Hey peeps, sorry for the bit of a delay. It was something that took a bit of time for me to work out and find a way around a bit of writers block for a good means move the story forwards. But this part of the story will take a three-part mini-arc as a bit of a filler before the Monkey King arc in canon and the revealation of Giovanni's corruption and subsequent punishment. I won't give spoilers, but what I will say is Shirou will show a bit of a tyrannical side when it comes to his punishment, and nobody is going to blame him for it. Now, for a quick reviewer review:
1.) The reason I have not mentioned what 'that place' is or why the gods haven't been calling it by name, is because they tend to fear it greatly and any power associated with it. I will not say if it is the throne of heroes, but I will say you are close. More than this, I won't say and you will have to wait for the full reveal later when I give it.
2.) The idea of regalia taking the form of deities is a good suggestion, but I will only do so for any deities who could be considered as a subordinate deity like Ama no Murakuno no Tsurugi was for Susanoo. I may do something similar for other deities, but only if applicable. The whole reason why Ama no Murakumo and Futsunushi were called sword-gods were because as a god of steel from my understanding, they were embodiements of the ideal steel, and can take the form of swords when the King of the End in canon takes their powers for himself using his authority. That, and these two gods in question were closely associated with swords in their legends and myths from the sources I could find, and Ama no Murakumo WAS a friggin' sword.
3.) For those of you complaining about a lack of lemons or not getting Godou's harem give enough fanservice, I will do so when I do a beach chapter in the works for after the Monkey King Arc, but before Gascoigne makes his appearance to Shirou. I won't give any details, but what I will say is that Godou is going to make every male in his school pissed at him, but he will not have any way to counter their rage this time.
4.) To those of you who say my use of canon characters don't match up with their counterparts in my fic, keep in mind, this is an AU with a slight divergence in the timeline for both canon, so there are bound to be discrepencies with their usual personalities from canon. Suffice to say, each canon character will have some slight OOCness to them, so stop giving me flak about this.
5.) Lastly for now, for those of you who are giving me flak about not finding the fics I was referencing, allow me to clarify. The whole thing about 'A Change in Fate' is it is under the story search method I gave, not by searching for it, but by BROWSING under the story section with a world tag filter of the FGO world in the results filter. That's where your problem most likely is at, as that was how I found that particular fic, and if you cannot find it even with all these instructions I have given on how to find it, then I don't know what to tell you. I will not be discussing any further on this just to save me the headache of having to explain it anymore than I already have.
Now for the disclaimer:
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own 'Campione!' or 'FATE', as both are the properties of their respective publishers and authors. This story is a fanfic of a fanfic created as an AU using the basis of Marcus Galen Sands' 'God Slayin Blade Works' as the basis with an emphasis on 'WHAT IF' with the 'Harem Ending' of the Nua Realta route, elements of other fics as referenced, a meshing of canon lore as a means of making sense from both canon, and my own original ideas thrown into the mix. This is a FREE UNPAID fanfic, meaning I am witing this for no monetary gains, and if you paid to read this, then you got ripped off. This is a free fanfic of a fanfic, meaning a fan-made fiction of a fan-made fiction, so any discrepencies in the fic can be chalked up to that. If you do not like this fic than you do not have to read it. Nobody is making you, so save us all the trouble and don't be flame my ass with your unhelpfull comments, lest you make yourself one.
And now:
Story Start
God Slaying Blade Works: The King of Wrought Iron
Fourteenth Blade: Hellish Training, Unforgivable Sins, and Deadly Retribution Part I
Uninhabited Island off the Japanese Coast
Euryale P.O.V.
I was back on this very same island I had successfully located and had been focusing on more extensively the last few days, as there was something of interest to my allies and I, or rather, someone. There was once a Heretic God who successfully slew three God-slayers centuries ago, and was sealed here. The local mages associations found him when he began to slumber and had placed a shrine to seal him into a state of slumber and ensure his sleep went uninterrupted. I found his location by mere chance while out looking for opportunities for potential aid in an old document that was brought by some of my sister and my mortal followers, and had been working on slowly waking him up over the course of two weeks, and a week ago I decided to let Honored [Persephone] know about him.
Slowly over the course of the last two weeks, I have been steadily releasing my divine aura to nudge this sleeping god awake in gradual releases. Waking up this god all at once would not have been out of the question for me, as I was still a goddess even if I was a lesser one and a fallen one, but it would possibly have resulted in said deity being rather irate and possibly lash out, which may have caused some rather fun chaos, but would draw rather unwanted attention from both the local mortal mages and the Children of Pandora. No, as fun as chaos may be to cause, it was not the time to do so, as my sister was as well aware as I am. As the mortals nowadays say it, 'discretion is the better part of valor'. It was subtlety we needed right now, not blatant chaos like we so loved causing. Even though it was this love for chaos that led to our deaths at the hands of our dear sister, [Medusa]...
I realized I was just finally starting to get him to wake up, and making sure to be very careful to not draw this particular god's ire, while also trying to sway him to our cause. I was hoping that this deity would consider my actions of waking him a favor and repay it by pledging his services to our cause. Not long afterwards, he suddenly began to stir and forcing the dirt out of his way in a manner no different from a sea monster in the modern mortal's movies rising from the ocean, revealing his appearance for all the world to see.
He looked to be dressed as a knight, but had a barbaric, savage-seeming black and spiked armor, in a rather ruthless appearance, yet gave off an aura not much different than a knight waiting to battle his fated foe. On his back he wore a massive shield, with a few swords and a spear, along with a bow and quivers of arrows. At his hips were a bull whip and a long sword, along with a couple of daggers of various makes and sizes, but all of rather good quality. He was most likely a god of steel and war, but I could not be too sure, based on appearances alone, yet I knew to be wary. His voice, however, added to this contradiction, reinforcing my opinion by giving him a suavely gentleman's voice indicative of a silver tongue that did not match his savagely barbaric appearance with his next few words.
"Wast thou the one who woketh me from mine slumber?" asked the black knight.
"Yes, and I am in need of your assistance to aid my allies and I in an endeavor we are pursuing as part of an agreement my sister and I made with said ally. We seek to capture a God-slayer who may be more trouble than we can handle on our own, and require your aid to do so. Would you please be so kind as to tell me your name, so our ally may be able to plan around your abilities?"
I answered him and made my intent for aiding him clear. Making an enemy of this particular deity was not wise, especially by lying to him, as I knew how badly that would end for me in the worst case scenario.
"Then this knight thankest thou for thine aid, and shall repay the favor thine has granted me, by offering thou a boon in return for awakening me from mine forced slumber. Knowest that thine has the aid of [Mordred] in thine endeavors from henceforth, and mine blade shall be thine weapon, mine shield thine defense, and I, thee champion, till the time cometh that thoust no longer requires of mine might and services."
[Mordred] bows and kneels as he offers his aid, and I feel the urge to smile greatly. It would seem this particular god may be more helpful than I had first thought, considering how the target of our current plan wields some power connected to the King of the End as well as that place. He could very well help to tip the scales in our favor, and possibly figure out what this God-slayer's connection is, possibly even countering it. I begin to smile in a rather snake-like manner, knowing this was possibly the best ally I could have found for us.
H.C.C. Hidden Temple
Third-person P.O.V.
Within the hidden temple of the History Compilation Committee's special meeting room, the four heads of the Four Founding Families were meeting to gather an update on the situation regarding both the Eighth King and the Seventh King, and any future actions to take involving the two of them. Needless to say, the actions taken by King Emiya was surprisingly reasonable, though his hostile takeover of the Circle of Creation and subsequent enslavement of its members made it clear and proved just what happens to those who foolishly and stupidly attempt a deliberate and blatantly obvious move to manipulate a Devil King in any manner. They were lucky enslavement was all they got off with, considering what happened the last time an attempt was made against a God-slayer to outright control them against their will...they did NOT need another Pompeii happening on Japanese soil, they have little enough usable land as it is, thank you very much.
The four heads, Lords Masamune and Zaraki, along with Ladies Ran and Rena, were in the midst of discussion regarding their recent interactions with King Emiya with their envoys, and his surprisingly reasonable and friendly disposition and shockingly disturbing revelations to King Kusanagi.
"This is certainly a surprise...to think that King Emiya was able to use by far the most powerful spell of the school of origin, and use it to become a God-slayer by training the few basic spells he could use to their extremes in order to achieve it...This may very well be of help to the Committee in helping further training methods and recruitment options for future members." Said Lord Masamune rather impressed with how the Eighth Campione had managed something that was thought to be impossible. The possible applications of training the basics to such an extent was something he considered a genuinely ingenious move to consider, yet it was something nobody bothered to try before, much less think about.
"Yes, but what about his offer to give training to King Kusanagi and Miss Blandelli? He also offered to give Ena, Miss Kranjar, and Oda personal training. He even called Kurogane Ayamatsu to extend an offer to her as well. What do we know about this land he said he had obtained?" Asked Lady Ran, trying to plan possible contingencies in the event something went wrong and come up with possible worst case scenario containment plans.
"That's just it Ran, there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary to stick out. The land itself was apparently abandoned for some time, is about a five hours drive away from the outskirts of Tokyo in a rural area, and has a small large hill-sized mountain range on the edge of the property line on three sides. So far as I can tell, the land itself is perfect for a Campione to isolate themselves for training a bit out of the view of anyone who could be in the area, and anybody who does show up in the area would be trespassing on private property. It's the perfect place for a Devil King to train, or even battle it out without anybody who shouldn't be there noticing there was even anything strange going on. It would seem it even has a bit of a ranch with stables, though just what he was planning to use them for, I don't know at this time. He has, however made several inquiries into how to raise certain magical creatures, includng those of divine origins, so that he may be trying to start a ranch for magical beasts and familiars." Lord Zaraki responded, his eyes actually glimmering at the pure genius that was King Emiya's purchase. He knew a place like this would be invaluable to training in any destructive spell craft, never mind a God-slayer's authorities. And to have a place to raise and possibly breed magical beasts to keep them in stock, King Emiya was a genius in his opinion.
"Indeed, I have to agree with Zaraki on this one, Ran. It would seem that King Emiya is actually used to keeping the fact he is involved with the supernatural a secret. Most likely, whoever taught him magic also taught him to keep his talents hidden, even from his fellow mages, and it has served him well. Buying this land was ingenious in and of itself, but offering to take King Kusanagi to train and guide him in gaining control over and possibly mastering his authorities...to say it was benevolent of him is an understatement." Lady Rena could not help but comment in awe, as even she knew such a thing was rare enough for a Devil King to take somebody under their wing, but for a Devil King to take a fellow God-slayer and offer to teach and train them alongside a few talented potentials...it was unprecedented and an ingenious political strategy. Especially for someone as secretive and mysteriously unknown as King Emiya was when it came to is full capabilities, as she wasn't fooled for a minute that King Emiya told them the full extent of just what he could do. People like him do not just give away their full bag of tricks so easily.
"I for one, approve. Especially since it would seem he was trying to build a new mages association, but isn't against working with us as allies and business associates. It would also seem King Emiya finds some training methods that we would have never thought of, and is offering to teach them to the ones he invited to his training camp tomorrow. The fact he even found and had purchased such a good piece of land was an ingenious move, politically, financially, and strategically speaking." says Lord Masamune, who is rather impressed, and hopes his Oda can learn a few tricks to help her out from this experience, and getting stronger and possibly grow closer to King Emiya in the future, maybe not as a wife or concubine as she may proudly declare her willingness to become to the world, but most definitely as a friend to him.
"It would seem we have also learned what the theme for his authorities and magic spells are, or at the very least, a rough idea of what it is. 'Equalizing Mage-warrior'. From what we have learned so far, and from what displays of magic and his authorities he revealed to us, we can tell and have confirmed, King Emiya is a man who embodies the neutrality of a sword, and is neither good nor evil, chaotic or lawful, but at the same time, is honorably straightforward in his dealings and a man of his word. What authorities he has revealed along with his magic seems to follow a pattern of neutrality in moral alignment, and his personality is that of an arbitrator who is both an ally of justice and an avatar of vengeance, switching between the two as needed and as necessary for the situation, such as when he gave Miss Blandelli a taste of her own medicine and when he made the offer to King Kusanagi. It would also explain why he and King Kusanagi get along so well. After all, 'Lovers Youth' and 'Equalizing Mage-warrior' are not too different themes from one another, with only slight differences that make them very good at getting along."
Lady Rena's words get murmurs of agreement from her fellow family heads. If one thinks about it, it is only a rough idea, but a clear indication to go with so far from what they have to work with in regards to King Emiya Shirou and King Kusanagi Godou, as neither of their exact themes for their authorities are really known or easy to figure out. King Kusanagi had too many authorities in one taken from Verethragna from the start to really get an accurate starting point, while King Emiya doesn't really rely on his authorities and uses his magic more, seeing his authorities as a trump card in various situations where they are applicable as far as they could tell.
It was no wonder the two Devil Kings got along so amicably. Their respective themes and personalities were practically tailor-made for being capable of getting along. The reason King Emiya said for why they got along so well would also be a possible explanation as to why some Devil Kings fight each other when they encounter one another 7 times out of 10, while 3 times out of 10 they come to some kind of accord for peaceful relations or even an alliances. King Emiya and King Kusanagi's form of alliance with one another has only ever happened three times in all of recorded history to their knowledge in the past, so King Emiya's theory as to why they seem to get along is backed by plausible proof to confirm the supposition.
"Onto other important matters, I think we all have heard of the anomaly within the Keeper of the Horses seal." Lady Ran decided to move the meeting along to the next topic of discussion, and began to pointedly look at Look Zaraki.
"There is also the other matter that has been going on recently as a result of this. The odd disturbances within the seal for your temple in Nikkou National Park is bad enough, Zaraki. I know your family has overseen it for a while now, but something very strange is going on with it right now. And I am sure Mariya Hikari would probably help out, if your branch family's heir would stop trying to pressure her into the position of your new priestess to try and oversee the seal's functions. Honestly, that will probably just cause nothing but trouble for him sooner or later if he keeps pushing the subject like he has, even if he may not mean any harm by it and only has the best of intentions at heart." Lady Ran's rather disapproving tone was directed at Lord Zaraki, as they were all aware of some oddities that have been occurring within the Renjou Clan's temple and the seal in the Saitenguu at Nikkou National Park for the past few days...and how Lord Zaraki's nephew had been trying to pressure the younger of the Mariya sisters into taking the new position of its priestess to maintain the seal.
The seal in question was binding a certain deity of steel they had been keeping partially sealed in the Netherworld and would release it to manifest fully in times of need and disaster. But for the last few days, it has been acting strangely, and they needed to find a priestess to restore and maintain the seal, or in the worst case scenario, break the seal and have a Devil King slay it, considering the troublesome nature of this particular deity. While powerful, this [God of Steel] was also a trickster, and as such, it was a slippery one if not properly kept in a seal to prevent it from running rampant as a heretic god under the curse of madness which always afflicts Heretic Gods one way or another.
"I understand Ran, but this is a serious matter. The Renjou's have overseen the Keeper of the Horses seal ever since it was placed long ago, but even we do not know why this is happening, as even the mage who created the spell doesn't mention anything about this in the scroll he left us when he created the seal. It's something even he did not anticipate happening when he made it...and I hate to think that this bizarre occurrence may be deliberately done on somebody's orders...or even an inside job..."
Lord Zaraki's words drew a grim picture for them to imagine. The last thing any of them wished was for there to be a possibility of deliberate sabotage by a traitor from within the Committee, after all the Keeper of the Horses seal was meant to allow a deity of steel to be sealed and called upon in the event of a crisis against Japan by its natural enemy, a serpent, or in the worst case, a dragon. So for the seal to suddenly start to act up for no apparent cause, it was concerning, and gave credence to the idea of sabotage. The only question now is who would do something so horrific as to deprive them of one of their last resorts against a deity of the Earth descending upon and attacking Japan...after all, who would possibly betray them in such a manner, or wish to release the deity in question from it's seal, and for what reason could they have done so…
Scene Change-The Next Day
Jounen Gakuen
Shirou P.O.V.
I was heading home from school after I finished up fixing a few things in some of the home economics classrooms. I also left a note telling them the fixes were just a stopgap, and they needed to look into either replacing the older and worn-out parts or buying entirely new appliances to replace them, and recommended a few models they could search for and a list of parts they could purchase for repairs. I then left the building to head to the front gate, only to see a crowd of males at it, blocking the only way in and out of school.
Curious what the commotion was all about, I walk closer and began to overhear the tail-end of some conversations…
"Whoa, check out those foreign beauties. That white hair and golden eyes...such a hottie..."
"What are you talking about? The red-headed Butch Prince just screams badass beauty..."
"Oh, yeah? Well I for one find the glasses wearing foreign woman with the whole sexy librarian look to be the best..."
...hold on...foreigners, red-headed Butch Prince, White-haired and golden eyed hottie, Glasses wearing sexy librarian...yep, that sounds like-
"Shirou, good to see you." came Bazett's voice over the crowd...
"Shirou, let's get going." responded Rider, her curvy body beginning to show signs of a baby belly being more obvious than before...
Silence suddenly greeted the area as the crowd of men suddenly turned towards me with a look of absolute jealousy and hate-filled loathing...oh shit...I just know Murphy's Law is about to bitch slap me so hard in about 3...2...1…
"Come on Shirou, now's not the time to make the pregnant mothers of your children wait. We have things to do, places to be, and times wasting."
…dammit Caren...Root-damn my E-rank luck…
"YOU LUCKY BASTARD!~ YOU GOT A BUNCH OF FOREIGN HOTTIES PREGNANT, AND NOW YOUR BABY-MAMAS CAME TO MEET WITH YOU?!"
...came the very enraged and hormone fueled screams of jealous rage from the crowd of men, crying tears of blood and began shouting at me in perfect riotous fury. The absolute despair and jealous rage they suddenly felt towards me was only stopped when I slipped past them before they noticed, grabbed Bazett, Caren, and Rider, and then ran like the Devil was on my heels. I got back to my house faster than a fat man on a buffet, courtesy of judicious use of [Magic Blue] to slow down time around me and speed up my perception of time to outrun them when they tried to chase me while making it believable I was still an ordinary, non-magical human being.
Once I knew for a fact I had lost them, I turned to the one responsible for this, my face a mask of completely emotionless blank and deadpanned right at her...
"...okay Caren...I get you probably have some reason for causing such a scene, but I will not cook you dinner for the entire weekend for this as punishment, starting tonight." I told her as her eyes suddenly widened in horror and her mouth opened...
...the sudden wail of despair that Caren Hortensia released tore through the neighborhood around the Emiya Estate in such a way that it haunted the neighbors dreams and they assumed a gruesome death had occurred. It wasn't until later they learned that Emiya Shirou simply punished her by not making her dinner as retribution for causing a scene at his school...and caused a riot at the front gates of said school in the process of her mischief…
...the History Compilation Committee also had to take steps to quiet the chaos caused, and further irritated the Emiya by what had become far bigger than what it needed to be, altering memories and cleaning up the destruction caused by the former sister's antics, resulting in him refusing to give her any sexy time for an entire week in addition to having her get her meals from elsewhere as punishment...a punishment that only made her all the more desperately vigorous when she finally got to eat his cooking and in bed having sex with him again...
Few Hours Later
Emiya Ranch
"And here we are. Welcome to the Emiya Ranch." I say to my gathered guests, and smirk at a few of the looks of awestruck surprise and shock at the training grounds they will be using under my tutelage for the next three days. It was easy to tell what they were thinking by using cold reading on them.
Blandelli-san and Kranjar-san are actually gawking a bit in shock, although Blandelli-san is a bit better at hiding it then Kranjar-san is, as the girl has next to no talent for subterfuge in the slightest. Yuri-san and Shizuka-chan are actually surprised, but quickly move on, having gotten used to the fact I was rich from the things they heard or saw for themselves. Ena-san actually looked impressed at the land in mild approval. Aya and Oda-san were actually simply staring at me after looking around and at each other for a second before they started blushing right at me...oh...I can already tell what they were thinking, and I already know I was not exactly going to like it...but I wasn't exactly going to stop them either from going through with it…
As for Godou-san, he actually seems to be contemplating something, most likely if he should try to get something similar for himself via gambling winnings. May as well tell him before he starts to get any ideas.
"Don't even think about it Godou-san. This land by itself cost me about 36 billion yen alone, never mind the buildings on it in addition to the costs to repair them. It would take you about 20 years of non-stop winning and gambling straight just to get that much and using your ridiculous luck for willing games of chance in your favor to get the money for it, let alone find a place of your own like this. You would get banned from every legitimate Casino and illegal gambling den in Japan long before you ever got that much in winnings. You'd best give up that thought right now before it gets you into trouble with more than just the supernatural."
Godou-san actually started to splutter out defenses for himself in embarrassment and shouting about using my mind-reading on him again, but I shook my head and said, "COLD reading, Godou-san. Not MIND reading, it's called COLD reading, and it can be taught or learned, unlike mind reading. Now, let's get everything settled in before we get started for today."
I said as we began to take our bags to the beautiful ranch house that was the premier attraction to the eye the moment you walked up to the property. I brought Reki along and left Renji back at the Emiya Mansion, with Caren, Rin, Sakura, and Illya. I even went as far as to give Renji the order to keep his antics to a minimum and not in the house or on the Emiya grounds, and I even placed a Geas on him to ensure he would keep his word...he was a tricky one and a slippery bastard. How he died from an assassin hired by his half-siblings in their greed for his father's money, I have no idea, as I do not know how he could have even caught Renji without the poor bastard getting pranked to hell and back with his sanity lost long before he killed the resurrected accountant...suffice to say, I did not trust to leave him at home without doing this to ensure he behaved himself.
After we got everything put away into the guest rooms for the time being, I took them out back to a forested area on the property, and had them gather around, though Kranjar-san had a bit of a limp from Aya carrying out on her promise to shoot her yesterday. It was very funny to watch the boys in school suddenly jumping all over Godou-san assuming he had done the deed with Kranjar-san, much to both their flustered denials out of embarrassment. Even Shizuka-chan called him a pervert and kicked him right between the legs for it, only to apologize to him later when they found out the fairy knight had simply hurt her leg when she tripped and sprained her ankle bit. What she didn't say was the tripping was caused by Aya shooting her with a magic bullet that was designed to cause her slight paralysis curse for half a day before it wore off slowly over time giving her the appearance of having a limp...but I still got one hell of a good laugh out of it at Godou-san's expense while I watched it happen.
Shaking my head to clear my amusement, I start to get everybody's attention. "Okay everybody, the first thing I will have you all do before I start training you will be to get a basic idea of what you can do in a combat situation. Now I already know what to do for Godou-san and for Yuri-san, as I have seen Godou-san fight, and Yuri-san is more of a support-type in combat situations from what I have been told and have seen of her personality. What I want from the rest of you all, however, is to show me a demonstration in the form of a mock battle. I want you all to show me what you can do, using everything you know of and can do. Before we start I want to have Yuri-san heal Kranjar-san's leg as to give me an accurate idea of her actual skill level. Once we start, I will hold back and prevent myself from killing any of you all."
They all had looks of understanding, but also fear of taking me on. It was Ena-san who asked a very good question that I knew somebody was bound to ask, but nobody seemed to do so to my slight disappointment. "King Emiya, if you are going to hold back and if this is just a mock battle, does that mean you want us to hold back and avoid lethal moves as well?" I simply smiled at her before I responded.
"No, Ena-san, I want you all to come at me at the same time and attack me fully intending to try and kill me. Otherwise, you will not even be able to have a snowflakes chance in seven Hells to win in the slightest. So I suggest you all go all out using whatever you currently have at your disposal, be it magic, weapons, or even the very terrain and environment around you. Otherwise, you all may not even last five minutes." My smile was growing more sadistic as I explained, and they all began to look at me rather indignantly at what they perceived as an insult. I may be a Campione, but they knew they weren't exactly pushovers either. Oh, I knew this was going to be fun to do, but I had no idea it would be this fun.
Fifteen minutes later…
"...what. In. The. Hell?" was Godou-san's rather eloquent response to what I had just done, his eyes practically bugging out of his skull so far, I would have thought they were going to pop out at any second. His gaze was glued to the sight of broken blades, craters, and the shattered fragments of [Cuore de Leone] and [Il Maestro] from the aftermath of my rather one-sided beat-down I seemingly just dished out upon these girls.
"...he is a very terrifying Devil King..." came Yuri-san's rather frightened response to what they felt was the hellish sight they had just bore witness to. "...not even five minutes...they were all beaten in less than five minutes, and without the use of any of his authorities, just pure martial might and magic, nothing else..."
As for what I was doing, I was simply sitting atop a stump from a tree that was cut down during our mock battle from a tree that was part of the small forested area we were in, completely relaxed and waiting for the others to wake up or be able to move again. It was about ten minutes before they were all awake again and I dismissed my traced weapons that were left lingering about the destroyed training area.
"...he is a terror...truly a Devil among the Devil Kings..." came Blandelli-san's rather frightened voice as she woke up with her face paling at what she perceived as a near-death experience against what was sheer fear incarnate. Oh, how I knew this was going to be fun. Archer has corrupted me, but I do not care in the slightest at this particular moment.
As soon as they were finally all awake again, I proceeded to give them an explanation of what they had done wrong and why they lost, smirking at them. "Now, do you all know why you lost to me?" I asked them, but the response I got only made me frown in response.
"It's because you are a Campione...normal humans cannot hope to stand-"
"WRONG! That's not why you all lost against me, Kranjar-san." I cut her off, with a slightly irritated tone at the fact she had not noticed it. Why hadn't any of them caught on yet...
"How is she wrong, King Emiya? You are a Campione, a human who successfully managed to become a God-slaying Devil King, so how is that wrong? And how was this a fair fight, and in what way?" asked a bewildered Diavollo Rossa as she showed a rare face of irritated confusion of the her lack of understanding and control over a situation, which caused me to grin rather sadistically in response. OH, this is so fun, now I know why Archer and Zelretch likes doing this, they have totally corrupted me…
"I have been using my authority, [God-king's Privilege] this entire time during our mock battle, Blandelli-san. This authority is passive, but the one of it's particular effects that I have been using this entire time is making me only as strong as my opponent or all of my opponents combined strength together, as a reflection of my honorable nature as a warrior. In other words, I was deliberately weakening myself to a level where if you all worked together, then you could have beaten me easily at your current levels. So how was that an unfair fight Blandelli-san? Hmm?"
My response made everybody just stare right at me in surprise and absolute shock, but Reki was simply grinning like a loon at what I just said and did. Before he began to burst out into laughter, causing everybody but me to look at him in confusion. "Oh, my King, you are just too funny. You pulled such an ironically similar stunt by using a training method right out of 'Naruto'! Bwahahaha!" I simply smirked in a very Archer-like manner as my response to the reincarnated mercenary's description, because in a manner of speaking, he was not wrong.
I got the idea for this training session after I was told by Reki that he got the idea for some of the basic foundations of the Dragoons training and teachings from some wise words and life lessons that were hidden in some anime and manga he used to like before he died. It turned out he was a bit of an otaku in life, but nobody ever dared call him out on it due to his combat skills and how he managed to make the lessons apply to real life situations. When I asked him about some of them, he told me about some of these lessons and how they were taught, and I was inspired by that one training lesson in the form of a combat exercise that he mentioned. When I actually looked it up, I found it was actually a usable method for what I planned and decided to use it. It suited my teaching style to a tee, as I was never properly taught in any formal sense at all, and my teaching style and methods were going to be unorthodox.
"Yes, and it was thanks to you Reki that I even came up with this particular method to test their current capabilities and see where to try and improve them. Now that I have, I now know what to do for training them. For Kranjar-san, you are a bit too straightforward, and will need to learn at the very least how to tell half-truths, but still not tell any lies. Being honest and straightforward isn't a bad thing, but it makes you easily tricked and gullible, so we need to fix that. For Ena-san, you will be focusing on learning control over your ludicrous power with Bazett when she gets here tomorrow. For today, I have an idea I have been having Reki help me out in preparing. Blandelli-san, you are mostly fine, but you need to learn humility, or else that pride could wind up being the death of you one day. I hope that by taking you down a notch or two has humbled you. Oda-san and Aya, you two are diamonds in the rough, just need a bit of polishing and some physical training a bit more and we can bring out the potential within you two that has been lying untapped beneath the surface all this time."
As I explained to each of them one by one, they gained looks of realization as I explained their weaknesses and my plans for their training. Each of them begin to find my advice sound and realizes that I was literally beating them down for the purpose of figuring out what their strengths and weaknesses were, and how to improve them from where their current skill level was at. Though a few of them noticed I was enjoying the beat-downs a bit too much. What can I say, I'm a bit of a sadist when it comes to stuff like this. If you can't do this seriously, then you shouldn't do it at all. Half-ass resolve or measures won't cut it when it comes to dealing with the Supernatural. They are finally starting to understand what I meant by more experienced too.
"...wait...you mean you were fighting at a deliberately weakened level that could have gotten us a victory, but you won solely due to experience and skill alone, not raw power..." Oda-san asked me in a manner of awe and respect, making me grin a bit. She is somebody who possibly has quite a bit of untapped potential, given how her family's talent for [spirit sensing] has been squandered and improperly trained within the Committee for so long. Time for me to fix that mistake.
"Correct Oda-san, although I will say this much. I know that the Kuhoutsuka family's talent for [spirit sensing] makes them the perfect enforcers and may seem useless for direct combat, but it's not. I don't know who told your family it was only good for assassination, but they were a damned moron and a blind idiot. If I am not mistaken, it allows you to sense every presence around your immediate vicinity, both Supernatural and mundane. If you all trained it right, you could actually use it in combat to sense every attack before an enemy even launched them, making you incapable of being hit and even matching or potentially beating someone as strong as Ena-san in a fight simply due to her not being able to land a single hit on you at all while you weave around and counter continuously in a blade dance causing a death of a thousand cuts."
This made all eyes widen at my words, as I am sure they had some idea I would find uses for their skills that nobody else did, but I bet they didn't expect that I would figure out what they were using them for. Godou-san seemed shocked into slight anger about what the Committee has been doing, but I was certain Yuri-san could calm him down by explaining it to him when I noticed her telling him what I was talking about by the Kuhoutsuka family being the Committee's enforcers. I knew for a fact an organization like the Committee could not have been able to fully protect the ignorant people of Japan without having a means to deal with the more dangerous magi if they tended to cross the line and hurt innocents. That would just be impossible to do without somebody to deal with them, usually by being forced to silence them. I may not like it, but even I knew there was no other way to do so in some cases. I can understand why logically speaking as a magus, but that doesn't mean I have to like it as a person.
"Yuri-san, would you please use your healing magic to assist them? While you are doing that, I will get started on making us some dinner and putting together a training menu for each of you for the tomorrow and the morning after. Once you are done, please come inside and rest and make yourselves comfortable. We will pick back up tomorrow."
I say as I get up and start to walk to the house so I can shower and get ready to prepare dinner for all of us. I had Reki bring along enough food for each of us as well as help prepare the training menu I had planned. Oh, how I am going to enjoy seeing their reactions to my cooking. This is going to be good input, and the thought of breaking in my new kitchen is not something I will be deterred from. Now, which medicinal cooking recipe's should I use this time...oh, decisions, decisions. So many choices, so little time...
A/N: And that's the first part of the three-part mini-arc. I know it may seem a bit short this time, but keep in mind, the next two parts will be done in some P.O.V.'s other than Shirou's, so they will be a bit longer, and a possible lemon next chapter. Any complaint's or questions can be done in the reviews. Also on another note, over 800 favorites, almost 1,000 follows, and still not even fully finished yet...damn, I must be doing something right for so many people to do like it this much...
I'll try to release my next chapter at the begining of next week, so stay tuned. Until next chapter, PEACE OUT!