Edit: Hello guys, a little edit from me but not much, welcome after The New Year!
Thanks Lugal Kug-ga in the reviews section for correcting me and telling your thoughts, I edited already a little but its actually pretty hard to change, I'm at least trying to make it plausable. Your words make sense after I thought about it.
Well that's it, I hope you enjoy it!
Interlude: Shirou Emiya
The luminous lamps casting light on the sidewalks and illuminating the streets tended to keep the town from going completely dark, the houses were built in the typical japanese infrastructure and you could tell that this was a town located somewhere in Japan's outskirts.
There were not many roads, as well as cars driving on them, however previously the town was filled with life and laughter of children playing with their grandparents, until now.
An empty town greeted him, rendering it to appear uninhabited. He hoped there was at least someone left.
Now it was nothing more than a deserted town across the mountainside. There was no hope here, and at night the air seemed difficult to breathe, ice cold even.
For even now, it could be seen that the town square showed nothing of living beings, some lamps in the city flickering helplessly or not illuminating anything at all, due to their devastation.
At the very least, it looked as if a tornado had once passed through and ruined everything including the buildings in the process.
An unyielding darkness had set in, and all life had fallen silent, whoever had previously lived in the city would no longer tell a story, and those who had managed to escape and were found began to talk nonsense about dead and were labeled as insane.
And all of that in a spawn of not even a week.
The hooded figure roamed the city looking for possible survivors, his identity not known, the sound of his footsteps echoed with the spat caused by the many puddles of heavy falling rain. A storm was brewing over the town; a normal person would have sought shelter from the relentless wind.
But even then, the man was continuing, the storm didn't bother him, something of this magnitude couldn't affect his resolve.
It was, however, to no avail, even after searching, no trace of magical nature seemed to be nearby. Nonetheless, he carried on in his quest.
The man never returned, his existence remained only in the few who were acquainted with him before.
From the details got, some magus stationed nearby went to investigate the anomaly. It was said by the tourists and nearest neighbortowns that the place was under threat of something terrifying. The local authorities supervised by the Second Owner of this region decided to tone things down among tourists who were too loud about the disappearances. The Magus from a nearby stationing reacted quickly and cleared any traces in people's minds of the incident, refusing to risk exposing the Moonlit World in any way.
The case remained unresolved, a matter was, however, that even if the Second Owner interfered with the minds of anyone who was aware of anything, it didn't mean that they wanted to take part in the investigation, most likely seeking support of Enforcers from the Clock Tower itself.
Soon the Holy Church, alerted to the whole situation, began to interfere faster.
The Holy Church issued an order and a few info-gathering agents from some branch he didn't remember the name of were sent there, none of whom returned.
In other words, the town became something that was quite unheard of for the modern day, a ghost town. To some beings, though, it wasn't particularly interesting phenomenom and they only blinked at the discovery, then moved on to other matters, determining the situation as insufficiently intriguing.
It will still be some time before the Church sends Executors to crack down the probable evils nestled in the area to exterminate it. A branch of Executors dealing with potential Dead Apostles will depart soon only to find nothing.
The wind rocked the trees with relentless intensity enough to kil a person. It didn't matter to him, falling on deaf ears as he tried to sense mana in the air.
In a place unseen to the naked eye, in the foothills, not far from one of the ruins of the old church, an unknown figure kneeled, appearing to be investigating something.
The person watched as day became night, his build indicating a tall man in his early twienties with wide shoulders and considerable musculature. His facial features, on the other hand, suggested an older man because of the already prevalent strands of hair that looked as if they had been subjected to graying or rather turning white. Part of his face was obscured, and his skin coloring was difficult to decide due to the cloak and shawl that hid his lower face as well as most of it. Certainly, the man had already lost the basic signs of youth, the outlines of his face suggested someone who had left his adolescent years.
A part of the arm and shoulder was revealed as he shifted, however, the man possessed something of a skin tone transformation, one could say that the tanned part of the body consumed the man's original skin color, due to the spreading tan patches climbing up the lower arms and a piece of his face.
He was visibly searching for something in the embrace of the night, he looked weary and in search of any clue, his movements seemed slow and heavy, but still, the eyes resembling color of amber eyes were filled with purpose that had to be accomplished. There was no way he could retreat seeing what had happened to the town and its residents, the whole place reeked of death and infused his sense of smell with disgust and repulsion, but he couldn't stop now.
Feeling death in the air, he knew that there was little chance that he would find someone alive, but nevertheless it still existed. If a small chance determines that he can save someone, why wouldn't he try?
In the name of saving those who remain, the man named Shirou Emiya must ensure that someone is still alive.
The trail led toward the old church, while it was no longer in use since the old times, the structure had catacombs to provide shelter.
After Rin told him that a new Dead Apostle had most likely appeared in Japan, there was no way he could ignore it, knowing that it would take some time before the Holy Church or the Clock Tower would respond. He didn't think twice about it, having seen death way too much, he wanted to get there as soon as possible.
Moreover, Japan was his homeland, where his family lived, such as Fuji-nee, it was unacceptable for him to avert his eyes.
Rin told him not to go, warning him of the bad premonition she had, Shirou never saw her like this before, however, considering that a clever genius like Rin could have such concerns about something was quite worrying, but it didn't make him back down, it appears he truly was still that reckless idiot.
And so, ignoring Rin's stern voiced warnings about how he should wait for the Church to take care of it, Shirou set off on his own, with Luvia's help getting a ticket for the fastest plane, which was scheduled to depart a few hours after news of the threat.
As he mused about his past actions. Him and the girl from his high school days and pigtails saw each other less and less often, Shirou at first studied under her as an magus apprentice, but seeing the possible outbreak of civil war in the south, he disobeyed Rin's pleas and eventually left the Clock Tower in an effort to prevent as many casualties as possible. Witnessing the devastation it could bring in Archer's memories, he couldn't allow a repeat of that plight awaiting many lives.
It wasn't wrong to help others.
"You really didn't change at all Shirou, still the same… after all this time."
Recalling her words, Shirou realized that this could be the case.
And yet, at that time, these people wished to be saved, the machinations of the people behind the scenes didn't matter to him. He wouldn't be killed like Archer because he promised Rin that he wouldn't die. That was his promise, she told him that he had started to become more like her servant during The Holy Grail, as she had seen his life while the man was still her servant, he replied that he wasn't going to become like him as long as she was by his side, to which she called it 'Shirou being Shirou', making him chuckle sheepishly.
However, he visited her in the Clock Tower when she was accepted as Zelretch's apprentice, studying second magic.
Shirou personally disliked the Wizard Marshal for his suspicious machinations, yet he considered him to be necessary chaos in everything that was happening in the Clock Tower.
Some time later he got wind of a new Dead Apostle stationed near the town, and that's how he found himself here.
The people of this town deserved no such fate, they hardly needed to tell him to his face for him to know that they needed to be saved.
The Dead Apostles may have been humans or beings who abandoned their previous original traits to become the enemy of humanity.
Unlike their stronger counterparts to whom Shirou had no approach in terms of power, these ones had to prey on human population to survive.
It was an endless struggle that resulted in nothing but needless deaths of innocent people. He knew how many had already died over the years, the Dead Apostles were beings who discarded everything humane, reminding him of how much death they brought.
There is no way he was going to allow that.
His face steeled itself into frown as he neared the place.
Shirou's sense of magical perception through his nose reacted to the sudden increase of prana in the air, the scent definitely led to the damaged building of the old church, as he descended, Shirou noticed the presence of a barrier encasing the whole area.
A bounded field?
While Shirou was only a third-class magus, he could tell this bounded field caused absorption of the Od from anyone who entered with the desire to infiltrate. It also caused those who saw the ruined church to feel the urge to enter the place.
It also served to notify the barrier's creator that an intruder had trespassed, making it so that the information about the individual's intrusion would be delivered to the person immediately.
Perhaps it would have been possible to change the nature of the bounded field or reconfigure its purpose to be different, but of course, but Shirou was no magical genius named Rin Tohsaka, just a mediocre magus at best who could cast almost no spells except for reinforcement, structural analysis or his higher form of projection.
And yet, as he tried to grasp at the deeper nature of the mystery, his eyes narrowed. Usually, he would have no doubt that a superior magus could do something about the bounded field.
However, the very nature of the barrier's creation was completely different to the one Shirou was familiar with, the magic sustaining it just seemed wrong to him, and only after a while did he realize that it was suddenly harder to breathe. There was something alien about it, the sheer amount of condensed prana in the place gave into feeling as if it came from the Age of Gods.
This was frankly speaking, frightening, given that Gaia herself seemed not to notice the anomaly.
The whole area was silent along with Shirou pondering his assessment of the next action.
Was there really much to ponder?
Shirou thought no longer, it was still possible that there were survivors inside, this was no place to hesitate. There was no way he could get inside the bounded field without it negatively affecting him, the action was too risky, but there was little time to have.
His magic circuits readied themselves.
And so, he chanted,
"Trace on."
Projection start.
A certain projection began to form in his mind, first the concept of creation.
The first time he saw the use of the dagger was during the Fifth Holy Gral War, it was used by Caster as her Noble Phantasm in her fight for the Grail. Back then, the he of the past didn't even know that the blade was stored his inner world.
Hypothesizing the basic structure, duplicating materials used, imitating the way it was created, sympathizing with its growth experience, reproducing accumulated years.
He knew the tragic story of the Witch of Betrayal, the Heroic Spirit and her Noble Phantasm, the dagger, and through structural analysis he could also see what materials it was made of.
So the only thing left is to improve every production process and bring the dagger to reality.
The twisted dagger appeared in his hand, the blade itself gave off a feeling of betrayal and discomfort, but these things were of no significance to him.
After all, It was not important of what nature the dagger was, but for what purpose it was used. If the only way to get in is through brute force, so be it.
Shirou brought the Noble Phantasm closer to the bounded field then stabbed the blade into it with a firm thrust. The reaction was different from what he expected, the blade's encounter with the barrier caused a flash of light, making Shirou momentarily blinded.
Well, that was a reaction he didn't expect.
Opening his eyes, Shirou saw that the magic that held Bounded Field together had been dispersed into particles like of breaking glass.
He let go of his projection, making it disperse in blue lights.
Shirou moved on without thinking much about it, the appearance of the old church which seemed sinister from afar only gained in the feeling up close. Personally, Shirou wasn't too fond of churches and the Holy Church, due to the fact that they reminded him of a certain Evil Priest whose smile he remembers to this day.
Anyway, once Shirou saw the door to the church, he noticed how the walls and and floor had cracks in them, the whole structure looked like it was going to collapse from the gale that was raging outside.
The weather forecasted the catastrophe that was coming.
Shirou entered the church, finding himself in the vestibule, the remains of the holy water were smeared with blood, as soon as the doors closed behind him, a foul stench of blood and decaying flesh came from inside the place that would make a normal person nauseous and vomit.
For Shirou, however, it was only a foregone conclusion that he was late and he regreted it. The sight before him put him in great agony that he had failed.
"Ah." He said no more, not because he wouldn't but couldn't.
It was too much.
The Sacred House of God was stained in red.
The church nave had only ruin and rips in its pews, which seemed like something forcefully started tearing them off the floor, and blood that could only be human covered most of the floor's contents, making puddles full of red liquid in the process.
Mutilated limbs and parts of organs lay in pools of blood, unable to do anything beyond looking horryfying.
It gave him a new level of despair, even though he had already fought with the Dead Apostles, this was the first time he had seen a slaughter of this magnitude.
Shirou looked around, his mind blank at everything he had seen and what had been burned into his memory, unconsciously for him, his hand was shaking.
"M-mommy? Where are you?"
His ears picked up a whispering soft voice, belonging to a child.
The lights that illuminated the church hall began to dim, and darkness took the life from the place with every flicker. Shirou missed this, instead focusing on what source the voice was coming from.
"H-Help me."
There was someone pleading him for help, but it sounded wrong to his ears, a sense of wrongness surged through him, something otherworldly hiding in the darkness.
"Hë̷̠͔̻̙̤͙̠́̄̿̋̑̎͆͆̓͋͒̚͠͠͝ͅlp ̴̯͔̦̪̣͌͆͝m̵̮̺̩̩̗͉̳̱͗̂͐͆͆̾̄̌͊̃̕e."
From the sheer stench of blood that intoxicated the room, it was difficult for him to breathe, making everything hazy. Everything was closing on him.
Blind eyes looked at him.
Wha-
"̵̨̣̲̮͖͇̯͛͌̃͌͌F̴͇͇͑̉͝ǡ̶̛̪̳͕͇͕͕̼͍͎̭̫̆̌̎ͅt̵̢̧̰̮̟͔̥̿̌͆ͅͅh̸̙̤͙͍̜̼͖̝͈̩̩̺̼͒́̀̂ȅ̷̼͉͆͗̔̏̐͘͠r̶̖̳͌̎͌̀̄͐̀̚,̶̰͍̣̖̣͔̠̲̳̫͔͊͌͂͋̊͆̈́̄̚ ̷͇̞̜̙̩͎̇̈̏̅̒̀̇̀̈́͛͘͝w̶̧̧̹̗͓̒̊̈͊̈͂̃̇͋̑̈́̚̕͝ḩ̵͉̤͓̮̭̣̥̬̟̮̬̜̎͠͠e̸̛̟̼̽̇̑͆̈̀͐̍͂̀͒̍r̴̡̯̰̤̩̰̗̬̖̚ė̷̢̨̱̜̜̥̦͈͈̭̙͐͑̓̆͆͊̎̐̈́̐̅͒̅͜ ̴̢̥̺̹͚͔͚͖̖̍̌̇́̀͂̌̿a̶͙̰͇͇̙̼̓̂̾̂̔̊̉ͅr̶̢̘͌̈́͋̋̄͠e̷̗̭͛ ̵̻̹͙̲̟̽̂̐̒̄͋̓̍̄̏͠y̷͓̺͔̩͇̝͗̌͛͐̋͗̇̌̌͂̎̚͜͠o̵̧̢͓̠̖̜͈͉̫̮̬͓̪̜̍̾̅̍͑̎̌̍͊̂͌͘͝ų̵̼̞̩͚̱̮͖̤̤̩͔̾̏̀̇̋͘͘̚?̴̯͔̪̑͒̃"̶̡͚̺̼̟͕̖͓̠̜̐̓̅͑̓̕͝
"̵̯̫̟͓͎̟̱͇̪̱̩̫̯͐ͅM̷̢̢͇̝̻͎̦̙̘̍̈́o̶̪̩̹͘ͅm̸̛͖͌̏͗̆̒͐͝m̸̨̜̱̭̠̻̬̖̱̲̺͚͖̽̈́́̅̃̆͝y̷̯͔̏̈́̊͑́́̓̀̃̀͗́̕͠ͅ,̵̠̝̘͆̆̉̄͛̈́̔͑͜͠͝͠͝ͅ ̵̢̛̖̐͌͐̓̾͆̆͐̐̈́̂͘Ï̸̹̟̮'̴̢̡̠͚̱͙̮̻̃̅͒̉͆m̷͓͙̗̳̜̠̬̦̹̃́̐̔͛̽͘͝ ̶̮̆ĥ̶̢̖̜͗e̵̢̛͓͕͈̙͓͉̫̊̊̃͂͑̑́̂̆̒̿͘͠ṝ̸̱̫̺̜̽̉̐̊̄̍͋͘e̷̼̭̙̳͙͚͉̲͕̥͕̲͇͐͑̊͝ͅ.̵͕͓̲͓̜̞͙͍̎͆̓͝
̶̺̖̼̗̘̬̠̐͌͑̾̓͌͊̈́̈̾͒͗̚͠"̶̧̼͚͉̼̪̮̙̪̰̜̈́͛͌̚S̵̨̡̧̞̟͖͖̖̹͈̽̾́̄̾̋̋̉͘a̴̯̹̅̽̎̅̀̈́͗͊͂͋̔̅̕͝v̵̧͚̺͙̪̣͎̩͒͋͒̕͠ę̶̨͖̌̋̔̋̔̚͝ ̵̬͔̮̻͙͓̼̙̖̭̗̙̭͎̐̄̎̾́͋͝m̸̩͖̥͓̳̀͌̎e̶̫͊͗̽̈́̔͘ͅ!̷̱̘̳̞̻̑̓"̷̧̡̛̣̱̘̱̞̎̎́̄́̈́̈́͂̚
"̸̰̭̻͉̩͊͊D̸̰̺͍̞̝͕͛͒̓̌͆͊a̶̢͈̙̟̱̻̫̞̼̰͆̀̈͛̅͆̊̋͘d̴̳͇̞̤̩̽̈́̚!̶̪̖͖͐"̸̨̖̙̻̖̞̹̒̂̑̂͂̔͊
"̸̰̭̻͉̩͊͊D̸̰̺͍̞̝͕͛͒̓̌͆͊a̶̢͈̙̟̱̻̫̞̼̰͆̀̈͛̅͆̊̋͘d̴̳͇̞̤̩̽̈́̚!̶̪̖͖͐"̸̨̖̙̻̖̞̹̒̂̑̂͂̔͊
"̸̭̭̦̖̞͕͉͈̋̋͋͊̐͠ͅH̵̡̜̮̱̠͖̠̹̹͉̦̺͊̈́͜ͅe̸̯̺͕̣̱̯͐̐̈́̐̐ĺ̵̹͓̤̬̰͎̘̬͈̜̐͛͝p̸̨̧̡̼̯͓̝̘͙͚͍̬̒̉́͐͛͝͝ͅ!̵̢̢͈̥̮̖̻̹̥͇̔̊̓̔̂̐̀̚͝ͅ"̸̡̘͙͍̪͓̻̓
R̵̭̜̥̍̆̌̓̌̆̈́̈́̒̋̑̀̽͆̋̀͂͊̋̏̂̚̕͝ͅủ̴̧̲̦̱͔̰̬̫̳̬̄́͘͝n̸̝̻̭̪̭̳͖̲̐,̶̧̢̛̯͍̦̹̻̱̘̞̯͎̰̪͉͚̤̊̌̑̄̎͋̋̌͐̅͗̐͆͒͊͒͐͌̓̔͝ ̴̢̖̝̩͗̚ŕ̵̨̛̪͔̫͚̯͕̲̝̘̓̈́̈͋̽̈́͒͒͊̓́̎͗̓̔̃̌̈͗̿̕͠ư̵̡̠̺̘͖̯͈̲̜͈̲̪̤͇̟͕͇̮̤̥̬̗̿̇̿͐̌̐̍͂͛̋͐̈́͛̊̅͛̇̿̀́̕͠ͅn̶̡̛̪̻̖͇͔̮̦̗̬̞̹̊̾̅̋ͅ,̶̡̫͚͖̫̫͖̼͓̱̬̹͈̭̝̲̮̥̜̋̓͗̍̕͜͜ ̴̘̙̱̱̫̼̘͕̣̦̤̞͕͋̿͊̀̅͛̈͑̀̽̊̿̊̇̆̓͂̊́̕͘͘͝͝r̶̡̟̦̝̺̹̹̲̯̬͍̜̻̞͓̪̥̞̤̞̯̦̿͂́̓͐̽ư̷̰̋̅̿̉̒̉͌͆͂̈̈͗̀̅̅̄́̔̎̅͝͝n̴̢̩̎̀̿̒̏͑̉̄͘̚͝͠,̵̛̰̣͈̮͕͋̓́̇̌̍̋̒̅͐̅͛̆͂͊̍́̃͂͗͝͝ ̷̛̪̼͕̮͇̟̙̞̜̹̥̑́͂̇̃̍̽͋̓̅̕͜͝͝͝R̶̭̬̰̿͂͑̈́͋̋͘U̸̢̧̨͙͈̺̖̣̘̙̹̺̘̝̫̩̓̃̅͗́͂̋͊̈̚͝N̵̡̡̢̮͖̟̭̟̦͕̩̝̳̙̪̿͒͂͑!̷̨̹̫̥̹̪̆͊͛̈̍̅̓̑̎̔̒̋̌̓̉̈́̚͝ ̶̧̢̨̡͈͉͍̺͕̟̜͈̦̉̄͆͋̔̂͂̕͜͜ͅM̷̛̛̯̗̩̱͈̝̘̟̦̯̹̩̈́̄͆͑̃͗̊̇́̌̉̃̽̍̕͜͝Ó̵̡̳͇̐̃̌̓͗̔̑̇͆̂̇̆̐̇̔̅͋͒̐̌͝Ñ̷͚́͋̿̃̐̈́̊̀̔͗̈́́́̕͝S̸̢̛̲͇̱̩̤̪͎͕̯̜̲̲̜͚̜̽̿̓͂̐͒͘͜T̶̨̡̛̘̘̮͖̫̭͕̜̼̬̼̰̪͍͖̐́͑̔͋̔̅̈́̀̓̀̍̅̔͊͗͒̋͐͜͝Ȇ̵̡̨̜̠̞͎̜̟̪̫͈̣̲̮̳̖̮̤̯̘Ř̵̗̥̖̆̈́̒̂̽͝Ṡ̸̪̪̈́̓̑́̆͌̋̌̿̽̓ ̷̨̳͇̳̜̮͖̱̪͉̮̟͓͇̲̓̋ͅA̶̡̧̢̛̞̠̲̠̘̰͍͖̭̬͍̱͕̗͈̟̙͑̍͑͛͌̒́͛͒͂͑̈́̋̌̔̒̕͜͠ͅͅR̴̡̡̧̪̭͎̟̜̹̯̤̖̤̥̮͈̬̻̍̀̒̅̌̍̐͋͋͛̇̿͋̏͜͝͝ͅE̵̢̛̯̪͕̣͕̠͈͖͇̙͍̞̹̻̍̆̏̅̿̔́͑́̊̀͌̚̕͜ͅ ̶̮̃̅͛C̴͔̟̠̓͆͂̍̊́͊͋͂́̓̒̌̂̆̂͋͛̎̐̚͘̚͜͠Ȏ̸̧̟̣̦̰̱͕͍͉̪͔̻̦̹͔̖̯̬̞̅͆͂̓̊͊͂̏̀̀̕͜ͅM̴̨̡̞͎̳͎̦̭͕̣̤̰̩̞̫̜͙̖̪̥̱̩̈́̉̐̏̓́͗͛̀͑̃͐͛̽͊͆͘͘͜͠I̷̢̻̞̘̜̲̼͈̹̜͉͔͖̫̱̮̘̊ͅṄ̵̨͍͈̱͔̫̩͉̟͕̹̠̦̮̣̗̪̲̓͂͂̏͜͠G̵̛̛͈̣̊͒́͑͌̍͒̏̂̏̓̈̏̓̕.̷̢̛͚̻̣̥̺̬͙̮̓̊̍͑̃͋̽͛̃̽͊̉͆͐͆͝ͅ
"Gah."
His body reacted faster, Shirou's back colliding with the floor, followed by him catching his balance with twisting and creating distance between himself and the threat.
What was that?
He recovered from being in a daze and realized that something was playing with his mind, rendering him to near unconscious. Shirou looked at the creature, he couldn't recognize the beast, he had never seen a creature of this type before, the Dead Apostles usually used the dead as familliars to guard the place.
The creature in front of him had blind eyes that promised death, drops of blood poured from its maw between sharp fangs that filled its entire mouth. Its torso was all demorphed and covered in jet-black fur, and its arms were bent in an abnormal way.
Its attack almost reached him if not for his quick reaction. The beast headed for the next strike with angry growl, sharpened claws scratching at the pews, Shirou was sure that if he got hit with them he would be shortened by a limb.
He thought quickly, tracking the weapons he needed, they were beautifully made twin blades, one of them black and the other white, yet having common parts of themselves in eachother. Married swords, Kanshou and Bakuya, which could be perceived as the Ying and Yang for some individuals.
Clang!
The thing made a confused sound as it saw its attempted attack interrupted by a blade appearing in its prey hand. The eyes of the intruder it was attacking seemed to glow for a moment from beneath its hood.
Shirou moved the Kanshou over his head, choking the open maw of the monster that wanted to bite his head off. However, the beast refused to back down, confident in its superiority in raw strength and trying to brute-force itself.
Pushed by its aggression and strained muscles, blue lines began to climb up Shirou's arms, visible only through the movement of the long sleeves of his attire.
The creature suddenly found itself being pushed back, causing its anger to rise with animal instincts taking over, as it began to attack him according to them.
There was no reason to waste strength blocking those, Shirou began to retreat while dodging its slashes, occasionally narrowly avoiding its claws. His face, however, remained unmoved, set in cold expression. This beast had already killed too many, there was no reason for him to hesitate.
He anticipated its next attack after which he thrusted with Bakuya, surprising him because the blade easily passed through the creature's shoulder, making it groan in pain, only stopping momentarily on the hard bone.
Following the severing of its hand, Shirou proceeded to decapitate its head before it had chance to react. The thing's body fell on the blood flowing on the floor with a loud splash, flooding his boots with blood, while its head rolled to the middle of the floor. Its eyes didn't move again, confirming that it was dead.
It was unusually easy.
Three more monsters came out of hiding, their appearances only vaguely differing from the dead abomination before him. The creature may not have been difficult to defeat, but more of them? This could have turned out differently if he reacted rashly. Adding to their supernatural speed and strength, he could barely block the blow while using reinforcement, it was dangerous to allow them more opportunity at injuring him.
They wanted to tear him apart immediately, really not caring about the dead body of their predecessor. Shirou noticed that they started circling him just like wolves do before they were about to pounce on their prey.
One beast roared; the others followed.
The moment they attacked, leaping at him, three traced Black Keys materialized in the air and pinned to their shadows, sending the beasts into a stupor from forcibly stopping their advance and falling to the hard ground.
Shirou planned to move to kill the creatures while they were stunned, but before he could do so he reacted when the unexpected attack came from above, the sharp edge managing to reach him, drawing blood from his shoulder and making a cut on his clothing at the last moment.
There was a fourth one that lurked on the ceiling, Shirou suspected that its claws allowed it to make such an attempt. Normally he would have been able to smell the thing's scent, but the amount of blood stench of it in the air prevented his sense of smell from working properly, limiting him to basic instincts. Still adding the fact that the whole place was filled with Prana, it was difficult to discern differences in the amount of mana in particular spots.
That didn't change the fact that soon the creature also met its end with Shirou intercepting its attack and killing it with slashes in a most efficient way. It stood no chance.
That was at least over, and it appeared there was no sign of more to come, at least in the main part of the church. Shirou gave a sigh of relief, his body relaxing albeit still ready to fend off a sudden attack despite the absence of threat.
Despite all that had happened, the nave of the church was still stained with blood, and the damage had become more apparent given his previous battle. Dead bodies still lay on the ground and he was powerless to do anything about it, resurrecting the dead he couldn't.
He was about to move on in his search but the sudden sound of something meeting the floor was heard, he expected it was simply debris, but it wouldn't hurt to check. The source of the sound came from the sanctuary of the church where there was an altar and something resembling a ceremonial table.
As he approached the altar at first he saw nothing and was about to turn back but heard a slight but nervous breathing, making his eyes widen as he tried not to speed up his step.
"D-Don't hurt me!" A young girl's voice cried out as his amber eyes met the eyes mirroring his.
Right under the ceremony table a young girl was hiding whose age Shirou couldn't quite tell. He noted that she had bruises on her knees and elbows, while her face was dirty from blood, dust and tears. She must have been crying when she was hidden here all alone, while those creatures he encountered lurked in the shadows.
Shirou couldn't possibly leave her, trying as sensitively as he can, he approached the child, kneeling in front of her and making no sudden movements.
"I won't hurt you I promise." He tried to sound convincing, however, it didn't seem to help, the girl was terrified.
"S-Stay away, bad h-hooded man. M-Mom said that speaking to strangers is bad and not move."
Huh, he forgot that he had a hood over his head, that's because it wouldn't do him any good if someone saw him wandering through town, adding to that the storm that was raging outside wasn't quite helpful.
"It's alright." He pulled the hood off his head, then showed his face, "See, I'm not so scary after all. My name is Shirou and I want to help you get out of here, but I need your help to do it." He continued, "You're a strong girl for having waited here for so long."
"Y-You..." Shirou waited patiently for her answer, "You look old."
Shirou sweat–dropped, hearing her answer as he massaged the back of his head.
"I'm… I'm in my twenties." It's not his fault that his hair is turning white, he now imagined Rin laughing at him, ugh, "Can you tell me your name?"
"Ritsuka."
He nodded, "Ritsuka-kun, I need you to jump on my back," He then handed her his shawl, "and for you to cover your eyes with it. I'm not going to lie, it's not pretty here, and I'd rather you not see it for your sake."
"M-Monsters." The girl voiced silently and Shirou immediately realized that she meant the creatures he was fighting. Seeing her frightened at the thought, Shirou quickly responded back, "They're gone, I took care of it, so please don't cry anymore." He tried his best to smile.
"O-Oh, okay." The child visibly relaxed, making Shirou feel similarly because he wasn't good at handling children.
The girl reached out to him, and so he lifted her carefully to avoid hurting her, fearing that the bruises or cuts, or whatever she might have had would open. He put her on his back and felt her put a hug around his neck with a clamp.
Once that was done, he wrapped his shawl around the girl's eyes so that she wouldn't have to see the carnage that had happened here, lest she see someone familiar among the bodies and blood. The whole situation was surely traumatic enough for her already, he thought.
Shirou considered what he should do now, there were still the catacombs of the church to explore, where someone could survive. However, he couldn't take the girl with him, he wouldn't forgive himself if something happened to her. After all, he managed to find someone.
"Hey Mister." He heard a muffled voice from behind, a little girl hugging her face to him, staring at the darkness of his attire, "Are you a hero?"
While contemplating her question, a sudden memory flashed through his eyes, him gazing with Kiritsugu at the shining moon and his promise to become an Ally of Justice. Could he really call himself a hero? He hadn't done anything specific, just saved people when he had sighted the circumstance to do so.
"No, I don't think so." He ultimately replied.
Saving someone was something any person could do, and yet he did it for his own selfish reason to be able to see people smile at being saved. He knew better than that, there was nothing heroic about wishing someone smiling at being saved, because it means someone has to be hurting first.
There was nothing heroic about it.
Like that time when he saw the smile of the man who saved him in the midst of the cursed fire, a tragedy had to happen for him to see that smile, and he was saved then.
But…
It was true that he couldn't deny the fact that the desire to save someone was a double-edged sword, it was still beautiful. Just because something was born from tragedy doesn't mean he can't turn into something good.
This dream, despite being bound by a rose with thorns, was still so beautiful even as it hurt anyone who touched it.
After all this time, he still wished to save someone.
"I love reading about heroes and legends."
"I see, do you know the legend about King of Knights?"
"No, will you tell me mister please?" She asked expectantly, making an adorable expression.
Upon hearing her, Shirou began to tell the story about the King of Knights, obviously leaving out the fact that her gender was wrong written in the history. The girl appeared mesmerized in the story; she enjoyed it immensely, shrugging her off some of the previous negativity.
"This hero sounds amazing!"
"She is." He replied absently, not noticing his mistake, focusing on the fact that someone complimented his former companion was something comforting to him, he hoped that Saber had found peace in Avalon. And now the world still remembers her, and he can see the fascination it inspires.
Thus, the thought made him happy.
"I think you are a hero, Old Mister."
Shirou didn't respond and instead began heading toward the departure with even steps, his eyes scanning the room while the girl played with his hair as she hummed to herself.
He stopped his approach.
There was no word from him, but not for lack of his willingness, but because the room seemed too quiet, it wasn't about possible paranoia here. Earlier, a thunderous storm could be heard from outside, but now there was only dead silence-!
He was too late to intercept the strike.
A sudden wind rushed toward him faster than his eyes could follow.
"You managed to survive, how unexpected indeed." An old raspy voice remarked as if discussing the weather.
It took the girl on his back with surprise as she removed her blindfold. Ritsuka screamed at seeing the individual that appeared, as he was responsible for much suffering of her town.
"Silence child, I do not wish to hear your antics." The bloodlust mixed with magical pressure made Ritsuka faint on his back, with her loosely hanging on his shoulders.
Shirou saw with gritted teeth that he barely managed to avoid a clean cut in half, his chest now had a diagonal cut, blood dripping from it.
He didn't even detect when the person entered the area, his body however reacted, already accustomed to opponents far more faster than him. The person standing in front of him and egzamining him with curiosity couldn't have been human, the man had an unhealthily pale face, but looked relatively normal, however, what made Shirou's hair stand up was the downright unreal amount of mana he sensed from the man's direction, the magnitude of it was certainly superior to most of the people he had met so far, including Servants, perhaps only Medea came close to the quantity he emanated with his mere presence.
The very fact forced Shirou to take one more step back,
The man narrowed his eyes at the sight of the blades that appeared in Shirou's hands with shower of particles, "A magic construct? Creation magic? But you do not appear to be related to divinity. No, it's not that and yet everything points to it. There is something different about your weapons. Tell me stranger, before you die."
"A projection. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm just a third-rate magus, there isn't much spells you can learn from me." Shirou answered briefly, then bit back a guestion, "What happened to the rest of the people in the town? Are they gone? Dead Apostles like you usually stay far away from revealing their location and want to preserve public revelation of mystery."
Personally, the man didn't even resemble or smell like a Dead Apostle; the power he emanated Shirou knew could only be compared to the Dead Apostles Ancestors.
"Dead Apostle?" He tasted the words, "Is that what they call my kind in this world? How intriguing and I used to think I wouldn't learn anything interesting before I leave this place. The people who entered my domain are none of your concern stranger." Warned the man, his voice sounded strange due to the fact that he sounded old and deep with strange accent compared to his young appearance.
The human side that Shirou possessed was repulsed by the very nature of the being, sending genuine shivers that went all over his body, he didn't know what the man was but he was definitely not a Dead Apostle, the way he talked about things fell foreign to his ears, he hadn't heard similar phrases like creation magic in the Clock Tower or in any teachings of mystery.
"Imagine my surprise when I felt that my barrier based on the magic your kind is using was rendered into meaningless work all along. An interesting trick you must have had, to destroy the barrier to the root. Previous magicians or magus as you call yourself; who tried to invade this place met a worse end in which you will find yourself soon as well." His words sounded ominous, his face, however, remained expressionless despite his words, as if they had little meaning, "It was an interesting study learning through parts of their memories, the magic of your world is so fascinating, based on thought and concept, while going back thousands of years, such a pity that it is fading away."
The words were spoken with mingled disappointment, the being lamented the loss of possible study.
"What for are you telling me this exactly?" He inquired after which the unknown being stared at him, perceiving more through him than at, "Dead men do not tell stories, stranger. It won't be long before you perish in this place, you may have avoided a fatal wound once, but there won't be a second time."
The reason why it stopped raining outside became obvious to Shirou due to the being's previous statement, the Pseudo-Dead Apostle standing in front of him knew from the beginning that he had trespassed, and while he was killing its familliars, the mysterious entity re-created the Bounded Field without Shirou knowing about it, due to the mana anomaly prevailing in the place.
Resulting in a renewed isolation of the area from the world, preventing unneeded detection.
The question lingering on his mind remains.
"What are you?" Shirou asked gravely, his blades ready to be deployed.
Strange familliars whose nature was unknown like their maker's, the man's choosing of words about the magecraft of the Moonlit World, mana anomalies in this location and a different kind of Bounded Field that further hid the whole place, this was no Dead Apostle, it was unkown entity that held no desire for others to become even more aware of its presence here and immediately instead of encountering Shirou head on, it busied itself with repairing the barrier he had destroyed.
"You look like you already know the answer, the thing is, I'm not native to this world." He stated, confirming his assumption, "I see that you are closer to the answer than you imagine."
But something was missing in this explanation for Shirou, the very presence of the being should have been known long ago, not necessarily by its residents.
"You… You are not of this world. Just as you are a threat to humanity, you have led the entire town along with its inhabitants into a slaughter that will be remembered in the records of human history. There is no way you will survive." The Will of Humanity should have sent its agents long ago to get rid of the potential threat, Shirou knew how it operated because of his connection to Archer. But why the place wasn't being bombarded by a Counter Guardian then?
Or had Alaya known of this development and did nothing because it knew he was going to cross this being.
Shirou wondered before coming to yet another conclusion that seemed almost unreal.
"You are a Pretender." The name in this case referred not to any class or stand but something else.
"Indeed, you are correct again, stranger."
Somehow this entity had a way of hiding from the World itself.
"Even if, the Counter Force should have exterminated you long ago in such a case." There is no way that someone could escape the eye of Alaya who oversees human history, this being should know that, unless...
"Ah, you mean your kind of the Force of the Planet itself, or Population? No matter, there is nothing they can do, by the time they realize my presence, I will already be out of their influence." He explained self-assured, Shirou concluded that the being pretending to be a man had a way to leave his current predicament, how, he had no idea.
The being looked quite pleased with the course of the conversation, it made it learn wamt to learn more about the planet where it is residing, while it found itself here because of a faulty experiment, it couldn't pass up the chance to learn more about other laws of the world.
However, everything finally comes to an end, "While the conversation with you was fulfilling, it is time for you to leave me stranger, but before that, give me back the young specimen." He commanded, clearly referring to the young girl Shirou found in front of the altar.
"What?" He was confused, "What do you want with her?"
"Do you really think I failed to notice a child hiding all the time in this ruin of poor human faith? Your little speciemen has something interesting about her that I need to examine. Imagine the fact that a standard defined human being of your kind could be torn apart by time and space during a change of dimension, let alone survive in the next one without being rejected by the Will of the Planet and killed by its Beasts.
He continued, "The child has the ability to be able to jump to another dimension without repercussions, something like this housed in an average being should not happen. I will study it and then dissect it down to the molecular level if I have to." His word held no emotion, "Give her up stranger."
The entity, according to Shirou, spoke like those magus fully willing to do anything to get to Root, who have abandoned all principles of morality and could even forsake all their humanity just to continue their research. It honestly disgusted him that someone like this could exist.
He still hasn't fulfilled his promise, he would bring Ritsuka out of here even if he had to defeat the Pretender in front of him.
Seeing the blades ready and in his direction, the being feigned a sigh, "You really want to fight me stranger? For a mere child?"
Just because the opponent was stronger than him, he was expected to let it happen?
There was no response from Shirou, only the determination reflected in his eyes that sealed profound resolve. He stoped, tracing a single rope and tying Ritsuka to his body to avoid endangering her further.
"I see… Then so be it."
The entity appeared before him in a flash, leaving only the wind in its previous position. It thrust its hand toward his abdomen, wanting to get rid of the issue quickly, its fingers transforming into the familiar claws of the beings he had fought before.
Suddenly, an obstacle appeared between the claws and the body of the man it was supposed to finish off, one who was causing potential problems, a standard steel shield that was just reinforced in hurry blocked the fatal blow.
While Shirou found it impossible to match the speed of the entity, he could at least get close to it, the blue lines spread throughout his body, strengthening it, the blood in his veins began to circulate faster.
Confusion of the entity at the appearance of the shield didn't last long, dodging with reinforcement, the next attack of the entity hit the pews of the church nave, creating gaping holes in them, and destroying part of the floor, the force of the impact even ran towards the walls, creating cracks on them.
With it facing in a different direction to have enough time to react, Shirou brought Kanshou and Bakuya to inflict damage, something snapped making a sickening sound, from the hand of the creature that posed as a man protruded a fresh bone, which began to instantly regenerate and stretched momentarily with claws and bone-like spikes forming, which slashed a cut on his cheek, Shirou, however, didn't stop the pace of the offense, the black blade was met with another attack of additional claws that began to form at an alarming rate on the creature.
The blade pierced through all the spikes, cutting them off in one cut and severing the mutant arm. There was disbelief on the entity's emotionless face, it looked like it didn't expect its arm to be cut off so easily.
The mana that Shirou felt earlier from the entity began to erupt, causing him to step carefully as flames began rising from its figure. The fire that seemed possible to create with magecraft began to burn by the walls, creating smoke that started to engluff the entire place, the Bounded Field preventing the smoke from escaping through the windows.
The next level of the Barrier based on mysteries triggered, it began to suck out the Od that Shirou's body was producing, forcing him to retreat, making a distance between himself and the transformed being.
At the rate things were going, he would lose consciousness due to lack of oxygen.
"Trace on."
Archer's bow materialized in his hands, one made from unknown to current humanity materials, Shirou proceeding to take a correct stance.
It was a mistake though.
The entity saw that he was planning something, applying a speed faster than what Shirou experienced the first time he witnessed it, mana exploded around the entity, mixing its combat capabilities with something similar to Mana Burst. There was no time to react when, with his hands still holding the bow, it was too difficult for him to escape, he misjudged the thing's limitations, thinking he had seen its speed cap.
Despite the reinforcement, the amount of force used was too much, causing some of the ribs to crack under the pressure with Shirou collapsed to the ground while coughing up blood.
"Di̵̺̖̍͋̑͝e stran̸̨̨̦̰̲̄̏̂̓͒͊̑͠g̷͆̆͌̎̌̂̌́͘er." The distorted voice spoke, the entity's face grew teeth and widened its humanmouth to form a maw.
The pain could wait, the Black Keys soared towards the entity, which evaded them, thinking of them as an attempted attack, then noticed that it was unable to budge.
Shirou knew, however, that there was little time until it will free itself.
"I am the bone of my sword."
He started the projection needed.
"Trace on."
A twisted dagger appeared in his hand as before, now it came to the complicated part, he had started practicing it since he had seen Archer use it to increase his operating capabilities when using his bow.
Magecraft called Alteration is being used, Shirou changed the properties of the Noble Phantasm, the dagger began to take on a more specific shape he wished for it and its structure began to prolong.
Medea's Noble Phantasm called Rule Breaker, which was used at close range, has become an arrow that can disperse all magic from afar.
It was ready, and so the arrow had been launched, going through the ceremonial painted window as well as the Bounded Field that surrounded the area of the old church with sound of breaking glass second time.
Shirou managed to take another leap in the right direction to get out of here alive.
"STRA̶͌̿̓̎̂̎́N̶̦̞͖͕̄̋̈́́̇̓̄̕͘GER!" The entity in front of him began another transformation, its muscles increased in mass and size, almost twice the size of Shirou's, he shuddered at the thought that it might further amplify the effect. The creature's face no longer resembled a human being, turning into something like a twisted monster that he couldn't quite describe.
Reality began to bend, making Shirou's vision not work properly, the foundation of the old church began to shake along with the walls, dust and debris falling to the floor. The Black Keys he traced were forcefully turned to dust from the pressure imposed on them.
The fight continued and Shirou's heart beat alarmingly as his heart rate increased, minor creatures that he had previously fought began to form from the entity's body along with menacing roars.
The anomalies rushed towards him, blood-like veins began to pulsate on their skin, their essence strengthened by being near the entity.
Shirou kept the combat close, using Archer's fighting style while battling several opponents much stronger than him, with not only one creature but several at a time, his style falling short of the Red Counter Guardian, and it didn't take long before they were able to take a good hit on him.
Shirou had no way to launch a counter-attack, dodging the slashes and attempts at biting off his head as much as he could while simultaneously protecting Ritsuka, numerous cuts appeared on his body, warm blood dripping from them.
He had to somehow tip the scales to his side, the pre-deployed copies of the swords of nameless warrior who preyed on all evil emerged from his inner world, hitting the creatures, which screamed in anguish.
Shirou took advantage of their distraction and sliced through them; after getting job done, he had no time to rest, quickly placing Kanshou and Bakuya in a cross to absorb as much as possible of the force that would otherwise have shattered his bones.
Regaining his momentum, Shirou noticed that the entity wanted to eliminate him in one blow a moment ago, noticing him distracted by the creatures.
Mana began to accumulate dangerously in the jaw of the monstrous entity, from the inside of, what Shirou could guess, was its stomach, momentarily mana levels began to rise and a worrying sort of brightness eminated from it.
Quickly recognizing the threat, Shirou tracked down the low-ranked Defensive Noble Phantasm, causing a shield with unusual patters to appear, the shield met the pure mana ray a moment later, making it heat up.
He jumped away from the spot, reinforcing his legs even more and causing some of his veins to explode, putting him in stinging pain. Shirou saw Noble Phantasm's existence erased, creating a hole in the floor that showed only void.
In order to defeat the being in front of him, Shirou needed something more than nameless weapons, that simply wasn't enough to defeat the foreign being. Trying to catch his breath, his defeat was not an option here.
"Trace on."
The magic circuits in his body begun to work overtime. His last projection, the last card that was to establish the end of this battle.
Judging the concept of creation.
They were cursed spears created by fairies, one able to pierce through all magical constructs and magecraft, while the other had the ability to inflict incurable wounds on the enemy, rendering all healing and regeneration useless.
Hypothesizing the basic structure.
The entity was gone before he could keep up, with it cutting into his shoulder,, Shirou tried to dodge its slashes, signs of distress evident on his face.
Duplicating the composition material.
His Reality Marble allowed him to duplicate materials he couldn't get and that no longer existed.
Imitating the skill of its making.
The process was almost over, yet Shirou coughed up blood, this was one of the few times he tried to track two Noble Phantasm at once, given that they were in their strongest form together.
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.
Two last steps were left, Shirou's face hardened, there is no retreat now.
Reproducing the accumulated years.
It was done.
Excelling every manufacturing process.
The twin married swords that were previously in his hands dissipated, and in their place within Shirou's left hand appeared a golden spear casting a cursed aura, mirrored in his right hand by its red counterpart.
They were conceptual weapons, Gáe Buidhe and Gáe Dearg, also known as Yellow Rose of Mortality and Crimson Rose of Exorcism.
A long time ago, the King of Fairies gave a spear to a knight who would later be recorded in Throne of Heroes as Diarmuid of the Love Spot. His story was laced with the tragedy of love with the bride of another, a woman whose name was Grianne.
Their story described their escape and Darmiud's demise, ending with his battle against a Demon Boar.
Now was the time to act, the entity, paying no attention to the possible threat, allowed Shirou to get close enough to injure it.
The red spear struck true, with the being screaming when it felt that a restriction had been placed on it, numerous swords began to pierce its body along with the newly projected Black Keys, doing their best to prevent any further movement as Shirou inflicted another slashes with the red spear.
The entity, realizing its inability to budge, desperately tried to increase its massive body, forcing the magic in the air to flow through its veins in unheard-of volumes.
"̶̢̢̖͓̝̤͔̠̔̀̍̏W̷͌̍͂͋h̸̎̀͌̾̈̍̋͗a̴̓͐̍t̸̂̐̔̀͑̎͆͝͠?̴͓͓͎̏͂̚"̸̑
The creature understood that it couldn't regenerate, Shirou inflicted deep wounds on it.
"̴̓̍̈́͌͗͌̽̍Ŵ̸̧̠͖̫̟ȟ̴̛̺̭̘̹͕̣̟̺͗̓̐̏̑̀̕ͅą̸͔͓̖͓̹͓̇̾ţ̸̦͆̽̋͗̄͊̑̾͐̊̈́̕͝ ̸̬̌̅̈́̀̾͂͗͊͐̍͋̾̚i̶̻̪̻̩̿̌s̶͖̖̙̗̰̀̾̑ ̷̛̺̙͓͖̱͙̙͉͊̇̃̽̎́̈̂́͐̚̕͜͝ẗ̵̓͋͐̉̆̀͝͝ḩ̵̛̘̠͍̯̯̯̻̔̄͋͆̊̾̓͐̀̉̕i̵̛̘̽̃͋͐̅̔͆̍̌̔ș̴̪̘̪̠̝̺̳̀?̵̰̩̼͛͜"̸̛͚̝͖̻̃̐̇͛̋͑
Such a situation had never happened to it before, and lacking a knowledge of the conceptual weapons, weighed the fact that the human in front of it had managed to injure it even if it kept its strenght hidden.
Shirou knew he wouldn't be able to kill the entity in front of him, but that wasn't his goal from the beginning when he made a cut with the golden spear towards it.
The golden spear swung through the wind and created an opening in concealment momentarily that the being had used to hide its presence from Gaia and Alaya.
"̵̦͇̩̲́̾͘W̴̗͙̰̱̞̠̖̬̭̩̬̬̾͛̅́͐͗͝͝h̶̝͕͔̮̘̜͔͎͍̖̀̈͜ą̸̬̐́̈́̌̚͝͝t̵̢͖̩̭̎̾̿͌͘̚ͅ ̶̧̧̜̞͙̹̪͚̭̩̣̓̒̿̓͑͌̓̄͝͝d̴̬̱̩͈̦̺̈̆͛̓͑͊̇͒̈̈́͠͝i̶̧̛͇̖̟͓̮̮͎͑̀͛̀̐̂͑d̵̨̨̛͈̪̱̭̰̫̩̟͓̰̄͑̍̀̆͂͠ ̶̢̢̩͔͈̣͍͖̺͈̩́̅̒̽͛͜͝y̴͇̓̃́̍̑́̽̽͗̃̀ǫ̷̰̯͎̮̻̜̹̮͛ṵ̷̧̢̨͔̼̝̬͙̬͚͑́͝ ̴̢̧̛̲̤͉͈̟̘͚̼̦̂̈̚͝ḍ̴͓̟̙͈̰̺̬̹̐̓̅̃̈̄̎̅͐̉͘o̴͈̣̫͍̱̣͓̦̘͑̃͛̏̃̎̀̽̒̃̓̕!̶̪͓̭͍̈͂͛̀"̵̦͇̩̲́̾͘
The Will of Humanity has tracked the anomaly, already deploying its Counter Guardians against the threat.
Pressure descended on the town and nearby adjacent towns, every magus and church agent in the area of hundreds of kilometers could sense an unknown malevolent disturbance.
It was now that Shirou felt the true nature of the entity, no, that was the wrong description. The being in front of him could only be called an Alien Beast, his sense of smell allowed him to perceive many distinctions, all of which were foreign to him.
"Agh-!"
Suddenly, he realized he couldn't breathe, reality shifted and Shirou found himself in mid-air without the two Noble Phantasm in his hands, a hand holding him in an iron grip by once again the pale man the entity that had been it before its drastic transformation.
The Beast claiming to be a man held Ritsuka, who had previously been on his back, in his other hand.
"Now you made me angry stranger." There was a genuine scowl on the Alien Beast's face.
These were the last words he heard before the man opened his mouth but no words escaped from it.
"ᚠᛟᚱᛗᚢłᚨ ᛈᛁᛖᚱᚹᛋᛉᚨ: ᛁᚾᚴᚨᚱᚾᚨᚲᛃᚨ"
Abnormal noise seemed to come from every direction, and Shirou heard it inside his head and remained motionless when runic symbols he had never seen began climbing the walls of the entire church.
Then Shirou felt it.
PainPainPainPainPainPainPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINNPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINNPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAIN!
Antagonizing pain attacked his very existence, his whole soul wept as he felt the anguish of having his soul tearing through his being, echoing despair.
Countless blades erupted from his body, which surprised the Beast, causing it to let him go.
Shirou fell to the ground without moving an inch, blood flowed from numerous parts of his body where his blades protruded, it wouldn't be long before he bled out.
"Tell me stranger, was there a point to this?" The Beast asked with raised eyebrow, looking over at the state Shirou was in before continuing, "All of this just to save a single child, and for what? You led your life, was shaped by it, collecting memories as a part of your kind, met people who trusted you, now they will only feel sadness from your departure stranger. Why do you want to help this child, when you can lose everything in the process you worked for? You humans are so confusing."
"Its not wrong… to help others." The blood emerging from his mouth caused him to gag. He looked like a dead person, blood already soaked all his cloathing with cuts all across his body, and he could barely think.
"What a foolish notion, but I think it fits in regard to your person."
Shirou knew that the Beast couldn't understand this. Why would he sacrifice his entire life for a single child, wasn't it already obvious? It was the sacrifice a person had to make to save that child that made it precisely so beautiful.
Ritsuka was innocent in his eyes, the little girl he has come to know didn't deserve such a face, so why would he just watch passively? To save everyone, even those who don't deserve it and make a difference, he must first save those in front of him. Otherwise what meaning does his dream have if he couldn't make the first step?
"I guess it's time then to say goodbye stranger." In front of the Beast, The sphere of flying mana collected from the sacrifice of all the city's residents began to be absorbed, Shirou watched as the collected mana flew into a strange circular device with weird patterns design, after which it closed and made a diffuse static noise.
The device began to shine with myriads of colors that created reflective patterns continuously changing with one another or producing other ones.
Shirou tried to use structural analysis on it, searching for its history, purpose and information.
It was a device for ᛏᚱᚨᚡᛖᛚ, using the means for travel as ᚲᛟᛚᛚᛖᚲᛏᛖᛞ ᛗᚨᚾᚨ ᚠᚱᛟᛗ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛋᚨᚲᚱᛁᚠᛁᚲᛖ ᛏᛟ ᚲᚺᚨᚱᚷᛖ ᛁᛏ ᛖᚾᛟᚢᚷᚺ, was built with ᛖᛖᛁᛏᛖᚾᛟᚢ.
An incomplete analysis came to him, a headache came over. Whatever this device was, the sheer amount of mana stored in it was comparable to that of the Holy Grail.
The device beeped, Shirou suspected that it was already ready for use. The whole church began to shake, and parts of the ceiling began to collapse into ruins, there was not much time left.
"T-Trace…" For a moment he saw white, reminding Shirou that he was about to die. Pain struck through him like a thunder, his magic circuits screaming in protest at the very idea of the action.
The Beast posing as a man picked up the unconscious little girl and brought her closer to something that reminded him of ritual. While the Beast took care of setting up the device, Shirou tried to move his leg, feeling that the leg as well as most of his body had gone numb from blood loss.
"Ugh." It hurt like hell, "Trace…"
There was still a person to be saved, Ritsuka. He cursed Unlimited Blade Works for piercing him with blades, even though he knew it was necessary so that the man wouldn't destroy his soul by incarnating it into void.
"Trace…on."
Barely managing to stand using sheer will, he traced Rule Breaker and approached the being from behind with blades moving inside his body. He was just so tired, his consciousness running out.
Noble Phatasm destroying any magic penetrated the device, making the colors inside it go berserk.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" It was the first time it saw the Alien Beast so angry, throwing Ritsuka outside of the mana gathering.
A moment later, the device and the sphere within it exploded sending out a wave of magic with unknown purpose, engulfing Shirou and Alien Beast in the process.
It was dark and he was floating, Shirou noted as he began to open his... eyes? The place that greeted him was completely different from what he expected. His looked down and took a notice that his body was transparent, and around him was a tunnel of white light, with occasional lines of different colors breaking off.
The Beast wasn't present, but next to him was a Rule Breaker still piercing the device that levitated by his right and created a strange sphere around him, with a strange radiance colliding against it.
Shirou noticed that he felt no pain, his body was no longer pierced by countless blades, was he dead? He hoped not, Rin will find him and kill him again for being so hot-headed in his actions.
He noticed he wasn't staying in one place when the light was heading straight ahead towards, what exactly? He didn't know, however, he was also heading in that direction.
Shirou moved his hand and tried to touch the wave of light, wanting to see if he could do something.
As his hand touched the strange light, Shirou started to see.
A familliar images invaded his mind along with emotions at that time.
A beautiful girl with golden hair standing before him in the moonlight, wearing silver armor with blue accents.
Him fighting in Archer's Reality Marble against the servant.
The destruction of the Holy Grail and his fight with Gilgamesh.
But the longer he held his hand in the light, the more information began to flow into his mind, until finally the images began to diverge.
He saw a sinister Shadow unleash a devastating attack, he who survived only thanks to Archer. Corruption of Saber, Archer's hand transplanted into his. Sakura and All World's Evil.
The him abandoning his ideals to save another.
It was surreal.
Along with them, he also saw different visions, him and Kiritsugu traversing the world and then finding a black-haired girl to sacrifice her to save the world, him using a strange card, magical gir-?
Okay, that was a little too much for his sanity, he stopped and brought his hand back, not noticing some of the light entering his body.
"Huh."
Shirou panicked, only now he saw that the alien device began to crumble into pieces, and the sphere that surrounded him began to fade away. He began to feel the pressure on his very existence, so it was clearly laid out that he was not supposed to be in this place.
The barrier was fading and with it the crushing feeling intensified, he didn't know how long he would last like this, but the end of the tunnel was slowly approaching. However, it will all be for naught if he doesn't survive long enough to reach it.
Shirou needed protection, one that could allow him to survive in this place even as it tried to ensure in his soul disappearing.
"Trace on."
Judging the concept of creation.
It would normally be impossible to project this Noble Phantasm due to its divine origin, however it was different for him.
Hypothesizing the basic structure.
The item he wanted to project accompanied him from the beginning since that night, when Fuyuki was in flames he was forged. The broken man saved him then, the expression on his face full of happiness at finding someone amidst the cursed fire.
Duplicating the composition material.
It was a divine scabbard, representing the distant utopia of her wish for the perfect kingdom, used together with a sword representing humanity's dreams.
Imitating the skill of its making.
It was thanks to this item that he became a sword, going through life as a machine, yet it resulted in him inheriting this beautiful dream.
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.
A young girl with dreams who was forced to take a mantle of King of Britain and tried to live up to her new status. Using her sword and knights to sow prosperity and freedom in her kingdom, while defending her people even when she suffered and didn't understand their feelings.
Reproducing the accumulated years.
The scabbard remained lost during its owner's last battle, found several times in history but again fading in time until it was used to save a boy during the Great Fire of Fuyuki City, with only him being survivor.
Excelling every manufacturing process.
The sheath manifested in his hands, giving Shirou a feeling of comfort and protection with its golden light, he looked at it with nostalgia as if at memory of old.
Avalon, The Everdistant Utopia.
"Avalon."
A barrier glowing with golden light that protected against all harm surrounded him and Shirou knew no more.
In a japanese forest, while a man named Shimada Gorou went jogging in the morning near his house, he found a boy unconscious, bruised and bleeding.
Hello and sorry if there are any mistakes, I will correct them another day!
I practiced writing fights in this part, I hope it wasn't too bad because I've never been good at them.
So, this is interlude on how Shirou found himself in the- you know what, I will tell the next time Shirou will have his POV.
I may have gone a little overboard with this interlude xD So much non canon things related happening!
If you wonder from which route Shirou is this, I can say its like not the worst but not best ending few years after UBW.
See you again, I will take a little break.
Next Chapter: Don't know yet.
