There was a brief moment, following the catastrophic strike of a teen that should not have been able to output so much power, when no one in the clearing spoke up. A moment of silence mixed with varying degrees of awe or fear. A moment where nearby trees groaned and creaked in protest and pebbles fell like rain.
Yet like all things, it had to come to an end, and it did with the slight up-curling of Scathach's lips as she twirled one of her spears to point right back at the teen.
"I can't quite say I was expecting such a strike, I'm rather surprised." The words left her lips naturally and without a fight.
Yet if her one and only student, Cu Chulainn, had heard those words he may have had a heart attack on the spot. Since the Demi-God was the only person before Shirou to get such a reaction out of the legendary Queen and in return, she had put him through almost literal hell. There was a reason that for all his blustering and legends the man never hesitated to avoid training with his master when he had been able to in life.
Scathach was a woman with a hundred tricks and the willingness and dedication to teach each and every one of them to anyone she saw as worthy. Fortunately, or unfortunately for the world, she found very, very few people worthy of teaching anything she knew let alone all of it. But that very same dedication made her a slavedriver that could have made Lucifer himself sweat and scared Beelzebub himself into giving up his vices of gluttony and envy.
And if you managed to impress her? Dear god if you managed to impress her, you better start wishing that you hadn't.
So, in his complete naivety and utter lack of self-preservation, Shirou merely grinned back and another blade appeared in his hand in a crackle of lightning.
"Now, I wish to see where you truly lie as a warrior. Will you show me, Heir to the Muramasa?" Scathach asked, slipping into her old habits as Queen as she subtly moved her second spear into a better position to attack or defend as necessary.
"Well when royalty asks." Shirou replied, before shooting forward far faster than before, the difference in the amount of effort used would have been evident to even a man born both blind and deaf.
Screeching metal filled the clearing as his blade grind against the shaft of Scathach's longer spear. A brief struggle broke out between them before Shirou pulled his blade back, aiming to throw Scathach's weight off to open her up for an attack.
But Scathach was an apex fighter amongst a collection of already apex combatants, a true transcendent battle-fiend. So, such a simple trick barely got the smallest of shifts in her posture, leaving her easily able to block his next strike at her side.
What did surprise her, however, was the swirl of wind that burst out of the edge of his blade, throwing her back across the clearing.
"Taifū Kado." (台風 稜, Hurricane Edge)
The blade in Shirou's hand was undoubtedly well made, even to one that knew none of the specifics of blacksmithing, as Scathach did. The blade's every move seemed to cut through the air and drag it behind the edge in thin streams of condensed wind.
"I see. What a unique trick." Scathach hummed to herself, kicking forward and striking out at Shirou, her longer spear grinding off the flat of his blade and giving him the necessary momentum to spin and slice at her side, his blade being thrown up by her second spear.
Yet he must have been expecting it because his other hand, previously empty, now held a dangerously honed dagger aimed at her side. Her instincts roared to life and forced her to spin on the spot, her longer spear tearing straight through Shirou's chest in her reflex-driven counterattack.
And in the split second that she'd paused to start using a Rune to heal him of such a debilitating injury, there was a burst of prana. The blade of pure wind tearing through the two-meter distance between them and catching Scathach by surprise as she once again moved on instinct, turning a no-doubt serious injury into a mild annoyance as the buzzing winds sliced her thigh and forearm. The woman slid to a stop with a narrowed gaze as she watched the completely uninjured Shirou twirl his blade a few times, the ribbons of flowing wind trailing off the edge once again by the time he shot forward. His gaze narrowed and not a word came out of his mouth as he moved. A true soldier then, one who cared about results and not posturing or pride, she could respect that.
Unlike before, where it seemed as if Shirou had been building up air for his large slash that had gotten him his first strike of the spar, it seemed as if Shirou this time was focusing his attention on using his blade's ability to speed up his strikes. His blade seemed to negate any kind of air resistance as he began an all-out onslaught against the Lancer-class Servant.
'What was that from before though? An illusion? No, it couldn't be.' Scathach immediately denied, her Magic Resistance meant that nothing cast by a modern Magus could ever affect her.
Shirou struck out three times in rapid succession, his blade whistling through the air as he stabbed and sliced at Scathach. His attacks were truly skillful ones that the woman had to actually focus to defend and evade against. Her two spears were in constant motion alongside herself as she continually tried to move into a more medium-range engagement where her reach advantage would be able to shine the brightest. Her shorter spear lashed out at Shirou's throat when he tried to push an engagement especially hard, slashing blood and viscera high into the air.
At least it should have. Scathach's eyes narrowed as she chambered a leg and struck Shirou's defensively placed blade with a powerful kick that cracked the ground beneath them. The teen flew back across the clearing, flipping through the air and landing near-on perfectly on his feet, even as his blade shattered into motes of light in his hand.
'I see. So that's what's happening. What a clever way to abuse a warrior's instincts.' Unlike Gray, many years earlier, Scathach had already figured out Shirou's secret to 'surviving' the injuries she had been inflicting on him.
She'd never met someone who made such a habit of dodging in such tight windows so consistently before. Even she, who had access to both Clairvoyance and Instinct, didn't purposefully dodge that close to a strike if she could help it. But that was evidently why it was effective. A warrior's instincts were born of hundreds, thousands, of battles. Such a small dodge shouldn't be purposefully possible, their instincts told them what they should be seeing, and their senses would take a moment to catch them back up to reality when it proved that Shirou had managed to avoid being struck. Usually when the teen had already abused the lapse in perception to strike out himself, a brutal and ruthless use of the teen's seemingly incomprehensible willpower.
"I have to say I never expected to see a human fight as you do, Shirou Muramasa. Those kinds of strikes and reflexes are already well within the realms of the throne." Scathach praised him, raising a curious eyebrow at the click of his tongue.
"Thanks. But I'm just a swordsmith, not a hero."
'Just a swordsmith. He says.' Bazett snorted internally, rolling her eyes before focusing them back between the two of them, genuinely surprised at how well Shirou was doing.
"You know that a lot of Heroes, even the greatest of them, never thought of themselves as a Hero?" Scathach questioned Shirou in mild amusement.
"Not exactly the same situation but if you say so." Shirou mumbled under his breath, getting a small hum from Scathach before she crouched down into a stance clearly built for launching herself forward.
"I'm not a teacher anymore, so I'll let you figure it out on your own." Scathach disappeared from the view of the naked eye in a crack of dirt and stone.
Shirou, thanks to his Fairy Eye, was able to see the movements of the Witch of Dún Scáith as she closed in on him in only three powerful steps, barely managing to dodge to the side and summoning a blade to his hand as she shot past him. The woman was already on her way back by the time he started to turn towards her once more, her spear sparking off his blade and shattering the edge as she flew past.
With an annoyed huff, Shirou let his blade shatter into motes of prana once more, his hand curling around another blade as he found a grin stretching his lips.
'Alright Lancer, how far can I go?'
The two became two blurs of red and black as Scathach launched herself back and forth, the wind kicking up and the ground shaking as she abused every last ounce of speed she had to continue her onslaught against Shirou and keep him confined to a single location. And just like she expected, just like she had hoped for, he met her blow for blow, his blades chipping and shattering in his hands yet coming back faster, stronger, more refined, more durable. His creations not even being able to break away into prana before new ones found themselves in his hands and Scathach was upon him once more. A grin that the woman was all too familiar with made its way upon Shirou's face, and likely hers as well.
Though it eventually had to come to an end, a fake-out strike by Scathach maneuvering Shirou into a position where she could strike him not with her Noble Phantasm's but with her leg, launching him high up into the sky with a crack of air. Much to the evident worry of his Servant as Scathach could feel her energy riling up and could hear the sounds of startlement from her own Master and Illya.
"Your Master will be fine, Saber. As I said, I have a way to bring him back even from near death." She reassured, though she was gone a second later as she took two running steps before flickering high into the air in a bright red light, utterly unprepared for the sight that met her.
"Sword Barrel. Open."
The barrage of weapons was too much for her to avoid even with her defense against projectiles. The hail of metal raining from the sky was like an apocalypse and carried her along with them since she had no way to ground herself while up in the air. The Lancer met the ground as quickly as she had left it with an impact that cratered the ground beneath her and made Illya wobble a little, being the only non-physical combatant in the clearing.
Scathach could feel her heartbeat in her ears and could feel her blood in her fingertips and toes. She knew this feeling, she craved this feeling —despite what she may say to both herself and others— and she never thought that a modern human of all things would be the one to elicit it within her.
It was the feeling of a proper fight. Perhaps not a difficult one, or an unwinnable one, but a proper fight.
And it was with that feeling echoing in her ears that Scathach curled and twirled herself back onto her feet, her defense against projectiles truly able to shine now that she had ground back beneath her feet. Blades as thick as her arms and blades as thin as her fingers alike being struck off course and striking the ground in explosions of dust and debris that had Illya squealing while Heracles used his body as a shield against the worst of it.
And with the sound of a shockwave a singular sword, shaped unlike anything Scathach had seen before rocketed down towards her. Fired from the bow that appeared and disappeared in Shirou's hand as he fell. The projectile was struck by the back end of Scathach's shorter spear and flew off into the tree line where it exploded with enough force to knock a few of the thick trees over.
'He's an Archer too?' Heracles thought, feeling his own excitement begin to rise at the singular rapid attack amongst a deluge of high-tier combat for this day and age.
"These blades of yours are certainly special, Heir of Muramasa!" Scathach called out loudly to be heard over the screeching of metal and cracking of stones. "Is this all that you can do? Do you have more tricks to pull?"
"I am the bone of my sword." The blades were coming down even harder, their composition more solid, their speed increased.
"Alloy is my body and fire is my blood."
There was a pulse of Prana as Shirou descended from the heavens like Hephaestus personified, his smithing hammer clutched tight in his hand and crackling with a heatless fire. His speed, gained entirely through gravity, was hardly too fast for Scathach to dodge, if not for the hail of blades that continued to fall around them. A smart plan, but unfortunately for him, Scathach was too fast to ever fall for it, especially with something as close-range as a smithing hammer of all things.
Scathach pressed her feet firmly into the ground and lowered her stance to give her a better grounding before launching her longer spear directly up to Shirou. Whether she skewered him or not it wouldn't matter. If he allowed himself to be skewered to continue the attack it would not only slow down the speed of the strike itself but also the muscles that would be cut would drastically decrease the power behind it. If he blocked the strike, then she wouldn't have to worry about being hit. And if he found a way around it, she'd be impressed. So really this was the perfect strike for her to take.
Except Shirou had never been planning to strike her with the hammer.
The moment she had started to move her spear into position to strike, Shirou had done the same. His Fairy Eyes let him perfectly line up his swing to strike the tip of her spear with as much power as possible. The teen was able to see the widening of Scathach's eyes right before the ringing of metal on metal reverberated throughout the hammer, reaching the coloured quartz and amplifying. The flames coating his hammer and hand exploded outward alongside the literal shockwave of noise. The sound and flame conjoined as one and blocked the two off from the sight of the bystanders as the dust from his aerial attack was thrown to the four winds.
And then Saber and Archer perked up, confused looks on their faces as Illya suddenly wheezed a little and stumbled a step and Bazett started to wobble on her feet, as if struggling just to stand.
'This feeling…' Artoria looked at the flames as they started to die down, her eyes widening and her expression slackening just a touch. 'Master…What are you?'
XXXxxxXXX
Elsewhere, Fuyuki
"Master, stop." Luvia came to a dead halt mid-step, her gaze sliding to the suddenly materialized Servant beside her with a confused and wary expression.
"Caster? You materialized in public. The witch?" Luvia asked, because she couldn't think of anything else that could possibly cause her Servant to break such a taboo.
"Public? Oh, right." Morgan waved her hand, a wave of prana leaving her hand and catching everyone in the immediate vicinity in its suggestive effects. "And I'm not sure. Whatever it is isn't from the Grail, I know that much. But it's both drawing in and spewing Mana."
"Mana?" Luvia questioned, unfurling her gem-inlaid fan and covering her mouth and nose with it to try and hide the worry she no doubt had plainly written across her expression.
Mana wasn't something to be messing with, especially not in a high enough quantity to catch Caster's attention. Od is one thing, but specifically Mana meant something that she couldn't, or just shouldn't, try to investigate on her own.
"We can't investigate by ourselves." Luvia voiced her thoughts, getting a hum from her Servant as she stared off into the distance with a hard look.
"Assassin and Rider are nearby. We'll go with them."
'It's not just Mana. It feels like the air back in Britain, around the Lake and the Dragon's lairs….' Morgan thought, her fingers flexing a little before she reached out.
"How do you know where they- Eep!" And with a hand on Luvia's shoulder, space seemed to distort around them before swallowing them whole, leaving nothing left in their place but a street of people that didn't know a single thing was wrong.
XXXxxxXXX
Rin and Sakura, Fuyuki
"That was too much Od that time. Your control really has been shattered." Rin spoke callously as she walked over to her sister-not-sister who was currently looking down at her hands as if they were alien creations.
"It's so strange, having this much power is so new. You've felt like this ever since I left?" Rin flinched at Sakura's question, self-consciously rubbing the Command Seals on the back of her palm.
"Y-You didn't leave…"
"I wasn't blaming you, Rin." Sakura smiled softly, clutching her older sister's hands in her own. "The decision was out of our hands. But it worked out in the end, you even got to be with Senpai as well~"
"You ruined it." Rin deadpanned, her face falling flat. "A nice moment and you just-"
"Miss Gorilla!"
"-AH!" Rin squealed and jumped, spinning around to face Luvia the moment that she landed, a similar noise leaving Sakura's lips as she stared wide-eyed at the Edelfelt heiress.
"Are both of your Servants here?" Luvia questioned, all business, which quickly snapped the girls out of their surprise.
"Rider is here with me." Sakura nodded, folding her hands in front of her as the Servant in question materialized.
"And I'm here as well." Semiramis spoke, materializing beside Rin while flicking some hair over her shoulder. "I assume this is about the beacon of Mana that ignited on the edge of the city?"
The question was aimed purely at Morgan, who merely nodded her head, though of course everyone heard it. Rin being included in that everyone.
"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!?"
"It wasn't the Grail, and don't shout at me. A Queen deserves respect."
Rin's eye twitched and her fists clenched.
"I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not, we can't afford to waste time and it's unsafe to go alone. Thank you for coming along." And with a quick hand motion, a swirl of wind brought the four of them in close to Morgan, allowing her to include them all in her spell.
And in yet another vortex, they disappeared.
XXXxxxXXX
A moment earlier, Scathach vs. Shirou
"The air…" Scathach mumbled, stumbling back a step and hearing her heel echo off something metallic, as if the ground had suddenly become metal.
No, it had suddenly become metal. Another tap of her heel let her get a feel for the sensation and prove her half-baked theory.
And then the flames died away, letting her see what Shirou had done with his surprise technique. And once she saw what exactly it had done, Scathach didn't even try to hide her surprise; the woman was genuinely impressed with what greeted her.
In a massive circle around the impact point, the ground was turned into metal. And not just any regular metal like iron or copper. No, these were metals that oozed Mystery and were no doubt the cause for the difference in the air. Metals that shined a radiant silver besides metals that seemed to physically weigh the air down with their curses sat right next to each other. Alloys sat beside pure metals yet there was not an impurity in sight.
And a few meters away from her, clipping his hammer back to his belt, sat the creator of such a land. Who looked for all the world to be as comfortable as one might be while lying in a bed fit for a King. A deep inhale came in through his nose, and a deep exhale left his mouth.
"I've never gotten to try this technique out against anyone except Gilgamesh before. So, I'm rather looking forward to seeing how this fares." Shirou informed Scathach easily, crouching and placing his hand on the metal floor, cyan and red lightning crackling off his fingers as the metal began to twist and warp upwards into his hand.
Off to the side Rin, Luvia, and Sakura alongside their Servants appeared in a rush of air. The three Masters immediately gasped, though while Rin and Sakura merely stumbled a step much like Illya, Luvia fell to her knees, her hands trembling. Yet she couldn't figure out why, and why she was so harshly affected while Rin and Sakura seemed only slightly worse for wear and all the Servants seemed reinvigorated, even.
"Shirou?" Morgan questioned, making everyone snap their attention to him as the metal coming up from the ground started to form into a blade, now looking as if he was pulling it out of the ground, rather than forming it as it rose.
"S-Sherou?" Luvia called out in confusion, instantly catching his attention and making him look over, his eyebrows raising in surprise.
"When did you all- Are you all ok? You all look a little pale." Shirou kept the blade in his hand as he walked over to them, Scathach pressing her lips together thinly at the pause in the fight right as it was about to get really good.
"I-It's rather hard to breathe." Luvia gasped, slowly trying to push herself to her feet.
"It is?" Shirou asked in confusion, offering a hand and helping Luvia stand up with a simple tug of his arm.
"What have you-" All the teen's attention was drawn to Morgan, who now knelt at the edge of the metallic ground, tapping it with her nail. "How can you do this?"
"Well, the theories are a little difficult. But it's a form of alteration-" Shirou began, only to blink as Morgan was suddenly up in his face, the distance between their noses barely enough for someone to fit their finger between.
"This isn't just alteration; you've superimposed the very earth here with these metals. Some of these metals are from the Age of Gods."
"H-Huh!?" Everyone turned to Shirou in surprise, even the other Servants.
"Master. Is this true?" Saber asked hesitantly, unable to fully believe it purely on the words out of Morgan's mouth.
"Yeah, pretty much." Shirou responded with a small shrug, the tip of the blade in his hand idly tapping against the grass.
"Caster, what's the significance of the earth being superimposed?" Scathach questioned, tapping her heel against the metal once more.
"Usually, an effect like this could be achieved by simply replacing the 'earth' of Gaia with a transmuted or altered material, like Iron." Morgan spoke, slowly moving her head back from Shirou's. "But such an effect has a short time period because of the degradation of Gaia that would take place. What Shirou has done is keep the 'earth' of Gaia but overlap it with these metals, somehow. This ground is both a property of Gaia and denied by Gaia at the same time. It will be degraded, but at a far slower rate."
Shirou could feel his annoyance and pride both slowly climbing at the multitude of looks that he was getting. On one hand, he was immensely proud of this spell and the fact that he'd been able to make it in the first place. But on the other hand, he should have set up a Bounded Field beforehand as Gil did with some of his treasures because the looks he was getting were beginning to get old.
"And these metals…I can understand Iron, Steel, even Thaumaturgical metals. But metals from the Age of Gods? You'd need to be able to understand them to even attempt to make them."
"Yeah, ok. There aren't any Familiars around?" Shirou asked, getting a flat look from Saber at the teen suddenly caring about having Familiars around.
But if it was that serious that he was worried about the information getting out then she would just be glad that he was practicing some level of caution.
Half of the Servants fell silent before suddenly Morgan, Semiramis, and Heracles all struck out in entirely separate directions. Two bolts of Prana and an arrow melting straight through the Familiars that they must have found either hiding or approaching the area.
"You're clear." Heracles spoke gruffly, an arrow still loosely held in his bow in case any other Familiars or figures tried to approach the clearing.
"I have a Reality Marble."
The arrow stabbed into the grass as it toppled out from between Heracles' fingers. A breeze blew through the clearing. Slack jaws and wide eyes are seen from all of the Servants in the clearing, and Bazett. Bazett knew of them because she routinely hunted those trying to develop them, and the Servants either knew of them from their research in life or thanks to the Grail.
And slowly, as if in a daze, Morgan walked forward. Her eyes locked squarely onto Shirou as she approached, almost like a predator stalking towards their prey. Her gaze never leaving his own eyes as she reached out and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, leaning into his personal space. In response to that, Shirou leant back, but with her grip Morgan just kept leaning in until with a startled yelp from both Rin and Luvia, the two of them toppled onto the grass. Shirou's shirt clutched tightly in Morgan's hand and their noses nearly grazing each other as Morgan continued to study him, trapping him beneath her as she straddled his stomach.
"You. Have. A. Reality. Marble?" Morgan asked slowly, getting a confused and slow nod in response right as an invisible blade found a resting place against Morgan's neck.
Saber glared down at the woman who called herself her sister, as if daring her to give even a single reason for the King of Knights to remove her head from her torso. Utterly unwilling to leave her Master in such a dangerous situation.
"Oh. My Master has picked the greatest man to fall for." Morgan murmured with her eyes seeming to ever so slightly glow beneath her bangs, making Luvia's face go a bright red as she hid it behind her fan.
She had no issues with showing her feelings and intimacy for Shirou but to have it so plainly and huskily said was an entirely different matter!
"Alright, that's enough. We were in the middle of something." Scathach grouched, grabbing Morgan by the back of her dress and pulling her off of Shirou, letting Artoria offer a hand to help him up.
And it was a simple matter of a quick jerk for the Servant to have Shirou back on his feet, getting a small smile in response before he turned back to Scathach. Seeing her placing Morgan back on her feet, with the Servant's ice-blue eyes never leaving Shirou. It was a little unnerving if he was honest.
Off to the side, seeing Morgan's actions, Semiramis scoffed a little. Though the miniscule smile on her features betrayed the entertainment she was getting out of this situation. Meanwhile, Sakura and Rider both gave considerate glances toward Caster and Luvia. The two silently faced each other for a moment and briefly changed their expressions as they communicated telepathically before both nodding at once, turning back to look at the group.
"I don't think it's a smart idea for any fighting to continue. The side-effects of Master's technique has already brought attention here, likely from our enemies. Even with three of us on the lookout for familiars, we can't chance such a technique being found out." Saber denied Scathach's wish to continue the fight with a shake of her own head.
In response to this, Scathach's grip on her spears tightened and a tight smile slowly made its way across her lips.
"Right. Yes. That's true. I got ahead of myself." She ground out, trying to remind herself that it wasn't meant to be for her own enjoyment and it was meant to help Shirou grow.
Maybe if she said it to herself enough times, she'd believe it wasn't a half-lie.
"Saber's right, Shirou. Can you end the technique now?" Rin spoke, walking up to him a little slower than usual to make sure that her steps were stable.
"I- but-" Shirou sputtered, waving the hand holding the sword towards the ground and Scathach before sighing and letting the spell end, the sword in his hand falling apart into dirt and grass.
'They both totally wanted to continue.' Illya giggled before hopping over to Shirou.
"Awww it's ok Onii-chan! At least you got to show off that awesome Sword Breaker move!"
"Sword-what-now?" Shirou deadpanned in response.
"You know! When you swung at Scathach and made that massive rupture there!" Illya pointed at the cone of destruction his swing had created earlier.
"Thank you, Illya. I was definitely speaking of the event and not the name." Shirou snarked, getting Illya to stick her tongue out at him.
"Well, you didn't specify so I win! And it's because I don't know the name of the technique!"
"I didn't give it a name."
"Then I dub it Sword Breaker!"
"Do not."
"Too late! I've dubbed it. There are my witnesses!" Illya proudly gestured toward everyone else in the clearing.
"Illya, no."
"Sword Breaker!"
"Illyasviel."
"SWORD BREAKER!"
"Ugh." Shirou groaned and slouched over, clearly wanting to be anywhere except this situation. "Fine. Sure, Sword Breaker."
"Yes! Victory!" Illya beamed brightly, pumping both of her fists in the air as she danced around for a moment before hugging Shirou tightly.
'What is my life?' Shirou thought to himself dryly.
XXXxxxXXX
Half an hour later, Emiya Estate
"Muramasa." Shirou hummed and looked over at Bazett, the woman having decided to stay the night.
Alongside the rest of the 'Table Square' as Illya had called it while staring directly at Saber. She was trying to provoke a reaction out of his Servant, he knew it. But Saber was a big girl, she could handle Illya's teasing…he hoped.
"That's me." He responded dryly, sipping his drink.
"I'd like to have a private discussion."
"A little difficult for that with everyone here." Shirou snorted, gesturing his head to everyone around them doing their own activities.
"We can go out to the Dojo. This is important." The woman got an inquisitive side-eye before Shirou placed his drink down and stood up.
"Yeah ok, let's go." He acquiesced, starting to walk out to the dojo while gesturing for her to follow, which she did.
And once they were in the dojo with the doors closed, Bazett spun on the heel of her left foot to stare Shirou dead in the eye.
"Who else knows about your Reality Marble?"
Ah. He should have known that Bazett, ever the proper Enforcer, would have brought that tidbit up sooner rather than later.
"Kaa-chan and Tou-san. Gray and Lord El Melloi II." He listed easily since it was a rather short list. "Oh, and Altrouge Brunestud."
"What?"
Oh. She didn't know about Altrouge. He forgot about that.
"You remember when we first met? How I disappeared for a bit and came back with the scarred eye?"
"Oh my god…" Bazett looked for all the world to be praying as she tilted her head to the ceiling following that bombshell, though praying for what he had no idea.
Strength. She was praying for strength.
"That's- Honestly, I'm not as surprised as I should be. But that's everyone that knows about your Reality Marble? None of the other Lords? No one in the Church? Lord Barthomeloi?"
"I'm not in chains or dead so no, I didn't let Lorelei know." Shirou deadpanned, raising an amused eyebrow when Bazett flinched as if she had been struck when he used Lorelei's name.
"Right. Well- Look. I'm willing to keep this secret for you, no strings." Bazett sighed, resting her head in her hand for a moment. "But I need you to make sure that you tell absolutely no one and take no chances. That spell you used today was already bad enough as it is."
"I'm aware of how taboo Reality Marbles are." Shirou nodded his head, crossing his arms and resting his back against one of the support beams of the building. "Trust me, I'd rather keep it a secret than have people trying to off me for 'Thaumaturgical curiousity' or something stupid like that."
"What a 'Shirou' way of putting a Sealing Designate." Bazett deadpanned, getting a snarky grin in return.
"Sorry I don't have the entire rulebook to read verbatim. Can I borrow yours?"
Bazett promptly pulled a small book out of an inner pocket on her suit jacket and nailed him right in the face with it, grinning mockingly when he just blinked in stupefaction.
"Did you just pull out a copy of the Enforcers rulebook and throw it at me?"
"You asked for it didn't you?"
"…Touché."
"I have many more questions, but you and your three girlfriends all have school tomorrow so you need sleep." Shirou deadpanned at her remark.
"Are you really pulling that card?"
"Yes."
"Fine, fine." Shirou just turned around, starting to walk back into his house.
That questioning wasn't going to be fun; it never was. Hopefully school was extra boring tomorrow, so he had as much time as possible before it ended.
XXXxxxXXX
The next day, Homurahara Academy
"-and finally. Shirou Emiya will be partnered with Kristiina Edelfelt for the assignment."
God, why couldn't school be over already? He didn't want to deal with that stuck up-
"Hey! Mu-Emiya." Shirou groaned and let his lone eye slowly drift up to the form of Kristiina standing over the edge of his table.
"Hello…?" He mumbled, truly wishing he could be anywhere in the world except here right now.
"Honestly. You'd think that a low-class like you would appreciate this chance to get a perfect grade alongside myself for once." Kristiina sighed, placing her head in her hand.
Also, making Shirou's eyebrows rise into his hairline. Kristiina didn't speak like that, certainly not to him.
"Now I want this over as soon as possible, let's go." And with an annoyed huff, the girl grabbed his hand before dragging him out of his seat and down through the hallways of Homurahara.
'Hey, Saber.'
"Master? Aren't you in…class? That's what it's called, correct?"
'Yeah. I am- was- don't worry about it. Kristiina's acting weird.'
"That's the Master of the Witch, isn't she?"
'Luvia's sister, yeah.'
"How out of the norm is her behaviour?" Saber's voice was thick with suspicion and Shirou couldn't blame her, being dragged past Rin in the hallway and giving her a hopelessly confused look as Kristiina kept pulling him towards the library.
'She's being nice to me.'
"That's….unusual?"
'She once assaulted me with a Gandr because I breathed too loudly while she was visiting Luvia. Something about tainting the air she was breathing.'
"I'll inform….Pendragon and the others. Please use a Command Seal if the Witch appears." Artoria practically begged her Master right as he was dragged into the library.
'Yeah. No complaints here.' Shirou ended the conversation, making Saber huff at the fact that the only time he agreed without hesitation to let her handle the fighting was right now.
But she had things to do, and she should just be glad that he'd agreed. Now, where was Pendragon?
XXXxxxXXX
Luvia scrambled out an apology as she sprinted through the halls of Homurahara, following the mental map she had created of the institute's layout towards the library.
'Caster you cannot mess with me about this! My sister is getting along with Sherou!?' She twirled around a student who seemed too mesmerised by her appearance to even care about the near-collision.
"Saber says that Shirou himself seems quite suspicious and 'weirded out' by it."
Luvia grits her teeth to stop herself from accidentally saying something she shouldn't have as she saw the library doors in front of her. Throwing them open with as much decorum as she could manage with the speed she was moving, freezing in the doorway as her eyes seemed to automatically snap to a scene straight out of her nightmares.
"Are you even listening to me, Emiya? Honestly, I'm right in front of you and you can't even bother to pay attention to me- I mean! If you don't listen there's no way a commoner like you could ever pass this assignment!" Kristiina huffed, anger in her voice but nothing like the pure loathing that she usually had whenever she was forced to talk to Shirou in the past.
Luvia's distress must have been detectable in some way because when Kristiina began to read the passage out for Shirou—for Shirou—once again. Shirou looked up at Luvia with a wide eye and made a small but no less frantic motion towards Kristiina as if to say "SEE!?".
And Luvia could see. She could very much see. She didn't want to see. She wanted to burn in fact. So she took about one second to smooth her appearance out before she walked over.
"Hello, Kristiina." She greeted pleasantly, making the girl jump and face her with a nasty look, like the ones she used to give Shirou.
"Luvia." She greeted flatly. "Can you not see that we're busy here? If he doesn't have me to help him this idiot will never pass the assignment so we need every second we can get."
"I can…see that." Luvia muttered, confusion painting her expression for just a moment. "I'm just confused where this sudden tolerance of Sherou has come from?"
"Sudden tolerance? What are you talking about?" The girl sneered, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder and missing the incredulous looks that Shirou and Luvia shared.
"How you've hated Sherou from the moment that you two met. I've seen you two pull blades on each other…" Luvia spoke, trying to urge some of the sister that she knew to return back to the surface of whatever this was.
"Ugh. I have no idea what you're talking about. Just because you get jealous the moment another girl approaches Emiya you don't need to snap at me and lie, Jesus. Now if you excuse us, we have something to be getting over with." Kristiina snapped at Luvia, reaching across the table and grabbing Shirou's arm.
And promptly hugging it to her side. Not the worst place she could have placed it but even that seemed to be a tipping point for the young blacksmith.
"Ok. No." Almost quicker than Kristiina could even see, Shirou wordlessly summoned, stabbed her with, and de-summoned Rule Breaker Prototype.
The stab was barely deep enough to draw blood, but it didn't need to be for the daggers effect to take place. That was the terrifyingly potent ability of Rule Breaker Prototype.
And with a sound like a deflating balloon leaving her mouth, Kristiina's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she went limp. Her forehead met the library table with an audible crack.
"Do you think she'll be ok?" Luvia asked, more on instinct than anything else.
"I don't care." Shirou answered blankly, getting a sigh from Luvia.
She should have known better than for Shirou to show Kristiina any empathy, or even sympathy. She really should have.
"Nnnnm." Kristiina groaned, beginning to slowly raise her head while holding it in both of her hands as if in pain.
'Whatever it was must have hurt. Or it was the impact.' Luvia deadpanned to herself before leaning down to enter Kristiina's line of sight.
"How are you feeling, Kristiina?"
"Like someone hit me with a boulder." The girl groaned. "What happened?"
"We…aren't sure." Luvia responded slowly, knowing that Kristiina wouldn't like that answer. "But we think we have a theory."
"We?" Kristiina questioned, her eyes meeting Shirou a moment later, before narrowing.
And in response, Shirou narrowed his own eye back at her.
"Who gave you the right to be so close to me!?" Kristiina kicked Shirou's shin before standing up so quickly that she nearly knocked her chair over.
"Wasn't exactly my idea. We're partners for the History assignment." Shirou rolled his eye.
"No. Absolutely not. I'll be speaking to the teachers about this. How- Why don't I- No. No. I refuse to let a mongrel like you taint my image and grade." Kristiina growled, grabbing her stuff in a huff and storming out of the library, ignoring the librarians warning about being too loud.
"Well look at that, she's back to normal." Shirou deadpanned before looking back down at his book.
"Sherou. Aren't you worried about what or who caused her to act like that?"
"Of course, I am. Anything that can force Kristiina to twist that into positive feelings towards me of all people is dangerous. Likely her Servant."
"Exactly!" Luvia sat down, smiling happily that Shirou understood the severity of the situation.
"Whatever it is though, Rule Breaker broke it, and Morgan isn't here in the library with us. So, whatever the plan was, I can't imagine."
"I'll speak to Caster and try to figure out what the plan might have been. You should do the same with Saber." Luvia suggested, getting a small grin from Shirou.
"Yeah, will do Luvia. I know you aren't my partner but want to help me out with studying since Kristiina stormed off?"
"Oh absolutely!" And as quickly as politely possible, Luvia moved around to be sitting next to Shirou to help him out, resting her shoulder against his and smiling softly as she worked.
XXXxxxXXX
"Caster and Saber seem to be in agreement." Shirou spoke in between bites of his lunch, sitting on the school roof with Luvia, Rin, and Sakura.
"Indeed. They both believe that given the drastically different behaviour, this may have been the Witch punishing Kristiina for something." Luvia continued for him, frowning at the idea.
For as much as Kristiina was a horrible person, she was still her sister. Luvia couldn't help but feel a little sad about the situation she had fallen into. Though on the other hand, she couldn't feel too sad because they'd been drifting apart for years now, and it seemed like this Holy Grail War was only increasing the divide between them.
"That seems accurate to what I know of Morgan le Fay. If Kristiina had pissed her off, making her- ugh. Making her twist her hatred of Shirou into some kind of demented crush would be majorly humiliating." Rin agreed though she seemed a little sick at the idea of her liking Shirou.
"Though the question is if that was the only thing that she changed. Or if there was another goal behind it rather than just humiliating Kristiina." Luvia tacked on, getting a few small hums.
"If she's anything like Grandfather. Then maybe that behaviour fits something that the Witch wants?" Sakura questioned, tilting her head to the side and getting quizzical looks from the other three.
"How would that be the case?" Rin asked, curious as to what sort of idea Sakura had.
Rin could, of course, take a guess. But she wanted to hear Sakura's thought process before saying anything herself.
"Well, it looks like Kristiina's used one of her Command Seals. Perhaps to get around whatever that Command is, the Witch 'gave' her that personality. And then uses Senpai as a goal or manipulation tactic to give Morgan free rein?" Sakura posed, popping some sushi into her mouth after she finished speaking, as was proper.
'Caster. What are the chances that the Witch gave Kristiina that personality to use Sherou as a goal or manipulation tactic to earn herself more freedom?' Luvia asked her Servant, a cold pit welling up in her stomach.
"…Uncomfortably high in all honesty. I hadn't even considered it."
'None of us did either. It was Sakura that posed the idea.'
"I see. It's certainly a possibility."
"Caster seems to think that it's certainly a possibility." Luvia announced to the group, getting a sigh from Shirou as he slumped over.
"At least I ended it. I couldn't possibly handle her acting like that anymore."
"Well, you did end it, Shirou. So, you don't need to worry." Rin snorted, grabbing some food from her lunch with her chopsticks and putting it in her mouth, giggling a bit at the despondant look on his face at the idea of having to deal with more of Kristiina.
XXXxxxXXX
Next Morning, Homurahara
"Ugh. There you are Emiya. I wait here to apologise for leaving early yesterday and you just take your sweet time don't you. You just want me to be late for class, don't you? Honestly, I don't know why I even bother." Kristiina scoffed, her eyes closed as she did, so she missed the utterly soul-crushing look of despair that covered Shirou's face for about half a second.
Besides him, Rin shared his look for about twice as long as he did. Which still went unnoticed by the Edelfelt Heiress but was nonetheless present.
"Ah, I'll make sure he gets to school earlier. Miss Edelfelt." Rin smiled innocently, playing up her 'perfect princess' act that she usually put on at school. "There's nothing to worry abou- now Shirou."
And once again, quicker than Kristiina could ever react to with so little distance, she had been pricked by Rule Breaker. Immediately collapsing to the ground before getting up, insulting Shirou, and storming off.
"Ugh. That felt disgusting." Rin shivered, getting a dead gaze from Shirou.
"How do you think I feel?"
"You know that if she came back today like this, she's probably going to come back tomorrow the same as well." Rin pointed out, getting a loud groan from Shirou as he rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands and started to walk towards the front doors of the school, hoping that today would just end already.
XXXxxxXXX
After school, Illya
'I can't believe that Kristiina keeps getting hypnotised to like Onii-chan! It's great!' Illya giggled to her servant, skipping down the sidewalk.
"I…Don't see the amusing part, Master?"
'Really? I think it's hilarious!' Illya giggled through telepathy once more.
'Is Master a sadist?' Heracles thought to himself, sweatdropping even while de-materialized.
"It seems like our enemies are beginning to truly move, Master. Keeping track of everything is starting to grow increasingly difficult."
'Yeah, that's true. I wonder what the Einzberns are doing though. It's not like them to be so inactive for so long.'
"Likely plotting, you used to be a member of their family weren't you, Master? What are they like?"
'Well, they were always trying to dictate everything I did. They saw me as a walking Miracle and treated me like I was their property. If Kaa-chan and Tou-san hadn't taken me away I'd probably be their representative for this war.' Illya was noticeably less enthusiastic while talking about this subject, Heracles would keep that in mind.
"And they let you leave with your parents despite that?"
'No. There was a lot of fighting. Grandfather still sends letters every year trying to convince me to "give up this charade and return" or something like that. I sort of just skim them at this point.' Illya thought, physically waving her hand idly as she started to walk into a large park.
'Where're all the people…?'
"If that's the case." Heracles paused for a moment, sorting through his thoughts and the emotions they brought forth. "Then would it be out of the question to call you a 'target' for the Einzbern's Master?"
Heracles hoped he was wrong, he really did, but ignoring gut feelings like this was something that he'd been trained and learned never to ignore. It had saved his life more than once.
'I mean. I guess no-'
"Cousin Illyasviel." The girl froze mid-skip, turning 90 degrees to her right to see the very fancifully dressed form of what was clearly an Einzbern Homunculi.
He had white hair and red eyes with rather sharp features. His appearance modelled after a male in their late teens/early adult years and his hair would likely come down to his shoulders when not put into the high ponytail it currently sat in. Like all Einzbern he was rather pale and wore very noble-esque black and white clothes with a long purple coat over the top with gold embroidery around the trim. All in all, he looked like everything Illya wanted to avoid from her extended family.
"Can I help you?" And in an instant the little girl Heracles was used to disappeared, replaced with the cold, calculating stare of a monster in human skin.
"Ah. Where are my manners? I'm Walter von Einzbern. The Einzbern representative in this war." Walter gave a smarmy grin and bowed theatrically, not even getting a twitch of Illya's finger.
"Can I help you, Homunculi?" The casual dismissal made the man flinch but didn't seem to harm the smug aura that almost permeated off him.
"So cold, Cousin Illyasviel. I had important news to give you as well. Your time is up."
"Excuse me?" Illya raised an eyebrow and gave him a mockingly amused smile.
"You've kept Lord Jubstacheit waiting long enough, Cousin Illyasviel. Your time of rebellion is up. It's time to return."
"And this is on his orders I presume?" She asked, unimpressed.
"No. Merely on mine. However, if you don't return. The forces I've brought will descend on that brother of yours. And I know all about how much you care about family."
And unlike the reaction that he'd been expecting, Illya merely started to laugh. A laugh of someone who had just heard the best joke in the world. A laugh that made her legs bend and shake, nearly falling out from underneath her. Before it suddenly ended, an innocent smile was on her face.
"The fact that you think you can harm Onii-chan with some Einzbern is probably the most insulting thing you've said so far, Homunculi."
"False threats and bravado won't do you well here, Cousin Illyasviel."
"I could say much the same to you. Archer." And in sparks of prana the hulking figure appeared, his pupils dilated to the size of pinpricks and a cold but crushing anger emanating off of him.
"Alright. I see how it is. Very well. Berserker, show them a true threat."
And then, appearing between Illyasviel and Walter, Berserker appeared. His eyes were blank and the simple white sheet covered his body. His long, straight green hair swayed in the wind slightly and the two branches sprouted out of his head seeming to make him seem larger than he truly stood. Strange, pulsing green veins were visible through his skin as he stared dead at Heracles. His entire body seemed to throb for a moment as if trapped within his own skin, compressed almost to the point of bursting.
Whoever, whatever, Berserker was; Heracles could sense that he was undoubtedly a threat. An arrow appeared in his hand and was notched back instantly.
A golden chain erupted from the ground. An arrow flew with speed outpacing even a bullet.
Attack met attack, and the park cracked.
XXXxxxXXX
Meanwhile, Fuyuki outskirts
Slitted red eyes opened. Gilgamesh's cheek rested on his fist as his eyes moved in the direction of the presence that he knew.
"Enkidu." The King rose from his seat that he had taken a nap in.
And for a moment, only a single moment in feeling the presence of his first friend—yet not at the same time—his iron-grip on Sha Naqba Imuru slipped. Only one single course of action made it through before his control reasserted itself, but that only action was all that was needed.
For his smith, for his people, and for Enkidu himself. Gilgamesh could not appear the moment that he had sensed him. But he knew where to go instead. Where to wait so that they would come to him and so that this event could play out most optimally.
And if, by the time they arrived at the Einzbern castle, it had been reduced to nothing but rubble for summoning his friend as that and chaining him. Then it's not like any of his people would care.
XXXxxxXXX
Side Story: A King and his Smith training
"Your creations are coming out stronger." Gilgamesh noted, staring impassively at the teen as their creations clashed over their heads, metal shards falling down around them like rain.
"You say that every time my smithing gets better." Shirou scoffed, a raised eyebrow and a smirk coming to his face.
"It's the truth. But if you wish to get no further compliments from your King then who am I to complain?" Gilgamesh smirked, flicking some hair out of his face and opening a single eye as one of his own blades blocked the sword that was fired at his stomach.
Seeing the small smile adorned on Shirou's face and the casual stance he held himself in despite firing a blade at Gilgamesh, the golden king could almost see another image adorning itself to Shirou's form. An image of a long white sheet and flowing green hair, wearing an expression vaguely similar to the one of his smith.
Though as quickly as it appeared in his sight it disappeared, getting him to close his eyes and shake his head a little.
"To think that you've reached that level, Shirou." He muttered to himself as his golden locks swayed slightly behind the motions of his head.
"What was that Gil? You gotta speak up!"
"I said you better be prepared for your cheek, Smith!" Gilgamesh crowed, bathing the clearing in golden light.
XXXxxxXXX
Good Evening.
How goes everyone this lovely month? I've been great up until recently because i have uni assignment to work on again and the wording is vague so it fucking sucks to try and work on. But that's only been in the last couple days.
Other than that i've been enjoying university break and just been slowly working on this fic and one or two other WIP's including one Eminence in Shadow fanfic that i may or may not post eventually. I've already got two chapters of it finished so who knows.
How was the chapter btw? Some new abilities, a name for one of said abilities, and Morgan's punishment for Kristiina becomes clear for all to see. And sadly for both her and Shirou, simply stabbing her with Proto Rule Breaker isn't enough, sadge. Also Walter is the one who knocks and if it didn't ruin everything i would have had him knock on the Emiya Family Estate to introduce himself to Illya.
I don't have much to say about this chapter, mostly because i'm hot off the heels of finishing chapter 29 and shit has truly gone down by that point. So this chapter, while still very good and i always enjoy re-reading through it, just isn't as good comparatively, y'know?
And to the many people that tried to explain to me how Reality Marbles function, i thank you for trying to be helpful….if nothing else.
Discord code: ctMzhq3 (We lost our lvl 3 nitro and my unique invite code ;-;)
REVIEW REPLIES!
oSayan: Hope you enjoyed!
Simon334: I'm gonna continue it after the HGW
NotSpecialDude: Every HGW needs at least one Magus too cocky for their own good. And yes, they're all battle junkies.
GreyFox2: Thank you for the compliments! I always like to hear that others enjoy my writing.
fujin of shadows: Shirou will never turn his game off, it's impossible. The switch was melted into the 'on' position by the Fuyuki Fire.
sUbSoNiCSoundwave: Yeah pretty much. Making it a GHGW or an 'Apocrypha' as the fandom calls it would let me add so many new characters in.
Adro-Sama: Yes.
Rajo: Yes, Saber is aware that both Kiri and Iri are still around. They're just overseas currently so they haven't had a chance to meet each other yet. Also Olga and Illya would be an unstoppable duo…..if they could ever work together.
TheSlySage: Now i'm hold chapters 28 and 29 hostage!
kgtab: I appreciate your dedication but unfortunately still not happening XD
TalonScythe: I'm glad you enjoyed the direction i went in with the GHGW and how i handled Olga.
Tyracus: Only one thing to outright correct, Sakura didn't absorb the Idea Blood.
Primordial Inscriptor Z-09: Yeah his Eroge Protag skill is working overtime man. And i'm glad that you think so, i do my best to characterise everyone that appears in the story as best as i can. Even if some conflicting stories have lead to fights between me and my main lore beta (Saber's personality).
Zukafew119: Hello once again Zuka! Once again i enjoyed reading your review and only had a few comments. The blade itself wasn't a blade from the Barthomeloi family, what he did with it was entirely separate to Lorelei or her bloodline. And as for Olga's age it was just before her 11th birthday in 2003 so yeah, Shirou was 16 and Olga was still 10. And it's good to see you enjoying another fanfic so much, and its always good to see an author improve their craft. Regardless i await your next review and until next time!
THAT'S THE END
Alright now that's it for this month! Get outta here!
Git!
Shoo!
Also don't forget that Ea-Nasir has been reincarnated and is doing business out of Turkey apparently.