Shirou and Signum and Shiny Swords, by droldemra
Originally posted on March 15th, 2012
"If the day comes when you are unable to create anything with your magic, then what else will you fall back on?"
The words Signum had said to him echoed in his mind as he placed a red hot blade onto a barrel of water. When he was younger, he never really thought about it since he always had practically everyone he knew at his side to watch his back.
Never thought about it until that one time where he woke up after a mission was over, was told that he was unable to use his legs ever again and having Nanoha, Fate and Hayate cry for him as they hugged him. Even though he had gotten better, it did force him to think of ways that he could at least find ways to protect those he cares about if he is unable to.
While the TSAB have a lot of benefits, he already has a fair amount of those due to being associated with Hayate. Helping in the Infinity Library was also an option, but it was pretty much one of those desk jobs. It was during the time when he assisted Yuuno whenever a rumored Lost Logia needed to be recovered that a random TSAB mage remarked that he must be some kind of genius blacksmith to know how certain things are made.
A Blacksmith. It seemed to fit in a way. During his downtime he could use it as a way to maintain his strength and he could easily pick it up or drop it at anytime he is needed. The fact that he could also create his own cookingware was also a bonus that he could not ignore.
And so he went to try his hand at blacksmithing by himself...and utterly fail at it the first time he tried. Apparently knowing the history of how a sword is made did not equate the experience of how to actually make one. It didn't even help one bit as memories conflicted on how to quench a blade for example: Water, oil, salt bath, horse urine...where the hell would he be able to acquire that much pee to fill a barrel in the first place?!
It certainly didn't help that he tried to make a pistol sword as his first project. Stupid unbalanced waste of metal.
Still he preserved and this time with an actual blacksmith to guide his hand. Forging, shrinking, bending, upsetting, welding...one by one he learned each and every process and made it his own as the information sorted out the whys and hows of an item being created by his own hands.
He really should thank Signum for placing the thought in his head and he had just the idea how.
Months later placed Signum in a rather problematic situation. Here she was, in a family and friends get together and suddenly Shirou hands her a gift wrapped box in front of everybody.
The feeling of doom with three pairs of accusing eyes shooting daggers into her spine at this development only increased when Shirou tried to explain this development.
"Well this is simply a thank you gift for something you said to me a while back, so I decided to give you the very first thing I successfully created."
He might as well said that she was holding a ticking time bomb for all it mattered as he calmly turned around to walk over to Momoko for permission to use the kitchen for a cake.
With the threat of being later interrogated of why she gotten a gift first instead of the others, Signum calmly peeled off the wrappings, lifted up the top of the box and peered into its deadly insides.
It seems there was a universal sigh of relief as Shirou still had weapons for brains as a Pugio shaped dagger wrapped in a simple leather sheath lay to be the only contents of what could have damned her for life.
Picking it up, she pulled the dagger out of its sheath to inspect the blade and let out a soft gasp.
The gasp wasn't for the viewing of the simple, yet high quality blade that could easily show her reflection like a mirror, but for seeing her name painstakingly etched into one side with 'Emiya' etched on the other.
She could oh so easily see Hayate and the others see it as 'Emiya Signum' and so started to talk as fast as she could.
"Wait! I can explain! I can explain-"
Poor Signum.
Shota Shirou vs. Wolkenritter, by droldemra
Originally posted on Marth 24th, 2012
Shirou coughed out blood as a red colored boot meet with his solar plexus and began to see the sky above him moments later as his head was instantly connected to a red hat with plush bunny faces attached to it of all things.
"If you would just stop getting up, give up and let us take your Linker Core, then this would have gone easy. Hayate-chan will be very sad to know if you die after all."
Upon hearing those words said aloud, Shirou did the only thing he could do at the moment.
He struggled to stand up.
"You damn idiot! Just stay down!"
Mentally snorting at the idea of backing off, he began to think back of just how he had gotten into this situation in the first place.
(flashback)
Shirou walked out of the hospital, a backpack slung carelessly on one shoulder, as he finished his volunteer work for the day.
It had been almost sixth months since the Jewel Seed Incident and, for the most part, he had gone back to his normal routine of being a helpful child who's also a hidden magus that wants to be a hero when he grows up. Being an volunteer assistant nurse at a local hospital certainly could help with that.
It was then of course that he had to pause as he felt a barrier being set up around the area he was in.
His first thought as he scanned the area with his eyes was that perhaps he should call the TSAB if there was some kind of practice test on him right now. His other thought was to not tell Nanoha about this as she might flip her lid if that was the case.
Those thoughts vanished as he spotted the back of a blond haired person basically shoving a hand into some young girl's body.
Reacting quickly, Shirou opened his Magical Circuits, projected a short sword and fired it off as a warning shot inches near the blond's foot.
"Whoever you are, you pervert," Shirou began to say, "Put your hands away from the girl and turn around slowly."
As the person did so, the next words out of Shirou's mouth that he had planned to say died as soon as he saw the blond's face.
The words didn't die because the blond was a woman.
The words didn't die because of her face being beautiful.
The words died because he knew that face.
That face had a name. A name that he knew.
"...Shamal-san?"
(end flashback)
After he had said her name did all hell come forth in the form of a small girl in red that he easily recognized as Vita blindsided him with a hammer to the back of his leg.
How did he know those names one may ask?
Well it certainly helped that his first assignment as an assistant nurse is to take care of one girl name Hayate Yagami.
He talked with them, interacted with them, had fun with them.
Now he had to fight them.
Although he was black and blue from the many injuries he acquired, he was holding his own, if barely. Only Vita was attacking him so he didn't think for a second that if Shamal joined up to double team him that he would last for another minute or two.
His gut instinct told him that a great danger was coming from behind.
He turned and his eyes followed downwards as he saw a sword point about to meet his guts.
Pain blossomed inside of him as blade touched flesh.
His eyes went upward to connect with the eyes of a stern looking blue eyed, pink haired woman.
Signum.
"Vita," Signum began to speak, "While it is good to be compassionate, we cannot allow anyone to know of our mission. You know what may happen once we are found out."
Although while his mind was ablaze with questions, Shirou could only say one word to her.
"Why?"
At this, he saw her flinch and saw that she turned her head away in shame before she closed her eyes.
"Even though our mistress has forbidden us to do so, it is the only way we can save her."
Shirou grunted as the blade was pulled out and raised into the air.
"I am sorry for this Shirou Emiya. Please forgive us."
He didn't have time to think, no time to create a blade good enough to save himself, no words to persuade her from staying her blade, just acted on reflex.
His right arm went up.
Her blade went down.
The sound of metal meeting metal as the the blade met with the manacle on his arm.
The sound of the manacle breaking filled the air.
And the last thing he knew was the world becoming to be one of smoke, fire, the faint screams of agony, the smell of death in the air...and the scream of two girls calling out to his name in horror.
Archer vs. Signum, by AntiMage
Originally posted on October 21st, 2011
Levantine clashed against the twin blades. The two warriors leaned in towards each other, then leapt apart.
"I'm impressed," said the white-haired man. "You're very good."
"Why are you saying that?" Asked Signum. It all came down to this. How he reacted to this would prove her right or wrong. "You've already fought against me before, many times."
A look of something vaguely like sadness flitted across his face for an instant before disappearing. "I don't know what you're talking about, miss."
She was right. It WAS him. "No, you do. Don't you..." she lowered her sword. "Shirou?"
Signum-san, what are you talking about? Came Shirou's telepathic voice—her Shirou's voice—but she ignored him, focusing on the man in front of her.
The look of shock on his face faded, replaced by a resigned smile. "I'm impressed. How did you figure it out?"
"It was your fighting style. I've sparred against you so many times that I know how you fight like the back of my hand. It took a while for it to sink in- you're far more refined than the youth I know." She sighed. "Shirou... What happened to you?"
"... I was betrayed by my own ideals. Is my younger self listening to this? Then me tell both him and you; there is nothing but despair at the end of our road. You can't save everyone. That is what I've learned."
"... I refuse to accept this." The knight raised her blade. "You say that you can't save everyone? Very well. But you can at least try. That is what the Shirou I know would try. If there's any bit of him left inside you, I'll bring him out?"
"... Taking the Nanoha path, are we?" Asked Archer. "Alright. But... Can you actually do it?"
"What?"
"How about this? Let's go all out."
"... That's what you would need to defeat me."
"That's true. Just... give me a minute, please. I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body and fire is my blood."
Signum waited, despite every fiber of her being screaming at her to attack him.
"I have created over a thousand blades. Unknown to death, nor known to life. I have withstood pain to create many weapons. Yet, those hands will never hold anything. So as I pray... Unlimited Blade Works!" Pale fire blasted outwards from him. Signum shielded her eyes- it was too bright.
When she lowered them, words failed her. "What... What is this?"
The city street they had been on was gone. It its place was a featureless plain covered in swords of all kinds. Giant gears hung in the sky, suspended by nothing.
"This," Archer gestured, a small smirk on his lips. "Is my Reality Marble. Welcome to 'Unlimited Blade Works'."
Reality Marbles... Kiritsugu had mentioned them years ago, when he had told her about Earth's magics. Perhaps she was slightly out of her depth, here?
"Impressive." That was one way of putting it. "That's a lot of swords. But... you only have two hands."
"True. But..." He raised one hand, lazily. A group of swords behind him leapt into the air and hung there, pointed at her. Another blade flew into his hand. "I don't need hands." He leveled the blade at her. "Here I come, Signum. Are you ready?"
And with that, he charged.
The Nanoha Maze Meme with a Twist, by Heroslayer
Originally posted August 10th, 2011
They were there for their annual performance testing. After the disaster that was last years team combat evaluation (Team Wolkenritters versus Team Nanoha) TSAB had decided to fall back on the old standard.
An obstacle course.
Well now a destroyed obstacle course, but an obstacle course none the less. The course was more of a maze, and it was filled with dangerous attack drones, killer death traps and several dead ends.
Now the examination started out fine. Fate had gone first.
...
The golden haired reaper sped through the course and cut down any foe that stood in her way. Occasionally her weapon would switch forms so that she may blast the traps that futilely attempted to hinder her.
"Go Fate-chan!"
"Go Fate! You can do it!"
The golden haired reaper blushed as her friends cheered her on and turned her attention to the examination.
...
The girl passed with flying colors and much praise was given to the girl.
It was after this that the problems began. Yagami Hayate had an interesting take on the exam after all.
...
"So I just have to get to the goal as fast as possible right?"
The examiner nodded at the cute girl and wondered why on earth his superior warned him about this group and this girl in particular.
Hayate grinned wickedly. "Alright then." She raised a palm at the course and let loose a single weak (for her) blast of magic.
There was a flash and an enormous shock wave that blew the surprised examiner away. Hayate cackled at the crater that was the obstacle course and cheerfully skipped to the goal which had miraculously survived the magical equivalent of a bunker buster.
...
Yeah. Never say that Hayate doesn't follow the rules. She just twists them to her needs.
Anyways, luckily the barrier was up for that test and the course had survived the blast through that. Though Yuuno needed to go the infirmary as the blast had shattered his barrier and knocked him out.
So we had half the testers left and already the barrier was broken. Not a good sign. But the officers in charge were sure that the worst was over and that they could continue the exam.
So Takamachi Nanoha went through her exam like normal.
...
"Starlight Breaker!"
It was a testament to her healing that Fate only flinched at the shout and the flash of bright pink light. Had this been before she had mostly healed from the ordeal then she would have squeaked in terror and then hid behind Shirou to get away from the evil pink light that caused pain.
Shirou just stared as Nanoha dashed through the pathway she carved and got to the goal to beat Hayate's time.
"Now how am I going to top that?"
...
Yeah... maximum firepower... Should we say that the exam got 'befriended' or not?
Anyways then we had the final test of the day.
...
"Okay, so I just need to be impressive. Right?"
Shirou swallowed and dug deep into that Hero he knew he would become. Oddly enough his thoughts turned cynical and snarky. Was that normal? Whatever, it seemed cool so he went with it.
He slowly and deliberately walked through the maze with a smirk on his face. A quick Structural Analysis gave him the lay out of the maze so he knew exactly where to go.
The first wave of attack drones fell before they could even make an attack. Steel rained down all around the boy and destroyed any drone that tried to get close. Shirou didn't even slow down and just walked through the debris, smirk still on his face.
Deciding that this was going to take too long, Shirou decided on a short cut. He walked towards one of the dead ends and summoned a silver sword that promised victory.
The blade carved through the maze wall and Shirou continued on unhindered. He eventually turned his walk into a jog and run into one of the traps that ran through the maze. Lasers and magical blasts of all kinds were fired at him in something that would resemble a bullet hell game's final level.
Did that stop Shirou?
Please. Like that would happen.
Inheritable skill and instincts from The Sword of Sworn Victory, allowed Shirou to jog through the bullet hell unharmed. Blasts were deflected and lasers were dodged.
Finally Shirou made it to the final obstacle. Place only for him was a large wall that was basically impossible to cut through. Now Shirou could have spent the time to cut through it with a Noble Phantasm, but that would take time and hacking at a wall for a minute didn't look cool. So he went another route.
The boy's jog turned into a full sprint. He got close to the wall and executed a perfect high jump to just barely clear the wall. He landed deftly on his feet and walked slowly to the goal.
Shirou grinned at his finish and turned to what was hopefully compliments and friends congratulating each other for their performance. What he found was silence as the three girls all stared at him with wide eyes and flushed cheeks.
Shirou knew that look. He didn't know how he did, but he knew that it meant bad news. Though he wondered why he had thought of a 'bar' when he saw them and why was it strong in him?
Kiritsugu? Meet Your Son, by crystalwatcher
Originally posted on October 10th, 2011.
The morning light in the Einzbern Church was soft, warm, and welcoming. The metallic circle on the ground engraved in the floor as Irisviel placed the legendary sheath of King Arthur onto the Alter before them Kiristugu thought, not for the first time, some felt slightly off about the entire thing. The Einzbern had done a wonderful job at actually finding the lost Phantasm. But he felt a strange pull as he started the summoning.
The kaleidoscope works in mysterious ways.
The entire affair went exactly as planned, and exactly as it had done untold times before, in the untold number of different versions of the exact same event… But this time, when the figurative coin flip was maid it landed on tails instead of heads as it had done countless times before. But as any practitioner of the Second True Magic knew the results could be catastrophic. And unfortunately for all participants in the War, they were.
Instead of a blue knight, majestic in stance and presence, stood a red knight. A tall white haired being that exuded danger with an inhuman aura, but at the same time, exuded a sense of unnatural calm and protection about him. A perfect controversy for any witness let alone the two that were there. He stood at almost six feet tall; a dark red coat adorned him, and under it was a shirt and pair of pants that were blacker than the shadows that hid in the corners of the church. The Silence was broken as the red knight spoke, a powerful and steel-forged voice that spoke of incredible experience. "I am Servant Saber. I ask of you. Under the name of the contract: Are you My Master?"
Kiritsugu was the first of the two to shake off his surprise, "Yes. I am your Master. My name is Emiya Kiritsugu. And, may I ask who you are?"
The red Knight smiled softly, amusement sparkling in his eyes. "You wouldn't know me: I am long after your time Kiritsugu. But you may know me as Shirou. My last name is of little consequence at the moment." Now that the Magus Killer's full attention was trained on the Hero with the last of the surprise shed from his mind he frowned. But the question he wanted to ask was answered before he could ask it. "I was not summoned by Avalon as a catalyst. Though, it could partially work as one, but not as well for me as for Arthur Pendragon. I was summoned via a different Catalyst than it. The Catalyst in question can wait until later to be revealed."
Kiritsugu knew then and there that he'd have trouble seeing eye to eye with his Servant.
Everyone was stunned speechless. The Red Knight: the nameless Hero nobody knew accelerated into battle against Caster's abominations.
He was as a thundering wall of pure steel shrugging off the futile attacks of the beasts, the black and white swords he wielded sung a song of death as they tore the things they faced to shreds as if little more than paper. The hero had avoided most of the challenges that had come his way with either words or excuses leaving everyone to wonder if he was the weakest summoned… but as soon as Caster and his Master's hiding spot was found all their expectations were proven false.
Slow? None could follow the inhuman movements he made, as he shredded the creatures arrayed against him and his master.
Weak? Stone cracked and shattered under the power of each blow. The thick carapace of the creatures were split and torn asunder like paper to a shredder.
Unskilled? Even Rider was surprised by the display of blade work used.
But the true awe-inspiring site around him was not his speed, power, or skill. No, it was the hurricane of pure steel that filled the air around him. Blades, uncountable in their number, and unstoppable in their advance roared like the cry of an angered god. Small and large, simple and complex, each was as unique as the one that came before it, leaving a field of weapons behind him as the Servant Saber advanced upon his now thoroughly terrified enemies. The last abomination was slain in a fountain of blood and ichor as its inside were used to paint the basement a new hue as the artist used a handful of nameless weapons as his brush.
Slowly 'Shirou' walked away from the untold carnage he left in his wake. Caster tried to crawl away as the knight began to speak, "The Time Period I come from I am known as a Freelancer. I work mostly independently from the main police force while working on and off with them pursuing my own objectives. I have two commandments. Capture Alive when possible. Kill when Necessary. This would normally make me a bad Servant to summon in a War like this one… But I have a third Commandment that I rarely invoke. And that is to Kill the truly despicable, and those that threaten my loved ones without Mercy or chance for atonement. You my friend, fall into both those categories when you threatened my Master's child. This place will be your tomb…"
He raised his left arm to chest height, and slowly started to undo the buttons that held the sleeve to his wrist. The reason was quickly revealed when he pulled the sleeve back to reveal a maniacal. It was wrapped in chains all attached to a small red-green orb that hung slightly off the strange object. "I have three True Noble Phantasms. One is the Endless Creation of Blades: Unlimited Blade Works. Another is the Jewel Seed embedded in my left hand. And my Third and greatest is this… Kaiser. Set Up." The small jewel that was chained to the band glowed brightly, and to the surprise of all present it spoke.
"Perfect. Full Active, Set Up."
The Red figure was engulfed in a red light that obscured his form for little more than a moment, but as it passed instead of the red-coated knight stood a fully armored one. His armor, pure white with a dull red glow covered him from the neck down. A half-helmet covered the left side of his head, the purpose impossible to guess, along his arms as well as his gauntlets were serrated plate that held a slightly demonic look, the breastplate was slightly warped as the jewel –originally on the chains but now five or six times its original size- was embedded into the upper right side, chains coming from the indentation and wrapping about his form. His leggings and boots followed a similar pattern to the arms and gauntlets.
"Kaiser Raid. Full Power Ready, Hero." The Red-green jewel blinked in time with the words, sounding for some reason slightly mocking as it said "Hero". As if it was some kind of personal joke between it and its master.
The half of 'Shirou's' face that was visible gave a slight smirk as he adjusted his stance, rotating slightly until his right faced Caster and his Master, while his left hand rose to his shoulder. "Cartridge Load. Trace. On." His hand instantly became a fist as a large spiral sword appeared over it in a flash.
"Let's Go." A strangely thick piece of armor, just below the gauntlet suddenly jerked back as the armor spoke. It revealed a ring of what first looked to be bullets, aligned next to each other like some kind of demonic revolver. Twenty three in total wrapped around Saber's wrist spun slightly, aligning one of the many 'cartridges' with a small inset in the gauntlet just before slamming forward with a hiss of empowered magic. "Instant Phantasm Breaker. Snipe Shot Accelerator Ready for Maximum Damage."
The spiral sword instantly exploded with a boom of thunder and lightning. Pure prana arched from the sword in the form of electricity, charging the air around them with power. And in a single fluid movement, swung his first forward, launching the hovering projectile as if out of a sling shot. The air was split with a deafening boom as the weapon was accelerated faster than even a conceptual weapon was meant to fly: closing the few yards between the vengeful wraith named Saber and his victims in less time than it took for a Human brain to comprehend when just happened.
The resulting blast of a over-charged Broken Phantasm traveling well over Mach four obliterated his targets, the wall behind them, the abandoned warehouses above, and a good portion of the decommissioned ship (destined to be turned into an artificial reef) that had been in the harbor on the far side of town in a spectacular explosion.
Let none say that Shirou Emiya was never scary when he wanted to be.
"Kaiser Raid"
Intelligent Device + Cartridge System, (Experimental Circuit Style Device)
Developed by the TSAB's Section 2's R&D department upon request by Admiral Chrono, Admiral Lindy (retired), And numerous other large names within the TSAB ranking structure (The Aces for example) and gifted to Freelancer Emiya Shirou under the pretense of payment for the number of times he has aided on numerous search and rescue, search and capture missions over time.
When I was thinking up Kaiser my brain was dancing around the Saint Kaiser, the Cradle, and for some odd reason Dante and Devil May Cry Three... Believe me: I was confused. Throughout MGLN everyone's devices respond differently to their masters sometimes in big, sometimes in small ways from one to another. Which is why I was probably thinking about Dante and how amusing it'd be for a device to act like a warped version of him mixed with what's-her-face from Tri-gun I think it was... you all see the end result here.
Unlimited Blade Works, by crystalwatcher
Originally posted on October 18th, 2011
Nanoha slowly clapped her hands to get the attention of her four students. Teana, Subaru, Erio, and Caro were all sitting on the ground to gather their breadth after the short warm up exercise that they had been put through. It was pretty standard to what they had been doing for a while now, but Fate had told them the previous evening that today was to hold something different. Normally this wouldn't bother them much save for a small fact.
The Vice-Captains and Captain were going to participate with them.
This had them all on edge and now Nanoha was going to reveal the big plan and they paid closer attention than normal. "The day before Yesterday an old friend of the command branch came to visit. Fate, Hayate, and I were able to convince him to do a training session with you four since we have yet to get a real challenging mission. He agreed that getting you ready to face an overwhelmingly powerful opponent before it happens at a critical time. So both Lightning Team and Stars Team will work together to beat him: the only registered SS+ ranked mage in the TSAB, Shirou Emiya. As you all know it's not his magic strength that holds him that high but what he can do with it. The objective is simple, to force him into a stalemate or to beat him. We lose if he can knock all eight of us out of the fight. Now, any questions?"
Teana didn't waste a second to raise her hand and speak, "Are there any strengths or weaknesses you can share that'll make our job easier? I've heard a few half rumors that no one's sure about. Any do you have a strategy you'll be having us follow?"
Vita answered for Nanoha, "The only ones of us that have any experience facing him head on are Fate, Signum, and I. He has insane close range abilities, powerful mid range area attacks, and incredibly powerful long range artillery abilities that can go head to head with Nanoha in a blow-for-blow fight. And all of this isn't even counting his greatest ability: Unlimited Blade Works. If he gets that up then our chances for victory practically go out the window. So our main focus is to keep that from going up, in the meantime me, Subaru, Signum, Fate, and Erio are to get in close and tie up his attention for as long as we can. Caro is in her standard support role and is to stay out of line of sight as much as possible. Teana and Nanoha will try to overwhelm his defenses with their strongest attacks. I give us a mission time of about ten minutes before he crushes our front line and bulldozes over what's left." The last statement made the entire clearing go graveyard silent. All Teana could do was stare.
In the entire time Section Six had existed she had never conceived of an enemy that would give the captains and vice-captains pause. They seemed invincible in her eyes, but this Shirou Emiya they just described seemed to be on par with them. "Ten minutes? Why just Ten, surely he can't beat the four of you that fast can he?"
Nanoha and Fate shared a embarrassed look, "Well, you'll understand when the fight starts."
Fifteen minutes later had the entire Riot Six forwards on the restarted training simulator. It revealed a wasteland, barren rock and sand with small boulders marring the uniform surface here and there providing weak places to hide. The attack team was lined up in plain site as Nanoha, Teana and Caro were out of sight, preparing to provide support. Twenty five meters away from them stood a red Knight. The pure silver of his Barrier Jacket overlaid with his blood red mantle and cloak shining in the noon sun. His white hair softly ruffled by the sea breeze.
"You know Vita. I already know your plan right? Taking into account how much you know of my abilities and how direct you are there are very few possible plans that would work. Fifteen seconds: how fast can you close in on me?"
"I think in three!" And with that the battle started. Vita kicking off the ground accelerated to her greatest and blew the distance between them to the winds.
"Trace, On. Awaken, Kaiser."
"Let's go."
At two seconds a hailstorm of steel materialized to meet her headlong charge. A hurricane of wind made of steel smashed against her powerful barrier jacket slowing her, however slightly. At three seconds Fate was behind him, Bardiche raised for a swing. At four, Shirou had a longsword in hand, crashing against the device's shaft, deflecting it high. At Five, Subaru was inside his guard at the front, face-to-face, and Erio was to his back, Strada screaming forward with acceleration. At Six, Shirou pivoted, Subaru's fist gliding across his chest, barely ruffling the mantel he wore, and Strada slipping past behind him, Subaru and Erio sporting looks of shock. At seven, the two were past and Graf Eizen in rocket form was streaking at him. At Eight, Shirou leaned back so far he fell over, Eizen skimming just past his eye. At Nine, Shirou's leg snapped up, his hands landing on the ground, taking his weight, and his momentum sending him into a flip. Vita's chin snapped up with the force of the blow, stunning her and leaving her handing in the air for an instant. At Ten, he landed on Bardiche as Fate tried to strike again, pinning it to the ground with his weight, the Thunder Master grunting in distress as her weapon was trapped. At Eleven, an orange streak of magic was deflected by a sword Shirou had been tracing since Eight. At Twelve, the traced blade was accelerated through the air like an arrow, right at where Teana was hiding when she fired her previous shot. At Thirteen, the blade was blasted out of the air by a Axel Shooter, and Erio attacked again, Strada moving to free Bardiche. At Fourteen, Shirou's leg rose and slipped past Strada's attack, connecting with Ezio's chest, and using the lancer as a spring board launched himself away from the melee. At Fifteen, Shirou flipped backwards once through the air, leaving the stunned Vita, winded Ezio, Confused Subaru and frustrated Fate in the huddle that had been his original position.
Shirou with a slightly amused smirk glanced at the ones meant to hold him down. "I am honestly impressed. Vita and Nanoha did a really, really good job with you. They said you four were rookies but I've got to give you credit. I wasn't expecting this much of a challenge…" Then something dawned on him. "I said that out loud didn't I? DANGIT!"
His hands went to his head in despair as Fate giggled, "We win that bet. We get to cook!"
Shirou sighed in defeat, "There goes my kitchen… time to get serious." His stance shifted, his feet going shoulder width apart, knees bending, right arm raising to grasp his left bicep, and left arm raising above his head, obscuring his face and leaving only one eye in view, and his hand grasping something that did not exist yet.
"Trace, On."
A massive blade materialized in his open hand. Far larger than any Human had the right to be able to wield under any circumstance: at first it resembled a titanic claymore that was supersized to mind blowing proportions. "Battleship Buster."
The instant he spoke the words the sword erupted into a fountain of electricity, pure prana flowing from it, and forcing its way into the world. And then Shirou swung the blade as if it was air, his strengthened muscles more than able to take the strain of swinging it. Its advance towards the TSAB group was like a roaring juggernaught. A boulder that had been in its way turned to dust when it glanced off it. Vita was the first to move, grabbing Subaru, who was closest and leaping into the air from the path of the titan. Fate following close behind with Erio, and Signum simply ducking under it: with its passage the air was displaced, tossing the fliers off their paths and forcing Signum lower under the threat of being blown away. But the result desired was achieved.
"I am the bone of my sword.
Steel is my Body, and Fire is my Blood."
A pink beam screamed through the air, attempting to interrupt the chant enough to continue the fight, but Shirou was ready. "Rho Aias!" A pink seven pedal flower bloomed in front of him: and the immovable object met the irresistible force. The defensive abilities of the Noble Phantasm shrugging off the power of the Devine Buster sacrificing only four of its layers, Shirou continued his Chant.
"I have Traversed, over a Hundred Worlds.
Forged by Loss.
Tempered by Gain."
The forward team recovered enough to continue their assault. Vita, Fate, and Signum knowing what was coming and determined to preserve their chances at victory, but knowing that at this point they couldn't stop it.
"Withstood pain, to create countless weapons.
I've found my answer so I have no regrets.
This is the only path.
Everything I am, and Everything I was meant to be is:
UNLIMITED… BLADE WORKS."
And just before his attackers could reach him a column of fire erupted from beneath their feet engulfing everything in an inferno, a flame without heat consumed all it touched, and where it passed the world changed.
Gone was the simulated wasteland: in its place was a vista of brown grass.
Gone were the randomly placed rocks: in their place were Swords, countless in number, stretching endlessly into the distance. Large and small, great and mundane, all were present here.
And lighting everything was not a sun or moon. Instead what hung in the sky was a canopy of stars: and dominating everything was a massive planetoid that shone with the light that illuminated everything with its enchanting beauty.
Shirou slowly raised his lowered head, standing on a hill at the center of the new world. "Checkmate."