Chapter 3: Rise of Chaos
Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Franchises. All characters belong to either Type-Moon or DC.
Questions
Spiderwitch2211: No, in this story Shirou will not have unlimited blade works, so he won't be developing any skills from Gilgamesh.
Dillan97: I won't, I know how strong Gilgamesh is and I don't plan on making him weaker for the sake of making Fate look stronger. Also yeah, he will be going after the helmet of Fate once he figures out what it is.
TigerWarrior1998: Yeah, your feedback alongside others helps out a lot. So, thanks for always taking the time to read my stories and finding the errors in them, it really helps.
Galeon84: Honestly, I'm sure that the Clock Tower and the Mage's Association would ignore Dr. Fate's warning and instead try to capture him. But let's just say that after the Holy Grail war, Dr. Fate is going to be the least of their worries because they will be facing something far worse.
Yeah, Medea is going to try to get Shirou's help, and I might even have them work together. After all, I want to find some way to give some of the servants like Medea a happier ending because I think it's too tragic for a character like her not to find a happy ending in any of the routes. However, I don't really know how Archer will feel about Shirou being Dr. Fate. While it is true that he could see it as a way for Shirou to never make a contract with Alaya and have a peaceful afterlife. Archer could just as well see it as another contract that forces Shirou to try and achieve the impossible.
ENDDRAGON469: Don't worry Angra Mainyu will make an appearance, but I can't promise that he'll have a big role in my story.
hawko2632: No, I don't plan to make a story about the 4th Holy Grail war, but I'll dedicate a few chapters in this story to explain what happened during that war.
Now remember everyone, anything written in italics means that someone is speaking telepathically. Now to the story.
It was early in the morning and Shirou could be seen standing at the shooting range of the archery club, while different students watched him from the side. Today, Ayako had asked Shirou if he could show all the new members a demonstration of how to use a bow and arrow because some of them were having trouble firing an arrow and weren't showing any improvements. So of course, he would agree to do it.
However, it seems that Shirou wasn't doing anything. Instead, all he was doing was staring out into the area in front of him, with a bow and arrow in each hand. While some of the newer club members found this strange, those that have been in the club long enough knew that he was just taking a moment to focus and block out all distractions. When he was ready, Shirou took a stance and changed his posture, before raising his bow and notching his arrow. As he pulled back the bow string, Shirou aimed at a target, twenty-eight meters away from him.
After adjusting his aim, he let go of the bow string and the arrow soon soared through the air. When the arrow hit the target, Shirou could see that it was in the center of the target.
Once Shirou had finished taking his shot, he would soon hear the other students let out sounds of amazement at his performance. Then, Ayako would come out and speak to everyone. "Alright, I hope that the demonstration that Emiya just did, helped show all you newcomers how to properly shoot an arrow. Now get ready and see how you do it yourselves."
With that, all the students went off to the locker rooms and got ready to practice. Shirou himself had moved on to practice as well and took a couple more shots at different targets. After half an hour had passed, Shirou believed that he did enough and left the shooting range to rest a bit.
Once Shirou found a place to sit, Sakura would soon come up to him and hand him a bottle of water. "Here senpai, some water."
"Oh, thanks Sakura." Shirou said before grabbing and soon drinking the water.
Once Shirou had drunk a bit of water, Sakura took the chance to ask him a question. "Senpai, are you doing, okay?"
"I'm fine." Shirou replied with a bit of confusion. "Why are you asking?"
"I'm asking because lately it seems like you're moving a little slower than you normally do, and I've even seen you take naps at times where you're usually trying to help someone." Sakura said addressing her concerns.
Shirou was surprised to find out that someone had noticed anything wrong with him and didn't know what to say. It is true that he's a little tired, because ever since he dealt with the problem in London as Dr. Fate, things had become much more complicated for him. For a month now, whenever he goes out as Dr. Fate to deal with a disturbance, Shirou would now encounter people called enforcers. They would always try to either kill him or capture him. Fortunately, not too many of them were much of a problem for Shirou but there were a couple of them that were hard to handle. Luckily Nobu's guidance was enough to help Shirou get past even them.
But of course, Shirou couldn't just tell Sakura that he's a sorcerer and that he has been out fighting to help protect the world. So, he quickly came up with an excuse. "Well, I guess I might have done a little too much work."
After saying this, Shirou had thought that Sakura was going to immediately give him a small lecture about working too hard, but instead she just stared at him. In fact, if he didn't know any better, it looked like Sakura was incredibly surprised by what he just said.
But after a short while, Sakura shook off her shock and spoke. "W-well, that's what everyone's been trying to tell you. Senpai, you can't always do everything by yourself. So, whenever you find that there's too much work even for you, please don't be afraid to ask for help."
Shirou could only nod his head in agreement when she had finished talking, and this seemed to be enough for Sakura before they both started picking up their things. The two of them then walked over to the locker rooms in order to get themselves ready to leave the club. But just as they were making their way to the locker rooms, Ayako suddenly came up to them, however for some reason, she looked nervous. This confused Shirou because he's never seen Ayako nervous or shy away from anything, even during big tournaments. So, this left him wondering what could have been bothering her.
Sakura on the other hand seemed to know exactly what's going on and quickly excused herself. "Senpai, I just remember that I have some stuff to take care of. So, I'll see you later."
Before Shirou could even respond, Sakura left, leaving him alone with Ayako.
"Emiya, can I ask you something?" Ayako suddenly asks.
"Yeah, sure." Shirou replied but was still confused with the situation he found himself in.
"Are you going to have lunch with Issei today?" Ayako asked her question.
"I normally do, but Issei told me that he had some work to take care of today. So, I'll be eating lunch by myself." Shirou told her.
Ayako looked like she became even more nervous before speaking again. "Then do you mind if I join you for lunch today?"
"No, I don't mind at all, we can have lunch together." Shirou answers her.
Okay then I'll see you at lunch." Ayako said before quickly turning around and heading off into the girl's locker room. But before she turned around, Shirou could have sworn he saw a faint blush on her face.
As he watched her leave, Shirou really couldn't stop thinking that he was missing something important with his little talk with Ayako. Especially when he took a look around him and saw a few of the other club members. Although he couldn't hear what they were actually saying, he could hear them gossiping among themselves over what had just happened. It seems like they may have had some idea on what was going on. But he couldn't figure it out.
So, Shirou decided to for now, leave this problem alone and went on with his day.
After Shirou got through with some of his classes, it was finally time for lunch. So, Shirou would make his way towards the student council room, the place where he usually had lunch. But as he was a few feet from the room he would unsurprisingly see Ayako standing in front of the door.
"Hey Mitsuzuri." Shirou greets his friend.
"Hi Emiya." Ayako replied. "Do you have your lunch?"
"Yeah." Shirou said as he showed her his lunch, before the two of them walked into the student council room.
When inside, the both of them found seats and soon started eating their lunch. But it wouldn't be long before the two started talking.
"So, Shirou, I heard from Sakura that you won't be joining us in this year's tournament." Ayako said, starting up a conversation. "Why is that?"
"It's just that things in my life have become a lot busier this year and it's gotten to a point that I need to take time off from other things." Shirou told her before eating a bit of his food.
After Shirou told this to Ayako, she seemed to believe him. "Hey Emiya, can you be honest with me?"
"Sure." Shirou said, although he wasn't really sure why she was asking this question.
"You don't plan to return to the club next year, do you?" Ayako asked.
After hearing this, Shirou immediately stopped eating and looked directly at Ayako. When he saw her, he could see that a sad expression was on her face and for some reason this made him hesitate a little before speaking. "I've been thinking about it, but I really haven't made up my mind yet. How did you know?"
Ayako also stopped eating and gave Shirou her full attention. "It's really easy to tell when somethings wrong with you, especially with how long we've known each other. I'm sure Sakura already told you, but Emiya, you look tired. Eventually you won't be able to take part in clubs and do your job at the same time."
Although Ayako didn't actually know what Shirou has been doing, she is right. It's been getting harder for Shirou to find balance between the things in his normal life and his duties as Dr. Fate. Especially with the sudden increase of problems he's been having to face, and for a while now, Shirou's been feeling like things are only going to get worse. But Shirou didn't know if he wanted to let go of something that he enjoys doing with his friends.
As Shirou thought about this problem, Ayako decided to continue speaking. "So, before you become too busy and start working full time at your job, I was wondering if you wanted to go hang out with me in a few weeks?"
When asked this Shirou was left kind of surprised. "Mitsuzuri, why are you asking this? We see each other almost every day."
"That's true but we rarely meet outside of school. So maybe we can go do something as friends?" Ayako explains to him.
When seeing how hard she was trying, Shirou really couldn't say no. "Okay let's go have some fun. In a couple weeks, I should have some free time on a Saturday. Is that a good time for you too?"
"Yeah, Saturday sounds like a good time. Let's meet at noon." Ayako responded.
With that said, both Shirou and Ayako would enjoy the rest of their lunch together as they continue talking with each other. Eventually lunch was about to come to an end, so the two of them picked up their things and prepared to head off to their different classes. But as they were moving towards the door, it suddenly slid open and both Shirou and Ayako saw Mr. Kuzuki standing before them.
When Souichirou saw the two students, for some reason he seemed to focus solely on Shirou. "Emiya, there you are."
"Mr. Kuzuki, what are you doing here?" Shirou questioned.
"Issei said I could find you here during lunch, so here I am." Souichirou told the young man. "One of the school's cafeteria equipment stopped working and I was hoping that you could take a look at it."
Both Ayako and Shirou found this request strange. While it's true that Shirou is known to help out around the school, especially when it comes to fixing things. It has long been established by the school staff that Shirou is not to worry about those problems during class time. This is so that it doesn't affect his education and right now lunch is almost over, and classes will soon resume.
"Mr. Kuzuki, we need to get going because classes are going to start soon." Ayako tried explaining to the teacher.
But Souichirou seems to just ignore it. "I just need Emiya to take a quick look at the equipment. It shouldn't take long, and I'll also take the blame for him being late to his class."
"Then I should come to help as well. If there's really is a problem, then I can help and get things done faster." Ayako argued.
Souichirou did not like this idea. "That won't be necessary. Issei has told me that Emiya prefers to work alone, so that he can focus and get the work done. You, coming along will only distract him."
Things seemed to have escalated and it looked like Ayako was going to start arguing with Souichirou. So, Shirou was going to step in and try to resolve all of it but before he could, someone else beat him to it.
"HHOOOLLD IT!"
When hearing this voice Shirou felt that the situation was going to become a little more chaotic and would let out a sigh because he knew who was coming. When he and the other two looked to the direction where they heard the voice, they all saw someone running up to them. Once this person reached them and came to a stop. They saw a brown-haired woman in black pants and a green unbutton shirt over a yellow and black striped shirt. This is Taiga Fujimura, someone who Shirou sees as an older sister.
"Mr. Kuzuki, what are you doing?" Taiga questioned her colleague. "The school staff has already discussed this. Shirou is not to try and fix equipment when classes are about to start."
When seeing that Taiga had come to help, Ayako smiled at this and thought that Souichirou would give up because everyone knew how persistent Taiga was, especially when it came to something that involved Shirou. However, it seems that Souichirou was already prepared for her.
"I know the rules Ms. Fujimura but one of the equipment within the cafeteria stopped working and now the staff aren't able to continue their work." Souichirou explains. "If I remember correctly, you yourself had placed in an order. But since the equipment isn't working, you and a few others won't get your food."
Taiga let out a gasp when hearing this. "T-th-that's true!? Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to let Shirou go take a look."
After Taiga seems to switch sides, Shirou saw Ayako try to remind Taiga about their classes to which the teacher would agree to. But then Taiga would say something about missing her lunch and put some thought into Souichirou's idea. Honestly Shirou couldn't help but find this a little funny. Though after a while, Shirou thought that it would be best to step in.
However, before he could say anything, something suddenly hit him. Shirou didn't know what it was but for a moment he felt a wave of energy unlike anything he's ever felt before. He could tell that it was magical in nature, and it was powerful, but he's never felt magic like this before. This was such a shock that even though it was for a brief moment, this magical energy was enough to overwhelm Shirou and bring him down to his knees.
Ayako and Taiga immediately noticed this and voiced out their concerns while Souichirou just watched from where he stood.
"Emiya what's wrong!?"
"Shirou, are you okay!?"
"I'm okay." Shirou told the two of them, as he tried to recover from the energy wave.
But to Ayako, it seemed like he fell down because he was tired. "This must be because you've been overworking yourself."
"What you've been overworking yourself!" Taiga said in shock. "Shirou, I'm taking you to the infirmary."
Taiga didn't even give Shirou a chance to say anything before suddenly picking him up and running to the infirmary, while Ayako followed them. But as they left, Souichirou simply watched them before it seemed like he responded to someone and soon left the hallway.
After being dragged to the infirmary, Taiga had told Shirou to rest while she called his parents, while Ayako had stay with him a bit before leaving to go to her class. When resting in the infirmary, Shirou was trying to figure out what had happened, until he felt Nabu calling him. On any other day, Shirou would find this strange because Nabu had agreed to not contact him when he was in school. But he suspects that Nabu had also sensed that strange energy. However, Shirou couldn't just suddenly get up and leave the school, not without causing people to worry.
Luckily as he thought about this, Taiga suddenly burst into the infirmary. "Okay Shirou, I called your parents and talked with the principal, and they said that it's okay to send you home for the day. Someone will pick you up and make sure that you don't fall again. I'll go explain things to your other teachers, so you just go home and rest."
Shirou would say okay and watch as Taiga gave him a smile before running off into the hallway. Although this did worry him a bit because he didn't know how he was going to explain this to his parents, hopefully they will also believe that he had simply over worked himself. So, with nothing else he could do, Shirou got his things and waited for the person his parents had sent to pick him up.
As he waited, he could feel Nabu's calls become more and more powerful, to the point that it started to hurt his head. Luckily, he didn't have to wait too long, when he saw Liz soon arrive to pick him up.
As they left the school, Shirou was relieved that Liz didn't seem to care for why she had to pick him up and remained quiet the whole trip back home. But, once he made it home, Shirou was greeted by Sella, and she wanted to know what happened. So, he had to explain why he was back. Once he was done explaining things to Sella, Shirou saw her give a very similar reaction to Sakura. Like Sakura, Sella would snap herself out of her shock and lecture him on his actions.
Afterwards Shirou would learn from Sella that his parents were currently out. This gave Shirou some relief because this meant that he had some time before he had to face his parents. With nothing more to say, Shirou made his way to his room before opening a portal to the tower of fate.
However, immediately after stepping into the tower, the helmet of fate appeared before him. "SHIROU EMIYA!? WE MUST LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!"
"Wait Nabu what's going on?" Shirou questioned. "Did you also sense that strange energy?"
"I will explain later, for now we must leave! If we don't then your world will face a threat like none other!" Nabu told Shirou.
With nothing more he could say, Shirou put on the helmet and transformed into Dr. Fate, before quickly leaving the tower through another portal.
On the other side of the portal, Dr. Fate found himself in a driveway with several trees around him and in front is a mansion with a dome-like roof top. Once seeing the mansion, Dr. Fate felt a strange energy coming from the building, so he made his way towards it.
As he walked to the building, Shirou took the chance to question Nabu. "Nabu what's going on?"
"Chaos?" Nabu simply said. "Chaos magic is seeping into your world."
"Was that the strange energy that we felt?" Shirou asked.
"Yes, and if we do not stop it from seeping into your world then your world will be endangered." Nabu answered.
Once Nabu gave Shirou this short explanation, Shirou didn't need to hear anything else and focus on what he needed to do. As they got to the front door, Dr. Fate tried to open it, but as soon as he placed his hand on the doorknob, something activated and shocked him. It seems that someone had use a magic spell on the entire mansion, to keep people out from whatever was going on inside. But this was not going to stop Dr. Fate.
After having his hand force off the door, Dr. Fate raised both his hands and use his own magic to completely destroy the spell that was protecting the building. Dr. Fate soon opened the door and saw that all the lights were off. As he took a step into the mansion, he felt it. Inside the mansion there was a lot of chaos magic, and it was so dense that if Shirou didn't have the protection of the helmet of fate, then he would have passed out.
So, he powered through the dense chaos energy and made his way to where he could sense the source of it. Soon Dr. Fate found himself in front of a door. As he moved to open it, something from the shadow of one of the mansion's corridors jumped at him, aiming for a kill. Luckily, despite how dense the chaos energy was, Dr. Fate was able to sense its presence and move to the side, just barely avoiding having his head knocked off.
When his attacker missed its attack, Fate was able to get a good look at it. It was some type of humanoid creature, whose body was completely engulfed in chaos magic, and it wasn't alone. A similar creature soon appeared next to it. But what Shirou found strange about them was the fact that these creatures had a bit of torn clothing on them.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to think much longer on this problem because the two creatures soon leaped forward to attack him. But unlike the last time he was attacked, Dr. Fate was ready. He cast a spell and a gold beam of magic energy was sent towards one of the creatures.
Then something unexpected happened. One of the creatures saw the attack coming and jumped in front of the other. It took the hit from Dr. Fate's spell, while the other one surprisingly started casting its own spell. Dr. Fate was caught off guard by the creature's action and because of that he wasn't able to avoid its spell and got hit. The attack sent the agent of order flying backwards before landing on his back. As Fate was still down, the creature would leap towards him, ready to strike him with its claws.
Luckily Dr. Fate was fast enough to catch the attack and soon found himself struggling against the creature as it tried to claw him apart. While the two of them struggle against each other, the second creature that was hit by Dr. Fate's attack soon got up and despite being injured, it made its way to them.
Feeling that one of the creatures was making its way towards them, Nabu spoke to Shirou. "Shirou, you must quickly focus your power and release enough of it to push this creature off of you."
Shirou did as Nabu told him and tried focusing his power, while he struggled with the creature on top of him. At the same time the other creature was slowly making its way towards him, ready to kill him. Then as the creature finally reached him, it raised its arm and aimed to crush Dr. Fates neck. When the creature's claws were mere moments from crushing his neck, Dr. Fate let out a small explosion of magic that was powerful enough to push both creatures away from him, as well as reveal something unexpecting.
When Fate released that small explosion, the energy from it was able to disrupt the chaos magic that engulfed the creatures and for a brief moment Dr. Fate felt the presence of human souls.
"Nabu did you feel it?" Shirou asked as he got up from the floor.
"Yes, I sense souls within those creatures." Nabu replied. "These creatures are humans. Someone must have forcefully transformed them into these creatures with the use of chaos magic."
When he heard this, Shirou balled up his hands in anger at the fact that someone had turned these people into monstrous creatures. "Nabu, is there a way to change them back?"
"There is. You must simply remove the chaos magic from their bodies. However, that will take time and I doubt that either of the creatures will simply watch as you do that." Nabu told Shirou.
"I can take care of that." Shirou said as he watched the spell caster of the two creatures prepare another spell. Unfortunately for it, Dr. Fate was faster and was able to cast a binding spell that wrapped the creature in golden chains.
When the other creature saw this, it jumped at Dr. Fate hoping to kill him. Too bad for the creature, the agent of order had already seen this coming and fired a powerful bolt of magic at it. The spell was powerful enough that once it hit the creature, the spell knocked it back, leaving the creature unconscious.
Dr. Fate would quickly move to the unconscious creature and with the use of his own powers, he carefully removes the chaos magic out of its body. During the removal of the chaos magic, the creature would little by little shrink in size, while all its monstrous features slowly disappear, alongside the energy that had engulfed it. Once the process was over, Dr. Fate saw a black hair woman lying in front of him. However, he wouldn't get the chance to check on her condition as the other creature soon broke out of its restraints and fired a spell at Dr. Fate. The attack had seemingly hit him and scattered debris across the room.
Once the debris was gone, the creature could see the woman still laying on the floor, without even a scratch on her. But Fate was nowhere to be found. Then without warning a bright light started coming from above. The creature would look up and see Dr. Fate. It would try to attack him but by the time the creature saw the sorcerer, it was already too late.
Dr. Fate had already sent out a spell that was able to knock the creature to the ground, and soon started the process to removing the chaos magic from its body. Just like the other creature, as the chaos magic was being removed, the creature was slowly turning back into a human. It was another woman but this one had dark blonde hair and unlike the other one, she was still a bit conscious.
But it seems that undergoing such a transformation left her too exhausted to stand and she started falling. She would have hit the floor pretty hard, if not for Dr. Fate catching her before that happened.
After he caught her, Dr. Fate took the time to look at her condition. It seems like she was in a daze and didn't give much of a reaction at the sight of him. But she was able to mutter a few words before losing consciousness. "He came back, he came back?"
Dr. Fate didn't pay too much attention to this as he carefully picked her up and carried her off to a safe area. He soon went to grab the other woman, before bringing her to the same place and with the use of magic, he pulled out two blankets before placing each over the two women. After making sure the two of them were going to be okay, Shirou promised himself that when he finds whoever did this, he's going to make them pay.
With nothing more to do, Dr. Fate made his way towards the door from earlier and blasted it open, revealing a large room. There, he saw a strange man in a white rag, standing in the center of the room and in front of him was a mass of chaos magic compressed into a dense sphere.
The man knew Dr. Fate was in the room but made no attempts to turn around as he spoke. "It seems that they weren't able to stop you. But I should have expected as much. My daughter was never going to amount to anything, and that maid has always been useless. Thus, I Ernest Fargo will deal with you my-"
The now named Ernest Fargo wasn't given the chance to finish his sentence because Dr. Fate fired a magical beam at him. However, the beam never touched Ernest, instead it was blocked by a magical barrier.
"You are quite predictable." Ernest said as he finally turned around to face the agent of order. "I know who you are, you've made quite a name for yourself Dr. Fate. You are the only thing that everyone from the mage's association seems to be talking about these days."
"They say that you've killed several powerful magus, within their own workshops. But strangely you didn't kill any of the enforcers that was sent after you." Ernest said to Dr. Fate in a mocking tone. "But I know what you truly are and unlike all the other fools you've killed, I have the power to kill you."
Soon Ernest started radiating chaos magic, before firing a bolt of chaos magic at Dr. Fate. However, Fate for some reason didn't seem to care, in fact he didn't do anything as the bolt of chaos magic was getting closer to him.
Then at the last second when the attack was about to hit him, Dr. Fate backhanded the magical bolt to the side, sending it flying to one of the giant rooms walls and leaving a big whole that led to the outside.
Ernest was genuinely surprised by how easily Dr. Fate dealt with his attack and tried to attack again with a more powerful spell. As he tried to cast another spell, Ernest suddenly stopped out of fear before looking at Dr. Fate. Because right now he was being overwhelmed by the sheer power that the sorcerer was giving off.
"Ernest Fargo, I will admit that you have more power than all the other magus that I've dealt with." Dr. Fate told Ernest as he moved towards the magus. "But to me, you are nothing but a child. A child who knows nothing about the power you wield or your place in the world."
With a simple wave of his hand, Dr. Fate destroyed the barrier protecting Ernest and before the magus could even react, Fate restrained him with a binding spell. Ernest tried to break out of his magical restraints but try as he might, he just couldn't free himself and instead fell to the floor. After recovering from his fall, Ernest saw that Dr. Fate was standing over him.
A golden light soon surrounded Dr. Fate's hand as he aimed it at Ernest. "Your spread of chaos ends here!"
With that declaration, Dr. Fate prepares to finish off Ernest. However, as he was about to deliver the killing blow, both he and Ernest suddenly heard the rapid sound of footsteps. The agent of order was about to turn to the entrance of the room to see who it could be, unfortunately whoever was running was much faster. So, before Fate could even turn his head, he was suddenly hit by something that sent him flying across the room.
The next thing that Shirou felt was hitting the floor hard, as he slid across it for a bit before coming to a stop. He would try to get himself up, but soon felt a strong pain in his chest as he tried to breathe. It felt like that hit had left him with a broken rib or two.
But being the person he was, Shirou tried to ignore the pain and instead focus on the problem at hand and took a look at his attacker. He saw his attacker standing next to Ernest and found that it was a young woman with magenta colored hair. She was wearing a black two-piece suit, with a red violet necktie, while at the same time she wore black gloves.
While Dr. Fate didn't know the identity of the person who had attacked him, Ernest Fargo knew full well who she was. The woman standing before him is Bazett Fraga McRemitz, an enforcer of the Mage's Association, who had made a name for herself through her exceptional combat abilities. If she was here, then that meant she had come to bring Dr. Fate over to the Mage's Association and now since she saw him as well, then Bazett is most likely going to take him too or just kill him.
Ernest could do nothing but stare at Bazett with the fear of not knowing what she was going to do to him. Bazett on the other hand just took a look at Ernest for a bit before confirming that for the time being, he wasn't going to be a threat. So, she turned her attention to the agent of order and started walking towards him.
Seeing her go after Dr. Fate brought Ernest some relief, but he was still panicking at the situation he found himself in. He was given another chance to reach the root through a deal he made, after his failed attempt at making himself immortal. The deal that Ernest made had also granted him tremendous power like no other and knowledge that other magus could only dream of having. So, after coming back to life he made use of his daughter and the maid by turning them into monsters to guard him as he was preparing to fulfill his part of the deal. But Dr. Fate had ruined all his plans.
Now all Ernest could do was be angry at everything that had happened, until he notices something odd with the magic restraining him. The binding spell that was holding him seemed to weaken and he was soon able to free his right arm. Then not long after, he heard a voice.
"Hurry up you idiot!? Start using your power to finish the spell before Fate comes after you again!"
Seemingly knowing who was speaking to him, Ernest raised his free arm out to the mass of chaos magic and started transferring as much of his power into it as he could.
Meanwhile over with Dr. Fate, he had just gotten himself back up and saw the enforcer walk up to him. Despite being injured by her, he chose to ignore her and tried to get to Ernest in order to finish him off. But as he was about to fly over to the magus, Bazett stopped him by quickly blocking him.
"Dr. Fate, I am an enforcer and by the order of the Mage's Association, you are to come with me, or you will die." Bazett warned Fate.
Dr. Fate was not going to comply with this. "Get out of my way, now!"
Seeing that Dr. Fate wouldn't listen to her, Bazett immediately made her move and rushed at him. When he saw this, Dr. Fate would try to stop her by casting multiple offensive spells at the enforcer. These spells would have been enough to take out any normal human, but despite all the power in those spells, it didn't mean anything if they couldn't hit their target.
Bazett was unnaturally fast and had managed to dodge each of the spells. Before eventually, she was able to completely close the distance between the two of them, to land another hit. Thankfully unlike the last time he was hit, Dr. Fate was able to quickly put up a magical shield. The shield was able to stop Bazett's initial hit, but once she saw that Fate put up a shield to stop her, Bazett would start pummeling it. Each time she hit the magical shield; a crack would form.
Dr. Fate would try to repair the shield with his magic. But despite his best efforts, Bazett's hits were just too fast and caused too much damage, for Fate to even keep up with the repairs. Eventually the shield was on its last leg and Bazett would hit it so hard that while the attack itself didn't touch Fate, the force from the attack alone was powerful enough to send Fate into a wall.
After he was sent into a wall by the enforcer, Shirou struggled to pick himself back up because of all the damage he had taken. All the while he was keeping a watchful eye on the enforcer and saw that she was once again moving towards him. Shirou tried to come up with a way to deal with her, but he just couldn't find the answer.
Then Nabu's voice soon caught his attention. "Shirou, hurry and finish off this enforcer. We have more important matters we need to get to."
"I'm trying." Shirou answered. "But I can't hit her because she's too fast and attacks me, before I can even think of anything."
"Then stop holding back! With your full power, you should have more than enough power to obliterate this nuisance." Nabu instructed Shirou.
"You know that I'm not going to do that. She's done nothing wrong, so she doesn't need to die." Shirou argued with his mentor.
When hearing what Shirou had said, Nabu would be left feeling frustrated with Shirou's choice of action, especially during such a time. After all, he's done this every time they encountered certain enemies. If it was someone who threatened the order of the world, then Shirou wouldn't hesitate to eliminate them. But if it's someone who's simply trying to capture them or just kill them, then he would always hold back and try to knock them out.
So, knowing that Shirou wasn't going to change his mind, Nabu came up with something else. "If you will not kill her, then distract her? Keep her busy and make it so that her attention isn't solely on you. Once that happens take the time to quickly come up with a strategy. Then when she least expects it, take her down."
This time, Shirou listened to Nabu and would do as he instructed but, it's going to be much easier said than done, to take down this enforcer. With nothing more to say to Nabu, Shirou got himself back up and faced the enforcer.
"I'll ask one last time, surrender or I'll be forced to kill you." Bazett said to Dr. Fate, hoping that he would listen to her, now since he had experienced what she could do.
"And I told you to get out of my way, I have far more important matters to deal with right now." Dr. Fate snapped back at the enforcer.
Seeing that nothing she does would get Fate to listen, the enforcer would once again rush at him. Bazett moved so fast that she didn't give Fate a chance to react and was about to land a punch on him. However, just before her fist touch Fate, the unexpected happened. Dr. Fate had suddenly disappeared, and Bazett ended up hitting nothing but air.
After missing her attack, Bazett looked around the room to see where Fate had run off to, and it didn't take long for her to find him. Turns out he just teleported to another side of the room. Bazett didn't know what Fate was planning but she wasn't going to give him a chance to do it, so she took another attempt to attack him. However, she soon found herself stopping and dodging an incoming beam.
Once Bazett dodged the beam and got back to a safer place. She turned to where the attack came from and what she saw confused her. At another side of the room, she saw another Dr. Fate. Then, another Fate appeared and another one and another one. Bazett soon found herself surrounded by a group of Fates.
Not long after all the Dr. Fates appeared, they all immediately went to grab Bazett, in the attempt to restrain her. But as expected, Bazett wasn't going to be so easily beaten. Each Fate that attempted to grab Bazett would be met with a devastating attack that could kill any human, as she tried to keep her distance from them.
However, despite her best efforts, one of the Fates had managed to grab onto her and keep her still. Bazett was able to take him out but for the brief moment that the clone was able to hold her, it gave the other Fates enough time to catch up to her as well. Soon Bazett found herself struggling to get out of the hold that all the Fates had on her. As she was struggling to find a way out, she saw one of the Fates floating above the others and assumed that he was the real Dr. Fate.
"Your interference ends now." Dr. Fate told Bazett before using his magic to create a golden construct of an ankh and bring it down on Bazett, causing a small shock wave that made all the other Fates disappear.
Once the dust caused by the shock wave settled, Fate saw the enforcer in the center of a little crater and surprisingly, his attack didn't knock her out. She was still conscious although, it seems like his attack left her unable to move.
Seeing that she wasn't going to be a threat anymore, Dr. Fate turned his attention to Ernest, ready to finish what he started. He then saw what Ernest was doing and out of desperation attempted to stop him by firing a spell at the magus.
But it was too late, Ernest had finished what he was doing, and the sphere of chaos magic soon erupted outward. The sheer power let out by the eruption was more than enough to nullify Fates attack, before sending both him and Bazett flying to the walls of the room, pinning them against it. Neither of them could do anything but watch as the chaos magic began distorting time and space until a rift in creation was suddenly ripped open. A figure soon stepped out of the rift. It was a young man with black hair. He was dressed in a black suit, and he was carrying what seemed to be a cat in his arms.
He took a moment to take in his environment before his eyes landed on Dr. Fate. "Hello Nabu, you old geezer."
A/N: Thank you everyone for reading this chapter and please feel free to leave a review or ask a question. Sorry for the late update everyone, I wanted to do a small arc before getting to the Holy Grail war. So that I can use it to explain some of the changes that are going to take place in the 5th grail war, as well as introduce a couple of love interests for Shirou. So, it took some time to come up with what I wanted to do. I hope you enjoy this small arc; it'll probably be three or four chapters long.