"-Så spente han føre dei folane ti; hei fara dei folane ti." The soft voice of, what looked like, a 14 year old girl hummed as she made her way through the streets of a destroyed town in northern Poland.
"Men kråka ho sprengde alle di. Hei fara. Faltu riltu raltura." Her soft humming continued as she stepped over piles of ash and debris.
"Så flådde han kråka og lema ho sund, hei fara og lema ho sund." The sounds of the battle were now nearly upon her as she reached where The Dead were being mostly held back by the Enforcers, Exorcists and Mercenaries.
Her humming continued as she made her way through the battlefield, walking through debris, and around weapons that had been abandoned to continue fighting the Ghouls. As she walked, the presence of both herself and her fluffy companion on her shoulder went unnoticed by the two fighting masses of mortals and undead. Suppressed to the point where even the higher ups among the Clock Tower would have difficulty sensing them and further hidden by the Magecraft being flung about and the disintegrating corpses of The Dead.
With all of that on her side, it was criminal how easily she managed to get past the 'wall' of humans who fought off the Ghouls. Her humming resumed as she moved further into the town, getting closer and closer to the owner of the partially conceptualized Reality Marble.
Within her head she imagined someone entering into the second half of their lifespan. A middle-aged man or woman who was beginning to understand who 'they' were as a being. Instead, to her actual and utter shock, she saw a pre-teen who appeared younger than even herself.
For a moment, a brief yet palpable moment, she felt anger flow through her veins. Her pupils constricted and her teeth began to press more firmly together. The young-looking girl was absolutely positive that she had somehow been made fun of, set up, humiliated by someone or something nearby that she wasn't even aware of.
Someone so young holding even a partially conceptualized Reality Marble didn't happen. Flat, period, at all. Apart from them being forbidden by the Mage's Association, they also took an understanding of one's complete self far beyond what most people ever got close to achieving. And additionally to that, they took time to develop. It was why in this day and age only Ancestors like herself really had one. Because they had lived for long enough to both have the needed understanding of self and to have actually developed and fully conceptualized their marble.
As three Ghouls rushed towards the boy she was almost tempted to let them kill him. To blast him with her presence or just to distract him and let the three Ghouls take care of him, he didn't deserve to die to either her or Cath, since he was a child in a small warzone. Clearly the child of some rich or manipulative Magus that-
Her thoughts were cut off by the pinging of that particular sense in her soul as she watched the pre-teen fling his arm out and have two blades that materialized out of thin air pierce their chest. Of course she knew what the blades were, having had enough Exorcists pull them on her in the past, but the sheer shock at watching a pre-teen human utilize a partially formed Reality Marble was nearly enough for her to lose her composure, nearly.
Slowly her thoughts formed themselves back up as she watched him deal with the three Ghouls using the blade at his side. Watching as he tried and partially succeeded to get some of their lopped off parts into a….
'Is that a container of blood? Yes. Yes, it is. How interesting….' She thought to herself, humming under her breath.
Feeling her anger simmer and die off, being replaced by shocked curiosity, she watched him for a few moments longer. Listening to him as he began to mumble about forging blades of all things and what might be good or bad ideas while doing so. Now, despite the sheer absurdity of the situation it didn't take her longer than a few seconds of listening in to realize why he had the container of blood and Ghoul parts now.
She could obviously just go up and speak to him now; discover how exactly he'd managed to begin conceptualizing a Reality Marble at his age. However the problem with that method was that there was a high, almost certain, chance that they'd be interrupted in their conversation. And while she could kill anyone here with no issues, even without Cath's help, humans had a tendency when watching their brethren get slaughtered so effortlessly to either attack themselves or shut down completely.
So the decision to lead the pre-teen out of the town and somewhere more private was rather easy to decide. Beginning to make her way out of the town, in a direction almost perpendicular to the direction the horde attacked from, she began to stretch out her senses and her power. Doing so in a way that wouldn't alarm them or tip them off. And finally after a couple minutes of listening to Cath grumble about wanting to kill all the humans and the sound of battle, she made her move.
From outside the limits of the city she raised her arm, raising the almost airtight container of blood by using the blood inside it. Rattling it around a few times before beginning to move it through the town, smiling when she saw a familiar head of red spiky hair dashing through the streets from her vantage point. It was a simple ploy but undeniably an effective one. Now she just had to keep moving further out until they were a good enough distance away that she could give him a mild scare without attracting attention. Or she could let Cath give him a scare as well.
….
She might need to move a little further out than first planned if she did that.
XXXxxxXXX
Shirou cursed as he hopped over a collapsed section of a stone wall before sliding under a ruined streetlight. Pushing himself back to his feet and continuing to sprint after his container of blood and Ghoul parts with barely any speed lost. Muttering under his breath glowing green lights lit up across his skin and under his clothes, his next breath leaving his mouth in a small stream of condensation.
Shirou's foot struck the stone path, sinking into it for the briefest of moments before gaining purchase as it cracked around his limb. In a burst of motion he tensed his leg and fired his body forward, buffeting the air around him ever so slightly and shattering the stone beneath his foot even further.
15 meters.
10 meters.
5 meters.
4 meters.
3 meters.
2 meters.
1 met-
Shirou clicked his tongue and dug his feet into the ground to avoid slamming face first into a wall as the container suddenly ceased all forward momentum for a moment and shot straight up. The timing was so perfect, as Shirou flew past, that he knew it had to have been done on purpose.
Looking up he saw the container already back in motion, going in the same direction it had been before but now at its new elevation. For a moment he waited, trying to catch sight of something around the container he might have missed beforehand. And when that, too, proved to be ineffective his Magic Circuits flared minutely once more, and he Structurally Grasped the container.
'Oh, hey I managed to get nearly 40kg of material. Now if only I can get it back.' He grouched internally, taking off back through the streets.
Due to its new height, he wasn't able to make any moves to get it. Since most of the debris was too unstable for him to get the necessary purchase and whoever was controlling the container had wizened up and actively moved it away from the buildings and rubble that could hold his weight. Which led to Shirou once again following it blindly, barely even noticing when he ended up outside the town and continuing to follow after it.
Eventually it blasted forward, over a small hill, making him press his lips firmly together and Reinforce his body once more to clear the hill in a few powerful steps. His final step at the top of the hill was so powerful he cleared the incline and he could feel himself become weightless for the briefest of moments, spying his container now resting beside a girl who looked to be in her early teens.
Hitting the ground and stumbling a bit from both the impact and velocity he had been travelling at, the pre-teen jogged a little to kill off the rest of his momentum and came to a regular walk once he got close enough to the girl, his container, and what seemed like the girl's pet.
Ignoring the girl for a moment he Structurally Grasped the container once more, sighing audibly in relief when he saw that despite whatever had been happening to it, it was still in perfect condition.
"Hello there. Apologies for stealing this but I needed you alone for a little talk. I hope you understand?"
XXXxxxXXX
Meanwhile, with Bazett
Bazett exhaled as she watched the body of the Ghoul disintegrate to dust after having torn its entire torso to shreds with a singular punch, and not even a powerful one at that.
Such was the power of Bazett Fraga McRemitz, one of the strongest Enforcers in the Mage's Association and additionally one of the leaders of this extermination. A woman with terrifying martial prowess, terrifying Thaumaturgical prowess and an ace that would and has turned away many potential opponents.
And that exact power was why Bazett had an entire section of the town to herself to wipe out the Ghouls that screeched and tore into her 'territory' so to say. Her keen ears picking up the distant echo of a screech of primal hunger and need, different from the rest, making her prepare for another Ghoul to attack soon.
One of her arms corrected the position of the strap looped around her shoulder, holding the prized possession of her family and her ace: Fragarach.
Hearing the screeching and scraping of stone getting both louder and closer, she took a breath in before breathing back out, staring in the direction of its origin with a calm look. And when it finally entered her line of sight, and her its own, it dashed forward with rotting limbs and savage movements. Sprinting at her without an ounce of thought or technique but an overabundance of killing intent and malice.
Though, like all its brethren, it died in a single strike. The young woman leaned back to easily avoid the swipe at her head and swung her right foot up to strike the Ghoul in its ribs. The force of her strike created a small shockwave and nearly disintegrated the entirety of the Ghoul's upper half. Standing back upright she watched it disappear into ash with a bored and disinterested expression. Closing her eyes and sighing.
In the blink of an eye she tilted her head to the side and caught the offending limb by its wrist, avoiding the malicious purple energy wrapped around its outstretched fingers. The sound of equal parts disappointment and surprise from behind her made her snort as she opened her eyes. Tightening her grip on the wrist in her hand, she yanked it down with no warning, hearing a sickening snap besides her ear. The sheer speed and strength of the action bending the arm at a 90-degree angle that the elbow wasn't built for and simultaneously burying her own elbow into her opponent's gut.
Hearing the wind leave her opponent's lungs she used her vice grip on their wrist to lift them up and over her shoulder and slam them into the street hard enough to crack even the walls of the surrounding houses. The woman refused to let go of the Dead Apostle's wrist even with its elbow snapped and ribs cracked while it was buried in the street. Raising a foot, a brief glow encased the limb before she brought it down on the creature's head.
Half a second later there was a burst of wind as Bazett shot back from the form of the Dead Apostle who rose with a manic grin and a set of completely mangled and shattered fingers on one hand.
A laugh began to leave his lips, a soft yet insane laugh that soon turned into full blown psychotic cackling.
"You insane bitch! If I hadn't forced you to move your foot to block my curse, you would have shattered my fucking skull!" The Dead Apostle laughed while bending back before suddenly snapping forward, his pupils' pinpricks in unblinkingly wide orbs and an accusatory finger pointed at her and shaking from ill-hidden fury.
"How did you know I was here, huh? HUH? How'd you know? You've got a little mousy mousy somewhere here who managed to see me? Some little bloodbag Magus hiding in the rubble somewhere?"
In an explosion of stone and dust, Bazett appeared underneath his arm with one fist drawn in, clearly preparing an attack of some kind.
"Your bloodlust is terribly hidden." Flesh and bone caved around her fist and blood from his forcibly opened mouth stained the back of her top.
XXXxxxXXX
Outside the town, Shirou
The girl's voice appeared polite at first but was confusingly tinged with emotions that Shirou vaguely understood but couldn't guess why they'd be present, only confusing him further.
"Why did you take my container?" He asked, trying to keep things polite like the girl seemed to be doing but unable to hide the inflection of annoyance as well as she could mask her own emotions.
"Simply so I could have a conversion with you, Marble-holder." She spoke simply, as if it was an obvious fact that one should just inherently understand.
"Can I please have my container back?" Shirou asked, getting a confused set of blinks from the red-eyed girl.
"What do you care for some container of blood and Ghoul parts when I'm standing before you, admitting I know what you are?" She questioned, her expression quickly fading from surprised to amused.
"And I don't know what you're saying. I think you may have the wrong person miss. Can I please have my container back?" He held a hand out on instinct, as if she would just pick it up and hand it to him like a book.
"Oh, dear sweet little boy," She suddenly spoke as if she were many years older than him, getting a quizzical blink and tilting of his head "I'm not letting you go until you admit you have a Reality Marble and tell me how you got it. I'm not accepting silly little lies and avoidances."
"Look miss. I don't know what a Reality Marble is, if I did, I'd tell you, but I really don't. Can I please have my container back?"
"You… Boy. Stare me in the eye and repeat what you just said." The girl suddenly ordered, getting a confused expression from Shirou despite his nonchalant shrug.
"Look miss. I don't know what a Reality Marble is, if I did, I'd tell you, but I really don't. Can I please have my container back?" He stressed the last sentence even further, staring her dead in the eye the entire time.
For a moment, Altrouge felt the ground disappear beneath her feet once more. Not only did this pre-teen have a partially conceptualised Reality Marble, but he didn't even know what a Reality Marble was. Which while understandable for the average Magus in this modern day and age, was impossible for the wielder of a Reality Marble.
'Or well, it was impossible before this kid.' She thought to herself with a tightened smile and suppressing a twitch in one of her eyes.
"If you sit and listen to my explanation, I'll give you your container back. Ok?" She smiled at him, for once with a smile that fit her fourteen-year-old visage.
"Uh, ok?" He nodded, resting his weight on one foot and resting his palm on the pommel of his blade comfortably, an action that got a small growl from the squirrel-like creature on her shoulder.
"Fou!" Shirou blinked in surprise at the sudden, vehement and quite angry shout from the cute little creature.
"Oh Cath. Relax a little, ok? He's not a threat, you should know that." Altrouge smiled and petted the creature on her shoulder.
Despite its cute appearance and the girl's cutesy tone while speaking to it, Shirou couldn't help but instinctively feel like there was something more to the creature. Something dangerous and deadly.
"First, where are my manners? I'm Altrouge Brunestud. A pleasure." The girl swept an arm to the side and bowed, a dangerous grin upon her face.
"Shirou Muramasa. Nice to meet you." Shirou greeted back stoically, making Altrouge blink in surprise once more.
More and more this child was proving to be an utter wildcard. Both in abilities and in personality, and while it was amusing to Altrouge, who talked to the same number of people often enough to be able to guess their general reactions, it was also highly irritating.
Altrouge was a creature of habit, of order. She liked when things all fit perfectly together with a nice little bow to top it all off. So when she met a creature, human in this case, like this 'Shirou' who seemed to intrinsically break every expectation and 'rule' that she mentally laid out before him?
Well, it was easier to say that they usually didn't last long if they couldn't entertain her or have use to her.
"Right. Well, Shirou, a Reality Marble is the projection of one's inner world onto the outer world. A Greater Magecraft capable of creating a world whose rules are entirely different from those of Gaia's. Something she doesn't enjoy too much." She giggled after her last sentence, a cute giggle that seemed completely at odds with her demeanour while explaining what Reality Marbles were.
"And you think I have one?"
"Oh, I know you have one. See Reality Marble's are fickle little things. Hard to create and even harder to figure out if someone has one. Unless of course, you're like me and have one of your own."
"Oh! So, you have a Reality Marble as well?"
"I have a Reality Marble. You have a partially formed one. We aren't nearly on the same level, little Shirou." She smiled and waggled her finger as she talked, a fist on her hip and a somewhat demeaning tone of voice accentuating the statement.
"Oh. Uh, ok?" He gave her a confused look, getting an annoyed one in return that made his skin crawl similarly to how Gilgamesh's stare used to.
"You, Shirou Muramasa, have somehow begun to form a Reality Marble when it's usually rare for anyone four times your age to begin developing one. I wish to know how."
XXXxxxXXX
Bazett swerved out of the way of another set of swipes covered in pure cursed prana. Two cracks were heard as both of her arms flung out and met the inside of the Dead Apostles forearms. The impact sent both arms flying so far back that not only did both forearms snap but both of his arms popped out of their sockets as the back of his palms met with a painful clap.
Slamming her fist into his solar plexus with enough force to kill even a regular Nightkin in a single blow. She grimaced when all that she got was some breathing room as his body was blown back moments before both of his arms snapped back into their sockets and healed at the exact same time.
With a small twitch in her expression, glowing blue runes lit up the back of both of her gloves and caused both of them to begin glowing a mint green. Kneeling down, she dug one of her hands through the stone street and gripped. The young woman ripped a chunk of the road up with terrifying ease and threw it directly at the Dead Apostle. An attack which got a cocky laugh from the creature who spread the curse from just his fingertips to his elbow and tore through the street, only for a glowing fist to meet his elbow and throw him back once more.
Striking a light post with a thunderous bang and snap, the Dead Apostle growled and got to his feet as the metal pole began to topple over and the Enforcer ran towards him.
"When are ya going to learn huh bitch? You can't hurt me! Not in a way that matters!"
His response was the woman sliding to a stop besides the post as it hit the ground. Proceeding to reach down and grab it with a grip that physically warped the metal before twisting to the side. Swinging the pole into his side, an action that registered in his mind as time seemed to slow to a crawl. The metal digging into his side and the raw physical strength of his opponent seemingly humming through the pole. Before all of a sudden his brain caught up with the events currently happening and in an instant he found himself thrown halfway down the street in an explosion of dust and a shockwave that picked up the winds around Bazett. The winds and dust seemed to almost frame her like some kind of demonic warrior as she raised her leading foot and heaved the entire pole off the ground with her arm back and tensed.
And in a second, stronger, shockwave, what was once a light post was now a projectile straight from the depths of hell.
XXXxxxXXX
"I really wish I knew how, but I don't. So, I'm sorry but I don't have an answer for you." Shirou shrugged while smiling sheepishly.
"Hm. Truly, nothing stands out? Nothing at all?" Shirou could feel his muscles ever so slightly tense and relax in sections beneath his skin.
A reaction that he managed to figure out wasn't caused by fear but rather something else. He wasn't sure exactly what it was. But the rare experience he'd had with fear, actual true fear, let him know that it wasn't what was causing the current phenomena.
It had to have been something Altrouge was doing, though he wasn't sure why.
"Truly? No. I'm really sorry." He answered, his mind not creating the link anyone else would have.
Why would he? Others within the Clock Tower have Mystic Codes kept on their person constantly and he wasn't the only person to have experienced the Fuyuki Fire. So given that none of them had Reality Marbles, his mind discarded the idea almost as quickly as it generated it.
"Hm. Is that so? Disappointing." Her tone was high-pitched, evidently due to her physical age, but cold and clipped.
Her red eyes dulled, and her eyelids drooped for the briefest of moments as her smile pressed together firmly, thinning her lips out minutely. A feeling of danger that Shirou had only ever felt around Gilgamesh began to subtly coalesce around him, causing his fingers to twitch ever so slightly. Despite the minute action, however, it immediately drew Altrouge's attention, her eyes moving down to his hand so quickly he didn't even see them move.
Her eyes returned to staring at his face just as quickly.
A spark returned to her eyes. A life that had left for but a moment returned, and in full force, and a smile made its way to her face. A smile that should have drowned him in fear and terror, yet one that he mistakenly allowed to lower his guard.
"No matter. If you can't explain how you began the development of your Reality Marble. You can at least enlighten me as to the nature of yours through your continued conceptualization." She spoke suddenly, getting a couple blinks from Shirou.
"Enlighten you?..."
"Would you care to make a deal, Shirou Muramasa?"
(Far away in both London and Fuyuki multiple people felt a chill run down their spine at once.)
"A deal?" He questioned, cocking his head to the side, as she noticed he often did when confused.
"That's right. I'll help you to develop your Reality Marble, and return the container. And in return you can help me deal with a problem at some stage?" She finished with a cutesy expression, complete with wide doe eyes and a slightly pushed out lower lip.
Far from actually finding any human attractive, especially considering Shirou's age, but she knew how to play her looks to her advantage. Usually done to adults, giving her a cute and innocent look, she wasn't quite sure how it would land on Shirou. Though she was banking on him perhaps having a crush on her or thinking her cute.
Anything to get him to agree to this deal.
"Hmmm. Sure." He agreed easily, both his want to be a nice person and wanting to get his container back was too overpowering to even stop and think about any other connotations the deal might have.
"Great! Shake on it?" She held a hand out with a bright, sharp, smile.
Shrugging and walking closer, despite the angry glare and cute growl the creature on her shoulder gave him, he held his own hand out and shook hers.
"So makes this contract binding and cemented. As long as I hold the title Brunestud this contract shall have effect until both ends fulfil their sides." The words left her lips naturally, as if a practised speech that left Shirou confused for a moment before mana burst from the ground beneath their feet.
Roaring around the both of them it twisted and spun, forming a tornado of pure energy that sucked itself back in. Twisting into a highly condensed beam that struck their clasped hands, though oddly enough Shirou couldn't feel anything different despite all the energy striking his limb.
A few seconds after starting it died off, Altrouge allowed the pre-teen to pull his hand back and stare at the marking that originated from his palm and wrapped around not only all five of his fingers but also the back of his palm. A red so dark it looked black unless hit by light at just the right angle, and markings undoubtedly magical in design but one that was utterly foreign to the swordsmith.
And then it was gone.
Fading away into nothingness, Shirou blinked in confusion and formed a fist a couple times, feeling nothing different and seeing none of the marking return.
"It'll only appear when the contract is either threatened, invoked or completed in some way." Shirou looked over at Altrouge as she answered his unspoken question.
"Huh. Interesting, like a Geas right?"
"Only much more powerful." She smiled with a wink. "But speaking of completing the contract, I can help you develop your Reality Marble right now."
"Really? Like some kind of advice or personal experience?" He questioned, only getting a giggle from her.
"No no. Nothing like that. Reality Marbles are a crystallisation of the Soul's inner world. You develop it by learning and understanding who 'you' are as a person. As a being." She lectured, raising an arm to scratch the head of the creature on her shoulder before gesturing for it to hop down.
Shirou felt the tension in the clearing skyrocket, more than he'd ever felt from Gilgamesh even at his most furious and cruel. His left hand gripping the scabbard of his blade on reflex and his body tensing up for reasons utterly alien to the pre-teen.
"And I've found the quickest, and most effective, way to learn such information is to look death in the face. And quite personally too. Cath."
"FouuuuuuuuuUUUU-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
XXXxxxXXX
Meanwhile, [REDACTED] Location
"Hm? A ping from a new timeline?" A soft, rather feminine, voice muttered.
The sound of rolling wheels could be heard for a moment, a curious and somewhat nervous hum following right afterwards.
"A Beast? This timeline was following the Greater History too closely for that. It doesn't appear to be on a full rampage at least…" The voice mumbled, a few taps following shortly after, sounding like an echo of a rock against a frozen lake.
"Primate Murder? Not good. Though it has the Brunestud girl, so it might be a false alarm." More rippling taps of ice were heard, followed by a light taking the form of Altrouge and Cath Palug, the Beasts roar whispering through the location as if inconsequential and annoying to listen to at the proper volume.
"She doesn't often use Primate Murder as a show of force. Who is she- Shirou Emiya." The feminine voice turned awed and breathy the moment the light changed to show Shirou.
A rippling tap was heard once more and the light grew in size by almost 200%.
"This world, too, has a Shirou Emiya despite also having Ancestors. Perhaps….Perhaps, finally, it will happen."
A small golden star appeared on the light showing Shirou as he stared down Primate Murder.
XXXxxxXXX
"You're a tenacious bitch! Calm the fuck down and lemme curse ya!" The Dead Apostle screeched insanely, trying to bite down on her neck even as both of his arms were bent at, at least 3 different 90 degree angles per arm.
Weaving out of the way of his sharpened canines and slamming another fist into his side, Bazett flung the Dead Apostle into yet another wall. Hearing yet another screech, once again, and simply raising her glowing fists in preparation. A move that proved to be a smart decision as ten elongating, sharpened, tendrils of the Dead Apostles' sickly purple cursed energy shot out of the smoke and tried to impale her. The young woman's fists knocking seven away in an instant and her body contorting to dodge a further three.
With enough power to shatter the street beneath her feet the Enforcer leapt and flipped through the air, avoiding the spikes that suddenly grew out the sides of the tendrils that had stabbed into the ground around her.
"Haaaah? That missed too? Dammit dammit! Who the fuck is giving you information on my fighting style huh? Tell me! Tell me!" The Dead Apostle's voice broke from the pitch of his screaming, only making Bazett's eyes narrow further in annoyance.
Visibly tensing his fingers and arms and pulling them back, the Dead Apostle flung himself towards her using the tendrils stuck in the ground. As he flew he swung his tendrils towards her, only three of them getting to her in the time it took his main body to. Though they were able to catch up a moment later, all of his momentum became fuel to increase the power of Bazett's strike. A simple uppercut that blew a hole almost twice as wide as her fist out of his back. A strike that got a proper reaction for once as his brain shut down for a moment while spitting blood.
Though of course he wouldn't be an Inferior Dead Apostle if such an attack could do him in. The creature managed to pull his thoughts together just fast enough to use an attack he had been theorising for the past couple minutes.
Firing four more tendrils either side of her, he purposefully had them miss by a margin of only a few centimetres. A small enough margin to not be suspicious but a large enough margin to make her believe her attack had done more than it truly had. And when he saw her completely disregard his tendrils and wind up another punch before he'd even reached the apex of his 'flight' he grinned manically.
Curling eight of his fingers, the tendrils of cursed prana tore through the ground and curled back in on themselves. Four tendrils wrapping around each of her arms and getting an alarmed look from her when she realised she couldn't break out right away.
"Got you bit-!" He crowed victoriously, only for the wind to leave his lungs as her foot buried itself into his sternum, the young Enforcer having pulled off a perfect vertical split kick in the instant it took him to gloat.
With a shockwave that caused the Dead Apostle's vision to go white for a second, the both of them were launched into the air. The Dead Apostle from the actual impact and Bazett by proxy.
"You cunt!" he screamed in pain and sheer mind-numbing fury, stabbing spikes into both of her arms and gnawing his teeth together when they barely managed to pierce through her suit.
With a grunt of effort he swung both of his arms around, using the tendrils to speed up the momentum even further and in an instant he dematerialized his cursed tendrils, flinging Bazett into the street about a second or so before he landed.
"Hah! Can you feel it? My curse? Flowing through your veins and necrotizing every cell it touches? Can you feel yourself withering away, you pretentious whore!?" He cackled into the dust cloud, beginning to laugh so hard he had to hold his side.
"Tough luck." His cackling ceased in a singular instant, his pupils dilating and his teeth beginning to gnaw together again.
"There's no way! My curse should be killing you by now! You're not human!" He spat furiously, glaring even harder as a dirtied and roughed up, but still very much living and raring to go, Bazett stepped out of the dust.
"It's a good curse. But my blood is not quite normal. You just landed the worst opponent you could have gotten. Even your strongest curse, be it a spell or otherwise, wouldn't be able to take hold in my body so long as my blood can get to it." She spoke simply, grinning mockingly as she adjusted her glove.
XXXxxxXXX
"Cath. Don't end it right away. Make him struggle." Altrouge ordered, getting an annoyed growl before another roar left his mouth and his form flickered from view.
Instincts that Shirou wasn't even aware of had him throwing his body to the side before he even knew why. Rolling to his feet and feeling a sharp pain in his side, a rather nasty gash, he realised just how serious this had become, and rather quickly at that. Drawing his sword and bracing it with his free hand he grit his teeth as the palm of Cath struck it, throwing him back.
Rolling backwards to go with the momentum of his strike he pushed off the ground with a strong kick, avoiding a swipe at his legs but once again using his blade to defend. A high-pitched scraping sound filtering into both Shirou's and Cath's ear as Shirou's placement of his blade ground along the Beasts horn as it tried to impale him upon it.
With a growl that visibly shook the air around it, Cath flicked his head up, flinging Shirou high into the air. Taking a moment to growl in annoyance before crouching down low and flinging himself after his Master's 'interest'.
'If I keep defending it'll get me in the next few attacks.' Shirou realised, figuring out just how much he was outclassed by.
Even with Cath holding back on Altrouge's orders it still had him on the ropes. With speed that eclipsed his, with strength that eclipsed his, and likely with durability and stamina eclipsing his as well. With just those factors alone Shirou knew that his skill alone wouldn't let him keep up, not when it outclassed him by so much.
"Trace. On." The words left his lips barely a murmur, unheard by Altrouge, but it's effects on the world surely weren't.
In his free hand, in a crackle of cyan lightning a longsword appeared in his grip, one that weighed down heavily on Shirou and one that Altrouge could feel the Mystery within. Though it also felt incomplete, as if the Mystery within it was somehow different to the Mystery within both herself and Cath Palug. Inferior to their Mystery, she would say the main difference was.
With a grunt of effort as he Reinforced his body, Shirou released his blade, burying it deep into the chest of Cath and forcing the creature to be unable to reach him as its momentum died out before his own. Hitting the ground and growling, the creature of horns, spikes, matted fur and dried blood lifted a hand and grabbed the blade of the sword embedded in his chest and squeezed.
In an explosion of sparks, metal and motes of prana the blade shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces before fizzling away and disappearing completely. The hole it had caused disappeared a moment later as Cath roared. The ground shook, pebbles were reduced to sand and the air seemed to press down on the area around them, getting a click of Altrouge's tongue.
"Cath! I told you not to end him. Just keep toying with him, ok?" She admonished him before smiling, listening to the almost cute, to her ears, grumble the creature gave before launching itself after Shirou once more.
'Though his Reality Marble is certainly interesting. The creation of blades perhaps? Whatever it is, it's actually helpful to keep him somewhat active in this fight.' She thought to herself, having realised how Cath had been so easily pierced by that blade he had thrown.
The simple matter of fact was that just as Cath Palug was currently stronger than Shirou by a factor of 1. The blade that Shirou had created and thrown had somehow also been stronger than Shirou. Meaning that her precious Cath's ability as the Beast of Comparison was rendered ineffectual, at least somewhat. It was only the swords that Shirou seemed to be able to create that had any effect on Cath and even then, from watching the battle, it was clear that Shirou wasn't able to fight back in any meaningful way. Perhaps if Shirou had the weapons still in his grip when he fought Cath, or if he was closer in power to the weapons themselves, then they wouldn't have any effect. But as it was she had no reason to worry, Cath was a smart boy after all, he would have figured out by now how Shirou was getting around his ability, albeit accidentally.
Though there was one other thing keeping him in the fight that she'd never seen in another human who went up against Cath. There was a fear present in Shirou, she could tell based on the reactions of his body and the sheer speed that he reacted to Cath's movements. Yet this fear was instinctual, something you couldn't get rid of, something hardwired into every human's genetic code due to Cath's identity as Beast IV. What Shirou had, that other humans didn't, or rather what Shirou didn't have, was an utter, completely lacking fear of death. Even the most hardened of war veterans and those on the verge of committing suicide had felt a fear of death in Cath's presence, yet it seems to have been wiped completely clean from Shirou's psyche. Rather than having a will to live that had been present and crushed from life's harsh tribulations and trials, it was more as if the will had never been present in the first place.
Unknown to Altrouge, this was the truth that made up 'Shirou Emiya-Muramasa'. A child who had been 'born' without a will to live due to the trauma and experience of the Fuyuki Fire that had burnt away everything he had and more. A pre-teen that had created an artificial facsimile of a will to live. Living not for the sake of living, but rather living for the sole purpose of completing a goal.
In time, Altrouge too would come to learn this truth of Shirou. Of exactly how broken he was and how utterly alien that made him in this modern world of normalcy and complacency, but for now it made him a curiosity. It made him interesting. It made him a puzzle.
So as she watched Shirou she let her mind wander, she watched him use his partially developed Reality Marble and she watched him struggle in vain to survive Cath's never-ending onslaught of attacks. Unaware of his reasons for struggling to survive when he seemingly had no fear of death, but aware that he wouldn't let himself go down without a fight.
Meanwhile Shirou panted as he leapt above a swipe from Cath's right paw and grabbed one of his horns that tried to impale him once more. Attempting to use his grip on Cath's horn to either push Cath away or fling himself out of Cath's immediate melee range. Instead he felt a clawed paw wrap around and dig into his side painfully, tearing through clothes and skin as if it didn't exist, and throw him away.
Hitting the ground painfully, Shirou felt his legs twist over his head from the momentum and throw his body even further across the battlefield. His senses were scrambled and his ever growing list of injuries only made focusing on the fight harder and harder. But despite that, the killing intent Cath gave off was impossible to ignore. Slapping the ground with a Reinforced arm he flung himself even faster and further across the ground.
Cath's paw slammed into the ground where he had previously been.
Rolling to his feet while still sliding back he raised his blade and looked around for his opponent.
From behind him, Cath struck out, flinging Shirou back off his feet and completely reversing his momentum.
Crying out in pain and rolling across the grass, he tried to get back onto his feet, at least managing to see Cath appear ahead of him this time as he skipped across the ground towards him.
Cath's claw's tore through the grass and earth as he aimed to swipe upwards at Shirou, its claws bouncing off the greatsword that wedged itself into the ground between the two of them. Letting Shirou get to his feet and swing at Cath with the blade that seemed to almost be glued to his hand with how tightly he'd been holding onto it.
The attack missed of course, but anyone else would count it as a win that he could even get an attack in when losing this bad. Instead, as a reward for managing to 'block' one of Cath's attacks, the Beast spun around and bashed him with its long tail that looked fluffy but felt harder than pure tungsten.
"Oh Caaaaath!" The Beast instantly ceased its sprint towards a battered, bleeding and incredibly injured Shirou to stare at Altrouge as she called out while waving "I think our new business partner will need a bit more of a push. You can't kill him but I'll let you mutilate one part of him, ok?"
Shirou's eyes widened as Altrouge's 'kind' words reached his ears, raising his blade across his torso to try and get as much defence as possible while jumping up and back. His vision swam for the briefest of seconds and in that time, Cath had crossed the entire distance between them and was already in the middle of his attack. His claw's pointed towards the sky and his arm halfway in an arc towards his face.
Because despite Cath Palug obeying his Master implicitly he knew how to interpret her orders and when to put his own will into the gaps in her words. And the White Dog of Altrouge, Primate Murder, knew exactly how to get revenge for managing to actually injure it, despite the injury being a pure fluke.
Shirou watched the claws of Cath Palug grow ever closer, catching up to him faster than his Reinforcement empowered leap could gain distance. Closer and closer, he watched the Beasts attack gain on him, time seeming to slow down the closer it got. Thought after thought ran through his mind, ways to avoid it, ways to escape, they all filtered through his head at a speed that would make computer's jealous. Slowly, as if swimming through tar, his Od began to react to his mental commands, a sword beginning to form in front of his eyes. But it wasn't enough.
One eye got the protection in time, but the Beasts attack was just too fast for his Tracing to keep up with, the blade forming closer and closer to the side of Cath's claw as it neared his left eye.
The left half of his vision went black.
XXXxxxXXX
"Die die die die DIE!" The Dead Apostle screamed as his tendrils of cursed energy tore up the ground and buildings around him in an attempt to get to Bazett.
For the Enforcer's part she slipped through and deflected the tendrils with an enviable ease. Even the small cuts and shallow stabs she received from the incredibly rare tendril didn't slow her down, infuriating her enemy more and more and forcing him to lose his cool.
"Who did it!? Who made you resistant to my curse!? I'll kill 'em! I'll fucking gut their necrotizing corpse!" The Dead Apostle screamed, his breath beginning to come out heavier and his tendrils beginning to occasionally smack into each other or falter in their accuracy.
"Like I said. Your curse won't affect me. I'm not resistant to it. I'm immune." Bazett corrected him, jumping back as suddenly all of his tendrils retreated back to his body.
"You- You think I'll believe that bullshit!? No one's immune! No one! My curse is supreme! Infallible!"
"Feel's pretty fallible from over here." She commented, injecting just the smallest twinge of ego into her voice as she patted down her shoulders "You couldn't hurt me even if you used some ace in the hole curse. You can't beat me."
"Haaaah? Even if I use my greatest curse huh? Who the fuck do you think you are, bitch!" The tendrils disappeared into sickly purple motes of light and a dark, malicious smoke began to waft off his body.
"Your greatest curse means nothing. It'll probably feel like a small breeze." This time her voice was clearly arrogant, a smile to match forming on her face as she cocked her hip and rested a fist on it.
"Well then let's fucking go, whore!" He screeched, beginning to chant an aria that only grew angrier as Bazett used the hand not resting on her hip to make a 'bring it' motion.
And with the completion of the aria, a ball of thick, dark purple energy began to form above his head, getting a vindictive grin from Bazett. In an instant, all ego and arrogance left both her face and her body language and instead she widened her stance and brought a fist up beside her. The crackling of electricity being heard as the metallic tube she had left behind on the roof of a building nearby popped open and what seemed like a ball of liquid metal shot out and hovered above her fist.
"Answerer." Light began to peel off her arm and into the ball, rapidly causing it to develop its own glow before out of the top of the ball a blade formed.
"Hahaha! You think a puny little blade like that can harm me! Moron! You fucking idiot! Now take this! APEX CURSE!"
"Fragarach." There was a burst of light and suddenly the beam of purple light that had been heading towards her was once again a ball hovering above his head, one that was beginning to fizzle away.
"How- W-What the fuck?" His voice was beginning to grow weak, his body starting to disintegrate into ash and dust.
Except he never got an answer, just a dispassionate stare from Bazett as she watched him crumble and fizzle away. Waiting until he was absolutely, completely dead before releasing a slow breath and rolling her right shoulder.
"Horde leader eliminated." She muttered, grabbing what was once again a ball of seemingly liquid metal and beginning to make her way back over to where its container was stowed.
XXXxxxXXX
Altrouge made her way over to the writhing and tensed form of Shirou, Cath hovering over him after she had ordered him to cease his attack. Her steps slow, long and playful before she brought both of her heels together with a click and leant over at the waist to stare down at him; her hands folded behind her back.
"Wow Cath! You really did a number on him!" Her only response was a gruff huff from the Beast that got a giggle from her.
Shirou meanwhile was writhing around and panting heavily, his right hand gripping the handle of his blade so tight the Ancestor was almost certain he was beginning to dent it, and his left hand clutched over what had once been a functioning eye that wasn't cut in half.
"Hmmm. You might survive. Or you might not. I guess that'll be up to you, hm?" She giggled as Shirou grit his teeth and jolted once more in pain.
Hearing another growl from Cath she turned to look at him before humming and shaking her head playfully.
"No no Cath. We should be heading off now regardless. I have a contract with him, it'd be a shame to waste that. And the horde is nearly completely killed off. So, let's get going. And Shirou? Farewell. Try not to die, ok? You'll get a marvellously deeper insight on yourself if you do." She smiled and winked with her left eye playfully before beginning to walk off with all the regality of a Queen, or more aptly, a Princess.
Meanwhile Shirou was left writhing, jolting and panting heavily in the blood-stained grass and mud. Sweat, dirt and blood covering his form where injuries did not. Truly, if someone had seen Shirou in this exact moment they would see the picture-perfect definition of half-dead. And unluckily for Shirou, someone did.
"I can help you."
"Hu-wha?" His speech slurred together as he looked around sluggishly, his body beginning to feel heavier and heavier.
"I can help you. Shirou Emiya. I can give you power and heal you."
"Pwer?" He slurred.
"That's correct. I can offer you power, enough to be able to beat her. Altrouge Brunestud." Shirou felt himself falter for just a moment, his vision in his right eye blacking out for a second before coming back.
Memories began to swim in his vision. Old memories, new memories, painful memories, happy memories. Memories of all kinds stuttered their way through his senses in a single second, giving him a unique insight on his life. How he acted and how those around him acted, though they were revelations he couldn't focus on at the moment. Instead, a single memory seared at the forefront of his mind, one that had the potential to save him from death. It was a gamble, to be sure, but a chance, nonetheless.
"H-hd enogh deal fr tda." (Had enough deals for today) He choked out, coughing and spitting out a wad of blood as he did so.
Slowly bringing his hand off his ruined eye and having to force down a scream of pain as the wind hit it properly, he tried to reach into his top, smearing more of his blood over it in the process but eventually grabbing what he was aiming for and pulling it out.
"You wish to gamble on the Mystic Code? I can guarantee your survival Shirou. I can give you the strength to never have to rely on another deal ever again."
A glowing blue light began to form above his head, slowly releasing snaking tendrils of energy towards him.
"Srry." With the last of his strength, he gripped the vial of blood in his hand until it burst, covering his hand, arm, face and chest in the blood of Gray.
Light. Bright, golden light burst from Shirou's chest and began to flow through his body like liquid gold in his veins. A scream of pure, unfiltered pain leaving his lips and his Magic Circuits lighting up as the golden energy filtered from the tips of his toes to every last hair on his head. His heart began to beat faster and the relatively cool air of the Polish land began to condense around his form as his body temperature skyrocketed.
The hallowed scabbard of Excalibur, Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia, had awoken.
But not completely, and not properly. The explosion of light and the golden energy it gave off was proof of that, an inefficient waste of energy that its current host didn't need at the moment. What he needed instead was healing, and that's exactly what Avalon began to do.
Except the improper, partial awakening of the sheath was problematic in this endeavour. Cutting off the healing process at times or massively overpowering it at others. It was a process that left Shirou screaming and tearing at the grass and mud in sheer agony, his grip on his katana so tight the metal was physically bending around his fingers.
Yet despite the set-backs it worked on all of Shirou's injuries dutifully yet inefficiently, all until it reached his eye. See Avalon was usually able to use a blueprint of its users DNA to recreate the eye. A careful process due to how closely linked the eye, its Magic Circuit, and the brain was. But while doing the currently sloppy job it was, let alone with its 'glitches', a problem arose. A section of his DNA was unable to be found by Avalon, a section of DNA crucial to the proper functioning of the eye.
Yet it couldn't leave the eye unhealed, and it couldn't leave the job partially finished. And so, right as the last of the golden light left the rest of Shirou's body, it pooled completely and fully in his left eye. Stitching it together, reattaching nerves, fixing what was broken with utter perfection. And finally, when it reached that critical portion that it didn't know. When it finally came across an injury that with its limited sentience as a Divine Construct it couldn't complete to perfection, it poured all of its power into healing the eye. It forced connections that may not have been there before, it formed synapses which didn't previously exist, it did everything it could to heal the eye, even if it wasn't perfect to how it had been previously. And as it did so, it tweaked his brain as necessary to handle the sudden 're-enablement' of sight in his left eye. Something unnecessary yet unknowingly so very vital.
And so, minutes later, as Shirou felt the pain leave his body, felt his energy return and felt the heaviness leave his body, opening his mismatched eyes to the cloudy sky above him, Avalon began to slumber once more. Content with the job it had done, despite its 'minor' setback.
XXXxxxXXX
Side Story: Rin's Growth
Rin hummed to herself as she kneeled on the ground of her attic, looking through tomes, boxes and items covered in enough dust that even now, after using a gust spell through an open window to clean it out, she still had sneezing fits every few minutes.
The young girl thought about why she was here, why she was looking through all of this immensely old history of the Tohsaka lineage. Her hands began to tremble, and her vision wavered for a moment, remembering the meeting she had, had with Gilgamesh. But in the end she was snapped out of her impending mental spiral, rather humorously, by yet another sneezing fit caused by her deepening breathing.
"Ah, stupid dust!" She whined as she wiped her nose, continuing to look through the artifacts and books.
Eventually she found a chest locked by a bounded field and covered in enough dust to dull even the immensely important materials she could tell it was made of.
(She was a Tohsaka. Being able to tell the value of materials was almost genetically coded into her)
Gasping in surprise and with a greedy look in her eye she inspected the bounded field, smiling ear from ear when she realized it was meant to open to the blood of the family it was keyed to. In other words, hers.
Grabbing out a small knife she gently made a small cut along the back of her palm, wiping some of the blood on her finger and then wiping it across the lock. For a moment, in baited breath, she waited for something to happen, eventually hearing the audible click of the chest opening and flinging it open excitedly.
"I'm free! After so long I'm free!" A somewhat feminine voice was heard as the item in the chest leapt out and floated in the air, doing a small dance in front of her face.
"A….Magical girl stick?" Rin mumbled with a blank look, unable to comprehend the very strange turn this day just took.
"Oh wow! What a cute girl! Hi I'm Magical Ruby! You're perfect! I'll make you an awesome and super cute magical girl!" The floating wand cheered while flexing and bending around in a way that Rin could only describe as trying to show excitement.
"Uh…." How did she respond to this? How did anyone respond to this?
"Ooh! A neko magical girl! That would fit you perfectly!" Nope. That was it, the sticks freedom had to go.
Quick as a whip, Rin's arm snapped out and grabbed the staff of Ruby, getting an excited laugh from the sentient Mystic Code that completely misread her intentions.
"Alright now! Do you accept your magical girl- Wait! NO! NOT BACK IN THE BO-!" Ruby's yells were cut off as Rin hurled the stick back in the box it had come from, slamming it shut by stomping on the lid.
The click of the lock and Bounded Field re-engaging did nothing to satisfy her burning hatred of the stick that dared to mock and embarrass her so soon after earning its freedom. No. She needed to make absolutely sure that vile creation would never escape its holy prison ever again.
XXXxxxXXX
AND THERE WE GO!
Side story was a bit iffy this chapter. Didn't really have an idea for it. But oh well, the actual chapter more than makes up for it XD
How'd you guys enjoy it btw? Weren't expecting that were you? Oh well, what can I say, I like to throw curveballs every now and again x3
REVIEW REPLIES:
Mundatorem: Very much so, yes.
Gaim no Kaze: Thank you!
Zelenin-02: I have 8 girls planned for Shirou and plans to introduce the newer ones without diminishing any of their characters. And yeah, last chapter was very short, sorry!
Barrytrey0430: EX rank luck indeed. And to answer your last question, No~
Hnh058513: Not in the slightest xP
RabbitHaremLover24: Thank you for the review and to answer your last question. Yes, Iri will offer the girls photos of Shirou eventually. Also nice guesses for the harem. Many of them are incorrect but all good options nonetheless.
SentinelSlice: You're probably reading this after reading the chapter so I'm sure you've seen how its turned out XD But no, he hasn't tried archery yet. But it's coming up soon.
Exelion Sieghart: Shirou just attracts attention wherever he goes. He can't help it.
D-Quarter005: Yes. I'm planning to use things from the tsukihime remake.
AND THAT'S ALL FOR REVIEW REPLIES
Thank you all for your reviews even if I didn't get around to answering them. They all really mean a lot to me and I like to go through them and read them x3
Also to the one guest who commented on why Gray gave Shirou her blood, well done for figuring that out and saying it XD
Discord code: ctMzhq3