Alright, after reading through your reviews and requests for more, I've decided to make this the story I write when I want to update for you guys when I can't figure out what I want to write in my other stories. Yeah, this story is my dump. Deal with it. Though I have had to re-read through the old light novels in my collection for material…

And if you couldn't tell, I'm holding this to a lower standard than my other stories, so this is probably going to be updated most often and be of a lower quality. I'm only this late because I was also working on the story I was advertising in Fake Hero. I'll post this chapter, wrap up and publish my new story, and then Fake Hero. From there… who knows? Probably another new story, I got some ideas in the works… Or maybe just one of those 'One-Shot, Incomplete Idea, and Challenge Response dumps' that a few people have. It'd certainly help me clear out some storage space in my brain.

And I don't think I need to explain this, but for obvious reasons, Shirou's gonna be pretty OP in this story. This is a Half-Crack story, because it's Arifureta. (With that said, I still have standards. You're not gonna see me write 'Shirou used UBW and solved everything', or anything remotely like that). I'm also using this story to test out some ideas that come to mind occasionally and get them out. Not full stories, but 'Hey, what if this happened instead...'

Chapter 2: Orcus Labyrinth

Shirou leaned back on the wall, letting his shoulders relax. He felt as loose rock and gravel shifted under his weight, getting his clothes dirty. It was unfortunate, considering the fact that he just cleaned them off, but he would make do.

After his clothes dried off, he began to explore the floor he ended up on. He had come across two types of Monsters while he did. The first were identified as 'Charge Wolves' by Status Appraisal, and they were wolves with white fur and two tails. Their entire body was covered in red lines, sticking out like blood vessels. They could fire off red bolts of lightning, and fought in packs.

The second were 'Kickmaster Rabbits'. They were rabbits with abnormally large and abnormally powerful legs. They also had white fur and those red veins covering their body. However, their abilities seemed to be more based on their movement and agility than their combat prowess. For example, they could create platforms of compressed air to jump off of. Because of their abilities and powerful legs, they could take on entire packs of Charge Wolves at a time and get out unscathed.

There was a third Monster that shared no resemblance to the other two, but its body was too mangled to identify, missing several chunks of meat from its side and an entire arm was blown off. Strangely, there was also a hole in the Monster's head, somewhat resembling a bullet hole. And there were several small things scattered around the corpse that looked like cartridges, specifically the kind for a Colt Python Revolver… Perhaps that Synergist did survive, and managed to create a gun in order to survive down here. Then again, this was a highschool student. What kind of normal highschool student knew how to create a gun from scratch?

No, that did not include him, he was not a normal highschool student. He was the apprentice of a professional killer with a penchant for guns and the word 'overkill' missing from his dictionary. Of course he'd know how to make a gun, he knows how to make most guns. In fact, if he really felt like putting that much time into it, he could project a gun piece by piece and assemble it right then and there. He doubted a normal gun would do much to the Monsters down here though, so if he was really that adamant on using guns, he'd have to forge one himself.

Regardless, he dug out the Mana Crystals from all three, so he had one of each in his bag. They weren't super large, but they definitely contained the thickest, most concentrated Mana he had come across so far. After a bit more searching, he found guaranteed proof that the Synergist was alive.

First off, he found dried blood. Dried human blood, not the gross looking Monster blood. Not far from that was a stone wall, with a hole in it. He found more dried blood leading inside. Shirou began to crawl inside, though it was only a few dozen meters in the wall. When he finally reached the end of the tunnel, he found a large cave. He found a lot of structures made from stone, which definitely couldn't be natural. He also found a lot of scraps of old meat, some broken metal pieces that vaguely resemble gun parts, and… one other thing. It was a small basin in the ground, full of a clear liquid that clearly wasn't water.

One of the first things most Magi were taught, himself included, was how to detect Magical Energy. Usually, they learned to perceive it through one of their own senses. He'd heard of a Magus who's eyes puffed up, and another whose thumb would start to ache. He could detect it too, through his sense of smell. In simpler terms, he could 'smell' Magical Energy. And this liquid… Its smell was very pure, and unnaturally thick. Even more so than the Magical Energy within the Monster's Mana Crystals. There was no way it could've been water… Actually, it smelled like the Mana he found in the air. So this was… liquified Mana?

Was that even possible?

Speaking of, all three Mana Crystals had a sickeningly sweet 'scent', along with something else unique to the species. In every Charge Wolf's Crystal, there was a hint of… Ozone? No, it was the smell of a thunderstorm. With their lightning powers, it made sense. He didn't expect anything else.

"Thunderstorms, huh… That brings back some old memories…" He chuckled lightly, his mind traveling back in time.

It was a few years ago, long before Miyu made her wish. There was a bad storm, thunder boomed loudly and the pitter-patter of the rain continued into the night. He remembered that he was finishing up with some laundry, when Miyu stormed into his room with a pale face. She'd read about storms before, but had yet to actually experience one for herself, so she was completely unprepared and understandably startled. He spent hours comforting her and explaining what was going on. Even when the thunder and lightning went away, the sound of the rain alone kept her on edge. Eventually, he just decided to let her stay in his futon rather than send her back into her room, and continued to stroke her hair until she fell asleep.

Moments like that didn't happen too often, but it was quite endearing when it did. The first time Miyu saw it snowing, she ran straight into his room and shook him awake, an uncharacteristic expression of surprise and fear on her face. He thought it was something serious, until she said 'there's a lot of sugar falling from the sky! What do we do?' When he let himself be pulled to the windows by her, she pointed out at the snow. He just started laughing, and then had to explain snow to her. She didn't express herself much in those early years, so it was so surreal to see anything but her apathetic look.

Shirou shook away the old memories. He'd get to experience it with her again, in the future. But right now, he needed to focus on the present.

Going back to the Mana Crystals, the Kickmaster Rabbit's Crystal and the unidentified Crystal both smelled like wind, but in different ways… it was difficult to explain, but the latter smelled like a swift gale, and the former smelled like still air. He understood that on their own, neither had any particular smell, but that was the best way he could describe it.

He looked back down to the unidentified crystal, trying to use Status Appraisal on it. He did get a name out of it, but one that didn't really explain anything. All Status Appraisal told him the name of the mauled creature he found, but nothing else. Shirou couldn't help but frown at the lack of information. He was no Magus, but he was always raised on the belief that 'information is key'.

Usually because that information determined how to best deal with a target. Is it a Magus who creates familiars en-masse? Bomb the area, declare some kind of reason to clear out the citizens first if it's populated. Is it a Magus with a heavily fortified Workshop? C4, and several other kinds of planted explosives. Dead Apostle outbreak? Flamethrowers. Lots and lots of flamethrowers. The list went on.

He sighed, looking back down at the Mana Crystals. He hadn't found anything else that even remotely resembled the 'Gale Claw Bear', so it might've been the only one here. At least it meant that he wouldn't be seeing another one, assuming they weren't on any other floors. He looked towards the wasted scrap metal, hoping to identify it as well. It worked.

[Taur Stone. It's a hard, black ore. On the Mohs Scale, which goes up to 10, it was an 8. It could handle heat and hard impacts easily, but it was vulnerable to the cold. Freezing the stone leaves it weak and brittle, but reheating it would restore its hardness.]

It was definitely a strong metal, but there was so much of it just piled up in the corner, thrown away like a miniature junkyard. And sure enough, the ones at the top of the pile resemble actual gun parts, including a cylinder with a crack in it and a broken compensator. The Synergist must've really known his stuff, if he knew what a compensator was. Not to mention the crane, the ejector rod, and a proper rear sight. And dozens of other little things, too.

Honestly, he could probably find all the parts necessary and assemble a gun for himself, with how many he found piled up. But he had no bullets, and guns weren't really his thing most of the time. Sure, he wasn't opposed to using one, he was usually the one preparing them for Kiritsugu in fact, but… Well, he just blamed it on his Origin. But what about gunblades? He knew that EMIYA's corrupted counterpart modified Kanshou and Bakuya into guns, so it was definitely possible… No, he wasn't doing that. Not now, at least. Maybe when he could get his hands on a proper workshop, but not here. It's not like he could produce bullets, after all.

Still, he could put most of it to use. He came down here for Creation Magic, that way he could forge weapons to survive Reisen Gorge, it's not like his Projection would be very useful in a place that dispersed any Mana that left the body. However, that didn't mean he could use his Projection as freely as he wanted, his contract with EMIYA still existed. If he did use it recklessly, he would be completely eroded away by the Counter Guardian. So he would use it sparingly, and make up for it with some weapons forged by hand.

He knew how every blade in his Reality Marble was forged, and he had plenty of good material to work with… He just had to find a way to repurpose it all, then forge some weapons he could carry with him. Could he melt it down? No, it was highly resistant to heat… But scientists found a way to refine Tungsten, and pure Tungsten had a melting point above 3000 degrees Celsius. He was no scientist, but he had something better on his side; Magecraft.

He was no master, but he knew enough to reshape some metal. He didn't need the fire of Excalibur Galatine to melt it down, he just needed to be a bit creative. Reinforcement and Alteration should've been enough… With a new objective, Shirou began his work. "Sorry, Synergist-kun. But I'll be borrowing this base of yours for a while. Hope you don't mind." A grin came to his face as he thought of the possibilities, and grabbed a few of the larger pieces of Taur Stone available to him. He doubted he'd make nearly as many failures as the Synergist made, there was an entire pit full of broken failures, but he might need a lot of material.

Trial and Error were a Magus' best friends, after all.

It was very rare to see groups of multiple Kickmaster Rabbits at the same time. Despite being rabbits, they were hardly social to others of their kind. Really, they only bumped into each other on occasion, and would either ignore each other or start fighting. However, there were rare occasions where they would fight together… usually to take on a greater threat. Before the Claw Bear was killed, it was one of those monsters that several Kickmaster Rabbits would fight against together… at least until one of them saw an opportunity to escape, usually abandoning the others.

Another such occasion is when multiple rabbits are fighting against multiple packs of Charge Wolves, and those packs band together in hopes of taking down the superior Monsters. On those occasions, it was very rare for the Kickmaster Rabbits to survive. Charge Wolves didn't have to worry about friendly fire because they were resistant to their own lightning. Rabbits were not. And if one of them got shocked, then they were usually weak enough for one of the Wolves to tear their throat out. The other would then be made short work of.

A similar situation was happening now, with more than a dozen Charge Wolves fighting against a trio of Kickmaster Rabbits. The rabbits had the disadvantage, even with the greatest mobility out of everything on this floor. Now that the Claw Bear was dead, the Wolves were becoming more daring. That meant they could group up in larger packs, without worrying about being wiped out by the Claw Bear. All that left was the Kickmaster Rabbits, and they couldn't dodge forever. They did manage to kill four of the wolves, though they took a few bites and cuts into their legs in the process.

One of the rabbits, the one who ran right into the large pack, jumped to the side in order to dodge a red bolt of lightning. However, this threw them right into the path of another Charge Wolf, arcs of red Mana jumping between their two tails. Another bolt of lightning flew, right towards the rabbit's head. If this were a normal creature, it would've met its end right then and there. However, this was a Kickmaster Rabbit. So, it let Mana flow down its legs, and suddenly twisted its body so its legs were facing to the left. It bent its knees… and pushed.

A wall of air appeared below its feet, and served as a foothold for the rabbit to dodge. Yet again, it narrowly avoided a bolt of lightning. The other two rabbits were in the same situation, having been caught up in the battle, attracted by the sound of conflict.

The first Kickmaster Rabbit heard more sparks coming from behind it, and turned its head in order to see the next bolt of lightning and dodge. However, it froze up the moment it realized that the one attacking it wasn't another Charge Wolf, nor was it about to be struck by red lightning.

In a flash of black and blue, the rabbit's head was severed from its neck. That same flash of light continued through the heads of three Charge Wolves, before stabbing into the ground and leaving a long, thin gash in the stone. All of the remaining Monsters halted in their fighting to stare at the newcomer.

Shirou removed his blade from the ground, and took its temporary scabbard out from his belt to sheath it. It was one of the two blades he forged from the Taur Stone scraps, this one being a katana. From the tip of the blade to the pommel, it was over a meter and a half long. The hilt was made from wood he collected from the trees, making it a very dark brown. The grip was wrapped with the leather strips of a Charge Wolf, causing it to be white with small gaps that revealed the dark wood underneath. Because it was made of Taur Stone, the entire blade was Jet Black. Inscribed on the blade were a set of three kanji, the name of the blade. It had a full guard, dark gray in color and a crescent moon was carved into it.

While he favored practicality over aesthetics, it didn't mean he was fine with something completely bland as long as it worked. If he didn't care about aesthetics at all, he wouldn't have gotten Miyu any of those cute animal pajamas, now would he?

Stereotypical as it was, being the sword of his homeland, katanas were simply one of the most sound types of swords. They were much sharper than a longsword, more compact, easy to handle, and an excellent cutter. The few cons it did have, such as it having a brittle edge and being shorter than a longsword, were either negated by the hard material, or made up for through Magecraft (Excluding Tracing) or his Skills.

Shirou looked away from his sheathed blade to count his opponents. 'Two Kickmaster Rabbits, and thirteen Charge Wolves… That should be good enough for a test run.' Reaching some kind of conclusion, he returned the scabbard to his left side. He stood back up, twisting his body slightly, and holding the scabbard just below the mouth. His thumb was pressed against the sword's guard.

The Monsters, coming to some kind of unspoken agreement with each other, all turned to face him with their claws bared. Metaphorically with the rabbits, and literally with the wolves. Three Charge Wolves darted at him, arcs of lightning dancing between their tails. Shirou simply waited until they were in range for slashing or biting at him. When they leapt at him, Shirou stepped to the side and pushed his blade out of the scabbard with his thumb. When the wolves flew past him… he moved his thumb over the guard and pulled back, resheathing the blade. If one looked closely enough, they might've seen his right hand twitch.

From an outsider's perspective, such as the Monsters who were watching, that's all they would've seen. Shirou exposing an inch of his blade, before resheathing it in one fluid motion. The quiet click of the guard hitting the scabbard's mouth being the only sound they could hear. The attacking wolves returned to the ground, but halted in their attack. Shirou didn't turn to look at them, inclining his head ever so slightly when he heard three quiet thumps behind him.

It was the sound of the wolves' heads falling to the ground, having been removed from their necks in an instant.

Another reason Shirou had chosen a Katana, rather than any kind of straight sword, was because of one word; Iaijutsu. The art of drawing and attacking in a single move, as many styles of swordsmanship taught. Because of how they were curved, Katanas were one of the best for it. And it was quite compatible with his newest skills, especially the ones he inherited from the Kickmaster Rabbit Crystal.

While he was forging the blades and regularly using Status Appraisal on it to see when it considered the blade 'complete' (It was just a mild curiosity, he'd accidentally used Status Appraisal on one of his weapons and his Skill labeled it as 'Otherworldly Iron Longsword'), he briefly recalled how he obtained that particular Skill in the first place. He occasionally glanced at the three red crystals he had, and then remembered a little tidbit about Monsters and their Mana Crystals.

High-Quality Mana Crystals allowed Monsters to utilize powerful, albeit specialized Magic. Mana Crystals were the one reason that Monsters could use Magic without a chant or a Magic Circle. That went along with his own discoveries, of how the Mana Crystals all shared a sickeningly sweet scent, along with something unique to the Monster. In simpler terms, the Mana Crystal was the source of the Spell. That thought got the gears in his head (Not the ones in UBW, he didn't have those anyways) to start turning. If he managed to copy a Spell from a Magic Circle with the Sword of Paracelsus… could he do the same thing with the Mana Crystals?

The Sword of Paracelsus worked by 'analyzing and responding to the magical properties emitted by the opponent, before immediately encroaching it'. In other words, it worked by analyzing the Spell and stealing it. And since Mana Crystals were the origin of the Spells used by Monsters… he could copy them.

As such, Shirou had acquired several new Skills from the Monsters' Mana Crystals. Starting in the order that he obtained the Mana Crystals was the Charge Wolf, and its Skill, Lightning Discharge. Of course, while he was copying Skills and Magic from his opponents, he couldn't copy any abilities that sprouted from their body type, rather than their Mana Core. For instance, he couldn't copy a fish's gills, because that was just part of their biology. However, if he came across a Monster that could breathe water as a result of their Skills, he could take that.

Lightning Discharge was, quite simply, the ability to discharge Lightning. He could coat himself in arcs of blue Lightning, or fire it off like the wolves did. He had full control over the Voltage and Amperage too. If he felt so inclined… he could probably find a way to fire off one of his weapons like a railgun, or perhaps accelerate the speed of his Quick Draw after acquiring a metal scabbard. Lightning Resistance simply increased the strength of his Mana Resistance when it came to lightning-based attacks. It was supposed to be a derivative for Lightning Discharge, but it showed up as a derivative for Mana Resistance instead, for some reason.

Next was the Kickmaster Rabbit and its Skills. Air Walk was a passive movement-based Skill, increasing his movement and reaction speed. Its first derivative, Supersonic Step, was a Skill that allowed for explosive acceleration and instant movement. However, it wasn't just a Skill that let him get from point A to point B really quickly, it was much more than that. It was an 'instant movement' Skill, meaning he could move in any way almost instantly. Supersonic Step was what allowed him to draw, swing, and sheathe his sword so quickly. However, he was supplementing that supernatural speed with an egregious amount of knowledge and experience pulled straight from the many katanas within his Reality Marble. He didn't want to accidentally stab himself while trying to sheathe his blade, after all.

As for the other two of the rabbit's Skills, Steel Legs was essentially a high-grade version of his Reinforcement, but it only applied to his legs. Thankfully, he knew several forms of combat involving kicks and other uses of his legs, including the so-called EMIYA style. Otherwise, it would just be yet another enhancement to his mobility, though that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Finally, Aerodynamic. The ability to actually 'walk on compressed air', and possibly the most useful of the Air Walk series, aside from Supersonic Step. Well, it would be the most useful when he finally got used to it. But it was good to have nonetheless.

Finally, Gale Claw. The ability to create a single blade of pressurized wind and attack with it. It could be used on its own, activating with a single swipe of his hand. However, it could also be used with any number of weapons, increasing their sharpness and reach by a considerable amount. But what really made it stand out were its two derivatives, Tri-Claw and Soaring Claw.

The former simply increased the number of Claws created, going up from a single claw to three claws. It was indescribably useful when used together with his Magecraft. To swing one time, yet leave three cuts? Impossible to ignore. The latter Skill was also very useful, letting him fire off the Gale Claw as he slashed. It could even be used with Tri-Claw still active, sending a trio of flying blades of wind instead of a single one. Using all three basically guaranteed that he would leave debilitating injuries on whatever he fought.

With Tri-Claw, if his opponent tried guarding from one of the blades of wind, they would be struck by the other two. With Soaring Claw, he could strike at them from afar and they wouldn't even realize until they were already injured. Using both, he could leave three deep cuts in a fully armored adventurer or soldier from across the room, with just the wave of his hand. If these were the Skills he managed to acquire from just the first floor, he couldn't help but wonder about what he'd come across down below.

A series of low growls drew him out of his thoughts a second time. Several more wolves were glaring at him, infuriated that he wiped out three of their packmates with such ease. One of the remaining Kickmaster Rabbits was looking at him warily, recognizing its own Skill but not understanding his usage of it. 'They're smarter than I gave them credit for.' He thought, taking his left hand away from the katana and moving it towards the hilt of its sister blade, sheathed at his right hip. It almost looked like a smaller replica of the first sword, with a shorter blade. However, the guard had the symbol of a star, not a moon. And the kanji on the side of the blade were different, since the blade had a different name. It was a wakizashi, the 'shortsword' to the katana's 'longsword'.

The reason he went with a wakizashi rather than another katana was for the same reason the samurai of ages past did it, so they could adapt to their surroundings. While a katana wasn't bad at thrusts, it was made with swinging and slashing in mind. If the owner of that katana was in an enclosed space, they would be severely restricted. However, because a wakizashi was significantly shorter, it could be swung around more easily in such restricted spaces… such as a cavern that's deep underground.

How convenient.

One may wonder why he went with two Japanese swords, rather than something more familiar to him… such as EMIYA's favored weapons, the Married Blades. Part of it was for a practical reason, and part of it was for a more personal one.

As they were, Kanshou and Bakuya were very impractical in shape. They were short, had no guard, they had wide blades so they were weighted awkwardly, and just not intended for close range combat, especially not against an opponent with longer weapons. Their shapes did allow for them to be thrown like boomerangs, which was supplemented by their natural attraction to one another, but that didn't quite make up for their flaws… had they been in the hands of a normal soldier.

But in the hands of EMIYA, they were invaluable. He could trace them quickly and easily, with little cost. He could make more pairs than he could reasonably wield at a time, so he could throw them without worrying if they broke or got stuck in the enemy. And their lack of guards and short length weren't an issue because of his unique style, which involved baiting your enemy to strike at your vitals, drawing them close in the process, and leaving them open to counter-attack when they missed. However, they also had a more sentimental value to the red-clad Counter Guardian.

The Married Blades weren't made to defeat any powerful foes, they weren't made to represent anything, they weren't made to fight. They were made simply because Gan Jiang, the blacksmith who forged them, was ordered to by the emperor. They were blades with no true purpose, forged solely because they could be. To EMIYA, who also found no purpose in his life after death, they were a tragic symbol of himself.

However, he was not the same as EMIYA. EMIYA lived without purpose, with a broken ideal and a contract that he couldn't go against, no matter how hard he tried. Even in life, he only served to save the faceless masses, not caring about his own wellbeing in the slightest. His fighting style reflected this, exposing all his vitals to an opponent and using his own life as a hostage. It wasn't the style of a man who wants to die, but it was the style of a man who didn't care if he died. There was a fine difference between the two… though EMIYA could technically be considered suicidal, considering his main goal.

On the other hand, Shirou was Miyu's older brother, taking care of her by himself for more than four years. He'd given up on his ideal entirely, focusing more on taking care of his family, his once anchor to his 'humanity'. Without her, he was simply an empty shell, an 'imitation of a human', as he put it a long time ago. She was the reason he lived, and she was the reason he was fighting through this world. Xexius did bring him here to kill Ehit, but as far as Shirou was concerned, that was a secondary objective.

Shirou Emiya wanted to live, so he could see his sister again. His purpose was to protect his little sister, as should any other older brother. That is what made him different from EMIYA. And it was for that reason he was trying to dissociate himself from EMIYA.

He had meaning in his life, so he wouldn't use weapons without any. He wasn't okay with dying, so he wouldn't fight like he was. There were people he cherished, so he would cherish them. He wasn't just a hollow shell who couldn't hold anything… so he would become something real. He wasn't just a fake… so he wouldn't keep using fake copies of weapons. He'd forge his own weapons with his own two hands… and move past his 'Faker' self. With that in mind, Shirou drew both blades, challenging the Monsters to attack first.

In his right hand was the katana, which he named Hiyoko. The name of Miyu's mother, who passed away just before he and Miyu met. He'd seen a picture of her just once, while he and Kiritsugu were looking through the family logs. Without a doubt, she was Miyu's mother. That did also bring some concerns for when Miyu grew up and boys started looking at her in that way, Hiyoko-san was undeniably beautiful after all… he was getting severely off track. Arcs of blue lightning danced down the blade, channeling the power of Lightning Discharge through it. Since it was longer, he'd use it to deal with the rabbits.

In his left hand was the wakizashi, which he couldn't name anything but Miyu. His wakizashi was basically a smaller version of his katana, with a bunch of small differences. Is that not what a daughter is to her mother? A smaller, younger version of them with many small differences? And these blades… they held something of a sentimental value to him too, though not for the same reasons.

In one hand, he held the mother's blade. The blade that represented the woman who wished for nothing but the wellbeing of her child. The woman who passed away before she could see her wish come true. The woman whose wish was granted through him. In the other hand, he held the daughter's blade. The one who represented the target of those heartfelt wishes. In his hands, he held a loving family. A parent and their child. If Kanshou and Bakuya were the Married Blades… then these were surely the Family's Blades.

With his targets chosen, and his weapons drawn, he rushed forward. Gale Claw further sharpened his blades further, allowing him to cut through the Monsters as if their hides were made of paper. Several Charge Wolves tried exploiting any visible 'openings' in his form, but were swiftly dispatched by his smaller blade. The rabbits were the more annoying opponents, jumping around and dodging faster than a speeding truck. However, a single swing of Hiyoko, with both Soaring Claw and Lightning Discharge active, quickly turned the Monsters into half-fried, dismembered Rabbit Confit. Not even a minute later, more Monsters were called into the battle, and Shirou danced.

When the battle was over, Shirou was left standing over a pile of dismembered corpses. Wolves split into several meaty chunks with Tri-Claw, and rabbits fried with Lightning Discharge. Dozens of Monsters fell before him, unable to escape. The few that observed the battle but did not engage clearly saw him as the apex predator of this floor, far more dangerous than even the deceased bear.

Shirou sheathed his blades, though he made sure to disable both Skills before he did so. His eyes trailed along the walls of the floor, before picking a direction opposite of the river where he arrived from. He needed to search for the staircase down.

While traveling down Orcus Labyrinth, Shirou came across dozens of completely unique floors, with Monsters that were completely different from any of the ones he'd previously encountered. Not all of them granted Skills of any kind, most simply provided more Resistances. For example, the Poison-spitting frogs and moths with paralyzing scales, on a floor with a poisonous mist. Fortunately for him, it seemed to be because of a constantly active spell, not a natural cause. So he could get through just fine because his Magic Resistance negated it for him. From those Monsters, he got Poison Resistance and Paralysis Resistance. They had to be resistant to their own body, after all. It seemed to be because of their Mana, rather than their physiology.

Then again, they couldn't have built up those resistances naturally. Monster or not, how was it supposed to slowly develop resistance to lethal poison if the entire floor is full of it? They would've been wiped out in minutes.

On another floor was a jungle-like floor, the air was thick and humid. On it were some of the more disgusting Monsters he'd come across, including giant centipedes that split into multiple segments to attack. Thankfully, he could keep his distance and fire Soaring Claw at it from afar, or throw bolts of lighting with Lightning Discharge. It sprayed around a lot of purple, disgusting blood, and he was thankful for Supersonic Step. After the third centipede, he felt tempted to burn down the entire floor.

On the other hand were the tree Monsters he found on the same floor. They used their roots to attack from below and swung their branches wildly like whips. Though for some strange reason, there weren't a lot of them on that floor, only a dozen or two by his count, despite how large the floor was. And what was truly most interesting to him was what they did when they were in most trouble, their 'last resort' attack.

When the tree Monsters were near death, they began to swing their branches around and throw out red fruit. They didn't hurt him in the slightest when they did hit, and they weren't poisonous, at least not enough to get past his new Poison Resistance. In fact, they were quite delicious, the apple-looking fruits tasting like watermelon. Sure, he brought a lot of food from the surface, enough to last him a month or two down here if he was just eating them normally, but it was mostly military-style rations and dehydrated fruit he made for himself. But rather than hunt them down mercilessly… he just took a few, brought them to near death, and let them fire the fruit at him. He collected them, and repeated the process after they healed.

That was another interesting trait about them, they could drain nutrients from the ground to heal with their roots. They only started doing it after firing off all their fruit, and they seemed to rapidly grow more with those nutrients as well. Unfortunately, when he analyzed one of their Mana Cores, he didn't obtain any similar abilities. It must've been because of the roots, not the Mana itself. It was a shame, some kind of Life Drain, or at least Nutrient Drain, would've been useful. He could've just grabbed one of the monsters and drained out all the nutrients it took from other monsters. Not that Monsters needed to eat, they were functionally immortal so long as they were ignored. He didn't know how more were born, either. Must've been because of one of those Seven Ancient Magics.

At the time, he thought that the 24th Floor was the worst floor in Orcus, the interesting fruit and tree Monsters not really making up for the disgusting centipedes he came across and promptly eradicated with his Skills and the occasional exploding sword.

However, he soon retracted that statement, having reached the 36th Floor. If the 24th was the Giant Amazon Forest… then the 36th floor was the Giant Spider Cavern.

The reason he called it that was quite obvious. It was full of giant spider Monsters, called 'Bloody Fang Crawlers', and divided into several groups reminiscent of an ant colony. They had the Workers, Soldiers, Drones (Thankfully they didn't have wings), and a Queen. One might wonder why they needed a Queen if they were Monsters. They didn't reproduce, right? Well, the damn spiders did. Where did the Queen get the nutrients from?

Well, it was something of a messy process. The spiders weren't the only Monsters on that floor, there were also bats- 'Sonic Screechers', according to Status Appraisal, that hung from the ceiling, in places where the spiders couldn't get to easily. Occasionally, bats would come down and try to feast on the newborn spiders, which were in a larval or pupil stage that didn't really make any sense.

Usually, they get mauled by the spiders. But not 'torn apart and their pieces were eaten/delivered to the Queen', it couldn't be that simple. No, the spiders drained the blood out of the bats and delivered that to the Queen. The Queen would then proceed to eat the blood-filled Soldier, then start giving birth to more Larvae, which were taken care of by the Workers. Yes, they were both cannibals and vampires.

The only reason he knew any of this was because he accidentally stumbled upon their nest while looking for the next floor. Unfortunately, while Xex's Journal did contain information about the Labyrinths, it didn't describe each and every floor. If it did, it wouldn't be a Journal, it would be an Atlas the size of a mattress. But he stumbled upon the nest, where Worker Spiders the size of foxes tended to the newly born larvae and transported the web-wrapped bat carcasses, while Soldiers the size of wolves drained blood from those bats and willingly sacrificed themselves to the Queen- Which was larger than an elephant mind you, so more larvae could be born.

Unfortunately, he accidentally slipped up, and now every Bloody Fang Crawler on this floor, be it the fox-sized Workers, the wolf-sized Soldiers, or the lion-sized drones. And unfortunately for his sanity, the drones were also the fastest.

It didn't help that they were all just so damn gross. The smallest of them, the Workers, were the most 'normal' looking. They resembled the Goliath Birdeater Tarantula, but with darker hair and pale skin, longer legs, their main legs ended with two claws the size of a stiletto knife… and they had ten legs. Eight legs in the normal place you'd find them, and two more sticking out of the back of the abdomen. They served as both their arms and their feelers, because none of the spiders had eyes. Why would they? It was extremely dark down here, he could only see with his Night Vision. Oh, and their fangs were as large as his fingers.

This was the smallest of them.

The Soldiers and Drones were even worse, having even more legs than the Workers in countless different places, they were even bigger, they had more sets of claws, they were just more terrifying- and disgusting, in general.

And then… there were the Super Soldiers who protected the Queen. The so-called 'Royal Guard'. They were the size of a brown bear, with a total of eighteen legs, using twelve to navigate, and the other six to carry or fight off attackers. They had blood-red hair, their fangs were as large as a Roman gladius, more than four claws on each leg, they were one of the worst on this floor.

However, the worst thing about them was their Magic. They were the only ones who used Magic on the floor. Going along with the Vampire/Cannibal theme, they were able to drink the blood of other Monsters, including other Bloody Fang Crawlers, and use it as armor or weapons. All of their legs had a small hole just above the claws, which could be used to draw out blood from their prey after digging in their claws, or let out the blood they drained. From there, they could manipulate that blood, using it to form armor harder than steel or strengthen their claws or fangs further. Using this with the legs on its back, it could fight off every other monster on the floor.

And he had at least five of these ungodly creatures on his tail, with dozens of regular Soldiers and Drones following behind him. He activated Lightning Discharge, letting his Magical Energy be converted into arcs of lightning. He didn't plan on stopping and getting caught up in that, but he did need a spark or two. He pulled a vial out of his bag, filled with black liquid.

Flamrock, a glossy black mineral he found on the 3rd Floor. It had shark Monsters with Presence Concealment, which he took with another usage of the Sword of Paracelsus. And no, it was not the strangest floor by far. Anyways, Flamrock melted into taur at 50 Degrees, caught fire at 100, and burned at 3000. Since he was Japanese, he was going off the terms of Celcius. That was more than half as hot as the surface of the sun. He took several gallons of the stuff, sealed in a jug made out of Taur Stone. He didn't want the stuff to ignite inside it, and Taur Stone was a good heat sink.

He threw the vial behind him, then pointed his hand at the vial and shot a bolt of lightning. The vial burst and immediately caught fire, hot enough that Shirou could feel it from more than ten meters away. The flaming hot tar fell on the spiders, causing several inhuman screeches of pain to echo off the halls. The Flamrock clung to them like Napalm, so the spiders couldn't do anything but wait for their demise. When some of the Drones tried crawling over them, the Flamrock stuck to them as well, and they began to burn away. The Workers stopped before the flaming pile of bodies, still hissing at him.

Admittedly, Shirou was relieved. This was, without a doubt, the worst floor ever, and he couldn't wait to get off of it. And he could just barely make out the stairway down, at the opposite end of an intersection. He couldn't see the other paths at all, but he was going too fast to suddenly dig his feet into the ground and stop. He reached the intersection.

He could tell with a glance that the path to his right was empty. He couldn't see anything coming from the hall, nor could he hear anything. However, he did smell something. Something from the left hall, it smelled like… blood. Sickeningly sweet blood. He twisted his body to the left, and his eyes widened slightly.

Leaping at him with all twelve legs spread out was a Super Soldier. However… It was different. No larger than a rabbit, it had no hair, its skin was even more pale than it should've been. He also couldn't see the holes above its claws, which were only the size of a pencil tip. Honestly, it wasn't that much different from a normal tarantula, at least in terms of size. Shirou mentally cursed, he just walked into the middle of a mass-birthing. Of course the Queen would've been replenishing her supply of spiders, he just bombed a whole nest! This was a newly-born Super Soldier… however, 'newly-born' did not mean 'weak and fragile'. Many newly born animals could get up and walk almost immediately, including most mammals. Ants needed a week or two to go from eggs to grow from larvae to workers, soldiers, ect. However, these spiders only needed hours to fully mature.

His right hand was already moving to draw Miyu from its scabbard, holding it in a reverse grip. But before he could activate Supersonic Step, or any other Skill that would let him dodge, or even move to block or swat it away, the spider dug its fangs into his neck. He tried to stop himself before he reached the stairs. But he was already moving towards them very quickly, and his unstable footing made it difficult to stop. So he tumbled down the stairs, with a young Royal Guard trying to drain blood out of his shoulder.

He fell on his back, his arm, his leg, and even on the spider as he tumbled down. In his panic, he hastily drew Miyu from its scabbard, probably damaging it in the process, and stabbed it into the spider. It violently tore its fangs out of him, increasing the size of the wounds, and screeched in pain. He hit his arm against a stair, pushing his shorter weapon deeper than he intended and stabbing into his own neck. He ended up stabbing his blade deep in his neck, blood flowing through the open wound and into his esophagus. As quickly as he could, gritting his bloody teeth in pain all the while, he activated Aerodynamic.

A platform of air formed below his feet and stopped his fall, allowing him to reorient himself. He tore Miyu out of his neck, and sheathed it before trying to tear off the spider. But before he could do so, he felt something splatter against his face and neck, and the spider's claws stopped trying to dig into him. It let go of his neck and fell off the platform, spilling out its insides as it tumbled down the stairs. He raised a hand to cover the injuries, hoping to slow down the bleeding until Body of Swords stitched the wound shut.

He pulled his hand away from his neck, and looked at the blood on it. It was a mix of his own red blood, and the unnatural yellow-ish blood that came from the Monsters. Monster Blood that spilled all over an open wound. He had fresh Monster blood running through his body, which was arguably worse than eating Monster meat. Bodily fluids had the most Magical Energy, and blood was the most vital to a living being. As such, it was the most Mana-rich fluid, doubly so for these Monsters, since their Mana Crystal was basically their second heart.

And yet… he didn't feel anything. The Monster's Mana should've started tearing him apart the moment it got inside of his body, in a manner much worse than eating Monster meat, because it had a higher concentration of Monster Mana and it was going through his Circulatory System. Considering the fact that nearly all his vital organs were connected to it, including his heart, lungs, brain, kidneys and liver, the blood should've killed him almost instantly.

But he wasn't in any pain, besides the bite mark in his neck, meaning the Mana wasn't hurting him at all. He stared at the blood on his hand for a while longer, before projecting a handkerchief and wiping it off. He took a roll of bandages out from his bag, and wrapped it around his neck. He didn't want to lose too much blood while Unlimited Blade Works stitched the holes shut.

After cleaning himself up a bit, he stood back up a bit unsteadily, and started limping down the stairs. On the way down, he used the Sword of Paracelsus on the Royal Guard's Mana Crystal, usurping its Skills for himself.

The floor after the Spider Cavern, thankfully much more tame in comparison, had a lot of deep lakes and fish-like Monsters. Not to mention a giant octopus, with a body the size of a small car and tentacles longer than your average garden hose. And speaking of hoses, those tentacles also fired out a white, sticky substance. It was somewhat like glue, but it served a purpose more similar to spider silk, if he had to guess. For some weird reason, he was really glad that he sniped the octopus from as far away as possible. He wasn't quite sure why it grossed him out so much, though in a completely different way from the Spider Cavern. He hadn't acquired any new Skills there.

And for some other reason, he felt like punching Shinji. Again. No clue why. Then again, he'd probably take the chance to punch Shinji regardless of the reason. The guy was a complete bastard.

After that was another wide open floor, though it was dark and shadowy compared to the previous floor. Not dark like the Second or 36th floors, but… well, gloomy was a good word for it. Natural chandeliers and lanterns grew out of the ceiling, using yellow and blue glowstone for lights. And the Monsters there were interesting too, as they moved with a strange grace and a ghostly veil covered their very human-like bodies. With that said, their Mana Crystals were exposed because of the gaping holes in their chests, so they were easy to defeat.

With each new floor came more evidence that the Synergist boy somehow survived. Because on several floors, he found signs of an encampment, with stone reshaped to resemble simple furniture, and scraps of old, decayed Monster meat. Understandable, since he came down here about a month ago. Going off of the Monster meat he found and the basin of Ambrosia, they probably ate the meat and used the Ambrosia to survive it. But it must've been just as agonizing for him as it was for Shirou. Thankfully, he could just use the abandoned camps the Synergist left behind rather than set up his own every time. They were far enough out of the way that he didn't have to worry about monsters that much, and large enough to give him plenty of free space.

By now, he was on the 50th floor, or somewhere around that marker. It was fifty floors down from the Shark, and that was on Floor 3, so… it was actually the 53rd Floor? Either way, he was about halfway down. His stats had grown quite a bit since he first came down here.

Shirou Emiya

Age: 17

Male

Job: PRETENDER

Level: 84

Strength: 7825

Vitality: 9030

Defense: 6170

Agility: 10415

Magic: 11985

Magic Defense: 7460

Skills: Feux Arms Mastery [+], Thaumaturgy [+], Magic Resistance [+], Unlimited Blade Works [+Weapon Recording] [+Weapon Duplication] [+Technique Reading] [+Body of Swords], Clairvoyance, Eye of the Mind (True?), Status Appraisal, Lightning Discharge, Air Walk [+Aerodynamic] [+Supersonic Step] [+Steel Legs], Gale Claw [+Tri-Claw] [+Soaring Claw], Night Vision, Farsight, Presence Detection [+Detect Magic], Presence Concealment [+Ghostly Veil] [+Illusion Waltz], Blood Manipulation [+Blood Augmentation], Language Comprehension

Because of the sheer variety of Monsters he came across, he picked up on dozens of Skills. Eventually, he had too many Resistances for the plate to list them all off at once, so it just created another box that expanded when he touched it.

As for his Level, it had gone up significantly since his arrival down here. Not from killing Monsters, but from the effort it took to do so. They were fast, strong, durable, and had a dozen counters to him, so it took quite a bit of work to put them down. However, because his level was in the mid-80s, his growth slowed down considerably. Eventually, he would reach his limit, and he would not grow any stronger. Still, all of his Stats were well above A-Rank now, so he couldn't really complain.

There were quite a few interesting Skills, but the ones that interested him the most would have to be Presence Concealment or Blood Manipulation. The former because of its derivatives, and the latter because of its versatility.

Presence Concealment, obviously enough, made him difficult to detect. However, it didn't make him invisible or completely undetectable. It just made him harder to notice. It's not like he could just activate it and stand right in front of a monster without being detected, he still had to be stealthy. However, Ghostly Veil fixed that. He obtained it from the 38th floor, the one with all the ghosts on it. It basically made his entire body translucent, making him almost invisible. And he could phase through things with it active. However, it guzzled through his reserves quite quickly. He could barely walk through a meter-thick wall without almost leaving himself dry. So if he were to put together Presence Concealment and Ghostly Veil, he'd be near undetectable.

However, the most interesting thing out of all of them was Illusion Waltz. It only activated while he had Presence Concealment active as well, but it allowed him to leave behind ghostly after-images while he walked, useful for confusing the enemy and getting out of combat or catching his enemy by surprise. It was a derivative he obtained normally, because he was abusing Presence Concealment in his every waking moment. It was still active now, in fact. He'd been using a lot of his Skills as much as he could in order to get more derivatives.

As for Blood Manipulation, it did exactly what it said. It manipulated blood, exclusively his. When used with Blood Augmentation, he could do the same thing as the Royal Guard, forming armor out of his own blood. It was also good for enhancing his weapons, using his blood to increase the reach of his Family's Blades or turn his own arm into a giant weapon. However, what made it so useful for him was its compatibility with Body of Swords. Using his Reality Marble, he could force blades out of his own body, leaving open wounds to draw blood from. Using both, he could form blades out of his own blood, or stick blades out of his arm and integrate it into blood armor. However, since he was using his own blood for it, he had to be conservative with it. He didn't suddenly gain unlimited amounts of blood, after all.

Normally, he would've gone through the floor, taken as many Skills as he could manage in the process, and go straight down to the next. However, he found this floor to be different, as it had a special addition that none of the others had. A massive set of double-doors covered in ancient runes he couldn't translate, though Xex's Journal told him that they belonged to the now-extinct Vampire race's country, Avatarl. The doors were half-open, with two large Mana Crystals placed into perfect grooves on the outside and an even larger crystal on the inside. There were also monsters that signaled where the Crystals came from, though he could barely see the one on the inside due to the room's lack of light.

On the outside were two one-eyed giants, with their chests torn open, eyes shot out, and Mana Crystals gone. Massive chunks of their flesh were torn off, leaving only their skeletons and some of their appendages. And they both had large swords laying at their sides, which were immediately copied into his Reality Marble. Inside the room was a massive scorpion with two tails. It had a hole gouged out of it, and large amounts of its flesh and shell were missing as well. So the two Crystals on the outside came from the Cyclops, and the one on the inside was for the scorpion, most likely. Well, he wouldn't complain about more Magic and Skills.

Eventually, he decided to stop projecting and dismissing his Skill-copying tool every time, and just kept it on his person at all times. That way, he only needed to project it once, and it would stay almost indefinitely. With it, he stole Diamond Skin from the cyclops' crystal, and Earth Manipulation from the scorpion's.

With both Skills acquired, Shirou stepped into the room to take a closer look at the scorpion, activating Night Vision to see better. Despite being burned to death, most of its remaining shell was untouched. In fact, a lot of the shell was in almost perfect condition, excluding the cracked areas. From what he could tell, the Synergist used his gun to try and shoot through the shell, but it wasn't enough to break through, judging by the cracked yet unbroken sections. Eventually, he did manage to break through, and stuck some kind of explosive in the broken section. It didn't damage the shell that much, but completely obliterated the scorpion's softer interior. Just what was the shell made out of, to be able to resist a high-power revolver without breaking? He activated Status Appraisal wordlessly, expecting it to analyze the scorpion Monster, and hopefully detail the strength of its shell. However, he got something different.

[Shtar Ore. A peculiar ore with unique properties. The more Mana it absorbs, the tougher and more durable it becomes.]

He got the description of an ore, which was… basically self-reinforcing. That would definitely be useful… perhaps he could reinforce his scabbards with it. But he was getting off track. Was this scorpion's shell made out of ore? It would certainly explain how it was able to resist a revolver round… Shirou tried again, hoping to analyze the scorpion instead.

[?]

It didn't even work that time, Status Appraisal couldn't identify the Monster that was lying dead before him in the slightest. Then… was this not a natural monster? It could've been a Chimera of sorts, artificially created. This room was definitely man-made, it was too sophisticated to be natural, and there were several signs of a sentient civilization, be it the architecture or the runes on the door. And those runes were Vampyric in nature… Perhaps a Vampire was sealed here? He wasn't sure if they were the same, he hadn't been that thorough in researching the other races, but if the Vampires here were at all similar to the Dead Apostles that existed back home, they could have incredibly long lifespans. Was one of those Vampires sealed here by their own people? Did the Synergist let them free?

Shaking his head, Shirou went deeper into the room. He walked past the rows of thick pillars, made of an unknown, marble-like stone. At the center of the room, from what he could see, was… some kind of molten stone. He wasn't sure what it was, he didn't know if he even wanted to know what it was. Instead, he just stepped over it and continued deeper into the room. Perhaps there was something else in there. At the very back of the room, behind the molten stone, there was a Magic Circle. One he couldn't identify in the slightest. He felt that it could've been a trap, and that he should ignore it. However, he still kneeled down to it, and planted a hand on it. Wordlessly, he activated the Circuits in his arm, and let it flow through to the Magic Circle.

It let out a faint glow, and nothing happened for a moment. Then a section of the floor opened up. Shirou leapt back, ready to draw Hiyoko from its scabbard. However, what came out of the floor was not a Monster. It was a pedestal, with a smooth orb resting on top. The orb began to shine as well, before projecting the image of a man. Middle aged, with slicked-back blond hair and red eyes. He looked fairly handsome.

"…Aletia… I wonder if it would be wrong for me to say 'long time no see'." He began, and Shirou began to learn the story of Ehit, Avatarl, and its queen, Aletia Galdea Vesperitio Avatarl.

And that's a wrap.

For those wondering, I got the name of Miyu's mother, Hiyoko Sakatsuki, from the Prisma Material/petit for Oath Under Snow. I can link it for you guys if you're interested.

Also, in that Prisma Material, it explains why we didn't see Miyu!Shirou fighting Berserker in his Grail War. Here it is word for word, for anyone wondering:

Beatrice Flowerchild. For details, refer to the original manga.

After being handed over Heracles' Card by Julian-sama, Beako-san's tension was already at MAX. If it's with its overwhelming specs, she can briefly and easily fight Shirou fair and square from the front without needing any imprudent cheap tricks… She should.

Actually, Beatrice cornered Shirou to the point that there was only one step left, but Shirou, who saw he couldn't rival her, escaped as fast as he could. Can't be helped if he ran away. For the time being let's go home and heal the body and mind with some homemade Julian-sama goods, let's do that. While saying that, she was about to turn back when she was sniped from a long distance. Poor Beatrice's body exploded and was scattered in all directions. She was able to avoid death with Heracles' skill "Twelve Labors", but the Card was forcibly ejected. Just like that she ended up routing with her flesh and blood. It's because of this experience that she says "Again?" when she was sniped by Kuro.

…But, it seems that was cut because it was considered inserting a scene in which Shirou briefly and easily fights a little girl was image-wise weird. Little girls can only be beaten by little girls.

Anyway, because of her lesson from her defeat next time she would fight using her head more… Or so we thought, and by using a Card that stamped a specs gorilla superior to Heracles she made Illya-san and company suffer, but that's another story.

TLDR: Shirou couldn't fight Beatrice head to head, so he blew her up from afar with Caladbolg II. They didn't put it in because it would be weird for Shirou to fight a little girl. End of story.

I bet a lot of you are wondering when Shirou meets up with Hajime and Yue. Well let me tell you now, it's not happening in Orcus. You'll just have to wait~

*Evil Laughter*

Also, I'm handing Shirou and EMIYA's powers differently in each of my stories. In Fake Hero, he can use them without restraint. In this story, he's trying to limit his use of them, because he has no stopgap to protect him like he does in Fake Hero. In my newest story, which I am currently writing, it's working differently there.

Now that I have multiple stories, I'm gonna need to plan out an update schedule… Well, Winter Break is coming up soon, so (hopefully) I can focus on nothing but my stories. Good for you guys.

This is also my longest chapter yet, with just short of 11k words.

With that said, Eldritch Namer lays down his pen.