Chapter 17: Final Exam

"Ah, you're back," When Shirou appeared in the forge, he heard a familiar yet different voice. He looked up to see a man staring at Shirou. He seemed familiar, but not at the same time.

"Lord Vulcan," Shirou addressed the Roman god.

"Do not address me as such," The god shook his head. "I am your father as much as Hephaestus is."

"I see," Shirou said as he looked at his rack of swords before turning back to Vulcan. "I'll be in your care, then."

"That you will," Vulcan nodded. "Your training is always halfway complete, which means you need to make your own hammer."

"My own hammer?" Shirou asked. He knew he had to make one eventually, but he expected to have to wait at least six more months.

"You've been learning faster than either of us anticipated," Vulcan nodded with a proud look on his face. "Making your own hammer is only the halfway point of our lessons. Stay vigilant, because things will get much harder from now on."

"Understood," Shirou nodded.

"Now, let us prepare," Hephaestus grabbed a hammer from his belt and handed it to Shirou. "Your hammer will be etched with your soul. It will become a part of your very being."

Shirou took the hammer and started to analyze it. It was made with a combination of Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, and Adamantie, but… it had no history. This hammer was like an empty slate. A template.

"Close your eyes and let your soul reach into the hammer," Vulcan said. Shirou did as he was told.

"I am the bone of my sword."

He felt himself going into his Unlimited Blade Works. In an instant, he was unconscious.

/

Shirou woke up to see that he was in his reality marble. Swords littered the grassy fields, but something was different. Standing a couple dozen meters away was a forge made of stone. He walked over to it and opened the door to see a hammer awaiting him. The hammer he was holding but a few seconds ago.

As Shirou walked down and picked it up, he felt heat flow through his body. His palm burned as glyphs started to form on it. Shirou looked down and read the text. It was Greek.

"One must wait endlessly,

One must search endlessly.

This hammer shall forge my path."

When Shirou analyzed the hammer again, its history showed something else. It showed… Shirou's history. This hammer… it was an extension of his soul now. He closed his eyes and held the hammer close to his chest as his world turned white."

/

Almost a year had passed since he forged his hammer. Shirou was now ten years old at this point and he had progressed rapidly. With his new hammer, he was now able to use any blueprint in his Unlimited Blade Works to infuse in a blade. As he became more and more accustomed with Vulcan's forging techniques, however, he started to stray away from those blueprints and started to infuse blades with his own ideas and powers.

He was now able to forge with Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold to a high degree, impressing even Vulcan. His teaching was a lot more rigid and demanding, similar to how a soldier was trained. Despite that, Shirou persisted. He persisted and learned everything that the Roman god taught him.

When Shirou stepped into the forge that day, something was different. Hephaestus was sitting down, looking at him with a sad smile.

"Good morning," Shirou greeted the god.

"Good morning, Shirou," Hephaestus stood up and put his arm on Shirou's shoulder. "I want you to know that I'm proud of you."

"Thank you," Shirou nodded at his father. It felt nice to receive the approval.

"We both have taught you plenty, but I think it's time for your final test," Hephaestus said as he looked at the anvil. "Today, you will be forging something with your Light."

Shirou raised an eyebrow. He was aware of this… "light." It was some sort of essence in him that replicated Avalon's properties to a weaker degree. It had followed him through life since returning Avalon to Artoria, but it had dwindled as he lived. Even here, he still had a bit of that light, but it was nowhere close to the amount he originally had.

"I… I think that would be a good idea," Shirou nodded his head apprehensively. Although it still regenerated his wounds, it didn't do as much good as it used to. Maybe he could create something to honor the light and what it has done for him.

"I shall supervise your work," Hephaestus said. Shirou made his way to the forge. It was time to get to work. He then handed Shirou a chunk of purified Adamantite. "Use this."

"Thank you," Shirou smiled at his father. He already knew what he was going to do. A sheath honoring Avalon should only be made of the finest materials, after all.

As he stepped to the anvil, the dimensions of Caliburn's blade rose to the forefront of his mind. Adamantite had a ridiculous melting point, so he needed something hot. He grabbed his first ever creation, the Theos Floga, or the God Blaze.

"θεός φλόγα," Shirou muttered. Red flames burst forth from the sword and the metal started to heat. He then grabbed his hammer and took a deep breath. He pulled Avalon's blueprint from his Reality Marble and the glyphs in the hammer started to glow.

CLANG!

It was the first of many strikes. Flattening the chunk before shaping it to match Caliburn's length. He had to meticulously hammer the end so it could make the point of a sword. While the metal was still hot, he reached into himself. Just as if he was pulling out the scabbard of the King, when he took his hand out, it was glowing with a soft, golden light.

"Thank you," he muttered before putting his bare, glowing hand on the metal. He winced as the powerful flames burned his skin. It was the first time that had happened since he was reborn. The sheath started to glow as magnificent golden patterns etched themselves into the metal. It was almost like an inverse of Avalon with the light blue hue of Adamantine being the dominant color with the gold color of Avalon's light taking up the role of a secondary hue.

Shirou then let the metal cool. As it did, he noticed that the golden parts of the sheathe were glowing softly. He smiled at his handiwork. He had done it.

"Excellent job," Hephaestus walked up to Shirou and put his hand on his shoulder. "What will you name it?"

"It is the Echo of Avalon," Shirou removed Caliburn from its traced sheathe and plunged the blade into the new one. It was a perfect fit. The sheathe glowed a bit more brightly, as if expressing satisfaction. "The Ever Guiding Light."

/

Hephaestus was extremely proud of his son. At the age of ten, he was already more adept at smithing than most of his children throughout history. It was an amazing sight, but all good things must come to an end.

"Shirou, I enjoyed the time we had together, but I am afraid it's coming to a close," Hephaestus said. Shirou looked up at him with confused eyes and the god couldn't help but smile. "There are many things I haven't taught you, but you must go out and learn these lessons on your own."

"I will do my best," Shirou nodded.

"I will contact some of my Dwarven friends and they can teach you how to smith magic rings, but you must find Yggdrasil on your own," Hephaestus continued on. "I cannot tell you what will happen on your journey there, but I hope it only helps you to grow."

"Thank you so much," Shirou pulled Hephaestus into a hug. "For everything."

"I shall watch over you," Hephaestus said. "When you return to Camp Half-Blood, you shall be claimed."

"It's a date," Shirou chuckled as he took one of his swords from the rack.

"Do you want to keep these blades?" Hephaestus asked.

"Maybe not now," Shirou shook his head. "I can only carry so much. Though there is one I do want to keep."

"Of course," Hephaestus said as Shirou grabbed a large sword from the bottom. It was about as thick as he was and a bit taller than him. It was never meant to be used in combat, but it was one of Shirou's most prized possessions.

"I shall send the rest of them to Camp Half-Blood when you return," Hephaestus said.

"Thank you," Shirou said as he looked at the smaller blade in his hands. "Goodbye, dad."

Hephaestus smiled as Shirou was encased in light. With a flash, he was gone.

/

There was one place Shirou had to visit before he started. He could have started with his mom's apartment, but Shirou had seen her periodically throughout his training. He could go seek out Hestia, but he didn't want to step foot in Camp Half-blood just yet.

No, the place he wanted to go was Lisa's grave. Shirou sat down in front of it. The sword atop it remained untouched.

"It's been a while," Shirou said, smiling at the grave. As he predicted, it gave no response. "I'm sorry for being so weak. I… I couldn't save you. I'm stronger now, though. I'll protect everyone. Don't you worry, alright?"

He lifted the hefty sword with one hand and stabbed it into the ground. The celestial bronze blade shone in the line as green fire etched itself in its midsection until greek letters were visible.

Lisa Hagen

1981-1998

Half-blood, Sister, Friend

She lived by the forge and died by the forge.

May her soul rest in peace

Shirou smiled and stepped back. It didn't feel right for him to carve a tombstone. Both of them were children of Hephaestus, and Shirou wanted to honor that. He made a sword that would etch the text into its blade when it was plunged into the ground.

"I hope you like it," Shirou whispered. He then turned his back to the newly made grave. He couldn't stand there lamenting. There were things he had to do.

"I guess here's as good a place to start as any," Shirou said. There weren't many places he could teleport to and all of them had Greek influence, so if he wanted to find the World Tree, he would have to look elsewhere. "Let's get going."

With a single step forward, Shirou's newest journey had begun.

Thank you all so much for your patience. I'm sorry I haven't uploaded in a while. I had some health issues, but it's mostly squared away now. Anyways, this marks the last chapter of Hephaestus's training regimin. Now, Shirou will have to go and find his own path and learn from different places, including different mythologies. I hope you're excited for what I have in store. With that being said, please do consider leaving a review! I would love to read and reply to your thoughts. Also please join my Discord! I would love to talk to you all and answer all your questions! I talk a lot about my thought process while writing, so if you're interested in that, do consider joining. The url is discord . gg (forego the spaces) followed by a slash and CpVs7R8KXz. Unfortunately you'll have to type the rest of the url in manually because I'm not allowed to post links. If you want to read chapters as soon as they're finished along with a slew of other benefits, check out my Patron at pat reon dot com slash kfpisnotacult. They've already read up to chapter 20. Thank you for reading and I'll catch you on the flipside.