It was a new day. It was not a day in which he would be able to conduct his regular routine. He had hoped that he would have made more progress by now. He hadn't. Shirou had currently opened his eyes and was staring through the slit of the slightly opened doors of the storehouse in the secondary building of the Emiya residence that had served its primary role as a magical workshop.
He had chosen to fall asleep in the workshop as he had spent the previous night practicing his magecraft. It was faster that way and he hadn't felt the need to enjoy the sensation of sleeping in his life. It was fine. While it was not the best place to sleep, it was comfortable enough he supposed. He had been spending more and more time within the storehouse workshop sleeping as compared to his room recently. The last few months before he was mandated to attend education at the newly built Junior High School in the Shinto District was up. It had gone by too quickly.
After his first foray, he had delved more into advanced curses and more books on mythology. After revealing the truth about his quest to help his father's condition, Rin had given her approval and had even occasionally assisted him in his research. His quest to find a solution had become more difficult upon discovering that it was likely a heroic spirit from the Holy Grail War that had cursed his father.
The Heroic Spirit had likely been a caster or an assassin but Shirou had supposed that mattered little. The war was over anyway and the Heroic Sprit was back in the throne of heroes. What was the root of the difficulty was in finding a solution to heal his father that would overwrite the properties of a curse cast by a Heroic Spirit.
There were many ways to heal an individual once they were aware of the existence of magic. It was not that simple however. This was a curse. This was not just a simple injury. This was cast by a Heroic spirit. There were ways the heal the malady of what Kiritsugu was suffering from but even if he was successful, there was still the likely chance that the curse would continue in spite of the alleviated symptoms. It could even trigger the curse to enter into a more advanced state which would kill his father faster, torturing him more as he died.
Shirou had already dismissed the possibility of using healing as a method of curing his father's condition. There were already many stories in mythology that Curses would tend to bypass even the most potent healing methods. Many of those stories were Greek tragedies, set during the Age of Gods. If healing Magic then had failed to defeat the effects of a curse, what was Shirou who was far in both skill and power compared to a Magician from the age of gods to do?
Shirou had confided in Rin his troubles but there was not much more she could do. As much as she was apologetic, it didn't help Shirou any. He had thanked her for her efforts of course, but he believed he had an extra avenue that he could pursue to help his father as compared to the situation of a dead end that Rin had believed his quest to currently be at.
The only avenue he had was something that his friend was not aware of. There had been no need to tell her. Shirou wasn't sure that it would be prudent anyway. In the world of Magi, it was generally extremely private and a massive faux pas to inquire of another's Origin, much less the exact details. Not that it had mattered if one was truly determined but generally almost all of the Mages in the modern age had not tried, been able to or had failed to awaken their Origin. Even if they did, they generally didn't comprehend the significance and didn't know what to do with it.
Ever since his initial discovery of his Origins, as well as his advancement in comprehending what his abilities could do in the recent year and through further grounding in the foundations of magecraft by Rin. He had discovered the immense potential of his abilities. He had learned that through a technique similar in basis to Reinforcement, he could impose a 'concept' within the existence of an object.
Even if he were to pick up the flimsiest blade of grass, as long as he imposed the concept of 'to destroy through brute force' or 'smash', the blade of grass even when hit against a cement block would easily shatter the block. His abilities weren't that straightforward however, whatever concept he imposed, he found that it had worked best against items devoid of the presence of magecraft or magic.
While he could impose the concept of 'smash' upon a blade of grass, as long as he smashed it against a magical barrier, the barrier would hold and the grass would snap in half. This was due to the barrier's natural purpose to forbid access by all means. Unless he had specifically imposed a concept to work against the barrier, generally efforts to break a barrier were futile. It was also enhanced by the fact that the barrier was built with magecraft. Shirou had discovered that when something was enhanced by magical energy, the effectiveness of his 'concepts' were hindered and harder to actualize against them.
There was a solution to this however, while Shirou's abilities derived from his activated Origins, they had still cost magical energy, however little. To impose a 'concept' on a blade of grass and have it be effective against a non-magical object was simple. To have it be effective against a magical object would require Shirou to inject more magical energy when he created a new purpose for an object. The amount of magical energy Shirou had contributed was directly proportional to the effectiveness of his imposing of a 'concept'.
Through his lessons in the nature of Magecraft, Shirou had found out why this was. Noble Phantasms for a Heroic Spirit were the crystallization's of their legends. Their power was sourced from the 'Legend' of the Heroic Spirit, created from the 'faith' that their fame accumulated. What Shirou did was similar in that he crystallized a 'concept' upon the existence of an object but instead of 'faith' the crystallization's of the concepts were fueled by Shirou's magical energy.
This was the situation at the heart of the issue. The effectiveness of the 'concept' was proportional to the amount of energy he had input. While at its base level, he could input a pathetic amount of magical energy and have it be reasonably effective and his abilities were extremely cost efficient, what he was dealing with here was a curse by a Heroic Spirit. It would not be as simple.
Heroic Spirits were entities so far beyond regular mortals that it was almost absurd. Just the raw power that the crystallization's of their legends provided them in the form of 'faith' would be far beyond the maximum output of even a hundred mages in magical energy. No matter what effectiveness Shirou had achieved in his abilities in imposing a 'concept', what it would delve into was a contest of magical energy of Shirou's surprisingly potent and plentiful twenty-seven circuits against the sheer legend of a Heroic Spirit. There was no chance in hell he was winning the battle. At least not in his current state at his current age of eleven.
Shirou had not gave up on his quest however. He was never one to think linearly, if he couldn't meet the root of the problem head on, he would have to bypass the problem. He would think out of the box and find another method to solve his problem. It was through his quest to find a way around the problem that Shirou had gained a new depth of understanding about his abilities regarding 'concepts'. This depth of understanding had also unlocked a new level of his abilities regarding the awareness of 'concepts' in different objects. It had also unlocked further potential for Shirou to exploit.
Objects were made from raw materials; a table was made out of wood. Their purposes and thus 'concepts' that they embodied were different however. A piece of wood could from the leg of a table could come from a tree branch. The purposes and 'concept' that the tree branch contained were different from the table. When the branch was made into the leg of the table, it had its reason's for existence rewritten. It gained new purposes and thus aspects of new 'concepts'.
An object tended to have many different concepts that Shirou could sense. A kitchen knife had the most basic and major concept which was simply 'to cut'. It also had other concepts depending on the manner it was constructed. A mass-produced kitchen knife made from stamped sheet metal aside from the basic concepts also had less important sub concepts which were to positive or negative benefit such as 'durability' or 'common' signifying it being made on mass. There were also many more sub concepts.
The concept of 'common' had served to hurt the existence of the knife. Due to it being 'common' the effectiveness of each of the concepts imbued within the knife's existence were weakened. 'To cut' was less effective and 'durability' was less true. A purpose made chef's knives from the more durable methods of forging had a different sub concept. Aside from the greater raw durability of the method, it also contained concepts such as 'rare' and 'valuable' as well as 'purpose built'.
The different concepts of the purpose-built knife served to enhance its existence in every single aspect. It enhanced the durability to levels that would never break in mortal hands without extreme conditions or magecraft as well as enhancing the base quality of the knife sharpness to absurd levels. These were effects that were easily displayed in real life.
Through this revelation, Shirou had more easily been able to sense the basic 'concepts' of everything in his life as well as the sub concepts. He had also discovered the root to increase the potency of his magecraft. Instead of just simply imposing the 'concept' of what he wanted to do onto an object, he had to impose a purer and more undiluted version of the 'concept' that he wanted to use. Instead of just creating a new reason of existence for an object, he had to make the object actually the reason itself. Instead of just creating an object with a different primary existence, he had to instead create a Conceptual Object.
This was where Shirou truly got the true scope of his abilities. Every Magus was connected to the Root through their Origin. A Magus who has awakened that Origin would have a greater connection to the Root. What Shirou needed to do was to delve deeper within his Soul and actually use his Origin to the Root to actually impose the purest form of a 'concept' and rewrite the existence of the object.
If he had mastered his abilities to the greatest extent, rather than use his admittedly formidable amounts of magical energy that he could produce as fuel, he could instead use the raw weight and power of the 'concept' itself as the fuel for its own existence. This would be the only way that he would be able to overcome the power of a Curse cast by a Heroic Spirit. If his abilities ever reached that level, it would even be easy to complete such a minor feat.
Would it ever be that simple? No. Such an ability would be unprecedented and would definitely be a true magic by itself. It would be the denial of all three laws of Thermodynamics and be the creation of self-perpetuating energy without any consequences. It would use its own 'concept' as well as the fundamental laws of the universe as its own fuel. Such an ability would require an actual gate to the Root to actualize such a mystery.
Would it be possible however? It might have been. It was a year ago but he still had a perfect memory of the incident that had resulted in the awakening of his Origin. It was but a moment and it was an artificial temporary connection to the Root that allowed it to occur but he had indeed created a conceptual object. While it felt more like the universe had allowed it to happen than anything else, he would indeed try to obtain that level again using his Origin as an access point.
Those were just the optimal scenarios however, what he had done across the months was trying to get to that point by improving his skills and slowly optimizing his methods in order to create a purer 'concept' onto an object. He was not very successful.
He was improving day by day, and he had managed to make some headway and improve his abilities by leaps and bounds. But it was still a minimal, almost insignificant progress at the end of things. Today was the day he would have to go to school for the first time in his life after the fire as mandated by the government but time was running out and now, he had even less time than he had to play with in the first place.
Shirou let out any sigh as he looked at the moon still up in the sky and decided to stop his reminiscence. It was time to begin his routine anyway and his school was in the Shinto District and he had promised to meet Rin at the Fuyuki Bridge before walking to school together. For some strange reason, the school had mandated that the students were to be in attendance two hours earlier at six-thirty than the only High School in Fuyuki, Homurahara academy…
Shirou walked towards the Fuyuki bridge. The sky was still dark, the sun had not risen yet. The Fuyuki bridge was the only bridge that linked the two districts in Fuyuki together. It was a large steel structure that stretched across hundreds of meters to the other side of Fuyuki. Even at this early hour, it was populated with rows of cars across every lane, full of individuals in their vehicles clambering to get to work.
The Fuyuki Bridge was a large bridge, with four lanes of road for cars in both directions, adding up to a total of eight lanes. It also had walkways at both sides for individuals journeying on foot. It was a rather mundane bridge, carrying the same famous rusted red color of steel that had so adorned many other famous bridges across dozens of different countries. The bridge was not lit up except for lampposts on the walkways for illumination. It was still however bright with a variety of different lights shining from the different vehicles that had populated the bridge at this early hour.
As he walked up to the bridge, he saw a familiar figure. She was wearing a different color to what she usually adorned. She was wearing a light blue instead of her normal ensemble of red. The school uniform that Shirou was sporting was a regular generic white uniform with light blue stripes at various parts. The female version of the same uniform was largely the same. The only alteration she had made was to bear an extra layer in the form of a sky-blue jacket. It was rather cold in the morning and Shirou had done the same, wearing his scarf of the same color but a darker shade as compared to her jacket.
She hadn't noticed him yet. It was rather weird to not see her in what he had associated with her color he supposed. He almost associated her with a different individual but it was still her all the same. Having made his observations, Shirou walked up to his friend.
"You are here early Rin? I hadn't expected you to arrive before me. I know the Tohsaka mansion is closer to the middle of the city but it is still a surprise to see you here first."
"Erghhhehhh" A grumpy and indistinguishable noise escaped the female. She turned her head to look at him, greeting him with an exhausted and sleepy expression. Every part of her was styled well, her hair was in her customary twin locks of hair fastened with two ribbons, her uniform was immaculate but her face was the only thing out of place here.
It appeared that she hadn't woken up completely yet. He should have expected this. It was several hours before she was supposed to wake up. It was a miracle she had even managed to get ready this early to await him before going to school. He had already been warned about her appearance in the early morning. He had learned not to visit the Tohsaka Mansion too early after a single incident in which he woke her up at too early an hour.
They started walking across the bridge, both of them were silent. She was walking slowly, her footsteps dragging across the pavement. He had tried to strike up a conversation but all she gave were half aware nods and grunts. He was relieved that they had agreed to wait for each other before traveling to the school at the other side of the city.
The Miyama District where they resided was a quieter and less busy district with less cars. The Shinto District stood in stark contrast to that. Even at an early hour, every lane of every street was filled with cars. The individuals driving were often impatient, bending the laws of the road as well as driving too quickly for such a crowded situation. It was a dangerous situation for inattentive individuals to traverse. At her state of awareness in the morning, Shirou did not fancy her chances of negotiating her way to the school safely…
"Oh? This is a rather affluent establishment; I did not expect this to be so rich in facilities."
Shirou was startled, her voice had come out of nowhere. He could have sworn a moment ago that she was still a zombie. He had to agree with her all the same. The school was unexpectedly grand for a Junior High School. From its sheer size, he determined that it was rather rich in facilities as well beyond the opulent furnishings.
"It could be due to donations? The previous school was burnt down by the Fuyuki fire after all, there had to be an abundant of benefactors seeking to place their names alongside the building of a new establishment to repair what was lost in such a famous incident."
"Also, are you finally awake?"
Shirou narrowed his eyes at Rin, looking for any signs of sleepiness. It was a strange phenomenon every time she transitioned from her lethargic to awake states. It was an abrupt transition where one moment she would be dead to the comings and goings of reality and the next moment she would be bouncing and energetic and ready to tease him at any moment.
She snubbed his question by not giving a reply, adopting the same reaction as him and tilting her head and looking at him from various angles as though also examining his state of being. Shirou, annoyed by her teasing had turned around and walked briskly into the main foyer of the school.
The school was a large establishment placed without much consideration to its location right in the middle of the Shinto District of the city. It was rather strange to look upon the school, it was a massive establishment for just a Junior education center but it was also surrounded by tall buildings and skyscrapers that dwarfed its vertical size.
From the outside, one could observe that the school consisted of five levels. It was made with modern architecture with the entrance being a square with trees and benches around. It had several open spaces with what seemed like abstract structures to act as art decoration. It was the definition of modern luxury but it had a more generic feel as though the structures and organization of the school was meant to give off the feel of opulence but without any true soul behind the design.
After walking a hundred meters into the main entrance square, one would be greeted by a massive foyer surrounded by glass and marble. The rest of the school was separated by several different blocks, all with five stories. There were also several courtyards across the school as well as other open spaces for outdoor sports as well as two grass fields. There was nothing special about the rest of the school, everything that was observable was constructed with the usage of glass, aiming to give a modern and futuristic look. It was a large establishment for such a small city with a student population of slightly less than ten thousand.
They had assembled in a large hall that had three levels of seating. Only the biggest and bottom layer was currently occupied. It was full of hundreds of chairs and tables in front of them. Each chair and table set were also separated by a meter from the next set. After taking the attendance, the different teachers had given each student a number and told them to take a seat. It appeared that there would firstly be an entrance test to determine the standing of each student before splitting them into different classes.
They were given several tests continuously across the day. The tests were of different subjects meant to test the aptitude of a student in a particular aspect. Shirou had found the tests easy but he was a special case as in order to comprehend magecraft, especially magecraft of the next level, one often had to master subjects like Maths and Science in all their different aspects to a high level in order to work with the concepts that determine the laws of the universe.
After the lasts of the tests, they were given an orientation as to the basics of school life as well as the structure of the new school. They were given a tour of the school before being dismissed into their assigned classes based on the results of the different tests. Due to this, the students of his year were currently gathered in front of a board in a hallway. There were pieces of paper with names on it in alphabetical order, the pieces of paper were sorted by the different classes.
Shirou had spotted his name on the list a while ago, he had also spotted other familiar names. Rin was of the same class as him as well as a friend he had met over half a year ago. Issei Ryuudou. He had read the list and turned to seek the location of his class but before he went in that direction, he spotted a head of black hair at the back of the crowd, waiting patiently for the crowd to disperse before finding his assigned place.
"Oi! Issei!"
"Oh, Emiya. Of course, you are here too. Have you seen your determined class yet?"
"Well yes I have. In fact, we are in the same class Issei. This hall is too crowded at the moment. Let us go find our classroom."
It was a short walk. Their classroom was the first level at the front of the block of buildings beside the main block which contained the hall, as well as the canteen. As the pair of friends navigated their ways around the hallways of the school, they caught up with what each other had been doing the past year before attending Junior High.
"Ah, Issei, I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine. She should be here already. I don't think I saw her loiter in the hallway; she must have been one of the first students to see her placement."
As the pair of friends walked in the class, the pair were greeted by the sight of students at the various parts of the classroom, socializing and getting to know each other. They were also greeted by what was a crowd at the back of the classroom. The crowd seemed to surround a familiar figure, as though attracted by the gravitational pull of her charisma.
Shirou grabbed Issei's arm and walked up to her. The crowd seemed to part for their entrance to their sphere upon seeing the recognition in the eyes of what seemed like the leading figure. Shirou walked in front of her and opened his arm and gestured towards her.
"Issei Ryuudou, this is Tohsaka Rin, a friend of mine that I have known for some time."
Issei seemed to react differently to what Shirou had expected. At first glance, it seemed like Issei had reacted to something and almost flinched away. It had puzzled Shirou. What would cause such an extreme reaction? The only thing that he could think of was that Issei somehow knew that she was a Magus but that was impossible for he would have sensed Shirou too. Failing that, even if he failed to recognize Shirou as a Magus, it would require another Magus to sense her and Shirou was certain that either Rin or him would know if Issei was a Magus in that situation. Regardless of Shirou's musings, Issei soon quickly reoriented himself and placed a finger to push up his glasses before holding out his hand.
"Oh, you are a friend of Shirou? It is nice to meet you; I hope that I will have your guidance and help in the future."
Rin bowed as she shook Issei's hand. Her demeanor was so different as to how she normally acted. Her expressive blue eyes seemed to sparkle as she adopted a facade that was almost the stereotypical image of the perfect schoolgirl. It was an incredibly foreign expression and it immediately threw Shirou off from pondering too much about Issei's reaction to her. Was this why what seemed like almost half the class had gathered around her? This strange pretence of being the perfect student?
Shirou was about to question Rin about her motives of displaying such a front when a male middle-aged adult, presumably their teacher walked in. This was already the last period of the day. The rest of the day had been taken up by the placement tests as well as orientation. The teacher had gone through more administrative matters before relaxing with several announcements.
"Firstly, due to this being a new school, there is no current student council in place. A year without any student leadership will be undertaken before a student council will be established the next year. Students aiming to be on the council should display exemplary behavior and leadership skills."
"Secondly, after the second week of school, students must start the application to join or create a club. This is a compulsory requirement for all students but rest assured for this in a new school rich in facilities and you will be guaranteed to have an enjoyable choice in the club of your choosing."
There were several more announcements but Shirou had not taken note of them beyond the second one. This would be a large setback to his quest. While he had accepted that when he entered Junior High, he would have less time to work on his abilities to find a cure for his father, this would even further limit his time where he would only have less then half a dozen hours to work with.
His progress at improving his abilities to possibly cure his father's problem had already slowed to a crawl. He had recognized that the way forward was with persistence and constant hard work and practice but this… this would limit the only path he had.
The rest of the period had gone by uneventfully. They had been given some time to socialize more with their classmates, a slot that Shirou noticed Rin seemed to use to its maximum. They had then been dismissed to return to their respective homes.
The class had split and Shirou was currently walking with Rin to the Fuyuki Bridge where they would split to their respective homes. Shirou was currently having a conversation with Rin about their school when Shirou had questioned Rin about her strange behavior at school.
"Rin, why did you act so strangely at school?"
"Don't I act like that all the time Shirou?"
The only reply that Shirou felt was apt to return as a reaction to her absurd reply was a deadpan look.
"Maybe this is just how I act around regular people?"
"Are you sure Rin? This dosen't quite seem like you. You aren't normally so… innocent."
"Maybe I am? You didn't make the best first impression on me after all, what with threatening me and all."
"Still though. What are you trying to do Rin? Unless, you want to do as the teacher said and actually aim to become part of the student council?"
"Exactly! I asked around before coming to school today. I was already aware of the requirement of joining a club and I thought that it would be fun to be part of the student council."
Rin adopted a cheerful expression after she had stopped playing the game of teasing with him. He was perplexed, what would be fun about being part of the student council?
"Fun?"
She nodded. "It's a unique experience after all. I know you have lost your memories after the fire but I recall being in a school before the fire. While having friends that you can never quite let into your reality of being a Magus is annoying, it is still fun to socialize around. They didn't have a student council in the lower levels of education but I think that being part of one would be fun as well."
"Fun…" This was whispered by Shirou as he pondered the ramifications. Rin was quiet the whole way to the bridge where they split. She still maintained her cheerful demeanor, humming a cheerful tune as she went. While he knew that she had a mischievous personality, she was not normally this cheerful.
While Shirou did not have a depressing personality, he did not quite understand having fun. He enjoyed deriving enjoyment from actions. He derived enjoyment from mastering and practicing his magecraft. He derived some enjoyment from cooking. He supposed that it would not be a concept that he would comprehend in the near future. He had other things to consider. There were far worse emotions to endure if he spurned his goal at the moment for the quest of having 'fun'.
He accepted that he would not discover what was 'fun' for the moment, what was important was that he optimized the time he did have to work on his magecraft. Nevertheless, he pondered more about fun. While he knew he derived enjoyment from actions, he wondered if through experiencing this 'fun' would he be able to finally rid himself of his emptiness in life.
Ever since he had started on his single-minded goal on nullifying the curse on his father, he had felt less and less of that constant emptiness with every breakthrough and advancement in his quest. This was a temporary goal however and while it satisfied some of his emptiness in life by having a determined goal, he knew whether he failed or succeeded in his goal that he would have to get rid of the emptiness that he constantly felt in life in some other manner…
It had been half a year since he had entered into the Fuyuki Junior High school. With all perspectives from the outside, he had done well so far. He had maintained consistently high grades in his classes. He was along with Rin and Issei at the top of the class. It had been half a year and there had already been mutterings about who would be part of next years student council. Rin through her model student attitude had been one of the more common mutterings alongside Issei with his serious and responsible demeanor. It was expected that one of them would be student council president and the other the vice at the start of next year.
Shirou would have been one of the nominees based on his grades alone but he was disqualified on the basis that he was extremely unapproachable. Even with half a year in his new class, his only friends were the duo that he had made even before the school had started. He didn't mind his disqualification. Being part of the student council meant more responsibilities. Responsibilities that took time that he needed for his quest.
He had been forced to join in a club as part of the school policy. While it may seem natural for him to have joined the Kendo club on account of his skills, he accepted that none of the other club members would be able to keep up with him anyway. He had instead joined the club which had the least and shortest practice sessions. He had joined a literature club and had only done what was required. Nothing more. It would only further limit his time for his quest.
Things had gone from bad to worse in his quest. He had even less time to work with now and he had barely made any progress. Taiga had graduated from Homurahara academy recently and was waiting for an application to a university. In the meantime, she had been waltzing into the Emiya residence and demanding her presence be recognized every time she entered at every possible opportunity.
Shirou recognized that he bore some affection for his sister figure but as much as he often found her antics amusing, this was not what he needed at the moment. He would often have to take time away from his quest just to entertain her eccentricities. It was getting progressively more and more annoying each instance that he had to leave his pursuit of his quest.
Now was currently one of the moments that he had some free time away and was assured that she would not be here in the near future. She had gone for a week's tour across the country's different universities to determine her choices in the future. Shirou was currently working on a recent breakthrough in his magecraft that would be of use towards his goal.
He had run into a barrier once he realized that even if he were to imbue a concept such as 'nullification against all curses' onto an object, it would not necessarily take effect on his father. Even if it were to take effect, there had to be some penalty to its effectiveness due to the concept being limited by the object.
He was already fighting against a curse by a Heroic Spirit, he had to optimize every part of the process in order to gain a chance to defeat the Curse on his father. Any disadvantage that he had to suffer in the process was unacceptable. He had to find a way around to bottleneck.
It was through this realization that he made his breakthrough. He would have to apply the concept directly to Kiritsugu. The problem was same as with reinforcement however. The problem was that a Mage's circuits would naturally resist the effects of any magical energy. While the resistance could be easily bypassed, it would create an inefficiency in which some of the effects were nullified. This wasn't even taking into account of the natural resistance of the curse against getting nullified. Even if what he was doing was nearing the realms of True Magic, its classification would be useless if the effects weren't strong enough to solve his issue.
This had caused a change in Shirou's routine. Instead of just trying to utilize a purer form of a concept more connected to the Root, he would first have to practice directly imposing the concept upon an individual before mastering that portion of his abilities. Shirou had found some success in applying the concept directly to himself.
What Shirou had done in his practice of magecraft was similar to reinforcement but at an unprecedented level. Reinforcement on a human was difficult enough. What he was doing was even more so. Every instance he applied a concept on himself such as 'as swift as the wind' he was effectively rewriting his own existence and forcing the world as well as the Akashic Records to note that Shirou Emiya had always been the physical embodiment of the concept of being as swift as the wind.
What he was doing was not impossible for there had been Heroic Spirits that had been the embodiment of concepts. Heracles the Greek demigod was said to be the embodiment of brute force both through his deeds in life and through his legend. Arthur Pendragon the King of the Britons was said to be the embodiment of chivalry and the perfect knight.
When Shirou had applied the concept of 'as swift as the wind', he was by all definitions, the physical embodiment of a being as fast as the fastest winds. When Shirou had imposed the concept on himself, for the length of time that the concept was active, Shirou would be able to move a third the speed of sound.
That was not extremely impressive for even an average Executor or Hunter of the Mage's association would be able to exceed that speed. While Shirou could not reach that speed at his current age with reinforcement, he was not that far off either. The only benefit was that rather than reinforcing every part of him such as his reflexes, perception as well as muscles to reach that speed, he could instead place his mental focus elsewhere as the ability made every part of him as swift as the wind.
Shirou had tried for more and had found out that the more absurd the concept such as 'Strength to lift mountains', the harder it was to actually comprehend the concept itself as well as apply the concept. There were two parts to imposing a concept directly. First, he had to comprehend the weight of the concept. This allowed him to impose a purer and more effective concept at the cost of having to comprehend the full ramifications of a concept mentally. After comprehending the weight of the concept chosen, he would then have to actually apply the concept.
It would require more practice to master progressively harder concepts or a method to make the process easier and less mentally taxing to both his mind in comprehending the concept and to his frustration in failing to occasionally apply the concept.
Magical Formula's aside from their advantages also acted as an assist for a Magus. It allowed the Magus to guide their magical energy in a specific manner to activate a spell. This way, a Magus would always be assured that the required spell would always be successful. Shirou's ability was unique but also had its drawbacks such as not having an organized system to activate his required effects. Shirou had to instead accomplish everything by instinct or create a Magical Formula himself to streamline the process.
Fortunately, this was something easier in nature. It would be far easier to hide a book as well as some notes as schoolwork when he was actually creating a Magical Formula compared to having to sneak away time to practice his magecraft every day. The only bottleneck in this situation was time. While he would have more time to work on a Magical Formula, he still had a limited time before it was too late for his father… It was up to him to make the optimal use of his time. He did not even want to consider what would happen if he failed…
Authors Notes:
This chapter starts from a typical viewpoint from Shirou. It is a year after his deal with Rin and he is now at the age of eleven. Kiritsugu dies one year later in canon. His current state reflects that. Shirou notices him declining and is frustrated about his lack of progress across the year.
Through the months of learning both from Rin and the Tohsaka library, Shirou's skill and knowledge in magecraft improves by leaps and bounds. But it is with this improvement that Shirou knows how far away from the goal he actually is.
What Shirou is facing here is a Curse cast by the embodiment of all curses even if Shirou doesn't know. What he does know however is that the spell is cast by a Heroic spirit and to overwrite a spell cast by a Heroic Spirit is a tall task to have to undertake.
He dismisses simple healing as a solution against the Curse as even if the healing was effective, the Curse is still active. What could be of use however, is his Origin.
The rest of this portion is about more technical details about Shirou's Origin as well as what Shirou has learnt from his Origin through experimentation. One thing I tried to emphasize is how OP servants are and what a huge task Shirou is undertaking. It would be an impossible task were it not for his Origin.
It is remember to keep in mind here that while Shirou's potential when using his Origin is very high. He is nowhere near reaching the potential currently so any of the other possible solutions to heal Kiritsugu with his Origin it too much for his skill level at the moment and takes too long. What he is currently aiming for now is the best and shortest method.
Shirou dedicates a lot of mental effort towards this task and he gets very creative in exploring solutions as well as loopholes as well as alternative solutions.
Shirou personally knows what he is trying to do is an impossible task. He knows that to nullify the curse, he has to reach the boundaries of what was magecraft and what was magic. He doesn't care about the likelihood of him achieving his task and fully believes that he can do it. In his mind, there is no other option such is his devotion to Kiritsugu.
Its a thankless and impossible task and even when his magecraft improves by unprecedented levels while trying to accomplish this task, Shirou personally discards his progress and feels that it is not sufficient. He feels the limits of time coming upon him and he feels the sensation of getting more and more desperate.
Shirou eventually stops his musings and lamentations and goes to meet with Rin to go to school in the Shinto district. We see Rin like in canon isn't the best person to be around in the morning.
There is a basic description of their school as well as the first day of their school lives. Shirou meets up with his only other friend. Issei Ryuudou.
Shirou introduces Issei to Rin and it seems that Issei much like canon has a dislike of Rin. This is the first meeting however and so Issei doesn't much have a dislike yet and is open to friendship.
Rin adopts her perfect student facade due to it being 'fun'. She is still eleven and she had Shirou as a friend so her mischievous side comes out more instead of her more guarded demeanor like in canon from the years of being alone as a magus.
Rin and Shirou now have what could be described as a great bond. She teases Shirou but explains her motives for her facade as well as her goals for her school life. Shirou doesn't quite get what fun is but disregards that line of thought by rationalizing that his quest to help Kiritsugu is to be placed first at the current situation. Everything else is to be a secondary thought.
Healing Kiritsugu is currently his only purpose and main purpose in life. It's an obsession that has its roots in his emptiness. Shirou is as obsessed or even more obsessed with healing Kiritsugu as canon shirou is with being a Hero of Justice. It occupies almost every aspect of him at the moment. It affects great parts of his life. We see this again with another skip half a year later. He doesn't care much about clubs and school but wants to optimize the amount of time he can spare for his quest. We see Rin is successful in her goal but has a rival in Issei for the position of student council president. Shirou doesn't much care about that either.
Another half a year and Shirou has gotten even more desperate. He spends every single waking moment he has to spare on his quest to heal Kiritsugu. It had gotten to the point where he actively finds Taiga's visits annoying. Taiga is one of the few individuals he holds affections for so this is a huge statement.
He improves in his magecraft at an exponential rate, spurred on by Kiritsugu's now spiraling health status. He improves and learns magecraft better then he ever had. He develops on spells to take advantage of his Origin and optimize the process he has to use to enable the effects he wants. Even at his current state of still taking lessons from Rin, he has already far eclipsed her in the realms of spells and spellcasting by a wide margin such is his rapid progress.
He manipulates his Origin's potential to ridiculous levels and while a year ago he would take a step back and recognize and admire his progress in magecraft, Shirou finds himself inadequate and gets increasing desperation with each day that passes. Its now a race against time. Will Shirou's exponentially growing skills in magecraft win and he finds a way to nullify Angra Mainyu's curse or will Kiritsugu croak first. I guess this is kind of a cliffhanger?
For the Fan's of the Rin pairing, I have to make an apology for making Shirou's and Rin's bond so great. It wasn't until recently that I noticed that I have written it so that they have such a great bond. I feel that parts of this chapter only serve to make that situation worse. They do have some cute moments together in this story. It's not a deliberate choice but it's also kinda too easy to write a good relationship between Shirou and Rin. Its a very natural and fun and banter-y relationship.
The pairing is still Arturia and Shirou but in my defense, what I have in my mind for the pairing is a greater and more of a romantic tragic romance as compared to Shirou and Rin. I don't feel that you can get an arc with as great an emotional scope for what I have in mind with Shirou and Rin as the pairing. The fate route is an incredibly tragic romance that has such a vibe of fate and destiny and with such a fairytale appeal to it in its tragic aspects that I don't think you can achieve with Rin. It will be less fun and full of banter compared to Rin and Shirou's relationship but it will have more of what can be categorized as emotional moments and I think it will make for a greater story.