Fate/Infinity Shuffle
Chapter 261 – Diamonds:
Shirou was thankful that the area around him and Hakuno was clear. He needed the space to manoeuvre around more freely. If people were around, he could protect them, but the pressure Hakuno kept applying could result in a defeat.
The Red Archer dashed with blades in hand, swinging his weapons to slice the bullets that Hakuno kept firing. But once he was close, the revolvers vanished from Hakuno's hands and were replaced by equal swords to those Shirou held. The two clashed in equal position, standing firmly in front of each other, swords trying to overpower each other. A passionate glare clashing against a dead one.
The swords kept shaking slightly until Shirou's began to crack, weakened by the previous spray of bullets. Noticing this, Shirou loosened his body and allowed Hakuno to complete the swing and push him away, Kanshou and Bakuya shattering as a result. Hakuno altered the shape of the swords and joined their hilts together to make a double-bladed weapon and moved in to attack.
(BGM: "I Am... All Of Me" (NateWantsToBattle Cover))
Shirou's eyes focused. "Trace on." In his hand, the peerless sword Durandal was projected. He swung it to stop Hakuno's slash and then aimed it at his chest to perform a thrust into the vital organ.
Hakuno's Mana focused on his thorax: Bulletproof Reinforcement. The tip of the blade broke the skin, but couldn't dig into the flesh, much to Shirou's surprise. Hakuno spun over his weapon to counterattack, swinging the black blade towards Shirou's neck.
Clairvoyance and Eye of the Mind. Shirou foresaw the attack once the swing began and ducked beneath the blade, leaping back once it had gone past him. He summoned a bow into his empty hand and changed Durandal's shape to be more suited as an arrow. He nocked the projectile and aimed.
Hakuno stepped back and took position. He raised an empty hand and spoke.
"Rho Aias." The Fiery Ring of Heaven formed in front of his hand, sprouting seven petals and creating seven barriers.
Shirou focused Mana into the makeshift arrow. "Broken Phantasm!" He released the bow's string and the sword flew, the blade shining bright blue but the comet-like surrounding aura golden orange.
The sword crashed into the shield and a few seconds in, shattered three barriers. Hakuno's arm shook, but he stood firm, stoic face unchanging. Four, five, six. And the seventh began to crack and was close to shattering, but the sword exploded before being able to get through. The last barrier shattered, but Hakuno remained unaffected by the projectile or explosion, only feeling the pain of having Rho Aias being broken all the way through.
A cloud of smoke surrounded him as Shirou remained outside the area. The Kanshou and Bakuya connected weapon was hurled out of the cloud towards Shirou, spinning like a wheel to cut through the Archer, but it was an attack easy to evade with a quick side-step. It became stuck in a large piece of rubble by the white blade, the black sticking out.
The two spoke in unison. "Trace On."
The smoke cleared and Hakuno walked towards Shirou. The Red Archer projected a beautifully decorated holy sword, the symbol of rulership: Caliburn, the Golden Sword of the Victorious. Hakuno, on the other hand, held a sword that was beautiful because of its exquisite shape, like a lustrous ember: Aestus Estus, the Original Flame.
The two suddenly leapt forward and crossed swords, the impact of the two shaking the air around. Shirou was faster, but Hakuno had the advantage in strength and defence. Otherwise, the two were match. They continued to fight, the sound of clashing metal destroying all other sounds. Hakuno prepared an upwards swing, and with the forward knowledge, Shirou drew his sword in to defend himself. Hakuno leapt up with a flip, the red sword unable to reach the red Archer, but leaving behind a trail of rose petals, in the same way the Emperor of Roses would. Once Hakuno landed on his feet a couple metres away, he raised the sword in a defensive fashion, as he correctly guessed that Shirou would attack then. The red clad warrior performed a wide swing with the shining sword, gripping the hilt with both hands, in the same fashion as the King of Knights.
Once Hakuno was pushed further back by the attack, he gripped the blade tightly and it erupted with red fire. Shirou, with his sword below his waist from the swing, gripped it tightly as well, making a golden light manifest all around the blade. The two moved towards each other and attacked simultaneously. Down swing of fire against the up swing of light. The two swords collided, the fire and the light mixing into each other. The two Archers applied all their strength in, resulting in the two swords shattering and falling apart, the flames and light vanishing from sight. The breaking of the weapons made them both step back in surprise, but they quickly got back to form.
"Trace on!"
Their feet connected with the ground and they already had new weapons in hand.
The EX Ranker's hands both held a red spear that pierced with death, while Hakuno's was a fake golden spear in the shape of a wand. Of course, said spear was a Divine Construct, so it was dummy copy, simply grasping a similar enough weapon in terms of function from within the hill of swords and shaping it to have the same form.
With a longer reach, neither had to recover ground to attack. The weapons were thrust into each other, blade against spike. The clashes made sparks fly around the space that separated the two. Hakuno took the opportunity once his thrust was deflected and struck the spear to the ground next to him to perform a swing that released red flames.
Shirou reacted fast, performing a high jump with a flip, getting out of the reach of the fire and raising the spear over his shoulder. "GRAH!" He hurled the red weapon at Hakuno. Discarding the golden spear, Hakuno leapt back. The two weapons collided and the small explosion of gold and red burst, unable to reach either one.
Shirou landed on his feet and one hand, the other stretched outward. "Trace on." A long nail-shaped dagger appeared in his hand, connected to a chain.
"Trace on." Hakuno created a floating, decorated mirror. Once again, it wasn't a one-for-one perfect copy, but it did what he required it to do.
Shirou hurled the dagger and created an equal one in his other hand once he stood up. Hakuno's mirror blocked the attack, throwing the dagger off course. Shirou leapt in, ready to sink the nail in, but the mirror blocked his way. The collision made both weapons shatter and fall apart.
The two leapt away to create distance and Shirou summoned a pair of his signature blades, hurling them forward. Then another, and hurled once more. Hakuno projected two sword as well, but both were white, much to Shirou's confusion, who had already projected the third pair and fortified them into Overedge. And that's when he noticed that only two black blades approached Hakuno, who shattered them with a hard enough swing, at the cost of his own. Shirou's head turned and quickly spotted what happened. The white blades he had hurled were attracted to the black blade of Hakuno's previous weapon. Kanshou and Bakuya were magnetically linked, and even if a member of a pair lost its partner, projecting a new one could replace it. Leaving the weapon behind was forward thinking: the next time Shirou projected a set of blades, half of them would be pulled out of their path if he projected the other half.
Once he tossed the hilts without swords, Hakuno summoned the guns into his hands again and positioned them upside down. Shirou swung over his two oversized weapons and they clashed into the under-blades of the firearms, attracted to their respective partner.
Shirou's eyes widened, because he knew what was about to happen. Hakuno pulled the triggers, and a small set of bullets entered his torso.
"GAH!" He let out a wail of pain, blood escaping his mouth. Hakuno swung his arms around to push away the two swords and leapt back, aiming the guns at Shirou again and firing.
The Red Archer crossed the wide sword in front of his body and blocked the bullets that went for him. Some of them ended up hitting the ground instead, burrowing holes into it.
(BGM: Fate/Stay Night [Code ZTS Label] #09 "Emiya -faith / denial-")
Shirou's swords shattered apart and a hand was pressed onto his stomach as he grunted in pain. He fell to a knee, but once his breathing calmed down, magical energy began to swirl around his body.
Hakuno knew what was about to happen. So, he took a knee as well. And the chanted simultaneously.
I am the bone of my sword. | I am the bone of my sword.
Steel is my body and fire is my blood. | Steel is my body, and fire is my blood.
I have created over a thousand blades. | I have destroyed over a thousand blades.
Unaware of loss, | Unknown to lies,
Nor aware of gain. | Nor known to truth.
Withstood pain to create weapons, waiting for one's arrival. | Have withstood pain to defeat many enemies
I have no regrets. This is the only path. | I was always meant to hold your life.
My whole life was Unlimited Blade Works. | So as I pray, Unlimited Lost Works.
Rings of fire and blue sparks collided. Two realities attempted to overwrite each other.
The two teenagers stood in a tall hill of swords. On one side, above Shirou's head was a bright orange sky devoid of gears, bathed in the twilight of the unseen horizon. On Hakuno's, the sky was dull grey, with a thick fog of wroght iron surrounding the many swords. Giant Gears seemed to have falled from the sky, or be in the midst of falling, since some were static in midair in odd positions.
The two stood up. Shirou removed his hand from the torso, revealing her had closed the wound through means of steel.
As the two glared at each other, multiple swords surrounding them both were pulled out of the hill, spinning over and floating above head before flying in. Each sword collided with an identical copy, resulting in either small explosions, mutual deflection, or turning into particles of blue.
The two Archers dashed, Hakuno's guns disappearing from his hands before the sprint. Once the two were close, they each grabbed a pair of nameless swords from the ground and crossed them. The two kept trying to slash the other, but neither could overpower the other. Either Shirou would quickly parry the strike and retaliate, or Hakuno's sturdy defence would keep a stable ground and remain immovable. Eventually, the four swords shattered.
The two stepped back and called for a weapon. Shirou raised his left arm and a sword-axe of rock came flying in. Hakuno's hands opened behind him, calling upon a set of twin-golden swords. Shirou swung down to smash, and Hakuno blocked it with the crossing of the treasured blades.
Neither would dare cross the border between the two worlds. They knew that the moment that happened, a whole set of swords could be triggered to burst and heavily damage them. The weapons they held were tossed aside once they staggered back. They kept calling for weapons to cross only for them to be discarded shortly after.
"I need to find something, anything! Anything that can snap him out of that! There has to be something! Something I've traced before!"
That was the main difference between the two. Not to mention Chloe. The three were proficient in utilizing the Card, but their strengths were different. The Solo Player Chloe could maintain the Reality Marble active for a longer time than the two boys. Shirou stuck to the same but reliable set of projections but had the greater fighting prowess out of the three. And Hakuno experimented and had a wider knowledge of weapons and which ones to use and when.
Shirou called for the Red Hound while Hakuno summoned the Iron Snake. The two swords of the hero Beowulf crossed and made the two stagger back. That's when Shirou took the opportunity to summon the Spiral Sword, his altered and more suited version and aimed with the bow.
Hakuno summoned the seven-petaled shield again to protect himself as Shirou let go of the string. The explosion was immense, but the shield remained raised. Hakuno dropped to a knee and pressed a palm into the earth.
Something was wrong. The ground shook. Shirou's clairvoyance allowed him to see the sparks in the… bullet holes. He leapt further back as varied swords came out of the ground, flying towards where he was. A set up for a trap that almost worked.
Wait… one of those swords…! The sword that he had seen once before in the King's Treasury, over two years ago!
Hakuno let out a hot breath as he stood up and a single gun appeared in his hand again. He loaded it with a special bullet and quickly performed a high-speed incantation. This was in case the trap failed.
Shirou stretched his hand forward. Even though he didn't need to, he yelled "TRACE ON!"
Hakuno pulled the trigger and his arm bent from the kickback. The bullet flew across the landscape, cutting through the distance between the two in a fraction of a second. Multiple swords appeared out of thin air and flew into Hakuno.
The bullet pierced Shirou's abdomen. And a sword burst out of his flesh. Then another, and another, and another. The multiple swords he conjured managed to strike Hakuno, but his Buletproof Reinforcement allowed to feel little pain. Even if that wasn't the objective…
The more swords burst out of Shirou's body, with erupting blood splashing around, making his eyes go blank.
The two Reality Marbles vanished.
Hakuno's eyes opened up. The eyelids were rather heavy, but he managed to overcome it. He sat up in confusion. The odd clothes, the guns laying by his side, the area... everything about it was foreign to him.
"Took you a while, huh?"
Hakuno quickly turned around, spotting Shirou installed, clad in red. A gentle smile and a raised hand to greet.
"What… happened?" His mind was hazy, to say the least.
"Long story short, that woman Altered you and manipulated your mind. You had a really annoying skill that basically kept your mind shut to anything else."
The Ranker stood up with some difficulty. A rather sore body. "Then how am I back to normal?" He then noticed the clothes of his Archer Card weren't the usual ones. "Well, safe of mind."
Shirou let out a chuckle. "This may sound a bit ridiculous, but it's actually thanks to you."
"Huh? I'm pretty sure I don't have the mental fortitude for-"
"I told you it would be ridiculous. But it was actually a simple solution that took me a while to reach."
Hakuno approached the red Archer. "And that was?"
"I sealed that skill."
"Huh?" Hakuno was confused. "You can do that?"
"I wouldn't if it had not been for that little incident we had with that Golden Archer way back when. I traced so many weapons out of that vault. And then you tried to attack me with a sword that sealed skills. I remember that being used against me during that fight, when it disabled my Eye of the Mind."
"Oh." Hakuno did not expect such an answer. The irony of it almost made him laugh. "Thank you. I seem to owe you another favour. Now, what the hell is going on?"
"Before we go rushing in," Shirou tapped the area of the piece of debris he was sitting on, inviting Hakuno to join. "Sit down. We have some things to talk about."
"Huh? Shirou, come on, quit playing around."
"Ranker, do me that favour. I may be imagining things, but I believe you owe me one."
"Gh-!" Hakuno's eyes narrowed and he let out a sigh. "Fine, fine..." He sat down next to Shirou. "I'm surprised you're not rushing like a mad man."
"I'm doing my best to not run in that direction."
"Any reason why?"
"Because I want to help a friend first." Hakuno remained silent. "So, what's wrong?"
"...Where did that come from?"
"I'm not particularly close to you, so you don't need to feel embarrassed. At the same time, I know about the game and anything that you need to keep a secret won't make a difference. So: what's wrong, Hakuno?"
"..." The Ranker let out a solemn sigh. "And what prompts you to ask exactly?"
"This last year has been hard on you, right?"
"I just..." it was hard for him to admit. "I just never wanted to be a bother to people."
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since I a managed to get away from my dad... I wanted to never become a bother to anyone. Annoying, anger-inducing, whatever you want to call it. And that feeling grew tenfold when the Game started. It was easy enough at first, because this feeling never came to me when I had to kick someone out of the Game. And then... that incident with Mary happened." Shirou continued to listen carefully. "First Jinako came over, then I took Mary in, and..." another sigh, but this one filled with a bit of dread. "I thought I would be able to live with it, but I keep getting reminded that even though that little girl is smiling and happy, that she can become just as sad and angry and annoyed, and..." a hand raised to his forehead. "...How am I going to tell her? How the hell am I going to tell her that her life is pretty much ruined? And if I even figure out how or when, what if I screw up? Like I've been doing throughout this whole year? This is the god damn third time I'm controlled in one way or another during a serious situation!" And the frustrations began to surface. "All this time, I just wanted to help people, and I just keep making things worse. And it's starting to piss me off a lot."
A rambling mess. But it was something that needed to come out.
"I think I'll have to be blunt about it."
"Hm?"
"Hakuno, you're being paranoid for very little reason."
"Paranoid?"
"Everybody screws up. And even if that bothers you, you're not going to lose anyone because of that. If it really were such a big bother for Jinako to come and stay with you, she would've probably went back home by now. And she's now living with you."
"..." Hakuno became completely silent. It was rather embarrassing to admit that he had not noticed this.
"And if the Players were that unhappy with you, they would've rioted by now. They know you're basically one of only two people managing this whole thing. And way back when, you could've said no when I pretty much asked you for the impossible. And you still did it: you turned weapons of mass destruction into essentially a sport. And so far, the little crimes there have been are exceptions. Not the rule."
"..."
"But I know what's eating you inside." Shirou continued. "It's that little girl's condition, right? Touko told me."
His eyes widened. "S-She did?"
"Only to me. And I kept it secret. And Hakuno, if you want an answer, there isn't one. I don't know how to get rid of that guilt of yours, but maybe you don't have to feel guilty to begin with. You can look at it as if you killed a little girl's body that, maybe, in some way, there was a way to avoid it. But none of us know if it would work to begin with. So, instead of looking at it as if you killed her or doomed her forever... maybe look at it as if you've given her a second chance. She would've been in that hospital forever if not for you and Jinako, right? And she has endless possibilities." Shirou stood up and stretched his body slightly. "The more you look back, the more you'll regret. The more your emotions will torture you. And that's why we need to look ahead." and turned to his friend, extending a hand, smiling once again. "We have to march forward. You'll figure something out about it. You always do, right? Come on. Time to redeem yourself for this time's kidnapping."
Once again, words alone wouldn't deplete Hakuno's guilt. But it was something to think about. And something Hakuno was sure of was to take that hand and chin up.
"Gotcha." He stood up once Shirou pulled him up. "Let's."
One more down, two left.
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