Shirou stared at the smooth skin of his hand, aware of the fact that his fake command seals lay hidden in it.
After realizing that these command seals were way too obvious, especially to normal people, he quickly went back home and asked Caster to cast a simple camouflage spell to hide these marks.
A simple wave of her staff and some muttered words and the marks vanished from his sight but he can still feel their presence, waiting to be used at the opportune time.
He didn't know what to feel about…these marks in his hand. It felt like Fate was mocking him for donning the same command seals that he used to sever his contract with Saber, the person who saved him when he should have died that day.
And how did he repay that debt? By being a coward and forfeiting the war, abandoning Saber in the process and spitting all over her efforts when she saved him.
It does feel ironic that he now is a master of a servant who has the same face as Saber and vows to help her get back to her master.
What a self-righteous hypocrite he is.
He clenched his fist in anger, annoyed at the revelation he had, wondering if he will do the same thing to Caster and abandon her when the going gets tough as well. Can he even be a hero of justice if this is all he amounts to?
No. He can't afford to fail again. Not when he has been saved again from that terrible fate.
He won't falter. This time, he will see this through to the end, even if it means giving up his life to save Caster so that she can be with her master again.
The debt is just too much for him to pay back Caster and Saber for saving him. Once he pays back Caster, if the war is still ongoing and Saber is still around, he will try and see if he can repay back his debt to her.
Hopefully that Saber has found a good master to support her. If not…he'll cross that bridge when he gets there.
Speaking of crossing bridges, when he finally entered the school grounds, the air suddenly felt stiffer. It was as if there was something primed and ready to be active. Not to mention that he felt his energy slightly being drained just by being here.
He knew something was off the other day when he came to school as well but this new sensation just confirmed his suspicions.
Someone put a Boundary Field around his school.
Looking around his fellow students, he can see that at the moment they enter the gate, their entire being changes slightly. They became more fatigued just by entering here. Luckily for him, since he has Magic Circuits now, he doesn't feel the drain of Magical Energy unlike his classmates.
'So this Boundary Field seems to be sucking out energy from everyone who enters here.
But what for?' He is aware that the moment it collects enough magical energy, it will unleash some sort of spell but what spell exactly?
He didn't know. The only one who could help him is Caster. He needs to go back and tell her about this.
Unfortunately as luck would have it, his plans went to hell as a familiar voice called out to him.
"Emiya? Is that you?"
Shirou turned around and saw Ayako coming towards him. Of all the people he had to run into, it would have to be her.
How is he gonna get out of this one?!
"Hey Mitsuzuri…" Shirou could only lamely reply back as his classmate glared at him with her arms crossed over.
"I knew one of these days that your kind-hearted nature would be taken advantage of easily."
"Umm excuse me?" He didn't know what she was talking about which prompted her to let out an irritated sigh and smack his arm. Hard.
"Ow! What the?! What was that for?!"
"Don't give me that Emiya! Miss Taiga informed us that you called in sick the other day. You, the guy who never was absent due to sickness. The only time you would be absent was when you were too sleepy to go to school because of your habits of helping people and wouldn't you know it, It was because of Shinji again isn't it?" She stated this as if this was the undeniable truth which to be fair, it was true but he wasn't going to let her know that.
"Huh? What do you mean-!"
"Ah ah ah, don't try to cover this up." Ayako cut him off before he could even say anything else. "It was very odd that the archery club was neatly clean. Hell, the floor was practically shining at that point. The only time it has ever gotten that clean was when you cleaned it. Shinji could barely even do the bare minimum of cleaning. So surprise surprise I confronted Shinji about this and it didn't take long before he cracked and told me that he passed his work to you."
She rubbed her temples, contemplating about probably murdering him for being too nice. "Seriously Emiya, stop helping that prick when it was his job to do it. Hell, I want you to stop helping people. You're making everyone complacent because of you helping people all the time. I sometimes wonder if you get off helping people or something." She muttered that last sentence , unaware that he heard it loud and clear
He could only laugh nervously as he tried to recount ever talking to Taiga yesterday. He's pretty sure he never spoke to her since he was knocked out due to making a contract with-!
Caster!
He remembers Caster telling him that her boundary field must have sent Sakura and Taiga away yesterday when they tried to come here for breakfast. The field must have done something to convince them that they visited him and make up the reason that he was sick even though he never spoke a word to them until dinner time.
'Well, might as well lay my bed of swords I suppose.'
He could only smile and reply back. "Sorry for that Mitsuzuri. I won't get sick again I promise."
That reply…didn't help, if anything it actually irked her even more. "No! That's not what I-! You know what nevermind. You're just too stubborn to see reason anyway. It'd be pointless to try and get it through your thick skull." She let out a frustrated sigh before she motions him to the school. "Come on then, let's get to class before you become absent again."
Shirou could only chuckle nervously as he followed Ayako to school. As they walked to school however he noticed the gait of his classmates being slightly more sluggish than usual, her face has some baga in her eyes as she holds back a yawn.
"Did you get enough sleep by any chance?" He inquired about her condition.
It took a few moments for the question to register to her mind before she let a small blush on her face as she coughed into her hand. "You…noticed that?"
Shirou couldn't help but smirk. "Well yeah. For someone who was scolding me earlier about helping people too much, you look like you need help yourself. Are you sure you don't need my help, Mitsuzuri?"
She let out a scowl at his response. "Don't you dare start that! I just…probably lack some more sleep. I can probably make it and just sleep early back home so don't babysit me."
Shirou rolled his eyes and was about to make a snarky response before feeling something off, like he was being watched carefully. He did a °180 turn, managing to only get a glimpse of red in his vision before disappearing. He narrowed his eyes at the corner behind him as he was just about to investigate before being grabbed by his fellow classmate.
"Oi! No daydreaming! We are gonna run late at this point!" Shirou sighed but nodded as he just followed Mitsuzuri to class, forgetting the stalker for now and focus on catching up with his classes.
'That was way too close! He almost caught me!' thought Rin as her heart hammered against her chest from that very close encounter.
She looked again from out the corner, only to see her target unfortunately disappear.
She lets out a frustrated sigh as she tries to come up with a new way to keep an eye on Emiya without getting caught or resorting to using any magecraft, especially in school grounds.
In the midst of her thinking, a tap on her shoulder startles her, prompting her self-defense courses and launching a palm strike onto the offender, only to stop short of her strike as she realized she was about to hit one of her classmates.
Kaede, now laying on her butt due to almost getting pulverized by her palm, yelled out; "What the heck was that for!? I was just trying to get your attention!"
Tohsaka flushed embarrassingly at her actions but still tried to hold her "Perfect" persona as she replied back. "Well maybe next time get my attention by calling me rather than tapping on my shoulder which could have your bones broken."
Kaede paled at the thought of her bones being broken and decided to perform a dogeza. "Please forgive me then for interrupting your strange activities!"
Rin's cheeks flushed even further, feeling mortified by the statement that her fellow classmates made. It didn't help that one of Kaede's friends, Yukika was on the scene, her cheeks bright red as Rin's own.
"Wait! It's not what it-!"
Unfortunately for Rin however, Yukika beat her to the punch. "I apologize for not keeping an eye on my friend, Tohsaka-senpai! Please forgive us for disturbing your activity!" She then grabbed her friend and ran away as fast as possible.
Rin could do nothing but just lay on the ground in defeat as she grabbed her hair and tugged them hard as she moaned in agony at the potential rumors that could spread thanks to being seen and misunderstood like that.
There was only one person who can be blamed for this humiliation!
'Archer! Why the heck did you not tell me?!'
"Tell you what exactly master?"
Cheeky little shit! 'You already know what I mean!'
"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by that. I am currently looking for the Magic Circles that you asked me to keep an eye for so I'm afraid you have to elaborate on what you meant."
Son of a-! Rin stops that line of thought before deciding to take some deep breaths in order to calm herself from this infuriating servant of hers.
'Forget it Archer. Have you found any more of them?'
"I'm afraid not, master. It seems that those magic circles that you found earlier weren't hidden as well as the rest are. Then again, I am an Archer, not a Caster so you might have to rely on yourself I'm afraid for the time being."
Rin clicked her tongue as she gazed back to the front gate where Shirou was before. She then decided to give her servant a new order. 'Alright then. I'm giving you a new task instead. It's weird for Emiya to be on and about like this, especially since there is a Caster in his place. I want you to investigate the place and gather intel, if possible, kill Caster.'
"Ho? Not going to question why she looks like our resident Saber?"
'It matters not for the moment. Look-alike or not, she is still an enemy that we needed to put down eventually and it's a miracle that Emiya is out right now so it's your chance to go in there and kill Caster if possible. If not, at least either gather intel or try to get them out of the house.'
"Why not just ask the idiot about Caster?
'I rather not risk tipping the servant off. It's possible that Caster might have placed some sort of tracking or recording spell on him so it's best if I don't come into contact with him.'
"Hmmm, a wise decision. Very well, I shall do as you wish, master."
With that, she stops her communication with Archer and prepares to attend her class.
Shirou felt uneasy throughout the day. After witnessing the Boundary Field at work, he looked at every student to see their conditions. Some of them felt slightly winded but fine while others felt far more fatigue than usual. Not enough to make them pass out thankfully but it was concerning enough that the teachers recommended sending them to the nurse's office.
It didn't help that even some of the teachers themselves were feeling tired, a few then could be seen in their classrooms asleep at their desks. It's becoming a very big issue, one that prompted the students to actually take a half day off due to the reasoning that they could be some sort of virus or such causing a mass wave of fatigue like this.
Of course, Shirou could have heeded their teacher's instructions to head home, considering that it would give him a lot more time for him to be taught by Caster, not to mention getting used to using his actual Magic Circuits rather than using his nerves as pseudo-magic circuits, but the problem here at school is too important for him to ignore so under the guise of fixing and cleaning up some club rooms, he is actually trying to figure out what makes this Boundary Field tick and destroy it from the inside.
So far he has checked all the classrooms and is slowly making his way to all the clubrooms while acting as a janitor, cleaning up and repairing things along the way.
He did find some of the Magic Circles hidden behind some of the cabinets in some of the clubrooms. While he could simply just overload the Circle with [Reinforcement], he would not know the consequences of such an action towards it. His old man had taught him not to mess with anything that he has no knowledge of, lest he risks himself getting blown up or killed. He mentally marked down the locations of these circles and continued searching on. He will visit the school again tonight and let Caster actually deactivate these circles safely.
As he exited the computer lab, he bumped into someone who he did not expect to make an appearance.
"Oi! Watch were you…oh. It's you." Shinji Matou, his former best friend, was dusting off the shoulder that he bumped into by mistake.
He gave a small apologetic bow to his classmate. "Sorry for bumping into you Shinji. I was just leaving." He side-stepped him, heading into his next club room before his shoulder was grabbed.
"Hey hey, what's the rush Emiya? You're acting so damn cold to me." Shinji pulled him into a one-arm hug. "Look I get that we aren't as close as we were used to but at the very least you couldn't have some decent courtesy to at least say Hi to your friend."
Shirou pulled away from Shinji and wanted to make a quick retort about Shinji not knowing common courtesy if it ever hit him in the head but he held his tongue and decided to make a quick alibi. "Sorry about that. I'm just in a bit of a hurry to finish cleaning the clubrooms before it gets too dark. The murders from the news have made me concerned for my safety and-!"
Shinji cut him off with a wave of his hand."Yeah yeah whatever watching boring old news like a hermit crab. Anyway, I want to talk to you at the archery club. You know, the same old place that you cleaned up for me the other day? I have a lot to catch up with you on and things to tell you. Come after doing your janitor business." With that, Shinji walks away, leaving no room for him to reject at all.
Shirou could only take a deep breath to prevent his frustration from boiling over to sucker punch Sakura's brother in the gut. There was a reason why they were no longer friends. One of them has to go with that huge ego of his that needs to be pegged down or two.
That doesn't bother him as much as the more important reason of Shinji bullying Sakura. That got him really pissed off and just couldn't stand the guy who would abuse his sister in such a physical matter. He would have loved to just ruin his reputation by telling everyone in school how much of an asshole Shinji is but surprisingly, Sakura told him to not ruin him like that. That she still loves him and just says that he has…difficulties at home and sometimes takes his frustrations on her by mistake.
Shirou didn't buy it, not for a second but he just wasn't able to help her. Not by hurting Sakura by mistake in the process as well. The only thing he can do…is just be there for her and pray that she does eventually come to ask him for help.
He ignores the thought that he is just too cowardly to face the reality that there is more to Sakura than meets the eye and promptly goes to the next club room, unaware of someone following him.
It began to turn into dusk by the time he was done scouting the entire school building. He was able to locate at least 7 Magic Circles that needed to be dismantled when he got home but for now…it's time to meet with Shinji in the Archery dojo.
Sliding the door to the side, he meets his former best friend, shooting some arrows and hitting bullseyes easily with the occasional miss or two. He turns around to see Shirou and smirks.
"Sorry about this mess, but I'm prepping up for the archery contest that is coming up in a few months and seeing that I'm the next best one in this club since you left, I'm simply sharpening my skills. Do clean this after since that's the least you can do."
Shirou did not rise to the bait and instead just went straight to the point. "What is it that you called me for?"
Shinji looked surprised at Shirou's insistence. "Hey what's the rush? It ain't like you got anybody waiting for you at home to cook them dinner or something right? As far as everyone is aware, you live alone apart from my sister coming to visit occasionally."
Shirou wanted to blurt out the fact that Taiga also does visit his house almost everyday but decides to keep that to himself. He isn't sure what would happen if Shinji would spread this information around. He wouldn't really care about what kind of reputation he would have but Taiga's standing as a teacher might be affected due to this particular arrangement. So with an apology to his head to Taiga and Caster for coming home late, he decides to be silent and just wait for Shinji to finish…whatever he's doing.
And with that, Shinji went back to practicing his shots. Shirou can already point out the many flaws that his former best friend has. Whether it was him drawing his bow too long, aiming it a bit off or even his breathing being erratic, he would be able to pick apart Shinji and tell him what he would need to do to improve but he doubts that he would listen to his advice or to any ones for that matter.
It only took about 15 more minutes before Shinji had to take a break. He carelessly dropped the bow while he stretched his arms, hearing a pop from his ligaments. "That hit the spot! This should be enough practice for the day. Now then… let's get to business shall we Emiya?"
Shinji turns around with a serious expression. Shirou stared right back at him, mirroring the expression. "What is it that you want, Shinji?"
"Oh nothing. Just asking a few questions is all. Like are you a magus by any chance?"
Shirou schooled his expression as he answered. "I don't know what a magus is. Is that some type of DnD thing character you made up or something? I saw some game boards on the-!"
"No need to lie to me Emiya. After all, I am one too. In fact, the Matou clan is a long lineage of Magi after all that has existed for hundreds of years by now!"
Shinji's declaration of his heritage made Shirou slightly nervous as that would mean that Sakura herself is a magus as well. But she had never exhibited signs of knowing any type of magecraft. But what if she did know and just decided to keep quiet? In fact, how the hell did Shinji know? It wasn't like he used it in public spaces. He made sure that no one looked at him when he used [Structural Analysis] on the things that he repaired so how could he have known.
He decided to try and still deny him being a magus, hoping that he could get away with it. "Are you…practicing a theme here of being some weird human group or something for that game board? I mean its impressive and all but-"
"Still trying to hide your magus heritage Emiya? It matters not to me why you are ashamed of your family name." Shinji shrugged, not caring of his answers either way. "I approached you for a very specific reason. Are you a master?"
Shirou continued to lie, hiding the nervousness that he felt underneath. "A master? Like a game master or is it another type of master that I'm familiar with?"
He could see Shinji's teeth at his continued denial of the situation but then Shinji could only sigh, disappointed at him. "You really wanna keep that charade up huh? Pretending to not know anything huh? Fine, I'll play along then." Rolling his eyes, he took out a strange looking book. Shirou got a bad feeling about that book.
"What are you-"
"Since you are not a magus or a master, I decided that I will eliminate you for witnessing something that "normal" people shouldn't be aware of. That is the rules we magi set for ourselves to prevent "civilians" from ever learning the truth of the world. Rider, kill him."
Before Shirou could even fully register his former best friend's words, a glowing gem punched through the door before blinding everyone with its light, disorienting everyone's senses. He felt someone grab his hand and faintly hear the words "Run!". He let his legs do the work and trusted whoever was guiding him.
After a few more moments, Shirou finally opened his eyes to see-!
"Tohsaka?!"
"So your senses returned. Good that means that you can now run properly!" She let go of him, disrupting his momentum and falling face-flat into the ground. She turned around and quickly helped him back up. "You have no time to rest! Rider is coming and is gonna kill us! We need to survive for at least a few minutes until Archer gets here!"
Those words finally took the shock out of him and asked. "What's going on?! What do you mean by-!"
He couldn't finish those words as Tohsaka forced him down, narrowly avoiding the nail that would have pierced his head had he been in that position for just a second more. Tohsaka dragged his body, forcing him to finally run on his own as they dodged another nail attack.
The duo ran as fast as they could, Tohsaka taking the lead as she used [Reinforcement] to enhance her legs, allowing her to move faster than Shirou. Seeing this spell in action, prompts Shirou to look at his disguised false command seals and uses up one of the seals, casting the [Momentary Reinforcement] spell embedded within them.
As one of the seals from the command spell fades away, the spell spreads throughout his body, reinforcing every aspect of his body, allowing him to catch up to Tohsaka and pass her by mistake before slowing down to match her speed.
"What the-!"
Tohsaka's alarmed look was more than enough warning for Shirou as he dashed to the side, avoiding another nail attack that would have pierce his torso. Another side-dash saved him from getting pierced in the leg instead.
Tohsaka scowled as she pointed her fingers like a gun, black energy coalescing from them as they were released in bursts. Shirou turned his head to see a blurry figure dodging and weaving the attack like it was nothing.
Tohsaka decided to grab one gem from her pocket and threw it at the blurry figure, the gem hovering for a few moments before exploding into a solid gem barrier of sorts, preventing the figure from proceeding any further. It allowed the duo to get some distance. This opportunity allows Shirou to ask some questions.
"Tohsaka, how did you-!"
"Oh save your questions Emiya." She snapped back at him, irritated for some reason he wasn't aware of. "I have questions of my own so let's get out of here first before we start asking each other questions." That put an end to Shirou's question as they rounded a corner to see the exit of the school grounds.
Unfortunately for the duo magi however, as they were about to make a run for it, chains suddenly sprouted out in front of them, forcing them to stop. Tohsaka cursed out as she could see the doors just out of reach.
"Please do not run."
Shirou and Tohsaka turned around to see a tall woman with long pink hair, wearing a mini black strapless dress with pink linings, black thigh high socks with pink linings as well. He couldn't help but gulp at the sight of the beauty before him. She would have been more enchanting if it weren't for the fact that there is a face mask blocking her eyes from being seen.
He had a feeling though that the mask is concealed for a reason and he would not like to find out anytime soon. Didn't help that the spell he used wore off already.
"I do not like to chase."
The tall woman is now approaching them slowly, like a snake ready to pounce on their prey with any sudden movement. Shirou looked around to see if he could find anything to use as a makeshift weapon.
The only option they both have is to either lock themselves up in a room or fight in the hallway. After only thinking for a brief period, Shirou grabbed Tohsaka's hand and opened the door to a classroom.
"What are you-!"
"No time to explain!" Shirou locked the door and started barricading it. "Go out through the window there and get yourself out of here!"
Tohsaka didn't approve of his self-sacrifice as she shook her head vehemently. "No way, idiot! I'm not going to let you sacrifice yourself like a bumbling buffoon! Let's both get out of here and-!"
"Shinji is only after me, not you! So this is my problem to deal with! So go!" Shirou continued to put as many things between the door as possible.
He could hear Tohsaka growl behind him before hearing something being thrown at the window, shattering it apart. 'Good, it mean that she can escape and-'
Those thoughts were caught off as he felt Tohsaka grab the back of his shirt and was being pulled away from the makeshift barricade before feeling the gravity leave him for a brief moment, realizing that Tohsaka jumped out the window with him in tow. Then its pull came back with a vengeance as they both rolled around in an inelegant manner.
Shirou managed to get his bearings as he quickly helped up his fellow magus and let his irritated thoughts out. "Why did you do that?! I was buying you time to-!"
"Shut it idiot!" Tohsaka growled at him, also just as irritated by his actions. "You don't have a servant to protect your sorry ass anymore. Not to mention that I can't save you again if you die like that-!"
"Wait a minute… What do you mean die again?" Shirou's question made Tohsaka's eyes pop up as she realized her little slip-up. As she tried to stammer out a response, he felt a chill down his spine from the broken window.
With no time to explain or warn her, he shoved Tohsaka to the ground, earning him a yelp from her as he felt a sharp pain going through his shoulder. Blood exploded out of it as he saw the same nail that almost hit him a few times now piercing his shoulder. Tohsaka's face paled in horror and before she could even make a response, he felt himself being pulled once again, this time in the opposite direction inside to the classroom and on the floor.
He looked up to see the tall woman, holding the chains as she lifted them up, hoisting his body up in the process as well.
"Like I said, I do not like to chase. Please don't make this any more painful than this needs to be."
Shirou gritted his teeth as he willed another spell from his fake command seal to grant him another minute of [Momentary Reinforcement]. The purple haired woman slightly tensed from his casting as he elbowed the woman at the stomach, making her slightly keel over. It granted Shirou the opportunity to pull the nail out of his shoulder, letting the blood pour out like a fountain but that's better than being dragged around like a rag doll.
Shirou looked to see if he could find anything he could use as a makeshift weapon but he didn't even have time to do that as he was forced to dodge another nail attack aimed at his other shoulder. With the spell boosting his physical attributes, he was able to at least weave around the attacks of the woman that he assumed that Shinji calls Rider.
"You can't keep this up forever."
Shirou didn't need to be told that, his vision already starting to blur from the blood loss, his limbs already at its limit but he pressed on. He could easily leave the classroom but doing so would allow Rider to easily capture him in the open space. Assuming that Rider is a speed based servant, the best way to limit her movement is by being in an enclosed space.
Also it would get Tohsaka potentially captured and killed, something he wouldn't be able to stomach again after abandoning Saber once. He can't afford to do that to her as well.
But despite all his might, the spell wore out at the worst timing as he was about to dash to the side to avoid another attack, his body gave out, the nail made a glancing blow to his cheeks. Leaning on one of the tables, Shirou took deep breaths as he saw Rider coming closer, the chains skidding across the floor.
"I'm sorry but there is no escape from what's about to happen to you."
He hated the monotone voice of this Rider. It was as if she didn't even give the slightest damn about what action she was about to take. Not like he can do anything about it anymore. He wouldn't be able to cast the reinforcement spell anymore before Rider could get to him. And even if he could? His body wouldn't be able to handle the strain of the spell as he can feel himself slipping in and out of consciousness, only being able to stay up due to sheer stubbornness.
The words that Rider was saying didn't register in his ears anymore, his mind only solely focused on trying to keep his mind awake. As the blurred shape of Rider launched her nails to attack once more, the wall on the side exploded, knocking him back. He didn't even try to get up anymore. He tilted his head as he saw the enemy was blown away by another explosion before a blonde blur quickly approached him, trying to say something or do something.
His mind, recognizing this person, brought on so much relief to him that he can finally rest his mind, slipping to the lands of unconsciousness.
Date Posted: Feb 24 2024
AN: Huzzah! This story is still kicking! Wanted to post this earlier but procrastination is a bitch and a half and so got delayed. Hopefully I should be able to post another chapter soon.
Anyway, Xian you guys later, Chow!