A loud roar echoed throughout the camp.

Shirou shot up from his bed, he traced Kanshou under his blanket and looked around frantically, sense tickling and circuits activated, ready to sprang at any movement and threat. But all that greeted him was noises of his cabinmates' snoring. Weird, nothing was here, maybe it was just his imagination?

His doubts fled when he heard another roar, this time, it was significantly louder than the previous one but still far from waking up his still asleep cabinmates. It echoed in a distance until if faded into the background.

Now fully awake, Shirou tossed away his cover and jumped off his bed, bare feet landing lightly on the wooden surface. He grabbing his temporary weapon from his bedside and hopped towards the door without stepping on any sleeping campers on the way and making any sudden sound. He slipped through the door and closed it behind him with a small click.

The cabins probably were soundproofed, because the roar was much louder on the outside. Shirou could hear snapping trees from the forest, the ground vibrating from heavy impacts. Whoever or whatever were causing this commotion was strong. Still in his sleepwear, Shirou sprinted towards the source after tracing a pair of sports shoes, which was far more suitable for battle than a pair of slippers.

With reinforcement, he was nearing the speed of sound, leaving small craters and shattered ground in his wake. The surroundings were nothing more than a blurred background.

In just seconds he was across camp and standing over the Half-blood Hill. Trees were uprooted and the forest was ruined. Angered and savage roars could be heard despite the distance.

"…Percy…." He could make out through the crashing of trees with his enhanced hearing.

Immediately, he flooded his legs with prana and took a great leap, the tip of the hill shattered as he was launched with great speed.

The moment he was in the air he reinforcing his eyes for better eyesight and shielding them from the wind. Shirou focused on the destruction. There! Tiny shapes were moving around a particularly larger one. In one hand, Shirou materialized a kusarigama enchanted with magic to make the chain infinite long.

As the sharp treetops approached as if to impale him, Shirou gave a grunt of exertion and tossed the kusarigama, it flew with deadly accuracy and tore through an unfortunate tree and shattered a boulder before plunging into the ground.

The chain went taut immediately and his arm would've been ripped out of its socket if Shirou hadn't reinforced said arm with potent prana.

The chains retracted after Shirou gave the thought and pulled the flying magus out of the air, towards the middle of the battle in breakneck speed like a meteor.

Percy Jackson was undeniably terrified, after Gabe's car was flipped over by the bull man, he knew that he was as good as dead.

The freakin' Minotaur. The monster that was so famous in Greek mythology that even inattentive Percy Jackson had heard of, literally appeared out of nowhere and had body slammed Smelly Gabe's car in the air like a toy. With no little effort, they pulled the unconscious Grover out of the smashed car and dragged their battered and bruised body towards the direction Percy's mother directed. Unfortunately, the Minotaur was still on their tail.

The bull man charged his mother and him, and Percy dodged as his mother instructed. Percy scrambled to his feet as the bull turned and growled, lowering its center of mass as it gave another attempt to run over the Jacksons. The boy grimaced as he saw the bulging muscles on the Minotaur's chest and arms, imagining that it was as hard as steel walls and as heavy as a truck, he definitely didn't want to find out how painful it would hurt if it got him.

Percy gave a frantic glance over to Grover, who was unconscious and babbling about nonsense behind the growling Minotaur where he left him.

"PERCY! IT'S COMING!" his mother yelled and Percy turned his attention back to the monster who was charging with his arms wide apart.

"OH CRUD—" he never got to finish his sentence as he was too late to dodge under the wide beefy arm. The oversized bicep caught him by the shoulder and he was sent flying.

"PERCY!" his mother screamed, who was luckily fast and attentive enough to ward off the Minotaur's charge.

The boy spun in the air and his back hit a tree on its way descending. He gasped as all air was mercilessly knocked out of him. He dropped to the earth and slumped against the tree trunk.

His head was a blur, screams and snaps were faint to his dazed mind, it felt like an eternity for him to blink the stars out of his eyes and focus. But as he looked up, breathless, he saw the Minotaur approach him with his mother in his grasp.

"Mom!" he gasped in anger, "y-you fucker! Let her go!" Percy tried to stand but his body refused to comply. He muscles were sore from the lunges to dodge the monster and his back was hurting like hell, he wouldn't be surprised if he had broken his back.

The Minotaur hefted his mother. She struggled and kicked in the air, her face was in twisted in pain as the monster slowly tightened his grip of the fragile human. Percy felt his heart shattered into a million pieces at the sight.

"…mom!" he yelled and his mother smiled even as she was getting crushed.

"Percy… run…" She gasped out as her face was starting to turn purple. It hurts, seeing his mother slowly dying in front of his eyes, tears gathered at the corner of his eyes.

Then in front of his very eyes, his mother exploded in a dust of golden powder. Percy screamed, "NOOO!"

Then a comet hit the space between boy and monster.

The ground shook and shuddered, the ground gave out to the tremendous force and cratered. Percy felt himself bouncing from the quake and landed on his rear, the Minotaur lost balance and stumbled.

Clouds of dust were kicked up and covered their vision like a smokescreen, covering the whole clearing with debris and dirt. Percy coughed and rubbed his eyes. He could hear the Minotaur growling in annoyance.

The dust cleared and Percy could finally see a figure standing in the middle of the crater.

It was a boy in a strange mix between pajamas and sports shoes, his red hair was somehow familiar.

"W-what?" Percy racked his mind for the name, "Shirou?"

"Percy," the boy greeted with his back on him, "are you hurt?" Percy noted that he was carrying a short sword by his side.

"…I'm fine— wait! MOM! NO!" the auburn haired boy tensed his shoulders as the Minotaur roared in defiance. The younger Jackson struggled to his feet with a stagger, tears gathered in the corner of his eyes as he eyed the remains of his mother on the earth.

Shirou gritted his teeth and the air grew heavy, and suddenly Percy found breathing a lot harder than before. The Minotaur seemed to share his discomfort and stiffened. Unable to breath as the aura of death surrounded the demon in the skin of a boy.

Compared to the chaos that occurred not a minute ago, it was dead silent now.

Percy gazed at the source of all the overwhelming pressure, who was still and unmoving like a statue, but the aura he was exerting was suffocating.

"I'm sorry for your mother," Percy could hear the sadness in Shirou's voice.

The redhead took a step forward—

And promptly blurred away from Percy's very eyes.

The Minotaur howled as its left arm was cut off. It was then launched back by a crushing punch to its chest, the muscles and bones around his fist caved in as the beast of the Labyrinth was sent out of the clearing and into the trees.

The sound of tree snapping could be heard from a distant. The whole confrontation lasted only two seconds. And Percy didn't even have the time to blink.

Shirou touched the ground after he catapulted the Minotaur into the woods, flexing his shoulders to stretch his muscles, he kicked away the dissolving arm he had cut off from the beast.

Even with reinforcement, he felt like punching a wall of steel, he could relate the Minotaur with Berserker, though he would've broken his hand on Hercules' God Hand blessed skin. But the Minotaur was not a Servant, the punch only made his fingers sore.

Instantly, Avalon's effects kicked in, the bruises on his knuckles healed and regained a healthy shade of pale pink. Shirou flexed his fingers, he felt stronger, faster. For a moment he was arrogant enough to feel like taking on an Ancestor alone and winning.

He felt invincible. Was this how servants felt during his Holy Grail War? Shattering ground with a lunge and distort air and reality with a swing of their weapon. His body felt as if it would explode from raw power.

"Percy, take Grover to the camp. I doubt he would stay down for long," Shirou pointed at a particularly huge pine tree from a distance, "you see that tree? Go there and don't stop until you arrive camp. When you get there immediately go and ask for Chiron."

Shirou focused back to the approaching footsteps and growls of anger and agony, "go now, I'll keep him occupied." He could hear the frantic footsteps of the Jackson carrying the satyr towards the general direction of the camp, faint sobs barely audible to his ears.

Shirou's shoulder slumped as he eyed the gold dust that was once Percy's mother; he failed, again. How many times had this been for an innocent to die because of his inability? Too many to count.

The Minotaur finally emerged from the tree lines. It didn't escape Shirou's attacks unscathed, far from it. Its snout was broken and bent in an unnatural direction, cuts and scars adorned its chest and the remaining arm, the imprint of his fist was still implanted on its chest, the tip of a rib was exposed from its skin from Shirou' punch. The stump on his shoulder was leaking ichor it a rapid rate, pooling on the ground and staining grass crimson.

Overall, it was in a pathetic state, but Shirou knew better than to underestimate his opponent. A Servant with a severed arm could take on an army magus with ease.

The camp should've known of the commotion by now, and Shirou needed to finish this quick before any of the campers arrive. He needed to end this, fast. Revealing and explaining his abilities would be troublesome.

"I'm not in mood for this."

Sidestepping the Minotaur's another charge, Shirou casually spun kicked the monster to regain distance between the two. The heel of his feet ached from digging into the hardened skin.

The machete would be useless now, the thin lines on the weapon's blade indicating that it was not as durable as he originally thought, and would not survive another strike at the rate Shirou was abusing it, the edge had become a bit dull from cutting the bull's arm. After all, this was not a weapon for battle, but a practice blade.

He sheathed his short sword and let it drop to the ground, oblivious to everything as he searched for the weapon in mind. Something with enough cutting power, something powerful, something legendary.

And he found it, a katana stabbed in the endless field of swords along with its burden, waiting for its master to call upon its power, leaking bloodlust and vile aura of a Serpent.

His magic circuits hummed as it began to apply prana for it to gathered around his palm.

With a thought, the katana still in its sheath flashed into existence in his waiting hand.

Legendary katana, the Kusanagi, was deadly in terms of beauty and power. Its edge was sharpest, the steel was unbreakable, the devastating power of destruction it contained was unparalleled.

The Minotaur huffed and prepared to charge again, yet Shirou ignored it. With unwavering concentration, his grip around the katana tightened as he immediately flooded the blade with potent prana. Still in the sheath, the sword was glowing a brilliant dark red and bled waves of smoke of the same color. The grass around Shirou withered and died under the aura the blade was giving out. His reserves dipped considerably.

The Minotaur went rigid, it seemed to feel his death approach as well, and it was scared, as it should be. But again it was a mindless animal that rarely relied on its instincts, in its last moment it struggled and charged, feral growl erupted from its throat.

Shirou stopped charging Kusanagi when it reached a tenth of its full power; he didn't want to charge it to its fullest, it won't do him good if he accidentally wiped off the entire forest and the city with a flick of the deadliest sword in history.

Air stilled, time stopped and everything moved in extremely slow motion, just for the perfect strike.

The katana left the sheath, and the Minotaur, along with the half forest behind him was bisected in half.

Hades was leaning forward as he gripped the armrest of his throne, knuckles white as the obsidian cracked under his unyielding grip.

He was watching the whole time, from Poseidon's brat's futile escape from his beast to the redhead's interference.

Saying that Hades was impressed was an understatement. He'd witness the unknown demigod's insane speed and superior strength rivaling Hercules'. The boy could have been one of the strongest demigods easily.

But then the boy literally pulled out a katana from thin air.

And decimated the fearsome bull monster with a simple, casual flick of his sword, as if the Minotaur was nothing more than a prank joke.

As the upper-half of the Minotaur slid down from the lower-half and hit the floor with a heavy thud, the forest behind it followed suit.

Destruction, pure destruction, it was a sword with power that could rival even a god's weapon, and the boy didn't even seem winded from the powerful attack. To make it worse, Hades didn't recognize this katana.

Hades watched as the weapon dissolved in the air. This was… more serious than he thought. There was a demigod with immense power roaming right under his nose, unbounded by ancient laws, possibly a god slayer.

This demigod…

Yes, he would do...

Shirou panted as he allowed Kusanagi fell apart in from his hands, the sword dissolved into the thin air as if it never existed.

He surveyed his surroundings, gazing away from the pile of dust that had been the beast he was fighting. He didn't want to ruin this forest, but his weapon was a lot more powerful than he remembered.

Without Gaia's influence stripping down his traced weapons' rank, they were almost as powerful as the originals, weapons capable of leveling cities and mountains with ease, primordial blades that slayed demons and gods alike, legendary axes that split the mountains and ripped heavens asunder, shields that protects humanity in its worse moments, demonic blades that slew gods and Seraphs, holy blades that slayed demon lords and Satan himself.

But in turn, the demanding amount of prana needed to trace those weapons exceeded

Shirou sighed in frustration. He had overdone it, he would not be surprised if the gods above were now aware of his existence. Shirou wondered how to explain this mess to Chiron when he was asked about it, how to face Percy after letting his mother die.

Shirou was so deep in thought, he was late in noticing the shifting earth beneath his feet.

And so when the ground parted, he was too late to react. Shirou dropped in the hole, acting on pure instincts, Shirou traced a nameless sword and stabbed it on the earth wall as he fell. To his surprise, the sword snapped in half against the wall.

A moment later, the hole closed on itself just as Chiron and an army of demigods arrived at the scene, gaping at the destruction the battle had caused.

Hades stared at the shackled person in front of him.

The moment he fell through the portal, he snapped his fingers to chain the boy up with his obsidian chains and cuffs.

He was young, far too young to be this strong. And yet, every aspect regarding the young man was screaming danger. What had this young boy gone through to achieve this level of strength?

Golden eyes, instead of panicking from the change of scenery, was calm and cool, a gleam of anger only barely visible to him. His posture might seem lax, yet at the same time it seemed impossible to approach him without being cut to pieces. The boy was short, but his aura was that of a seasoned warrior. Even if he was chained, kneeling and wearing pajamas, Hades didn't feel assured at all. His presence alone made the god's skin tingle.

Hades stared at the boy, eyes gazing in the windows of the soul as he tried to read the boy's mind. But he was repelled back, by a barrier of… steel? Weird.

At last, Hades finally spoke, "Shirou Emiya, twelve years old, male. No recorded birth certificates, not a drop of godly blood in your veins, not a single record of your existence, you basically just made your appearance a couple months ago." He tossed a pile of papers on the desk. It scattered smooth surface, "but that is not my concern and I simply don't care."

The boy was still far too calm, his eyes still on Hades as he leaned forward from his throne. And it was unnerving the god. No child could act like this at the boy's age.

Hades waved his hand and a TV popped into reality. The screen flickered, and Hades replayed the battle between his prized beast and the boy. The camera wasn't able to capture the boy's super speed, all it caught was a red blur. And when Shirou pulled out the Kusanagi from thin air, Hades paused it. He looked away from the TV and glanced at the boy for any reaction, he found none. This intimidating interrogation was not working as it always did.

"Now, what I really want to ask," Hades rose from his throne of skeletons and walked over to the device and tapped the katana with his fingers, "what is this? Too powerful to be a mortal weapon, but not a weapon I'd seen before wielded by gods. And yet… so destructive, so powerful. Disaster will occur if it ends up in the wrong hands. And yet it belongs to the hands of a boy barely in his teens."

The boy glanced at the screen, his eyes flickered as he spoke for the first time, "Kusanagi, the sword from the body of an eight-headed serpent. A legendary blade that could cut through the strongest steel like it cut through glass, hence, the name Grasscutter Sword." Shirou Emiya narrowed his eyes, amber orbs sharp as they focused on the god, "not to be rude, Lord Hades, but that Minotaur just now… did it attack under your order?"

"I am not bold enough to directly attack Poseidon's son," Hades intoned carefully as Shirou froze, "but it is indeed one of my minions, and that beast was given the task to keep the woman a hostage and bring her to me unharmed." Hades sighed as if his age was showing, "but as expected of a mindless beast, not only did it almost crush the mother in its grip, it almost slaughtered the pathetic demigod. Poseidon would not be pleased."

Hades must admit, the boy's self-control was ironclad from what the anger Hades was sensing. The air was saturated with magical energy and Hades could feel rage directed at himself, but the boy had yet to budged from his spot.

"Lord Hades, with all due respect, do you mind telling me why you would attack a demigod and an innocent mortal out of the blue?" Venom was literally dripping from his words. But being the god of Underworld, it didn't affect him in the slightest.

The god smirked at the boy's tone, "it's none of your concern."

"Perhaps it has something to do with your helmet of Darkness?"

That made him did a double take. The air froze the Lord of Underworld turned slowly to the shackled child.

Shirou Emiya was totally unaffected by the god's glare and sighed, "Lord Hades, I know that your symbol of power is stolen from you."

Hades' power spiked, the skeleton servants in his throne room rattled in their armor in fear as their master's godly power exploded from his form, "and how do you know? Little godling."

"My employer told me, and it is none of your concern," Hades' face twisted into a sneer as his words were used against himself. The boy's amber eyes sharpened, "and do you suspect Percy? You do know that he had no idea he is a demigod just a few days ago, let alone sneaking in the Underworld to steal your most heavily guarded weapon."

Hades glared at the boy. A glare from the god of Death was enough to make heroes and monsters wet their pants and faint, yet Shirou Emiya didn't seem fazed under Hades' gaze, and the god disgruntledly praised him for that.

Then he sighed explosively, startling the boy kneeling in front of him as Hades fell back into the cold touch of his throne. He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, "truly, for a mere mortal, you surprised me. You are a strange boy, Shirou Emiya." Hades intoned, "yes, you are correct, my helm is stolen from me, as well as my brother's master bolt."

"but no matter. One way or another, Poseidon's son is going to bring me my helm, whether he really stole it or not," Hades rested his head on his palm, eyes indifferent as he looked at Shirou, "now, enough talking about others, let's talk about you."

"There's nothing much to know about me," the boy said stubbornly.

"Oh no! there's much to know about you actually. For one, how can a twelve-year-old boy punch the Minotaur hard enough to send it flying half the speed of sound? Or, how can a boy obtain such a powerful weapon under the gods' nose?"

"It's a present from my… master," the boy grimaced.

"And why, pray tell, would your master give a weapon that could slay the most fearsome monsters to a mere child?"

"He has a lot of weapons," the boy said flatly, "he gave them to me and now I'm in possess of my master's weapons."

"Your story is hardly convincing," Hades laughed darkly, "so full of holes and you expect me—"

Hades froze mid-sentence, his widening eyes on the blades that appeared above the chained boy.

Speechless, absolutely ridiculous. Each of those weapons radiated power like a fountain. Some leaked holy property, some gave away demonic aura, some literally dripped bloodlust. It was unbelievable, every weapon of the boy's was on-par, if not superior, with the Olympian's godly weapons.

"Do you believe me now?" the nonchalant voice brought Hades' attention back on Emiya.

Let it be known that Hades did not take this approach lightly.

"Are you… pointing your weapons at me, the ruler of the Underworld, in my own throne room?" the boy blanched as Hades said softly.

"W-what?! No! That's—"

"You're either brave or stupid, boy. I was thinking of making you my right-hand man, but now I rather have you thrown in a cell and let you rot for decades," anger was clear in the god's words.

"That is not what I meant!"

"You should think before you act," Hades waved his arm and the guards approached the boy, "throw him in the cell, let this be a lesson for you."

Shirou sighed in frustration, he tried to solve this like civil people, but Hades was having none of that. Out of options, the blades rotated until it was pointing at the approaching guards.

"What do you think you're doing boy," Shirou heard Hades growl, he ignored the god. With a thought, twelve of the sixteen weapons flew. They sliced through the air and buried deep into the skulls. The blade shattered in a small explosion of prana and utterly annihilated the skeletons, fragment of bones clattered on the blackened spots on the marble floor.

The remaining four blades spun lazily, the tip pointing at Shirou. The trigger fired, and the blades were shot. Divine steel shattered obsidian chains like glass and buried themselves hilt-deep into the throne room floor with a thunderous boom.

Shirou easily stood up, prana overflowing from his body as he shook the broken chains from his form. He wrenched his hands apart and the handcuffs broke into half. Hades could only watch in shock as the reinforced obsidian remains clattered on the marble floor.

Oblivious to the shock his action had caused, Shirou rolled his shoulders and pulled out Kanshou and Byakuya from his arsenal. The yin-yang blades sparkled as if electrified.

"Can we…not?" Shirou asked hesitantly.

An army of zombies and skeletons burst into the throne room, they paused at the sight of the state the throne room and the panicked expression their master was wearing.

"What are you waiting for! Capture him!" Hades all but yelled. His minions charged with a wailing battle cry. Shirou twirled the blades in his grip and sighed, no use hiding it now since the cat was out of the bag.

He disappeared from view and Hades' eyes widened.

A nearly synchronized sound of metal against bones as a blur moved at superhuman speed.

It was over in two heartbeats. The army of undead dropped like a puppet with its string cut off, unable to defend their master when he was being held by a sword against his throat.

"Ho—how." The god stuttered and gulped in fear, not moving in the slightest to avoid the sharp point of the Chinese short swords.

"I'm from another dimension, deal with it," the magus growled, sick and tired of the god's childish and futile acts to chain him like a rabid animal, "a good effort, but I fight beings far greater than you gods." Gilgamesh popped in his mind. The man was a monster with his arsenal of weapons, anti-god chains and world destroying swords.

"Now, Lord Hades, can we now please discuss matters like civil adults?"

"A distraction. The stolen master bolt and helmet of darkness are part of their scheme to create conflict between the Olympians," Shirou said, now sat on a chair conjured in the middle of the throne room by the god.

"As expected of my foolish siblings, always fighting amongst themselves," Hades spoke dryly, he was always the more mature and older one, and it's both entertaining and frustrating to see his fellow gods always competing against each other and fighting like childish kids.

"My main purpose here is to stop this war, I mean Olympus no harm," Hades sniggered darkly when he heard Shirou said this.

"I don't care if you have anything to do with Olympus, their destruction only means benefits to me," Hades sneered, "I'm just curious that what you would do now, hero."

Shirou frowned, he didn't really like how Hades was mocking a hero, "I'll do anything to ensure this world's survival, to save everyone."

Hades laughed deeply, a laugh that was full of sarcasm, "you'll save everyone? Ha! You have a naïve mind for a warrior."

It wasn't that Shirou hadn't heard of the same sentence before, so he ignored the jab, "how about this, Lord Hades, I have a proposal that would benefit the both of us."

Hades rose an eyebrow and grunted. While he hated demigods for always intruding his realm for foolish quests, he grudgingly respect people with power. And so he listened to the magus' proposal.

"You let go of Percy's mother, I'll help you get your helm and Zeus' master bolt back."

Hades blinked.

Ares was whistling a happy tune as he exited the tunnel of love after having a wild happy time with Aphrodite. He had left his girlfriend a hot mess back in the boat.

He felt sore, in a good way, but damn Aphrodite serious got those skills with her mouth and hands. A small bag appeared in Ares' palm and a bloodthirsty grin appeared on his face. Soon Olympus would be in war, more conflict would increase his power as a God of War. More blood means more entertainment, he better made sure he wouldn't be running out of popcorns.

Life was good.

A shadow flickered behind a lamppost, yet the god was too distracted in his thoughts to notice it. Ares received a heel kick on top of his head.

His mind was blank for a moment. Dazed and suffering from a concussion, the god was unprepared the uppercut that nailed him right on the jaw. He felt it shatter and dislocated. Just as the pain came, he doubled over as a kick buried itself in his stomach. Then he was sent flying as the force finally registered.

Ares was unconscious when an overhead drop-kick cracked against his forehead, his head caused a crater to form in the concrete. The bag that contained the powerful weapons in this world dropped from his open hand.

Shirou nursed his foot from all the punishing kicks, a grimace on his face as Avalon brushed away the pain and soothed the numbness. He kneeled and picked up the bag, the content unnaturally heavy. The moment Shirou peeked in the bag, the master bolt and helm was stored in his limitless arsenal.

Shirou tossed the helm at the surprised and stunned god after he was teleported back to Hades' throne room. The dark divine armor piece shrunk until it disappeared in the thin air, a black ball in replacement, that also vanished from Hades' palm.

"There, I got your helm back, now fulfill your promise," Shirou said, shifting his weight on his uninjured foot. He genuinely thought he cracked a few bones in his leg from those kicks, damn Ares' skin was even tougher than the Minotaur's.

Hades nodded mutely, he waved his hand and a woman materialized in the throne room. She seemed disheveled but uninjured much to Shirou's relief.

"Wha-" she managed to stutter out as Hades snapped his fingers, the woman flickered before she was teleported, eyes wide as she locked gaze with Shirou. When Percy's mother was gone a short moment of silence engulfed the room.

"There, you satisfied? Emiya," Shirou noticed that Hades did not address himself as a boy, "now answer me, how do you know that it Ares that stole my treasure?"

The magus glanced at the god, "you can say that I have resonations with weapons. The fragment of metal you gave me earlier is used to forge your helmet, is that correct?"

"Indeed."

"I used the piece of metal to… trace the location of your helmet. It's hard to explain, it's just one of my abilities," Shirou grimace right after the words left his mouth, he should be more cautious with what he said. He just leaked some information concerning his magic.

"Hm, interesting," Hades muttered, he certainly had not heard of such ability. If there's a god Hades could associate with weapons, it would be Hephaestus, but not even Hades had heard any of the god's child would inherit his godly powers other than control over fire and forging prowess. The mystery known as Shirou Emiya was a very difficult puzzle, "and what do you intend to do with my brother's master bolt? Shirou Emiya, would you keep it?"

"uh… I think I'm gonna return it back to Zeus. Or else there going to be war, and I'll rather avoid that from happening," Shirou said honestly, it didn't matter, the master bolt had been identified as a weapon and recorded in his Reality Marble.

Hades, on the other hand, was thinking of protesting. He personally would want to keep the bolt for a few investigations and experiments that would benefit himself. But then again, it wasn't his place to say, there's no way to convince the stubborn boy.

"Very well, a war would do me more bad than good, more souls arriving at the Underworld would only mean more paperwork for me," Hades sighed, "I shall deliver this to Camp Half-blood, the demigods will no doubt bring the weapon to Olympus."

"Works for me."

In another display of godly power, Hades snapped his fingers and in replacement of the master bolt was a carefully wrapped package. Another flick of his wrist and the box was gone, delivered and placed gently on the desk of the Big House, startling poor Chiron half to death at the sudden appearance of the package.

Hades sighed in relief, the stress and grief that bothered him for days after his helm was stolen now gone, he now solely felt tired and in need for a good sleep. But he was still conscious of the unwanted guest in his throne room.

"… now what should I do with you?" Hades genuinely asked, not really knowing what he should now treat the boy, who had both threatened and helped him in just the span of an hour.

Shirou tilted his head, a hand came up and scratched his cheek, "actually, Lord Hades, I want to work with you."

"… did I hear you right? I'm afraid all this fatigue has finally reached me."

"No, no, I actually want to work for you. I rather not to go back to Camp Half-blood, that'll only hinder my purpose here; You know, to save the world?"

"…" Hades closed his eyes as a very strong urge to have a drink invaded his mind, "and what does that have anything to do with me?"

"Ah…" Shirou pondered, then it clicked, "you mentioned earlier that you want me to be your right-hand man, right? I figure that it could actually benefit both of us. I'll help do your dirty work, and I get my free reign to kill monsters under your name."

Hades blinked, "now that you mention it. It doesn't sound so bad after all."

To be honest, Hades just wanted a break from all this paperwork.

It was night when Shirou found himself seated on the edge of the roof of a skyscraper, legs dangled in the air as he leaned back, staring at the starry night with a soft sigh.

How long had it been, to be able to seat back for once without a care of the world, admiring the beautiful night. Too long, the last time he had stared up at the night was the night Emiya Kiritsugu died. Now, glancing up at the full moon, he could still remember the content smile his father had on his face when he died.

"I wanted to be a hero."

Kiritsugu's dream, Shirou's dream, the very ideal that had led both of Emiyas to their death bed. But in the end, there were no regrets, as it was a path they had chosen, something they wanted— needed to do no matter how people claimed it to be impossible. Shirou was born from this ideal that night in the fire, forged and hammered as he cast away the very thing that made him normal and became distorted, the strongest steel, the living sword.

In this world, people used the word 'hero' without much of a thought. To them, demigods and gods, heroes were merely powerful people that fought against monsters and came out victorious, earning fame and glory, showered with love and praise. Someone who did great deeds, accomplishing achievements that were considered impossible.

But to Emiya Shirou, a hero is to protect, to ensure everyone's happiness. A hero is a martyr, people who valued others over themselves, selfless beings that wanted nothing more than other's happiness, to let people sleep in peace at night knowing that danger would not be upon them as long as they were under the protection of their savior. Shirou would not admit the 'heroes' in this dimension, to him, they were no heroes, but selfish and narrow-minded individuals that valued glory above all. He disliked them, to think that they were heroes even without having to sacrifice anything.

Shirou wanted none of that, fame and honor were short-lived, temporary. That's not the 'hero' he wanted to be. The hero he dreamed of, was to save and grant smiles to all the people in the world.

He had failed Kiritsugu in his past life, unable to fulfill his promise to be a hero, he had killed, he was unable to save everyone, he brought forth disasters that had killed thousands, failed to shoot down a nuclear missile that ended up blowing up a tenth of the total population on Earth, unable to put down an Ancestor and left him alive roaming around the city slaughtering innocents as a blood sport.

He was no hero, far from it. No matter how much Rin tried to persuade him he had achieved his ideals, he refused to agree and acknowledge the fact.

So when Alaya's offer came up, he was ecstatic. Another chance! Something that he couldn't say no to. Another chance to be a hero, to save people! To finally achieve his dream, to make Kiritsugu proud.

He stood, hands in pockets, completely unbothered by the fact that he was on the edge of five-hundred feet tall structure and that one strong breeze would tip him off the building down to the hard pavement below.

Shirou stared down at his hand. At one point, this hand had been soaked in blood, both innocent and guilty blood. It was a sin that he would need to carry for the rest of his life, a reminder of the crimes he had done. But now he had a chance for atonement. All he had to do was to stop a war between Titans and gods, monsters and demigods. He bet Rin would be laughing her ass out if she heard of his ridiculous situation.

He would stop this needless battle, to save humanity from destruction. Shirou clenched his fist, resolved.

The first job as Hades' champion was to exterminate pack of roaming escapees from the Underworld. Namely spirits and monsters.

The Underworld was a pocket dimension similar to Olympus, a powerful Bounded Field that was positioned hundreds of miles under the earth. While it might be vast and humongous with a potent magic source maintaining the Bounded Field, it was unable to cover up the whole structure perfectly without holes and cracks. Hades had told him that cunning and knowledgeable spirits who knew Underworld like the back of their hand were able to take advantage of the holes and escape the world of the dead.

Shirou stumbled out of a shadow under a tree, losing his footing and slumped against a tree trunk as if drunk. He dropped his rear on the soft grass.

Hades had warned Shirou that shadow-traveling would be disorientating for the first few times. Hades had smirked as the magus dropped down his very own shadow, a very surprised expression on Shirou's face as his head sunk down the shadow. A blur of pure blackness, then he was here, in the middle of a forest.

Shirou bit back his lunch from surfacing his throat as a wave of nausea hit him like a tidal wave. His head spun like he was smacked by Rin's frying pan. A few deep breaths later he felt much better, no doubt Avalon had kicked in to soothe his pain.

Shirou had changed his hoodie and jeans combo into a combat outfit, the waistcoat was not unlike Archer's, but a cloak was over his shoulders and the color scheme was black instead of red, the color scheme of the god of Death.

"If you are to be my champion, then you must have to dress black," Shirou recalled Hades said.

Shirou pulled out a compass out from his bag, the point twirled before setting in the east. It was an enchanted item gifted by Hades, the point would always be attracted by his targets and objectives despite the distance between them.

With a tired grunt, Shirou pushed himself off, Kanshou replacing his missing machete since he left it in the clearing where he battled the Minotaur, he hoped the camp recovered the weapon. It would be a shame to lost such a historical weapon.

Speaking of the camp, Shirou wondered if Chiron had listed him as MIA or KIA, but considering the wreckage their battle left behind, they probably thought that the almighty Minotaur had crushed the poor demigod without mercy.

He didn't really feel any attachment with the camp as he had avoided interactions with the campers. With a snort, Shirou imagined the whole camp mourning his death around the campfire, delivering half-hearted speeches to a camper most barely knew. Not like that he really cared, his one objective now was to stop the Titan War, other stuff could wait.

Then a certain son of Poseidon came into mind. Percy Jackson should have already received new about his mother's return had Hades had fulfilled his promise.

A low groan could be heard over the rustling of leaves and bushes, and Shirou hid behind a tree. He glanced at over his cover, dozens of zombies were dozing off, towards the general direction of the nearest civilization. Shirou allowed Kanshou to dissolve into prana, and in turn a massive black bow appeared on his outstretched hand.

Time to get to work.

Percy Jackson stood among the crowd as Luke Castellan delivered the ending of his speech.

"I don't really know him for long, but he is definitely one of my friends," Luke paused, "I hope that we could have more time together, I will miss him, we all will." He bowed as he closed his eyes, and he stepped off the stage.

He's not dead! Percy wanted to shout out. There's no way Shirou Emiya would die. In that instant he had seen Shirou demolish the Minotaur, the explosive punch he had placed on the monster's chest had literally sent it launching, the aftershock was so strong it had blown hair out of Percy's face, and he blinked in awe as the hero placed his mother down like it was no big deal. He didn't even see him move.

And so when the Chiron declared Shirou's death to the campers, Percy was the only one that did not believe him.

Chiron then galloped on stage, a sad frown on his face as he announced softly, "light the shroud." A couple Hermes campers compiled obediently as they lowered a red shroud tinted with gold with a black machete knitted on the flames. The fabric caught aflame immediately and burned rather slowly. The blackened pieces of the cotton and embers drifted with the wind and disappeared with a shimmer in the cool night air.

Had Percy was paying attention, he could've heard the soft sobbing of a couple campers mourning the loss of a fellow camper. Percy didn't know Shirou, he would admit. He knew his name, he had red hair and gold eyes, similar in age with himself, and that he was very powerful. But that was all. Their short exchange during his field trip had been cut short, unfortunately.

Percy was confident that Shirou Emiya was not dead. But that would raise another series of question: if he's not dead, then why had he not return? How can he survive from the Minotaur judging from the ruins?

Regardless of that, he had tried to tell Chiron and Luke that there's still a possibility that the redhead was still alive. But they just gave him an odd look when Percy described how Shirou catapulted the monster of pure muscle into the forest without losing a breath.

That's impossible, no demigod could do that, you're probably just seeing things from a concussion. They had said, they even showed him Shirou's sword the campers had retrieved from the battlefield, lines of cracks evident on the flat side of the blade. Chiron had pat his shoulder, a pained look on his face as he comforted Percy. Percy scowled at how the people dismissed him with barely a glance, he was being ignored, again!

They assumed the wreckage in the forest was all the Minotaur's doing, but they weren't able to explain how rows upon rows of trees were cleaved in one clean cut that could've only been done with a blade.

Percy watched as the shroud dissolved in the fire with Grover by his side, the satyr had bandaged his head where a nasty gash was. Percy asked his wellbeing, but Grover just laughed it off, telling him that satyrs had advance healing speed than demigods. Percy didn't miss the clenching of Grover's fists when his friend stared at the bonfire, his another failure as a protector.

"…It's my fault," it was so soft that Percy almost missed it, "it's my fault. I've failed again. Shirou shouldn't have died." Guilt and pain were clear in Grover's tone.

"G-man…" Percy wasn't really good with this comfort stuff, "it's not your fault. You protected me. Besides, Shirou might not be dead." But his mother was.

He was interrupted when a camper came dashing towards him, the urgent look on his face was worth his attention.

"Oi Jackson! You got a call!" the camper panted as he stopped, hands on knees from running all the way from the Big House to here.

"A call? From who?" Honestly speaking, no one other than his mother bothered to call him on the phone, lest it was the school calling for another detention section. But his mother was… gone. Besides, no one should know that he was in a camp he didn't know exist until several hours ago.

The camper said, "Your mother."

Percy's jaw dropped, and Grover picked his ear.

"Lord Hades, job's done."

"Good, very good. You surprised me yet again. Emiya."

"Anything else to be done?"

There was a moment of silent from the Iris-message, then Hades spoke.

"Actually, yes. I want you to keep check on my children."

"Your children?" Shirou could not keep the surprise from his tone.

"Yes, my son and daughter, Bianca and Nico."