Chapter Eighteen "High Human"
"Aaarrgghh! I don't want to die!" Evileye screamed as she stood up, sweating profusely. "Wait…?" She looked around in confusion. She frowned in bewilderment where she found herself. "Is this supposed to be the afterlife?"
The last thing that she thought of about the afterlife was a small bedroom with no one to greet her. No one to either take her to heaven or hell for the righteous deeds or atrocities that she had committed. It seemed so surreal that she was thinking that she might not be in the afterlife and instead everything had been a bad nightmare. Only one thing made ruled out the possibility that everything had not been a nightmare. Evileye found herself in a bed and room that was no way remotely similarly to where she remembered sleeping last.
Evileye checked her body to find no signs that she had been mortally wounded, no scars or bandages. Nothing to show that she had been injured in the first place, much less prove that she had died as she had vividly remembered as she felt her last breath before her eyes closed and the darkness took her.
"…" She remained silent as she felt something on her chest. "No…!" Evileye shouted as she rushed towards the bathroom and found herself in front of a mirror. "…It cannot be real?!" Evileye screamed in excitement as she focused looking at the reflection's chest. "Wait… is that me…?" Evileye wondered in confusion as the reflection she saw was not herself. "…But, the woman in the mirror does similarly to me…. Just what I would be expect myself to be as a fully-grown woman had I not gained my immortality as a vampire as a child…"
She made some basic movements that the woman in the mirror copied. Evileye moved towards more and more complex movements that most human wouldn't be able to make because it took flexibility and specialized training to be able to do. It was when she began to use magic before the mirror that she was utterly convinced that the woman before her truly herself.
"I don't know if this is a dream, after a nightmare, but I wish this was real!" Evileye shouted in glee as she felt a part of a woman's body that she had developed as she had been frozen in the body of a girl because of her vampire immortality. "…Wait, did I just… feel two heartbeats?!" Evileye pressed her hands even closer to her chest. She squished her breasts inwards and felt two strong pulsing and steady heartbeats. Each one directly underneath where her newfound breasts were. This was instead of the usual slight left of the breastbone where the human heart normally lay. "This is completely worth it. Who cares if I have two hearts or I feel and think that I am human. These breasts and becoming a fully-grown woman is worth the trade!"
Evileye began to crackle evilly as she thought of how to show off her newfound status. For the first time in her long life, she had no reason to be jealous of two things. Every women, especially the ones with large breasts and those that teased her for being short. She swore that she was going to put her new found appearance to good use.
"Oi!" A voice that seemed awfully familiar to Evileye spoke as the door behind her opened up. "You're making so much noise that you woke me up!"
Evileye turned around to see who was talking to her. "…Gagaran…?" She asked in confusion as the woman before her was completely different from the muscle-bound Gagaran. She was the opposite of what she thought of Gagaran: lean, and not overly muscularly. The only reason that she had some belief that the woman before her was Gagaran was because of her familiar voice and physical appearance to Gargaran. "Gagaran, is that you? You look so different."
"…Is that you, Evileye…?" The woman asked in a similarly confused state as Evileye, eyeing Evileye in a similar fashion.
"I am Evileye…" Evileye nodded. "I don't know why I look like this, but I like it…"
"Well… I cannot hear you, Shorty, anymore…" The woman replied in mixed expression of annoyance and amusement.
"Yep… You're Gagaran." Evileye nodded as only Gagaran had the nerve to call her by that nickname despite knowing her furious temperament relating her height and her fearsome magical ability. "If this is all not a dream… Did you also have a nightmare about fighting six non-humans that tried to pass as human maids?"
"Did you think the boss revived us…?" Gagaran asked in uneasy tone as she remembered her own death.
"…No…" Evileye hesitatingly shook her head. "…I was the last to die… So, I was wondering if this is not a dream actually…"
"It isn't a dream," said a familiar voice to Evileye and Gagaran. They turned around to see it was their leader, Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra. "It is good to see that you're both alive and awake."
"What is going on?" Gagaran asked.
"Lakyus, you seem to know what is going on," said Evileye as she used her experiences of nearly three centuries of life. "Tell us what is going on. You were amongst the last of us to die, but still died before me. We were slaughtered by six non-human maids…"
"We were rescued." Lakyus replied.
"By what party? We are the Blue Roses, one of the most powerful groups in the Kingdom!" Evileye asked in disbelief at Lakyus' statement.
"Also at what costs, because we might be powerful, but we are only six individuals," said Gagaran. "It would normally take several hundreds of normal human soldiers to have any chance of repelling those six monsters that we fought."
"… One individual…" Lakyus replied in a quiet voice that was so nearly missed by Gagaran's and Evileyes' ears. When the two subordinates looked at their leader with curious looks, Laykus coughed and spoke in a louder voice. "A single man managed to drive the six monster maids away…"
"WHAT?!" Evileye and Gagaran screamed in disbelief as they stared at their leader. They found it absolutely difficult to believe that a single individual could fight and survive, much less drive back the six monster maids. If they, the Blue Roses, a team of adamantium-class adventurers, couldn't take down a single monster maid than it would take hundreds of normal human soldiers and maybe even more to accomplish what the Blue Roses had failed and died trying.
"I'm not joking…" Lakyus replied. "Our savior also took our…" Lakyus fell silent as it was still a scary notion that she had a hard time still believing. "…Corpses… away…"
"…So… we really all did die…" Gagaran replied in a disheartened tone. Lakyus nodded her head.
"Who resurrected us…?" Evileye asked. "I don't feel weaker. Something that is very unusual as the iconic trait of being resurrected means that you are left greatly weakened. I actually feel stronger, and resurrections don't change the appearance of people after bringing them back to life."
"…Evileye… when were you going to tell us you were a vampire…?" Lakyus asked with a betrayed look.
"…" Evileye was left breathless as her secret that she had tried to protect the most in fear of betrayal that her friends would feel happened before her very eyes.
"Oi, Lakyus, who cares if Evileye is a vampire," said Gagaran as she didn't feel one bit disturbed by the news of her friend's race. "We have worked with plenty of non-humans in the past. What is the problem of Evileye being a vampire, I mean one in the past. Everyone has their secrets and I bet you also have some that you haven't shared with us."
"That is true…" Lakyus nodded before any sense of betrayal that she had felt from Evileye disappeared. "…By the way, the one that resurrected us says that we were no longer mere humans. He claims that we are now…" She remained silent for a moment. "High Humans."
"WHAT?!" Evileye and Gagaran shouted together in disbelief.
"High Human… Isn't that a legend?!" Gagaran added in disbelief.
"They are not…" Evileye answered her friends question as she regained her composure. "High Humans were supposed to be extinct and their surviving descendants' blood had thinned so much over the generations that they are no longer possessing the unnatural long lifespan and superhuman abilities of their ancestors."
"Given that you're a vampire, you probably met a few high humans in the past, right?" Laykus asked and Evileye nodded her head.
"Oi… Oi… You're not pulling my leg, right?" Gagaran asked in disbelief.
"I am not," Lakyus shook her head. "How do you also explain your change of appearance, despite still wielding the physical strength of several men?"
"No, I actually feel stronger. Which doesn't make sense because I don't have the muscles…" Gagaran commented as she looked at her lean body, which seemed like a twig compared to her former huge muscle builder physique prior to her resurrection.
"I think we have strayed from the topic…" Evileye coughed. "Who was the one that saved us? I find it hard to believe one single individual could drive off those six monster maids that killed us…"
"That would be me," said a masculine voice as they walked towards the Blue Roses. "It is good to see you again, Evileye and Gagaran."
"Shirou Emiya…" Evileye and Gagaran identified the man before them.
"Despite, how unbelievable it sounds, this man drove off the six monster maids and managed to take our corpses to a safe location before resurrecting us," said Laykus. "There is no one to confirm his story. We only have his words… But I was able to confirm that he was telling the truth. I went back to the battlefield that we had fought. There was proof that we had truly fought the six monster maids as I found pieces of their clothes and bodies where we had fought and…" Lakyus shivered. "…Died."
"Should I give your group so more time to come to terms with what has happened?" Shirou asked cautiously, carefully observing the women's reactions.
"…No, time is of the essence." Lakyus replied. "We need to deal with the six monster maids."
"We can do nothing about them anymore," said Shirou. "They are long gone. I have been trying to track them, but have not found any tracks to follow. It like they suddenly flew away or teleported."
"I don't think we should give up so soon," said Lakyus. "Who helped out with investigating the scene and tracking the six monster maids?"
"No one except for myself," Shirou admitted. The members of the Blue Rose were about to berate Shirou when he spoke up before they could. "I thought it was unwise to let anyone know that some of the strongest adventurers of the Kingdom had been killed. The citizens of the Kingdom would be devastated to learn of such news, especially happening in the Captital, which is supposed to be the safest place in the entire Kingdom."
The members of the Blue Rose grudgingly nodded their heads in acceptance of Shirou's reasoning. They, the Blue Rose, was seen as a pillar of strength of the Kingdom. A centerpiece to deal with emergencies that larger number of human soldiers were unsuitable or unable to resolve. Each one of them could take on hundreds of human soldiers. Fear and pandemonium would spread across the Kingdom if news of their defeat or death had spread.
"You were correct with your decision," said Lakyus with a nod of approval. "We should investigate the battlefield where we had fought the non-human maids for any information that we could use to track them down and eliminate them."
"Is that a wise choice?" Evileye asked. Her colleagues turned to her in confusion. "What I meant was do we know if these six non-human maids are threat? From what I had seen from their actions before we fought them, they had raided a suspected home of one of the Eight Finger's leadership. Before we fought, the non-human, insect summoning maid had told us that they didn't want to fight and asked if we could look the other way."
"How could you make such a suggestion? That maid had been eating human flesh." Gagaran replied in an anger tone.
"Gagaran, how could you be so naïve?" Lakyus said in disapproval. "We are not dealing with a simple monster that is out to kill humans. If that had been the case than the maid would have outright killed us without first resorting to diplomacy. We are dealing with a very small, but powerful group out against the Eight Fingers. They could be powerful allies…"
"Yea, right…" Gagaran grumbled, not sharing the same sentiments as her leader.
"We are not likely dealing with a vigilantes group," said Shirou. "It goes against the normal motto of vigilantes to avoid harming innocents as much as possible. These six non-human maids and any that helped that had killed everyone in the home of a suspected Eight Fingers leader. We are either dealing with an extremist and radical vigilantes or rival criminal organization vying for power."
"I think we are greatly limiting our potential list of suspects without evidence to narrow possible parties responsible to such a small group," said Evileye. "We must not discount the chance that foreign powers might be trying to interfere with the internal affairs of the Re-Estize Kingdom."
"Yes, we mustn't forget about foreign powers as potential suspects," Lakyus agreed. "If a foreign power like the Baharuth Empire or the Slane Theorcracy, the Kingdoms two closest and powerful neighbours, was involved then taking over or controlling the Eight Fingers would be highly beneficial to them. A large spy network and influential connections already built up for them and ready to be used. The perfect tool for a foreign power."
Shirou on the side resisted the urge to laugh. He himself was trying the very same thing. He was using his own people to try and infiltrate the Eight Fingers so that he could take control over it. Both for the greater good and his own personal greed. The Eight Fingers were after all incredibly powerful and well-connected to allow him to further his own agenda, and he couldn't allow it to continue dealing in slavery and murders.
"I believe we can strongly rule out the Slane Theocracy," said Shirou as he recalled the inner working that his followers, who were former high-ranked Slane Theocracy members. "They were never resort to dealing with non-humans, unless absolutely necessary. I know this because I have some connections with the Slane Theocracy and know some formerly, high-ranked members. The six non-human maids that we fought, and any who helped them, are antithesis to the Slane Theocracy's extreme anti-human stance and policies."
"Is that so…?" Lakyus chewed her lips. "I will take your word for it as you seem so confident of your assessment regarding the Slane Theocracy. That leaves us the Baharuth Empire. The only powerful and neighbouring power that has both the resources and will to commit such dangerous act as trying to take over a key pillar of the Re-Estize Kingdom as failure or discovery may possible warrant war."
"The Empire might look at demi-humans more favorable than the Slane Theocracy, but not that much better," said Gagaran. "I doubt that either two regional powers are responsible for what is happening."
"No, that might actually be the reason," said Evileye. Everyone looked at her with curiosity.
"Explain," Lakyus spoke.
"It is well known that both the Empire and Theocracy detest demi-humans, but this opens up an opportunity for them. If they were to employ demi-humans, no one would be suspicious of them as they are famously known for their anti-demihuman stance. They would assume another party was responsible and not think about them as a responsible party." Evileye explained.
"Evileye has a good point," said Shirou as he was very experienced with the cloak-and-dagger business himself as he had participated in many such activities in the past. "We cannot dismiss the possibility that Empire and Theocracy is involved. We must keep our eyes open for any possible party until we find proof that are not involved. Even then, we must assume the possibility that a party might seem to be responsible when we could be deceived by a false-flag operation."
"Grgh! My head hurts with all this talk of cloak and dagger business!" Gagaran screamed in frustration. "Can we talk about something else! We are getting nowhere right now. Just pointless speculation…!"
Shirou, along with everyone else in the room chuckled at Gagaran's attics. It was light heartening when they were going nowhere and spirally deeper into a subject that was fraught with peril and incredible bloody.
"Shirou, there has been something that I have wanted to ask all this time," said Lakyus with a smile before turning to Shirou with a serious expression. "What did you to us? I am one of the incredible few humans that have the ability to use Resurrection, and even than Resurrection doesn't come at a cost. The resurrected individual will be left greatly weakened. Yet, none of that has happened. Instead, my friends and I are stronger. You have turned us into High Humans according to your words. We deserve an explanation."
While maintaining a polite look Shirou thought about what to say. How he responded could determine any future interaction that he had with the Blue Rose. He couldn't obviously explain everything. That would result in a lengthy explanation that would result him likely being labeled as a madman (who would believe his claim that he came from another world or the fact the New World seems to be heavily influenced by a video game). He could also not leave the Blue Rose in the complete dark as it would likely make them his enemies or highly suspicious of him at the very least. Both options had the pro and cons, but he choose to take the middle ground.
"I have many secrets. Secrets that I don't wish others to know or don't trust others with." Shirou started off. "But, you and your friends deserve some explanation. Afterall, I prevented you from enjoy your time in the afterlife…" He sighed and took a breath. "As you already know, I am very powerful. That is just the tip of the iceberg. I have access to abilities and knowledge that will make your heads turn. Just know this, I did nothing harmful to you. Only made you stronger. Strong enough that you are in the realms considered by many of myth and legend."
"Are you a Player?" Evileye asked as she thought back to her past with the legendary Thirteen Heroes, two centuries ago.
"What?" Shirou blurted out in shock by the completely unexpected term that he didn't know the inhabitants of the New World should even know.
"Player? What is that supposed to mean?" Lakyus and Gagaran asked in confusion.
"A word that two members of the Thirteen Heroes, which I once part of under the guise as Landfall, used to describe themselves," said Evileye. "They used the word 'Player' to explain how powerful they and made all sorts of statements that seemed unbelievable. Something about another world and video games…"
Shirou quickly recomposed himself, but internally he was still shocked by the new development. He had found lingering influence and legacies of what he had inspected as YGGDRASIL players as seen by the Six Great Gods of the Slane Theocracy and Eight Greedy Kings. The Black Scripture with their powerful items being one the strongest evidence besides the vampire NPC known as Shalltear that he had captured.
"I know of that word, but I am not a Player," said Shirou in a smooth fashion that made him seemingly telling the truth. "I am shocked that you know that word as it is a term that few know. A race of individuals that have known to have played influential roles in history…"
Laykus and Gagaran looked at Shirou in disbelief at the new information that they had learned. Information that they had never known about and seemed to a conspiracy theory regarding the history of the New World. Evileye wanted to believe Shirou's words and was nearly convinced had it not been for her instincts telling her to not to be deceived.
"I don't bel…" Evileye was saying until she was interrupted.
"Evileye enough," said Lakyus as she looked at Evileye with disproval. "Shirou has the right to his own secrets just as we all have our own. Just leave him be. Do you understand, Evileye?" Evileye nodded, but did not hide her annoyed expression. Turning to Shirou, Lakyus spoke up. "Can you tell us more about being the High Human? There are many myths and legends regarding the famed and extinct kin of humanity. You seem to be the type, given that you seem to be a High Human yourself given your sense of familiarity and power beyond most humans."
"High Humans are an offshoot of what is considered as 'humans.' We are superior to humans, in just about every aspect. Physically, mentally and magically. How much superior depends on the individual and age of a high human." Shirou recanted what he rumored the YGGDRASIL in-game lore regarding High Humans, the species that his YGGDRASIL avatar belonged to.
"That is something I already know," said Lakyus in annoyed tone. "I am asking about specifics. For example, why I have two pounding hearts in my chest? Are there are more physical differences between high humans and normal humans?"
"I don't know all the specifics… Let me look it up, since you seem to want to know everything." He willed for a window to open before him and began to tap away at the menu until he came to what he desired. "This…" A thick tome appeared in his hand. "…will answer all your questions."
"Thank…" Lakyus was saying in a grateful tone as she reached for the offered tome when Evileye snatched the tome out of her grasp. "…HEY!"
"High Human… biology… biology… where is it…" Evileye muttered as she flipped through the pages before she found what she wanted. "Aha! Here we go…"
"Hey! Don't think about reading the book that was for me!" Lakyus protested as she tried to snatch the book back so she could read it alone.
"Oi! Lakyus, there is no point of being greedy. Everyone needs to know." Gagaran shouted as she snatched the book from the fighting Laykus and Evileye. "Tia! Tina! I know you have been watching from the shadow all this time ready to assassinate Shirou Emiya if given the order. The two of you might as well come here and also read. Saves us time from having the explain to each other about the information in this book regarding High Humans."
Shirou was not one bit surprised when the two twin assassins seemingly appeared out of nowhere and gathered around the tome that was placed on the ground by Gagaran so the rest of her team could all read the tome's knowledge relating to YGGDRASIL's ingame lore of High Humans. He had been aware of their presence the entire time. It had not taken much effort to find out that someone had been trying to hide from his awareness. They were heads and shoulders above normal humans and the average assassin. Yet, nothing compared to the Presence Concealment of the Assassin-class Servants that Shirou had encountered various times during the fake Holy Grail Wars and the Chaldea Crisis.
As the Blue Rose got busy with their reading that was Shirou thought to himself about the information that the adventurers were going through.
It had been several months since his arrival into the New World. Yet, he was still very unused to his new body that seemed a fusion of his real body and his YGGDRASIL avatar. He greatly appreciated that his abilities had been greatly enhanced and he also had access to abilities that he hadn't possessed back on Earth. While he was very grateful for the beneficial changes to his body that didn't mean he was without fear. Shirou was still frightened the changes to his body, despite not having fold any negative effects. The fear that he might find the negative consequences with the fusion of his body and ingame avatar in the future.
I must continue my own research into my body… Shirou thought as shook off his fearful thoughts and focused on other tasks.
His hands reached for his neck to pulse his pulse. The heart rate he had was off the charts compared to normal humans. His pulse normally ranged anyway between two to three hundred. Shirou had even pushed his own body to the limit under a very rigorous training regime designed to bring his body close to Servant-levels, and his maximum heart rate he had found was close to approximately eight hundred beats per minute. As a result, he felt many beneficial efforts. The first and most obvious was that time seemed to be slower as his brain with a massively increased bloodflow of oxygen to brain. He was able to think faster than before his arrival to the New World, and because of that felt that his mind's clarity was incredible sharper.
If it was just having two hearts was just the end of it… Shirou mused.
The alteration to the human body didn't just end there with the heart. Just about every part of the human body was subtle altered to abilities that humans normally didn't possess like entire limbs and organs. Some changes were so drastic and not human that Shirou at times worried that he was still not human. Shirou was just grateful that he was still human. Human in a way that counted the most important way. His humanity was still intact for all he cared as he still thought on the same wavelength as every other human that he had some far encountered in the New World. It also helped that his appearance hadn't changed one bit, but if someone was to peer underneath the skin than they might not consider him human.
A High Human was supposed to be superior to a human in every respect. Physically, mentally and magically. They were the 'blessed' humans that were supposed be the leaders and guardians of humanity. Shirou scoffed at the YGGDRASIL's game developers justification for the power that YGGRASIL players playing as a human avatar had over the ingame humanity NPCs.
Shirou made an imaginable slash at his throat. Such an action would likely kill a human, but with his new and enhanced physiology it would be hard to simple kill him by cutting at his throat. His major blood vessels had been relocated into his bone making it only possible to cause major bleeding by cutting into the bones of his neck. Even then that didn't guarantee a kill as his regeneration would close of any bleeding within a matter of seconds. There was only three ways to kill him with a weapon. Decapitation, the destruction of his brain or hearts.
Good luck with that… Shirou internally laughed he recalled how much tougher his skin and bones had become.
"Hey! I got a question…" Lakyus called out as she snapped Shirou out of his musing.
"Yes?" Shirou asked as he turned his attention to the leader of the Blue Rose.
"Please tell me that…" Lakyus turned red before she took a deep breath. "Tell me that my ability to bear children have not been affected…"
"WHAT?!" Evileye and Gagaran shouted in disbelief at their leader's question.
Shirou's eyes widened and his mouth was left gaping at the outrageous, reasonable if thought logically, question.
"I… don't know…" Shirou responded as he turned his head.
"WHAT?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Evileye asked as she too thought about her ability to have children.
"Why are you two thinking about children already?!" Gagaran shouted as she stared at her two teammates.
"Kami…" Shirou muttered as fought off what he could feel was going to be a massive headache.
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