Peaceful and white.
That was the only way to describe the world as it is.
Winter began a month ago, bringing change to the season. Trees lost their auburn colors, animals slowly disappeared for hibernation, and snow started descending from the heavens above, coating the forest and land in white.
The surrounding villages were fortunato have moderate winter seasons. The numerous rivers and lakes near the mountain base mitigated the effects of harsh weather.
Shirou was at one such river, walking over the frozen sheet of transparent ice.
The river was a fifth of a kilometer wide, its origins way up in the mountains ahead. Its banks were covered white in snow, the surrounding trees equally white as the ground they grew on.
It was a winter wonderland.
Shirou appreciated the peaceful scene while carrying his last batch of fish for the day.
Hunting had ended once winter arrived, so the village shifted to other means of acquiring stores. They had managed to gather a sizeable stockpile of meat from autumn. But it was safer to continue foraging for food during winter.
That was the reason Shirou spent the day at the frozen river. He had been busy looking for fish frozen in ice. There was quite a number of fish encased in the clear ice, all Shirou had to do was dig them out.
While it was possible to fish, Shirou didn't learn such skills. Rather, he would prefer to catch them with his hands. Using the river as a training area to improve his control and speed. This was after Shirou learned to swim from one of the fishermen one village over. Different from his exercises, swimming provided a more balanced form of training. After all, swimming needed multiple muscles from different areas to work in tandem.
It was also during the tail end of autumn when Shirou discovered the advantages of swimming. The weather was cold then, but he pushed past the hesitation and maximized the little time left before the rivers became frozen. Shirou got sick from repeatedly dipping in the cold weather, but recovered after he could no longer train in the freezing waters.
A little training during harsh weather conditions always helped in the long run.
Shirou reached the riverbank and trekked towards his hidden stockpile of fish a fair distance from the river. He had collected a decent number, and while he could bring all of them back with reinforcement, his cloth sack wouldn't be able to carry the load before tearing apart. So Shirou decided to bring them in small batches back to the village.
His reinforcement skills had improved slightly. But not enough to be used on objects. His reinforcement lasted a few seconds on rocks and wooden trunks, but he couldn't keep the flow managed for a longer period, causing them to break.
Training your prana circuits to keep a constant output of energy was one thing, keeping them constant while injecting them into an object to improve its durability was a whole other thing. Then again, Shirou was learning all of his magic from scratch. So progress was hard to find.
But once he did, it was only a matter of building on his discoveries with constant practice and determination.
Shirou stopped in front of a pile of rocks, from afar it looked like a haphazard collection of stone, but once observed from a specific angle, it formed the shape of an arrow. The rocks were easy enough to spot due to their large size, simple for him to find if he looked in the particular area.
But the rock formation was only a ruse. The real hiding location was the snow underneath them. The arrow was only there to direct any people who noticed the unnatural formation towards another rockpile which also pointed to another area.
Hopefully nobody would notice the rocks, Shirou really didn't want people to be fooled into getting lost.
Snow started falling as Shirou dug for his rucksack, He started placing some of the collected fish inside then moved a little snow back on top of the rest. The weather would soon cover everything completely so Shirou didn't need to move much.
Happy with today's work, Shirou hummed a little tune on his way back to the village, his rucksack filled with fish for the orphanage.
He would return once the fish ran out.
Shirou blinked.
All the fish in his hiding spot were gone.
It had only been two days since he had left. The orphanage was quick to burn through the first batch he brought, so he returned to collect more from his stockpile.
Except, everything was gone.
There were no tracks around, which meant that the perpetrators had to have taken them more than some time ago, enough for the snow to cover their tracks.
Shirou grumbled, he was going to have to collect more fish. Also, a new hiding spot. This one was compromised. That was fine, there were still a couple more rock formations he made. He'd pick one a bit more detached from the others.
After finding another suitable location, he returned to the river to begin finding fish.
Sounds of breaking ice echoed on the empty river throughout the day.
A few days later, Shirou returned to his second stock of plundered fish.
It was gone again.
This was starting to become troublesome, Shirou thought. How had they found his stash so quickly? The location was a fair distance off his original hiding location. There was no way they had stumbled upon it by accident.
The rocks.
It was the only way to find his collection of fish. The people were going through each and everyone one of his formations to find food.
Did a village lack food for winter? Shirou and the others would've heard news of a town or village requesting for food if that were the case.
He pushed his queries to the back of his mind as he decided on another move. Perhaps he should make his stash in a harder location. This time, there should be no clues marking its whereabouts. In addition, he would split the stockpile this time. Maybe he could save some fish that way.
There was no way they would accidentally stumble across both locations right?
Wrong.
For the third time, Shirou found his stockpiles empty.
Now he was sure of it. Something was afoot. Once was an accident, twice was a coincidence, thrice was a pattern. But there wasn't a connection between his last spot and his third. It was on the opposite bank, right beside the river in the open. If anything, both spots were even more susceptible to discovery.
Perhaps Shirou was overthinking this. But something didn't feel right with the entire situation.
He observed the peaceful river and the surrounding forest. The picturesque scene combined with the silence imbued a calming sensation within Shirou.
Right. He might just be imagining things. His third spot was well hidden, but its vicinity was not. Being positioned beside the river was only begging for people to come across it by accident. Especially when this river was frequented by other villages to fish as well.
Even if the fish was found, it wasn't like Shirou couldn't find more. The river had frozen so much that it was simple enough to gather a couple with some time.
Looking at the positive side, Shirou assumed that the people finding his stockpiles must be grateful for finding more food. There were no problems with that, it simply meant that they were being used to feed more mouths.
Maybe leaving them beside the river was a better idea. At least anyone who needed more fish could just grab a few.
Shirou strolled back and forth on the frozen river to gather fish. It was something to do. Work in the village slowed down during winter because of the difficult weather and the amount of actual jobs there was. At least, Shirou found something helpful to do every few days outside.
"Shirou, we need to talk."
Yamashiro and Shirou were training together outside the village walls. Sparring to keep themselves busy during the slowest time of the year.
"Do you remember the monster you met that time?"
"I still remember everything perfectly."
Shirou flashed back to the incident. The experience had never left his mind. It was frightening, yet aroused an interest within him. Mostly because of how new and different its magical print was compared to everything else.
It was beautiful to say the least. Minus the threatening atmosphere he perceived.
"Well there's been talk of it again, people from other villages have been saying that there was a new territory on the river towards the north. You said the monster had a threatening atmosphere right? Guess what, the other people said the same thing."
Shirou froze. The north river was the place he had been fishing at for the past month. How could he have missed such a thing?
"What do you mean territory? I would've noticed if any packs started marking the area. People have been visiting the area, I know because the fish I left around are being collected. I doubt animals took them because I haven't spotted any since early winter."
Early winter was some time ago already.
Shirou had been fishing at the northern river for two weeks.
The news only reached them today, which meant that this probably circulated around the other villages for a week or longer by now.
Something was wrong.
"That's exactly why I brought this up with you. As the two best hunters in our village, it comes down to us to investigate, right?"
Yamashiro made a good point here. After the last fiasco, the hunter-gatherer party suspended any activities for a week to make sure everyone calmed down.
Yamashiro's reasoning was sound. The river towards the north was within walking distance of many hunting grounds used by the various villages. Once spring returned, it would be a problem if they accidentally stumbled on the monster's territory.
There was only one way to find out.
"Do you want to check it out tomorrow?" Shirou questioned. "It's already a bit late if we plan to start today."
Yamashiro nodded at him. "Yeah, we need to prepare since we'll be out the whole day. Let's meet here early tomorrow morning, ok?"
Both of them went their separate ways after the training session.
On the walk home, Shirou tried to remember any notes of interest he found during his visits to the northern river. But there wasn't much to list, aside from the disappearing fish he had been leaving behind.
The news had circulated already, but Shirou had only visited the river a couple days prior. Could the monster have been taking the fish then? It was certainly possible.
At the orphanage, Shirou informed Taiga about his intention to visit the rivers again for fish. Luckily, Taiga didn't know that it was the northern river that he had been gathering from.
"Have you heard of the news? The northern river is where the monster is at."
"Yeah, I'll be collecting from another river instead. It's too dangerous." Shirou lied.
He didn't want to. But it was better to avoid making Taiga worry about him. Despite his magic, she would still fussy over him like a child. Which he was.
It was a good thing Taiga wasn't focused on him or else she probably would've called the lie
Shirou couldn't fault her, Taiga really cared about the safety and welfare of other people.
The next maorning, Shirou prepared breakfast and some extra food for the rest of his day. He packed three meals and some more to make sure that he was covered should something bad happen. The worst case scenario was being attacked by the monster. If they somehow survived, the most likely results would be for the injured person to remain while the other returned to the village to gather a group to rescue.
Shirou didn't want to imagine such a scenario, but Yamashiro always told him to plan for the worst, and hope for the best.
Hopefully, nothing bad will happen.
The two met at the agreed location then trekked in the direction of the river.
Shirou and Yamashiro kept track of their surroundings once they got within a kilometer of the river. If there was any territory to be had, it would begin at around this range from the intended location.
He activated his reinforced sight and scanned the forest briefly.
Which already tipped off warning signals in their heads. There was nothing to indicate any staked territory, no marks, no scents, nothing.
If there was a territory, then shouldn't have they already found it? The pair backtracked on their trail to double check. After confirming that there was indeed no indication, they slowly arrived at the riverbank.
There, they started studying the river.
"We are in the open now. We should be able to check more ground if we split up."
"Are you sure you want to split up here?"
"The river is wide open compared to the forest. We can see each other from a distance. Let's do it quickly and head back."
Shirou opted to take the northern direction while Yamashiro checked towards the south. He slowly traversed the middle of the river, examining the surroundings with reinforced eyes. The breaks in the ice were still there from when he gathered frozen fish.
It was during this time that Shirou noticed an important clue.
There were no fishing holes. Holes carved by people into ice to fish into the unfrozen river depths where aqualife continued, albeit at a slower pace due to the season.
People had never been in the river. The only signs of life around were the ones Shirou had done for the past two weeks.
Which begged the question.
Who had been taking from his stockpile?
Shirou had a guess, but the probability of it being true seemed impossible to him.
His eyes wandered to the riverbanks on both sides. His realization brings a dawning horror and fear. He pursed his lips, it was the only way he would see if it was indeed the monster.
Calm down…focus on casting the spell…
Using mana sight still brought pain, but at least Shirou could use it for short bursts of time. He had been training to improve the skill in hopes of adapting to the overload of information.
Some progress was made, but it was slow because of the nature of the spell. Like a cup of water trying to contain a lake. Each practice increased the size the cup could carry, then one day, maybe the cup would reach the size of the lake.
Shirou opened his eyes once mana sight was ready. He took a quick glance of the environment, pushing the length he could keep the spell up. Once the headache was too much, he broke the stream of prana powering the skill.
He saw nothing, nothing out of the ordinary ambience which the forest released.
But the growing anxiety within him told otherwise.
Shirou reinforced his body then ran to Yamashiro. The hairs on his body rose with each step he took. The rapid pace he took threw out any semblance of calmness.
Whatever was watching him clearly didn't expect the change in momentum. For a brief moment, Shirou sensed a distortion in the environment.
Big.
The presence he felt was massive. Perfectly hidden from sight, Shirou couldn't see it even with his reinforced eyes.
But most of all, he recognized exactly what was hiding from his view.
It was the monster from a month ago.
Then it was gone. The momentary slip in the thing's concentration disappeared.
He pushed prana circuits to pump more prana through his body, giving him a boost in speed. Shirou reached Yamashiro after a minute of running.
"Yamashiro, we need to get out now!"
Yamashiro had watched Shirou sprint to him in alarm. He immediately jumped to the worst conclusion in mind.
Quickly, the pair started running in a southern direction, following the river's natural curves, staying near the center away from the trees. Shirou stopped his reinforcement to match his speed with the running huntsman.
Each person watched one bank of the river as they fled the invisible predator.
"Is there a way we can escape from the direction we came from Shirou?" Yamashiro urgently questioned.
He was trying to map out a mental path for them to escape the territory around the river. But since they both ran south, it only distanced them from their escape route. It was the safest one since they had scouted it earlier.
Assuming that the monster created a one kilometer buffer zone between the river and the boundary edge, then they needed to risk and cut through either side of the river at one point.
"No! It was specifically stalking me from that direction, we can only head southwest if we want to escape!"
That was bad. The southwest direction was denser than the northeast side which they came from. More foliage to cut the already few directions the pair could keep track of.
Staying in the middle of the river meant to wait for the monster. Running through the forest only meant increasing the chances of being ambushed.
But one was inevitable, and the other was a chance.
The choice was obvious.
Yamashiro spotted a path in the forest. It was surrounded by dense woodland, but a path at least led towards one of the trails.
The duo sprinted across the river towards the path, the adrenaline keeping them from getting tired.
A few minutes later, they started slowing down. The monster had yet to appear, but Shirou knew that it was easily keeping track of them. He remembered the speed it showcased on the cliffs one month prior.
Even his reinforcement would be useless against it.
The pair caught their breaths while watching the environment. The adrenaline was wearing down, which allowed them to start noticing the small details they missed.
The forest was silent. Only the echoes of their steps had been heard during the entire sprint.
A crucial part of the forest ecosystem was glaringly absent. Shirou's ears pierced the environment for sounds of escaping animals during the entire sprint.
There was none.
Considering the entire distance they ran, he had picked up nothing.
Now, Shirou knew that the past two weeks were filled with clues.
No animals, no people.
He had missed those details. It was now obvious in hindsight.
The forest suddenly seemed more menacing around them.
How did Shirou miss such a big absence? Where did all the animals go? They must've fled, and the remaining few who didn't manage…
Well it was obvious what happened to them.
"We have to keep moving." Yamashiro nudged him out of his thoughts. "The farther we get, the better we can escape."
If they can escape that is. But Shirou didn't need to be told that.
The monster stalked from a distance, keeping invisible to the pair of hunters. Silently, it moved into position behind them. Not a sound betrayed the maneuver.
It was time to end the hunt.
Like a mirror of the last predator Shirou faced. The monster was in the same position carrying the same intention.
To ambush them.
Nonetheless, it was enough to trigger the soul's final memories of his previous life.
All of a sudden, Shirou's vision flashed. Day was replaced with night and for a brief moment, he could perceive a different forest.
Along with a different monster.
It was enough to trigger his senses into overdrive. Both memory and reality mixed into one perspective and played havoc in his mind.
Primate Murder was behind him.
In blind panic, Shirou reflexively materialized Kanshou and Bakuya.
Or tried to.
His body reacted faster than his mind, Shirou moved into a combat stance to face the incoming ambush. Empty hands greeted him, horror dawning on Shirou's face.
Adapt.
"YAMASHIRO, BEHIND US!"
Shirou grabbed a large boulder off the forest floor and hurled it in the direction of the invisible predator. Caught off guard, its focus wavered and the concealment weakened. The both of them felt the presence and power of the monster.
Yamashiro was a C rank by official records, and Shirou would be ranked D+. But none of that would matter against the caliber of beast they found. It wouldn't be too hard to say that they didn't stand a chance of escaping.
The boulder crashed through trees, scattering leaves, twigs, and splinters all around. Yamashiro used the opportunity to arm his bow and fire an arrow at the dodging beast.
For the first time, they both saw the true form of the monster.
Fur lighter than snow, almost glowing in the daylight. Size nearly as tall as the massive fir trees in the forest. Yet, the beastly wolf managed to maneuver around the tight spaces without colliding or crushing the trees beneath it.
The speed was incredible to see, but all that only confirmed to Yamashiro that fleeing was no longer an option. Separation meant instant death.
Fight was the only choice left.
Shirou knew it too.
He grabbed another rock on his right hand, his left desperately trying to call out a weapon from somewhere. Shirou did not know why, but his body was instinctively attempting to summon a weapon. But none came.
Unlimited Blade Works was slumbering. It was awakened during the appraisal of his mana system, but only slightly. It was aware of the situation, but did not have a perfect connection to this body of Shirou yet. Similar to how Shirou needed to find his true self to manifest Unlimited Blade Works, it couldn't manifest or help Shirou because he didn't know of it.
Memories could be passed forth, but they were only small fragments. But what little assistance they could provide wasn't enough to protect him from the beast. It had managed to pass reinforcement along, but currently failed to give Shirou enough information about Gradient Air. Therefore, Shirou could only perform half the spell, ultimately making it useless.
More importantly, memories of his clash with Primate Murder resurfaced in small amounts. The experience playing a vital role in boosting Shirou's intuition.
There!
Shirou threw the rock at the next likely spot the wolf would land on. The relatively small sized rock was fast enough to match the speed of the predator, and smashed into the side. Only to break into pieces at the monster's hide.
Hard.
He quickly scanned his area looking for larger rocks. There were only a few that reached half his size. Hopefully, he could make those count.
Yamashiro released another arrow at the beast. But instead of dodging, the monster charged at the pair. It had waited to see what other magic the child would use, and seeing that there was no threat, decided to finish the job.
Shirou reacted quickly, grabbing Yamashiro and throwing them both to the side. His life flashed before his eyes briefly when the large paws nearly trampled him. Adrenaline flooded his body, prompting Shirou to start reading the battlefield like never before.
He scanned the resources within arms length. A few small rocks, nothing that could be used against the monster. Shirou gritted his teeth, mind running at blistering speeds.
Snow.
One shot. If this didn't work, then the both of them were dead.
Shirou grabbed a handful of snow and aimed. He needed to stun the wolf through the eyes. Then maybe they had a chance to escape. Rocks weren't strong enough to hurt the beast, and Shirou doubted he could fight it even with reinforcement boosting his body.
Time slowed down as the beast turned to face the pair of hunters. In Shirou's eyes, time crawled as he waited for the perfect shot. His arm trembled, holding back the power he was putting into this chance.
Slowly, the beast's eyes came into view. Primal, powerful, and threatening. It was the same feeling Shirou experienced the last time both sides met.
Then, he struck.
Heart pumping, mind screaming, but Shirou steeled himself and threw the snowball into the eyes of the attacking monster.
It wasn't any more deadly than the last rock he threw, but what it lacked in damage was traded for the effect.
Anyone would react if an object was thrown at their eyes. In this case, snow was the fastest thing available compared to a rock. All Shirou needed to do was stun the monster momentarily to buy time for them to run.
It was dumb, but it worked.
The giant wolf staggered back and roared loudly in annoyance. Shirou doubted it hurt, the most it would do was try to rub its eyes clean of the snow. If the monster could do it easily with its canine limbs that is.
An opportunity opened, along with the problem.
How would they both escape? Shirou certainly wouldn't abandon Yamashiro behind. He wasn't fast enough to keep up with Shirou on foot. Unless he was carried.
Shirou and Yamashiro exchanged a look.
"Not a word leaves this place." Yamashiro glowered at him.
A silent agreement was made between the two.
Shirou picked up his mentor and dashed in the direction opposite of the river and the staggered predator. If he ran fast enough, then he would reach the perimeter of the territory. Shirou cut off the reinforcement throughout his body and refocused his prana reserves into his legs. Immediately, his speed multiplied as he dashed through the forest.
Reinforced eyes allow him to navigate the fastest path between trees, decreasing the time spent twisting and turning between the massive trunks. For a few seconds, he felt the oppressive presence weaken as the distance between them increased.
Shirou hoped that the snow stunned the beast long enough.
Unfortunately, the monster behind them was more than qualified for the S+ rank status by human standards.
The presence behind them spiked in power, clearly angered from his attack. The surge in power came with an explosive announcement as the monster charged through the forest like a bull, smashing every tree in its path to hunt them down.
In a few seconds, it navigated the distance that Shirou built between them. His mind shivered in shock at the speed the beast was capable of.
Surely, it had to have been holding back earlier. It was just playing with them.
Shirou waited until the final moment and dodged to the side, watching the beast plow through the area they were running on. Snow, ground, and trees exploded in all directions from the sheer power the monster used to charge at them.
Yamashiro was lowered back on the ground as the pair faced the slowly emerging beast from the snowy explosion. Its eyes sharpened on Shirou, clearly seething at the insult it had received. Shirou's mind desperately started calculating the surroundings, looking for more tricks to pull.
Throughout the entire battle, Unlimited Blade Works had been pumping what little help it could into Shirou. Finally, all his effort paid off. Due to his stun, Shirou had bought enough time to accumulate information to manifest a skill.
Mind's Eye (True) (C+).
An ability Shirou had learned in his previous life from clashing with Counter Guardian EMIYA. Earned with blood, sweat, and tears from years on the battlefield, it was now Shirou's to use.
And use it he will.
Shirou's battle intuition instantly heightened beyond previous levels, jarring his thought processes momentarily as they shifted into high gear.
The world in front of him changed. Shirou started reading the situation in a different light.
Maybe….there was a chance.
There was only one weakness that he could capitalize on, and that was the eyes of the beast. Snow proved to be useful, which meant that the only tool Shirou could use was the environment around him.
Pieces combined together to form a plan in Shirou's mind. There was a way for him to fight the beast from a range.
Shirou picked up a rock and flinged it at the eyes for a second time while running away from Yamashiro. He needed to direct the attention away towards himself to protect Yamashiro.
The beast angled its head and growled at the shot. Confirming Shirou's success at gaining its ire. It tensed its muscles, preparing to lunge at him. But he was ready with another rock, and threw it at the beast.
Again, the beast angled its eyes away from the rock. Only to jerk away in surprise as the rock shattered into fragments, showering its face with tiny projectiles.
Shirou knew that his reinforcement lacked success in strengthening objects, but that did not mean it was useless in this scenario. He briefly used reinforcement on the rock before throwing it at the monster. The stone's structure barely holding for a few moments before breaking under the stress of being reinforced incorrectly, changing from a projectile into a cluster bomb.
This would allow him to target the eyes with a much larger effect radius.
A delaying tactic, enough to ward the beast away.
Suddenly, Shirou's reflexes screamed at him to dodge. He pumped his legs full of prana to leap away from a rapid tail swipe that nearly smashed into his body. Shirou's eyes widened in realization, the beast didn't need to reach him. All it had to do was break his body from range with a tail.
The battle shifted momentum from close combat to ranged combat. Improving Shirou's chances of fighting back, but also increasing the offensive options that the beast could throw at him.
A deadly dance erupted between the two, fragmentation showers from rocks, tail swipes, and everything in between.
The beast tore a page out of Shirou's book and hurled trees with its tails at him. The breaking trees scattering debris and limiting the maneuverability he had. In return, Shirou started grabbing handfuls of snow and throwing them around the battlefield to act as improvised smokescreens, cutting the beast's view from him.
If he couldn't win the head-to-head fight, then use the environment to inch an advantage.
Except his control of the battlefield was negated by the beast's mastery of navigation, speeding around him in circles.
Shirou was trapped in, and he knew it. If this stalemate continued, he would lose once a mistake was made. His attacks didn't hurt the monster, they only gave him a chance to delay the inevitable. Meanwhile, one hit was all the monster needed to kill him.
He sat in another improvised smokescreen, listening to the sounds of crashing trees to triangulate the direction the wolf was throwing from. Then was quickly forced to duck as a massive tail blew through his position.
The attack bought enough time for the beast to sniff his location.
One roar blasted his snowscreen away, exposing the wolf a few meters away to his front. Shirou was still in his ducked position, too slow to react to the second tail swipe homing in on him.
Time slowed down as Shirou panicked. There was no time for him to dodge the horizontal attack that would smash into his body.
Then, inspiration struck.
The ground was part of the battlefield. He could manipulate the ground too.
His hand smashed into the ground, then pumped reinforcement into it as fast as he could. The earth cratered under him, giving him enough space to fall under the strike.
But he underestimated the amount of reinforcement he pushed into the forest floor. The resulting crater was large, breaking the ground into pieces below his hand.
The exterior of the crater shook from the tremors that spread throughout the area. Enough to stumble the beast in surprise.
Once more, Shirou's mind underwent another performance boost. Each second he bought was another second for Unlimited Blade Works to send battle experience into his mind.
Mind's Eye (True) (B+).
Shirou observed the ground's crater as he dodged another tree. The center had fragmented into many small rocks, while the further areas broke into large pieces.
His reinforcement was breaking objects into smaller sections.
He looked at the snowball he molded into his hand. What would happen if he used it on snow? A short burst of reinforcement turned it into water that spilled from his hand.
Water.
The snow's crystallic structure deconstructed underneath his mismanaged spell and reverted its form into liquid.
An idea emerged from the depths of his mind. There might be a way to counter the faster opponent. Shirou could slow down the beast's momentum by melting all the snow into water. Enough water would soften the ground, which could turn the wolf's heavy mass into a weapon against it.
With a new plan in mind, Shirou reinforced the snow and the ground below him. Another crater appeared, followed by a wave of rapidly expanding water that soaked the ground. A whizzing sound announced the arrival of another tree, which he dodged. Shirou landed near a few rocks and returned the favor by unleashing his cluster bomb wave at the wolf. Again, he reinforced both snow and ground into another messy puddle.
Each spot he landed on turned into a decent sized mudpit.
The battlefield was starting to look like a warzone. Craters, demolished rocks, and smashed trees littered the area. All this mayhem, and the battle had only lasted a few minutes.
Sooner or later, Shirou would start running out of ideas. There were only so many resources you could exploit in a battle. Each surprise only bought him a few moments before the wolf adapted with another response.
Something wasn't right here. The monster should've already broken through the chaotic field that Shirou created. But instead of powering through with sheer speed and surprise, the wolf preferred to watch his creative manipulation of the battlefield before reacting with a different attack.
Almost as if it was observing his moves.
A foreboding suspicion arose from within Shirou.
His last snowscreen settled and he risked a moment to look straight at the beast's eyes.
Once, an accident. Twice, a mistake.
Shirou should've really known not to try something so stupid.
A powerful consciousness smashed into him once their eyes connected. Just like how it was last time, Shirou was immediately locked into the wolf's control. His body froze, unable to move underneath the heavy presence that invaded his mind.
'Enough.'
He heard a loud yell echo somewhere in the forest. But by then, Shirou was flying in the air. One of the beast's tails had smacked him. The pain was felt for a brief moment before he blacked out after crashing into the ground.
Yamashiro dropped to his knees. Hopelessness erupted from his heart as the beast rounded on him.
They were going to die.
Author's Note
Welcome back to Shirou's side of things! I'll also be renaming all chapters to their respective volumes instead to keep them organized.
