Arc 1: Welcome to Shibuya
4/13 Wednesday ?
The smell that went through Shirou's nostril made him wrinkled his nose, lips pulling down and eyes scrunched tight. With his eyes closed he could tell that the smell wasn't something normal people would've been capable of picking up. The stink had a surreal feeling to it, it hit his 'other' sense and made him realize that the smell was laced with magic. In the real world he had discovered that he could smell the ozone changing whenever a magus started to use magecraft around him. It wasn't anything impressive as he could pick up only a single scent and if he wasn't aware of anything magical happening, then he would simply ignore it.
But in the Distorted World it was much more potent.
He opened his eyes, nose creased up and he felt his throat tightening. There was a scent of roses combined with a strong odor of sweaty musk, this was accompanied by the stink of lubricant. But worse of all was the reeked of rotting flesh and blood, it was as if the smell rolled off like waves and crashed into him.
He shook his head and looked up, his eyes broaden by a fraction and he took a step back. A large and wide castle was in placed of the school building, it was grey and roughly made. Large spotlights highlighted in pinkish colors hid away these facts under pretenses. The cloudy red sky swirled around the castle's tower, as if it was the center of the whole world.
The Distorted World of Kamoshida—his world.
"So this…this is what he sees the school as…" Shirou righted himself and narrowed his eyes. "How fitting…"
"W-What's going on!?" Suzui's voice made him flinch, turning his head towards her. He looked at the girl as she walked away from the alleyway they had been and closer to the castle. Her steps were light, body arching back as she looked at the large structure, her hands trembled tightly as she held his phone. She turned towards him with shaking eyes. "Emiya! What is this!?"
'Damn it! I dragged her here!' He bared his teeth as he saw the girl's wide and wet eyes—
This was just the worse possible outcome. An innocent person had been dragged into a world she shouldn't have any part of. He ground his teeth tightly, eyebrows narrowing as a cold sweat roll down his cheek. He focused on the shaking girl, noticing her pupils dilating.
If Forte found out that Suzui was pulled alongside him into this world then she would be killed. Alongside his family and the same with hers, the same for his own mind but that wasn't important. He took a step towards, he needed to calm her down.
He walked slowly towards her, raising his hands up to his chest, palms opened wide. The girl backed away slowly, bringing her hands and his phone closed to her chest as she looked at him with narrowed eyes. The girl's feet touched the wooden bridge that allowed for access to the castle.
"Suzui-san, easy…take it easy. I'll explain everything, just tak—!"
BOOM! KRASH!
Both teenagers flinched, Shirou's eyes flared when the wall behind her collapse. Through the smoke and debris, something disgusting, slimy and writhing moved like lightning, it wrapped around Suzui's body so fast that she barely even blinked.
"Wha—!?" The girl trailed off as she saw it, a massive tentacle—it's width being comparable a person's torso—enveloped her torso roughly. It was wet, expanding and shrinking back to normal as if it were breathing. The appendage looked like an octopus tentacle, but colored purplish black and with yellow highlights. Spiky bits stabbed into Suzui's flesh as numb and soft face, mouth hanging opened and eyes nearly popping out of her skull.
And before he even had the chance to scream for her the tentacle retracted itself. It went back to the castle.
"SUZUI!"
She was going to die!
She was going to die!
She was going to die!
She was going to die—! She was about to be dragged into that castle and be torn apart! An innocent bystander was going to die because of him.
She was going to die…
"…and there's nothing you can do, right? This is beyond you, correct?"
'OF COURSE NOT!'
He gritted his teeth, his eyes focused on Suzui's, her eyes wide and full of fear. Her eyes pleaded with him, begging for him to do something.
'There's nothing I could do…?'
He raised his right foot and launched it forward, prepared to take his first step. This was his first step to answer Suzui's call.
"AAAAAAAAIIH!" Suzui cried out as she was dragged back to one of the opened doors in the entrance of the castle.
'This is beyond me…!?'
His right foot slammed roughly against the street pavement, cracking under its pressure and tearing it apart. He could feel the impact deep into his bones, the stinging sensation of the kinetic force traveling all throughout his body, the shocking pain of his bones cracking and breaking— he ignored it. There was no time to waste with such a trivial matter.
He propelled himself forward, using the force and pain as fueled.
"I WILL SAVE YOU!"
In a single step, he had crossed twenty meters.
In a single moment, his body lit into azure flames.
In a single cry—Suzui looked at him with hope in her eyes.
Bursting from the blue fire, he was empowered by his attire in the distorted world. With a second step he made it to the castle's massive entrance door just as the tentacle holding Suzui twisted and turned to enter the castle proper. The two doors leading into the inside of the castle slammed shut by themselves, as if acknowledging him as an intruder. They would not allow for him to enter, sealing him away.
"As if I give a damn!" Two swords burst in a green electrical explosion into Shirou's awaiting hands, Kanshou and Bakuya answered his call and clenched his hands around them. Like lightning he slammed into the massive doors and twisted. White and black slashes ran into the doors until they were cut into ribbons, exploding into splinters as he charged through the destruction.
He slid through the beautifully polish and clean tile floor, body low, metal boots grinding along the floor and leaving a mark. A second later the splinters he had passed through flew by him, dirtying the floor. He looked and saw the castle entrance, for a second, he narrowed his eyes as he how the lobby truly befitted Kamoshida.
'Gaudy and disgusting—!'
"EMIY—!" His eyes snapped to his right, just in time to see Suzui be dragged away by the tentacle into another door. The girl disappeared through the dark door and he swerved his sliding to take after her, but at the moment he took his first step black and red substance flooded the front of the door the girl had been taken through. In less than a moment the substance exploded, revealing seven silver knights. Their cold and expressionless faces turned towards him. One of them, the one closest to him raised his sword in warning.
"How dare you enter king Kamosh—GahhhahrYAH!"
He didn't even finished as a red and black blurred barreled into him. Shirou digging his blades into the knight, gritted his teeth as the two fell onto the floor. Before the knight's armored hit the tile floor, he was sliced him into two when Shirou rolled away from him and right into the middle of the crowd of knights. The other of the knights flinched at the violent displayed and moved to take him down, all of them raising their swords. But—
"You're—!" Recovering from his rolled in a blink of an eye, he planted his feet down on the floor cracking it, using his forward momentum to twist his body as he held Kanshou and Bakuya crossed before him he spun in place. His eyes flashed, his mask disappearing as a pillar of blue fire erupted from him, knocking the knights off balance. "—IN THE WAY!"
Letting go, he became a hurricane.
Black and white.
Yin and Yang.
Kanshou and Bakuya.
They cut through the knights like wet tissue paper, their severed body pieces spun in air as Shirou burst forward in one single, fluid movement and went through the door Suzui was taken into. The 'clank-clank-clank!' of the destroyed armor pieces was completely ignored as Shirou moved.
There was no time to look back. His body was a storm with no equal and no stopping. He sprinted down the stairs, bursting into some dungeon with strong currents of water cascading all around. He dug his heels on the ground to stop himself from falling into the current of water right in front of the entrance. He looked around and saw that there were cells all around, mostly empty—but he ignored all of that as he saw Suzui being dragged still deeper into the dungeon. With his teeth bared he gave chase.
He was fluid like water and sharp as his blades with his movement as he jumped all over the dungeon in pursuit for Suzui. His eyes were focused on the girl's own, everything else was inconsequential. Enemy knights attempted to stop him, but they were cut down before they could even act as he blitzed passed them. Obstacles were jumped over or even ignored as he crashed into them without care. He ran with reckless abandon as he continued to chase after the tentacle and Suzui, going further down the dungeon.
His only objective was securing Suzui to safety.
The tentacle twisted and entered into a giant darken cell. Shirou stabbed his blade into the floor to drift into the cell without stopping—but…
"Ghk—!?" His feet stepped onto something wet and slippery, nearly losing his balance he planted his feet down on the wet floor and felt the liquid splatter onto his body. Skidding to a stop, he wobbled a little from left to right. He kept his eyes on the capture Suzui until she came to a stop in mid-air, the quivering tentacle swayed from side to side hypnotically. His eyebrows went down, eyes narrowing as he took a step forward. From underneath were Suzui was a red light snapped into existence and illuminated the area.
Shirou took another step forward, and stopped when he noticed his now illuminated surroundings.
Corpses. Corpses. And even more corpses filled the darken red area.
All of the corpses and the redness of all the blood bathed every inch of the floor, walls, roof. The corpses themselves were bright red and exuded so much blood that the room had sunken with the amount of gore present. His ears picked up a noise, 'Schlk! Krsh! Schlk! Schlk! Krsh! Schlk!' —he turned his head to look at the direction of the noise and—
"Wh—WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?" Suzui's loud scream wasn't even loud enough to drown out the munching and squelching sounds surrounding them.
Wriggling and munching around were aquatic looking creatures, they all filled the room as they ate with careless abandon on the corpses. The creatures, blacked like the tentacle holding Suzui hostage and standing on their numerous tentacles leaned forward, using their limbs grasped and pushed away other monster to gobble big portions of their meals with the oval mouth and innumerous sharp teeth. It was a horror show, monsters through and through—enough to induce insanity at the revolting sight.
He froze as at that moment, his brain caught on with the moment—and all his senses exploded.
The stench of blood and decay assaulted his nose.
The touch of thick liquid and raw meat under his boots.
The taste of the horrors that had managed to slip into his mouth as the monsters greedily ate.
It was enough to want to make him wretch.
But, he couldn't afford to that—his eyes focused on the shaking and pale Suzui. The girl looked like catatonic patient as her eyes stared at the horror show.
"Suzui-san." He called out loudly and with enough force that the girl look into his golden brown eyes. Even though her gaze was shaky and unfocused, he could tell she was listening. So he took a step forward and gave a strained smile. "Don't worry, I'll save you."
Her shaky gaze focused on him, she looked at him with wet and tearful eyes. He leaned forward and got ready to charge, eyes focused on the girl. 'Bulbl-bulbl-bulbl!' the noise made Shirou stop, eyes narrowing as the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight.
Following the sound, he saw the bloody river bubbling beneath Suzui—within moments, a man ascended from the gore. Dressed in garments that were odd and queer, his luxurious robe was of ancient design with sanguineous scarlet patterns that adorned the pitch-black fabric. The dyed crimson red on the cloth looked more like stains of blood than just any design choice, the smell helped confirmed that point. The figure stood atop one of the aquatic monstrosity—it looked as if he had crawled out from its mouth but his robe obscure the visual image. However, despite the show of standing on top the creature it was obvious that the man was incredibly tall with two pale muscle arms that stuck out of his cloths.
His features were dreadful, unhealthy pale, like a corpse. But his large and bulging eyes told a different story. They stared down with freakish focus at Suzui above, as worshiping her with a child-like glee. The girl recoiled back in horror at the intense gaze. For the man, he took great pleasure in that reaction.
Shirou's eyes went wide at this—because he felt something from that 'man'. And it was that man wasn't man—but a Servant.
Servants, powerful familiars controlled by Masters during a Holy Grail War via Command Spells, the Master's right to rule. It was supposedly the only place a Servant would appear, after all, Servants were Heroic Spirits, beings cut off from the time axis and can be summoned in any era, regardless of past and future. And such powerful beings would only heed the call for battle if something of great value was presented to them—The Holy Grail, where their wishes could be obtained should they win the War.
But in the distorted world, there existed no such thing as far as the Mage's Association past investigations were concern. So it was mystery why Servants would appear alongside Shades in the Distorted Labyrinth. Inside the Labyrinth, the Servants were Blackened, corrupted and not fully form as their Saint Graph was incomplete and even at times deteriorated. So it made it 'easy' to face any stray Servant inside the Labyrinth—as far as easy meant when dealing with a Servant was.
But inside the Distorted Marbles was a different story. Even though he had been forced to go inside his father's world, he never met the Servant dwelling inside. The mages had confirmed the presence of a Servant, a fully fledge and powerful Servant at that, but they couldn't pin-point its location. Because of it, he never had the chance to see a true Servant.
But now it was different, he didn't like it at all.
'Who is he!?'
The Servant ignored him as he raised his right hand up towards Suzui, the girl gasped and tried to squirmed away from the hand. She let out a scream as the tentacle holding her descended, her breath was caught in her throat as it tightened. Her eyes were wide as saucer plates, her skin deathly white as she was forced to stared into the bulging eyes of the Servant. Elongated nails scooped Suzui's young chin, forcing her to loo directly into the Servant's grinning visage. His eyes glowed brightly as he inspected her.
"OOOooo! A real woman…a woman made of flesh and blood…AAAAAaa! This could be it! The chance I had long for!" The mad Servant's screeched, his cheeks pulling up even more as he grinned further. He moved his other hand to touch Suzui's right cheek, the girl shaking as sweat rolled off her skin—
SHKPLANG!
The place Shirou had been standing in exploded as he burst forward. Debris, blood, gore and horrors flew through the air as he shot off like a bullet towards the Servant with abandon. For Shirou, there was no time to think or even time to analyze the situation or even consider the dangers of fighting against a Servant—something he had been warned not to engaged by the most cautious of mages and his own parents.
…Servants are above human capabilities, you will die if you engaged a proper Servant in direct combat…
Those were the warnings he had received. He had taken them to heart—after all, he couldn't die until he was sure he had succeeded in his mission and saved his family. But now wasn't the time to worry about his mortality. He just needed to save the person in front of him.
That is all.
Kanshou and Bakuya cut through the air as he missile into the Servant. He was barely five meters away from them and—
"Go away." The Servant flicked a finger in his direction casually—
Every single instinct in Shirou roared to him that there was danger to his right. Spinning in mid-air, he was met with one of the aquatic monsters—its mouth wide as dozen of its sharp teeth glistened brightly with its drool and blood. It barreled into him, throwing him off course as its tentacles wrapped around one of his arms and the rest of his body. He was helplessly pinned in place as the two crashed into the floor, Shirou felt his ribs nearly crush under the weight of the creature as they skidded through the bloody and corpse filled floor.
The monster lunged it's 'head' forward as it attempted to bite Shirou's face off. With gritted teeth, he swung his free arm and stabbed Bakuya into the monsters mouth, it squealed in pain as its black blood gushed out and drenched Shirou in its substance. The hold over his body lessened slightly and he didn't waste the opportunity given to him—bending his knees so his feet could touch the floor and use his neck to keep the rest of his back away from the gory floor, he propelled himself into the air. The weight on his stomach unbearable, but thinking quickly with his other hand, he flipped Kanshou and sliced the tentacles off.
Freed from the monster he flipped around, using the blood and wet texture of the monster to slide away, he backflip in midair and using the momentum he kicked the creature away as he landed on a slippery and gore coated wall. He glared at the Servant, seeing the 'Heroic' Spirit smiled at the terrified Suzui. Stomping on the wall hard, Shirou shot once more towards his target.
The Servant noticed him again and looked at him, his grin sagging as he regarded the redhead with an expression that was almost carve out of stone. "Hmm? Still here?"
From the blood soaked floor, seven of those very same creatures spawned—all of them catapulted up in the air and surrounding the redhead. Shirou's eye broadened at the surprise attack. All the monsters screeched loudly as their maws were opened wide and they lung forward. But—
Focusing, the redhead spun midair like a cyclone—his blades cutting into the creatures leaving trails of black blood flying everywhere and the ear-piercing screeches to fill the room. His spinning stopped as Kanshou got stuck on one of the closer monsters to his right while his body was awkwardly rotated, the creature screeched at him and unleashed its tentacles at him like thrown javelins. All of the appendages were aimed for his stomach, chest, neck and head—he had less than a second to react, using his momentum and the blade impaled on the monster to catapult himself above the tentacle he dodged the killing blows and flew away from the ambush spot in the air.
In mid-air he looked back at the now colliding monsters. With Bakuya being the only weapon he had on hand at the moment, he pulled his arm back and threw it. The blade arc through the horror filled room, cutting apart the disoriented monsters.
He landed swiftly, blood splattering up—Shirou stared back at his reddish reflection from the crimson liquid and caught sight of movement in it. He looked up and saw another creature that had sneaked up on him, throwing itself at him just like the others to eat him. He flexed his empty hands—he weaponless and vulnerable.
Shirou stared at certain death as he was incapable of defending or countering this attack. Suzui opened her mouth to scream for him as her eyes widened when the creature got less than a meter away from him.
It was a checkmate—the bug eye Servant smiled at this, ready to say something as he would be slowly eaten and killed.
'This situation is no problem at all.'
"Trace—!"
The aquatic monstrosity screeched as it was mere inches from his face—it's tentacles already enrapturing around him.
"ON!"
And just like that he was armed once more, Kanshou and Bakuya moved, black and white filled his vision, his arms felt as if they were going to be ripped from their sockets and the monster was cut into pieces. He burst through the bloody and chunky remains before they even had time to start falling, he felt the blood and cut pieces of the monster soak his form, but he ignored it as he shot off like a bullet. The Servant looked at him with that stony expression again, this time paying more attention to him and narrowing his bulging eyes.
Shirou readied his blades as he grew nearer to his target. 'That's right keep looking at me…don't pay any attention to Suzui until I can get her to safety.'
More monsters burst into action. Shirou seeing the danger, jumped back as three of the aquatic creatures slammed into the spot he had been mere moments ago. Backflipping, he let Kanshou and Bakuya fly—the black and white blade both eagerly cutting and ripping the monsters flesh apart. Shirou landed and moved as the monsters kept up their attack, he looked at the large number of enemies and gritted his teeth.
"If that's the case…" And suddenly, his hands held Kanshou and Bakuya once more—but this time, he held three copies of each blade in his hands. "Let's even the odds!"
He threw them, the blades flew. The sound squelching and dripping was filled with whizzing of sharp swords flying like a hurricane, cutting everything in their path and rendering the monsters to screeching messes. Shirou landed once more, his hands once more filled with six swords—he looked to the awestruck Suzui, he moved towards her as he threw the blades back into the fray.
Kanshou and Bakuya, the two married blades that would forever attempt to find each other no matter the distance or direction they had been hurled from. This made a single pair useful for surprise tactics in a fight—but eight became a chaotic mayhem of slashes and death. He dashed forwards while behind him, all the monsters had been shredded, sliced and stabbed—the aquatic creatures all screeched loudly in pain as all the swords thrown had plunge into some of them and pinned them in place, stopping their attempts to pursue him.
Everything blurred into motion as Shirou shot towards the Servant uninterrupted, the Servant looked down at him with narrowed eyes. The redhead bared his teeth as pushed he re-projected two more of the pair blades. 'Now to save Suzu—!'
"What's this? More intruders?"
A familiar voice made him recoil just in time for his ears to pick up the loud 'SQUILCHRGH!' from behind him. He skidded to a stop mere meters away from the Servant and Suzui, he spun around and was caught off guard when golden knight with a red plum on its helm filled his vision. His eyes broadened as a blur of movement had him hurriedly raised his blades to defend from the golden blade that dropped down on him like hammer.
CLANG!
Shirou's knees buckled from the blow that the knight gave him. He was given no time to recover as the knight used its left arm to ram it's shield into his stomach. "GRUARGH!" blood and spit spurted from Shirou's mouth as he was sent flying back, swords falling from his grasp and skidding through the bloody floor on his back. He cough violently as his body was drenched in the gore, glaring at the red dripping ceiling, he slammed his elbows on the wet floor and spun onto his knees to fully stop his movement.
He coughed some more and shook his head as his mask finally manifested back to him. He growled at the knight that had thrown his efforts to save Suzui back to zero, looking around and noticing that he was a mere meters away from the monsters he had defeated. Surrounded by the screeching monsters Shirou looked at Suzui, who wasn't looking at him and instead was seeing something beyond him. He turned to followed her gaze and found the ruler of this distorted world.
Kamoshida strolled forward casually, a giant cocky grin on his face and proudly displaying the crown on his head, signifying his position clearly—his body bared except for the shiny heart decorated cape, speedo and brown shoes. The king was accompanied by five silver knights who moved protectively around the ruler. Kamoshida stopped looked in distaste at the bloody and gory room with bright yellow eyes.
"Humph, Caster! I told you to clean up this mess! A king shouldn't suffer to such a sight!"
Caster let out a 'OOooaaa!' at the words, whining as if he were a dog. The Servant gestured for the tentacle holding Suzui to lower and present her. "My apologies Suguru-sama, but…I simply didn't have the time when this beautiful gift presented herself into your wonderous castle!"
Kamoshida's Shade caught a good look at the bruised and shaking Shiho. "Humph, that bitch wandered here? Hah! I knew I would get my complete payback with you, fucking tramp!"
The king raised his right hand up, with a grin he snapped his fingers loudly. A second passed and immediately the sounds of dozens of running footsteps filled the darken area as a large crowd appeared behind the mad king.
"Those…are the volleyball team members…" Suzui gasped, her eyes sagging as she watched dozens of males students dressed in the school gym uniform shivering and moaning from all the bruises they sported. Kamoshida smirked at them and pointed forward.
"Build me a bridge to cross this disgusting floor you peasants!"
"O-Of course your highness!" Was the united high-pitched cry from all the abused volleyball team players. Like a united front they ran forward, one student laid down facing down on the gory floor right before Kamoshida—then another did the same beside the first one, then another, then another, then another. They kept doing this until they created a passage that laid straight towards the Servant.
Kamoshida grinned as he began walking over them, he made sure to ground his heel on them as he walked. Shirou gritted as he stood up, ready to intervene—he felt a sudden chill crawl up his spine and he jumped to his right just in time to see a silver knight slam down with his sword right where he was moments ago. Shirou skidded to a stop, snapping his head towards the five knights that swaggered towards him with their weapons read. While this occurred, Kamoshida reached Caster and Suzui stepping over the students makeshift bridge and staircase to stand on the same level as the two.
"Oh Suzui! Look at how the mighty have fallen!" Kamoshida mocked with a sharp grin, his face twisting into wrinkly crease as he gritted his teeth. He pulled his left hand over his head and 'SMACK!' backhanded the girl, her head snapping to the right and blood spilling out of her mouth. Suzui's eyes were wide, a choke gasp struggling to escape her chest as the stinging pain on her cheek and metallic taste of blood was savored by her tongue. Her hair was grabbed cruelly and was forced to look into the king's eyes, her gaze trembled as tears fell from her eyes. "You fucking whore! How dare you humiliate me! ME! In my own castle! Yo—!"
"KAMOSHIDA!" The king recoiled and let go of the girl as he turned towards the redhead with a raised brow. Shirou just gritted his teeth, glad that he managed to get the attention away from Suzui—but frustrated that he had been unable to defend or help the girl. He focused on the king, still keeping an eye out for the knights as he began to formulate a plan.
He needed to keep the attention on himself for now—so he re-projected Kanshou and Bakuya, seeing the knights tense up and ready to burst into action. He kept calm as Kamoshida's eyes widened in recognition.
"Hoh? Well, well, if it isn't the handyman!"
Shirou narrowed his eyes at man, taking slow steps towards the right as he tried to get closer to the Suzui and find an opening to rescue her. "Handyman?"
"That's what I, the king, have decreed you as! After all, you're the only student worth a damn in my castle…aside from the girls of course." Kamoshida grinned lecherously as he turned and looked at Suzui as he licked his lips with his tongue, leaving a trail of saliva on his lips and drooling down his chin. The girl bowed her head, her body shaking and light gasp escaping her lips as she sweated profusely. Shirou bared his teeth at the changed of attention, he needed his attention back on himself.
"Let Suzui go Kamoshida."
"Humph, you presume to order me around? Me!? The King!? Hah! I must have given you way to much credit if your that much of a fucking retard!" The king sneered at him, before showing a big smile. He turned toward Caster. "Hey, how about you show these two what you've been working on Bluebeard-kun…I want to see their reaction."
Shirou narrowed his gaze at the nickname, biting his lips as he continued to close the distance.
"Oooo?" Caster bulging eyes widened even further as a child-like smile blossomed on his stony face. "My Master….your kindness knows bound! AAAAAAaaa to allow me the chance to show to others my attempts at sacrilege, at playing God! OOoooo! Let your eyes feast upon the creations of a creator! Look—!"
Caster spread his arms wide, on his right hand dark purplish energy gathered and formed a book, it was grasped by elongated nails and opened. Suzui throat contracted, a vile rose through her gullet as tears spewed out of her trembling eyes when she saw the rotten, red and purple human skinned book, a face with its mouth wide open was the cover for the horror. Caster howled as the booked glowed and the gory room trembled slightly. Shirou gritted his teeth, tensing as a few meters to his left he saw a figure rising from the gory floor. He recoiled when he saw twenty other figures rising around the horrific cell. Blood cascaded from the figures, chunks and slime ran down until the figures were revealed to the world.
"What…is this…?"
The twenty one bodies were all misshapen corpses, cut and stitched together with worm like tentacles writhing around and keeping the different body parts stuck together. Every single one of those pale corpses were woman, hair a different shade of blond and their features deformed, yet with a hint of familiarity. It was as if Caster had been trying to create a face from memory and used up all the skins from all the bodies thrown around in the room. Even the way the bodies were stuck together wasn't pleasant, underneath their skin something moved—and through gashes of the skin he saw the trails of small tentacles roaming around. It was a twisted and horrendous attempt at playing Frankenstein, their glazy eyes devoid of any light as they twitched and writhed with the tentacles underneath their skin.
"Behold!" The mad Caster screamed in grandiose abandon as he spread his arm to present the horror before him. "The blasphemous mockery towards God! My attempt to create the noble saint who was burned by the stake! See and wretched at the beauty of Virgin Saint!"
Suzui's breath were heavy, shakily she turned towards the gleeful Caster as her skin turned even paler. "Why…why would you do something so horrible!"
Caster's faced her with a grin. "Why? Because pursuing the beauty of God and damned it to sacrilege would be the greatest offense I could give to Him!"
He reached for her with his left hand, long pointy nails scraping her skin when he grasped her chin. "…ghi…!"
"And with a girl such as yourself, someone closed to the age of when my dear Saint had died…a girl from the real world…someone like you could be the final ingredient I need to bring my holy woman back!" Caster's grin became manic. "With your heart, I will be able to corrupt and disgrace the saint of God!"
Shirou had enough of this, he had found an open path for him to charge in through. Green magical circuits traveled down to his legs, reinforcing them, he lunged forward like bullet. He avoided all of the horrible bodies put on the display as he—
CLANG!
"Grghk—!" Shirou grunted as he pushed back by the golden knight and skidded back through the gory ground. He came to a stop and glared at the sauntering knight.
"You shall not passed you dirty mongrel!" The knight roared as his golden armor bleed black and red, exploding violently, revealing a towering knight with two horns and a cape, riding a massive horse as it neighed loudly. The horned knight raised its long spear and lunged it at him. Shirou grunted as he backflipped away, avoiding certain death from the massive enemy. Landing once more, his eyes narrowed behind his mask as he noticed he was surrounded by the horned knight and the silver knights.
Kamoshida smiled at the tensed standoff and turned to Caster. "How about I help you with returning your saint to you?"
The Servant turned towards the king with glistening eyes. "OoooOO! How kind of you Suguru-kun!"
Kamoshida grinned widely, his teeth showing as he narrowed his eyes towards the agitated Suzui. He brought his right hand up and snapped his fingers. The 'SNAP!' echoed through the hellish cell, disappearing through the exit and dimming as it bounced off the walls. The noise was soon replaced by clumsy steps and loud throaty giggles that filled the horrifying room, immediately breaking the tense situation as a blonde girl in a skimpy magenta bikini appeared through the opening of the cell. The blonde ran on top all the bridge of male students, waving her arms around and making her breasts bounced with each steps.
Shirou's eyes widened as he recognized the girl. "That's…"
"A-Ann…!?" Suzui gasped complete as her eyes followed the blonde run, tripping over her high heels and giggling as she recovered before she fully fell. The girl reached Kamoshida, jumped and wrapped her entire body over his. Tip toeing and cooing into his face, she bounced up and down, rubbing her breasts over his muscular chest.
"Kamoshida~sama~!" Takamaki moaned as bit her lips with half-lidded eyes, her words were slurred like a cheesy porn actress. She stuck her tongue out and started to wiggle it around. "I missed you~!" Then she smacked her mouth against the curly hair king's mouth. Kamoshida's yellow eyes light up, groping the blonde's rear with rough and callous hands, he pulled the girl up and looked at Suzui with a grin while kissing Takamaki.
Suzui jaw fell open ajar, her eyes trembling as she saw her friend, the one person she cared deeply for in the world, passionately kiss a man many years her senior. It made her nose crease as an acid taste rouse from her throat and made her gag. She shook her head and narrowed her eyes, clenched her teeth and leaning forward as she glared at the blonde.
"Ann…what are you doing!?"
The blonde's blue eyes locked in with her brown ones and Ann broke the kiss with the older man. She licked her bruised lips, leaning back as she held Kamoshida's neck for support and began giggling loudly. "I'm kissing my man~! What are you stupid or something Shi-chan~!"
Suzui shook, leaning back with a raised brow and tears streaming down her face. "What…what's wrong with you!?"
"She's doing what she was always meant to do. And due time I'll have the Ann from the real world begging for me to rut her like a cheap whore…it's just a matter of time." Kamoshida grinned when Suzui looked at him glazed over eyes and bowed her head. Groping the blonde in his grasp he turned towards Caster. "Let the whore drop, I wanna see her squirm like the bitch she is."
"AAAaaa! An excellent idea as always Suguru-kun!" Caster waved his hand in Suzui's direction and let her dropped onto the blood sunken floor.
The tentacle holding Suzui unfolded, leaving the girl to gasp loudly as air pour through her now free lungs. She dropped, eyes broad and hands reaching for something to grab on to, until 'SPLAGCHT!'. The girl flayed around, feeling wet and sticky liquid crush her until she sat up abruptly, shaking her head with her eyes closed as her eyelids were weighted down and began coughing into her left forearm—she stopped when she tasted a sour metallic liquid stain her taste buds. She opened eyes, seeing red liquid drooled from her eyelashes—she trembled as her eyes looked down at her body.
Her white school sweater was drenched in blood, completely red, and her waist was half submerged on the river of gore in her seated state. She stared at her body, illuminated by the phone Shirou had given her earlier, seeing her chest rising and falling quickly as it became hard to breath. Until—
"A…aah…AAAAAAAAAHH!" She screeched, her vocal cords groaning in protest as the girl cried and shook from the gore violating her body. Laughter made her look away from all the blood and towards the sound, she saw Ann laughing at her.
"Ah sheesh~! You're so stupid Shi~chan~! Like seriously, defying Kamoshida, is like totally, not cool at all~! You're so retarded~! Retard, retard~! Hihihihi~!"
Suzui's skin paled, her eyes shrinking as the laughter hit her and she looked down. She bit her lip, tasting the horror that had marred her form and feeling her tears mix in with the gore.
"And now…" Kamoshida grinned down at the dark hair girl, licking his lips. "I want her to be completely defiled, give me a show Bluebeard!"
Caster smiled, his lips making his eyes crinkle as his round eyes trembled. Turning with the human-skin book in hand he pointed it towards the Suzui's direction. The book opened, pages scripted with unreadable words and symbols flipped rapidly until it reached the half of the book and glowed black. 'SPLURCH! and four tentacles sprouted out, all twitching and writhing as they darted towards the shaking girl. It reached her, wrapping themselves around her shins and thighs, the appendages on the upper part of her legs began to massage her skin and rise up.
"Her tears, her sorrow, her despair…all of this violation and blasphemous acts she will suffer…it will be…sublime!"
Shirou was sent flying back once more, glaring at the horned knight before flipping midair and landing on his knees. He got up and looked around to see he was surrounded by various bicorns—the silver knights had transformed to overwhelm him earlier—and now stalked towards him. Shirou's gaze looked past his enemies and his heart began to crash against his ribcage when he saw Suzui being lifted off from the bloody floor slightly via four tentacles—two of them slowly going up her skirt.
'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! I can't get to her like this…and if I'm not fast enough then she…' He refused to let his mind wander over the possibilities as instead he focused on what he could. He noticed movement in his left and saw a bicorn trying to ram him down. He jumped over the attacking animal, landed on its back and propelled himself up into the air and away from the ambush area. 'I need her to get to her feet! If she does that, then I can use my arrows to blow those tentacles away—! But I also need her to run! She will be into much of a shock by this point and wont move, which then will lead to her being use as a hostage and going back to square fucking one! I need…
I need to inspire her…I need to get her angry, to make her realize—'
He landed on the gory ground, feeling the splashing of blood coat his form and turned towards the unmoving girl. "SUZUI! That's not TAKAMAKI!". He tensed when he heard 'splash! Splash! SPLASH!' from behind and jumped to his right as two bicorns crashed where he was. He skidded through the bloody floor and turned towards the girl. "SUZUI! You need to wake up! That's not her and you know it!"
"…" The girl barely moved at his words and he growled, fist clenching tightly and his feeling the veins in his head throbbed as blood began to pump quickly. He needed to hit closer to home if he wanted a reaction. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he whirled around to the blade tip of the spear from the horned knight with his blades. He glared at the knight, baring his teeth and then he let his head tilt towards Suzui.
"Suzui you said you wanted to save your friend from Kamoshida! So WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
She flinched, her glazed eyes gaining a shine to them as she looked at him. "Ann…"
He screamed loudly, the muscle in his biceps tearing and the floor beneath breaking as he pushed forward, slashing his blades in a cross he broke the deadlock he and the horn knight were in. The knight recoiled and Shirou jumped, landing on the head of the massive stead, then launching himself up once more and planting his metal boot on its helm. He ground his foot on the knight as it growled at him, then propelled himself into the sky.
He looked at the dazed Suzui, took a deep breath and—
"Are you going to let her become Kamoshida's plaything—OR ARE YOU GOING TO SAVE HER LIKE YOU WANT!"
And with those words, Suzui's eyes were glistening with light.
'Good, now I'll switch the blades for my bow and—what…!? What's happening!? Wai…could this be…' Shirou hesitated for a brief second as he saw Suzui glow, the distraction cost him "Gragh!" a bicorn crashed into his back and sent him rocketing towards the floor. He slid on his through the bloody ground, then flipped to his feet, stumbling back and his back touching the bloody wall behind him. He noted the enemies all surrounding him and smirking—but despite this, his focus was entirely on Suzui. "It's just…just like what happened to me…"
Shiho Suzui was burning blue.
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"Are you going to let her become Kamoshida's plaything—OR ARE YOU GOING TO SAVE HER LIKE YOU WANT!"
Shiho recoiled at the worlds, gasped and clenched her hands.
'He's absolutely right. How could I lose my cool like that? How could I give up so easily, when Ann is suffering and being mocked constantly? It's so stupid! I'm…I'm not going to give in! I'm not going to let that pig win!'
Her vision which was filled with red burned away into blue.
"My, my it has taken you far too long…" A voice purred from within Suzui's head. The girl gasped, eyes flashing yellow, her head throbbing as if someone was driving a screwdriver through it. Whimpering she grasped her head with both hands. "Standing by is no longer a choice you have the luxury to give…it is time to let your impatience and intolerance towards those pigs come to an end, has it not?"
…don't let yourself get run over by the circumstances…it may seem tough, but as long as you have someone you want to save…it doesn't matter how impossible the odds seem, because…even mere goodness can achieve something, right…
Those words echoed in her mind, her eyes focusing on a bright spot on the blood splattered floor. Emiya's phone laid there, the screen on and showing her a picture—his family happily smiling towards the camera. Shirou had something to protect—and so did she!
"Y-Yes…I'm done playing the meek helpless girl!" Fire began to form over her body, her face set ablaze as a form began to take shape.
"Splendid, then the contract has been made. I am thou. Thou art I. You had chosen to hide your claws in the face of adversity, must now bear them forth at all times. Sharpened thy eyes and bared your fangs! Don't let anyone fuck with us any longer!"
A mask burned onto her face, curving and forming the shape of a bird. It was reddish orange, with white highlights in the feathers of the her bird mask. Shiho glared through the eyeholes of her mask, her eyes burning brightly.
"No more…Irene Adler!"
—with that passionate cry she reached with both her hands and ripped the mask off her face.
And rising like phoenix, she burst into flames reborn anew.
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A tower of azure of fire exploded from Suzui with great force, pushing the river of blood away from her, the students that Kamoshida and Takamaki were using to stand on and burnt away the monster Caster was using to elevate himself. The king and blonde's bodies were wrapped around tentacles, keeping them from falling into the pool of blood as Caster call forth for another creature with his book, retreating back from the flames that reached up to the ceiling.
Shirou looked at fire, his mouth opened as with shaky knees he stood up. "Whoa…"
Suzui head was leaning back, staring at the ceiling as the blue fire retreated and revealed her form. She wore a beige suit over a light maroon shirt, matching suit pants, and a pair of white wingtips. A maroon coat with a strip of black fur all around the collar and down the front adorned her frame and it batted harshly against the currents of her powers. Her head tilted forward, her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at Kamoshida, her lips pulling down and baring her canine teeth. She clenched her beige color gloves tightly and turned towards the now sweating king.
"N-No…! Another one…!" Kamoshida snapped towards Caster, who stared at the girl with wide eyes and reaching out for her with his claw like hands. "H-Hey! Do something! Kill her! Kill her!"
"Could it…could it be…this fire…this spirit…my saint…?" Caster shivered as those words left his lips, Kamoshida growled at this. Holding up his right hand up, a red marking stylized like a rose glowed red. Shirou's eye's widened, tensing incredibly.
"That's a—!?"
"By the command of my Command Spell! YOUR KING ORDERS YOU TO KILL HER!" The magical mark in Kamoshida's hand glowed bright red, then burst, sending out a small red wave through the darken hellish cell. One of the petals of the kings rose stylized Command Spell darken, leaving only two sections left.
"B-But…!" Caster sputtered turning his head towards Kamoshida with his skin wrinkling as his mouth sagged. His arms pointed towards the enflame girl with his human skin book, it opened wide as a mass of tentacles sprouted from it and six of aquatic monsters spawned from the blood soaked floor. The monsters screeched loudly, jumping high and homing down towards Suzui.
The empowered girl narrowed her eyes at the incoming foes. "Stop…"
The monsters greedily opened their mouths to eat her, their tentacles spread to allow for no escape—but their efforts resulted in failure. From the fire surrounding Suzui, a figured moved with power and intent, stopping the monsters as they tried to wrapped their limbs the girl.
The creatures screech in futility as they were torn apart by the figure surrounded by crackling chains. The azure fire gave away to reveal a tall woman, slouching in midair, her maroon color Victorian dress fluttered slowly as the spectral woman twirled around her beige color, frilly coated umbrella with both of her black glove hands. She moved her right hand tipped her feather coated hat, grinning toothily as she gave the shredded monster a crooked smile. Suzui turned and glared at Kamoshida and Caster.
"I'm done being your little punching bag Kamoshida…I'll make you regret ever hurting me and everyone else! Irene!"
The large spectral woman let out a loud laughter escaped her, jumping to her feet, covering her mouth with her right hand, she spun her beige color umbrella rapidly. The umbrella spun, spun, spun until a white, glowing ring appear in the edge of the sunshade. The spectral being raised it up into the air, and then everything went white.
Everyone present was blinded as loud 'BZIT!' went off. Shirou looked down, teeth bared and used his arms to protect his eyes from the light. He looked up and caught sight of the blood soaked floor ebbing away as the light expanded, destroying all the corruption in the room with great prejudice. The blood, the corpses, the monsters and the bodies that the mad Caster had stitched together—they all disappeared under the great light.
The knight and bicorns all turned, sensing the danger towards their master. They started to move—Shirou saw this and projected his favor twin swords.
"No you don't! Trace—" Within Shirou's field of vision, he could see the shape of the blades he had thrown earlier to skewered the now vaporized monsters all stabbed into the floor. Each blade was located near a bicorn and the horned knight even as they moved. Seeing an opportunity, he acted quickly he stabbed Kanshou and Bakuya into the ground, pouring as much magical energy into the floor—green circuits spread from his arms, towards the stabbed blades, spreading through the floor and reaching for all twelve blades he had thrown. The blades glowed bright as they began to change. "OVEREDGE!"
All the copies of Kanshou and Bakuya changed from the short blades they were originally and into great jagged swords. The enemies hesitated for a moment and that was all Shirou needed, as he poured even more power through the circuits. The transformed blades all cracked—
KRASH! BOOM!
One explosions consumed a bicorn, then another consumed two. Four explosions and the enemies forces were overwhelmed—six more and they were defeated. Blue and red went off as the enemy howled in pain. Only the horned knight was left, limping and critical condition. Shirou nodded at the opportunity given and smiled.
"Emiya-kun!" Shirou perked up and turned around in time to see Suzui ran towards him through the now clear floor "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. We need to get out of here." Suzui nodded, turned away from him and looked at the blonde who was cooing and trying to reach for a red face and screaming Kamoshida. Shirou flicked his eyes from Kamoshida and Suzui, then he grabbed her arm tightly. The girl snapped her head towards him, glaring narrowly through the eyeholes of her mask. Shirou shook his head. "Don't. That's not her."
"How can you be so sure!?" She ripped her arm away from his gasp, biting her lip as she took a step towards him. "I can't leave her here if it's her!"
"You shouldn't worry so much, it's just a cognitive being. She's not the real her." A high-pitched voice made the two teenager jumped then whirled around in the direction of the voice. The two saw nothing but the walls of the cell and looked from left to right in worry. The sound of "Hrruamph!"made the two look down. They saw a bipedal cat with a large head and blue eyes stared at them with small arms crossed over its chest like a boss would do when looking down on a subordinate. A yellow bandana was wrapped around its neck and a utility belt on its waist.
"A cat…?" Shirou's eyes narrowed as he looked at the creature, his mind racing through the possibilities. He stiffened when loud 'THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!' sounded from behind him. He whirled around to see eight knights running towards them with their weapons drawn. "Damn it! Suzui-san, stand—!"
"Zorro! Show them your might!" A blue light from behind the two teenagers made them recoiled, they looked back just a strong gust of wind crashed into them and nearly made them fall on their backs. A tall and disproportionally buffed man with a long and pointy moustache that showed off its confident grin as it swiped its rapier with its too big hands in 'Z' pattern.
CRASH!
Once more, Shirou and Suzui flinched and looked back just in time to see the knights flying through the air and crashing against the hard floor. "Whoa…!" Shirou turned back towards the cat and saw it crossed its arms and squints his big blue eyes.
"I'm not a cat! The name's Morgana, so remember it well rookie!"
"Rookie…?" Shirou parroted in confusion.
'AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A loud screeched made them all turned towards Caster, the Servant howled like a rabid dog. His bulging eyes were bloodshot and moist with tears. "My saints…my SAINTS! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The book held the Caster's hand glowed black, followed by the room itself darkening and the sound of 'SPLURGCHT! SPLURGCHT!' going off all around. The screeched that came a second later had Shirou gritting his teeth, he look at Suzui and the girl began to back away from the encroaching darkness.
"Hey!" The two turned towards Morgana who gestured at them for the exit. "Let's get out of here!"
"We can't trust you." Shirou stated firmly at the cat, before turning back at the mass of blackness approaching. A cold sweat rolled down his cheek when he caught sight of something writhing and moving erratically.
"Hey, if you wanna stay with the creep and his monsters then be my guest." Morgana shrugged, then turned towards Suzui and nodded at her. "But if you wanna survive this, follow me!"
"Emiya-kun…!" Suzui called out to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the approaching danger. Shirou clicked his tongue, letting himself move in the direction Suzui was dragging him away to.
The howling screeches of the Caster echoed throughout the entire dungeon as they escaped.
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The three intruders breath heavily as they hid on the outside of the castle. Shirou leaned his head through the shadowed corner wall in the entrance of the castle, his eyes darted from left to right behind his mask and saw nothing had managed to follow after them. He let out a small breath and turned towards Morgana, the cat laid on the floor face first breathing rapidly while Suzui sat beside the feline with her head smother against her knees and back against the wall. His lips dipped down as he looked at the cat, hands clenching and eyebrows raising behind the red cloth on his face.
"What are your intentions?"
The cat stiffened and twisted its head to look at Shirou with wide eyes. Morgana got to all four and jumped to its feet, it turned towards him with narrowed eyes.
"Ah, so I got another skeptic. At least your smarter than the blonde monkey." Morgana murmured as it swung its tailed from left to right and looked up with a sharp toothed grin. "Listen, I helped you out because you did me a huge favor in taking out the cell of that bug eye creep! I've been aiming to kick him right in those inflated eyeballs of his and get his freaky monologuing from skewering my ears off. I was about to go to that creep until I got saved!"
"Saved…?" Suzui questioned with a raised brow. Morgana scratched the back of its head and nodded.
"Yep, though I'm not going to say who."
"What about Ann…" Suzui faced wrinkled as she bit her lip and clenched her hands. "We left her back there!"
"Tone it down…!" Morgana shush as he peeked around Shirou's leg to see if they had been heard and turned towards the girl. "Like I said, that girl isn't your friend. She's a byproduct of Kamoshida's cognition—it's how Kamoshida sees her in his Palace."
"…disgusting pig…" Suzui grumbled, shaking her head and getting to her feet. She looked at the redhead, but saw that he was looking at Morgana.
"Palace…? You mean this Distorted Marble, right? I never heard someone coin the use of the words of cognition when describing the Distorted Worlds…what mostly inhabits them are Phantasmal Shades and the Shade who commands this place."
The cat looked at Shirou and squinted his big eyes at him. "What?"
"Huh?"
"Why are you talking all fancy with all these names? Distorted Marble? Distorted Worlds? Phantasmal Shades? Are you trying to look cool or something, because it's not working." Morgana scoffed with crossed arms. Shirou turned somewhat red at the jibed and cough into his fist. Though he was cautious of the cat, he wanted information about this cat seemed to know.
Suzui beat him to the punch as she gasped and looked at the red sky. "So what do you call this place then? And where's the school? Just what's going on?"
"This place is call a Palace My lady." Morgana said changing its tune quickly as it looked at the girl with a smile. "This is a world as Kamoshida views it. Basically we're inside his heart, it's why the school turned into a castle as that's how he sees it. All the stuff you saw in there? That's how Kamoshida views things in the real world, he has such distorted desires that it manifested as a castle. And the Palace Ruler is Kamshida's Shadow, his real self. Everything is connected to him and his desire—well except for the bug eye creep, I don't know where he came from and I got no idea what that guy is…he totally isn't a Shadow, that's for sure."
"That's…" Suzui trailed off as she looked at the castle, right hand over her chest. Shirou raised the red headband with his left hand to let left his eyes peered down on the cat as he raised an eyebrow at the information they were given. From what he could understand, the cat had great knowledge concerning with the things in Distorted Marble, or Palace as he called it, but remained unknowledgeable when concerning with the world of magic. He didn't know how to feel about that point, but—
"Why are you telling us this so openly? You don't even know us nor can't you trust us…so why?"
Morgana looked at him with a smirk and turned his back to them as he began to head back to the castle. "Think of it as me saying thank you for ruining that freaks day…he was giving me and the others trouble…and, well…you can take the information I gave as an offering. I never thought I would meet more Persona users here, but it seems life as a funny way of showing it's humor."
Shirou's eyes widened, as the past words of the angry Kamoshida and the reveal the cat brought forth made him feel tense. "More Persona users!? Wh—!?"
"You better go!" Morgana said as he jumped into the shadows, disappearing from his view. The cat voice echoed. "The Palace securities are bound to come here, so you better escape! I wont be saving you a second time amateurs!"
"Wait—!" Shirou called out, but tensed at the sound of dozens of metal footsteps. He took a step back and looked at Suzui. The girl grabbed his shoulder and looked at him firmly.
"Let's go Emiya-kun, please."
Shirou sighed and nodded, guiding the girl towards the exit of the distorted world.
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4/13 Wednesday, Afternoon Afterschool
"So I guess the supernatural is real…right?"
"Again…yes."
"And you were always aware of it?"
"…yes…"
"But you won't tell me or explain more to me because you don't trust me?"
Shirou sighed and looked at Suzui as they wander through the school halls. The girl's earlier bruises were gone, her bloodstain uniform restore back to its pristine and clean form. There was also her eyes, they were vibrant and more focus than before. "It isn't that I don't trust you, it's that this is something you were never meant to be a part of. It's my fault and my responsibility to bear for my own stupidity."
The girl stopped and narrowed her eyes on him. "How do you know I wasn't meant to be a part of this? With this—!?"
"Suzui, please…I already told you that I can't say anymore and all I ask is that you trust me on this. You don't want to get more involve with this matter. There's a lot that you don't and shouldn't understand, so please leave it be…" Shirou's face softened as he took a deep breath. "…please Suzui-san…just leave it be for now. At least until I can get things in order on my side and try and explain things to you, okay?"
Suzui pursed her lip, hot air escaping her nostril as she closed her eyes and nodded. "Okay."
"Good…I should be heading home, I've been hearing that Kamoshida was somewhat irritated with me not being there to play against him…" The redhead sighed and scratched his left cheek as he turned away from the girl. "After seeing his Shade…I mean…Shadow, I guess, I can understand now why he has the need to showboat so much."
"Emiya-kun?" The soft way the girl had spoken his name made him turned towards her with a raised eyebrow.
"Wha—huh!?" He blinked a couple of time at the ceiling as his body was enrapture into a tight and warm hug. He looked down at the dark hair girl, and his face turned red. "S-S-Suzui-san! What are you doing…!?"
The girl stepped back, giving him a wide smile with shining eyes that made his heart skip a beat. "That was my thank you, Emiya-kun. For saving me, despite the danger you had to face. For helping me, even though you had no motive or anything to gain from it…for showing me the strength I needed to protect what I love."
Shirou swallowed thickly, seeing the eyes of the rumormongering students on him—he turned even redder. "I think you're giving me way too much credit…"
Suzui smiled at him, which made his face burned even redder. "I think you're not giving yourself enough credit Emiya-kun…if it weren't for you…I would still be my same pathetic self, but now…now I think I can do something to help out against people like Kamoshida."
"Huh…" The redhead smiled at her words. "That's great to hear actually…I'm actually glad that I was useful for something…"
Suzui smiled at him, but her eyes flickered above his shoulder—he turned and saw Takamaki walking through the halls, her head bowed, lips pursed and eyes glazed over. Shirou looked at her with a trouble expression—the images of her doppelganger with the Shadow Kamoshida fresh in his mind.
"I better go to Ann…I can see she's missed me and…" She placed a hand on her chest, her eyes bright. "I want to show her my newfound strength…I want her to rely on me."
"That's fantastic Suzui-san…I'll see you tomorrow then." Shirou turned to leave, but was stopped when the girl grabbed his arm. He turned towards her in confusion and she smiled as she handed him his phone back. "This is…!?"
"My number is in there…I saw your number and saved it to my phone." Suzui closed her eyes as she gave him a grin. "And for the record, you can call me Shiho."
Shirou looked at her in amazement, turning red again and coughing into his fist as he took the phone back. "Well…if that's the case, then you can call me Shirou, Suz—I mean, Shiho-san."
Shiho smiled at him as she turned away. "See you tomorrow Shirou-kun!"
"Yeah…" Shirou responded back as he looked down at his phone. Unlocking it, he saw the picture of his family and smiled. He touched the image of his sister's face as he looked back at Shiho who was chatting energetically with a surprise Takamaki. "I did it Illya…I saved her."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hello there! It's been a while! Reason for this is because College has been getting hectic, so updates may be slower now. While all but one chapter for Arc 1 has been written, I don't have much time to go back and check them over with work and studies. Gotta update those chapters and fix things.
Anyways, we've made it to our "second" awakening in the story. As some of you may have noticed, the Persona for Shiho has change from Sforza to Irene Adler, or Irene for short, a character Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. I saw the change as being more beneficial for Shiho's character and as well as it being more fitting with everyone's else theme.
As you can tell, I'm already changing stuff from the original Heart's Oath. So this should be fun.
Alright then, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I hope to see you for the next time. Please leave your thoughts in a review or PM me if you have any questions.
Until next time, adios.