Prologue part two

"Hah..." In an instant I returned back to the realm of the living. The winds of steel has died down and in its place was silver linked chains.

"..." Despite the time spent within his world my senses told me that the situation hasn't changed in the slightest. My right arm was still immobilised by the silver linked chains and my trump card the Thompson contender lied at my feet.

...No unlike before I could taste the blood in my mouth, and the excruciating pain my body was subjected to by the silver linked chains rapidly encroaching all over my body.

In an heartbeat the chains started to fully wrap themselves around me as time flowed once more, threatening me to give up and grovel on the floor for forgiveness as they twisted and tightened against my limbs.

"There's no use faker, the chains of heaven could bind even the gods themselves! Let alone a mongrel like yourself." Golden portals surrounded me as Angelica proclaimed her victory. Vast amounts of noble phantasms was trained upon me ready to annihilate me at any given moment.

"The chains of heaven... I'm honoured that you would bring that out for me but..." I took a step forward, my body protesting in fear as it strained against the silver linked chains with all its might.

"I have an duty to fulfil." Snippets of my past flashed through my eyes as I pressed against the chains of heaven. Whenever old or new they were memories that formed the core of the being known as Shirou Emiya.

Deep down I always knew something was wrong with me, ever since that day, buried underneath all the rubble and debris, I felt something was missing, something vital as a human …. it was as if I lacked a heart.

I've always risked everything. My decision already been made even if it costs me my life.

I formed an image of the married blades within my mind.

It was time to lay it all to bare.

"I am the darkness that shrouds all."

A pair of black and white blades materialised themselves beneath the chains acting as a wedge.

"Begone What!" Her face contorted in confusion as the steel shield from earlier came back with full force. Attracted to one another the steel penetrating noble phantasms formed a whirlwind of death that clashed against the chains of heaven.

"Burst." Using the wedged pair as a circuit I filled the connected married blades with my prana, transforming them into their reinforced state before detonating them.

Multiple small explosions rocked the area as I broke free from my bindings. The chains of heaven might have successfully halted me in my tracks before, but in the end it is naught but a tough chain to those who are not divine.

"Impossible! How could you break free from the chains of heaven!" Angelica face warped into a mixture of disbelief and anger at the situation.

Taking advantage of her lapse in concentration, I dashed towards the doll with all my strength kicking the mystic code up ahead of me before grasping it on the way. Every single second was precious.

"Steel is my body and darkness my heart."

"Don't get full of yourself because you freed yourself from the chains. That doesn't change a thing!"

"THROW OPEN THE GATE!" Waving her arms she released her entire arsenal against me. Hundreds to thousands of noble phantasms was bearing down onto me from the front, each capable of taking my life with one solid blow. Faced with what could only be called ultimate expression of overwhelming force I responded in kind.

"Trace on Sword barrel full open." Having experienced his inner world first hand has allowed me to understand the processes of tracing, but I wasn't quite there yet if I'm to perform his abilities I'll need an appropriate compensation.

"I have made many mistakes."

I formed hundreds of images within my mind straining my brain to it's very limit as I chanted the line. Weapons bereft of any sort of mystery and power, weapons that was only fashioned in the likeness of the opposing noble phantasms materialised around me before being fired against their counterpart.

"I knew your plan was to use high speed projections to counter with the same swords." Angelica said coldly as she witnessed my magecraft at work. Manipulating her fingers she responded in kind as vast amounts of diamond shaped portals appeared in front of the noble phantasms that was released.

"Always searching for the ever distant stars."

This was the moment I was waiting for. I knew she would anticipate my actions and then she would use her magecraft that she was so proud of her as a counter to my display of force. Which is why she failed to see beyond the veil, in the end she was unable to see that they were mere imitations, an empty shell like herself.

"That alone however would not be enough to defeat the Ainsworths." Multiple pixelated diamond portals appeared behind me acting as a wormhole of death as it casually spewed out C to A ranked noble phantasms.

"Not realising the stars beside me."

Fast, I barely managed to avoid multiple fatal blows from the noble phantasms as they pierced my sides drawing fresh blood.

Kicking the ground forcibly with my reinforced body, I leapt within the air while turning around, not caring about the piercing pain that coursed through my body as it protested such an unnatural action.

Lifting up the Thompson contender in one clean motion I aimed at the closest pixelated portal. I had only one chance I had to make it count.

"FAKER!" It seemed she realised she's been had this entire time, as new noble phantasms from the front broke through my paper mache versions with blinding speeds. The fakes couldn't even last a mere second against the real thing but they have already served their purpose.

"Yet not all is lost."

I pulled the trigger almost certain of my victory as a bottleneck object was released from the muzzle at extreme speeds, easily surpassing the speed of sound and yet despite my plan...

A loud klang soon rang throughout the icy cavern.

It was thwarted by mere luck as the bullet disintegrated against Gram which just appeared from the portal.

Gram dawn of ruin.

A sword that appears in the "Völsunga Saga" of Norse mythology. The incident where Sigurd's father Sigmund pulled Gram from the trunk of a tree later became the model for Caliburn, the sword in the stone. After Sigurd reforged Gram from the shattered pieces, it is said to have become a demonic sword capable even of killing a dragon.

"So I will be the dark night separating the stars."

Yet despite this setback I felt no fear for I had only one true image within my mind this entire time. Everything I have done was for this single moment. It was time to raise the curtains of this play.

"Granting despair to all that seeks the hidden stars."

I casted the final line at that instance, mere milliseconds away from being carved to bits by the endless array of noble phantasms that surrounded me from all directions.

At that very moment.

Everything broke and reformed.

"Switching Individual and collective, fantasy and reality, inside and outside overwriting the world with one's own soul..."

A blizzard raged in an arctic wasteland filled with nothing but swords. Devoid of all light this solitary world was covered in a blanket of snow and darkness. The only source of illumination seemed to come from my right hand as the Thompson contender burned brightly in the darkness.

"The innermost and highest thaumaturgy, a reality marble."

I took a step forward, in front of me was twin blades of white and black stuck in the snow. Pocketing the Thompson contender I reached out to his favoured blades.

"This is the place that I saw."

The moment my hands gripped the handles a bright flame appeared around my hands. As if this was a signal the numerous blades that littered this world also started to burn bright, some darker and others brighter but in the end they all shone a light.

"So... what do you think?"

I pulled the married blades from their sheaths and raised them to his favoured position. Taking a stance I brandished the blades in front of me.

"Its a world engulfed in eternal darkness along with encompassing an infinite number of swords. But if you ask me they more like grave markers."

I could see her standing at the bottom of the hill of swords in utter shock and awe as she looked all around herself. But that soon turned to disdain as she glared at me in contempt.

"It seems as I was mistaken. You truly held no hope of victory from the start didn't you? Disregarding yourself and the lives of others... Even beasts have more dignity!"

It seemed that she failed to see the true meaning behind this world and the blades. I guess in the end she was just a counterfeit a doll that could only move on the orders of others.

"What a fitting scene faker! A puppet like you who mimics the dead shall sink to the bottom of those graves as you wish!"

"... I admit that once I was a puppet that mimicked the dead. I admired the dream that Kiritsugu had but did you know Ainsworths, that on the day you took her away from me was the day I wanted to start anew."

"..." She stared into my eyes with a cold glare, distrust clear in her eyes as to her this world filled with swords said otherwise.

They may be well forged to the point it would be hard to differentiate between the real article and the forgeries but to the person who owned the real article it was obvious.

"So let me show you the might of someone who has finally reached the clouded moon." I prepared myself for the upcoming war. If she didn't believe my words then I would have to show her through my actions.

"So do you have enough resolve heroes of justice. Otherwise you too will just become another marker on this cold world."

Author notes

Lazy bad author that only writes first drafts, no editing, no planning etc.

It's finally done, can't believe I actually progressed on this story even if its the first half. For some reason I can't seem to write this but maybe that's gone who knows? Anyway keeping true to my policy of first drafts only here you go.

Once I finish the prologue I will reveal the reality marble's abilities in the stat sheet and the motif behind the setting of his reality marble. As this isn't a mystery story but lets see if you could figure it out. Not really that hard, pretty simple if I think about it.

If you read my other stories you most likely know my policy and if you dont here is the short version. I upload teasers alot, mostly unfinished chapters to keep my motivation up as I keep moving from story to story

The battle scene would diverge within the reality marble so I don't have to write more than I need to. (Referring to my other stories with this prologue.)