Chapter 8

"You're dead." Shiki said, holding her knife at his neck. Louise's eyes widened, before Shiki hummed, and removed the knife. "Your attacks are too wide and you're putting too much power into them. This isn't a sword. Technique is more important to using a knife properly. Now, again." She said, standing in a stance again.

Shirou sighed, before taking deep breath. He looked back at Shiki, before charging forward, before making more compact slashes. Shiki's eyes narrowed, before parrying one slash and grabbing Shirou's wrist and flipping him over with a throw, before quickly stabbing her knife down next to his head. "You're dead. Again."

She stood up and walked a few steps back. "You're thinking too much. Thoughts will only slow you down. Use your instincts, otherwise you'll just end up a dead piece of meat." Shirou, once again, climbed to his feet. Each time, Louise could see his eyes becoming more and more focused.

"You wish to grow stronger? Then remove those restraints in your head. Remove anything not needed for battle. Think of it like the trigger for your magecraft. A switch to push yourself forward. Everything must become second nature. What doesn't contribute to fighting, remove. To fight monsters, to cut what needs to be cut, to kill what you want to kill, you must become more, or less, than human."

"Touko said your origin is sword, so become a sword. Then, you'll be able to cut down anything you can see." Louise was almost sure she could see a ghost of a smile on her face as Shirou kept coming at her. She remembered Shirou saying that Shiki was like an older sister to him, but she didn't understand.

Though, she could see that Shiki was trying to make him stronger for some reason. She didn't know why, but she could see a motivation in her eyes. 'Perhaps, she was worried he'd die?' She wasn't sure, but she would find out. Shiki seemed important to Shirou, so she wanted to know whatever she could.

The memory began to shimmer, shifting over towards another place. Here, she was watching as Shirou was in his home in Fuyuki. It appeared to be a year or two before the Holy Grail War, judging by Shirou's features. His mother was sitting in his workshop, inspecting a few of his puppets. Shirou was standing nearby looking at the bag he always carried with him.

"Um, are you seriously giving me this?" He asked, with his mom inputting something into a machine that seemed to be used for the puppets. She let out an affirming hum.

"Of course, I worked hard on it. Aoko even went out of her way to help with it, so remember that around Christmas time." She noticed Shirou let out a small amused huff. "Are you still intent on dealing with the Holy Grail with Illyasviel? Remember, this isn't a typical ritual. You'll be dealing with Heroic Spirits. Even my sister would be hard pressed when dealing with one."

Shirou looked towards his mother with a small smile on his face. "Considering what Kiritsugu said, I feel like I have a duty to make sure that the wish doesn't come to fruition. I don't like the idea of facing a heroic spirit, even if I had my own. But, other than my reason, I can't leave Illya to face this alone."

Touko let out a sigh at his words. "I had a feeling you'd say that. I know I won't change your mind, unless I just tied you up until it's over." She said, peering at Shirou from the corner of her eyes. Shirou tensed a bit, before chuckling nervously. "Be careful, Shirou. This time, you won't have a safety net."

Shirou looked at the bag solemnly, before taking a deep breath. "Then, I guess it'll be the best way to show that I'm worthy of my crest. Besides, I'm your son. If I ran away now, I doubt I'd be able to live with myself." He said with a small smile. Touko seemed to be amused at his answer.

"Oh, I didn't realize you felt so pressured to live up to other's expectations." She stopped and looked over towards him. She took of her glasses, her expression being sharper than before. "This will be a battle between mages and their familiars. Do you have it in you to fight as a mage?"

Shirou paused, being still for a moment. "I can do what's necessary. I may not be the strongest or smartest, but I like to think that I was taught well enough to win despite such things. Alice, Aunt Aoko, Kiritsugu, Shiki, and you have prepared me for something like this. I'm not naive enough to believe that I won't have to get my hands dirty."

Touko looked at Shirou for a moment, before blowing out a puff of smoke. "That bag has some interesting functions, which allow it to function as a portable magical workshop, just in case." She then sighed as she stood up and walked over towards Shirou and placed a hand on his head. "It seems you've inherited our stubbornness, so all I can say is be careful."

"Don't do something stupid like getting yourself killed. Use everything at your disposal and win. Understand?" Shirou looked at her in the eyes, before nodding resolutely. She let out an amused huff, before turning and walking back towards the puppets. "Well, I have some time until I have to leave, so we might as well make sure you're as prepared as you think you are."

The memory then began to dissipate, though Louise was disappointed as she wanted to see more of Shirou's interactions with his mother. So far, she hadn't seen much of his interactions with her, though, he did tend to think rather highly of her. Then again, she was similar in a way, even if she didn't talk about her a whole lot.

Though, she was also equally as interested in his aunt. She had only seen the one memory of her and it was enough to catch her interest. It was actually a little funny that Shirou and his family all seemed to dress relatively simple and unassuming. Shirou's only eye-catching feature was his red jacket, which may have been common in his world.

Besides that, his family didn't give off the appearance of powerful mage family. His sister Illya stood out more than he did, but she was a part of a different family, with him being adopted and all. She wondered if his family was odd for that, or if all mages tended to dress like common people.

She was getting off track, she also wanted to see more of Shirou and his servant. While she had a pretty good idea of what their relationship ended up being, she wanted to know what caused it to get that way. The fact she was an assassin was enough to interest her. Shirou didn't really strike her as an assassin type, then again, Shirou never really talked about it.

When she woke up, she noticed that Shirou was just returning from whatever he did in the mornings. She guessed it was some type of training that he did, though she noticed that he looked a bit nervous. A frown made it's way onto her face, as she knew that he rarely ever had that kind of expression.

"Oh, good morning Louise." He said, refocusing and handing her the usual tea he gave her in the mornings. It seemed like whatever was bothering him was gone. 'Strange.' "I thought, I'd apologize for leaving so suddenly and not returning earlier." He said while rubbing the back of his head.

Louise shook her head. "Don't need to hear about it. I already heard a few details from Guiche, Kirche, and a few others about what you were doing yesterday. Your questions by themselves wouldn't raise too much suspicion, but piecing it together wasn't hard Shirou. Though, I'm impressed by how thorough you were."

Shirou actually looked a bit sheepish for a moment. "Ah, well, I was in a rush and I had to be thorough. If Siesta's life would've been better somewhere else, I would've let it be." He said with a small smile.

"Liar." She replied, narrowing her eyes a little, causing Shirou to let out a nervous chuckle. "That might be partially true, and I have no doubt that you would have probably done so, however, I know that you have a strange interest in Siesta." She spoke in an even tone. She felt like she was being pretty accommodating so far, and was willing to overlook what happened when he went to help Siesta, but she wanted to know what was going on.

Shirou looked at her for a moment, before sighing. "I suspected something when I first met her, but I only just found out the truth when I saved her. Siesta possesses magic circuits." Her words caused her eyes to widen. "I'm ninety percent sure of it. Her features and the magic signature I picked up from her all paint the same picture."

"How is that possible? I thought you said that we didn't have magic circuits?" She asked, as she had no clue why that would be the case. Unless Shirou was wrong, which was possible, but she was sure that there would have been more stories of mages like Shirou in the world.

"I honestly have no clue. Her magic signature was more similar to someone from my world, rather than yours. My working theory as of now, is that at some point in time, someone from my world must have somehow ended up here. Chances are, they had circuits and didn't even know it, which may have passed down all the way to Siesta."

"There have been cases of such things happening in my world. Considering her features, it was likely someone from Japan, my homeland. I admit I'm interested in learning more about her family, but also, I wouldn't mind training her to be a mage, if she wanted to. You'd have someone to study with and bounce ideas off of."

Louise was shocked to hear that. From Shirou's words, he wanted to make Siesta his apprentice, but was also thinking about her. Considering his words to her about training her to be a one of a kind mage, it's likely that they'd learn the same things. She wasn't opposed to it, but she didn't really understand it either.

First of all, Shirou wasn't from this world. What would he do if he went home? Take her with him? Then there was the fact that she was a commoner. If she suddenly started using magic, it may cause problems. Rather, it would cause problems. "Are you aware of the consequences of doing that? This could become a big problem Shirou."

"I'm aware. It's not like she'd be learning magic to fight on the front lines. Most mages don't use magecraft for such things anyways. Like I said, it's up to her, but I could teach her magecraft that'd line up perfectly for her. It may even be something inconspicuous. Besides, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Her circuits could be low quality and low in number, it could be pointless."

Louise looked at him with an exasperated face. 'Why didn't you say that earlier? Or why even mention it?' There was also the fact that if he did that, wouldn't that mean he'd spend less time teaching her? More importantly, she had the same feeling she had when Shirou mentioned that he couldn't be in two places at once.

She couldn't think of any other place he would be other than with her during combat, so she was a bit perplexed by that. Then there was the fact that teaching Siesta magecraft would likely take years, so she wasn't sure what his plans were. She figured it could be for the worst case scenario, but even that was a bit far fetched.

She'd probably be more worried about it if she didn't know that Shirou only did things that he thought benefited her. So, it really could have been as simple as having her really study with her. She let out a sigh, she really didn't get him sometimes. She wasn't averse to the idea, but she did know that it could cause problems.

Funnily enough, she wondered why she trusted him so much. He was her familiar, and she had seen many memories, but it was still a bit odd. He was also the same, trusting her with things that she knew he likely wouldn't share with others. A part of her thought it had to do with their connection and how special it was.

She let out a groan, deciding not to worry too much about it. She trusted him. "You know, just do whatever you want then. Just make sure it doesn't cause any problems. Now shoo, while I get dressed." She said, attempting to make her tone sound irritated. Then again, she was a bit frustrated, but not as frustrated as she pretended she was.

Shirou looked at her with a small smile, before nodding. Louise's eye twitched a bit, before shaking her head with a sigh. "Layla?" The small fairy familiar appeared, flying in front of her. Louise couldn't help but still be amazed by the beauty of the terminal. The red eyes and white hair were captivating. She hadn't really inspected it before, so it was quite amazing now that she was looking.

The butterfly puppets then flew around and proceeded to go through the rest of the routine. Louise though, she couldn't help but think that Layla was special. Shirou did mention that puppets could be as realistic as one wished, but this one, while small, was very detailed and looked shockingly human.

She then thought about it for a moment, before realizing that Layla looked similar to Shirou's sister. She couldn't help but think that there had to be a reason behind it. Shirou had told her about familiars from his world, and Layla was obviously more than a puppet, so she knew there might be something she was missing.

'He said he would tell me, but he never got around to it.' She thought to herself, before seeing a small cage being held up by a few of the puppets. She took a hold of it, where Layla then entered with a few of the butterfly familiars. She was confused, before realizing that it was something Shirou said he would make for her. She couldn't help but sigh.

The familiar exhibition, honestly, Shirou understood why that would be such a big event for magic society in this world. Though, seeing something like that in his world was unlikely to ever happen. As it was, no one really saw his puppets or other familiars unless it was absolutely necessary. Partially because it was always extremely difficult to make familiars for him.

The fact he had to spend an entire night just to make Layla was proof of that. Sometimes he wished he had a normal element and origin, if only to have a greater variety of magecraft, but after the Grail War those thoughts vanished, mostly. Still, this world was very different from what he was used to.

The fact that the princess was supposed to attend this event told him how important said event was. He wasn't exactly looking forward to having to show off, since he didn't really enjoy doing that in the first place, but it was important to Louise, so he figured that he'd suck it up this one time.

He let out a small sigh, as this was going to be rather troublesome. He supposed that he did have some swords in his reality marble that he could pass off as some sort of talent. The sword of Sasaki Kojiro was one such weapon. Though, he felt it was a tad disrespectful to use such a technique for something as mundane as a glorified talent contest.

Shirou was actually ready for the classes today, as he enjoyed learning more about the world's magic. Though, when he learned that there wasn't going to be a class for the day, he was a bit disappointed. With the princess on her way to the Academy, the students were given the day to practice with their familiars.

So, he didn't exactly have a lot to do today. The thing was, he didn't really mind it. He had grown to enjoy his time in the new world with Louise. Helping her with her magic and spending time just teaching was fun. Enjoying himself wasn't something he was used to, at least, not like he did now. He wondered if his teachers all enjoyed teaching too.

Louise and him were actually outside of the walls of the academy at the moment. Oddly he hadn't seen Siesta that day, which was a little disappointing. Then again, he wasn't sure of what to say to her. A big part of him was considering keeping his discovery to himself. The world of magecraft wasn't something he'd want to involve her in, then again, this wasn't the same world.

Either way, it wasn't something to jump into carelessly. He would prefer if she stayed in this world and never entered his if she were to learn. 'Besides, I think she'd make a bigger difference here.' He thought to himself, before smiling a bit at the thought of a maid magus. He'd met a good amount like that, most often being more combat oriented than the master they served.

Imagining Siesta being as capable a mage as one of the Einzbern maids was an amusing, if not terrifying, thought. It was something he'd need to talk to her carefully about, as becoming a magus wasn't something one did on a whim. "Shirou! I sure hope you're not zoning out during training."

Louise looked at Shirou with a pout, her eye twitching slightly. Shirou looked at her with a guilty smile, before remembering what they were doing. "Right, sorry, just a lot on my mind. Now, we were going to work on your accuracy and a new spell. I have a few ideas that'll help, especially with your improved wand."

Louise looked down at the wand, inspecting the strange crystalline circuits lined through it. She felt like the wand was a part of herself now. She could feel power pulsating within it, as if responding to her excitement. "First, what we're going to try, is to create a bullet of magical energy. This should help you direct your shot easier, rather than the remote explosion you've been firing."

Louise hummed, "Alright, well what's the first step? I'm assuming this will be different than what I'm used to." Shirou had a faint smile on his face.

"This will be the first step in making a new way of casting by blending our styles together. I've watched your classes and I've studied you and your classmates way of casting, so I have an idea of how to adapt the styles together." Shirou replied, before opening up a small journal he was carrying. "Our goal will be to shoot for triangle class spells, even if it's a simple spell."

"Wait, are you kidding?! I can't even stack elements, how am I going to get to that level before we meet my mother? I understand aiming high, but that's ridiculous." She then let out a frustrated sigh, before seeing Shirou having a playful smirk on his face.

"Oh, I never stated a timeline, but let's aim for what you just said. A sense of urgency always helps." Louise couldn't help but grumble a bit, but Shirou simply continued on. "As for getting you there, you forget that I was taught by some of the most knowledgeable mages in my world. It's simply a matter of trial and error."

"Now, a bit of context is needed for the next part. Pardon my bad explanations, I was taught about this when I was rather young, so bear with me." Louise noticed that Shirou had his glasses on, which weren't there before. 'When did he do that?' "You have the elemental affinity of 'Void', a very rare affinity."

"Okay, we knew that already. Wait, with you saying that, does that mean there are void magicians where you're from?" Louise asked, a bit excited at the thought that there might be a talented mage in his world that shared her element, if only so she would know she had a chance. Shirou hummed for a moment, before shrugging.

"Honestly, no. At least, none that can utilize it like you can. There was one mage around my age, Flat Escardos, he possessed the ether element, or void. Where I'm from, that's what you'd have, though yours is special. Likely because of the differences in our worlds' magic. Your void has the power to interfere with, and in some cases completely destroy, the magical energy of spells."

"I would classify it as anti-magic. We don't know the full extent of it, but I wouldn't be surprised if you were actually one of the most powerful mages here just by virtue of being a void mage. However, according to those notes that I had Layla translate for me, void spells have long casting times, most being five-count spells. We can improve that time, but for now, I want to try something."

Shirou walked over and stood right next to her. Honestly, she was a little embarrassed at how easily he was able to say such things, but she held it in. She couldn't let some praise get to her, she was a noble after all. 'Still, he doesn't need to stand so close.' She sighed, before Shirou rolled up his sleeve. "Watch closely. Trace on." He uttered his incantation to activate his magic circuits.

She didn't understand why he was doing that, since she had seen it many times. 'Unless...is he going to teach me some magic this time?!' Her blood was pumping now, this was exciting. "Connect to crest." 'That's new.' She thought to herself, before seeing a different set of circuits that had a spiral like design appear on his left arm. 'Wait, I saw that before, when he fought Guiche and maybe a dream.'

It was the first time she was seeing it so close. "You called it a magic crest? What's it do exactly?" She asked, with Shirou humming for a moment, before replying to her.

"The simplest way to explain it, is that a magic crest is a collection of circuits passed down through the generations that archive the knowledge of the predecessor. This denotes a mages lineage and can accomplish a few things. I mainly use it to supplement my magic circuits, allowing me a bigger pool of magical energy. However, why I'm showing you now is for another reason."

Shirou then lifted his hand outwards. "The knowledge of spells is loaded into the magic crest, all one has to do is find the spell and execute the process. Even with my handicap of an element and origin, I can use spells loaded within the crest, though the cost is higher and I need to concentrate for spells that go against what I can do, sometimes even with the crest it's impossible. Snap, load."

The last two words spoken caused a simple magic circle to appear in front of Shirou's hand, followed by another circle that had multiple smaller magic circles. The small magic circles then filled. She watched as bullets of magical energy then fired off in succession, causing the magic circles to cycle with each shot, emptying them. The bullets traveled and struck the ground a short distance away, creating small explosions on the ground.

The magic circles then shattered, leaving nothing remaining. "Now, those were bullets of magical energy, a simple spell by all means. I want you to try and recreate that effect. We'll use runes as a basis, which is why I had you study them. Visualizing the spell will help a lot with your magic style."

Louise was still a bit stunned by whatever she just saw. She had seen him summon swords and alter the shape of things, as well as being told about his reinforcement, but this was the first real show of magic from Shirou she had seen. It was amazing actually. "That was amazing. But, how do I do that if I don't even know what it was? Shouldn't that be impossible for me?"

"I'm able to use that because of my crest. It's my aunt's main spell. It's simple process and conversion. You don't have magic circuits, so doing it like me is impossible. However, your wand will allow you to access that process. You'll gather the mana and process it like any other spell with your wand, then convert it and fire the magical energy out of your wand like your firing a gun."

Shirou then paused for a moment, "Wait, do you know what a gun is?" Louise narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm not that sheltered, Shirou. I know what a gun is. The musketeers always carry them with a sword." She replied with a huff. Shirou let out a small chuckle, before smiling at her.

"Right, sorry. Anyways, why don't you give it a shot?" He hummed for a moment. "Be careful, don't push it too much." Louise let out a deep breath, before holding out her wand and concentrating.

Shirou watched as Louise concentrated on her spell, a bit worried about the outcome. Theoretically, it should be be possible for her to do so, but he wasn't 100 percent sure. The way the mages cast spells was by combining the mana from the lesser source, their own natural mana, with the greater source, the world's mana, combining the two and creating magical energy.

This was done with the help of magic circuits. Something that Louise did not currently have. Was there a way to give her magic circuits? 'That would likely be disastrous and likely kill her and damage me, so no. Maybe create a pass between us?' He shook his head, it likely wouldn't work and it would only complicate matters more.

The thing was, Louise and the other people of the world possessed an abnormal amount of mana in their body. They called it willpower, which he supposed made some sense, but it was still weird for him. It flowed through their body, allowing them to manipulate it to cast their spells. This was where their wands came from.

The wand acted as a focus, as well as a magic circuit, allowing them to convert their willpower with the world's mana into magical energy. It was actually amazing. Going off the idea that the wand acted as a magic circuit, Shirou turned her wand into a mystic code that basically made that process easier, along with a few extra features.

One such feature was the reason the wand looked like it had circuits. 'It should allow her to copy a few of my crest's spells, albeit with her void characteristic.' He was in new territory, so he hoped it worked as well as he theorized. He watched as began to utter some spell words, concentrating deeply, before noticing the circuits on the wand begin to light up and pulse.

He saw the magical energy begin to condense at the tip of her wand. He closed his eyes and took off his glasses before opening them and using his mystic eye to analyze the magical energy. Once he saw it, he actually felt a chill go up his spine. "Louise! Fire it off, now!"

It seemed his words surprised her, but she still managed to have the presence of mind to complete process of outputting the energy. A small bullet of ethereal black magical energy fired off. Louise quickly reacted and turned towards him with an angry expression. "Why did you interrupt me?! I was almost..."

Before she could finish, the bullet finally hit a lone tree in the distance. The moment it did, it looked like the bullet expanded, before condensing quickly and exploding. In regards to her usual explosions, this one was three times larger. That was the physical interference aspect of a 'snap' bullet. The thing was, Louise's bullet had a void aspect to it as well.

Even from that distance, a pulse emitted from the explosion that reached their location. His eye and arm both deactivated forcefully, causing Shirou to wince from the pang of discomfort he felt from it. If he had to associate it with something, then it was most like an EMP. The thing was, the bullet wasn't any larger than his own bullets, so it didn't make much sense to him.

"Wow. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that." He said with a sigh. 'Okay, so it is possible for her to do it, but the power is uncontrollable at present.' It was vexing. There was an inaccurate and slightly weak explosion spell, as opposed to an accurate, yet deadly bullet. 'Is she like Aunt Aoko? Can she only destroy things? Great, I sound like my mom.'

"W-what happened?! I didn't put that much into it?! At least, I don't think I did." Louise exclaimed, though the last bit was more of a mutter. Shirou's eyes then widened again, before looking towards the cage on Louise's hip. However, he relaxed when he saw Layla and her butterflies all unbothered by what happened. Though, now that he thought about, his own contract with Louise was unbothered by her spells.

"Uh, it's fine, Louise. This was a test to see if you could do it anyways. In a sense, this was a success. Now, we just need to see if we can lessen that effect a bit." He said with a weak chuckle. He didn't want her accidentally killing someone with it. He would prefer for her to not experience the feeling of taking a life for as long as she could.

"I-I see." She whispered, gripping her wand close to her body. Shirou sighed, he supposed it made sense that would scare her.

"Why don't we try those other spells while we're out here? You know, those ones we found from that research. You translated it right?" He asked, trying to raise her spirits a bit. Thankfully, it seemed to work as her demeanor brightened a bit. Shirou was just surprised that she didn't seem affected by the spell she just shot. Honestly, her reserves were likely very massive.

"Right, I'm sure there's something I can do that isn't just an explosion." She said with a newfound sense of determination. She smiled a bit, before reaching into a pocket on her skirt and pulling out a folded piece of paper. Shirou couldn't help but be amused at her reaction.

She paused for a moment, before looking over him with a somewhat hesitant expression. "Um, Shirou, can I ask you something?" Shirou raised a brow, before nodding to her. Honestly, there wasn't really anything he had to hide from her. "Um, you told me about how familiars are made in your world, so I was wondering about Layla. Is she like them? Because I noticed she looks a lot like your sister."

Shirou paused for a moment, before rubbing the back of his head. "Ah, right, I did say I would tell you. Well, Layla is special, even for a familiar. I suppose to tell you why that it is, I should tell you about why I named her Layla in the first place." He took a deep breath.

"The reason she looks like my sister is quite simple really." Shirou paused, before sitting on the ground and placing his bag down in front of him and taking out a small glass bottle and a small leather case. "It's because Layla was made from the remnants of an Einzbern. This was her final wish, to be able to serve even after she was gone."

Elsewhere, in another world.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Illya asked, looking across from her with an annoyed expression.

"Exactly that, he's gone. He's not dead, but according to a rather annoying source, he's in another world." Rin replied, taking a drink of the tea that was sitting in front of her. Illya's eye twitched.

"How did he end up in another world when he has no access to that magic?" She asked, before taking a deep breath. "Is there any way to retrieve him?" Rin paused, looking at her with closely before sighing.

"I don't know how he ended up there, I wasn't told that. However, I was told of a certain phenomenon that might be able to help in finding him." She said, though Illya could tell that Rin wasn't that excited to share it. However, Illya didn't care, she just wanted to find her brother. 'What's the point of this body if I can't show it off to him?' She internally grumbled to herself.

"Well, what is it? Also, why are you hesitating? Isn't Shirou important to you too?" She asked, noticing Rin's eyes slightly widen, before she coughed into her hand and composed herself. 'Well, that's no fun.'

"Yes, Shirou is my friend and I want to make sure that idiot isn't doing something idiotic like trying to save whatever world he's in." Illya hummed to herself. That did sound like something her brother would do. 'Always involving himself in other people's problems.' "However, in order to reach said phenomenon we'll need help from a rather annoying person."

"An 'annoying person'? Please, who could possibly be that ba..." She stopped herself, before thinking about it for a moment. There were a few people who would willingly go out of there way to help Shirou. From Rin's words, they had to reach something, meaning a specific mode of transportation. Which meant money and connections. Which meant... "No..."

From the look on Rin's face, Illya could tell she hit the nail on the proverbial head. Illya could only groan before deciding that sometimes, one must make sacrifices for the greater good. "Yes, so..." Rin began, however, Illya wasn't her father or Shirou. Just because a sacrifice had to be made, didn't mean she had to do the sacrificing.

"Balance the scales." She said quickly, causing Rin to pause. "I saved you once." Rin's eyes widened, before her face reddened.

"That was two years ago! And Shirou's the one who saved me, not you!" However, Illya only smirked at her words. One didn't spend time around the Aozaki's without picking up how to be petty. This was battle belonged to Illya. So, Rin would be the one to have to approach Edelfelt. With this, she was one step closer to getting Shirou back.

And finished. Sorry this took so long. Been dealing with personal stuff that couldn't be avoided. However, it shouldn't happen again. At least I hope it doesn't. Also been writing a few one shots just for creative purposes. Anyways, I know I was going to move onto Louise and Shirou doing stuff like dealing with the thief and meeting her parents, but I wanted to add a bit more before that. It's coming, promise. Hopefully it'll be worth the wait, Shirou meeting Louise's mom? One of the strongest mages in that world? It's sure to be exciting. Also, I'll be adding in the musketeers earlier than canon, because why wouldn't some be guarding the princess? Plus, I just like Agnes. Shirou will also be meeting Louise's "Fiance" soon. It's kind of tough, because I don't want to make it the exact same as canon, but there are certain things that will happen that can't be avoided. One thing is Shirou and Louise's relationship, which I want to try and build up in way that makes sense. The same for Siesta, who's going to be a bigger part going forward. I'll also be fleshing out Shirou's relationship with the other characters, like Kirche and Tabitha. They haven't been shown much, but that'll change since Shirou's going to be more in the spotlight as the story goes on. Princess Henrietta will show up next chapter during the Familiar Exhibition. Also, Derf, he was left out this chapter, but he'll be there more since Shirou will carry him everywhere like Saito. Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I appreciate the support and the reviews, they really help out a bunch, so thanks. If you have questions, feel free to ask. Thanks for reading and, as always, until next time.

P.S. The Reading Chapter for the Lost Hero of Chaldea will be out soon. I forgot how long those chapters are, so it takes a lot to go back through it. I also wanted to add some things in to make it more fun. So, that's coming.