Boy did this take a bit longer then I had expected but hey things have been rather hectic but that's life. I do appreciate everyone for their reviews and feedback from the last chapter. It gave me a lot to think about. Anyway, I don't want to keep anyone waiting too long but still wanted to thank everyone for sticking with me this far, and for their support.
Disclaimer: If I did own Typemoon I probably wouldn't be writing fanfiction would I? But I don't.
"The Twenty-second is alive?" Kirei looked over the message written on the envelope as he heard what Gilgamesh had relayed to him. Naturally the King of Heroes didn't seem to care about the importance or not about it.
Kirei knew all too well that a Dead Apostle Ancestor was no trivial opponent. The Burial Agency was who the Church typically would use to fight them if they could and the fact that one of the Ancestors managed to survive such a confrontation and hide away for close to eight decades was concerning to him. As messed up as he was even he could be said to feel terror at the idea of merely fighting one and that was still after having fought in the Grail War. "Yes, I believe she is searching for her Successor or something."
Now that was something. Dead Apostle Ancestors usually picked their successors from the vampires that they had created. There were exceptions to this rule given usually to Apostles who had become so via other means. "The Twenty-second doesn't have any under her that could be considered worthy of the title," It was partly why she was targeted as she was. "In fact, I do believe she had none at all."
The fact that she had no Dead Apostle Successor, and no vampiric followers made killing her a good choice to leave her seat vacant for at least a century or more. It was a tactic used already with both the Twelfth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-six seats. 'Maybe the attempt on her life was what caused her to name a Successor but why would she be searching for them?'
Gilgamesh for his part found this somewhat entertaining. Sure, it didn't matter to him but for Kirei whose job was in part to take out such beings learning you failed was a huge blow. "There is something about this that seems to be important so Kirei just what is it?"
"Given what is known about her abilities, her tendency turns creating monsters from flesh, necromancy, and her willingness to learn from others on the subject," It wasn't like she wasn't the only Dead Apostle to tamper with life in such a way. Quite a few were Dead Apostles because of it. What separated them from her was that she had it as her primary focus. "It is possible she had personally created her own Successor from scratch."
Implications about being able to create Dead Apostles aside, which was its own can of worms, Successors were usually documented by the Church as well. They tended to be strong enough to count as a threat on par with their Ancestor. To have one that was not cataloged meant they had no idea what they were dealing with. Even using her as a basis for her Successor abilities was extremely flawed. The Successor of the Tenth wasn't anything like the nigh unkillable mass of beasts like his Ancestor after all.
The King of Heroes was somewhat impressed that a vampire would go through the trouble to make a perfect Successor. If no one could serve as your Successor then making one was perfectly understandable. Assuming that was the reason of course. One would think he would look down at artificially created life. Only a fool would think that given his one and only friend in all the world was artificial life and Gilgamesh could see the benefits of one choosing that route.
"A mother is looking for her child and if the Dead Apostle Ancestors are worth the fear then I 'hate' to see anyone get in her way."
Kirei found that a bit absurd. Even if she created her Successor from scratch the idea of a Dead Apostle Ancestor caring about her creation to such a degree to treat it like a child was just impossible to comprehend. Perhaps, it was just because of the importance of what she made them with or if she really was crazy enough to think of her creation as her child. The idea of a frustrated and terrified mother Dead Apostle Ancestor searching for her missing "child" did bring a slight sadistic smile to his face.
From that thought process he remembered that he had to see Rin. It had been ten days since he had left and he did wonder what had happened with the girl while he was gone. There was only about five days worth of food ready for her though knowing her friends she spent time with it was likely not much of an issue. 'I wonder how she is holding up.'
"So, Rin's lost family is from Finland?"
Illya gave her guardian a nod as she watched her anime. Well, Taiga had decided to join in as there was nothing to do for herself. The conversation about Rin came up as Taiga had just now why it seemed to take so long to contact her grandmother's family. Getting into contact with the Mages Association was something that Rin had a hard time with doing. Mainly because mages tended to shy away from modern technology. Rin wasn't as bad as most and being friends with the Emiya's helped a lot.
An issue was that the Mages Association tended to not use it unless an emergency demanded it. The Edelfelt were a Mage Association affiliated family and as such they had to use the long way of sending a letter of request. Taiga found it strange that it took so long. Phones make communication across vast distances easy even if they are stuck lines. As such they needed a somewhat believable excuse.
Luckily there was one in that the Edelfelt family were foreigners. So saying that they didn't speak Japanese meant that a letter was needed and sounded believable. Honestly, Illya was probably going to just tell Taiga about magecraft one of these days if this kept happening. Sure, that sounded utterly stupid on face value but it wasn't like mages on occasion didn't let in those they trusted in on the existence of the supernatural. She was both Emiya siblings' guardian and in her own words their honorary big sister.
"Where is Shirou by the way?"
"Oh, he is with a friend of his," Truth is he had been rather vague on what he was planning to do. She at least knew that he didn't quite trust himself with practicing it within the workshop.
Illya just knew it had something to do with his resurgent memories. For some reason he wouldn't tell her about it and while normally she probably would force the issue Illya decided to let him tell her on his own time. After all, his mind was probably a mess right now. The sound of a doorbell ringing caught Illya's attention. Truth is Illya forgot the house even had a doorbell given the most common visitors to the house more or less let themselves in all the time.
Heading to see who it was Illya opened the door to see standing there the purple haired girl from a few days ago. Shinji's little sister who she tried to befriend. "Oh, Sakura what a surprise to see you here."
Sakura looked up at the older girl. It took a few days of thinking about what her grandfather had wanted her to do before she finally worked up the courage to go about it. To befriend the Emiya siblings. Beyond that or whatever her grandfather had planned she had no idea. At the very least she didn't have to have any "training" for the last few days. "Do you mind if I could…" This was awkward no matter how many times she told herself what she must say. "H-hang out?"
Shirou could have tried to practice his Reality Marble within the Emiya family workshop. Thing is if he recalled there were some issues with the possibility of him deploying a Reality Marble as the information from his memories said. He could accidentally consume everyone in the house with it. Nevermind whatever his Reality Marble was, it could have a negative effect on anyone that wasn't him. This was reason enough for him to instead go somewhere out of the way and learn how to use it.
The forest outside of Fuyuki fit his requirements spectacularly in that regard. It was also there that he could physically go all out if he wanted. Walking through the forest brought with it a sense of nostalgia as Shirou remembered the few times he had done so growing up. As he moved deeper into the forest he felt something was off. His nose could smell the prana in the air had shifted around him for a second before stopping. "What was that?"
Shirou thought for a few moments about just what it was but nothing seemed to happen at all. He even walked back over where he had first smelled it and found that it wasn't there anymore. As suspicious as it was there seemed to be nothing else to tell him what was going on about what had happened. 'Maybe it has something to do with the Leyline?'
His knowledge on that subject was extremely limited. Illya had no clue about them besides something about them being natural points of the world's own magical energy. Rin had committed once that it was her duty, or would be her duty, to watch over the Leylines of Fuyuki. If that was something tied to them he would have to ask Rin about it later.
This wasn't a Japanese castle, it was distinctively European. Shirou's mind with the first possibility that comes to mind and that was that the castle was owned by a Dead Apostle. Immediately he tossed that thought away. The bounded field was not as strong as it should be and from what he could tell there had been no response to him wandering into the area this close. No, there had to be something going on here as he was very certain a European castle in the middle of the forest near Fuyuki would be well known. A bounded field had to be the reason for why no one knew about this place.
'I must have passed it on my way here,' He then recalled that strange occurrence not that long ago. 'If I triggered an alarm why hasn't anyone or anything responded?'
Perhaps, what remained of the field had reacted to him. Bounded fields was surprisingly something he was good at if a bit limited on their effects. With hindsight, the revelation of his Reality Marble made a lot of sense. Although, if that was the case then this meant that someone had abandoned a castle in the middle of Fuyuki's forest. That just brought up two questions in themselves. Why build something like this in the far east, and why abandon it after going through all the trouble? A mystery existed right in front of him. Trying to learn how to use his Reality Marble was pushed aside as he headed for the castle.
Getting in through the front seemed like the sensible option but if this was abandoned there could always be a trap. Shirou instead decided to find a less obvious way into the castle. After a few minutes of looking he found what looked like an open window storage area on the second floor. Normally that wouldn't seem to be an option but given who Shirou was he was able to enter the castle from there. There was less dust than he had expected within the main halls at least. A few of the rooms that he checked were covered in the stuff but others seemed rather clean.
'Someone has been here recently,' That was one possibility for the clean rooms. Another that or the dust hadn't managed to enter each one of them for reasons most likely concerning magecraft. The idea that there existed Magecraft for basic cleaning seemed both convenient and made Shirou wonder if it was something commonly known or not. 'Probably not given how secretive mages are.'
This had to have been a Magus' as a Dead Apostle castle tended to not remain if it was abandoned. From what he remembered it depended on who took the castle. If it was the Holy Church they would destroy everything. Meanwhile the Mages Association would take and "lock away" whatever the could get. Effectively ransacking the place before destroying it. A memory of being told with a laugh about the last part.
Many Dead Apostles had made sure to leave a trap or a few with their works. Chiefly amongst them ways to extend ones life, secrets to unlocking greater power, and other such things. All of which basically amounted to means to turn an ambitious fool or fools into a Dead Apostle. Anything else was up to preference. Yet, in the end the Mages Association still tries to gather what it can. 'Its not being torn down and it doesn't looked ransacked…"
He soon found himself walking into a large room that Shirou was certain was a ball room, or at least something along those lines, he stopped as he heard a voice within the room echo out. "The damages and dust are less then I had expected."
Shirou in a panicky stayed down and looked through the railings from the floor above. Pale skin, red eyes, and if they didn't have their heads covered Shirou hazard a guess white hair. Even their faces had a similar structure to his older sister. The two women were Einzbern Homunculi just like Illya. "How many traps did that freelancer rig in this place?" The maid that said that tossed down a bundle of devices and parts that likely were from said traps. "I do hope that was the last of that traitors' surprises."
Once he heard traitor coming from her mouth he knew just who she was referring to. Kiritsugu Emiya the man who married into the Einzbern family. 'Did they know he was dead?' Catching a brief glance from the railing his mind moved for the most logical reason for why they were here now. 'Are they looking for Illya?'
In the four years he had managed to get a better grasp of the ritual for the wishing device that he had come to Fuyuki to see. Namely that Illya was the key to completing the ritual. Apparently, she had inherited it from her mother and it would cost her own life to complete. No way in hell was he going to let his sister die for that. "I'll have to reset the bounded field, hopefully nothing has managed to pass through the perimeter."
'Wait did I pass through right as the bounded field was taken down?' Either it was luck that had happened or pure coincidence. Neither mattered right now. 'I'll have to slip out and warn Illya about this.'
A small voice in the back of his mind had a different idea. Killing them both would have a far better and more desired result after all. Shirou pushed those thoughts out of his mind for now. That had as much of an issue as just letting the two maids go about their business if he thought about it. 'They might not just be simple maids.'
That brought up a few memories of his dealings with a pair of maids. Before his memory could go any further one of the Einzbern Homunculi maids brought him out of it. "Wait, is someone there?"
Shirou froze as he realized that they were looking in his general direction and the railings did still allow someone to see him if they focused hard enough. Which one of the maids was seemingly doing as she pulled out a bottle from a pocket on her dress. "Intruder!"
Rin looked over the letter she had been given from the Edelfelts. They were going to come by and see if what she said was indeed true. Inwardly she did dread what would happen to her. There were so many ways that it could go. The more hopeful and positive ones were still a tad depressing to think of. Most likely her family in the state it was would be assimilated into the Edelfelt Family as a branch of them. 'I can't believe I let myself get talked into this.'
It was too late to regret her decision to go with what both of the Emiya siblings thought she should do. Looking at her Magic Crest Rin wondered why yet again she decided to have both of them decide this for her. The simple answer was they are her friends, the only two she could trust, and maybe she actually found Shirou cute. 'No, stop that!'
She did not have a crush on Shirou. Even if she did, which she didn't, then it was only temporary. Pushing that thought out she got up and decided to head for the kitchen in trying to fix herself something to eat. As she passed by the door to the house she was greeted with a sigh she was even less happy to see. "Rin, I had thought you would be over at your friend's place."
"I don't spend all my time there," Just because she spent most of the days in the week there didn't mean anything. Besides right now she was dealing with something that took a lot more importance from her time. Telling Kirei about that was something she didn't want to do. "Why do you care anyway?"
"I am your guardian Rin it's only natural I care for your wellbeing," The words may have left his mouth and maybe he did out of a sense of obligation. Despite the fact that he was the one to put Rin into her current position. There was also the part about him and his daughter but that was also something Rin didn't need to know about.
She had heard this before and while he wasn't overly abusive or even all that neglectful, the possible sadism notwithstanding, he did and said it more out of a duty than anything else. Which was to be expected as he only had this role because he was her father's former apprentice and someone he had trusted. 'The downside is that my family wealth is basically evaporating.'
Rin turned to walk away as it seemed that their conversation was going to go nowhere. Kirei for a moment debated telling Rin about what he had learned. After all, it was the far east that the Twenty-second had once made as her home and as the future Second Owner of Fuyuki she would probably learn about the revelation from the Mages Association. "The Twenty-second is believed to be alive."
Having lived under the care of a member of the Holy Church Rin knew who he was referring too. The Twenty-second Dead Apostle Ancestor, one of the four the Church had killed because they had no successor. "Don't you say that the Twenty-second was dead?"
"Unfortunately, it seems that they were able to survive and lay low for the last few decades," Good, Rin was unnerved about it. Anyone who wasn't was either someone who had a chance, a means to win, or a fool that would learn what death was. "What's worse is that apparently she has a Successor now."
Jumping out and through a two story window would have been seen as crazy and dangerous to anyone. For Shirou it was nothing and the pain and injury was largely pointless as it would immediately disappear thanks to the Curse of Restoration he had. Right now the bigger issue was the two Einzbern Homunculi who were out to kill him. The stunt he had done had bought him some time but not long afterwards the other Homunculus of the pair had jumped out with a large halberd in hand. Shirou didn't even need to be told twice as he raced out into the forest as the maid was hot on his trail.
The only issue he found was that in his panic he hadn't the faintest idea where he was going. As such the maid managed to intercept him by appearing and thrusting the halberd in her hands at him. Shirou practically on instinct projected a longsword to try and block the strike. The weapon in his hands broke when the attack made contact. It was only via a split second reaction, and a probably dumb luck, that kept him from being pierced from the point.
'What the hell is that made of?'
It was a stupid question as almost immediately after this he preformed his trained Structural Grasping with a look of the halberd which soon give him the answer. What it was made of was a condensed alloy that made the weapons he had look like simple metal. Inwardly Shirou cursed the situation that he was in. He was going to have to fight and he had to win. Just running wasn't going to help him and he couldn't lead them home.
"Trace On!"
Shirou held out both hands as in each a pair of Katanas formed out of the red fluid of his own brand of Projection. He moved forward crouching low and circled around without much thought. Lessons on defending himself from long ago slowly started to bleed into his mind and into his movements. A swing of the right was blocked by the handle of the halberd. Shirou didn't get a chance to swing the other as the halberd was swung, knocking the Katana that was blocked out of his hand.
A quick Reinforcement and attempt to jump back kept him from having the ax blade of the polearm from cutting through his spine. It did, however, tear his stomach open. Shirou eyes widened from the pain but as quickly as it was registered the wound closed and healed. Time seemingly reversing itself to a point when the wound wasn't there.
"A Dead Apostle?" That made sense to the homunculus. No eleven or twelve year old was likely able to just wander up to the Einzbern castle in Fuyuki by accident. "To whom do you serve, beast?!"
The homunculus choice of words was to be expected. Her question though was somewhat complicated. As a Dead Apostle Successor he technically served his Ancestor. In their instance his Ancestor was his mother and he was her son. "No one."
His answer didn't seem to matter to the homunculus in front of him in the slightest. She still rushed forward and swung her halberd in a wide arc looking to cut him in half. Shirou rolled out of the way as the wide arc cut into a tree nearby the trunk almost cut clean through. If that actually did hit him it was going to hurt and he knew it. The use of Structural Grasping through his eyes told him that much. If he fought her with just what he had as he was now he stood no chance.
'I need something that could even the playing field something like…' Something within him clicked.
"I am the Bone of my Sword."
Holding out his hands a Katana was projected via the red fluid with almost no effort. With a hardened swing he practically smashed the weapon over the halberd swung at him shattering the projected blade while knocking the homunculus off balance. Within his now free hand he projected a european longsword and swung it one handed as the maid looked to slash her from the waist.
Being a combat model the Einzbern homunculus was quick to jump away and put some distance between herself and the Dead Apostle. From the side two bottles were tossed and exploded as a barrage of energy bolts were aimed at Shirou who immediately slashed at them destroying them without much issue but his sword was damaged and chip apart.
The more magically inclined of the two Einzbern Homunculi had finally caught up to the two of them and ready with another such vial to provide support. Shirou cursed as he needed something that wouldn't break on him. Something that was strong enough to properly fend off the halberd that was wielded by the combat model homunculus and would allow him to threaten the other one. For a moment an outline of a few weapons crossed his mind. Each one buried deep in his subconscious, within his Reality Marble, and each one could help him.
His own eyes scanned the halberd in the hands of the homunculus. He already knew its creation process, the history of it being used to occasionally fend off those who would try to sabotage the Einzberns. How the current wielder was not the first one to wield it. Hand up the red fluid that marked his unique form of Projection gathered.
The combat maid was surrounded in a supported strength lening glow as she practically leaped forward to a swing reading to cleave the young looking Dead Apostle in two. The sound of metal clashing against metal was heard as the enhanced strength of the homunculus was blocked by the Reinforced super strength of the Dead Apostle. In his hands was a perfect replica of the halberd in her own hands. The two weapons clashed against each other.
"He copied the halberd?"
With his claws gripping the halberd he started recalling the lessons in combat he was given long ago. In his mouth he bared his fangs at the homunculus as he was forced back in the end of the strike. Despite everything he was still only eleven or barely twelve. Despite technically being stronger physically than any human his age and indeed most adults he wasn't at his prime. The Einzbern homunculus wasn't the top of the line combat models that could fight servants but she was more than capable of fighting most modern mages.
Shirou wasn't some mage though. He was a Dead Apostle and one that had the ability to create weapons seemingly out of blood. The halberd in hands was hard to wield but his lessons kicked in on how to use a weapon he had a hard time with. With his body being Reinforced and strengthened he raced forward and stroked as the homunculus was still confused. On the back foot the homunculus wavered into defense for a moment and it was enough to seemingly turn things in Shirou's favor.
Until the homunculus body glowed as her sister used magic to reinforce her form. With a swing she locked with his blade before using the other end on the halberd to knock Shirou back and even tossing the weapon he had made out of his hands. With a quick change in grip she lunged the weapon forward. Shirou grabbed the weapons point from the side as he Reinforced his whole body and tried to hold it off. The muscles in his arms screamed for a moment as he put in too much energy threatening to rip apart his muscles and tendons if not break his bones. A scream left his mouth as overhead several daggers formed and were suddenly launched forward at both the Homunculi that had been fighting him. The supporting one was quick to dodge while the one one with the halberd was able too but not without a gash cutting into her shoulder.
Blood sprayed out for a few moments before a faint glow of healing closed it up. In the air the faint smell of fresh blood reached Shirou's nose. In the back of his throat he felt a thirst that had been suppressed for far too long. The halberd he had dropped was quickly picked back up as like a lock breaking something started to surge forth. Even as the two opponents moved to retaliate a strengthened weapon aimed for him.
"Steel is my Body, and Fire is my Heart!"
His Reality Marble reacted again as it felt the call. His circuits began to burn as more energy pulsed through them. Inside something else had was no way to describe it but like a thing that felt like the weight of his existence. Not the who of Shirou Emiya, but the what of Shirou Emiya. He slammed the halberd into its strengthened original shattering into pieces and actually managed to unbalance the combat Homunculus.
Several vials exploded in front of Shirou as the blasts of energy stored within each slammed into him. The pain was largely ignored by him as it wasn't doing much to actually threaten him right now. Eying the other Einzbern Homunculi Shirou jumped forward like a predator pouncing on their prey. His claws swiped at her as prana gathered them. By luck the homunculus was able to jump out of the way and instead Shirou only managed to cleave into the tree behind her. The trunk of the tree however, was ripped apart by the claws showering the area around him with splinters. Whatever remaining sense of superiority the Einzberns had felt existed against him was gone on the face of the attended target.
At that moment the artificial human learned that it was the prey facing off against a predator. In that split moment Shirou brought his other claw forward as his mind had only one thought. To kill the homunculus in front of him. Hastily said homunculus tried to strengthen her outfit in hope to block the slash but it was too imperfect. Blood and viscera flew out of her stomach as Shirou claws tore into her.
Shirou didn't black the halberd that tore into his side, seemingly taking a good chunk of it out. The right arm, shoulder, parts of his right lung, and a good part of his ribcage was torn by the weapon with the limb literally falling off. The rest of his body had been tossed into a tree knocking out the remains of the lung from his body. Normally the trauma would be more than enough to kill any human. Even if by some force of will it didn't the blood loss would do it. Even lesser and young Dead Apostles could have possibly died from such a savage attack. Shirou, however, seemed to not notice at all.
His fallen arm disappeared, his missing lung returned to its place and soon everything that had been destroyed or cut off from the strike returned into place. All happening as if nothing had harmed him in the first place. In that moment it was clear that there was no threat from the halberd or its wielder. With his newly returned hand out Shirou projected another copy of the weapon in question. A surge of Reinforcement pulsed through the Traced halberd as its form started to break from the surge of energy put into it.
With that he raced forward as Shirou swung the overcharged halberd down. His opponent did the only thing she could and attempt to block it. On contact the copy exploded as the energy stored into its form was released violently. The resulting shockwave/explosion knocked the combat model to the ground with a thud. The halberd which was down not far from her lay having been knocked out of her hands.. Pain racked the body of the homunculus as she looked to her side. Her follow homunculus laid there on her back as she tried to cling to life but it looked like the injuries were too great for her limited healing ability to fix. Death was inevitable.
'Ho-how could this have happened?'
The homunculus knew she still had a job to do and would do it. Grabbing the handle she looked at the Dead Apostle who had invaded her home and felt herself freeze up as start looked into his eyes. An almost hypnotic effect was felt. 'Mystic Eyes…'
Shirou slowly walked up his mind racing as his instincts and nature as a Dead Apostle was practically free. Before it only stretched at the surface of it. Now, he was standing over her. His claws and fangs out and without much control or thought he listened to his instincts. Grabbing her head he pulled her up and then bit into her neck. As soon as the blood from the artificial human passed down his throat he remembered something important.
"How did I come to be?"
An innocent question some kids would ask their parents. Those kids tended to be human, or in a few rare occasions, mix blood. Seven year old Shirou was neither. He was a Dead Apostle and when it comes to where Dead Apostles come from there was only one way. They were turned into one. Either by another Dead Apostle or via study into magecraft. In his mother's case it was an accident, one that she was embarrassed about and refused to share with him. Although, Rizo did say it was something about her using The Dead as an ingredient, an elixir.
"You mean how were you born?"
"Yeah, shouldn't it be impossible?"
Shirou at the time could barely hear his mother talk about her "friend" under her breath but couldn't make out what she was saying. Whatever it is there was a hint of frustration and anger about it. "In the way most children are born then yes," Young Shirou knew that his mother was hinting at. She had shown him some of her creations. "Using all I knew about familiars, necromancy, flesh puppets, and the information on homunculi that I could get out of Yggdmillennia I was able to create you using my flesh as the base and primary donation for you," This explained who she had called him her biological child after all. There was one thing she then added. "You have a few secondary donations to prevent you from just being a clone of me if you're curious."
Shirou dropped the drained homunculus to the ground as the wound continued to bleed out. Of course, he had suspected that something was the reason for his birth as a Dead Apostle. Being made to be one made a lot of sense. He was actually surprised that he didn't figure it out or remember why before. Yet, with the memory he recalled that even with knowing the truth of his existence nothing changed.
There was no reason for either of them to change how they felt or to care. She used a part of herself to make him so what was he if not her son? Even the revelation of him being artificial didn't mean anything major to Shirou at all. It explained why he was born a Dead Apostle and just knowing about this made him remember a bit about himself. For one, despite having made him, even his mother was surprised by how he turned out in some aspects.
"Wait…" Shirou's mind refocused on what had just happened as he looked down at the two Einzbern Homunculi before him. One dead, her intestines laying out from the gaping wound in her stomach and the other on death's door from the blood lost and the still bleeding wound from where his fangs tore into her neck. Where he had drunk his fill of her blood.
He should be stunned by his actions. Shirou recalled his feelings as he fought. The desire to kill them had nagged in his mind and got more and more pronounced as he fought on. What was concerning to him right now was how he felt after the fact. Disturbed by how little he cared for the fact he killed them. Shirou knew he should have felt bad about having killed them. It wasn't that he was incapable of feeling anything at someone's passing either. He had been saddened by Kiritsugu's death and found needless murder abhorrent.
Yet, the more he thought about what had happened the less and less he actually cared that he had ended their lives. Actually, the image of the fear in the eyes of the last one as she realized how hopeless the fight was right as he used his Mystic Eyes to force her to let him feed. That image brought him a sense of sadistic pleasure. A pleasure that really thrown him for a loop given it felt so out of place. 'Where the hell did that come from?!'
Immediately his mind told him where. It was tied into the memory that had flooded out. His mother had said she had used everything she knew to create him. Which included familiars and he knew thanks to Rin about how those functioned via a connection. It wasn't the same at all as Shirou was an independent entity but on some level he knew that the process had imparted a part of herself in him. Like a part of her mind had been copied and pasted on to his own. Drown out mostly by his own personality but subconsciously still there.
That sadism that he felt was the way she would react had she been in his place!
So, a few things to clear up. No, her understanding of making life is nowhere near the likes Touko or the Einzberns. That level of mastery in such a field could best be described as specialization. The understanding and ability of the Twenty-second can best be described has mixing and matching effectively jury rigging something of equal value and worth to a specialist but there is still some side effects and possibly even unintended consequences. Case in point despite being independent he still carries a imprint of her mind, and as shown in one of the memories she didn't know his element.
Yes, Shirou doesn't have sadistic tendencies in canon but remember that this story works under the idea that if he kept Avalon in him he would basically live his like as a pseudo-human. Being the Shirou Emiya he is in canon if he had rejected to remove it. Admittedly he kind of still is as I really didn't want to go too drastic. I want him to be believably different. Anyway, while removing it gave him a step forward it did have a drawback of awaking things that Avalon was suppressing about his nature. Dead Apostles are not human and he'll have to deal with it.
Now I guess I bored you enough. I'll cya all next chapter.
