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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
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Chapter 16: Degradation, Plight and Worm
My mind was aching, my brain was burning and my soul was suffering at what has just happened.
A white noise, a shallow shriek and then I was bestowed with sight.
It was pitch black, so dark that I thought I had been still blind and clueless over whatever was happening inside of me.
Then I blinked to the darkness surrounding me, uncertainty and uneasiness displayed by my body's language, but then… I was granted a different setting, something a little more substantial compared to what I just woke up into.
The room was familiar, it was one that existed within the rotting mansion owned by the Matou Clan. I blinked again, silently grasping with my mind the entirety of the squalid place around me.
'Magically'-working candles kept the illumination going, albeit dim and near-dead, for me to have a good sight over this… office. A particularly worn desk with papers and books, tomes and other literary pieces.
Several where the libraries behind the desk and its chair, numerous the decrepit leathers of the old books and the jars containing dark-colored substances.
For someone that was completely unknown to this room, this ominous place would have sent shivers and made them question their sanity at being there.
There were just too many red flags about the owner of this strange office, enough to warrant a quick run away from there before he could return to commit his usual rounds of heinous crimes.
Yet I didn't run, nor I did contemplate hiding away at that prospect. I was just too lucid over the situation, aware that the predicament was far too surreal to be true.
I had a perfect remembrance of what had happened prior to my trip down my unconscious psyche and I was sure that no one was here to make my life a living hell-
"Brave words from scum like you," A soft voice called out from behind the desk. "First you… deprive me of my rights and then you valiantly vouch for the horrors of my family."
I blinked again, this time in shock as I found myself warped to the chair in front of the desk and my eyes were now directed at the origin of that comment.
A tired but disgusting smile was latched at his face, his blood red eyes were mirthfully fixed on my frame. His stark-white hair with diluted red tips, a black copy of my current clothes with their themes alternating a primary black and secondary crimson.
Cracks were now spreading all over his skins, blood and corruption the more evident in that display of horrible decay.
"What… are you?" I cautiously asked, my entire body was tense and ready to spring out of what looked to be an ambush playfully set by the corrupted version of Shinji Matou.
His smile widened and his eyelids dropped partially, then he answered.
"I'm… not you," He commented so eagerly and giddily. "I'm the real owner of the body you have so gladly stolen from me."
...I thought he- generally in SI-related stories, the previous host of the body taken shouldn't be around to-
"Mess your plans?" He casually finished my thought. "Maybe even introduce obstacles and render your hopes and dream nigh-impossible to reach?" The boy wondered with glee and curiosity.
It was silence what he was bestowed as I was just too surprised about the scene.
I couldn't even try to think about the situation. He was aware of my thoughts and that put me in the worst of the cases to face a child-version of Shinji Matou. The FSN version to booth.
Then the child tilted forward, his expression twitching to a serious mask that was more than enough to give an intimidating appearance to the overall being before me.
"I want my body back."
The demand was clear, but my interest about considering that was non-existing.
"No," I said back, expecting something of a tantrum or even worse from the childified version of the future 'Master' of Rider.
"A pity," He replied smoothly. "It's actually sad that I can't impose myself too much, not with the 'care' provided by your pets."
"They are not my-"
"They exist for the sake of giving you something to fend off in the harsh worlds 'around us'," Shinji interjected with a sigh. "You are just in denial about their true purpose, trying to not sound yourself as selfish as that fool of Emiya."
I tensed up even more at the mentioning of the name and his grin returned once more.
"Oh right, I forgot to mention that I know everything from within your mind," He declared happily. "I know of your plans, I know of the 'routes' that would end up with 'Shinji' dying one way or another, I know of the 'protagonists' and I know that you are trying to meddle against destiny for the sake of a filthy invader."
I steeled my feature at that insult, realizing quickly that it was directed at Sakura. "She is not-"
"Consider her your sister as much as you wish, Bukharin, but you are not a Matou and so isn't she," His interjection was brutally-composed, a symphony that left a bitter note out for the witnesses to hear and understand. "You stole my body, albeit unwittingly, and now you wish to 'make amend for my sins'? Are you perhaps demented or worse?"
"I-"
"BE QUIET!" His loud and demonic tone sent the room through a shake, the chair trembling in abstract fear as I stared at the monster now unfolding before me. "I didn't do anything yet and here you are like many would that I can't be saved."
He cackled. "I'm unable to find redemption where my crimes were related to a dysfunctional family, yet the bitch that went close to end the world for the sake that she was abused just like I was is given a freebie from hell."
I couldn't reply and he capitalized on this. This wasn't just… a good situation to be centered into.
"My only sin is being named as someone that will commit those deeds, things I as an individual have not committed and-"
"No."
…There was silence, this time his eyes widening at my quirk quip and I sighed.
"Differently from Sakura, you are not condemned just because of what you are going to do," I started to explain with a soft tone. "You can't be redeemed from your nature, one born from the gruesome horror that is commonplace within the Matou family, something that I hadn't experienced myself but… I consider to be your falling grace."
Shinji blinked, he seemed impatient at my slow-paced wording. "Tell me then, Bukharin, what is it that condemned me to eternal damnation?!"
…
I looked at the desk, eyes showing little fear at the anger exuding from the query as I sighed and swung the metaphorical axe down.
"Your mother's death."
I wasn't sure of what to expect the moment I concluded my reply. Maybe I would be subjected to the boy lashing out with what he could muster in that moment, maybe I would end up suffering a tantrum that would deeply condemn the very flaws my own character had and the lack of effort in some of the things I had to do to save her.
But he didn't do anything, he merely stood still as his brain tried, failed and then continued the senseless search of a response to that painful stab in his own mind.
Many forgets that, despite the cruelty of the Matou, Shinji did have some solace in the form of his mother… until Zouken decided to kill her.
His father was so much deep in his own depression that Shinji's self-worth shifted to depend on Zouken, beginning what would turn out to be a shit-show where the boy would hopelessly try to be considered worthy of the title of heir to the clan.
The arrival of Sakura, which could have helped to save him from the hideous path he ended up falling into if it had happened much earlier, only fueled a sense of faux rivalry with the younger girl, further enabling his unrestrained negative emotions and turning his step-sister in a mean to deal with frustration and stress.
It was in that moment that I truly realized what I was looking at.
This wasn't just the soul of the young boy which body I was currently inhabiting. No, it was now far too gone for it to be the true host of Shinji Matou.
The unusual cracks on the skin, these were brand unique compared to his attempt to emulate Dark Sakura's style, but dignified something far worse and… something I should have been conscious of.
The soul was once Shinji's but it had deteriorated so much without a connection to the living world, it was slowly decomposing like a dead corpse and the resulting pollution was spreading into my very soul.
It was like Zouken, but instead of having some failsafe to keep the soul from free-falling into the process of the degradation, it was happily letting it happen.
It would be death, it would be rebirth in something terrifying as Wraiths were nothing to scoff at.
I stood up from my chair and started to walk away from that horrible desk, gone was my willingness to be in the proximity of the dangerous tumor spreading so quickly and without proper care.
"W-Where are you going?" I heard him call in shock. "W-We are not done yet!"
I ignored him, just like I should do with my own melancholic thoughts for the time being. The gravity of the situation far beyond my inner insecurities and I have to put aside my doubts for the sake of getting some treatment.
I stopped by the door-handle, glancing at the confused, angry, irritated and lost Shinji Matou. Or what was left of his original self as the fragment barely resembled him with how his personality now was.
He was afraid and he had the knowledge to hurt others.
"I'm leaving," I finally stated with some conviction. "And I refuse your demands."
He snarled as he tried to move out of the chair but… he was stuck there. His eyes widened as the more he tried to get away from it, the more the seat would pull his body within it.
There was true fear but I had the door already open. "You hope for salvation, when your inner desire is the damnation of others."
I closed the door behind me without hesitation and I humbly accepted the blinding light as it came to me, coaxing me out of that feverish nightmare.
Regret was a powerful word to describe the current mix of emotions desperately flooding her mind while she ducked away from a sharp slash from her enemy's longsword.
Kuro was having some trouble with the still-cackling Berserker and, truth be told, she was starting to get angry at how annoying the noise had turned out to be after a full hour of hearing it.
Seriously, was it one of the cards' ability to giggle dementedly for hours or was that something born out from the plum-haired Matou.
Questions, questions. Curious ones but she didn't have the mind and time to truly focus away from the seemingly endless fight for her life.
A full hour, it was impressive how sheer determination, Card-boosted stamina and careful mana-usage could take her so far in this difficult brawl.
Part of her was astonished by how much good-thinking could help her, but part of her success was mostly granted by the brute-like mindset her opponent had developed several minutes in the battle.
Sakura could have gained a minor resilience to Mad Enchantment, but no human was truly capable to manage and avoid the cursing effects of the ability for too long and thus the tanned Einzbern was granted some minor advantage in the form of a mindless beast rather than a brutal butcherer.
The older girl's strength had increased over time, but it was now easier for Kuro to telegraph her actions and avoid getting hit by her powerful hits thrown at the chibi-Archer.
The issue was that while the Berserker could go for more than an hour or two, Chloe was limited by her body and the need of mana to survive.
Her reserves had started to go below half of her usual capacity and that was starting to leave her in a concerned thought of dying if someone didn't join her to help or if she didn't escape the rabid Matou.
Time was proving to be her truest foe as she wouldn't have minded having Shinji to actually help her right now.
Her arms and legs were sore, terribly so, and her back was aching at the constant dodging which required inhuman flexibility to pull properly, something that the Archer Card was giving her the chance to perform without further straining her body.
Explosive rounds were ineffective against the adaptive bitch, all versions of Caladbolg failing to get anymore damage on her armor.
The same was for Kanshou and Byakuya. The Over-Edged scimitars were unsuccessful in gaining more momentum out from the openings present in the animal-like stance adopted by Sakura.
Her chances of success were now close to none, the fight had proved to be a fatal mistake to begin and-
Crack
Air sucked out from her lungs, Kuro's eyes widened at the sudden attack at her ribs. The kick had been far quicker than any of the previous attempts at landing damage on the shorter girl and the effects proved to be as devastating as she had expected.
Her bones ached all at once, her tongue tasted some strangely familiar substance- blood, the Einzbern realized as she was sent flying away from her still-energetic opponent.
Sakura seemed to be barely winded, looking more eager than anything at how long things have gone and… Kuro couldn't get up.
The moment she landed on the floor, she rolled for some time and… the girl's legs refused to properly obey with her needs, her arms failing to pushing her face off the floor as the Berserker approached towards the downed Einzbern with a slow pace.
It was cocky, it was pompous and it was easy to discern the predatorial instincts behind such a slow walk. It was domineering for the victor and humiliating for the loser of this challenge and she waited for the final blow to come.
Sakura lifted her longsword, the twisted smile still visible through her mask as she prepared to end the girl's life.
Kuro was thinking several things at once as the blade started its descent, chiding herself for being this headstrong and arrogant over her masterful hold over the card, her foolish image of having the complete powers of EMIYA and the fact that she hadn't prepared any backup for these kind of occasions.
She thought how she should have considered Gil's disinterest in partaking with her plan as more than just a need to stay beside Shinji and more of a factual matter regarding their current inability to keep up with Sakura.
Artoria wouldn't have any difficulty in matching and overwhelm the Berserker, the boy would have just some trouble with Lancelot's Noble Phantasm and… Kuro wasn't just enough to go in a fair-fight.
Not even an unfair one like the precedent one had allowed her some relief or minor victory, only a slow path to her self-created demise.
She sighed, too tired to beg and too annoyed to even consider talking with the mad girl, waiting for her mistakes to come down upon her and-
The sword stopped mid-arc as several magic beams slammed onto Sakura, breaking through her little armor and piercing through her skin.
A surprised shriek was the only thing leaving the Matou's lips as she was then sent flying with a stronger beam of light.
Kuro's sight was limited, but she suddenly saw a short figure descending from the sky, a hooded cloak covering his face and body. In his hand was a long staff with a large circular form in top of it and… he rushed towards her.
She didn't need any further instructions to understand what was going on and, as Shinji crouched down to pass her the familiar cookies, she took a bite from one of those and then proceeded to devour the rest.
Her Mana reserves started to soar back to normality, her wounds slowly healing at the sudden intake of energy and then- the young Matou chopped at her head, causing her to yelp.
"You and I are going to have a really serious talk after this is over, you dummy" He promised with a tired tone. "But first… I will deal with family matters..."
Just as he said that, Sakura recoiled from the damage suffered and it wasn't the best of scenes for sure.
Taking the brunt of the sudden magical attack, her entire armor was mostly shattered and ready to fall apart, giving to the two witnesses more of her pale skin now stained in crimson-red blood.
But the plum-haired girl didn't seem to mind, rather her full attention was taken by the new arrival as she giggled with a more innocent tone. "Hello Oniichan~, are you here to play too~?"
Shinji sighed and glanced at her with a deadpan. "Sakura, it's late, can't we play later?"
The Berserker huffed and pouted, then she smiled and giggled. "Nope~-!" The girl said before rushing to attack her step-sibling, blade ready to draw some blood out of him.
Kuro tried to stand up and maybe help Shinji but… she soon realized that it wasn't truly necessary.
Not at all.
The end of the staff slammed on the ground with vigor. "Atlas."
A large distortion appeared right around Sakura's surroundings, the Berserker stopped on her tracks by the unexpected trick as she tried to shake and break free from that stun-spell, the results being miser at first.
It was magic, the Einzbern remembered as Shinji had confirmed Caster to be Medea of Colchis, a witch from the Age of Gods, thus the effects were quite… interesting to see from a visual perspective.
It was flashy, way denser than normal magecraft in terms of Prana/Mana, but the results were indeed a level beyond any magecraft coming close to this specific spell.
But the boy was far from done, the girl realized as soon, he aimed his hand at Sakura's… wrist.
"Aero." The new spell was a wind-based one, damaging the hand of their mutual opponent that held her long-sword, forcing Sakura to drop it out of pain.
A loud clang signaled the weaponless state of the plum-haired Matou, further weakening her current state.
Shinji then proceeded to lift off to the air, turning briefly to Kuro to tell her something, a warning. "Move out of the way, dummy," His tone was easy to perceive as still-annoyed by the current predicament, enough to make Kuro flinch briefly.
She still ended up obliging, her skin tensing at the sudden intensification of magic energy around the boy. Just as the older Matou looked ready to break free from the spell, the boy unleashed his attack with a longer incantation.
"Rain of Light: Machia Hecatia Graea!" Numerous seals developed mid-air all around Shinji, these directed at the struggling Berserker and then…
Things exploded in a blinding light, smoke erupting from the blast and causing the tanned Einzbern to cover her eyes and bring her arms up to protect her face.
Moments of uncertainty passed, worries lifting up as soon a particularly familiar noise caught her attention. It wasn't pleasant, her guard tensing up as she summoned her dual scimitars at it.
It was her giggling.
It was soft and mixed with coughing as Sakura, now deprived of armor and visor, stared at the sky with a crazed look. Her lips were a little burst as more blood rolled out of her mouth.
Then the giggle became a full-fledged laugh, the one kind only a mad-woman would have and more than enough to prepare the Einzbern to capitalize the current damage inflicted.
"I-It didn't work- IT DIDN'T WORK, ONIICHA-GAH!"
She was pushed forward, her eyes widening this time in utter shock and fear as… she looked back to find Shinji holding the now-plunged Rule Breaker on her back. He was smiling softly.
"I know that you are strong, sister," The boy said quietly, removing the small dagger out of her body. "That is why this was just a distraction."
The girl blinked in shock, mouth opening to speak again but… then she stumbled and fell forward.
With a calm but loud thud, Sakura Matou fell unconscious as the effects of the dagger started to work through her entire self.
The connection to the Ainsworth was severed, her connection to the card was severed and soon a blinding light coated her for a few moments, returning to her body her previous clothes.
In Shinji's hands was now the Lancelot-Berserker Card. "And… that is done for," He proclaimed calmly, the Caster Card then was uninstalled with Ruby appearing out of the… staff?
Was that how he had managed to keep up with the Card's draining price? Maybe it was Ruby's energy and-
Her curiosity was given little life as soon she found herself tensing with some embarrassment at the glance the boy was throwing at me, a shiver or two going down her spine.
"And now, I think I will have to rehearse the little chat we had back in the Castle," He mentioned with a careless tone, starting to approach the now tense-still girl. "It was something like 'Dummy' and 'my dummy'."
He hummed quietly as he got close enough to stare at her full-blush, the smug look hardly helping with how much humiliating this situation was. She should have been happy to be classified like that and… yet the way he said it felt off. Something was off about it.
"I think your punishment should be a little more… articulated compared to what you did to me," He nodded to himself. "Maybe a stroll around the city will help."
...What? That didn't sound that much difficult.
"Without Cards. Without Servants' powers," He continued giddily. "You know, a simple walk through Fuyuki."
She blinked, before sporting a nervous look. "B-But what about Sakura?"
Shinji glanced back as they both stared at Ruby while the Mystic Stick opened a portal to the castle and yeeted Sakura in the unused bed of that room, entering it herself and then closing up.
"It's not a problem," He admitted with a calm hum. "Now, let's go for-"
"My bones are sore."
"Pity," He sighed with a little smile. "It would seem like they will be sore for a while then."
… "Shin-kun," Kuro tried to reason in a nervous manner. "We can talk about punishments back home, I'm still tired and-"
"Too bad, Kuro-tan." He interjected mirthfully. "I think I will go for a stroll myself and… you wouldn't like for me to wander alone during nighttime in the city, wouldn't you?"
There was a pause, the girl evaluating the ways and means of dodging that annoying and tiring task but, seeing the shit-eating grin on Shinji's face, she now was sure that it was meant to be a penance walk rather than one to think about stuff.
She sighed and nodded, the boy taking the lead for the rest of the night as he safely lead her back to the castle, all while holding her hand and giving it some quick but comforting squeezes.
The tanned Einzbern was unsure of how she should remember that night. Either the night where she had almost died, the night where Shinji got some revenge out of whatever had happened with his fainting or… the night she finally made progress.
...Still, she had to admit that Kuro-tan had some giggly ring to it~.
AN
You thought I would have skipped the update, but it was me, one day later!
Yep, I didn't mean to skip updating yesterday but… I was kind of tired. I had been working with some side-projects and that got me tired to the point I couldn't pull anything out of my brain about the update.
So that is why this update is now here for you all to enjoy…
And now I will have to write up the update for Golden Month.
Drat.
P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin
k o-fi . com (slash) justbukharin
REVIEW Q&A!
Runelt99: It is mentioned that the Box's opening is responsible for lessening the Age of Gods' decline and avoid the cataclysmic effects happening in the Miyuverse.
Victorsan12345: The After-Credits monologue confirm that, while Shirou's life wouldn't end up becoming 100% Archer, he will still end up becoming a mix of Archer and Kiritsugu. He will not give up his freedom to Gaia, but his path is set on a self-destructive road. No matter how similar those two are, the end would end up being the same. What Shinji means is that UBW!Shirou has friends, he never give up on them but… he also didn't grow to become his own person rather than shadow Kiritsugu's decline and end. I'm not saying he is going to die alone or that he is going to end up like 100% Archer, but rather I think Shirou didn't learn from what Archer warned him off. The only way he was deterred from the 'Hero of Justice dream' was only when he was put to decide if he should kill Sakura to avoid the world to perish or risk and wait for the sake of finding better solutions. Also, it is never explained what truly happened to Sakura in the UBW route, was she still living at the Matou Mansion?
Guest (Chapter 16): Oh, Rider will be in this story… eventually~.
Byayan: That's indeed one of the Chibi Enkidus of a Fanart where Gilgamesh has the Gate open and there are numerous Chibikidus ready to be propelled against their enemy. Mine is just a sassy one. Also not much knowing of this 'Shibayan Records'. There is an after-credit scene with Archer monologueing and a last glimpse at Shirou's life. And no, there isn't an Angra Mainyu Card, rather the corruption Gil-ko was afflicted with was AM himself. In this route, he wasn't properly purified and they share the same body and mind.