the winds raged and buffeted the few bandit mages in the fort. The fort was cast into deep shadows as the clouds grew downwards.

The black clouds obscured the hilltop.

The cloud grew stagnant.

The flashes of lighting stopped.

The wind stopped howling.

For a brief moment since the assault began there was utter silence.

Then came the final roar.

KKKKRRRRAAAACCCCKKK!

The shattered earth concealed the hill in a massive cloud of dust. Rock fell from the sky as Shirou covered his mouth. The dirt cloud rolled towards him, but he didn't move. Instead he traced Kanshou one last time. He could feel the exhaustion in his soul coming to the foreground. His body would not be happy in the morning simple since it hadn't the time adjust to this new world. Back home had he done the same he would already be on the floor.

His sense flared and smelt magecraft. A dark shadow appeared slightly up and to his right only to resolved itself into the Lorelei. The dust kept its distance from her, buffeted by a series of winds. She looked immaculate as ever, utter untouched by her destructive spell or the dust. Neither would bother her and except for the sheen of sweat on her forehead, she showed no trace of anything other than absolute calm.

"It is done. We search the ruins and ensure there were no survivors," she commanded.

"Unsure you got them all?" he half teased, half wondered.

She gave him a sharply disapproving look. "No. We are the only two living humans in this area. I will not risk the chance of one of the passing on a message by some arcane means revealing our presence."

He could only shrug as adrenaline began to fade. His body temperature was slowly returning to normal and the blood no longer pumped as clearly. "Standard cleanup of a Workshop I suppose. Loot everything that isn't nailed down,"

"If isn't nailed own then take the nails out," Lorelei cut in sharply.

The red haired man stared at her and raised an eyebrow. "That…was a joke."

The Queen of Clocktower met his stare before he averted his eyes. She continued on her march towards the surely ruined hilltop and he followed after. The woman would destroy an entire hilltop to remain unknown. He had no wish to see her angry at him. In the eyes of many she was considered as close to a Magician a magus could reach without being one and it was hard not to agree with them as he followed after the pocket of clear air.

It was to be expected from her though. After what he ahd learned a year ago from her many of the stories about her made sense. She was a monster among monsters; the perfect magus down to her very soul, to an altered Origin and the most damning secret, the Perfection.

And that bit of coveted information had been worth the expense of the 1986 Henri Jayer Richebourg Grand Cru and the death threat delivered the next morning in a tangle of sheets.

With a good memory he could keep going for a while longer even with a certain and grisly death threat looming overhead.

Still worth it.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A/n: And end C2. I never planned on taking this further, but it's kind of fun. More fun than I thought it would be. Short chapter as I only write this as it strikes my fancy.

Anyway, by this point we've radically departed from what I originally planned. You see this was supposed to be set in cannon starting seven years before Lucy joins FT. The woman killed in the beginning was supposed to be her mother. Long story short it was to be more of mystery/drama/ adventure where Shirou, Rin, Lorelei, and Saber were suppose be a part of FT and slowly uncovered the terrible truth of what Zel did so the magi population would be able to survive. A part of this backstory still survives in this incarnation, but the differences are readily apparent.

Different writing style for the combat here. Just something I wanted to try and see if it worked so let me know who it works.

You could call this a UBW Shirou, but this takes him beyond the LN scope. After the HGW and he came to Clocktower he came into contact with Lorelei who got wind of his RM and other tricks. He was added to her strength in exchange for prestige for Rin and a chance to make a difference on the frontlines. In her he sees a kind of leader he doesn't mind following for the strength of her convictions. I'd call it 'The Queen' ending myself, but take it as you will.

And yes, she is a monster even in what little cannon info there is about her. The FT setting just makes it…better…worse?