Disclaimer: I own nothing in this fanfiction.
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"Illya, do you think this will work?"
A hand-bandaged Shirou told Illya who was standing by a red magic circle.
"With Avalon inside you and the circle drawn, you only need to activate your circuits. You probably don't even need to chant."
Illya answered in clear hesitation, she did fear for her brother's life after all.
"Shirou. Are you sure you want to do this? Once you get the command seals there is no turning back."
"It is fine. I want to know the truth. Why did Kiritsugu destroy the grail ten years ago, why did he waste all those lives in that disrespectful manner; was it worth it?"
Shirou clenched his fist, and immediately activated his magic circuits.
"Heroic spirit of the sword, I call upon you. You who were betrayed, you who obeyed. I swear upon the Everdistant Utopia within me, you shall be my Sword and I shall be your Sheath. If you hear the grail's calling, then heed it and obey. Come here, Saber. For the time of rebirth hath come!"
Shirou's eyes glowed golden during the chant, making Illya worry for a bit. But the light shining in the room took over all her senses before she felt the crazy mana burst that probably alerted every magus in Fuyuki. Cars parked at the corners of the streets started ringing their alarms incessantly, and the entire neighborhood's electricity was cut off for an entire minute.
When the light came back on, she was standing there, a dark presence, an existence so charming and deadly that it radiates magical energy just by existing. Clad in armor darker than the night and eyes like pale gold, she looked at Shirou with emotionless eyes.
"I ask of you, are you my Master?"
Shirou was captured by this being in front of him. His consciousness attempted to shake off the feeling but it just couldn't. This woman in front of him, she was just—Beautiful.
Illya was alerted by the presence of another source of mana nearby although it pales in comparison to Saber.
Saber took off in a burst towards this new disturbance. Shirou followed her shortly after alongside Illya.
When Shirou reached the gate to his house, he noticed a weird sight.
"Hey, isn't that Shinji? And why is everyone on the floor?"
Illya commented on what she saw, people who went out to check what happened to their cars all lost consciousness, and now Shinji is by the Emiya mansion's gare alongside a… Servant!
"Saber!"
Shirou shouted in the direction where Saber stood, except that she wasn't there any more.
A burst of Mana and she was standing face to face with the enemy Servant, who as surprised as she was, managed to block the first blow but as a result, was sent flying towards the sky.
Shinji eeked at that and jumped back from the Black Saber, only to notice the blade Shirou pointed at his neck.
"Shinji, Shinji… What do I do with you?"
Shinji sweated at the feeling of cold steel on his throat, he needed to act fast.
"Rider!"
And Shirou had to jump back to not be crushed.
Roaring was heard wide and clear. Illya had to look up, and up, and up to see the head of this existence that roared so fiercely.
"Burn them to cinders! Tarasque!"
The enemy servant standing on a lamp post shouted at the beast that was now in Shirou's backyard. A literal dragon.
Shirou called Saber to his side, before he gave her permission to use her noble phantasm.
"Are you sure about this, Master, if I use it here I cannot promise the safety of nearby houses."
Shirou smiled at the question.
"Yes, go ahead, the church can come up with an excuse later."
Saber let a vile smile draw on her lips before reverse gripping her blade.
The dragon roared once again as flames began to build up in it's chest.
"Vortigern, hammer of the vile king. Reverse the rising sun!"
Saber's black sword burned with a black flame, extending his size several times.
"Swallow the light and emit darkness! destroy hope and crush my enemies!"
The flame became uncontrollably huge, lighting the nearby buildings ablaze.
"EXCALIBUR—"
The dragon fired his flames towards the Emiya mansion.
"MORGAN!"
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Shiki entered the bathroom, taking a shower was one of his main priorities. Especially after he was kindly taken in by a member of the founding families. He was clothless but did not remove his glasses, who knew what would happen if Tohsaka knew about his eyeeeee—
With a weird sound Archer materialized right outside of the bathtub.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!"
Shiki embarrassingly covered his body although under a thick blanket of soap bubbles, his nether regions were practically unseen to the servant.
"Forgive my rudeness, kid, but this is a sensitive matter to talk about."
"Couldn't it wait until I get out of the bathroom?!"
"No."
"Ugh… What is it?"
"I know about you, everything you've done ever since you picked up this knife."
Archer projected a copy of the knife Shiki usually had, a short hand knife that spells 'Nanatsu Yoru' 'Seven Nights' on the handle.
"How did you do that?"
Shiki was startled to hear him say those words but the way he copied his knife perfectly distracted him.
"Forget about it for now, I'll tell you later. Now I'll cut to the chase. If you think hiding your eyes from my master is a good idea, you're mistaken."
Archer spoke without a trace of hesitation in his voice, all while playing with the fake knife in his hands.
"Why should I trust you guys? I literally just met you."
Shiki asked the natural question, his eyes fixed on Archer's fake knife.
"Okay listen up, first off, you're not in any position to refuse to trust us, after all we also just met you and here you are making yourself comfortable in a bathtub full of bubbles. Second thing you should know is that my master was really on the brink of breaking down mentally. She had her trust betrayed by someone she thought was dear to her. Meeting you somehow affected her positively."
Archer's tone remained calm and composed as he explained.
"So hiding your mystic eyes of Death Perception from Rin right now would do you no good, just tell her everything you have, your goal, everything."
Shiki pondered for a bit.
If he wanted to just blow his cover he would have already told Tohsaka about him. If he wanted to extract info from him he would've done so otherwise. And if he wanted him dead, well, they wouldn't be speaking right now.
Shiki removed his glasses, earning Archer's full attention, and looked at Archer's eyes, directly.
"You see, I didn't want this to happen. But I was dragged to it anyway, seeing this… ugly sight, the fragility of the world, it's like seeing your world fall apart, and you literally cannot do anything about it.
I don't know what you went through or what you saw. But your heart is scarred. I can see it, the light within you. Your lines are all interconnected by a golden glow, that even if ever traced, they will not be cut."
Shiki's tone changed to a deep one, speaking with wisdom was never his thing, but this one came naturally. He fixed his glasses and put them back on.
"Alright, I will tell her everything. But later you will tell me what this golden glow is."
Archer smiled in satisfaction, this boy is interesting indeed, for a moment, Archer considered being friends with the guy.
"Get out of here now!" Shiki shooed Archer out.
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Shiki finished bathing and wore his clothes, now he only needed to explain all about himself to Tohsaka, just like he promised Archer.
"God where will I start…"
He came out of the bathroom after drying his hair with a towel.
"You sure took your time there, Tohno-kun. Or should I call you Nanaya?"
Rin sat on a couch in the sitting room, elegantly gripping a cup of tea that most likely came on top of the dish that's on the table in front of her.
Seeing this gave him hard Akiha vibes.
"I guess so, but I needed that time y'know.
I hope it didn't bother you that much."
Shiki replied and sat on the opposite side of the table.
"Not at all, in fact it was more surprising that you got to relax in a foreign place."
Tohsaka replied after taking a sip from her cup.
"Yeah well, I'm not a home person anyways and I've been in a similar situation beforehand."
Shiki leaned forward then placed his knife on the table.
"Listen closely Tohsaka Rin, I'm about to tell you the entire story of the boy in front of you. Then you will consider what to do next."
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Shiki told his story in great detail. Starting from the time he woke up in that hospital seeing cracks everywhere, but he was interrupted when he reached the hotel part, that memory of NRVQSR, he was about to tell all he knew about him before—
Everything started shaking, Tohsaka immediately stood in place, and Archer appeared near her, Shiki also stood in place.
"Master! There is a very strong mana burst in a nearby location, some servant must've fired a noble phantasm!"
Archer exclaimed.
"A noble phantasm?! Here? In a residential area?! Where did the mana burst come from?"
Tohsaka asked.
"Towards the Japanese styled houses. It's most likely—"
Archer stopped mid-sentence.
"Emiya Shirou…"
Tohsaka continued Archer's unfinished sentence.
"Let's go Archer! Tohno-kun, it's up to you to come or not, but I'd rather have you stay here."
"Are you kidding? Of course I'll come! I might not be as strong as a servant but I do have an ace up my sleeve."
Shiki followed Tohsaka after she sighed and gave him a nod.
It wasn't too hard to pinpoint the location of the servant because there was a big fire emitting a lot of smoke just in plain sight.
Tohsaka bit her lip, it was near the Emiya mansion.
They ran to the scene, to find a catastrophe waiting for them.
Five houses, burned down and destroyed. A blue haired boy half roasted laying on what remained of the road and they managed to catch a glimpse of a purple haired servant who was clearly damaged going into spirit form.
Tohsaka's expression was unreadable, she clearly was shaking, the bodies all over the street, the houses burning, the boy she recognized from her school.
She leaned down to check on him and she found that he was still breathing, so she administered all the basic healing spells she had on her, and that only served to stabilize his condition.
"Archer, take this person to the Matou household and drop him by the gate. Don't let anyone see you."
Rin commanded with a serious tone.
Archer frowned but obeyed. He picked up the half roasted body and broke into a dash towards the Matou household.
The dust settled down to reveal a Shiki that is looking for any survivors and lining them up on the street where their lives aren't as in danger. While he was at it, he heard the desperate calls of a child, the voices seemed to come from under a… Desk? That was buried under rubble.
Shiki took off his glasses and stabbed the point with his knife.
The rubble crumbled into dust and the boy that was under the desk jumped at him, hugging him tightly before his grip loosened, he fell unconscious. Shiki put his glasses back on and brought the boy to where Tohasaka was treating.
He placed him on the ground and suddenly jumped left to avoid a kitchen knife that was propelled at him.
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And that is that, 2000 words per chapter will be my goal from now on, but that will cost me time, meaning that from now on, only one upload per day.
Did you like this chapter? Tell us what you think in a review! Even drop a follow if you like to see more! Hasta la Vista!