"Hmm," Shirou said to himself as he contemplated the massive gate in front of him. While it initially appeared to be steel, the composition was too reflective, too immaculate to be made of an earthen material. He rapped his knuckles on the door contemplating his situation. The situation was annoying to him as Shirou considered himself an expert in Reality Marbles, knowing much more than pretty much anybody else, although he acknowledged there might be a magus who had performed more experiments on them and was in bad need of killing. Theoretically both he and Crimson Moon should have been transported directly into the centre of the Reality Marble, however the knife that he gave Satsuki was never meant to be used in that specific manner and he should probably be grateful that it worked at all.
"The gates to the Millenium Castle Brunestud stood as the ultimate protection for the True Ancestors," he mused to himself. "I wonder if that is the reason I haven't been let in. I'm not a True Ancestor."
He stepped back and threw a kick with all of his power behind it causing the doors to buckle inwards slightly. Shirou frowned slightly at the sight and the lack of information behind it. Currently he was the strongest he had ever been as a human. By conceptually enhancing his body he had attained strength far beyond that even seen during the Age of the Gods. Unfortunately this gate was made using materials with unknown tensile strength that he had never seen before and thus he still had no way to realistically gauge just how hard he could hit.
Shrugging Shirou touched the door pushing the concept of [disintegration] into the structure and watching as it dissolved before his very eyes. Stepping across the threshold he immediately noticed the difference. Previously when he was outside the fortress he took very little notice of his surroundings. The grass was green and the sky was blue in a very generic way but nothing of a supernatural nature screamed to his senses and nothing stirred his sense of danger. As soon as he set foot proper into Castle Brunestud he was rendered speechless by the changes that immediately were swept upon him. The air chilled and filled with a frigid power and the entire area was bathed in red light. Looking up Shirou saw the night sky filled with a looming scarlet moon, many times the size of that on earth.
"If she tries to drop that on me I'm going to be very upset," Shirou said to himself looking away from the ominously glowing orb and forcing down the feel of impending dread that surfaced within him. Spreading his senses through the surrounding moisture in the air his eyes widened and he stepped forward as a hand plunged down in the space that he occupied a second ago.
Twisting his body Shirou lashed out a kick at the creature catching him in the stomach and causing him to slide backwards across the damp grass. The glow of two orbs and the face contorted in madness and fury told Shirou the entire story. It lunged forward at superhuman speed and Shirou stepped forward to meet it. Clawed hands tore at his chest only to find no resistance as Shirou applied the concept of [intangible] that operated in a manner similar to that of his servants. As he walked through the vampire he let his arm linger behind him and in the instant that the majority of his body had passed his attacker he allowed his hand to solidify in the chest cavity of the beast and then pulled out its heart.
"True Ancestor," Shirou began speaking to himself. "No you're a demon lord," he said to the creature that was kneeling on the grass clutching its chest. "I wonder how many of you there are." As he said this he inspected the grounds of the castle trying to scout any more of the crimson orbs amongst the general vermillion miasma.
The beast screamed incoherently but Shirou had not trained with Arcueid for years to be stymied by a cheap knock-off. Blinded by its rage it attempted another lunge but before its brain could tell its muscles to move it was [pierced] through but multiple spears of water. Immediately the water spread throughout the Demon Lords body bypassing the normal magic resistance that is a staple of those creatures with mystery and infiltrating its blood.
Then Shirou clenched his fist and like an angler reeling in his catch he summoned all the blood in the creatures body in the most linear fashion possible leaving the desiccated husk of his foe on the floor. Watching closely as his powers rewound time to restore his body to perfect health Shirou stepped forward and froze the remains in space-time preventing the curse of restoration from working.
"So that's how strong I've gotten," Shirou mused to himself as he stepped over the remains of his first opponent. The courtyard was eerie in its red glow and much of the vegetation was unknown to him, whether from being not native to earth or merely found in a lost time and place he could not tell. Unfortunately Shirou was intimately aware that time was not his ally and hadn't been for a while and thus any diversions to examine the local horticulture were entirely inappropriate.
Seeing no more glowing red eyes for the moment he strode towards the door that lead into the castle proper, raised his leg to kick in the door and then reconsidered and merely slid the unlocked door open. The décor of the castle was both grand and yet simplistic and yet unusual. Large columns of marble-like substance littered the room in an asymmetrical fashion, pictures of strange landscapes decorated the walls and red light shone of velvet carpets. A staircase led to a second story balcony from which two more demon lords stared down at him from their perch leaning on the balcony. Shirou scanned the surrounding areas picking up two more demon lords just outside the room and kept walking while remaining on guard for the inevitable attack.
The attack happened exactly as expected. Halfway through the room he felt a sudden and familiar deadness in the wind and he swiftly vacated the spot before the wind turned against him. Dodging to the left he was momentarily surprised to see the left wall give way as one of the other Demon lords burst through solid stone to try to kill him. He didn't hesitate [freezing] the fallen True Ancestor and plunging a hand through his chest shattering the frozen part. His attack took a hair to long and a claw cut deep through his side but he didn't falter summoning his own blood and firing it like a bullet into the heart of one of the ancestors. Keeping one eye on the [frozen] one who was recovering he swept his hands summoning a wave that pushed back the other attacker.
He didn't get a moment's respite as the air went dry and he instantly summoned a shield of partially distilled water. With expert precision he weaved a web of impurities and following the principles of basic science he watched as the massive lightning bolt ran down the side of his shield discharging harmlessly into the ground.
"We're not playing Pokémon," Shirou said giving a mocking grin even as he summoned clouds of highly acidic mist. "Here's a physics lesson, water's actually perfect insulator."
Unfortunately the collective demon lords did not seem to appreciate his lesson and one charged straight through the mist even as his flesh melted off his bones and his eyes melted out of his sockets. Shirou stepped backwards accelerating time and with his crest and coated his hand in ice decapitating the blinded monster. Feeling movement behind him Shirou turned [intangible] again and watched as the Demon Lord that he originally frozen charged through his body colliding with his current opponent. Taking advantage of the momentary confusion Shirou let loose a powerful [Amessunu Istenis] at the two bodies.
A wave of pure world defying reality was injected into the castle and Shirou watched as the two bodies, as well as the wall behind them and the wall behind that and so forth, were conceptually destroyed due to being unable to handle the power of the primordial abyss.
"Huh," Shirou said momentarily speechless. His shock wore off quickly as he was forced to summon a pillar of ice beneath his feet to dodge the grasping earth that opened up beneath him. Leaping towards the True Ancestor on the second floor he was unsurprised to see a conflagration erupt before him. Summoning ice beneath his feet he changed his direction mid jump manoeuvring around the wave of flame and hitting the ceiling. Pushing off the ceiling he surrounded himself with ice and dropped like a meteorite shattering the balcony and nearly flattening the other Demon Lord.
The ice shattered around him and he flung the remains of his cocoon at the Demon Lord but was unsurprised to find that it missed him. He sucked the water from the room and condensing it spears of an unearthly form of ice. Slowing down time immensely he launched the multitudes of spears and was gratified to see some of them pierce his opponent.
He didn't have much time to go for the kill as in the next moment he was forced to summon ice to protect himself from the claws of a new trio of Ancestors. Another surge of his [dense], [effective], [efficient] prana and the ice grew spikes that branched throughout the room slicing and skewering the Demon Lords. Despite his best efforts he was unable to leverage his Magic to create greater reserves of prana. It was an incredible annoyance to him, made even greater by the fact that he was certain that he could have found a way using every other form of Magic. In the end Shirou had tabled that as a long term project requiring a more esoteric approach. Instead he had applied concepts to his prana allowing him to get far more out of the amount that he used. It was only liberal applications of these concepts that allowed him to get away with all the fighting that he had already done tonight and still continue with at least sixty percent of his reserves left.
Unfortunately that sixty percent would drop very fast if he was forced to fight his way through an entire castle of fallen True Ancestors. He had never seen the inside of Castle Brunestud and he was deeply regretting the fact that he currently had no way of knowing which way to the throne room. Quickly running through his arsenal in his head he quickly came up with another plan. He melted the ice and then he from his body he summoned massive quantities of water and turned it into steam. Almost immediately he could feel wind trying to disperse the mist and he let it, summoning more mist as he did so. As the mist dispersed around the castle he could sense more and more of the True Ancestors.
Shirou didn't lose his focus as the mist was blown away and he summoned another shield of water to easily block more incoming lightning. Turning even while he continued to hold up the shield he raised his left hand slowing his motion and with his trusty Desert Eagle he proceeded to ventilate his skull with a few well timed shots. Vowing to upgrade his gun when he gets the chance he returned it to his holster in time to deal with the fact that the floor was once again rising up to attack him. With a single stomp of his foot he shattered the balcony plummeting everybody into a minor one story drop. Leaping between bits of debris Shirou pulled out the gold swords given to him by Gilgamesh and swung both at the neck of the Demon Lord furthest away.
The vampire raised his hands to block both swords and Shirou took the opportunity to lean forwards and spit a combination of venom and acid into his eye and he watched his opponent grasping at his face as the mixture ate deep into his brain. Whirling on his feet he regarded the other Ancestors. Despite the madness that infected their eyes they seemed to be far more wary of him now that he had slaughtered a few of their compatriots. Holding out his swords Shirou gauged their weight and was satisfied with the amount of water inside of them for the next part of his plan.
"Stall them," he commanded unnecessarily as the water coalesced into the form of the icy armoured dragon that he had favoured using of late. He had no illusions that it would be able to put them down. It took either persistent damage or severe conceptual attacks to bypass their regeneration and while Shirou was capable of both of these things, his dragon wasn't.
Stepping backwards as his dragon engaged the True Ancestors in combat he bent his knees and jumped powering through the air. The ability to manipulate blood had long reached the level whereby he could manipulate his own blood to fly but despite training it was never the most graceful form of flight. Shirou formed giant wings of ice for no practical reason other than the fact that he had always wanted to do so and he was in a different reality from anybody who could call him out on it.
Soaring into the air he tore through the stone roof and flew towards the red moon. Extending both of the golden swords he slammed the hilts together fusing them, marvelling as they changed in shape and power. As soon as his finger touched the string he could feel a tremendous drain in energy. The him of a few years ago would have run his circuits raw even trying to sustain the required output to activate this Noble Phantasm. Even in his current form he could feel his magic circuits ache under the pressure. Turning back he looked down at the castle feeling the many lives that lived within. In the centre like a crocodile in a watering hole lay his target. Shirou smiled tightly as he aimed and then loosed the arrow. While he doubted he would ever be proficient at archery he was adequate enough to hit such a target.
The arrow loosed with impressive speed penetrating the roof and Shirou could almost imagine the look on Crimson Moons face as the solitary arrow dug into the floor beneath. "Still," he thought looking up as the structure that Gilgamesh had so appropriately titled 'The Star of Destruction'. "If that surprised her she's really not going to like what's coming next. A burning golden spear descended from the heavens. A frown crossed his face when the spear suddenly disappeared but the huge magic circle that it was replaced by caught his attention as it spread out covering the entire castle and grounds. The circle appeared to crack and then Shirou let out a whistle of appreciation as he saw what looked to be the contents of a small sea descend on Castle Brunestud. While it was only a pale shadow of the actual great deluge it was still impressive and Shirou watched as the all-consuming wave of water swept aside the walls of Castle Brunestud and ground the Reality Marble of the first Vampire into the mud.
Shirou watched the waters below that stretched as far as the eyes could see. He had very little hope that he had managed to destroy Crimson Moon. In fact he was counting on the fact that she would be relatively okay. Shirou sheathed his, now spent, swords and dropped down and landed on the water transforming it to ice below his feet. Sending minor amounts of his prana down into the ocean he sensed around for her location.
He needn't have bothered though as Crimson Moon's location became very evident shortly. Ripples shattered the calm stillness of the water's surface and the ocean surged disgorging a large cube blackened stone that hovered, uncaring of normal physics, above the surface of the ocean. With only a muted crumbling the stone peeled away to reveal a marble floor that went perfectly with the pale white throne that dominated the room. Slumped over on the throne was Shirou's favourite True Ancestor bound in a multitude of chains and the Magician made a mental note that at least half of the chains had broken, most likely shattered by his attack.
"There are very few times in my life that I've ever felt the fear of death," Arcueid's voice said as Crimson Moon stepped out from behind the throne. "Congratulations, you're now responsible for half of them."
"You're welcome," Shirou said. "I'm glad I can provide you with such an experience."
"You've always been so flippant in the face of danger," the first vampire said. "I've always wondered whether it was suicidal bravery or just a clever façade."
"Why not a bit of both," Shirou said shrugging. While he normally had a strict policy against talking to opponents it seemed that his current one had just enough of Arcueid to bypass his normal stoicism.
"Why do you have dragon wings anyway," she said and Shirou huffed in annoyance while looking at the comatose version of Arcueid.
"They're meant to be angel wings," he replied. "Look," he said pointing at her with his index finger. "There's no way you can win at this point. You must realise this. There is a reason why Arcueid is merely sleeping and you haven't even tried to kill her. You can't survive without her; this soul is about 98 percent Arcueid. The remains of Crimson Moon amount to a few memories and a broken Reality Marble. What I'm saying is that you're not the real Crimson Moon."
A swift dodge to the side wasn't enough to avoid the strike and Shirou felt a chunk of his neck torn out. He tried to stop his jugular vein discharging blood and in the next instant he felt immense pain in his chest due to the arm of a True Ancestor being shoved straight through it. Ripping her arm savagely out of his chest she jumped back and
"I am the real Crimson Moon," she shouted at him furiously. "I was the leader of all those who lived on the moon. I took Gaia's offer and created the True Ancestors. I've fought gods, dragons, heroes and more. I am the one who fought the wielder of the second Magic and I'm the person who is going to revive myself and take this world for my own."
She stood there breathing quickly despite having barely having exerted herself and then suddenly her figure was cut off as scalding water erupted beneath her burning with lava-like heat. The eruption ceased and she stared into the eyes of Shirou; as he hovered above the water, his wings of ice having disappeared and his bleeding having ceased. Then he laughed, with a tone of relief layered in that laugh.
"You really need to learn when to confirm your kills," Shirou said smiling at her. "But I suppose you can't help. After all you're so young."
She lost it at that moment and lunged forward releasing all those subconscious limitations and letting her anger empower her blows. But they didn't connect as at the moment of impact Shirou stepped through her guard and drove both of his fists into the stomach with such power that her organs nearly ruptured. Fighting through the pain she lashed a fist up at his face which he calmly sidestepped and retaliated with a punch that fractured her jaw and caused her head to whip to the side. He didn't pause as he swiped her legs out from underneath her causing her to fall into the water, or she would have if he didn't summon a spike of ice beneath her throat impaling her on it.
She yanked the spike out of her throat just in time to get brutally kicked in the chin, and she watched in almost slow motion as the Magician grabbed her by the face deliberately puncturing her eyes and threw her backwards. It was at this point she lost her mind to rage. She was Crimson Moon; she would not be kicked around like some second-rate streetfighter. Thrusting her hands forward she created the closes thing to a natural nuclear explosion that could have ever occurred on earth. She could feel her own skin flake and blister away as a flash of blinding light followed by a wave of heat and force washed over the area. Her eyes regenerate to the sight of a giant whirlpool where the Magician was standing and she sighed in satisfaction.
"No seriously, you really need to start confirming your kills," Shirou said and she whirled to look at the sight of a Magician who was mostly unharmed, the damage to his clothing being the only evidence that he'd even been in a fight.
"How did you," she said not even being able to finish a sentence.
"A Magician never reveals his tricks," he said with a smug grin. "But if you want a hint," he said, leaning forward conspiringly. "I did it when you took your eyes off me."
She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again. "I've had enough of you, insulting me, mocking me, claiming I'm not Crimson Moon. I'll show you I'm Crimson Moon," she said extending her arm and pointing a finger at the sky. Shirou idly looked up to see the approaching form of the moon. "Let's see how you stop this. The other could barely stop it and it aged him to near death. Will you be able to do any better Shirou Inke? Do you think you can oppose my power?"
"I don't need to," Shirou said as he extended a finger pointing behind her.
"I'll be taking care of it," a dangerously awake Arcueid Brunestud said as she raised her arm and the moon stopped its advance.
"Wait, how are you awake?" Crimson Moon said as she felt her plans falling apart all around her.
"I simply broke her chains when you weren't looking," Shirou said as the moon retreated. He waved his fingers and the ocean moved accordingly. "You were so focused on me that you forgot to keep an eye on her."
The moon retreated and Arcueid focused on the duo before her. "Hey Shirou," she said. "Who is this?"
"A portion of the leftover thoughts and desires that were left behind by Crimson Moon," Shirou said. "It's also encompasses the part of you that lusts for blood."
"I did notice my head felt a bit clearer," Arcueid said as if thinking aloud. "So what do we do with it?"
"You lie," the fake Crimson Moon yelled above the sounds of the waves. "I am the real Crimson Moon," she said and for the first time in their fight there was a note of hysteria beneath the rage. "I'll kill her and then I'll be the real Crimson Moon. Then I'll own the world and…"
"No," Shirou said and she turned to look at him. Any traces of good humour were gone from his face to be replaced by a look of pity. "No you won't, you can't. You're not alive, you never did exist. You only fooled yourself into believing you did."
"I won't accept that," she yelled and summoned the winds to shred him to the bone. It failed. Then she summoned enough lighting to melt his nerves. It failed. Combustion failed. Gravity failed. She even tried drowning him which unsurprisingly failed. "Why," she said her voice hoarse. "Why, why, why?"
"Because you never had any power of your own. You merely leached off Arcueid's. Once she is awake you go back to being just a part of her dream," he said while walking towards her.
"I don't want that," she said in a soft voice. "I can't endure this," she pleaded.
"There is another option," Shirou said equally quietly, his voice full of melancholy.
"I want that," she said immediately in a brittle tone.
She heard a familiar click behind her, the same one that she had heard many times as she, as Arcueid watched Shirou do weapons maintence and she could almost envision the cold steel behind her head.
"Thank you," she thought and then she thought no more.
xxx
Two people materialised in the darkness of the night. The surroundings that they appeared were ruined but neither of them was surprised to see no police at the scene on a night like this.
"Are you okay Shirou," the woman with long blonde hair said to her compatriot with short red hair.
"I will be," he replied.
"You couldn't have done anything more," she said reassuringly.
"Not with the amount of time that I have," he said and for a moment he looked murderous. "Fuck this war, fuck those vampires, fuck that dragon bitch, fuck everything." He clenched his fists but didn't do anything further. "Arcueid go to my house," he said quickly. "The last grail is there, beneath the pantry. Hurry."
She nodded and threw him one last concerned look before fading into the night. As soon as she left Shirou turned and walked in another direction.
Author Note: Yeah this chapter. Please tell me whether I pulled it off or not.
YuukiAsuna-Chan: Hoped this chapter satisfied you then. It's an inherent problem with stories with a lot of characters. I feel I have to switch to remind readers that a single character does not exist in a vacuum.
SentinalSlice: He's actually far more lucky than canon-Shirou or Archer, he just has the fortune to stumble into interesting adventures. Not to mention his actual version of luck is far closer to divine providence. Out-of-universe I just really don't want to deal with the absurdity of the Nasuverse luck rankings.
DPSS: I can confirm no Chaldea showing up. If everything goes right they won't have to correct it. If everything goes wrong, well there would be not 2015.
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