As he walk through the streets, he see some people running, if was not by the occasional bizarre jeep or on the corner of the street the appearance of a soldier with weird assault rifle and ragged clothes that remember a ancient middle east man, mixed with something out of science fiction, he would think he is on a rural area from Syria or Afghanistan.
The moment his rifle shot red laser shots on something out of his field of view, he knew something was wrong. The man was fleeing like most vehicles, civilians and soldiers by foot, his shots seemed to be more to buy time than an attempt to defeat whatever was coming.
Shirou look for someone to ask, what's happening, but a old woman, arabic, black eyes and hair, tanned skin, wearing a hijab, grab him on her arms and start to run, the language spoken, even with Archer memories, that learned some, was unknown, Archer, besides Japanese and English, mastered spanish, portuguese, latin and Mandarin.
The language he heard had lots of Latin, with a heavy accent and seemed to have some English and maybe French, he could not identify properly. Once the soldier stopped to cover her retreat with Shirou in the arms, she crossed the corner, and Shirou could see what the man was shooting at.
He could see an approaching army, similar outfit, but darker colors, it was probably from a close location, another "tribe"? A "neighbor nation"? He didn't know, the same language was spoken by both sides with a heated tone. It seems that both sides were ordering the other to surrender.
The sole soldier opened fire, and had to take cover, the old woman did the same, as a few old men that looked to be merchants, or something, the, both hiding behind a carriages that seemed to be too the sales tent, as many bolts of light cut the sky above them and hit the carriage and the buildings on the street.
The soldier covering their retreat was outnumbered, outgunned, and the sound of vehicles could be heard, armored tanks, and the soul of engines revealed a VTOL troop transport, that Shirou didn't recognize, it was a Stormbird, flying 12m in the air, from it, 5 beings jumped, without ropes or anything to help the landing.
They landed with a loud crashing sound, their feet cracking the pavement. They had normal human dimensions, despiste their muscular build, they were too clearly super humans, covered in body glove suits, dark, with some armored plates attached and tactical pockets.
Numbering 2 females, 3 males, they all held beautiful well crafted spears and shields, had a large "sci-fi" pistol, a Primus Pattern plasma pistol on one side of the hips and a sword on the other. The man in the center seemed older, had white beard and hair, long messy hair, and a scar on the eye. The youngest was one of the women, and had very short hair, tied in the back.
"Udug Hul! They are the monsters from Akkad! We are doomed! Run!" Says the man who seems to be a merchant.
In panic, the merchant tried to run, starting a chain reaction, all merchants and the old woman started to run, leaving the cover, a spear was thrown on their direction, it would impact, Shirou quickly on a instinctive reaction, reinforced himself, released himself from the old Woman grasp as he pushed her to the side, his bump on her made her go to the left as he went to the right, the spear piercing the ground on the middle where they were.
"- ...Trace on... structural analysis complete..."
Shirou fell rolling on the ground, the old man lifted one of his eyebrows. Shirou analyzed the weapons. The spears were of high quality, the tips were of a material he could not understand fully, but was called Adamantium.
The swords on their hips were high quality steel swords, but one on the old man's hips was a "power sword", made by aristocrats in a period called dark age of technology, found on an underground deposit by the army of Akad, the information was overwhelming.
The pistols on their hips were more dangerous, they had plasma pistols, Primus Pattern, ancient pistols from the federation, now considered "archeotech", it seemed they were prone to overheat, but were absurdly powerful weapons.
The old man grip his pistol that started to shine on a blue light, the soldier, the only left behind on the barricade, panics, he knows what a plasma weapon can do, he runs, the old man aims at him, the only armed person on the street, and pulls the trigger.
"...I am the bone of my sword..."
Time seems to freeze, Shirou is about to see a young man die, a soldier that´s retreating, not a menace. He was about to see a war crime, a retreating man that surrendered was about to be executed in cold blood in front of Emiya eyes, even with his limited body and overall unreliable circuits, he could not watch in silence.
"...Rho... Aias!"
Shirou dash forward, hand stretched forward, as the man run on his direction, the man seems confused, ready to grab the kid and save him, thinking Shirou is a kid unaware of the danger, a pink translucent flower petal materialize in the air in front of the kid, slightly behind the back of the man, the plasma shot collide with it, a loud explosion is heard and dust is lifted.
Shirou clench his teeth, it was a hastily badly done single petal of Rho Aias, his body is small and frail, and the damage that transfer to him is like a punch on the gut, he bend slightly the knee, gasping for breath, but resist definitely hold his small arm forward and helding the translucent shield.
The secret of magic was exposed? Well, he had no option and no idea of where he was, the place itself was strange enough for him to believe his magic was the smallest of the oddities. Everyone look at the scene in shock, including the "Udug Hul'' soldiers, one of the mutter
"psyker?" Ask one of the "Udug Huls", the smaller female.
" ...No... Sarah, did you feel something?" Say the oldest of them.
"...No, not sure... The warp is calm..." Says the same female "Udug Hul" again.
Shirou look at them, he still can't fully understand what they say, but with effort, have a gist of it, they don't have the same accent as the locals, it was easier to pick familiar words and somehow deduce what was the context, and the moment the old man holster his plasma pistol, he pick the old man spear and throw back to him.
On an arch, the spear struck the ground. A few meters from the old man, the old man noticed, the kid's strength was absurd, the spear was heavy and it was thrown a large distance.
"...Don't fight... Let us go..." Shirou try to beg for their lives
He struggles with the language, but tries anyway, to tell them they are not combatants, but fleeing refugees, hoping that even the soldier might be allowed to escape with them. The old man pointed to the soldier's weapon, Shirou looked at him and said.
"- Drop! Now! Or they might kill...!"
The Soldier understands, drops the weapon and lifts his hands, the old man nods, and they start to leave, as they start to run, the old man looks at the short hair girl, and they have a non verbal conversation.
While Shirou is running, he has a bad feeling, is his "eye of the mind", he notice that the massive distance between he and the "Udug Hul" almost vanished, they are close, he turn back to defend from a attack when the short hair girl materialize behind him, the small kid lift his reinforced arms barely in time to block a powerful kick that throw him on a building, the impact with the wall not only take his breath, but make his vision start to fade, and everything goes dark.
