"Hello" - (Normal talking)
"What now?" - (Thoughts)
"Oh come on!" - (Demonic Talking)
"How is this possible?" - (Demonic Thought)
"How did that happen?" - (Flashback)
"Lightning Strike" - (Techniques)
{"Hello, how are you?"} - (Communication)
Chapter 1 Prologue
(Fuyuki City, 1994)
Fire. For miles and miles, all that was seen was a disastrous blaze. Dead bodies incinerated and melted by the flames. In the middle of that blaze was a young boy.
He looked to be seven years old with auburn hair and golden-brown colored eyes. He is wearing his casual clothing, consisting of a blue and white long sleeve baseball jersey T-shirt, with a black and white jersey jacket over it and blue slim straight jeans.
Tears spilled from his face as he walked aimlessly, trying to find his way out of the blaze. He had tried to help some of the people trapped in the blaze but they ended up dying before he could pull them out. He then came upon a giant slab of stone. Looking to his left and right, he saw that there was no other path for him to take.
He was scared at the possibility that he may die. He began to bang against the slab, trying to break it with his puny fists. The smoke from the flames made it hard for him to breath.
"Move! Move!" the boy shouted, crying as he began to lose consciousness. He began to fall back, his eyes closing as he started to black out. "No… I don't wanna die! I Want To LIVE!" His eyes snapped open glowing a fierce red and he exploded with a blue aura, as something began to awaken in the boy changing his body.
His hair began to whiten and his right arm began to change. The forearm is almost completely covered in black scale-like skin, save for the glowing blue streaks that run through it in its entirety. The scales run up the back of the hand and outside of the fingers. The inside of the hand is now dark greenish-blue (1).
Blue circuit-like lines began to form over his body as he was filled with power. He pulls back his right arm and speaks in a demonic voice "Power. I need more power!….I Am The Bone Of My Sword!" a giant blue spectral arm appears over his right arm. He then punches forward roaring, with the spectral arm mimicking his movements and smashing the slab of stone.
With the path clear he takes a step forward but ends up falling unconscious, exhausted from his awakening. A few moments later a portal opens up and out walks an old man. He has grey hair and a beard. He wears a plain suit and pants, with a dark cloak over it. This was Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg master of the Second Magic Kaleidoscope, which governs the Operation of Parallel Worlds.
He gazed down at the body of the boy who would become Shirou Emiya, the master of Unlimited Blade Works, Wrought Iron Hero or Hero of Justice like all his other alternates. Or should he say Shirou Sparda, son of Vergil Sparda and grandson of the Dark Knight Sparda. He had seen the journey of the Sons of Sparda and witnessed the power the three wielded in their prime. Most of their alternates were the same. It seems Shirou was the 'Nero' of this dimension.
"Hmm I wonder what's changed about him, besides the new arm?" said Zelretch, putting a hand on the boy. Using Structural Analysis, he looked into the boy's soul and was greeted with a surprise. The boy had the usual 27 Magic Circuits like any Shirou Emiya, though these were high quality. What really surprised him was the presence of a Demon Magic Core. It was at least A rank in, which gave him great starting potential compared to some of his alternates. It also appeared that his Reality Marble had woken up.
Taking his hand off the boy, he realized that the boy would still need medical attention. His regeneration wouldn't be enough at his age right now. He then heard footsteps behind him and turned to see a man standing there.
He has light skin, with spiky black hair and black eyes. He wears a black suit and trench coat. His face is blank and his eyes are vacant.
"Kiritsugu Emiya, just the man I need." said Zelretch with a grin. He most likely still had Avalon on him.
"The Wizard Marshall." Kiritsugu said, easily recognizing the old man in front him. He then saw the boy on the ground "That boy, is he still alive?" Hoping that there was at least one survivor from the mess he caused.
"Indeed he is. This is Shirou Sparda. He just recently awakened his supernatural heritage which is partially healing him. But he'll need an Avalon to completely heal." replied Zelretch.
Kiritsugu wasn't that surprised he knew about Avalon, considering what magic he used. He moved towards the boy, removing Avalon from his jacket. He placed it over the boy, and watched as it sank into him in a flash of gold. The boy let out a gasp of air and it looked like he was breathing normally. Kiritsugu then picked up the boy in his arms, turning to Zelretch.
"You plan to raise the boy? If so then we'll need to talk about some things." said the Wizard Marshal. Getting a nod from Kiritsugu, Zelretch put his hand on the man's shoulder and in a flash they were gone.
0o0o0o0
(Emiya Household, Fuyuki)
They appeared in the dining room of Kiritsugu's home. Zelretch took the boy from Kiritsugu, while the man went to the closet and pulled out a blanket with a pillow. He put the pillow down and laid the boy down, placing the blanket over him.
"All right, there are some other people I need to bring into this conversation. Wait here while I go gather them." spoke Zelretch. Kiritsugu nodded and Zelretch disappeared.
(3 Hours Later)
Kiritsugu was sitting at the dining room table, occasionally taking glances at Shirou to make sure he was fine. There was a flash of light which died down revealing Zelretch, along with some new additions.
The first was a man with white hair and a beard with blue eyes. He wore a red jacket that has a faded, washed-out look, a skull on his back. He wears an ordinary black henley T-shirt with three buttons as the sleeves itself reach through his elbows, where it also features torn details, for his wrists he wears black driving gloves and white bandages. For his legs, he wears a black belt with golden accents, black leather pants, and brown boots.
The second was a woman with long blond hair and blue eyes. She wore black leather pants, high-heeled boots, a corset, double belts, a choker, and some kind of wrist accessory.
"Here we are and there's the boy." said Zelretch gesturing to the napping Shirou. The blond woman walked over and moved the blanket revealing the boy's demonic arm. She then placed her hand on the boy's stomach, as if feeling for something.
"Yep this boy is Vergil's son, Dante. Their demonic energies are very similar." said the woman to the man in red.
"Well damn, Mr. 'Give Me Power' actually had a kid. He never looked like the type to get laid." said Dante. "All right Trish let the kid rest."
"Zelretch, who have you brought into my home?" asked Kiritsugu, observing the duo.
"Ah yes. Kiritugu allow me to introduce Dante and Trish, representatives of the demon hunting business Devil May Cry." replied Zelretch "Dante and Trish let me introduce to you Kiritsugu Emiya, the Magus Killer."
"The Magus Killer huh. I've heard of you in the grapevines. A ruthless anti magi assassin, that sacrifices the few for the many to get his targets." said Trish "And you want to raise Shirou? Do you even have any kids of your own?"
"First I'm retiring from the assassin business. And yes I want to adopt him. Second, I have a daughter about two years older than him. She's overseas with my wife's family." replied Kiritsugu.
"Hmm okay. Wanna tell us what happened with this giant fire in the city?" asked Trish "It reeks of foul energy and I doubt it was started by regular means."
Kiritsugu looked hesitant to speak, but Zelretch gave him a nod signaling that it was okay to tell them. So he began his tale of the Fourth Holy Grail War. Explaining the mechanics of the war and the final goal. Going over some of the main events of the war, such as his fight with Kotomine. Revealing that his late wife Irisviel was the vessel of the grail, which led to her death. How he found out the true nature of the grail and had it destroyed. The backlash of destroying the grail, releasing a fiery mud that started the Great Fuyuki Fire.
At the end of the tale everyone was silent, before a voice spoke "So that's what happened? You tried to do the right thing in the end, but it ended doing more harm than good." Everyone turned to find Shirou sitting up, looking straight at Kiritsugu. "I forgive you. You may have done bad things in life, but you had no intention of causing that fire." This shocked Kiritsugu, causing tears to well up, but he wiped them away.
"Well look at you. That was a pretty mature kid." said Dante with a grin.
"Thank you umm, who are you?" asked Shirou with a confused face.
"Well I'm Dante and I'm your Uncle. Your biological father is my older twin brother Vergil." said Dante, dropping the first bomb on Shirou. "But, that's not all. Let me tell you a story."
And so he began the tale of the Dark Knight Sparda. How Sparda was a demon that betrayed his kind, slaughtering hordes of demons to protect humanity. He then separated his power into his three blades, Rebellion, the Devil Sword Sparda and Yamato. Using the Sparda and Yamato, he sealed off two entry ways into hell. He lost most of his power in the process.
Eventually he settled down with a human woman named Eva, having his twin sons Vergil and Dante. To Vergil he gifted the Yamato, the blade which can cut through anything, even space. And to Dante, the Rebellion the brother sword to the Yamato.
"Unfortunately, my father disappeared and died, while demons attacked our home killing my mother and separating us brothers." said Dante "Me and Vergil met up again when he decided it was a good idea to try and reclaim my father's sword from the Temen-ni-gru. We fought and I won, but Vergil decided to enter the demon world. I haven't seen him since."
"Father. Do you think he's still alive?" asked Shirou with a sad tone.
"Oh definitely. Vergil is too stubborn to go down like that." said Dante with a grin. "He's out there somewhere." Shirou grinned at that.
"So we are inducting Shirou into the family business? I must say that it will be interesting to train him." said Trish with a smile.
"Shirou will definitely be an effective demon. Especially with that Reality Marble of his." said Zelretch. This caused Trish and Kiritsugu to freeze. "Not to mention that he's an incarnation." This shocked both Kiritsugu and Trish."
"Reality Marble?" said Shirou, confused.
"Incarnation?" said Dante, confused.
"Reality Marbles are a form of magcraft that projects a user's inner world onto reality. Shirou's reality marble specifically is known as the Unlimited Blade Works: Infinite Creation of Swords." said Zelretch. "And an Incarnation is a magi whose elemental affinity and magical origin are the same. You Shirou Sparda are a dual incarnation of Sword and Hellfire."
"WAIT! You're saying this boy is able to wield the fires of the demon world itself? Oh yeah I definitely trained him." said Trish in amazement "Hellfire is said to be able to burn away anything it touches. That's potential right there."
"Exactly. Kiritsugu will teach him about marksmanship,trap making and tactics. While Trish will help him control his Hellfire and Dante will take him on demon hunts." said Zelretch in a thinking position.
"What about his reality marble? He's gonna have to be able to use it, especially if the Association ever finds out about it." questioned Kiritsugu. Zelretch put on a fierce grin.
"Well who better to train him in that, than the Shirou himself." he said, confusing everyone. "You can come out now."
"So this is what you need me for? Well at least it keeps me away from Alaya for a while." said a voice. Out of thin air appeared a man with white hair and grey eyes with tan skin. He wears a black tight and sleeveless shirt with silver accents which outlined his muscles and a metal plate on his collar, and black pants that had two black straps on his thighs, and another two strapped around his shins separate from each other. He wears black metal plated shoes, which appear to be attached to his trousers. Over them he has two red sleeves connected by a metal plate in the back and a red skirt attached to his trousers.
"Everyone allow me to introduce the Heroic Spirit, Shirou Emiya. This is an alternate version of Shirou Emiya that wields the Unlimited Blade Works as well." spoke Zelretch, shocking everyone.
"You shall refer to me as Archer for my time here." he said in a strict tone. He then turned to Shirou "So Shirou Emiya are you ready to be put through the works? Cause I want to make sure you have mastery over UBW when we're done."
"He's right kid. Hellfire is powerful and requires precise control. Which will take some time." said Trish with a serious look.
Shirou sat there thinking for a moment, before replying "Throw at me whatever you want at me. I've already seen hell and I won't let it scare me anymore." His amber eyes flashing with determination.
Zelretch let out a scary laugh and said "Oh yes you'll definitely be interesting. I can't wait for how things turn out." Shirou shivered, getting a sense of foreboding.
"I truly pity you boy." said Archer in a sympathetic tone, aware of Zelretch's antics.
0o0o0o0
(7 Years Later)
It was now the summer of 2001. The past few years have been very productive for Shirou.
Trish had gotten to work immediately with his Hellfire. She had drilled into his head how dangerous they were and had him learn to control what they burned. He had also worked on manipulating the Hellfire into techniques for battle. She also helped him practice with his new arm.
Meanwhile, Archer had begun his instruction on the use of Unlimited Blade Works. He started with teaching Shirou his unique form of projection Tracing, Reinforcement and Alteration. Once he had those down, Archer explained to him how UBW was activated with a personal 10 lined aria that he would develop as he matured his craft. Shirou had 5 lines of his aria down. Archer showed him how to use lines of the aria to boost his projections.
Archer would also take Shirou into his own Reality Marble, allowing Shirou to copy the various bladed and defensive weapons there and add them to his own arsenal. These included noble phantasms such as Kanshou and Bakuya, Balmung, Caladbolg, and Rho Aias. Archer also taught him archery on the side. They would spar occasionally, with each clash imparting Archer's knowledge and experience into Shirou.
Zelretch had pitched into his training as well, bringing him unique blade weapons and shields from other dimensions. In addition, he acquired some enchanted bandages for Shirou to cover his right arm with, masking the demonic energy it gave off.
Zelretch also warned the family that the Holy Grail War would be starting in 3 years instead of 53 years. He said it was due to the grail not being able to grant a wish in the last war, what with Kiritsugu destroying it. Shirou would be 17 when it started so that was another thing to worry about.
After that, Dante would take him on extermination jobs to help him get a feel for the field. He explained about low level and high level demons that came out of Hell Gates, which were physical bridges between the human and demon worlds. He stressed the importance of destroying these gates whenever Shirou ran into one. When they weren't out on the field, Dante sparred with Shirou in either hand to hand or swordsmanship. He even taught the kid his Royal Guard style. Shirou also met Dante's infobroker Morrison and his other partner Lady. Morrison was cool and Lady kind acted like an older sister with him.
Kiritsugu tutored Shirou in Marksmanship with guns, making sure his aim was perfect. He also taught him how to make and destroy bound fields. With the help of Zelretch, he crafted Shirou a gun mystic code in the form of a high powered semi-automatic handgun which Shirou named Black Thorn. It allowed him to channel his demonic mana into it, empowering his shots.
Aside from training, He had met his next door neighbor, Taiga 'Tiger' Fujimura. She taught at his school, Homurahara Academy and would always come over to check up on Shirou and beg for his and Archer's cooking. Oh yeah, Archer moved in.
At school he met two interesting people. The first was Sakura Matou. He had happened upon Sakura when he caught her brother, Shinji Matou beating on her. Shirou gave him a mean right hook and told him to stay away from her, cracking his knuckles for emphasis.
After that, Sakura had clung to him, calling him 'Senpai' even though they were in the same grade. Lady and Trish teased them constantly whenever Sakura would come over. When Kiritsugu met her, he decided to inform Shirou of the Matou Clan, specifically the use of their Crest Worm familiars to teach their thaumaturgy.
This disturbed Shirou and he pulled Sakura aside to question her. When he asked her if she was a magus, she got scared all of a sudden looking for a way out of the room. When he reassured her that she could trust him, she broke down, telling him how she was sold to the Matou Clan by her father Tokiomi Tohsaka. She explained all the horrible things she was subjected to by Shinji and her grandfather Zouken. After hearing her tale, he immediately brought her to Kiritsugu, replaying her tale to him. When Kiritsugu analyzed her, he found something alarming. Not only did she have a multitude of crest worms in her, there were pieces of the corrupted grail in the girl.
They immediately called up Zelretch, asking if he could remove the worms and grail pieces from her. He agreed to do it, but said Shirou would owe him a favor, which Shirou immediately agreed to. He said it would take three hours to purge the girl. While she was getting fixed, Shirou and Archer headed over to the Matou mansion, intent on ending that worm Zouken. They met Shinji on the way, with him getting scared. They told him to leave and never come back, not seeing the point in killing the brat. Shinji quickly gathered his things, while grabbing the papers for the Matou bank account and hightailed it outta there.
They soon entered the house, making their way to the basement. There they saw Zouken, waist deep in his pit of crest worms. The mere sight of him set Shirou off, causing him to unleash his Hellfire on the pit and burning everything to ashes. Zouken died cursing the Emiya name. They set fire to the mansion, making sure to leave no evidence.
When they returned home, they were greeted to the sight of Sakura but her hair was pure white and her eyes were red. Zelretch explained that it was because of the blackened grail's influence when he was removing the pieces, on top of him giving her a transfusion of Shirou's blood he collected, which made her part demon and granted her a Demon Magic Core. When they informed her of Zouken's demise and Shinji's departure, she broke down crying and thanking them.
Shirou then offered her to live with him and train with him, even going into his back story and Sparda's legend. She immediately accepted, happy to be closer to her new brother. When he explained her situation to Dante and his friends, Trish and Lady jumped at the chance to tutor Sakura while Dante was glad to have another member of the family.
Sadly there was one tragedy during the years. Kiritsugu ended up dying due to a curse placed on him by the corrupted grail. In his final moments, he told Shirou about his dreams of being a Hero of Justice. He made Shirou promise to never follow such a path, saying that there were some people that didn't deserve to be saved and that he should protect those close to him instead. He left Shirou with a note for his daughter, who he failed to save, explaining why he couldn't come back.
He also gave Shirou one final mystic code. It looked exactly like Dante's Rebellion, but was completely black, with red circuit patterns etched into the entire blade. It was made with Kiritsugu's corrupted circuits and his flesh, giving it a similar function to his origin bullets, which were imbued with his Dual Origin of Sever and Bind. There was an incantation to activate its effects. Shirou named it Magus Killer, in honor of Kiritsugu. He and Archer traced a copy, in case the original ever broke.
The funeral was held 10 days later, with only Shirou, Sakura, Archer, Dante, Trish, Lady, Taiga, and her grandfather Raiga attending. It was the first time in a while that Shirou had cried. In Kiritsugu's will, he left Shirou a large sum of money from his assassin jobs in an account. This would keep Shirou funded for quite a while and last until after college, if he decided to go. Taiga was placed as Shirou's guardian, since Dante along with his group lived in another country and Archer wouldn't be there forever.
0o0o0o0
(Fortuna Island, Morning Time)
(Insert Song: Out Of The Darkness: DMC 4)
We now find a 14 year old Shirou and Sakura making a run through the streets. Archer was with them as well, but decided to stay in spirit form. Zelretch had transferred Archer's contract to Shirou. The trio were on an undercover mission that Dante had assigned them. They were to look into the Order of the Sword, a religious group that worshiped Sparda as a god. There were rumors that the order was experimenting with demons.
Both Sparda's had changed over the years having shot up in height, now an average 5'4. Their appearances have also changed.
Shirou wore a long, dark blue coat with a blue inner lining with The Order of the Sword's insignia sewn into both shoulders. The coat has a brown harness. Under the coat he wears a light blue zip-up hoodie/vest with two zippers under his coat, a black shirt beneath that. On his left wrist, he has a blue wristband held in place with a small brown belt. Shirou's legwear consists of a pair of blue pants held up by a belt with a rose buckle. Over his pants, he wears brown thigh straps with small belts in them. Shirou wears brown boots that go halfway up his shins (2). His hair was styled the same as when he was a kid. Magus Killer was strapped to his back and Black Thorn strapped to his waist.
Meanwhile Sakura was clad in white, v-neck, zip-up crop shirt with a black hem and three-quarter sleeves. She wears black pants that have a vertical gray stripe on the outer side of each leg and a black belt. She has black ribbons on her forearms (3). Her hair was cut into a shorter style (4). Attached to her hips were a pair of semi automatic handguns named Love & Hate. On the back of her belt was a mystic code in the form of a sword that Zelretch crafted using the blackened grail pieces he extracted from her. When sheathed, the weapon is able to slice opponents in two with its cleaver-like cover. However, when unsheathed, she is able to use both a sword and sheath in tandem against her opponents (5). It's special ability allowed her to inflict her victim with a curse that would slowly eat away at them, if she didn't finish them off first. She named it Tainted Wilt.
They had been on this mission for 3 months so far. Archer would snoop around the city, checking out any rumors he heard. Meanwhile Sakura and Shirou joined the order, rising to the rank of Officers with ease. They had befriended the Supreme General of The Holy Knights, Credo. They also befriended his younger sister Kyrie, who Sakura noticed had gained an interest in Shirou, which the boy himself was blind to but not for long if she had anything to say about it.
"Damn it we're gonna be late at this rate, Sakura." said Shirou in a pissed tone.
"I know aniki. And Kyrie is singing at the Sword Festival as well." said Sakura in a sad tone.
As they continued running, they came upon a horde of demons blocking their path.
"Oh come on, now we gotta deal with these assholes too?." said Shirou, flabbergasted.
"Let's just get it done and make it to the church. Hopefully before Kyrie's song ends." said Sakura in a serious tone.
Nodding to each other they unsheated their weapons, getting into their battle stances. They both charged at the horde of demons shouting:
"LET'S ROCK!"
(Song End)
END
Author's Note #2
Hope that you all remember to be safe with this pandemic spreading across the world, and remember to always wash your hands, and to not Panic Buy. And remember you need to follow the rules, so that no one else gets it.
1) Nero's Devil Bringer from DMC 5
2) Nero's Alternate Colors for DMC 4
3) Blake's Alternate Outfit "Intruder" from RWBY
4) Blake's Season 7 Haircut from RWBY
5) Gambol Shroud from RWBY without the gun function.
Hey everyone Giblenator speaking. As you can see we have Shirou as Vergil's son instead of Nero. Zelretch takes an interest in Shirou and brings together his biological family and his future self to train him. He meets Taiga and Sakura, with him saving the latter and turning her into a Sparda. And we end off the chapter with the beginning of the Fortuna Arc.
The timeline is going to be as follows: DMC 4, DMC 5 and finally the 5th Holy Grail War.
And Finally the pairing, it's Shirou x Kyrie.
Sorry you Shirou x Sakura, Shirou x Saber and Shirou x Rin shippers. Sakura is going to be Shirou's little sister and demon hunting buddy. Shirou's not even going to summon Saber once the Holy Grail rolls around. And Rin, I don't really like her. There is a lot of shit that she does that doesn't sit well with me.
Also, Shirou's extra Origin: Hellfire. I'll be honest I got the idea from watching Blue Exorcist.
And that's all readers. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and stay tuned for the next one. Also be sure to check out my other story, Golden Hero's Ever After. Also check out Yōsei no Kage (Fairy Shadow), a story I'm co-authoring with another author named Power of Magic. This is Giblenator signing off.