A/N: Hey ya'll. Sorry for the slight delay. I had to help move some furniture around IRL, so there was a bit of a cut into the time I usually do. Also, the poll results are in. Renegade method was surprisingly popular. Now, for a quick Reviewer Review:
1.) To answer your question, yes Shirou will get more authorities, but no, I will not say which ones he will get. That will be revealed in the next arc's finish, along with the harem list for both characters, as well as pairing listings at the end, so you all can stop asking soon in the next few chapters.
2.) The whole 'Tsundere-empowerment blade' thing, yeah, no. Not possible. If something like that actually did exist in canon or even in a fic, I would be the first to call bullshit on that. That would just make Rin a natural battery to the damned thing, and as amusing as that might be to write about, not gonna happen.
3.) The whole thing about Shirou being implied as a descendant of Muramasa in canon as well as a compatible vessel for Masamune was the whole reason for the idea. And as far as I know, NOBODY else ever though of that idea, so again, original idea on my part.
Now for the disclaimer:
Disclaimer: I do NOT own 'Campione!' or 'FATE', as they are the respective properties of their respective publishers and authors. This is a fanfic created as an AU of Marcus Galen Sands' 'God Slaying Blade Works' with permission to use a few of his OC's, elements of other fics as referenced, and a heavy emphasis on 'WHAT IF' with the Realta Nua's 'Harem Route' ending, a meshing of canon lore to help make sense, and my own original ideas thrown in every now and then. This is a FREE, UNPAID FANFIC of a FANFIC, meaning it is a fan-made fiction of a fan-made fiction I wrote for no monetary value whatsoever, so if you paid to read this, then you got ripped off. And if you do not like this fic, then you do not have to read it. Nobody is making you, so save us all the trouble of you making an ass out of comments that are unnedded. You have been warned.
And now:
Story Start
God Slaying Blade Works: The King of Wrought Iron
Fourteenth Blade: Hellish Training, Unforgivable Sins, and Deadly Retribution Final Part
History Compilation Committee, Japan
Third-person P.O.V.
"He said WHAT?!"
The four heads of the Committee's founding families were scrambling their people trying to get everything they could done in time to prevent the chaos of what they were told was about to happen in their attempts to keep the looming disaster contained. They were only two days away from getting all the preparations done for the fallout from Yasutaro Renji and Kurogane Reki's resurrections contained, and now this had to happen. To say the Committee had begun to panic was by far an understatement.
They were not prepared for the declaration that King Emiya made to give them only half the time they needed, but given their understanding of what they found out about the truth of the incident behind the circumstances, the most they could do was try to get everything they had been preparing done as fast as possible and try to contain the damage from whatever they could not finish in time. So they sent out an emergency order to the Committee's disaster containment division to make all haste and to spread the word of his message from Kuhoutsuka Oda…
"That's easier said than done! We can't cover everything in such a short amount of time! Shit!"
"Less complaining and more working! We'll just have to cover everything we can, try to minimize the damage, and brace for whatever slips through the net!"
"AAARRGH DAMMIT! This is why Japan was trying not to have a Devil King resolve their situations in the past, now we have to deal with the chaos of TWO of them! I swear, it's some kind of Karma that we're being put through this shit...Did we all defile and sully several dozens of priestesses or something in our past lives to warrant something like this happening?!"
...the Committee was doing everything in their power to comply with their seemingly unreasonable orders from King Emiya, but they found out from the Kuhoutsuka heiress that the Eighth Campione was actually livid with someone from the Commander's past when he found out about the true circumstances of how he died, and tripled their efforts to get everything important covered and anything else they could done before the impending political shit-storm hit.
They could only hope that King Emiya Shirou wasn't going to cause too much chaos with his actions...
Goddodin Manor, England
Shirou P.O.V.
"Infiltration successful. What would you like me to do, my King?" Reki asked me, keeping his voice down as he knew this wasn't someplace we wanted to be caught just yet. We sneaked into the mansion while I had carefully laid out runes to cause a containment bounded field and conceal the chaos in the event we were to reveal ourselves and come out into the open. Though to say this particular Noble Phantasm wasn't useful for sneaking around was absolutely untrue. I do not know why or how it got into my Reality Marble, or even where it came from, but [Tarnkappe] was an exceedingly useful one to possess, especially when it was used in conjunction with [Carwennan]. The best I could guess, it got there when the changes to my body finished for some odd reason, most likely due to something to do with my sorcery, but that didn't mean I was going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially for such an invaluable gift as this one is.
[Tarnkappe] was the magical cloak of Sigurd, a scarlet-red cloak covered in Nordic Runes used in myth and legend to hide from death itself. It was a cloak of invisibility of sorts, capable of concealing ones presence, in the manners of magical energy, sight, sound, and even their killing intent from any detection, but it's not perfect. It has the flaws of being incapable of hiding scent or touch, and cannot be used to hide while attacking. The moment anyone with a particularly strong sense of smell noticed them or you attack somebody with it, the [presence concealment] skill of [Tarnkappe] was rendered useless. It's very useful for assassinations or in this particular instance, infiltration. Its [presence concealment] was considered a solid B- rank, but if used in conjunction with the other Noble Phantasm I was using, [Carwennan], then it bumped it up to an A+ rank.
[Carwennan] was the dagger of King Arthur, with a bleached-bone white handle wrapped in leather, an enchanted iron blade with an eerily black color, and gemstones embedded into the hilt and pommel with gold and silver inlays. This dagger was said to have been used by the King of Knights that he received anonymously. It was possessed of various special traits, such as absolute dividing and indestructibility. However Shirou was using it for it's presence concealment powers via bending the shadows around the wielder to make their very presence overlooked by any gazes. So long as they stuck to the shadows, then he and Reki could go around mostly unnoticed unless they encountered any guard dogs to detect intruders. It's [presence concealment] applications were at a solid C rank.
By tracing two copies of each of these particular Noble Phantasms, Reki and I were sneaking around and setting up for when the two of us took Giovanni down. But while we were setting up the runes as discretely as possible and doing so, we had run into a bit of a snag: Alice Louise Goddodin, the Witenagemont Princess and only daughter of Duke Goddodin. We overheard from a few people we had passed by that she was currently here, and that complicated things a bit. So Reki and I split up, I told him to get to position and when I dismissed [Carwennan], to get ready for the grand entrance. The second that [Tarnkappe] was dismissed, the planned punishment for Giovanni was to commence. We would start when the barrier activated, he was to draw as much attention as possible to draw them away from both Lady Goddodin and the Council meeting.
When the two were sneaking around scratching a few different runes into discrete sections of the building that could have been overlooked easily, I had run into a certain platinum blonde girl with beautiful green eyes, but the state she was in...I could feel my heart break at such a sight. I heard from Reki she was the strongest hime-miko currently alive in the world, as well as a witch, but the sight of her body...it was bad. I knew she was ill, that her powers were stronger than her frail and weak human body could withstand, but this was even worse than I was led to believe. She couldn't even get out of her own bed unassisted without being in such crippling pain that she was incapable of even doing anything independently, needing the assistance of a caretaker to remain on standby on an almost daily basis, even to get to the bathroom and couldn't bath on her own...
"...you know, it's rather rude for someone to intrude on a lady's personal bedchambers uninvited. So how about you come out and stop hiding from me? Or are you so rude as to spy on an innocent maiden in the privacy of her own bedroom?"
...no way...did she just manage to see through my attempt to remain hidden? I was using A+ rank [presence concealment]...That shouldn't be possible...she is good. But the necklace she has nearby...wait...no way, the memories embedded within it that are tied to it…
"It something wrong?" Alice asked me, wondering why I wasn't responding to her. In fact, she was looking right at me and making it clear she could see me. I came to a decision, one I already know may come back to bite me on the ass later, but right this second I just don't care. I cannot accept this...
"...I am afraid I cannot undo the means I have been using to conceal myself without causing chaos to break out should my presence be known here. However, you should know I have no intention of causing you unneeded trouble...but if I may ask, how long have you..." I trailed off at the end, unable to ask this question I did not wish to even consider finishing as I felt it would just be rude, and I did not wish to be any more so than I had already been so far by invading her bedroom without permission. To my surprise, the girl before me answered in a manner I did not expect…
"I have been suffering from this condition as a result of my powers for my entire life. It is simply that the more I use my powers as a hime-miko and a witch, the worse my condition becomes. Such is the price of wielding a power greater than the human body is meant to safely wield. Do not worry yourself over this. Though I do have to ask, why are you here, if not for me?"
This girl...despite everything she's currently going through, the pain she must be in, she is still so bubbly and cheerful a girl to be able to smile through her pain...this is just not right. I cannot accept such an unfair fate to befall such a sweet girl. It's just wrong to ignore this. "...this is unacceptable..." the girl seemed to find my response not threatening in the least, as if she accepted that her fate would never let her escape such a frail condition. "...for a girl as kind as you to be forced to suffer in such a state, it's unacceptable. I may not have come here for this, but I will not leave here without doing something about this inexcusable act of a cruel twist of fate's form of a sick joke."
The sickly blonde seem taken aback by the steel in my voice. I knew I might get into trouble later by doing this, but I did not care...this girl was simply cruelly deprived of the chance to live her life freely while being a prisoner of her own body simply due to some cruel whim of a god's idea of a sick joke. Reki even told me she used some form of magic to project an astral form for herself to interact with the world outside her bedroom due to her condition causing her to be bedridden by her failing health. I could 'smell' the true nature of her condition, and it was a mystical one in nature, in the form of a divine curse. I was not going to let this slide. I already watched as someone I called my father died of a curse inflicted at the hands of a god. I will not let a second person die of such a cruel fate in front of me again and do nothing about it when I have the power to do something about it this time.
"I hadn't come here planning to do this, Lady Goddodin, but I feel this is something I must do and to right a wrong that has been done to you." I stepped towards her and began to do just what I decided to do, taking only a few minutes to do just this one thing before I continued to finish what I came here to do, by tracing a few things to heal her body and remove the divine curse afflicted the girls body…
...little did Emiya Shirou know at the time, his actions would set into motion a course of events which led to his intense animosity with one of his adopted siblings...an animosity which would lead to Black Prince Alec's two biggest enemies later joining the Emiya clan as two of his wives as a result of his actions in the years to come...
Third-Person P.O.V.
The grounds for the High Knight Council was in total chaos. That was the general consensus for the members of the Council who were present for this biannual meeting between the leaders of the Witenagemont, Copper-Black Cross, and the Bronze-Black Cross. The conference had been going as expected, up until someone performed a deliberate assault on the manor the meeting was taking place within, with the said manor's owner in question trying to figure out just what was going on. Duke Goddodin was by far most concerned with his daughter's well-being and security over all else in the madness that was the reports they were getting. She was currently resting in an extremely exhausted state, due to her illness, and this blatant disregard for the Witenagemont's authority was not helping her poor health.
It has been a rather tense weekend so far for the Witenagemont, as the leaders of the three biggest, or at least most influential, mages associations in Europe met for their biannual High Knight Council, with England hosting it this time. Duke Goddodin was by far in a very strenuous position, as he was trying to get the two other organizations to come to the designated meeting area while simultaneously trying to keep the Royal Arsenal from trying to pull anything during this three-day conference. Trying to keep Black Prince Alec's organization from pulling something too serious just to spite the Witenagemont was taking a bit of a toll on his stress levels of the potential fallout caused by such a scenario if it should be allowed to occur. The fact they were being oddly quiet ever since the revelation of the Eighth Campione was not easing their fears they were plotting something, considering the Black Princes tendency to cause them unneeded stress with his antics and thievery.
The only consolation the Witenagemont had was that the Royal Arsenal typically made no attempts to try anything with them due to not having the chance to even try, if for no other reason than being too busy trying to cover their own asses from the Beggar King's antics and prevent themselves from facing punishment in the stead of their sworn liege's tendency to cause trouble with his thievery of valuable or even priceless relics and artifacts of supernatural origin the world over. It was only a small consolation, but was also the only thing keeping them from causing a potential international incident during the biannual meeting that the British organization was currently hosting, even if some of their grievances against some of the Witenagemont's members were justified in some manner for abuse of power. This didn't mean he needed the added stress, though.
The orders of the Copper-Black Cross and the Bronze-Black Cross normally would not be associated with the Witenagemont, as they are more of a relief group than an actual Knight Order like the other two organizations in attendance, but the British organization was at least partly a Knight Order in it's founding, if only in a more scholarly and academic sense in the current times. The typical security around Duke Goddodin's manor was working as usual albeit with the addition of Knights from the orders of both the Copper-Black and the Bronze-Black bolstering the usual security around the Goddodin family manor, yet something was up.
Sir Paolo Blendelli, the former Diovollo Rosso and leader of the Copper-Black Cross was just as worried about this assault, but not because of the Royal Arsenal, but because of who was currently resting in her room here. While he might not have seen the man personally in a long time outside of work, Sir Poalo and Duke Goddodin were old comrades and friends who stood against the Balkan Devil together and came out of it alive. He even thought of Duke Goddodin's daughter, Princess Alice, as his own niece. She was somebody who suffered as a result of her own power being far ore than she could safely handle, and it was killing her every time she used her power. He could not help but worry over what was happening to her in this situation, or what may have been going on.
Sir Kranjar and Sir Giovanni, on the other hand, both seemed rather oddly contrasting in their respective reactions to the assault. While Sir Kranjar was shocked anybody would so brazenly attack the High Knight Council in broad daylight like this, Sir Giovanni acted as though he had expected trouble the entire meeting for the whole weekend. Sir Kranjar could not help but wonder: Did Sir Giovanni come to this meeting expecting trouble to occur, and if so, was this unexpected attack in some way having anything to do with why he had been so oddly high strung and irritable for the last few months?
Although the Goddodin Manor grounds had the members of not only the Witenagemont, but also knights of the Copper-Black Cross as well as the Bronze-Black Cross acting as additional security in order to ensure the meeting goes smoothly, there was quite a bit of tension from the members of the Bronze-Black Cross, specifically those who served directly under Senior Great Knight Giovanni Leonardo Archemedemount. His subordinates were inordinately high-strung from the very beginning, almost like they were expecting trouble of some kind to occur, and they were not liking it in the slightest.
While they were patrolling the grounds during the meeting, however, there was an unusual anomaly: the patrols on the outside of the manor grounds were suddenly going quiet without any reasonable explanation, and a barrier suddenly found itself up around the manor to prevent neither any disturbances from being noticed from the outside nor any of those within from getting outside help in any manner. Then there was a sudden report of intruders knocking out the knights stationed as security guards then flat out waltzing right through the manor grounds after a brazen entry via the front gate.
"How many intruders? What do they look like?" Duke Goddodin barely kept himself from shouting the question in his outrage of somebody actually daring to attack his home while his daughter was currently inside and resting within her room, his green eyes blazing an emerald fury while his graying dirty-blonde hair was beginning to appear disheveled from the situation and the stress starting to take it's toll on him. He did not know who this was, but he was going to make sure the ones responsible for such a brazen assault was punished for daring to threaten his dear Alice's safety and her much needed rest. Her body was in frail enough health as it was due to her great power causing her body's health to deteriorate from being too strong for her own body to safely withstand, he did not need her to exasperate her condition with an attack by some unknown individuals causing her even more stress than she needed to be put under in her already frail condition...
"It was only two intruders! One was a Dragoon of unknown identity, but whoever he is, this guy is good! He's taking us out without even needing to use his damn weapons like a gods damned wraith with how he appears, disappears, then re-appears! But its the other one you must be careful about Duke Goddodin! Its a Devil King! It's King Emiya Shirou, and he's-!...oh gods, no...nononoNONONONONONOOOO! STAY AWAY! STA—AAAAAAAAAAAAUUU-!"
...the scream of absolute terror made by the knight on the other end of the line right before abruptly cutting off was filled with such fear and absolute despair, it actually made the councilors in the room go silent and begin to pale slightly at the mere thoughts of just what King Emiya had done to the poor bastard.
Duke Goddodin actually feared for his daughter's safety and what it was that made King Emiya so angry enough for him to warrant such violent acts in a foreign nation under a fellow Campione's jurisdiction of protection, if only by default due to him being a native of Britain. King Emiya was a reasonable King, so this unprovoked attack did not make sense. From what he knew that the Witenagemont could find out, King Emiya was not one to just attack unprovoked, so just what was going on here?
Sir Paolo was actually beginning to suspect he knew what was going on, as he felt an odd sense of deja vu from this mysterious Dragoon's obvious skill and manner of combat, coupled with King Emiya's presence. He last heard from his niece directly as she had told him of the two resurrected servants the Eighth Devil King had in his service, but what he was doing here when they were supposed to be in a training camp halfway around the world was something he could not fathom the answer to at the moment. But considering Giovanni's presence at this meeting, he could make a pretty good guess as to what it is...
Senior Knight Kranjar was also wondering just what was going on, but had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with what his fellow councilor from the Bronze-Black Cross had done ten years ago, but not why a Dragoon with an eerily similar skill-set to that of the late Commander Kurogane Reki could do in life. After all, to his knowledge, the Dragoon Commander met his end ten years ago due to the machinations of none other than Giovanni's attempt to cut off their investigation of his suspected criminal activity, but with all the evidence he had been gathering in his investigation lost with his death, as their location was a secret he had taken with him to his grave, the critical pieces of evidence were lost and the case went cold. So just who was this man, and why did he fight just like the late Commander Kurogane Reki did in his prime when he was still alive?
As for Giovanni, he was beginning to come close to soiling his pants in sheer panic, not from fear of a Devil King's obvious anger while assaulting the twice-yearly meeting, but from the fact this meeting was his last and final means of trying to keep himself from being ousted for his rather illegal actions that would ruin him if the word of just how bad they were ever got out. He held no illusions this was his last chance, and while he was most certainly eager to meet the Eighth Campione, he did not wish to meet him in such a blatantly violent manner such as this. However, what he did not expect was the double-doors to the meeting room to suddenly be kicked in with such a violent force that the doors were literally wrenched of their hinges and sent to the other side of the room and slammed into the walls on the other side with enough force to actually leave them embedded in the wall…
"Oh Giovanni~" came the rather sing-song voice of a man whose presence caused all present to suddenly freeze in place. How could they not, as this was none other than the Commander Kurogane Reki, the Phantom Bullet of Black Steel who was supposed to have died ten years ago, a man who never showed any malice or rage even in the face of his enemies in a certain-death situation, and yet the smile on his face was not the purely innocent one they were all used to...it was a smile rife with feral rage and a bloodthirsty aura surrounding the man which seemed to be directed straight at none other than Sir Giovanni Leonardo Archemedemount. And he looked like he was absolutely pissed at the older Knight…
"You should have known this day was coming for a long time given your crimes. You reap what you sow, and what goes around comes around. Now it's time you payed the piper for your transgressions, Giovanni Leonardo Archemedemount, for it's long overdue for you to face punishment for your crimes."
The declaration came with the Dragoon Commander throwing documents up into the air and showering them into the room, causing Giovanni's eyes to widen in response as he gazed at one of the documents he snatched from the air, and realized they all were the evidence that the Dragoon Commander had hidden before his death, and the documents were all for proving his guilt, and were dated over ten years ago, all his crimes leading up to right before Kurogane's death…
"...well Reki, it would seem that you are still the same scary kid I knew so long ago, that not even dying and coming back from the dead can change that from being true..." came the former Diavllo Rosso's rather calm and collected response. In fact, he and Sir Kranjar were actually smirking a bit in response to his rather bizarre entrance. Duke Goddodin and Giovanni were confused by this, before Duke Goddodin noticed some of the documents had shown signatures from both men showing their parts of the investigation as his comrades in finding the truth of the suspected corruption within the Bronze-Black Cross's members, causing the Duke to turn to Giovanni in outrage of what he had read from some of these documents.
"Sir Giovanni...do you have anything to say for yourself for these apparent charges against you? Blackmail, extortion, human trafficking and slavery, illegal human experimentation?! Do you have anything at all to say in your defense for these blatant crimes against humanity?!" The enraged Duke shouted right at the accused and now disgraced knight, but the response he got was one that caused all present to suddenly freeze in absolute terror from the murderous aura that emitted from the now open doorway…
"You-you're supposed to be dead!" Giovanni shouted first in fear, "RAAAAUGH, DAMMIT!" then desperation, "You've ruined EVERYTHING!" and lastly rage at the Dragoon whom he thought was dead and blamed his failures on for the last ten years. Ever since he had the Kurogane scion killed nothing has gone right for him, this ousting of his illegal actions merely the latest of misfortunes he's suffered. He knew there was no talking his way out of this one, so he opted for one of the escape plans and numerous contingencies he had in place and he prepared beforehand. He began to cast a spell he knew wouldn't work against this many opponents in combat, but this spell wasn't for attacking them. Old and out of shape he might have been, but stupid he was not. He was attempting to flee using this spell as a distraction, which should at the very least buy him enough time long enough to use a prepared teleportation magic to-
"Oh, no you don't 'Sir' Giovanni..." came the rather ominously calm and sickly sweet voice that suddenly drew Giovanni's attention to the source. It was a two-tone haired young man of rusty red and pure snow white styled into spikes, had caramel-colored tan skin, and hetero-chromatic eyes, the left one burning a molten gold like a blacksmith's forge while the right was an unbending silvery steel that would neither yield nor would it break under pressure. But it was the dark miasma of violently murderous aura surrounded him which was anything but innocent as he spoke with a heavy emphasis on the word 'sir', but filled with sarcastic mockery and hate-filled venom enough to make it a miracle he wasn't spitting poison along with the word. Against their better judgment, Sir Paolo, Sir Kranjar, Commander Kurogane, and Duke Goddodin all turned towards the voice and saw a sight that made them tremble in sheer terror of what they perceived as death incarnate walking into the room and heading straight for the ousted criminal masquerading as an honorable knight whose transgressions violated not only the knight's code of conduct and went against the code of chivalry, but whose crimes also even broke numerous international laws on human rights, yet the sight they witnessed was enough to make them actually feel sorry for the poor bastard...
"...violating the knights code of conduct and desecrating the very code of chivalry for which they are meant to uphold is forbidden..."...the dark aura surrounding King Emiya began to change shape into a series of three pairs of arms wielding a single sword each… "...staining the honor of the very concept of a knight and violating the knight's code of conduct is forbidden..." a trio of faces suddenly formed behind King Emiya from the darkness as the sound of blades scraping and sharpening against blades suddenly began to sound off along with the forming image… "...and committing crimes against humanity...is FORBIDDEN."
...and unleashed an unholy aura in the form of manifested darkness that caused the very room to suddenly drop by at least ten degrees in temperature as the Emiya's murderous aura created an apparition of what could only be called a manifestation of pure malicious wrath in the form of a man with three demonic faces contorted into an image of eternal rage, their mouths housing fangs protruding from their maws, and their eyes bleeding profusely. It had six muscularly toned arms, sporting a single sword of varying design in each hand, while wrapped in what could only be described as a bastardized Buddhist monk's robes that had been stained red from bathing in enough blood to change it's color permanently. It was at least two meters tall, if only due to being indoors and showing nothing above the abdomen with the rest below the ground. The apparition appeared right behind King Emiya and reflected his wrath, yet even those who were not the subject of his ire could feel the sheer promise of malicious wrath and violent retribution he was about to unleash upon Giovanni.
All of those whom was present were suddenly reminded of just what the premonition of the Eighth Campione's appearance referenced just a few short months ago…
'An Asura?!'
...the five men could not help but think simultaneously, after all, the manifested malice formed a perfect representation of the Asura, the Buddhas who gave into the temptation of violence and fell from grace, only to be reborn as demons who walked the path of violence, becoming the living embodiment of murderous rage and violent retribution. Either in desperation to flee or fearful panic, Giovanni pointlessly launched a few minor spells to try and distract the Devil King, but he didn't even dodge them. The spells just harmlessly dissipated against his body the moment they made contact. After, he attempted to use the prepared emergency teleportation magic, only for the God-slayer to suddenly turn the tables before he could in a manner that shocked all but Commander Kurogane by the display of his magic…
"[Magic Blue]..."
...and began to move at speeds far greater than should have even been possible, and realized that King Emiya wasn't even using his authorities, but just an unusual style of hermetic magic they have never seen or even heard of, before he suddenly appeared behind Giovanni, then appeared next to him on his left, then suddenly on his right, and began to start disappearing then reappearing in the opposite side from where he was just an instant before, leaving an afterimage for a brief instant from the maneuver all while slashing at the older man with a combat knife with each pass, shredding into the older man and forcing him to defend using his magic to try and prevent any serious damage from debilitating his attempt to escape. Then King Emiya suddenly appeared behind Giovanni, with what appeared to be a Thompson Contender, albeit a modified and customized one with enchantments. Manifesting into his previously occupied hand with the combat knife he had dropped and dissipating into a shower of blue dust, he pointed the barrel straight at the treacherous criminal's back…
"...[Blade Works: Chronos Rose]."
*BANG*
...then fired a single shot, but the aftermath of this one shot would later send shock-waves throughout the mystic community from the implications of just what it did. Giovanni's body began to convulse and started to rip itself apart from whatever magic the bullet the Eighth Campione shot him with was made with. When Giovanni fell to the ground with obvious pain from his body apparently continuing to rip itself apart from the attack, King Emiya then produced a sword out of thin air through whatever magic he used, without even uttering a single spell word, then stabbed it into Giovanni's chest, straight through his heart…
"GUH! AAAAAAAUUUUGH!" *SHLK* "Uuuugh..." Giovanni simply grunted from the gunshot wound, before he then began screaming out in pain, then as whatever happened ended, with King Emiya standing above what the gathered men assumed was a corpse. It was over in less than a minute. The Asura dissipated into thin air as those present actually took what the latest Devil King did as a horrific sign of his willingness to kill. Duke Goddodin was none to pleased with the obvious mess he now had to deal with, and asked the Emiya to explain why he just murdered the man. When King Emiya explained his answer, however, it shocked all present…
"I didn't kill him, I simply stripped him of his ability to ever use magic again. He isn't dead, but the sword will need to remain impaled into him for at least another few minutes to keep the damage done from killing him as a result. I do not plan on letting this bastard get off easy for his crimes; death would only be an easy out for his transgressions, so a fate worse than death is the only appropriate punishment for him, given what his victims suffered from due to his greed."
"What do you mean, he isn't dead, King Emiya? That is obviously a sword, is it not? How is he not dead if he's been impaled upon it through the-?!" Sir Kranjar was asking the question while walking up to the corpse, only to stop when he saw just what the Devil King was referring to. The sword was most definitely impaled through Giovanni's chest and impaled his heart, but the man in question was still alive. In fact, the physical wounds were healing as the sword was impaled through his chest as he took stock of the condition of the former knight's body. The other thing Sir Kranjar noticed, however, caused his brows to shoot into his hairline in absolute disbelief of what he was looking at…
"What in heaven's name is this?! King Emiya...what did you just do to him...I cannot sense any magical energy coming from his body right now...or rather, I cannot sense his ability to use magic at all anymore..." the elder knight was genuinely frightened and paling considerably from the very notion of just what the Eighth Campione has done just now. After all, he did not want to think of the implications of such a punishment…
"What I did, was shoot him with a particular bullet which has the power to strip magi of the power to use magic. As for this sword, it's a sword that does not kill. It's name is [Woundhealer], the 'Sword of Mercy' and it's an enchanted sword that cannot kill. After all, there's no point in having a 'Sword of Healing' if it kills the one it's used on. And what better punishment for an unscrupulous magus who has committed such atrocities than to be forever deprived of the ability to ever use their craft again and stripped of the ability to use magic anymore? He's also going to be permanently crippled from this."
The shock of what King Emiya just revealed was staggering in the implications. He possessed a sword of healing and not only that, but also a weapon capable of inflicting permanently crippling injuries to mages on top of severing their magical capabilities...the thought he had enough power as a Campione to not only deal with any mages foolish enough to cross him was already a scary enough thought, but to think he also had the ability to somehow severe their power to wield magic, permanently crippling them in the process and reducing them to no more than mundane humans with knowledge of the supernatural without any means of dealing with them using their own power...The idea of the fact that the Eighth King possessed such a power as what he just displayed...to call them absolutely terrified at the thought was an understatement of epic proportions.
"...King Emiya...would you please explain just what it was you did to Giovanni for those of us trying to figure out how you did this?"
The question was asked by the oddly silent Sir Paolo, who voiced his question in the hopes of understanding how it was possible, and the possible ramifications of doing so. To everyone's surprise, King Emiya seemed to have no problem with explaining the means…
"Long story short, and this is the bastardized explanation, I basically severed his ability to use magic by damaging and attacking his spirit directly, so to speak. And since the flesh of the physical body and the spirit of the astral body are irrevocably tied to one another, the damage will also affect the nerves, resulting in severe nerve damage and physical disfigurement occasionally. In Giovanni's case, he will not die, but he will never be able to use magic again, or be doing much of anything really, considering he's been turned into a paraplegic."
...the silence in response he got from his rather flippant explanation spoke volumes of what they had just heard. Commander Kurogane, to his credit, was mostly taking this in stride, as he had some basic ideas of what his sworn liege had said, but the idea of being able to permanently strip someone of their magic...it was a frightening thought even for him, and the Dragoons used firearms as their main weapons for combat. Idly, He wondered if his King wouldn't mind sharing a few tricks he had for enchanted firearms.
A few minutes after he finished his explanation, he proceeded to slowly pull [Woundhealer] from Giovanni's chest, the wound closing up as the blade was pulled out. True to his word, Giovanni was alive, but his ability to wield magic had been forever severed. Those gathered watched in amazement as King Emiya proceeded to turn towards another individual and spoke up to him...
"Sir Antonio, correct? Come here, I intend to help you out of the magic contract that Giovanni here forced you into. Now, this may or may not hurt, depending on just how powerful the geas he forced you into was, but the most you have to suffer from this is a little prick, only enough to cause a small cut to draw blood."
...much to the startled surprise of the knight mentioned, but he stepped forth nervously. He was not too sure what method King Emiya planned to use, but when he saw yet another weapon in the form of a ritual athame dagger with an unusual zigzag-shaped blade, he suddenly got very frightened. King Emiya stepped further to him, grabbed his arm, then pricked him with the pointed end…
"[Rulebreaker]"
...only for a sudden surge of magical energy to suddenly release from the startled knight's body, as the magical contract was severed, and the energy utilized dissipated safely and harmlessly. Those watching were equally shocked by the display.
"What was that?" Duke Goddodin was honestly not expecting this, nor was he expecting a response..
"This little dagger's full name is '[Rulebreaker]: All Magic Must be Nullified'. It is by far the single most powerful anti-magic weapon in existence, but that doesn't mean it isn't without it's own flaws. Though I do think we are done here Reki. Let's go home."
The Eighth Campione proceeded to walk up to the Dragoon Commander and grabbed onto his shoulder. However, he turned to the owner of the mansion and said just one last thing…
"Oh, before we leave, Duke Goddodin?" the man in question turned to King Emiya in confusion, wondering what else he was going to say… "You're welcome."...then the two suddenly disappeared, with a sword taking their place while crumbling into the same blue dust as his other weapons had, causing all present to be surprised at the rather unique form of teleportation and wonder just what he was welcoming the Duke for.
"Father?"
...that day, Duke Goddodin was greeted to the greatest of miracles in the aftermath of King Emiya Shirou's rather intense punishment of Giovanni Leonardo Archemedemount. As Princess Alice Louise Goddodin, who had been bedridden by an illness which was deemed incurable and was believed to be some form of curse, had been cured by none other than King Emiya right before he punished ex-Senior Great Knight Giovanni…
...Later, word spread like wildfire throughout the mystical community that not only was Commander Kurogane Reki once more among the living in service to King Emiya, but that Princess Alice of the Witenagemont had been cured by none other than the very same Campione, and she had expressed her intentions to marry him, with Duke Goddodin giving his full blessing, as his daughter was someone he had spent years trying to cure to no avail…
...when word reached Japan and the Emiya Estate, the women who had already been engaged with the Emiya heir was in an uproar about him getting another bride overseas...needless to say, King Emiya Shirou could only really say one thing in response to their interrogations…
"...Root-damn my E-rank luck..."
Scene Change-Unknown Location
Third-person P.O.V.
"So, thou sayeth that this newest Devil King is possibly connected to Artus, alongst with the Throne of Legends itself in some manner...this hath mine attention. If thine need my aid, I shalt grant it as mine thanks for awakening me from mine forced slumber, for thee hath earned my boon." [Mordred] said once he learned the truth of the manner of the foe they were currently dealing with. Even he knew this was not a foe to take lightly, as even the King Who Appears at the End of Eras was not someone with that kind of power at his disposal, and he managed to take out three God-slayers before besting him in a fight to the death.
"That is correct [Mordred]. I will tolerate your presence simply because of the Oath you made, but I have no intention of trusting you beyond that. There is a reason your name is considered synonymous with treachery and betrayal in your myth." [Persephone] made her stance clear from the beginning. She knew the war god's power would possibly come in handy, but more than that she was not going to trust him. The last person to trust him wound up getting attacked from behind due to his betrayal, and she was not planning to suffer the same fate as the King Who Appears at the End of Eras.
"I does not blameth thee for thine caution. It wouldst only be reasonable, given the situation and the risks of dealing with thee foe thine has to deal with. Even I wouldst not be so foolish as to fight Artus when he held too much power to make it a fair fight, but even He couldn't battle such a foe as thine plan to capture...how does thou plan to accomplish this? If needs be, then this knight wouldst be more than happy to bringest him to thee."
"We'll wait, [Mordred]. We still need to make a few more preparations before we try to capture him, although it would seem your old enemy, the Witch-queen of Briton is actually making some moves that are currently helping us at the moment. We will need to wait until whatever she is setting up in China is finished before we can make our move. I have an idea as to what she is doing, but we will need your aid for when she finally does make her move. But do not do anything before then, we still are trying to get the other allies we have not yet gathered to aid us."
[Persephone] said before she left the room to continue her planning. While [Mordred] was perfectly content to let this slide, even he could not help but feel a bit restless at the thought of battle, as it was in his nature as a god of war. However, he turned to the other two who were present but remained quiet or the most part. Curious, he approached them and asked what was up.
"Why hast thou two been silent thus far? Is there something troubling thine minds so much that thoust been rendered silent?"
"...We have been trying to consider something that we have noticed is all. Nothing to worry about [Mordred]..." [Sthenos] replied back to the black knight of treachery. Her mind however, seemed far too distant, even in the war god's opinion.
"Indeed, it has to do with our sister...it's as if she was actually happy being bound to the god-slayer we are trying to capture...but what we cannot figure out is why she would be happy to be reduced in such a manner..." [Euryale] answered right after her sister, which caused [Mordred] to actually pause for a moment. A God-slayer had a goddess, albeit a fallen one, reduce itself just to become his woman. He was not sure why this bothered them so much.
"And why doest thine thoughts seems troubled so, to be disturbed by thee discovery? If thine goal was revenge, then doesn't thine goal become easier if thine sister is weakened? Why, it's not like she was unwillingly bound to him, mayhaps this could be useful to thine goal. Just take advantage of thine sister's love of him to make her suffer thine vengeful wrath."
...Though the two were not aware of it, by listening to the Knight of Treachery's words so often, the two were beginning to have the seeds of betrayal planted into their hearts. It was small, and slow, but the seeds were planted none the less, and the two fallen goddesses were completely unaware of this fact…
"If thee were forced to forever goest along with [Persephone] always leading thine path, then thee will ne'er find thine own way when she doth regain her powers and finishes her end of thine bargain with thee. Learn to start thinkest for thine selves, lest thee shalt ne'er be able to achieve thine own goals."
...not even Athena would condone allowing her two daughters actions when she found out about what would later become of this interaction, especially when they threatened her prey, King Kusanagi Godou, though the seeds of betrayal would have long since taken root by that time, and two daughters of Athena would become unrecognizable once the flowers of betrayal bloomed within their respective hearts…
A/N: And that's the final part of the three part mini-arc dealing with the Dragoons past, and leading up to the Monkey King Arc. It might seem a bit short, but keep in mind, this was to try and tie into the next arc some of the character interactions and OC's from the Dragoons being introduced. The next Chapter will be starting off the Monkey King Arc, Shirou will get a new authority, and the Story will begin yet another cross with the plot from GSBW. The harem and pairings list will finally be released, along with an updated stat sheet as well one for Godou and the other Campione involved. Next Chapter, the start of the Monkey King Arc. Till next Chapter, PEACE OUT!