"Shirou no more leaving at night! Got it?!" Telling dad was a mistake, a big one.
I guess I understand where he's coming from, but not letting me fight also means more people are getting hurt, nonetheless I don't try to argue, he's mad right now and if I say what's in my mind he's only going to get madder.
Well at least he accepted Tobio's card, and according to him, the Grigori were the best support Longinus users could get as far as organizations go.
Better than the Clocktower at least, according to Albion they had his body down there, and because of it past users of the Divine Dividing and them clashed a lot, it was kind of annoying, every time I asked Albion he would flush red and ignore me.
So after I argued with dad, I left for my room, though there isn't much to do here other than stare at nothing.
To be honest, Tobio being here made me wonder why dad was even worried, is a Dead Apostle Ancestor that strong?
"Yes, the power gap between members tends to be big, some I would crush, some would give me a good fight, and some could kill me in a blink." Huh, wait what? Who just talked? "Me, congratulations, because of your crest you have reached a sufficient enough level to speak with me in the real world."
Nice, Albion definitely knew a lot, and so could teach me a lot. "Thanks, Albion."
"Don't go getting any ideas, the way you have reached this power is pathetic, I won't teach anything to a brat who doesn't deserve it."
"Wait, but I…" I got my powers from my crest, not hard work, I am barely above a normal human without it.
That is the truth, isn't it? Shirou Emiya has no power of his own, only his family's and Albion.
How pathetic.
Honestly I…
I want to get strong on my own.
It's only for a second, a flash, of something, a shape in red.
For some reason it made me feel better.
Enough moping, it's close to the time Tobio and I agreed to meet up, dad left again to go with Raiga, for some reason he doesn't want to work with Tobio right now.
Even me being the idiot I am realize it's probably about that thing Albion refused to tell me, but right now that didn't matter, I had to team up with Tobio, Divine Dividing worked especially well when it was multiple people against one.
Not exactly heroic, but a blood-sucking vampire didn't deserve a fair fight.
So with that, I leave through the window, I notice a new bounded field, one that has a weird magic surge once I pass through it, probably something of a warning for dad in case I left.
He will be disappointed with me, but right now I have bigger things to worry about.
Ugh, there is something in the air tonight, something that makes me feel sick, a smell, one that reminded me of honey, disgustingly sweet, it covers every direction so I can't track it.
Definitely not something natural, but I can ask Tobio about it, so I keep flying towards our meeting place.
Even so, the entire way I feel discomfort, I may not know much, but I know this.
It's tonight, the fate of this city will be decided tonight, I can only hope I'm ready.
Once I finally reach Tobio I notice another person, a blonde wearing priest clothing, but I try not to be rude and introduce myself. "Hey, Tobio…"
"Hey Shirou, glad you could make it, I have a guy to introduce you to." The black-haired Longinus said patting the back of the blond. "This guy is Dulio Gesualdo, another Longinus user, he's going to be helping us tonight."
Another one? Was there a sale on Longinus or something? "Pleasure to meet you, My name is Shirou E… Muramasa." Almost slipped there.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, still Muramasa? You're a hero descendant?"
"I guess, it's more like we are a magus family." Were its the more correct term, but he doesn't need to know that.
We make a little bit of small talk, but soon Tobio makes a serious face. "Have any of you noticed the smell in the city? It's driving Jin crazy." I nod, but Dulio only looked a bit confused, couldn't he smell it? It was putrid, and who was Jin anyway. "Oh, right you don't know., Jin is my Longinus, he is an avatar type so I named him." I guess he noticed my confusion.
An avatar type huh? Kiritsugu explained that they were rare, even among the countless normal Sacred Gear people barely ever saw them, it was pretty cool, to be honest, I wish I could just make Albion fight for me.
Then again if Albion ever got hurt that would make me feel bad, so maybe things are fine the way they are.
After a little awkward silence, Dulio finally asks about the smell. "Does this mean anything? Can you follow it Tobio?"
He shakes his head. "No, sorry but it's encompassing everything."
Dulio puts his hand on his chin, making a thinking face.
I feel kind of useless here, I can also smell it, but I definitely can't track it, and considering Albion is mad at me I doubt he's going to help us if he even can in this situation.
I've got to think of something, the big places of Fuyuki, somewhere where a Vampire would go, I still don't know what he's after, but if he's affecting the city then it has to be a place with good access to ley lines.
The church? No, considering the way Dulio is dressed I'm sure he would be the first place to know if it was being attacked.
The big families of the city? No, to be honest, I don't even know where they live and Kiritsugu just tell me to stay away from them, but surely they would have some sort of defensive measure we could notice?
The Ryuudou Temple? No… Actually yes, it's probably the best place for a magus to go, it does have a bunch of monks, so normally the Apostle would have been caught, but it's night and they stay in a mountain so he could probably enter there unseen.
And then kill everyone there…
My mind changes, like a switch, has just been flipped, my body tenses, throwing all useless thoughts away.
"He's at the Ryuudou temple, for sure." With that, I start rushing in the direction of the mountain, ignoring Tobio's and Dulio's requests to stop.
People are in danger, there is no time to waste.
As I make my way there one thought not related to battle does enter my mind, it's for a second, but I think. "Dulio and Tobio don't bat an eye at me fighting even though I'm so young, weird."
Ryuudou Temple is a weird place, it normally was a bounded field that prevents the passing of spirits, right now however it feels like the barrier prevents the passing of everything…
That's an Apostle Ancestor for you I guess, enough power to do something so unimaginable.
I rush at the field, trying to break it, but as expected my passage is not allowed, I could pass through the front gate, but he must have something even worse there since it's an obvious weak point.
I guess I will just divide the bounded field until I can break it.
'Divide' Albion's voice is heard from my wings as I begin, the power is crushing, more than my body can handle currently, and so I feel my wings dispersing most of it, troublesome, but I keep going.
'Divide' This time is even worse, pain starts flooding my body like I'm being stabbed in all parts of it.
'Divide' Crack, my body is cracking in half, I feel like my bones are cracking with my weight, and someone is pouring lava in my veins.
'Divide' I blackout for a second, the pain is unimaginable, this is certainly my limit, even I can recognize that if I try to use divide again I will die.
I fly back a little bit, and then fly forwards trying to break the barrier, I feel like my body is about to explode, but in compensation, I also feel the strongest I have ever been.
I hit the wall with a bang, but it doesn't even crack, it seems that the waste of power was too much.
I guess there is no choice, I'm going to have to use divide again…
I ready myself, maybe with Avalon, I can survive it? Yeah right, even I know that's not true, the only reason I got this far in the first place is because of Avalon.
But it's fine, I have to at least try if I don't then…
An explosion, not of fire, but of sound, of blade clashing against the flesh, the noise comes from the direction of the gate.
I fly there, it's dangerous, but I was about to do something almost certainly suicidal about a moment ago.
I reach the gate fast, the boost from the divide is still active, and there I see "them" Tobio and Dulio, already here, even though I flew.
I flew towards the top of the mountain, but they were only about a minute behind me? What are these guys?
They're fighting something, a monster, I can't call it anything else, It kind of resembles a bird, but to be honest, I don't know if I can call it that.
Fast, even though I'm about three times as strong as normal right now I can't even see it moving, a blur of speed fast enough to break the sound barrier.
Tobio is even faster, and before I can blink the thing is cut in half, and in that moment that I realize the corpses…
Hundreds of these monsters are dead on the ground, sliced, burned, frozen, the variety of death on this battlefield is making my head spin.
Seconds, the seconds I took flying to the front gate was enough for these guys to kill every single one of these monsters, and the vampire was supposed to be even stronger?
You know… I might be out of my league… By a lot.
"Hey Shirou, you could have at least given us some time before flying off." Hundreds. Dead. In seconds.
Tsk, snap out of it Tobio is talking to you. "Yeah, sorry."
Tobio waves off my apology, and by looking at him I realize another terrifying thing… There's not a single scratch on him. "It's fine Shirou, but since we're here might as well go Balance Breaker." Oh right, that thing… Which I can't do.
Oh boy… Tobio starts chanting something, I can't quite hear it, but it's something related to goblins or whatever, but Dulio interrupts him. "Hey, Tobio… Are you sure the kid being here is fine?
"Yeah man, he's got a Longinus so…"
The blond exorcist gives a frustrated shake of his head. "You have been doing too many missions with Vali." Who? "I mean, just look at the kid, he's bleeding."
Tobio looks at me and flinches like he just recognized he made a mistake, but what does Dulio mean by bleeding…
At that moment my switch flips back to normal and I notice… That my nose is bleeding, and so is my mouth, my eyes, my ears, my fingers, I'm bleeding in almost every place I can.
Pain, the pain finally reaches my mind, I have been forcing my body to do too much, it can't keep up with my will.
"Yeah, You're right Dulio, sorry Shirou, but you should turn back, for your good." Turn back? Just like that?
I haven't helped with anything so far, the Temple barely counted, anybody could have reached the same conclusion I did, so I can't turn back yet. "No, I can keep going." I just have to wait for Avalon to do its work, then I will be as good as new, the fact that it still hasn't healed me yet is worrisome, but it doesn't matter.
Tobio nods and just goes back to chanting, Dulio on the other hand looks worried, he sends a glare at Tobio. "Really man? We can't let the kid fight."
"If he says he can then he can, simple as that." Dulio makes an incredulous look at Dulio, but simply shakes his head and starts charging up magical energy.
I guess I'm going, after all, I already activated my circuits on the way here, so I don't have much preparation outside of just sitting down and regaining my breath a little, I immediately feel Avalon healing my body, makes me wonder how far I would have gotten with the gate without it.
As Tobio finishes his chanting and Dulio finishes gathering magical energy the bout shout. "Balance Breaker!" And I'm immediately put in my place again.
Both of them now radiate more magical energy than I can even comprehend, Tobio now turning himself into a massive werewolf-like being, while Jin becomes as big as a horse.
Dulio doesn't change much outside of his magical energy, but there is an aura surrounding him, one of tranquillity, like he has nothing to worry about.
To be honest with their current strength I doubt he has, a Balance Breaker tends to be a ten times boost, so with their strength at a base level being multiplied so much I just can't see any way for them to lose.
It's time, we ready ourselves and step inside the gate, right now the future of Fuyuki city will be decided!
Once we step in we notice the corpses, not every single one of them is a monk, there are also many dressed like common people.
All dead, every single one of them, but it's fine once we stop the vampire everything will be over.
Here we can actually track the scent of honey, it all leads to the center of the temple, where there is a ley line.
We are attacked by multiple beings, some of them are weak, enough that even I can handle, some are stronger, even stronger than those at the gate.
Tobio and Dulio massacre them, every single of them falls at the same speed, no matter how strong they all die in a blink.
I want that strength with it I could surely…
As get closer and closer to the place Tobio speaks up. "The plan is simple, Shirou you are a support, we can't use you at the frontlines without any defense, so attack from afar, once I got him in a hold you take the opportunity and divide him as many times as you can, even if you can't absorb the power, weakening him is still extremely important."
I nod, Avalon has already brought me back to full strength, so I can probably do it at least once, no seeing all the death this guy caused I know I have to do it even if it kills me.
Tobio now looks at Dulio. "You stay in the back, feel free to take potshots at Blackmore, but remember your main mission is to kill his familiars." Dulio gives him a cocky smile and a thumbs up.
It's kind of unbelievable, three Longinus users against a vampire, the sort of thing that only happens in hero movies, a smile creeps up to my face.
I'm here, at the thick of it, it's all I want, with this I can save people, I can…
I remember the dead bodies and my smile leaves my face, this is sick, it shouldn't make me happy… But still I…
Dammit, I can leave the deep thinking for later! I have an Apostle to kill!
Once we reach the center we find a powerful bounded field, but Tobio turns Jin into a massive black sword and cuts right through it.
And there he is Blackmore, if all the creatures we saw before are abominations then he is the opposite, it's hard to describe him, he may be a bird and man, but it just feels right.
Almost better than a human.
He doesn't even notice us, instead messing with some magic circles like we don't even exist.
Tobio takes this opportunity, he appears in front of Blackmore in an instant, he doesn't even move, he's simply there like he suddenly just appeared in his shadow.
A mighty swing, one that I'm sure could tear down a building, it cleaves Blackmore in two.
At least that's what should have happened, but instead, he simply disappears and appears a little away from Tobio as he teleported.
That should not be a thing, teleportation should be impossible, Tobio I could accept, Longinus were something from Alaya and could sometimes even mimic True Magic, but something like that shouldn't be done by some vampire.
Dulio smirks, hundreds of massive bubbles fly off, all of them aimed at familiars I hadn't even seen before, they encapsulate them, some die, others instead turn around and attack other familiars, chuckling Dulio says. "Teleportation Blackmore? I guess ley lines are one hell of a drug."
The vampire finally speaks, his voice sounds both beautiful and unnatural. "It's not simply the ley lines, believe me, the things I discovered about the Einzbern's toy today…" Who even are the Einzbern's?
Dulio now looks surprised. "You sucking magical energy from the grail? I thought that thing wasn't supposed to be working for a long time?" Grail? Man, I am missing some important information.
Blackmore denies Dulio an answer, instead, the battle begins anew, hundreds of familiars attack us, but the exorcist destroys every single one of them.
He's like a living and breathing storm, none can challenge him, most who are hit instead turn against their comrades.
If Dulio is a storm then Tobio is a hurricane, he cuts and destroys everything Blackmore throws at him, magical curses that could doom entire towns are cut in two and disappear.
Blackmore himself is a pit of evil, every single magecraft that he uses is a curse, every one fatal and capable of turning your death in the most painful moment imaginable.
If they are all that then I'm a worm, only looking at them and being reminded again of my place.
There is a problem, Blackmore is far too mobile, maybe normally this team would have been enough, but it isn't, with all the magical energy of the town and grail at his disposal Blackmore is invincible.
Dulio finally says something. "Guess I was wrong huh? You aren't bait, you really are here just to kill everyone."
Blackmore just shrugs and keeps fighting, but it's clear, he is going to lose, the battle may have started in his favor, but he made one crucial mistake…
He rushed things, as a magus, he should have remained hidden for longer, setting up his workshop, but instead, he was impatient and so he is going to lose.
The dance of death keeps going, I can only watch and wait for an opportunity, Blackmore is going to lose, we are going to win, I just have to be different from him and wait for the right moment.
Tobio is quiet as he moves, like a butcher that is only doing his job, Dulio instead is cooky, enjoying every moment of this and so he mocks Blackmore. "Hey, aren't you going to pull that giant bird form of yours?"
Blackmore scoffs in response. "As if becoming a bigger target would help me here." Something is wrong here.
Something doesn't fit, his tone of voice, there isn't any worry in it, like this is still a winnable battle.
And it is, he waits, slowly he gets more and more distance from Tobio, and when does he teleports again.
In front of me, his hand moves and impales me.
It hurts, it hurts so, so much, but I have to keep moving, I was waiting for this after all.
I hold his arm and…
'Divide' I don't feel much pain, maybe it's adrenaline, maybe it's the fact that I'm not absorbing his strength, instead simply throwing it all away with my wings.
But instead of looking worried he simply looks disgusted, he throws me away, and I realize…
His aim was not killing me, I was simply a bonus, his aim was!
The world is covered in darkness, enough where I can't see anything…
His aim was to gain space and use his Reality Marble, something that every Ancestor has.
I can't see anything, but I know I'm surrounded like his familiars are all around me at all times, all I hear are screams.
We are dead, we lost, we got cocky and because of that, we were defeated.
That is normally what would have happened, but Blackmore would again pay the price for his impatience.
Normally his reality marble would have been inescapable, a death sentence, a one-hit kill technique.
But it wasn't, because he decided to be impatient and try to kill a boy.
Because he didn't take time analyzing the boy, to know that he had Avalon inside of him and could survive an impaled stomach.
Cracks appeared across the sky, no, they weren't cracks, they were cuts.
Not a single Longinus has one ability, they may start with only one, but they would evolve, grow stronger…
And it just so happened that Canis Lykaon was capable of cutting anything, normally a reality marble would have been outside its reach but…
Tobio was not normal, he had been born with a Balance Breaker unlocked and could do much more than a normal user, due to this and the previous factors he could even cut reality.
And that's what he did, little by little he cut Blackmore's world, and with a final powerful slash, his reality marble fell.
The thing about reality marbles is that they are tiring to summon, not to maintain, but summoning takes a toll, and the thing about that is that they are both physical and mental.
And if they are forcibly destroyed you can double the mental part, and so the king of wolves had enough time to deliver another slash.
Not one to kill Blackmore, right now that would have been impossible, but one to cut a connection.
Tobio cut the Vampire's connection to the ley lines and grail.
The battle was won.
That is if Blackmore was weak-willed, you could call him a lot of things, but that, so with a roar he grew.
And grew, and grew, and grew, a size bigger than any dragon, and at that moment Dulio seized his opportunity.
Everything concentrated on his palm and he shot something that could only be compared to a Kamehameha, it was massive, not as big as Blackmore, but big enough to look like a skyscraper.
To be honest, the only thing I could think of at that moment was how the hell was anybody supposed to cover this up?!
Something fell from the massive creature, probably Blackmore's corpse and as he fell Dulio kept shooting thunderbolts at it, but as he fell we realized something.
It wasn't Blackmore, it simply was a familiar, a piece of bait, because the real Blackmore was at the air.
He spoke yet again, angry, with enough disgust to shock me. "To think I would have fallen this far… But I won't die here." He took something out of a box in his pocket.
Something small, something moving, it looked like a snake…
"Dammit, that's…!"
"How the hell did you?!"
These screams left Tobio and Dulio, Blackmore picked the snake, and…
He ate it.
I can't breathe, I can't move, I can't see, I can't hear, his presence dwarfs it all, I feel like the existence of Shirou Emiya itself is being consumed, like if I stand here I will simply cease to exist.
I move, but it's not my own doing, it's Dulio who pushed me out of the way, it seems like Blackmore has a grudge against me and tried to kill me first.
But now I noticed, Blackmore… He is a god, there is no other way to describe it, his magical energy now surpasses mine, Tobio, Dulio, and his own a few moments later altogether.
A monster, he has become a monster that should not exist in this era, something that would challenge entire teams of heroes, like the round table or the paladins of Charlemagne.
We are dead, there is simply no way we can beat this
Dulio and Tobio refuse this fate, the battle rages on, but they can't even reach him, he doesn't use familiars anymore, but that doesn't matter, raw blasts of magical energy are more than enough.
Tobio falls first, his balance breaker ends and he passes out, Dulio is second, Blackmore casually rips his arm off and throws him away like trash.
I'm next, Shirou Emiya will may have lived longer than he should, but now his debt to death will be paid.
Blackmore moves, he holds me by the throat.
I wonder why does he hate me? I couldn't have made him hate me that much, could I?
I look him in the eyes and understand, he has the same look as me, so as a broken person he can't help, but hate another.
He moves his hands he is going to impale me, he is going to kill me.
But before that happens…
A gunshot is heard.
I'm an idiot! I should have taken Shirou with me to Raiga or something, but no I forgot how children and instead acted like I was dealing with a soldier!
I can't lose somebody else! Not again, not after everything that has happened.
It doesn't take a genius to find out where Shirou is, the magical energy leaving the temple is enough, it reminds me of when the grail was manifesting.
I ready myself, I rushed here with the fastest car that Raiga had, but it is still too slow, I need to go faster.
I run up the stairs of the temple, massive noise is heard all around, and as a shadow encompasses everything I look at the sky and see it.
So this is a Dead Apostle Ancestor…
I am then even more surprised at the beam shot at it, that's definitely not Shirou, maybe it's someone else? Maybe Shirou isn't even there…
Right as if.
I keep going up, across the way I feel it, enough magical energy to dwarf anything I have ever seen.
But I keep moving, I had plans to deal with the Apostle, but right now I don't have the time, I just have to go and kill him!
There he is… About to kill Shirou, about to kill my son.
The Magus Killer uses everything he has, for one moment his speed matches that of the grail war… And then surpasses it.
Five times, ten times, twenty times, he breaks every single rule, for one moment Kiritsugu Emiya reaches the level of a servant.
And fires his gun, the origin bullet flies, it's time also massively faster, Blackmore never even sees it coming.
It hits him in the skull, with the massive boost from the Emiya's magic is just enough to penetrate it.
Everything that the vampire has is burned, with the snake there he suffers even more damage, his soul itself shattered and is made whole again, this process repeats until Blackmore is nothing but an empty husk, but he defends himself by instinct.
The last wave of magical energy flies, it reaches the Magus Killer and separates his head from his shoulders.
His dreams of his wife, his daughter, his mother, his father… And his son, all living together, being happy together.
But the Magus Killer shall never have that, that reality is only a dream, so Kiritsugu Emiya dies…
His son sees it, he thinks…
That if he was never here this would not have happened.
But it did, and so, not under the pale moonlight, but instead in a red moon without knowing Kiritsugu passed his curse upon his son.
Shirou Emiya would become the next Magus Killer.
Author's Note: Here it is, the first big turning point of the story and also the ending of the first arc, after this, we get one more chapter to tie off loose ends, and then the next arc begins with Shirou not being a literal child anymore... just a very young teen.Also, I would like to thank a reader who called my fuck up of making Arcueid a faction leader, it's still is Ortenrosse, I just messed up, but hey this is the Nasuverse so messing up the lore is just the normal thing.