Chapter 7: Eclipsed
After processing what was asked for a few moments, it proceeds to ignore me. Turning to face the sword, it wraps its hands around it, though compared to the young boy I once saw Arthur as, they seem unsteady.
Both of the women turn to follow his initial gaze, but by that point, I've already moved out of view again. The smaller girl keeps an eye out after this, making my job harder. But the taller one seems much more invested in the moment. No one could hear my gun shot because of how loud it was.
"I still can't believe you had the real Caliburn." The person who I can only assume to be Cahya grins with all teeth as she watches the Knight try to pull the sword. As if the entire land itself holds its breath, the blade is dragged out of the ground by the Knight, with the sound of metal slicing through stone.
A twitch on the face of the violet-haired girl in the heavy armor twitches even as she tries to ignore the other. As if in time with the pulling of the sword, the sky above roars with wind so heavy that it shakes and bends the surrounding trees. Both the armoured girl and I drop to one knee, but the wind flattens Cahya to the ground and makes her twitch as she lays there. The groans of the surrounding trees are the only sounds we can hear, drowning out all others.
Up above is most awe-inspiring. The knight stands unmoved as it looks up to face the same thing we were all looking at. The spiraling storm up above was forming into a gigantic tornado, landing right near our location!
With a groan, I force myself to my feet. Looking towards where the other two people I saw are, I see them not moving to get away at all. My eyes widen, looking back up and moving before I think it through. Next thing I know, I moved faster than I remember ever doing before, picking up the collapsed body of Cahya before making my way to the other younger girl. Her skin burns to the touch, and steam rises from her body as the sweat evaporates almost instantly.
Having recovered, the violet girl stands across from me. Brandishing a simple, if beautiful, black straight sword that seems to suck in the surrounding light. Made for efficiency, with a color like that, it's meant to symbolize something. This was the sort of weapon wielded by someone who held themselves with the bearing of a knight but saw themselves as not having the same honors.
Dressing like a black knight, but showing your identity... how strange. It was like declaring oneself as the villainous role on purpose.
She frowns at me as she points the weapon in my direction in a clear warning. She mouths something that I can't make out and motions her head as if for me to move away. Scowling, I make to keep moving to get out of the way of the tornado and find some shelter to help save this person and then come back to the other girl.
"You run too!" I motion my head for her to move too, but my words are lost in the wind as she scowls back at me. We have a stare off before I turn around and start running, losing track of those behind me. Trees fly past as I hold the woman over my shoulder. Trying to keep her secured on my slight frame without dropping her wastes precious time. But by the point I got far enough near the edge, I was too late. A large tornado had descended around us, cutting us off from the outside.
We were in the storm's eye.
The edges of the tornado stayed stable at the edge of what I could see, but raged fiercely. Sighing to myself, the lack of sound was the first thing that I could tell. My ears still rang from how loud it was, but now I couldn't hear anything at all, like all sounds had been sucked out of the area.
Looking down at the woman I was holding, she looked feverish and her eyes were unfocused. Laying her down next to a tree, I take one of the dead branches on the ground, reinforced them and changed their shape. Lifting her shirt enough to put it over her head to block her vision and hogtie her with the wood so she wouldn't be able to move. I dust off my hands. I don't think this is what Kiritsugu had meant about capturing people for interrogation, but wood was all I had.
Maybe I should get something like handcuffs?
Pausing briefly to survey the surroundings, the initial sight that catches my attention is the movement of lights weaving through the trees. I grab hold of my involuntary luggage and climb up one tree. Perched, I watch as the glowing, ethereal forms of what looked like ancient soldiers make their way through the forest with haste. There were around five of them.
Similar in design to the outfits of what I saw of both those stone knights, the violet girl, and King Arthur. These must be all English armor or something?
Even hidden and above them, they spot me as if they already knew where I was. My guns would have been amazing here if they worked on ghosts. With my cane in hand, I gently place my prisoner down before descending to confront these ghosts.
I knew if I just left that woman here, I would have been able to get away from here easily. Hell, in a lot of ways, this lady was an awful person... but I just couldn't leave somebody helpless like this. There's always a chance that she's innocent, too.
Even to me, that excuse seems weak. I had seen no other people in this whole labyrinth. Only ghosts.
"We don't need to fight!" Holding my hands up with my cane, I land a way away from them. No sound comes out of my mouth, and even then they move closer with drawn spectral blades. With a sudden leap in the opposite direction, I dodge a blade and put some distance between us.
I shift my gaze towards the side, my face sinking. Even if ghosts are just memories given form by magical energy. I didn't want to destroy them. Things like that are important and make up part of who you are. To have something like that disregarded... it upset me.
These ghosts aren't anywhere close to the power of Oni, or the relentless skeletons. They are still somewhat within human limits. But something like that, I could take on a lot more than this. My cane shifts into the shape of a longsword.
Resolved, my body shoots forward towards the first of these soldiers. All of them wielding swords and shields, the first one attempts to bisect me as I get closer. Not sure about how ghosts work with my weapon, I move under its swing only to burst upwards and cut it in half from the groin upwards. Taking a hard left, I take the two on that flank as the ones on the right close in on me.
"Trace, On." Using the blueprint of the sword in my other hand through Structural Grasp, I create a hollow copy with Projection. Dual wielding isn't my typical style, but I needed something extra to block with this many enemies.
By making use of the real version of my weapon, I proceed to ensure that the two ghosts I engaged obstruct each other before swinging. Surprisingly, I sense my blade rebound as the warrior in front of me blocks with their weapon. Continuing my movement, I stay ahead and continue circling as the soldier who blocked turns it into a swing at me, and a thrust from its partner using the sword, trying to nick me. Now knowing, I dodge just enough for the ghost who was swinging to miss me, and deflect the blade of the one thrusting so that it impedes its ally.
The blade in my opposite hand swings and cuts off the shield arm of the ghost, now off balance, which turns as if into dust before it even reaches the floor. Increasing my speed even further, I take a sharp turn and get behind the undefended ghost and plant my hollow sword into its back and overload it with reinforcement.
Jumping backwards to make some distance, the four ghosts are all huddled together in the perfect spot as I draw my pistol. It only takes a second to aim, fire, and watch as the bullet strikes the sword.
The ghosts from before have left behind only a flash of light, a scattering of dust, and silence.
Taking the time to holster the gun again, I scan the area for further enemies before climbing up to check on my captive. She seems unmoved by how she was before and still breathing. So I leave her to it.
Climbing higher, the sky up above shows what looks like the sky and night stars up above to a insane degree. If we weren't so far down below, I would have been sure this area had a whole leading straight to outside and we had lost track of time. Throughout the forest, bright flashes of light would burst from the middle where that magic circle had been. Lights from all around were being drawn toward the center from what I could see.
If there were more enemies like this, I wouldn't be able to carry Cahya around and also defend myself. Hopefully, she would be safe here for now as most things would gravitate towards where everything else was going. Like me.
If I was going to find out anything about what was going on, I'd need to go there to find it out and study the magic circle in the best-case scenario. In the worst case...
Well, that's part of the reason being fast and being able to hide are wonderful skills.
Hiding was a complete waste. To my frustration, every time I saw any of those ghosts, they would instead come towards me. Whatever was in the center didn't interest them as much as dealing with me. After three separate groups found me, I just gave up.
With any air of concealment shot, I took out my magazines and my shotgun ammunition to focus on my ammunition. With the much smaller group of enemies, I'd learned things that didn't have magecraft connected to them couldn't hurt ghosts. So reinforcing every individual bullet was the way to go. Otherwise, if I ran into another large group, I was going to be in a lot of trouble.
It doesn't matter how good I am if there's no room to move and no way to defend myself from all the attacks.
Choosing speed over any form of discretion, I run towards the center. Trees pass me by as I duck, weave and jump over branches and roots to my destination, with a mystic code cane in one hand and gun in the other.
With four magazines for my pistol, I had about sixty-six bullets left after already shooting twice. The bandolier around carried ten buckshot and ten slugs. Good thing I over prepared instead of under. It's not like it cost me anything extra to come in like this.
Sweat drips from me as I run. Because of how much I had been using magic today, it was wearing at me, even with how much mana there was. Which meant I was going to fight with Magecraft as little as possible from here on out.
That was fine by me. I was an excellent shot, anyway.
Catching something bright from the side of my sight, I hasten to the side. Where I was, a large, black, dog-like creature had pounced. With an odd, purple sheen to it and multiple red eyes, it turns its head towards me before lunging again. This time, I move around it instead and carve into its side. Now next to it, it's big enough to swallow me whole, and its gaping jaw only helps to sell that image.
Before I can take my blade out, my body clamps up as pain rushes its way up my arm and into my whole body. Faintly, I sense myself descending towards the ground in a high-speed somersault before colliding with a tree. With spasming legs, I force my way to my feet, using the tree for support. My limbs shake, and my vision is blurry as I see a blurry purple mass getting larger and larger. Taking a calming breath, I wait for the last second before jumping to the right.
Rolling back to my feet, I shake my head as my vision slowly comes back into focus. The tree I was at before had been smashed through, including the tree behind it. The still somewhat blurry creature was getting to its feet. Not sure where my pistol or sword was anymore, I pull out my shotgun with one hand.
I'd felt something like this before, electricity. Some Oni I'd fought could even use it. But nothing as nasty as what I had dealt with there. All my body ached and twitched.
"Don't touch. Got it." Even the tongue in my mouth was raw, like it had been partially cooked. Though I couldn't hear myself talk with the lack of sound. Maybe it was for the best?
Better than being deaf from how loud the tornado was, anyway. Actually, why couldn't I hear it?
Coming straight for me again, I take aim with my shotgun and aim for the head. One shot goes straight through it and out the back, causing it to stumble. Still coming after me, my eyes widen before taking the second shot. It falls to the ground and rolls towards me. Jumping over it, I land on my feet and stumble.
For a moment, I feel like stamping my foot in frustration from my body not working properly, but I take some deep breaths. It wasn't anything that bad. It's not like I was bleeding out or Oni was trying to eat me alive or something. This was fine.
Ejecting the spent shells, I put in two more slugs and close it. Looking up, it's like the creature never existed since there was nothing where it once was except for my sword. Coming closer only confirms it. I close my eyes before taking another deep breath.
Now I can't even try to figure out what that even was.
Unsatisfied, I make my way back to retrace my steps and find my weapons. Thankfully, the pistol isn't far from where I was. I must have dropped it instead of flinging it as I fell. Shotgun against any of *those* things I think.
Without realizing it, an apple had found its way into my hands again in one hand as I picked up the pistol. Looking at it made my stomach rumbles, and well I *did* feel hungry. In the space of one blink, the apple is almost to my mouth before the pain in my body breaks me out of my daze. Dropping the apple, I scowl.
Okay, whatever was up with those apples was trying to make me eat them. Which sounds like an awful idea, considering everything that was happening here. It would have gotten me if I hadn't been in so much pain. Silver linings, I guess.
Stretching a little, I continue my path onward. No more creature come out to ambush me this time as I make my way through, but I still have the shotgun in my hand. It didn't take long at this point to come into the clearing once again, but now there were quite a few things different here.
In the center of the circle, King Arthur kneels in my direction. Different creatures pack the entire area. Some more of those dog-like creatures, ghosts of different shapes and sizes, knights, and many more. Moving among them all with a breakneck pace is the form of that violet haired girl, who now seemed to wear a mask. Where her eyes should be, a dull red glowed. With supernatural grace, she carves and cleaves through various ghosts. Her ease is in part because of the creatures trying to force their way towards Arthur, ignoring all else.
Once of the knights makes their way into the circle. Before it can even take another step, a tendril of water rises from the ground and grabs onto this spiritual entity, somehow. Between one blink and the next, the ghost fades.
I hesitate about what to do. Her style of fighting is closer to how I fight in my sparring with Justeaze, but there were some big differences. Her speed was so high that she could take care of enemies before they could do much to do anything about it. Maybe I'd be stronger, but in speed she was much faster. I still had my curse of Retribution ready, so now was just a matter of if I use Misfortune on her right now to make her slip up.
Grimacing, I discard the idea straight away. Doing such a thing felt wrong, especially since I didn't know what was going on. But I knew these creatures would try to kill me if I left them alone. My best bet was to wait here until she looked like she needed help, and then come in.
Ascending a tree and taking the time to hide myself isn't too hard. Now that these creatures weren't targeting me, I watch as the fight unfolds.
Now, with time on my hands, I can try to figure out what is even going with this magical circle. It looked like it was made of some form of Formalcraft, Alchemy and some other magic I't recognize. This whole thing looked way more complicated than anything I'd ever seen before. The entire room we were in was likely covered in markings and magic. No wonder Beryl said this looked older than it was. This whole place was the work of decades if not centuries.
Even the labyrinth would make sense to have been here for so long. It explained on why there was so much mana here.
Her manipulation of water didn't seem limited to any area, or even by her looking at it. But she seemed limited by at least one tendril at any time. It was more impressive that she had it working and her at the same time. If I had to guess, it was a familiar of some kind.
Multitasking like that is insanely hard, even more so in the middle of a high-intensity fight. So having a familiar like that would ease the burden by a lot.
Her use of the sword was two handed, but that changed for up close fights. She did something not quite like martial arts and more like quick grapples or throws to give herself space with so many bodies around. One handed throws were hard for someone of her size, so I can only assume she had some monstrous strength to her as well.
If it came down to sword skills only, I'd lose. But if I got in to her guard, I was sure that at least I could win if it came down to hand to hand. Though getting through her armor was a distinct problem.
Practicing martial arts while also having weapons in my hands sounded like a good idea now. Dropping a gun that didn't have its safety on in the middle of a fight sounded like an awful idea.
The creatures became scarce, making the girl's work even easier. It looks like I wanted even need to help here. It doesn't even take a full minute before the whole clearing is empty, as if nothing at all had happened. From my perch, I can see the defender's chest rising and up and down as they appear to be taking deep, clear breaths.
Taking this as my cue, I drop. The extra time waiting helped me recover from my fight. So if things turned bad, I'd be better off. With cautious steps but in clear view, I wave at the form of the girl with a cheerful smile before putting my hands up in surrender. Her gauntlet clenches on her sword in response before taking a menacing step towards me.
Despite my confidence from before on my chances, a bead of sweat crawls down my back. Maintaining my friendly demeanor, I come close enough to be in the light before stopping.
"Hey! Can you explain to me what's going on?" But despite my efforts, no words come out. Even saying nothing, she seems to understand. Staring at me for a long stretch, she motions for me to come towards her. Keeping my hands up, I walk forwards slowly. Considering how her weapon was cutting through those monsters earlier, it was dangerous, and at minimum, it was magical.
Stopping only a few feet in front of her, she motions her head for me to step towards the magical circle. Keeping her in my line of sight, I step closer towards it. She follows me before we both make the edges of the circle. Sheathing her weapon by her side, she takes the time to take off her helmet. The girl underneath has her hair matted from sweat and her skin flushed, but she seems unbothered.
Hesitating for a moment, she motions for me to step inside, which I follow. Other creatures didn't seem to have anything happen to them when they went inside of here, so I had at least some faith in my chances.
It became apparent that there was sound inside of the circle. Crunching of my footsteps once I enter the circle is the first I hear. All the small sounds my body makes as it moves sound all the louder now, and I even can hear the girls heavier breaths.
"What are you doing here?" She asks. Even while tired, she was alert.
"What am I doing?" I ask, incredulous. "What are you doing? I came here to investigate what is going on and find the missing people."
At the mention of the missing people, her expression tightens, but she remains silent. Glaring at her, my muscles tense for a moment before I let it go for now and change the subject. "My name is Shirou. Who are you?"
"Morgan." Blunt, and to the point.
"...Morgan de Luc?" I ask. That's the name of the person who this was their territory to protect. She nods at my question. "What is going on with the knight there?" With one hand, I motion towards the kneeling knight.
Taking a few moments to consider my question, she decides. "Our only hope of getting out of here. The area here has become the hunting ground of the Wild Hunt. It will last until the hunt ends or there is no more magical energy." Her glance lands on the form of the kneeling knight, becoming complicated before smoothing over. "You can wait here. I'll keep you safe. I just need to draw one member of the hunt who looks like the Knight here and it will end."
"So you can't let the wrong ghost in, right?" Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to keep them out. Further into the forest, more of those ghostly lights were making their way closer to us.
"Yes." And with that, she draws her sword and steps back out of the castle. I'm not sure what this ritual is about, but I'm certain that allowing those malicious spirits to do as they please would cause something pretty bad to happen."
Letting my sword return to its cane form, I leave only the pistol in my hands. A better choice if I was going to play ranged here. Before those ghostly soldiers can do much of anything at all, Morgan cuts them down before moving on to the next group. This continues for maybe a couple of minutes, with me not needing to add much help besides occasional shots.
The first sign of something changing is the once still forests around us has a gentle breeze that ruffles the leaves, before it picks up in intensity. Coming from the trees, a heavy sea mist makes its way towards us and makes it hard to see anything outside of vague shapes. Large shapes in the mist fall down, but it's hard to make out what is happening with the lack of sound outside of this circle. I see the form of those black creatures lunge out of the mist towards me before being yanked away. I can see some lights in the mist, but I'm afraid to take the shot because I might hit Morgan.
Feeling hunted, I'm annoyed at myself that I didn't train in more conditions where I had the environment to be part of the problem, too. Otherwise, this wouldn't be such a pain.
With a flash of something dark at the corner of my eye, I lunge to the side. Experiencing a sharp sting, I become aware of something hard and jagged entering my side before being forcefully extracted with a surge of pain. Turning on my heels, I spot the figure of some barely clothed man who seemed faded at the edges. What was most noticeable about the man was his blood-red eyes filled with hatred that stared at me. Before my blood even pours out of me, the creature lunges at me again!
Backing up, I aim my pistol and empty the rest of my magazine in its general direction. The creature's side develops a large gaping wound, the same side where I was stabbed. This slows it down enough to let me have a bit of a chance. "Bloom."
Even taken aback by the sudden wound on its side, it is quick enough to dodge some of my bullets. Only a few punctures through its chest, before a piercing pain enters my chest. My vision goes white for a second before I get a hold of myself. The sight of the creature lunges towards me before it disappears in a black blur and goes flying away out of sight. It's hard to breathe.
My misfortune spell worked way easier than it should have, but thankfully, it just saved me right now. Using Structural Grasp on myself, I see there are nine holes going all the way through my body, one of which was through one of my lungs. That's... not good. And my whole side had been carved open, narrowly missing my heart.
Trying to take a deep breath and failing, I use reinforcement on myself. Stitching myself up is doable as long as I was conscious and was fast enough before blood loss affected me. I'd had lungs pierced like this before from the skeletons. It wasn't as dire as it would have been if someone had pierced my heart.
At this rate, I wouldn't have any chance if I didn't take a risk. I was running low after this, but I had enough to reinforce one more thing. Looking inwards, I reinforce my brain. I start sweating as I stare in the direction on where that dark creature that was hunting me had disappeared into. If I mess this up, I'm dead.
Moments stretch on for what feels like forever, before that dark figure appears again at the edge of the circle. I didn't have enough time!
Before it takes any step further, something halts its momentum and I watch as it is flung out of view again. "Man, that familiar sure is great." I sigh in relief.
Now, with my wounds sealed and my brain as reinforced as I dare, everything seemed so much clearer. Whatever that creature was, it had a much stronger version of my curse of retribution, and it seemed like it had a lot more uses of it in one go, too. But, the wound on its side didn't also widen the one on mine. Which means my curse didn't activate its one.
But taking a lethal hit to insure one on this creature seemed like a terrible idea. I guess if I got hit right next to a vital area; the wound returned could be big enough to expand and hit it. But did I want to risk it?
I'd try something else first, but that's a last resort. I'd end up hurting myself with my lack of magical energy, anyway. My second best bet is to get things that aren't me to hurt it. I holster my pistol not a second too soon. With another lunge, the shadowy man bursts into the circle once more, though this time no tendril grabs on to him. The first thing I notice is he seemed to have dropped whatever he stabbed me with. Secondly, in contrast to the worn-out impression he had in the past, he now gives the impression of barely holding himself together.
Having no form of grace or martial arts, the lunge just reaches straight for my throat. Setting my body to a more stable position, our differences in size make what I plan to do a lot trickier.
Waiting for just before it reaches me, with one hand I knock his hands up, and with the other I grab onto the loincloth it has and fall backwards. Using its own momentum and my strength, I hurl it behind me. It flies far enough to land at the edge of the circle, where a tendril of water once again grabs it and drags it out of sight.
Relieved, I want to continue lying there, but with a heave, I force myself to my feet. I don't think I've ever been more grateful than the fact its loincloth didn't break when I used it to throw the shadow. Considering I don't feel any worse, I don't think it's fall even winded it. Staying here just will not work. I'm going to have to use other ghosts to hurt it.
Running further into the mists, I make my way towards one of the other glowing lights before it snuffs out. Scowling, I turn on my heel to go to the next closest one before that too disappears. Damn it, that must be Morgan.
I've got to go the other way then and focus on the further off lights. With the fog so thick at the minute, I won't be able to tell the difference between the smaller trees and the dogs until I'm way too close. With the lack of space, the creature hunting me couldn't maintain its momentum. And it didn't have as much control as I did in being able to manoeuvre around.
I had to keep my eye somewhat able to glance behind me, which left a blindside in front of me regardless of which way I glanced. I could somewhat resolve this problem with Structural Grasp in most situations, but the ground here, whatever it was made of, rejected my magical energy.
My luck thankfully turned around, and another one of those monstrously large black masses lunge towards me from in front. Sliding underneath it, smashing through fallen apples, roots and branches, all it flies over me. Jumping to my feet, I take a few strides forward to pick up momentum and lunge forwards to grab ahold of a sturdier white branch above me. I pull myself up and shift my attention towards what occurred.
The form of the large dog monster dissipates into the air as that man who had chased after me laid on the floor underneath where that dog just was. Blood pools around it sluggishly, but it refuses to stay down. As the creature stayed still long enough, I can now see what I had been stabbed with. A dark stone dagger that is coated in what I can only assume is my blood. It almost looks like a spear head if it wasn't for the shorter handle. Looking at the whole weapon unsettled me, as if just seeing it made the world a lesser place for it.
With a force of will, the creature makes its way to its feet. It has one arm that hangs loosely by its side mangled, while the other holds the dagger with a shaking hand. Almost as soon as it gets up it rushes in my direction again.
With a grimace, I leap off of my tree and aim to give myself more space as I head towards the next light, jumping over the top of a couple of trees. Trees fly past and I duck and weave between them. I even sense something whirling past where I was and slamming into a tree ahead of me.
Wait, that's the dagger! Moving towards it, before I have second thoughts, I yank it out of the tree and continue running. Where my hand contacts it, it feels ice cold. Compared to the burning hot temperature of the rest of my body, it's almost unbearable.
But I refuse to let that thing stab me again. This time I come across a pack of ten of those ghost soldiers, who once they see me they march in. Putting away my pistol, I hold my cane in one hand and the dagger in the other.
I have no clue on where I even am anymore, but at least I have somewhat of a plan. Ducking amongst all these ghosts, I watch as the creature tackles straight into them and goes down. Working defensively, I only block, dodge, or deflect attacks. my muscles ache as I force myself to move faster than I ever have before. Using the ghosts themselves as both shield and sword, the monster that kept lunging for me was as much of a relief in disrupting the other enemies as it is causing me grief.
The weapons of the ghosts would cut into the shadow way more often than they would get past me, but every slight cut would lose my precious blood. But the creature here seemed unbothered by its own loss of blood.
Unfortunately, the ghosts got into its way so often it just started tearing into the ghosts and ripping them apart with its bare hands. Flinching, even if the sight is only just ghosts. My weapons almost slip out of my hands in shock between blocking one sword with my cane to make a ghost stumble and stabbing the back of another ghost's leg.
The shadow is the sort of lean, muscular that looks intimidating. With vicious glee on its face, it knocks a ghost on the ground face first, placed one knee on its back and tears off its arm with its only working hand. It goes to beat the ghost further with its own arm, but it dissolves once it's not attached. Without hesitation, it grabs the back of the ghost's head after the failed attempt. With a squeeze, the head of the ghost caves before the rest of the ghost follows into nothing.
Don't let it grab me, got it. Even in my head, I sound panicked.
As it turns on the ghosts, the numbers thin rapidly until there are only me, two soldiers and the shadow. Maneuvering myself so that the soldier is between me and the shadow again, there is a soldier behind and in front of me. Moving just out of the way of one blade, I help direct the blade by following it from behind with my blade to put more force behind it. Using the momentum from my own pushing, I turn to block the strike of the second soldier behind me. Grunting, I get forced into being stuck into place for a moment as I try to push away my enemy, applying weight on me and make space again. Out of the corner of my eye, the ghost that I had hit the weapon of spins further than it intended. With the shadow so close as it reaches for the soldier, it cuts into the back knee of the shadow who was attempting to come up behind it. This move cripples both the spirit and the shadow who lose the ability to hold themselves upright. Stumbling, both of them fall on top of me before I can move out of the way. The impact knocks the air out of my lungs and knocks my weapons out of my hand.
Being touched by one of these ghost creatures, everywhere we make contact, feels colder than ice. It feels solid despite that. In the flurry of us all in one large heap, I spot the soldier above us as the only one still standing raises its sword and gets ready to plunge it, impaling us all.
Panicked, I risk hurting myself and flood mana into my circuits again. "Bloom." Almost immediately after I invoke the spell, I watch as a flailing arm holding a sword stabs into the leg of the only standing ghost. On the bright side, it also falls to the ground. The unfortunate part is it lands on top of the rest of us.
A small part of me notes how this is twice now on my spell, working so perfectly.
Breath is driven from my lungs as I wheeze on the ground. Trying to find purchase to lift myself up, I watch as the head of the spirit just above me has a dark, shadowed hand grasp its jaw before turning the head of the creature completely in the other direction that a head should not face on a body. Liquid drips from the hand of the shadow and lands on my skin with a hiss, stinging and drawing its own hiss from me.
With a glitter, the last barrier between me and the shadow is gone, and it lands on top of me with visceral glee. Even down one hand, bleeding profusely and not long for this world, it bears down on me with a hatred like I have never seen before. A sort of all-consuming, vindictive hate that focused on one thing above all else.
With one hand I try to keep its only usable hand away from me, and the other I try to find purchase so I can throw it off. But the ghost above us both is in the way!
Even with my Reinforcement, I end up having to give up on changing my position and can only hold one of its hand with both my arms with great strain. This thing was just way too strong! It would tense and tirelessly try to slam its one arm into me. The other thing trapped its knees on top of us both, but I didn't know how long that would last.
With a grin that was all teeth, the shadow head butts me before wrenching its hand out of my grasp. In a panic, I punch the face of the monster on top of me. My head rocks back and creaks in retaliation. Everything is blurry from the pain in my head throbbing. I have just enough willpower to raise my hands and block as something black descends towards me. Barely able to make it out, I see the form of that dagger back in the hands of the shadow as it slowly presses further and further towards my face despite my best efforts to hold its arm back.
Light shines all around us as I wonder if I am hallucinating. Short of breath, I vaguely remember a plan I had before in case of something dire. If the shadow got a strike close enough to be almost lethal but not quite, if multiplied, it would assure my victory.
I just needed to direct the dagger into my eye, and deep enough to only barely not kill me.
My vision narrows to just the face of the monster lying on top of me. The face of the monster lying on top of me twists in some form of sadistic delight, but all I can muster is a form of muted pity on what this thing is now. To live like that...
If only I could save them.
"Do not forget." Starting my aria with a heavy heart, somehow even if I survive this It will be like I still lost. The dagger descends with the inevitable weight of the creature's determination. "We are all-" Before I can even finish my aria, the weight on top of me lessens as a hand enters my vision and wrenches the weight of both creatures off of me.
Standing above us all, wreathed in the light of this dark forest, is the tattered form of Kotomine. With quick, efficient form, he throws one ghost to the ground before pressing the surprised form of the shadow on top of the ghost. Pressing his knee deep into the back of these two creatures and pressing the back of the head of the shadow into the ground, his lips move silently.
Kotomine looks as upset as I have ever seen him, and I watch as those I had struggled with a burn in his hands under what I had thought was a hallucination. But this was a light that he had somehow summoned here.
Under the onslaught of whatever Kotomine was doing, the ghost dissipates under the light. In comparison, the shadow writhes under his touch for much longer but cannot escape before it, too, starts to flake and burn away. He watches with rapt attention as it fades away before he smiles.
I can't divert my gaze from its stunning beauty. Pure joy at saving me fills his face as he looks down. Compared to his almost anemic joy outside of training, he looks ecstatic after beating that shadow. Eventually, the joy dulls as I catch my breath, and Kotomine offers me a hand up. His expression returns to something normal for him as he hauls me to my feet.
"Thank you." Even if he can't hear it, he gives a humble nod, as he at least understands my intention.
A million question fill my head, but there's no way for me to ask any of them like this.
Now, with some time to think, I survey the area to figure out what is happening. Based on experience, I was entering some dangerous territory on my body. Even if I had enough Mana in the atmosphere, the quality of my magic circuits wasn't anything extraordinary. After all of my testing with my sister, I knew I had used enough magic to where I would start causing damage to my body because of the overuse of my circuits. I was going to go overboard at this rate.
Lying next to where I was, the dagger is the only thing remaining of that spirit that had tried to kill me so viciously. Without putting much thought into it, despite how I found it distasteful, I pick up the dagger. Even if whoever had this was a monster, I knew nothing about. They deserved at least for somebody to remember them, for better or worse.
Kotomine gives me a questioning gaze, but I shake my head. Holding it in one of my hands, the cold isn't as unbearable compared to that ghost that fell on me in comparison now.
Trying to remember which way I came from, I give up as I think of a better idea. Motioning for Kotomine to follow me, I make my way up a tree while I make sure so I don't lose track of him. Above the higher treetops, it makes it easier to pinpoint the center again as Kotomine joins me.
This whole situation in my head proves to me that communication without talking seems like an excellent way of showing how frustrating not being able to talk to others has been.
Tapping on his shoulder, we stand next to each other on the top branches. I point towards the glowing center and make sure he is looking at me before slowly mouthing the words 'the way out'. Nodding to show he understood, we climb our way down. Taking the time to stretch and and take stock of all my aches, I run at a less desperate speed, this time on my way back. We stay close enough so we don't lose track of each other.
If it's just sore muscles, then there's no point risking hurting myself further with reinforcement to fix something that minor.
As we travel back to the place I had come from, the fog seems to thin. Because of how dense the forest is, it only adds a little more visibility in the long term. But it made the advantage these creatures had over seeing me first less brutal.
Bursting our way out of the forest and into the clearing again, we observe that the entire area is in a torn-up state. Cut, ripped, torn, and great swathes of ravines carved into the ground. The only thing that seems completely fine is the area around the magic circle.
There is a blur before I see something crash through multiple trees, toppling them over. Sprinting at high speed after whatever just crashed is some sort of knight in damaged armor, similar to that shadowed man who had chased me before. Instead, this one had a downward fringe in a blonde so pale it was almost white, with the only bit of color I could make out from them is icy blue eyes.
With a resounding clang, the shadow knight locks blades with a much smaller form. As he presses weight down on them, taking them to one knee, I see the form of Morgan. Cuts that had made their way through what remained of her armor caused blood to drip, revealing cracked and missing parts. A particular head cut on her forehead had blood pouring over one of her eyes she had that was now shut. With a grimace and a hunted demeanor, she guides her opponent's sword to the side and steps back briefly.
Without hesitation, I make my way to help.
My eyes narrow as I gaze at the sword of the knight. Completely black. Its handle is fine. But the weapon itself seems to lack any sort of guard. Instead, where the guard should have been is just more blade, making a diamond shape that tapers into more of a blade at the end to a more normal proportion. Regardless of what I thought about its design compared to a normal longsword, I could tell from here whatever it was, it was powerful.
Rushing back in, the shadow has its sword barely deflected before he slams into her with the speed of a freight train using his shoulder. Clattering to the ground, she tries to scramble to her feet again, but stumbles. Before the man can finish her, black keys fly from the side in its direction. With ease, they sunk into its shoulders and back like it is butter. Almost immediately, it disregards the form of the girl behind it and turns on its heel in our direction.
Its attention focuses upon Kotomine, as more of those black keys appear in his hands. From where the blades poke out of his chest, I watch as they sizzle and burn, making a hole that grows in size. Within one moment and the next, the knight appears in front of Kotomine. Unmoved and calm, Kotomine moves just in time to deflect the first strike of the knight with one hand in a fighting retreat. The fighters exchange rapid strikes, but my mentor takes a defensive stance. He relies on the black keys already embedded to do a large part of the work for him.
Once the enemy is weakened, he'll probably attempt to finish it.
I'm absolutely sure I wasn't at a skill level where I could keep up with that sort of fighting for any long with how tired I was now. But there was something amazing at how well the skills of that knight were. There was a relentless sort of inevitability in its strikes and its no doubt overwhelming power. Kotomine wasn't even trying to match it in power, or get in close with his Bajiquan.
Drawing my shotgun, I move to the side to get a better shot and not hit Kotomine. Even being purely defensive, he is being overwhelmed. As the shadow swings low, I aim for its upper chest and unload both shells.
By aborting its swing, it blocks one bullet with its sword and dodges the other after it had been shot, showcasing remarkable reflexes. Taking the opportunity as it blocks, Kotomine throws four black keys in its direction and mouths something I can't make out.
Instead of blocking like I thought it would, the knight throws his weapon into the air and mutters something. In the space of time before the keys reach him, he reaches behind himself and crouches. With a visceral spray of whatever counted as its blood, he grips the handles of two of the black keys that were embedded inside of him and throws one of them to clash one weapon coming his way. Where the knight holds the key, it smokes, looking like a small dagger in his hands.
As I holster my shotgun and draw my pistol, my aim rises to take a bead on its head. However, before I can get close to a clear shot, I watch as all the black keys that Kotomine threw divert from their original trajectory and close in towards the knight. Squeezing the trigger, I watch in numb shock as our enemy blocks the different thrown keys and jumps backwards fast enough to avoid my bullets. Trying to keep up with his movement, I track him with the sights of my gun.
Reversing his movement to move back towards Kotomine, I fire the last of my rounds in front of the knight, who has to slow his movement to avoid being hit. Holstering my pistol, I hold that freezing dagger and cane in my hands as I debate with myself on when best to get closer and help.
From the side, the battered form of Morgan charges her way towards the shadow and reels back to slash with her longsword. Instead of blocking, the smoking hand of the knight throws the key remaining in its hand at her chest. Forced to block instead of strike, he holds one arm straight out from his torso and hit her full force in the head with his outstretched arm. With a crash, she lands straight back down on the earth from the force of the strike as he continues running toward Kotomine.
At the opposite end of where we all are, I see something that makes me catch my breath in surprise. Another knight appears, though this one seems to be closer to Morgan in stature and size. Wearing faded metal armor that is scratched and rent, it takes slow, measured steps into the clearing and looks over at us all. It has a lion helmet similar to the armor that had kneeled this whole time. Its armor has the same design as all the knights here, which is strange. Only I take notice of it moving in the middle of this fight.
Trying to keep track of both things at once, the form of the lion helmeted figure walks towards the center area with a measured pace. Kotomine rushes forwards as if to meet the form of the rushing shadow who, with another wrench, pulls out the last black key embedded into itself. Riddled with holes, black ichor doesn't even hit the ground before a great light sears itself into the surroundings from the sky.
Clenching my eyes in pain for a moment, by the next time I open them with white spots in my eye, I see the shadow has leapt midair to grab a hold of its sword that had fallen back down now, with the blade now on fire. Hanging above it is what I can only call a miniature sun without looking directly at it. A surge of magical energy greater than I've ever felt before concentrates on that one blade as the surrounding flames concentrate hotter and hotter. A new circle overlaps the magic circle underneath us. Glowing yellow, it has a star shape that is centered with the shadow in the middle.
Kotomine throws six black keys at the shadow's front, even as Morgan uses her sword as leverage to make her way to her feet. She looks absolutely awful for her having what is a broken nose and both eyes being on their way to swelling up. Her face scrunched up in what i can only assume is a snarl of hatred comes across her face and she clenches her weapon with both hands. Familiar writing that glows blue appears on the face of the blade, but I can't remember where I ever saw something similar.
Magical energy pours out of the weapon in a small trickle, before it pools further and further into what felt almost like a rushing tide. It's likely something water related then.
My head turns to search for that lion-hearted knight. In the time I had looked away. They had made their way to hover their hand just over the kneeling figure. My eyes widen before I burst into action. Morgan tried to keep them out of here until one of the wild hunt that looked like the central figure of the circle got here and ended the hunt.
But the wild hunt hadn't ended! Something wasn't right here, and I didn't know if leaving that figure there would make this all worse. As I approach, I see the fight unfolding in front of me as the lion's mane, who was hovering, stops their hand and looks at me. I enter the circle enough to hear, and most importantly, to be heard again, and I shout. "Wait!"
At the edge of the forest, Morgan swings with significant force. I watch as a blue arc of energy shoots towards our enemy at a rapid pace. Until the very last minute, the shadow waits before, in one smooth motion, deflects all six knives and directs a wave of fire toward the arc of blue energy. The steam that appears in response to the two energies meeting blocks the sight of what is going on.
Pausing only a couple of feet from this wayward member of the wild hunt, I realize it actually waited. My shock is brief before relief hits me with an almost visceral feeling. If we can reason, we could end this more peacefully. "Uh- I... My name is Emiya Shirou. Please don't do anything?"
In an embarrassing stream of politeness and an attempt to stop them as quickly as possible, I mix up what I was supposed to say.
Through the steam, a hole appears through it. On the other side, the shadow has a gaping circular wound carved through its chest. In the space now gaping in it, I see Kotomine on the other side take one step that clears the long distance between the two of them almost instantly. With one strike, the knight goes flying in my direction.
In a split second, I realize that the shadow is about to slam into the so far peaceful spirit. Without a second thought, I step in front of the two people near me and brace myself for getting slammed. Digging in my heels doesn't even come close to prepare me for catching a knight in full armor flying towards me at full force.
Between one moment in the next, I'm slammed into, and the two of us fly backwards and hit those behind me as we slide along the floor. The weight on top of me disappears before we come to a sudden and brutal stop at what I can only assume is a tree.
Bereft of all air in my body, I struggle to even get any air back into my lungs. I try to use my hand to push myself up, but it collapses under me as it screams in pain in my head. Looking down, I see my arm has broken enough to have part of the bone in my elbow showing. Gritting my teeth, I used my other hand that seems to work if in pain to shimmy my way to my feet with whatever was behind me. My whole body was an aching mess, and I hated to think about how many bones I had broken.
As black spots dance in my vision, I look past them and search for those I had been sent tumbling with. But all I could see is the form of what they called King Arthur. Distantly, I note I can hear again even though I'm sure that we aren't in the circle right now.
I'll die if I don't close the broken bone in my arm. My thoughts are sluggish even as I activate my circuits once more. Reinforcing my clothing, I use it to wrap my arm tightly around myself to stop my blood pouring out. It only adds more pain as my circuits strain and my ribs creak by my arm pressing tightly into me.
My first wheezing gasp chases away some of the black spots in my eyes before I choke on something. Turning my attention towards Arthur, who was slowly getting up, I expelled a wad of what I later realized was blood. Almost as unsteady as I am.
"Are.. you alright?" Concern and guilt fills me. If I had caught the shadow, properly, we wouldn't have all been in this situation.
For the first time, Arthur speaks. "I... am fine?" There is something distinctly wrong in their voice. It sounds almost like I remembered, but it was a lot deeper and huskier. Their head rises to meet my own eyes, and the second odd thing becomes obvious. The left eye is the same color as I remembered of the emerald gaze of young Arthur, but the right eye is a dark blue.
"You need aid." Gaining strength, the figure sounds concerned before standing up. Right next to each other only emphasizes how much they tower over me. On second thought, Arthur's movement resembles that of someone who is disoriented rather than someone who is injured, like me. My eyes close briefly in relief. People getting hurt because of me isn't something I can stand.
"Shirou!" I hear the voice of Kotomine calling for me. Turning my head, I call back. "Over here!" My body flinches hard and is filled with agony after I raise my voice.
Realizing I was being rude, I bow my head as far as I can get away with being both polite and not hurting myself further to Arthur. He clutches his own head like they have a severe head pain. They groan in pain, enough that my relief at them seeming well is gone. "Sorry. Help would be good, but you need it a lot more than me if you... hurt your head." I run out of breath mid sentence and take another wheezing gasp of air.
"Hurt my head?" With the tone of somebody who almost definitely has a concussion of some kind, he shakes his head before grunting. "We need to get you to a physician or a priest."
Internally I kind of agree, but more so they can see them first. Deciding that the danger had passed, I direct my gaze upwards to find the sky above is clear. In its place looks like the night sky. Its beauty mesmerizes me for a moment before someone lightly touchs my shoulder. My gaze drifts downwards to see Kotomine scrutinizing me and evaluating Arthur standing next to me.
Arthur rests one hand casually on the hilt of a sheathed version of that shadows weapon. In his other hand, he holds the original beautiful sword that he pulled from the stone, which he kept a hold of without slicing either of us in the fall.
"How bad?" Kotomine asks.
Taking a moment to gather my thoughts, my words are clinical. "More bones broken then I can count at the minute. Bone broke through the skin on my main sword arm." I take a wheezing breath. "And something to do with my lungs. I need to avoid doing anything myself unless I have to."
"I see." Completely neutral, he looks around without taking his eyes off of Arthur. "Then finding where Bazett has gone should be top priority then, for both your sakes. Inform me if your condition worsens."
Stepping in front of me from the direction we came, I see Morgan come into view before stopping just in front of Arthur. Despite how much abuse she has taken, hope shines in her eyes with hero worship as she looks at him until she sees takes in more about his appearance. She loses color in her face.
"Guinevere?" Confused, the knight takes a step forward even as Morgan steps back. Arthur pauses before their voice raises. "Lancelot?!" Inside of that shout is a sound of angry surprise. But there's a hitch to it where they almost sound in tears.
"N-no. This wasn't supposed to happen at all!" Almost in a state of hysteria, her eyes scan the surroundings before fixating on the sword by his side. "How is it every time we try to do something right, you ruin everything Gawain?"
"Gawain?" Arthur asks before wincing. "I don't even know what is happening here!"
She takes a stuttering breath to collect herself. As she does so, my eyes widen as the whole fight comes into a broader perspective. "Wait, I just met Gawain? Oh no, I hope I-" Before I can finish my thought, I cough. With each cough, the pain in my chest worsens before I stop with a gasp.
"You need to come with me, Arthur. The future is in danger, and we need your help." Having recovered her composure, Morgan holds out her hands with an urgent look at her. Before she can say anything further, Kotomine steps towards her menacingly.
"We have questions, especially about those you have hurt here." He gives a friendly smile that seems oddly genuine despite the circumstances. Even King Arthur looks at her askance at that question.
Hunching into herself at the question, she gets a stubborn set to her jaw. "He's in a bad spot right now. Are you just going to help him or deal with me? I know if you take too long, he will die."
Giving a look at Kotomine, I try to signal to him to catch her, anyway. I'm fairly sure this won't kill me, or at least not within the next couple of hours, unless I get hit again. Kotomine appears unaffected by her statement, but Arthur takes one angry step towards her. "You dare? What are they talking about, and why are you avoiding the question?"
"I can answer it if you come with me now, and if you delay, more people will be hurt," she said in a truthful yet cruel tone. I have to force out another wheezing breath to get rid of the spots in my eyes.
Motioning as if to dismiss her, Kotomine turns his back on them both to look at me. "Begone then. If you are still here by the time I return, I will hunt you down." His tone is a matter of fact before he scoops down to pick me up in a gentle carry.
Astonished, my gaze turns towards the direction of Arthur and Morgan. "Wait, are we just going to leave them both here?"
Giving me the closest to exasperation expression I had ever seen on him, he blows air through his nose. "We are. Now be quiet." Moving through the forest at a faster speed, but not enough to jostle me, I stew in my own thoughts. Last I see of Arthur, their body language is very tense.
Losing track of what flies by us for a moment or two, my eyeslids are heavy, but I refuse to fall asleep. That sort of stuff never ends well. At that point I might as well hack job repair myself now.
I'm roused to paying attention as I'm gently laid down on the floor. Above me, I see the forms of both Beryl, Kotomine and McRemitz. All of them appear more worn out for various reasons.
Blood and burn marks cover Beryl, with some of the larger wounds I recognize as bullet wounds. The glasses he had when he first came here have gone missing, and his top is in tatters. His once pristine black and red top had been cut diagonally downwards, showing his muscular torso and the beginnings of what is most definitely going to be a nasty bruise covering his stomach.
In contrast, McRemitz appears as if somebody had cut into all of her clothes more times than I can count. Her clothes cover just as much as they don't, with every space near a cut stained by blood. Despite this, she seems to have no wounds. I can see her hands now that she seems to be missing her gloves.
"Where were you two? What happened?Confused and lying on the ground, my gaze shifts towards both of them. Beryl appears more entertained by me at the moment, but McRemitz wears a serious expression as she examines me.
"It was just like I told you all." Beryl radiates a smug aura, even though he seems just as injured as the rest of us. "I came in, cleared up targets before you even saw them, and stuck to the back. You're welcome, by the way. I dealt with one of those nasty ghosts by myself. Though who'd have thought somebody from the wild hunt would use guns?" Musing to himself, he prods at one hole in his arm before he pulls out some bandages to wrap them.
Despite how nasty such wounds would be, he seems unbothered. Even his wounds don't bleed all that much. "Good job everyone." Beryl adds with a laid back smile. "It looks like a success so far. We just need to do cleanup. I collected the Magic Crest of the Codrington family and something to show that Cahya was dealt with."
As this goes on, McRemitz, in quiet concentration, draws a string of symbols on my skin. It takes a short amount of time for the pain throughout my entire body to recede from how severe it was. I turn my gaze towards Beryl in astonishment, but McRemitz firmly grasps my face and keeps it fixed with a serious expression. "Don't. Move. You'll make it take longer." She lets go afterwards.
"You found her?" I ask.
"As much as you could say, I 'found her'." He sounds bemused near the end of the sentence. "Not much left of her. She was all tied up and something came along and finished the job."
My pity for her isn't all that high. It would have been nice to see her redeem herself. But a monster like that dying is better off for everyone. Beryl seems to gauge my reaction before nodding to himself in thought.
On the mend, as my pain fades, McRemitz stares down at me with a quite cross look on her face. "Where did you even go, Shirou? Black dogs attacked us, and you had just disappeared. I was worried sick and I'm sure Kirei was just as worried." Putting her hands on her hips, she stares at me with a look of disappointment.
Shrinking into myself, I give her a sheepish smile. "I climbed a tree to check the area around and get a better idea of where we were?"
"And why didn't you think to tell us this, before you climbed?" Her question is rapid fire back and makes me sink further into myself.
"...I didn't think that anything would happen in that amount of time?"
Her unimpressed expression is all she needs to make my statement seem silly. The stare continues for an awkward number of seconds before she drops it and gives me a relieved smile. "We are just glad you are okay, okay?" She gently places a hand on my shoulder before she steps back up. "And don't do reckless stuff without warning someone first, right?"
Not waiting to hear my answer, she appears troubled. "I also ran into a malevolent spirit that I was stuck fighting. It seemed to know runes like me and had a spear I couldn't dodge." Her frown deepens. "I don't like the implications of that. But I'm sure if that was the real deal, I would have been well and truly dead right now. It still used up a lot of my stuff..." McRemitz closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to recover from the depressed sound in her voice.
"Now that Shirou is stable, we can move onto the next plan." Wasting no time, Kotomine stands facing all of us with his hands behind his back. "Wild Hunt, the Isle of Apples, and a vessel called Arthur. I can only assume this was a resurrection meant to bring back King Arthur. Based on how Morgan de Luc acted, this act was only partially successful." Taking the time to assess us all over, he closes his eyes and sighs. "Once we have had enough time to recover, we will have to search as a group for Morgan and what could very well be Arthur."
We all make sounds of agreement. Gazing downward, it appears that I still possess my weapons positioned beside me, which includes the icy dagger firmly clutched in my hand. It's not long before I get up and we get ready to move once more.
Unfortunately, after some hours of combing through the forest, we find no signs of where they could have gone. Even checking that small hut revealed nothing. It seemed like someone had cleared out anything that was in the forest before we arrived.
Disheartened, we make our way up the winding path upwards. Now more tired than ever, dealing with some of the leftover golems protecting the maze is a complete pain to deal with. Most of the work has to be done by either me, Beryl or Kotomine, with some sort of ranged weapon. My exhaustion dogs my every step and only grows as we travel.
What McRemitz must have used to heal me dealt with the more dangerous wounds, but all the annoying and easy to heal wounds had been left alone.
Reaching the surface shows the exit being buried in the broken debris of trees. We all stop to process this information before McRemitz rolls up what's left of her sleeves and scowls at our blocked exit. "I've had enough of today." She takes a couple of steps before doing a hard kick at the obstruction. It flies away in a cloud of wood chips and dust, allowing us to see further outside.
It seems like much of this forest has been destroyed in large swathes.
"What the.." McRemitz mutters. I'm in silent agreement as we make our way further up and out. Kotomine stews in thought as Beryl looks around in curiosity. Making our way back to the car, I look around in shock. We stare across at our car, which looks as if someone had flipped it multiple times and laid it upside down.
"Do... do you think the Mercenaries are around somewhere...?" I ask. There has been no hint of them around. McRemitz shakes her head with pity. Before Kotomine can say anything, he gets a call on his phone, which he answers. Beryl shrugs in my direction. "Who knows? Even if they are alive, they aren't long for this world."
Hearing that, I head back towards the flattened forest even as my body complains at me, moving again. Bleary eyes blink tiredly as I try to see any hint of more people.
"Shirou wait, stop going off by yourself!" McRemitz calls after me. "...crazy fucking kid, goddamn it." She mumbles, but my reinforced hearing still catches it.
"Shirou." The serious tone to Kotomine's voice snaps me out of my search enough to turn around and face him. "Come back, someone already evacuated the mercenaries," Kotomine says.
"Evacuated?" McRemitz sounds baffled.
"A meteorite has struck and wiped Glastonbury and a good chunk of the surrounding area." Everyone else is shocked, though Beryl looks more impressed than anything. "The Animusphere family informed the mercenaries. Explaining away today has been made easier it seems."
Kotomine doesn't sound very impressed.
End of Chapter 7:
Well, that was a fair bit longer then my typical chapters! There was a fair bit more combat in this one, and poor Shirou got put through the absolute wringer with how dangerous some of his opponents were. He was trying to play it as safe as possible and still got hurt badly. Some odd coincedences should be lining up for those who were paying attention. As always, I'd love to hear anyones thoughts, good or bad. Or even just your theories on what is going on.
Next chapter is going to be something a little less stressful for poor Shirou.
Reviews:
Grant -
Hey, glad to see you enjoying it! Hopefully some of your questions were answered here! I only realized afterwards I didn't specify the haircut of Morgan in this so mistaking her for Mash would be very easy. Though to be completely fair, if you stuck them next to each other you could mistake them for relatives. The Chaldea stuff though. That's going to something interesting in the background. I wonder what a group like that is doing around?
Guest -
Man, it's always heartwarming to hear somebody liking my writing and character interactions. I'll keep trying to keep the same tier of work I have or even better if I can! Shirou being too mature is definitely on purpose. I'm aiming for it to have a pay off eventually, but for now Shirou only really acts his age with other kids his age if at all. Though I'm definitely curious on why you like Justeaze so much, there's hardly much about her in the lore, or is more of a curiosity thing?