King Of Fakers: Chapter 1 The Image of a King
Authors Note:
Wow! Third Fang added this to his alerts!
**** Yeah! Awesome... Also word of warning... this chapter seems hasty and bad because...
Well it is. Chapter 2+ Will be gradually getting better with time, I try to be one chapter ahead before updating so it's good to know. I will usually post this on Beasts Lair of Nasuverse one chapter ahead, but currently, on the date this is published they are at the same place, but Beasts Lair has my crappy art and peoples discussion etc.
Enjoy, and REVIEW DAMMIT THE KING DEMANDS IT TO BE SO!
Just kidding. Anyway this has a lot of grammar etc problem but... hopefully my 3rd editor will be better for when Chapter 2 comes along.
X
It hadn't been difficult for people to accept Kotomine taking Shirou in after the fire, the man was a priest of the local Church, and had helped out tremendously in attempting to locate survivors of the blaze.
A few weeks after being saved, Shirou had, at one point, had attempted to call the King of Heroes, Father. The word had evoked a terrifying rage within the man, "How dare you! You think you are worthy of such an honour!" The King had lashed out with a brilliantly executed right hook, and challenged Shirou for the right to call himself the son of Gilgamesh.
The result was a pair of broken arms and a few cracked ribs on the boys side, which Kotomine was quick to heal. He hadn't thought it through, he had just wanted to adore the man, and even though pain was surging through his body he hadn't been dissuaded from the idea. So even though Shirou dared not say it before the King himself, he would continue to call him father within his heart and thoughts, it was obvious with the look Shirou made.
So for the next few weeks Kotomine taught Shirou about magi as he recovered. A few weeks had passed and Shirou had learnt a lot of strange new things about the world around him. He had started from knowing nothing but his name to the basics of magecraft and the complexity of magic within the world. Being a child he was like an empty cup or a sponge, whatever Kotomine and Gilgamesh told him he absorbed, focused and listened with all he had.
The Holy Grail War.
It usually occurs every sixty or so years, were seven Masters and seven Servants are summoned to fight for the Holy Grail, granted the power of wishes. Masters, chosen magi who summon and control the Servants to do their bidding. Servants, spirits of the heroes of humanity in the past that shaped the world. When Shirou heard this his eyes lit up as if electrified. He marvelled and stared at Kotomine and his father, the legendary King of Heroes Gilgamesh!
A man who slew Gods and ruled an ancient land as an absolute elite ruler. The King is never wrong, he is supreme and nothing stands in his way. The image of a King was engraved into the young child's heart. To rule over all of life and to be a great powerful hero like his father.
This was the start of Shirou's dream and ambition, to be the King of all of the world!
Kotomine said signs of another war was soon despite the previous one ending only recently, that one had caused the fire. So Shirou asked to be taught as a mage from the priest and a warrior from the King. However it was difficult.
"You can't seem to do be able to do even the most simple of magecraft or even the fundamental beginnings... it would seem best your Origin must be located before anything else..."
The priest muttered under his breath with his common disinterested look. Shirou hadn't been able to do any magecraft that was any good except reinforcement. Gilgamesh had wanted to train Shirou in physical combat straight away, but Kotomine was able to convince him to wait until Shirou was at least ten, until then the King would give Shirou elixirs from the Gate of Babylon to drink to reinforce the child's body.
So ended the first day of any type of magecraft training, with no real results.
X
Shirou yawned, he rubbed his eyes and leapt out of bed. His arms were miraculously better, it had only been a few weeks. He began walking to the bathroom when he heard a young girl screech in anger, causing him to trip and smash his head against the tile floor of the bathroom.
"Ow!" Was all he could simply say, he began to groan and pick himself up, he headed out of the room to check out the commotion.
Shirou clutched his head and made a few verbal tic's of pain as he blinked a few times as he headed for the front of the Church and saw a young dark haired girl dressed in red, with ribbons in her hair, yelling at Kotomine. Her eyes were like tiny blue gems gleaming like a summer ocean, but it also seemed like a raging storm, in fact her body language was composed yet offensive.
Though it looked like she could explode at any moment.
"Fake Priest!" The young girl yelled it repeatedly at Kotomine, Shirou actually found this amusing. He didn't like Kotomine and his father didn't seem to like his attitude at times. The statement was somewhat true, while Kotomine was a full priest he was also a practitioner of magecraft and hadn't stopped despite the fact the war was over. He couldn't help but start to giggle, the girl and the fake priest turned to him, a look of wonder and of little emotion; as usual, respectively.
"Who is this, Kotomine?"
"Ah, I'm his guardian like I am to you, you probably haven't met hit because he has been indoors for a while and slept most of the time due to some burns. His name is Shirou and he too is a magus in training, greet him Rin."
Rin walked up to the boy and stretched out a hand, "I'm Tohsaka Rin, so your Kotomine Shirou? This fake priests child?" Rin looked quite disinterested yet formal with her greeting, not bothering to correct herself, identifying the red head as the priest's child was easier for her. It slightly irritated Shirou, not just being called the priests son but her attitude to him, but this was the first time he had met a child his age, or a girl for that matter.
"...Don't call him my dad, just call me Shirou or your majesty."
He said so as if a statement, a fact and an absolute truth. The Tohsaka girl blinked a few times, before beginning to open her mouth, she turned to Kotomine.
"Why does he think he's royalty?" She ignored Shirou behind her, and looked directly at Kotomine's eyes.
Kotomine was not the type too lie, rather the one to hide information, which often infuriated others when they thought that he had misled them, this time was no different.
"He doesn't consider me his father or even as a simple guardian, and it's just more convenient for all of us that he is under my control, would you call me papa, Rin? I am merely your guardian, in that respect both of you are the similar."
He had not mentioned the King of Heroes at all , the figure that Shirou adored was or why he thought he should be addressed as a noble. Rather he mentioned the idea of Rin calling him papa, to offset her from thinking straight about how he had not directly and properly asked the question. Rin shuddered, the word papa was not one that she thought Kotomine had in his dictionary, she nodded and placed her hand on Shirou's shoulder.
"Well I'm your superior and Sempai! So you just listen to me and do what I want and everything will be fine." She smiled.
Shirou frowned, he was beginning to feel offended... "What was it that father said? Something about women and children and how everyone who lives is ours? Always assert power...?" He didn't know what assert mean. The concept wasn't remotely absorbed by Shirou, he couldn't exactly remember all the details the King had told him, but he at least knew it meant he wasn't supposed to lesser to anyone else.
"But, I'm the servant of the King and your just a girl, so shouldn't I be above you?" It came out with a very innocent voice and spoke like a fact. Rin glared, she didn't particularly feel like being below someone else, especially with the reasoning Shirou was giving. This was the start of a shaky, odd yet strong relationship that was to be ever changing throughout their lives.
X
Shirou's bedroom was relatively normal, but it was cosy, very cool when the weather was hot and warm when it was cool. The walls were painted a noble blue, he had a small smooth wooden desk in the right most corner of the room with a desk lamp plugged into the wall. On the left corner was his bed small, fluffy looking and comfortable, mostly white with a thick golden like blanket.
Whenever Shirou had time to himself or whenever he went to bed he would practice reinforcing his body, Kotomine had recommended his senses since they hadn't found his origin yet, hoping for a better idea of what it was to appear.
Or he would spend his time sitting under the sheets of his bed with a flash light in the dead of the night reading the legends of his father.
Or his mother.
The King of Heroes had spoken about a woman he desired one he wished for, so Shirou adopted this person in his mind as his mother.
Shirou was rather shocked and irked at first that his father told him his mother was going to be King Arthur.
Then he said he really was a she, and that she was a beautiful thing he wanted as a possession.
When Shirou heard of this he made crude drawing attempts and hung them upon his wall, hanging it on the eastern wall next to the calender. A miniature gallery of the female King of Knights.
She stood holding a golden sword between her hands, pointed at the ground in a strong royal position, yet it was graceful and beautiful...
Her expression was serene, her lips made a small almost sad yet cute and calming smile as her green eyes, much like the field around her gazed towards the setting sun.
Shirou gazed at the poster for what seemed like hours, memorising it fully, her golden hair tied up at the back was simple yet unique, she was a rather petite woman but Shirou could tell just by this painting, she was strong and precious.
He after a time went back to reading his book, often acting out small parts of the novels, such as shaking his flash light like a sword when Enkidu or Gilgamesh fought something.
Little Shirou's imagination exploded from the tiny ink text into a whole other world, he imaged every last detail as described vividly, if one was to see into his mind they would say the image made was near perfect.
Shirou often drifted to sleep with a book in his hands, dreaming dreams of his father, his mother, Enkidu and himself charging to war or ruling the land, being a family.
Vast flourishing green fields, towering eternal golden walls, blood and glory, blades in hand roaring from the very top of the world... and all the world's gaze upon him.
X
Kotomine often restricted Gilgamesh and Shirou from leaving the Church unless it was necessary.
For completely fair and obvious reasons yes, but... well wild animals need to be let loose, and so the King and his loyal servant walked into town.
Their clothing was... actually very simple, yet stylish and caught the eyes of people.
Gilgamesh was wearing a thin black coat over a plain summer button white shirt, and his trousers resembled his coat having white streaks in them, around his neck was a golden necklace made of several small segments that resembled animal fangs.
Actually their disobedience to the priest hadn't only been because of a lack of free space, it was due to food.
Kotomine was fond of extremely spicy Chinese food and other oriental dishes, Shirou and the King had no idea where it came from but it had caused their eyes to water painfully and their tongues to feel like they had been eaten by birds that were somehow aflame.
They couldn't take any more of it.
So this gave them a chance to stretch their legs as well as finally eat something that didn't feel like their whole body was drenched in molten lava.
This was Shirou's first time into Fuyuki city, so he marvelled at the city's night life, a simple case of a modern city with electrical lights lit across the city, but nonetheless it was a sight for the boy.
He loved the city already.
The King of Heroes looked indifferent, he hated the modern man, but because they were so weak it was easy to oppress and control them, which was at least the slightest singe of amusement for him.
The people of this time would immediately cower, the people of his time would at least try to challenge him, even knowing they were doomed from the start.
Shirou rushed towards a 7/11 and the door automatically opened for him, he marvelled at the small simple thing.
He leapt at the frozen food section, opened a box of what was small pieces of chicken and bit into it.
"...Argh!" His little voice screamed in frustration, the cold hard tough sensation wasn't what chicken was supposed to taste like!
...Shirou did not currently know the concept of freezing food, since Kotomine never bought groceries and thus did not use the fridge.
A young woman who was the clerk went over and picked him up with one hand, "What do you think your doing kid?" Her words were more of confusion then blame.
"What do you think! I'm eating!" He began to make tiny sobs and whimpers.
"Food isn't free you know. You can't just take it, anyway that food's frozen, trying to eat it would probably cause your teeth to fall out."
"Stupid mongrel woman! Why freeze food... it hurts agh...! I can take whatever I want!" The little red haired child got a few quizzical looks from the bystanders.
"Mongrel?" The woman was now even more confused.
"That's right, you people are mongrels before the King or his servant!" A large booming voice descended upon the convenience store, echoing across every single surface.
The golden haired man had entered and stared at every being with ferocious bestial eyes, unrelenting even for a second.
"Shirou, you should have subjugated this woman and the foolish peasants the moment you arrived! You are my servant, if you cannot even do this to such weak mongrels..."
His voice growled and the child caught the warning.
The common citizens gaped in awe, the audacity of the man was shocking by itself, but what really was amazing was the authentic regal tone of his voice that began to creep into and captivate their hearts.
The clerk slowly dropped Shirou to the ground in amazement.
"Now mongrel woman, give us as much good food as you can think of!"
A powerful, absolute and imperative command.
And for some reason the young woman was compelled to do so, scrambling for various foodstuffs and placing them in bags, at first handing them to the King, who scowled in response.
"Do you expect the King to carry his own food? Foolish woman!"
The clerk hurriedly handed it to Shirou, who then glared back at her.
She had no idea what to do.
"...Shirou, carry the food. Think of this as the punishment for not controlling the area in time for the King's entrance, now go!"
The King and his child swerved and then marched out of the store.
They then ran into a small red clothed girl with two black twin-tails.
"Tohsaka? What are you doing here?" Shirou asked in a rather simple voice.
"Nothing really... just walking around the city..." Her eyes led up to look at the tall golden man.
He responded with a slight irritated look upon his face, like a growling beast when your just about to enter its territory.
The girl was frightened by his imposing figure.
"Who's he?" The question seemed to stumble from the girls mouth.
"My King and Master." The response came out calm.
The King had a small vein on the left side of his forehead building up and pulsating, slowly...
Rin made a small bewildered look for a second, then made an "Oh!" and nodded.
"So that's who he is... so Shirou, how is your training going?" Her voice was teasing, she knew he hadn't if any barely improved.
"Ah, well a third rate person such as yourself..." She made a sly grin.
That tore it.
The King roared and the children stumbled to the ground.
"Shirou! Why would you let this mere girl push you around! Next time you meet her... dominate! I will not accept anything less!"
The King began to walk away and Shirou stood to his feet, almost as in attention and began to run after him.
The city was in chaos, the pair had gone around demanding food, the best clothing and anything that seemed of value. Their victims were so shocked by their behaviour that the idea of telling anyone what happened wasn't really in their minds.
Anyway the King was sure that the priest would take care of such things if they arose, he was useful for that at least.
The King had often randomly grabbed women around him and began to teach Shirou the best way to subjugate them and how to address, speak and act to them.
When you got right down to it, essentially the King was telling Shirou to treat them as objects and property and that he was far superior to them, Shirou represented the King and so Shirou must always be superior to all others.
He wasn't supposed to give even a fraction of a second of his time of day to anyone unless they were skilled, Ninsun or were a priestess that would do anything you wanted.
Anyone else should be treated as expendables that contributed to their reverence.
It took a while but Shirou began to understand, he drew himself a small chart that had crudely drawn Gilgamesh at the top, with a very long line that took almost half the page, dragging to himself, and then an even longer line dragging to tiny indents which were people of note, and finally a even larger line to tiny little specks, these were the average modern men.
When he got home he taped it onto his wall along with his King Arthur drawings and a note saying "Learn what frozen food is."
X
Today was Shirou's first day of school.
At first the Gilgamesh objected having Shirou spend valuable time training magecraft for doing menial tasks to conform to modern man, but eventually Kotomine persuaded him.
So Shirou was now at the gate of a nice small school and entered.
His first day would be an eventful one.
The moment he entered he declared himself as Shirou and that he should be addressed as "Your Majesty" and that since all other students were mongrels that they should obey him undoubtedly.
This caused a series of blank befuddled expressions by adults and children alike.
Yet, soon enough he had most of the children in the class following his orders in a jovial manner, though occasionally begin to fight him whenever he called them mongrels.
Which often resulted in Shirou, magically enhanced, quickly holding them down, subjugating them, then getting scolded at by the teacher, who would then become very confused as no matter how many times it happened he refused to acknowledge he had done anything even remotely wrong.
Shirou enjoyed painting, making messes and whenever they had to craft things, surprisingly enough he could make most things almost detailed as the specifications and they were of a quality none would suspect would come from a six year old.
He even experimented with his work with a highly inquisitive attitude and his way of thinking and processing how things work were astounding.
The boy, when it came to building, fixing or making, was a bit of a genius.
And so Shirou came to enjoy school but was frequently angered by the teachers so his behaviour caused him to come home late and having a dull Kotomine waste his time coming in...
And Shirou enjoyed very much whatever he could do to hinder the fake priest.
At his school was Tohsaka Rin... who acted completely different, acting perfect, conforming and graceful as if they could be nothing wrong with her.
It annoyed him to no end. He remembered the King of Heroes words, she was lesser to him and property of the King like all the world and the people in it.
And so due to her kind acting nature in school, she was forced to act nicely to her rival... despite being called and treated like a tool... and slowly rage began to build within her, they were still a semblance of friends, but murderous intent was but a step away.
X
Shirou had began to learn to cook.
At first he had some bad reactions to the small flames that started up when he lit the stove but he gradually overcame that fear and began to try to learn how to cook.
The King of Heroes did not insult Shirou for trying to cook, in fact he secretly commended it, in his time men were great chefs, unlike the modern idea today that woman cook in households.
And, if it would prevent the consumption of Kotomine's cooking he would gladly accept this alternative.
He did criticise the boy about the quality harshly however.
"Boy! How dare you feed this trash to the King!" Who chucked a plate of somewhat too fried rice to the floor.
"Blame the mongrels that give me such wretched ingredients and Kotomine for giving me so little money!"
In the back of the King's mind he smiled.
That was the way to go, blame another cause for the King can never be in doubt or fault, however his face kept the enraged emotion.
Slowly but surely Shirou was becoming an adept at cooking many dishes, including ones that Gilgamesh described he ate in the past, and even modernising them.
The King was the smallest bit pleased.
X
For two whole years nothing eventful happened.
Shirou was eight now and had lived a... relatively normal life and was enjoying his childhood.
He was in his room, sitting cross legged focusing his magical energy.
He had began to experiment something.
He made the power flow into the tips of his fingers, then his lungs, his heart and every other organ he could think of.
Sending energy to his eyes, nose tongue and ears.
Finally he did something stupid, he tried to reinforce his brain.
Shirou snapped, his world then turned upside down.
Shirou collapsed to the floor with a huge breath, he could taste everything in the room!
The sensation of paper, metal, glass and wood raged within his mouth and throat as if scratching it with a rusty knife!
Then he felt something even more remarkable, he could see all the objects in his rooms make up, how they work, how they were constructed, how long they existed and all the times it was used!
The very history of the room began to flood his mind!
He could feel it with his fingertips, every surface as if against his body, tearing him and comforting him.
Even the tiniest sounds in the room sounded as large as raging thunderstorms!
Shirou screamed as his world began to fade into a muddy black.
X
Shirou awoke to the bleeping sound.
He was in a hospital bed, he groaned weakly as he tried to move his body upwards.
Shirou couldn't, he couldn't even feel his body.
His eyes could barely see, his vision was blurred with darkness.
A white dress.
He could see one and a large rustling of people and yells of voices of many tones.
He saw a priest garment and a little red figure.
Shirou tried to talk but nothing would come out, even blinking seemed to be painful, his eyelids felt as if they were made of heavy ancient metal.
He could swear he heard sobbing of a little girl along with vague "baka!" coming from her voice.
Rin, over the years they had a very peculiar relationship, but if you had to ask, they did indeed see each other as friends, he admired her talents despite his anger at her pompous personality from time to time and the mutual sort of hatred they shared.
Shirou closed his eyes and went to sleep.
"Hopefully he'll be able to leave in a few weeks."
X
It was the night of Shirou's tenth birthday, he had a small lit cake in the middle of his room, the King of Heroes was standing by the door, looking impatient, tapping his feet by unto the wooden floor.
The priest lazily was drinking some wine with his same old expression, he didn't really care much for the stuff, he just did so for almost no reason at all.
By Shirou's side was Rin who had a very flustered look on her face, she was lying on the floor along with Shirou and the room was dark other then the candle light of the cake.
The room wasn't too large so she was practically in a step or two away from everyone else in the room.
Nobody sang happy birthday, everyone in the room wasn't really that sort of person.
So the cake was divided and eaten surprisingly quickly, since Kotomine had bought Chinese food today and they had eaten it just before, so the King, Shirou and Rin tried to get the spices out of their mouth.
Rin soon left, yet Kotomine and the King didn't while Shirou was practising some light reinforcement on a metal bar.
The clock made a small alarm, an hour passed with an eerily silence as Shirou felt uncomfortable with the two men just standing silently in the room.
The moment the alarm ended Gilgamesh picked up Shirou and dragged him outside.
Shirou was ten now, so as the priest promised it was time they taught Shirou how to fight the conventional way.
The church had a bounded field up and it was night time, it was the only place and time they could train due to Kotomine, since they would gather far too much attention anywhere else.
The air distorted around the King and a multitude of weapons began to come out of a golden light. "These are all of my treasures boy. You will not mistreat them and they are mine, marvel at their glory."
Shirou was excited. The original weapons, inventions and ideas of all the world, treasures of the King. Too him it was like a bunch of toys.
Gilgamesh threw a golden flask like bottle at Shirou, who stumbled but caught it. "Drink it." It was a strong simple command. The boy didn't even have to think.
He downed the contents without as much as a complaint, it had tasted bitter, sweet and nutritious all at once. He raced his teeth over his tongue to take the taste out.
The child knelt down and placed the bottle on the ground, gently and carefully.
Then it came. A flash of golden light aiming at Shirou's body. Instinct and new found strength flared in the boys mind. His body twisted and made a small hop in the air as his hands stretched out and grasped what was thrown at him.
A short golden lance. The King didn't look at all surprised.
He hadn't fired that weapon at a high speed, it was very slow by his standards. A decent magus or martial artist probably would have been able to catch it.
Gilgamesh swayed one of his hands forward and two more weapons emerged and launched at the red haired boy like miniature bolts of lightning!
The boys reaction was far too slow this time, he had stretched out the lance in an attempt to slash at the two objects but they were too fast.
The first projectile ricocheted off the lances small side and had passed just under his right ear so it hadn't down anything but shake the child.
Yet the second shot met it's mark, it ripped off the edge of a fair bit of skin and flesh off Shirou's left arm.
"Tch." The King was slightly disappointed.
Shirou's wounds began to heal up within a few moments though. Shirou stared as new skin wrapped over the wound and new blood recovered what he lost.
He turned to the right and saw Kotomine in the distance, watching rather dully. He was going to heal any wounds Shirou got.
Shirou shook his left arm a few times and then focused again he prepared the lance, pointing at the earth with the tip of the blade and the rest of it reached upwards.
It looked ridiculous for such a tiny child to wield such a weapon.
Shirou's eyes narrowed and he stared at the golden gate, perhaps the loss of blood woke up his senses or the elixir he drank was fully kicking in, he was on guard and focused as much as he could be.
Three shining daggers burst forth at a superior speed then the previous ones. Shirou roared, pushed his body upwards and thrust the lance as quickly as he could.
A small clash of metal. One dagger fell to the ground. Shirou turned the lance and swung it inwards. It had been a extreme clumsy movement but it repelled another dagger, it dropped just by his feet.
The third dagger however plunged deep into his right shoulder. A small fountain of blood began to erupt from the wound. The lance fell to the ground and clanged against the floor.
A sniffle of a pained cry left the child's throat, yet he grit his teeth and held the pain in, wincing as his breath sped up.
He wasn't going to be weak... he wasn't going to disappoint the hero who saved him. He had to be strong, stronger then any mortal man, to be worthy of being called son.
The little child yelled and pulled the dagger from his shoulder as the wound began to close up. It his hands it felt right, perfect.
He could feel the shape, the weight and height perfectly, measuring and memorising every factor of the short bladed weapon.
He swung it in the air a few times, a small smile crept unto his face.
He heard the wind bend and hiss, the boy brought himself to his full height and stared what was coming at him down.
Again three small sharp and deadly daggers.
Kotomine's eyes widened for a minute.
It had happened fairly quickly, not up to his speed or a servants or even that of a reinforced magus but perhaps faster than the movements of an average man.
Shirou could feel as if time slowed, the moment and the daggers moving like the tiny movements of an insect, he quickly and instinctively reacted.
Shirou had parried the first dagger with a simple, quick and agile movement.
That technique seemed actually fairly refined, then he had curved downwards to repel the second shot and caught it in his left hand.
The boy then threw one of his daggers at the final incoming one, causing both to fall to the ground harmlessly.
Shirou collapsed on his feet, he was almost at his limit, even with his boy strengthened the amount of stamina he could use hadn't improved by much.
His head felt hazy, his mind was flooded with memories and concepts he couldn't begin to understand as he was now, it almost felt like his mind was overloading.
"Gilgamesh, let him wield an axe." Kotomine's voice was not loud but calm, deep and firm, strong enough to be heard despite the distance between them.
A few hatchets flew forth and landed in a circle around Shirou, who got up and dropped the dagger in his hand with a disappointed expression.
He bent and grasped two hatchets and stood again, Gilgamesh waved a finger and this time five daggers fired out of the gate. The King was getting bored.
It happened almost instantaneously, Shirou tried to guard but failed, the hatchets fumbled and he fell to the ground with the daggers embedded into his soft flesh.
He cried out in pain, closed his eyes and held his breath.
"Sword." The King summoned a rather large European sword and once again it landed by the boy's feet.
The daggers fell out of Shirou, who yelled, stretched out his little arms and wrapped his hands against the hilt of the blade.
Shirou screamed at the top of his lungs, he used the blade to position his body upwards and make him rise back to the top of his height.
He pulled the sword form the shattered ground with a triumphant roar.
Flexing his hands he balanced the blade perfectly, standing almost upright except for the slight bend of his body to position his stance.
Shirou had taken a rather clumsy but accurate stance for wielding a sword, his eyes were now alight with some sort of blazing strength.
Nobody expected what happened next, Shirou began to charge, blade in hand, slowly rising it above his head for a powerful overhead strike.
The King fired a spear faster then he had expected as a small innate reaction, Shirou brought the blade forth and the metal skidded across the length of the spear, veering it off course just enough to not harm him.
Gilgamesh fired a sword at the charging boy, who in response lifted the sword and repelled it with a perfect parry.
Shirou brought the blade as far as he could from his waist, aiming to build momentum and weight on its side for a powerful horizontal slash.
The sight of the little child holding a large two handed sword was as ridiculous as it was amazing, the King had but the slightest of smiles now.
This was what he had seen, a fiery passion and soul in the boys eyes, movements and expressions, that of a great warrior...
The King fired a small arsenal of weapons at the boy, among them two lances, an axe, a sword, a dagger and a Chinese Halberd!
Shirou slashed with a rising horizontal arc, most of the weapons were repelled at that moment... but the halberd came crashing down on the boys leg, ripping right through it and leaving some of the child's bones revealed.
Shirou howled to the sky as he fell on his knees and began to roll from the pain and the sensation of cold hard steel in his body.
It took a few minutes for the wound to heal and the weapon to be forced out.
Shirou's eyesight began to fade, the world looked hazy, all he could clearly see was the golden figure in front of him, so far away.
Kotomine approached and handed the sword that fell from his hands to Shirou.
"Reinforcement magic, try it on this."
Shirou obeyed. He closed his eyes and gripped the weapon before him tightly with his fragile hands, concentrating on every detail.
Weight, length, nature, legend, history of the sword, locate all the gaps in it, fill it with prana, strengthen the weapon and let the magic flow naturally into it.
He opened his eyes and the priest took it, examined it closely and nodded faintly.
"Shirou, imagine the blade and everything about it. Then try to recreate it with your power, do you understand? Replicate this blade exactly as it is."
Shirou closed his eyes again, the details of the blade were fresh in his mind, almost as if it had never left his hands, a blueprint like image hit his mind of the workings of the sword...
Within his hands he began to feel an odd energy and a unusual weight, something was being manifested, it looked like a mirage or a vague memory from a dream but it was definitely sword shaped and resembled the blade in the priests hands.
The image became still and was solidified, in the boy's hands was the exact same weapon as the ones in the priests.
It shattered and Shirou keeled over, he was too tired to stay conscious.
He breathed lightly and slowly as his mind was overtaken by an image of the sword he held...
A dark green grip, a white orb for a pommel caged by three stripes of gold, a golden hilt with a centrepiece of darkness that stretched into a a forest green blade mixed with a holy silver light...
X
Projection magic, normally seen as a worthless higher level or reinforcement, recreating a image from a magi's mind.
It degrades because it does not belong in the world, however Shirou's version of projection seemed different.
Shirou seemed to recreate every aspect of the object in question rather then just using imagination or an image.
Kotomine broke it down into seven steps for Shirou, who at the time did not understand what most of the words meant.
One, judging the concept of creation.
Two, hypothesising the basic structure.
Three, duplicating the composition material.
Four, imitating the skill of its making.
Five, sympathising with the experience of its growth.
Six, reproducing the accumulated years.
Seven, excelling every manufacturing process.
Kotomine made a note of this and stuck it to the small board in Shirou's room.
As for practise itself, Shirou could only replicate that one sword particularly well.
Shirou had replicated many things but only weapon like objects seemed to be any good, and even then most of his creations faded in mere seconds.
Kotomine was still holding the sword Shirou projected earlier in right hand, hanging it downwards absent mindedly.
Rin had poked fun at Shirou repeatedly because he could only do projection and reinforcement, though she occasionally silenced herself whenever Shirou reinforced his own body or projected something weapon like, she couldn't deny the skill of what he did have, but she wouldn't let him know that.
Eventually Kotomine told Shirou to just focus projecting the sword and reinforcing his eyes repeatedly.
Of course each sword was worse then the last however they would not fade or break, they seemed almost as if they weren't something to be rejected by the world.
They was a level of consistency with the blades and to a normal person they would have all looked and felt the same.
Shirou tired of having to reinforce his eyes and then cancelling it's effects, only to repeat the process without much effect if any at all, at least from his mind.
Kotomine thought differently... maybe, it could be possible, if he could do what he wanted in mind then...
It was too soon to be sure, steps three to six where the main problem with his theory, for now it wouldn't hurt to build Shirou to test the theory.
After Rin had left Kotomine approached Shirou.
"Shirou, you can remember the experiences of the sword correct? Do you know who this belonged too?" The priests words were not one that truly questioned, rather they just wanted to see a reaction.
"The way the person felt... um stuffy but heroic for me for some reason, I prefer the sword by itself more, it works with me, even if it doesn't always... click with me?" The answer caused a look of intrigue within the priest, the blade itself, the legend of the blade but not the wielder...
"Shirou, do you know how to use this sword the way the previous user did?" Shirou nodded almost immediately without any doubt in movement.
It explained why Shirou could use weapons with quite some skill, despite not being the right size or using the weapon before.
Kotomine was finally fairly interested in the boy, he was going to do everything in his power to make Shirou an expert at this, this talent was interesting and with the boy's natural inquisitive and curious nature, the final result might be very satisfying.
The King of Heroes was somewhat angered that the boy could only copy the magnificence of his treasures.
Replicating such a thing is a feat surely by the normal persons standards... but to him they were nothing but fakes, a shadow of the original. To have his servant merely copy him in every way... while somewhat pathetically and pitifully endearing it didn't set to well with him.
But then again a fake him representing a fraction of his power seemed poetic... but still the thought of his own handiwork being nothing but a faker enraged him, the King now had a thought it his mind. He wanted the boy to be able to build up his own way, to make his own legend instead of a flawed pilfering of his treasures.
Time passed and in a few years the Holy Grail War will begin... until then Shirou had a few more normal years to look forward to, he was thirteen years old now, middle school was on the horizon.