If Shirou was being honest with himself, then he'd have to look at the clear reality that he often didn't think things through before taking action. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing as he only ever did so when it involved the prospect of aiding others from due harm or death, but it doesn't change the fact that it was more of an impulsive action than anything else.
Letting the pieces fall as they may when he may or may not have a method to dictate the board seemed like a waste, granted not knowing just how he'd effect the board should have been further under consideration. Hindsight was 20-20.
Dealing with the actual prospect of a clashing of two worlds as a cause for the Waves of Calamity, was something of a jarring discovery. It was kind of like two bubbles if you will of varying size bunched up against each other and trying to absorb the other. Now, the problem here was trying to separate these two bubbled without popping either of them.
This was a difficult endeavor mind you, practically impossible even. So, why bother?
Arguably, if the presence of a bigger bubble appeared to force apart the other bubbles by suddenly appearing in between, then it could effectively separate the two bubbles without breaking either. Afterwards, if the new bigger bubble were to suddenly disappear, then wouldn't the problem be solved?
It's true that if the middle bubble popped, the others would pop too by extension to their connection with the new bubble. However, this really wasn't about bubbles.
Entire worlds to begin with weren't exactly as fragile as soap suds, but the point still stands, or at least he assumed it did.
Jutting in a third world in-between to offset the other two sort of felt right at the time, considering the whole concept of his Reality Marble was to exert his will over the world. Then naturally, the next step after had been to actually deploy his Reality Marble over a set area equal to the dimensional tear of the Wave.
All too suddenly, he knew that he'd made a mistake.
He'd made many in his glorious track record of 'stupid' as certain close associates would label it, several few more catastrophic than others, but this one might take the cake.
It all began to go wrong when his Reality Marble did what all Reality Marbles did best: Exert and supplant.
Instead of the prior analogy of bubbles, the new bubble practically swallowed one of the other two before Shirou could even make heads or tails of it. Granted, the breach point was quite small compared to the actual world he was already in.
Then, and only then did a sudden onset of nausea cause him to stagger, his outstretched arm falling limp by his side as the other came to rest over his temple. As for the dimensional tear leaking hordes of undead and locust like monsters, well that had disappeared as if it had never even existed, leaving behind only the monsters that had already left it.
"H-He closed the wave…" One voice uttered in the sheer silence that followed.
"He closed the wave," another voice echoed in disbelief.
"He closed the wave!" Affirmation this time.
Cheers followed, but if anything, the more important realization was that the lingering undead and enemies had started to wander aimlessly. It was as if their strings had been cut, and their purpose lost.
Shirou frowned, unable to pay much attention to everything else due to the ringing in his ears. He could see the soldiers celebrating, the citizen of Ryute village hugging their families close, and even Keel tentatively approaching the wall of aimless undead, poking them and growing more and more emboldened while waiting for a reaction that never came.
Trying to steady himself, he shook his head in attempt to reduce the nausea he was feeling, missing it entirely when a particular chevalier expression flickered across Keel's face in the distance and she jumped right into the horde of undead. Her small stature was instantly lost from view in the process as she either crawled under or around legs in the crowd. For a moment, it even looked like she'd transformed into a tiny blue puppy wearing a white fundoshi walking on two legs.
Now Shirou knew that he was really going out of it to hallucinate such a thing.
Steadying himself by pinching the bridge of his nose, the action became less idiotic now that the enemies around him would no longer capitalize on a moment of weakness. Whatever he'd done, he'd rendered them obsolete, and harmless at least to him. Perhaps their undead status might have something to do with why they weren't attacking, a lack of consciousness or autonomy once controlling them quite likely.
"Man am I glad that's over. You don't think they'll start attacking again, do you?" Naofumi tentatively poked the side of an undead and watched it wobble and hobble off. "What did you honestly end up doing? I've never seen you do something like this before. I thought you only had weapon and shield hacks."
"Status," Naofumi suddenly called out as a grin came to his face and Raphtalia leaned her head over his shoulder as if she'd be able to see Naofumi's text window. Whatever was on that window, Naofumi was satisfied, almost excited. "Say, how many experience points did you get for beating the wave? I've leveled up a couple times just from the mobs, and there's also party EXP."
A good question, all things considered, but ultimately one he could only give Naofumi a withering sigh for, and a deadpan; can't forget the obvious deadpan.
For his part, Naofumi didn't seem to understand.
Allow a demonstration then.
"Status," Shirou mimicked Naofumi's action before giving Naofumi a blank stare when no status window came up. Naofumi's features coloured sheepishly while Raphtalia inquired him to what was wrong.
"Yes, Naofumi, what do you think is wrong here?"
Unless it was already forgotten, but Shirou wasn't a wielder of a Legendary Weapon which enabled him to freely access game-like prompts and skill trees. Naofumi would have to offer those privileges to him as Party Leader and Naofumi had obviously forgotten in the heat of the moment.
"I, damn it sorry. Let me seen what I can do." Naofumi began tinkering at imaginary buttons in the air, trying to find the right setting, but Shirou waved Naofumi to stop.
"Let's do this when we're not on a battlefield," he cautioned out of habit and personal expertise.
"But its over though, and Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu were the one's dealing with the raid boss?" Naofumi didn't see the problem.
"Can't you tell?"
"Tell, what? That we've just secured victory in the bag, and that for once we're not being stared at as if we've done something wrong? I swear, people in Melromarc look at us like we're carrying a plague…and no, that plague is not Keel and Raphtalia just because they're demi-human."
"You're rambling."
"On an adrenaline high, right now."
"Still need to be careful, lest we fall victim to the age-old adage of pride coming before a fall. Moreover, we still have Raphtalia with us. We shouldn't risk danger."
"What danger is there in victory?"
Shirou flatly pointed to the undead and man-sized locust enemies. "Need I say anything else? They might not be attacking now, but what if that suddenly changes. We should be using this time to deal with them rather than relax."
There were practically thousands of undead and locust enemies remaining. Of course, they were no real threat as they weren't attacking anything, but everything could change at the drop of a hat.
"I-I see," Naofumi stammered while closing his status windows, suddenly more aware of himself and no longer letting the distant sound of celebration in Ryute village affect his better judgment. Raphtalia, wanna help?" He offered.
As far as Shirou and Naofumi were concerned, the undirected locust and undead were good experience that even a child could defeat at present.
"Okay," Raphtalia answered while Naofumi lowered her to stand on her own feet and wield her oversized sword. It was a comical sight, heightened only by puffed cheeks straining from the weight of steel, and a childish endeavor intent on obtaining approval.
Shirou smiled lightly at the scene, wondering if he should have brought Keel along before thinking otherwise. The safety of a child was more important than any gains.
Leaving Naofumi and Raphtalia to their own devices, Shirou took the moment to reflect on himself. He wasn't a mess per say, nor was he physically injured. It was just that there was an odd sense of disquiet within him that was best described as an imbalance of sorts.
When the Wave of Calamity's dimensional tear had made contact with a small enclosure of his Reality Marble, he wasn't naïve enough anymore to assume that nothing had happened. It was just a question of what.
The odd sensation of unease grew as he lingered on the issue, or maybe it was the odd way he was being stared at by the guardsman and townspeople from afar. The intensity of their gazes was practically boring into his back, but he attributed it to the usual scorn Melromarc's citizens had for Demi-Human sympathizers and the Shield Hero's party in general.
Nothing new then, obviously. He'd just work with it.
Slipping into the trap of habit, he remained ignorant of the fact that the intense stares weren't glares, but something altogether different.
He was severely underestimating just how big of an impact it was for him to have forcibly shut a Wave of Calamity's dimensional tear without confirmation of the Wave Boss's defeat.
Ambling through the undead, he kept close to Naofumi and Raphtalia and didn't act solely in preparation to intervene if the enemies grew violent. This didn't happen though, and Raphtalia and Naofumi kicked in the legs of the undead, and let Raphtalia squeamishly take the finishing blows. Already, the odd physiology of the Demi-Humans was rearing its head, and Raphtalia was soon cultivating an ample bosom that Naofumi was trying hard not to stare at as the pert mounds strained against Raphtalia's child-sized armour.
Keel would likely be experiencing the same thing due to shared party EXP, making it not matter if she was helping in this endeavor or not. Raphtalia was the one who still needed to get over her aversion to harming others and things, so this was training in a way.
Soon enough, a sizable area was cleared in the space around them, though not even close to killing every remaining undead. However, the guards and others had finally broken out of their stupors enough to start helping.
"Guess that's it huh?" Naofumi retracted and air shield and let his weapon return to its base form over his arm, emerald jewel glowing. "We did it. We're official heroes now, and we saved the town to boot."
Seeing how things were playing out, Naofumi had no more reason to remain overly cautious. If something was going to happen it should have happened by now.
Shirou however, wasn't as complacent, his gaze spotting a cloud of dust and debris rapidly approaching, vibration causing rocks and soil to shake.
"It's not over. One more coming!"
The cloud of dust and dirt was nothing more than the upturned gravel and vegetation tossed up in wake of a large Chimera Beast. It had three heads, a lion, a snake, and a goat bleating loudly, with the snake head attached as a hissing tail. A combination of scales and fur made up its body, the density reducing near the naval area and growing hairier towards the hind legs.
It was a sight that was difficult not to notice the closer it came.
"Damn it," Naofumi cursed before hoisting Raphtalia back over his shoulder and raising his shield up before him.
Like practiced, Noafumi moved ahead of the party as its tank while Shirou readied himself to attack. They were in an arrowhead formation, an air shield projected in front, Raphtalia protected and waiting for an opportunity on Naofumi's back, and Shirou circling to allow Naofumi to take aggression.
Nothing ever goes as expected though.
The Chimera ran right past Naofumi, ignoring him completely as its three-headed gaze fully focused on one person alone. It almost seemed frantic- no. From the dilation of its pupils, it was frantic, regarding Shirou as if it had to kill him at all costs.
Snarling, gobs of viscous saliva trailed down its maw while all over its body were different types of wounds. Cuts, stabs, bruises were everything, and there were even a few arrows sticking out of its hide.
A frown marred Shirou features as he maneuvered himself to have the Chimera chase him down away from Ryute village.
"Where are the others?!" Naofumi called out.
"Left behind."
It was a simple inferral considering the path the Chimera had taken wasn't quite subtle, and the figures of Itsuki and the rest could be seen chasing. Based on how far they were and how fast they were going, they weren't going to make it in time to intervene.
Shirou braced himself for combat, muscles growing taut, eyes narrowing.
He would quickly learn that not all was right with himself.
He focused deep within himself, calling out for a means to combat what was likely the Wave Boss charging madly towards him. His efforts and craft paid off like always and he felt the same familiar tug and cocking of a gun's hammer before pulling the metaphorical trigger to release it.
"Trace. On."
The same familiar thrum of his Magic Circuits hummed from within him.
The same sensation of the air distorting to form the outline of a projection manifested.
The same seven steps of projection religiously played through his mind, the weapon forming.
…It wasn't a sword.
Nope. Nope. Not a sword. Definitely not a sword.
His eyes almost bugged out in sheer alarm born from the difference of what he expected and what he got.
The very nature of his magecraft, his Tracing, was the process of projecting what was within his inner world to reality. Every weapon and item stored in his Reality Marble would be known to him from its make to its history.
He'd called for Kanshou and Bakuya, the married swords of a renowned blacksmith tasked by the Imperial Palace.
So why? Please tell him why!
Something inside Shirou's psyche seemed to snap, and it wasn't just his mentality, it was his common sense. For the past few seconds of reprieve, he was doubting everything about his life. His origin, his magecraft, and even his understanding of himself as a whole.
Wielded in each of Shirou's outstretched hands was a 1.5meter tall skeleton identical to the ones in the Wave. Held firmly by the base of each ankle, the two skeletons had their arms pointed above their head in an arrow shape to resemble a bastardized version of a sword, allowing for better aerodynamics.
Shirou was stunned. Naofumi, the nearest to Shirou was also stunned.
"Shirou, I didn't know you were necromancer!?"
"I'm not!"
Shirou swung on instinct as the Chimera drew too close, and watched helplessly as both wielded skeletal soldiers shattered into pieces against the lion maw. Tumbling into a roll, he crossed his arms into a slashing motion and activated his magecraft again.
"Trace. On!"
This time a pair of long femurs manifested, and those shattered too on the first attack.
"Shirou, this isn't a game! What are you doing?!" Naofumi tried to intervene and help, but the Chimera avoided him entirely.
Ducking and weaving, Shirou didn't even have the motivation to argue with Naofumi that he wasn't treating this situation lightly. He could hardly understand what was going on with him until he reassessed himself by sending a pulse of energy through him. All too quickly he noticed the problem.
In the depths of his inner world, an undead zone beyond the hill of swords was present. The familiar dimensional tear in the sky of his inner world closing as it finished depositing everything in its world into his inner world.
In essence, he'd basically swallowed and assimilated the other world from the present Wave of Calamity. Honestly, he didn't know if this counted as saving it, and letting it live on within him but that was something he could consider later. What mattered now was that he was going to have problems in the short term regarding his Reality Marble and the weapons stored within. It was more of a problem of his inner world and new foreign components, but it should become easier to sort out outside of combat.
Right now, he had no choice but to wing it and hope for the best.
Patience. Let's try this again, he all but convinced himself. His Reality Marble was a tad different, but in the end, it was still his Reality Marble. Surely this could work out. He'd done this thousands of times before.
-Judging the concept of creation
-Hypothesizing the basic structure
-Duplicating the composition material
-Imitating the skill of its making
-Sympathizing with the experience of its growth
-Reproducing the accumulated years
-Excelling every manufacturing process
Here it goes. This is the only path.
"Trace. On."
…
Tracing another pair of femurs, the way his eyes appeared utterly dead to Naofumi would have been humorous at any other time. Then Shirou's situation quickly caught up with him as the Chimera charged him. He feebly raised the bone femurs up in defence.
"Oh, for the love of-!"
"Look out!" Naofumi shoved Shirou aside as Shirou's hastily made bone defences shattered into pieces. Again.
Raising his shield, Naofumi took the subsequent blow from the Chimera's snake tail which coiled around and whipped him across the battlefield with Raphtalia still on his back.
Naofumi groaned as Raphtalia screamed from up high, the two of them crashing near Ryute village. This also meant one other thing.
'Great, alone then it is.' Shirou braced himself for a one on one.
Magic energy thrummed from within him, the familiar pathways humming through his veins and completing practiced motions he'd experienced all his life. It was going to be now, or never here. There was no time to sort out the mess in his inner world.
'Okay. One more time.'
He breathed in deeply and practically tossed aside his traced femurs for his newest pair of Traced tibias.
It likely meant something when a person usually so calm looked like he wanted to cry but had no tears to shed. He was a third-rate Magus, and the one craft he was ever good at was failing him. How else was he supposed to feel?
Regardless, he was a practical man. After numerous failures, he thoroughly concluded that this wasn't working. With his magecraft in the fritz, he was just going ot have to improvise.
The Chimera's lion head snarled before trying to maul him, forcing him to press a palm over its snout, and let momentum carry him back and away from its jaws. Tumbling over the ground, he reinforced his body and punched at the underbelly, the impact reduced by a sheen of magical energy around it.
A magical Beast then. Who was he kidding? This was a Phantasmal, of course it had magic and physical defence.
Buckling his knees, he leapt backward before the snake tail could spit poison at him, and before the goat head could disembowel him with a sharp horn.
He needed a weapon. Better yet, when would the other heroes arrive? Were they really going to be this slow?
Grimacing, he understood that he may have been asking for too much. Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu hadn't had access to the high-level farming areas like he and Naofumi did.
Eyes darting left and right for some sort of solution, or some sort of sign, it was all to surreal when he noticed a certain bluenette sitting with front-row seats to his bout.
Keel? She was here?
She was right there crawling out between the feet of the nearest undead, and had likely been secretly crawling her way past all of them to reach him. The tail on her back was wagging excitedly, her features exuberant after getting lost in the sea of undead limbs and finally reaching her goal.
He should be mad. Really he should be mad at her recklessness, but right now he wasn't.
No, there was something more important with this revelation as Keel panted for breath and sat on her butt watching him.
Shirou's eyes immediately zoned in on the weapon strapped over Keel's back, and the sheer relief the very notion of having a reliable weapon gave him.
"Keel, let me borrow the spear!" He called urgently, dodging, strafing, and rolling from the Chimera's swipes and charges.
"Oh, ah, of course!" Keel hastily unstrapped the weapon on her back and tossed it as well as she could.
It didn't reach, forcing Shirou to dive for it and roll lest he get trampled.
Clasping on the red spear's shaft, clarity and confidence returned to him in full. In hindsight, it was definitely a boon that he'd Traced Noble Phantasms before hand. He would have taken Raphtalia's, but by the time he thought to, she'd been punted away with Naofumi.
It didn't matter now though. Not of the least anymore.
The red spear twirled between his fingers, history and experience garnered from centuries ago igniting into a shower of flickering red energy that enveloped him whole. Veins popped over his skin, the sclera of his eyes taking on a reddish hue.
-Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.
This was the strength of a legend, the confidence of a warrior unmatched in his myth.
Howl upon the open plains.
Runic vein-like marking engraved over the spear lit as he dragged a thumb over the surface, twirling it before grabbing it in his other hand, a feral snarl escaping his throat before he lowered his stance.
Hunt in the swaying reeds.
The Chimera charged; his body pivoted. Jabbing the butt of the spear into the ground, he vaulted up and over the charge. Pulling, he spun the spear overhead into a cleave cutting a deep wound across the Goat head while an angry cry resounded.
Letting momentum and gravity take him, he leveled on the ground with one foot, spun on his heel, and then side-kicked the Chimera away, a shockwave of wind and air pulsing out from the impact.
His hair blew in the wind, the intensity of the raw magical energy around him emphasizing the new predatory red of his eyes.
He was neither the Hero of the Shield, the Bow, the Sword, or the Spear, but something altogether else.
The mysterious Fifth Summoned.
"Whoa…"
The sound that escaped Keel from her close proximity carried in the wind. Her mouth was hung open, her hands clutching on the hem of her shirt. It was a sentiment likely shared by all watching. The other heroes had long since arrived. However, they'd been rooted in place from the moment an overbearing air of bloodlust chilling their bones.
The Chimera tumbled, rolling, and crashing, and finally stopping after digging a large groove into the ground. It snarled, the franticness in its eyes turning into madness as it noticed the undead and locusts doing nothing.
Almost instinctually, it knew that this was all Shirou's fault. The fact that it could do nothing only instigated it further.
It charged once more, a beast, a monster, a terror.
In its path stood a man known specifically to slay beasts and armies alike. A shield in a time of crisis and violence.
The red spear twirled, runic markings alighting in challenge, its user crouched low, feral, beastly. Before him stood a monster, and behind that, a horde of undead and the supernatural.
The settings were all too in line with the duty tasked with this spear in a land of shadows.
Marks, ancient, and otherworldly manifested on his person. Over his clothes, over his skin, they bled an eerie blue.
A Geiss is an oath for a warrior. The more of them you have, the more accomplished you become…The history of this hero who wielded this spear had many.
Shirou leapt up high on reinforced legs, cocking back a javelin-esque throw, muscles bulging.
'Your heart is mine.'
"Stab and pierce!"
The words ignited the magical energy around him, diverting it all to coat over the spear's form.
Barbed thorns seeking death…
"Gae Bolg!"
The spear answered in kind with sickening pleasure.
The air crackled; no, the better word for it was shattered. The scale of legends was well, legends. A torrent of wind formed from the launch point, converging, writhing, and then bursting out with the wrath of a starved beast for the tail end of a crimson comet.
One became many. Like branching twigs upon the tallest trees, each protruding section spouted out more spears until resembling a top-broken whisk striking the ground and detonating it on a scale large enough to form a shroom of rising hellfire.
The grip Motoyasu kept over his spear slackened immediately at the site, his eyes trained on the red spear clanging and zipping through the air back into Shirou's grip in the utter storm that drowned the Chimera and the undead alike.
Ren's focus in comparison wasn't on the spear, but on the sword naively carried by Raphtalia and the implications behind its supposed capabilities.
As for the rest, there were no words to express this level of destruction easily.
Meanwhile, Itsuki suddenly felt like it wouldn't be a bad idea to suffer some humiliation from a spar if that was the result.
"Ren, Motoyasu, does that previous offer still stand?"
If the spear could do that, then how about the bow still in Erhard's blacksmith?!
Thanks for reading!
Note: Just to be specific, no, there's no nerfing. Just as it's mentioned, the new introductions to UBW need adjustment time. It's like introducing water to electronics and then expecting it to work immediately without repairs or adjustment.
Next update: Fate Beyond the Gate (August 15th, 2021)
P a treon. com (slash) Parcasious
Book links:
Fatedlegacydark. ca
The Lonely Peak
New Book: Out on Amazon (Remove dash on link)
Survivor's Log Reflection: Amazon.c-om/dp/B08VDDGN7Z?
