Shirou was no stranger to the sheer power that Sakura's shadow minions held.
He still remembered that rather traumatic night from back when the Fifth Holy Grail War was still in session. He and Rin had agreed to go to the Einzbern castle to meet up with Illyasviel von Einzbern. Unexpected to them, Zouken had gotten there before them with the Shadow and was already in combat with the seemingly young master and her Berserker.
The shadow giant, at the time, was unlike anything Shirou had ever seen. It was absolute humongous, large enough to loom over even the gargantuan Einzbern castle. It wasn't just big, it was fast and strong, too. Fast and strong enough to even outmatch Illya's Berserker.
After the War had come to an end, Shirou learned to live with these shadow servants, as Sakura was then able to fully control them. They were actually quite cute, even if it was only due to Sakura's control that they were acting in that way. They were also very useful. They were capable of a large variety of different functions, from watching the house when nobody was in it to helping out in the kitchen when just the two of them weren't enough.
However, he couldn't quite forget what he saw that night. When he saw the Berserker, who he thought to be impervious to any attack, struggle against just one of those shadows.
So it was safe to say he was surprised to see the shadow giant that Sakura had summoned suddenly just disappear from the sudden explosion of sparkly, silvery light.
Shirou's eyes widened. Sakura just looked up at the sky, a look of annoyance lightly breaking through her emotionless face. Barreling towards the ground, above the battlefield, was a glowing, silvery gray streak that was getting bigger and bigger by the second.
The Hunters took that opportunity to fire at the couple again. Just as before though, their arrows all disappeared into dark purple ripples.
"What the-..." Shirou mutters.
"The goddess is here," Sakura says.
Just as she finishes that statement, the streak hits the ground with a small boom. The once-airborne figure slammed both of her feet into the ground hard enough to kick up a large, white cloud of snow and silt that quickly expanded, obscuring the whole battlefield from view.
Shirou raises his arms to his face in an X, closing his eyes to protect them from the incoming particles and planting his feet into the ground to avoid getting blown away by the wind the force of the explosion produced. The Hunters do the same, some of them up in the trees struggling to not get blown off. Sakura doesn't do anything, shielding herself with a thin, dark purple barrier.
Crap, I can't open my eyes without something getting caught in them, the redhead thinks to himself, keeping his eyes closed even as the current calms and the large snow-silt cloud hovers in the air. He tightens his grips on Kanshou and Bakuya. She's definitely going to try to get in a sneak attack. I'm going to have to rely on Archer's clairvoyance…
Just as that thought runs through his head, all of his senses suddenly flared up. He let his instincts take over, leaning his head to the side just as he hears something whoosh right past his left ear.
"Hmm, that's interesting," he hears the goddess say.
What the-, that was aimed at my head! Shirou deepens his stance, keeping his senses on high alert and praying that his clairvoyance wouldn't fail on him. Does she no longer want to capture us alive?
Once again, his senses flared. He prepares to dodge, but then suddenly feels someone push him to the side, not strong enough to make him fall over but just strong enough to move him aside from his current position. He hears the familiar sound of arrows being fired from a bow soon followed by the sound of them warping through the air.
"Senpai, open your eyes," he hears Sakura say. "The battle is about to pick up again."
The redhead does as she say, cracking his eyes open and very slightly lowering his arms.
Just as Sakura had said, the snow-silt cloud had already began to settle, dropping to the ground unusually quick due to snow being naturally heavy as a particle, leaving a thin layer of silt hovering in the air.
The goddess stood between the couple and the Hunters. There was a glowing aura of silvery white around her body, just like with the rest of the Hunters, but hers was much brighter than her Hunters'. Even more than that, Shirou noticed that the glow around her body seemed to repel the very darkness underneath her feet. In a small circle around her feet, the darkness seemed to inch away from her, as if repulsed by her very luminence, revealing the silty ground under her feet.
"What a peculiar ability," Artemis says, her eyes straying from the purple-haired girl to the redhead standing behind her. "You couldn't have possibly seen that through all the dust, yet you managed to avoid it. Did you somehow hear it? Sense it maybe?"
"That was aimed at my head," Shirou says, leveling a glare at the goddess. Sakura's eyes widened ever so slightly at that. "What happened to capturing us alive?"
"Ah…no, that arrow wasn't meant to kill you," the goddess says. "Had it hit its mark, you would've gone into a 24-hour long coma. Don't be mistaken, I still very much want you alive."
Shirou gets into a combative stance, holding Kanshou and Bakuya out defensively in front of him. Sakura doesn't move, though small, shadowy phantoms start floating up from the ground, circling around her legs.
"Hmm, then I guess it's quite unfortunate that…" she says ominously.
She then daintily lifts a finger. A very Tohsaka-esque gesture that Shirou was very familiar with seeing his magus teacher doing.
"...I don't."
A spark of black and dark red energy suddenly exploded from her finger. The Hunters' eyes widened just as a large mass of dark energy shot forward towards the goddess. Shirou faintly registered the goddess's lieutenant calling out her name amidst the loud, almost alive gurgling sound the energy projectile produced.
Artemis's smile just widened as the magical projectile neared her. She held up a finger of her own as the projectile barreled towards her. But then as it reached the tip…
A pulse of sparkling, silvery energy exploded outwards in a flat, vertical circle. The Gandr dispersed all at once, the dark energy suddenly exploding outwards into a harmless, spherical mesh of essence.
"That was interesting," the goddess says. "Perhaps you're a daughter of Hecate? That would explain all the magic. That particular spell seemed a bit dark for her though."
Shirou's eyes widened. Sakura doesn't give any kind of response. She just looks annoyedly at the goddess.
The purple-haired girl clenches her outstretched hand into a fist. Dark strips of energy suddenly shoot towards the goddess from the darkness around her, quickly wrapping themselves around her legs. A hunting knife, glowing brightly with sparkly, silvery grey light, appears in her hand as she swings it at the strips. Slashes of lunar energy easily cut through them, as well as some more that shoot out to grab at her wrists. She then jumps away just in time just as another shadow giant shoots out of the ground in front of her and slams a shadowy arm directly onto her.
Silver arrows shoot out from the Hunters standing behind the goddess, aimed directly at Sakura. Shirou immediately blurs into motion, appearing in front of her in an instant and reinforcing his muscles once again as he parries away all of the projectiles.
Sakura points a finger back at the goddess. Another spark of dark energy explodes from it, firing yet another blast. The goddess just sighs, holding out her hand as her bow disappears from her back and reappears in her hand, a glowing arrow appearing in her other hand. She nocks it into her bow, ready to fire it at the blast.
Just as she's about to release the arrow however, more strips of dark energy emerge from the dark ground around her, lashing out at her. However, they are easily warded off just as bright, silvery moonlight explodes from around her body. The light not only disintegrates the strips out of the air upon contact, they also ward off more of the dark essence covering the ground, uncovering more of the ground around her.
The goddess lets the arrow fly. The projectile shreds through Sakura's blast, easily shredding through it. Sakura, unfazed, just clenches her outstretched hand.
That triggers an explosion of black and crimson red energy. An explosion strong enough to scatter the goddess's arrow into nothing more than particles of light.
"Well, are you done yet, or do you need more time to let off some steam?" Artemis asks with a sign, another glowing arrow appearing in her hand. "Because something tells me that you won't settle down until you've exhausted yourself."
"Hmm, she's too bright," Sakura says, although it sounded more like she was talking to herself. Her finger was kept up in the air. "As expected from a self-proclaimed goddess. The shadows can't reach her. How inconvenient. Well, in that case…"
The other four fingers on her outstretched hand unfurl so that her hand was parallel to the ground.
A red symbol shaped like a three-petaled flower glowed to life on the back of her hand.
On the ground in front of her, the outline of a glowing red circle appeared. The dark energy within the circle bubbled to life before then caving into the ground, revealing a pitch black void.
"I'll just need something more physical."
Within a pitch-black darkness, there stood two figures, standing side-by-side.
One was that of a moderately tall figure outfitted almost completely in a full set of dark indigo-colored knight's armor, complete with greaves and gauntlets that covered her whole arms and legs but absent of a helmet of any kind. Her pale, wheat-colored hair was tied up into a simple bun and her lips were set into a stern line, though her eyes were closed. Strapped to her side was the dark-indigo sheath of a long, thick-bladed sword.
The second figure was one of a much, much larger figure, easily towering more than triple the height of the first figure. His upper body was completely uncovered, revealing his large, very defined muscles and his darker than usual skin, while his lower body was almost completely covered with a large chamois, save for his bare feet. In his hand was a large, flat jagged cleaver that looked to be made out of stone.
For almost a year, both Servants dwelled within this darkness, possessing nothing but what was already on their bodies, not even their own consciousness. Ever since the moment of their destruction, the dark mud within this place slowly reformed their bodies, slowly recreating them so that when the time comes that they are called, they would be fully capable to fulfill the tasks that are given to them.
Times such as now.
As the black mud around them churns to life, both figures opened their eyes.
The first figure, the knight, draws her darksteel sword from its sheath.
That night would be just yet another of the many usual for Percy Jackson. Which, unfortunately for him, meant it wasn't going to be a peaceful one.
The Halls of Olympus were becoming a scene that Percy was getting more and more familiar with. Especially since his quests had connected him more and more tightly with the gods.
This time, though, there was a difference.
Lately, the son of Poseidon was used to seeing visions of the gods, bickering amongst themselves what their next move would be within the brightly lit halls of Mount Olympus. It was obvious that, with the sudden reappearance of Kronos as a threat, they still weren't sure of what to do.
Since the previous day when he watched Annabeth fall off the cliff (and presumably not die?), he was hoping that his magical soothsaying dreams would reveal something about the whereabouts of his friend. However, of course, he shouldn't have counted on his luck.
Once again, when he opens his eyes, standing on a familiar, elaborately adorned floor in his spiritual dream form, he finds himself standing within the central meeting hall of Olympus. However, unlike the other times preceding this one, the hall was empty. The twelve massive thrones that held the Olympians were vacant.
However, the large bonfire sitting in the middle of the ring of thrones wasn't.
Sitting just beside it was a middle-aged woman, dressed in a simple white blouse with a white habit. Just like the rest of the Olympians, her appearance was fairly average, save for the glowing white aura of power surrounding her body. Her focus was intently kept on the large bonfire in the middle of the hall.
The son of Poseidon knew who this was. This was Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and the caretaker of the Halls of Olympus.
Out of instinct, Percy attempted to get down on one knee and show his respects, but then found that he couldn't move. Then he realized that this was a dream.
Silence permeates the hall for the next several seconds. Percy waits, tense, for the goddess to speak.
"My brothers and sisters, they don't understand the seriousness of the situation at hand," the goddess says. "However, I don't have the kind of veiling arrogance that they have. I played a card that I swore to only play in the most dire of situations. And it is a card that I can only use once."
The goddess turns to look at the young demigod. Hestia might've been the least involved with any kind of conflict amongst all of the Olympians, but Percy couldn't help but feel that her gaze was more aggressive than that of any of the other gods. Including Zeus.
"Shirou Emiya and Matou Sakura," the goddess continues. "Two mortals with abilities unlike anything that the world has seen before. The gods will attempt to control them, but ultimately fail to do so. The titans will try the same, but will also fail. The conclusion of this war will be brought because of these two, and victory, to whomever can win their allegiance. Do you understand what I'm getting at here, son of Poseidon?"
Percy attempted a nod.
He didn't know who Shirou and Sakura were exactly. He just thought of Shirou as a demigod with some kind of unusual ability and Sakura as…well, his pretty girlfriend? He didn't really know much about Sakura, especially with how quiet she was.
But if they had something to do with the gods…
"You must make absolutely certain that the duo makes it to Camp Half-Blood, especially free of any conflicting emotions for the gods," Hestia continues. "This is the first part of your quest. And make sure with absolute certainty that you do not fail."
And with that, Percy woke up.
"Hey…hey, idiot! Wake up!"
Percy opened his eyes to the feeling of himself being violently shaken.
"I'm up, I'm up…" he mutters, groggily pushing Thalia's hand off his shoulder before he rubs at his eyes. "What the heck? Why're you waking me up so early? Are we under attack?"
"No, are you seriously telling me that you slept through that?!" Thalia exclaims.
"Slept through wha-"
Before he could finish that statement, a deafeningly loud roar suddenly reverberated from somewhere in the forest.
The sound was so loud that both Thalia and Percy had to put their hands to their ears. Grover, who was still snoring away, suddenly jumped from his bedbag with a yelp. The roar persisted for an eternal several seconds before finally stopping.
And then being followed by what sounded like a loud explosion.
"What was that?!" Percy exclaims.
"You think I know?!" Thalia exclaims back.
The two demigods, followed by a groggy satyr, left the tent flap, weapons at the ready.
Only to see an empty camp. The large campfire that the Hunters had extinguished before they went to sleep had long stopped burning. Some of the Hunters, the ones who were tasked for the night watch, were completely gone, as were their equipment. As well as being completely empty, the camp was silent as well.
"Maybe they already went out to engage whatever monster roared like that," Percy says.
"Without even waking us up to let us know?!" Thalia practically screeches. Then, she sighs. "Shouldn't have expected otherwise. Come on, let's go!"
"What? Why?" Percy asks. "Why don't we just let the Hunters deal with it?"
"Because we're demigods, dammit! If we just sit here and do nothing while the Hunters do all the hard work, it'll just fuel their insufferable pride! Plus, they'll make a laughingstock out of us when we get to the camp as the three who just slept through a monster battle!"
"I…don't see how any of those are real problems."
"Just come on!" Thalia exclaims, running off to the direction of the roar.
Percy just grumbles, pulling Anaklusmos out of his pocket and uncapping the pen. The celestial bronze gladius extended to its full length.
"She's even worse than Clarisse, sometimes," he mutters. "Grover, let's go!"
Percy takes off in Thalia's direction. The satyr just bleated irritatedly behind him before drearily following behind him.
But then, just as Thalia takes another step forward in front of them…
There is another loud boom. However, it didn't occur to either of the demigods, or satyr, that this one sounded much different.
Off the top of his head, Percy couldn't quite say if there was a luck deity. If there was, he wouldn't be surprised. Considering how many gods there were, there was almost no chance that there wasn't one, in fact. But whoever it was, he couldn't help but say a silent prayer for whoever they happened to be.
Because if Thalia had taken just one more step, then what would've been of the daughter of Zeus would've been almost immediately vaporized.
At that moment, a large shockwave of black and dark energy suddenly ripped through the forest right in front of her, causing her to jump back in surprise.
A/N: Pretty shabby chapter for something that took so long. But I was having fun enjoying my vacation to Europe.
Anyways, some things I want to address. Tbh, idk what Shirou stabbing Saber Alter with Rule Breaker does exactly other than kill her. I guess it breaks the master-Servant bond between her and Sakura, but technically Sakura is a Grail, so I'm just gonna assume she can resummon her at any time. Dark berserker is an easier case since Shirou just simply kills him in HF and dead Servants can be resummoned. Anyways, I still have no doubt that I'm going to be flamed in the comments for lore inconsistencies. But until next time!
Unrelated A/N: The Oreo cheesecake recipe is a scam. Idk why but normal cheesecake recipes just doesn't apply to it.