Kalila finally stopped shaking, her body becoming too tired to feel fear. Her parents had been dragged away earlier, leaving her alone with her brother Ishmael. The stench of blood and burnt flesh hung in the air, but she had long since grown accustomed to the acrid smell. Where was it coming from? Above? How long had she been taken here? Had it only been yesterday? She had lost track, everything seemed the same in the room.
"Are you scared?" Ishmael looked up at his sister, his eyes worried, seeing she had stopped shaking.
"Maybe a little. But we have to be brave to overcome this trial." Kalila did her best to smile at her little brother to reassure him, but she knew it was a failed attempt. Her fear was exhausting her, and she was barely holding it in. Nonetheless, she was determined to not let it show. Despite only being two years older than Ishmael, who was five, she had promised herself to protect him, her only family remaining.
Lifting her head, she saw the room was well lit, but being able to see the scene in front of her did nothing to alleviate her worries. Dozens of other people, varying ages, were crammed into the same room as her, a room that was only about fifteen by fifteen meters. She recognized several of them as her neighbors, but all of them seemed as exhausted as herself.
Her mind drifted to remembering how she had got here. Her parents had quickly locked the door and hidden the family in a hole in the floor of the house, thinking that the gunfire was the fight between the Rebel army and the Government approaching their home. The sounds of shouts of a monster or weapon grew louder as they held their breath amidst the intensifying gunfire, her brother, father, and mother all huddled together in the dark hole. Her father's grip on her tightened as her mother hugged the both of them, silently muttering a prayer to Allah the entire time. Suddenly there was a crashing noise, and the sound of Kalashnikovs had fallen silent. Her father had dared to peek out from their hiding spot to see if the coast was clear.
"Peekaboo." The face of a foreigner was staring directly at her father's eyes, his own face twisted in a strange mixture of ecstasy, excitement, and sadism. If demons still lived, Kalila was sure they would have such a face. She only caught a glimpse of the massive figure behind him as the foreigner said a phrase in a language she did not understand, and she collapsed.
When she awoke she saw the scene in front of her, several other prisoners waking her up. Her brother was still unconscious, but he quickly woke up when she roused him. Looking around she saw dozens of others from her neighborhood similarly confused at their situation. Her parents were calling out her name, and they quickly reunited. Although they were confused, no one seemed hurt, and they were together.
The room they were in had a single staircase leading up to a ceiling above them, which resembled a grate of sorts. Above, through the slits of the grates, she could see movement, but only vague shadows that flickered over her and the others in the room. A constant humming filled the air like a machine whirring above their heads. At the top of the stairs was something that resembled a trap door. Several of the people in the room had tried to force it open but it refused to budge, almost as though welded in place.
After some unknown time, which could have been minutes or hours, the trap door slid open, taking everyone in the room by surprise. Three figures had descended from the stairs, two creatures made of a strange white muscle like substance. Bundles of the substance composed their entire being. Vaguely humanoid, they lacked a true head and had eerily long arms that hung from their sides. The people in the room immediately turned to look at who had ascended, before eyeing the open door.
A voice had rang out through the room, stopping everyone in their tracks. "I apologize for the conditions you are currently all in. Don't fret, you'll all be part of something greater soon. Your suffering is appreciated in the road to perfection." The foreigner she had seen earlier was standing behind the two humanoids, his face twisted in a familiar excited and deranged smile.
The people in the room shuddered hearing these words, understanding that whatever the man had intended for them would be horrific. He motioned to the two humanoids in front of him who began advancing. Their spindly arms began to grasp one of the adults, who began struggling against his restraints, as the white bundles squeezed around him. Several of the other people in the room moved to help him, before a black bolt of energy blasted the ground in front of them to pieces.
"Nuh ah, wait your turn." The man standing at the top of the stairs had sneered. Suddenly, a white tentacle extending from one of the humanoid's limbs had wrapped itself around her, and began dragging her to the top of the stairs. Squirming desperately to free herself, she had been pulled ever closer towards the trapdoor, which seemed like a portal to doom rather than freedom. It was then that she had heard a shout, and seen her father pushing his way towards the humanoid pulling her away, and grabbing it with his hands. In a roar of rage and desperation, he slammed the upper body into the ground, cracking the stair steps. Despite being a pacifist, he had been living and protecting his family in a warzone for the past several years, and his body had been toughened from experience.
Before he had managed to take a breath, however, a black bolt hit him squarely in the back. The dark energy crackled through his muscles and bones, directly striking his nervous system, and he fell unconscious. Her mother had rushed over to see if her husband was alright, and had knelt over him, worriedly holding back tears. Several shouts calling the foreigner demon started to be raised amongst the captives, but none dared to challenge him seeing how easily he had incapacitated one of them
Looking down on his victim, the mage had appeared to be impressed with the man's actions, and snapped his fingers. "Touching. You'll make for some fine fuel. I'll be sure to reunite you with your family as soon as possible." The creature had let Kalila from her grasp, before picking up her father, apparently having taken minimal damage from being slammed into the stairs. After dragging her mother and unconscious father through the trapdoor, the door was slammed shut, refusing to budge once more.
Now, in the darkness, she squeezed her brother's hand, her remaining family. Silently, she made a promise to protect him from those white creatures if they returned. As it would turn out, she would no longer have to worry.
The trap door opened, and several of the familiar white humanoids now entered, making their way down the stairs. Steadily, they marched through the captives who parted out of their way, fearful of these unknown creatures. Mechanically, they fanned out to the outer edges of the room, before linking their limbs of muscle and sinew. Several gasps of astonishment and fear rose as their limbs grew and melded over each other, fusing into a circle around the captives.
Then, they began closing in. Initially, the captives managed to avoid touching them, cautious of what this new development meant. After being pushed against the stairs however, a young man accidentally grazed one of the limbs, letting out a horrific scream as pain seared through his body, forcing him back. The rest of the captives, seeing this, began to head towards the trapdoor, despite its ominous presence and increasing stench.
Slowly, they began filing through the trapdoor. Kalila held Ishmael's hand tightly as they ascended the stairs. Finally stepping out of the room, she looked around, taking in the scene, before letting out an involuntary gasp and covering her brother's eyes. The room was much more spacious than the hole they had been, perhaps four times as spacious. Several bodies were in the corner of the room, piled like so many broken toys. Although they were fresh, it appeared almost as though something had been removed from their bodies. Despite not having any clear wounds, they all had blood and marks covering their body, as though they had been destroyed from within. It was clear this was the source of the smell.
But that was not the only sight she wished to protect from Ishmael. Four transparent cylinders stood around the room, each containing a body that floated within, unresponsive. In the cylinder closest to them were her father and mother. Seeing them floating helpless in this unknown contraption, as well as the bodies in the corner, was enough to convince Kalila that her brother should not have to see such a scene before what came next.
"Whats going on?" Ishmael asked curiously, confused by the sudden action.
"No, nothing you should see." Kalila made sure the gaps in her fingers were closed, while trying to steady her voice. No matter what, she could not let her brother see this.
"If I look, am I going to the bad place? And if you look, are you going to be alright?" Ishmael's voice grew concerned at the prospect.
"No, no, everything will be alright." Kalila's voice began to crack as she struggled to hold back her tears, certain that they would be joining the bodies soon. The others similarly looked downtrodden, fully aware of what was likely happening. It was not uncommon for the forces in the region to round up civilians to execute in a ritualistic fashion for propaganda. They had no doubts this foreigner has similar intentions.
Several more humanoids herded them into groups, forming a circle of sorts inscribed in the square created by the cylinders. Looking down, Kalila saw through her watering eyes several symbols she did not recognize. A familiar voice rang out behind her, "Beautiful, isn't it, little missy? With it, your meager life will become part of something greater."
Kalila shook her head. This language was common amongst those fighters, who always believed that killing those lives they deemed unnecessary as fulfilling a greater purpose. Closing her eyes, she muttered a silent prayer for Allah to be merciful. Her fellow captives noticed this last act of defiance, some following suit, others taking deep breaths, struggling to prepare themselves, breathing deeply.
"Well then, let's get started, shall we?" The foreigner walked out of the circle, behind his fence of humanoids, and began chanting in an unrecognizable language. Suddenly, a rush of energy seemed to surge through the floor, causing the signs below her foot to glow. Squeezing her hands around her brother's eyes harder, Kalila began to feel strength leaving her body, despite her instincts telling her to flee. So this is it. Despite her best efforts, she felt her tears begin to well. Her knees buckled, before collapsing as her life force began to slip away. Kneeling down, she hugged her brother who had fallen unconscious. Please let it be quick.
Suddenly, a swishing sound was heard overhead, like the sound of a disc or bullet slicing through the air. Above the noise of the chant, and the increasing hum of magical energy, the sound of glass shattering echoed through the room as a black and white sword embedded itself into the wall of the room, having smashed through the cylinder containing her father. Shards of the transparent material clattered to the ground as the cylinder shattered, spilling out the liquid along with her father.
"What—" The Mage stopped mid-chant, despite the possible ramifications of not completing a ritual, particularly a rebounding effect. Most mages were conditioned to ignore outside distractions no matter the situation. But the prospect of an intruder this deep into his workshop was too much to overlook, and his concentration broke.
Immediately, the three other cylinders were similarly shattered, as more black and white blades slashed through them simultaneously. Kalila felt the draining force instantly vanish, and she cracked open her eyes, still too weak to do much else. In front of her, she saw a single young man standing in a doorway that had been blasted in. In his right hand he held a black blade, in his left was an identical white blade. His auburn hair had streaks of a gray white strain that dotted the right half of his scalp. A long clark covered most of his back, while he wore a tight fitting black clothing that revealed his muscular frame. Standing in a ready stance with his blades held in front of him, he seemed identical to the heroes she had caught a glimpse of on television in the shop she had enjoyed her afternoons in. A hero of justice.
"Hey, Rin, are you sure this is the area?"
"Yeah, trust me, there is a massive collection of mana in an area underground here. Also, who would have a bounded field here in the middle of a war torn city? This is where that piece of scum has been bringing his victims."
Shirou Emiya looked around at the door in the ground, sealed with a bound field that was faintly glowing with magical energy. He lowered the cloth wrapped around his head, meant to block out the sun and sand, to take a look at the massive entrance Rin had just uncovered. It was easily large enough to march an army through, or in this case, carry a lot of bodies through. It was undoubtably the entrance to the workshop of an unsavory mage.
"Then we should hurry. Can you take care of the bounded field? I would try smashing it open, but I don't want to trigger any countermeasures."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Rin knelt down, holding her right hand over the barrier and began to prepare her circuits. "You know, when you said you wanted to travel I should have guessed you would drag me into this lawless dessert. Seriously, how do people live here with the sun and sand everywhere? You might be fine, but our skin will get burned staying out too long in this sun." Using her left arm she wiped away the sweat beginning to form at her brow, before gesturing at her dessert outfit in indignation. Meanwhile, mana began to flow into intricate patterns into the invisible barrier, like a lockpick, to disable the complex barrier inscriptions.
"Sorry, I can do it myself next time if I'm a bother. But I think you look really nice in that outfit. I never would have guessed that rugged look suited you."
Rin took a moment to acknowledge that comment. Shirou was unsure if it was the summer heat or if she was blushing. After a moment, she replied, "We-well, it's fine, really. I've promised to be with you, remember? What girlfriend would I be if I couldn't accompany my boyfriend on his stupid trip to save people around the world? Besides," her tone changed, "I despise the mages who do this sort of thing."
Although generally forbidden by the Clock Tower due to the risks it posed of revealing the secrecy of magecraft to the wider public, mages would sometimes utilize living humans as fuel for their spells and rituals. Even ordinary humans, by virtue of having their soul and spirit, contained significant amounts of mana. Thus, it was not uncommon for some mages to hide their presence and activities when harvesting humans by going to places where humans regularly disappeared. After all, a few missing bodies in a war hardly triggers any major flags in the greater world of magecraft.
Shirou began to steady his nerves, as he prepared his own magical circuits.
"Hey, take it easy. Remember, you need to limit your usage of Projection magic, unless you want to destroy yourself. Anyways, the barrier is down, I'll cover you."
"If you need me, just let me know. Otherwise, I will observe your progress from the backlines." A hooded figure standing behind Rin spoke up.
"Got it." Shirou concentrated, closing his eyes. "Trace, on."
Instantly, he visualized, analyzed, conceptualized, and projected his signature twin single edged blades, Kanshou and Bakuya. Swords originating from a legend in China, their sharpness and traits complemented his fighting style. With a single slash, he destroyed the padlocked chain holding close the door handles. In a swift motion he spun, using his rotational momentum to kick the door. Combined with his bodily Reinforcement it was like a battering ram, and easily smashed open the doors. Inside, he immediately scanned the room, his enhanced reaction time absorbing the entire scene in an instant.
Two primitive Homunculi were advancing on his position, having detected his presence. Good, no human guards. Stepping onto the first set of stairs, Shirou crouched, before kicking the stairs with all his might, rocketing his body down the slope. Flying towards the first homunculi, he crossed his blades before slashing in a X pattern across its chest. The artificial creation barely had time to react before it was sliced into four parts. The sharp blades barely felt any resistance as they cut through artificial muscle and bone. The four separated pieces fell to the floor, now lifeless, as Shirou turned to face the other guard.
The second Homunculus extended its arms before lashing out with its limbs, which turned into muscular whips, like some sort of human sized weed whacker. Their tips quickly turned into a blur as they slashed through the air, before being targeted at the intruder. Shirou's eyes tracked their movement, while his other senses heightened to the peak of human capability. Having already survived countless conflicts, his body was subconsciously developing a combat system of identifying a path to survival, his Mind's Eye. Now, it activated, as he saw a clear opening in the homunculus's defenses. Directly in front of its chest, between the two violent limbs, was a scantily guarded space. Pushing off the wall with his opposite foot, he dived for the defenseless hole in the middle of the Homunculus's chest, darting past the deadly whips that slashed through the air and stone walls around him.
In less than a second, he had closed the gap of five meters as he found himself directly in front of the Homunculus. Raising both his blades to his left shoulder, he slashed downwards, cutting two parallel lines from the Homunculus's right shoulder to its left hip. Its upper body separated cleanly as its whip arms stopped moving, falling to the ground with a heavy thud.
In a flourish, he twirled his twin blades, flicking the artificial blood off their edges.
Looking at the events unfolding in front of her, Rin could not help but be reminded of the similarities between Shirou and her former servant. His appearance and movement were becoming uncannily similar. She shook the thought out of her head. No way I'm gonna let him end up like Archer. I promised him to take care of Shirou.
Following Shirou with her arm raised, she prepared to take out any threats he missed with her Gandr. Checking to make sure that everything was clear, she continued down the steps.
Shirou nodded and began to sprint forward into the darkness, gesturing for Rin to follow. Although she inwardly sighed, worried at the possibility of him being afflicted by some curse or hidden trap, she was confident in his abilities to avoid such tricks. Well, I did save him from a death curse before. Besides, we have quite the trump card if this mage does have something up his sleeve. She silently assessed the situation before dashing down the stairs.
After a few seconds, Shirou halted his movements, before quickly turning his head and body out of the way of a white limb that threatened to blow his head clean off. The white limb swished past him, cracking the sand stone wall. Taking a few leaps back, he narrowly avoided several more similar slashes from three other Homunculi, who appeared to have been expecting him after his entrance. A total of four Homunculi stood before him, guarding a reinforced door.
Shirou clicked his tongue, annoyed at the delay. The longer he took, the more likely the mage would be alerted to his presence. Or, in the worse case scenario he would be too late to save anyone. Although it would be more mana intensive, he decided to take them all out quickly from a distance. Reinforcing his body to close the gap quickly would be too risky with the sheer number of limbs slicing through the air at the moment, even with his mind's eye. And being too meticulous to carefully weave in between each individual opponent would simply take too long.
Instead, he crossed his blades, and using his back and arm muscles flung them at the foremost Homunculi. Although whips of flesh moved to intercept, they were quickly cut through by the spinning blades, slashing into the Homunculi and destroying its core, neutralizing it immediately.
Before its body had even collapsed, Shirou had projected a bow in his left hand. It was a simple yet study longbow of a black composite material. In his right he held an arrow he had projected then reinforced with his mana, nocking it on the bowstring in a fluid motion. He felt a familiar burning sensation in his nerves, having used his projection and reinforcement through such quick succession. Ignoring it, he focused, reinforcing his back muscles to draw back the weighty bow, pulling a string that even the strongest humans would struggle with in a smooth motion. In a single breath, he aimed at his target, releasing the string as soon as the arrowhead was pointed at its chest.
The Homunculus, although a formidable force of destruction with its whips of flesh, was also immobilized by the said gyrating limbs, having to anchor itself into the ground in order not to be tossed around by its own movements. As a result, the arrow burst through its still center. The reinforced arrow was a simple projectile, simply hardened to be like steel, but with its velocity approaching mach 1 it blasted through the artificial flesh, shredding its core and shutting down the creature.
The entire process occurred within half a second, as Shirou quickly shot two successive shots, both of which similarly found their targets. In all, it had taken Shirou 1.5 seconds to shoot off three arrows and neutralize his targets.
Turning towards the reinforced door, Shirou tried opening it briefly, noting that it lacked a bounded field. Instead it was simply a thoroughly reinforced steel door, similar to a bank vault. As he was, he was simply physically incapable of reinforcing his body to such an extent to force it open. On the other hand, if he tried using a broken noble phantasm he was just as likely to blow himself up as the door, not to mention whomever might be on the other side of the door.
"And just when I thought you could handle this all by yourself." Rin's voice bought him out of his planning, as he looked away from the door facing.
Shirou shook his head, a bit embarrassed at his inability to deal with the situation. "Should we ask for help?"
"Stand back." Rin approached the door, pressing her hand into the steel structure. "Hm… give me a few seconds. He's set up quite the intricate defensive mechanism against opening the door with magecraft. Hair triggers, mana snares, the likes. I imagine it would be enough to stall most mage teams for at least a day, if not outright kill them with the traps he has installed."
"Will you be alright?" Shirou suddenly tensed his body, ready to shield Rin if the door tried to do anything funny.
"Have you forgotten who you're talking to? It's open."
"Thanks." Shirou gave a sigh of relief, before taking point once more. In a motion similar to his earlier door busting technique, he spun into a back kick, kicking open the unlocked reinforced door with his reinforced right leg. In a thud, it swung open, revealing a scene that Shirou scanned in an instant.
Four transparent cylinders containing humans floating in an unknown liquid were stationed on the corners of a square around the spacious room. At its center were huddled several groups of humans from the local area, confined in a ritualistic circle. On the circumference of the ritual stood a line of fused Homunculi that formed a circle. At the opposite of the room stood a single mage, deep in the middle of chanting his incantation. Meanwhile, Shirou immediately noted the weakness of the humans in the ritual circle. It was clear their life energy was being drained for some purpose.
A memory flashed through his mind, when similar individuals had taken the essence of innocent people in a far away city to power their own existence, or tried to absorb the lives of everyone at his school.
In a breath, he had projected and thrown two pairs of blades at the cylinders, the pillars and fuel source for the ritual, shattering them and spilling their contents. Projecting another pair of blades in his, he analyzed the situation once more, briefly locking eyes with a young girl in the circle, bringing back a flash of memories.
A flash of anger flooded through him remembering when he walked through that field of fire, seeing the bodies, unable to help anyone. The countless souls he had left to burn. Not this time. Reinforcing his entire body, the pulse of mana burning his nerves, he crouched to gain traction against the sandstone floor, before rocketed himself forward at the mage at over sixty kilometers per hour within a second. There was a distance of twenty meters between him and the mage
In his path stood the initial wall of Homunculi, with their backs to him. Without breaking his dash, he slashed a hole through the fence, bursting through the now limp remains. Although at his speed the stationary bodies felt like being pelted by baseballs, he dug in with his reinforced body.
Dashing through the center of the circle, he appeared as a blur to all the prepared sacrifices, who had collapsed and could only view this lying on the ground, their energy drained.
From behind in the doorway, Rin watched him burst through the first line of Homunculi. Although she had agreed to minimize her role for the sake of his training, she hoped to end this entire charade before he hurt himself. Besides, seeing the several dozen sacrifices was pissing her off. Turning her left arm towards the Homunculi on the opposing side, she let loose several bursts of Gandr. The black bolts of energy rocketed out of her left fingertips, a concentrated curse. Although she was confident she could have taken the head of the Mage, she decided to leave his head to Shirou. Any reverse curses he had may have prepared were more trouble than they were worth.
The Gandr shots found their mark in one Homnculus's body, whereupon it burst its artificial body apart with magical energy, like a miniature explosive shell.
Shirou now had a clear path towards the mage. The Homunculi were still fused, unable to properly respond, and seizing this, he pushed against the ground once more, shooting through the hole with his blades raised. A few meters in front of the mage, however, his Mind's Eye warned him,, screaming danger. Immediately he shifted his blades to cover his right temple. The blades caught the strike of a sharp object within a hair's breadth before it pierced his skull. Even blocked, he felt the shock ripple through his reinforced body. Glancing at the blow, Shirou saw it was the hand of his opponent, biologically altered to resemble a spear point. His entire arm had lengthened, like one of the whips of his homunculi. Despite his reinforcement, Shirou had no doubts that the blow would have been fatal if it had connected with his head. Even the body armor cloth that covered his torso would have been torn to shreds.
"Should I step in?" A female voice behind Shirou called out, somewhat concerned.
"No, I've got this." Shirou replied, without taking his head off his opponent. Is he using a self modification spell?
"Yeah, he's got this. Don't worry, I'll cover you." Rin concurred, raising her right arm once more.
Nodding, Shirou stood taller, relaxing from his crouched position, though still on guard. His two blades shifted as he readied himself against an attack from any angle. His opponent's arm retracted, as his face contorted itself into one of frustration and fury, his smile long gone.
"Who the hell do you think you are? Why have you decided to interfere with my ritual?" The mage gritted his teeth, his bloodlust almost palpable in the underground workshop.
In reply, Shirou pointed his sword directly at the mage. "I'm here to save these people."
The mage's face transformed into that of surprise, before he burst out laughing, "HAHAHAHA, YOU WANT TO WHAT?! I thought you were some rival mage, trying to sabotage my research, or a jealous fledgling trying to take advantage of my ritual by stealing these sacrifices for yourself, or even a goddamn executioner. But no, you're not even policies, trying to conceal mystery. You just want to save these mana sources? HAHAHAHAHA!" Doubling over in laughter, his eyes gleamed as his joy mixed with his bloodlust. Suddenly, he stopped laughing. "DON'T SCREW WITH ME!"
He dashed forwards, his limbs suddenly becoming whirlwinds of the spear like hands. Shirou began to step back, his eyes carefully tracking their movements. Although the whips were fast, their trajectories could still be estimated with his enhanced eyesight and reflexes. In this situation, he would have typically backed off and sniped him from long range. In the current confined environment, however, that was not an option.
Instead, he reanalyzed the situation. His opponent utilized biological means of attacks, modifying his very make up to perform his offensive maneuvers. It was not too different from what a dead apostle might do, but it was unlikely that he was such a being. In other words, I can kill him. Raising his blades, he began to parry the attacks from their varying angles, his eyes darting around liker trackers, never losing sight of the blades. Analyze his attack pattern, then when he presents an opening, strike. Top, left, below, lower right. When Rin uses Gandr, I'll take him out. Finish him quickly. Shirou felt his magical circuits beginning to burn his body as he continued to reinforce his body.
Meanwhile, Rin had quickly eliminated the rest of the Homunculi in short order with several more Gandr shots. The Homunculi were sitting ducks, and soon were no more than heaping piles of flesh. With the threats neutralized, she approached the refugees, and began to hoist them over her shoulder with ease, bellying her feminine stature.
"Where do you think you're taking my prey?" A whip suddenly flashed towards her, straight for the back of her head. Shirou opened his mouth to warn her, caught off guard that a third whip had appeared, before a sickening crack sounded throughout the room, as bone and flesh were crushed.
"Who do you think you're laying your filthy tentacles on?" In Rin's right hand, she was holding an appendage that had sprouted from the back of the mage's back, and shot towards her head. Having caught the attack inches before impact, it squirmed in her grip, which clamped down with the strength of a vise.
"Huh? I have no idea who you are." The mage tilted his head, disregarding his crushed third limb, annoyed that even more interference had arisen, without stopping his assault on Shirou. "And don't think I don't see you, standing in the back. I'll kill you soon enough."
Rin's right eye twitched, as a fury exploded in her at the indignation. Without dropping the body over her left shoulder, she twisted her body, pulling the appendage in her direction with an inhuman force. Her limbs glowed as her magical circuits, cultivated to perfection befitting a prodigy of a long Mage family, reinforced her body beyond human limits.
"Wha—" The mage was taken off guard, as he was suddenly pulled towards Rin. The assaults on Shirou stopped as his opponent was dragged away. Letting go of the limb, Rin shifted her weight once more, directing her momentum into a fist that smashed into the mage's chest, easily shattering his barrier and destroying his ribcage, before rebounding him past Shirou once throwing him into the opposing wall. In terms of raw unarmed combat, Rin far outclassed Shirou with her overwhelming skill in magecraft.
The sandstone wall fell apart, revealing a secret room. In it, Shirou could see several blood red crystal prisms, each within a drawn circle of sorts. Suddenly, the prisms began to glow, as mana surged into the broken body that had been scattered in their center.
"Damn you… I will attain perfection!" Suddenly, the mage's body began to recover from his wounds, as they seemed to reverse their damage, not dissimilar to that of a dead apostle's. Soon, his body had healed from the devastating punch, but even then the Mana continued to flow. Looking at his hands, the mage nodded in satisfaction. "It's not quite finished, but it will suffice in exterminating you for now."
Immediately, Rin put up her guard. Magecraft that allowed a mage to absorb the mana and energy of other humans was not trivial or something to be underestimated. Clearly, the mage had something special in mind. Apologizing to the body over her shoulder, she tossed him towards the door, before turning back towards the mage.
Shirou, sensing that the mage was gathering power, decided to try and end him before he became more troublesome. Rocketing forward with his blades coiled to slash in a cross pattern, he was prepared to deal his finishing close range blow, Crane Wings, form six. Using his forward momentum, it was meant as a frontal assault to shock his opponent, and deal a devastating slash before they could mount a defense.
In a blink, he was in striking distance, and unleashed his attack, targeting his limbs and torso with a devastating slash. Instead, his blades clinked against a shield composed entirely of organically hardened whips, like so many razor blades. In a flash, a dozen of these razor appendages had zoomed in to block his attack, all originating from his back..
Shirou was knocked back as the blades unfurled. Looking at his opponent, he saw about a dozen new formations protruding from the mage's back, like the many arms of a buddha statue, bristling with hostility.
"Now, die." In another instant, the razor appendages had turned into a true whirlwind of attacks, each shooting forward with the speed of an arrow towards Shirou. Backing up, his eye movements sped up, as he further reinforced his body, blocking out the growing pain.
"Kh—" His Mind's Eye was holding out for now. Compared with the barrage from the Gate of Babylon, this was nothing. It was his proximity to the captives that had him worried at the moment. One wrong deflection would mean a skewered body, and an innocent's death.
"Why you—" Rin opened fire with another barrage of Gandr, these shots much stronger bolts of energy to pierce the new appendages, but still contained to minimize the collateral damage. They could be likened to armor piercing rifle rounds.
Without even glancing in their direction, the mage's appendages flickered, swatting the Gandr shots into the surrounding sandstone, several impacting the ceiling. Rin chided herself for limiting the damage, deciding next time to use a full blast for maximum damage.
*crick crack* Shirou temporarily glanced upwards, noticing a piece of the ceiling beginning to give way. Tracking where it would fall, he saw the slab positioned directly over a young girl and her younger brother. In another second, the ceiling had come loose. Without pause, Shirou immediately disengaged the flurry of razor blows, diving to cover the two, reinforcing his back and torso to withstand the half ton of sandstone and concrete collapsing on his back. "SABER!"
Overhead, he heard the sound of a vortex of air reduce the slab to harmless rubble over his head, as Invisible Air was released. The dust and remains of the ceiling piece fell harmlessly around him. Picking himself off the ground, he saw the mage's dumbstruck face, who was trying to comprehend the sudden turn of events.
In front of Shirou's body, parrying the onslaught of the razors with ease, stood the hooded figure. Although having remained behind for the majority of combat, it appeared as though she had decided to step in after evacuating the other individuals. Despite her short stature, she exuded an incredible aura of pure power. If there was the personification of a ruler warrior, she would have been such a being. In her hands flashed a golden sword that was flowing with magical energy. With the skill of a knight who had honed their swordsmanship through countless battles, she deflected the blows effortlessly.
"Are you alright Shirou?" The voice of a young woman inquired from beneath her hood.
"Yeah, thanks Saber." Shirou checked to make sure the children were safe, who had simply passed out from anemia, before looking back at the combat in front of him. The hood was pulled back by the air pressure, revealing Saber's golden hair. Despite currently engaging in combat her face was still as graceful as the night when he first summoned her. In front of him stood the King of Knights, a remnant of the Holy Grail War from six years ago.
"Sorry about that, I kind of messed up." Rin raised her hand apologetically, somewhat embarrassed at her blunder. "I'll kill him now."
"No, I'll take care of him from here. It was my error." Taking the moment to regain his breathing, Shirou steadied himself, cutting away his extraneous mana expenditure, and focusing it into projecting a bow, and a special arrow..
"So much damn vermin today." The mage stopped attacking momentarily to properly view the newcomer who had stopped his fatal blows. His rage was boiling over at this point. "I was promised perfection by her majesty, and I will take it today. None of your souls will have freedom, even after death."
Shirou finished projecting his bow, while in his right hand he held a spiralling blade of Irish origin. Taking this opportunity while his opponent was busy frothing with rage, he reinforced his body once more, letting out an involuntary grunt of pain. Drawing his bow, he rested the handle of the blade on his cheek, taking careful aim.
Noticing the movement, the mage gathered his whips to form a barrier. "Throw whatever pathetic attacks you have at me, not even a full power Gandr shot can touch me as I am now. When you fail, I will eviscerate every single last one of you." He was not the slightest bit concerned. Even if the attack somehow penetrated his physical barrier, his newly formed magical barrier, fueled by the souls of several dozen humans, was nigh impenetrable.
Saber, however, stood back, recognizing the arrow and the power it held. Although it was still a far cry from Archer's broken noble phantasms, it was still an attack that even she would have to be wary of.
"Caladbolg!" Shirou announced the name of his attack, telling the world of the power he held in his hands. The arrow shot forward at Mach two, with a sonic boom that shook the ears of everyone in the room like a thunderclap. In the same instant, the arrow easily pierced the physical wall of razors, shattering them like glass. Without losing velocity, it made contact with the strengthened magical barrier. Despite the mage's massive mana reservoir holding up the barrier, the spiraling sword simply distorted his magecraft, bending the space around it, until the entire shield simply collapsed.
The sword ripped a hole through the mage's body before he could even realize his defenses had been shattered. Looking down, he coughed up a stream of blood, as it poured into his lungs and airway. Chaos flooded his mind as his face's sneering sadistic smile collapsed into one of confusion and he struggled to comprehend what had happened in the few remaining moments of his life. I'm dying? But that's impossible. I became perfect. His knees gave out and he collapsed, dying before his head hit the ground.
The sword had burrowed through into the sandstone wall behind the mage, before dissipating into mana as Shirou released his projection. With the conflict over, he ignored the remaining sensation of his firing magical circuits, and looked at the remaining victims. By now, several of them had already begun to regain consciousness, and were looking around cautiously.
"Don't worry, the draining ritual the mage used was stopped early enough that none of the victims will be damaged. Not even the ones used as the initial fuel." Rin gestured towards the bodies that had been in the canisters. Over two of them, a male and female, Shirou recognized the little girl and boy he had covered, asking and shaking the bodies that had started to stir. Upon seeing their parents alive, the girl, struggling to hold back her emotions, burst into tears, a cry that let out the emotions she had been holding in since she had been thrown into the dungeon below.
Shirou allowed himself a small smile, before turning back to Saber and Rin. "Sorry about having to make you two worry."
Rin waved her hand. "Oh, no, I wasn't worried at all. No, I never thought you were going to end up like Lancer for a single second. When you started sweating, struggling to defend yourself after charging in recklessly like that, I wasn't worried at all." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, tinted with concern.
Saber simply shook her head. "No, Shirou, it was no problem. Please do not hesitate to ask me for assistance when the need arises. I agree that you must learn through your own experience to grow and achieve your ideal, but allow me to support you when you stumble."
"Thanks, I appreciate it Saber."
"Hey, don't go overworking her without my permission. She's my familiar, remember? Just because she has both our mana to support her, doesn't negate the fact that without the Greater Grail present, she can't go crazy Excaliburing everything in sight."
Shirou laughed nervously at the thought. "Right, which is exactly why I have to get stronger right?"
Rin paused, her indignation mounting, before sighing, disappointed that he was dense as ever. "What I meant was that you should rely on me more. Just telling me to stay behind while you rush into the jaws of death is slowly killing me."
Resisting the urge to blush, Shirou scratched his head, "Well, I guess you have a point. If you're insistent about it, and think I'm in genuine danger you can step in. I guess if I can't speak then I would be in quite a pickle if I still needed to signal for help."
"That's better."
"I concur. I believe I should be able to discern whether or not you are in distress, Shirou."
"Thanks." Shirou let out his breath, glad to have sorted out their future plan of action. "Anyways, we should search the place, and clear it out."
"Good idea." Rin finished incinerating the mage's body, before looking around.
Spreading out, Shirou and Rin began looking around the workshop, in particular trying to understand the origins of his magecraft involved with consuming human souls. Being a none-mage, Saber focused helping the victims out of the dungeon, some of whom carried the corpses in the corner of the room outside to give them a proper burial.
After a few minutes, Rin motioned towards Shirou. "Hey, take a look at this." Rin motioned at them from inside the secret room that she had punched the mage through.
"Why, what is it?" Shirou peered over her shoulder as Saber entered the room.
"It's the instructions for the ritual, and it details the effects. The concept is pretty basic, extracting mana from humans, but the process is much more complicated and usually not worth the trouble, since the Mage's Association will usually step in to prevent discovery. Only a few mages could probably develop a functioning ritual, but if they were a Dead Apostle that would be a different story. And based on what I can tell, it was likely the latter that told him the instructions."
"That would make sense. He mentioned a promise by 'her majesty' for perfection." Saber nodded.
"Still, what a sick thing to do." Shirou shook his head. "But why would he perform this ritual in the first place? Combat oriented magecraft is an unusual field to pour so many resources into"
"Probably because he was preparing to go to war." Rin gestured towards another set of documents, which Shirou recognized immediately.
"That's the summoning circle for a servant," Shirou stated, struggling to understand with growing anxiety, "Is there another war occurring in Fuyuki?" He thought about Sakura and Taiga back at home. Sure, there was Rider and several others that should have remained, but the thought of another war occurring in the town filled him with worry. Suddenly, he had the urge to board the first plane back to Japan.
"Calm down, there are instructions to head to a town called… Hillsdale, located in the U.S.. The instructions detail to arrive there at a date that's in about five days."
"I see. Then can we assume another Holy Grail War will occur in this town called Hillsdale?" Saber began to realize the current situation.
"Yeah, that would make sense with what I've been hearing around the Clock Tower lately. Some mages there have been eyeing the town for the possible prize."
"But how is that possible? The grail in Fuyuki required careful cultivation of the leylines for centuries." Shirou scratched his head, nonplussed.
"I'm not sure. But we should head there to find out." Rin stashed the documents into her backpack, before heading towards the exit. "We should get back to the Clock Tower as soon as possible, and from there head to the U.S."
"I concur." Saber followed her closely, "I have promised to be your sword to victory."
"Yeah, that sure brings back memories, doesn't it." Rin continued towards the exit, walking up the stairs as she started to reminisce about the war six years ago.
"Hmmm…" Shirou looked at the secret room silently once more, taking in the many souls that had been taken and stored here. Remembering the moment his arrow pierced the mage's heart, he felt the familiar tinge in his chest as he climbed the stairs. Although he was determined to forge this destiny for himself, the feeling of taking a life still caused the familiar sting, no matter how horrible the person he killed was. In the end, he truly wanted to save everyone.
No, I have chosen this path. Even if that ideal is forever impossible, it is still beautiful. Briefly, he thought back to his battle with Archer, remembering the pain he felt in the memories of his future self. The endless suffering he had endured, shattering his ideal over and over, becoming the wrought iron hero.
Reaching the top of the stairs, he was greeted by the desert sun overhead, briefly shielding his eyes, before seeing his two companions waiting for him. As he began to walk towards them, he felt a tiny tug on his right pant leg. Looking down, he saw the young girl he had shielded, looking up at him with her tears freshly dried. Her father weakly walked over, thanking him in his broken language. Although the girl let go she continued to stare, her eyes full of wonder.
As he wished them good fortune, he felt a new feeling of warmth that dulled the tinge. That's right. I was able to save someone. Looking around at the remaining captives, he was reminded of the feeling of salvation that night he saw the world burn. Approaching his companions, he felt a calm settle over his heart. Even if I stumble, I have people to help me back up.
When Shirou finally caught up to his companions, Rin took one last look at the scene behind them, affirming that their time here was over. Then, with an unbridled enthusiasm to finally leave the god forsaken desert, she declared, "Next stop, America, Hillsdale!"
Author's Note: Sorry about the strange upload date. FGO's been pretty hectic, and I wanted to try a longer chapter. For some clarification, this is a hybrid of the Sunny Day ending in UBW and Hollow Ataraxia. Anyways, thanks again for taking the time to read my tribute to the Fate universe and I hope you enjoyed it!