Chapter 5: A Fake Blade
Shirou watched as Evan and Elizabeth sparred. Elizabeth had made leaps and bounds with her skills ever since she got Excalibur. Every day, her style started to look more and more like Saber's.
Saber… Shirou's smile faded slowly. Seeing Excalibur… Shirou couldn't help but think of her. He missed her. From her antics to her brutal training sessions. What he wouldn't give to see her again.
"Shiro! Are you ready to go?" When Shirou looked up, Elizabeth was walking towards him. "You should be summoning your sword today, right?"
"Oh, that's happening today," Shirou said. He was honestly anxious about the ritual. When it comes to magecraft, any number of things could go wrong, considering his element and origin. The fact the ritual had to do with swords eased Shirou's nerves a bit, but not by much.
"Let's go get your parents and then we can head to the tent together," Evan sheathed his sword and walked over.
"Alright," Shirou nodded and stood up. "Let's go."
"Oh, I'm so excited!" Akane squealed as Shirou stepped into line. "My little Shiro is going to get his very own sword!"
Shirou did his best to ignore the chattering of his parents as he took a deep breath. The line went quickly. As each child walked out, another sword appeared in Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works.
"Next!" Shirou was mildly shocked to see the kid exiting, a boy with brown hair and red eyes, holding a battleaxe with a metal hilt. He had a particularly aggressive demeanor.
I didn't know you could summon other weapons, Shirou thought to himself as he stepped in.
"Hello dear," A woman was waiting for him in the tent. In the tent was a book on a pedestal and a circle reminiscent of the circle used to summon a servant. "My name is Cassandra. It's nice to meet you. What's your name?"
"My name is Shirou. It's nice to meet you too," Shirou bowed to the woman, catching a glimpse of her rapier. Shirou was surprised that they were sending someone so strong to do the ritual for a small town. Sure, Elizabeth summoned Excalibur, but from what he remembers from Elizabeth's recounting of the event, Cassandra was the one to assist her through the summoning as well.
"Can you read?" Cassandra asked. Shirou nodded. "Alright, then can you read this first passage here?"
Shirou walked up to the pedestal and looked at the passage that Cassandra was pointing to. He opened his mouth to speak, but he felt a different set of words coming to his mind. The words crawled into his throat, almost causing Shirou to choke. When he tried to read the incantation, another set of words forced its way out of his mouth.
"I am the bone of my sword."
Shirou could feel his inner world lurch forward as the air rippled with magic energy.
"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."
"W-wait… this isn't…" Cassandra's voice trailed off. "But… it seems to be working?"
"I have created over a thousand blades."
The circle on the ground started to glow with a blue light.
"Unaware of loss, nor aware of gain."
Shirou could start to feel the prana drain from his body. Even after mastering his Reality Marble in his previous life and the extra circuits he had, the ritual was still draining his od at a ridiculous rate.
"Withstood pain to create weapons, waiting for one's arrival."
An image of Artoria flashed in Shirou's mind. The boy grit his teeth and persevered.
"I have no regrets, this is my only path."
Cassandra yelped and jumped as a ring of fire extended from the center of the summoning circle, only extending to its borders. Shirou squinted as he saw his world before him, as if the circle was a portal to his Unlimited Blade Works.
"My whole life was…"
The flames started to condense and take shape until the gateway to Shirou's world was reduced to the size and shape of a sword.
"Unlimited Blade Works!"
There was an explosion of blue light. Shirou averted his eyes, using his arm to shield him from the blinding rays. When the light subsided, Shirou opened his eyes to see a sword floating in the middle of the circle. The sword was completely unremarkable, taking the shape of one of the countless nameless blades in Shirou's world. He could even remember the sword it took the shape of. Forged in 1764 by the 3rd son in a family of blacksmiths and was used in German Longsword competitions until 1908 where it was retired to be a decorative piece, trading hands numerous times before ending up in a museum where it was incorrectly labeled as the sword used by a knight in the 1200s.
"What… what just happened?" Cassandra only gaped as Shirou walked up and grabbed the sword. As his fingers curled around the hilt, Shirou gasped. It was like he felt complete for the first time since reincarnating. As he analyzed the sword, his eyes widened.
This sword… it was more than a reflection of Shirou's soul. It was the Unlimited Blade Works in the form of a sword. Shirou closed his eyes and looked deep into his world. It was still there, but there was a large chain, easily the size of a building attached to the center of the world. On either side of the chain was an Excalibur. One of them belonged to his first love and the other to his first friend in this new world. The boy couldn't help but smile as he turned to Cassandra.
"Thank you," He said, bowing to the woman. "I'll be sure to treasure this blade."
Akane knew how Shiro felt last year when Elizabeth summoned her sword. When there was an explosion of blue light, Kenji had to physically stop her from running into the tent, sword drawn.
"Auntie, is Shiro okay?" Elizabeth looked up at Akane with beady eyes. Akane grit her teeth and smiled.
"He'll be fine, honey," Akane rubbed Elizabeth's head. "Something like this happened when you were summoning your sword. Little Shiro almost ran in himself."
"That must mean he's getting something really cool then!" Elizabeth reasoned.
"I'm sure you're right," Akane said. As she did, Shiro walked out of the tent, his hand gripped on a sword. The sword was… completely normal. Other than the blade being a little longer and the guard longer and curved, it was almost identical to Kenji's. That didn't affect how proud Akane was, though.
"Oh, my baby has his own sword!" Akane ran to his son and gripped him tightly. "You're growing up so fast!"
"Woah!" Elizabeth looked at Shiro's sword. "Can we spar with our swords now? Please, please, please!"
"Maybe tomorrow," Shiro sighed as he pulled away from his mother's bear hug. "I'm still a little out of it from the summoning."
"You promise?" Elizabeth asked.
"Promise," Shiro replied with a smile.
"Alright. If that's the case, let's get you home so you can rest," Akane said. Shiro turned and nodded and the group made their way home.
Shirou immediately went to his room when he got home. He sat down and placed his new sword beside on his lap before closing his eyes. When he analyzed the sword, Shirou found his mind wandering to a hauntingly familiar place. The Fuyuki Fire.
As Shirou continued to analyze the sword, memories of his life kept on replaying. From Kiritsugu's death, to the Fifth War, to his own death. Then… it kept going. From Shirou's birth in the new world, to his new life, all leading up to the present.
Shirou opened his eyes. This sword… It was him. When he analyzed the other swords, their history always started when it was summoned, but Shirou's sword was different. Then, something else appeared in his head.
Alright, let's try this, Shirou thought as he put a hand over the flat side of the blade. "Trace on."
What he tried to do was trace Kanshou and Bakuya, but he felt the chain in his inner world pull as Shirou's sword started to glow and change forms. When the light subsided, the married blades were sitting on his lap. When he tried to trace the nameless sword that his sword was summoned in, the sword shifted back.
Well, this is going to be a drag, Shirou thought.
/
After a few hours of experimentation, Shirou learned a few things about his new blade. Thankfully, Shirou could still trace swords the normal way. It just required more focus. It was like forcing himself to do something in direct opposition to his muscle memory. Another thing he learned was that he could turn his blade into most noble phantasms in his Unlimited Blade Works. This included spears, axes, and even bows. He didn't want to try turning his sword into Excalibur because even in this new world, tracing a heavily degraded copy would be enough to kill him, but he was able to turn it into Caliburn with no issues.
"Alright," Shirou placed the sword by his bed and laid down. Today was a tiring day. None of the other kids seemed tired out from the summoning, so Shirou chalked his fatigue to the fact he used a different chant and used his own prana instead of praying to the Sword Goddess.
I'll deal with this all tomorrow, Shirou thought before closing his eyes. He fell asleep, dreaming of swords.
Akane turned to Kenji when she heard a knock on the door.
"Were you expecting anyone?" The woman asked.
"Nope," Kenji shook his head. Akane's face instantly soured. She stomped towards the door and swung it open, her irritation rising as she saw the female knight before her.
"For the last time, we are not returning to the knight corps!" Akane shouted. The woman visibly shrunk at Akane's tone.
"I'm… actually not here about that," The woman replied softly, her amethyst eyes looking straight down. "I wanted to talk about your son."
"What do you want with Shiro—!"
"It's not what you're thinking, I swear!" The woman held her hands up and her eyes widened. "It's just… something very strange happened during his summoning ritual and I wanted to bring it to your attention."
"Oh," Akane's voice softened by several levels. "Come in, then. I'm sorry for the outburst."
"I understand," The woman nodded before stepping in the house. "By the way, my name is Cassandra. It's an honor to meet you."
Cassandra was shaking from head to toe. She was assigned to come to this town as her first mission three years ago because the higher-ups were confident that nothing would happen in such a small and unassuming place. The last thing she expected were two decorated knight commanders to be living here.
Elizabeth summoning Excalibur was one thing. She almost fainted when she saw the blade and only managed to finish the day through her sheer will and sense of duty, but the boy Shiro… he did something no one had ever done before. Even if someone tried to change the incantation, nothing else would work. So for such a young boy to do something so revolutionary…
"So what did you need?" Akane asked as she sat down next to Kenji. Cassandra resisted the urge to ask for an autograph. Akane and Kenji had both been very prevalent figures when she was a child and she looked up to them. Even now at 20, she couldn't help but idolize the couple.
"Well, Shiro… he didn't use the incantation to summon his sword," Cassandra said.
"He what?" Akane's face was a picture of pure shock.
"I wrote down what he said when I regained my bearings," Cassandra handed a small slip of paper to the pair. "I don't know what it means."
"We'll have to ask him when he wakes up," Kenji read the paper, his eyes narrowing before handing it to Akane. "I assume you're going to the knight corps with this?"
"No!" Cassandra shook her head vigorously.
"Why?" Akane looked up from the paper with a skeptical glance. "Is there something you want from us?"
"N-no!" Cassandra held her hands up. "It's just… the knight that oversaw my younger sister's sword summoning told the corps she had two swords."
Akane pursed her lips and Kenji looked down.
"She was sent to the Knight Academy early and when she returned… she just wasn't the same," Cassandra looked down. "I don't want the same thing to happen to Shiro."
"Thank you," Akane whispered.
"Just… be there for him, okay?" Cassandra's voice was barely a whisper as she stood up. "Thank you for letting me into your house."
"Thank you for telling us," Kenji stood up and bowed to the young woman. "We'll repay this debt, I promise."
"N-no, you don't have to. I didn't tell you because I wanted something in return," Cassandra said.
"We know," Akane looked up at Cassandra. "It's for that reason we want to repay you."
"I… I see," Cassandra bowed. "Thank you, then. I'll be looking forward to it."
Cassandra left the house and took a deep breath. She then smiled. Today, she saved another child from being taken in too early, and in her books, that was a win.
Busted! Shirou finally summoned his sword! If it doesn't follow the rules of Nasuverse magecraft, please keep in mind this is two magic systems colliding and fusing to make this sword. Anyways, please do consider leaving a review! I would love to read and reply to your thoughts. As this is an original world, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Also please join my Discord! I would love to talk to you all and answer all your questions! I talk a lot about my thought process while writing, so if you're interested in that, do consider joining. The url is discord . gg (forego the spaces) followed by a slash and CpVs7R8KXz. Unfortunately you'll have to type the rest of the url in manually because I'm not allowed to post links. Thank you for reading and I'll catch you on the flipside.