Fate/Bonds Beyond Humanity
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20- After The Incident, Conflicts
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The wrap up of Shinji's attempt of 'accession' involved a full school wide search for what Nadita described as the 'central crystal of the network'. From a simple explanation of what Shinji wanted, the once controlled student managed to figure out where he had the crystals buried and how to remove them.
Everyone agreed to not call Rias and Sona immediately, Seekvaira was confident that she could take care of everything. Her logic was that there wasn't anymore danger and the trip to Kyoto was something Rias waited for a long time.
The mundane students were quickly checked and fortunately no one died. Some fell down in uncomfortable positions or in places outside of their classrooms, nothing that would endanger anyone's lives even if they felt some pain after waking up. The biggest problem on their side was explaining how and why exactly everyone lost hours of their lives from out of nowhere. A fast explanation was needed and Seekvaira decided to blame the actual guilty party for the whole incident; Shinji.
The official story became: Matou Shinji, in an attempt of a prank, put a knockout gas on the ventilation system of both the school and the college grounds. The gas wasn't dangerous in small quantities so the students didn't need to expect collateral effects of any kind and dozens of reports about it showed up from the police and other sources to help sell the lie. News reports, investigators, all of the network that devils have in Fuyuki was called to make sure nobody could disagree with the story. For Shinji's own fate it was actually easy, he died suffocated by his own prank in a tragic accident and his family, not being able to stay on Fuyuki due to tragedy, just left town.
The reality is another case for the family as well; Shinji killed his father and all the servants that could explain exactly what happened in the mansion. Both the police and the devils in the area that went to investigate the place made mention of the gore and blood around the first few floors of the building.
With no survivors and no other members of the Matou family, and with the last known member completely rejecting any and all connection to the point he changed his own name, there is no one to punish or demand satisfaction from.
Another problem is the workshop in the cave below the mansion. One of the members of the Bael clan with a minimal level of power had to be called to destroy the numerous curses on the area and even then the place is said to make anyone that steps inside extremely uncomfortable.
Notes and experiments were found and there were mentions that Shinji wasn't the first to attempt something similar and that he didn't use one of his insects in his own attempt of evolution but something left by one of his ancestors. The investigation of the mansion is going to take at least a couple of months before being concluded because of the caution needed with some of the curses around it. The mansion itself and other assets that belonged to the Matou family are going to be sold and used to pay for damages, including compensation demanded by some of the families of the victims.
When the two other heiresses got back they weren't grateful for being left out of the clean up or at least being properly informed of the situation even if it was mostly solved. Both were extremely upset that their trip was used to endanger their territory and even Seekvaira had to deal with the considerable rage of her friends regardless of the fact that the three share the same rank and responsibilities.
After Rias and Sona let out their complaints for not being called earlier in the situation the meetings to define what is going to happen with Kuoh, the Matou state and what must be done to a repeat of the incident began.
The results and compromises ended with things that many didn't approve of. In fact, the end result of Shinji's plan and the incident that he caused will repercussions felt to many in Fuyuki.
…..
Finishing packing the materials in his office, Kayneth Archibald feels himself slip in a state of depression. He arrived in Japan with plans, expectatives and the chance to improve his standing on the Clocktower. Now he can only look himself into a mirror and see a defeated man.
Looking at his own face he passes a hand by his bald scalp, surgery turns out to be the only way to remove the eggs safely from his head even when the main insect died with Shinji. Kayneth now has only the small beard he cultivated on his face, many stitches around his bald head for the many points of incision to remove everything.
With a sigh he goes around his now empty office, he collects all the books and anything he brought with him from London. No one offered to help him on the endeavor of his departure and he can't blame anyone for that fact.
"Did you already pack everything?" Kayneth really hoped to not hear that voice again before he left.
"Yes mister Velvet, as you can see I have already packed." He motions around to the now most empty office, only his former desk and some chairs are left and Kayneth felt sick just looking at them.
"You know you could have defended yourself right?" Waver says, arms crossed supporting himself at the door. "If you had show up to the meeting-"
"And humiliate myself even further?" The man didn't have an eyebrow to raise but the gesture is still clear. "I have no interest in doing such. My time in Japan is over and I will depart with my head held high."
Waver says nothing as his teacher finishes gathering the last of his things. In reality the younger man knew from the beginning that his old teacher's departure would come sooner rather than later but he didn't expect the circumstances that occurred.
"You can stay if you want." Waver opts to say. "It wasn't your fault, everyone knows that. Just say you want to stay and I will make sure that you can."
"You are still that insufferable child deep down." Kayneth says without turning. "Still trying to push unpopular ideas without a thought on the consequences." The man finally turns. "Even if it wasn't my fault I know that many blame me for it, even if not among our colleagues then their parents, some which are quite influential in certain circles."
For a second there is silence as Waver can't disagree with the argument. "You are being 'attacked' on the Clocktower." It was a logical conclusion, in the reunion the devils didn't make much of a fuss about Kayneth but there are plenty of heirs and children of prominent magical families that are integrated in their school and their parents are magicians of old stock that knew how to hold a grudge.
"As expected of the 'Detective'." Kayneth goes back to the box with books, picking it up.
"Please don't call me that, I already am being teased enough as it is." Waver asked but the older man shakes his head.
"Consider this a little payback for destroying my creation." The man walked a couple of steps but Waver didn't move from the door.
"How much do you remember?" His voice was low, almost like trying to stop the man before him from running.
"I don't need your pity Velvet." Archibald's tone doesn't carry a threat or a curse, just acceptance. "I remember more than I wished I did. Many of my actions can be justified as Matou's manipulation," he said the name with hatred," but they also gave an opening to some people on our land to try and get over me to their own benefit." He chuckles. "My own niece wants a piece of the pie and will try to replace me as the head of the family. In magical power and circuits she is capable but I shall not allow my son to lose his future position so easily."
"I am sorry for it." Waver tries to console his former teacher only to be laughed at.
"Huhuhu, why are you sorry? Don't you hate me?" Kayneth is amused by his former student tone. "I am sure you said you did, correct?"
"I do. But I still respect you." If the older man didn't remember their full confrontation, Waver felt that it needed to be said either way. "You are good at what you do, great in delivering your lessons, but you suck at understanding your students. That is why Emiya Shirou would never join your class."
"And Matou Shinji manipulated me while you outgrew and surpassed me, in a way." The magus of noble blood admits his faults. "I suppose that, even as a teacher, I had something to learn." He glared at Waver. "It doesn't mean that your theory was right or that this little project of yours will stay around for long."
"You couldn't just be nice, could you?" Waver asked with a sour face.
"Maybe I would be if you weren't blocking my way." Conceding the point, Waver steps to the side. "I shall be returning to London but I should warn that there is a good chance I may send my niece here if just to get her out of my way for a few years." Waver feels a chill on his spine.
Even from passage he heard about Reines Archisorte, a girl with an angelic face and impish personality who survived plenty of assassinations and back stabbings in her own family. It is also well known that she is a sadistic, evil person that doesn't hesitate to get what she desires despite the methods and means necessary. "Please tell me you are joking." Waver voice is not hopeful.
"I am afraid not. This incident managed to put me in a really precarious position and she is just the strongest of my contenders." The actual Lord El-Melloi admits, taking a couple of steps forward before stopping. "The fact is, that girl is ambitious and has been after my position for a long time now. The only way that this situation would be worse would be if I died and she got along with my ex-wife family well enough to get a marriage between her and my son."
"Ex-wife?" To a magus that actually was the most scandalous thing that could be said in this conversation.
Kayneth looks to his former student. "We have been unhappy for some time now. Besides, our child will be the one to take the name El-Melloi when he is eventually ready." In other words, the Sophi-Ri family are still his allies despite everything. "There was logically no point in us staying together anymore."
'Except you adored your wife.' Arranged marriage or not. "I see that you are going to be busy for a while. I have no choice but to wish you good luck in your future endeavours." Because that is all he can do at this point.
"I wish you the same, professor Velvet." With that, Kayneth Archibald moves to leave the Kuoh school grounds, potentially for the last time.
He leaves behind a very confused Waver who just shakes his head a little before scratching it. "Really? Want to elaborate that?" He asks his teacher only to be ignored as the older man just keeps walking. With a sigh he says a little louder. "Don't send your niece here!" Acknowledgment or not he still doesn't want to deal with that girl. A cold chill run on his spine just thinking about it.
He receives no reply, being left alone in the now mostly empty office. Waver can already see the headache that is going to happen if Reines joins his class as well. Adding her to the already volatile equation he has to deal with in the present, namely Rin and Luvia.
Waver can already imagine a new blonde student egging the two on to actually fight in a day he wouldn't be there to stop it. Both of his hands go to his head as he starts to breathe rapidly before stopping for a moment to take a deep breath.
Without rushing, he gets a cigarette from his pocket and starts smoking. There are no students on the school grounds for the moment, classes are suspended and someone can clean the ashes later.
"I have other things to worry about." Waver talks out loud before smoking a little more.
Another thing that happened because of Shinji's actions is that his project is now in danger on two fronts. Many of the students want to withdraw from Kuoh, a good number of them because of Kayneth's departure.
The other is actually positive but he must tread carefully or else he may lose everything.
Waver sights once again, letting smoke leave his lungs. He closes the door of the office and goes back to his own. He will have to rework the course in a way to work with the students that are left and the new ones will surely come.
…
Rias lets herself fall on her chair and immediately tea and a slice of strawberry cake are positioned for her. "Don't think that you guys are forgiven yet." She says, especially for Shirou who is the one serving.
"Ara~ buchou Shirou-kun is not one to make a bribe out of food." Akeno observed with a smile as she sat down in one of the couches with the other club members with Luvia and Yoruichi also included. Out of all of them only she was free of Rias' wrath and also offered some complaints of her own for not being called.
"Who knows? Maybe he is learning the power of his cooking." Yoruichi comments with a giant pillow that Rias brough for her in appreciation for her recommendations on Kyoto. The huge purple thing is something the cat is learning to enjoy and she makes plans to buy one for her actual house later.
Shirou will also get one if she asks, Yoruichi is sure of it.
"I just needed to cook something, that is all." Shirou goes and sits in one of the chairs while others are eating his cake. Rias looks at him with a raised eyebrow before shrugging and taking a bite of her cake. Yoruichi also took a look at him but decided to say nothing.
"Buchou," Luvia, deciding that she won't be kept in suspense anymore, calls for the devil who looks at her, "what was decided on the meeting?"
It was something that concerned her more than anyone else present, the moment the question left her lips all were paying even more attention to the redhead King who didn't even look bothered.
Still, the King groans a little and that is not a good sign. "There are going to be some restructurations of the environment in Kuoh." Calmly she takes a sip of her tea, dragging it on purpose to get in the nerves of some of the present. Finally she continues. "It was decided that the access to the boundary fields around the property is going to be far more restricted. The only ones with permission to mess with them are going to be me, Sona and Seekvaira, with Seek losing hers once she leaves town."
"What is going to happen to the boundary fields that were around before?" Rin asked with a raised hand.
"We are...going to have to remake them from scratch." Rias sounds deeply depressed. "Most are not getting up again." Fixing her posture, Rias began to explain. "The only fields that are going to be authorized are the ones that are going to be up in case of an emergency and the ones we will put up. Each of us will have up to three boundary fields and we can use that number as we wish, even trade with the others for favors and such."
"And what about the teachers?" Kiba asks, a little concerned as he sends discreet looks to Rin and Luvia. "Waver-sensei had one in his classroom and office. Does that mean he is going to lose them?"
"Technically he already lost them." Akeno says with a chuckle. "In any case, many of the students are leaving Kuoh and we will have to restructure the classrooms."
That information was new to everyone, even Koneko showed her surprise while Liz just ate her cake without a care in the world. As a teacher and Shirou's guardian she was part of the meeting that decided most of this information.
"What exactly was decided?" Setsuna could get all the information from Jaken later but she wanted to hear it quickly if possible.
"Besides the limitation of who controls the boundary fields there is also the decision that, at least for a time, the special course is suspended in its actual form." Rias' revelation made Luvia jump in shock.
"What why?" It was one of the reasons she came to Japan and while Shirou is the other, her family won't tolerate any deviation from her education.
"Because the special classes are going to be moved to a bigger building with a single boundary field." Rias says with a smile, surprising Luvia and the rest. "Because of how Velvet-sensei demonstrated his knowledge and skill, we have now many of the college students interested in joining."
"It still hasn't been decided how the new system will work." Akeno said with a smile and Luvia sat down again. "There are a lot of details up in the air yet and the place of study will need to be constructed since the gym is not proper for it."
"Not even mentioning the time table, teachers, materials and other stuff." Rias points out. "Sona actually is really happy about the new interest. It actually is something she wants to implement on the Underworld in the future as well. Something directed towards all the classes of devils and so she threw her full support behind it."
What Rias is not divulging is that the Sitri heir is ecstatic with the opportunity that the incident brought out in the end. She was one of the biggest supporters of the project from the very beginning and now that it is expanding she is going to make sure it keeps growing in a way she approves and can use as a spearhead for her future goals.
"Unfortunately many students are still leaving Kuoh, possibly Japan in general." Rias continues to disclose. "Many came at the behest of Lord El-Melloi and with his fall from grace there are a lot of families that don't see it as a positive project anymore."
"So they are just going to leave?" Luvia asked without any real surprise. "That makes sense but there is no reason to stop the classes."
"There is when someone points out that it is unfair for the college students that didn't have a chance to try the course." Akeno said with a shrug. "They are still going to talk more about it but it is not our department."
"You are still in Velvet's class for now and the man said he is going to finish this year's planned course." Rias informed the first year students. "But next year, the actual system will be changed or gone."
"What about Archibald's class?" Rin knew some of the people there, didn't like any but she cared enough to ask.
"Jaken-sensei is taking that one over." Akeno's words got the special attention of Setsuna who nodded.
"Then they are in good hands." The hanyou says with a smile. "Jaken is a great teacher and has a lot of knowledge. I am sure he won't disappoint." She says proudly.
"He was your first teacher right?" Shirou asked, trying to remember one conversation they had a good time ago.
She nods at him with a smile. "Yes, while our father was busy he was the one who taught Towa and myself everything we could learn about controlling our youki and tried to teach us more."
"But you are quite bad at Senjutsu." Yoruichi pointed out with a smile.
"I said 'tried'." Setsuna said with a small blush, feeling that it was unfair for a master of the art to call her 'bad' like that, she felt she was at least passable. "It was not his fault that we are better with pure youki like our father than Senjustu or, his speciality, youjutsu."
"Senjutsu is not that great." Koneko says and Yoruichi gave her the feline equivalent of a pout that only Shirou managed to see. He is getting good at identifying her expressions because of how much time she spends on her cat form.
"Either way, back on topic." Rin says before the discussion can go farther from what she wanted to know. "Which boundary fields are going to still be around?"
"That is up to us." Rias informs with a shrug. "The main one around Kuoh is already being fixed and we; me, Sona and Seek, are going to be directly connected to it in case something happens. That one won't count for none of ours since it will cover all property anyway"
"So I suppose that my workshop has to go?" Shirou asks but he is not really worried about that, he has worked in subpar conditions before.
"Not at all, yours is actually one that Sona is willing to give up one of her boundary fields for something." The redhead devil said with a smile because she got one extra. "She wants a Truthbearer and in return she will give me one of her permissions. That means we have four; one for your workshop, another for the club itself, our training space and Gasper's room."
"Gasper?" Shirou is confused and he is not the only one, all of those that aren't devils look at Rias and wait to hear about this person.
"He is another member of the peerage." Akeno says with a sad tone. "Unfortunately his power is too dangerous and he needs to live behind a boundary field for everyone's safety but buchou spends some time with him when she is able."
"And when he doesn't freeze me, he gets really scared when he does that." Rias says with a sigh. "Gasper has a powerful sacred gear and he can't control it properly. We talked about leaving him in the Underworld with my brother or others who can resist his power but he didn't want to leave us. After that, well...It was either live here or in an empty warehouse or something similar." She nods a little, remembering the conversation. "He chose to live in a room here in the club and tutors help with his education online."
"Is there something we can do to help him?" Shirou questions only to receive a shake of the head from the two women.
"Unless you become strong enough to ignore someone stopping time then no." Rias is depressed by the concept but there is little she can do at the moment, her power is growing slowly, too slow for her tastes and she has no means to help Gasper if he stops time out of nowhere. "For now that is the best solution available." She can see that Sihrou is not liking what he is hearing. "If you want I can introduce you later. He quite likes his small room and every time there you cook I actually separate some for him. We still won't be able to enter his room but you will be able to meet him on the last day of classes when we go back to the Underworld, that is the only time someone can lift the seal per my brother's orders."
'Huh, now that I think about it she or Akeno always leaves something extra separated.' He thought previously that it is more for later but never focused on that, instead directing his attention to the people enjoying his food at the moment and with the 'White Duo' of Liz and Koneko always wanting more. "I would like to meet him." Shirou says with a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes and the most observant people around took notice.
"So, only Emiya is going to have a workshop around Kuoh now?" Rin asked, getting the conversation back on track and a little jealous.
"I think we are changing the subject too fast." Shirou observed. "Are you sure that there is nothing we can do for Gasper-san?"
Rias smiles sadly. "It was under my brother's orders that he had to be sealed." And that ended that part of the conversation. If Lucifer, with all the resources of the devils had no other solution than no other solution was found for the moment.
"I will go work on another Truthbearer right away." Shirou says while getting up. Liz stood to follow him with Setsuna right behind since she was there on the creation of the original one and the process will be easier with her.
"Before you go home, come back here." Rias says, not as a suggestion but now quite as an order. "I need to talk with you about something." The magus nods and leaves to his work. "Anyone else have any questions? Because the rest I think are just boring details."
Everyone looks at each other before Kiba decides to ask. "Were only magicians that left or some yokais also decided to go?"
"Little of both." Rias replies.
"Any idea of what the new plans are going to be for classes?" Rin was next.
"Not even Velvet-san knows as of yet." Rias says immediately. "It is still in the planning stages."
Nobody can just make a plan out of nowhere to add a thousand or so students, even more if more are admitted in Kuoh. If the actual number of students raises too much then the whole atual structure becomes worthless and that is what Waver Velvet has to deal with even if he is not alone since Sona wants to help with that project.
"Anything else?" Rias waits for a few seconds. "If there is nothing else, you guys have a job to do." From a drawer she picks up a huge stack of papers. "And so do I. The people helping set up those boundary fields in a fast and efficient manner aren't working for free and we have a lot of documents to revise."
Rin knew what that meant and let out a sigh. "Isn't the case already solved?"
"Yes, this is the last extra work you are going to do, for now." Rin felt a great deal of joy and couldn't stop herself from celebrating a little.
"Yes." She does a small fist pump and has a huge smile to express her happiness.
"Tohsaka, are you that uncultured?" And as if on cue, Luvia speaks with her usual tone. By default her punishment is also lifted and she is free to antagonize her rival a little. "You couldn't hold yourself back like a proper lady?"
"And here we go again." Koneko says while finishing the last of the cake.
"Before you two start," Rias quickly interrupts since she likes her office intact, "give me a couple of days and then we will set up a spar, with proper rules, to avoid you two from killing each other."
If the head of the Tohsaka family and one of the heiresses of the Edelfelt family died or got maimed on her watch it would bring out a never ending stream of problems.
The two magicians look at each other and nod. They shall wait for Rias to prepare the field of their battle and whatever rules she is going to give to them but the fact remains that the two shall fight, and many times after that.
…
Making another Truthbearer wasn't hard or complicated, only the expensive materials like gold and such are the problem and with some senjutsu added to the mix Shirou just needs some time to make sure the sword was perfect.
Once the sword was done Setsuna took her leave to practice her instrument of choice, the violin. She began recently and is already good, having the ability to play just by ear. However she made no progress in using it for combat.
Either way, that is her own project, Shirou has just finished his own and is returning to Rias' office with Liz for delivery. Then they plan to head home once Koneko returns from as many contracts as she wants to work on that night.
"It is done." Shirou announces to a mostly empty place where only Rias and Yoruichi, who is sleeping on her new pillow, are present. "Did you send Rin home?"
Rias raises her head and looks at the pair entering. "She was really anxious to go rest after the work I put her through over the last few months." Shirou deposits the new Truthbearier on the table and Rias examines the sword. "Works like the original?"
"It is just another sword with the same function." Shirou says while sitting on a chair while Liz sat on the coach. "I had to make it from scratch since it is more like building a car than passing a spell around." He points to the sword. "The materials and how it is made is far more important in this case since every part has a reason and needs to be put in the right manner to work."
Rias nods to show that she understands what Shirou was saying. Picking up the sword she gives it her full attention. "If I had the two of them side by side I would say you just traced it."
Shirou shrugs. "Reinforcement helps to keep the project stable and my memory is really good, at least when it comes to swords." He notices that Rias is still looking at the sword.
For a while things were silent between them, Liz got a book and started reading to pass the time while Shirou watched Rias study his most recent creation. From time to time she hummed or touched it with some mana but Shirou didn't ask what she was doing.
In the magus' mind all he has to do now is wait for Koneko and the silence is helping him meditate at the moment. His training in touki, senjutsu in general, is not going that well in his opinion. While he can feel he is getting stronger and faster, regardless of how many times he failed to even touch Yoruichi on their games of tag, he still hasn't been able to use his own life force to help on the chase.
That is another advantage to having to wait for Koneko, he gets some time to meditate. The area around him doesn't matter since he should be focusing internally and not externally anyway.
With his eyes closed he tries to focus on himself in a way to not activate his circuits, something tremendously hard since he was trained to use his circuits since he was a child.
His breathing grows slower as an image begins to appear in his mind. Shirou had seen something similar before but now it is more clear, it has been since his fight with Shinji. Where before he could only see a few swords around him now he can also see that he is in an open field with lush green grass that barely covers his feet.
There are swords of all kinds, shapes and sizes, there are other weapons too and they are all familiar to him. Every single one of them are his creations as far as his eyes could see.
'I think I also dream about this place sometimes.' Shirou thinks to himself. 'Is this one of those 'memory palaces' I read about?'
"-ro. Shiro. Shiro!" His eyes snap open as he can see what appears to be an upset Rias. "Good grief. Were you sleeping?"
"I was meditating." He speaks fast, feeling he needs to defend himself.
"He does that a lot during meditation." Yoruichi's voice cuts in the office as they can see she is awake. "From time to time he just looks like he is completely asleep while sitting."
"But I wasn't sleeping." Shirou can feel both women looking at him skeptically. "I wasn't."
"Suuuure." Yoruichi says with a little teasing in her voice.
"I am waiting for you to ask me why I was looking at your sword so much." Rias says a little exasperated.
"'What? Why?" Shirou is truly confused at what Rias said.
"Because I wanted to use it for an opportunity to ask you a question while Truthbearer was active." The devil admits it, making Shirou even more confused.
"I...why can't you just ask me what you want to ask them?" Rias takes a deep breath but it is Yoruichi who answers.
"Because she knows you well enough to guess you are going to deflect the question even if you can't lie." The cat didn't even bother to raise her head but her ears are standing, paying close attention to all that is being said.
Shirou looks to Rias, who is keeping her hand on Truthbearer, while giving him a forced smile, her plan was revealed but she decided to go for it. "Maybe we should test out the sword? Just to make sure it works properly."
"Except we already tested it." Shirou replies drily. "Setsuna's favorite color is really blue by the way, not white." Rias rolls her eyes and he also felt like doing it as well. "Just ask what you want to ask."
"Really? Aren't you going to dodge the question or just say you're fine or anything like that?" The King asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I won't know until you ask what you want to ask." At this point Shirou is starting to get worried about what the question even is. "Just ask me already."
The young woman looks at him for a couple of seconds, hand still on Truthbearer as she turns her eyes towards it and then to Shirou again to show her intent. Deciding to get this over with, he places his hand on the blade as Rias mana activates it.
"What is the problem?" Rias asks without ceremony.
"What problem?" His question is sincere but that is not what the sword judges and both knew that.
"Ever since I came back you have been acting a little...distant I should say." The devil explained.
"I don't know what you are talking about." No lie was detected.
"Really? Then that distracting looks to the side you do? Or the rush you had to go to the kitchen today?" Rias exposed. "You usually don't rush for the kitchen like that."
"You know I like to cook." Shirou reminded her.
"Yes, you do. But not so close to dinner." The heiress points out. "You usually would have made desserts for right after dinner and not that much later."
"We were waiting for you to come back." Again he spoke the truth.
"And it was a problem to leave it ready?" Rias looks at Shirou directly in his eyes. "That is what you usually do. You also jumped really fast to make another Truthbearer."
Shirou has a reply ready for the last point. "I know Sona and she isn't going to abuse it." Still the truth. "It also secures my workshop. Even now I feel it is much harder to work there without proper contact with the ley line."
Feeling that she needs a different approach, Rias tries a new angle. "I am not the only one who noticed you know? Akeno did as well and I am pretty sure some of the others must have noticed as well."
"Then why did nobody else say anything?" Shirou knows his friends and some of them are extremely assertives when it comes to things that bother them.
Rias doesn't look impressed with his observation. "Because everyone has their own problems to deal with." She notices he doesn't react and decides to continue. "While Akeno is forward enough that she would say something she didn't get you alone to do it. Koneko is not very expressive when she doesn't want to be and that got worse with Kuro around."
'Tell me about it!' The cat complains in her own mind, getting everyone's attention. 'Getting that girl to open up is the hardest thing I ever attempted in my life.'
Yoruichi could talk with Rias about it but she suspects that the devil herself doesn't understand the problem at hand. So the nekoshou will keep her slow approach to give the whitehead time to talk to herself.
While the cat had an internal debate, the devil continued. "Kiba is not one to express himself either, he keeps his emotions and opinions close to his chest. Even if he notices that there isn't a problem."
"But there isn't a problem." Rias pouts at Shirou's interruption.
"Shirou...let me finish." He knows she is getting annoyed by the way she said his name. "Kiba is not the best example for it anyway. He has too much baggage that I don't have a clue how to deal with." And admitting it hurts the devil's pride but she keeps going. "Setsuna is still walking around eggshells with you and even if she notices something I doubt she has the courage to say it for now, Liz is always ready to follow your lead anyway so she," and she speaks a little louder to make sure the maid is listening, "doesn't talk when she should."
"Shirou can handle it." Liz says while turning a page of the book, its genre is adventure. "If he needs me, he will tell me."
Shirou nods in appreciation but Rias is not done. "And Rin and Luvia are too focused on each other." The two of them can agree with that at the very least. "The two really are so focused on each other they tend to forget us, 'mere mortals'." Both chuckle a little at the joke. "But seriously now, you have a problem and we noticed, I noticed." She puts emphasis on herself, the one talking to him. "And I need you to work with me so I can help you."
Shirou looks at his sword and notices no change, it is a thing he never commented on with anyone but the 'truth' is a two way street, the person activating the sword can't lie either or else the sword will pick up that person's lies and disrupt the whole process.
Once again with the truth, Shirou decides to open a little. "I don't think it is a problem...but there is something bugging me." He says without minding too much with what he is saying. "I didn't notice that it was making me act weird or something."
"You are usually more aware of yourself." Rias says with a nod, letting go of the sword now she managed to get Shirou to admit there is something. "If it is bothering you then it must be something big."
"Maybe to me but...I don't know what you will think about it." There is only one thing that was bothering him in the last couple of days, he knows very well what it is.
"Even if I don't care about it, you do. That also makes it my problem." Rias offers him her usual confident smile. "Shirou, you must remember that we are in a pact. Whatever is bothering, even the small things you can tell me. You can trust me." She places a hand over his. "If you want, we can even go to a place where no one will hear us talk and if you wish I won't be able to tell a soul what we talked about."
Shirou turns his hand around and gives hers a little squeeze, enjoying the heat of the contact between them. "It's about Shinji." He says after a couple of seconds. "I...killed him."
"I understand you knew him from your old school right?" Rias tries to coax more out of him. Fortunately for her, he nods.
"Since we were children, Rin was also there by the way but I get the feeling she never liked him much." Shirou stops for a moment to think about what he wanted to say. "I didn't want to kill him."
"Understandable." Rias says with a nod. "But it was necessary, he was threatening the lives of everyone in Kuoh."
"I know that. I just wished that I could find another way to stop him." Rias squeezes his hand and looks him in the eyes.
"It is not your fault the path he decided to take." The devil says firmly. "If you hadn't stopped him when you did. Seekvaira's magic would eventually end and people would have died. You saved lives, Shiro."
Her words are sincere, there is no denying that fact and Shirou didn't need a sword to know that what she is talking about is the truth.
Yet his mind couldn't stop remembering that last moment of the fight. "He looked like a bug, even though his eyes weren't human anymore, I saw fear in them." Shirou whispers but it was enough for her to hear. "It was so much fear that it covered everything else. Even as he burned I couldn't take those eyes from my mind and the fear that Shinji felt in his final moments."
"It still doesn't make it your fault." Rias says gently. "He made his choice and risked the lives of hundreds. Whatever fear he felt was warranted."
"That is not right." Shirou while letting go of her hand. "The fear wasn't a problem because he felt it, fear was a problem because it was the last emotion he would ever feel." Rias looks at him like he grew a second head, confusion clearly in his eyes. "I killed him Rias, I ended whatever person he could become after that point."
Guilt, Rias realized, is the root of Shirou's recent problems. "You hadn't that much problems with the 'Hamelin's Flutist'." Rias pointed out.
"I didn't know him before he became that bloob." Shirou says with a little disgust. "He was out of control and in the end it was you who killed him." He looks at her, a little depressed. "Why was it so easy to kill him?"
Rias looks at Shirou like he was talking about a foreign tongue, she doesn't know if the question is for her but she answers it anyway. "Because you needed to do it, on both occasions." Rias is absolutely sure of that. "If we hadn't stopped the stray on that first night, it was only a matter of time before someone else fell victim to him, either by his abuse of the ley line or other actions he would take. Shinji was pretty much the same, he was ready to kill thousands for power and you stopping him was the best thing you could do."
"But I didn't want to kill them, either of them." Shirou said in another whisper. "Why didn't they take the deal? I offered them mercy and they didn't take it anyway, prefering to fight to the death."
At that point Rias gets up from her desk and goes around it, her eyes never leaving Shirou as he is looking at his own hands.
Once she is at his side, she lowers herself a little and hugs him to the side. "You are not guilty of their decisions or mistakes. You did what you had to do."
"But-"
She places a finger to stop him from talking. "Ssshhhh. You did nothing wrong. It was either your life or theirs and if that won't console you remember that it wasn't just your life, but many others as well."
Standing she hugs him again, having no problem in letting his head rest on her bosom. Instead of a nervous reaction, Shirou relaxes by hearing the beating of Rias' heart while she gently pats his head.
They stay like that for a few minutes, Yoruichi throwing a little look of jealousy before turning her head while Liz is still reading her book.
Once Shirou is more calm, Rias sits at a chair at his side and decides to tell him a story that may help. "Shiro, do you know why the Underworld still keeps a system of nobility?"
"Isn't it because the nobles would start another conflict if you tried to take it out?" Shirou especulates.
"Correct. That is because you must remember that there is power in a name beyond the name itself." Rias gives him a sad, almost completely depressed smile. "And with a name, there are duties and responsibilities, including the job of preserving the peace." She picks his hands again. "I know you didn't like killing, I won't say what is right or wrong for you. But I believe that you did the right thing. I wish that, even if it was just so you didn't feel this pain, I would have been the one that dealt with Shinji."
Shirou understood something about Rias just there; she wouldn't be feeling guilty. She was raised in an environment where dealing with people like Shinji was not only common, it was expected.
As the heiress of the Gremory clan and one of the Pillars of the Underworld she is not to wait for someone to deal with the problem, she is the one to be called to do it.
'The moonlit world is a cruel place', now Shirou can understand a little more of what that entails.
The human's head turns around slowly, he can see Yoruichi looking at him and the cat gives him a nod. She is also a noble and is also of the same opinion.
There is little place for hesitation in the moonlit world.
"Besides," Shirou turns to Rias again, "I believe that it was the humans who invented the saying, 'si vis pacem, para bellum.'" She says in a lecturing tone.
"Did you just speak latin?" Shirou sounded so surprised that Rias pouted a little.
"Really? Why is that the thing you choose to focus on?" She began to smile once she saw that he was smiling.
"Hard to not to since your devil language is supposed to cover everything and yet I heard only latin." Shirou points out.
"Well, now I feel that most of my work to learn Japanese has gone down the drain since you didn't notice when I spoke it with you." Shirou's guilt shows on his face but she gives him a little slap on the shoulders. "It is fine, just something I work on when I have nothing better to do. But you are right, all devils have magic that allows us to understand other languages and our own can be understood by everyone." Then she gets close to his ears and whispers. "Except when we, pureblood devils, speak in different tongues, for some reason they don't get processed."
"That is an odd quirk to have." Shirou observed and Rias shrugged.
"Scholars believe that is because Lucifer, the original one, never believed that his creations would bother to speak anything other than our own language. So if we don't speak it then our ability to understand or be understood is lost." She says with a shrug. "My brother said they used to speak French during the civil war to avoid getting their conversations overheard."
After hearing that little bit Shirou smiles and begins to laugh a little with Rias following suit. The Old Satan Faction considered humanity inferior and wouldn't bother to learn from anything for it, that means the little quirk becomes a huge advantage that they could get past if they changed their ideologies a little..
The two laugh at that information for a few moments and Yoruichi was losing the little of her patience she had left. "Do you understand what she is trying to say?" The nekoshou questions him.
Shirou turns towards her, he frowns a little but still nods. "I must be ready to fight if I want peace. I gave them enough chances and if they didn't take them it wasn't my fault because I did what I had to do."
"Take that frown out of your face." Rias says with one of her own. "I bet you thought about that fight more than once didn't you?" He admits so with a nod.
"Have you thought of any other way you could have settled both fights other than how you did it?" At Yoruichi's question he shakes his head. "Then there was nothing to be done. It's a sad fact that the world is full of idiots and most of the time it is necessary to go all out when dealing with their stupidity."
He nods again, accepting the point.
Rias, happy to have helped Shirou with his problem, stands up. "I am happy I could help Shiro. Just remember that you can trust and come to me if you have any problems."
Shirou gets up as well, offering his hand. "You can do the same. 'We are in a pact together', remember? This is a two way street." The redhead devil's smile grows bigger and takes Shirou's hand for a shake.
"And I declare you husband and wife; you may kiss the bride." Yoruichi with a cheeky smile, making both students blush. "Well…what are you two waiting for?"
The two quickly separated. "You shouldn't say things like that, Kuro." Rias chastises the cat only for her to laugh.
"Nyahahaha. What is the problem? You two have a contract, share secrets, have deep meaningful conversations with each other, all you need now is to have some fun below the sheets if you catch my meaning." The cat says in such a way that she left out no chances to misunderstand what she means. "Maybe I'll even show you my true form and join you guys. Wouldn't that be exciting?"
"Kuro please stop." Shirou asks nicely and before Rias can say something else the magic circle of the Gremory clan in the office lets out a light as Akeno returns from her work.
The Queen is smiling as her foot touches the office floor and she sees Shirou, Rias and Yoruichi close to the desk. "Ara, ara~ buchou, I didn't know you were also in the race."
"This is not what it looks like." Rias says with a scared look.
"Really?" Akeno's smile grows bigger."What does it look like? Huuuuuuum~ What do you think, Kuro-san?
"Like two lovers renewing their vows." The cat said immediately, catching the Queen's intentions.
"Kuro…" Shirou says in a tone of warning.
"What? Nothing that I said was a lie." The cat observed.
"We aren't lovers. Besides, it would be improper." Rias says with some anger.
"Oh, improper you say?" Yoruichi smiles and with her tail she points between the two redheads. "Then why are you two doing things that lovers would do? Like holding hands for instance?"
When the two notice that the yokai is correct they quickly step apart. "Fufufu. I think Rias is also interested in Shirou-kun. For some reason that only makes me more excited." The long haired maiden shakes her head. "Makes me wonder who will win."
"Akeno. Stop." Rias is holding herself back and her best friend knows it, she can't resist.
"But Rias, think about how fun it would be; Shirou-kun, the ultimate husband capable of cooking the best meals that anyone ever tasted, receiving you after a long day in the office," be either by the image on her mind or the idea of Shirou serving her food, Rias begins to blush more, "then after that you get a nice massage, spend some time together before going to bed," Akeno is approaching Rias more, her voice becoming just a whisper, "only to find I was there earlier and already had my time with your husband between your sheets."
It didn't matter for the pureblood devil if Akeno was teasing or that Rias allowed the image to invade her head or maybe the fact she was enjoying the image a little more than she should, energy starts to pour out of Rias as she begins to chase a running Akeno. "Get back here! Aaaaaaaaakeeeeeeenooooooo!" Rias jumps at her Queen who is already in the midst of dodging.
King starts to chase Queen, passing by Liz who lifts her book a little to dodge a stray shot. Soon, the two devils are going running through the clubhouse with thunder and destruction pouring out in every corner they pass.
A blushing Shirou turns to Yoruichi. "Did you need to push their buttons that much?" The yokai looks at him right in the eyes with a smile on her face.
"Of course I did. This place was getting too serious for my tastes." Then she turns serious. "Are you better now?"
Shirou shrugs. "Shinji made his choice and I did mine. I will live with it."
Yoruichi made sure to look in his eyes, they have not recovered the same luster he once had but they are still strong and showed the same determination they held previously. "Good. It would be a shame if your eyes lost their edge. I like them like this, strong and ready." She says after a few seconds.
The redhead blushes again and looks to the side, he never forgot the conversation he overheard months ago and most of the time he doesn't know if she is just teasing him or not.
"You know, if you two got together I wouldn't mind sharing." The nekomata says and Shirou can feel his face getting more red, much to her amusement. "Just remember to call me after the first night."
And with that last comment, Shirou decided to go work on the forge for a while to wait for Koneko, the cat laughing while he made his way.
Liz just ignores everything around her while turning her book's page, wishing she had something to bite during the reading.
…..
After the potential tragedy by Shinji's hands, everyone expected that the last few weeks of classes would be calm. Snow is starting to fall in small quantities and soon winter will settle in completely, also marking another break for the students as the year's end is getting closer by the day.
Everyone is calm with the exception of Ryuudou Issei who looks to the sides frantically, his mind still failing to coincide what he saw and what the authority figures told him and every student.
'Many of the windows were open.' He thinks to himself while walking the same hallways he did that day. 'I saw no gas, I hadn't smelled it either.'
Issei enters his classroom, a nervous look on his face. Many of his classmates were already there, including some of his friends who were talking about one thing or another. They know better than to include him in certain kinds of conversations and thanks to his influence, which they call 'nagging', they keep their voices considerably low to not bother other students when talking about something that many may not want to hear.
With them today is another of their classmates, Kiryuu Aika with her messy light brunette hair tied in two braids in each side of her face that helps gives her an cute appearance, her spectacles covering her gold eyes and standing in front of Motohama with her hands on her hips as she is letting out an impish smile while talking with the boy while pointing towards the other members of the Perverted Trio.
'This makes no sense.' Issei keeps thinking about the events of the week before, trying to remember any details he could. 'I saw no type of gas, neither smelled anything similar and yet I could feel my body getting heavier. And the windows were open!' It was the last part he couldn't let go most of all. "Good morning."
Being raised the way he was, Issei still automatically greets his classmates, receiving various degrees of reply as Motohama and Aika stop momentarily to greet him before getting back into their discussion about sizes, the kind of discussion that he would normally interrupt and even stop.
The other two students that were also hearing the debate, which Motohama is losing, noticed that Issei did nothing to end it. Matsuda is actually happy about it and keeps cheering on his friend while Ise looks back at his namesake a little worried.
In the end, the brown haired student decides to talk and maybe help his friend. "Issei?" He calls his black haired counterpart. "Oi, Issei. You alright man?" Ise snaps his fingers a few times in front of his friends eyes and finally he gets a reaction.
"What?" It was subdued and lacking his usual composure. "Something wrong?"
"I should be the one asking that." Ise fully turns, not bothering to hide his concern. "You alright? Usually you would be up in arms about what they are discussing."
"What are they discussing?" Issei takes his mind off his own problems to listen to the two talking.
"Of course size matters. The softness of the breast is what gives some men strength to go on with their day." Was what Motohama said passionately.
"Then you have to agree your dick also needs standards." Aika gives a smirk, knowing that she had him but Motohama stubbornly refuses to agree.
"I...I not even…" Issei doesn't know what to say.
"I know you prefer keeping your opinions." And Ise respects him for it. "But usually you would have already, you know, gotten in the way of our debates." Seeing his friend look at him confused, Ise continues. "I mean, it's our whole thing; we say something 'improper' in your opinion and then you say something about 'what is good and what is not'." The rebel of the two making air quotes with his hands. "At this point it's our routine man and here you are so...quiet. I got a little worried."
Understanding his friend's concern didn't change the fact that Issei is too preoccupied to think about the small things. "I am sorry you are worried...but today I am just not in the mood."
"Why is that?" Ise asks more of curiosity than anything else. "What could possibly get our 'Compass of Morality' concerned to the point he isn't the 'Protector Of The Students Dignity' anymore?"
"Do you have to call me all that?" The upstanding student asks in annoyance.
"Hey, isn't it my fault that is how everyone calls you?" Ise says with a smile. "You should be happy that people recognize you enough to give you a cool name."
"Does this apply to you as well as a member of the 'Perverted Trio'?" Issei points out but Ise looks even happier.
"Of course." He sounds proud of the nickname he shares with his best friends. "We love women and that name is a demonstration of what lies in our hearts. The only name I'll enjoy more is when the masses recognize me as the great 'Harem King'." Issei sweat drops at the passion of his namesake. "But that is neither here nor there. Now do you want to talk about what is bothering you or not?"
It always impresses the blackhaired boy how much his counterpart is proud of his habits and has no shame in pursuing such titles as 'Harem King'. "Fine. But you won't like it." Ise stays silent but the raised eyebrow says what he thought about the warning. "I am thinking about what happened last week."
"Yeah, that sucks." Ise says immediately with a shiver. "To think that stuff happened right in our school too."
Hearing the apprehension and fear in his friend's voice, Issei paused. "Never mind."
"What?" Ise notices that his namesake was closing himself. "No, I mean...if you need to talk about it, we can."
"Let it go Issei, it is clear you are bothered by it too." Hyoudou scowls a little, hearing the other Issei call him by his proper name is a rare occurrence these days when he is upset by something.
"Look, you need to talk about it with someone. Did you talk with your parents?" Ise tries to offer.
"I did but it didn't help." Mostly because what Issei wants to talk about is not the incident itself. "They were shaken by what happened but there is no one to really blame since Matou-san...passed away."
"You knew him right?" The pervert asks, still concerned.
"In passing. We never talked from what I can recall." Ryuudou knew him by reputation as well. From what he can remember Shinji was somewhat of a playboy who got good grades and that was it. "But that is not the problem."
"Then what is?" Ise frowns, trying to figure out what else could be the issue.
"Don't you think that the whole situation was...odd?" Ise doesn't hide his confusion.
"What do you mean?" With a hand on his chin, Issei tries to think of the best way to say what he thinks without alerting anyone.
"That day, I stayed awake for longer than anyone else and I saw nothing that indicated any gas." He speaks in a barely audible whisper. "There were barely any closed windows and the space is just too big for something like that."
"I mean...I don't know." Ise shrugs during his reply. "That is what the police said, right? With some specialist confirming it or something."
"Don't you watch the news?" Issei questions with a little irritation.
"No." Admits Ise. "But I heard my parents talking about it. Am I wrong?"
"Well, no." And Issei didn't want to admit it. "That is what they said but...I saw nothing Ise, nothing. There was no gas or smell or anything."
"I don't know everything about gases or things like that." Ise says, trying to calm his friend. "But, what reason would they have to lie? Wouldn't it be better to just cover up the whole thing?"
"Because someone died." Ryuudou says with a little anger. "How do you cover up something like that? Just talking about it feels wrong."
"I know, I know. Not disagreeing with you man." But not giving much thought to it either. "But we are not the kinds of people that know how that happened or anything like that. Just let it go."
'And that is the problem. I don't want to let it go.' Ryuudou admits on the back of his mind. "Fine." He says to appease his friend.
It has the opposite effect. "You don't want to do it." It wasn't a question, Hyoudou is sure of what he is saying. He nods a little and offers a solution. "Look, I don't know anything about gases and this stuff but I don't know anyone who can help either. If you do know someone like that you could talk to them."
"That...is a good idea." Issei then tries to think of who he knows that could help with his question, closing himself to the world and not noticing when his teacher entered their classroom, offering a minute of mourning for the lost student.
Class continued like normal after that small moment and Issei was not interested in it, trying to think of who could help with his doubts.
'Since I changed schools I didn't have much contact outside of my classroom with other students or members of the staff.' Issei admits to himself, his pursuit to become a member of the student council has so far been met with failure.
Because his attention was directed only to his classmates and the student council, Ryuudou didn't even join a club. Compared to his time in Homurahara, Issei only has rumors and other little things about the other classes. The staff he has access to are only his teachers and the odd secretary or cleaner he met on other days.
'I wish I could talk with Shitori-senpai.' It was a thought that sprungs in his mind from time to time for reasons he himself can't comprehend but with a shake of his head he dismissed it. 'I have no time for that. She is also a busy woman that works constantly for the betterment of the school. She has no time to be bothered by a single student's potentially unfounded concerns.'
Once his mind was reminded of the person he admired, it took a considerable amount of discipline for it to escape just thinking about her. Even then Issei technically correlated the two topics by thinking of other members of the student council and Sona's associates, which brought him to Rias Gremory, the very much known best friend of Shitori Souna and in turn her associates, including an old friend of his.
'Shirou! That is it!' The moment the first class of the day was over Issei got up and rushed to find his old acquaintance, much to the shock of his classmates who were surprised by the sudden exit since there is only a couple of minutes before the next class. 'He is going to help me! Of that I am sure!'
Once Shirou was Issei's best friend, his only real friend in their old school. The two always had a lot in common on their principles and morals and Issei is sure that once he told his friend his concerns then maybe Shirou can help find the answers for his doubts or get him in touch with someone that can, Souna was a personal preference he wouldn't admit..
His steps are fast, not by the rush of waiting to get back before the next teacher but a need to get answers, a need that had him in front of Shirou's class in record time, passing by other students and spotting him talking with his friends. "Shirou." Issei says while stepping into the class.
"Issei? Good morning." Shirou greets his old friend immediately, followed by the others present of which only Rin is properly known by Issei.
"Good morning to you all." Still, there was no reason for the polite student to not salute all of them. "Shirou, I need to talk to you."
The redhead nods. "Okay." But makes no moves to leave while everyone around gives them some space, it wasn't enough for Issei.
"Can it be in a more private setting?" He is happy that his old friend is willing to give him any time of the day but the idea of talking his concern with a whole class around them worried him.
Shirou frowns a little at Issei's request, trying to guess what could possibly make his friend go out of his way to do such a thing. Still, Issei is a good friend of his and the redhead saw no problem. "Then we better go fast, cause the next class is just in a few minutes."
"Hard to have a private conversation around here." Rin observed.
"Not to mention that the teacher is going to be here in a few minutes." Setsuna felt she should say it. "And it is Kuzuki-sensei's class right now. He won't tolerate you two just talking outside." Issei knew that very well, the reputation of the man is of a formidable teacher with a tough but fair attitude.
"Maybe you two can go to another floor?" Kiba suggests. "You will have to be a bit careful if this talk takes too long."
"We can go to the rooftop." Shirou says, stepping out of his desk. "It is a good place for privacy at this time and nobody else is supposed to be there."
"And yet, the two of you are going there." Luvia points out.
Chuckling a little, Shirou places a hand on Issei's shoulder. "Let's go Issei." And the two left the class before the teacher appeared in the hallway.
...
The door of the rooftop opens easily, it is chilly above Kuoh and a little snow can be seen around but not enough to be a bother. Shirou has eaten his lunch in this place pretty much everyday since the change in schools but he has the slightest suspicion that it won't be possible to continue that until the next term.
Issei can remember the few times he came to the rooftop, it was only three times, the times he stumbled upon Shirou and his new group of friends while they had gone to eat. He is happy for his old friend, who like himself didn't have many people to count on in their old school, even his clubmates from kendo sounded like strangers when Shirou talked about them.
"So...what do you need to talk about?" At Shirou's question Issei didn't hesitate to let it all out.
"I think there is some kind of foul play about Shinji's death." Shirou looks at his old friend with wide eyes. 'Good, I have his attention.' Issei felt happy for not being immediately dismissed. "It took longer for me to lose consciousness than everyone else and I managed to drag myself out and to check the other classrooms. For a moment I also thought it was a gas of some kind, people didn't feel down immediately and some were sleepy before passing out so I tried to open the windows only to notice that many of them were already open." He stops for a moment to breathe. "I didn't smell anything, nor saw anything that looked like a gas, if you account for the windows open and the fact that the structure of the campus is just too big for a prank like that to work it just makes no sense. And with all that, Shinji died. The supposed prankster suffocated and died." Issei felt glad he wasn't interrupted and gulped for a moment to recover his bearings. "There is something wrong here Shirou, Shinji wasn't some prankster. He wasn't someone that I would call a friend either and lots of our old classmates have no good things to say about him but I never heard of him pulling a prank in years. Ever! Not to mention the speed that specialists and the authorities rushed to the defence of Kuoh, the school barely stayed closed for a week for god's sake!"
Now Issei really needed to take a pause and breath, his voice getting more and more erratic and loud during the middle of the tirade. He is breathing hard and trying to keep himself standing after he said everything he did.
Shirou stayed silent and he didn't know what to say. In a way, all Issei's concerns are true but he couldn't just explain to his friend the reality and because of that, for the first time in a long while he is dealing with something new that he never had to truly face alone before; indecision.
'What do I do?' Shirou truly has no clue of what to do at this moment, in front of him there is someone with a problem, a problem he has the solution to, that he is the solution. Not saying anything will only harm Issei, of which Shirou is certain. 'What should I do?'
Hypnosis and erasing of memories are the usual answers to these conundrums. Even if Shirou has no skill with that kind of magic he knows more than enough people with such skill.
But he is also the one that killed Shinji, the one that Issei is looking for in a sense and the idea of messing with Issei's suspicions makes Shirou's feel dirty.
Finally, the black haired boy talked again. "Shirou... thanks for listening, I know that I may be sounding a little insane but I needed to put all of that out there. Even if there is nothing."
'But it isn't 'nothing'.' The magus takes a deep breath, indecision is not something he is used to dealing with but he can discard it by focusing on helping his friend. "There is something."
"Huh?" Issei expresses his confusion.
Shirou takes another deep breath. "There is something, you are right." When he saw the relief show up in his friend's face that made Shirou's mind. 'Well, here goes nothing.' He raises a hand and makes a sword appear, Issei falling on his butt out of fear. "Magic is real and things with Shinji got complicated."
The two look at each other for a few minutes, Issei's eyes going to the sword then to Shirou more than once until he finally says. "Magic? As in spells? Curses? That kind of magic?"
"Yes." If it was anyone else saying it Issei wouldn't believe a word, even with proof he would suspect some kind of trick.
But Shirou can't lie and the two have been friends for years. "Why are you telling me this?" Realization came fast to him. "Did Shinji die from magic?"
"It is more complicated than that." Shirou says in a hurry, making Issei's eyes wide in fear, never leaving the blade on his hand. The redhead notices and makes his sword disappear. "Shinji...he did a bad thing. The official report omitted exactly what he did but it was something beyond a mere prank."
"What exactly did Shinji do?" Shirou was happy with the question.
"Like I said, it is complicated." The redhead stops a little to try to think how he will explain magic and the moonlit world to Issei, he never had to explain it to anyone before. "Honestly, I don't even know where to begin on this."
"Try for the basics." Issei suggests, calmer than either of them thought he would be. "How can you use magic?"
"Well, there is this thing called mana…" For the next hour Shirou tried to explain, in the best way he could, what he knew about mana, magic and other beings that existed in the world.
He ended up telling a little of his story, about the fire and magic circuits to explain magicians and that he is a magus. Next he told Issei about spellcasters and sorcerers, everything basic that he knew and would help his friend understand.
Comparisons between TV, games and certain terms of the moonlit world helped, even if Issei wasn't the most attuned to modernity and its comforts, he knew enough that some associations are easy to explain, mana itself was called that even in games and recently he got to play some with his other friends.
"Shitori-senpai is a devil?" The information came much to Issei's shock but Shirou decided it was something he should share with him.
"Yes, but devils are not the same as the ones from old legends. Either way, the reason why she didn't allow you to join is because she is planning to have all the members being only people belonging to her peerage." Shirou divulges a little of Sona's plans, not everything.
"'Peerage'?" And with that question Shirou realizes he has more to explain.
"Basically a group of slaves to the devils." A familiar voice cuts the air before Shirou can say another word. "They are those reincarnated as devils to serve the purebloods."
From the top of the entrance of the rooftop a familiar figure jumps off and lands easily on his feet. "Angelo?" Shirou can say he is surprised. "Is this where you hide when you aren't in class?"
"Why are you so surprised?" The blond comments with a half grin. "You skipping classes is a surprise but considering the crash course you are giving makes sense. Not many bother with this place, especially with the cold."
"Slaves?" Once again Shirou is interrupted, this time by Issei. "What do you mean by that?"
"Simple, the devils are using other races to repopulate." Angelo says before Shirou can utter a word. "They are a foolish race that needs us most of the time, those that accept the deal know no better and are little more than slaves."
"It is more complicated than that and you know it." Shirou quickly replied, glaring at Angelo for a second before turning to Issei. "He is right that devils are using other races to repopulate, I won't deny that. But if you want to know more, it is only fair you ask them, that you ask her." Issei knows exactly who he is talking to. "Let her tell you her side."
"So she can feed him propaganda?" Angelo intercedes fast and Shirou finds his recent confrontational attitude odd.
"You are in a bad mood today." The redhead observed.
"It is cold." Gilgamesh admits. "You are not disagreeing with the propaganda part."
"Technically everything can be propaganda in a way or another." Shirou explains, his eyes not leaving Issei's. "But I trust Issei to be clever enough to separate the facts and make his own decisions. Besides, I think Sona is proud enough to say her true intentions without fear."
"'Sona'?" The name is a surprise for Issei.
"Souna true name is Sona. She changed it to adapt to our society and to disguise herself a little." In reality she didn't need to change either way as Rias didn't and had no problems. "Go to her Issei. You managed to shrug off 'Shinji's attack' without passing out for a while and if Sona tries anything, which I doubt, you will be able to get away and find me. I will help you from there if you need it. But any answers that you want about her, you must find them yourself."
Shirou feels he is cheating a little, he heard from Hyoudou Issei how his friend was apparently attracted by the Sitri heir, or at least very interested in her, and was using it to influence him into getting more information for himself. And the redhead knows Ryuudou Issei well enough that he is sure his friend will want to know.
Emiya is proven right when Issei nods at him. "I will. Thank you Shirou for telling me the truth." WIth that the student offered Angelo a small bow as well before departing.
"My mother used to say that 'men do stupid things either when they are drunk or it is something for a woman' when I was little." Gilgamesh says with a chuckle. "That is the first time I really saw her right about the second part."
"He always wanted to be in the student council," Shirou jumps to his friend's defense, "while he showed interest in Sona, one way or another that is a conversation that needs to happen because he wants to join, devil or not."
"And now, knowing about the moonlit world, he has a real chance." Another chuckle escapes Gilgamesh's lips. "Not that you did that for him."
"I told him what he needed to know." Shirou says fast, too fast in the blond's opinion.
"Yes, you did. But you didn't tell him what he wanted to know in the beginning. 'How Shinji died?'" The descendent of the First Hero steps away a little, going to the metal fence that covers the rooftop. "You deflected and avoided telling him that little piece of information, revealing the truth of the world to him instead."
"One way or another I would need to explain it." Shirou turns, watching the blond's back as he looks at the horizon towards Fuyuki.
"No, you could just have good; 'Shinji did a bad thing and I killed him'. See, no explanation required." Shirou didn't like how Gilgamesh put it.
"You are letting out a lot of context there." The blond just shrugs.
"Only what was unnecessary. Now, depending on how the devil treats young Issei, he may become part of our world or have his memories wiped out." Gilgamesh points out and the magus can't disagree. "All because of your shame."
Shirou glares at the blond's back. "Telling him that I killed Shinji makes no difference if he doesn't know why."
"Oh but it makes all the difference." The man gives Shirou a side glance. "You didn't want to see how he would react once you let that slip." Gilgamesh's words cut the magus deeper than any blade and his eyes were accusing until the red pair turned back to the horizon. "Well, it doesn't matter. You did the right thing in that fight, hesitated a little too much but in the end you got the job done."
Something Gilgamesh said made Shirou irritated. "How do you know I hesitated?" The magus made clear in his tone that depending on the answer he will be very displeased.
"I was watching." Gilgamesh just doesn't care for his tone, he turns his head a little again. "You could have ended that fight much earlier, at any point really if you weren't trying to spare that idiot's life."
"Then why didn't you help?" Shirou completely ignored the second part of what the blond said, he knew it already. "You could have stopped him faster than I did! If you really watched my fight then there was no need for Shinji to die!"
"Or the problem is that you didn't want to kill him?" The question is asked in a smug tone. "Grow up! That brat was turning into a monster and you killing him was the best for everyone."
"Then why didn't you do it?" Shirou demanded to know. "You know he was there, you saw our fight! I bet that the boundary field wasn't even bothering you!"
"No, it wasn't. Such a small thing could never affect me." Gilgamesh turns with a smile but he only receives Shirou's angry glare.
"Then why did you do nothing?" Shirou shouts the question. "You could see him, you could have stopped him. But you chose to do nothing! Why?"
"Because I wanted to see if you would stop him." That made Shirou pause but Gilgamesh continued. "I saw the fight in the gym too. I saw how the boundary field didn't bother you. It was you that I was watching to see if you are really strong enough to be part of the Hero Faction."
"You already had invited me." That only earned the magus a small shrug of the blond's shoulders.
"Being part of the Hero Faction because of your skills is different than it would be because of your power. While the first will have you protected, the second will put you in the middle of the action, helping with our plans."
"That is no excuse." Shirou says in a cold rage. "Not only you could have stopped Shinji, you could have done it before things got too far! Do you know how many could have died?"
"Then it would be your failure." Gilgamesh says frankly. "It was your test, a test of your skill and power. Like every good test there must be consequences for failure and as such," he makes a motion with his arms to show all the Kuoh's grounds, "if you failed, that would have been the consequence and next time you would be stronger, having learned from it."
The anger in Shirou is at a boiling point. "Don't you care for the people here?" He demands to know. "Care for your classmates? The innocents?"
Gilgamesh shrugs again. "I don't care for those people." Shirou clenched fist only gets tighter. "And if those deaths would make you stronger than I would gladly kill them all myself." And he meant every word. "You should be happy. Despite your mistakes you didn't fail, you saved them all, like a hero would do."
Just hearing those words was enough that Shirou was past the point of anger. "'Like a hero'?" There is only fury. "If you doing nothing is what a hero does then 'hero' is just another name for 'evil'."
Gilgamesh loses his smile. "I understand that you may be upset but that trial was for your own good." He lets his arms fall to the side, relaxed. "I don't see what the problem is, no one died except the one that deserved it."
"The problem is that you don't care." Mana starts to pour out in Shirou's hand. "You don't care about the lives you risked or what others had to do to stop Shinji."
Shirou's anger was not just about himself, he can still remember the situation in the gym and how many were hurt and bleeding because of the trap. In his mind he was there again with a controlled teacher attacking his friends left and right while keeping everyone alive in some form of sick torture.
"I can see that you are really frustrated about your test." Gilgamesh says with a smile, two golden portals appear close to his hands as weapons similar to swords fall off and he grabs them. "Why don't we let some of this frustration out?" He offers, getting into position with both blades to the side, raised above his waist.
With no hesitation, Shirou focuses his mana on his eyes for Structural Analysis but his head begins to hurt and he has to cease his efforts as static covers his vision. "What the hell?" Shirou fell to a knee as his mind just couldn't process the weapons.
"I didn't expect you to be able to read these swords, they are not simple Noble Phantasms born from mankind, these are treasures of the gods and some of the best weapons of my great ancestor!" Gilgamesh declares with pride. "Between the treasures of Gilgamesh, only three surpass their resplendor but even then few weapons can be called their equal, for they are Enki, the Sword of the End!"
They are huge swords, as big as Gilgamesh is tall. Shirou can see that they look to be made of gold with the handles made of a black leather of some kind.
Except they aren't made of gold or leather, instead are made of some material that the magus mind is not able to process. The design is also like nothing he ever saw before, each blade is just one sided but the tip is similar to an arrow with curves and other details that no human would be able to properly forge with their hands and an opening instead of a handle that can be used to deflect bigger weapons.
As a blacksmith Shirou can say something about these swords, even if his magic is blocked by something his eyes can still tell that they are sharp, that their edge is a sight to behold and possibly surpasses Muramasa's with considerable ease.
Even if he can't 'read' the swords, he managed to see a light leaving them, an aura that spoke of an energy he never felt before in his life. It was warm but at the same time distant, not like a sun, he can't really feel anything positive being directed at him from it, but still like a star that promised him annihilation.
There is also power, and a lot of it, even if it is dormant. "What is wrong, Shirou? Afraid?" He points one of the huge swords to the redhead. "Have you come to your senses now?"
Instead of replying directly, Shirou just says. "Trace on." Muramasa appears in a second and Shirou feels some comfort in the familiar weight as he positions his sword in front of him defensively.
"Good. Now we can begin." That is the only warning Gilgamesh gave as he charged at Shirou, holding his swords to the sides almost like wings.
The approach of the blond is faster than Kiba and Shirou barely had time to block the first blade, a swing from the right side almost took the magus feet off the floor but still pushed him a couple of steps out of his original position.
Even if the strength of his arm is enough to push Shirou it isn't enough to interrupt his follow up as his other sword begins to move in a swing.
Muramasa position is shifted as Shirou blocks the second half of Enki as well, this time not moving and keeping his balance, something that earned a chuckle from the hero's descendent.
A fast succession of strikes ensues, Shirou moving his sword constantly to block the two huge divine weapons while being unable to avoid stepping back in retreat to try and get distance from the huge swords and failing as Gilgamesh pursues him, keeping his swords moving fast.
The swords keep attacking constantly and it is thanks to the application of Reinforcement the magus has managed to not be hit once. Yet he also is failing on counter attacking, every time he is even beginning to leave his defense there is a sword already on the way to force it up again.
However Shirou knows, just by looking at the smirk on Gilgamesh's face, that his opponent is not taking this seriously at all. If anything the blond is considering everything a game, from their conversation to this mock fight.
Swords clash again as steel manages to hold back the material that looks like gold. The movements are fast and constant until Shirou felt the fence on his back, which almost distracted him.
The redhead repositions his sword in a way to block a possible attack from either side but is shocked to notice that Gilgamesh had stepped back without him noticing, having returned to his original position with a cocky grin. "Come on Shirou! Is that all you got?"
Instead of replying Shirou jumps for a counter attack, going for a stab with his two hands on the sword. The maneuver is made with caution and is easily deflected with both blades.
Just as planned. "Trace on!" Swords begin to fall, none on Shirou's direction but many on Gilgamesh's with his sides and back, trapping the hero's descendent. They are all copies of the wyvern bone sword, one of his best works. He made them in a hurry to finish the fight even if his opponent was much superior.
Gilgamesh is not worried at all; the man never lost his smile once. If anything it grows bigger as golden three portals appear around him, surprising the redhead as they flicker and weapons of many kinds are launched, all pereless and beautiful in many ways.
All of Shirou's swords are easily decimated, as his eyes turn to look at the weapons, swords and spears of all kinds. His shock lasts until a sharp pain hits his chest, even passing the armor as Gilgamesh hits him with a knee on the gut. "The second and main treasure of Gilgamesh, Gate of Babylon! In my vault there are all the treasures that my ancestors gathered for millennia after the First Hero split them." He gives Shirou a cruel smile before backhanding him, the redhead hitting the floor. "Versatile, extremely useful, a weapon and a vault in one, no Noble Phantasm or gods can compete with the Gate of Babylon."
"Is there a point to this?" Shirou asks, slowly getting up, bleeding from his lips.
"The point is you learning something; how out of your league you are without our help." The weapons he used disappear. "One day, we shall have ways to make sure that humanity is equal to even the gods, on that day we shall make all the evil beings disappear." He raises one half of Enki. "With your help, we can reach that goal much faster. The weapons you just saw are barely the surface of the greatness that resides in my vault."
Shirou raises his sword again, this time in a lowered position. "I don't care." Right leg on the front, the magus prepares. "Whatever you have in this vault or whatever, I don't care."
"You don't care now." Gilgamesh points out. "Maybe you will after a little beating." Shirou launches himself and the blond is prepared, blocking the initial slash and countering with his other sword.
Letting his knees go, Shirou lets the strike pass over his head, letting go of Muramasa as well and getting ready to produce another only to be kicked on the side of his head. 'Fast!'
"You are underestimating me! That is a big mistake!" The redhead ignores the taunt, making Muramasa again. "Why aren't you using Caladbolg? Or are you that weak?"
Now it is the blond who attacks and Muramasa once again blocks one half of Enki, the other moving to cut the magus. Shirou can tell it is nothing life threatening but moves his sword to block the sword anyway, repealing the first blade.
But the magus knows he is just being played, Gilgamesh is obviously far stronger than him and he is concerned on why nobody else has shown up so far. Blocking one of the divine swords he says. "Did you put a boundary field?"
The other half of Enki hits Muramasa, breaking the sword. "You finally noticed?" Another kick has Shirou hitting the fence. "Nothing big, just something to stop the mana we emit from escaping the rooftop."
Shirou slowly gets up, holding his chest because of the pain. "You don't have access. How?"
"I didn't touch the fields of the school, just used some old staves to build a small one. It isn't connected to anything other than myself." The man said with pride since his creation isn't connected to the grid and ley line.
"But that means-"
"That I am powering it up all alone." Gilgamesh motions around with Enki. "This is how no one knows that I am here, even the devils can't find me if I don't want to be found."
'Sustaining a boundary field and fighting without any problems? This guy is on a whole other level.' Shirou stands once again, preparing to trace another sword. 'Normal Muramasa won't cut it. I just hope I can reinforce it enough.' He glares at his opponent, circuits ready. "I am the bone of my sword." A new Muramasa appears on his hand. "Steel is my body and fire is my blood."
Muramasa shines in his hands with a deep teal color but presents no changes. "You are really stubborn aren't you?" Shirou ignores him once again, going for a strike to the side which is easily blocked with a single golden blade.
Gilgamesh repels the sword again, doing a little flourish with his own swords as he attacks with the goal of breaking Muramasa again.
With swords as huge as Enki, the descendent needs to be careful. His goal is not to kill Shirou or bring him too much harm and because of that he needs to attack in a certain way.
Using the Enki on his right hand to make a feint he forces Shirou to parry with Muramasa against an overhead slash. Deliberately slow, slow to Gilgamesh but not to most humans, he moves his left hand to break Muramasa again by attacking it from below in a pincer ready for a follow up by moving to kick Shirou again, this time he plans to aim for a leg.
Once Enki slams Muramasa, Gilgamesh can't stop the surprise that appears on his face. "It didn't break?" Exactly what Shirou wanted as he keeps his sword stable and passes below the three weapons to deliver a kick on the hero's descendant chest.
Another actualization of Muramasa's story, a new path lacking the flame that Shirou reached before or the sharpness which the original smith pursued his whole life. Instead of anything done before Emiya chose survivability, for Muramasa to become more durable than the original steel would ever allow and then Reinforce it even further to stand against the divine might of his opponent.
Knowing that the surprise won't last long, maybe a second or two more, Shirou presses his attack with a slash aiming for Gilmagesh's shoulder. Enki intercepts Muramasa but Shirou doesn't stop there, being completely in the offensive for the first time since the fight began as the blond is still recovering from the surprise.
Unfortunately for Shirou, Gilgamesh isn't a novice of battle and while the redhead's gambit payed off because he initiated his counter attack even before his sword surviving, trusting in his skill, that doesn't change the fact that between the two of them it is the older man that is the far stronger fighter.
Recovering his footing and using Enki to stop Shirou's sword in front of him, Gilgamesh gives the redhead a smile. "Impressive. How did you manage to make your sword survive my strength?"
"Reinforcement." Shirou says between his teeth, trying to push the gold swords back to no avail.
"Really? That is hard to believe." Yet the blond knows that Shirou's isn't lying. It is more technical than just that and the only reason it really works is because Shirou creates a copy of Muramasa, the original being a type of 'incomplete' Noble Phantasm but Reinforcement is the basis of its different forms. "But it is not enough!"
And with a push Shirou is on the defensive again. Gilgamesh's attacks are now stronger and every blow felt like it would break Shirou's arms even if not his sword.
Trying to recover initiative, Shirou pushes more mana on Muramasa in enough quantities that the traced Noble Phantasm starts to become unstable and when it hits Enki with enough strength it blows up in a small explosion that Gilgamesh wasn't prepared for but Shirou expected it.
Tracing another Muramasa, Shirou aims for an arm to neutralize the half of the threat before him, Gilgamesh moves faster than before and blocks with one sword delivering a counter with the other and cutting Shirou's torso.
Shirou jumps back, his school uniform reveals his armor which has a huge scratch where Enki had managed to hit with some blood leaving the opening meaning that Shirou's skin still got hit.
"Oh~ an armor? And I don't think I have ever seen such material before." The blond observed with a smile. Then he closes his eyes with a chuckle. "You are a really strong Shirou. With a great skill as a smith and the ability to create Noble Phantasms I am sure you will be a true asset to the Khaos Brigade, to our Hero Faction."
"Sorry, but no. I don't like your guy's style." Both of them knew Shirou was talking about the test but Gilgamesh just chuckles again.
"Let me show you some 'style'." Raising both halves of Enki, Gilgamesh connects them by the handles, making a huge sword. "Now." He spins it to the side as Shirou prepares again, Muramasa at his side. "Try to last a little while if you can. I don't want to kill you by accident," like a blur Gilgamesh is at Shirou's side in a blink of an eye, "but I am too strong sometimes."
Muramasa barely stops the first half of the weapon, now with both hands behind it the strength of blow surpasses anything Liz's ever used on him, only for the weight to disappear as the other half to cut Shirou's arm when Gilgamesh let himself be thrown back.
Realizing defense is not an option against someone that strong, the redhead jumps in pursuit, trying to hit the fingers of his opponent now that the weapon gives him better targets.
But Gilgamesh isn't using his swords for the first time and Enki easily locks blades with Muramasa, red eyes meet amber as the two separate and lock swords again three more times before the blond pushes Shirou's sword away and hits his chest with an elbow before going for a kick on the redhead's legs, making him fall.
Not letting his attention slip, Shirou lets go of his sword with one hand to trace another, to try and stab Gilgamesh's legs only for the new blade to break with a rapid pass of Enki as the golden double sword spins to cut Shirou's leg.
The younger man rolls away his leg bleeding as Gilgamesh pursues him with a smile. The rooftop that had been fixed after Shinji's fight is now getting even more damaged with many holes being made by the divine weapon which isn't bothered by the modern materials, never losing speed as its owner swings it like it was weightless.
Once again, when Shirou had nowhere to run, Gilgamesh stops and jumps back. "Can you stop treating this like a game?" Shirou voices his irritation, either by the whole situation, the fact that he is in a fight on the roof again or that his opponent is just that overwhelmingly strong.
"Believe me, if this wasn't a game, you would already be dead." Gilgamesh replies and the magus knows that he is speaking the truth. "You can't win this fight Shirou, you are already at your limit and I haven't even begun trying."
Taking a deep breath, Shirou prepares again "If you keep playing then I might have a chance." He said with a smile, more to himself than his opponent and Gilgamesh makes a big show of shrugging, a hand holding Enki as the the other just shrugs normally, the sword just a little above his shoulders.
"As you wish. I just don't want to hear your sister complaining if I hurt you too much." The redhead bites back a reaction, instead just holding his sword more firmly.
"If she wants to complain she is going to have to wait until I finish complaining about her joining you guys." That earned him a laugh.
"Hahahaha! True, true." Gilgamesh watches as Shirou starts to circulate around him, one hand with Enki resting on his shoulder as the other stays on his waist. Once Shirou is a little farther from the fence he raises Muramasa again. "You know something, I don't understand why you care that much about that Shinji guy. He was just trash."
"Even then he didn't need to die." The blond rolls his eyes and Shirou takes it as his cue to attack again, fire knives flying from his hand and dispatched by Enki before the flames could even get close.
Shirou traces more knives and throws them again, more mana and fire being used to create huge fireballs that were easily cut apart by Enki again. "I don't know why you are so upset anyway. Your sister isn't that annoying when it comes to killing someone."
Hearing another thing about his sister that Shirou didn't know about manages to make him more upset and he throws a single, overly reinforced knife. It explodes before Enki ever makes contact, creating a wall of flames that Shirou jumps through and Gilgamesh easily blocks the vertical slash.
"Remember that I watched your previous fight." The blond reminds him. "I know you don't care that much about fire." He pushes Muramasa out of the way but Shirou does something that surprises the blonde and punches him.
Gilgamesh is perplexed, feeling Shirou's fist hitting his cheek and getting caught completely off guard. In the moonlit world those that use weapons usually don't fight with their own hands, it was almost a rule and he didn't expect Shirou to weaken his grip on his main sword to deliver a punch.
But the magus didn't just punch him, he forced an opening upon Gilgamesh's guard. With his balance compromised by the surprise and the strong punch Shirou has the opportunity to capitalize, Muramasa moving to cut off the hand holding Enki as another blade is traced to immobilize Gilgamesh's other arm.
But the descent of Gilgamesh is not a weakling, his body may not be equal to the original Gilgamesh but his family took care to make sure their descendents were strong enough to pursue the treasures the original spread while also being able to collect new ones.
None of the lineage of Gilgamesh would ever accept being called weak.
He is a cut above all the humans on the planet with a superior body while his training since childhood to harness his power properly helped him recover enough to notice Shirou's two prong attack, analyse it and quickly come up with a counter.
Enki spins, Gilgamesh's fingers moving fast enough to deflect and block Shirou's attempts to finish the fight, both swords the redhead had made flying from his hands.
The magus knows his attack fails and moves to secure Muramasa and reaches it in a moment before turning around and expecting a counter.
Gilgamesh had barely moved, his hand on his cheek as he smiled. "Looks like I underestimated you as well." He moves Enki with another flourish, his eyes gaining an edge they lacked before. "You are not run of the mill magician who just uses their spells nor are you a sword user who only trusts his weapons. I thank you for reminding me of that." Then he extends his arm, the divine sword curving a little as a shining string starts to run from tip to tip. "Let's kick this up a notch shall we."
When Gilgamesh pulls the string, an arrow made of light appears, its shape like a true arrow but the mana it carried was in a quantity that Shirou could feel surpassed his strongest creations.
Then Gilgamesh fires and Shirou has no time to do anything else but use Muramasa to deflect the shot up, the arrow disappearing after hitting an invisible wall.
"If you want to call for reinforcements I can lower the boundary field." Gilgamesh says, misinterpreting Shirou's actions. "There is no need to risk getting shot for a signal." Another arrow getting ready.
"Hah, I don't need help to fight you." Shirou says with false bravado. "I alone am enough." But the reason was another. 'I can feel the staff that made the boundary field above the entrance of the rooftop but he is only holding back with me. If Yoruichi or Rias showed up I have the feeling he would go all out.'
"Very well!" Whether Gilgamesh realized his intentions or not is irrelevant as the blond's new arrow is ready, a golden circle now in front of the bow, circulating where the arrow is nodged. "Let's see how long you last. Enki!"
The second shot was the same as the first, so was the third, fourth and fifth. Every shot was equal in strength and looked like it didn't cost anything for the blond to shoot. The worst part is that they leave the bow rapidly and keep going while Muramasa moves in the defensive.
Shirou focuses on deflecting the attacks, sending them to the sides or the sky. Just the idea of hitting the ground and hurting someone below scares him a little but he is able to keep going.
After a minute or two Gilgamesh stops shooting and lowers Enki with a smile. "I am surprised. You managed to stop every single one of those shots. Even if your sword is not in the best condition anymore." Shirou's eyes turn to Muramasa and he blinks in disbelief, seeing the damage for the first time after the arrows had begun to fly.
Muramasa, even altered for maximum resistance and durability, is shattered all over. The sword looks like a gust of wind would finish breaking it apart as most of the blade has been lost during the defense.
'The arrows are stronger than the swords. Much stronger.' Something tells Shirou that he shouldn't be surprised, that Angelo was an archer first and foremost.
"Do you understand now Shirou? The distance between the two of us." The blond smiles a gentle smile. "But this doesn't need to be your limit. We found ways to make us, humans, push ourselves beyond our limits." Gilgamesh offers Shirou a hand. "Come with me. Join the Hero Faction! With your skills and the resources we have accumulated we will be able to elevate humanity to new heights! Just think about it; humans, strong and powerful! Surpassing the gods themselves! We will be able to annihilate anyone who crosses our path!"
Shirou heard every word without interrupting, letting go of the remains of Muramasa and making a new one, once again focusing on defense. "Not interested." He gets ready to continue the fight but grows confused as Enki disappears from Gilgamesh's hand.
"You are...truly stubborn my friend." He says with the same smile as before. "Then allow me to change your mind. With the crushing power of the First Hero! The strongest!" On his back, portals of the Gate of Babylon appear once again, more than before as Shirou can count at least ten portals behind Gilgamesh.
This time Shirou has space to pay attention and see that every gate is letting a different weapon appear, aiming in his direction and every single one of them a work of art of great power.
'This weapons...I can't stop them.' Shirou realizes, knowing he can't cover the distance to stop what is going to happen next.
"Can you feel it Shirou? The power of these weapons? The might of the greatest Noble Phantasm? A vault with uncountable treasures and power!" Every word carries gravitas and pride in a level Shirou never heard of in anyone else before. "Admire it! Fear it! For this is the Gate of Babylon!"
All Shirou can see now are flashes of gold but he still reacts, trying to mount a defense with Muramasa as his shield since he knows nothing else he will be able to withstand even a single hit from the weapons ready to jump out.
What scares him the most is that every single one of the treasures before him is a Noble Phantasm and he is about to try and survive them.
Ten flashes of light, ten weapons of great power and Muramasa moves to block, Shirou has only one sword and his skill is not comparable to the might of the Gate of Babylon. With great speed he manages to deflect five, dodging three and is hit on the chest and shoulder by the last two, once again his back hitting the fence that is considerably damaged because of the fight.
Shirou gets up slowly, his body complaining from the pain of the hits but fortunately his armor saved him, it managed to survive the volley of weapons. 'It is like fighting a cannon- No! A bow with the strongest arrows!' The redhead stands again and his blond adversary looks impressed.
"Nice moves." Gilgamesh complements. "You managed to block some and keep yourself in the fight but~" From the gate more weapons start to appear, they are different from the ones before which now remain on the ground and around him but are all Noble Phantasms all the same. "Can you do that again?"
And once again the Gate of Babylon shoots its contents at Shirou who raises Muramasa again, the blade is in better condition then its former counterpart that had faced Enki.
Still it wasn't enough as Shirou is hit again, this time by six of the ten weapons, his left arm and right thigh now have huge cuts to the sides that are now bleeding and his school uniform is little more than rags. The armor managed to protect Shirou's vitals but his body is practically carved in what is left of the fence as he can feel himself reaching his limit.
Gilgamesh crosses his arms. "Hard to believe you are still going." He comments as Shirou manages to get in his own feet, pushing some of the fallen weapons to the side as he takes a step forward. "You know I have better weapons don't you?"
"So...what?" Shirou says with a cock grin as he looks directly at Gilgamesh. "So far...I am not impressed." The blond blinks and then starts to laugh again.
"You are for real? Hahaha! I suppose it is true, compared to Enki or even Caladbolg these weapons must look like metal sticks." Gilgamesh says, still chuckling. "I want to show you my most valuable weapons, some of the greatest treasures in the world." He speaks sincerely. "But I can't! Not until you are on our side." He opens his arms, almost offering a hug. "Join us my friend! What is wrong in becoming one of us? On wanting to elevate humanity? What is wrong in our pursuit? You have no reason to reject my offer! Join us and let's build a better future together!"
Shirou looks at Gilgamesh who remains in his pose, his smile and eyes are honest, his offer true. If Shirou says 'yes', he knows for certain he will be well received, well taken care of and yet he couldn't. "How many?"
"Huh?" Gilgamesh is confused
"How many do you plan to sacrifice?" Shirou's question still confuses the blond so he elaborates. "On your small test, you were willing to risk the lives of the students, of innocents. How many do you plan on sacrificing for your goals?"
"Isn't that obvious?" The hero's descendent asks with a shrug. "However many are necessary."
Shirou already knew that was the answer. "Yeah, no thanks." He says while ignoring the pain on his body and raising his sword, ready to continue the fight.
"What? Why?" Gilgamesh is legitimately confused by the rejection.
"Sorry but any organization that is going to sacrifice people is not one I want to make part of." That just made the blond frustrated.
"Are you for real? You are allied to devils! Their race has sacrificed way more-"
"In the past." Shirou interrupts Gilgamesh, making the blond pause. "They aren't doing that anymore and everyone is given a choice and no one needs to die because of them. Besides, they aren't the ones calling themselves heroes. You are."
"So? Heroes have to make sacrifices too." Gilgamesh points out with a huff.
"I don't care." Shirou replies. "I won't just throw away lives to make myself stronger. I refuse to do that. If you want me to join, give up on sacrificing innocents."
"That…is something I can't do." Gilgamesh says with a frown, the Gate of Babylon closing behind him. "For our goals there are going to be fights and innocents are going to eventually be caught in the crossfire."
"Not if you can figure out a way to take them out of the line of fire." Shirou points out.
"Not that simple." It is all the blond can say as he closes his eyes, a little frustrated. "I suppose I really can't convince you to join. What a pity." He scratches his chin for a second, shrugging again. "Well, nothing I can do."
The weapons summoned from the Gate of Babylon disappear and Shirou stares at him incredulously. "That is it?"
"What? Do you want to continue the fight?" A fight both of them knew he was going to lose. "Besides, I gave it my best shot. It is your sister's turn to try and convince you." He starts to go for the entrance.
"So you are just going to class? After all that?" Shirou can't believe that after a fight like that he is just going to walk away.
"Not to class I am leaving Japan." And now the redhead chin almost leaves his face with how much his mouth was open. "The winter here is just too cold, I don't like it. So I am leaving." Gilgamesh looks directly at Shirou. "Took me some time to decide but since I can't convince you to join then I don't have much reason to stay anyway."
"So after scaring the hell out of everyone, give the teachers more than some headaches and almost pick a fight with the King of Hell, you are just going to leave." Shirou isn't even bothering to hide his disbelief.
"You forgot to complain about the beating you just took." Gilgamesh can't stop himself from saying with a smile. "But yeah, pretty much. I already spent too much time on this little vacation and it's time for me to go."
"Maybe this would be a little more emotional if I wasn't feeling pain all over." Shirou doesn't hold back the snark.
"You are the one that cares for the little things." Gilgamesh says without much care.
"Because I don't just call life 'little'." Was the reply.
"Do as you will." Gilgamesh said in acceptance which got Shirou to chuckle.
"Then we have to agree to disagree." Upon hearing the words of the redhead, Angelo laughs out loud, remembering their first conversation.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Funny, really funny!" After a few moments he looks at Shirou, who is now sitting on the floor, Muramasa having disappeared and his wounds are still bleeding a little. "I hope the next time we see each other it will be as comrades and allies." The redhead didn't react to the blond's words but he was looking back. "Huh. See you around, Faker."
Shirou hears the departure and then he looks at his hands, a copy of EM was already stabbed on his left hand but that didn't help his mood. "So this is how a real defeat feels like." He says to himself out loud.
After thinking for a couple of seconds he knew that there was no other thing to call the events that transpired; in the fight he did no lasting damage while being completely overrun by his opponent's power, even the Noble Phantasms that he was able to see were not much when not used as projectiles for the Gate of Babylon and he was barely able to make Gilgamesh cares for the lives he risked or for the life Shirou himself took.
"It tastes bitter." The redhead chuckles, closing his eyes. His wounds were treated and he felt that he deserved a nap. 'Ah, I forgot to tell the others to get their bentos. Hope they remember it when they pass here.' It was the last thought he could muster before he fell unconscious due to exhaustion.
…
When lunchtime rolled around, Shirou's group of friends found him on the rooftop with a concerned Yoruichi checking his condition and about to transform to take him somewhere more comfortable for him to recover. Fortunately for her disguise everyone arrived just a few seconds after her and they moved quickly to take him to the clubroom, Liz, Rias and Akeno being immediately called in case the school was under attack again, all devils being put on red alert.
In the end there is little to check and investigate, Ryuudou Issei had managed to talk with Sona who called the ORC with some information. The diligent student got the conversation he wanted and he confirmed seeing nothing after he departed while leaving Shirou with only Gilgamesh on the rooftop.
Everyone moved to try and find the blond student to no avail, witnesses said he had gone to school earlier but there are no more signs of the man. Accepting that only Shirou has the answers for what exactly happened, the majority decided to just wait for him to wake up.
Took Shirou a couple of hours to wake up but the moment his eyes open again he recognizes the room. "Is this my personal infirmary?" The redhead asked, noticing that Liz was at his side and immediately sprung to her feet.
"Shirou! Finally you woke up!" But it was Akeno's voice that caught his attention, him lifting himself with his arms to look around.
"What happened?" Rias question. It is only her, Liz and Akeno present.
"Gilgamesh left the school after we had a heated discussion." The comment got the three women just looking at him in silence. "What?"
"Can you elaborate on that?" Akeno gets close to the magus and pinches his arm a little. "I think I just heard you had a fight with one of the most dangerous people in town and you didn't call for help."
"Shirou...why?" Rias whined a little. "Please tell me Akeno isn't right." His silence and the fact he can't meet her eyes is telling and the redhead woman starts to massage the bridge of her nose. "Please at least tell me you didn't start the fight."
"I didn't...technically." Akeno puts a little more strength in her fingers, making Shirou actually wince. "We disagree on some things and he tried to make me join his group by showing his power."
His last comment made the raven haired beauty actually let him go. "He tried to kidnap you?" She asks with a lot of concern.
"More like; demonstrate how strong I could be if I joined them." Shirou wouldn't call that kidnapping since he really couldn't fight it off if it really was. "After that he said he was going to leave Japan."
"So he is gone?" Rias questions with a raised eyebrow and once she got a nod the Gremory can't deny she felt some relief. "Then good riddance, especially after he hurt you. If I was just stronger…" There is a lot of regret in her voice as she looks at the bedridden Shirou.
"But you aren't." Yoruichi points out, entering the room in her cat form and jumping in the bed. "At least now we can call off the searches."
"He could still be around." Akeno points out, receiving a head shaking from Shirou.
"No, he is too prideful." The redhead states the fact. "If he says he is going to leave, then he is going to leave."
"I agree with him." Yoruichi says with a frown. "You also saw him on the talk with Sirzechs, there is no way a man like that would dirt his pride with a lie."
"'The kind of person that stabs you in the front' huh?" Rias mumbles, reminding herself of how Shirou described the man. 'I need to find a way to get stronger. If he decides to come back right now there is nothing I can do.' That got her thinking. "By the way Shirou; did you make some armor?"
"I completely forgot to ask about that." Akeno exclaims with a smile. "It looked like it was made from a very good material, what was left of it."
Shirou frowns but is not surprised. "How much is left?"
"It got ruined." Liz states as she lifts the leftovers of the armor. It was damaged pretty much beyond repair, half of the chest was missing with the protections of the collarbone completely cracked or outright broken.
In every corner Shirou could see it was full of holes with it ripped open in half. "We had no problems taking it off even when Liz said it was supposed to be hard." Rias explains. "The material is quite good, Akeno ended up using brute force to take it out. Sorry if we ruined it."
"It's fine." Shirou says with a smile. "I can make another one, even if Akeno should be able to take it off more easily."
"I should? How?" The Queen questioned but before Shirou answered it he slapped himself on the face.
"I have only shown you how to use Reinforcement to improve things, not alter them." He felt like an idiot for not reminding himself of that before.
"Can we really do that?" Akeno sounds impressed.
"To an extent. Don't expect to just change a door or something like that." Shirou points to the armor. "That material, that I didn't think of a proper name yet, is special and can be easily altered. Magic and mana can do so more easily."
"So she can change magical circles for different results during a spell?" Rias deducts, feeling a little jealous of her friends but shrugging it off. "That is impressive."
"Impressive but shows a weakness to the armor." Yoruichi looks at it for a moment before turning to Shirou. "It is a huge flaw in design if some magic can affect it, even if Reinforcement is a thing that only magi use and most wouldn't think about it."
"I hadn't thought of that…" Shirou admits. "Back to the drawing board I guess." He looks a little depressed about the armor, he was sure he had it ready already. Yoruichi didn't like that look at all..
"Don't be like that. It is still great work, better than any armor I ever saw that wasn't made with some power or needs to be sustained with energy. Or worse, carrying a curse of some kind." She says, speaking the truth.
"She is right, Shiro." Rias looks at the remains of the armor. "If it survived weapons like the Caladbolg that he showed you previously then it is already one of the best armors ever made by default."
"Technically it didn't." Shirou says depressed with a chuckle. "Besides, he didn't use Caladbolg, he used worse." That caught the attention of the women present.
"What...exactly you would classify as worse." Akeno asked nervously.
"Well, there was this dual sword that turned into a bow capable of shooting arrows of light called Enki." Rias looks at Yoruichi after the description, raising an eyebrow to the cat as she shakes her head, neither have ever heard of that weapon before. "Honestly, the scary thing was the Gate of Babylon, that thing can shoot weapons like missiles." Shirou can still feel some places where he was hit, the phantom pain getting worse at the memory. "And that thing has Noble Phantasms inside it. Talk about a cheat code." The redhead had said in good humor, expecting a reply and when he got none he looked to the girls and was shocked to see them looking at him nervously.
"The Gate...It is real." Rias is shivering, Akeno is sweating, her smile looking forced as Yoruichi is looking at him shocked.
"Shirou...was that really the name of his Noble Phantasm?" The nekomata steps forward on the bed, looking him in the eyes. "There is no room for mistakes here. Is that really the name?"
"Yes, he said it was and I am sure he wasn't lying." At Shirou's answers the yokai just looks more nervous. "What is wrong? I know it is powerful but it is just a vault."
"The problem is what lies inside the vault." Akeno says after a second of silence. "Before Gilgamesh's death he spread his treasures throughout the globe, many getting legends of their own. The only exceptions were a couple ones that he considered too powerful and that would, if the legends are true, still be on the vault." She shakes her head, trying to forget her childhood when someone she wanted to forget told her the stories. "King Gilgamesh was said to be able to see the future and if he left some weapon that he considered too dangerous in the vault…" She left the implication up in the air.
"Even if he is powerful, Angelo may not be able to use it." Yoruichi says with optimism but even her still had the thought of the weapon in mind.
"Use what?" Sihrou is just getting more and more curious about what they are talking about.
"Ea, the Sword of Rupture." It was Liz who said it. "A weapon able to destroy the world." Her tone of voice is not different from any other time and she is the only one that looks unaffected by any of the news.
No one said anything else for a while, plans already being made to inform others about the discovery that Shirou made. For if Ea is in the vault then everyone has a reason to fear it.
…
Took a few days for Rias to let Shirou out of the club to go back to his house, snow is already a common occurrence in Fuyuki, marking the real arrival of winter.
Classes were normal for the last few weeks before the break, no major incidents and no disasters. Life returned to normal, even to the citizens of the moonlit world.
Issei never gave Shirou a feed back to what happen when he talked with Sona but he saw the two talking when he passed by a hallway and his old friend looked happy so he just chalked it up as a win and moved on, trusting that Sona is strict enough to herself to do anything wrong to him.
Angelo did as promised and left the school. No sign of the blond was seen later, much to the sadness of many in the archery club that lost their senpai. His revelations still are matters of concern to everyone but without the descendent of Gilgamesh around it was silently agreed that the danger had passed even if no one really believes in that.
And eventually, it came the time for the end of the year break.
Now he is going back to his house, an offer from Rias to go with her to the Underworld on the break in his mind but he is on the fence about that. Not only Shirou feels he is failing on progressing with EM, he needs to work on his armor as well.
He finally met Gasper but was only for a second before the effeminate vampire that likes to dress as a girl, and it shocked him when Koneko explained that, jumped inside a box in the teleportation circle saying that he wasn't ready to meet new people.
Shaking his head Shirou lets out a sigh before turning his head to Liz for a moment. She is normal, looking at the road without a care like the revelation of a possibly 'world destroying weapon' didn't bother her at all.
To be fair to the maid, even Rias said that it is more a legend than anything else. 'After all the world is still here.' Shirou records her saying even if lacked her natural confidence. They also talked about making more armors for the rest of his friends, something he has no problem doing.
What got him a little embarrassed was when he asked for their measurements for potential armors, even Yoruichi jumped in to tease him about it. At least they forgot the dread they felt before and relaxed, if only for that he will take any teasing.
'Work on that later.' Shirou thinks with a red face. 'I will take care of that later, together with some improvements and fixing my armor.'
For the moment he is using the peaceful ride like he used his last few days of classes, sorting out and studying the blueprints of the Noble Phantasms Gilgamesh used. He can understand why the blonde used them, none was really impressive with Muramasa being superior to them all which took away any incentive from using them since he has Muramasa.
Shirou still studied them, their methods of creation, the spells and abilities the weapons have, taking his sweet time to make sure he can understand all the details he can grasp. Already he added some of what he learned to his method of forging and even got some new ideas to alter Muramasa, not only his traced version but the real one as well since it is still technically incomplete.
About the weapons themselves he is absolutely sure he can recreate them if he wants to. But he sees no point when considering that some just cost way more than Muramasa and can do way less.
'I can improve my creations, maybe there is something good among some of them. Who knows? Maybe Angelo gave me the solution to the 'EM' dilemma as a parting gift.' Shirou doubts that but decides to be optimistic.
When they are close to their house they notice that the lights are on. Looking at each other Liz states. "I'm sure I didn't forget them."
"Feeling something on our boundary field?" Shirou immediately asks back.
A second later Liz shakes her head. "No, all good." Yet the lights are on and that is concerning.
Parking the car outside of the garage they exit it and get ready for a fight, Liz takes point, just in case someone did infiltrate their house with Shirou preparing some knives and staying just three paces away from his guardian.
Neither Koneko or Yoruichi are with them, both going to the Underworld and Kyoto respectively to spend the end of the year with family. At this moment there is just the redhead magus and the whitehaired teacher and both are going to be careful about any new threats.
Leysritt looks at him and gives a nod which he replies in kind, both are ready. Raising her foot, the homunculus kicks the door open and both jump inside to see two white haired women watching TV.
"Shirou! Liz! You two broke the door!" Came the observation of Emiya Irisviel, dressed in a brown sweater and a long skirt.
"Mom?" Shirou is extremely surprised and only got even more stumped when he felt himself being tackled to the side by a hug in his waist
"Shiiiiiiiiirou!" Almost screaming in joy is Emiya Illyasviel that is now smothering her younger sibling with her breasts, also in a sweater of purple color and breachers. "I missed you so much! You have no idea how awful it was for your onee-chan to stay away for so long!"
"Illya-sama, let him go!" Exiting the kitchen is Sella, dressed in a long sleeved dress, an apron and with a spatula on hand. "He still has to answer why he hasn't been home for at least since yesterday!"
'Have they got here yesterday? Did they get here together?' Shirou is in a panic as he separates from his sister. "Wait a minute! What is going on? When did you guys get back?"
"Yesterday around the afternoon. We found your sister in the airport and passed through the mall to buy some supplies to throw a surprise party, as your mother called it, but you didn't return from school." Spoke a calm collected, gruff and mature voice, the voice of someone that Shirou could never forget.
Descending from the second floor of their house is that person, a man that is the first face Shirou saw after hell. His black hair, which looks like it needs a haircut, is a little wet which means he just took a shower but he is already properly dressed with a black sweater, of the same style as his wife's, black pants and a small smile with his apparent vacant eyes.
Before Shirou is the man he wanted to speak to for months now. "Dad?" He almost couldn't believe it. They haven't seen each other for so long that he almost forgot how tall his father is or how his favorite colors look to be all black most of the time.
Now he can see more than before, things that he never could pay attention to because of his lack of knowledge he can now see. "Hello Shirou." Emiya Kiritsugu greets him, his smile not reaching his eyes. "How have you been?"
For the first time in more than a year the Emiya family is fully reunited.
…..
