Disclaimer: I do not own Fate Stay Night, Highschool DxD or anything else.
Fate: Devil Night
Chapter3: Counterfeit II
Human World
Japan: Fuyuki
Hyatt Hotel
Emiya Shirou sighed as he stood overlooking Shinto, the streets and dense urban area dimly lit before him. Leaning against the railing beside him was Ravel Phenex whom looked a lot better and less frazzled than she had when she'd come to him for help the previous night. Neither of them had seen Sakura or Taiga that day because the former had something to do with her grandfather and the latter was grading her class's essays so they couldn't stop by the Emiya Residence like they normally did.
That was fine by them…
It had taken all day but Shirou had managed to track down the 'Stray Magicians' called the Ainsworth family to a certain hotel in Shinto, one in which he had been to the previous night. He'd contacted some members of Fujimura Raiga's yakuza group and checked the local hotels for anyone coming into the city recently and renting out one of the more costly suits. Shirou knew that Magi from old family lines were rather wealthy and preferred only the best where they go so it didn't take long to locate them despite the fact that they were supposed to be hiding from the Mage's Association.
They were currently staying at the Hyatt Hotel…
"This is karma," Shirou muttered under his breath as he stared at the familiar building. "I just know it."
"Shirou?" Ravel asked curiously.
"It's nothing," Shirou shook his head and then nodded towards the hotel. "So what's the plan?"
They'd found them but what were they going to do with them? There were a number of options, they could call in Ravel's brothers to take care of it and be done with it. However doing that might catch the attention of other devils—or worse one of the other factions—so that wasn't really an option they could consider at the moment. Another option was for them to handle the Ainsworths themselves, but that carried with it its own risks.
In the end Ravel decided to on the third option…
"If we can sneak in and find my family's Phoenix Tears, we can take them back without anyone noticing. Then we can tell the Mage's Association where they are and just sit back and watch. How does that sound?" Ravel mused.
It was an interesting plan to say the least…
"It depends on if we can get a hold of the Phoenix Tears," Shirou nodded in agreement. "We'll need a distraction."
"A distraction?" Ravel asked him. "What did you have in mind?"
"Leave that to me," Shirou smiled as he turned away. "You just worry about getting those tears out of there."
It was a reckless plan, suicidal even, but it was the best one they had. The Ainsworths were expecting devils to come after them because of the stolen Phoenix Tears, they wouldn't be expecting a human to waltz right into the place where they were staying, not since the Enforcers of the Mage's Association didn't think that they had left Europe yet. There was also another reason that he wanted to go in and investigate the hotel of course, one that he hadn't told Ravel about.
Miyu…
He'd known that there was something strange about her, and he had tried to wrap his mind around it but couldn't come with an answer. After confirming that the Ainsworths were staying in the Hyatt Hotel, he knew that he had to see her again and find out if she was connected to them. There was something about her, something that he couldn't pin down, and he needed to know what it was. So here he was standing in front of the Hyatt Hotel ready to step inside and see what he could find.
He entered the hotel through the front door, bypassing the Bounded Field over it to detect intruders. His father had taught him how to get passed most of the ones that Magi used and that knowledge was coming in handy now. Originally Kiritsugu had taught him how to do it in order to try and rescue Illya and Chloe from the Einzberns but their castle in Germany was locked down tight. Still, the knowledge was useful to have, especially when infiltrating the territory of another Magus. He entered the hotel and instead of finding himself in the lobby like he had originally thought he would, he somehow found himself in one of the hotel rooms.
What the hell?
Shirou looked back at the way he'd come and saw that the doorway was rippling slightly. Was space distorted here? It must have been something to do with the Ainsworth's Magecraft Flash Air which from the reports he'd read substituted two different areas with each other. If that was the case then if he wanted to get to the top floor where the Ainsworths were, he'd have to go down to the basement. He opened the door to the hallway and stepped out, making sure to bypass the half a dozen Bounded Fields in the area before continuing.
He headed for the stairwell and then went down until he reached the basement floor. It was cold and wet down here but he didn't care, he pushed forward. Upon entering the basement proper he suddenly found himself on the ninth floor, one under where he had wanted to be. Aggravated that he wasn't on the right floor and anxious that he was getting close, he forcefully calmed himself as he proceeded onwards. He was just about to reach the stairwell again when he noticed the doors on this floor were glowing slightly.
They were glowing…
Was this—was this entire building the Ainsworth family's workshop? Idly bypassing the Bounded Fields on one of the doors, he entered and examined the room beyond. Instead of a master suit that he expected from such a luxurious hotel, there was instead a large pile of clearly magical artefacts scattered around the room. In the center of it all was a small stone pedestal with a lone card standing upright atop it and facing towards him. On it was the image of a knight wielding a bow and written under it in modern English was the word 'Archer.'
What was this?
Shirou approached it slowly, bypassing the many Bounded Fields in the room as he did so. He reached the pedestal and gazed down at the card situated upon it. The Bounded Fields protecting it were powerful and dangerous but they could be bypassed just like the others. His hand snatched the card up and he backed away a moment later. Looking down at the card he was confused as to what it was meant to be for, though judging by the vast number of artefacts around him, it was clearly magical in origin. He had just taken a couple of steps back towards the door when the air around him rippled and a golden chain suddenly wrapped around him.
"Found you," a female voice sang as a pair of figures appeared in front of him.
Shit, he let his guard down! Looking at the two he saw that they were indeed both women, one of which was wearing a black and white dress while the other wore golden armour. The chain holding him in place was connected a pair of ripples in the air beside the latter, her face set in a stern expression. Was this another application of Flash Air? No, this was different, and it was something that he recognized. After all he'd felt a similar aura from Avalon almost every second of every day since he had realised it was within him.
This chain was a Noble Phantasm…
Enkidu
One of King Gilgamesh's prized Noble Phantasms…
One that he'd named after his friend…
Or at least a good forgery, a counterfeit, one that was recently made and created using alchemy. Still, it had nothing on the real thing, of that he was certain. He didn't know why but the moment he'd seen it, he knew everything about it, from its forging process to its accumulated history. Had he used Structural Analysis on it subconsciously? He'd have to find out later, for now he had more pressing concerns, like surviving the night.
"So you're the intruder," the golden knight-girl said with a glare. "Julian-sama will want to see you."
"Why don't we rough him up a bit? Julian-sama will be pleased," the other girl laughed.
"No," the golden knight-girl spoke clearly. "Julian-sama will want to interrogate him himself, and wouldn't want him damaged just yet."
Shirou kept quiet knowing that they'd kill him the moment they thought he was a threat…
It wasn't long before the two Ainsworth girls dragged him through the hotel and 'up' to the top floor. Flash Air was based in alchemy however because of its versatile nature it seemed to be Magecraft that bordered on True Magic, specifically the Kaleidoscope because of its ability to warp certain areas like what had been done to the hotel. Upon reaching the top floor Shirou was brought into a large room which judging by the extensive collection of magical artefacts littering the room—much more than the one he'd previously seen—was clearly the Ainsworth's current workshop.
And in the center was a water filled glass cylinder with Miyu of all people floating within it…
"Miyu!" Shirou shouted but she merely stared back almost lifeless.
"She won't answer you," a male voice spoke from the side.
A pair of figures appeared at from the edge of his vision and walked out in front of the cylinder. One was a young man around Shirou's own age and the other was a little girl who looked like she was ten or ten years old. He recognized them immediately from the pictures he had been shown by Ravel before this had all started, these two were Julian and Erika Ainsworth, the heirs of the Ainsworth family. With the death of Zachary Ainsworth, one of these two was likely the new head of the Ainsworth family, and he was betting on Julian being the one since he was the older of the two.
This was his enemy…
"What have you done to her?" Shirou asked the question.
"I see no reason to tell you," Julian sneered at him. "You're in no position to be asking questions."
He was right, he was the one that was captured and being held in chains by the two girls at his sides. Now that he thought about it they were most likely homunculi of some sort created by the Ainsworths in a similar fashion to what the Einzbern had been doing since like the latter, the former specialized in alchemy too. Not to mention that the Ainsworths were a family of two now, not four. But if they were indeed homunculi then that meant Miyu probably was too, so why was she in the cylinder?
Unless she was 'special' in some way…
"Let her go," Shirou demanded.
His reply was a punch to the side of the face from the shorter homunculus-girl…
"Don't talk to Julian-sama like that," she glared angrily at him.
"Enough Beatrice," Julian ordered.
"Yes Julian-sama," she seemed to gush in response. "Whatever you say."
"With all due respect Julian-sama, he is clearly an intruder, perhaps it would be prudent to dispose of him now?" the knight-girl spoke up.
"Not yet Angelica," Julian responded as he turned his gaze back to the red-haired Emiya. "I have some questions for him."
"I won't tell you anything," Shirou glared up at him in defiance.
"Oh you will," Julian said calmly. "Now, who are you and why are you here?"
"Screw you," Shirou shot back.
"I have no time for games," Julian continued as he grabbed Shirou by the neck and held him up. "Who are you? Where did you come from? Why are you here? How did you slip passed my Bounded Fields? Who sent you?"
"Go to hell," Shirou gritted out only for Julian to hurl him across the room and into the scattered collection of artefacts.
"You will tell me what I want to know," Julian spoke simply as he motioned for Beatrice forward. "Otherwise you will die here."
He was going to die…
Here…
Alone…
No, Shirou refused to die without saving at least one life, Miyu and Ravel needed him after all. If he died here then what would become of them? Ravel and her family would be ruined, though they would likely be able to endure the humiliation they'd have to go through in the long run. Miyu on the other hand, whatever the Ainsworths had planned for her, they clearly didn't have her interests at heart if what he'd seen was any indication.
What he'd seen…
No…
It couldn't be…
He froze as his mind came to a stop and a sudden wave of dread hit him that had nothing to do with the psychotic bitch walking towards him intent on roughing him up some more. He'd seen the Ainsworth's storage 'downstairs' and the artefacts around him. Even the chain that was still restraining him was of their creation, a counterfeit created to try and match what came before. They were trying to recreate things from the old world such as Noble Phantasms…
And True Magic…
"You…" Shirou trailed off as he stared wide-eyed at Julian. "That's what this is about."
"What are you blathering on about?" Beatrice stopped and then glared at him while Julian narrowed his eyes behind her.
"You're trying to recreate things from the old world," Shirou spoke clearly. "And Miyu, she's your attempt at recreating the Holy Grail, isn't she?"
It made perfect sense, after all hadn't the Einzberns tried the same thing ten years ago with Kiritsugu's wife Irisviel? She'd been what they called a 'Lesser Grail' used to collect the souls of the fallen Heroic Spirits that had been summoned to fight in the Fourth Grail War as Servants and then used as the focal point to manifest the true Holy Grail. If the Ainsworths were planning on recreating a True Magic, then why not start by trying to recreate the Heaven's Feel?
The Holy Grail…
"Beatrice, eliminate him," Julian gave the order abruptly.
It seemed that by figuring out that much Julian wanted him silenced immediately…
"Of course Julian-sama," Beatrice smiled wickedly as she took out a card. This one was different than the 'Archer' card Shirou had picked up before, it had the picture of a beastly man on it and the word 'Berserker' written under it. "Install."
There was a flash of light as the card sank into her skin and her clothes changed into silver-like armour within seconds. Her muscles bulged and grew larger as the sleeve burst open. Her right hand opened and a large metal hammer seemed to materialize in it a second later. Shirou's eyes locked onto it and again he seemed to know everything about it down the date it was originally created. Like the chain it was a counterfeit, one that wouldn't hold up to the original but could do the job just the same.
It was still a Noble Phantasm…
Mjolnir
The hammer of Thor, the Norse God of Thunder and the son of Odin himself. That card she'd used—was it a copy of the Heroic Spirit Thor? But wasn't Thor a god? The hammer itself was a forgery, a counterfeit, but the moment that she had activated the card, her presence changed. No longer was she some mere homunculus but instead something else entire. Sweet lord, were they trying to recreate gods too? He didn't have much time to think about it because she slowly closed the distance between them and lifted her hammer up above his head, the metal cackling with sparks of lightning.
"Die," Beatrice smiled as she brought the hammer down on him.
An explosion of fire erupted from the floor under him, knocking Beatrice back in surprise and causing him to fall through the now open hole. He dropped down to the floor below where he landed beside a dishevelled looking Ravel who had her wings out and her hand outstretched upwards. Shirou gritted his teeth in pain as he pushed himself up, the golden chain no longer binding him having been retracted during his fall.
"That was a bit too close Ravel," Shirou told her.
"Quit complaining and let's get out of here!" Ravel shouted as she punched open a hole in the wall to the outside with her flame-covered fist.
"I won't let you escape!" Beatrice shouted after them.
Ravel didn't even both replying, she simply she grabbed Shirou's hand and flew them both out of the displaced hotel. Beatrice tried to pursue them but they'd already flown too far away by the time she'd reached a good vantage point to attack at long range. Thankfully it was night so no one was paying attention to the fiery winged devil and the red-haired Magus flying over Fuyuki city. Needless to say after taking a moment to make sure they weren't being followed, Ravel veered off to the side and started flying towards Miyama Town.
"Did you get the Phoenix Tears?" Shirou asked from where he was effectively hanging off of her.
"I was only able to locate half of them," Ravel answered bitterly. "The other half must be with them."
"You mean Julian and his sister," Shirou nodded in understanding.
Neither of them said anything else, not until they got home at least. This situation was getting more complicated by the second, and neither Shirou nor Ravel were really sure what to do next. The Ainsworths still had half the Phoenix Tears they'd stolen and Miyu was in danger as long as she was with them. Shirou wanted to save her—if only to find out why he wanted to save her so badly—and Ravel wanted her family's prized tears back. As they finally arrived home Shirou looked down at the card he clutched tightly in his free hand, the one he'd taken from the Ainsworths.
He idly wondered if he could use it like they could…
Emiya Shirou sat alone in his workshop on top of the magic circle staring down at the strange and clearly magical card that now lay in front of him. His legs were crossed under him and his hands were resting on his knees as his eyes focused on the card. As he did so, his mind wandered back to the night before when he and Ravel escaped the Ainsworths at the Hyatt Hotel. They'd been lucky, the Ainsworths could have easily killed him at any time and had only kept him alive after capturing him in order to interrogate him about who he was working for.
That wouldn't happen again…
They now knew that he was working with the devils and more specifically a member of the Phenex clan. They would no doubt be taking the appropriate precautions for dealing with him and Ravel when they faced them again. The good news was that his distraction allowed for Ravel to steal back half of the Phoenix Tears that the Ainsworths had stolen. The bad news was that the rest were still in their possession, so in the end Shirou and Ravel needed to go back and get them too.
Of course that wasn't the only reason he planned on facing them again…
Miyu…
There was something about her, something that drew him to her, something that compelled him to save her. She was familiar in a sense that he couldn't understand, but he knew almost on an instinctual level that he needed to save her no matter the cost. From what he had been able to piece together during their little skirmish last night, the Ainsworths were planning to use her to recreate the Holy Grail, the cursed object that his father destroyed ten years ago and the thing that merged the two worlds into one. He planned to visit Mount Enzou and the Greater Grail later to find out more but for now he had other things on his mind.
Shirou admitted even to himself that he was rather weak as a Magus, barely above a human really. He knew Reinforcement, Structural Analysis and Projection Magecraft as well as how to create Bounded Fields and a few other things, but that was all. He had no real offensive Magecraft at all, and that was hindering him now more than ever. There was no way he could save Miyu as he was now, not when his opponents were using Flash Air and goddamned Noble Phantasms, degraded though they were.
He needed an edge…
Something that he could use to help him save Miyu and protect Ravel…
And that's where the 'Archer' card came in…
He'd seen how the Ainsworth homunculi could use similar cards despite not carrying their bloodline and how they had wielded them. If this card had even a fraction of that kind of power then it was something Shirou wasn't going to pass up, not when it could help him stop them once and for all. They had used the incantation Install in English and judging by Beatrice's transformation, it had been almost instinctual. Even her presence had changed, and that was something that worried Shirou a bit.
Would it change him too?
He had to try at least…
"Install."
The command was simple and easy to say. Placing his hand on the card he took a deep breath and made the connection. His prana flooded his magic circuits and into the card causing the magic circle under him to shine bright blue. Energy pulsed out from the card as it sank into his body, his head suddenly pounding as a result. Thoughts that weren't his but still belonged to 'Emiya Shirou' flooded his mind, drowning him in a sea of death and destruction.
Atone for my sins?
Shirou cradled his head as the memory hit him…
I have no sins to atone for, nor have I forced such a meaningless concept on anyone.
What was this?
You can't save everyone…
He saw a knight with white hair clad in red…
That's right! I admired his desire to save people because it was beautiful! But none of that feeling is my own! What else can you call it but hypocrisy?! I was driven by my obsessive need to help someone, I kept running, neither noticing the pain nor how wrong it was! But it's all a fake, such hypocrisy cannot save anyone. No, first of all, I didn't even know what I wanted to save!
Was it wrong to want to save people?
Emiya Shirou! Understand, you are a maker, not a fighter. Do not think about other things, there is only one thing you can do, so master that one thing. Do not forget, what you must imagine is always that you yourself are the strongest. You do not need outside enemies, for you, the one you have to fight is none other than your own image.
That's right, there was only one thing he could really do, only one thing that made him who he was, he already knew that.
I don't know which path Emiya Shirou will choose, but if you are to deny everything you've done to save one person, the crime will definitely judge you.
The headache was gone now and Emiya Shirou's vision returned a moment later. He was still in his workshop only now he was lying across the floor, his body still shaking from the intensity of the memories that were not his own. Looking down at himself he saw that he was now dressed in red and black armour like the knight he'd seen. This card—it was that of a Heroic Spirit, one that had once been him, or at least another version of him, one that had made a contract with the collective unconsciousness of the human race in order to save people.
Counter Guardian EMIYA…
But Shirou wasn't him, the card may have held the man's knowledge but in the end they were both fundamentally different people. EMIYA wanted to save everyone and ultimately failed to accomplish that impossible dream. Shirou was different because he only wanted to save those closest to him, the ones that he was drawn to and cared for. That was the difference that set them apart, and Shirou couldn't help but be thankful that EMIYA's soul wasn't in the card because he would have probably ended up breaking under the strain of it.
Still, EMIYA's knowledge and power were engraved into the card though it was admittedly degraded. The man's soul and his Reality Marble weren't present so Shirou's own would fill the gap. EMIYA's ability—the one thing that all of his Magecraft revolved around—was the Unlimited Blade Works. Shirou had the same Reality Marble though he hadn't known that until the moment the card merged with him, and even then it still wasn't fully manifested yet.
He still had a long way to go…
His body is made out of swords
His blood is of iron and his heart of glass
He survived through countless battles
Not even once retreating
Not even once being understood
He was always alone
Intoxicated with victory in a hill of swords
Thus, his life has no meaning
That body was certainly made of out blades
Emiya Shirou had never wanted to hear the school bell ring so much in his entire life as he did the following day. As soon as Taiga dismissed the class he was already out the door and heading for the market district to pick up food and drinks for the week. He paid for what he could find and didn't bother with what he couldn't. He only cared about buying what they needed for today and getting home. After he got what he needed, he headed home and quickly made his way to the living room.
"You're back," Ravel spoke from the living room table. "Welcome home."
"How'd it go?" Shirou asked as he set down the groceries he'd picked up on the way back.
"I contacted my brother Ruval and handed over the Phoenix Tears we recovered to him. He's a lot less overprotective than the others so he's keeping things under wraps for now but he told me if it gets worse than he's going to intervene," Ravel answered with a shake of her head. "I swear, I'm sixteen and they still treat me like a kid sometimes."
Maou help her if she'd actually chosen to join her brother Riser's peerage instead of starting her own, they would have never let her out of their sight if she had. Still, while her family could be overbearing at times, she wouldn't trade them in for anything in the world. But right now that didn't matter, her family's future was on the line here and she wasn't going to fail. She was going to get the rest of the stolen Phoenix Tears back and incinerate anyone stupid enough to get in her way.
"I checked out the Greater Grail beneath Mount Enzou," Shirou said as he sat down opposite her. "It's starting up again."
"So it's starting," Ravel sighed as she rested her head in her hands. "What are we going to do?"
"We'll worry about it later," Shirou told her. "For now we need to worry about dealing with the Ainsworths."
"You're right," Ravel nodded in agreement. "They're after the Holy Grail too and that's something we can't let them get."
"Do you have any ideas on how to stop them?" Shirou asked the question.
"Only one," Ravel replied with a blush now staining her cheeks.
"What is it?" Shirou inquired further.
"I know a way for you to borrow some extra power from me," Ravel explained as she looked away from him. "You'll need it if we're going to have any chance of succeeding at all."
"Extra power?" Shirou blinked in confusion. "How?"
"By joining my peerage," Ravel answered.
Shirou froze for a moment at the request, likely being thrown out there as an offer for wanting to help her like did. She knew that he was committed to fighting for her and she didn't want to leave him to it without at least doing something. Becoming a devil—beings that were faster and stronger than humans in general—would be rather advantageous for him, especially with the kind of crazies that were running around these days.
But still…
To give up his humanity…
He steeled himself as he realised that if he wanted to save the people he cared about, he needed an edge. His Magecraft was untested in a real fight and he admitted that the amount of prana he would need to use the Archer card he had acquired would probably drain him dry within minutes. Not to mention that he still needed to find out exactly who and what Miyu was. She was clearly connected to him in some way and he wanted answers.
He'd already made his choice…
"I'll do it," Shirou nodded.
He'd just struck a deal with a devil…
Ravel smiled at that and slipped her hand into her pocket. After shuffling around for a few seconds she removed a small red chess piece from her pocket and motioned towards the magic circle in the center of the shed-workshop. Shirou wordlessly stood in the circle and it lit up with a dull red light as Ravel moved around it to stand in front of him. It took a few minutes trying different pieces but eventually Ravel decided on the 'Queen' piece.
"I, Ravel Phenex, do hereby claim Shirou Emiya, as my Queen," Ravel declared as she pressed the 'Queen' piece into him.
The moment the Evil Pieces sank into his skin, Avalon locked onto the foreign item which had begun to rebuild the redhead's body from the ground up. Shirou closed his eyes as the transformation took place and pain shot through his body. He could feel the Evil Pieces connect with his Magic Circuits, improving their quality considerably as Avalon almost seemed to accelerate the process. It wasn't long before the red light of the magic circle under him disappeared and bat-like wings erupted from his back, spreading out as they did so.
It was at that moment Emiya Shirou realised he was now a devil…
Author's Notes:
Here's chapter 3 and I hope you like it. As you can see Shirou now has the Archer-EMIYA card and has become a devil, specifically Ravel's queen. On the other hand the Ainsworths are expecting them now and had planned on using Miyu as their attempt at gaining the Holy Grail. For the record this is NOT a harem fic, and I mean that for not only Shirou but Issei too. I know that both series' are known for that (especially DxD) however that is not the case here.
Please Read and Review.
See Ya Later…