Author's Notes: Happy New Year! I'm back. Wish you all have a splendid year ahead. Thank you for reviewing my story so far. I apologise for taking too long. I was busy with my RL, you know exams, projects and stuff. For now I will try my best to release a chapter every fortnight. I had difficulties trying to complete this chapter which led me to rewrite the whole thing. Luckily I had some help from my best friend and couz to edit the story with the tenses and sentence structure and etc, so I hope there are lesser mistakes than before.

Alright, this chapter doesn't have that much but I tried to make it as interesting as possible. Onwards to the story and I hope you guys sincerely enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate or Campione materials.

Chapter II

"Argh!"

"Rin! Saber!"

"Shirou, no don't!"

Fire runs.

Running across the floor like a white line, flames erupted. Forming a border, reshaping the world into a vast, desolate land.

"This is…!?"

Hot. It's hot. HothothothothothothothotHOTH OTHOT!

I woke up with a startled look on my face. Drenched in sweat, I was panting heavily as though I had just finished a marathon. It took me a while to realise that I was not in our apartment. I was alone. The room I was in was neat and tidy, adorned with numerous paintings which had two single sized beds, a wardrobe and a bathroom. A very simple design of a typical hotel room.

My body was hot as though on fire. I got out of the bed quickly and headed to the shower to cool down and cleanse my body from the stench of blood mixed with all the sand and sweat. Guilt overcame me as I remembered the nightmare. It's my fault that things ended up like this. I was too rash. I could only grit my teeth recalling the incident.

When I got out of the shower, I found my bag. Inside were my spare clothes that Rin had prepared for me beforehand. All the necessary equipment for me to survive was prepared. Could she have foreseen this kind of situation to happen? Perhaps. She is the model student after all, well to a certain extent that is. Sigh…I wonder how they are doing now? I can't help but worry for their well-being but first I had to figure out the situation that I'm currently in.

I put on my spare clothes, a red shirt with black jeans, and folded my used clothes back in the bag. I can't dispose of my worn out clothes anywhere I want. There's blood stains on them, which means my DNA's on them. The last thing I want is to have imperfect clones of myself trying to kill me while wreaking havoc and killing hundreds of lives. Just remembering the previous time it occurred with that one magus gave me the chills. Having to clean up his mess was such a chore. It was an ugly affair, enough said.

While drying my hair, I turned on the news for updates, especially on coverage for the event occurred yesterday. With the news relaying in the background, I gazed out the window. Buildings in ruins, roads destroyed, even smoke from yesterday's fire leaked out from the wreckage. Seems like the appearance of the monster did not happened and they reported it as a natural disaster.

I need to analyse my situation. I need information and what better way than to get it from the net. I browsed through the internet with the computer the hotel provided in the room. My first search was to check the time and date. Accurate. Next was my hometown, Fuyuki city... Results were nil. The city, the place where Emiya Shirou was born, the place of memories, the place that made me who I am today, was missing. I braced myself for the inevitable and searched for anything that might hint me of my world. Apparently all results came out nothing.

I knew it. It seems like I'm in a different world or a parallel one. The Second Magic. So far, only Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg is able to perform the Second magic. As one of the five true magic, it allows one to travel to a parallel dimensions at will. Apparently, Rin was an apprentice under him. So, I managed to get a few glimpses of him and she always complained to me about how he would come up with outrageous things. That guy, he threw me here and told me to amuse him. I guess that probably explains the reason I'm here. He must be watching somewhere, laughing at my misery but he did save me from the tight spot that night, so I still owe him.

Alright. Next I checked for my body condition. I scanned my body for any side effects that might occur from my recent 'travel' and my latest major projection that really took a toll on me.

The Chains of Heaven, Enkidu. Having projecting it yesterday had put a lot of pressure on my magic circuits. Even though I had first-hand experience getting bounded by the chains and saw it used up front on how it could barely stop even the monstrous Berserker, I still can't fully grasp it. Probably because the chain itself was not really a sword and I kinda dislike projecting it since it reminded me of that arrogant snob. It would be best to avoid using it for now.

Well so far my magic circuits are functioning perfectly and my prana had been replenished from the rest earlier. On to the next major problem.

It seems like the age of gods still exist in this time. I just saw up close, the two incarnations of what seems to be divine beings, the [Boar] and the [Wind]. I have a hunch that's not the last I would see of them.

The Italian girl, Erica Blandelli, called these incarnations [Heretic God]. From what I could come up with from that phrase was enough to inform me that the being in question was running amok, destroying and wreaking havoc everywhere. The closest I could get for information was from her but I would rather avoid that.

Erica claimed that she was from a magical association Copper Black Cross. Magic Association. Those two words were enough for me to be on guard. Even in another world, I can't escape from that association. Just hearing it makes my blood boil. It's because of them that I was forced to separate from Rin and Saber. A place where all the crude and arrogant magus gather to conduct research and experiments. There were too much competition and jealousy that it drove the incident that nearly killed Rin. I wanted to go back to reassure how she's doing but convinced myself that with Saber with her, they won't go down that easily. After all, one of them is a king while the other is a prodigy that won the brutal war three years ago. Even so, I can't help but worry about them. I have to find a way back fast.

Perhaps the Magic Association in this world are different from mine, which did experiments on people and would not even bat an eyelash at using human sacrifice for their own benefits as long as it was kept a secret. Where rare magecraft were kept on a tight leash and at the slightest form of intimidation would result in being eliminated with only their leftovers being preserved as samples. I hope I'm right. I don't want to have to deal with another association running for my neck if they found out that I travelled through worlds.

Despite that, we have a more troublesome problem at hand. I have to first try to stop these [Heretic God] that were rampaging around. No matter how much I want to find a way back, saving the people here is my top priority. After all in order to fulfil my dream to be an ally of justice and to show that 'guy' that I can do it, I need to solve the problem here and save these people from further harm. Perhaps it's no coincidence that I'm here.

Then there's the Japanese kid that helped me. He doesn't seem to know any magecraft though a little trace of it was lingering on him. Maybe I should affirm my situation before coming to a conclusion. In any case, I have to be careful and proceed with caution.

As I was contemplating about the situation, the door opened revealing Godou with a tired look on his face. Noticing me awake, he gave me a tired smile.

"Hey you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling much better now that I had rest. Thanks for the help. What about you? You look tired."

Godou sighed at my question. "It's the girl, Erica Brandy or something. You remember her? The blonde girl that appeared out of nowhere with the magic sword and stuff?"

I stiffened at the mentioned of the girl. "Erica Blandelli." I corrected him. "Yeah, I remember her. What happened to her?"

I questioned him carefully. Did she manage to track our location?

"She came up to me while I was surveying the place where that monster appeared yesterday. It looks like other people did not see that humongous [Boar]. They treated it as some unfortunate event or natural disaster but I know what I saw. That black beast was there. It appeared out of nowhere and destroyed the place. You saw it too didn't you. I mean you ran to the beast the moment it appeared. Then there was this chain and then huge tornado that killed it. And after I went to look for you, you were kneeling on the ground panting heavily. What's going on here? Magic, knights and now an overgrown boar? What's next? An overgrown goat?"

"What did the girl want?" I asked firmly, ignoring his questions. "What did she say to you?" I said sternly.

"What? Erm..." Godou paused for a while before he could answer me.

"She asked me what I know of the [Heretic God] or something and accusing me a part of a group that summoned one. I really don't get what she meant exactly. I don't understand half of what's happening here. Then she rudely grabbed my bag and took out my stuff. She's pretty strong for a girl. I couldn't resist."

I raised an eyebrow. "Stuff? What stuff?"

"The stone tablet that I was supposed to deliver." Godou took out the tablet, wrapped in purple cloth and showed it to me. "It belongs to my grandfather's friend. I'm here to deliver this to her in his stead."

"Can I see it?" I asked. The tablet was giving off some kind of presence. When he unwrapped the purple cloth, I felt a bad vibe coming from it. The tablet, inscribed on it was some kind of childish drawings but from my structural grasping, I could tell that it's no ordinary tablet. This is a Mystic Code. A magical artefact that uses the user's prana to perform a given mystery. This was not something to be handled by normal people.

"Oh I forgot to mention but she asked about who you are and where you came from. She even threatened me to answer that she pointed her sword at my neck. Such a violent girl." Godou shuddered.

I narrowed my eyes. Why is she asking about me? "So what did you tell her?" Does she suspect me?

"Well I said that we found you unconscious at the beach. I told her you were shipwrecked and were not sure what happened." He looks guiltily at me. "Did I say something I shouldn't?"

"No…It's ok." I gave him a reassuring smile. Still, I have to be careful. She might be on to me.

"Speaking of which, I still don't know who you are or what happened to you. It's ok if you don't want to tell me. I'm fine with it. Everyone has their secrets. I'm just curious that's all." Godou told me. Well that's true. I appeared suddenly wasted on the beachside. Who wouldn't be curious about it?

"Yeah, you're right. Then let me first properly introduce myself. My name is Emiya Shirou. Like you, I'm from Japan. Please to meet you." I slightly bowed my head as I introduced myself.

"Ah" Caught off guard by my gesture, he returned the bow. "Then let me introduce myself properly too. My name is Kusanagi Godou. Please to meet you too."

Awkward silence filled the room. "Ahem" Godou cleared his throat to break the silence. "So…how did you end up washed up on the beach?"

"Well, how do I put it? Let's just say I was thrown down by an unreasonable man and ended up on the beach. It's complicated. Even I don't understand what really happened to me." I shrugged. I tried to make up some excuses to cover up my story. I don't think anyone would believe me that I come from another world.

"Err…right… That's kinda hard on you." Looks like he didn't really buy my story. Well can't blame him. "So can you tell me what's happening? You seemed to know."

"About that, I'm sorry but I can't tell you. It's for your own good. And what that girl said was true. You don't know what you're getting involved into. It's best if you gave me the tablet and tell me where to find this owner."

Hearing me say that, Godou frowned.

"No. Are you the same as that violent girl? Then I won't give it to you. It's not yours. I was entrusted to deliver this to the owner so I won't give it to anyone else even if you threatened me. If that's all you want, then please get out. I'll solve this on my own." Godou stared at me with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Look, I'm not in the same league with the girl. Though we are similar, we are still different. You've helped me back there so I'm returning the favour. I'm trying to help you. You don't know what you are up against. To proceed further is to throw away all reasoning and logic. This is not something a normal teenager like you should go up against."

"Though that sounds true and if possible I don't want to get too involved in this kind of stuff that I don't understand, however it's too late. I'm already somewhat involved. After all, I could see the gigantic [Boar] even though other people can't. That means something right? Everything that happened has got to do with this tablet isn't? It is my responsibility to deliver this. I need to know what I'm up against."

I paused and ponder for a while. If possible, I don't want to involve any civilian into this mess. Still he deserves to know. To add on further, the owner of this tablet might know something about what's really happening now.

"Ok. Let's make a deal. If you let me follow you to see the owner of the tablet, I'll tell you what's happening." I need to see the one the tablet belongs to. Perhaps that person has some clues on how to go back to my world.

"Deal." Godou agreed without hesitation. Judging from that response, guess he really was ignorant about the magic world.

"Ok then how about we sit down?" I gestured him to the chair.

"Are you really sure you want to know? Once you're inside, you can't escape. If you want to preserve your daily peaceful life, it's best you back down now." I warned him carefully. He looks just like some ordinary guy that got dragged into this. It's best if he stayed ignorant of this side of the world.

"I've already seen enough. That youth, the blonde girl, the monstrous black [Boar] and even you. I know you're not normal. I can somehow sense it. I can't back down now. If you want me to give up this tablet to you and go home to pretend like nothing happened then you're wrong. Tell me what's going on."

The young teen looked at me straight in the eye. His eyes showed determination. Perhaps he's the type of guy that would finish what he started.

"Alright, alright." raising my hands up as though surrendering. "I'll tell you."

The teenager smirked over his victory.

"I hope you won't regret this. First off the tablet you're holding. That tablet is no ordinary tablet. It is a magical artefact. In my terms, one would call it a mystic code. A mystic code is an artefact that a magus used to perform magecraft."

He looked at me confused by the magical terms I gave him.

"What is a magus and magecraft?" Well looks like I have to start from the very basics.

"Well firstly, a magus is someone who performs magecraft." I explain to him slowly.

"So something like a magician then? They can do magic and stuff?" Godou innocently asked.

"Erm...well if we were to put it in simpler terms, then yeah. Magic or magecraft. Magus utilises those mystic codes or magical artefacts to perform magic. The tablet you are holding is a magical artefact. It is a dangerous item that should not be in a normal person's possession. How did you get this?"

"Oh that. My grandfather told me before. It belongs to a woman, Lucretia Zola, an old acquaintance of his. He told me last time they went on a hot spring trip together in a remote village. Coincidentally, a curse broke out there. Many people died from heart attacks in just half a month, around twenty victims. No evidence of an epidemic or a murder incident was found. Rumours started to spread saying it was retribution bought upon by the curse of the local earth god."

Curses. That can be quite troublesome. Once caught, it takes effort to shake it off. I had a few experiences with them. Well mostly from Gandr which I don't want to remember about.

"Everyone was at a state of panic except for her. She went out that night to visit a shrine which was burnt down by some disrespectful locals, to present this tablet as an offering. When she came back the next morning, she was dragging herself back, exhausted. The curse stopped after that. Everything was solved. But after the village was vacant 10 years ago, they did not know what to do with the tablet so they gave it to my grandfather. So here I am to help in place of him to return it to Lucretia."

A B5 sized stone tablet, it showed a picture of a man with both his hands and feet locked up and drawings of a bird with its wings spread out, the sun, moon and stars.

Well that mostly explains what I'm feeling from it. There's a strange vibe coming from it as though it's alive. Something was inside this and it's itching to come out.

"Then can you explain to me about that giant [Boar] that appeared out of nowhere yesterday?"

Hmm…I mused for a while before answering him. "To tell you the truth, even I am not so sure myself. Judging from what the blonde girl Erica Blandelli said previously, she called it a [Heretic God]. I have a rough idea of what that means but what I can say from that and judging from what we saw yesterday, that [Boar] was probably a divine beast. The highest rank of magical beast, they are creatures that do not fall into any biological classification. And someone summoned it. That blonde girl was looking for such person. From what I heard she said earlier, there are more to them then we know. I have to stop this before more damage is done."

"It's best if we ask the expert. Erica might know the answers but I would rather avoid her. Another lead we have would be Lucretia Zola. I don't think a normal person would possess such an artefact and based on your story, I'm sure this Lucretia person is not any normal collector. Let's hope she knows what's going on. Alright, that's enough explanation for now. Should we get going then?"

Well enough talk, let's get a move on. I don't think the place we're going to is closed and it was the first time both of us were going there so it would be no surprise if we get lost. I also want to meet this Lucretia person as fast as possible.

"Wait, hold on. How can I trust you? What if you really are the person that summoned this [Heretic God] that that Erica girl is saying? You seemed too knowledgeable about the matter. If I were to say, you're the most suspicious person."

Sigh...I massaged my forehead. After all that and now he suspects me? Well it was true. No matter how you look at it, I'm one of the main suspects second to that youth we met. After all I just randomly appeared wasted on the beach.

"True. You have the right to suspect me. I could be one of the culprits that would secretly steal the tablet from you or to use you to meet Lucretia but you know, you should have think about this a bit earlier before giving me information too."

"So you really are-"

"No, I'm not one of these people that summoned the Heretic God. Heck I don't even understand half of what's happening. What I do know are the basics. I roughly can gauge what is going on but I still don't know much of it. That's why I need to go see this Lucretia person. Hopefully she has the answers that we want. And how about yourself? How do I know that you are not feigning ignorance? I don't have any alibi to prove my innocence. All I can say is to trust me."

Godou went silent and stared at me. "But if you are looking for a suspect, then that youth that we met on the beach was the most doubtful. Didn't Erica mention that he was spotted at the place where other divine beast had appeared? He was even able to tell when the [Boar] was appearing which he disappeared right after. I had an uncanny feeling that he's not normal. He was probably the one responsible for this turn of events."

As though pondering and evaluating what I had just said, he finally sighed. "Well you are right in that aspect...Alright. I believe you. And you don't seem like that of a bad guy. I'm sorry for doubting you. I hope you're not offended."

"None taken. It's no surprise for you to be doubtful of anyone. In fact, you should be. They are lot kinds of people in this world. You should be wary." I gave him an advice based on personal experience. "Well let's get along now shall we?"

"Hmph! For you to fall for such lies, you really are pathetic. You may have fooled him but I, Erica Blandelli, won't fall for such twisted words." A proud voice suddenly echoed throughout the room.

Damn. I was careless. I knew she went and confront Godou earlier, then there's no surprise that she will try to persuade him to doubt me. Surely she will have some device, no, spells to tap in our conversation.

Red and gold emerged from within the shadows. The blonde beauty stood proud at the doorway of the room, sword at hand. This could get ugly.

Pointing her blade at me, Erica glanced briefly at Godou before glaring at me. "I have enough of this act. I want you to tell me who you really are and what relation you have with the [Heretic God]. Depending on your answer, I will either kill you or worse." Like a lion who found its prey, she stood firm, ready to pounce.

I raised my hands up to show I'm unarmed, "Either way I'm gonna get hurt isn't it? Is there a third option where you put down your sword and we solve this peacefully? Well after all, if you ask me to choose, I would prefer the former please. The idea of something worse than death doesn't sound that appealing to me." I shuddered. Seriously there were many times I was in a state where I wished I was in a life and death situation instead. The culprit was mainly from a certain twin tailed girl. With that devilish, scheming smile of hers could make you shiver in fear.

"Ho? What a crude sense of humour you have there. I wonder if your tongue is able to save you from this predicament." she narrowed her eyes as though studying me carefully.

"Now now, calm down here. I was just joking. I have no intention to fight you. Instead I think we share the same goal. I want some answers on what's going on as well, about this [Heretic God] that you spoke of." Erica frowned at my excuse. "Believe me when I said that I have nothing to do with the events occurring now but I want to do my best to stop it. I have a feeling that that's not the last we see of them. I want to save as many people as possible. Those are my true feelings." I focus my gaze and stared deep into her eyes. Hopefully my intention is delivered.

Though I don't want to be involved with someone from the magic association, now was not the time to hesitate. From the looks of it, the situation with the [Heretic God] won't end that easily. Still, I needed to gather as much information as possible and what else to get that but from the girl standing in front of me. Huh? Why does she look like in a daze?

"Hello? Did you hear what I just said?" I waved my hands to get her attention back. Is she for real? How can she daydream when pointing a dangerous object at someone? It could be hazardous, for me.

"Wha-huh?" Snapping back to reality, the blonde shook her head vigorously as though trying to shake off something. Did I say something strange? "What's wrong with you? You've been staring at me for a while now."

As though taken off guard by my question, her whole body shook as she glared at me ferociously. Now she's mad?

"Ahem, excuse me. How can I be so sure what you said was the truth? In fact, I have the feeling that you are hiding something. Hurry and spit it out before I run out of patience!" and... she brushed it off as if it didn't happen.

"I'm telling the truth. In fact, I just got here. I'm just used to situations like this. Since you already eavesdropped on us, there's no need to further explain right?"

"Yes, I agree. I understand very well."

Phew. "That's good. Glad that you-"

"I understand that you are used to dealing with divine beings and what no other then the summoner himself, if not then somewhat related to it. Are you perhaps working with that youth before? Both of you seemed to know each other."

"Where you even listening to what I said before? Gosh..." I'm getting tired of this. What's with her? If she had listen to our conversation earlier, then there should not be any problem.

The stubborn blonde continued to eye me as though not convinced. "Then if you really are uninvolved, then tell me from which magic association you are from and state the reason for you being here."

Crap. I can't simply say I'm a wanted man from another world, forced into here by an unreasonable old man.

"I can't say. I'm not from any association and even I'm not so sure myself how I got here but believe me when I say that I'm not in the same league as that youth." I tried to defend myself with a half-baked excuse which I don't think was enough to convince this young lady.

"I see" Did she buy that excuse? "Since you're not being honest then you leave me no choice but to resort to force." I knew it. Who would believe that kind of excuse?

"If you don't want to tell me that's fine but be prepared for the outcome." Erica brandished her sword.

"Duel with me. If you lose, you will have to tell me everything you know. Now arm yourself!" she points her sword at me with full of fighting spirit.

Damn it. This is bad.

AN: Alright! That's it for now. I hope that it wasn't too draggy. This chapter is more or less an info dump. It was to provide some explanation from the novel which was absent in the anime and for Shirou to review the situation. I hope I did it right. Next chapter will have some action. So look forward to it. Reviews are welcome so bomb away. Until next time.