Hello! Welcome back to my little story! I hope you have enjoyed the read so far!
Small notice: MASSIVE Chapter coming, this one's almost twice as big as my usual word count.
First, some Review Responses!
Nino Mezzacapo: I am afraid this might not work out, I am not nearly well enough versed with Spider Man, and I will primarily focus on this story first. We will see, but it is a very slim chance.
TheRupture: For the thrown version, the Curse to reverse Causality is deactivated by default, and the Ability to aim for the Heart is also reduced, as its sure-hit function is adapted to engulfing large masses of enemies in a concentrated explosion. It can be compared to carpet-bombing. If the necessary Mana is provided and a functional Gae Bolg is present, it can be used by any wielder. Only the curse to reverse Causality comes from Cu specifically and is something only he can use. Hope this clarifies a bit ^^
Without any further ado, let us get to it!
Disclaimer: All rights go to their respective creators, and even thought some of the new Servants for this story do not exist within the Nasuverse and are my own creative imput, i still reject all rights and grant them to Type-moon.
Shirou's eyes were wide as he stared at the massive arrow, formed entirely out of the concentrated energy shaped by an entire planet, if his eyes did not betray him. He could feel the raw concentration of Mana so densely that it was vibrating his bones and choking his throat. He felt as if he was at the deepest point in the ocean, pressured, drowning, dying just from being near this thing. "What kind of thick mana-concentration is this!? This thing feels out of this world... It feels just like when I first saw that strange weapon Gilgamesh used... Ea..."
"That face of despair is all I need to know-" Gwydion said, moving his right arm to form a Finger-gun, pointed right at Shirou. "-that you don't have the means to evade or defend against this. So with all due respect: Die"
He was right. Shirou had nothing to defend himself with against something this densely concentrated and potent. If he can't evade the blast radius or escape it, death was certain.
But it was too late to react, as the Projectile then fired itself, accelerating at blinding speeds towards Shirou.
Shirou was ready to try and use Rho Aias in a desperate attempt to block this, but he never got to the chance to try. Rider of Red, Achilles, descended with his Chariot right between Shirou and the incoming projectile and whipped out his Shield, the Aegis that Hephaestus gave by order of his mother, Thetis.
"Akhilleus Kosmos!" He shouted, and the Shield dissolved itself before spreading out in a very wide arc, creating a Spheric World, a Reality Marble which absorbed the Projectile fired by Gwydion into itself, fusing itself together until the energy released had shrunken enough where it could shatter without harm, causing a rather beautiful sight in the sky in the form of a star-shower.
"Sorry for getting to you so late, Emiya Shirou." Achilles said in a very proud voice. "But you know how things work with us heroes. We only ever arrive in the nick of time."
Gwydion looked up, not in fury or shock, but slight awe and even chuckled out for a lengthy moment before he clapped his hands together. "Oh wow, who would of thought that you could defend against something like this? You sure are impressive, O Great Hero of Troy."
"You ain't a joke yourself, Caster of Black." Achilles responded while he got off the Chariot and drew his spear, said Chariot disappearing into a few particles, then into nothingness. "You said something very interesting that I wanted to clarify. You said that every flower comes from a form of Divinity, correct?"
"Oh yes, seems like we have a very attendive listener." Gwydion mockingly agreed before softening his expression, slowly growing more serious.
"In that case..." Achilles responded before he walked slightly closer. "I know the name of your Noble Phantasm."
Hearing this, Gwydion's expression suddenly turned very sour and angry and he swung his hands forward, sending a deep red type of Tulipes towards Achilles, who started to cut them apart one by one while using his immense speed to his advantage to stay out of range.
"Seems like I hit a nerve, didn't I?" He teased slightly while he sped up a little to keep up with the flowers. "Of course you would want to keep it a secret. After all, the very existence of that Noble Phantasm is the very definition of Sin on Earth."
"SILENCE!" Gwydion angrily roared before his flowers suddenly became as sharp as blades and soared towards Achilles with blinding speed. Speed only he could match due to his legend, avoiding the deadly projectiles all at once, deflecting those that were directly in his way as he steadily advanced towards Gwydion.
"Your Noble Phantasm-!" He roared before he lept up and aimed the tip of his spear against Gwydion, descending towards him only to have his lunge blocked by Gwydion forming a sword into his own hands to block the attack and push Achilles back, who continued speaking when he landed. "-Is the first Rose of Gaia! The Mother-bloom!"
Gwydion's expression became extremely pissed at the revelation and he balled his fists together, gritting his teeth to a point where it looked like he could file them off by grinding them against one another. "Now you did it, Great Hero of Troy!" He cursed out with a venomous voice before his flowers started to grow very rapidly, spreading out in all directions.
Achilles knew that there was only one thing he could do to evade such a widespread attack. He tossed his spear high up into the Air, letting it harmlessly land a few meters behind Gwydion. "Diatrekhon Aster Lonkhe!" He then announced, causing the world around him and Gwydion to suddenly turn Negative-filtered in terms of Colours. Everything except for the two of them had all their colours reversed and Time went at a complete standstill.
Gwydion hadn't anticipated this and he glanced around for a moment, wondering why his flowers were not moving.
"Welcome to a world of fair challenge." Achilles announced, waving at Gwydion to come at him while taking an offensive combat stance.
"What is this? Some kind of Reality Marble?"
"Precisely" Achilles confirmed while giving a toothy grin. "In this world, the concept of Luck and Divinity does not exist, neither one of us is immortal nor invulnerable. Noble Phantasms cannot activate in here and no third person can interfere. It is the ultimate Arena where only one's own prowess may prevail. And seeing as you are a Caster, you naturally are not a fighter and are at a severe disadvantage as a result."
"Hmpf." Was all Gwydion responded with before he reached with his hands for the hemm of his Robe and dropped it by unbuttoning the tie on it's collar, revealing a comfortable set of pants underneath him, but his upper body was exposed. The thing that immediately caught Achilles' attention was that there was a Rose literally growing out of Gwydion's chest.
"There it is. The first Rose of Gaia. The first flower she ever bestowed upon the mortal Realms, said to be the divine symbol of life, death and rebirth. I was wondering where on yourself you kept it. For all we know, it could have been up your-"
"Shut your mouth, you cantankerous hound." Gwydion interjected before he cracked his neck slightly and took an offensive combat stance himself. "I am not so defenseless in close combat. As you would probably know, I bested the Demetian king, Pryderi, in single combat. And contrary to what the history books say, I didn't use any magic or enchantments at all against him."
"Then let us SEE!" Achilles roared his last word out as he soared with lightning speed at Gwydion, which lead to them both extending their fists for a harsh strike, knuckle meeting knuckle and creating a small shockwave of air from the force of impact. Both of them gritting their teeth in slight pain.
Achilles immediately retaliated by moving his fists along and exactly besides Gwydions as he swung forward, blocking the Caster's attacks by pushing his arms out, which consequently left his torso exposed. Achilles lifted his right leg for a kick, but Gwydion blocked with his elbow, which lead to Achilles using the mage's arm as a support to kick himself in the air and perform a backflip kick straight into Gwydion's chin, causing him to stumble back a few steps. Achilles gave no room to breathe and while Caster of Black was stumbling still, the Greek Hero reached with his hands for his enemy's head with both hands, pulling it down while his knee ascended to meet his face. shooting Gwydion's visage up once again, his nose bloody. But Achilles still didn't relent, attacking his opponent with ruthless brutality, swinging at his face with every one of his punches. At one point, he heard a particularily nasty crack, indicating that Gwydion's jaw was broken.
The Mage had to endure this beating for a lengthy time, almost 20 seconds without the ability to retaliate. Then, Achilles slipped, he aimed for a hook from the side with a large wind-up, a power-attack, to which Gwydion responded to by ducking down and performing a split, firing his hand forward and punching Achilles straight into his Golden Jewels, causing a very, very painful yelp from the green-haired Rider, who stumbled back in result to the great pain felt, holding his groin with both hands before falling to his knees, eyes wide and head tilted back while he was taking very deep breaths to try and recover from this hit. "O... O gods..." He moaned out in pure pain. It took him a couple more seconds before he managed to bite through the pain enough to get up, and the massive increase in Adrenaline probably helped as well.
The two of them both only got slowly up on their feet, Gwydion getting up first, followed by Achilles a few seconds later. Both of them had a completely serious expression, being dead silent for the moment, both slowly assuming their combat stance once more. After another moment of silence, they engaged into one another again, both punching each other's torso at the same time, causing them both to cough out for a moment. Then, they both swung at each other's faces, both hitting the opposite's respective T-zone in their face, causing them to stumble back and fall on their backs again. However, this time they recovered faster than before and were on their feet to resume the beatdown once more. Achilles balled his fist tightly and he took a step forward and struck Gwydion straight into his Solarplexus, causing him to take a few steps back again, gripping his stomach and coughing out some blood.
Achilles took his steps forward to retaliate and gave Gwydion a harsh punch to the face, causing him to fly back this time.
The Mage struggled, but he got up eventually, standing up and taking the typical combat stance with both hands in front of him, balled into a fist, his face looking bloody by now due to several wounds, cuts, broken nose, blown-up lip and other injuries.
"This is it!" Achilles roared as he then dashed forward, leaping into the air for a very large wind-up attack with his left fist.
But Gwydion was prepared. He had intentionally and strategically allowed Achilles to attack him and lure their position to a specific point without Achilles noticing, being where his spear was. So Gwydion turned around, gripped the spear and lifted it off the ground, growling loudly as he lunged it forward to intercept Achilles' own jump, piercing the Greek Hero's abdomen with it. "DIE!" Gwydion roared in rage as he pushed the Spear straight through Rider of Red's stomach, causing him to cough up blood in the process.
"Ugh... you... bastard!" Achilles cursed before he reached with one hand forward to grip Gwydion's shoulder and pull him closer. Then, with his other hand, he struck with an open palm strike into the Mage's throat with all his might, destroying his thyroid and crushing his windpipe, causing Gwydion to immediately and loudly choke, letting the spear and Achilles go to hold his own throat in pain, unable to breathe, making very loud gag noises as a result.
Due to both combatants facing death, Diatrekhon Aster Lonkhe deactivated and returned them both to the Real World.
To everyone else, everything literally happened in the blink of an eye. In one second, Achilles and Gwydion stood tall with Achilles' spear having been tossed, and in the next second, Achilles is on his knees with his spear in his stomach and Gwydion is choking from his own Adam's Apple.
"Rider!" Shirou screamed out as he approached the green-haired Hero and knelt besides him. "Rider, what happened!?"
"Cheap bastard..." Achilles cursed out as he gripped his spear with one hand and tried to pull it out, which only resulted in more blood gushing out of his wound.
"Don't move!" Shirou instructed before placing one hand against Achilles' abdomen to try and use Avalon to heal the Greek Hero. But Achilles only slapped his hand away and shook his head slowly.
"I took out the enemy's strongest... That's enough from me, you know?" Achilles almost mused from the tone of his voice, his smile growing slightly bigger as he glanced up at the dying Gwydion, and slowly began to close his eyes. When he did, he remembered a part of his past, a particular point that would forever shape him.
Achilles stood on a dusty, barren field, the outside to a large city, surrounded by walls to protect it. Troy... the city at the center of this War. And before him stood an all too familiar, brown-haired, slightly aged male with a large javelin in his hand.
"Hector..." Achilles growled out, filled with nothing but rage and anguish at his opposite.
"At last, our long anticipated fight, Achilles. I take it you have Diatrekhon with you? You know I won't fight you if you cheat." Hector commented, his smug smirk never leaving his face.
"Yeah..." Achilles said, taking his spear from his back to demonstrate it. "I just have one question before I reduce you to a bloody corpse."
Hector's attention had been returned to the green-haired adversary of his and he hummed for a moment before he stroked his chin while nodding. "Ask away, Achilles."
"Patroclus..." He began, causing Hector to go silent and raise an eyebrow. "Did he... fight well? Was his death heroic?"
Hector let out a slight sigh before he softened his smug smile a little before he took his stance. "He fought valiantly. He died with a smile on his face. Maybe not heroic, but definetly without regrets."
Achilles closed his eyes and shed a single tear from his right eye, nodding to himself before he took his stance.
"Shirou..." he spoke, a much weaker voice escaping his throat this time. "Was I... Heroic?"
Shirou's expression changed from worry to shock, but he quickly understood and slowly nodded while looking as serious as he could be. "The most heroic of them all..."
"Good... that means... no regrets... this... on...ce..." he spoke, his last words before he disappeared, turning into slightly bright particles of mana, then to complete nothingness.
Shirou closed his eyes for a moment and placed his right hand over where his heart was, giving a moment of respect to Achilles, as he got the impression that this was the Greek Hero's last wish.
"GRAAAH!"
The painful cry of Gwydion suddenly caught everyone's attention, turning back towards him. The Rose on his chest started to wilt and die, its petals falling off one by one until it was completely gone from his chest. When it did, he took a deep breath and got up on his feet, the injuries on his chest and face completely healed. "BE CURSED! ACHILLES OF TROY!" He roared out before he suddenly waved his left hand in a small circle, flowers surrounding him before they dissipated, and he was gone.
"DAMNIT!" Gordes cursed as he caught up with Mordred and Artoria, panting loudly due to him not being used to running so much, for obvious reasons. "Caster of Black survived and retreated, probably back to the Castle..."
As if things couldn't get worse for the Red Faction, a very loud roar emerged all of a sudden, a roar they all knew very well now. Heracles. It was followed by a loud and explosive crash from the Berserker of Red's heavy body hitting the ground at full force, causing a lengthy crater as he slid along the ground until he hit one of the cars belonging to the Yggdmillennia, which made him come to a full stop, but not before tilting the car 90° and damaging its flank with the impact, making it useless.
Then, in a second crash, Berserker of Black landed right before him, the ground cratered once more due to the force of her landing. The first and immediate thing that stuck out is that her right hand was changed. The chain that previous wrapped around her Blade was now wrapped around her arm, drawing blood from how tightly it choked her flesh. The Runes were glowing a much brighter, darker and more ominous blue and her eyes had the exact same colour.
"You were a fool to challenge me, Berserker of Red. You should know your superiors!" She roared before she swung her blade at his neck, slicing his head clean off. "That's Life number 8!" She said with some rather worrysome excitement in her voice before she leapt back and allowed Heracles to regenerate himself and return to life once more, but he was down to only 4 lives left due to their fight. But he was not intimidated by it, he never would be. He roared out as loud as ever before he charged into another attack against his enemy.
Lancer of Black suddenly perked up with interest as he heard Berserker of Black's comment against her opponent. "Large muscles, the pinnacle of a warrior... several lives... and this getup... It cannot be!" He thought in his mind before he clanked his spear against his shield and advanced forward. "Berserker of Black, Halt your advances at once!"
The Viking Warrior suddenly stopped entirely at the command given and just looked towards Lancer of Black wtih a dumbfound expression. "What now, old man?
Lancer of Black approached Berserker of Red with an interested expression, taking a more detailed look at his adversary before he suddenly smiled to himself. "Darnic! I hereby formally declare... BY BETRAYAL!"
Darnic Prestone was, needlessly said, extremely angry at hearing those words. "What did you say!?" He said before he gripped his fist tightly, ready to use his Command Seal.
"You heard me!" Lancer of Black spoke before he gave Heracles a knowing grin. "I am King Leonidas I of Sparta, a Country praised by Ares, the God of War! And this man before me is my direct ancestor by blood, Heracles of Greece! My loyalty belongs to my people first and foremost, and Heracles is my people!" He announced, clanking his spear against his shield once more, causing the large brute to roar out very loudly, invigorated by new spirit due to Lancer of Black's charisma.
"That's it! First Saber and her Master, and now you too!? By my Command Seal, I order you!: Kill everyone!"
Leonidas' expression soured for a bit but he let out a sigh. "Sorry, O great Heracles. It seems I won't be joining you after all."
The fights quickly began to pick up a pace suddenly as Mordred and Artoria returned to the scene, attacking Berserker of Black from both sides to support Heracles, trying to corner their enemy down. Berserker of Black responded to the two-sided assault from the 'Father-Son' duo by blocking Mordred's Clarent with her own blade and caught Artoria's Rhongomyniad with her bare hands, her arms crossed over her chest. "Ho, 3v1? Now that's more of a fair fight for your side!" She announced before releasing a powerful Shockwave, forcing the pair back and away from her. This loophole in her defence was used by Heracles, who dashed straight into her and delivered a kick to her abdomen, sending her flying back into the nearby forest.
Leonidas meanwhile was being approached by Shirou, who seemed to have recovered himself by now. The Spartan King stared at his adversary, confidence written all over his eyes. The two of them shared great amount of respect for one another, for they could see that their opposite was someone who had worked their way to where they were by sheer hard work and unyielding force of will. Leonidas and Shirou saw themselves in the respective other, and as such, no words needed to be exchanged between them.
Shirou decided to fight Leonidas on even ground, analyzing the compounds of his weapons and projecting them accordingly, creating a golden, Spartan shield and Spear in his left and right hand respectively.
The two of them shared one more moment of silence for one another before both dashed at each others, their shields clashing in the middle. At first, they seemed evenly matched, but Leonidas was physically much stronger than Shirou, so the shorter redhead got pushed back bit by bit until Leonidas bashed his shield against Shirou's, staggering him before aiming at Shirou's leg with his spear, which the Projection-magus reflected by reaching his own spear down, the tips of the two weapons clashing dangerously close to the shorter male's toes. Shirou deflected Leonidas' spear outwards before he bashed their shields back together, this time he had the momentum where Leonidas stood still, allowing him to force the Spartan King back with a counter-attack.
"Excellent form, Master of Lancer!" Leonidas complimented before he suddenly switched his footwork and used his shield as a weapon, aiming its corners like a blade against Shirou, who saw the attack coming barely fast enough to react by shifting his shield to counter the attack alike, causing a loud CLANK to echo throughout the immediate vicinity. Leonidas used his spear to aim for the underside of Shirou's shield, shooting it upwards while rotating his body clockwise to windup with his own shield for a combo-attack, jabbing its edge against Shirou's now exposed chest and sending him flying back a few steps. "However, while you may possess great talent and learn fast, you are still inexperienced, you only tasted Combat a few, select times. This shall be your learning experience, Master of Lancer!"
Shirou coughed up in pain before he quickly got back up on his feet and nodded. "Understood, King Leonidas! You may call me Shirou! Emiya Shirou!"
"A good, strong Name, EMIYA!" Leonidas roared in a warcry before he mad-dashed towards Shirou, who tossed his spear and Shield away and projected a reinforced Armguard with a thick Gauntlet onto his right arm, swinging it forward to hit Leonidas, who blocked it with his shield, but not without feeling a harsh amount of force impact into the shield, causing him to grit his teeth. Shirou used his free hand to slap the shield away and fly-kicked the Spartan King away. Soon as Leonidas landed on his back, he crouched down and used his shield for protection because Emiya projected a Bow and fired a few arrows at Leonidas. "Good creativity! You use your strengths to various, liberal ingenuity! But you lack proper timing!"
With Leonidas' lecture given, he rolled forward and changed his positioning, slowly approaching Shirou from his crouched position, who kept firing arrows to try and keep Leonidas pinned. During one of the moments when Shirou had to project another arrow to 'reload', Leonidas immediately made a leaping roll forward and kicked the bow out of Shirou's hands, who rotated around his axis with the momentum of the kick and projected a small, one handed cross bow in his other hand, firing 3 bolts from upclose, all blocked by Leonidas' shield once again while circling Shirou for a moment, then leapt upwards, covering himself with the shield before rotating counter-clockwise at the last second for a punch against Shirou's face, which connected. Shirou recovered from the hit and used his left arm to catch the Shield by its edge, blocking Leonidas' incoming uppercut from below, then retracted and swung his right arm again to punch Leonidas in his cheek. Following this motion, Shirou gripped the shield with both hands and steered it clockwise to try and use circular momentum to disarm Leonidas from it, who narrowly avoided it by leaping up and rotating his body along with the shield. Shirou then let go of it to aim another punch to the Spartan's chest, but he countered with his own fist for a knuckle-clash, before using the rotation of his upper body to hit Shirou's chest again with the shield, then with his free fist, then heelkicked him in his diaphragm, causing the shorter redhead to leap back to absorb some of the impact force and gain distance from Leonidas.
"Your Martial Art is worthy of praise. But you only use basics. You lack finesse, specialization and a style to call your own!" Leonidas critiqued once more, causing Shirou to grin slightly as he received more pointers to learn from. To him, this was exactly what it looks like, both fighters fighting to the death, but making full use of it, Leonidas lecturing Shirou on how to improve himself and Shirou then doing just that. Even when under a Command Seal's influence, Leonidas preserved his creative freedom within his fights.
Shirou dropped the gauntlet from his left arm and projected Kanshou into his right one, dashing towards Leonidas again, who threw his shield with surprising strength, only narrowly missing Emiya because he leaned his upper body back to let the Shield fly right over him. Shirou and Leonidas clashed yet again, Shirou trying to stab his enemy with holding Kanshou back-handed and using his other arm to lure out Leonidas' blocks, who however seemed prepared for the shorter man's every move and countered with flawless perfection. Shirou began to improvise, lunging a backhand stab from above, which Leonidas blocked by putting his wrist against Emiya's arm, only for the Projection-magus to drop Kanshou and capture it with his other hand, slashing at Leonidas' abdomen and very narrowly missing, thanks to the Spartan's experienced reflexes. But their Onslaught did not end there. Shirou continued to swing at Leonidas with his left hand, tossing Kanshou up to catch it with his right hand and resume the backhand stabs from a raised angle, all of which Leonidas had to either dodge or block, while gradually adapting to the weapon-swapping style. When he saw a hole in Shirou's movement, he used it and captured Kanshou with his own right hand, then used the momentum of the movement to slash Shirou across the chest with it. While the wound Shirou suffered was not deep and did not draw much blood, the problem was that it took his attention away from his enemy, who followed by leaping up, rotating around himself and delivered a powerful aerial backwards kick into Shirou's face, causing him to be thrown back for the third time by Leonidas' efforts.
"Good!" Leonidas cheered at his adversary, who was getting better by the second and caused the Spartan King to feel some pride as a defacto-treacherous mentor. "Adaptation, Improvisation. But your weakness is not your technique."
Shirou registered the Spartan's words and quickly got up to his feet again, preparing for another go at the enemy. Leonidas and Shirou both took a combat stance and leapt at one another yet again.
This time, their fight was purely hand to hand.
Shirou went for a right hook against Leonidas, who blocked by pushing Shirou's arm leftwards to expose his back, but Shirou retorted by a backhand-fist attack, which Leonidas blocked again before going for a kick against Shirou's semi-exposed back, causing him to inch forward from the hit before he used his right foot for a sideway-kick, which Leonidas caught with his left arm as he rotated clock-wise around the attack and used his right hand for a backhand strike, which Shirou seemingly avoided by leaning back, but Leonidas' hand circled back and hit Shirou straight in the chest. The Spartan then used this to his advantage, gripping Shirou's shirt and lifting him up for an overhead throw, slamming the shorter man's back against the ground. Without wasting a moment, and refusing to react to the pain, Shirou rolled away from Leonidas to avoid a stomping kick which cratered the ground very slightly from its sheer force of impact. Right afterwards, Shirou went into his opponent again with a high kick, which Leonidas ducked under to avoid before he used the mis-positioning of Emiya to get behind him and get him in a Sleeper Hold.
"I have you now! You learn fast, but not fast enough!" Leonidas commented while his chokehold tightened by the second to take all of Shirou's air away. Shirou had to act quick, so he lifted both legs up and swung them down with both his weight and force of momentum, causing Leonidas to lean forward due to the movement. With Leonidas' legs off the ground, Shirou kicked himself backwards, tackling the Spartan with his shoulderblades to the ground, the impact causing Leonidas to let go of Shirou for just a second, but enough for the magus to roll out of it and gain some distance. Once Leonidas was back up on his feet, he simply stretched his shoulders a bit before he spoke. "Good! Excellent escape from my Lock!"
Leonidas then dashed into Shirou to aim for a low kick, which Shirou evaded by lifting his foot and used the movement for a leaping punch while also switching his legs so that his right foot was forward, which Leonidas blocked before he then kicked with his other leg, catching the knee of Shirou's left leg currently on the ground, destablizing Shirou's stance and causing him to tilt to his right. Leonidas went with the movement and roundhouse-kicked Shirou's face from the left, causing him to stumble back while also rotating along due to the kick. Leonidas closed the gap with a flying heelkick, which Shirou only barely blocked, but with a bad maneuver, causing his right wrist to get hurt as a result. Leonidas noticed and followed up with a barrage of fast punches, forcing Shirou to block with his right wrist as much as he possibly could to create a hole in his defence. When one was made, Leonidas wound up for a strong, right hook, causing Shirou to yet again rotate clockwise from the sheer force of impact. Dazed from all the hits Shirou took, his vision turned slightly blurry and his guard was laughable now, so Leonidas went for the finishing attack and wound up with his right foot, striking Shirou's left temple right above his ear with full, unchecked, ruthless force, causing Shirou to suffer a severe discombobulation as well as fly back a few meters, rotating around himself before he landed on his back again, knocked out from the looks of it.
While all this was happening, Artoria caught up at the last moment with the two after Mordred assured her she could handle the enemy with Heracles. So when she returned to the scenery, she saw Shirou, knocked out on the ground, bleeding slightly from his face and severely bruised on every visible part of his face.
And all she could do was assume the worst, pain and grief immediately overcoming her to the most extreme, voiced only by one, single cry. "SHIROOUUUUUU!"
Shirou's eyes shot wide open and he took a very deep breath, feeling like he held it in within himself forever. As one breath came, so did another, and another, and his breathing slowly began to work again, from a labored breath to a steady one, from a fast pace to a calm one. Bit by bit, Shirou calmed himself down. As he glanced around, he saw the battlefield on which he was just suffering a major beatdown by Leonidas, who bested him in every form of combat before brutally Knocking him Out. But when Shirou glanced around, he could still see all the occupants around him, yet they were all frozen solid. Leonidas, Artoria, Darnic, the two Yggdmillennia children Fiore and Caules, Roche, and in the far distance, he could also see Heracles, Mordred and the enemy Berserker of Black, and a bit further back, he even spotted Gordes.
But none of that creeped him out as much as when he looked right beneath his feet and he saw his own knocked out body on the ground. He immediately stepped back and gasped out in fear, assuming the worst. "Am I dead?"
"Oh, Thee suff'r'd some heavy trauma, but thou art alive, yond much I guaranteeth."
Shirou turned around to hear where this voice came from, and he saw a figure he had never seen before.
The person who spoke to him was Male, very, very tall, at least 9 feet from the looks of it. They were topless and only wore a knee-long gown to cover their legs, which split apart into two round edges about down the middle of it's length. This person had very long, blonde hair, red eyes, and meticulous, deep red markings tracing along their bodies, specifically, circles created at the palms, feet, the belly, the heart and the forehead, which were all connected by a single line, with the exception of the head, where the circle was connected to two lines going down the outer edges of this person's face, reconnecting to one line at the throat before it lined towards the circle at the Heart. Their expression was very soft and gentle, but that was almost not to be noticed with their beyond daunting presence.
"Uh... Who... are you?" Shirou nervously asked this figure, feeling a bit defensive now.
"Anon yond is hurtful, thee doth not coequal rememb'r mine own voice?"
"Sorry, but I barely understand what you are saying now..." Shirou retorted without even a single second of hesitation, his response coming out like a damn bullet, which caused the tall figure to sweatdrop slightly.
They coughed some before they spoke again. "Would this be a better way of talking?"
"YES!" Shirou responded before catching himself, going as far as to slap his left cheek for a moment. "You haven't answered my question!"
"Indeed... interesting..." The figure responded. "That was faster than usually."
"Usually? What do you mean?" Shirou asked, getting increasingly frustrated by the second, glancing around again to make sure that the others were frozen indeed. "What is going on here? Why can you and I move, but everything else is frozen solid?"
"Because this is all happening inside of your head." The figure responded before closing the gap a bit, standing on the other side of Shirou's knocked out body on the ground. "As for who I am... you visited my temple not too long ago, the ziggurat which housed a fragment of my Essence that survived the decline of the Age of Gods."
"Your Temple-..." Then it dawned on Shirou and he took a step back in shock. "You're... you're..."
"The name is Nanna, Mesopotamian God of Wisdom, also known as En-zu. Pleased to meet you, my new Avatar of Knowledge."
"Hold up, Avatar?"
"Why, of course. For what other purpose do you think I tempted you to venture into the temple's treasury?" The Figure, having introduced themselves as Nanna, spoke, their voice remaining uncomfortably monotone throughout this entire exchange.
"I don't even know what is happening, how can you just decide that I am going to be your Avatar, whatever that is!?" Shirou retorted, his frustration hitting new levels. He didn't even know he could flip out like this, but then again, his buttons have been pushed quite a bit today. This is only the third time he was worried about dying, within a single damn Hour. That is a record he will never be able to break, but the sheer fact he got there in and off itself was already riding his patience up the palm tree, as they say.
"I will answer you in due time. There is a specific reason why I have appeared here, now, in this moment, when you are out of luck and helpless to save yourself. Take a look" he said before he stepped aside to no longer cover Shirou's visual range on Leonidas. "The Spartan King is only a few steps away from you, and he can break your neck long before your most beloved arrives to save you" He said before he then pointed up at the sky. "And the Hanging Gardens have not yet arrived, so Aerial support is not going to come." He continued before he then turned to the distance, where the two Berserkers and Mordred were duking it out. "And not even Heracles' supernatural physique could help him reach here in time. No matter how you look at this, unless YOU pull another miracle in the last second, you are dying. For good, this time."
Shirou gulped heavily as he heard Nanna explain. He wanted so badly to say he was wrong, that there was another way out, but he couldn't. Shirou's idealism survived his three years, but his blind naivete did not. He learned the hard way to see things a little more as they really were, and the consequence of that was that he could not deny Nanna's analysis of his predicament.
"Concordingly" Nanna resumed, their red, lifeless eyes returning to Shirou. "While your first question appears to be the most perdinent, you may or may not realize that it is also the most irrelevant."
"Why are you here?"
"As the Divine Aspect of Wisdom and the Moon, my structure within my people was a work of Art never before seen. My worshippers lead me with the loyalty and passion that not even Enki had seen beforehand. The blind devotion from said subject has granted me an Authority that has surpassed the limits of time, as is proof of my being here, within your conscience. Because I was able to survive the harsh and impatient flow of Time, my wisdom has sustained itself flawlessly, maintaining all knowledge without suffering the otherwise inevitable decline of age and the seeping loss of my memories, and as such, it has remained within a measure of control. Ergo, I will be able to provide you with any answers you want, regardless of how stupid or irrelevant your question may be, to which all you have to do is ask, and pay a certain tribute to me as well, as a sign of worship to a divine being."
"So, just to make sure I got this right. You are here to willingly lend me your help anytime, and all I have to do is pray to you?"
"Almost. I never said Pray, I said pay a tribute. This can come in many forms, thought I am much more benevolent and soft than the other deities, who can all, to put it adequatedly in your modern terminology, 'Suck a big one in Hell'. My prices may be steep, but they will be fair, and at all times, they will be affordable, all things considered."
"So you will be willing to help me out of this?"
"Indeed, if you are willing to pay the necessary tribute."
Shirou was not sure if he should. Whenever someone offered a Devil's deal like this, it was too good to be true. Something about this seemed incredibly wrong, a part of the plan that Shirou was blind to. Something he was missing. But, here was where he truly struggled with rejecting it. If he does, and Nanna decides not to help, he is dead. Literally. There is nothing stopping Leonidas from delivering the killing blow, forced to do so by the Command Seal, and he could not stop until his contract was fulfilled, which will only happen if all present Red Faction Servants and the currently present Master, being yours truly, are dead.
"Alright..." Shirou then said. "What do you want me to pay?"
"Your Memories."
"Ha?" Shirou confusedly asked, not having expected such a vague and riddled response. "What do you mean, my memories?"
"I mean what I said. You will sacrifice a part of your Memories, specifically, all memories about a single, certain person of your choice. It can be your father, Kiritsugu Emiya. It can be your classmate, Tohsaka Rin. It could be your old childhood crush, Sakura Matou. It can even be someone very distant, like Lancer from the 5th Grail War, Cu Chulainn. The price is all your memories about any one person you have met. You have the right to choose who you will forget. And yes, before you ask, this change is permanent and irreversible."
"DON'T SCREW WITH ME!" Shirou roared out in fury as he heard this response. "Forget one of the many people I met!? What kind of fucked up Tribute is that!? How is that fair at all, given ANY Circumstances?"
"It is, because you either forget someone, or you die." Nanna responded before suddenly turning very ominous, their face covered by a slight shadow, which illuminated his blood red eyes to make a faint glow. "In which case you irreversibly hurt and betray everyone you ever cared about. And that can also not be undone."
Shirou's reaction died off and he almost retracted himself, gulping for a moment and calming himself down before he resumed speaking. "But... why my Memories?"
"Because Memories are power. They are Knowledge, they are Inspiration, they are Influence, they are the source of Adaptation over lengthy amounts of Time. If you allow me to put it in a more modern terminology to accomadate your sensibilities: If a person's characteristics and mentality is the forged weapon within the Blacksmith's Shop, then a person's Memories are the fire within the Forge that molds the Metal into what it is. I may be the God of Wisdom, but ever since the Age of Gods came to a permanent decline, I have been unable to access new information despite prevailing throughout time. Memories are the source of all forms of knowledge I can access. Through them, I learn names, locations, grade of importances, cultural factors. Memories are the best teacher to an accumulator of All the World's Knowledge, such as myself."
"So... you want my Memories... because you are outdated?"
Nanna had to let out an offended scoff, followed by a comical pffff before he complained. "Hey now, don't go and offend the literal God on your Shoulder."
Shirou's expression turned more serious as he thought about it. "And it will be only one person's memories, no matter how little I know them?"
"You have my word. The Higher Mesopotamian deities cannot lie, to which I am one of. Even if I wanted to lie to you, i would have had to use half-truths and technicalities, and that would be just cheap. That is something I could see Nabu do. He was always a bootlicking sleezebag. Tch, Authors back then..."
"Alright..." Shirou responded, his expression betraying that he had made his decision after careful thinking. "Then... I will offer the Memories of... Luviagelita Edelfelt"
"Oh my." Nanna responded as he smiled slightly. "That blonde Rival of Rin? The one who has such an obvious crush on you that it is almost obnoxious?"
"Hold up, crush?"
Nanna just looked at Shirou with the most disappointed and let-down expression that was physically possible for a human face, so flabbergasted by the revelation that Shirou deadass never noticed.
"Hey, why are you looking at me like that!?" Shirou complained, much to Nanna's amusement.
"Very well." Nanna responded, setting the tone of the discussion back to seriosity one more time. "Once you close your eyes, you will wake up in your body again, and you will have the means to defeat Leonidas of Sparta. Since you paid a small tribute, the reward will also be accordingly small. But it should suffice to beat someone like him."
Shirou nodded, and as instructed, he closed his eyes and focused.
G
A
S
P
!
Shirou suddenly woke up, right after Artoria's cry for him ended, and he almost immediately flipped himself around to be on all fours, coughing up a lot of blood before he grunted at himself, clenching his teeth together.
"Ho, still got some spunk left?! You truly host the soul of a Spartan in you!" Leonidas complimented, clashing his knuckles into one anothers to prepare for another clash with Shirou.
"Shirou! Are you okay!?" Artoria shouted, feeling very worried about him.
Shirou just extended his right hand at her, signing 'Halt', assuring her that he was alright. Then, his fist shot up into the air, before he slowly turned it with his thumb struck out, signalizing a Thumbs Down for Leonidas.
As Leonidas slowly closed the gap and circled around Shirou to take position before him, the shorter redhead gripped his shirt and downright ripped it off himself clean along the middle before sliding it off, one sleeve, then the other. He then bundled his shirt together before tossing it aside, followed by balling his fists hard enough that his fingers cracked all by themselves, then pushed his fists downwards in sync with a strong and quick exhale. He took exactly 3 steps back and pointed at Leonidas for a short second before he lifted his hands up for a guard, arms horizontal and fists aimed at the Spartan King.
Artoria had to make eyes. She completely forgot the heat of battle for a second as she saw Shirou's exposed top. He had gained a few pounds in every positively imaginable manner. His muscles were very well defined, stacked pecs, powerful abs, a biceps with a thickness so optimal that Artoria could swear it passively exalted sexual energy. her words, not the Narrators.
Leonidas had to respect a man with such a well toned body. It was proof that Shirou had invested great amounts of energy, patience and hard work to get where he was. His Muscles were proof of his hard work, and that was not something to laugh at. He clashed his fists with his chest once before he took his own stance, the two men staring each others down silently.
Then, Leonidas went into the offensive. He first went with a right hook, which Emiya blocked, then with a left forward jab which was slapped aside. As Leonidas then went for a kick with his left foot, Shirou parried by kicking Leonidas' shin with his right heel, forcing his leg down again. Then, Shirou bent his upper body down below the guard of Leonidas' arms and made a quick one-two-three jab at his solarplexus, the third strike being parried by Leonidas' elbow, which Shirou responded to with a backhand strike with his right hand from above, which Leonidas blocked with his right hand, itching his head away from a sense of danger. He went up for another kick with his left hand, but Shirou slapped it aside with a palm strike from his right hand, using the momentum to rotate it outwards before using another palm strike to block the Spartan's jab at his face, countered with a left jab forward which Leonidas dodged by tilting his head aside and lifting his right arm up, denying access to the head from that side. Shirou made use of his exposed left flank by winding up a powerful hook into it, giving Leonidas a strong punch which turned his head for a second, but he immediately returned. Shirou didn't stop and gave a forward jab into the Spartan's chest.
Leonidas slapped both of Shirou's hands downwards before advancing with a forward jab, forcing Shirou to take a step back, using that step to turn around clock-wise on his axis and hit Leonidas with a backwards kick in his chest, causing him to cough out as he was forced back, the power of the kick visible by Leonidas' chest immediately bruising at the impact zone. Emiya's assault continued, he lifted his right leg for a fainted roundhouse kick to bait Leonidas' cover upwards, exposing his lower abdomen, which Shirou hit with a corrected sideway kick from the same right leg. Leonidas, forced to step back once more, growled out while Emiya went in with his left knee, kicking it into the Spartan's hips to force him further back. They had moved to the point where they were at the very entrance to the woods, Leonidas' back against a tree.
As Leonidas tried to return with an offensive, Shirou flawlessly blocked each fist attack aside. Leonidas, seeing that battle above was futile, went for a kick from below, but Shirou saw it coming and stomped on the Spartan's foot, harshly, so much so that the cracking of damaged bones could be heard, causing the Spartan King to groan in pain before he attacked using hooks. Shirou blocked the first, ducked under the second and caught the third, holding onto Leonidas' right arm. He lifted his wrist up and made an Elbow-uppercut into Leonidas' own elbow, destroying the joint from one direction. Quickly, then, he changed the hold to grip the Spartan's wrist with his own right hand, pulling it along his own right side so that Leonidas' shoulder was exposed, which received an elbow-uppercut from below as well, dislocating it with a very loud and nasty crack. Leonidas gave one more effort to attack with his left arm, the only useable arm right now, but Shirou slapped it away before he delivered 6 very fast jabs into his solarplexus, followed by gripping his left arm and using a third Elbow-uppercut to dislocate his other shoulder, now having both arms disabled.
With Leonidas functionally defenceless, Shirou went on an absolutely brutal barrage, hook after hook, jab after jab, giving Leonidas' face the probably most serious beating it has ever received in his life time. Even when his jaws broke, Shirou did not stop. Even when his cheekbones shattered inwards, hollowing his cheeks, Shirou did not stop. He continued on as long as Leonidas was anyhow conscious, keeping him in place by the stomping hold on his foot. However, even that hold couldn't keep Leonidas' body upright after that merciless onslaught, so Leonidas eventually began to tilt towards his left side, falling to the ground. But before he hit it, Shirou wound up one more full-power strike, hitting Leonidas straight in his neck from the side, the sheer force of impact damaging the spine with another audible crack, but it did not break completely.
Only now did Shirou seem to stop, panting very harshly as he looked down at his opponent with empty, lifeless, red eyes. He stood upright after that, stumbling back for a few steps before he reached his left hand out and began to project a very peculiarly shaped weapon. A Dagger which's blade was shaped like a lightning bolt. He closed the Gap between himself and the Spartan one more time before jabbing the tip into his chest.
"Rule Breaker" Shirou said in an unusually soft tone, activating the Item's Anti-thaurmaturgy Effect, severing Lancer of Black's connection to Darnic Prestone, rendering the Command Seal's order useless.
Then, Shirou fell on his own back, right next to Leonidas, completely knocked out.
I hope you have enjoyed the read. As always, please R&R if you liked it, and I will see you very soon with a new chapter!