Chapter 3: The Contract Magician and a Devastating Battle with a Dragon King
"That's all the cooking we have time for today everyone. I am Shirou Astaroth and this has been Cooking Devilishly with Shirou." Shirou exclaimed with a smile as the crowd cheered and applauded as he made his way off the kitchen stage he had been cooking on for the past hour. He headed into his dressing room to get changed back into his casual wear which consisted of a black jacket with a white under shirt and blue jeans. Cooking Devilishly with Shirou was the name of his TV show that had started about a year ago after constant nagging from his mother and father to run a tv show. This came after his talent for cooking was brought to light after for a strange reason not even the Sitri families best doctors could figure out, had all fallen sick so Shirou offered to cover for them till they recovered and well a comment he got from his mother was
"Im surprised im not bursting into flames right now due to just how heavenly, fuck my head, this dish tastes." So after 4 years of main his mother nagging for him to start up a cooking show, he finally gave in just after his 18th birthday and well, his show was and still is a big hit. He constantly was receiving fan mail though for reason he cannot understand, the mail was mostly from female devils. Though that had soon been sorted by his mother, who when she caught wind of the fan mail and prompted to burn it all, telling him not to worry about it so he took his mother's words and did not worry about the fan mail. Shirou finished getting changed out of his chief uniform that he wore for his show and proceeded to teleport back to his home in Kuoh, a town owned by the Gremory Family and Sitri family after the passing of Cleria Belial, the previous owner of the Kuoh.
"Im home" Shirou called out as he entered through the front door and removed his shoes. The house his father and mother had acquired for him was a traditional japanese house on the outskirts of town and the house was huge, enough room for around 10 people if 2 people each shared a room. Plus there was a huge yard which he used for training his body, mind and soul, and his magic. The house was also set up with a multitude of bounded fields that would alert him to people entering his house which allowed him to know anytime who was in his house. So currently he could tell that his mother and father were currently in the dining room with an unexpected guest, one whose magic signature is quite familiar to him.
'What is Tohsaka doing here?' Shirou asked himself as he made his way down the hallway to the dining room. Rin Tohsaka was in her third year at Kuoh Academy, which was the same here as him and while he had some contact with her, he had to report to her when he had arrived in Kuoh two years ago due to her being the resident magician in the area. Though outside of the greetings each day, they barely ever talked.
Shirou opened the door to the dining room to see his mother and father kneeling on one side of the table while Tohsaka sat on the other side, all of them drinking tea.
"Ah Shirou welcome home, we have something to discuss with you." Ajuka informed his adopted son as he took a seat at the end of the table.
"What is it dad and what does it have to do with Tohsaka?" Shirou enquired as he took a seat as Tohsaka raised her hand, as if to ask a question.
"If you'll allow me to explain Lord Beezlebub." Rin stated politely as Ajuka nodded before rin turned to Shirou. "I am a magician studying in the magician association Grauzauberer and i wish to become your contract magician, if you'll accept."
"Well not that i mind Tohsaka but what exactly does a contract magician do?" Shirou asked Rin who seemed to think on the question for a little before she turned back to Shirou.
"Well the deal is rather one sided in favour of the magician but how about we make a deal. I would like your resources, protection and contracting with you will help me gain status in Grauzauberer and will accept this contract depending on your conditions." Rin explained to him as Shirou poured himself some tea.
"Well i'm willing to make the contract without anything on my part since i don't really have anything i desire other then furthering my magic and protecting my family." Shirou informed Rin who looked at him with shock before composing herself quickly.
"Then how about you help me construct a sword that i have the blueprints for and you can keep it once it is complete." Rin offered as Ajuka looked quite shocked at that.
"Miss Tohsaka are you sure? That sword is quite dangerous if what we were told is true." Ajuka asked the Tohsaka heir who turned to face him and his wife.
"It was set as a homework task for my family since they first encountered Zelretch many generations ago and i want to the be the one to complete this blueprint which is one of the main reasons i wanted to forge this contract." Rin explained to them as Shirou nodded and offered his hand to Tohsaka.
"Well i have no reason not to accept so I, Shirou Astaroth, hereby accept the terms of this contract." Shirou stated as Rin shook his hand and both channeled their magic into the other. This was to ensure that both parties held up their end of the contracts as if they weren't able to, the magic of the other would destroy their magical system, basically crippling them for good so the contract was quite extreme. Though unknown to Ajuka and Shirou's mother, both of them knew that the other would fulfill the contract as specified, as if there was an unspoken trust between the two.
Once the contract had been laid out on paper and given to Ajuka to store as a record with another copy being given to Rin for her safe keeping, Ajuka, Zira and Rin left his house while his two peerage members, Bazett and Akatsuki returned from their jobs they worked as both of them were not interested in studying at the local college like Shirou would be next year after he graduated from Kuoh Academy this year.
"Dinner will be ready soon, Akatsuki can you make the table?" Shirou asked as the two women entered the dining room.
"Yes Shirou i'll get right on the that." Akatsuki replied quickly going about setting the table while Bazett simply took a seat at the table and waited dinner.
"After dinner we have an appointment with the Familiar master." Shirou explained to the two women as he served up the nights meal.
"About time Shirou, it's been ages since you put in that request to get us and you a familiar." Bazett exclaimed before digging into the meal. Akatsuki merely nodded in recognition as she quietly ate. Once dinner had been finished and the dishes had been washed, the three teleported into the familiar forest and were greeted by a massive roar, shaking them all to their bones.
"What was that?" Akatsuki asked as she summoned her blade to her while Bazett had a massive grin on her face.
"I don't care what that is, i want it as a familiar" Bazett replied as Shirou readied numeroes blades in his mind that he could use in an instant.
"Sorry kiddoes but you would not last a minute against her." A voice sounded from the trees as a man who looked to be around is 30's sat on a branch. Said man looked like an older versions of a popular anime character, Ash Ketchum from the pokemon series.
"Familiar master Zatouji, Thank you for having us though if i may inquire, what sounded that roar?" Shirou asked the man, who jumped down from his perch.
"That was Tiamat, the strongest of the five dragon kings and a potential familiar, though i believe her condition is for those who want to be her master, must be able to fight her and wound her and if you don't mind me saying again, but you three would not be able to leave even a small cut on her." Zatouji informed them.
"No offense taken, let us hope we don't run into her then" Shirou stated with a small smile. He remembered Tiamat from his childhood after he was adopted by the Astaroth family as she was often around discussing things with Ajuka or lazing around due to boredom.
"Now lets go catch you three some Familiars!" Zatouji exclaimed loudly as the group set off around the familiar forest, looking for familiars.
The first person to find their familiar was actually Bazett who had found a dark blue dire wolf and after going toe to toe with it for around ten minutes, it had seemingly acknowledged Bazett as its master and she had ended up giving it the nickname Sétanta, after the legendary Irish hero Cú Chulainn.
Akatsuki was the next to find her familiar, with her finding a Chameleon that when it touched someone or something, it could turn said thing invisible along with it. It had been a tough find, considering it was always invisible and bits of the environment kept turning invisible then reappearing soon afterwards. Akatsuki eventually got a hold of it after it had turned her invisible. With his two peerage members both having a familiar now, he was the last one to find a familiar.
As they were all walking around the familiar forest, Tiamat's roar sounded again and the sound of wing beats reaching each one of their ears and soon enough, a massive pale blue dragon bering straight towards them.
"I don't know what you did to piss Tiamat off kid, but good luck." Zatouji stated before running off into the forest.
"Bazett, Akatsuki, you both need to go get Ajuka. Ill stall for time." Shirou ordered the two women behind him as a black bow appeared in his hand.
"Shirou you can't be serious, This is Tiamat, the fucking queen of Dragon Kings, you can't possible take her by yourself." Akatsuki argued as she put a hand on her weapon while Bazett agreed with her and shifted her stance to get ready for the coming combat.
"I can at least hold my own until my father arrives and I have the feeling that this is personal." Shirou explained to them. "Now get going!"
Akatsuki and Bazett disappeared quickly in a magical circle leaving Shirou looking at the massive dragon making its way towards him. Shirou quickly summoned a spiral sword and knocked it like you would an arrow in his bow.
"My Body is made out of Swords, CALADBOLG!" Shirou chanted before he fired the arrow towards Tiamat with the arrow colliding with her wing, causing a massive explosion but it did not seem to slow her down one bit as Shirou traced more Caladbolg's is rapid succession, each one hitting their mark, covering the sky around Tiamat in fire but with a fierce roar the fire and smoke dissipated from around her as she reared her head back before letting loose a massive blue fireball towards Shirou who raised his hand up.
"RHO AIAS" Shirou chanted as a flower with seven petals appeared in front of his hand, which expanded seven layers in front of that flower. The fireball collided with the seven layered shield and some of the layers broke almost immediately. Shirou started to feel his arm going numb and start to burn as the shields layers continue to crumble before only the last severely damaged layer remained as the attack dissipated.
Shirou could feel his consciousness slowly start to fade as Tiamat landed in front of him though before he could collapse a voice, much the same to his own rung out in his head.
"WE MUSTN'T FALL, WE MUST SAVE HER"
Shirou eyes suddenly hardened as he felt the control of his body being taken away from him as his left hand reached out to his side and in a distorted voice, once that sounded like him, but like it was coming from someone under water.
"NINE LIVES BLADE WORKS: SHOOTING THE HUNDRED HEAD" The distorted voice shouted as in Shirou's hand appeared a massive stone axe and quickly, at speeds Shirou could not comprehend, nine ferocious strikes struck at Tiamat with the final strike taking off half of one of her horns before he felt his body completely shut down.
-With Ajuka-
Ajuka had quickly made his way over to the familiar forest once Akatsuki and Bazett had appeared in his office suddenly, with Akatsuki blabbering about how Shirou was about to fight Tiamat and how he said it seemed possible. He quickly teleported out and into the familiar forest though there was a scene he did not think he would see. There was Tiamat sitting on the ground in her human form, her magic swirling around her and around Shirou, whose head was placed in her lap as she stroked his hair.
"Tiamat what happened?" Ajuka asked as she turned to face him with a serious expression adorning her face.
"I wanted to see how far the boy who radiates a kings aura has come in his years of training since i last observed him and he did this." She explained to him gesturing to the half of her horn that had been cut off that was laying beside her. "He took off half of my left horn, in a fury of blows so i've decided, I shall be this boys, no this kings familiar so i can see his potential flourish."
"I see, well i'll teleport you and him to his home and make sure he gets healed up Tiamat. I'll come round tomorrow after I finish repairing all the damage caused here." Ajuka sighed as he sent Tiamat and Shirou back to Shirou's residence before multiple magical circles appeared around him.
"It's going to be a long while before i'm done" Ajuka sighed as he got to work repairing the damage from Tiamat and Shirou's fight.
A/N: Hello my lovely readers and welcome back finally to the 3rd chapter of Lord of Swords. So what did you all think of this chapter and what's going on with Shirou? I'm hoping this chapter is too y'all liking as it's taken me a far while to write up due to Uni and the rough patch i'm currently going through.
A big Shout out to LioPyro7890 for beta reading my story, he is a good friend of mine and this story would not be half as good if he wasn't helping me out with this story.
Be sure to leave a review and suggestions in either the reviews or PM's i look forward to hearing what y'all think and whether your enjoying the story. I've been Jacobski309 and as always, this story is far from over.