Steel Dragon - Chapter 5: The Devastation and the Deserving
Jubstacheit von Einzbern would be the first to admit that he was a paranoid man. He saw betrayal in every shadow and corner, and all magi from the fools at the Clocktower to his own kin were potential backstabbers in the making. It was why he kept the highest secrets of Einzbern Alchemy stored only in his mind and personal workshop, and why Einzbern Castle in the Black Forest was perhaps the most well-defended magi estate in the Moonlit World with the sole exception of the mythical Barthomeloi home.
It was because of his well-founded paranoia that Old Man Acht personally founded a small security-focused magi think-tank after the conclusion of the 4th Heaven's Feel. It had cost him a small fortune of capital and had forced him to work with some unsavory magi and spellcasters, but the end result had brought a cruel smile to the ancient Einzbern's face. Watching Kiritsugu Emiya, himself be forced to abandon his attempts to infiltrate the Black Forest Castle to retrieve Irisviel's miraculous homunculus daughter had not made up for the continued humiliation of still not reviving the Third Magic, but the old man felt it was a fitting punishment for the grief-stricken mercenary.
And with every failed attempt of Emiya's to retrieve Illyasviel, Acht's cruel satisfaction grew. The upgrades were money well spent, every euro and British pound of them.
Jubstacheit von Einzbern's face slowly morphed into a twisted parody of a smile as his thoughts turned toward the near future.
Over the years a grand scheme of machiavellian proportions had slowly been developed by the old magus, one that would finally see the Fourth True Magic returned to whom it belonged to as well as settle old debts. Emiya wanted to see his biological daughter again. He could do so when she fought in the next Heaven's Feel, killed the blasted mercenary's adopted child, and then killed him for betraying the Clan that gave him so much. And for young Illyasviel's good work, Acht planned for a note explaining everything about the circumstances surrounding her father's abandonment to be delivered to her just before she claimed victory in the 4th Holy Grail War and was turned into said War's Lesser Grail.
Around the old magus in Einzbern's grand ritual chambers, younger, wiser Einzbern scurried around their Clan head carefully to avoid eye contact while their less intelligent fellows attempted to approach Jubstacheit. The wise ones were such because they had come to learn that to approach the Clan Head with frivolous discussion or requests was a fast track to being harvested for high-quality mystic materials or being volunteered for dangerous experiments, and the Old Man had a keen eye for keeping track of those that annoyed him.
Very few lesser Einzbern had the privilege of freely approaching Jubstacheit at their leisure and the young, bespectacled man that stumbled his way intently towards the Clan Head with arms overflowing with loose parched and one clay fairth was not one of those select few.
"M-my Lord," The twenty-and-something-year-old Einzbern gasped for breath after coming to a stop in front of the elder magus. "Word from the Castle Sentries, my Lord. Animal life is fleeing the Black Forest in a mile in every direction around the Castle and strange mystic readings have been detected in the sky nearby. In addition, after the initial strange reading, the local mana levels have begun to rise as well as change in aspect to an unknown element. Frankly, Sir, these portents are unlike anything ever witnessed, at least as far back in the archives as I am allowed to venture."
"Hmm…" Jubstacheit von Einzbern considered the information for a moment before his attention was once more drawn to the ritual he was currently overseeing being performed on his granddaughter. "Have an extra copy of these readings and reports delivered to my stud- Urk!"
The old man's commands were suddenly shortened by the sudden activation of Castle Einzbern's bounded fields. Each and every one of them.
Hostile intention directed both at his person and at the Einzbern as a whole. Land and air-borne entities making their way towards the ancient home of the magus clan. Even the ambient magical energy permeating the world around the castle was being subverted and altered to something unkind to humans and homunculus-kind. All available avenues of attack against the Castle were brought to bear and, as such, activating every bounded field set to defend the ancient structure.
In response to the activation of the multitudes of bounded fields the amount of magical energy that Castle Einzbern siphoned from the Leyline it was built on multiplied exponentially to power the many defenses of the ancient magus abode. Through his connection to the estate as its Head, Jubstacheit felt as hundreds of golems thrummed to life with energy fed to them by the Castle to defend the walls, as countless suits of armor were animated to patrol the halls, and, to Old Man Acht's deep surprise, a pair of mystic Castle defenses that even he had forgotten activated.
Enchantments wrought when the Einzbern was little more than a rag-tag group of Black Forest monster-hunters activated in response to the immense hostility leveled at the Castle. A pair of 12-meter tall, ancient golems armed with silver-string bows of comparable sizes thrummed to life as magic energy unseen in this modern age was siphoned from the Leylines beneath the estate to animate them. Then, after rising from the kneeling position they had been frozen in for centuries, both ancient works of magecraft reached out mirroring hands towards similarly mirrored mausoleums located on both sides of the Castle. In response to their silent command another ancient enchantment, this one worked on the vast Einzbern crypt, activated and fed the golem pair silver-white string that reshaped itself into arrows for the stone pair to load their giant weapons with.
The fact that both of those defenses activated was more than worrisome for the head of the Einzbern Clan, for unlike his subordinates, he understood how dire a situation the Castle's bounded fields must have detected for the second enchantment was one that was far more limited and precious. He knew that at the golems' command, deep beneath Castle Einzbern in the crypts that hold the interred bodies of generations of Einzbern, the innately magical bodies of kin long past were broken down by thousands of alchemically created silver-thread spiders and remade into a silk-like thread to be utilized by the great golems. And, in the process, the ancient aspect of the Einzbern bloodline, the one drenched in the life-blood and final breaths of all kinds of monsters, was fully brought to the forefront of the rapidly-formed mystic code to be turned against all non-humankind.
But what kind of monster, one that could trigger those old defenses, was still around to attack in this Modern Age? Was the Einzbern Clan under attack from a Dead Apostle Ancestor?
"Spiegelbild." Jubstacheit commanded as he walked up to a suit of armor armed with a very polished shield.
In response to the old magus' mystery, the image in the reflective surface shifted to the perspective of one of the many Einzbern thread-craft familiars located around the Castle grounds, this one a parody of a mockingbird seated in a tree. The image presented to the Clan Head was so outrageous and farcical to the old man that he froze up as a part of him was stupefied by the absurd image and the rest of him was entranced by the majesty of the sight.
Twenty feet of rust-colored scaled hide, four muscular limbs armed with razor-sharp ivory claws, a reptilian snout filled with knife-sized ivory fangs, and slit eyes the color of molten gold; all these details stood as Jubstacheit looked upon the incredible sight of an eastern dragon flying in the skies above the Black Forest towards Castle Einzbern.
In this modern age, post the Age of the Gods, post the weakening of the Earth's mana; there was an actual dragon soaring through the skies of Germany and now raining exploding, magically produced swords on the Castle exterior and defenders.
As the reality of the situation, a dragon attacking the home of the Einzbern Clan registered to the Clan Head he had to force himself to stop fantasizing about the kind of research and experiments he could perform with the biological material of wyrm-kind and react to the situation. With an eccentric grin, Jubstacheit watched as the pair of ancient golems loaded their bows with giant arrows made out of the silvery-white hair infused with anti-monster essence before lining up a shot and firing. The old man's grin transformed into a wide, manic grin as the pair of arrows impacted the flying Phantasmal and rained draconic blood down on the fir and pine trees below it.
Then the ancient magus' smile fell as the Phantasmal Beast's slit gaze looked right at him, through the familiar he was using to view the surface and the beast's wounds glowed a resplendent, otherworldly gold and began to heal before his eyes. The old magus glowered at the sight of the golden glow because It was a glow that Jubstacheit was very familiar with, the last time he had seen it the mercenary he had hired to win him the Holy Grail had used the artifact he had paid an ungodly amount of capital to secure to summon the Servant Saber in the last War.
That revelation was followed by the mana levels around the Castle surging to unbelievable heights as the dragon raised its head and conjured a giant sphere of liquid gold that shifted shape into a forty-foot-long sword made out of shifting liquid pure gold. Old Man Acht could only watch in horror as the giant liquid blade fell upon his family estate and the defenses and bounded fields of Castle Einzbern vanished, just disappeared moments before the blade impacted and pierced right through the stone walls of the castle, and then the shockwave hit.
Shirou - PoV
Wrath.
Pride.
Power.
Purpose…
Blood hotter than molten glass flowed through veins suffused with magic as eyes glowing with Chamon-infused magecraft glared balefully down at the mortal abode of one of the oldest magecraft families to grace Gaia's surface.
'Gehenna's Golden Globe.'
An orb of Chamon-drawn liquid gold materialized above ̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶r̶d̶'̶s̶ ̶/̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶e̶m̶i̶g̶o̶d̶'̶s̶ ̶/̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶r̶a̶g̶o̶n̶/̶ Shirou Emiya's head.
'Alteration.'
The golden globe's shape changed into that of a great, giant sword.
'Glittering Golden Glaive. Set, Fire.'
The impossible blade launched itself at the center mass of the ancient magus clan abode at speeds comparable to a fighter jet… but Shirou's Structural Grasp of the Einzbern Castle made him aware that his attack would pierce all the structure's mystic and physical defenses but the fight they would put up would noticeably bleed off the sword-projectile's momentum.
Something else would need to be added to make this method the most efficient way to reach Illyasviel.
'Law of Gold.'
Moments before the Glittering Golden Glaive made contact with the roof of Castle Einzbern, the Golems tied to the structure's magics slumped and fell where they stood as the bound fields ceased to exist for 10 seconds, one fell head first into a snow bank while the other went crashing into one of the mausoleums that had supplied them with beast-piercing ammunition.
And with no mystic defenses to slow the sword down, the enormous blade of liquid gold punched right through the roof of Einzbern Castle, then through the top 4 floors, then through all eight of the Castle's subbasements and even puncturing the roof of the large ritual chamber where Shirou knew his father's daughter was undergoing a dangerous physical alteration.
As for the Castle's mystic defenses, not a one of them was designed in mind of protecting the Castle after it had been virtually cut in half, so after a few seconds of the bounded fields trying frantically to reestablish themselves and failing, nearly all of them collapsed completely. Of all the mystic defenses of the Einzbern Clan, only the golems tied to independent magi remained and they were in short supply as Shirou's, Golden Hounds scoured the Castle grounds for hostile golems, magi, and homunculi to tear to shreds.
The dragon that was Shirou Emiya released a held breath of superheated air that steamed the cold German air as he flew down into the crevasse he had created, letting his concentration on the Golden Glaive dissipate before he even reached the weapon so it could return to the World that the liquid gold had originally come from. Then the Steel Dragon floated into the eighth subbasement ritual chamber and released a growl that echoed through the now ruined halls of Castle Einzbern above at the sight that greeted him.
Jubstacheit von Einzbern standing above the unconscious and bound form of Shirou's adopted sister, a jagged ritual dagger raised over her heart and a grim snarl on his lips. Behind the old magus, Shirou also saw a pair of homunculi, the one with short hair sported a pained grimace on her pale lips in addition to a jagged, bleeding scar that stretched across her back while the long-haired one was muttering arias for healing mysteries with her eyes closed tight as he held her wounded fellow close.
"What do you think you are doing, Jubstacheit von Einzbern?" Shirou's voice; guttural, reminiscent of metal scales grinding against each other and full of burning furry surprised even himself.
"I don't know who you are Phantasmal, but I know that you are somehow connected to that blasted mercenary Emiya." The elder magus snarled in contempt as his dagger drew slightly closer to the small girl's chest. "That means that you are here for that man's precious child, despite the fact that she wouldn't exist without my clan's alchemy. Despite the fact that the secrets hidden in her body belong to the Einzbern, just like how the Noble Phantasm that you're using to heal yourself belongs to the Einzbern."
Slithering through the air slowly, Shirou got as close to Jubstacheit as he could before the old man motioned with his armed hand above his sister's chest. As close as he could get to the Einzbern Head, the dragon bent his head down to be just above the old man's eye level.
"Give me Illya now or-"
The Phantasmal Beast's words were cut off when half-a-dozen golems lept out of hidden alcoves in the walls and tried to dog-pile Shirou with their sheer weight… Or at least that was what Old Man Acht was hoping might happen but he had no idea how unparalleled his adversary's eyes truly were because the rust-scaled Phantasmal had already seen the alcoves and their hidden residents before he even smashed Castle Einzbern's defenses into splinters.
Instead of being tackled by six golems, Shirou twisted in mid-air to avoid the grasping hands of the stone men jumping at him from the right while turning his head and releasing a breath of dragon's fire that incinerated the six golems jumping at him from the left side of the room. Once half of his assailants were dealt with, Shirou shifted his serpentine body before Reinforcing his tail and slapping at two of the remaining constructs with his new appendage. One golem was sent careening into the ritual cavern wall where it crumbled like a clump of sand, the other golem on the other hand shattered on contact with Shirou's enhanced tail, and its exploding rock chunks were so launched at such a high velocity because of his force that they eviscerated another golem leaving only three remaining.
'Quicksilver Swords.'
Those last three constructs were quickly reduced to collapsing chunks of stone as six liquid-silver man-sized greatswords skewered them from all directions.
"You shouldn't have done that." Shirou's furious growl caused small streams of dust and dirt to begin falling from the ceiling of the ritual chamber, the combined damage of the attack that pierced all the way down to this subbasement compounded with trying to contain a wyrm's rage proving too much for the structure's continued stability. "Final Transmutation."
The old magus tried to make good on his threat, tried to drive his jagged knife into the heart of Kiritsugu Emiya's accursed child but had failed to feel where his draconic advisory had focused his curse on first.
A look of pure confusion wormed itself across the old man's normally cold exterior but his eyes soon filled with fear once they glanced up and regarded his own arm rapidly turning into gold from his elbow and shoulder out, completely preventing him from using his armament nor of trying to grab the knife with his other hand because by the time the idea crossed his mind the curse had already totally turned his hands into stiff, unmoving gold. Jubstacheit von Einzbern tried muttering aria after aria, activating mystery after mystery to reverse the transformation or to at least stop it, but it was to no avail.
The old magus' last words were a terrified and agonized scream as the transformation reached the nerves at the base of his neck and he felt, as if time slowed to an agonizing degree, as every individual nerve rubbed against gold not-tissue before it turned into gold and in-turn rubbed against other nerves. After sixteen agonizing seconds, the last remnant of Jubstacheit von Einzbern left in the world was an unliving golden statue of his likeness, its face twisted in the same expression of agony the ancient magus felt in his final moments.
With the only threat to his goals dealt with, Shirou returned his attention to his sister only to find the pair of homunculi, the one wounded by the elder Einzbern and the one that healed her, standing between the rust-colored dragon and his goal. The magically inclined of the pair had pulled a long thread of her hair from her head and was charging it with a considerable amount of prana causing it to change shape into that of a bird of prey while her companion brandished a halberd too large for a regular human to wield protectively in front of Illyasviel.
Curious, Shirou lowered his head to eye level with the pair of homunculi maids before his scanned the history of the weapon wielded by the wounded one. What he saw caused the Chamon-radiating dragon to heat up the chilly room with just his huff of approval.
"You seek to protect her." Shirou's words gave the two women pause. "Even against the command of your creator, you still sought to protect Illyasviel."
"O-Of course!" The long-haired homunculus spoke up despite her trembling hands. "Mistress Irisviel was always kind to us even when she didn't need to be! We swore to protect her daughter no matter what!"
"...Yes." The wounded woman conveyed her emotions with a single word and her bravery in the face of unbeatable odds.
"I… am glad." Shirou's draconic body untensed slightly and his voice softened. "I am glad that Kiritsugu's daughter had someone caring for her when myself nor Dad couldn't be there for her."
"You… know Mr. Emiya?" The mystery-wielding homunculus questioned skeptically.
"Yes, he saved me." Unknown to the rust-scaled dragon his voice momentarily deepened again and his words caused the world around him to distort in response to his own distortion; stalagmites and stalactites became more metallic and crystalline as their composition changed, the carved stone became sprinkled with gold dust and the statue of Jubstacheit tilted slightly as the gold that composed it turned slightly runny. "And now I'm going to repay him by reuniting him with his birth daughter."
"... sure not lying to us?" The quieter of the homunculus questioned with a broken speech pattern that forced Shirou to consider her words for a moment.
"Because I am told I am a horrible liar." The dragon spoke in a tone that was about as close to 'sheepish' as the phantasmal being could get. "Also, because you can come with us. See for yourself I speak the truth."
For a quiet moment, the two homunculi spoke to each other with just eye contact alone before the wounded one reverted to a less hostile stance with her weapon followed by her sister altering the mystery in the creature composed from her hair to cause it to self-immolate in flames.
"I'm glad." Shirou's draconic throat muscles released a low, pleased vibratory sound, not unlike a cat's purr, that caused the underground chamber to rumble slightly from the force. "Just let me deal with Illya's restraints and pick her up, then I'll shift so you two can climb on my back."
With just a look and a quiet muttering of 'Alteration' the chains holding the young Einzbern melted away into puddles of unheated liquid metal, after which, with exceeding care Shirou lifted Illya's small, unconscious form into his clawed hands. Once she was safely cradled in his hands, Shirou twisted his body down for the pair of Einzbern homunculi to climb up onto and hold onto some of the spines that ran down his spine. Once the young dragon was sure that all his passengers were safely secured, he carefully rose out of the pierced ceiling of the Einzbern Ritual Chamber and through the blasted remains of the once-great Castle Einzbern. When he was finally clear of the ruin's roof and ramparts he was sure to be mindful of the women on his back as he twisted his serpentine body before flying south.
The dragon and his companions flew for some time, until the sun finally fell beyond the horizon and the moon was well on its way to reaching its zenith but it soon became apparent to the mortal riders that their draconic ally was becoming increasingly drowsy as his mass lowered until the rust-colored scales of his stomach scrapped against and destroyed the tops of many trees in a semi-serpentine line. More worryingly for the pair of homunculi maids, however, was how close their charge was to being collapsed on by a tired phantasm beast of considerable weight even if said phantasmal had beneficial aims for their mistress.
"Sir Dragon." The magecraft user of the pair clambered closer to Shirou's head with the help of her stronger counterpart. "Perhaps we should camp for the night? Leysritt and I can see to setting up a temporary shelter for our mistress and even try to hunt some game for you to enjoy for when you awake. As you are now I worry for Mistress Illyasviel's safety."
"That..." Shirou's whole body wobbled slightly when he glanced back at the more talkative homunculus. "Sounds like a good idea."
A quick glance about from the supernaturally perceptive phantasmal found a somewhat open clearing for him to land in, shifting his body to let his older passengers down first before handing the quiet one, Leysritt, the sleeping girl. Once the trio of light-haired women put a little distance between them and the landing zone Shirou felt it was safe enough for him to let his flight fad and flop down onto the snowy earth. A slight hiss and cloud of steam rose from the ground as Shirou's supernaturally warm scales met the cold snow. Once the phantasmal's serpentine form was settled and coiled the pair of maids approached with their sleeping charge and Shirou's glowing gold eyes stared drowsily but unblinkingly at the unconscious Einzbern.
"He was doing something to her," Shirou muttered, concern evident even in his inhuman voice. "You, spellcaster, what is your name? Was Acht enhancing her magic circuits at the expense of her life span?"
"My name is Sella, Ser Dragon." The maid bowed politely. "And yes, Lord Einzbern was adamant about winning the next Grail War, even at the expense of Lady Illya."
Shirou just growled slightly and the world around the Einzbern homunculi warmed up in response to his anger. But once his growl abated, the pair of maids visibly flinched when they felt a spike prana from the dragon.
"I am the Bone of my Sword. Steel is my Scale, Fire is my Blood."
The ground rumbled as a result of Shirou's draconic aria.
"Forge Tracing - Avalon, Everdistant Utopia."
At his command, a beautiful sheath of resplendent blue and gold flashed into existence above the sleeping girl before dispersing into a shower of golden motes of light that then flowed into Illyasviel's sleeping form.
"Soon, Illya." The gold-eyed dragon murmured to the unconscious girl as he felt himself beginning to lose consciousness "Soon you can see Kiritsugu again. He'll smile again as he did back then. He'll have to if his real child is reunited with him."
From the dark recesses of her subconscious, she stirred. Wine-red eyes fluttered open as snowy hair whipped about in the wind but all she heard was the voice.
It was so kind. So gentle. It was unlike anything she had experienced since Mama and Papa left. It was a feeling she had thought she would never experience again after her grandfather told her Mama died and Papa abandoned her.
"Soon, Illya." The deep, soothing voice rumbled. "Soon you can see Kiritsugu again. He'll smile again as he did back then. He'll have to if his real child is reunited with him."
Wine-colored eyes shot open as a whirlpool of emotions surged within her at the mention of that name.
A.N.
There we go! This draft feels a lot better than the last one. Maybe a part of me wants to describe Shirou hurting Acht more but that doesn't feel very Shirou to me and, frankly, having the old man be ripped apart by Gehenna's Golden Hounds felt like gratuitous violence.
I might come through and do a second round of clean-up checks in the upcoming days but if I don't I will also be re-uploading this chapter to respond to the comments I feel warrant a response. for now, however, I need to get some sleep. I've got work tomorrow.
Anyway, have a nice week everyone,
Glader out.
P.S. I have no idea what I'll be working on next, I'm seesawing between the next chapter of Champion or Malfean Edge. The next chapter of Steel Dragon will come after that unless something happens to inspire me.
