Thank you all for the reviews! I'm happy that more of you are sending in stuff. Do send it reviews if you want questions or thoughts responded to!
BlitzNeutral69: I don't imagine Sakura or Medusa joining in. The only reason Rin and Luvia reincarnated is because Zelretch is fond of those two and the reason Shirou got reincarnated was because of Merlin. It's a hard maybe, but don't get your hopes up.
questionable watcher: "You see, a good friend of mine decided to help me prepare something for our little Artoria." That is a quote from Merlin in chapter 7. Merlin knows Shirou because he was directly involved in his reincarnation. As for what he did, since Shirou's sword is UBW in a sense, the skill "Sword Morph" would have shown up as "Unlimited Blade Works" if it wasn't for Merlin's meddling.
Marsuvees Balck The Dark Lord: I'm gonna let y'all in on some inside info. I didn't originally plan to have Rin and Luvia reincarnated, which is why the tags are the way they are. I will be updating them as soon as I finish uploading this chapter, though. Yes, Shirou will have a harem, but as I said last chapter, HE WILL NOT DIDDLE KIDS.
ShuKirisaki: Thank you for your concern. I'm doing well. You'll probably see uploads slow down a bit (read: this is the only chapter being uploaded today), but I assure you that I'm doing alright.
Chapter 13: Duel
Shirou really didn't like the look of this. After the appraisals, everyone was moved to what seemed to be an arena.
How much more cliche can this exam get? Shirou thought to himself. She's seen these kinds of exams more than once when watching anime. He wasn't a fan of anime himself, but there was a surprising amount of people (primarily younger members) in the clock tower that stayed up to date with seasonal anime. Shirou, being rather lax when it comes to modern technology, was always dragged into a room by god knows who to watch with them.
"Before we start the final section of the entrance exams, I would like to introduce a very special guest," Cassandra looked up to the large booth at the back of the stadium where a woman with white hair and purple eyes. Despite her hair color, she had a youthful appearance and she had a curtana at her side. Shirou frowned. Curtanas were usually ceremonial swords, but one look at it and Shirou knew it was used for things that were definitely not decoration. "Please direct your attention to the booth."
"It's heartwarming to see so much talent coming to our Academy," The woman spread her arms with a small smile on her face. "My name is Lysette Falnir. I've been the headmistress of this school for a little over fifteen years and this is always my favorite time of year. I wish you all well in your duels and I am excited to see all your talent blossom to life within the walls of this school."
"The duels have all been decided. You will only have to do one duel. Don't worry if you lose. Your spot in the academy has already been secured." Cassandra said. There were a few whisperings, a few grumblings, and a few prayers amongst the child. Likely praying to Vivianne to not go up against Rose or Lubelia.
"Now, the first battle will be between Sarah and Michael. Will these two students step to the battlefield?" Cassandra announced. With that, the duels have begun.
Lysette sat down as the duels began. This was a promising batch of youngsters indeed. Disregarding the three absolute monsters that were Rose, Lubelia, and Shiro, the current year's batch had more initial skills than the average year. Though an unfamiliar feeling creeped down the principal's spine.
Lysette turned from the duel to the students that were waiting and saw Shiro glaring at her. It wasn't the glare of a child, but of someone examining every nook and cranny of her. The two locked eyes.
"Headmistress?" Lysette turned to see Cassandra was next to her. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes. This year is quite promising, isn't it?" Lysette said idly as a dual wielder, Martha, claimed victory over a student named Saul, who wielded an estoc.
"I agree," Cassandra said with a small smile.
"So what do you think of our… outliers?" Lysette put a hand on her chin. "Rose, Lubelia, and Shiro, yes?"
"Ah, they're quite something," Cassandra said. "Rose and Lubelia are actually the daughters of Anderson Giliad."
"Elizabeth's tutor?" Lysette turned to look at Cassandra. With how strong Elizabeth was, it was no surprise that Anderson's daughters were this strong. Even though Alcia was responsible for most of Elizabeth's growth, she was still an amazing talent when she had first shown up.
"What do you think about Shiro?" Lystette then asked. Cassandra replied by looking up.
"Well you're about to find out," Cassandra said. "Shiro, Lubelia! Can you please make your way to the stage?"
Shirou gripped Kanshou and Bakuya as he faced down his opponent. She was reminiscent of Luvia, which threw the reincarnated boy off at first, but he was quickly getting used to it.
"Those are some pretty nice swords you have," Lubelia said idly as she drew hers. Shirou looked at it and…
Oh… oh… Shirou stumbled for a second as the information flooded into his head. Information he didn't expect to get.
I'll talk to them after this, Shirou resolved as he took a deep breath. At least he could change his sword if he wanted to.
"Begin!" Cassandra called and Lubelia immediately pointed her sword at Shirou and casted a Gandr spall. Shirou reinforced his body and sidestepped the curse before dashing straight at her. Lubelia met him head on, their three swords colliding.
"It's been a while," Lubelia said with a smirk. Her voice was soft so only Shirou could hear her.
"It has been," Shirou replied with a small but genuine smile. "I didn't expect to see you here. Is Rin with you?"
"Y-you knew?" Lubelia broke the struggle and swung again. The two exchanged a few more blows before clashing again.
"Your sword. I was able to read its history," Shirou replied. He then sprung upwards, narrowly jumping over a vertical arc of wind. He landed several meters away and threw Kanshou before running up to Lubelia, who swatted the sword away with ease and clashed swords once more.
"Looks like Rin hasn't been doing a good enough job of educating you," Lubelia's smile shifted into a predatory grin. "I'll teach you what happens when you go off and woman a woman's fun."
Shirou's smile shook. He really should have seen this coming.
Elizabeth was seeing red. Shiro and this random girl get called to duel and they suddenly act all buddy buddy? Elizabeth could see their lips moving, but she couldn't make out the words. No matter how strong he was, he definitely wasn't going to escape the beating she intended on giving him the next time they met face-to-face.
"Jealous?" Alcia asked with a smirk. Elizabeth immediately activated her Strengthening and punched Alcia on the shoulder with six times her normal strength. Alcia just laughed and shrugged it off. "Pay attention. I don't think it'll be friendly from here on out."
Elizabeth turned just in time to see an honest Goddess tornado appear in the middle of the arena.
"You can do that?!" Elizabeth pointed at the tornado.
"Please, she's still only at level 5. Once you get to level 10, you can make a real tornado," Alcia chuckled. "You'll get there eventually."
Before Elizabeth could comprehend the fact that she would be able to make her own tornado, the cyclone vanished. Shiro was running towards Lubelia with a very strange looking knife. It then morphed into a sort of lance. Lubelia rushed at him, but Shiro jumped to the side and nicked his opponent on the leg.
"You…" Lubelia started to run, but suddenly fell to her knees. Elizabeth noticed that the little wound Shiro left on her leg was glowing.
"You know what this is," Shiro pointed the lance at Lubelia. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. She didn't even know what was going on, and Lubelia just met him.
"Fine…" Lubelia groaned and rolled her eyes. "I concede."
"Good match," Shirou smiled as the lance reverted to Shiro's favored twin blades and the glowing spot on Lubelia's leg faded.
"Shiro wins!" Cassandra announced and there was an applause from the crowd of upperclassmen and teachers that showed up. Lubelia stood up and the two made their way to the other students, chatting as they did.
A tick mark appeared on Elizabeth's head. She was definitely going to punch him.
Shirou took a deep breath. He had spent the past 12 years grieving for Rin and he was going to see her again. He flinched when he felt Lubelia slap his back.
"Just go talk to her, idiot," Lubelia snapped. "I may hate her, but seeing you fidget like this is painful."
"Thanks, Luvia," Shirou said. He took one more deep breath before approaching Rose.
"Rin, I—" Shirou was cut off by a hard slap to the face. Several students stopped what they were doing to look at the scene. "Was the Strengthening really necessary?"
"Yes. Yes it was," Rose whispered before pulling him into a hug. Shirou could feel her visibly shake as he wrapped his arms around her. "I missed you, idiot."
Alcia had to hold Elizabeth back from jumping down there and unleashing Excalibur on Shiro and that skank that dared put her hands on her friend before having the audacity to give him a hug.
"Elizabeth! You can punch him later! The test is almost over!" Alcia shouted.
"Let me go!" Elizabeth shouted. She didn't even care that Stella and Jasmine were laughing. They needed justice and they needed it now. Elizabeth sent a pleading glance over to Artoria, who was watching the scene.
"I…" Artoria turned to look at Elizabeth. It was obvious, or at least obvious to Elizabeth that Artoria was trying to hide some sort of pain. "I need a minute to think."
Artoria vanished into golden particles that flew with the wind, wondering just what could have tipped Artoria off for her to make a face like back.
Shirou winced as Mary got her first exposure to a Gandr. She fought well, but as soon as the curse hit her, her knees buckled and she fell over, unconscious. Shirou knew from personal experience that Rose could have made that curse much, much worse.
"The winner is Rose Giliad!" Cassandra announced. A couple people in white clothes placed Mary in a makeshift stretcher and took Mary away. Rose bowed before exiting the stage.
"Was that really necessary?" Shirou put a hand on his hip. "She's twelve."
"That's why I held back," Rose said.
"Only a barbarian would consider using that much force against a child," Lubelia muttered under her breath.
"A gorilla accusing me of being barbaric?" Rose huffed, tossing one of her twintails over her shoulder. "I'd never thought I'd see the day."
"Rin, Luvia, please," Shirou put himself in between the two. As nostalgic as he was feeling about the whole thing, he knew how the duo could get, and Shirou really didn't want them cussing in front of children.
"With that, the tests are concluded," Cassandra announced. "We shall now go back to the front hall. From here, you can explore the school to your liking. Go make friends and see what we have to offer. You'll receive your classes tomorrow in your dorms."
"Before we go anywhere, I want to warn you," Shirou turned to Rose and Lubelia as the group started to walk. "Elizabeth was watching my test and I'm not sure how happy she'll be about you two."
"Elizabeth? As in the person our father taught Elizabeth?" Rose asked. When Shirou nodded, Rin audibly groaned. "First it's this skank, but now I have to deal with another one. Thanks, Shirou."
"What did you call me?!" Lubelia but a hand on her sword, but was stopped when Shirou shot a glare at her.
"I know how you feel about Rin, but you should know how I feel about violence against my wife," Shirou said with a threatening tone.
"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that again," Rose said with a smile. "I lo—"
"Shiro!" A tick mark appeared on Rose's head as she heard the voice of a petulant young child. She turned to see the infamous Elizabeth stopping towards them. She threw a punch at Shirou's face, which he dodged easily, but even Rose could feel the air from that punch. If it hit a normal person, their head probably would have exploded.
"It's nice to see you too, Lizzy," Shirou deadpanned,
"Nice my foot! Explain yourself!" Elizabeth shouted.
"Explain what?" Shirou tilted his head. "These are my friends."
"Friends, Shirou?" Rose turned her head. "I believe we have a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?" Elizabeth's gaze turned from angry to murderous.
"Shirou's not my friend. He's my pet," Rose put her hands on her hips and nodded to herself. Lubelia looked about ready to kill her, but Shirou shot her a warning glance. Elizabeth's expression immediately went from enraged to horrified.
"S-Shiro… please tell me she's joking," Elizabeth said. Shirou looked at Rose and sighed.
"What a cruel and unfortunate master I have," Shirou frowned as he laced his voice with false sorrow.
"I'm glad you know your place," Rose huffed. Shirou turned back to Elizabeth just in time to see her eyes roll into her head and faint. Shirou quickly dashed forward and caught her before she fell.
"Well," Shirou muttered aloud. "This is going to be an interesting year."
You know, I don't understand why the Trap of Argalia doesn't appear in more fics. It certainly lines up with Shirou's desire to save as many people as possible. Anyways, I wanted to wait a few chapters before Shirou found out about Rin and Luvia, but I realized I couldn't do that because Shirou can read the sword's history and the two have done a lot of experimenting with their swords and gem magecraft.
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.