He awoke to fire running through his veins, which at least meant he still had enough of a body to feel pain. His circuit had collapsed in failure a step away from dying as he stood on the precipice.
He breathed in deeply as he centred himself, his limbs still moved, and a quick stretch proved he still felt them fine. His body was still intact, and he hadn't died.
Mana flowed through the heat even as his circuit remained… he paused circulating mana through the circuit finding it flowing even easier than it ever had before. The warmth lighter than it had ever been on previous attempts. There was no sign of degradation the circuit remaining closer to complete than it ever had before after so long.
And he didn't even know what he had done to make it better.
"There were closed tight,
Your thoughts were bound,
I made them right,
And now they're found."
Like a doll she stared back unblinking. A small girl peering from the other side of the room and waiting for him to acknowledge her. How had she gotten in? Well it didn't matter in the end, although this could be called his workshop, the heart of his base as a magus there was fundamentally nothing in it that would expose the secret of magic. Everything he had created stood at the level of mundane… even worse an empty replica of something mundane.
She shifted as her whole body flowed, face, dress, and everything else changing in a burst of magic beyond his comprehension.
That was a different problem. But Kiritsugu had set up the bounded field rather than him so he could rely on it. She wasn't a threat and so all that was left was to invite her in as a guest. "Are you the Second Owner of this land?"
She blinked back and shook her head. "Caster."
Fair enough. He considered his next move carefully. "Have you eaten yet?" Because now she was basically a guest, an uninvited one but a guest all the same. He fed enough uninvited guests that it was practically second nature.
She proffered him a piece of cake pulled from nowhere. Smiling up at him even as he winced internally. Well, if you left a kid to make their own food then all they could do was starve, he'd learnt that watching Kiritsugu long ago.
He sighed. "Well lets get you a proper meal so you can say you've eaten one at least once in your life." Stepping through the doors of his workshop even as she followed him out.
Magic coalesced in the air around his home, the weight of a field far beyond anything he would have been able to set up. An almost overpowering sweet smell pervading the place as it stepped just out of what could be considered human. He couldn't even begin to place what it did, only the fact that it was powerful. "You realise I have guests every morning, right?"
She tilted her head back in response. "They will not come."
He considered the two of them… well Sakura would be fine even if she couldn't cook here. She was a better cook than him these days. It was the other option that was a disaster, releasing a monster like a wild tiger on the population of innocent school children with no warning.
He'd pack Fuji-nee a bento later on and leave it in the staff room for her. For now, he had to actually make something.
A sweet smell touching at the back of his mind as magic flowed nearby, the hovering presence of his new companion standing just out of reach of the world as they walked.
"Are you planning on following me to school as well?"
Between steps she was there, matching his pace easily enough. "You shouldn't walk out alone in the dark."
He hardly thought a kid standing beside him was going to disturb any would be criminal he encountered. But he needed to be at school early and it was safe enough as he nodded along. "Kids shouldn't be out at this hour of the morning I guess."
"Is the place we're going fun?"
Well not really, school was somewhere he had to be while he prepared himself for what was to come. More like an intermediary step between his current failure as a magic user, and his future attempts to be a hero of justice. "It's a place where I can help people."
She flickered out of existence again, only reappearing when he was finally sequestered in a private room again. The heater Issei had asked him to look over resting silently against the wall.
With a touch of mana from his circuit the heater spread out in his mind, its internal structure splayed out and matched against the schematic as he looked through what it had been. The details of its construction, the materials it was made of.
The place where it was broken. A simple piece of faulty wiring as he opened it up to get a better look. The piece taken out and laid out to rest on the side. New piece set in place after moments work a task made simple by the slightest touch of magic at his disposal.
The old part spun gently in her hand, even as the outer covering came loose. Tearing itself to pieces until she touched at the very core of what made it exist. A shift in the world even as he observed it and he knew it was whole again, the frayed insulation restored to perfect condition.
And then time flowed in reverse, as everything came back together again and she replaced the now fixed part back in his toolbox should he ever need it again.
The difference between him and a first-rate magus was really too much wasn't it? Ah well that was how it had always been Kiritsugu had always said that he had no talent. There was no use comparing himself against someone who did. "That's very useful I'll be sure to put it to use later."
She stared back a blank face peering into the depths of his soul. "You aren't smiling at all, even though you came here instead of playing with me."
That was fine, wasn't it?
She stepped back vanishing into the air and passing through the wall. The sense of magic that lingered vanishing shortly afterward.
The bell had rung, and he was still here. Finishing the last few jobs and cleaning up as the day came to a close when she finally returned. The sweet smell of freshly baked sweets sifting its way into the school as it announced Caster's presence.
"I'm done playing for today." She said it with a look of triumph and a smile so he nodded along. Listening with half an ear as she regaled him with a tale of fighting bullies and rescuing victims. On the one hand she was going to get in trouble, but not from him.
"I'm glad you had fun I should be done with this soon so we can go home."
She smiled warmly back. And then flickered away, form disappearing on the wind.
Shinji hovered over the banister looking down on him as he called out. "Emiya, can you do me a favour? You see I just need to take these two lovely beauties out on a date so I need you to clean up after the archery club. We're friends so you can do this for me can't you?"
The two girls behind him laughed at the words. Caster seemed to bristle as the world subtly shifted around her illusionary form. And he smiled along with it, sighing lightly, and meeting his gaze. "I have time for it."
And even if he refused Shinji wouldn't do it. It would just mean the equipment would be left out and ignored.
"Good, good I know I can always count on our friendship." Shinji turned away without a second glance and wrapped his arms around the two accompanying him and lead them off.
"We were going home." Caster manifested on the steps staring intently back at him.
He nodded back at her. "This one is my club." As much the truth back then as it was a lie today.
She paused considering him for a moment. "Is it fun?" And then almost leaped up as her tiny hand yanked him downstairs as she took off to the archery dojo on the far side of campus.
The journey free of any eyes as the few other people present seemed to glance away as they passed without a second thought.
The dojo itself stood as it always had. From familiar wooden floors, a bow he'd fired ten thousand times, to the targets easily within reach at the end of the range. The image carved into his mind of releasing the arrow into the bullseye as familiar as ever.
"It's a bit too big for you to start at your age."
She responded by pulling her own bow from thin air behind her, a tiny little thing meant for a much smaller range than the one they had set up. Still, she looked up at him pleadingly as she spoke. "Teach me."
He walked through all seven steps. Starting with emptying his mind of everything else, ending with the image of the arrow hitting the target. Like clockwork he went through the motions as it slammed into the bullseye without fail.
Even after months of not turning up it was the same result. He looked at it thoughtfully for a moment and moved on, looking down into the frown on Caster's face. "The most important thing is just to empty your mind and focus on the correct form. Everything else comes after that."
She went through the motions and pulled back the tiny bow. And even if he knew it wouldn't reach it was a good effort. The string pulled back and she let it loose… right into the bullseye at the far end of the field. He frowned for a moment then dismissed it, well she was obviously non-human in the first place, so having the strength wasn't that unusual.
She met his eyes. "Again."
Well there was no difference between one shot and a thousand. The simple act of repetition enough to carry the day.
The apple swung over his sight and he ignored it, the shot passing above it and into the bullseye.
"You were supposed to hit it."
"Just hitting the target is what I trained for." Well more than that it was the act of always hitting the target. That moment of zen understanding where he became one with the arrow and turned that focus on towards magecraft. The last bit still eluded him.
"For me?" She stared up with eyes that looked like they were about to cry.
He relented and pulled back the string, his minds eye fixed on the path through the apple and into the bullseye in one shot. It swung through the air and he fired. There was no need to observe it.
"To think that your so easily swayed by the words of a little girl when you only ever said no to me Emiya." Mitsuzuri stood at the door grinning like a fox. Watching the two of them as she sauntered in. "Ah but she's a precious little girl isn't she, should I be telling Sakura to be jealous?"
He raised an eyebrow in response and watched the two of them.
"I wanted to see it because It's his club." Caster whispered the words loudly into Mitsuzuri's ear.
"I know." She dragged the little girl close to whisper back. "But he never turns up even though it's his club. I think we need someone to drag him along tomorrow just in case."
Caster had planned this hadn't she. But then he'd already fallen into a trap so the only thing left to do was to endure it.
A hasty retreat would leave all the work to Mitsuzuri to clean up. An attempt to strike back would leave him mercilessly crushed by the opposition.
"Four more next time."
He took the bento from her looking at it thoughtfully. So, she was the kind of girl who would refuse to admit she liked the food. And eating that much would certainly explain her monstrous strength. "We'll have to stop by the market on the way back, is there anything you liked in particular?"
She stared back across the divide, the yawning chasm of a misunderstanding expanding between them. "I gave it to other people."
He nodded along. "Well was there anything they liked?" She shrugged and he patted her gently on the head as they walked. "That's fine then I'll send you with some more. It's good that you're making friends."
"Now we need for you to make some as well."
He didn't even dignify it with a response. He had Issei, and… was it even appropriate to consider Shinji a friend anymore? Well, he had Issei so it wasn't like he had no friends whatsoever. Maybe Mitsuzuri counted as well in her own way.
Instead he focused on his list, both the dinner tomorrow and for his new industrial workload of bento boxes for the masses. A half eye kept on Caster as he finished up.
She took off, disappearing amidst the crowd faster than his eyes could track. But then he didn't need them slowly following the scent left behind as he worked his way through.
At the end Caster had effectively wrapped some small girl into a hug and was currently in the process of foisting a doll on her. To the disapproving look of her targets parent. An apple from their cart went too and… the kid she was hugging looked too thin.
He paused to contemplate it. It wasn't his place to intervene, it was exactly his ideal to do so.
"It's fine we're done here." Caster turned away with a wave to the little girl and pulled him off back into the shops.
He paused thinking over his words. "Is she in danger?"
Caster tilted her head and smiled back. A proper smile knowing she'd done well. "Not anymore, it will protect her."
He ruffled her hair affectionately. "You're a good kid aren't you."
"Un." He let his frown fade and moved on to their next destination. "We need to get home now." Her hand slipped into his and yanked, monstrous strength drawing up as she pulled him along. "Before it gets dark."
He let her pull him along. Well he had most of his ingredients anyway and besides. It wouldn't be safe for a kid to be out at night.
The bell woke him from his slumber. Incessant as it echoed through the building in a moment of doubt. A warning.
The next he'd bolted out of bed, the wooden sword already drawn to his hand even as his circuit activated, mana coming more easily than it ever had in the past. Too easily, he calmed himself even as he went to her room.
She sat calmly even as he heard footsteps fall like thunder outside,
"Just stay behind me and I'll figure something out." He hadn't figured anything out.
She looked like she could tell because she reached up and patted him on the head. Smiling softly as she rose, eyes locked on the source of the sounds.
"The night is long,
The dark is near,
Yet hope burns strong,
My friend is here."
The world was swamped in the stench of blood, so thick he could almost taste it as the world seemed to break for an instant as it arrived. A monster humanoid in figure but dyed red as blood as its scaled flesh pressed against the walls of the building causing it to crumble. Its first step taking it through the wall to the world outside as it tore the building down around it.
And then it unfurled its wings, two great slabs of flesh extruding from its back that towered over the surroundings almost like a sheathe of blades erupting in a spray of blood. Each step crashing off outside as it met the foe outside as the two clashed like thunder.
His wooden sword felt smaller than ever. His eye falling to the little girl who seemed as calm as ever, hovering lightly in the air as she sent off her own monstrous existence to crush whoever would come. Was this the difference between a real magus and his own strength as a magic user? Kiritsugu had always said he had no talent, but to see the difference in real terms was overwhelming.
More than a guest who was freeloading who he'd decided to protect. Wasn't it more like she'd just taken over his house and he was some long running guest that hadn't picked up it was time to leave?
He dropped the thought, because if he actually left there was no hope she'd ever eat a real meal in her life, and that was just unacceptable.
"Cake." He was pulled from his musing as a slice of cake was offered, and shook his head. Perhaps he should get started on a bento box for tomorrow, at least it would be doing something. After a moment she turned away and returned to devouring a slice of cake. The two of them seated in companionable silence even as the alarm continued to ring in his head.
"I don't suppose you can make this a workable weapon if it does get past…" He eyed the wooden sword, or maybe she'd just create something new wholesale. Projection for him could only create a hollow shell of the object but with the difference in their skill level. She could probably make something amazing.
The storm of blows echoing from outside died down, and slowly he waited for the bell to stop ringing.
It didn't.
Caster was panicked, and even if it was futile he poured mana into the shape of the wooden bokken, the weapon strengthening perfectly with only the lightest thought without the slightest sign of a crack. The first time he'd worked on something so well in months.
The corridor in front of them exploded. Fixtures and fittings crumbling to dust as a giant stepped through and he knew it wouldn't be enough. The monster standing before him towering over the room with its ash grey skin. A jagged blade hewn from stone grasped in its hand, a relic torn from the altar of a temple praising the thunder itself.
It lacked that power, but it didn't matter, the weight of ages alone enough to grant it strength. Even without that it would still be a weapon held by an existence he could never match. Compared to the two of them he may as well have been holding a toothpick for all the good it would do him.
It stood watching them even as a girl entered through the hole, following the giant. Dainty and small, with white flowing hair and red eyes dressed in thick purple winter clothing. They fixed on Caster with enough venom that it became something unto a curse, and with a single step he put himself between them both.
She turned to look up at him and spoke. "Berserker, go."
The giant moved.
"Run." Fire raced down his arm, he stood and barred their path even if it was meaningless, he would buy Caster a moment to escape. Even that was daunting, the giant could walk through him with almost no effort, still he grasped his blade.
The point raised as he prepared, a blow he couldn't stop or block and the only hope was to turn it aside by the slightest of angles to give him space. Stepping forward as.
Blood poured free his mind barely catching up as he realised, he'd been hit. The wooden sword in his hand reduced to kindling and his own body shattering in the same strike as it strode through. Its eyes fixating on him as the sword raised for a second swing.
"His legs."
It fell crushing him in an instant as he looked out over the broken smear that replaced them. His mind screaming that he should feel some pain even as he felt nothing.
The little girl stalked forward to stand above him, her eyes fixated on him as hate filled her expression. "You need to be punished. Hmmm I know shall we take off your arm next." She reached out and pressed against his wounds. Smiling as he winced at it. "But don't worry like that I won't let you die. I'll have Berserker here make you nice and compact and then I'll be able to punish you for real."
The mansion disappeared, as the world seemed to crumble away. And the three of them stood in a clearing. Any clearing plain and picturesque as could be sitting in the middle of nowhere just waiting for them. A giant monster made of madness, a girl as white as snow, and a pile of swords strewn across the world.
A gentle wind that brushed through the leaves and trees, tending to earth and steel alike as it flowed over the world.
The giant fought the wind. Unworldly rage tearing free as it swung at nothing and the world was torn asunder. The earth torn apart as it broke under its blows and the wind itself slammed around by the weight of its passing. Until it became a storm annihilating everything around it. Destruction given form to tear apart everything around it.
For a moment it seemed as though the girl would be caught up in the storm. Dashed against the world and broken like any other clump of dirt in this world.
It rose, swords grinding against one another as they swung as one and threw themselves into the maelstrom. A deluge of steel pouring out into the world spinning over as it was repelled by an existence that could not break. But even if it did not break the giant turned aside. Swinging at the swords as more and more metal poured forth against it.
The body broke and was flung free once more and still the Giant came on. The world itself seemed to turn against it as the ground grew forth a tide of vines seeming to hold it in place. It shattered them all, each colossal step tearing everything around it asunder.
The next blow tore the swords in half, broken and shattered. Light poured out as the very core of the swords was pulled forth. A sheathe glimmering in gold and accented blue stood apart from the world even as a stream of blades hovered around it.
The sword that should have been present was absent, a space carved into the world in the image of _. It couldn't be filled, couldn't even begin to comprehend the space within to fill the sheath even as countless worthless lesser swords tore themselves free only to shatter against the monster.
It pushed further touching on the dream, the reflection of its history as the swords it had seen. The blades that unfathomable existence had once clashed against long ago.
A sword of strength and valour fed with the essence of the scabbard took form.
A sword the held rulership over the world was pulled and fire filled the gaps with ease.
The image fixed as a storm of swords surged forward around them to meet the destruction carved into the centre of the clearing. Splinters broken before the might of the giant itself as it swung, the slab of stone slamming down and crushing the first sword on reflex. Its form breaking away as it shattered and broke down.
Fire built up in the second sword as it plunged forward, a wave of flame that unworked existence as it coursed over the world and dyed it in its own colours. A wasteland carved into existence in the wake of its strike as it gave way to an orange sky and a hill of swords.
The giant stood unharmed amidst the devastation. A simple backhand tossing the mass of swords away as they crumpled uselessly against the ground.
But there was more, the sky outside called and as one a rain of swords erupted and slammed down against it as ever more steel poured into the world. And like rain they pattered harmlessly against its flesh as steel broke and it stood unbowed before the storm.
Its hand reached out and clutched a single drop from the rain. A second mass of stone and jagged rock, an empty replica of the one already carved in its hand. It eyed the existence and stared out across the expanse before stepping across the boundary between worlds, a single word spilling forth as it did so. "Herakles."
Swords hung in the air unfired, as the monster became something beyond its rage and looked down. The same overwhelming presence looking back even as it calmly observed the swords that had been assaulting it. More words ensued, booming voice tearing across the world.
And the world answered, vines tugging away at the swords even as a pathway opened between the giant and a faded husk. And even beyond that a gate, a hole in the world itself leading back to reality. "Leave now."
In the wake of its departure the world itself moved once again, tugging its existence onwards towards the centre of the world. The scattered swords dragged together at the end of a table. And in the other seat sat a girl carrying a book.
A single page came loose suspended in the air before the pillar of swords. Two strange words devoid of meaning written on it. Idly it observed them even as the girl spoke. "Read them."
"Emiya Shirou." A moment of clarity as his mind came back to him, the swords returning to flesh strewn across the table, blood pouring out into the world and hanging their frozen in the moment before death.
Well at least with this much damage there was no pain, his mind refusing to comprehend his own injuries. There was more blood around him than inside his own body at this point.
She was okay a single good arm raising as he gently patted her on the head. "You're okay."
And smiled.
AN: Well if I kept even half the positive sentiment from the last chapter then here begins my popular phase. Nah more seriously I hope this has kept up with people's expectations.
And this chapter is only slightly later than I said it would be, go me.
Servant guesses, not sure if I should confirm any yet so holding off on that.
But the guessing itself made me go all fuzzy inside so clearly at least some of them are going in the right direction.
I will confirm there are no duplicates, so on the one hand that means no Alcides. On the other hand this means you did correctly guess sane Herakles was coming so… I hadn't even put that out there yet.
Well with all the king's soldiers and all the kings men,
Shirou still can't go back to being normal again.
But oh well if this keeps going on he too can finally smile like Kiritsugu did too.
Well I think I got across the most important things I wanted to for this chapter, go die on the sands my beloved writing. I will see how well you did when I wake up.