For a few moments upon opening his eyes once more, Shirou just stared at the cloudy sky of northern Poland. His physical exhaustion gone but his mental exhaustion at a new, all-time record as he breathed in through his nose. For a few seconds he continued to breath in, prepared for the pain of his broken ribs to flare up, or the gashes and scrapes along the majority of his body to voice their own complaints. Instead, he received nothing, no pain, no rattling, no blood pooling up inside him that he needed to spit out.

And then the pain finally reached him, coming from the suddenly much sharper and clear vision of his left eye. The difference in vision between his left eye and his right forcing him to close it in pain and immediately sit up when he felt his stomach churn as if he was about to be sick. Luckily for his already torn and blood-stained clothes, he managed to swallow it down, avoiding yet another stain upon them.

Raising his left hand and placing it over his left eye, he closed it even as the headache faded, unaware of Avalon's continued tweaking of his mind as it healed his headache.

Looking around for a moment with just his right eye, he saw no sign of Altrouge, nor Cath, nor even the glowing blue ball of energy he swore he saw before passing out. Slowly he opened his eye, looking around and feeling the slightest bit dizzy from the difference in vision between his left and right eyes.

'At least I'm not getting a headache this time.' He thought, remembering how Irisviel told him to always try and find the silver lining whenever something went wrong.

It was advice that had begun an, admittedly very joking and playful, argument between her and Kiritsugu. Despite seeing logical points on both sides and knowing that neither side was strictly more correct than the other, he could at least admire the mental fortitude needed to constantly try to find a light in the darkness.

Closing his left eye once more, Shirou began to push himself off the ground and shakily to his feet. The feeling of metal wrapped around his right hand causing him to look over and blink in surprise. What had once been an immaculately made sword was now missing it's Kissaki (Point), the Ha (upper sharpened edge) was bent, chipped and missing chunks of metal, and the Tsuka (handle) was bent and warped around his fingers.

Trying to pry his fingers out for a couple seconds, he blew out an annoyed huff of air before breathing in and muttering under his breath.

"Trace on."

Glowing green-blue lights stretched across his hand and roughly up to his elbow, the pre-teen flexing his fingers and wincing at the screeching sound of rapidly bending and snapping metal. Dropping his usage of Reinforcement, Shirou stood up and looked down at the shattered remains of his blade. If more of it had been left intact, even if it had been dented and bent more than a blade ever should, he might have brought it back with him, maybe even with the use of what little transmutation abilities Iri and Illya had taught him.

But alas, the blade had lost too much of its mass in the 'fight' with Cath and Shirou didn't really hold any sentiment toward it. With a slight grimace he maneuvered his foot underneath it and flicked it far away into the shrubbery that outlined the clearing.

Looking over, Shirou almost fell back to the ground in relief when he saw his container and that it was undamaged. Doing a quick structural grasp with his only opened eye he smiled at seeing no damage to its structural integrity, but clicked his tongue and hissed at the small burning of his left eye.

"That's going to take some getting used to." He mumbled, walking over to the container and with another use of reinforcement, picking it up with a small grunt of exertion.

And one step at a time, with thoughts and memories swirling through his mind, primarily focused on the utter brutalization he had lived through, Shirou began to make his way back to the town.

In a field surrounding a forge and a shining golden light, barren apart from plain, cracked earth and blades buried into the ground. A pulse rippled throughout the land, its origin coming from the golden light and spreading out with an absolute power and speed to rival a shockwave. Its effects on the land were minimal, giving it the slightest differences in texture, appearance and elevation. Its effects on the black void around it however were far more prominent, the ripple seeming to 'hit' something oh so close to the glowing core yet a thousand kilometers off. And where there once was void, sky began to fill.

XXXxxxXXX

Ten minutes later, Polish Town

Patting down a few spots on her suit, Bazett hummed beneath her breath when majority of the dust and grime refused to leave, instead just trying to stain itself further into the material. A persistence that quite aggravated her considering how much work went into each of her suits and despite knowing she'd need to have it repaired after her fight with the Inferior Dead Apostle, she wasn't looking forward to having to wait even longer to get it back so that it could be cleaned.

She had other suits she could wear of course, but it was the principle of the matter.

"Holy crap kid!" The shout caught her attention, making her spin on her heel to see what had prompted it.

She didn't reckon there was a single universe where she was ready for what she saw, despite having no outward reaction to the sight that was almost burnt into her mind. The sight of Shirou Muramasa, currently putting down the container he had been carrying, covered in clothes so torn that his upper half was basically rags, and with dried blood covering almost every single inch of said torn clothing. More than that he only had one eye open, with the other sporting a rather gruesome looking scar that she was absolutely certain he hadn't had only an hour earlier.

If nothing else though, he moved with a spring to his step and seemingly had no issues with mobility. Meaning that he was either the best actor she had ever seen or heard of in her life, or he truly wasn't injured. Which considering the state of his clothing and the scar, it wasn't possible that he'd been able to avoid taking any damage whatsoever. Additionally, even if he had managed to avoid being damaged, he shouldn't still be so energetic. No one, especially as young as Shirou was, could go through a battle as vicious as his clothes suggested it was and not have any hints of physical fatigue whatsoever.

"Muramasa, what happened to you?" She questioned as she approached him, her expression stern and her tone clipped.

Stopping in front of him, she watched as he chuckled and scratched the back of his head, some flakes of mostly dried blood crumbling off and falling down his back. Something that he didn't seem to mind, or even really notice now that she paid attention to his body language.

"Fought something a bit stronger than I could handle," He admitted easily, a refreshing difference to the other Magi she had worked with, who would lie and do anything necessary to try and maintain their reputation and pride.

"So, all of this blood is yours? Despite not a single injury being on your person?" She questioned, aware of the small crowd around them and ignoring them with a practiced ease.

"Huh? Oh, no I was injured really badly," He corrected her, shaking his head as he did so, shaking some flakes of dried blood off again as he did so. "A Mystic Code I've been experimenting with healed me."

The admittance that Shirou had a Mystic Code capable of such healing capabilities got shocked exclamations and conspiratory whispers from around her, mostly from the Exorcists rather than the Enforcers. The few mercenaries that had both survived the battle and were watching just seemed more interested than scheming or jealous. Bazett would have been surprised, if she hadn't been briefed on Shirou and his family, that she had done some research prior to meeting him, and having another ace up her sleeve that was even more potent than regeneration.

"A Mystic Code that healed you? I'm assuming it's a rather consumable ability?" She probed him for information, finding the whispers of those around them highly annoying.

"Sort of? What I used to make it work is completely spent up." He replied with a flat expression and a shrug, not seeing any reason to go into details about what exactly it was that made his mysterious Mystic Code function.

Unknowingly, his simple-minded vagueness actually worked in his favour, getting many of those listening to click their tongues or give him nasty looks. Since abilities that gave forms of healing or regeneration were not necessarily difficult to come across with the right connections, but rather got more and more costly the more potent it was. And based on the state of Shirou's clothing and the blood he was drenched in, his would have had to be rather potent.

"I see. Aces like that are useful, especially when kept a secret." She nodded at him respectfully, having never heard of this particular 'secret' of his and assuming it was a purposeful decision on his part.

Unknown to her, it was a purposeful decision but rather one on Kiritsugu's and Irisviel's parts than Shirou's own.

"Hm, that reminds me. Did you use your Noble Phantasm? What did it do? I want to see its effects."

Bazett only released a tired breath as her entire body seemed to deflate at Shirou's inquiry, her eyes half-lidded and blank as she looked down at the excited pre-teen. For just a moment she'd forgotten about his almost fanatical love for weapons, Noble Phantasms chief among those. For a moment, a brief, wonderful moment, she had been able to have some peace and quiet.

In all honesty it was her fault for talking to Shirou in the first place. She should have known this would happen.

XXXxxxXXX

A few hours later, Plane (Altitude: 10.5km)

Shirou breathed in deeply, holding it for a moment before slowly breathing out, his elbow resting on the arm of his seat and his face pointed towards one of the windows of the plane that he, alongside the other Enforcers, were using to get back to London.

For a while, he took the time to stare out at the horizon while letting his mind wonder about Lorelei's sword-to-be and how he might go about making it. His mental fatigue catching up to him as it made such thoughts not difficult but rather, it made such thoughts slow to come to him. Something which inadvertently contributed towards the quiet, peaceful atmosphere within the plane. A chance many of the Enforcers took to take a 1-2 hour power nap after the brutal fighting they'd done today, despite how short it had been.

Slowly, the swordsmith focused his vision as he continued to stare at the glass of the plane, no longer looking at the setting sun on the horizon and letting his mind wonder, but instead now looking at his own reflection. At his scar that stretched from just above his left eyebrow to about even height with his cheekbone, and the closed eye that it stretched over. Since the fire, it was the first major scar he can ever remember getting. Sure, he'd gotten small scars from nicking himself on metal, or burning himself, or accidents while doing Magecraft or sword training, and ever since meeting Gray even those injuries hadn't scarred. Yet he'd never gotten a scar this big or this prominent.

Though despite what some people thought about their own scars, Shirou didn't find it ugly, nor did he dislike it for the memories it brought up whenever he looked at it. Sure, those memories were far from pleasant, but the memories were just that, memories. The event had passed, its effects had been felt and would continue to be discovered but the event itself was over, and that's all that Shirou cared about.

Slowly, Shirou opened his left eye, staring at what was very much not the regular golden amber that he was expecting to see. Instead, while the eye itself still held the same shape as his right, the exact details had changed drastically.

Where once his iris shone a colour identical to his right eye, now it was a deep and pure gold that seemed to almost radiate energy. His pupil was still its regular black, but the greatest change was a specific part of his iris, where cobalt blue letters of unknown origin lazily spun in a clockwise circle around said pupil.

Blinking in surprise, he leant a little closer to the glass and used two fingers to pull his eyelids open further to get a good look at his eye, feeling a bit disorientated from the differences in the perception speed of each eye. The perception of his left eye clearly faster than his right, and the detail it saw in was also significantly better than his other eye as well.

Experimentally, he closed his right eye and moved around a little, looking around. The slower and clearer vision, something he was definitely unused to yet with his right eye now closed, it was at least manageable without feeling like he'd get vertigo just from looking at the clouds.

Bringing his arm in front of his face, he waved it around, marveling at the sight of watching his arm moving slower than it truly was. And more than that, his mind felt…. clearer than it ever had before. He wasn't sure how, or how it made sense for it to feel that way. But he knew that something about having this eye, and especially having it opened, helped him to understand what he couldn't understand before.

'How…did I know that?'

He blinked in confusion, looking down at his lap as thoughts began to swirl within his mind. He knew that when it came to conventional Magecraft he wasn't extremely knowledgeable, having his focus so heavily aimed on Swordsmithing and weapon creation left little time to research Magecraft in general. So, to have such an instinctual, even if not complete, understanding of what this eye would give him…. It was confusing. The eye clearly gave him a greater understanding than what he'd previously had, and he wasn't quite sure how or why.

'Eh. Doesn't matter, as long as it helps with my work, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.' He mumbled internally, looking back out the window where the sun had now set, and its light had disappeared over the horizon.

The foreign symbols circled his eye, an itching in his brain becoming apparent when he focused on them, as if all of them should make sense but the knowledge of some of them hovered just on the edge of his consciousness. Squeezing his eye shut for a moment and breathing in, he held his breath to the count of three and slowly exhaled while opening his left eye back up. Once again he stared at the window but rather than go back to staring at his reflection and the confusion his eye caused him, he instead focused on the moonlit clouds and starry sky, allowing his thoughts to wander.

And within a few moments, they found a place to set up camp. Specifically, he ended up thinking about Altrouge Brunestud and her pet, Cath. Looking back on it, he still struggled to see where the malice had begun and the pleasantness had ended, if it had actually been pleasantness at all and not just a trick. And if so that made it worse because she had malicious intent the entire time and he had no clue. To make matters worse, she had told him about the phenomena known as 'Reality Marbles' and alluded to how they crystalized and conceptualized. And more than that she had, had her pet attack him with enough force to leave him genuinely on the verge of death.

The thought that he'd been so close to death didn't scare Shirou, not even in the slightest. All it did was make him angry.

If not for his Mystic Code, that she didn't know he had, and a lucky gamble he would have died. And all of his work, all of his family's work, it would have been lost. Rotting, decaying and collecting dust until it eventually faded from this world. Forget what he thought of himself for his actions in the fire, for abandoning all those people and leaving them to die just to save himself, if he'd ruined over 500 years of his own family's work as well.

Well, there'd be no punishment worthy enough for what a useless piece of shit he would become in that case.

Fortunately, that hadn't happened, he hadn't died and in fact he'd only come out of the experience stronger for it. But the fact was that Altrouge had purposefully had him beaten to the edge of death and then left him to sink or swim. She hadn't known he was going to survive, but neither did Shirou. He hadn't known whether those choked and blood-filled gasps were going to be his last or if the heartbeat in his ears was going to be the last thing he heard. He talked about his family's belief on needing to know how to wield a blade to create a blade and yet he couldn't even do that right!

Screwing his eyes shut he rubbed his face with both of his palms, exhaling quietly into the exceedingly rough actions before he threw his hands down with a frustrated sigh. Unknowingly beginning to spiral within his own thoughts as he stared down at his now clean and healed hands, the itching heat and phantom friction on his face fading into nothing as sights and sounds overwhelmed his mind. Both of his eyes opening only slightly in his mental haze, the light sapping out of them both like the sun had set over the horizon. Leaving nothing but cold blankness in its place, an unescapable void that allowed nothing out and seemed to drag the emotions out of those that so much as even glimpsed it.

He couldn't stay this weak, he needed to be stronger, to understand blades on a deeper level. But if he spent too much time doing that his smithing would stagnate. Yet what good was smithing if he couldn't figure out what was needed to make a better blade? But what good was knowing the ins and outs of his blade if he couldn't make a blade to match that knowledge?

Why was he never good enough?

XXXxxxXXX

Clock Tower, 3 Hours and 43 Minutes later

Shirou took a deep breath and knocked on the door, knowing that the occupant of the room wouldn't have any classes at this time. But it was almost 11pm and he knew that her sleep schedule fluctuated heavily depending on if she had work to catch up on or not. She'd either still be wide awake, or she'd be dead to the world right now.

And that was a gamble Shirou wasn't quite sure if he wanted to take. Because while everything Irisviel and Sella had taught him compelled him to knock on her door and thank her for her gift that had quite literally saved her life. But everything Kiritsugu, and inadvertently Rin, had taught him was about picking his battles and he knew if he lost this one he'd just feel bad, and probably get a very angry pout as well.

Unfortunately, he also knew that it'd only be worse if he actually waited until the morning to see her, especially when she'd been so worried before he left. And by the morning rumors would no doubt be circulating already and Kiritsugu had taught him just how quickly those could spiral out of control. So, with a wince and the briefest moment of hesitation, he knocked on the door, waiting to try and hear anything inside the room.

Not that he actually reckoned he would be able to hear inside. Say what you will about her master and how little he interacted with her, but he at least made her privacy and security one of his top priorities. Hearing the doorknob shift and jiggle slightly he waited to see whether it was another one of her late nights or if he'd woken her, and whether or not she was going to guilt-trip him purely through her facial expressions or not.

And when green eyes met the singular open golden-amber eye of Shirou, they widened and any hints of lethargy on Gray's face disappeared in the split second it took for a garbled yelp to leave her lips and her arms to wrap around him in a hug.

"Hey Gray. Did I wake-" Gray pulled her face back and gave a small but positively radiant smile, cutting him off in excitement as she opened her eyes.

"You're back! You're- OH MY-" Quickly grabbing his forearm and pulling him inside her room she nearly slammed the door shut with how quickly she closed it.

Making a confused sound, Shirou stumbled into her room, nearly tripping over as he spun while stumbling to face her. The pre-teen jerked back as she covered the distance between them in four solid stomps, reached up and pressed both of her hands firmly on his cheeks, using her 'grip' to move his head down closer to her eye level.

"Oh my god! Shirou Muramasa what did this to you?" Her tone had gone from the light, worried and anxious tone it had been at before to something more hardened, solid, angry.

"Gray. Gray I promise it's not-"

"You weren't even gone for a day, and you lost your eye." He could see the way her jaw clenched, and her eyes hardened while she stared at his left eye.

Now Shirou had spent enough time with Gray, and had Structurally Grasped Add, to know about her history and had a vague idea of where many of her mannerisms and more physical reactions came from. However, this was the first time in memory he had ever seen a look on her face that looked so little like Gray, and more like an angry Morgan Le Fay, and yet so much like Gray. He wasn't sure how to describe it when explaining it later to the silver haired girl, but eventually he'd stumble into the closest comparison possible. It looked like, for once, Gray had managed to take the features of King Arthur and make them her own.

The fact that it was over worry for him and anger at who caused his injury left him with a very weird emotional cocktail that he didn't quite know how to even approach.

"I- Ok that may be true but- Are you going to let me speak?" He snarked, when he saw her angrily open her mouth, waiting until she blushed in embarrassment and shut it again before continuing.

"I may have lost my eye, but do you remember the gift you gave me before I left? Well, it ended up helping more than I think either of us expected." He smiled softly, though evidently, he was annoyed by knowing so little about the Mystic Code embedded in him.

And for the first time within the Clock Tower, to someone other than himself, Shirou opened his left eye while closing his right. A sound halfway between a yelp and a gasp of shock leaving Gray's mouth as she stumbled back half a step before walking back forward that same step and leaning in closer with wide, amazed eyes.

"Mystic Eye?..." She mumbled, so many thoughts swirling through her mind that even Shirou could see them running through her mind.

"Is that what it is? I just know it's given me a few benefits…" He weakly muttered, smiling when something in her gaze shifted just the tiniest amount.

"Shirou how, how did this happen?" She asked, her voice soft and slightly scared, though he could still hear the anger underneath it, albeit only minutely.

"It's a long story. I just wanted to thank you for your gift, since it helped so much." He tried to circumvent the conversation that he desperately didn't want to have.

Unfortunately for him, for as much as he didn't want to have this conversation, Gray wanted to have the conversation just as much, if not more.

"Shirou tell me." He opened his mouth to try and steer the conversation away from having to explain his fight with Cath.

Only to close it when he saw the look in her eye, the look that he knew meant she was a couple seconds from pulling Add on him. Something which reminded him to spar with her sometime later, but not right now.

"Hey, hey. No need to pull Add on me, I'll tell you." He raised his hands in surrender, though she could tell he didn't necessarily want to tell her.

"Everything?" She probed nervously, worried he'd still try to hide something from her.

Which, admittedly, wasn't a ridiculous worry to have when talking to Shirou Emiya-Muramasa. Even with how little she had known him, she knew that his definition of 'important' and other's definition were almost entire worlds apart in most cases.

"I don't want to keep you up too long Gray."

"I don't have classes until lunch tomorrow, everything. Please?" She pulled a chair over and sat in front of him, getting a tired sigh from Shirou.

"Fine." He relented, missing the small smile she gave him as he closed his eye and re-opened only his right.

And so he explained what had happened during the mission, having to take a few moments to remember the more tedious events of the battle. Evidently when he said he'd 'tell her everything' he'd truly meant everything. And then he'd gotten to his meeting with Altrouge and Cath, his attention so firmly routed in his own memories that he missed the way that Gray seemed to pale further and further, looking quite queasy around certain portions. He talked about the miscommunication at the beginning, the Reality Marble, the deal he'd made with Altrouge, and then finally the 'battle' with Cath.

"-and then I pulled out the vial you'd given me. And when I crushed it, spilling your blood over myself, there was a golden light and I blacked out. And then woke up perfectly healed and with this." He opened his left eye for a moment before closing it again.

"O-Oh my god…Shirou.." She began to turn a bit green, in turn getting a yelp from Shirou as he dived to grab something she could be sick into.

Though luckily it wasn't needed.

"Shirou. That was Altrouge Brunestud. A Dead Apostle Ancestor. And P-Primate Murder." She spoke shyly, as if just uttering their names would make them appear.

"She was a Dead Apostle?"

"The Princess of them." Gray stressed, getting a small noise of realization from her friend. "A-And you have a Reality Marble!?"

"A partially conceptualized one apparently." He admitted without a hint of worry or shame and a dry shrug.

"Shi-Shirou that's not the point! The amount of known humans who have developed one can be counted on one hand and- Shirou! They're also taboo in the Clock Tower. You can't let anyone know about it!"

"Taboo?"

"They'll capture and kill you the moment anyone finds out."

"Oh, that is Taboo."

"T-Take this more serious!" She slammed her hands down on her knees and leant forward, giving him a big pout at his seeming nonchalance.

"I am. I just have to not let people know, right? Nobody knew beforehand so that will be easy." He shrugged, getting a halfway impressed and halfway deadpan look at how easily he was taking this information on the chin.

"R-Right….A-And how are you going to explain the eye?" She mumbled, looking at the closed eye with the nasty looking scar over it.

'It looks pretty cool though…' A voice in her head mumbled, but she ignored that voice for now.

"Like how I told the other Enforcers?" Gray almost felt her soul physically leave her body.

"Tell me what you said, verbatim. Right now." Her hands folded together and her back straightened out as she stared him down with hardened green eyes.

'Ah. Her mannerisms changed again.'

XXXxxxXXX

The next morning, Clock Tower Training room

Luvia watched as Shirou and Gray stood apart from each other, both readying weapons. Though despite her eyes being on Shirou, her thoughts were solely focused on the conversation the three of them had just finished having.

Despite Gray and Shirou's conversation the night before, neither of them was exactly adept at lying despite Shirou's proficiency at skirting the truth at times. They both excelled at keeping information away from those they didn't trust, not those that had proven to be friends, as Luvia had. So it took an almost sinfully short amount of time for Luvia to hit the correct buttons to get the truth out of them once Gray had accidentally slipped and let her know there was something being hidden.

'Honestly the nerve of those two. Trying to keep secrets about Sherou from me. I'm his friend too!' She pouted as she thought that, a bit sad that she'd initially been kept out of the loop.

But that sadness, along with her horror after hearing about the mission, had quickly faded away to greedy glee. A soft giggle leaving her lips when she remembered what she'd managed to weasel out of the two after learning the truth.

'Sherou's making me a personal Mystic Code and I get to spend time with him each Friday afternoon. And Gray owes me a favour, too.' She smiled and closed her eyes at remembering what she'd managed to gain, though most of her happiness was due to what she got from Shirou.

'Though speaking of Sherou. He will need allies within the Clock Tower. He's lucky to have myself and Gray, and technically Lorelei Barthomeloi as well. But if information came to light about his Reality Marble, she'd drop that assistance instantly. And more than that, he's allied with me, making him a member of the Democratic faction. Meaning anyone I can think of I'll either need to bring over to our faction or have them already be a part of it.'

Luvia hummed in thought, her eyes unfocused and her expression lax. Yet an aura of minor foreboding began to drift off of her if any other Magus had happened to notice her at the time. Luckily there was no such person, only two very strange anomalies amongst the Magus Association who were better with weapons than Thaumaturgy.

'But who's to say they need to specifically be an ally of Sherou? So long as they're my ally they'll be his as well, and while I don't want it to happen, due to being his benefactor if someone were to go out of their way to harm or hinder his progress that would give me legal right to step in.' Already thoughts and plans were beginning to form in her mind, a chaotic yet somehow mostly controlled whirlwind of concoctions of how to increase her own, and thus Shirou's, power within the Clock Tower.

'More than anything his smithing will need to continue, but perhaps more than Swords? I doubt he would ever be able to make Mystic Codes of the clothing variety but anything involving metals, such as armour, weapons and accessories, should be well within his capability. I'll need to bring up the idea with him, but it definitely has merit. I'd even be able to get my own Mystic Code's from him, like accessories…..A-a-a ring.' Luvia let a low whine leave her lips as she went bright red and quickly hid her face by turning away from Shirou and Gray and using a handkerchief to cover what was remaining.

XXXxxxXXX

Meanwhile, below

"Gray we're losing! Come on! Keep up, keep up!" Add heckled his wielder, yelping as Gray suddenly and violently twirled his scythe form in her grip.

One, two. Threefour.

Shirou's makeshift combo began as something normal, regular, something she was used to facing. Then suddenly halfway through, the tempo of his attack suddenly and drastically sped up. Throwing her for a loop and nearly throwing Add in her panic to avoid his blade. Stumbling back and letting high pitched whining sounds out of her mouth she tried to get a proper hold on her partner as Shirou ran forward with his Mystic Eye open and his other eye closed.

Finally, she managed to grip the very end of the scythe's shaft and let out a grunt while throwing her entire body weight into swinging Add from her new grip.

Rolling under it, Shirou sprang right back to his feet with his arms crossed over his chest, his left prepared to trace a weapon and his right gripping his proper weapon. Before he could swing with his right, he ground his foot into the ground and jerked his upper body back, avoiding the attack Gray had launched by using her previous momentum, by a hair's width before leaning back in and striking out with his katana.

Faster and faster, he struck out and recovered from her blows, the enhanced perception of his left eye not speeding him up but rather allowing him to further refine his timing. The clarity allowing him to notice things he wouldn't have pre-extermination and plan his next moves perfectly. Already he was forcing Gray to the edge of her skill with Add's scythe-form just to keep up and she was still completely on the defensive.

'What is this? Has his Mystic Eye really changed things so drastically?' Gray pondered, cartwheeling away from Shirou, something which felt oddly weird to do, and grimacing before finally switching her weapon's form.

The Greatsword in her grip both felt familiar and foreign all at once, and she knew exactly why, given its mimicry of Excalibur. Yet seeing the explosive growth Shirou had undergone, there was a part of her spirit that was fired up by it, refusing to be left behind. He'd gone through so much to gain this relatively small enhancement and suffered both mentally and physically. What sort of friend would she be if she couldn't stand by his side and help him with that? What sort of friend would she be if she couldn't even have the honour to struggle herself? What kind of friend would she be if she couldn't even get past her own demons?

So even though holding it made bugs crawl beneath her skin and her grip tighten up far more than necessary. Even though it made her breathing pick up and her skin clammy. Even though it scared her, she'd use this blade if it meant being able to help and keep up with Shirou in this moment.

"Your blade? I thought you hated using it?" Shirou took a moment to pause and ask her, cocking his head to the side.

"I do. But I want to try now, keep going. Please?" She muttered quietly, but loud enough for him to hear, giving him a wide eyed, pleading look as she did.

And well, who was Shirou to deny such a sincere look from one of his friends?

"Sure." Rocketing forward in a spray of dust and rocks, Shirou held nothing back as he resumed the fight.

A swipe to her left was deflected, a stab at her chest was blocked, a swipe at her leg block, a second swipe at her leg masterfully parried, a cutting slash at her right blocked in such a way to give her room for a counterattack.

It was clear that while Gray consciously had very little knowledge on how to use a Greatsword like Add, her body was a master at it. An excited grin coming to Shirou's face as he picked up speed using self-reinforcement, his sword becoming a mere blur alongside Gray's own. Her stronger than natural body working overtime to keep up and match him and her mind desperately trying to catalogue everything her body did.

Swiping at his head, Gray faltered as she watched her blade slide clean through the front of his face, beginning to pale and reach out for him, only to have to dodge a swipe from his own blade. Backing up a moment she looked and blinked in surprise when she saw no damage to his face, not even any blood.

Continuing the battle she watched her blade slice through him again and again, getting more and more worried each time, tears welling up in her eyes more than once, but upon seeing no actual damage to him each time, forced the fight to keep going. And finally, after nearly crying three times by now, Gray figured out what was happening.

'He's dodging by a ridiculously close margin; my instincts keep telling me I should be hitting him.' An experienced fighter might have realized it after it happened five, maybe six times.

A masterful fighter may have even figured it out from a single instance.

Gray took 24 separate instances to realize. Something which made bile crawl into her throat but also fed the fire of determination inside her.

'He's moving like a completely different person.' She realized, her eyes widening as she knocked away two blows before feeling his foot wrap around her own and tug, making her yelp cutely and fall back.

"I…win." Shirou panted, his lone opened eye half-lidded as he panted and held his nearly ruined blade pointed down towards her.

"Great…Job." She panted out herself, a small smile on her face. "I'll win…next time though."

"U-Uh huh. When Waver…..stops smoking maybe." His retort got a tired whine from the grave themed girl as she uselessly flailed on the ground.

"Respect my masterrrrrrrrr."

"I'm sure he respects Lord El Melloi II, Gray. Now may you please leave the area so that I may spar with Shirou. I wish to see what a real Reality Marble can do." Luvia smiled brightly as she walked over, showing off all the noble pose and dignity that neither of the two martial-oriented pre-teens possessed even a fraction of.

"Yeah. Kay….Glad I get…a say." Shirou groaned, throwing his blade to the side without care and start stretching his arms out.

With a tired sigh, Gray rolled to her feet and trudged off to the side. Pulling her hood over her head and half-heartedly swinging her arm down to being the 'match'.

"Trace on."

XXXxxxXXX

Three Days Later

"This is the blade you've forged?" Lorelei looked down at the immaculate rapier laid on a velvet sheet in front of her.

The blade was shorter than average at 95cm yet seemed almost perfect for her height. The metal shining with an ashen grey colour that she knew immediately was due to the Dead Apostle bones it was forged from. Scanning further down the blade, she could see the hand guard that consisted of many interwoven and interlocking cylinders that curved in ornate patterns yet was no less practical. Finally, all of the cylinders joined into a wide knuckle guard, obviously designed with knowledge of how important keeping all of her digits intact was.

If Lorelei hadn't known any better she would have assumed he had practice in creating Rapier's before this commission of hers, but she knew that to be false. A true testament to his skill that he had not only managed to use unfamiliar materials but also managed to use said materials to craft an unfamiliar type of blade. Since commissioning the blade, she had done her research into swords and swordsmithing and knew just how different particular styles of blades had to be forged. So, it was certainly a point towards Shirou in her book that he had managed to create such a blade.

But the true value of a blade lay not in its appearance, but rather in its application, and Lorelei had no intention to have this blade be used as an ornament.

Picking the blade up, Lorelei could already feel how light it was, something which could have been due to it being a rapier, but she knew that wasn't the entire truth.

"That's right. The entire blade is forged from an alloy of steel and the bones of Ghouls, and continually drenched in blood to stop it from fading away and losing its magical properties in the forging process." Shirou explained, uncaring of the look she gave him at having the process explained to her.

"I am not some clueless peon with no knowledge of smithing, Muramasa."

"I never assumed you were?" He gave her a blank look and blinked a couple times at the hard stare she gave him.

"Then why explain the process to me as if I was five?" She challenged him, brandishing her brand-new blade in a slightly threatening manner.

"Because it's the simplest explanation without wasting any time." He answered with a shrug.

The tension hung in the air between the two for a few more moments before Lorelei clicked her tongue and stopped glaring at him, going back to looking the blade over. Leaving Shirou to giver her side a confused look at why she had immediately assumed he was mocking her and glared at him so harshly.

"You mentioned magical properties. What are they?" She demanded while turning her attention back to him, getting a proud grin in return.

"It's a self-repairing blade."

"Pardon?"

"Should the blade ever break or shatter at any point, just put the broken edge in blood of any kind and it will fix itself. It obviously has limits because it was Ghouls it was made from. But there's no need to worry about using too much force."

"I see. Are you that worried about the blade breaking? Is it inferior in some way, Shirou Muramasa?" Once again, she glared at him, and a pressure began to press down on him.

And while he noticed it, Shirou was far too incensed about the dig at his skills to properly worry about her anger. Not that he even would have done so in a way that would be considered 'normal'.

"No. I don't expect it to break that easily. But you're from a very old family. I have no way of knowing what you might know or what kind of spells you have, so I wanted to make sure it could handle any thing you threw it at. Short of complete destruction."

"…Clever forethought, Muramasa. I have to commend you for that. Very well, this meets my standards. If ever I happen to have another order for a Mystic Code, I shall use your services." She could see that clearly Shirou was immensely pleased with himself, and while she would have called him out on it, she knew there was no reason to do so other than petty contrivances, and so held herself back.

"Great! So what are you paying with?" Shirou asked expectantly, getting a flat look from Lorelei in return.

"Your payment will be in your dorm room when you finish your afternoon classes. The first of which begins in ten minutes if I'm not mistaken. You have permission to leave." She explained coolly, giving him a warning glare when he didn't move for a few moments before smiling sheepishly and making his way out of her office.

"Man, this is great. And I nearly forgot about classes, oops. But I wonder what my payment will be?" He muttered to himself while running through the halls, nearly sprinting into a wall when a thought came to mind.

'How does she know my class schedule?'

XXXxxxXXX

Fuyuki, unknown time

"Have I made myself clear, mongrel?"

"Yes Gil- King Gilgamesh."

"Do not utter my title yet, peasant. I will not allow a being as corrupted and tainted as yourself to be a part of my perfect kingdom."

"Senpai is part of it, isn't he?"

"What my entertainment is and isn't is irrelevant. I am a fair ruler, fulfill your end of the deal, and I shall fulfill my end. Am I clear?"

"Crystal, Gilgamesh." With the sun setting in Fuyuki, golden streaks stretched across the city, bathing it in equal parts light and equal parts shadow.

Bending at the waist to bow with all the grace and respect that she could physically put into the action, Sakura Matou's upper torso dipped into the sunset light that Gilgamesh stood amongst. Her expression blank and her clothing more befitting a day out with friends than a meeting with the King of Heroes.

And yet, as Sakura straightened back up into the dark shadow cast upon her body, her purple eyes shone with enough determination and eagerness to light up even the darkest of catacombs. This meeting had been meant to happen, and this meeting began yet another rolling snowball within Fuyuki.

XXXxxxXXX

Omake: Shirou's Soup

"Sherou?" Luvia questioned as she sniffed the air, smelling something other than the food that Shirou had been cooking.

Across from her Gray did the same, a small frown coming to her face.

When she got no answer she made her way into the kitchen of Shirou's dorm, expecting something normal. Something you'd expect to see in a kitchen.

So as she stared at Shirou as he looked back and forth between a cooking book and a pot. Said pot broiling and bubbling with a thick black and purple goo with the handle of a blade sticking out of it.

"HeeEeeEeeeelelllPppp. MmmmeEeEEeeeeee." Another blade was stabbed into the soup, getting a wail from it as black and purple tendrils waved erratically in the air.

"S-Shirou!?" Gray's jaw dropped, and Luvia swore she saw tears welling up in her eyes as she stared at the goop.

A lone golden-amber eye looked between the very much non-magical cookbook and the flailing goop that had once been their meal.

Book. Meal.

Book.

Meal.

"Man…..I think I fucked up my soup."

XXXxxxXXX

Heyo. Welcome. Hi.

So, an interesting development occurred over the last month uh…..my Windows registry sorta just fucking died. I was warned the power would be switching off and like a good Christian boy (I'm neither good nor Christian) I decided to turn my computer off.

The blackout occurred as the computer was shutting down.

So yeah. Windows registry fucked up. Had to reinstall windows because I had no backups (guess what's been rectified?) and to do that I had to nuke my SSD. Soooooo, anything that wasn't finished or on google docs for some reason. Namely all my WIP's. Were nuked as well.

I've been slowly re-piecing my computer life back together after that but yeah. That's been me over the last month. Evidently it didn't stop me from writing this chap so you're welcome? XD

Speaking of the chapter, how'd you guys enjoy it? Not quite as long as chap 11 but it is what it is. Next chapter we head back to Fuyuki and end the 12 year-old arc!

Come join me on discord

Code: ctMzhq3

REVIEW REPLIES:

Barrytrey0430: Oh yeah he's definitely an idiot. But like you said, he would have been killed if he didn't so the decision was out of his hands even if he wasn't aware. RIP Shirou's sword obsession

Zelenin-02: Honestly the scene of Cath transforming from 'Fou' to 'Primate Murder' was fucking awesome in my mind, I'm just sad I wasn't able to properly convey my mental image. And yeah, Avalon's activation (partially) is gonna lead to some stuff later down the line.

Rider126: ….Do you like the new colour?~

RandomCraziness: Uhhhhh, hidden somewhere in my mind

Chainharte: I mean, no?

Asgeir Skjaldberg: As a comment further down/up joked about. *Immediately comes face to face with merlin*

RomeoDreamWriter: How was the wait? X3

RabbitHaremLover24: Yes 8. Though one of my beta's really, really wants me to add a 9th girl in if I add her to the story at all XD. Yeah Primate Murder is interesting because he was clearly holding back and had to continually be leashed in to not insta-murder Shirou. But his 'power level' also depends on who he's fighting, if they're human or part-human at least. Interesting thoughts for the harem.

AnimeFan13579: The fact that you managed to guess so much of his Mystic Eye, amidst many theories admittedly, is genuinely impressive. And yes, Shirou is in immense danger from so many factions at the moment it's downright terrifying.

The God Of War Kratos: Don't worry buddy. You weren't the only one to guess that. But I'm not going to confirm or deny, even if you can infer from what's discovered in the chap.

YuukiAsuna-Chan: Honestly Ruby is annoying as shit. But she'd also massively tip the power-scales at this stage in the story so she just causes way too many problems. So back in the box she goes!

Citopal: I like to set things up for future reveals. I find it fun.

Gaming Masters of The Wall: No. It's not a good sign in the slightest. And yes, Shirou using Avalon definitely saved him. In more ways than one.

JackBlaze123: There….sorta aren't any canon pre-requisites other than a lot of time, that we know of. And yes, swords.

WeirdTree1: Because there's a lot of women in TYPE-MOON that can kick Shirou's ass.

AND THAT'S ALL FOR REVIEW REPLIES

I hope you all have a good morning, afternoon and night. Everybody remember to make backups and restore points on your personal devices in case you're stupid like me. And I'll see you all in a month!

(Also for those that keep wondering. This fic updates between the 28-31 of each month)