Fate: Bonds Beyond Humanity

by Apprentice of Life

In a world where all can be real, what does it mean to be human? What is the meaning of humanity? A meeting between a human and a devil will have them discovering the truth while chasing their dreams. My take on the combined worlds of Fate and DxD with characters from other franchises if they can be adapted to it. Harem.

19. Chapter 19

Fate/Bonds Beyond Humanity

Before we begin this chapter I would like to say thank you to all who read, comment, favorite and follow. Only now I had the time to see we actually passed 1k favorites, other stuff got in the way and gave me no time to pay attention and admire this milestone, I appreciate all the support.

From now on I am using the proper names Hyoudou and Ryoudou for the respectives characters. I made mistakes previously and here I am just admitting it. If I already corrected the older chapters, ignore this.

About how I am using 'I am' vs 'I'm' for example that is on the text and some(a lot) keep PM me about (please put a comment on the comments); I honestly have no idea how to explain this but I will give my best shot. The narrator will always be formal with some concessions so the chapter doesn't(yes, this is an example too) get bloated with extra words unless for drama, but when someone uses the complete version 'I am' or 'I will' or similar they are speaking in a more formal way of respect, it is actually a thing in Japan that there are many ways to say the same thing more formally or not. A good example in One Piece is Boa Hancock for instance since when she says 'I' she says in a really royal and noble way while Luffy uses a more simple one(first exemple from the top of my head). In other parts of the globe there are also other exemples but english actually hasn't many, Ace Attorney series actually has the same deal with one of the prosecutors calling you trash in translation when in actuality he is just talking to the protagonist a little(a lot actually) more disrespectfully.

Shirou for instance is a formal guy, well mannered and that treats everyone with respect talking in a more formal even if simple tone, same with Rin to an extent who was raised to be a noble girl with a certain level of etiquette. While Yoruichi, even if she is a true noble herself, doesn't care for such things so she will speak more informally or Koneko who is just blunt in a similar way. In other words I am trying to use this part of the writing to also build character.

Sure there are moments that someone more formal will speak informally and vice versa but that also depends on the situation.

Hope this explanation helps with the experience of reading this story, maybe I should have said earlier but I am still really focused on writing it and with work also demanding my time the author notes became really scarce.

I still take some time in the week to read comments so if you have some other doubt, that isn't going to spoil the story, feel free to post it there and if I can there may be a reply or explanation in one of those.

…..

19- Third Incident: Corrupt Ambitions

…..

Everything is ready and Shinji just needs to wait. Deep in his workshop he prepares his body for its trial where he is going to get rid of Emiya Shirou once and for all.

He is sitting inside a magic circle, naked from the waste up as his little friend moved around his body and prepared it, mana and food have been consumed for days constantly in preparation and all he has to do now is finish the last touches while ignoring the pain that run throughout him every second of the last stage.

Around the circle are packs of food and bottles of water, enough to feed a small army and Shinji had consumed everything, he puked twice but still kept shoving food down his throat for this. His body will need the fuel and the mass for his transformation and the spellcaster is considerably excited for the prospect. Once it is done Shinji believes he will be one of the most powerful beings in town if not the country.

Matou is sweating more than he ever did previously in his life, keeping himself still as he can feel his little passenger, now completely developed, move on his back, pushing his flesh and organs and almost making him scream before he recovers his control and stops himself. He can feel every step his little friend takes inside him, passing by the lungs, then heart, liver, stomach and he keeps going.

'Fuck, this hurts!' Shinji bites his own hand to avoid screaming, drawing blood. He has gone too far without being caught by his father and he isn't going to fail now, not when he is so close to finishing. 'Now comes the fun part.' He thinks with a sarcastic smile as he can feel the mana he accumulated start to work and his little friend begins on their last touches.

It is then that Shinji can't stop himself from screaming, a loud, excruciating scream full of pain.

The heir of the Matou family never had felt so much pain in his life as he screams and moves around one side or another. The magical circle he is in starts glowing and a barrier is activated to keep him inside during the procedure, a frail and weak thing that anyone with a strong enough punch can break but its goal is not defense but just containment of someone who isn't actively trying to escape.

'And there is more after this!' And scream in his mind as his body screams involuntaraly on the outside. 'Almost done! The final preparations!' What keeps his going is that the last transition after this one isn't going to be as painful if everything goes as planned.

Shinji's hand hits the floor as he screams and still tries to fight the pain off. It is in vain, the pain won't stop until the job is finished and once it does he will be able to use his little friend for his goals at their full potential for a while until he could 'ascend beyond the human condition' as his elder had described.

Every muscle and tissue and destroyed and remade, his bones are broken and mended, his heart is beating so fast that it can be compared to a heart attack but instead of giving in or just exploding from the pressure it just kept beating harder and faster, his blood going so fast that the veins are visible at naked eye and Shinji feels every single thing that is happening to him.

"SHINJI!" A shout came from the door to his workshop as Matou Byakuya heard the screams. "OPEN THE DOOR! SHINJI!"

On the other side of the apparent normal door was the actual head of the house and a couple servants, many confused with the events. Most of them have knowledge about the moonlit world in a way or another with Byakuya's main assistent already trying to open the door with the man himself who just grows more frustrated.

'Why is he in there?' He questions himself frantically as he tries to use a spell again only for it to blast the door open only for a boundary field to deny the process. "When did he begin to enter this workshop?" No one answered him. "WHEN?"

"We don't know sir." One of the cooks said, his voice failing to remain calm. "We don't even know what is down there."

"Of course you don't! That is not what I asked!" His assistant, Filsha, places a hand on Byakuya's shoulder. She is a beautiful woman with short black hair and small stature but even dressed as a maid there is an air of elegance around her.

"You must calm down, Byakuya-sama." She says with a soft voice. "There must be a way to open this door and only you can figure that out."

"I already tried everything I could think of." He replies with a soft voice to his assistant turned lover. "He shouldn't be there. That is why," he turns to another servant dressed as a buttle, "you should have told me he moved his workshop there."

"Sir, Shinji-sama hasn't asked for my assistance for months now." He is a young follower of the house and the third generation of magicians in a small family called Jigo. "I had no idea he even changed his workshop sir."

Byakuya grinds his teeth in rage before calming down. 'Why am I surprised? Shinji always fancied himself a magus and tried to keep secrets.' The head of the house turns his head to the door again as he hears the screams of his son coming from the door. "All of you step back!" His command is obeyed as the head of the house prepares.

A huge magic circle appears in front of Byakuya as he ignores his only child screams and starts to accumulate the moisture in the area to facilitate his spell. The screams continue as Byakuya tries to focus more on the task at hand, his lack of ability and the concern with his son making things difficult but he still persists.

It doesn't take long before a column of water leaves his circle and hits the door, the spell just summoning the water and shooting it in a direction doesn't get a reaction from the boundary fields around the door and it finally starts to crack a little before it breaks open with a loud noise.

Everyone got ready to enter only for the gardener that got there first to suddenly fall to the ground and start to fall down the stairs after losing the control of his legs. The fall turned fatal when the man couldn't recover his balance and broke his neck. "Get back you fools! There are more protections!" Byakuya ordered, not knowing exactly what defenses the place still has. 'Please Shinji, let it not have been you that placed those. Let it have been that monster.'

It was an weak protection but almost undetectable and it didn't work on Byakuya which gave credence to his suspicion that it wasn't Shinji who made the trap, it has a macabre kind of humor in it that the adult spellcaster recognize as being part of Zolgen personality as he has to step over the body of his former gardener, now left only as a puddle of blood starts to spread.

Every single step of the stairs possesses a curse or another form of defense, not to repel but to kill. The only reason why he isn't fighting for his life to stop himself from being boiled alive from inside is not his power or skill, he is weak in comparison to these spells, it is his blood.

He is a direct descendent of Zolgen Makiri and they recognize him for it. It was in this dungeon years ago he had the final confrontation with his brother where he was soundly defeated and left alive only because his sibling didn't want to be a Matou anymore, he left the house and the life of a magician without a single penny on his name, choosing freedom over legacy.

Just stepping inside the place brought out the memories of his older sibling. 'I wish I had gone with you Kariya. I wish I had the courage to abandon everything as well. If I did, maybe Sachiko would be alive today.'

He can't help but remember his late wife for this is also the place where she perished. Byakuya remembered that day well, it was one of the worst of his life. His dear Sachiko was only a Carrier, nothing special in magical terms but he ended up falling in love with her all the same after their marriage.

Dedicated and prestative, she wanted to clear the cave below the mansion so they could expand or use it for something actually just theirs instead of just letting a bad memory fester. They would do it slowly and carefully and he couldn't wait to never have anything from Zolgen in his house besides his precious larva.

Their attempt ended in failure, it was a small mistake, a single spell and was so small that he didn't notice until his wife fell in it, dying a horrible death to one of Zolgen's traps when Shinji was just a baby. That is why the workshop was closed and he even forbade Shinji from stepping inside, this is also his mother's grave.

Just remembering that is enough for the smell of his wife's remains to hit his nostrils, even if there is nothing there but Shinji and trash that he could recognize as packaging of various products.

Finally he makes his way to the final step and notices that Shinji is on his knees with his head low and his arms on the ground with a circle around him that Byakuya doesn't know the origin of and approaches with fear. "Shinji!"

The call of his name makes the young man twitch but he doesn't move beyond that. His father, still fearful of whatever traps are in the area, approaches the circle with fear of whatever can sprung from it.

"Shinji!" He calls his son again and slowly the young man raises his head.

"Father? You are here?" Shinji sounds confused and just looks at his sole parent with incredulity. "I can't believe you got the guts to step inside my workshop. I'm impressed."

"Your workshop? Have you lost your mind?" Byakuya is seething with rage. "I gave you a rule forbidding you from ever entering this place and you did it anyway! You don't know what you are doing!" "The adult takes a step forward feeling the barrier in front of him but dismissing it easily. "You have no idea of the horrors that monster made on this place!"

"Are you talking about Zolgen-ojisama?" Byakuya took a step back when he heard the respectful way Shinji was calling his most hated family member. "He taught me much more than you ever did."

Byakuya watches stunned as his son raises to his feet, looking nothing like the Shinji he just saw the day before. He is now taller, both arms and looks made of pure muscle as his abs and chest showed that the once scrawny Matou heir now is in the peak of human physique with a body most athletes would die to match.

"What have you done to yourself?" Whispered the older man but Shinji heard him just fine.

"Some improvements." Shinji raises an arm and does a small flex just to show the muscle building. "Do you like it? A perfect body, immune to most diseases and at the peak of human condition."

Byakuya just looks in shock as his son examines himself, moving every finger and muscle he could with fascination as their servants watch from above astounded and impressed. The head of the family isn't impressed, he is terrified.

"Shinji." Byakuya says the name softly, licks his lips and tries again when he sees that his son is not giving him any attention. "Shinji." It was loud enough to get him a side eye but soon enough the young man went back to admire himself. "Shinji!"

"What do you want? Can't you see that I'm busy." Shinji makes a magic circle on his hand and exames it with the same interest he did his body. "So much easier than before! I wonder what my final ascension will give me since this body is already perfect. But then again, humans can't be perfect." He chuckles at the last part.

"Shinji, listen to me. You can't trust in whatever Zolgen gave you." But his son gave him a look before going back to admire himself. "That man is a monster. You have no idea of the horrors-"

"Are you talking about the traps or his old projects?" The question can only surprise the parent. "You want to talk about his attempts for immortality? Or maybe his search for a perfect body? If you are going to complain about the traps don't bother! He is a true magus even if he can't call himself that anymore. Besides," he makes a fist with his hand, "as his apprentice I will be able to make a better insect myself and find immortality on my own! For now I'm just borrowing ojisama's creation. Once I learn more and make my own then I will need to take this one off and work and use my own creation with my little friend as a basis." He flexes his arm. "But at least I'll be able to keep the body for a while until I finish my own work."

That sounds wrong in Byakuya's mind, for a lot of reasons. "Shinji, that is not how his magecraft works! If the bug is removed you are going to die!" That got Shinji's attention. "His creations bound themselves with the nerves and the heart! If you remove it or even attempt to, you will die!"

The two Matous stay silent for a moment, everything is quiet until Shinji starts to laugh and laugh hard, the loudest laugh that he ever let out and many heard in their lives, especially with the echo on the cave.

"Shinji!" Byakuya shouts desperate only for Shinji to glare at him.

"Do you really think I will believe that ojisama would go for all the work we did just to discard me?" Shinji's eyes are filled with a fury that the older man never saw before but he refused to retreat. "I am the Matou heir! He who cares about and develops the human side of our magic! Once I make my own insect I will incorporate it with circuits so we can expand our magecraft once again instead of just being spellcasters!"

"That is what you aren't understanding, Shinji! Zolgen is practically immortal now! He does not need any heirs! He doesn't even need this family!" Byakuya remembered when he met the man, he had a youthful face at the time and looked nice enough but every time their eyes met Byakuya couldn't help but feel like a bug being studied. "He cares only for his experiments and obsession, Shinji! Nothing else!"

A scowl is all Shinji gives him. "Do you think I will listen to a failed magician like you?" Turning to his father, giving him his full attention for the first time. "The next time you insult our dear ancestor, I will make sure you regret doing it." Then Shinji smiles. "Besides, even if you are right then I just need to keep the first insect." A bulge grew on his neck but then it disappeared, Shinji feeling some pleasure with it. "And my little friend agrees with me. It wouldn't be difficult to create another and have them both share my body in return for some benefits."

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Byakuya can't recognize the young man before him as the son he raised. "I may not have been the best father Shinji, but even I can see you are becoming too similar to Zolgen to show how much I failed with you." The older man prepares his hands to the side, mana ready to flow.

"I think that was your only real success." He says with an almost cruel smile. "Think about it for a moment, you only have me as your son, our old alliance with the Tohsaka is practically lost and you failed to leave anything relevant to the Matou magecraft or spellcraft. Most of the days all you can do is eat, drink and spend time with your whore." Shinji gives a shrug. "If that isn't failure, I don't know what that is."

"Foolish boy, there is much more in life than accomplishments." Byakuya keeps looking at Shinji but his son is completely relaxed, not a sign of mana around him while the father doesn't hesitate to prepare. "If you only live for the next thing, you won't find anything to enjoy once you have to stop." It is clear to him that his words are having no effect. "Didn't you start all this because of Sakura?"

"Hmm, true, true." Shinji lets out a large smile. "She will be mine, she won't have a choice but to be mine and everyone on the way won't be alive much longer."

The answer made the man sure of one thing. "Then you are not my son." Matou Byakuya declares as a huge circle appears in front of him and he throws another jet of water, this time aiming to take out his heir's head. He didn't have time to react as Shinji is at his side and grabs his hands, breaking them. "AAH!"

Without his focus the magic comes undone and the servants can only watch as Shinji crushes his father's hands in a tighter grip. "See? Failure, and not even worthy of attention." Another scream comes out from the man before Shinji kicks him to the steps, his forehead bleeding and his bones broken.

"BYAKUYA-SAMA!" Filsha screams and runs forward, passing the dangerous threshold before her coworkers could pull her back. They still managed to grab her by the maid's clothes but Shinji saw something curious.

"She should have died." The heir of the Matou family points out, a full blown cruel smile on his lips that has everyone on edge. Slowly he turns to his father, placing a foot over his chest and pushing him against the wall violently. "Unless she has Matou blood and since you aren't into incest...you have been busy old man."

The implication dawned on Byakuya as well. "ALL OF YOU! RUN! GET TO THE DEVIL-" Before he could finish the line Shinji delivered a kick on his head, crushing his skull.

"Well…that was anticlimactic." Shinji says middle depressed before looking up to his servants. "I suppose by the end of the night I will be the only Matou standing." They all turn to run as Shinji is already at the stairs ready to chase. "Too bad, you guys can't run from me." He comments with a smile as he reaches the first witness about to be silenced.

…

"Huhuhu~Hum~" Rias is getting some things in her office as most of her peerage members and friends watch her moving in high spirits.

"Buchou really is excited today." Rin comments cheerfully since her boss let her out of the job early and now she is just enjoying the company.

All the students are using the winter variant of the uniform, the climate starting to get colder as autumn begins to dominate the season.

Luvia doesn't comment on Rin's observation, she also decided to use gloves out of her own preference as she takes another slice from Shirou's latest creation, a carrot cake. The Edelfelt is just enjoying herself after being given permission to eat Shirou's food again in return to help Rin with her work, a trade she doesn't regret one bit as she eats in joy.

"The trip to Kyoto is an event that Rias has been waiting for a long time." Akeno comments as everyone else is around the office, just watching the president of the Occult Research Club get some papers around her desk.

"What is she getting?" Shirou finally asks the question that any non devil had on their minds. Those that knew Rias for the longest time already knew what she was preparing.

"Maps." Koneko says with confidence, also eating the cake Shirou made.

"Maps?" Liz questioned while taking a bite of her slice.

"'Maps' is accurate." Kiba says with a small smile, his King excitement being contagious.

"That is right!" Rias pulls from her desk a huge map and slams it on her desk as everyone else approaches to take a look, there are many minor ones of the locales marked on the larger map. "Look at this; the Golden Pavilion, the many temples, the sakura trees! There is so much to see!"

"I'm...impressed." Yoruichi says slowly, getting a nod from Setsuna who shares her opinion.

"That is a lot of 'x's." The hanyou was a little astounded by the number of places the devil planned to go. "Can you go to all that in just a couple of days? I lived in Kyoto my whole life and I don't think you can see all that without a bit of a rush and it still would take me half a week."

"Nonsense." Rias brushes her concerns off. "I have all the routes prepared and got all the permissions and look," she shows the lines that she drew in the map in multiple colors, "I have made the most efficient routes going for as many of the best spots and the hotel for the three days we are going to go there."

The two natives of Kyoto examine the routes and turn to each other before the nekomata finally says. "Okay, that might work."

"But why don't you just go on another day of the year or take a week-long vacation instead of a couple of days?" Setsuna questioned something that was in a couple of people's minds.

"No, that won't do." Rias protested in an instant and with passion she proclaimed. "These kinds of trips in highschool are the kind of things you have to do with your friends. You all go to new places, enjoy the sights, bask in each other's presence as you all go around to find your way to visit the most beautiful places."

Rias describes everything with a smile and a passion that some are finding hard to match at that moment, even on other occasions the long haired redhead hasn't been so happy about something like that, a simple thing that she really wants.

"Then I hope you all enjoy it." Shirou smiled as he said that.

One that Rias reciprocates for a few seconds before she frowned. "I just hope Sona is really going. She knows how much I want us to explore together."

"Hard to blame her, since we haven't caught that criminal yet." Akeno didn't need to elaborate which criminal they are talking about. No stray or rogue magician has given them as much trouble as their mysterious enemy. "The problem is that we have no idea when or how they will act. All we can do is wait."

"Sooner or later they have to do something big." Luvia points out. "No students have shown any new signs of something weird happening to them but I believe that whoever was doing all that must have some intent we can't divine just yet."

"And I agree with you." Rias says, sitting down with a depressed cloud almost visible to all present. "Honestly I am half convinced to not go to Kyoto just to keep an eye on things."

"Don't stay." Liz surprises everyone by speaking. "You can't let this dictate your life. There are strong people here to watch over the school" The maid turned teacher returns to eat her cake.

"Liz is right." Shirou follows up. "Go and enjoy Kyoto for a bit, see the sights. I bet that Setsuna and Kuro can tell you the best spots that won't be on any map."

"Shirou is right, I can tell you a lot of secret places that are not here." Setsuna points to an unmarked area on the map close to an 'x'. "This is one of the areas my sister and I used to visit. There is a secret door that gives place to a park protected by a barrier, ideal for a picnic." She smiles at the devil. "You can go have a lot of fun there."

"Besides you can count on us to watch over here." Kiba expresses himself by also hitting his chest with his open hand. "I swear as your Knight that I shall make sure everything is top notch in your absence."

"And I will be there ready to help him in any way I can." Rin says next.

"I may not be part of your household but this moment is important to you so I shall also keep my guard up." Luvia says to not stay behind Rin. "If someone dares to try anything in Kuoh, I am going to break their backs."

Both Koneko and Liz give Rias synchronized nods to show their support, the redhead King being the only one noticing they are still eating their cake while doing it. 'So cute!' She can't help but think.

"See buchou? There is nothing to worry about the school for now. Remember that Seekvaira-sama will also be here to take care of things if everyone here is already not enough to turn the town upside down." Akeno says and Rias smiles to all present.

Rias feels really happy for the dedication of her friends. It is true that it is a small dream for her to go to Kyoto on a school trip but for a while she thought that she would have to give up because of the circumstances and she was willing to do it.

But her friends, both the old and the new ones, can see that she really wants to make this trip. Rias' excitement is contagious and everyone wants to see her go to have her small highschool dream.

"Besides, it is better if you leave for a while to avoid another school festival incident." While the consideration is real, Shirou's words reminded her of something that he and Sona didn't like that she did earlier in the month.

"It was supposed to be a haunted house!" Rias says with a groan.

"But you shouldn't have brought out real ghosts here." Shirou replies easily and much to Rias' frustration as almost everyone else nods in agreement with him. It wasn't that anything bad had happened but the risk of exposure was substantial and the redhead is not willing to let it go.

"When you are bored you can be a bit irrational, buchou." Akeno teases her best friend.

"It wasn't irrational and you agreed that it was a good idea." Rias points an accusing finger at her Queen.

"Yes, I didn't think you were going to go with it." At the ravenhead response Rias feels a pang of betrayal.

"Sona got upset too." Liz reminds them and Rias can tell that any defense to her argument is getting weaker by the minute.

"I won't bring ghosts to our summer festivals again." The president of the club rolls her eyes. "Really, I try to make things more authentic and what did I get? Stabbed in the back." Everyone smiles and laughs and Rias just shrugs before pointing out. "I won't leave if Sona isn't going to. Akeno is good company but I want more than just one friend to explore with."

"Already took care of that." Rin says with confidence, getting Rias' attention. "We talked with the rest of the student council, even those that aren't aware of the moonlit world, and convinced-"

"Proved." Luvia says in the middle of the sentence, just to tick at Rin's nerves a little.

"'Proved'," Rin says with a roll of her eyes, letting go or else both get punished "that Sona has been working too much and that she needs a break."

"Nothing has happened for weeks now and we can't find an immediate solution for the 'pest' problem." Akeno says, a little more serious before smiling again. "But this is a thing you always wanted and our friends can take care of school. Patrols will continue as always and Seekvaira is covering your work."

"She is getting more extra work isn't she?" The redhead devil feels a little sad for her older friend but recovers. "How did you get her to agree to more extra work in the first place? Rias sounds impressed and afraid at the same time.

"Even she agrees that Sona is being a little overbearing." Akeno explains. "She needs to understand that sometimes the best thing we can do is wait."

'Or the only thing we can do.' Shirou thinks with a considerable amount of frustration. 'Months again after Fuan-san and nothing new. This is just so annoying.' But he doesn't let it show on his face. "You can't stop your life waiting for something that may not happen." He smiles at the King. "Go and enjoy yourself, we got this and if anything happens we will be sure to call."

"Don't forget that this place now has potentially one of the best boundary fields of the country." Yoruichi felt the need to point it out. "Even if it has too many users controlling it for my tastes, in general it still has some of the best protection the yokais can offer. It would need someone with some serious firepower to just break it out of nowhere and at that point everyone else will feel the barrier falling. They are going to be fine." She says dismissively.

"'They'?" Rias asks and everyone looks at the cat in confusion.

"What?" Yoruichi asks with wonder. "The equivalent of ambassadors are going to Kyoto, the heart of the Yokai Faction and where the Shinto gods still have some power and you guys think it is not going to be an all hands on deck situation?" She raises an eyebrow as everyone looks around. "If I'm not there and something happens it's going to be my ass on the line."

"Yoruichi-dono must be a harsh boss." Rias says with sympathy. "You already have to come here to help Shiro and now you have to run back for us. Are you getting enough rest?"

Before Yoruichi can say something, Akeno scratches the cat's head a little. "If you need to, say that we kept you busy so you can get some time off."

"Those in charge need to be mindful of their subordinates' health." Luvia says with her usual flair, her plate is now on the small table as she fixes her hair. "If you want to change employers, please say so. I can guarantee that I will be a more kind patron than someone that makes you run around all of Japan."

"I'm- I mean, Yoruichi-sama is a great boss." She jumps to defend herself discreetly. "Besides, Shirou's food is so good that this is basically a vacation for me."

"Still isn't fair." Rin decides to chip in, holding her laughter. "You really do run around everywhere under her command. Isn't she telling you to go back to Kyoto?"

"It's more like Yasaka will throw a fit if I ain't there for it." Yoruichi spoke without thinking.

"Kind informal the way you called another leader of your faction don't you think? Almost like if instinctively you didn't bother with any respect for the person station." Rin points out and everyone that doesn't know Yoruichi's real identity looks at the cat like it grew a second head while Shirou is starving off a headache and Setsuna is shaking her head considerably faster to the magus to try to make her stop.

"Uh, Rin has a point." Rias observes. "I don't mind what you call me but Yasaka is someone in a high and respected position in your faction and while no one here is going to do something silly and report the disrespect, I suggest you control yourself a little better."

"Who doesn't like to talk about their boss behind their back once in a while." Akeno says with a smile that was basically trying to provoke a reaction from Rias but the redhead is in too good of a mood to let it bother her.

"We are…old friends. I met her a couple of times." Yoruichi says with some trepidation, taking care to not let her real identity be exposed. "She doesn't mind that I don't use protocol or flowered language that much."

"Makes you wonder a little about the character of the leaders of the Yokai Faction doesn't it?" Rin says to with a shrug and Yoruichi turns her eyes towards the magus with glare that promised murder. "You could talk a little about them one of these days during lunch, you never do if you know so many."

'So that is what this is about. She is mad that I stole one of her salmon pieces the other day.' Yoruichi realizes that is the reason Rin is poking fun at her double life so much since a simple subordinate shouldn't know much about their indirect bosses as Yoruichi is making it sound like she does. 'I will get you back for this.'

"Okay guys, we still have some work to do." Shirou, also understanding what is happening to an extent, decides to attempt to finish the conversation.

"That is right." Setsuna says quickly in support before something goes wrong. "I need to start practicing my violin as well." It is the instrument that she decided to learn after the party and an excellent excuse to change the subject.

"Setsuna is a good player." Koneko says with approval, liking to hear the hanyou practice her music during the breaks between contracts.

"And I," Shirou starts to go to the door, "need to finish something."

The way that her fellow redhead sounded excited caught Rias' attention. "Did you manage to finish one of your projects?" It is clear it isn't EM but the fact he finished one of his harder works interested her.

"Almost, I had a breakthrough." Shirou says with a smile and soon everyone goes back to the things they have to do, the redhead being followed by Liz as they make their way to his workshop where there are a couple of dolls with human appearance and a black armor on both of them. "Ready to test it out?" He asks while making a copy of Muramasa.

The armor is only a tight chest piece, only protecting the chest, stomach and back, not much different from a sleeveless shirt in design. Its black color could be easily confused with onyx with some silver like accents that outlined muscles but it is made of a special metal that Shirou managed to synthesize after many trials and errors. There are two armors made this way so far, both dolls helped Shirou fit the things in ways that would be comfortable for their users.

One made with two latches on each side that open the armor to be dressed up and removed with a more feminine appearance and on the other doll there is another version of the armor without latches he made for himself.

They are not the first of its kind SHirou created with the others being reutilized or in the corners of the workshop for being too heavy or not resistant enough as there is one close to Shirou's forge waiting to be melted again as it was cut in half. The actual model is the latest one of the attempts and the weight is lighter than most armors, Shirou having difficulties to cut it with himself but that is where Liz will come in.

The teacher doesn't hesitate and gets the sword with a small smile. "All in?"

"All in, use your full strength." And Liz doesn't hesitate to fulfill his order as she takes a swing against the armor making the male doll fly and hit a wall.

"It works, kinda." The armor survived the blow but it was a little damaged with a huge cut that didn't penetrate it even while the doll was destroyed, if it was a person they wouldn't have been cut and that is a pleasant news for the magus. Shirou picks up a pen and starts to take some notes of the damage. "We can still do a little better but it is the best consistency we got so far. It is much less malleable than other metals, even in extreme temperatures. But thanks to alteration we managed a lot of progress." The redhead smiles at the fruits of their labor, a hand on the damaged armor. "Let's fix this one to see if the metal agrees with being molded again, just to make sure, we also need to add some protection for the neck. Help me move some of this and get another sample of the metal. If things keep going like this, this new metal is going to be something viable for the future for more than just armor."

Liz nods enthusiastically as they both get the materials and the two of them start to prepare a new mixture of metals and magic. "When are we going to make boots with toes of steel?"

"One step at a time Liz." Shirou says but he thought. 'That would actually be easier if just steel was not good enough for such a thing without compromising mobility. Maybe I can alter our new metal to look like steel and put it on boots?' He stops his observations as he picks his hammer. 'The main problem is that on someone's feet there is a high chance of being uncomfortable anyway and making fighting an issue. I can't see Kiba running around with that kind of footwear. A pity I couldn't do something more akin to a tissue but Reinforcement should still make it easier to put and take it off, the laches are for those that can't use it.'

Shirou begins to heat his forge again to create more of the new metal to fix the damage and experiment some more. His strange dark metal being a mixture of steel, carbon and other components bonded by magic, a type of alchemy that only someone like him who works constantly in a forge is able to attain.

…..

Seekvaira is finishing a report as her Queen pours some tea for her, a sigh leaving her lips before she starts massaging her shoulder. "Need some rest Seekvaira-sama?" Alivian, her Queen, questions with a small smile.

"No, just didn't imagine how much work Sona was actually hogging for herself." The blonde noble commented with a frow. "It is annoying how some people just don't take help or a suggestion. The worst part is that if she hadn't left for Kyoto then I would never find out about this, just take a look," she raises one of the papers and the Queen receives it, "she is micromanaging even the food stocks. Sure we don't know where the insect came from but we receive the best ingredients from places properly checked. There is no need for her to try and track the trucks and every step of the way."

"Looks like she really needed a break." Alivian gives his King a small smile. "Are you sure you don't want to go with them? They are going by bus so they haven't arrived yet."

"I had fun last year with you even if you weren't a student at the time." Seekvaira doesn't say but she would like to spend more time with her friends but the fact that she is one year older and decided to get in Kuoh earlier for recruitment and in respect for proper age meant that she had to sacrifice that for a bit. "Either way, someone needs to hold the fort and if I didn't stay Sona wouldn't have gone."

A couple of days in the middle of her temporary position as the sole Owner of Fuyuki and Agares is still sorting out everything that Sona was doing behind their back, making sure that the most unnecessary projects would stop or have their resources redirected towards something more proactive.

Work is so abundant that they will probably have to go long into the night if they aren't careful and then Seekvaira is going to have to find a way to convince Sona to keep her changes once she got back, a fight in and off itself until the guilty party for the now dubbed 'parasite' is finally caught.

The door is knocked three times before one of Seekvaira paws, a small girl called Tafe that looks like she should be in middle school but was actually going to graduate with her King, opens it. "Agares-sama, one of the teachers is here with news about the parasite."

'Someone managed to crack something that small?' Even their best specialists were having difficulty working with the small remains of what was extracted from Nadta's leg before it was reattached, the fact someone succeeded impresses her but she keeps her stoic face. "Send them in."

Entering the office, one not as welcoming as Rias with just a couple of tables and chairs for work and meetings, is none other than Kayneth Archibald. Once the teacher is close enough to the desk he makes a little reverency. "Lady Agares."

"Lord El-Melloi." She replies using his proper title. "From what you told my secretary you have truly good news."

"Indeed my lady. It took a while for the sample to make its way to me but the moment that it did I knew exactly what I had to do, so I asked a student for his assistance." The man says proudly while both devils look at each other for a second.

"I remember we all agreed that the sample shouldn't be shown to students to avoid confusion and mass panic." Seekvaira points out just for the magus to shake his head.

"Indeed we did and I was one of those that agreed with the caution but once I saw it an epiphany dawned upon me." The man extends his arms. "During the last few months I have seen many young magicians develop and one of them showed a great degree of skill in insect magic and analyses."

"And you let him examine the sample." Seekvaira deduced, getting a nod of confirmation. "What if he was the one responsable? We haven't discussed the potential of a student being the guilty party yet."

"True enough, that is why I had him sign a geass where if he was guilty of any wrong doing the consequences would be severe." Lord El-Melloi says with a tone of cruelty and the devils don't doubt him.

For all that can be said for his practices and preferences on who he wants to teach there is no denying he is one of the most competent and skilled teachers of the Clocktower with decades of students having passed by his classroom and while some have negative things to say about the man few have complains about his knowledge. His reputation and pedigree is considerable with only a stain on it due to actions technically outside his control.

"If you took the proper precautions, I have no need to reprimand you." The man gives a small bow with his smile diminished but still there. "So? What was that the student in question discovered?"

"To give credit where it is due, Matou Shinji made strides that anyone without specialized knowledge would have been unable to make, including the method which he perceives as the most viable for someone to be infected and who can be vulnerable to it." The teacher exposes calmly, giving two factors that can be considered crucial in the case but not the main one that they would be truly interested in.

"That is excellent progress. He managed all that with just that small parasite?" Alivian asked with a tone of surprise.

"Even for an insect specialist that one was quite small." Kayneth recognizes the devil's point. "But Shinji brought out some of the tools he uses for his own work and managed to glean much from the thing." He pauses a moment and just as Seekvaira is about to ask something he says. "He also managed to complete a list of symptoms that those affected may display."

Now both devils react, that is exactly what is needed to make sure no other incident happens. "So we have a method to identify the victims?" A nod is given to the heiress in reply. "This is truly excellent news, both you and Matou Shinji will be greatly rewarded for your efforts."

"My student said that he is looking for a pact. Could you perhaps give him some consideration?" The teacher mentions carefully and the King nods.

"Of course, with such skill I would gladly consider him." Seekvaira means every word and the teacher just nods.

"Then now is the time I give the bad news." The teacher says with a frown and sad eyes. "There is no real method to know who has or hasn't been compromised by the parasites. While one can identify someone affected if they pay close attention there is no spell that is going to make things easier without being extremely intrusive."

"Either way the information is good to have." The King can accept that there isn't a perfect and easy solution, she is ready to make sacrifices but she can recognize not everyone is. "Tell us what you can."

The magus nods. "Lack of blinking, glassy eyes and focus on the tasks commanded are the major concerns. The victim will still be able to take care of their own health and manage their routine easily." Pausing for a second the man makes a dismissal motion with a hand. "The rest are things that need a blood exam and other more...personal methods are necessary. Most will refuse such things."

"How did he manage to compile all this information so fast? I think you were the 7th of the rotation of the sample, that must have given you, what? A couple of days with it?" The black haired devil asked with a frow himself.

Kayneth shrugs and replies easily. "The reports from the recent incidents helped and once Shinji heard about the eggs that we managed to extract from miss Fuan he was sure of most of what happened." The man lets out a sigh. "It is too bad not all in the school have precautions, skill or power to deal with an invader on their bodies if they are aware. Such skill is basically common knowledge in the Clocktower. Not that those insects are necessarily common as young Shinji himself pointed out. Whoever made them would not be able to make many."

"Plenty of reports confirm what you just said, together with the fact that the parasite is too frail to just fly in and try to take over." Agares observes.

"That is why I came with a solution that may help us find more victims so we can be rid of that plague once and for all." At Lord El-Melloi's comment the heiress raises an eyebrow but nods for him to continue. "Since the symptoms are visible we must spread the awareness of the situation to all of those who can see it and have our students ready to report anyone that shows the symptoms."

"We already have something like that-"

"But not to all of those that are part of our world." Kayneth interrupts Alivian. "We need to make sure everyone understands exactly what is going on. Just informing the victims of what already happened and our staff is not enough." He closes his eyes and shakes his head. "We must do more, if we mobilize all the students we are going to have a bigger chance of finding both more victims and the culprit."

Both devils look at the teacher once he finishes talking, trying to discern why he said what he did. A traditionalist like him isn't the kind of person to usually trust the masses with such a task but both can comprehend if this was the best and most effective solution he could find.

Seekvaira takes off her glasses for a moment and stops to think. "Many of our students are not able to deal with an emergency if the situation arises." She places her glasses back. "They are not warriors or medics, just students trying to make their way into the world. Kuoh is different from the Clocktower where most of the student body is at the very least expected to know how to fight and survive in certain situations."

"In other words, even if they know about the problem there is little they can do." The magus says with a little annoyance. "It doesn't matter anyway, if they see the signals they can inform someone that can, either a teacher or a more proficient student."

The devils look at each other again in silent communication. They can see his point and how his idea could be useful to avoid more unfortunate incidents like the ones that already occured, it certainly sounds better than deadly parties or students charge against another for their own gains, Fuan Nadita is still on probation after the extent of her espionage was revealed but that is not relevant to the case.

"You came here with a plan." Seekvaira affirms after a couple of seconds, his presentation sounds too rehearsed for her.

"I will admit that I thought considerably about this matter." The teacher replied with a serious expression. "In the Clocktower we wouldn't be having such a problem, our facilities are more controlled and we have people actually capable of dealing with this kind of problems-"

"With policies that can only be called monstrous on many occasions." Seekvaira rapidly points out.

"It still solves problems, but that is not the issue here." The teacher defends and deflects. "We need more control on the situation, something we can only acquire if we expand our resources." He gives a few seconds before continuing. "It is either that or outsource investigators and wachters."

Seekvaira almost cringed at the thought and her Queen was not far behind. Just the idea of a bunch of strangers entering the school would be enough to send many students in a frenzy, especially the mundane ones since they wouldn't know the reason for the hired help.

After Lucifer had passed by he made sure there are more devils in town ready to assist if anything happen but they stay out of the school at a safe distance to not antagonize the students in any way while the heiresses took care of the security inside with the help of the staff that was a little expanded for assistance but not enough that anyone would notice unless they pay close attention or got access to the records.

"I see your point." The King is the only heiress present and making such decisions like calling for more help alone could bring issues, even if her friends didn't pester her the paperwork would be a nightmare for one person. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

"Just a simple presentation to all that are part of our world in the school." The magus says with a small smile. "Nothing too complicated, just going to the symptoms and the dangers. I can do it without issue."

"How are we going to explain so many students going missing or somewhere?" The Queen asked with doubt. "Accounting for the ones in school and college there are close to a thousand of us at least."

"We first take care of the school division which has less of a number of students and needs a harder excuse. We can just claim that there is something for them to do at the gym and use some excuse that there is a physical test of health or something." Then he pauses to give the two devils time to think before proceeding. "We can make something up for the mundane students and just make them do something else later. About the college students we can do some kind of seminar a little more official but only have them enter with an invitation only." Kayneth suggests, knowing that isn't the best way to do it but knowing that the devil King is aware enough to notice that.

"Or we can have them skip class for a day and have everyone informed." She didn't disappoint him. "We just have to issue a warning for everyone to move to the gym in Kuoh's school division so the highschool students don't lose too much time."

Lord El-Melloi nods his head. "Indeed that is the best decision, as expected of Lady Agares." He bows his waist a little, just enough to hide his smile. 'It is easier to convince someone when they think it was their idea in the first place.' Just as planned. "Shall I prepare the presentation?"

"Yes, do it." The noble devil gives the command. "I will trust that you and your student can prepare a concise presentation to all our students in a way to avoid panic." She predicts that Shinji will also be part of the seminar.

"You can count on us, milady." Kayneth has no reason to disagree, it won't make a difference. The man offers a last bow. "I wish you two a good day." And turns to leave the room.

Once the noble of the Clocktower had left the devils returned to their usual work.

The magus gives a nod to the devil who was acting like a secretary as he makes his way out of the room and steps into the hallways of the school proper going to his office.

Arriving at the office he sees one of his students sitting on the chair, waiting for him. "Our plan has been a success." The lord informs the student who gets up to show himself different from the last time they met. "You are taller?"

"A late growth spurt." Shinji comments with an easy smile, before placing an arm around his teacher's shoulder much to the older man's irritation. "But we should celebrate, we are almost done and the plan is in motion."

The teacher takes his student arm off with a glare. "You forgot your place, Matou." He says the last word with a growl that doesn't affect Shinji. "Besides, we haven't finished the plan yet. There is nothing to celebrate until our enemies are terminated once and for all, something can still go wrong."

"Don't worry about it." Shinji waves Kayneth's concern off. "Gremory is out of town and I already finished preparing the crystals, speaking of which," he stops to pick something from his pocket, presenting it to the lord, "here, this one is yours."

It is a necklace with a green gem in a simple metal chain. "Is it going to work?" Kayneth picks it up and places it on his neck.

"If you keyed the boundary field around the school properly then it's going to work flawlessly." Shinji explains but only receives another frown in return. "Relax sensei. You already used your access to key the main stone to the boundary field. It wasn't even hard for me to finish the work."

"I would prefer if miss Fuan was the one preparing this part of the job. This is, afterall, her specialty." There is no way another bug could be made in such a short time and the Matou can't find the girl either way so that point is moot. Instead of getting upset Shinji smiles and puts his arm around the teacher's shoulder again.

Before the older man could protest he whispers. "You trust my work, I already proved how much of a good student I'm." For an instant the teacher says nothing, his eyes just looking ahead, completely still. The moment passes and the teacher blinks. Instead of replying, the teacher separates himself from his student again.

"I suppose I shall have to trust your work." The lord uses a little mana to activate the stone and suddenly feels himself invigorated. "Yes! This is excellent! I feel like a young man again!" An aura appears around the noble but disappears after a couple of seconds.

"Easier to use than ley lines right?" Shinji says with a huge smile as he starts to walk around the office. "I could use it all the way from my house without any issue. The actual level of mana absorption is decent enough but nothing too big or that a good ley line can't do. The thing is going to go better once we amp up the process and I imagine that once the fighting starts…"

"To deal with the last heiress I will have to use a lot of it." The magus admires the necklace. "She may be the weakest of the bunch but she is still capable of getting in the way."

"Feh. One way or another she isn't a real threat." Shinji goes around the office to a bookshelf and picks up a book on runes. "I will keep the crystals running, just make sure to take care of all the annoyances."

"There are going to be more than just annoyances there." Suddenly Kayneth says with horror in his voice. "Colleagues and other students too...there must be another way to get rid of Velvet."

Shinji rolls his eyes and approaches the teacher slowly. "But sensei, we already talked about this." He places a hand on the teacher's shoulder, avoiding using too much strength to startle the older man but still enough to keep him in place. "This whole thing of having an education with both us and the mundade was a horrible idea, remember? You said so yourself. The best way to stop such things from happening is to make sure that Waver Velvet and those who accept his ideas are out of the picture."

"Yes...I said that." The man nods to himself and Shinji smiles. "This is the only way to stop the secret from coming out. I shall do my duty as a director- no as a Lord of the Clocktower and prune those heretics with my own hands."

The blue haired magician nods. "That is right. Only remember that we need to get rid of the pests, Emiya Shirou and Waver Velvet most of all. If they for some reason live, then this whole incident may repeat again in the future."

"Yes, we shall succeed my apprentice." Lord El-Melloi goes to a wall and presses his hand against it, making a secret compartment open and revealing a huge porcelain vase with a steel colored liquid. "Come my young student! We must do our duty as proper magicians to rid the world of the plagues in it!"

"Yes, sensei." Shinji says enthusiastically.

…..

With only one of the Owners of the city present it didn't take long for Seekvaira to set up the gym for the seminar, there was no reason to debate or wait when she is the only one in charge. Everyone that has some knowledge of the moonlit world was called and the attendance is compulsory.

To help with security and set up the whole thing in a short notice the heiress calls for the peerages of her two friends for assistance. After a day and a night of work everything got ready for Lord El-Melloi's presentation and many of the students were already filling the gym, rumors and stories about the 'Party From Hell' had spread enough that many wanted to know what happened.

The gym now has a stage prepared with steel chairs for all to sit and a projector to help the teacher with the presentation. Students of all kinds started to enter, some curious, nervous or anxious.

Rin yaws a little as she helps Shirou with the lights of the stage. "Didn't sleep well last night?"

"No, this is just boring." The twin tailed magus holds the light as Shirou is preparing it. "I am not used to doing this kind of thing." Once both are done fixing the light they jump down from the crane, using Reinforcement on their legs to nullify any damage.

"Better than be like everyone else." Shirou points to some students who are just sitting around talking, on their cell phones or just waiting for the presentation to start.

"Why were we stuck doing this? We have devils with wings for that kind of job." Rin says and Shirou chuckles.

"Not everyone can mess with electronics and I needed someone to keep the light steady as I worked." Shirou explains while thinking about the other reason. 'And most of the other work involves more direct contact with technology and no one wants you around it.' Even the idea of Rin holding a lamp was still enough to make some of the ORC nervous.

The two humans approach Seekvaira who is coordinating other students and staff. "Make sure that the extra boundary field is ready! We must have no sound or sight reaching someone who decided to skip class! You there! Check to see if the bathroom is still working and no one pranked it! I won't have any incidents!" She directs and coordinates a lot of people at the same time but the two magus still got to her without problems.

"Anything else you need us to do Agares-san?" Shirou's question makes the woman turn her attention to them before looking at Rin and remember previous warnings.

"Not at all. We now have everything under- Alivian make sure that the water is going to be taken to the right place!" The devil then rushes to a couple of people carrying bottles, leaving the two magi by themselves.

"Let's go Shirou. If she doesn't give us anything to do then we can go sit." Rin takes the opportunity and Shirou decides to not deny her as they make their way to the audience where Luvia is standing in the building crowd and once she sees them she starts to wave. "Uff, can we not…?"

"She is still our friend Rin." Shirou says with a smile.

"Your friend, not mine." Either way, Tohasaka follows Shirou as they notice that Kiba and Setsuna are already with Luvia.

"Job already done Kiba?" Shirou asks and the Knight shrugs.

"There wasn't much to do on my part." Then Shirou turns to Setsuna.

She is already talking before he could even ask a question." I had only to hold some equipment while stuff got ready. I met Michella, a Rook from Agares-san, she seems nice."

"That is good." Shirou says while sitting down at her side, much to Luvia's annoyance since she wants the redhead to sit next to her and before she could move Rin occupies the last spot.

"Yes...she is a nice person." Setsuna says with a blush and for a moment Shirou wants to sigh but her friend is getting better and he doesn't want to make things harder for her.

Shirou looks around a little more but noticing all the chairs are occupied he turns to Luvia. "Luvia, didn't you save a spot for Liz?"

"Our estimated teacher is going to be on the stage with the rest." She points to a spot where a table is being placed with a couple of bottles of water. "From what I heard it is to show the unit of the teachers to support the solution found in this time of crisis."

Shirou nods and notices how the place is really getting full now that the seminar is close to starting. There were lots of chairs but unfortunately there isn't enough for everyone as some students are already sitting down at the sides of the gym and close to the walls if not just stay standing outright.

Conversations are running rampant as people are curious about the event of the day, everyone had received a message the previous day about this meeting and what it is going to be about but not the details that are going to be explained and any question can be answered once the seminar is done.

"You know, all of this would be unnecessary if they just sent an email to all the students." Kiba comments out loud with a chuckle and receives stares from both Rin and Luvia. "Did I say something wrong?"

Both girls look at each other, daring the other to say that they didn't know what 'email' means but neither is willing to admit that fault first. Even if Luvia's family is more 'aware' of the intricacies of the modern due to their business and works she still is fairly isolated like the most normal magus in the world thanks to their central philosophy that can be translated in 'the truth is in the past.'

"Not everyone has an email." Shirou decides to say after a second, taking pity on the girls. "They must have realized that those people that came from considerable isolated communities and haven't much access to technology." The redhead remembers Rin's house and talked with Sakura after about the lack of modern appliances, he knows their situation even if he doesn't call her and by extension Luvia out on it.

"This also helps with morale." Setsuna points out. "With a presentation like this there is no way that anyone can say that the institution isn't trying something without sounding irrational."

"That also depends on what is going to be said." Luvia says with relief as they enter a subject she can understand. "If they don't say anything useful then this is pointless and you can bet that no one is going to like it."

Rin nods to show that she agrees with the analyses. "To make sure that there is no panic, the content of the seminar must have been verified by someone, Agares-sama in this situation." Next she frowns and places a hand on her chin. "But we also must consider she is the only one with real authority around the school so the final decision is up to her anyway."

The lights of the gym start to diminish as the stage receives special attention. It is then that Shirou feels a strange but familiar smell. 'Is there some trash lying around?'

Alivian steps to the center of the stage and offers a small bow in the european fashion. "I welcome you all for this small seminar that we have prepared. For those who don't know, my name is Alivian Zmei, the Queen and butler of my lady, Seekvaira Agares-sama." Even without a microphone his voice reached all the gym and people applauded once he gestured to his King, one of the three people sitting on the table with Lord El-Melloi and Jaken in his true yokai form. Behind them are the other teachers that also are part of the moonlit world, including Liz and Waver Velvet; there are five standing in total and with the two already seated there are all seven members of the staff. "Today we shall talk about the incident that occurred sometime ago in the dance club and another that involved a single student during the parents visit, the discoveries made in relation to it and ways to prevent another situation like that from happening."

What followed next was a summary of the incidents with censored names to avoid implicating anyone that was part of it. The teachers that were previously standing are now sitting in chairs, the same type as the student's, in an area at the side of the stage.

Shirou just pays half attention to what is being said, he was part of both incidents and didn't need a reminder. What is bothering him is the smell of trash and how it looks to be everywhere in the building and he just looks around to try to find the source. "Shirou, you alright?" Rin whispered once she noticed him looking around.

"I am feeling a really bad smell, aren't you?" She shakes her head and that is a bad sign for Shirou. "Setsuna, can you smell anything odd?"

The hanyou looks at him and whispers back. "Yes, I also am feeling an unpleasant smell but it is really faint." She raises her head a little and closes her eyes. "Mostly I feel a metallic smell around the area but that can be because of the equipment and chairs."

"Metallic?" Shirou closes his eyes and concentrates, noticing that there is really a metallic smell around. "I can smell it too...that is not right." He said a little louder than he intended.

"Ssh." Someone behind them reacted.

"Sorry." Shirou just rushes the apology before getting up and walking out. "Sorry, I am sorry, passing through…"

His friends look at each other and Setsuna gets up first with Kiba before the others also follow them, passing and apologizing for bothering everyone on the way.

Once they were close to a wall Rin catches Shirou's shoulder. "Okay, what is wrong?"

Setsuna follows up. "What is 'not right'?" They all can still hear the seminar going.

"I don't have the same sense of smell as you." He says with a frown. "Sure I can smell better than most humans thanks to Reinforcement but not on a level of feeling every smell without being close to it unless it is mana." The information only took a moment to sink in but Shirou kept going. "If anything, everyone else should be noticing the smell of trash or metal but the only ones that did were-"

"You and me." Setsuna concludes, realizing in her eyes. "I am the daughter of Sesshoumaru. Half human or not my senses are superior to most yokais and yet you felt the same smells as well."

"Well, maybe it is the boundary field." Luvia motions around them. "This is supposed to be a secret and the teachers can make boundary fields even in school thanks to special permission."

"She is right, Shirou." Kiba is still looking around, seeing nothing wrong, he continues. "Maybe it is just the smell of the person in particular who made this boundary field."

Shirou shakes his head. "That is not it. All boundary fields in Kuoh, from the ones in the ORC and in our classroom to the ones used in other facilities always have a smell of earth and wood because they use the ley line for support and construction." The redhead then starts to move to exit the building, his friends following. "That is why teachers have some leeway of control in the first place, it is part of the contract of the school's main boundary field."

They arrive at the doors and Shirou tries to open them only to fail. "This is not good." Rin comments and everyone silently agrees.

"There is no reason why the door should be locked." Setsuna approaches to open it with a little more strength only to jump back and in pain. "Tch."

"Setsuna?" Everyone pauses to look as Shirou takes her burned hand.

"Now we know something is definitivally wrong." Luvia starts to look around, looking for anything suspicious.

"Anti yokai properties were added to the boundary field." Setsuna says, taking her hand away from Shirou's with a blush.

"And considering that most in the building are yokais, whoever made this can't have good intentions." Rin turns around. "We need to talk with the teachers. There is a high probability that the person guilty of the last few incidents may do something to attack the seminar."

"Thank you mister Jakken." Lord El-Melloi steps forward to the center of the stage with a smile on his lips. "Now to the matter of why we all are here; have we found any solutions to the problem?"

He knows he has the audience's attention, the story of the previous incidents captivated them, scared them, the reveal that another student was affected but unlike what occured with the dancing club the matter was settled more subtly was like a bucket of cold water falling on the their heads showing that the reality of the situation is more dark than they previously realized.

Now all the eyes are on him, the way he likes. "The reality of the situation is that there are ways to find those that fell victim to the parasite and are under the influence of the individual using it." He can see the faces of relief in the crowd, the idea that something can be done and they won't lose themselves bring them a joy they didn't know they were capable of. "But I can assure you all that you have nothing to fear from those creatures. I can affirm with full confidence that there are no other students being affected by them."

A little celebration starts for the students while Seekvaira and the teachers look at each other confused. "What is he doing? That wasn't what he was supposed to say." Jaken questioned the pureblood devil.

"I don't know." She replies, trying to understand the words of the lord. "There is no way he has any guarantee of that."

Kayneth starts to open his arms. "Look how many students we have here, all of you belong to our world of the moon light that covers the dark night where our affairs are settled." He closes his fists and lets his arms fall down. "Yet, all of you decided to come to this school, to mix the mundane with the fantastic. The insects proved something about this silly attempt, it was misguided."

At the side, Waver closes his fist in anger, taking a deep breath to try and calm himself while the other instructors look at him with worry.

Seekvaira motions to her Queen to approach the lord and remind the man why he is there but before he could go the lord opens a hand, raising it to the heavens as he continues. "Now we stand in a situation that can only be called depressing, the risk of the exposition of magic is at hand and we must make sure that the secrets of the moonlit world remain in the moonlit world."

His words found their audience as many are intrigued and captivated, the lord loves it, loves the attention he is receiving. It spoke of prestige, honor and power, the fact that the students hang at his every word feeds his ego.

"And that was the goal of the one who was spreading the insect. He was proving a point, a point that many are not seeing and understanding. But you do not need to do it! For all shall end here and our world will be safe once again!" The voice boomed around the gym and many were confused by the words of the teacher. Seekvaira is about to get up from her chair when the man raises a hand slowly. "The time has come, threats to the moonlit world." He calmly snaps his fingers and the effect is instantaneous.

All the chairs suddenly grew spikes and pierced the backs and legs of all sitting in the gym, blood starts covering the building and many of the students scream in pain and despair as the spikes and thorns are not big enough to be fatal but still hurt enough and caused enough damage that a good portion of the student body could do nothing but just scream.

The teachers are no better, their chairs also were part of the trap and even those on the stage were not immune, the only there unaffected is Alivian who begins to grow in size and transform once he saw the damage being done to all but especially to his King who didn't scream but her face didn't hide her pain.

Once a butler now stands a reptilian creature that is growing more and more, wings start to appear on his back and the presence of a mighty beast starts to be felt to those that still can sense it.

Only for a pillar of metal to jump out of the stage and hit the growing reptile from below and hit him on the still growing chin. The blow is so strong that the devil hits the roof, leaving a body print and then falling on the ground.

"ALIVIAN!" Seekvaira shouts in concern, watching her Queen lose his power and conscience. Her eyes turn to magus as he looks at her amused.

"Oh? You still can move? As expected of a pureblood devil." As he says it, two shadows are flying in his direction to attack him before being stopped by a wall of liquid metal. "Yuuto and Inutai, both of you shouldn't attack a teacher."

Sword and claw are blocked as the two look at Kayneth for a second before the liquid metal sends them back flying. Making her personal magic circle, Seekvaira attempts to launch a blast of mana only for the chair closest to her transform and ties her hands, spikes growing on the new cuffles to make sure she wasn't going to do anything and this time her pain is clear for any to see.

"Please don't harm yourself more than this miss Agares." Archibald says with a smile. "It would be a shame you died before donating-" He has to stop speaking to focus his attention to the side as a bombardment of spells rain on him courtesy of Rin and Luvia as Shirou is moving to the side with Muramasa ready.

But the chairs around the gym began to move in unison, taking the shape of a huge floating ball and started to shoot segments towards the teacher's aggressors. Rin and Luvia jump back to dodge some of the shots as a recovering Setsuna also jumps to one side with Kiba making a small wall of swords to save himself.

Shirou keeps running towards the stage, projectiles and even pillars try to stop him but he dodges them all as he gets closer and closer. Just as he is about to swing the Muramasa a wall made of the material appears in front of him to block his way.

The Noble Phantasm doesn't lose the contest, cutting the wall perfectly, much to Kayneth's shock. Still the older man is an experienced magus and the two sides of the wall hit Shirou and send him flying until he hits the wall of the gym.

"What kind of sword-'' Once again the magus has no time to finish his inquiry as another opponent shows themselves and attempts to punch him with her full strength and ends up making a dent on the automatic defense. "The homunculus? How are you still standing?"

Dressed on her jersey clothes but with no blood on her back, Leysritt's eyes never leave the man as she starts to punch and kick, the mystic code he is using struggling to keep up with her pace but managing it. Until Setsuna returns to the fray and starts to try and rip the teacher apart with her claws.

With the two maidens attacking, the noble's defense is beginning to be really pressed and one of Setsuna's claws almost gets in his face before the mercury redirects the hand. Starting to get overwhelmed, Kayneth shouts. "Gather!" The mass of mercury answers his command and races to the stage, repealing the two women and surrounding the man, first into a ball and then it expands, shooting itself all around and hitting the two to push them back.

Seekvaira watches as other students and a teacher were the only ones fighting, trying to free herself from the mercury cuffs but failing and bleeding more everytime she tired too much. "Seekvaira-sama." A voice to her side gets her attention to Jaken who is struggling to try to move. "We need to-"

"Save your strength, you are badly hurt." With his small stature, the kappa suffered tremendously from the sudden spikes on his chair.

"I am not...the only one." He looks up and she follows his eyes as many students are starting to move as well while others remain motionless.

Between the students, Svin is one to recover the fastest. He sees his classmates fighting and starts to warm his circuits. "Flat. You are awake?"

"Yes." The other blonde replies. "I almost finished healing myself." His friend nods

"Once you are done, help the others." Svin says while his hands become bigger claws.

"You are going to fight? Wait a moment, I'll heal you too." Flat says with fear but his friend shakes his head.

"There is no time for that. Focus on the other once you save yourself, try to get everyone out of here." But before he could move he felt a pair of hands on his back.

"I will heal you." Said a trembling Olga Animusphere. "Stay still."

"You aren't hurt." It wasn't a question, Flat was affirming it.

"My clothes, I had them improved once I received the uniform school. I didn't feel safe without it." They had no idea why a student would be that paranoid but they can't complain since it paid off. "There, all done."

"My thanks." Svin says as his appearance starts to get more feral. "Please help the others."

The white haired girl nods. "You can count on me." Once he heard the reply he got on all fours and started to go around, watching as others tried to break the magus' defense.

Svin's body felt heavier than usual as his transformation proceeded, also slower than normal but he attributed it to his previous wound, forgetting that it was healed. With his transformation complete as a tall biped white wolf with blue flame hair and tails Svin accelerated, seeing an opening to the side.

The user of beast magecraft accelerates, his speed easily compared to Kiba's. He aims for the teacher's neck only for a wave of mercury to catch him and throw him away. "Why don't you all lie down like good cattle and wait to die painlessly?" The older man asks as the wolf hits Setsuna and both are thrown away.

Watching the situation and thinking in a way to win the fight, a redhead gets up and projects one of his creations. "SETSUNA!" Shirou screams as he throws his friend a naginata. He realized the older magus defense is too much for them and they need more fire power and the hanyou can use way more if she is armed.

And she catches the copy of the weapon easily, feels its weight and smiles. Setsuna starts running to a better position, her naginata on hand as Luvia throws a rain of curses to give her cover while Rin goes to the opposite side with a considerable amount of mana on her hand, trying to divert the mystic code's attention to her.

It works as Kayneth looks at her and commands his weapon to attack. Once Rin has a huge mass of mercury on her way she aims the accumulated mana to the stage and breaks it on her feet, allowing herself to fall in a hole to confuse the magus as the mercury passes above her head.

"Cyclone Burst!" With most of the mass of mercury focused on one side, Setsuna launches her attack.

Kayneth feels the flux of mana behind him, he can tell that a huge attack is coming. With a thought the remains of his mystic code that were still harming some of the other teachers launch themselves in front of the cyclone to stop any damage.

Another wall is built and behind it the magus is surrounded by mercury as the first wall falls but the ball of mercury doesn't move or break, having made literal roots to keep itself steady. The area around it breaks but even as the stage falls the ball is still imobile and all can see 'legs' and 'roots' keeping it still.

Setsuna keeps the attack going for a couple more seconds but she knows it is worthless and she is just wasting energy at this point. But she still keeps it going for a little more time as her friends and other students get in better positions, those able to fight getting around the stage with magic circles, pure mana, weapons, youki and claws ready for the fight.

She cuts the mana and watches as a rain of spells fall on the sphere, a rainbow of death that doesn't come even close as the sphere lets loose lines and threads made of mercury to intercept, block and redirect every single attack.

Luvia gets one of her emergency gems from the sleeves of her shirt, watching as the attacks from her classmates fail. She looks to the teachers that are still recovering and Seekvaira is struggling but is moving Jaken out of the way to safety. 'Good.' She thinks to herself as she starts to focus on her gem. "The blessings of fire come forth. Commanded by the might of Surtur! Bring out the Flames of Annihilation!" She then throws the gem. "SCATTER!!"

The advantage of being part of an old and rich family is that some of her gems are the best made on the planet, with catalyses and rituals used to empower them in ways that even with Shirou's kindness and Rias support reminds Tohsaka that she is only getting leftovers and stuff that is not really the best for her magecraft.

Rin finally knew the difference of using the best materials when Luvia's jewel broke in five and destroyed everything on its path, hitting the sphere like flaming meteorites followed up by an explosion that stunned everyone.

A cloud of dust and smoke covers where the sphere was and everyone watches carefully while smelling the fire, they can only hope the attack worked in finishing the magus.

It didn't, at least not completely. The sphere is still there but it is definitivally smaller and even then there is noticeable damage that everyone can see it is regenerating. "Ojou-san," one of the students close to Luvia, gets her attention, a giant student with horns, "do you have another one of those? If you do, we can get that bastard."

"I sure do." She has been carrying some of her most powerful jewels ever since the day after she met Rin Tohsaka, with every intention to use them on a fight. Picking another jewel from the sleeves she gets ready to use a spell but fails and then she notices something that fills her with dread. "This is…" She then closes her eyes and tries to concentrate but her mana is failing her.

While everyone else waits for another attack or someone to restart their offensive they give Kayneth the opportunity to act. The sphere starts to shoot lines again, hitting anyone that tries to get close in the small interval of silence.

Almost all the students are hit with the exception of Setsuna, Kiba and Svin. Leysritt is also hit on the chest multiple times but she powers through, getting closer with the intent of delivering a punch on the now much weaker defense.

More and more threads of mercury move in her direction, hitting her in the legs, arms and even in the face. Blood is draw but Leysritt keeps going forward and is close enough to punch the sphere only for a huge section of it to hit her on the head and torso, sending her flying back, this time she didn't get up, her body heavier than it should have been as she can tell she is not fighting on her proper parameters.

Others see the opening and it is not long before Kiba and Svin are already attacking the sphere with Setsuna right behind. Instead of staying like that, it changes shape again, taking the form of three battering rams, each stopping one assailant. "Problematic children should stay down." Kayneth says while the pillars move to smash the students on the ground to them involve the three fastest students with mercury to suffocate. "This is really more tiring than I thought it would be."

The magus begins to fix his clothes, trusting his mystic code to protect him only to have his back hit by a concentrated blast of mana. He turns around to see Rin, she is having trouble breathing as she uses a jewel in a final attack that fails to cause any damage. She clenches her teeth and tries to shoot again only to feel her mana failing to enter the jewel.

"A decent effort, if you were one of my students I may have given you a good grade." Kayneth says as another globe of mercury jumps out and stops Shirou's hands from cutting him with Muramasa. "And you had your chance mister Emiya. Now all that you have left is to wait here and die." Spikes grow and pierce Shirou's hands but he refuses to let the sword go and tries to move and finish the other magus only for him to smile as his code keeps pressing Shirou's hands more.

"Kayneth!" A voice cuts the gym, distracting the magus of the Clocktower enough to see his younger counterpart.

"Ah, Waver. I almost forgot you were there." With a gesture of his hand, Lord El-Melloi sends Shirou flying, having him hit a recovering Rin and both fall to the floor. The rest of the mercury mystic code starts to move and consolidate behind the man as Kiba, Setsuna and now a human Svin are revealed unconscious.

"Why are you doing all this Kayneth?" Waver asks, keeping his distance as his former teacher just smiles and gives a shrug.

"Why? Didn't you hear my speech?" He frowned just at the thought. "You were really a worse student than I gave you credit for. To protect and preserve the secrecy of our world." The way that his former teacher said it, the same way he once used to discredit and ridicule his own ideas in the past, makes Waver's blood boil but he doesn't let it disturb him.

"And how exactly do you plan to do that? Are you going to kill everyone in the building?" The long haired man asked.

"Why yes, I will." The older man says callously and many of the students are frightened by it. "But before that, well… I am sure you can feel it can't you?" Kayneth looks around, seeing many students and teachers struggling to get up with just a couple succeeding. "Before I deal with you all, I shall make sure to collect as much mana as I can for a better purpose."

"If you need mana you could just use a ley line!" Shirou says with anger as he gets up, hands still bleeding but sword ready.

In the blink of an eye a huge blob of mercury is already in front of Shirou and is ready to attack. "That would take too long for our goal and we have no intention of wasting any time."

"What goal?" Before Shirou can say something, Waver is already talking. "There is no reasonable goal or reason for you to do what you are doing." Before Shirou could try anything, Waver moves his hand, clearly showing that he didn't want Shirou to attack.

"I seek what all magus seek Velvet; a way to the Root." That didn't surprise Waver, it didn't surprise anyone really.

"And how exactly will this get you to the Root?" The man in glasses can say for certain he can't see how that is possible.

"By using the mana of the students and the other members of the faculty, it is possible to open a tear in the world that will allow access to the Root." Once the man had finished speaking many magicians looked at him speechless.

Waver calmly picked a cigarette from his suit and a lighter. "Mind if I smoke?" Now everyone is shocked by Waver's calm reaction.

"Sure, it will be the last cigarette you will ever have. I will even let you finish before I kill." Raising an eyebrow, the black haired man then asks while lighting his cigarette.

"Don't you need my mana as well?" Just the question was enough for Kayneth to glare at Waver.

"Your insignificant contribution is not required." He says dismissively. "Now all of the others can wait for death, spend your last moments however you please but know that any attempt of escaping will result in great harm on my hands."

"You forgot that even if you use the mana of the whole school you won't have enough for your idea." Waver says with a frown. "Not even close. The Clocktower has plenty of registers of idiot magicians that attempt such a method with one even succeeding in sacrificing a small town in the attempt only to come up with nothing."

"But those fools didn't have so many yokais and magicians in one place," the older magus then turns to Seekvaira with a small smile as the devil is taking care of her Queen, "including a pureblood devil of considerable capability."

"This is not going to work." Waver says without ceremony. "You don't have enough mana, that is a fact. You are going to kill children because of what? A hunch?"

"Even if it fails, the heretics will be purged." Lord El-Melloi says with a shrug. "This whole thing shouldn't have happened in the first place. Too many times the secrets of the moonlit world were almost exposed."

"Do you think the Clocktower is going to stand for this?" The younger teacher questions. "My project was approved and sanctioned. Not only that but you are about to kill hundreds, not even to mention the one member of the devil nobility in the middle of your actions." Seekvaira's presence didn't bother the lord of the Clocktower at all.

"Of course they will." The man says with conviction. "They shall know your failures and your disgraces, then they will know that I acted in my condition of lord and dealt with the problem before it could fester and grow worse."

Just with that line Waver is now certain of something. "You are infected as well aren't you?" The lord actually takes a step back.

"What? Have you lost your mind? Are you so afraid of death that insanity was your only exit?" That response only made things clear in Waver's mind.

"Now I can see why Shinji was able to easily discover the secrets of the parasite. He just told you what you needed to tell us." An eye begins to twitch on the lord's face but Waver keeps going. "You are obviously far stronger than his previous victims, even with a more advanced insect he can't control you completely." He takes the cigarette out of his mouth and motions around with it. "But he managed to influence you just enough to go forward with this asinine plan."

"YOU DARE?" Kayneth is almost losing his composure but manages to rein himself in. "You are a fool, Waver Velvet. You were one as a student and you are now as a fake teacher." The noble keeps a scowl on his face. "To dare to insinuate that my star pupil is manipulating me, is a grave offense."

"And that right there, together with everything else, comproves my theory." The statement silenced everyone in the gym, including the aggressive instructor. "Shinji is a descent spellcaster, emphasis on descent. His skill with most magics are average but he has a talent towards his main branch of study together with a dedication to learn." Waver reminds himself from his time teaching the young man in question. "However many of his thoughts were flawed and infantilized, which explain this whole plan. It is well executed to an extent but the holes in logic are too many and leave no way for you to get away with it." He points a finger at his former teacher. "Which means that you can only be under someone's control, the Lord El-Melloi that I know would never do something as idiotic as you are doing without a real reason."

"Feh. Saying something like that to me." Kayneth just can't believe what he heard, many of the students and teachers sharing his incredulity. "Don't you hate me, Waver Velvet?"

"With a passion." The admittance made the older teacher gasp at the straight admission. "But I also respect you, if not for your methods and beliefs then for your skill and knowledge. That is why I can say for certain that you are being controled, for the real Kayneth Archibald would have more sense than to procceed with such stupid plan."

The older magus almost froze under the declaration from Waver and someone saw an opportunity, Shirou attacked with his sword to try and finish the fight by going around the mercury to cut the man just enough to neutralize the threat.

Unfortunately it was in vain as even if Lord El-Melloi is not paying attention, something else is. His mystic code then moves to intercept and lock Shirou in place when he tries to attack again only for his whole body to start being covered by the mercury. "Don't think I forgot about you Emiya. It is a pity that you didn't join my class, maybe you would be part of our triumph. Alas, you aren't." With a mental command Shirou's struggle is unable to stop the metallic substance from moving to cover his head.

"Volumen Hydrargyrum, your supreme mystic code. The tool for magecraft you created earlier in your adulthood!" Waver speaks fast before Kayneth could cover Shirou completely. The distraction works, the focus the magus puts on his former student's words, makes the mystic code stop leaving Shirou with only his head free. "It is such a brilliant creation that is recognized as the ultimate mystic code of the Archibald family. Versatile, powerful and uncommon even in the moonlit world. A true work of art."

"Ha. You think flattery is going to save you?" Kayneth chuckles. "I suppose I can allow you to die from mana deprivation like the others if you want."

Waver ignores him. "It is a creation that was only possible by the dual nature of your elements, capable of both attack and defense. It is possible to even call it the perfect weapon when facing those slower against it or without the ability to destroy it like Lady Gremory." He got no reaction from Kayneth other than a small smile. "That is why this attack is happening now. We are here, being held by you and the only person that could counter you completely is gone. If she was here, your mystic code wouldn't be able to stop the Power Of Destruction."

"That is absolutely correct." Kayneth says with a lot of pride. "Besides the sword that Emiya demonstrated, the Power Of Destruction is the only power that I can say is able to pose a legitimate threat. But lady Gremory is gone and the heiress that remains is not strong enough to disrupt our plans."

Seekvaira wants to attack, to prove the magus wrong but Waver steps in front of her and looks back for a second before turning back to Archibald. "I thank you for all the information you gave, now I have most of the pieces of the puzzle."

"Your famous 'whydunit'? Is that what you were after?" Kayneth throws his head back in laughter. "Like they call you in the Clocktower these days, a 'Detective' to the end."

"I never asked for the nickname but I know one thing that I am good at; deduction." The cigarette is almost over and Waver holds it between his fingers, presenting it to his teacher. "And in our world, plenty of things lose power once someone understands the mystery behind it. Especially if it is a case they have worked on for a considerable amount of time after failing in finding a proper solution expediently."

"Interesting. And what could be such a case that the great Detective couldn't solve?" Kayneth asks with jest but Waver just chuckles.

"The case of how you try to kill me and I survive." The line was said with confidence and Waver posture told everyone he was being serious.

"So your case is me murdering you?" The older magus laughs again. "Hahaha! Did you figure out this would happen someday? This situation?"

"No. Not this one." Waver shrugs. "But I feared that the teacher who humiliated me, hated me. I had nightmares for weeks of your famous mystic code entering my dorm room and killing me in the middle of the night."

Some students looked at the man with sympathy, a lot of them had a teacher or another that looked like they lived to get their students in some way. "I would never do such a thing!" Kayneth said almost on instinct, just receiving a raised eyebrow considering the situation. "Is there a point to this?" He asked with a hand on his head, trying to starve off a headache.

"Considering how cut-throat our world is, I started to research you and your supreme mystic code right after our 'disagreement'." The long haired man offers a huge smile that has his teacher frowning. "Want to know something I learned?" Thanks to Waver's words, Kayneth feels nervous but still nods his head. "That if you have a trump card you shouldn't write papers about it, even if you just give the minimal details." He throws the leftovers of his cigarette in his former teacher's direction.

Like clockwork, the Volumen Hydrargyrum launches itself to block the apparent attack, exactly what Waver wanted it to do.

Once the ashes touched the mercury Waver knew he had won. Kayneth, even with as much freedom as he had compared to the other victims, just can't comprehend what is happening before his eyes. But he can feel it.

Volumen Hydrargyrum, is his masterpiece and the greatest accomplishment of his life. It hurts to admit even in the privacy of his mind but Lord El-Melloi knows that he can't ever surpass his creation with anything else he makes. He may be able to improve it, his niece, in a bid to fall in his good graces, offered some ideas that even if he didn't like or approved of are suggestions that he is forced to recognize would make his creation better in some ways.

But he never felt he needed her improvements, or any for that matter. He always could feel security with his original design.

Now he can't. The feeling that has been on the back of his mind for years is gone, gone in a way that never had before.

Lord El-Melloi felt an indescribable sadness and panic, his eyes focusing on his mystic code as it broke apart and fell to the floor like silver water. He couldn't notice the words written in old norse runes, kanji and latin as they glowed a light gray color as a magic circle of the same color shone a little further away written in blood.

All that Kayneth Archibald can see is his prized creation, his supreme mystic code, becoming unresponsive as it fell to the ground. He raises an arm, trying to make his creation move only to receive a blow on the neck. Emiya Shirou was free and used the handle of his sword to hit the lord on the back of his head, ending that fight.

The circles and letters around the two disappear as a tired Waver crumbles from his feet. 'That...took a lot out of me.' He thinks to himself, watching as Shirou is checking his friends and requesting Rin to do the same with Liz, many around helping each other but the majority of those present are too exhausted to do much. 'This is not over.' He gets up and starts to walk towards Kayneth. "Help anyone you can but don't use mana!"

The order scared some students but they could see that Velvet was serious. "But sensei, we have many wounded." Shirou says while finishing checking Setsuna, she is just unconscious with no big wounds and he expects the same for Kiba.

Waver looks at the redhead. "Check your friends and don't use mana then come here."

Meanwhile Rin gets to Liz who was being threatened by another of the instructors, a burly man called Farls. He has short blonde hair and a beard dressed in a suit and he just placed his back on the wall, clearly exhausted. "Damned." He says with a frown looking at his hands. "Almost out of mana. Waver could have called out sooner."

Rin also suspects that something is wrong but says nothing as she looks to Liz whose eyes are open but is failing to get up by herself, even to move was proving to be too much. It is then that she notices a black vest that looked like armor but was made well enough to make sure her teacher's bust was comfortable. "You are wearing armor?" That explained to her why she was able to shrug off some of the worse blows.

"Shirou made it." Liz replies, getting up slowly only to fall down. "Mana, low." Rin nods and starts to check if the maid still needs more healing while taking care to not use any mana to test the bones.

Waver turns Kayneth around and sees that the man has passed out, checking for a pulse and finding it steady, he sighs. "Report." Seekvaira says while approaching him, she is looking better than the majority and even is able to stand with her own strength with Jaken not far behind.

"This is not over." Waver says while showing her the leftovers from a jewel. "If anything we are in deep trouble."

"You said that Matou Shinji is the responsable right?" Jaken asks while examining the broken stone.

"I am sure." Waver says trying to get up but falling to a knee. "He baited us with this situation he himself created. The only doubt that I have is how he made the parasites that started this mess since he doesn't have the skill but that doesn't matter for now."

"You said this isn't over." Shirou says while approaching, his friends are fine but they are either passed out or exhausted. "What does that mean?"

"Notice how I and almost everyone else around here is practically falling on their asses?" The teacher lets his frustration out in his voice but still gets nods of affirmation. "We are still in the trap and every time we use magic we open ourselves more to it and Shinji gets more of our mana."

"He wants the Root?" Seekvaira questions but the human teacher shakes his head.

"That was an excuse to have Kayneth do the dirt work and distract us while he sets up whatever he needs. Possible because this excuse of a noble has some protections set up to avoid such situations or was strong enough to resist them, mostly at least." The man himself can't deny or confirm Waver's hipoteses as he is completely out. "The jewel he had directed some of our mana towards it and now that we spend ourselves surviving this we can't stop Shinji."

"Then we have to take everyone else out of here." Shirou says in concern but Waver shakes his head again.

"Emiya...do you think we are the only ones in this trap?" At the question everyone looks at Waver not understanding what he meant. "He needed a teacher to mess with the boundary fields and we can do more than just create boundary fields on this territory."

…

"And then you can use this to...to complement your phrases." Taiga says while pointing to the line of a poem from a book for her class. Anyone can see that she looks tired even if the class hadn't started this way.

And she is not the only one, it is still early in the day and one or two students can be blamed for staying up for too long or just not being in the mood for classes. Except in this situation almost all the students are sleepy or straight out already sleeping.

"Ise. Ise." Ryuudou Issei whispers to one of his friends, Hyoudou Issei, that is sitting right in front of him, to the sides he can see other students falling asleep one by one. "What is going on?"

"Five more minutes dad." Ise covers his head with a book, his brown hair not really letting him cover himself completely.

The more virtuous of the two Isseis tries to wake his friend again in vain, suddenly he almost jumps in fright. A loud sound came from the front and Issei can see that Fujimura Taiga, the most energetic teacher in Fuyuki, fell to the ground.

"Sensei!" The model student gets up, noticing that no one else is reacting. "What is going on here?" He moves to try to see the condition of the students and most of them look like they just feel asleep.

Issei steps out of his classroom and goes for another one close. Opening the door he can see the exact same situation, students sleeping on their chairs with their teacher in the same state. He tries to awaken the close student but they do not even react to him even as she is still breathing.

The black haired boy repeats this three more times, almost falling to the floor on the last one as his vision is getting turvy. He shakes his head and goes for another class and upon seeing no changes starts to think on the worst hipoteses.

"Is there a gas leak or something?" Issei asks anyone only to receive no answer, still his mind concludes that is a logical conclusion and he starts to open some windows. He opens it up but can feel his body starting to get heavy. "God, what is going on?"

He keeps going, opening all the windows of that room and going to the next but his tired mind notices that the windows of the hallway are open.

"Not a gas leak-" He takes another step and falls to the floor. "What is- hap-pening-" His conscience left him a few seconds later.

…

"So all the students on campus are in danger?" Shirou asks in a panic, when Waver nods he turns to leave in a hurry only for Waver words to stop him.

"Calm down Emiya. What will you accomplish if you lose your head now? Breath and take stock of the situation!" Upon hearing the words of his teacher Shirou stops and turns back. "The fact is that we still have some minutes before anything permanent happens so we must take great care right now or we will lose everything."

"What exactly is going on mister Velvet." Seekvaira asked not as a student but as the Second Owner of Fuyuki.

"The boundary field of Kuoh has been modified or taken over, probably with this guy's help." He gives his old teacher a small kick to the side. "With his access and proper materials Shinji managed to make a mana absorbing field, it probably has been around for a couple of days at this point, maybe a few weeks."

"How can you be sure of that?" Jaken asks, using his staff to stay up. "This all just started today and I can agree with the field being modified but if it happened before we would have noticed."

"Can you notice every breath you take?" Waver asked with a raised eyebrow. "Or every thought that runs in your head? Or every move you make?" Jaken has no reply. "A living being does hundreds of small actions without accounting for them and everyone has mana on their bodies in a way or another, no exceptions."

"But then why didn't we notice?" Shirou's question prompts his teacher to turnt to him.

"Because before he was taking too little mana before, we barely paid attention to such things." The devil understood what Waver was saying.

"Now he is taking more for his own reasons, we don't know why but he is using our whole school as a battery of some sort." Agares is full of anger for Shinji's actions.

"Be either hurry or necessity, he is not carrying to be subtle anymore and taking our mana in quantities that everytime we use a spell we are basically paying double or triple for them, potentially even more." Waver doesn't know the precise math but he supposes it is close to that ballpark. "If we weren't too busy dealing with Archibald then we would have noticed earlier, that is why we were lured here and locked behind a smaller boundary field, to not be able to stop him."

"If Rias was here she could have easily broken that mystic code, even losing a lot of mana she could probably break the barrier and let everyone free." Seekvaira gets everyone's attention with her words but Waver nods his head.

"Precisely why he waited for this occasion that she isn't here. The plan hinges on this timing." He turns to his yokai friend. "Jaken, can you break the boundary field around this building?"

"I can but after that I will be no help." The kappa informs, realizing that he will only have energy to do it and little more. "Give me five minutes."

"We have at least thirty on the way things are going." Waver says with a somber tone, one that Shirou didn't like.

"Why thirty?" Waver gives his student a sad look.

"That is the time I estimate people are going to start to die, give or take." Shirou's eyes grow wide. "There is no way I can give an exact time, our bodies need mana but most of the time everyone is different. Do they exercise? Are they part of a family with a talent for magic? Or maybe they have inactive circuits and those are compensating?" Waver shakes his head. "Too many variables and that was just an optimist guess. The most negative one is that someone may already have died."

"What do we do?" Shirou almost screams in his panic. "There has to be something we can do! We can't just stay here and let people die."

"We still have some time, it is not going to happen out of nowhere. First, much like many here, the person will become unable to move, their body will get sleepy and in urgent need of rest and while they rest they will be recovering mana which will buy us some time." Waver places a hand on his student shoulder. "We get everyone that is in fighting condition and send them to stop Shinji. With the caster out of the picture the spell will stop without a will to conduct it. Then it will only be a matter of undoing the boundary field safely or finding what he is using to drain mana."

"So that is why we aren't really recovering our mana." Jaken says with his eyes closed and a frown of concentration. "It is because every little bit we restore is being consumed by him almost immediately. That doesn't explain why he just doesn't accelerate the process. Unless he is unable for some reason."

"One of the victims was a magician specialized in mana and crystals." Waver mentions. "If that is what he is using then he just lacks the means to do it since crystals are only useful as conductors and any place that stores the mana will be needing constant maintenance or never be really full."

Seekvaira, understanding the situation, turns to the people in the gym with every intention to call them to arms only to stop herself.

Many of the students were struggling just to stay standing, even if they have more mana and power than a normal student they are in reality still normal students with a little extra. Those that can stand are almost falling with every step they take or are only able to move with others' help.

Even though her peerage is not in their best condition, her Queen was defeated and remains resting where she moved him. The other devils are not much better with only her being able to move normally and even then she can feel her mana leaving her by the second and has to fight to keep it in. Only the fact that she has a considerable big reserve means that it will take hours before she is really affected.

"Who can fight?" Seekvaira keeps looking around, trying to count those that are in condition for a battle but what she finds only disheartens her. "Shinji's plan worked. We don't have the numbers to look for him and almost none can fight at this moment."

"Even if we can't fight, we can move everyone." Waver says a little depressed. "Unfortunately we don't have enough people to save the students in the school or the college grounds but we can save those here."

"So you are going to leave them for dead?" Shirou protests with anger.

"There isn't much that we can do Emi- Shirou." He looks at his student, his eyes reflecting the weight of the decision. "But if no one here is in condition to fight Shinji, including with their mana being stolen as well, then there is little we can do other than retreat and call for reinforcements outside the boundary field."

"I can still fight." The redhead said with a frown but Waver shakes his head.

"Your kind of magecraft needs constant use of mana in all its aspects. I am surprised you haven't fallen down already." Waver observed.

"I am not feeling like my mana is being stolen." Shirou says, the lines of his circuits shining below his skin. "I feel normal and ready to go."

Waver looks at Shirou, really looks at him. "There is no disruption?" He whispered, using his hand on Shirou's shoulder for Structural Analysis, biting his tongue to use the minimal mana possible for a superficial scan. "Your body is still in top condition? How? Even if you aren't losing mana you took some hard blows before."

Shirou opens his shirt and shows his black armor beneath it, shocking everyone. "Someone tried to kill me before so I made some armor."

"Even then you should be low on mana, that doesn't explain it." Waver places a hand on his chin. "If you are trying to go and risk your life-"

"Shirou can't lie." Liz says, arm around Rin's shoulder while she is practically dragged by the magus.

"Liz! You alright?" Shirou gets close to the maid but she shakes her head.

"Low on mana, can't fight." Rin picked up from where the maid left off.

"Because of the type of homunculus she is, Liz is losing a lot of mana. Either way we need to settle this fast." The magus looks towards her teacher. "Shirou can't lie to save his life. If he says he isn't losing mana then he isn't. Tell him where to find Shinji so he can kick that prick's ass and save everyone."

Waver stops for a moment on the implications of what he heard, a word appearing on his mind. 'Impossible.' He didn't dare to say anything at the moment, his mind jumping to lots of conclusions as he tried to recall everything he knew about Shirou. 'Does he have any form of protection that I don't know about or is he powerful enough to ignore the spell?'

Someone has no intention of letting him lose himself in his thoughts for the moment. "Where would he be mister Velvet?" Seekvaira asks impatiently. "We need to know where to find that criminal in order to punish him."

Waver nods. "You are right. Give me a moment to think." There is no real way for him to know where Shinji is out of the blue, he needs to think on where would be the best spot for his former student to receive the mana in the fastest way possible.

In his mind Velvet builds a model of Kuoh, the school, the college, the forest, the old school building and all the facilities. He visualized his model from a birds' eye view before marking the points where the ley line passed and how they intersected between each other. He sees the center and estimates the best place for Shinji's plan if he was in the blue haired man's place.

"He will be at school." His thought process only lasted a couple of seconds in the real world. "It is the closest location to the main ley line, the open fields that connect the old building, the actual school and the college." Then Waver considered Shinji's personality. "He is a vain boy that thinks himself superior, he isn't going to hide himself during his moment of triumph but neither will he be on the low ground where a student or another could pass by and call him mad or something for just standing around without doing anything."

"Then he will be on the rooftop." Luvia says with a quick realization. "When will we depart?"

Shirou took a single look at her and said. "You are not going. And before you say anything Rin isn't either, the two of you look like you can fall down at any moment. Besides," he turns to look at his unconscious friends, "you need to take care of them."

Luvia took a look at her friends, especially at Setsuna before saying. "Hmph. Very well. It would be unfair to win just because something happened to my rival." She moves to approach Setsuna to get her.

"Do you need something or are you ready to go?" The heiress of Agares asked Shirou.

"You are coming? Aren't you affected as well?" She gives him a glare.

"That bastard hurt my friends, is putting the school at risk and manipulated me." It is clear that Seekvaira is holding herself back from letting her mana out. "I will make sure he pays dearly for his transgressions."

"Then it is going to be just the two of you." Waver says to avoid discussion. "My lady, I suggest that you allow Shirou to take point on the fight and take the opportunity to cause as much damage as possible during it."

"You think I am not strong enough?" The pureblood devil looks at Waver with a considerable anger behind her glasses.

"Actually I believe your family's speciality is ideal to solve this crisis we are in." The teacher said, surprising her. "I know you need a little set up but Shirou can give you space if he doesn't win outright." He then turns to Shirou. "Good luck, to both of you."

"My spell is ready!" Jaken announced. "Boundary Separation." With a hit of his magical staff the boundary field around the gym is undone and the kappa falls to the ground exhausted. "Huff, huff, done."

Everyone can see that the yokai is fighting to stay conscious, the small field that surrounding the gym may be broken but it is clear that the old kappa can't repeat the feat or even attempt it on a greater scale that would be necessary to break the main field, if he was even strong enough to do it in top condition to begin with.

"Good job Jaken." Seekvaira says as he turns to the exit. "Move Emiya, we have a job to do." The redhead doesn't think twice before following the high class devil.

The two of them leave through the door and Waver falls to the ground while getting another cigarette. "What are you doing?" Jaken asked incredulously of his friend's actions, the shock making forget his exhaustion.

"I just sent two students to a deadly fight. As a teacher, that makes me a failure." He places the stick on his mouth but is having problems in finding his lighter.

"Do you think this is the right time for this?" The kappa asked but didn't make any effort to get up just yet. "We still have other students to save and you shouldn't be moping."

"You are right. But if they fail and die, don't expect me to stay still." Waver said resolutely.

"You are a poor fighter Waver. If you go and try to get revenge you will only get yourself killed." Jaken says with concern, getting up again. "Now there is little that we can do, the only ones that can fight are already gone and we have our own assignment." He doesn't see his friend react and lets out a sigh. "Usually I would agree with your stance but I have Setsuna-sama to take care of. I can't stay here and let her life stay in peril."

"I am not asking you to." Then the yokai hits Waver on the head with his staff. "Ouch. What was that for?"

"You have other students to care about." The kappa points to those still in the gym, helping each other. "And we have work to do." With that the yokai departed to make sure Setsuna was escorted safely.

Waver sighs again and gets up, moving slowly but steadily to help Rin with his friend. "Let me carry her, help the others."

"Don't worry, I got this." Rin replies but Waver shakes his head.

"If I crouch to get someone else, I may not be able to get up. You are in better condition Tohsaka-san." She looks at Liz who just nods but Rin has another idea.

"I will agree with that if you teach me how you nullified El-Melloi's mystic code later." She says while passing Liz to Waver.

"That little trick is only possible under certain circumstances, if you fall to gather any of these then you won't be able to do it; you need the knowledge of your opponent's basic mystery, how to add elements to certain spells and the right spell for the right opponent." He notices that his student is still just paying attention to him and chuckles. "That spell only worked because I had years thinking about it, first out of fear and then as a hobby."

"But how did you do it?" Rin starts to step away while Waver answers.

"The main component of that mystic code is the elements of water and air, I added earth and fire to the mix." Rin stops for a moment, her mind finally understanding.

"You used a cigarette as a conductor." She affirms with some admiration. "It contained the elements you needed and the spell-"

"A spell that costs a lot of mana and we have a job to do." Waver says, smiling a little.

Rin shakes her head and begins to work while thinking about how his teacher used a couple of words and magic circles to basically make a supreme mystic code, Volumen Hydrargyrum, sick.

It was something because of what Kayneth had written and presented in his work to earn respect and authority, to show everyone that the Archibalds are not a weak family by any means. He earned himself prestige, a considerable amount of fame and respect by giving all of those who study in the Clocktower an inch to see the greatness of his creation.

And Waver Velvet took it and made it much more than just a mile to ruin it.

…

Shirou and Seekvaira are running to the school main building, the human is ahead but the devil is not far behind, both with serious faces and going at full speed. Before the redhead begins to turn for the entrance of the school he feels a pair of arms grab him below the arms. "No time! Getting a shortcut!" Seekvaira says and Shirou only allows himself to be carried to the rooftop.

There they see a tall young man with blue hair who looks to be just basking in the sun, with his eyes closed with only a blue shirt and pants on. He opens his eyes and sees the two new arrivals land on the rooftop. "Shinji?" Shirou asked, almost not recognizing his former classmate.

"Emiya." He says with a smile. "Looks like fate decided to favor me once again."

"Explain your actions, Matou Shinji!" Seekvaira steps forward, her face stoic but it doesn't stop the anger in her tone. "Depending on what you have to say I may spare your life."

The bluehead looks at the devil for a moment before he begins to laugh with a little hysteria. "You think you can command me? The weakest of the heiresses in Fuyuki? That is hilarious! Hahaha!"

Shirou is about to say something but in such words the devil didn't bother to hesitate, a pink magic circle appears in front of her followed by a blast of mana. Not even bothering to control his laughter Shinji just side steps the attack, making Seekvaira more frustrated.

"I have no interest in you devil, you can leave if you want." Shinji says with amusement. "That is, if you can escape the boundary field around Kuoh."

"What do you mean by that?" Shirou asked and when Shinji gave him a small smile he knew that something terrible was happening.

"Well, it is to the new version of the boundary field that half of the mana is going after all." The two in opposition to him have shocked faces and Shinji fakes surprise. "Oya? Did you all really think I didn't consider you could defeat my pawn?" He smiles cruely. "I had access to your boundary field for months thanks to Profes- no Kayneth-chan. We reversed it."

"'Reversed it'?" Seekvaira didn't want to accept what he was saying.

"What does that mean?" Shirou demands to know and Shinji nods.

"Adding the mana absorbing function is a thing I can only do thanks to certain crystals, Fuan's kind work. Do you remember her, Emiya? She was with me on our first day of classes." A memory comes to Shirou of the girl talking with Shinji that first day. "She didn't feel that she was actually worth or capable of keeping up with the course so she left but I never forgot about her work so I...convinced her to make some crystals for me."

"You brainwashed her!" Shirou says in rage.

"You call brainwashing, I call outsourcing. I have no idea how to make this," he shows the duo a silver necklace with a blue crystal, "myself so I got someone that knew how to do it. And with the help of Kayneth-chan who is quite a competent magician, inverting the emergencial defensive properties of the boundary field to keep everyone here was actually really easy since he is familiar with the layout and you all insisted on giving all the teachers access to make their own workshops around to attract more competent magicians."

"That means-"

"Nobody can escape me." Shinji interrupts Seekvaira. "Your own mana is empowering your own prison and my evolution. Can you feel it? I am almost there!" A huge aura of power involves Shinji as he smiles.

"Why are you doing all this?" Shirou takes a step forward. "Why endanger so many lives? Why Shinji?"

"Emiya, we have no time for this!" Seekvaira says and Shinji decides to reply.

"Because you and Gremory got on my way." Shirou couldn't believe what he just heard.

"What the- if you had some problem with me you should have come talk to me! Not this! Not threaten other people's lives!" Shirou feels an intense urge to punch Shinji in the face.

"Then you should have died before." Shinji can see the surprise in Shirou's face so he continued. "I tried other devils first to get Gremory to back off but she had to get on my way and help Tohsaka's family but while she has you that wouldn't happen so we made a plan to get you out of the picture." He points to the direction of the gym. "This! All this! It's your fault! Because you refused to die!"

Shirou remembers the mercenaries, the fact that Rias had said it was the devil that did it with an unknown ally and now he knows that Shinji was the one with a hand in it. He closes his hands tightly, his grip would break rocks if he was holding some. "Why?" He asks in a low tone but Shinji hears. "Do you hate me so much?"

"Not really." Shinji replies with a shrug. "You are just the means to an end. I kill you and everyone else, Kayneth-chan takes the fall and I get what I want. Simple plan really."

"Those are innocent lives you are messing with!" Shirou is enraged but Matou doesn't care.

"Emiya." It is Seekvaira's voice who manages to get his attention. "We don't have time to waste with this. If we let him lose everyone is going to die, we have to kill him."

"Oh please do try!" Shinji says with happiness. "I really do want to test my new body, please do last longer than the others!"

"Others?" Shirou says in a low tone. "You already killed someone?"

"Maaaaybe~" He smiles as he reminds himself of a pleasant memory. "I wanted to run a test and they were on the way! Oh! I just realized something!" He points at Shirou. "You are going to be my 20th kill! That will be great and make it so much easier to remember!"

"Don't hesitate Emiya." Seekvaira says. "I will support you where I can."

"Save your mana." Shirou replies as he steps forward. "Last chance Shinji!" He traces Muramasa on his hands. "Lay down the boundary field and come quietly or else…"

"Or else what? You gonna kill me?" He chuckles a little. "Have you ever killed someone before?" Shirou says nothing, still advancing. "Come on Emiya, let's talk like the old friends we are. I told you my conquests, or do you want details?

"You are stalling." The redhead is almost close enough until Shinji steps back.

"Tell you what, if you answer I will lower the boundary field." That made the magus pause. "Interested? I almost don't need mana anymore, so I can let them go."

"He is lying, Emiya." Seekvaira says quickly.

"I know that." Shirou stops advancing to say. 'But there is a chance.' In fact he is willing to risk it, if just to avoid unnecessary death. "One time, I killed one time."

"Oh~ Tell me more." Shinji says excited. "Come on Shirou, tick-tock, time is running out."

Gritting his teeth, Shirou continues. "It was a stray devil, he was hiding in our old school-"

"Nonono! That was Gremory!" Shinji says with a smile, surprising the others. "What? I read the report, Kayneth-chan showed me everything he had on you in his attempt to get you as his student." Shaking his head the bluehead says. "I think you are misunderstanding me so let me clarify." He moves closer to Shirou in an instant, surprising the redhead with his speed. "Have you ever seen life leaving your target's eyes? Have you ever seen their last moment? One that you brought about with your own two hands?" He then jumps back before Shirou could react. "Of course you didn't! You are the little goody two shoes Emiya Shirou! You don't have the guts!"

"I can guarantee you something." Shirou begins to say, raising his sword. "If you keep going like this I will kill you now."

Shinji is about to say something when his little friend starts to move frantically on his body, warning him of danger. From the corner of his eye he can see that the devil is not moving so he turns to look at Shirou again, right into the redhead's own eyes.

"Hahahaha! You are for real aren't you?" He can see on the swordsman's face that his old classmate is really serious. "Good, good. That will make things more fun!" Shinji declares as a dozen circles appear in front of him, the spellcaster not hesitating to use the stolen mana as every single circle shoots a beam of blue light at the magus and devil.

Seekvaira raises a shield as she stops herself from flying back while Shirou dodges those he could, letting the armor on his chest take hits as he advances with every intention to cut Shinji's arms off.

The redhead expected Shinji to try keeping the fight at a distance but was unpleasantly surprised as the spellcaster rushed at him once again, punching Shirou in the face with more strength than expected before making a circle and sending a shot towards Shirou's left leg where he is hit making him lose his balance but Shinji can't keep that offensive going, he had to dodge the sword that almost cut off his arm.

Shirou reinforces his leg and gives chase, Shinji's fighting style wasn't what he expected but he plans to adapt to end the conflict as fast as possible, there are lives at stake.

The two sides clash again, Shirou's sword easily cutting the defense Shinji tries to get up and the bluehead is cut on the chest, fear for the first time entering his expression as he kicks Shirou back.

'How? He shouldn't be this fast or even be at 100%.' Shinji thinks to himself, summoning more mana and feeding it to his little friend as he is healed almost instantly. His respite doesn't last long as knives fly in his direction and he already knows that they can catch fire, making another circle he sends a huge jet of water that Shirou couldn't dodge and was almost pushed out of the roof if not for its fence.

Kayneth wanted Shirou as a student for many reasons and the man had insisted in researching everything he could about Emiya, both the family and the student himself, before he made the first approach.

All the information that the man compiled was in a file that Shinji had read it more than once with great interest. He wanted to know if there was more to the redhead other than what Rutal feared and found thinking that Shirou was nothing much as a magus.

Besides the known accomplishments it also had Shirou's spells, just three of them with a note that his specialty is not on the study of magecraft but his use of it. There was also a list of his known projects, collected from various students and Shinji loved those, he is sure that there is nothing that Shirou can do to surprise him.

Except he had done that. Shirou is faster than Shinji expected and for a moment the insect user was caught off guard, not knowing why the redhead could keep up with his improved body.

The water is failing on pushing Shirou off for good, the redhead pushes himself to try to recover. He manages to stick Muramasa to the roof and now is just taking the pressure for as long as possible while trying to keep himself standing, resisting the water and waiting for Shinji to stop so he can counter attack.

'Except he doesn't need to stop.' Shirou realized in fear. 'This is not just his mana, it is the mana of everyone else.'

In a rush that was born from panic, Shirou rolls out the side, undoing Muramasa's existence as he escapes the water and starts to charge at Shinji again.

The blue haired magician notices the new angle of his enemy and opens more circles for another barrage of mana without even bothering to properly close the first. Shirou doesn't care, he keeps advancing, dodging every attack he can and making a shield to protect his head when he realized his choices were getting more limitated on how he should move.

His defense is not of the same material as the armor and breaks easily but not before Shirou gets close enough to trace Muramasa again aiming for Shinji's chest. Once again Shinji fails in dodging and the bluehead is hit, with his necklace chain being cut and it flying in the air.

While losing a little blood bothered Shinji it was the chain of his necklace that concerned him the most, he quickly sent another jet of water to push Shirou back, grabbing his precious crystal mid air. "Still soft Emiya! You should have aimed for the head!" He lifts the crystal, making sure Shirou can see it in his hands. "You should be focusing more on me. It is the only way you are getting this."

"I can deal with you after, I have people to save." Shirou prepares to charge again when he sees Shinji smile and pauses.

"You mean to not kill me? Heh, you are really weak. Let me give you some proper motivation." He places the crystal in his mouth.

"SHINJI DON'T DO IT!" Shirou screams in despair but it is too late, Shinji has already swallowed it.

"Now the crystal is in me, doing its proper function!" He pats his stomach. "If you want to save the 'batteries' you better come for me with killing intent Emiya."

"You bastard!" Shirou glares at Shinji with a hard grip in his sword. "You want me to kill you? Fine!" His circuits flare, his body completely reinforced in rage. He doesn't have a crystal to aim at anymore, there is no other method to win the fight but taking Shinji out.

"Finally taking this-" Before Shinji can finish the question Shirou is already going at him at full speed, caution completely thrown to the wind in a way Shinji doesn't understand nor can comprehend.

Once again the spellcaster goes to the method of throwing as much mana around as he can, only possible because of how much mana he is able to get from his victims but this time Shirou has no hesitation in himself.

The magus can see how he is the target but instead of changing directions or even making a shield Shirou uses his sword to deflect any bolts that were going for his legs or arms, moving his head when needed and ignoring anything to his chest, much to Shinji's surprise and fear.

Another huge circle and another huge jet of water is used only for Shirou to jump over it, surprising Shinji. He tried to send more spells at Shirou only for five huge swords to fall in his direction.

Even with all the mana he has access to, Shinji is still an amateur in many spells and he also is not used to proper combat. Instead of immediately dodging or sending a bigger blast to contest Shirou's swords Shinji opts for another barrage of magic, to knock the swords and potentially Shirou out.

He didn't consider that the swords are stronger than his spells, he didn't understand that Shirou's projections are capable of causing much more damage than just throwing mana around and he couldn't know that in direct comparison he is much weaker than Shirou in a fair fight.

With his swords covering his advance Shirou is able to reach Shinji easily and swing his blade to the spellcaster's head. With his new body he was able to dodge but not entirely and a scream went around the rooftop as Shinji's ear flew in the opposite direction that he threw himself.

Shirou doesn't stop his offensive and Shinji raises his arms, putting everything he can in a shield to block the sword, only barely managing to deflect the blows in a panic as he runs back as fast as he can to avoid Muramasa.

It takes only a couple of seconds for Shirou to cut off Shinji's right hand and get another scream of fear. Blood, all he can see is his blood leaving him and the sword going for his head. "STOP! PLEASE!" Shinji screams in a panic as the sword stops a centimeter of his eyes.

"Lower the boundary field! Now!" Shirou said with a tone that left no room for arguments and his eyes dead set into Shinji's. The sword moves to the neck as he repeats. "Lower the boundary field!"

"Finish him!" Seekvaira shouts from the side but she is ignored. Shirou keeps the sword close, his intent clear.

"Lower it! NOW!" He is about to cut Shinji's neck.

"I will!" Shinji gulps a bit and raises his remaining hand. "I will break the stone on my stomach. That will break the spell! I just need to move my hand!" The sword goes closer to the throat and its bite takes more blood.

"You don't need that! Undo it now!" The warning is clear in Shirou's voice.

"I didn't make it originally! I need to break the crystal!" Fear, that is all Shinji's voice carries. "The only way to stop it is to break the crystals! I can do it with a command! I don't want to die!"

Shirou can see it clearly in his former classmate's eyes, he really is afraid and the redhead is the cause of that fear, he didn't like that one bit but lives are at stake and he pays close attention as Shinji's trembling hand approaches his own stomach to break the crystal.

Then Shirou felt something big hit him on the stomach and he threw back a couple of steps. "Should have killed me, Emiya! Now you lost your chance!" On Shinji's right arm there is a new hand that looks like a claw with four fingers but that isn't what surprised Shirou the most or hit him back for that matter, it was the huge sword jumping out of the arm that did it, the thing looks like a white huge scimitar.

"Shinji! What did you do to yourself?" Shirou asks, recovering his balance and looking to Matou once again as the wounds he inflicted finished healing.

"I evolved! The time has finally come!" Shoulder pads made of bone jump out of his skin as his chest starts to be covered with similar armor, ripping apart his shirt. His eyes start to bulge out of his face and grow to a more insect-like appearance and antenas sprung from his forehead. "YEEEEEES! I EVOLVED!" Shinji's voice now had a buzz that Shirou found sounding like a fly's wings.

Seekvaira shakes her head, focusing herself on her magic and fighting off her need to scream her frustration and disgust. "Why did it have to be bugs? Why couldn't it have been a robot or something cool?"

The redhead is also disgusted by what he is seeing, his mind coming up with scenarios from what was happening and he just can come to one conclusion. "Is this why you wanted more mana? Is this why you are risking people's lives?" He shouts the last part, sword ready once again.

"Kakakakaka! I wouldn't expect a weakling to understand!" Shinji looks to himself and can see that some of him is still human, his other hand, his legs and feet. "But I think it is not done yet! Must have wasted too much on you!" His hair starts to fall as bone begins to grow around his head. "Good thing you are still around, Emiya! You and every single piece of trash! With you all as my batteries I will reach my final evolution!"

Shinji's confidence returns in full force now he is transformed, in his mind all his work is paying off and he can feel a huge power still growing on his new form. But he still needs to stall for time in a way that he can save mana, throwing spells around is delaying his evolution.

But now he also has a sword, made from his own bone which his little friend tells him is strong enough to contest steel. With anger he charges, flying at Shirou, his new bone blade above his head. "DIE!"

Muramasa blocks the first hit, Shirou Reinforcement makes sure that his arms can withstand Shinji's new strength and speed. The insect magician starts to move his arm, swing his blade in a blitz to decapitate his former classmate.

"Die Die Die Die Die Die Die! Dieeeee!" The attacks are fast but the redhead easily blocks and parries, Muramasa letting out sparks at every clash as Shinji attacks without abandon.

Focusing, Shirou deflects the bone to his right before throwing a kick on Shinji's chest, the new bone armor receiving no damage but that doesn't deter Shirou who spins to cut his opponent with Muramasa only for the attack to hit just the shoulder.

Shinji immediately retreats but Shirou is in hot pursuit swinging Muramasa to deflect the bone blade and try to cut Shinji in the chest. But now the magician has wings and throws a last attack with his right arm to stop a cut to the head before taking flight.

"Bastard!" Shinji insults Shirou who can just watch his opponent fly and take distance. The idea of tracing his bow came to the redhead's mind but he hesitated as Shinji started to float close to the ground.

'Now that he can fly, this got much harder.' The positive side is that Shirou can see that the newly transformed Shinji doesn't know how to control his wings as of yet and is getting close to the ground to avoid harming himself in a fall. 'A little more, once he is close I will rush him.'

Realizing that Shirou is the superior fighter between them, the insect-like human tries to think of a solution. When he started to consider bombarding Shirou once again his little friend made a buzz, notching his thoughts to a direction that used less mana and was more assured to get Emiya.

Hearing his little friends inside him, Shinji prepares to do what it instructs. "Get ready to die Emiya!" Landing Shinji vomits on the floor in front of himself, Shirou and a distant Seekvaira thinking for a second that the transformation backfired only to watch as little marbles that left Shinji's body start to crack, a cloud of insects being quickly formed. "Ready?"

The amusement on Shinji's tone just made Shirou more upset as the cloud of insects moved in his direction. The swarm is growing and the magus doesn't think, just reacts by tracing his knives and throwing them at the bugs.

Shinji is not surprised by Shirou's maneuver and jumps back to get some more space, he doesn't know how exactly Shirou survived being stabbed, not seeing the armor beneath the redhead's clothes, but he is confident that victory is in his grasp.

He ate all the food he had in his house in preparation for his evolution, his small bugs, gray wasps with stingers capable of piercing the frame of a car, are the leftovers of his transformation and only needed a small quantity of mana to accelerate their growth, it is less than what he would use with spells and he can force Emiya to attack instead of just dodging.

Fire starts to cover the rooftop as the insects spread around so they don't all catch fire at the same time they surround their prey. Shirou tries to dive to pass them and reach Shinji only to feel his body almost be ripped apart as he uses his fire knives to try and get rid of the cloud of bugs around him.

Shirou can tell he is being cut and bruised by them but he doesn't stop moving, trying to get to Shinji only the fire of his knives protecting him from the worst of the swarm.

Meanwhile Shinji is not still, speaking more contents of his stomach to give life to new bugs who immediately start to fly towards Emiya. "Almost there." He says cleaning his mouth with an arm. "Do you hear me Emiya? I am almost fully evolved! I wonder how I will kill you then? Or should I let you go dry as a husk without mana before ending your miserable life?"

Provoking Shirou is not easy most days but considering what Shinji is doing and the fact that the redhead had him dead by rights if he had pushed his sword a little more is enough to make Shirou really upset.

Reinforcing his clothes and knives as much as he can, Shirou shoots himself at Shinji, mustering all he can on his legs to go in while ignoring any damage the swarm did as much as he can while using his knives to take them out. The blades are burning his hands with how much output of fire they are letting out but the redhead just bears with it to finish the fight as fast as possible.

He doesn't hesitate and throws another wave of knives on the center of the swarm to open a hole in their defense. Creating two more knives, one on each hand, Shirou got them on fire immediately and didn't hesitate to jump in the middle of the insects who hunger for his blood.

The swarm fails in stopping Shirou's approach but Shinji meets on the way and thrust his arm blade on his opponent's shoulder which Shirou ignores thanks to his armor. Shinji tries to comprehend why his weapon isn't going deeper only to be stabbed and burned on his shoulder. "AAAAA!" A claw grabs Shirou's own arm, tossing him away.

The redhead flies and hits the floor on his back, rolling around when he hears the swarm getting closer while using more fire to keep them away. 'Damned! If I didn't need to touch the knives to start the fire!' Shirou laments as even if he could surround himself with the blades the initial fire spell, even the delayed version, needs contact so he can use it.

Shinji shakes his head after a moment a magic circle above his head pours water on him. He recomposes himself, noticing how much his shoulder got damaged even if the knife failed to penetrate his new bone armor. He looks to see Shirou almost killing all his insects again, the redhead's clothes getting teared apart as his wounds start to show.

Deciding that keeping his distance is still his best strategy. Shinji starts to regurgitate more eggs, this time no stop to use every resource he has on reserve.

Shirou barely kills all the insects around him, his left arm bleeding a little as his jacket is torn enough that the arm is completely exposed, only to notice another much bigger swarm forming around Shinji, the former bluehead commanding it to stay back until he is prepared to attack.

"Witness it Emiya! These are your final moments!" Around Shinji there is a new swarm, bigger than ever, with it being able to split up and still keep its numbers superior to the one he just destroyed. Some of the bugs go up and cover the skies, others stay at Shinji's back while the last cloud is moving around the roof, ready to eat him alive if he gives it the chance. "Gremory wasted her time on you! I am the greatest magician of Japan! The strongest! Time to all know that!

"You talk too much!" Seekvaira reminds everyone of her presence as she is surrounded by magic circles spinning in a single direction, all colored pink and moving at the same pace as clocks counting seconds. "Weren't you begging for your life before?" Both males turn to the devil, the circles spinning faster and faster. "Also your end game is weak!" She slams her hands on the circles at her sides and a wave of pink mana starts to leave them in all directions.

Shinji doesn't know what is happening and panics again. "PROTECT ME!"

A wall of flying insects forms in front of Shinji but it is ignored, Shirou feels the magic passing by him, feeling a tingling sensation but no harm or damage happens as a new boundary field covers the entirety of the roof.

Seekvaira lets out a breath of relief with her spell done while Shirou and Shinji are confused since neither knows exactly what happened. "Senpai? What-

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Shinji screams in panic once again, looking at his hands. "What- WHY? HOW?"

"Feeling a little dry?" Seekvaira asks, playing a little coy at the situation. "Not bad for the 'weakest heiress' wouldn't you think?"

"KILL HER!" Shinji's swarm moves to obey his command but Shirou moves faster throwing knives like mad to keep the bugs at bay, killing a good deal of them. "BACK! BACK!" Shinji knows that replacing his army is going to be impossible and is forced to retreat.

"Senpai, what exactly did you do? He looks more afraid than when I had him." Shirou still has his knives ready while Shinji is directing his swarm.

"I blocked his signal, or better yet, I made sure that the receiver is too slow to actualize the crystal within his possession." The Agares heiress smile grows bigger.

"But how?" Shirou doesn't look back to the devil, still paying attention to a panicked Shinji who is issuing commands to his insects.

"I accelerated the time inside this bubble. Usually I would need some help but he ignored me long enough to set everything up for a while." The blonde woman says with a good measure of pride. "This is the power of the Agares bloodline, Power Of Time. While we are inside my boundary field, time is going to be a hundred times faster for us than those outside!" Shirou's eyes made the impression they wanted to jump out of his head at the declaration.

Looking around it is possible to see birds flying in the sky, their wings beating at a snail's pace, those that escaped the gym and are moving to the exit were in the middle of their runs and some look even like they were floating in place. To all intents and purposes time is now much faster for them than it is for the rest of the world.

'With time like that it means that the signal of my crystal can't reach the ones outside, they don't know that they have to keep their function going. Shit! I underestimated her.' Shinji realized far too late the devil's intentions.

On the other hand Shirou is dumbfounded, Seekvaira has managed to buy them time they didn't have before but at the risk to herself, he can see she is exhausted and keeping the new boundary field up isn't helping.

He is about to charge once again when she calls him. "Don't!" Her voice is getting weaker but he stops to turn around. "Your method isn't working, you need more fire power or reach than with those knives."

"We have no time-"

"I just gave you time! Stop just rushing like a bull and think!" Seekvaira says with a little anger. "Come now, Rias brags about how versatile you are. Don't you have anything that can put out more fire?"

The swarm is starting to surround them. Shinji is being careful and silent, thinking they didn't notice him. "Very well, I shall finish this." Shirou replies, mana gathering in his hands as a familiar form of a sword starts to appear, one that carries great power.

"Another Noble Phantasm?" Her excitement is unmistakable but he doesn't care at the moment, he shall do what he must do.

"No." Is all he is willing to say, knowing what needs to be done, there is no more space for mistakes. Shirou makes all his knives disappear which surprised Shinji. "I am the bone of my sword." Hearing the aria made the insect user even more cautious but he got confident when on Shirou's hands it looked to be just the same sword as before.

"KILL THEM!" He orders and the encircling swarm goes for the kill. That settled any doubts that the redhead had, Shinji wouldn't stop, he needs to be stopped.

Hand on the blade Shirou says. "Steel is my body and fire is my blood." His hand slides on the sword, fire on its trail as Shirou starts to run around Seekvaira, every swing of his sword burning clouds of insects which generated more fire that killed even more of the swarm.

Seekvaira can't believe her eyes, she recognizes that sword, having seen it before and that day and she knew exactly what it was. A Noble Phantasm is a crystallization of a legend, something that reached the peak of its existence in some way shape or form and usually they don't change.

But that one just did, the Muramasa that Emiya Shirou projected gained the fire attribute and with it the swarm is being easily decimated.

Shinji can't see anything, in front of him there is only a ring of fire, born with the lives of his creations and he doesn't know what to do. His little friend is also afraid now, they have no more mass to make more insects and their evolution was completely halted. The spellcaster looks behind him, considering retreat.

When he looks back to the flames he can only see Shirou jumping out like a demon from hell, sword ready to the side for a vertical slash. His shirt had burned out completely when he passed the ring of fire and now both his arms are exposed but Emiya doesn't care, his amber eyes not leaving his target. Shinji raises his own weapon, trying to put a modicum of a defense only for his arm to be cut off, fire closes the wound and starts to spread at the same time.

Matou Shinji can't explain what is happening, his brain can't process what is going on anymore. He should be evolving, to be reaching his next step so he could be powerful enough to take what he wanted and nobody should be able to stop him.

The image of a girl with long black hair appears on his mind at that moment and he can only feel regret.

A stab on his heart brings Shinji back to reality and he looks at Shirou, their eyes meet once again and the redhead knows exactly what he was seeing.

But there would be no more chances and no more mercy, that was already decided and Emiya Shirou finishes the movement encarved on the blade, Shinji's head flying away, a last thought on his mind. 'Sakura.'

There is a pause but in a second Seekvaira's boundary field disappears and time returns to normal for them as the devil is sweating, having come close to passing out from the effort and exhaustion. Fire rages around her but not spreading as if under someone's control.

Around the school the boundary field flickers and then disappears. The modifications made have made it impossible for it to be sustained without the crystals and its new functions. Kuoh lost all its defenses but also won't harm anyone anymore.

Those conscious noticed with relief as their mana stopped being stolen. Now they are also able to use spells to help those wounded and carry the hurt outside. The normal students have no clue of what happened, sleeping the problems away.

Watching from the sidelines is the blond hero who enjoyed the spectacle with a smile, the incident never bothering him for he was too strong to be bothered. Instead he just watched the fights unfold without interfering for his own entertainment.

Shirou is just watching as the body of what was once Matou Shinji burns away. He saw what they talked about before, the last moments on the face of someone that knew they were going to die and he can say for certain he hated it. Because of that look he watches the body turning to ashes, Muramasa still in his hand as the flames of the sword disappear even as it stays there, humming with power.

The insect inside the body was extremely flammable as the whole body is already burning in just a few instants, the head is already ashes and Shirou doesn't care about the smell, he can only watch his hand work.

On any other occasion he would celebrate his success. Even as a Noble Phantasm, Muramasa is an unfinished existence because its original creator deemed it as such, not being able to reach what he wished in his lifetime. By using Reinforcement to alter it, in size, length and overall shape, Shirou learned that the sword is incomplete in a way and sought ways to improve itself, to be complete.

So he sought to complete it and even if he hadn't managed to reach what the sword was intended to be he still reached something that many would call impossible. He managed to make a Noble Phantasm to grow beyond its legend.

To use fire with Muramasa he added to its components one of the first mystic codes he ever produced, the fire knife. That would probably be impossible to almost all others Noble Phantasms, even if they are his creations by tracing it is a stretch to try and add something to such huge existences.

But Muramasa Sengo was just a man who elevated his skill to the limit to try and reach the impossible. In a sense Shirou just picked up where the legendary swordsmith left off and pushed the sword in a direction much simpler than its original intention to try and reach its true goal.

And the Muramasa still has plenty of room to grow.

…

Away from Kuoh and Fuyuki in a completely separated dimension is a man in the middle of his work. He is a tall man with blue hair and sharp features, it is not hard to imagine that he is an older version of Matou Shinji if he lived to reach the age.

Dressed in a formal suit with a short cape on his shoulders he moves around the table, mixing a solution for one of his projects, dozens of cups and tubs connected and separated with insects, animals and just formulas that he was working on like the ones in his hands.

His laboratory, his workshop, is a cave. There is nothing grandiose, just what he needs to work and his work.

Around the place there are books, tables with a huge assortment of things, more tubes, glasses, formulas, knives and such, many worms are around the place, doing diverse functions and at the corner of the place, close to one of the walls there, are five huge coffins made of metal with tubes connecting them to some large containers with different kinds of formulas and liquids.

This place is the man's personal workshop and he has been working in it for a century or so by himself. Recently he found someone that he would be willing to share his work space with, someone that could either be a useful assistant or experiment and the man was waiting for news so he could call his distant relative.

Alas the man knows that won't happen anymore, he can feel it on his bones. "So he died." Observed the man neutrality, reflecting about the occurrence. "In the end, another weakling." He says with a whisper when the door of his lab opened and one of his associates entered.

At the top of the stairs is one of the few existences that can pass by his defenses, he was too strong for anything the blue haired man to stop him. "Zolgen! How you doing?" Called out a tall man with long dark silver hair, with a small beard of the same color and hazel eyes. He is dressed in silver and armor with white robes and smiles jovially.

"Rizevim." Comes the dry reply. "Here to get in the way of my work again?" The man doesn't move as he watches the tubes as they are preparing a concoction, heating it up and transporting the mixtures to each other.

"'Get in the way of your work'? That sounds so impersonal you know?" He puts an arm around the slightly smaller man. "I just came here to see how my friend is doing. Maybe see if we could hang out, grab a couple of drinks."

"You were bored beyond your mind weren't you?" Zolgen says, unflappable, while Rizevim took a step back and scratched the side of his face.

"What can I say? You are one of the few interesting things in my life these days." The visitor moves and sits on a chair to the side. "The devils are becoming too tame, the new system is a bore, the other factions are all afraid of doing something and let me tell you, that is soooo annoying." Rizevim puts his feet, covered in silver armored boots, over a table. "I just want something fun to do, you know what I'm saying?"

Zolgen rolls his eyes. "Then why don't you go spend some time with your grandson?" He picks up a potion and starts a new mixture. "If I remember correctly he should be around here somewhere right?"

"Nah! That brat is hanging around that crow, Azazel." Rizevim says with a smile. "I can't wait to see what he is going to do; is he just going to break the crows heart when he reveals his betrayal or will he also break his body?" The man in white smile grew bigger. "I really can't wait."

Chuckling a little Zolgen gets his final concoction, a green liquid. "Fine, fine. You can stay." He begins to move to the coffins he was working on.

"Are these what I think they are?" Rizevim asked excitedly. "Did you manage to do it?"

"No, unfortunately they are still in their initial stages. It would be easier if I had more resources." Zolgen comments while getting an injection needle and extracting some of the formula just to inject on the first coffin's container.

"Didn't I already get you enough? Your lab is basically the most expensive thing on the planet at this point." Rizevim says with humor.

"There are many things you can't get me, many treasures. I was so close to having the chance of getting them, so close." That reminded the devil of something.

"Oh yes, I remember now. Your own grandson right? The guy that you spoke with, what was that in that moment; pride?" Zolgen shakes his head.

"It is a pity but he died." Said the magus like he was talking about the weather.

"Oh, I'm sorry about it." He isn't sorry at all.

"Humph, it happens. Brat was too careless for his own good." He collects more of the formula and repeats the procedure. The only lament Zolgen has for his descent's death was that the ability to make an insect able to influence other's minds died with him.

"Want me to take a look at who did it?" Rizevim offers with a smile. "If you want revenge we can get some guys and deal with them."

"Not interested, thank you." Zolgen just moves to work in another coffin. "It was probably Tohsaka who did it. Or maybe the Magus Killer was passing by and shot him dead."

"Are you afraid of a normal human Zolgen?" Rizevim sounded a little disappointed but both knew it was fake.

"Oh, sure. I will go and challenge the guy that has a reputation for killing my kind, great idea." The sarcasm is dripping from Zolgen's voice. "I have a goal to reach and I won't waste my time avenging an idiot. He is dead and I move on."

"As always." It is a characteristic that Rizevim likes from Zolgen. Both men have known each other for years now and they are similar enough to get along well. "How is our little project going?"

"My little project is going along nicely, even with the lack of much to work with." The devil approaches one of the coffins.

"And when are they going to be done?" The question is a complicated one for many reasons.

"The miracle of resurrection is not something simple, especially when we don't have something to transmigrate the soul properly." Zolgen says with an even tone. "They will be done when they get done, maybe tomorrow or in a century."

"Fine." The man sits on his chair again and begins to pout. "I can wait. I have waited millennia, what is another century or two?"

Zolgen chuckles. "That is the spirit."

The two men talk for a while while the potions made by Zolgen do their jobs. Inside the coffins there are remains of skeletons. Some are badly decomposed but there is enough that one can tell that none is from a human.

…..