No matter the appearance, one should not take anyone lightly even in the case of greater numbers.
You never know when one would come across a monster, and that precisely what he was in the yes of the members of the White Fang in front of him.
Shirou knew that as a spirit, he could choose to simply dissipate his physical body in the midst of combat, but he never considered what kind of effect that would have on the others around him. In a battle between Servants in a standard Grail War, it wouldn't have had mattered if he shifted into spiritual form because the Grail War was a battle between spirits to begin with. He would not have had been able to avoid an enemy Servants attack even if he was intangible.
In this case, he hadn't been up against Servants, but regular people, so the point was moot.
He didn't consider the perspective of the White Fang.
How were they supposed to defeat an opponent who their attacks could not even hit? Bullets, explosions, aura, none of it was working. It was like they were dealing with a phantom, one with the ability to form countless blades out of nothing.
Swords.
So many that none dared to move.
Sharp and hanging inches away from their necks, there was no room at all for a counterattack.
Yang was speechless.
Her gaze was darting left and right, from him, and then to the masked individuals around him. It was like he could literally see her brain gradually processing what she was seeing.
For the most part, he simply ignored her to get the situation around him under control first.
His question to 'explain what was going on' was still present in the air, and finally the masked individuals began to take action.
One by one they each removed their masks to show distinct animal traits which made them easily identifiable as Faunus. Their faces beneath looked terrified, and many were beginning to cower.
"Sorry, we're sorry," the Faunus that bowed her head low in apology was Charlotte. She was holding the gun that Jed had given her in her hand, and out of everyone present, she was the only one with a full magazine of bullets. She hadn't been able to will herself to fire at another person. "Please don't hurt us. W-We had no other choice," she pleaded.
Shirou frowned in response but did nothing else.
The fact alone that Charlotte had been unable to even fire at him showed just what kind of personality she had. A Faunus like Charlotte had no business being involved in an armed attack. Scrutinizing everyone else, the majority of them were far from trained or experienced murderers for that matter.
Their current appearance resembled something more like pulling a stranger from the streets, giving them a gun, and then tasking them with assassinating someone.
"Explain," Shirou gave them the benefit of the doubt.
Charlotte gasped while first gesturing towards the sword in the air.
He nodded, and promptly dismissed his projections just as Yang was about to try touching one.
As soon as the swords were gone, Jed who had been near Charlotte since the beginning ran beside her to divert his attention. It didn't do much good though because Charlotte placed a hand on Jed's shoulder and shook her head. They simply couldn't win.
"The situation's like this," Charlotte began to explain in detail what she knew.
Jed helped fill in the blank spaces that Charlotte was unaware of.
They first explained that they were part of a civil right's activist group known as the White Fang which was slowly losing power in wake of the establishment of Vermillion. Nonetheless, the situation had taken a turn for the worse by a certain new employer's arrival.
"We've been smuggling Dust out of Vale for months now at the order of this mysterious woman. None of us could refuse her because she's simply too strong," Jed balled his hands into fists. "Those who refused to listen were killed. There was nothing that we could do."
Charlotte then spoke up. "We can't leave either. They have eyes and ears everywhere that we aren't aware about."
"Then are they watching us now?"
Charlotte and every other member of the White Fang present flinched at his question. Still, nothing of note happened, causing everyone to breath a sigh of relief.
Shirou began to silently contemplate.
The fact that this 'mysterious employer' did not send anyone to watch over Charlotte and the rest either meant that they were unimportant, or that they were already considered dead. An even more likely alternative was that there were no eyes and ears to begin with.
All that the 'mysterious employer' needed to do was etch fear into the hearts of Charlotte and the others. The fear itself would act as the cage tying down their freedom. The more he thought about, the more likely his theory became.
How could a single individual constantly keep tabs on an entire organization with hundreds, or maybe thousands of members?
It was physically impossible even for him.
"There's nothing to worry about," he then informed Charlotte and the rest of his conjecture, causing them to sigh in relief.
"We can go home now?"
"T-They won't come after us?"
"I can go to Vermillion?" Charlotte covered her mouth with a hand in relief. Jed was already patting her on the back.
Shioru waited for the Faunus to calm down before pressing for more information.
"What exactly were you guys doing that you were forced to pursue and eliminate us?" He asked.
"We were loading some kind of supply box meant to be delivered to Atlas's Schnee Dust Company," Charlotte tried to recall any further details and soon remembered something vital. "We weren't told what was inside the boxes, but from the amount of smuggled Dust we've been loading for the past few months, it may be an explosive. Maybe that was why we were immediately dispatched to attack you both."
"A gift from the White Fang to the Schnee Dust Company," Jed muttered what he'd heard from another Faunus.
Shirou creased his brow.
The information itself meant that there was the chance that lives were now at stake. Worse, if a tragedy ensued then the Grimm would be attracted to all the negativity and attack.
He had to take action.
"Yang," he called out to Yang who seemed to have the idea that she was already involved. "Stay here."
"But-"
Before Yang could even respond back, Shirou gestured for Charlotte and the others to take him back to the storage house where he and Yang had stumbled in on them last. Recalling how terrifying Shirou could be, Charlotte and the other Faunus quickly complied, leaving Yang alone to watch while pouting.
In the meantime, Shirou soon entered the warehouse where Charlotte and the others had been operating, and got the details that he needed about the train shipment.
Plans.
Routs.
Everything.
Charlotte, Jed and the others were standing nervously on the side.
It wasn't until they had finished explaining everything to him that Shirou simply pointed at the door and seemed to just be letting them all off.
"You're just going to let us go?" Charlotte was the first to ask. Jed and the others were too bewildered at Shirou actions. They'd never encountered a man who would simply let their assailants free with no compensation.
Shirou however was no ordinary individual. He was a Hero of Justice. He knew truly bad people from those that were truly evil. At the very least, the most Charlotte and the others had done was smuggle Dust. They didn't deserve to be punished for something they had no say on the matter.
Moreover, they were Faunus and White Fang, and that was enough.
To them, there was an existence that already had their utmost respect and reverence for the deed that that existence had accomplished.
Gradually, he began to take off his disguise piece by piece.
He had a task in mind for them as the majority of them lived in Vale's underground society and wouldn't be leaving. It was only Charlotte and Jed who chose to accompany Charlotte to Vermillion.
The two would be leaving Vale by nightfall.
In the mean time, he could ask a favour from the rest.
Gradually, he began to take off his disguise piece by piece.
The utter silence was broken by hastened breaths and stammers. Shirou's was an appearance that was famous throughout Remnant, and his renown became all the more apparent as soon as he exposed his face.
"T-There's no way…"
"Lord Huntsman of Red!
The Hero of the Faunus, and the Huntsman of the Sacred Sword of the Sun.
To the worshipers of the Sacred Sword in Vermillion, the Huntsman of Red was basically a walking prophet.
To Faunus, he was a revered legend.
"Most of you live your lives here in this area," Shirou got right to the point, arms crossing in front of his chest while Charlotte and the others swallowed audibly. "I'd like to ask you all for a favour," he said bluntly.
Charlotte and Jed moved to speak, but they were quickly overtaken by the other Faunus.
"Of course! Name it! We won't hesitate!"
"No wonder he was so strong, and those swords! Do they produce light as well?!"
"W-Wait O shit, d-did we actually shoot at him?"
"Death, we deserve death!"
The terror the Faunus had for Shirou took a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.
His expression stiffened. He wasn't exactly comfortable with the reverence the Faunus were showing towards him. In truth, this was another reason why he never made his identity public. The bigger reason was of course that it would trouble his Master, and Ruby was already socially awkward as it was.
He cleared his throat and made sure he had Charlotte and the other's attention.
"That girl that you saw with me, her name's Yang, and if you see her again in Vale's Underground, can I get you to dial this number?" He produced a piece of parchment from his pocket and didn't dispose of it until the Faunus had saved the contents to memory.
He sighed ruefully at the measures that he was taking, but he felt that he had to have a fail safe. It was only a coincidence that he spotted Yang leaving Signal Academy today. If she snuck out on her own, then the consequences could be tragic.
"First, I'd like to ask you all to keep my identity a secret, and second, I'd like to ask you all to keep Yang out of Vale's backstreets. Unfortunately, she'd probably be too much of a handful for you all to handle." Which was why, he needed a bigger threat to dissuade her.
He had directly given everyone Tai and Qrow's contact information.
"We won't fail you, sir!"
The Faunus were all in agreement.
The amount of fanaticism that they showed was almost frightening. It only made him wonder what it would be like if he ever stepped foot into Vermillion's streets undisguised.
He'd cause a riot.
Worse, he didn't know what he'd do if they started offering prayers to him due to the increasing faith of the 'Religion of the Sacred Sword.'
On one hand, the faith energy may be able to act as a source of power for a Servant, but on the other, there was no way he'd have the ability to cope with all the attention.
Yup. That kind of situation was definitely too troublesome to deal with.
"Leave it to us!" The Faunus repeated again.
He could only nod stiffly.
In the mean time, Summer was staring at him with a judging gaze.
Evil. He was Evil.
He liked to say Efficient.
A shiver travelled down Yang's back, one of ill foreboding that only her father's disciplining could ever cause but she couldn't quite understand why.
By the time that she truly started thinking about it, she noticed that 'Archer' was already back from the storage house and placed that feeling at the back of her mind.
As for the Faunus that had attacked them earlier, strangely, they seemed exceedingly demure whenever they looked at 'Archer' as if they were unworthy of keeping their heads up high in his presence. Moreover, why were they looking at her so intently?
Their gazes were almost piercing.
Questions for another time.
The more pressing issue was the fact that if she knew 'Archer' well enough, he would not be wishing to take her along.
There was no way that she'd allow that to happen. Therefore, when the Faunus people left back into the back alleys, she blocked 'Archer's' way when he tried to bypass her.
He looked at her.
She stared back.
There was no way that she was going to sit this one out; not when she'd already gotten herself involved and knew that she had the ability to help. Perhaps it didn't occur to her that 'Archer' didn't need her assistance, but he must have had been certain that she was hardly going to listen.
She was a persistent kind of girl.
And this was why Shirou ended up inwardly groaning.
"Stay here and just inform the authorities," he tried reasoning with Yang anyway.
"Do you think that they'd even listen to me?" She replied back frankly.
Young.
Brash.
A teenager.
Yang had a fair point here and the issue was regarding a Dust supply train. It already sounded dubious to his ears let alone what the authorities would think about Yang reporting it.
'Point taken,' Shirou gave her that one. "Any chance of you just running off home, letting me handle this, and acting as if nothing ever happened?"
"Nope," Yang didn't even hesitate to answer. She'd feel responsible if anything happened and she had simply walked away without doing anything. "And don't think about leaving me either."
Shirou froze mid-step his hands pausing as he pulled off the tarp that he'd used to cover the motorcycle with when he had left it last time.
He clicked his tongue.
He'd hoped that Yang would talk for longer and that he'd be able to leave before she noticed, but hopes were just that, hope.
He sighed in consternation while Yang marched over to him with suspicion. "You were just about to leave me, weren't you?"
"And if I was?" He folded up the tarp and laid it down near the side.
"Then I'd wait for the next train and sneak on. I'd catch up to you eventually." Yang rolled her eyes and inclined her head.
He'd just about given up by this point but faltered at Summer's insistence.
"You are not to bring her," She was being particularly stern.
He pinched the bridge of his nose while looking from Yang to Summer who was floating directly beside Yang and constantly shaking her head.
He had two choices right now, and either option was a bad end. If he left right now, Summer probably hoped that Yang wouldn't follow through on her words, but if Yang was anything like the kind of women that he knew in his past life, then she'd definitely follow through.
Regardless of what his choice was, he was going to have someone annoyed at him. Better his annoyance than risking Yang's life in her recklessness. Besides, he didn't think that Summer would actually try to harm him. It was the nagging that he was afraid of, but all heroes had hardship, and perhaps this was just his to bear.
He resolved himself.
Nag all you want, he was ready.
He'd just ignore it at this point, unless it reached a critical level.
"Fine. Do what you want," Yang's expression brightened, while Summer looked stricken at his words. He continued anyway. "But promise me that you really won't come back here again after this."
Summer was slightly appeased, but still huffed in irritation.
Yang however was kicking around the bush, using her left leg to kick a can over the pavement.
"And why do I have to promise that?" She asked him, unwilling to meet his gaze and instead focusing on the ground.
She missed the glaring smirk on his face.
Because your father will see to it if you ever do.
He couldn't exactly say that, and therefore, he composed his expression and just shrugged.
"Because I trust you. Isn't that enough?" he said the first thing that came to his mind.
Summer was already calling 'Bullshit,' but out of the three present, she was the only one around to know of his backhanded agreement with the Faunus.
Yang however, remained ignorant and grew muddled at his sudden attack. This threw Summer for a loop and she immediately narrowed her eyes in scrutiny.
"Uhm, yeah well," Yang scratched her cheek with her index finger. For some reason, she wasn't able to look at him straight.
Alarm bells began ringing in Summer's mind.
"I guess I trust you too."
What did Yang just say?
Moreover, Yang was fidgeting.
She was fidgeting.
That wasn't the Yang that Summer knew.
No stop that! What's so good about him anyway? He's a fraud!
H-He's doing it subconsciously the bastard. Summer felt her mouth gradually hang open and promptly shut it closed. Could she even get mad at Shirou for this? It would almost be unreasonable, but then again, since when did mothers have to be reasonable in regards to their own children's well being?
No wait, maybe she was just rushing to conclusions. She needed to observe first.
"Then we've come to an understanding and you won't come back here ever again," Shirou replied bluntly after Yang's response.
Yang clicked her tongue and grunted.
Since when were you the boss of me?
She didn't say her thoughts aloud though and was instead more fixated on something else. If she couldn't come back then so be it. There were plenty of other places where she could look around for any leads on the mother that had abandoned her anyway. In the meantime, she'd settle on the next best thing.
Slowly Yang took out her Scroll and held it in her hands towards Shirou while turning her face away.
He simply stared at her in silence, unable to understand her gesture.
Yang ended up taking three minutes to realize that something wasn't quite right.
"W-What are you waiting for?" She huffed to hide her awkwardness. Generally, she'd never asked for a guy's number before. It had always been the other way around.
"Isn't that something I should be asking you?" Shirou replied back, sitting over the motorcycle and starting up the engine. "I'm perfectly fine with leaving you as well if you've reconsidered. Actually, it's better that way- Why are you scowling at me?"
"Scroll stupid. Scroll, what's your number?" Yang waved her Scroll in her hand in exasperation.
He looked at Yang, and then to the Scroll in her hands before realization dawned. Still though, there was a problem.
"I don't have one," he said dismissively. "A Scroll I mean. I don't have one," he further explained when Yang looked utterly bewildered.
"You don't have a Scroll? I thought that everyone had one," she muttered before looking at him questioningly. "Didn't you ever ask your parents to buy you one?"
"I never had any."
"oh." Yang scratched her head stiffly.
"How about a guardian then?"
"I had a foster father." He raised a hand. "Before you say anything else, he's dead too. He died early when I was still a child."
"…" In that instance, both Summer and Yang had the same expression while looking at him.
Yang more so.
'You have a family that's probably waiting for you. Don't take them for granted.'
The words that he had spoken to Yang on their first meeting was probably playing through her mind. She fell silent, unsure whether she should apologize for a bringing up the matter or not. She awkwardly put away her scroll and coughed into her hand.
At the very least it saved him the trouble.
Summer fell silent as well.
It wouldn't last forever.
That being the case, he needed to get back to the matter at hand.
He stared at the motorcycle in front of him. It wouldn't be the first time that he'd worked on one.
The speed of any vehicle was dependant on the durability of its make. Materials which could not endure the high heat of combusting flames within an engine would not be able to maximize the heat values of fuel. It was the same principle as rockets. One could not launch a rocket into space if the components of the thrusters melted mid-launch.
The motorcycle was bulky in places, and this would contribute to a slower speed.
He had to change that if he hoped to catch up to a high-speed train.
Trace. On.
He began feeling out with his magecraft, a schematic of the vehicle forming in his mind.
Reinforcement and Alteration were next.
Metal began to meld and twist into the fashion of the blueprint that he was envisioning in his mind.
It became sleeker, more aerodynamic.
Its edges sharpened, and the exhaust pipes widened and strengthened. There would no longer be any visible signs of wear and deterioration even after several years of use.
The changes were visible to the naked eye, and it simply looked as if the motorcycle had come to life, blue interface patterns flashing over it before fading.
"Wow," Yang stared at the motorbike up and down before looking back to him. "How did you do that?" Another Semblance?
Yang had always thought that people in Remnant could only possess one at birth. Ruby had speed, and she herself had one that amplified her physical abilities. She'd thought that 'Archer's' Semblance was his ability to form swords, but this was entirely different. He changed the motorcycles' appearance and capabilities with a touch.
It had to have had been another Semblance. There was no other way to explain it.
"There's a lot of things that you don't know about me, and it's best to keep things that way," he sat on the motorcycle to familiarize himself and then revved the engine.
Yang eyed him while huffing. She wasn't exactly a person who listened easily to others. She was stubborn if anything. Not saying a single word further, she sat herself on the passenger seat and loosely wrapped her arms around his back.
She was annoyed.
"Hold on tight."
"Tight?" Yang recalled the last time she'd ridden on this motorcycle and even if it was fast, it wasn't fast enough to throw her off. A simple grip was all that she had needed.
"Suit yourself," he replied.
In fact, there was no need for any further explanation as soon as he released the safety and shifted into drive.
"!"
Yang's arms turned into vices due to the sheer speed that they were travelling at.
He was kind of cheating right now by using his own magical energy to augment the vehicle, allowing him to reach even greater speeds, but that didn't matter.
The train had already long since departed. To catch up, the only way was through interception.
He thought back to the map that Charlotte and Jed had shown him of the train's route and committed the path that he was going to take to memory.
Once outside of Vale, he directly maneuvered off road and into a figurative No Man's Land.
The path of the railroads that connected the train were more winding then straight, therefore, he took a diagonal to intercept it at a point where it should be making a sharp left.
He had to board that train, but first he had to get close enough.
Fast as the bike was, there were too many obstacles in the way.
While the train could move over the rails, he had been forced to maneuver through the trees and rough landscape, all while avoiding Grimm, and there were a lot of them.
The train was a transport vehicle that spanned across Vale and towards the main supply stations at Atlas where the Schnee Dust Company was located.
Of course, a trans-kingdom transport system operated on trains had to travel across the uninhabited lands between the Kingdoms, and therefore, right now, neither he or Yang were within Vale's walls.
Grimm were everywhere.
The only reason that the train shipments weren't constantly attacked by Grimm was due to the security on board, and the general elevation of the rails held above ground by constructed towers on highly Grimm infested areas.
Their current area was one of them.
It was a lush forest with many trees and dense foliage hiding the dangers lurking beneath.
For the time being the Grimm seemed to be staying away, and as long as he kept himself hidden in the underbrush, they wouldn't be able to spot him and Yang long enough to give chase.
Once the forested area was mostly passed through, the constructed towers that elevated the railway above the tree line soon returned to the ground.
This was the hard part.
The railway that the train was using was made in a place where almost no Grimm wandered. He could paly it safe and try to catch up to the train by using the railway, but it was uncertain if he'd be able to catch up on time. In which case, it wasn't an option.
All that was left was to cut the planned diagonal to intercept the train at the curve.
The only issue was again, the Grimm.
He suddenly looked back at Yang who'd been keeping silent in fear of falling off the motorcycle. Her face was pale, and her grip around him felt feeble, possibly because her arms had long since gone numb. On the bright side, it seemed that she got used to the speed.
He hated to ask her of this, but perhaps she may be able to do it.
There was no traffic out in the wild anyway.
"Do you think that you can drive?" He asked Yang slowly.
"No, no you did not just ask that." Summer was glaring at him from behind, and it only become fiercer after Yang proudly grinned and began to boast despite her haggard looking condition.
"Me? Yeah, I guess I can," she shrugged her shoulders and whistled. "It's just like riding a bike but faster isn't it? Leave it to me."
"Ooooo no you don't young lady. If I had a physical body right now, you'd be so grounded!"
Heedless of Summer's warning, Yang shifted up from the passenger's seat of the motorcycle and began edging towards the driver's seat. She didn't want to look like a wimp.
Summer tried to stop Yang with her hands, but to no avail. Her hands literally just passed through Yang, making Summer feel utterly despondent.
It didn't stop Summer from running her mouth off at Yang for being so irresponsible though. To be fair, he was just thankful that she'd forgotten about him over trying to lecture Yang. Unfortunately, he needed to focus, and Summer was not helping.
"She can't hear you," he quickly reminder Summer in an almost inaudible voice. He spoke up only because Summer was yelling too close to him.
All he got in response was a scathing glower.
His current position on the motorcycle was standing on the back seat while Yang took the wheels.
"Keep it steady, and relax," he said to Yang. He could tell that she had been putting up a bravado of confidence just so that her personal image wouldn't be ruined. It was because of this that he didn't call her out on it and instead tried to ease her mind. Her hands were pale at the knuckles, and she looked a bit jittery.
No matter what Yang had said, it was still her first time driving a motorcycle.
"Don't press too hard on the clutch and just try to maintain a constant speed. Don't worry about anything else and just drive straight."
They'd already passed through the forested area anyway and were now in a valley of flat plains and rolling hills leading towards the mountains. The ground was also fairly level.
"Right, I've got this. No worries," Yang spoke dismissively, but it was evident that his advice at least had some effect. She was taking it easier now and beginning to develop an understanding of how to handle the vehicle.
Still though, Yang was pursing her lips while staring at the groups of wandering Grimm nearby. The noise that the motorcycle was making along with Yang's growing anxiousness meant that they were starting to attract several of them.
"Relax. Just focus on driving. I'll handle them."
"Right." Yang nodded, but she didn't seem too convinced yet either.
Breath.
Aim.
Shoot.
Wind whipped across his face, and he could feel Yang's body tensing near him.
'Trace on.'
Steel that never bends nor breaks.
Steel without emotion.
A Sword that was neither evil nor good.
For a Sword was simply a tool.
A means to an end.
His eyes lost their light to be replaced by a hollow indifference.
Magical energy thrummed from within him in low tremors as a black bow manifested in his hands. The shower of light produced from his tracing briefly illuminated Yang's face. She stared up at him in wonder from the corner of her eyes but said nothing.
The road that he walked was hell.
He killed.
Killed.
And then killed again despite just wanting to save everyone.
The road that he walked was not EMIYA's. He would not fall into despair, but instead would choose to seal himself off.
This was his truest aspect as the Nameless Hero of another timeline.
An unfeeling blade.
What he could not feel, could not break him. This had been his answer. It may not have had been the best one, and more like he was just lying to himself to avoid reality, but if it could keep him strong, he'd let the lie carry on.
'Arrows' manifested in the air one by one, altering and nocking on to his bow before being promptly fired like a machine gun.
Mud and grime exploded into plumes of dirt as any Grimm that drew near to the motorcycle ended up pinned on the ground dead.
Yang breathed in sharply.
Right now, he was perfectly demonstrating just why he had been summoned in the Archer Class.
No Grimm was able to even get close to them.
Left unhindered, Yang only needed to drive in a straight line, and soon enough, the train appeared within sight. It was moving fast over the rails, billowing trails of smoke into the air from an exhaust pipe.
Unfortunately, Shirou's life had always been filled with problems.
The train was going through a tunnel at the point where it was supposed to turn and intersect with them.
The impulse to shoot and derail the train manifested within him, but when he considered the chance of him causing a Dust explosion from the derailment, he had to reconsider. The train itself wasn't just a supply train, it carried a service class passenger transport cart.
There were innocent people in there.
Clearly the map Charlotte and the others had shown was outdated. Still, it didn't mean that it wasn't useful.
The train should be going in an 'S' shape through the tunnel.
There was a mountain in front of him. If he managed to cross it, there should be railway tracks on the others side. The thing was though, there was no time to cross over the mountain. The only way was to cross through it. The time saved from taking a straight path vs a winding path would allow him and Yang to catch up without fail.
Still, this method meant displaying his abilities.
If he considered what he'd learned at Vermillion as a lesson, then he couldn't carelessly act. This was a mountain he was talking about here, and there was no way that an attack large enough to alter the landscape would go unnoticed.
Still, if it meant saving the lives of others vs the secrecy of his own abilities, then there was no need for further consideration. Moreover, Yang was the only person around anyway.
Shirou looked at Yang in all seriousness.
"Yang, what you're about to see, you must absolutely keep secret," he intoned gravely. He was famous enough as the Huntsman of Red. He didn't need to add on anything else.
"Huh?" Yang glanced back at him at the corner of her eyes and soon tilted her head. She blinked when she noticed how serious he was. "Does it really matter?"
In all honesty, she was already contemplating what kind of story she'd tell Ruby and her friends when she got back. To suddenly find out that she couldn't say a single word of her adventure was a tad off putting.
She frowned, but said nothing back. Neither a refusal nor an agreement.
A common teenage response and tactic.
"Promise me, Yang."
"Maybe," she snorted.
His brow twitched, but he no longer had the time to press her. He could only hope, and sometimes hope was all one needed to delude themselves.
Focus.
Begin Projection.
A sword manifested in his mind. One that he'd need in order to follow through on his goal.
Begin resonance of Projection Experience.
A sword with the power to alter the landscape. One of legend and renown.
Load.
He pictured its components, its make, and its history to create a weapon that did not exist in Remnant.
Set.
The projection was already completed in his mind. All that was left was to bring it into reality.
"I am the bone of my sword."
Yang felt a tremor travel down her back, but she didn't have the time to care. The side of a mountain face was fast approaching and she hadn't been told to even turn yet.
"Mountain! MOUNTAIN!" She yelled in panic.
He did not respond.
Magic thrummed through his body, through his arms, and then concentrated around his outstretched palm.
A spiraled sword formed, his magical energy directly overloading the sword with more power then it could contain, breaking it.
The spiraled sword was now a weapon known as a 'Broken Phantasm,' a Noble Phantasm that surpasses its original parameters at the cost of being destroyed.
He notched the spiraled sword onto his bow.
It was a weapon that distorted space.
Time itself seemingly coming to a slow.
The wars that it had fought and participated in, the warriors who wielded it, all of it was meshing together to form a crystallized Legend. Objects of power known as Noble Phantasms.
That which was the weapon of the man who was the mentor and friend of a Child of Light.
Caladbolg, the Sword of the Rainbow.
Yet the one that Shirou had was different.
It was a second variation that did not exude an air of regality, nor holiness, but something of a more demonic nature from the sheer amount of people that he'd once used to kill with it, fracturing his own ideals.
"My Core is twisted in Madness."
Tendrils of lighting singed the ground, leaving behind patches of black.
An attack that twisted the very nature of space.
In other words, it was the ultimate drill.
A single shot was fired, causing Yang to yelp from the sheer wind pressure and shield her eyes.
By the time that she opened her eyes, she felt breathless.
Right in front of her where the mountain face should have had been, was a tunnel. More accurately it was a hole, and from the side, she could see an explosion leading up all the way into the sky.
What the hell was that?
Yang felt her mouth dry as the stories Summer used to tell her in her childhood came to the forefront of her mind.
'Did you know Yang, before there were Huntsman and Huntresses, there was something called a Hero. People of Legend who could shatter hills and decimate entire landscapes. It was they who combated the Grimm when other humans could not. It's sad really. Those kinds of people are said to not exist anymore.'
Yang didn't know it, but she was staring.
Shirou for his part didn't notice as he dismissed his bow and looked at the damage he had caused.
In regards to the mountain, he didn't need to destroy it. He just needed to drill a hole, and that was exactly what he did. Yang drove straight into it, and both he and Yang could see the train now. The only problem was that Shirou had forgotten one key detail, the terrain wasn't exactly explicit on the map.
"It's a cliff," Yang vocalized the problem.
At the end of the tunnel was a direct drop.
They could see the train, but the train itself was far down below the steep cliff they found themselves heading towards.
The bike would not be able to survive that kind of drop, and besides, it was far from safe when he considered Yang's well being.
He'd hoped to keep more of his secrets hidden, but he was no longer left with any other option.
As a Servant, he would be far more effective than the bike anyway.
They were rapidly approaching the cliff.
"Jump!" He soon yelled.
Yang's eyes bugged out for a moment.
That was an over a hundred foot drop ahead of her and she didn't yet have the confidence in using Ember Celica to dampen her fall. That was a skill and confidence that she'd only acquire later down the road once she'd graduated the Academy.
"Are you CRAZY!" She yelled back at him in uneasiness.
"Yang!"
There was no time.
"Damn it fine!"
Yang directly closed her eyes for a moment and pushed off of the motorcycle with her legs.
For a moment, she felt butterflies form in her stomach from a feeling of weightlessness, and then nothing but a fiery warmth.
She blinked open one eye, and then the other.
Flying. She was flying.
More accurately, she was being carried.
She gripped on to 'Archer' tighter at the realization as her gaze shifted downwards. The scenery below was nothing but a blur, and on closer inspection, it wasn't that they were flying, it was just that 'Archer' was moving too fast. She was simply unable to tell the difference. He'd hop from one vantage point down the cliff face to the next with barely any breaks in his strides.
W-Was this also another semblance?
Moreover, that attack he'd pulled off?
If she didn't think so before, now she was certain.
Archer was special.
Perhaps the reason that he didn't wish to be a Huntsman and was instead a Mercenary was because of the attention that would fall on him?
Thinking about what kind of childhood that 'Archer' must have had led in Vale's underground caused an inner aspect of herself to soften.
She wanted to know more about him.
She convinced herself that it was just a budding interest.
Almost subconsciously, she reached out for his mask and began pulling it off. She was beyond simply curious about Archer's real identity at this point, and she could already tell from her interactions with him that he was a sincere and honest individual. Why else would he have had approached to help her in the back alley's where no one cared a single bit about others?
Hell, he was persistent that she never come back, not knowing that his concern was only causing a pleasant tingling sensation at the back of her neck that sent shivers down her spine.
The only ones who'd ever truly showed her such a level of care where her family, well, excluding her blood mother, but that was another story.
"Stop."
She froze in her actions, her hands having already half-way pulled off the mask that 'Archer' was wearing. From what she could see of his facial profile, Archer was young, nothing like what she had been expecting and it threw her for a loop.
"Sorry," she muttered an apology and turned her gaze away. The upper portions of her cheeks were somewhat flushed, but that was only because of the realization that she was being held securely in a young man's arms.
Honestly speaking, wasn't this exactly like one of those corny romance stories her friends often told her about?
She felt Archer's arms, one behind her back, and the other beneath her legs, and instantly felt heat rising up to her face.
Her friends called this pose the 'princess carry,' but wouldn't that make her the princess?
Uhm, no. That was not how she pictured herself being, especially given her tomboyish character. Heck, it was mortifying that she couldn't even resist because the alternative meant dropping to the Grimm infested forests below the cliff. Therefore, she could only put up with it.
Archer hadn't been able to stop Yang from moving to pull of his mask before simply because he was using both arms to carry her. Unless he dropped her or threatened her, which he wasn't going to do, he was left with no other alternative but to speak out.
To Yang, it felt like she had an unjust advantage, and she didn't need any handicaps. Either she'd get him to unmask himself, or she'd unmask him when he wasn't hindered. This was part of her own pride. Moreover, she was clear that Archer only had such a 'handicap' because he was intent on protecting her.
This caused her expression to mellow almost impeccably.
He had no obligation to help her to begin with, and furthermore, it was her sense of responsibility that insisted that she couldn't leave the situation alone and dragged him into it while looking out for her.
Archer was kind despite his remarks to push her away.
His words and actions themselves were contradictory.
He told her to leave, then he allowed her to come.
He acted as if he didn't care about her well being, and then moved on to keep her safe by getting into harm's way himself.
Really, it was kind of endearing, and she didn't quite know yet what the feeling budding in her chest was. Admiration? Clinginess? Was this really her?
She shook her head to sort out her thoughts before settling on one.
Now that she thought about it, was she in fact the one being selfish?
It was this question that caused her to quell her curiosity, put Archer's mask back in place, and patiently wait until Archer would eventually catch up to the train and put her back down on her feet.
In the mean time, she subtly stared up at him in wonder, before pressing her face closer to the nape of his neck, seeking his warmth as the cold breeze blew on her back.
For a moment, it felt as if she didn't have to worry about anything because Archer was protecting her. She didn't have to worry about the Grimm, nor the danger of falling.
Instead, she was falling in a different way.
'Archer' was special, she repeated this phrase again in her mind.
His reason for hiding his identity behind the moniker of a codename.
His reason for being a mercenary rather than a Huntsman.
Archer himself most likely had circumstances preventing him from doing what it was that he wanted.
Everyone had things that they wanted to hide and deal with themselves to prevent others from worrying. Archer must have had been no different.
There was no other explanation to explain why someone would be so secretive, and she got it into her head that she would save him from those circumstances. Maybe then he could become a Huntsman? In no way did it have anything to do with the fact that she wanted to know more about him. Nor the fact that she was beginning to delude herself with images of the both them attending the same Huntsman and Huntress school.
"Your secret is safe with me," she whispered lowly, both in response to what she'd seen, and something else more personal.
Shirou had no idea what Yang was insinuating, but at the very least, he'd gotten confirmation that Yang wouldn't tell anyone about what she'd just seen.
Unfortunately, he had the oddest feeling that Summer was not amused.
Her face said it all.
"He's a natural," she spoke hollowly in confirmation. She'd been watching him all this time, and not once did he actively attempt to put in any effort.
Shirou couldn't hear what she was muttering, but suddenly he began to shiver in trepidation.
"He's a god damned natural."
He discreetly glanced back at Summer, before promptly turning away. It was fortunate that he was wearing a mask, otherwise, Yang may question why his complexion had so quickly paled.
After all, he'd never believed that a mother could look that menacing.
It was probably for the best that he couldn't read her mind.
Maybe I should kill him now to save the many?
It was a justified thought.
Broken hearts attract Grimm.
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