Chapter Twenty One
Luvia is very hard to write. I can never get her voice right.
Shirou blinked and in between closing his eyes and opening them again, everything around him vanished. He'd been surrounded on both sides by the warm and soft bodies of his Servants, and although he'd been absurdly high in the air the comforting feeling of Pegasus beneath him had kept his steady. All of that was gone at once. He was no longer gliding through the air, but crashing to the ground.
He grit his teeth and ignored the pain as he collided with the metal 'ground' beneath him. All it did was hurt him. Compared to what Caster had been through because of him that was nothing, so he had no right to complain.
It had been a rather cloudy night, but inside of Caster's Noble Phantasm that meant nothing. In here the night sky shone brighter than it ever did in a modern city like Fuyuki. There was solid ground beneath him, but it was pure metal. He was standing upon one end of the massive scale that was Luvia's Noble Phantasm, while she stood upon the other. The two of them stared at each other from across the void separating them.
This wasn't a reality marble. That would have distorted the space around them and drawn Rin and Sakura in as well. Whatever this was, it somehow transported both him and Luvia to another place entirely. He wasn't sure how he knew so much about reality marbles, but this wasn't the time to worry about it.
From his back, Shirou took the two weapons Rin had projected for him in advance. Kanshou and Bakuya, the married blades. He had another surprise from her as well, but hopefully he wouldn't need any of them.
"Caster! Luvia!" He shouted.
She just stared at him. Now that he knew, he felt terrible for not recognizing her. Who else could pull off that hair style? By enhancing his eyes he could see her clearly at the other end of the vast night sky. She was beautiful. She had the same haughty attitude and arrogance as she'd had as a kid. He'd be devastated if any of that changed.
"I'm – "
Before he could say sorry, Luvia leaped across the chasm. She made it look easy, jumping the impossible distance in a single bound. She landed beside Shirou, and his niave hope that this might be solved without combat quickly came back to bite him in the ass. Her foot snapped up to drive a kick directly at his chin, and he dodged it by only milimeters.
"Luvia! I just want - "
Her next punch lacked any technique or skill. It was just a pure expression of her anger. Her arm swung in a wide arc, that he could not dodge with his current level of skill. Fear for his life forced him to block, bringing Kanshou into the path of her swinging fist. Her fist and the side of the blade deflected one another without either sustaining damage. Shirou jumped back, increasing distance as much as possible. It took less than a second for the entire exchange, but Shirou's arm already ached and he wanted to start panting.
Luvia lowered her arm slowly, glaring at him while he retreated. Her eyes were so filled with hatred that a shiver ran down his spine, but he ignored it. He despised himself far more than she ever could.
"I'm sorry!" He shouted. Finally, he was able to get the words out. "I didn't know you were real. I thought it was just a dream. I would have walked to Finland to find you if I'd known."
He'd hoped she would calm down, and expected surprise. He got neither. Instead her glare grew even more intense. She stared at him wordlessly.
"I'm sorry." He repeated. He should have known she would need time. He –
Another kick lashed out at him. Grunting, Shirou managed to once again bring the flat side of Kanshou into the sword's path. Her kick shattered it into two, and he screamed as her heel dug into his side enough to draw blood. He wanted to bowl over, but instincts he hadn't earned were quick to warn him to retreat once again. He fell backwards, just out of the range of her follow up kick, which would have broken his leg.
"I said I'm sorry!" Shirou called out. Damn it, if only he had some way to make her believe him!
"What use is there in apologizing?" Luvia asked. She didn't sound at all like herself. Not that he'd known her for long, but he would always remember her as prideful and strangely energetic. This woman just sounded hollow. "I've already sworn an oath. I will not submit to you willingly."
Shirou grit his teeth. He had no chance against her on his own... but he wasn't fighting with just his own abilities.
She couldn't submit willingly. She could kill him with a single kick to a vital point, or snap his neck with a touch, or end him in a thousand other ways. No human could defeat a Servant, and it was foolish even to try.
Then it was obvious what he had to do, wasn't it? "Okay, then I'll just have to make you."
He had to, to make up for all of these years that he'd been ignoring her. He had to, to make up for crushing her dreams. He had to, because it was his own fault for not coming for her sooner.
Finally, he saw Luvia break down just a little bit. For a second, she no longer looked angry. Just sad. "I wish you could." She said.
And then she took another swing.
Her words might have been pessimistic, but they gave Shirou all the determination he needed. She might not believe that he could pose a threat, but she believed that he wanted to take her. There was nothing more that he could ask for.
"Haa!" He shouted, crying out as he countered her punch by swinging Kanshou. Her bare fist reflected off the blade's edge, which penetrated at most a millimetre into her skin. Her next swing was just as rapid, as was the kick that followed it and the elbow she tried to drive into his gut. Shirou stood there, dodging one blow while deflecting all the others. Her movements were too fast for him to process, but that didn't matter. As long as he had weapons like this, he could succeed.
Luvia's foot glowed and she aimed another kick, not directed towards him but towards the blade he was holding as though she was some kind of stage performer. Shirou noticed the threat half a second too late. Her foot, which was glowing like a star, crashed into Kanshou like a car through a pane of glass. The sword shattered into a thousand little pieces before splintering away into nothing.
Luvia only looked more annoyed as she followed that up with her next kick.
"Don't underestimate me!" Shirou screamed out. He'd been prepared to lose those blades from the very beginning. When he'd told Rin about his plan to defeat Caster, she'd immediately commented that he would lose instantly if all he had to rely on was Kanshou and Bayuka once again. They had worked once because they had been a surprise attack, but with Caster expecting them, he never would have been able to win relying just on them.
She'd been right. So she'd projected something else for him.
Luvia shouted as her foot made contact with the Sword of Selection, Caliburn, King Arthur's favourite blade. Where Kanshou had splintered under just one assault, Caliburn not only held strong but made her scream as though she'd broken a bone.
Shirou couldn't let himself stop because of her distress, as much as he wanted to, so he kept going. No, it was more like Caliburn kept going. The sword seemed to have a mind of it's own, striking out with the full force of England's King of Knights, despite his far inferior hands holding the hilt.
Luvia cursed as she was driven backwards. Her full blown frontal assault had been turned back onto it's heels, and she had no time to recover. If Shirou had wanted her dead, she would be. Instead he aimed to disable her, using Caliburn like a bat to bash her with the side of the blade. At lightning fast speeds, it struck her side, arm, and leg.
She kept up a furious defence. Her hands and feet all now glowed like radiant stars, and she moved each of them in perfect co-ordination like a multi-headed snake trying to strike him down. It was obvious to anybody that he was the weak link here, even if he was fighting with the weapon of a Servant, he was not one. All she needed was one hit to kill him. But it didn't matter. The difference between Caliburn's ability and her own were simply too great.
"Give up!" Shirou called out. Caliburn lashed out one final time, placing itself close against her throat. She froze instantly, and Shirou stared into her frightened eyes. He couldn't allow himself to break, but he longed to comfort her. "Just give up and become my Servant already!"
Luvia stared at him, her eyes wide. Slowly, tears began to pool in her eyes, but she rapidly blinked them away. "You really... you want me?"
"That's right." Shirou said. He wanted her so badly that he couldn't even put it properly into words. "I've always wanted you, Luvia. I thought you were just the girl of my dreams, but even so I always longed to make you mine."
"I'm glad." Luvia said. "I wish it could be different. I wish I could have called you my Master. But you should have killed me while you had the chance."
Shirou pressed the blade further against her throat. He was already having flashbacks to what had happened with Shinji, and he would be absolutely horrified to see it happen again. He could hurt her, but he couldn't kill her. "It's over, Luvia."
Silently, she shook her head and then looked down.
Shirou followed her gaze a second too late. Inscribed in the floor beneath the two of them was a magical circle. Without him even noticing, while they were engaged in fierce melee combat, she'd traced it out onto the metal floor in absolute perfect detail.
"Wha –"
The circled glowed. Shirou held Luvia's life in his hands, but even if he'd wanted to take it, he simply couldn't move faster than the speed of light.
Once again everything vanished. Shirou flailed around, trying to grasp for something, but found that he was floating over nothing. All he could see was the stars.
There was a loud snap, as a heel was dug into the back of his hand. "Agh!" He screamed, involuntarily dropping Caliburn. The sword fell into the infinite black void above and below him.
"I am sorry." Caster said. Her hands grabbed onto him, and Shirou felt himself being flipped around over her shoulders. Like he was being supplexed. He stared downwards, realizing seconds later that he wasn't floating over nothing. He was floating over the great scales of Caster's Noble Phantasm, which they had been fighting on moments before.
And then they were falling.
Shirou screamed as the plummeted towards the metal floor of the scale, at forces that he could never survive. They were going down. Down. Faster and faster, the scale growing larger with each passing second.
It couldn't end like this. He couldn't let Caster kill him. No matter what oath she'd sworn, it would destroy her inside. He couldn't be the cause of that. He was supposed to be her Master. He was supposed to bring her comfort. But all he'd done was make her miserable!
His circuits flooded with magical energy. His entire body was burning as power ran through his veins. He needed a weapon. A weapon that would let him contain Caster. A weapon that would let him dominate her.
Rin had told him never to project a Noble Phantasm again. That he'd only managed to do before because he was borrowing her power. But that was wrong – from the very beginning Shirou Emiya's body had been a magical circuit designed for one purpose.
"Belerophon!" He screamed out, as the ground approached them.
He heard Caster's gasp as the Noble Phantasm appeared around her, instantly ensnaring her. It was a wordless cry, as the bit in her mouth kept her from using human speech. If she'd just let him fall, killed him from a distance, this would have been impossible. But instead she'd decided to hold him as he passed, and he was going to use that kindness to save them both.
Caster was disabled, trapped by the Noble Phantasm, but he needed more. He had to slow their fall. A thousand different Noble Phantasms ran through his mind, like he was scrolling through an information source stored deeply within himself. From that endless collection, he plucked out the sword that he needed.
"Invisible Air!" He called out, screaming at the top of his lungs. An invisible sword formed in his hands, and the air contained within shot out to cushion his and Caster's fall. The sword vanished as quickly as it had appeared, like it was a phantasm that was never supposed to exist.
He didn't care that he'd wasted so much magical energy on it. All that mattered was Caster.
Already she was struggling against the bonds of Belerophon. It perfectly entrapped the top half of her body, and sealed her ability to speak any incantations, but just moments before she had carved a magic circle with just her feet. He couldn't trust that she wouldn't do the same thing again. Shirou tackled her.
They hit the ground hard, her soft body underneath his. "Submit!" He called out.
Caster continued to struggle.
She couldn't willingly submit. That was fine. He could make her.
Shirou tore off the lower layer of her dress. She whimpered through the bit in her mouth, drool already beginning to form around her lips, but Shirou didn't stop. He removed every scrap of clothing below her waist that he could, and then created the final weapon he would need. Sakura's nameless nails, each wrapped around a long chain appeared in his hands. The chain wrapped quickly around each of Luvia's legs, and Shirou spiked the daggers directly into the metal floor to hold her in place.
By the time he got his own pants down, she was soaking wet.
He wasn't expecting it, but he found some resistance as he entered himself into her. He felt something almost tearing, and looked down to see the sign of her virginity beginning to drip out. The adrenaline was too intense for him to care.
Caster's core was warm and tight, and Shirou felt like she was drawing him into heaven. Her body soon stopped resisting him at all, and her muffled attempts to cast a spell turned into muffled attempts to moan loudly and beg for more. Shirou felt like his entire body was on fire, but he couldn't stop.
Repeatedly, his hand slapped her ass, leaving little red handprints in her perfect white skin. He wasn't sure why he was punishing her, only that it was absolutely rapturous to do so. And that she was enjoying the pain even more than he was enjoying delivering it. Each time his palm made contact with her backside, she moaned and tightened around him.
At some point during their fight, Shirou had lost his mind. He wasn't sure when it had happened, but something about this place made him honest. Like it was drawing truth out of him somehow.
He didn't have time to care about that. Luvia was beneath him, and he had to finish making her his.
His hips thrust like they had a mind of their own, as he continuously impaled her on his cock. Her muffled moans drove him to push harder and faster each time, as her walls wrapped around him. Luvia struggled against the bonds holding her down, but the Noble Phantasms held her firm as Shirou forced her to experience extreme pleasure at his hands.
He could feel himself getting close, and he saw the way her body was beginning to shake beneath him. He knew they were both close. "Luvia! My will shall empower your body! Your sword shall create my destiny! Obey the Grail's call and answer to my will and reason. Answer me!"
Everything clicked into place. A intense bond formed between the two of them, and Shirou felt a new set of Command seals form on his upper arm. Luvia, perhaps subconsciously, had submitted.
The first thing he did was vanish the bit in her mouth. As hot as it could be to take away a Servant's ability to speak, right now he wanted her reaction more than anything. "Fuck me!" She screamed, as soon as she physically could. "Master! Fuck me, Master! Fuck me!"
Shirou couldn't hold back any longer. One final time he thrust deep inside of her and began to orgasm, spilling out his semen deep inside of her. She finished at the exact same time, and he felt her magical energy flow into him in turn as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and an orgasm overtook her.
Shirou collapsed, laying down beside her. Still held strong by her bonds, Caster could do little more than try to wiggle her way closer to him. As she did, she kept a constant stream of words going. "Thank you, Master. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you – "
Shirou held her head to his chest, sighing. He was too tired to get up. The projections, and the sex, had taken too much out of him. He needed to get up soon, needed to check on Sakura and Rin, but for now he simply didn't have the energy. For now, he could rest here with his new Servant as he basked in the afterglow of their joining.
I'm sure there will be some comments about Shirou making Invisible Air. Please remember that this is an AU, and I don't care what canon says is or isn't possible. Here, he can do that. Even if only temporarily.
One more chapter left in arc 2, which is rather predictably going to feature everyone coming together, and some resolution for Ilya's unexpected situation in the last chapter.