Reenacting a legend

by davido747

In a world in which humanity never parted ways with the Gods and became the dominant species, an unexpected variable enters to disrupt its delicate order. After regaining his memories as the nameless hero King of Fakers, Emiya Shirou will have to teach this world why humans cannot be underestimated, and show them all what means to be a real hero.

13. Chapter 12: The Day a God was shot down

And here we go again, people! This is pretty much the norm now, but I'll leave the warning anyway. This is another double update, so if you ended up entering this chapter without reading the prior one, you should go read it or else you'll miss most of the build-up for this one.

Now, as I said in the previous chapter, you better prepare an epic OST for this one. My recommendation is the Emiya Theme as always, but this time, the best-suited one would be Unalloyed Blade Works, especially that remix it received for F/GO's 8th anniversary. Other than that, well, I've been introduced to those Hoyomix bangers lately, so I was listening to them as well while writing the chapter, but I guess the BGM of God of War: Ragnarok would be quite fitting as well.

On to the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own any right over Type-Moon, the Fate Franchise, or High School DxD.

---

"Oho? I didn't expect you to come to me again this soon, God."

Loki looked at the expressionless devil with squinted eyes. He was, indeed, dragging his feet to collect another batch of Phoenix Tears, but he didn't have to be reminded about it.

"You could say I used more than I should due to my inexperience with them. I hardly doubt I will have to use that quantity again, but it doesn't hurt being cautious."

"Especially after getting killed by a human, am I right?" Another jab that didn't fit those dead eyes at all. But the God knew better than to take the bait from this bunch of aimless devils.

"Even Gods have slips from time to time. Unlike humans, though, I won't stumble twice over the same stone. Well, what do you say, devil?"

Euclid took a couple of seconds to analyze the God from head to toe before speaking again in his usual flat tone. "And what do you offer in exchange? I doubt you have another offering as exquisite as the weapon you provided us."

A sly smile made its way to Loki's lips. "Come on, don't be like that. I took the liberty of investigating that little project of yours, and I am sure I can share some useful insights. After all, my children are all masterpieces of genetic engineering in a sense."

This time, it was the devil's eyebrows that twitched for a moment. This God wasn't as gullible as the others, blinded by their pride. However, he had a really good point. Those aberrations he called 'children' were definitely something else.

And he doubted Loki left traces of his research, so this was his only chance for a breakthrough in his research.

"Hmph. Very well, I'll hear what you have to say."

---

"Hmm... how about this!" Vali shouted after creating around him a set of magical circles really similar to those Rossweisse often used.

The next second, a massive barrage of spells was fired against one of the room's walls, causing a huge tremor that shook the entire place. However, when the smoke dispersed, there were only a few craters on the white concrete walls.

That wasn't to say the spell came out weak. If anything, it was proof of how well-prepared was Issei's basement to endure the most extreme training sessions.

Meanwhile, the Valkyrie in question seemed about to cry. "It hasn't been 24 hours after I agreed to teach you... and you are almost at my level..." As a hard worker herself, seeing so much talent in one individual still hurt.

"Hehe, that's Lord Vali for you." Le Fay commented with a lighthearted chuckle. "As long as it is combat-related, he will learn really fast."

"You make it sound as if the only thing I have in my head is fighting."

"But you do."

Rossweisse let out a sigh, ignoring their interaction. "Am I taking the wrong perspective? This is the second person who beats me by seeing magic only as a tool..."

"Are you talking about Lord Shirou?" Le Fay's sudden question made her realize that she actually said that out loud.

"Yes..."

"You shouldn't use him as a reference. A-at least when it's about magic. His and ours are really different. If you ask me, his seems even alien."

"Really? His explanation was a little mindblowing and vague... but it still followed the same bases I know."

"That might be on the surface, but Kuroka had a... really good look at it and said that it came from his soul... Don't ask me what it means, I have no idea either. But it's really... fascinating!" Her intense stare was bordering creepiness. "Maybe big brother can tell us something else."

"Eh? Your brother is also adept at magic?"

"No. But he always goes around saying that crossing swords is the best way for men to understand each other."

"And he couldn't be more right." Vali nodded along, causing the Valkyrie to give them a look reserved for the mentally ill.

But just as they said, the sounds of swords clashing filled the section of the huge basement next to theirs. Arthur and Shirou's stoic expressions mirrored each other, and the only sound that could be heard from them were some low grunts as the Sword in the Stone and the married swords that reached the heavens danced through the air.

It was a captivating sight, even if the one witnessing it were to be a pacifist who detested the very act of violence. There was genuine beauty in every moment, even if they were as deadly as always despite it being a spar. A battle of legends that none of them had been able to witness in this generation. The only thing that came close was the fight between the red knight and Cao Cao Xenovia witnessed.

They were only going at mid-gas though. Or at least, that was the impression Shirou was getting from his opponent. This Arthur wasn't the incarnation of the Red Dragon, a powerhouse that could overpower any opponent with mana bursts. However, his prowess with the sword was still the real deal. A combination of monstrous talent and hard work to the bones.

In fact, to compensate for the lack of the Boosted Gear his ancestor possessed, he had studied other sword styles from all around the world. Shirou could tell just with a glance that Arthur had incorporated the teachings of Mushashi's Five Rings book. He had yet to unsheathe the final fragment of Excalibur, but maybe dual-wielding wasn't his forte.

"HOOORRRAAA!" The fight was interrupted when a third party suddenly attacked them. Durandal smashed the concrete in the spot they had been a second ago, raising a dense smoke curtain.

The blonde knight didn't waste a second to attack back, thrusting Caliburn at Xenovia's side. The former exorcist didn't stand idle, ordering the "sheathe" around her sword to become Excalibur again to block the attack.

Her thrilled expression was a complete contrast to Arthur's, but the way she swung her blades was equally refined although it might not look like it. She got already a handle on using Excalibur Rapidly's power to cut distances, but using it during a direct fight was still a challenge.

Her emotions almost got the better of her, however, as she barely detected the red knight attacking her exposed back. But she didn't react, as she also saw the blur ambushing him in return. Kanshou and Bakuya moved to deflect a wicked, black blade that came straight at his neck.

His golden eyes met blue eyes as he deflected the brutal onslaught of attacks that came his way. A style that didn't match the Gremory knight, even if he were still consumed by vengeance and hatred. If the drops of sweat sliding through his forehead weren't enough to tell, the demonic sword in his hands was the culprit.

He managed to wield up to Dainsleif without much trouble, but Balmung seemed to be too much for him. Its curse wasn't as harmful to the user as Gram's, but he forgot to mention the little detail that it was just regarding the physical aspect. Regarding the mental one, that wicked sword carried quite a problematic curse.

The hatred of the princess that once wielded that sword for vengeance in his world was also passed down during the reforging. It could cause the wielder to easily get tunnel vision, and target the enemy's neck exclusively. That's something he couldn't get rid off when he mixed this world's Balmung with his. Kiba was managing to not get lost in it, but the fact that his style was blending with Kriemhild wasn't a good sign.

"Trace, on." Kanshou and Bakuya faded away, replaced by a flame-shaped sword that struck at blinding speeds.

"Kuh!" The devil grunted as he suddenly found himself on the other end of his sword style. No, the only thing they had in common was that they were based on speed, but while he was straighter to the point, Shirou's was filled with movements overly flashy, but that more often than not turned out to be feints.

Without the option of withdrawing to regroup, Kiba activated Balmung's original power. The wind twirled around its blade, but unlike before it was reforged, now the air was tainted with the malevolent energy of the sword. Instead of being fired like a crushing storm, it came at the red knight like tendrils trying to trap him.

His golden eyes widened after realizing that was actually a partial activation of the noble phantasm "Balmung Kriemhild". The sword itself was trying to make it easier for its owner to bathe it in blood.

"Roar, Aestus Estus!" In response, Shirou ignited the flames of his crimson sword before swinging it, blowing away the wicked winds. He used a little bit too much power though, as Kiba barely managed to create a wall of blades in front of him before getting knocked away.

However, the red knight didn't have a single second to rest as his blade stopped a sword made of light inches from his shoulder.

"Heh, I didn't take you for someone who attacked from behind." He teased the chestnut-haired girl, but her confident smile didn't waver.

"You better don't make light of me, Shirou-kun! Griselda made sure that my time at Heaven wasn't spent idly!"

As the swordsmen clashed, immersed in their world, the "magic group" couldn't help but wonder.

"Why do they keep switching opponents so fast? I'd understand if it was everyone against Arthur or Emiya, but that's..."

"Oh, that? Shishou always insists on honing our spatial awareness just as much as everything else." A sudden voice startled the three. They were so absorbed in watching that none of them noticed Tomoe approaching. "He usually does that by snipping us with his bow, but there aren't many places to hide here I guess."

Vali couldn't help but whistle. "I guess I should have expected something like that from him."

"Oh, that's my clue!" Without any kind of warming, she hurled at Arthur with an unsheathing strike that actually made him sink his feet into the ground to not get his stance broken.

At the same time, Xenovia had to move her head frantically to avoid the sharp end of Jeanne's banner, thus shifting the pairings once again. Even Tsubaki and Griselda were joining the fray, the latter to practice with the black keys Shirou gifted her. She saw quite the potential of those manifested holy scripts, but it had been a little too soon to use them in a heretic God.

Meanwhile, even though their training wasn't as flashy, the others were also doing their best. Sona and Rias were literally throwing hands under Tsubasa's supervision, and Issei was having all the remaining casters throw spells at him to build up resistance... or that's what he said.

But amongst everyone, there was someone who was doing her best in another sense.

"Pl- please... O-onee-sama..."

"Huh? What's that, Koneko-chan? I can't hear you?" The black-haired nekomata was basking in Koneko's tense and embarrassed expression with the widest grin on her expression.

The little girl gritted her teeth. Kuroka was the only one she could go to when it came to Senjutsu. Well, there was the descendant of the Monkey King, but...

"You bastard! Aren't you gonna apologize for roasting me like a chicken!?"

"Heh, very well. I'll thank you for kindly offering yourself to test my anti-terrorist trap."

"Grr... I'm gonna smash that annoying smirk from the face of the planet!"

Yeah, she didn't know when that happened, but she guessed Bikou wasn't going to be available for a time. More so now that he was disregarding his defense completely, blinded by his anger, and was consequently receiving a lot of strikes.

"Tch... Please, Onee-sama! Help me train my Senjutsu!" She finally said it, more out of annoyance rather than having fully overcome her fears, but regardless.

"Really? After having your friends beat me, now you come crawling to me?"

"Th-that's here nor there! Yo-you tried to kidnap me out of nowhere and kill them!"

"Hoh? Do tell me. If someone were to kidnap a member of this "new family" you've got, wouldn't you try your best to bring them back?"

Her words put a halt to the albino's momentum for a moment, but her frown only deepened after processing it. "Don't you dare pull that analogy on me. My family is warm and caring. You just dropped me, disappeared without a trace, and now returned as a terrorist."

Her cold words were followed by an awkward pause. Even Kuroka's smile faded for a moment as her eyes stared right through Koneko's.

It was just a flitting moment though, as she came back with an unexpected retort. "Hmm... now I see. The Red Dragon Emperor is still a brat in terms of personality, but he has a more mature expression. And Emiya Shirou is some serious husband material, nya~"

If her words weren't already creepy enough, the way she licked her lips as she stared at the boys in question sent chills down Koneko's spine.

"Wh-what are you talking about!?"

"Heh, don't play fool, Koneko-chan. You know the principal target of us Nekomata for having babies are males from other species. I wanted to have one with a dragon, but I wouldn't mind having one with a human as fierce and impressive. You have some really good taste, I must say."

Finally, Koneko's cheeks became so flustered she looked sick in comparison to her usual pale skin. Her cat ears sprung without her even knowing

"S-stop deflecting the question! Are you please going to help me or not, Onee-sama!?"

"Fufu. Okay, fine, I'll give you some pointers." The mutated bishop finally gave in to her sister's pleas, but the teasing smirk didn't disappear. "Let's start with the basics then. How is your perception of ki? This room filled with so many eccentric individuals should work as a really good test ground."

"I think I'm getting the hang of it. At least, I can feel and separate the presence of everyone in this room."

"Very well. Then, I want you to focus on his presence." Kuroka ordered while nodding her head towards a certain red knight.

"Emiya-senpai? Do you mean his... special presence whenever he fights? He doesn't have it right now."

"That's interesting on its own, but no. I want you to concentrate on the flow of the energies around him."

She couldn't make out the reason behind her sister's oddly specific interest, but she complied nonetheless. She closed her eyes, carefully put aside the presence of all the other people and their weapons, and focused all her senses on the figure of the red knight sailing through all the attacks.

And it took her a little to find out the abnormality that got her sister's attention. Normally, a living being only produces its own energy and exhausts it naturally. Humans don't possess a way to use that lifeforce for external processes, namely spells, like other species, hence why they require catalysts to draw the energy of the world.

So sensing her Senpai's lifeforce sucked into something and then turning into something else entirely was something that almost startled her. No wonder he was always breathing dense steam after a fight. He was generating something unnatural in the human body, and although it didn't cause extreme adverse reactions, it still caused fever, and maybe even the discoloration of his hair. And if she concentrated further, she could see that that process was taking place inside those weird iridescent lines he had all over his body.

And the way it was being used... Mana bursts could be seen without any kind of extra-sensorial ability, but the way he was carefully distributing the energy through his muscles and bones... was that Touki? No, that Senjutsu technique involved covering your body with energy, not pouring it into your organs. She heard something about a reinforcement spell from time to time... was that what he meant?

"That's... strange. What are those lines really?"

"He called them magical circuits, a unique, and almost cheat-like way to cast spells, at least compared to other humans." It took all of Koneko's willpower to not get startled when Kuroka rested her arms on her shoulders and whispered into her ear in an unnecessarily sweet voice. "Now, I want you to focus even more and pay special attention when he uses that "spell" he calls projection."

"Okay..." A drop of sweat made its way through her temple, not knowing what to expect anymore.

"Trace, on." That was it. Following his aria, those magic circuits erupted as magical energy gathered inside them, and then...

Something... was loaded into one of the circuits, filled with magical energy... and then boom, another pair of Yin Yang swords were in his hand. It seemed that simple, but in actuality, it was so fast she barely could grasp any detail of the process.

But still, there was one thing that left her baffled. That something, which was most likely the formula of the spell or even the blueprint of the sword... it came... it came from within him.

It wasn't like a regular magician who constructed the formula from scratch. It... just came from him. Not from his body... but from a more deep, ethereal place...

A soft grunt left her lips as she focused even more. So hard that she could start feeling a migraine assailing her head, but she ignored it.

This time, it seemed that Shirou was about to fire an entire barrage of swords judging by the amount of blueprints he pulled out, so tracing its precedence became easier-

"I am the bone of my sword..."

Those words assailed- no, hit her like a truck, and her mind emptied completely. A quick image flashed through quickly, making it almost impossible to make heads or tails about it, and after that, there was only static.

"Guh..." Pain followed as if her mind saw something it wasn't supposed to and quickly blocked it as a defense mechanism. But she managed to associate some words with that image. Hill, twilight, lonely, and of course, sword.

"...ko"

Maybe if she tried to do it... A part of her mind told her that she mustn't. That if she truly saw that, her heart was going to fall apart. But she wanted to do it. She didn't want to add another question to that gigantic pile, not now that the answer was ther-

"SHIRONE!"

Her sisters'... worried? voice finally managed to bring her back to reality, and the next moment, the massive migraine was finally registered in her mind. In fact, she didn't need to look down to know that the warm liquid coming out of one of her nostrils was blood.

"What... I... I saw..."

"You don't have to tell me." The black-haired beauty interrupted her with an odd, gentle tone. "Your face tells me you were able to see that even without exchanging chakra directly. Your talent never seems to amaze me, Shirone."

Koneko didn't even mind that the miracle of her sister calling her by her current name had been undone. Her thought process was still such a mess that even failed to register the first, honest praise from her Onee-sama.

"Hey, Kuroka! What did you do to my Koneko-chan!?" But before she could say anything, her king came rushing with an equally worried expression.

Not just her. Kuroka's worried scream must have been really loud, as everyone stopped what they were doing to look at them. Her sister's lips parted to voice a vague excuse like always. However...

"No... She didn't do anything, Buchou..." Koneko spoke as quickly as she could while using a hand to hold her hurting head and the other to wipe off the blood. "I got a little... reckless. It won't happen again. There's no time to recuperate."

Her words surprised even Kuroka. However, the confidence in them discarded immediately any notion of her being coerced. Still, that didn't take away the obnoxiously awkward atmosphere. But fortunately, the sound of a clap redirected everyone's attention to their leader in all but name.

"Even if you say you can keep going, I think this is a good moment to take a little break and catch our breath."

No one questioned Shirou's words, and some of them even embraced them, letting out a deep breath and falling on their assess. Especially a certain half-vampire that had been running from a Ruruko carrying several garlic bulbs.

The red knight projected a towel to clean his sweat quickly, but all his sparring mates saw that and requested one as well, even Bikou begrudgingly. And amongst the inevitable small talk about how they were doing, a certain bespectacled knight approached Shirou and Xenovia.

"If it isn't much trouble, may I have a closer look at Excalibur?" It was an understandable question coming from him. It must have been quite frustrating for the Pendragon lineage to not be able to retrieve their famous sword for more than a millennia.

Xenovia didn't have objections, but she still sent a glance toward Shirou, who nodded in confirmation. She returned the holy sword to its base shape and handed it over to Arthur, who expertly took and inspected it. His blue eyes took note of every detail, and his fingers carefully traced the edge just as the red knight liked to do.

His usual stoic face was filled with subtle traces of admiration, and a tad bit of fulfillment, even if he wasn't the one who finally reforged the legendary sword. His blue eyes hovered over one of the swords strapped to his hip, before nodding as if to confirm something.

"Even my family has some vague records of the original sword. But this... surpasses my expectations, Emiya Shirou. I wouldn't mind lending you my Excalibur Ruler to finally bring it back to its full glory. No, looking at this, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be even greater."

Shirou didn't know what to say to that honest praise in an almost flat tone. This man was even more stoic than Artoria, which begged the question if he was also raised to be the perfect King despite the current era.

Xenovia on the other hand mustered her courage to shoot the question that had been on her head ever since she met this man.

"Aren't you interested in reclaiming your ancestor's sword?"

Arthur broke eye contact for a moment, letting them see a small moment of insecurity. "I don't think it would be... adequate for me to wield it. Furthermore, it would be disrespectful to the smith that reforged it to question their criteria in choosing its new owner. And I must say, I agree. Lady Xenovia, your ability to wield holy swords is almost as if they were extensions of your being."

"I... I feel honored..." Xenovia couldn't help but get flustered now that she was on the receiving end of his praises.

"If that is what big brother says, then I'll support it." Le Fay suddenly chimed in, but everyone was already used to it. "To think there was no magic involved in the process, but sheer skill."

"That is how it was originally forged. The quirks were added later once it was finished. I'm afraid that, to forge something more... grandeur, I would have to start from scratch."

Arthur's eyebrow raised, and Le Fay's expression became a mixture of disbelief and excitement.

"Wait, really? The way you are talking as if Excalibur were just a passable weapon... Are you saying you can forge something more powerful than this?"

"D-don't take it too seriously! His standards for weapons are quite distorted!" Xenovia immediately tried to placate the situation, but her efforts were instantly wasted.

"If I have the right materials, it is possible. But that's something impossible for our incoming battle."

"Sensei!" The conversation was abruptly brought to an end when a certain Red Dragon Emperor barged in. "Have a spar with me! It's been a while since we did it, and I think it's the best way to measure my skills."

"Really? I feel hurt, my rival." And the White Dragon Emperor followed him. "Don't you think I'm a better opponent to test your growth?"

"Weren't you busy learning magic?"

"Fighting the Red Dragon always comes first."

"And do you really think we can fight without blowing up the place?"

"And what makes you think you can fight Emiya Shirou without giving your everything?"

A vein popped on Issei's temple. This bastard was definitely doing a good job of pressing his buttons.

"Unlike you, I know what 'discretion' means." Thankfully, Shirou shot a jab of his own. However, it only got Vali shrugging with indifference.

"Does that mean you are up for a rematch?"

Now the red knight was pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why is your urge to fight so similar to a smoke urge?"

"Excuse me. Am I interrupting something important?" Another voice interrupted the jab contest, but this time, it seemed to be way older than them.

"Oh, greetings, Odin-sama."

"Were you successful in your negotiations, Odin-sama?"

The two heiresses went to greet the chief God immediately, enticing his usual perverted smile, but it was short-lived as he coughed in his hand.

"Apologies for the tardiness. Adding up the unreasonable request of improving Gleipnir and borrowing the Mjolnir replica made it quite hard, but they finally agreed. The chains will be delivered tonight, and as for the hammer..."

"Make some space, brats!" As if on cue, a petite man made his way to the center of the group and dropped something on the floor, so heavy that it caused some tears on the concrete.

Judging by his stature, he was a dwarf, and his foul mouth just confirmed it. He was partially bald, with some hair left on the sides and back of his head, a bushy beard, and clad in golden armor that, if all the rust was anything to go by, was his smith attire. But the most eye-catching feature had to be his silver, almost bluish, skin.

Someone spent obnoxious amounts of time in the forge without proper protection.

"The name's Brok. I s'pose I don't need to explain how this thing works. Who's the dragon brat that'll wield it?"

"I guess that's me..." A timid Issei approached the hammer and tried to lift it. The keyword was tried, as it didn't move an inch despite him using all his strength to the point of getting flustered.

"Well, you ain't liftin' it with those wimpy arms any time soon. You can make it smaller to carry it, but you'll need at least that size to hurt someone. And that's not even mentionin' callin' the thunder."

"Hey! I'll manage with the Balance Breaker... probably."

"That's the spirit!" The dwarf patted him on the back with such force that it left him breathless for a moment.

"Now, who is going to operate the chains? Not that is overly complicated, but it's better to have someone with an affinity for magic." Odin continued without a single second of delay, and the answer came just as quickly.

"Leave that to me and Le Fay-chan." Kuroka spoke with confidence over any other voice, almost as if she had been eager to take that role.

"Not every day you get to operate the combined work of dwarves and the God of Wisdom. This will make good practice."

"Well, that's it. It isn't much, and I guess we should have expected Loki to not trust that lazy serpent with too many secrets, but I trust you youngsters to pull this off. After all, you are the pride and joy of-"

"Hold up a moment, old man." His cheesy farewell was interrupted by Vali's voice. "Where's the other super weapon you promised? Not that I'm eager to wield it, but it was better than anything."

"That one's on me, white lizard." Brok spoke while scratching the back of his head with a mixture of shame and anger, ignoring Vali's frown. "I thought I locked my girl in a safe case not even a God could open, but I guess that sly-tongue bastard somehow pulled it off."

"Wait... are you saying... that Loki stole a weapon that rivals the Mjolnir here?" Sona dared to ask with a trembling voice.

"It ain't just a weapon that rivals the drunk's hammer, girly. It's a sword meant to cancel out Sutr's world-burning blade! Shit, I was still thinking the name! Leviathan seemed the best one, but then I learned there was some magical girl nonsense with the same name!"

Sona refrained from voicing her thoughts and just stepped slowly into the panicking crowd.

"Don't worry, youngsters. That isn't a sword that can be wielded by someone who hasn't even swung a stick in his life, let alone by his dogs. We just lost a great asset, but it won't play against you."

"Old geezer, are you even listening to yourself? There's a doomsday device in Loki's hand and who knows what might he do with it, or worse, who might he give it to!" Shirou didn't hold back calling him out, but Brok immediately retorted.

"Hey, don't call my girl 'doomsday device'! Unlike all my other creations, that sword was meant to end conflicts in a smooth way. I mean, there's no fight if you freeze the entire battlefield, or even time itself."

While everyone raised an eyebrow, the red knight showed a tad bit of interest in his expression.

"Hoh? So that's the answer you arrived at. Your ultimate sword. I guess in that case we can rest assured it won't be used for wrongdoings. "

Those words seemed to light a spark in the dwarf's eyes. "By Ymir's beard, look at this! There's someone who finally gets it! You're that Shero smith this geezer told me, ain'tcha?"

The auburn-haired boy's eyebrow trembled at the butchering of his name, and the muffled laughs around him weren't helping.

"Emiya Shirou. And yeah, I'm something of a smith myself."

"Something my ass! I can tell just by looking at your eyes that you've been working with blades all your life. So what's your ultimate sword then?"

"One that cuts through bonds, certainty, and karma. In other words, to be free of one's fate."

"Ohoho! That sounds even more absurd than the geezer's plan to kill himself to obtain knowledge! And I like it!"

"Sorry to interrupt your... smith talk, Lord Brok, Lord Shirou, but..." The only Valkyrie in the room stepped between the two, getting an under-breath curse from the dwarf. "We need a plan B now that we lost a half of the original."

A long sigh was heard in the room. It definitely came from Shirou's mouth, but he ignored everyone's stares in favor of looking at the Red Dragon Emperor.

"Issei, if I'm correct, you can still use the 'gift' while you are in your Balance Breaker state."

"Uhm, yes."

"And you can also use the Boost a couple of times before doing it, right?"

"I've never tried, but I think it's viable..." He trailed his words before his brain finally connected the dots. "Wait, don't tell me-"

[Emiya Shirou, I don't think I need to tell you what that amount of power will do to your body. Even if it would still be far from the Juggernaut Drive, it's just too much for a human body.]

"That might not even cut it..." Those words crossed Shirou's mind, but he decided to hold them back. "That can be avoided if I use it up quickly. It's not even the first time I've done something like that."

"That doesn't make it any less dangerous!" Irina jumped to the spotlight with a resolved look, but Shirou didn't back off.

"That's the only plan B available to us given what we have." He retorted. There was no sugarcoating it.

And they couldn't deny it. It was a plan to be only used if things went south, but the odds of it were astronomical.

And it was with that somber atmosphere that they had to pull through training sessions the rest of the day.

---

Just before Odin and Brok parted, the dwarf still had some words with Shirou. It seemed that their brief interaction convinced him to lend his and his brother's help to their project of the Holy Sword of the Planet.

And if he was being honest, he couldn't afford to turn down any kind of help for that matter. Even though the only help they could provide would be the finishing touches at best...

Mankind's wishes were the strongest materials when it came to forge a weapon to fight external threats... but that isn't something you could gather just like that. He did something similar once though, his noble phantasm was proof, but that took a lifetime, and they didn't have that kind of time if all the shit happening lately was of any indication.

Fortunately, his time as Kiritsugu's aid already covered a big part of it. From the lands of the Middle East plagued with religious and oil conflicts, to the corrupted South America. With only Japan as a reference for a peaceful country, he would need to visit Europe or America to finally get the whole picture of humanity's current state.

Or at least its mundane state. As for the magical side... well, he knew more of the underworld than the human's magical associations. Azazel said he and Sirzechs were already planning something to help in that matter, but honestly, despite the different world, he wasn't that enthusiastic about meeting this world equivalent to the Mage Association. To not mention the other still existing pantheons...

However, all of that was eclipsed by the problem of what follows next.

From the moment he gained people that could be called more than acquaintances, he had been preparing himself for the inevitable farewell. But he could already see how certain people would react if he suddenly said: "What I meant by gathering mankind's wishes was actually turning myself in their vessel and burning myself in the forging process."

It sounded gross... even for him.

Depressing stuff aside, the more immediate problem was spending this night at Issei's residence. A place filled to the brim with females, all of them with strong characters. Fortunately for him, most of them decided to have a massive sleepover on one of the upper floors, so he just had to sneak away.

The option of doing the same with the other guys didn't even cross his mind. Sleeping in the same room as Vali was a NO. Bikou was still upset and he was the only real extrovert type among them. Arthur made Shirou seem extrovert in turn. Gasper still couldn't handle more than one hour in the same room with him, and his relationship with Kiba, albeit improving, was still awkward.

The only one left was...

"Enter." The voice of the Red Dragon Emperor came from inside the room, and the auburn-haired boy entered silently.

It had been Issei the one who approached him for this arrangement to his surprise. He thought he would prefer infiltrating the girls' group, or rather trying, but instead, he asked him to talk about something in private.

Something that seemed quite... troublesome if Shirou had to describe Issei's expression at the moment. And after that, well, he didn't mind having a little chat before hitting the bed. Especially to calm his "apprentice" down a little before tomorrow's battle.

"Oh, you're early, Sensei. I thought you'd spend more time with Xenovia and the others."

"Issei, this night might even be more dangerous than tomorrow's fight." He said that half joking, but then shot him a blank stare. "And can you at least call me by my name when it's just the two of us? You know I'm not one for formalities."

The brown-haired boy unwittingly started to fidget with his fingers. "But I do it 'cause I respect all your lessons and the times you saved me, Sensei."

"And weren't you the one who said that we are friends? At this rate, I'm going to think you actually meant this old Kun-Fu movie relationship between master and pupil." Shirou countered firmly, pushing Issei's doubts to the limit.

"I guess... you got a point there. Very well, you win... Shirou." It looked like he was going to die from awkwardness, but he managed to get the name out.

A small smile slid through the magus' lips, but his expression turned serious as he walked to sit on the bed, right beside Issei.

"Well, what do you want to talk about?"

The Red Dragon Emperor sucked in a deep breath before looking right at Shirou's eyes. "Uhm... How much do you know about Akeno-senpai's past?"

So that was what he meant... For Issei to resort to him for a matter like this knowing him well, things had to be really dire.

"I can put together a hypothesis with all the clues she and her father let on. A hybrid human-fallen angel, but judging from the way Barakiel acts towards her, he doesn't strike me as the real source of the problem. Given her family name and that she likes to stay at a shrine despite being a devil and is aware of all the customs, she must have come from a traditional Japanese clan, and those definitely don't like half-breeds, especially from a 'tainted species'. I don't think I need to elaborate on what happened when they were done with her unwanted presence."

If the way Issei started to widen his eyes with each word, his hypothesis must have been quite accurate.

"W-wow! You almost nailed the broader details! Was it really that obvious?"

Shirou broke eye contact for a moment. "Well... back when I wasn't even sure what you guys were, I did a bit of research on everyone's background. Not that I could get much information, but the Himejima clan in particular was renowned even in the mundane world."

"Yeah... makes sense. A-at any rate. I only got Azazel and Rias' version of the story, but it goes basically as you said. Akeno, her mother, and Barakiel were a happy family, even after being exiled by the clan. But one night, Azazel called her father for an urgent matter, and the Himejima clan took the opportunity to raid their house. Her mother sacrificed herself to let her escape, and she barely stayed alive until she stumbled upon Rias by chance."

That last part was... convenient if anything, but Shirou put it aside for the moment.

"So I guess she never forgave Barakiel for not being there when he was needed."

"Yes. It's worse than you might think. Yesterday, the moment they found themselves alone, Akeno started yelling at him, and the fight started escalating until I stepped in... Only to get yelled at by Barakiel for my Oppai Dragon show... I mean, if anything, that was Azazel-sensei and Sirzechs-sama's idea..."

"I don't think he meant the show itself... Anyway, now that you've told me this... what do you want to ask me?"

"I... I know what you're gonna say... but I at least wanted to try. Se- I mean, Shirou... how would you approach this subject with Akeno? I want to know her version of the story at least."

And just like he expected, his friend let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had been doing that a lot in recent days.

"What can I say? If you ask me, this is the worst time to even mention it around her. She just reunited with the object of her contempt after years, and we need to be at peak condition tomorrow, including mentally. But aside from that, you know her better than me, so aside from doing it when you two are strictly alone... maybe buying her something she likes first?"

"Yeah, I thought the same..." It was Issei's turn to sigh. "But the only thing I know for sure would be something BDSM, and she most likely has already the entire package."

The two teenagers didn't know if they should chuckle or be terrified at that notion. However, call it fate, destiny, gravity, or whatever you like, but at that exact moment, Shirou noticed a certain unmistakable presence approaching their room and widened his eyes in disbelief.

"You have to be kidding-"

"Surprise! Issei-kun, I know you must be lonely, but don't worry, I-"

The door burst open, and a certain raven-haired hybrid stormed in as if she owned the place. However, the moment she saw the auburn-haired boy sitting beside the object of her affection, her beaming smile withered fast before being replaced with an absolutely murderous one.

"What are you doing here, AGAIN!?"

While Issei started to panic, Shirou leveled Akeno's glare with his usual poker face. "What? Do you have a problem with a couple of friends spending the night together?"

With her hostility having hit a brick wall, Akeno's stance crumbled like a pile of dust hit by the wind. If Issei was being honest, he never thought that just standing his ground would be enough to get around Akeno's outburst.

The girl took a second to silently look between the two boys... and her frown deepened as she started to deduce what happened here.

"Iseei-kun, don't tell me... You haven't told him about my past even before asking me, haven't you?"

The golden-eyed boy's expression was indecipherable as always, but the Red Dragon Emperor's was an open book for her. She was completely spot on, and that made her blood boil even more than seeing that man again.

"Your backstory isn't so convoluted. He just confirmed my suspicions." Shirou immediately jumped in to take the brunt of her anger, but Akeno was having none of it.

"But he still came to you rather than asking me..." She spat those words like bile. The feeling of betrayal was all written over her face as she spoke cold words. "Do you really hold him in higher esteem than me? Than any of us in the Occult Research Club?"

Issei averted his gaze for a moment, before looking at her again. However, his eyes were unwavering. "That's an unfair comparison, Akeno-senpai. You know you are all important people to me. You took care of me after... getting killed. But Shirou also helped me when I thought everything was lost, more than once. He's basically my aspiration, and a dear friend I know I can always ask for advice."

Something in that sentence caused Akeno to widen her eyes, but the surprise was short-lived as she shifted her glare toward the auburn-haired boy again.

"So, what is your enlightening opinion, Shirou-kun?"

"Do you really want me to emit a judgment on something I wasn't a part of and the people involved are barely my acquaintances?" He countered with a question that gave her pause.

He didn't mean that he might be wrong. He meant that what he had to say was going to be pragmatic, heartless, and painful.

"Go on."

"Well, if you ask me, all this is a burden that is dragging you down but you refuse to let go by pinning all the blame on someone else. But then again, it is your choice to keep clinging to the past rather than facing forward like all your friends did. Regardless of it, you mustn't let those feelings get the better of you tomorrow. You got lucky yesterday, but that might not be the case next time."

A myriad of emotions crossed her expression as those blunt words hit her chest like a hammer. But in the end, her expression softened a little. Her purple eyes then drifted toward Issei, as if to prompt him to speak his mind too, maybe to get a softer opinion.

However, what she received wasn't that different...

"I can't speak with the same certainty as Shirou as I'm the only one here who hasn't lost their family... but I believe the same. Kiba was able to forgive himself for being the only one who survived, Koneko is no longer afraid of confronting her sister, and even Gasper is doing his best to overcome his trauma. I don't know how to help you but... this is something I spoke with Koneko-chan, and I agree, that it feels like the way you spoil me is your way to replace your father, isn't it? I don't think that's the way..."

Her fists clenched, and her lip trembled, but rather than letting her emotions out in the form of an explosion, she repressed them and left the room without a single word.

The two friends stayed there in silence, not even bothering to close the door, until the brown-haired one decided to open his mouth again.

"Did we... do the right thing?"

"Who knows? This kind of matter depends entirely on her. Unfortunately, I don't know how to comfort troubled girls, and the only way I know to solve problems is by tackling them directly."

"I see. I can only support her..." He trailed those words. The flavor they left in his mouth didn't feel right at all, but he couldn't find another way.

More importantly, there was one last issue he wanted to discuss before calling it a day. One that was of more urgency.

"Shirou... about our plan B... are you really sure about that?"

His friend turned to look at him directly while giving him a cheeky smile. "What's this? Are you really that worried about me not being able to pull it off?"

"No. Unlike everyone else, I know you would never bluff about your capabilities. At least with us. But... you know... when you talked about those God-killing weapons, you made it sound like something as dangerous as the Juggernaut Drive."

"Actually... you aren't wrong." His confirmation only made his heart tighten. "But as I said, I'll only tell you to do it if I see that there's no other way. You could say this is the result of me failing the kill him during the first moves, so if someone has to take the risk, it should be me."

"It was impossible to know that he had some bullshit to literally revive, Shirou... But if you really see it that way, then I gotta make sure to hammer the crap out of that bastard instead. And Vali might have a few screws loose, but he ought to be a reliable ally during the fight... What I'm trying to say is that we are gonna win this fight as a team, so you don't have to come in clutch like always."

His resolute voice evoked a feeling of reassurance that Shirou hadn't felt in quite a long time. Being optimistic about the result of a battle wasn't in his nature, but just this once, he didn't mind joining the feeling.

"Very well, I'll put my trust in your victory then. In case he runs out of minions, I'll join you though."

"Of course. Actually, this is hardly the first time we have fought a villain together. Do you have any tactic in mind?"

"Just do your thing and I'll adapt. If you are taking the front, the best option for me will be sticking to the bow."

"It is decided then!"

Before going to bed, the two had a fist bump to psyche themselves up.

---

"C'mon, boy. Are you really sure you don't want to at least say hi?" The day of the battle arrived, and Emiya Shirou found himself arguing with the All-Father. "I'm told that Susanoo-no-mikoto and Amaterasu O-Mikami are pretty big shots in this country."

"Spare me the trouble, Odin. Meeting more deities is the last thing I want to do when I'm about to fight to death with one."

"This is something you'll do eventually according to Serafall, you know? But if you want to keep your mind clear, then I'll respect your decision."

Having said that, the Norse patron finally conceded and turned around to walk down the stairs leading to the lower floor of the hotel. However, he stopped midway and started to speak to himself loudly.

"I would be lying if I said that I won't feel a thing if you end up killing Loki. I really raised him like my own child... and in a sense, my inability to help him think beyond a silly prophesy is my greatest failure. However, I'm not senile enough to ask for the impossible. Do what you must do without regrets."

The old man left the place in silence, his usual carefree expression betraying a hint of sorrow. Giving the consensus to kill your son, adoptive or not, to someone else was something the red knight couldn't even begin to imagine.

He too left in silence, heading toward the opposite direction, the hotel's roof. There, everyone else was already waiting patiently for the inevitable advent of the evil God, dealing with the nerves and anxiety as they could. Even Tannin was already there in his human-sized form, having a talk with the two Dragon Emperors.

No sight of Saji though. Azazel was definitely taking his sweet time with him.

He headed to the small group formed by the girls living at his place, their former instructor, and strangely enough, Rossweisse was with them.

"Are you ready girls?" He asked curtly, and was met with different emotions.

"As ready as someone can be in this situation, I guess." Jeanne answered with her anxious hand holding firmly the shaft of the Holy Maiden's banner.

"Speak for yourself. I'm really pumped up here." Xenovia on the other hand seemed to be trembling from excitement rather. "This Excalibur and Durandal were going to get rusty if I didn't give them a real battle from time to time. I'll leave you to decide when I should release the true name, Shirou."

"Remember to keep the formation, Xenovia. Don't suddenly disappear and leave us completely open." Griselda was quick to put a stop to her excess energy, and her commander mode sure did the trick.

"As for me, well, as long as you are by our side, I'm sure we can do this, Shirou-kun." Irina gave him her trademark, beaming smile, but given the situation, he could hardly bring himself to reciprocate. Instead, his golden eyes drifted to the last member.

The Valkyrie didn't want to admit that her rosy cheeks were due to feeling awkward regardless of what group she approached, and this was the one that felt less awkward.

"I-I'll stick to support fire and defense since Asia has the healing covered and Le Fay's enhancement spells are better. than mine"

"What about the mental department? You haven't entered that many battlefields, let alone of this magnitude. Not to mention you are going to fight one of your deities. It's only natural to feel anxious."

She looked away for a second. "If you put it like that, yes, I can literally feel my heart tightening. This would be a tall order even for the current Brynhildr. But as the only one Lord Odin brought, I have to make up for it. More so now that he, just this once, took his job seriously."

"Alright, we are ready here I see." Shirou's stoic face softened for a moment before turning around to look at the rest of their comrades. "I'd like to do a check-up with everyone, but I doubt we'll have that much time..."

Especially Akeno and her father. At least she was just pretending he didn't exist rather than glaring at him, but that still was going to be a problem regarding teamwork.

"For someone who claims to have always fought alone, you do have some basic leading notions." Griselda commented with her usual calm tone, which was met with furrowed brows.

"I was part of a team once... sort of. It's just that almost everyone there was a freak like me and the best we could do was to adapt to each other moves. It had to be someone else who coordinated us."

"Coming from you, I somehow can imagine a team even rowdier than these kids."

"Believe me, rowdy doesn't even begin to cut it-" He paused for a moment, his face turning back into a serious mask. "He's here."

He wasn't the only one to notice it. The Nekomata sisters, Vali, Bikou, Rossweisse, and Le Fay also turned to look at the sky above them. And not long after, a magic circle appeared up there, without an ounce of subtlety as if the owner wanted to announce their presence in a blaze of glory.

"Look up and behold, lowly mortals! Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same! And now, it's finally here, Odin! Or should I say, I am!"

The identity of the intruder went without saying, even without the fancy self-introduction. Far from intimidating though, it left almost everyone with blank stares and raised eyebrows.

No one uttered a word, but the God didn't seem to bother and kept speaking. "Oho? You actually put together a small army to greet me. That just makes all the preparations I made worth it." The grin on the God's face became several grades more wicked after assessing all the enemy numbers.

A number of magic circles were drawn around him next. They expected a bombardment of spells, but what came out of them was way more surprising and unexpected.

"Jormungandr!?" Issei shouted in bewilderment as he recognized the giant snake heads emerging from the teleportation circles. They were identical to the dragon king they met yesterday, and there were dozens of them,

"No! Look closely, Hyodou Issei. Those may seem big, but they are small compared to the real deal. Those must be mass-produced dragons." Vali's assessment managed to calm the atmosphere, but the God didn't seem fazed in the least by it.

"You're quite perspective, White Dragon Emperor. I wasn't able to make them grow as much as the original in such a short time, but they are more than enough to ravage that building you so desperately want to protect."

"Heh! As if those weaklings could hold a candle to a real dragon!" The former Dragon King among them roared in defiance. However, he still refrained from growing to his usual size. "But just in case, Valkyrie, little witch, do your thing already!"

Le Fay had to repress a pout as she flourished her staff before stabbing it at the center of the rune formation they had already prepared. And grand scale spell Azazel and Odin had prepared just for this battle.

"Well, I guess what should be said in this situation is..." The descendant of the witch that brought ruin to Camelot took a cool pose as she turned her witch's hat to one side so that it covered one eye. "Fool! You fell in our trap card!"

Shirou couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose as his field of vision was replaced by blinding. Was anyone actually taking this seriously?

When he opened his golden eyes again, they were in an arid landscape, not that different from the one in which they repelled the terrorist attack. In fact...

"A pocked dimension, huh? So this is how you do those Rating Game things. Hmph, no matter. This just changed where your grave will be. And I must say-"

Loki's words were interrupted when one of his manufactured dragons rushed in front of him, just in time to take on a blurring, silver arrow. The cursed sword detonated, pulverizing the snake's head and leaving the lifeless body to drop to the ground.

The God's eyes immediately darted to the only possible suspect, and caught the red knight preparing another of those "arrows". His poker face betrayed no anxiety despite his close call during their previous battle, and it sent a clear message.

"You talk too much."

"Eager to start? Alright then. Bring me their heads, my children! You too, all-mighty Fenrir!"

All the Jormungadr clones roared in unison as they fully emerged from the magic circles, but all of them were completely overshadowed by the thunderous howl of the massive God-eating wolf that emerged from a bigger circle.

That horrific sight was enough to fill everyone's body with tension and adrenaline. No more jokes to liven up the mood. The battle had already started, their lives were at stake, and Azazel already flopped finishing whatever he was doing to Saji in time.

But no trace of fear could be seen in their faces despite that hellish army being reflected in their eyes, and their vanguard didn't waste a second to initiate the charge.

[VANISHING DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER!]

[WELSH DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER!]

The two dragon emperors donned their pristine armor and immediately flew towards the enemy. Vali immediately left Issei behind, but more than a difference between their speeds, carrying Mjolnir, even shrunken, was taking the latter more effort than he wanted to admit.

However, to Loki's surprise, the two dragon knights flew past Fenrir, completely ignoring it in favor of rushing at him.

"Oho? What a desperate plan you have. Very well, I'll entertain the two Dragon Emperors myself!" Without wasting a second, the God created a myriad of magic circles and started firing spells in all directions.

"DORIAAHHH!" While Issei swung the mythical hammer to annihilate the spells, his white counterpart flawlessly maneuvered through the magical bullets like a vicious arrow hunting its prey.

His fist crossed the distance in a beat and met the magic circles with a massive shock wave. However, those circles were covered by an array of runes that created quite a sturdy barrier, with barely any cracks after the impact.

[Divide!]

By the skin of his teeth, Vali activated his Sacred Gear's main power before having to disengage from the still ongoing barrage. The magical power that entered his body from those spells was massive, as expected, and he immediately put to use that energy and his lessons with Rossewisse.

"Let's see if you like your own medicine, God of Mischief!" The White Dragon Emperor announced as his clawed hand drew a similar amount of runic formulas to counter the God's magic.

Hence, the sky was filled with giant explosions that obscured Loki's vision of his opponents. However, he didn't have to waste energy looking for them, for a mighty thunder split the heavens.

"GOT YOU!" The Red Dragon Emperor brought down the mythical hammer on him, easily smashing through the already weakened barrier.

But all that power in that swing went down the drain as the God easily side-stepped his attack. "Oh my. I haven't seen a sloppier use of that hammer in my life. What were father and Emiya Shirou thinking when they gave a brat like you Mjonir!?"

To accompany his bewildered words, Loki fired another barrage of spells at Issei's exposed back.

"Kuh!" He received it directly but toughed it out with just a yelp of pain escaping his lips. "This is nothing! Ddraig, keep repairing the armor!"

[I'm already on it!]

"Don't forget about me!"

The God had to counter Vali's familiar spells while dodging Issei's heavily telegraphed swings, but it quickly became... quite boring.

If this was the combined power of the two Dragon Emperors, then it was a huge disappointment. It would be actually better if they threw aside the new tricks they brought and fought with their usual fighting style.

Meanwhile, he kept an eye on how his children were doing. Despite having the numerical advantage, the Jormungandr clones were being picked apart and defeated by the coordinated assault of the Sitri and Gremory teams while the former Dragon King kept busy most of them.

It was a pity he wasn't able to give them the Eitr venom of the original World Serpent capable of slaying Gods. Those wounds that the blonde bishop quickly healed would have been mortal.

There was also the group of girls led by the angel and Azazel's right hand, but something wasn't right. Emiya Shirou was nowhere to be seen, as well as half of the white dragon's followers. There were only the descendants of King Arthur and the Monkey King.

Those questions were answered when his eyes drifted to where his dear Fenrir was. The red knight was running around the God-eating wolf just like last time, but he wasn't the only one. A certain black-haired nekomata was also running around it while placing frighteningly familiar magic circles.

"Those chains again? Heh, is father really out of ideas?"

"Nyaa! It's all set, Le Fay-chan!"

Having been given the signal, the little witch once more rose her staff and closed her eyes in concentration. The entire place was covered by the blinding light emitted by the circles as she recited the aria she came up to activate the new formula.

"Constricting formula locked and loaded. Great anti-divine ritual, commence! O' mystical chains, become the bringer of salvation, and let us bind the disastrous fate promised by this God-eating monster once again!"

With an unexpected new power, purple chains shot from the magic circles a wrapped themselves around the great wolf's limbs and neck like vicious snakes. Fenrir tried to shatter them with all its might. The astounding strength caused tremors and metallic cracks, but the chains kept it firmly in place... and completely defenseless.

"Trace, on!" Merodach was immediately projected on the red knight's hand and pumped full of magical energy. "O' light of selection, cleave the wicked-"

"Wait, Lord Shirou!" However, he was interrupted by the genius who was able to operate the divine construct with only a few drops of sweat on her forehead to attest to it. "Conserve your strength for Loki and leave this to us!"

He wanted to object, but seeing such resolute and sincere eyes, he decided to trust her. "Alright, then. Hnn!" Instead, he swung his sword without releasing its name at the Jormungandr clones, and it turned out to be more than enough to wipe out some of them.

A frown appeared on Loki's face for the first time during the battle, only worsened upon hearing Vali and Issei's taunts.

"Heh, so much for your dog. With just a little improvement to those chains, he's completely out of the battle."

"Just you wait. Once Sensei comes, we're gonna give you the beating of the century!"

"Hmph. Don't get cocky, pathetic devils. Unlike you nitwits, I haven't played all my cards from the start. Come, Skoll, Hati! Liberate your father from those obnoxious chains!"

All the bravado of the two Dragon Emperors went down the drain when two magic circles, one with a Sun theme and the other with a Moon theme, were drawn bellow the God. From them, two giant wolves of a size not that far from Tannin's emerged from them and immediately rushed towards the bound beast.

It was worse, as all the Jormungandr clones suddenly forfeited their offensive in favor of following that same command.

"Hahahaha!" The laughter of the God at seeing their plan and formation immediately crumble was only muffled by the next barrage of spells that Vali fired in a hurry.

"Hyoudou Issei! Put away the hammer and fight as you normally do! We need to take him down quickly!"

The Red Dragon Emperor couldn't help but nod. At this rate, trying to break through the God's defenses with his own techniques would have more odds than trying to land a hit with that absurdly heavy hammer.

"Dragon Shot!"

He added his own attack to Vali's barrage, but to their misfortune, the God quickly added a few runes to his barrier. The attacks weren't blocked but rather redirected just like the other day. Vali had to dodge Issei's, while Issei barely managed to avoid the worst part of Vali's.

"What a letdown. I was told that the two Dragon Emperors of this generation were different, but that couldn't be far from the truth. Unique personalities or not, at the end of the day, you are just masses of power good for nothing but destruction. Now I see why father put his trust in the human."

The stalemate between the God and the dragons continued despite their best efforts, so meanwhile, Shirou had to make a quick decision.

"Tannin! Forget the serpents and go for the wolves! Jeanne, you stop them!"

""On it!"" Both the dragon king and Jeanne's blade dragon spread their wings to fly at max speed towards their targets.

The heir to the Holy Maiden landed right in front of the horde of fake world serpents and raised her banner proudly as it started to glow with an intense, golden hue.

"Our Lord may not be with us more, but His blessing still remains! O' precious flagship, protect mine comrades! Luminosite Eternelle!"

Words with power came to her completely unwittingly, and the noble phantasm acknowledged her as a rightful owner, unleashing its blessing at full power. The intention might not be to directly protect her allies, but she was doing so by protecting Gleipnir from those unholy beasts, and her heart had no trace of hesitation.

The swarm hit the ethereal wall and was instantly repelled with nasty burns. No matter how much of them threw themselves at it, not a single crack or opening appeared. Some of them opted for using their dragon breath, but it was no use either.

"Kuh!" A grunt escaped the former executor's lips. The barrier was impregnable, but her body was feeling all the strain from keeping it that way.

Fortunately, her comrades didn't take long to come to her aid. A mass of destruction power pierced the head of one of the beasts, while a serpent made out of water crashed against another.

"Everyone, this is our chance!"

The two heiresses lead the charge against the Jormungandr clones in a pincer attack. While Sona and Tsubasa used their Rock Smashing Water Stream Fist to take on the few serpents that attacked back, the rest of the peerage would attack their weak points such as eyes, nose, and mouth. On the other hand, Rias' peerage followed a simpler strategy. Koneko and Kiba would attack with their fists and swords, while Rias and Akeno covered them, and Gasper froze the time around the enemies in critical instants. Lastly, Barakiel and Rossweisse flew over the main group of enemies while bombarding them.

"Stop right there, mutts!" It didn't take the former dragon king long to catch up to Fenrir's children, and he unleashed one of his meteoric flame bursts towards them.

However, Skoll, the wolf that chases the Sun, shrugged off the attack for the most part, while its brother dodged. No, rather than just dodging, it did a high-speed turn and lunged for the dragon king in the sky.

"Wha-" Tannin was caught off guard taken down from the twilight sky. A roar of pain was heard throughout the entire pocket dimension when the wolf that chased the Moon sunk its fangs into his collarbone.

Despite being smaller, those claws and fangs still had the same power as their father's, and cleaved through the sturdy scales of the former dragon king like a hot knife through butter.

To say things looked bad would be an understatement, but a voice that instilled hope pierced the battlefield just before a demonic bullet killed the distance between the red knight and Hati.

"Hrunting!"

The wolf sensed the massive bloodlust of the approaching redhound and tried to dodge it with its divine reflexes but to no avail. The "arrow" defied the laws of archery and struck true. The explosion cause a paralyzing wound, but it teared its thick fur and knocked it to the ground.

The time it took the wolf to stand up again was more than enough for a certain blue-haired swordsman to cross the distance. With swift swings, Durandal and Excalibur pierced the evil beast's front limb's tendons, immobilizing it for sure.

Before Skoll could retaliate with its voracious maws, several radiant black keys fell around it, pinning his shadow and binding him.

"Pray with me, Irina!"

"Yes!"

The two reincarnated angels landed on both sides of the wolf and clasped their hands in prayer.

"I will kill. I will let live. I will harm and heal. None will escape me. None will escape my sight."

"Be crushed."

Just as they started to recite the baptism rite, the glowing of the black keys increased tenfold to the point of forming a huge pillar of holy light that started to burn the hideous monster.

"I welcome those who have grown old and those who have lost."

"Devote yourself to me, learn from me, and obey me."

"Rest. Do not forget song, do not forget prayer, and do not forget me."

"I am light and relieve you of all your burdens."

Normally, this rite would only be effective against wandering spirits, wraiths, and even devils and vampires if the exorcist was really powerful. But casted by two angels, reincarnated or not, its power was increased exponentially.

"Do not pretend. Retribution for forgiveness, betrayal for trust, despair for hope, darkness for light, dark death for the living."

"Relief is in my hands. I will add oil to your sins and leave a mark."

"Eternal life is given through death."

"Ask for forgiveness here. I, the incarnation, will swear."

"Kyrie eleison!"

By the end of it, the wolf was so weakened by the burns that it could barely fight back. The only thing left for it was to receive the sharp edge of two of the strongest holy swords. The blades sliced through the charred fur with ease and quickly decapitated it.

"Wow, that was easy, Griselda-sama."

"Just as I expected. An evil monster born from an unconsented union orchestrated by a wicked, heretic God. It was the perfect target for this kind of rite."

Seeing them celebrate their victory, Shirou turned around to check how Tannin was doing against the other wolf. However, the sense of comfort was quickly crushed when he saw the mangled figure of the Dragon King, but not the wolf.

"Emiya Shirou! It's almost there!"

Tannin's warning prompted him to look in Fenrir's direction, and his heart stopped for a moment when he saw Hati just meters away from the chains.

"Trace, on!"

A second Hrunting was traced and loaded in the bowstring. He put just enough magical energy to turn it into a broken phantasm and fired. But he was just a second late.

The "arrow" struck the wolf and knocked it away from the chains, but in the last instant, its fangs tore one of the magic circles. Such a complex spell quickly fell apart without one of its pieces, and Fenrir started to thrash with renovated strength.

The chains were ripped away in a matter of seconds, and the God-eating monster didn't waste an instant to rush toward its father. It was so fast that even Vali wasn't able to react until those horrendous fangs were already closing in.

"AAAARRRGHHH!"

"Vali!"

Chills ran down Issei's spine. His brain couldn't register the image of the cocky bastard that always presumed to be leagues above him, now limp between Fenrir's mouth. He was still breathing weakly, but dangerous amounts of blood were flowing out of his shattered armor.

"Gah!" There was no time to think about that, as the wolf's claw came at him next at blinding speeds. This time, the was no save in the last time. He put everything he had into defense, but he still felt how his armor, muscles, and bones were rended apart as his body was flung away like a fly hit by a flip-flop.

His first action after hitting the ground, aside from gritting his teeth to endure the pain, was to crack open one of the phoenix tears he received for the occasion. The wounds were healed quickly, and his armor was repaired, but the phantom pains still remained.

However the same couldn't be said of Vali. Even if he used a Phoenix tear, it would be useless as Fenrir didn't let go of him.

"Hahahaha! What a pathetic end for the "Strongest White Dragon Emperor"! Even that loser Vortigern went out with a respectable fight!"

Despite the situation he found himself in, the White Dragon Emperor still had the strength to give the God a cocky smile. "No... I have you... where I want..."

Loki could only lift an eyebrow at those quiet words, but the only answer he got was an ominous chant accompanied by resentful and sorrowful chores.

"I, who am about to awaken..."

"They are going to be blasted away!"

"They certainly are going to be blasted away!"

"...Am the Heavenly Dragon who lost all to the principles of supremacy."

"The dream will end!"

"The illusion will begin!"

"That's... the Juggernaut Drive!?" Issei immediately recognized what was that. Even if he wasn't completely conscious at the time, that chant felt disturbingly familiar, and the tremendous power Vali was starting to give off left no room for doubt.

"I envy the "infinite" and I pursue the "dream"."

"Everything!"

"Yes, give us everything!"

Just before he completed the chant, Issei saw all the members of the team gather around Fenrir, and Kuroka spoke directly to the God of Mischief.

"Nyahaha! The only fool who thought we didn't have trump cards prepared was you!"

Just as she said that, the remnants of Gleipnir still clinging to Fenrir's body shone. The sets of magical circles composing its formula were reformed in an instant using the absurd amount of energy that the White Dragon Emperor exuded, and the chains were quickly reformed.

"Do you really thought a witch like me would create such a weak spell!? Just like the Chains of Heavens that could be recreated from the same clay that gave birth to them, these magical chains can be recreated with magical power as many times as necessary!" Le Fay announced while puffing her chest proudly.

The Red Dragon Emperor then felt the eyes of his destined rival on him. "Hyoudou Issei, Emiya Shirou, we will leave Loki to you!"

"I shall become the White Dragon of Supremacy! And I shall take you to the limits of innocence!"

And just like that, just a moment after Vali unleashed his Juggernaut Drive, they all disappeared, leaving him and Loki completely astonished.

"What the..."

"Those lowlifes... There must have been a teleportation spell engraved on the chains! But no matter. My children can be replaced. As long as Odin dies, there will be Ragnarök. Besides..." The God of Mischief looked down on the Red Dragon Emperor, the wicked smile returning to his face. "You still have no means to defeat me. I don't know what kind of miracle that idiot is expecting, but it won't happen!"

The myriad of runes and spells was casted again, however, now Issei was its only target. Luckily for him though, an gigantic figure landed in front of him. His fellow dragon and another of his mentors.

"That problematic brat. So he was planning on ditching us all along to capture the dog..." Tannin turned its head around while he blocked the spells with his wings. "Sorry for the screw-up, Ddraig. I'll cover for Albion's absence."

[Heh, don't exert yourself too much and end up spraining your back, Tannin. None of my users fought a God without activating the Juggernaut Drive, so I guess this was to be expected.]

"Juggernaut drive..."

"If I use that... would I be able to beat that bastard?" Just as that murky line of thought crossed his mind in that brief moment of weakness, those creepy voices came once again.

"Use it."

"It's always like this."

"It's always power."

"It's always destruction."

A hand rested on the side of his head. He knew he promised he would never use it again. But the alternative was... No, he couldn't let Shirou take the burden again. Maybe now that he was conscious, it wouldn't be the same.

He just had to activate it for a moment, tear apart Loki, and switch it off. That shouldn't take that much lifespan... right?

"Issei!"

A firm voice brought him out from that pull of darkness just in time. The first thing he saw was the helping hand of his Sensei- no, his friend, and he took it without hesitation to finally stand up.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, sort of. How are things going?"

"The number of Jormungadr clones is already lowering, so I'll join you to fight Loki. However, we need to take care of the last wolf, the one that broke free Loki. It's hiding amongst the serpents."

"OK! Old man Tannin, hold the front for a sec-"

"AKENOOOOO!" Their conversation was interrupted by Rias' panicked scream, and their assumptions were confirmed when they saw the Wolf that chases the Moon suddenly emerge from the clones to attack one of the prays with fewer defenses.

[JET!]

The thrusters on the back of Issei's armor ignited at maximum capacity while the red knight was already notching a cursed sword on his black bow.

But both of them knew that they would not make it in time. Even Rias, who was just beside her friend, had no chance of protecting her. But a blurred figure managed to get between the raven-haired girl and the monster's fang just in time...

By letting themselves be the ones crushed between them.

"Huh?" A confused voice left Akeno's mouth when her brain started processing the image in front of her. The hot blood that splashed over her only made the shock bigger.

"Father..."

The one who just risked his life without a second thought to save her... was none other than the sole object of her unending hatred.

"Why?"

Faced with that question, the dying man forced some words between coughs. "I can't... lose you too..."

The girl could react to those words. The opposing emotions bubbling inside her heart were too much to sort out just like that, even in the middle of the battlefield.

"HAAAAH!" Thankfully, her friend could make it in time. A touki-infused fist crashed on the side of Hati's head, forcing it to stop stumble some meters to the side, and let go of Barakiel, who was clumsily caught by his daughter.

"Akeno! Let me treat him!" Asia was already by her side. Rather than using her sacred gear, she used the only Phoenix tear they had reserved for the rearguard rather than the three dragons that acted as the spearhead.

"OWOOOOOOOOO!" But there was no time to rest. The hideous monster rushed back at them with the intention to finish the job.

However, this time another figure stood in its way. The heir of the Sitri family calmly met the God-slayer fangs with her watery hands and successfully redirected its momentum. Hati lost its balance and made a front roll that ended with its belly exposed.

That opening was quickly taken by the two devil knights, with their holy-demonic sword and katana slicing it open. The fur still prevented their blades from striking deep enough to damage organs, but they were left exposed for the next attack.

"Take this!" Rias plunged her hand wrapped in the power of destruction and released it inside the monster. Everything was completely incinerated, putting an end to Fenrir's second son.

"Is everyone okay!?" Issei and Shirou arrived in a hurry, and everyone else decided to regroup with them.

Aside from Barakiel who was still recovering and Vali's team, everyone was obviously tired, but they still had plenty of fight in them... All but a certain raven-haired girl.

"Akeno, are you okay?" Rias asked her, but the only answer she got from her friend was mumbling and stuttering.

It all stopped when Barakiel's hand moved to rest over her shoulder. "Akeno... You must continue without me..."

"Huh? What are you... I..." The confusion and indecision were observable on her face. She could no longer decide how she should address the man in her arms.

"You know... L-let me check something with my Pailingual." Issei suddenly stepped beside the father-daughter duo and closed his eyes in concentration while ignoring everyone's inquisitive eyes.

The entire area was plunged in silence as they waited for him to react, and when he did...

"Huh? No way... I heard an Oppai spirit!"

Some of them felt their jaws hang limp at those nonsensical words. Even Tannin stopped his battle with Loki to look at him in utter bafflement.

"Blonde bishop! Try to heal his brain with your sacred gear! I think Fenrir's claws had some kind of poison!"

[Wait! My partner isn't hallucinating! I've heard it too! Some kind of spirit saying to be an emissary of the Oppai God spoke to us!]

"Shit! Somehow the poison affected Ddraig too!"

[Why does no one believe me!? It's because I became the Oppai Dragon!?] The red dragon's voice became muffled by his own sobbing. Maybe what he needed was a therapist instead.

"Oi, Issei! This is not the moment for some kind of breast bullshit!" Shirou himself started shaking him by the shoulders with a really serious face, but there was no response. Even worse, Akeno and Barakiel seemed to have entered the same trance and weren't answering as well.

"You have to be kidding me!"

"Kuh!" The former dragon king landed in front of them after taking another hit from the God of Mischief, his scales already fuming.

With all of them in a single place, the remaining Jormungandr clones started to encircle them, led by the God that refused to leave the heavens.

"This is just ludicrous. I didn't even have to kill the Dragon Emperors. They just took themselves out in their own stupidity. But I guess this is how it was meant to be, right, Emiya Shirou? Let's get the real fight started already, shall we?"

The red knight gritted his teeth. The situation couldn't have gone worse. He didn't even have Issei to power him up now...

"It really came to this, huh?"

He silently walked to the front and extended his arm as if he were to cast a spell to everyone's surprise.

"Buy me thirty seconds."

"Huh? Wait, what are you going to do-"

"I am the bone of my sword." There was no more explanation as he started casting. All his magic circuits flared to life and started to spread his magical energy all over the place, gaining the curiosity of even the God of Mischief.

"Steel is my body, and fire is my-"

"RRROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!"

However, to everyone's utter surprise, a massive roar interrupted the red knight's spell. The next thing that happened, was Loki widening his eyes as an enormous, black dragon appeared out of nowhere above him and proceeded to engulf him.

No... it wasn't a dragon exactly, as they could still see the God inside of it. Rather, it was more like a mass of murky, black flames that took the shape of a dragon.

"What in the world is this thing!?" The God seemed to be struggling for breath inside the cursed flames despite exerting all of his power.

"Guys, can you hear me?" And as if to answer his question, the voice of a certain General Governor was heard through their comms spell.

"Azazel? Don't tell me that thing has something to do with you!"

"Hehe..." The fallen angel let out a chuckle at Shirou's hysteric words. "Let me explain. That's actually your friend Saji."

"WHAT!?" Now it was Sona who shouted hysterically. "What did you do to my pawn!?"

"Wait! I asked you to let me explain. You see, as a side project of sorts I started upon hearing that the consciousness inside Saji-kun's sacred gear seemed to be awakening, I decided to collect all the other Vitra sacred gears. But as you can see, he needed some time to get used to it. Time we didn't have apparently. B-but you don't have to worry. I'm sure his consciousness is still there, just a little muffled after Vitra awakened. Once the dragon calms down or he runs out of gas, he will be back to normal. And his value in pawns won't change as this is just an extra to his base capabilities"

The Student Council President still seemed to be about to snap at him, but she somehow managed to swallow the myriad of curses in her throat and asked a single question.

"How much of his consciousness is intact?"

"Well, at least he managed to discern between allies and enemies and attacked Loki right away. Maybe you can actually talk some reason into him."

"But how am I supposed to..."

She didn't have to answer that question when a certain red knight suddenly burst forward at max speed. He quickly jumped over the Jormungadr clones, who were in confusion now that their master was trapped, and took air to shout at the top of his lungs.

"Genshiro! Are you still there!"

To his surprise, a weak voice came from the cursed flames. "Aniki... what is... where am I... My body is so hot... I don't feel so good"

"You'll be fine soon! But first, hear me out! Can you direct your... body towards the snakes behind me!? I'll deal with the powerful guy inside you!"

"Oh... Yes, I can see them... and I can see that guy too... He's... he's actually breaking free with that massive power... Okay then. Let me help you, Aniki!"

With those resolute words, the black dragon fired his flames toward the Jormungandr clones and started eating away at them. Meanwhile, Shirou traced a certain, purple chained scythe. He couldn't risk attacking Loki now that he was inside Saji, but at least the myriad of curses should have weakened him enough.

This was their last chance.

"...!" The struggling God suddenly felt a chain wrap around his torso and strength pulling him out. However, before that happened, a steel-tipped boot crashed on his cheek with a powerful mana burst, sending him and the red knight out of the dragon through the other side.

Loki was still catching his breath when he saw the blade of that wicked scythe coming for his neck, and barely managed to raise his left arm on the way.

The weapon sliced through his divine flesh like nothing, and cleanly cut his tendon. "Tsk!" With a mixture of a pained yelp and a tongue snap, he created a magic circle that blocked the follow-up attack and at the same time fired a burst of flames that pushed the red knight away.

Even before landing, he was already retrieving one of his Phoenix tears and pouring it on the wound. However, to his utter horror, it did nothing. The wound refused to close faster than the natural regeneration of his body.

Seeing the red knight already rushing at him, he created the toughest barrier he could muster around him before gritting his teeth. His right arm came down like an axe and severed his immobilized forearm before quickly applying another Phoenix Tear.

It worked, and his forearm grew anew barely in time.

"Sorry, Musashi, but I'm borrowing your Niten Ichi-ryu!"

Two blades came from both sides. One was a wicked katana that gave him even more chills than that accursed Vitra, and the other was a pure white katana with a crystalline edge that exuded royalty. Both cut through Loki's barrier with astonishing ease, or more like they cleaved through space itself, and came close to chopping the God in four parts.

A cross-shaped cut was left on the God's chest, adding even more damage to his pride. His still dazed mind from all the curses could barely keep up with those masterful, lightning-fast movements, and was quickly forced into a corner as his body started to receive cut after cut.

"Kuh... ENOUGH!" A burst of power sent the red knight sliding some meters back. Not just that. The once regal figure of the God quickly morphed into an abominable bear towering over him.

The animal instincts kicked in, and the God let them take the wheel. Letting out a murderous roar, the massive bear swiped his deadly claws toward the red knight at blurring speeds. Just one hit should be more than enough to tear apart that weak human body, but now the tables had turned around...

… and he was the one who couldn't land a single hit.

The red knight sailed through the vicious attacks and continued to cut apart the God's body. The Miyamoto Musashi from whom he was extracting their battle experience wasn't one who became the "Strongest under the Sun" just by fighting other swordsmen during the Warring States and Edo period. It was from a girl who reached her ultimate sword after drifting through countless worlds and fighting all kinds of enemies. A style that was adapted to fight monsters as well as humans, and blended with his own smoothly.

However, the God kept using Phoenix Tears to regenerate from his wounds. Just how many of those things had that bastard? At that rate, he would run out of gas sooner than Loki would run out of Phoenix Tears.

Hence, his target was clear. No matter how potent the regeneration capabilities of the legendary immortal beast were, it would die if it got its fate severed. The problem, of course, was seeing that fate he needed to cut.

"Hnn!" A grunt escaped Shirou's lips, not out of physical effort, but rather the pain he was starting to feel from straining his eyes.

The karma of an evil God that was overly obsessed with a dead-end prophesy was, without doubt, more stagnated than even the Heroic Spirit Swordmasters back at Shimousa. But no matter how much he forced his clairvoyance, he wasn't able to see it clearly. It seemed that his degraded Eye of Karma couldn't discern the fate of a deity...

"Got you!"

His consciousness ended up going faster than his body in his pursuit of karma. A smooth parry ended up being a blocking that had Mioujingiri Muramasa blow away from his hand, and the bear immediately took the opportunity to hurl himself at the red knight.

Sandalphon Muramasa managed to hit away the other claw, but there was nothing in the way of the bear's jaws and his neck. In a last-ditch effort, he put his free left arm in the way, and a massive pain assailed him as muscles and bones were instantly crushed as if they were under a hydraulic press.

"Gah!" There God pinned him to the floor with his own weight and started thrashing his arm.

He had to swallow the pain and think quickly. His arm wasn't going to stay attached to his body for long.

"Trace, on!" The pristine katana in his right hand was replaced by... a golden gauntlet?

That actually had the God pausing. The red knight only opened his hand as if he were about to hold a weapon, but no other sword was projected-

"...!" It was too late when the God realized Shirou's true intentions. No, more like he was hit by it like a truck.

A certain mythical hammer came flying at match speeds towards the red knight's hand, and rather than catching it, he grabbed the hilt and just used his arm as a lever to redirect Mjolnir towards Loki's head. The impact caused a massive shock wave that blew away shards of soil around them, and sent the God flying away like a rag doll.

"Kuh!"The red knight forced his body up and checked his mangled arm. The swords from his inner world had already stitched together the torn flesh and bones, and Camael's flames were restoring it to its original state a fast as they could. It should be back to normal after thirty seconds.

"Too long..." He had no such luxury. That hit must have caused a big commotion, but the God should be able to get his bearings faster.

The horrendous bear stood up, but rather than standing on his four limbs, he stood just on his hind legs. Now that he looked at it closely, that thing was no longer a bear, but rather some kind of... werebear? And its chunks of his fur had fallen, revealing reptile scales.

"Impossible... That hammer answered your call despite being a counterfeit!?" The God started grumbling in a much lower and bestial voice. "No... No matter what kind of trick you morons pull out, it won't change the result! This is just the prelude of the end!"

The rabid beast charged towards him once again, and the red knight spat the blood on his mouth to the side before straightening his stance. With a snap of his fingers, the hammer flew into his hand, and once again, rather than catching it firmly, he spun with the momentum before throwing it towards Loki with all his might.

Maybe if he had two hands he could wield it like a regular hammer, but for the moment, this would do. Besides, taking a page of Sigurd's book, throwing it was actually the most efficient way of using it.

"You fool!" The beast easily side-stepped the hammer and continued its dash without any decrease in his speed. But in its frenzy state, it forgot a crucial detail about that weapon. "AAAARRGHHH!"

Mjolnir was called back to Shirou's hand and crashed against Loki's back with a nasty sound of cracking bones. And at the same time, the red knight's gauntlet smashed the beast's cheek with another mana burst...

Loki stumbled a little as he desperately used another Phoenix Tear. He turned around as quickly as he could and swung his claw with enough strength to create blades of wind. The red knight called back the hammer, and this time, he just let it fly away to Loki's surprise.

No, he could see electricity arcs go from the hammer to the golden gauntlet. And the next moment, rather than the hammer being attracted to the red knight's hand, it happened the other way around, allowing the red knight to sidestep in the blink of an eye. The next thing Loki knew, the hammer was already crashing against his side.

The beating continued. The blows came from all angles and with enough strength to mow down his divine flesh. Those blows weren't near the might of the God of Thunder, but the speed in which they came more than compensated for it.

The God of Mischief refused to yield, but by now, Shirou could already feel that his left arm was finally usable. It was time to end this. The red knight threw the hammer up in the sky and let himself be attracted to it.

"ORRAAAAAAHHHH!" With a war cry, Shirou threw the hammer with all his might, and Loki's beaten-up body was no longer able to dodge, forcing him to block it with his arms.

"Reduce everything to atoms..." And right a moment after, Shirou descended and punched the hammer's hilt with a fist filled to the brim with magical energy.
"MJOLNIR!"

The hammer reacted to the magical energy, and unleashed the first thunder since Shirou started wielding it... as well as the greatest one everyone present witnessed. Its roar shattered some eardrums and its light turned the entire pocked dimension into pure white, followed by a shock wave that seemed to be one step away from destroying it.

After that, Shirou was only able to see a massive fuming crater before his body hit the ground several meters away. The impact barely added more pain to what he was already feeling. All his body was filled with nasty burns that even Camael was struggling to fix.

Brock was right. Lifting the hammer wasn't even the biggest problem. Only Thor and his children could use it without burning themselves, and that was with the proper equipment that was forged alongside it. The golden gauntlet Gilgamesh often wore to wield Ea, despite being an exquisite piece of armor, wasn't able to take it.

However, that ought to do it. That thunder was most likely on the level of an A-rank noble phantasm, so there was no way Loki could stand up after that.

"Why..." As if to defy the red knight's expectations, as well as the boundaries of logic and reason, a figure slowly walked out of the crater.

"Why can't anyone... just stick to their roles..." He looked more like a walking corpse now, only held together by all the Phoenix Tears he must have consumed at once. His face was filled with rage... but also, unwavering determination.

"It doesn't matter if my body is destroyed here... my will to see this through will lift me up. No matter the cost... I will right this three thousand-year mistake!"

With energy not even Loki knew where he got it from, the beast charged once again. His speed was lower compared to some minutes ago, but now his target had yet to get his bearings and was completely defenseless.

The red knight gritted his teeth and put strength into his still-recovering body. Kanshou and Bakuya's blueprints were immediately loaded in his circuits as they were the ones with the least burden. But even if he reacted in time... he had little strength left to be able to fight properly-

"Luminosite Eternelle!" But to their surprise, a figure stood between the two with a radiant banner. The warm light instantly relieved the red knight's pain and repelled the wicked beast's advance. Not just that. He also felt Twilight Healing's effects speeding his body's recovery.

"Tsk! The light of a dead God won't stop me!" The hideous beast ignored the way that holy light started to burn his flesh and kept pushing with his claws against the barrier. And to Jeanne's horror, some cracks started to appear.

Without losing a second, she commanded her Balance Breaker to tackle the God down. It didn't seem like the blade dragon would hold on as Loki started to tear it apart, but more help came in the form of a giant, water snake and several enhanced black keys. Even more, as Tannin landed beside the God and pinned him down with one of his hands.

However, the God of Mischief refused to give up and kept pushing forward.

"What's with this God? He's growing stronger? Not just that. He's literally growing!" The words of the former dragon king sent chills down their spine, but a certain red-haired heiress still had a backup plan.

"Gasper, do it!"

"Yes!" The half-vampire gulped down a vial with a red liquid, most likely Issei's blood and a massive surge of power raged from his body.

However, his face wasn't resolved or focused, but rather... embarrassed? And he struck a fancy pose before...

"THE WORLD!"

Upon shouting those words, his sacred gear activated at full capacity and froze the time around the God specifically. That seemed to buy them more time, but judging by Gasper's strained face, they wouldn't bet on it surpassing the minute.

"What do we do now!?"

"We blow him away, of course." Shirou said firmly as he forced himself up. Merodach was already projected in his hands, and he began to pour magical energy into it. "Xenovia, get Excalibur ready. Kiba, pull out Balmung. Throw everything at him without any kind of reservation!"

""On it!""

Xenovia put together her two holy swords and let Durandal's light rage free. That ferocious power was quickly absorbed by Excalibur and turned into caloric values. Kiba on his end was making a much strained face as he lifted the black, demonic sword and turned the hilt to release the true ether stored in the gem. Tannin took his time to muster his breath, Rias started concentrating as much power of destruction as she could, and Rossweisse started casting as many spells as she could.

"Hurry! I can't... hold him off... for longer!"

With a sound like glass shattering, the God of Mischief finally managed to break free from Forbidden Balor View's effect. The God took a moment to catch his breath, but when he raised his sight...

"NOW!"

"MERODACH!"

"EXCALIBUR!"

"BALMUNG!"

The figure of the wicked God disappeared among the myriad of attacks. The explosions were so powerful and numerous that it truly seemed as if the world around them would wall at any moment. It took them almost a minute to regain their vision and hearing.

The moment it all settled, everyone let out the breath they'd been holding, and some of them fell flat on their butts. Kiba collapsed without a single ounce of strength left in him, while in Xenovia's case, Excalibur's blade fell apart after firing so much power.

The dust and smoke had yet to fade away, but unless the God somehow escaped from the pocked dimension, he should be knocked out at the very least.

"You have to be kidding..." But Tannin's alarmed voice prevented any kind of victorious atmosphere from even taking form.

A pair of massive membranous wings sprung from the crater left by the attack, blowing away the smoke to reveal a massive European black dragon where Loki once stood.

"That bastard could turn into a dragon all along!? But why does he look just like Fafnir aside from the color!?"

"No, that's not just his power!" Shirou corrected Tannin, some drops of sweat sliding through his temple from his already-drenched bandanna. "Fafnir wasn't a natural-born dragon. He was a dwarf whose greed over his treasures was so big he ended up becoming a dragon. It's actually a common trope in many legends, and I think that's what happened here."

"But that doesn't explain why he won't just die!"

"HAHAHAHA!" The thunderous laughter of the now-turned-dragon God echoed throughout the place after hearing Rias desperate words. "I don't have an idea of how this came to be. Maybe my power, ambition, and Ophis' serpent combined to bring about this miracle! However it may be, it is proof that I'm right! Do you hear me, Odin!? I am the inevitable fate you've been running from, and your time has run out! I hope you've enjoyed all these years ruling over a dead pantheon!"

"Vitra! I know your power is fading, but throw me a hand here!"

"O-OK!"

Tannin and Saji rushed to confront the wicked God, but even between two dragon kings, they could barely hold him off. The God's fire breath was just as potent as Tannin's, and he was shrugging off Vitra's curses.

"Don't tell me... Another rune of resurrection!?" Amongst the chaos, Rossweisse's tense voice managed to tear through the air. "But that's impossible! Even a God would take months to prepare one!"

"And who said the one I used the other day was the only one I had prepared, brat!" The wicked God took the time to answer her question nonchalantly while wrestling with them. "Stop struggling and accept your fate, mortals! You had no chance from the very beginning-"

The evil dragon's banter was interrupted by a massive lightning that struck him with enough strength to actually give him pause.

"What the..."

That attack didn't come from Mjolnir, but rather, a father-daughter duo that was, to everyone's surprise, holding hands with their fallen angel wings on display.

"Shirou!" Not just them, but Issei seemed to have finally snapped out of that mysterious trance. "I managed to make those two come to terms thanks to the aid of the Oppai spirit. How are things going?"

The red knight decided to not even register that oppai nonsense and get straight to the point. "To be brutally honest, we're boned. We threw everything at him, and he didn't just survive but as you can see he got even stronger. The only thing left to us is..."

He didn't even finish his words, but everyone knew what he meant... and worst of it, they couldn't argue against it. They've literally exhausted all their resources, including the Phoenix tears. Prolonging that battle further would only lead to an inevitable dead end.

Issei gritted his teeth but conceded in the end. "Let's do this then. Ddraig, I'm counting on you!"

[Well, don't blame me if his body ends up torn apart.]

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

Issei forced his sacred gear to double his power as much as he could, and when he got the feeling that his Balance Breaker would fall apart, he quickly rested his hand on Shirou's shoulder.

[TRANSFER!]

His scale mail broke into specks of light just as all that mass of green energy was transferred to Shirou's body.

Everything around the red knight was muffled out as he focused on what he had to do. He even replaced his signature combat outfit with his swordsmith attire for it. Any worries about the power breaking his body or if it would be enough were thrown out the window as he reached his inner world for a specific blade.

One that would put an end to this fight with a single swing as he promised.

"Uncountable years of toil to reach this place, forging thousands of swords to create a barrow of blades."

The moment he started uttering that chant, all the mass of power flooding his body disappeared, and a ring of illusory fire shot outwards from beneath his feet, covering all the people present.

The next moment they opened their eyes, the desolate landscape of the pocket had been overwritten by the image of a lonely hill of swords that left them with mixed feelings of awe and sorrow.

"I sought a blade that terminates enmity…"

The hill of swords suddenly erupted in flames after the second line of the aria was spoken, but more than a hellish landscape, it felt more like a forge getting ready to fulfill its purpose. This wasn't the process itself, but a recreation of it.

"Severing bonds, severing certainty, severing karma…"

As if on cue all the blades around shattered in specks of orange light and gathered around the smith until they lost sight of him amidst the flames.

"That is to say… to free one of one's fate!"

All the flames were dispersed when an overwhelmingly powerful aura filled the place and revealed Shirou, with all his magic circuits glowing up in overdrive, and holding a single sword as his white cloak danced with the wind behind him. An incandescent blade with its name inscribed on it, an unfinished hilt, and a massive red aura that enveloped even the smith holding it.

The wicked God froze the moment his eyes landed on that single sword. Even if he wasn't aware of what was that sword like the other people present, he instinctively knew what it meant with just that glance.

And when his eyes met those golden orbs looking at him with the same unyielding resolve he had, the fact was finally hammered into his heart.

With that swing, that human would be the one to achieve his desired end.

"NO! It can't be! Wait!" Despair filled the God's heart for the first time. He didn't know what scared him more, that divine blade, or the human wielding it. His trembling body reacted on its own, unleashing a burst of fire towards the smith.

But it was useless.

"This is my... TSUMUKARI MURAMASA!"

The ultimate sword was swung, and everything ended there. It wasn't just that the dragon's fire, and the wicked God were cleanly sliced in an instant.

The pocket dimension, one that was created with the express purpose of withstanding a battle against a God, even sturdier than the ones used in the Rating Games of the highest rank, was also cleaved in two.

But more than that... the most important thing severed with that single swing, was the ill fate promised by that God, as well as the one Odin foresaw.

---

Once the pocket dimension collapsed, they found themselves back at the rooftop of the fancy hotel where the meeting between Gods was taking place.

The entire place was plunged into a dense silence. Everything happened so fast and was too absurd for their brains to process it. However, a single thing caught their attention.

"That's..."

They recognized Loki's form lying on the floor in front of them. He was back to his humanoid form and wasn't moving an inch as a pool of blood slowly formed beneath him.

Barakiel was the first one who decided to approach him cautiously and check his vitals. "Huh? He still breathes. It seems his torso wasn't completely cut in two, but..."

Despite that, the God wasn't making any attempt at healing himself. In fact, the fallen angel couldn't feel a single ounce of hostility from him. It was as if he lost completely his will to fight.

Barakiel decided to put those deliberations aside in favor of pulling out the special cuffs they had prepared just in case and restraining the God. However, the silence was finally broken with a piercing scream.

"SHIROU!?"

When Barakiel turned around, he saw the collapsed form of the hero who achieved this victory. Copious amounts of blood were flowing out of his mouth, nostrils, and even eyes. He looked as if he could barely cling to life.

Asia immediately activated her twilight healing at maximum capacity on the auburn-haired boy, but after some seconds...

"Huh!? W-why!? Why isn't working!?"

"Let me check him, Asia-senpai!" Koneko suddenly rushed beside him, and closed her eyes in concentration as she rested a hand on his chest.

After some excruciatingly long seconds, the little nekomata snapped open her eyes. Her breath was ragged, and she seemed to be terrified and about to cry.

"Koneko-chan, don't tell me my power..." Issei ventured to ask with clear remorse in his voice, but he was quickly shut down.

"It's his soul... He burned his soul using that sword! I need to treat him with my Senjutsu right away!"

"I-I'll call my sister! We can bring him to her hospital!"

The feeling of victory never truly sat in their hearts that day. Instead, a feeling of powerlessness took its place instead. Once again, the one who had to take the burden was the auburn-haired boy.

---

Meanwhile, in the VIP room below them, a similar silence filled the place as all the Gods stared at the magic circle that had been transmitting the events that took place inside the pocket dimension.

"That crazy bastard... really did it..." The same could be said about the General Governor accompanying Odin for the negotiations.

"Tsumukari..." The God of the Storms, a man with a... generous build, not that far from Thor's if you asked Odin, with a thick head of black hair, bushy beard and mustache, and wearing a regal kimono accompanied by his Totsuka sword, rolled that name on his lips. "But that's..."

He looked at her sister, the Goddess of the Sun, for confirmation. She was a beauty stuck in her twenties and clad in a kimono with ornaments matching her authority. She was often depicted with long black hair and brown eyes, but now she seemed to be showing her aspect as the origin of several legends about nation-ruining beauties, showed by her now hair of a color between golden and pick, fox ears, and nine tails.

"The Kusanagi remains in its reforging process after Yamato Takeru wielded it, brother. Besides, the sword that human used and our Kusanagi are nothing alike. Not to mention that power..."

The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi was said to be one of the strongest holy swords said to be on par with Excalibur, emerged from one of Yamata-no-Orochi's tails after being slain, and one of Japan's three national treasures. But its power didn't even come close to that...

"Ehem!" The sound of the Norse All-Father clearing his throat managed to break them out of their stupor. "There you have it. As the youngster here said, the world is starting to change quickly. While we Gods remain stuck in the old ways, raising stars that seek to change this world are appearing among humanity. Emiya Shirou there is a prime example. To put it in his words, that is the ultimate sword he forged to end enmity. He must have used your Kusanagi as a reference, but that divine sword was entirely forged by human hands."

A smile crept to the old man's lips, as now he had the undivided attention of the two Japanese Gods.

"As impressive as it might be, I'm afraid it is going to quickly prompt those who oppose these changes to raise in challenge, just like the Khaos Brigade led by Ophis. Before that inevitable conflict arises, I think you should consider this treaty to at least be on good terms with my people so we can all face it together."

The meeting kept going for some hours, but after that point, the negotiations went smoothly. He gambled on what would happen during that fight for this, and honestly, the results were far better than he expected.

Unfortunately, the news of this was going to spread like wildfire, so their time frame was going to be reduced considerably.

But who knows? If you asked him, he was honestly somewhat excited to see what fate had in store for the hero named Emiya Shirou.

With some luck, this wouldn't be a case of "a star shines the brightest moments before its death".

---

And that's it for now! First of all, yeah, I took the liberty to add some flesh to Loki's character so he isn't a "haha, I'm evil" villain. I'm not saying it doesn't fit him, since pranking people and doing horrible stuff for shits is the base of his character in real lore, but I think we all agree that a fight feels more compelling if there is something connecting the villain and the hero. I literally made the entire theme of the chapter "fate" so as to make the Tsumukari Muramasa worth it. That way, it had to be that sword and not just any powerful attack. He still went down one-shotted, but I think this fight truly shows that defeating a God, even if they aren't in the upper echelons of power, still takes a lot.

I already said I took quite some inspiration from "God of War: Ragnarök", and I think it's quite evident in this chapter. I mean, everyone guessed what that mysterious weapon was gonna be, so as to make it a little more surprising and not just copy-paste, I gave it some twists to fit better the narrative. This Loki is a direct inverse of the Loki portrayed in the game, as that one's character arc was basically defying Ragnarök's prophecy and achieving the ending he wanted. There's also Brock, and the way Shirou uses Mjolnir is basically how the Thor of that game uses it. And talking about Mjolnir, in the original DxD the author messed up its lore, stating that it was forged by the elves when it was Gungnir the one forged by them, so I played around that to justify Mjolnir's replica as well while correcting it, or else Brock and Sindri's presence to help with the Holy Sword would have made no sense.

Aside from that, I think everyone expects the repercussions of this event to be quite considerable. I think I don't have to explain why Shirou didn't kill Loki, but the fact that a human defeated a God in one hit, and with a divine weapon forged by himself, is bound to remove the waters. The next chapter will be more or less an epilogue to show those consequences, both for the main cast and the world as a whole. The next arc is still going to be the Kyoto one, but it will be the conclusion to the Hero Faction arc that was introduced earlier.

On another note, I know I skipped Akeno and Barakiel's reconciliation, but let's be honest, that part would have stayed the same as in the cannon, and it would have destroyed the pacing of the fight. It still served to create the conditions for the 1 vs 1 fight, so I think leaving just the third-person perspective of it as a quick gag was the best choice.

And well, I know the bait of Shirou using the Unlimited Blade Works might have hurt a little, but I left too many clues pointing towards the Tsumukari Muramasa. But don't worry, the Unlimited Blade Works is actually closer than you might think.

And I think that's enough rant. As always, I would like to hear your thoughts on this chapter, and I hope I entertained you. The next update will be "Can a monster act as a hero?", which I'll try to get finished in a more reasonable time but I won't make promises.

With this, I say goodbye for now. Hasta la vista!