Infinity Stratos Blades
An Infinite Stratos/Fate Stay night fanfic
Chapter 6: Ignorance is a bliss, no?
The morning after Shirou woke up late, he was dead tired and decided to ditch class, a dangerous move, but it was one that he had to.
It wasn't frowned on, due to many of the girls also taking a sick day, orgasming so many times that night was very bad for one's health.
On Shirou's side it was due to over exhaustion as well as overuse of his circuits.
Also the sheer mental strain of dealing with the 'Dark Sakura' event, as well as dealing with the backlash that happened.
Luckily (or not) he was not blamed for this (he knew something would come back to bite him in the ass, nothing ever worked so smoothly for him as he saw Archer's E rank luck)
Still, he was happy to rest, however he couldn't do any tracing of the IS cores, something he was downright angry about, but he understood academically that if he tried his body would be wrecked.
He nearly had an aneurism when he had to do that against Dark Saber.
He was feeling better but something else was bothering him today, besides his inability to trace cores for the time being.
He had a feeling he was being watched, and not just by the IS monitoring system and the people who are in charge of it... someone else.
Someone NOT of the school.
So he went to the workshop to find out more.
Workshop
"eeee~h Shi-ku~uuun... Welcome ba~aack, are you feeling ok? Last night was a doozy... all of us just got and went passed out for no reeeason, pretty scary no? And to make things creppier, some asid they saw a black ghost... spooky no ?" Nohohon said with a smile.
"Yeah... can't believe it got me too" Shirou said a bit awkwardly "Or rather, I am lucky she did NOT get to me... I don't think I would be able to live trough THAT"
"So... what can I help you with?" Nohohon asked.
"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me if someone could access my IS information and monitoring systems, other than the '3 big ones' on the academy that is" Shirou asked
"Uhhhhmmm... I dunno? Maybe? But why do you ask?" Nohohon asked as she tilted her head.
"I been having a feeling of someone getting into my system, but only that, I feel someone has been monitoring me and watching me more intermittently than what should be possible from the 'big 3'" Shirou said.
"I seee~ee... so you are thinking of a skilled hacker looking into your system and bio-readings? That takes god-like level of skill~" Nohohon said.
Shirou twitched at the word god-like... only one person he knew, loath as he did, was Gilgamesh, he literally was a demi-god (same as Madea, but he was closer to god-hood, sans Herakles).
He didn't understand much about hacking, and an anachronism such as Rin would no doubt be as lost as he was right now... so he asked Nohohon to further explainabout it.
Somewhere in the Emiya state Tohsaka Rin let a powerful sneeze
She looked around, annoyed.
"Someone is talking badly behind my back" she said as she glared out the window.
Shirou then was regaled to what hacking was, and how it could be a problem, now that he did he decided to take a magecraft approach to it. With Bazett's teachings on runes, so he decided to completely revamp the IS's OS and use a different language, that is to say... runes, not only that but he would use runes to protect the IS from inside, using a pseudo bounded-field inside the OS inside the IS to both track and punish the invader.
It also helped that runes where a 'different language' and a REALLY old one at that, many translation software don't know HOW to translate it, not to mention those who do, translate it wrong.
Not to mention it would help track the person and 'compel them' to stop doing what they are doing.
So with Nonohon instructions, and the help of 3rd year students, Shirou managed to revamp the OS.
It was a crazy move... and it was ingenious, if it was a long forgotten language, an extinct one at that, it made for an impenetrable defense, not to mention what Shirou hid inside.
At night
"Wow... Shirou, that is really crazy... you revamped the IS's Operating System to a whole new language?" Charlotte asked.
"Well kinda, I still working on it, it will take me a few more days... but after that I should be done" Shirou said.
"Still with something like that, your IS would be nigh impossible, but what on earth possessed you to do such a thing?" she asked.
"Well... I been having a nagging feeling someone is watching me? I don't really know, but I want to be safe... this will make things harder for people to do so" Shirou said.
"Uhmmm watching you... yeah I can see that, you are the only (real) male in campus, not to mention the sole (real) male IS pilot" Charlotte said as she giggled.
Shirou grumbled at that.
"Still a language like that... you read a lot of occult books or something?" Charlotte said in awe.
"A little, it helps tough that most people wouldn't even think of something like that, most people would never look for occult stuff or use such an outdated language... this is even older than Latin" Shirou said
Honestly speaking the runes Bazett taught him where working like a charm, he felt that the IS was responding better than usual.
The runes served to enhance the parameters of the OS and thus made piloting the IS even more smoothly.
The best? Runes where magic by themselves, so there was no need to use his own prana to fuel the effects of them.
Shirou continued to work on the translation of the IS while disconnected from the network to avoid anyone entering into the system, something that the 3 big ones of the academy did not like at all, but Shirou assured them that he would be done in a few days, and due to him being confined to not participating in any IS events for a few more days, this would be a productive thing to do.
They reluctantly accepted his reasoning.
Shirou continued to work on it, Cecilia and Lin as well as Houki visited a couple times for lunch, and he made quite a feast, the girls where delighted by the food.
"Heaven's... I must say Shirou-kun your cooking is heavenly" Cecilia said.
"Indeed, your culinary skills are as great as your combative ones..." Laura added.
"Yes, I like how the fried karaage taste like that, how did you get it to taste so delicious while retaining the chewing factor and making it soft?" Houki asked.
"Well I added a bit more of ginger and garlic... the soy-sauce I got from a buddy that brings only good stuff from the heart of the country-land" Shirou said with pride.
"You are very domestic for a man tough... I never expected such high quality and to be done so consistently, definitely would love to have you on my home country sometime" Cecilia added with a wistful look on her.
"Anyways, what happened last night? I remember passing out for some reason or another" Lin said.
"Yes, that was odd, I was told it was due to a chemical leak, but I am not wholy convinced, we barely use any chemicals besides the ones used to treat the IS for sonic speed flights, but those are rare and not really capable of making something like this happen" Houki said.
Shirou was doing a incredible job of not panicking.
Fortunately it was just a slight accident and no one really made a big deal of it.
Still Shirou continued with his work... the full extent of it would not be seen until 2 more days.
The next day
"Students... I have news, we are having our annual outdoors training camp! Be sure to sign the form so we can all go... this time is gonna be on beach ~!" Yamada-sensei declared with a smile, exited at going to the beach.
"Yes, so please prepare and buy a swimsuit, otherwise you might end up having to use the school's, while I am ambivalent of them I quite prefer one of my own tastes" Orimura-sensei said as she ended the whole conversation.
"Jeesh... not that I wouldn't enjoy the beach but... it seems like a hassle... maybe I can skip it?" Shirou thought.
"Of course, it is a mandatory training camp, this way we can see if you can act on different conditions other than ones at the arena in the academy" Orimura-sensei said.
"Is... Is she reading my mind?" Shirou thought as he clenched his fist.
"With that said, you have the rest of the day to prepare, you must also bring provisions to cook at the camp as well, you are dismissed." Orimura-sensei said.
With that said Shirou sighed, at least he would have a semblance of fun cooking for his class-group.
He decided to go to Fuyuki to pick up some things he would need, such as his bathing suit, beach towels, and looking for items to take to the training camp.
The best place to get the best fresh produce and meat, the best quality would be at Fuyuki market street.
He went and bought as much as he could, and went to pick some stuff up without letting anyone know, cause he did not want to cause another uproar... like the one that happened this morning in class when Charlotte decided to come clean about her gender.
It was a... mess... to say the least.
The girls where enraged and Houki thought that I chose to stay with her as to not be bothered, after Charlotte explained that Shirou had been nothing but a gentleman, the other girls, after a few moments of rage, calmed down and agreed that indeed Shirou was as he said he was...
Still the girls did let him have it, and Charlotte decided to just watch to entertain herself with how the events unfolded.
Thankfully she did not speak of the chaste kiss they shared, he didn't think he would survive them, even with reinforcement, IS made things so cheap.
He was glad they did not have Noble Phantasms and/or Conceptual Armaments.
After the whole gender revealing fiasco he was glad he was alive.
And so... after working so hard and buying a lot of food (he was given a nice discount for being a recurring shopper and bought so much)
Using his IS he transported all the shopping and his bag for the trip, IS did made transportation damn fast, it was too bad that he could not use it so much outside.
The sensation of someone spying has stopped all together, meaning his feeling was right, someone was spying, but are no longer able to do so, they might try to learn the language, but in doing so they would put themselves in even more risk by trying to penetrate the pseudo bounded-field. And thus it would punish the trespasser.
He stocked on some sunblock for his trip... but he had a new feeling... something nagging him and a slight itch in the back of his left hand.
Still he was not going to bring down the mood for this training trip, and hey... with the many places to hide in a beach he could practice magecraft a bit more!
He would be able to double his training!
In magecraft and IS.
Anyways after packing and making 2 more cores they all boarded the bus, it was uncomfortable due to the seating arrangements.
It was not uncomfortable in the strict manner of speaking is just... a only male surrounded by all sides by girls, and attractive ones at that...
Not to mention that the driver was driving recklessly making REALLY sharp turns.
He was glad that the driver was not Rider... she would be able to do some scary things with modern vehicles should she ever get a license.
That made Shirou shiver, the things she could do with the old bike... a typical mama-chari with a basket, Rider complained that it was too slow for her tastes... she even tried to seduce me to give into her.. thankfully Sakura was there... then again it almost turned into a 'dark Sakura' event that time, so it was really precarious position to be in.
Still it was also nice in another way, he couldn't remember the last time he went to a beach.
He was not able to fulfill his promise with her...
He sighed as he looked at the window... he was now the official 'plush' of the two girls who feel asleep on his shoulders.
The trip was early in the morning and took 2 hours to reach there by shuttle bus.
The place was gorgeous... the water was pristine the sand was perfect...
Laura however looked a tad uneasy.
Let's find out exactly why, shall we?
Flashback 8 hrs ago
"XO... I have some questions regarding the Academy's training trip" Laura said on her secure line.
"Speak" her XO said.
"They said to buy or use the academy's regulated one, I prefer to use the academy's but..." Laura said.
"UNNACEPTABLE!" Her XO yelled making Laura fall on her arse at the sudden explosion
"Should you wear that you would look like a walking child pornography!" the XO said.
Laura blinked.
"You need to get a cute and sexy swimsuit... that is an order!" her XO said as she hang up.
Leaving Laura in a deep problem.
"Bu... but... I don't know how to pick clothes!" Laura said in shock as she realized her military training would not work on this.
And thus asked Charlotte for help... a French/German alliance was born.
And the rest was, as they say, history.
Shirou changed into his bathing suit, a modest blue and golden accented swimming trunks
Shirou stretched out as he felt the warmth of the sun, he had a large bundle on his back, all that he had bought on the stores, and took them to the little inn they would stay at, as being (again) the only man in campus he was given a small room, it was a nice one tough.
He put it all on his class-group's assigned fridge and neatly organized it all.
He then left towards the beach and was greeted by a LOT of eye-candy.
All of the girls where wearing either cute, or downright sexy swimsuits, or in Nonohon's case cute/weird.
So after training they had time to play, Shirou didn't like to waste time like this, but he had to do so to keep the pretense going.
Shirou's body would be at the peak of training, no amount would help on development of his muscles and the like, the only he needed was to build was 'skill'.
He had some, he could fight with humans on a staggering level that no one would be able to reach... that is normal humans that is.
However... that only applies with regular humans, his opponents wouldn't be normal, they would be on the other scale of normal... dead apostles, rouge magus, etc.
Still he could use this to relax a bit, he really needed to wind down a bit.
The afternoon came over and Shirou was behind a big grill, a bandana over his head as he deftly handled the meat and vegetables being grilled, the smell of the delicious food wafted about the beach, attracting students and teachers alike.
Orimura-sensei was also quite taken by the quality of the food.
"Who would have thought that IS's only male pilot had such a domestic side to him" Orimura-sensei said sarcastically.
"You say that like that, then how about I don't serve you any" Shirou said with a vindictive smile.
In that moment Orimura-sensei's stomach growled something fierce.
Shirou rose an eye-brow, a know-it-all smile plastered on his face, he recognized that growl anywhere, and the way she looked at the side...
"you where saying?" Shirou said with a victory smile on his face.
Orimura-sensei glared at him but sighed, this was a fight she could not win, and he knew it.
Orimura-sensei sighed as she picked a plastic plate, she got served a big portion, as a way to make fun of her, she knew it, but let it slide, the food had a delicious scent, and once she had a bite she enjoyed it even more.
"Wow... who knew you had such skills outside fighting" Orimura-sensei said with delight as she had some pasta with the meat and vegetables.
He put some ginger and garlic on the mixture which enhanced the flavor of the meat and the vegetables.
It made him smile when people enjoyed his work on the grill.
At night it was as rowdy as usual, Charlotte and Cecilia where sitting to his side, Charlotte had some wasabi, something she never encountered and paid the prize due to her curiosity, Shirou felt bad and gave her some of his tea, and feeded Cecilia, who was a tad uncomfortable due to the extended period of time she was in seiza.
Shirou ate some of the food on the inn and asked later their recepie which they where only to happy to do.
The girls tried to get into his room, but thankfully runes carved on the frame of the door served as a deterrent.
The next morning
This is when things got REALLY weird... Houki was sitting down on the hall that had a small garden at the side, Shirou looked what she was looking at, there was a sign, 2 robotic rabbit ears where sticking out, a sign was put "Pull me"
"Suspicious" Shirou's first thought was at seeing this, it had no magecraft or anything he could detect, but it was suspicious so decided not to act on it.
Houki seemed to recognize them, but decided to ignore it and left.
Shirou sighed, Cecilia decided to walk by that time.
"Shirou, that is...?" she asked.
"I am about to find out" Shirou said with a sight, he then pulled them up... nothing happened.
A strange sound came about... they looked up to see...
"A giant carrot?!" Shirou thought in shock at the sheer ridiculousness of it.
The 'carrot'-like machine landed in front of them, the sheer power of the landing 'carrot' pushed debris up, Shirou shielded Cecilia from being blown away.
Laughter emerged from the 'carrot' and spit open.
A girl emerged from it, she had a lot of energy, "You feel for it, Shi-kun!" the girl inside said as she twisted upwards as she jumped from the carrot.
"D... do I know you?" Shirou asked.
"You should, after all you caused me a lot of grief... who would have tough that using an ancient language would be such a perfect counter measure" the woman said.
Shirou froze, he was half way on tracing a weapon.
"Anyways... have you seen Houki-chan?" she asked.
Shirou was dumbfounded... he was never caught so flat-footed before, here came a person who was trying to pry my secrets in a furtive manner and openly admitted to it, not to mention she was somehow related to Houki-san... he was ignored as she went to hunt for her.
"W... what just happened?" Cecilia asked.
"I... I don't know?" Shirou said, equally as confused as Cecilia.
Later that day
Shirou, Cecilia, Laura, Charlotte, Lin and Houki where present on the foot of a waterfall, being called by Orimura-sensei.
"Very well, all the personal units here, right?" Orimura-sensei said.
"Uhm... Hold on, Houki-san doesn't have a personal unit" Lin said.
"w-well... you see" Houki begun, but she was too shy to speak.
"I'll explain" Orimura-sensei said to help the girl out "you see".
"Kyaooo~" a voice called out.
Shirou looked about and saw the strange 'stalker' girl sliding down the rockside and jump skyhigh...
"Reinforcement?" Shirou thought.
She jumped towards Ormiura, who grabbed her face with an 'iron claw' move.
She got free of it and went towards Houki "you grown a lot... specially in the chest a-"
CRACK!
Houki used her wodden sword to deliver a punishing blow to her face
"I am going to hit you!" she said in anger
"You said it after you hit me! Houki-chan is sooo mean" the strange woman bemoaned as she rubbed her head.
"Hey Tabane, why don't you introduce yourself already?" Orimura asked.
"Bah, what a drag" she said.
"I'm the genius, Tabane-san.. Hello! That's it" she said with a smile.
"Tabane..." Lin said.
"as in... the genius who invented the IS?" Charlotte added.
"Shinono Tabane" Laura said in revelation.
"Wait... you invented IS... AND you are Houki-san's sister?" Shirou said.
"Look up in the sky !" She said.
A large prism object fell down...
"Tadah! here's Houki-chan's person IS unit, Aka Tsubaki!" she declared in glee "It's Tabane-san's handcraft machine that exceeds the specs of all other existing units! After all, Aka Tsubaki is a four generation IS mad by me!"
"Wait... aren't countries JUST releasing the 3rd generation ones?" Shirou asked as he looked at Laura, who was using such a unit (who was STILL in beta).
"Well, get in so we can get you fitted and personalized Houki-chan" Tabane said.
Tabane had a holographic scree and keyboard "I've already entered some of your data in advance, all that's left is to update it with the latest data"
Shirou analyzed the machine, the speeds where incredible... easy a match for Lancer or Rider if they go all out.
She had wires coming out of her dress and she was done, she was an ace on this, no wonder he had a feeling someone had been looking at him, it was her all alone.
"Now for a test... make it fly" she said "it should respond to your will and thoughts" Tabane said.
Houki nodded.
She flew and tried out the swords on her armament, making a wave of energy with her swords.
"Ok.. now try intercepting this" she said as she materialized a large missile launcher
She giggled as she fired, and inside Shirou he felt fear... this girl.
She was dangerous.
Even Orimura-sensei was looking at her with something akin to worry, a tinge of anger even?
Yamada-sensei came running, she was worried about something.
It was an urgent message, "A special level A mission" Orimura-sensei said. "Start taking counter-measures now" she said in a calm collected voice.
"Stop the test run now" she ordered "There is something I need you guys to do" she added.
Tabane smiled, Shirou noticed this... he glared at her.
They went to a room in the Inn, they prepared a 'war room' of sorts, and Shirou couldn't help but whistle at this, he wished he had something like this on the grail war, it would make making tactics and fighting planing so much easier.
"There was another rouge unmanned IS that was co-developed by the USA and Israel, that was undergoing test in Hawaii, Silver Gospel, left the test zone and has gone out of control, we've been told it's out of their radar range, acquiring satellite data we determined that Gospel will enter the airspace 2 kilometers from here, that will occur in 50 minutes from now, due to school orders we are now in charge of settling the situation... the teachers will close the airspace and waters using the Ichigane, therefore, the key personnel for this mission will be those with personal units" Orimura-sensei said.
"I see... because we have them we are better suited in case the Gospel has other armaments we don't know and be able to fight it with a lesser degree of harm due to the personalization of our IS's" Shirou reasoned.
"We will now begin the strategy meeting...anyone with something to say, raise your hand" Orimura-sensei said.
Shirou rose his "Yes, do you have specs of the target IS? Weapons, max speed?" Shirou asked.
"Sure, but do not share with anyone else, if the information leaks, you will be tried by the supervisory commission" Orimura said "and placed under surveillance for 2 years minimum".
"How is that any different than how I am right now?" Shirou said with a sigh.
Shirou poured over it with Cecilia...the data was grim "it has many specialized weaponry, a special gunner-type designed for wide-area attacks, it can perform all-range attacks like my IS" Cecilia said.
"The unit that stresses offense and mobility, that will be difficult" Lin said.
"Is scouting an option? To ascertain any close-range attacks it might have?" Shirou asked
"Impossible, the IS is traveling at supersonic speeds as we speak, we only have one chance" Orimura-sensei said.
Shirou knew that he could probably destroy the IS should he use any of the Noble Phantasms or Conceptual Armaments... but Tabane-san in here would make things tricky if not downright impossible, trying to bluff the creator of the IS and their cores, not to mention someone who had been trying to get INTO the information in my IS... well, there lies the problem.
Shirou could still use his regular IS weaponry that he and Bazett had modified with runes to add extra surprises to it.
"I might be able to take it down... by sniping it from a distance" Shirou said, his eyes where cold and hard... this was a mission, who knew what this... Gospel IS could do if it went even more violent like the VTS?... no he had to nip the bud right now.
"Cecilia, I will need you for backup, Houki-san, your IS is the fastest in here so you will fight it in case mine and Cecilia's shots miss, I will provide backup for you, Laura you provide close range backup with your AIC unit and Charlotte, I need you to provide backup in the mid-range area, that way you can continue fighting in case it breaks from both Laura and Houki-san" Shirou said.
Orimura and Yamada-sensei both blinked as Shirou took charge of the situation.
"Let's get started, Laura, what other offensive weapons do you have?" Shirou asked.
"I have a panzer cannon... it has two .80 caliber heavy railgun on both shoulders and a High-speed maneuver pack, if I use the first I would have to stay stationary, while the other would increase my mobility and speed" Laura said.
"Use the High-speed maneuver pack first... afterward... if it breaks off, move as fast as you can and go into the panzer cannon mode, that way you can catch it on it's back" Shirou said.
Laura nodded, she accepted this, this tactic was good and the plan was well thought out, he made a clever plan that used all their strengths and abilities and left little in the way for error.
"Nice plan, couldn't come up with a better one myself, I approve of it, get yourself ready" Orimura-sensei said as she nodded.
They got ready, everyone in their position, Shirou and Cecilia where at a long distance, Shirou had his bow at the ready... he took a deep breath as he knocked an arrow on his bow.
Shirou's eyes, sharpened to the max thanks to reinforcement, saw the silhouette of the enemy approaching in fast.
"Cecilia, I will shoot first, in case I miss use your tears to surround the enemy IS and shoot on its thrusters to stop or at least decrees it's mobility" Shirou said.
"H... Hai!" she said.
"Are you all ready?" Shirou asked.
They all said affirmative.
"Ok, operation start!" Shirou said as they all got ready.
The IS flew trough... the speed was phenomenal.
Shirou's reaction was exceptional, as expected of him, the ace of the archery club.
The arrow flew true, it hit the shoulder of the IS, making it stagger back, Cecilia sealed it's movements by deploying her AIC. Houki was flying in when the IS shot a laser at her, she stopped and was pushed out of the way by Laura.
Houki's inexperience and excitement worked against her, she froze due to fear of an actual combat scenario.
"Useless, now the plan is now in jepardy due to your carelessness" Laura said as a sharp jab on Houki's pride.
Shirou rushed in... reinforcing his IS he cut the time and attacked the Gospel.
It parried his attack with a broadsword.
Shirou called out his (fake) Kanshou and Bakuya and attacked, disregarding the plan in order to save Houki-san.
Shirou's attack where fierce, like lightning. His attacks where strong and his defense, his attacks chained to each other, one following one after the other as chained attacks... flowing swiftly and powerful, the unmanned IS was having trouble keeping up, so it decided to retreat, however that path was blocked due to Laura's AIC, and to the side it was Laura's Blue Tears shooting around and putting the Gospel in check.
From the top Charlotte was attacking with submachine guns, effectively making the IS go downwards, the only other way it could go, to find Cecilia with her sniper rifle and shooting at it's shoulders... making it go back slightly, as Shirou closed in for more melle combat,
Lin then took over from Cecilia as she used her Twin Dragon canon to push the IS back, Houki was still paralyzed with fear and self recrimination, she had the best machine, yet she was so useless.
The operation came out alright, they managed to stop the IS by breaking it's thrusters and making it's shield energy go down to 0.
The problem with Houki was that she was willing to put a small fishing boat that was there illegally. Shirou told her to stop and help protect the boat, however she had refused and because of it Shirou had to alter his shot so it will hit Houki to stop her attack that would take down the small fishing boat.
Due to that he had to change the plan on the fly, which spoke volumes to combat experience. In the end Orimura-sensei was, disappointed on Houki but understood that it was her very first time in combat.
Houki was also disappointed in herself, had she sunk so low because she now had power? This was not her... why was she wielding her sword for?
At the inn at night
Shirou was sleeping... he had a strange dream
"What do you seek power for? What is your wish?" a voice called out for him.
The dream was similar to one he had before... this time in a barren wasteland, no swords where in sight so it was not his Reality Marble.
"What do you seek?" the voice asked once again.
"To be reunited with my Saber..." Shirou said.
"On the hill of swords?" the voice asked.
"Yes" Shirou replied.
"There is no need to seek out your death... what you wish... is close at hand, what you seek will soon come" the voice said.
Shirou blinked, "What do you mean?"
"A war that you remember will soon come back... and a loved one will be back" the voice said.
"W... war.. that I remember? You don't mean...?" Shirou dreaded to ask.
A female figure floated towards him, her body became more... solid...
The dream abruptly ended... 3 swords on the ground could be seen on the eternal field of blades.
The one he was most familiar with, the other was a single katana and last was a single blade that looked like flames... all of them had history... but the one that he was closest to...
"Wha... what does this mean...?" Shirou thought as he was shoved out to reality.
But those swords... he could not 'read' them... not yet, but her did recognize the one that stood over them.
Excalibur... the sword of promised victory.
But why this dream? And why those 3 swords?
Too many questions... not enough answers.
Somewhere else, Location Unknown
"Those imbeciles of the association... they think they can't stop the ritual cause it's unsafe!? no... we cannot allow this... there is too much at stake, this ritual would have helped to bring back what is being lost... we cannot allow it, even if it means to make an enemy of the Clock Tower... the ritual WILL continue... and thanks to this..." the one speaking said as it said 'this' with the out most hatred.
On the hand of the magus was an IS core.
"How... revolting that those of the path of science, those who destroying our mysteries with their... 'knowledge' would make such a thoughtful gift... with this... all can go back... restore the 'true balance' of the world" the speaker said.
A dozen or so of magus where cheering at this...
"The ritual will continue... I had come with a way to make it happen, and it all is possible to a blunder of the damnable Tohsaka heiress... her use of the Zelretch blade had made a wound in reality... and we shall use that wound to bring back the Greater Grail... and implement it once more in this reality... thanks to the arduous work of all of you" the speaker said with a smile in his face "we managed to learn the magical energy feeling of the greater grail as well as a way to bring it to us from he 'wound'... we shall restart the ritual... all we need is to get a container for it... fortunately the lesser Grail is still operational from our sources, and as a boon there is a fake lesser grail... in case of anything going wrong we will have a backup... we have everything in place... prepare yourself, we need to obtain more cores, many more in order to widen the 'wound' and stabilize it in order to 'bring forth' the greater grail from somewhere else... we shall call this the restart of the Great Grail War!" the speaker said as he received cheer from the rest.
The Heaven's feel... a ritual that took place in Fuyuki due to the leylines in it... ti was a war between magi and their servants, a free for all.
It was a painful bloody struggle, even for those not involved.
Accidental witness are to be eliminated.
Many people died in the end of the 4th Heaven's feel... and the 5th one had many wounded and some dead.
This magi did not care as long as they could get what they wanted.
Akasha... the root of magic, present and past and future of the world.
All that knowledge in the hands of a magus...
And ones that cared little to nothing about the consequences...
The Counter Guardians...
If they where to be deployed, it's more than likely that humanity would face a danger of immense proportions.
If Counter Guardians deemed that the treat of access to Alaya was due to both magic and science, humanity would surely be extinguished like it was in Pompeii.
Sudden death, no chance of escape... all the population in Pompeii was covered under ash and magma, all of them died a horrible death, their expressions on their face could still be seen on the statues of the people (they were solidified as statues due to the ash and magma).
They cared not, if they could access the Root, even Counter Guardians were nothing to fear.
The Grater Grail was their goal, but they wanted not to start the war, no... their goal was to restart the Greater Grail from this world using the parallel world(s) Grails.
Back to IS Academy training camp
Shirou was... for a lack of better terms worried about the dream, and why he could not 'read' those 2 other blades and what it meant.
And the voice, while not familiar it felt... like from someone he could trust, even if it made no sense, there was no malice and his instincts told him there was nothing to worry, at least not yet.
"A war I am familiar with... there was only one... but... it was dismantled... so I don't' believe what I heard, still I better consult with Tohsaka...damn.. I can't.. I am still monitored" Shirou thought regretfully.
Not only that but due to the fight with the Gospel unmanned IS he was under more scrutiny.
His tactics had saved the day, but Houki was still shell-shocked.
Shirou sighed, he decided he had to solve Houki's problem the same way Saber did with him.
At the Inn
Shirou was waiting at Houki's door, she shared her room with Cecilia, Laura and Charlotte.
Houki was walking by, she really did not feel she should go back to her room, the atmosphere was... tense.
It was all due to her own carelessness, the operation and the lives of those fishermen was put on jeopardy due to her mistakes.
"Houki-san... come" Shirou said.
Houki was taken back, she was half expecting for him to not talk to her, ignore her outright.
Shirou was dragging Houki by the back of her kimono, he had to be forceful now, he was normally the opposite, being just dragged along... but now he had to do this.
They found a small clearing as he threw a shinai towards her.
"Eh? What...?!" She was taken back, but her instincts kicked in and grabbed the sword.
"Come!" Shirou shouted as he attacked.
Houki was caught flat-footed. She had no option but to defend.
Shirou's attacks where just as fast as usual, but this time Houki's defense were rather weak.
"Come on... your side's are open, you are not that weak!" Shirou said as he attacked like Saber did.
*twap twap twap*
Houki was hit repeatedly by the shinai... she laid down on the floor full of bruises and feeling tired and hurt.
"Get up... you are better than this" Shirou said, taunting her to keep on attacking.
Houki was enraged, she attack fiercely, Shirou smirked.
She was crying, she put so much power on each strike that her hands begun to bleed due to the friction, yet she made no headway, Shirou kept her at bay so easily.
"You know why you can't make any headway?" Shirou asked as he pushed her shinai away from him.
"You wanted to prove yourself, I understand that, but your mind was not in the plan, or how it could be compromised by outside forces, you have to be ready to act at a drop of a yen... you wanted to impress the others, and you felt that it was more important than the life of those in the boat, regardless of whose you had to step in... have you seen what you did wrong?" Shirou said with a cold voice
Houki continued her enraged attack, she was angry at Shirou's words, not because they hurt, but because they where true... she couldn't shy away, and he was making her face that truth.
Houki kept attacking, she was relentless and skilled, but she still had not made a single hit on him.
"I...DON'T... KNOW WHAT... YOU... MEAN!" She yelled as she kept attacking.
"Is because you where thinking of yourself that the plan nearly failed... you where drunk in the power your IS gave you that you didn't consider what might happen when wielding it" Shirou said.
Houki stopped.
"You didn't receive a weapon, or just an IS, you received a great burden with this... this power is a burden you must carry for the rest of the time you spend here... the use of it, whatever you do... it will bring you down, or bring you up, you will face the results of your actions... but you never though about this when you donned the IS you thought yourself invisible, that others did not matter as long as you could win or beat your enemy? But that way of thinking is wrong... people have worth, you can't do that Houki-san..." Shirou said with kind eyes.
Another twap.
Houki felt to her knees, "I hope you have calmed down now" Shirou said.
Houki was too tired to be mad, so she just cried... Shirou felt awkward, she then told him her story.
Due to Tabana making her discovery... she lost the opportunity to get a boyfriend with a childhood crush/friend, due to her having to forfeit a kendo tournament, she has not been able to see him since then... however, she was close to him in a matter of speaking... his sister was teaching at the academy after all.
However, she was sad, angry and because she was head-strong and unable to convey her feelings.
She felt so bad... and angry... but thanks to this spar (if it could be called that) and was able to vent her anger and get a good workout.
She left to the onsen to soak down and reflect on her actions, she felt... good... that someone chastised her and told her what she did wrong.
Shirou was a good person, but... he was downright scary on his tactics and battle skill.
She decided, to get to know him more, in hopes to get closer as a friend, or something else... and to get his help to become stronger, as a person and as an IS pilot
Chapter end