Body, mind and soul.
For a regular person, these three aspects would all invariably have the adjective 'human' attached to them.
It was entirely possible for non-human entities to be born within human bodies, but even if their soul was inhuman, as long as they were mortal and share human perceptions, they would be considered humans as well.
Sometimes, it happened that a person could be born with an inhuman body due to the influence of demonic, divine or otherwise supernatural bloodlines, but they would still be humans for all intents and purposes.
Some other times, perfectly ordinary humans went through extremely traumatic events that inevitably warped their mind away from their right shape, but even in such instances they were still human beings.
However, should more than one case manifest inside of a single individual, could that person still be considered human at all?
[EMIYA SHIROU]
[THE GAMER]
[LV 35 - 2500/34000]
[HP: 3500][MP: 35][MC: 27][ST: 920][SP: 11]
[STR: 50][DEX: 50][INT: 50][WIS: 33][CHR: 102]
"I am the bone of my sword."
[As result of a special action, a new skill has been created]
[Body of Blades (Fake)]
[Description: Projects blades under your own skin for additional protection and durability. The defense bonus depends on the quality of blades Projected]
[Cost: 1MP, 90% of residual HP]
[Inficts Bleeding (100HP/min)]
[Returns damage on the enemy upon being hit]
[Level of returned damage depends on the quality of the blades Projected]
[Un£1m1t3d 8£ad3 W0rk$ RANK UP]
Shirou's eyes were blind to the prompts flashing across his vision, which flickered with flashes of white noise like a television with bad reception.
However, he wasn't so out of it that he didn't feel the raw steel cutting through his mangled flesh and broken bones, twisting his already twisted arms back into their right position.
It hurt in a way that even his inhuman tolerance couldn't filter out.
It had been the only thing he could think of in the spur of the moment. If his body wasn't resilient enough to withstand the punishment he was receiving, what he needed to do was to make it stronger somehow.
And what better way than to inject some steel right into it?
It was an insane plan, even for a guy that wouldn't die even when he was straight-up killed. A normal, self-preserving human wouldn't even conceive the possibility of putting swords through his own body as a method to make himself stronger. It wasn't just crazy, but also counterintuitive.
Yet, it somehow worked. His twisted limbs were forcibly set back into their right position and with his body now literally being steel-infused he was much tougher than earlier.
Heavier too, as demonstrated when the first Wraith to catch up with him tried to punt him into the sky again. Shirou caught the spectral foot with both his hand and sinking his claw-like fingers into its quasi-flesh.
The Wraith made a surprised expression when the tiny figure underneath him didn't take flight as he had done previously. Instead it found itself in precarious balance with its foot trapped.
Then he completely lost that foot, as Shirou let go of it with one hand so that he could chop down on its leg, cutting right through like a hot knife through butter.
His Body of Swords was currently made entirely of replicas of Shisui. Saeko's heirloom sword that was specialized in harming spirits such as these. Against other monsters, it wouldn't have been as effective, but right there and then Shirou was a living, breathing, Anti-Spirit blade.
The Wraith fell with a loud crash and Shirou wasted no time in jumping over him and shooting his open palm, finger first like a spear, right in its skeletal face. He went through its eyes into what passed for its brain. It was a killing blow.
Its companions, however, weren't put off by the sudden, brutal demise of their brethren and thus rushed toward Shirou, demonstrating the same lack of self-preservation as their target.
Shirou was long past using any sort of elaborated tactics at this point; he was running on fumes and sheer willpower. He jumped off the body of his latest victim and ran towards the incoming enemies.
When the closest Wraith was just a few meters away, he crouched and jumped headfirst at it, using all its strength and giving himself a spin before leaving the ground.
The mindless Wraith saw a swirling projectile of blades and blood coming faster than it could react. The human blade bullet that Shirou made himself into tore through its chest and came out of its back in a shower of ectoplasmic gore.
His moment was such that he continued flying unimpeded, his trajectory sending him straight towards the head of the Wraith behind. This one was more prepared, or simply just faster and punched Shirou in mid-air with its gargantuan fist.
It shouldn't have bothered.
The sword sticking out of Shirou's body bit into the Wraiths armored knuckle. The forward momentum was halted but now that Shirou had something to give him traction again, he used it for all it was worth.
He rolled on the Wraith's hand and arm like a fallen spinning top, tearing its ghostly flesh to pieces as he made his way up to his shoulder right until he got to and through its skeletal head.
The headless Wraith fell dead to its knees, disappearing completely before he could fully hit the ground.
For his part, Shirou went off the the side, still spinning, and crashing into the wall of a building like a deranged cannonball. Part of said building collapsed on top of him, bringing the conflict to a momentary pause.
[br]
"What? What?"
Mikado Ryouko blinked in confusion as she observed the scene through the eyes of one of her last surviving familiars. Just a few moments before, Emiya Shirou was being brutally beaten by the combined might of her artificial Wraiths.
His body was battered and broken and he looked like he was just moments away from literally falling apart. A moment later, swords erupted from his body, crudely knitting flesh and bones back together.
That was, in and of itself, enough to give pause even a magus like Ryouko. What followed only compounded the shock that it had caused. In ten seconds, two of her Wraiths had been utterly destroyed.
Her confusion was shared by her familiars. Even agglomerations of hatred like them didn't know what to make of the situation. Their resentment was born of and directed to human beings exclusively.
However, what happened before them was something that transcended human beings and put their target firmly into inhuman territory. His presence before their hollow eyes had started to vane, not because his life was literally bleeding out as it was, but because he was slowly distancing himself from the concept of human being.
Therefore, when the rubble of the building that had collapsed upon him started to shake, they did not take immediate action. When a portion of the broken wall exploded upward they could only stare in mute disbelief.
A sentiment fully shared by their master.
"What are you really, Emiya Shirou?" Mikado Ryouko asked to the empty room, as she observed his bleeding form step out from the ruins under which he had buried himself.
For all intents and purposes, he looked like the unholy fusion of a corpse and blade, but his eyes weren't the pits of hollow malice of the Wraiths. They were two golden orbs of determination, as firm and unbending as the steel the protunded from his body.
In that moment, Mikado Ryouko understood a fundamental thing.
'He won't reach his limit. No matter how much I push him. He has already surpassed it.'
He was more powerful than her Wraiths, and if they couldn't outlast him it was just a matter of time before he destroyed them.
The bottom line was that she couldn't win. He had already exceeded everything she could throw at him. Unless he doubled over and died on his own, it was only a matter of time before he'd get at her.
However, she was still a magus and there was more than one way to get at the end result.
She still had one contingency. One final way to salvage the situation. She disconnected her mind from her familiars and went to implement it. If she was lucky she only had a few minutes to spare. She had to make haste.
[br]
Blood dripped from Shirou's every wound, and they were countless. The blades sticking out from his body gave him an ominous look, and they hurt every bit as badly as it seem they would.
Nevertheless, when he pushed himself out of the rubbles, he stood with his back straight and his gaze unwavering.
That wasn't however, because of something like a heroic disposition. In fact, he wasn't so much as acting consciously in the same way a human being would. Not at all.
His mind had been bent out of its proper shape years before acquiring the Gamer Body. A situation that had been worsening through his practice of magecraft, the awakening of his Gamer Eyes and his repeated stints in the Reverse side.
In that moment, he was a machine. A machine with self-awareness, no doubt, but a machine nonetheless.
It had a goal. It had a purpose, and it acted upon it even if he broke itself down in the process. Its gears kept on spinning long past the point where they should have stopped, dealing even further damage to itself. However, even if it left bit and pieces of itself in its wake, it would keep on advancing.
Right there and then, when he pushed blades of his own making through his flesh and bones, Emiya Shirou could be referred as a human being only in very loose terms.
Therefore, it was no wonder that the Wraiths, being single-mindedly driven to pour their hatred upon humans, found themselves confused in front of the tiny creature before their eyes.
Alas, standing about like a stooge in the middle of a fight is hardly a recipe for victory.
Shirou flexed his legs and sprung forward as he had done previously. The ground exploded where he took of and in the same heartbeat one of the Wraith's arms was severed from its shoulder.
The hostile action was more than enough to wake them from their stupor, but that would not be sufficient to alter the outcome.
Landing in a crouch, Shirou skidded to a halt, causing pieces of concrete to splinter under his feet. The remaining Wraiths converged on him all together.
It was worse than useless. Every time they struck him, they cut themselves open, and they still inflicted no damage upon him since he had no more HP to lose.
Regardless, he didn't just waste time in letting them commit a slow suicide. Shirou actively fought back, punching, kicking and twisting himself through their ghostly flesh like the bundle of razor-blades he was.
Eventually, the noise of fighting died out, and only one figure remained standing upon the battlefield, covered in blood, ectoplasm and steel.
The Machine slowed down and Emiya Shirou returned to full consciousness with a shuddering breath.
"Kh!" he groaned in pain, falling to his knees. His body was trembling and his hands were shaking. He looked at them, and for a moment he didn't recognize what he was seeing. They were more like a ferocious beast's claws that human hands. He didn't dare to touch with those, but if what he could see of the rest of his body was any indication, his face wasn't probably faring much better.
He didn't have the time to feel relieved about his Gamer Body erasing all scars upon sleeping, because his Stamina bar was flashing dangerously close to zero.
He immediately reached into his inventory and put some onigiri in his mouth. He didn't like the sound his teeth made as the chewed through his impromptu meal, but he had no time to investigate it.
With his stamina sufficiently replenished, he could now put an end to this farce once and for all.
[br]
Ryouko had barely time to put down the finished object when the doors were flung off their hinges and a figure clad in steel and blood slammed her off her chair and onto the floor, pinning her down with a clawed hand around her neck. Pointed rows of teeth like matching sawblades clicked together a few inches from her face.
"Mikado Ryouko!"
Even his voice sounded like a byproduct of grinding steel. Had his vocal cords become blades as well?
"I've been waiting for you, Emiya Shirou. Don't you know it's impolite to make a lady wait?"
The hold around her neck tightened. Perhaps it wasn't a smart idea to make fun of the man who quite literally held her life in his hands.
"Give me a way to bring Saeko out of here. I won't ask you twice."
Ryouko had correctly pinned Shirou as someone who disliked doing harm to others, but she understood quite well that she had pushed him to a point where he would not hesitate to take her life. He hadn't yet only because he needed her.
"Of course, but I need you to do something for me."
"You are in no position to bargain." he growled.
"Please. You are the only one who can save her." she whispered.
She looked to her left, towards the last remaining crystal. The one that held her most precious person in the world. She saw with the corner of her eye Emiya Shirou doing the same.
The grip around her neck loosened ever-so-slightly.
"I'll do anything if you help me save her," she promised. "Everything I did and everything I'll do is for her sake."
This was her final bet. Emiya, no, Shirou could have run from the Reverse Side on his own at anytime. It certainly would have taken him a long time to do so, but alone he would have been able to make his way out. Instead, he fought head-on, pushing himself to inhuman lengths for the sake of protecting one woman.
Busujima Saeko was undoubtedly some dear to him, but no other magus would have risked his life for anything short of the advancement of their magecraft. Even the lives of their own children wasn't that important, for more heirs could always be made.
Yet this specific magus tore himself to pieces from the inside out for the sake of a single person. Either their bond was that strong, or Shirou's character was like that. He was someone who cared, plain and simple.
"I cannot trust you." he told her. It was true enough. She had certainly done nothing to gain his trust. Quite the opposite in fact.
"I know. So I made something that would make you trust me. On the desk..."
The hold around her neck tightened again, while his eyes searched her own for answers, looking for a reason against all reason not to hurt her. Truly, it was obvious that this was a man that hated violence down to his bones. It was almost funny how good at it he was in spite of that.
"I could have ran anytime," she explained. "I might not have been able to stop you, but I could have easily gotten away."
That seemed something he agreed with because after a moment of pondering he let go of her neck. Slowly, warily and without ever removing his eyes from her he got off her and backed to the same desk at which she had been sitting before he tackled her down.
There was but a single piece of parchment upon it.
"This is..."
"A Self-Geas scroll," she supplied, massaging her neck. "I think you'll find the contents more than satisfactory."
[br]
Shirou picked up the scroll and examined it with his Gamer Eyes.
[Self Geas Scroll (Active)]
[The signers of this document will have to comply to the terms stated therein, least they suffer a fatal penalty]
Yes, it was the real deal. His eyes moved to read its contents.
I, Mikado Ryouko, hereby swear to immediately and permanently cease all hostile actions, be them direct or indirect, against Emiya Shirou and his own unless in self-defense.
Additionally, in exchange for his binding oath to employ all of his abilities to help securing a method to save Tearju Lunatique, I pledge to support him in whatever capacity he requires, without restriction of time or resources, up to but not limited to, full disclosure of all my knowledge of magecraft, until such a time either one of us dies or he releases me from this portion of the oath.
Shirou was quite flabbergasted as he read those terms. It wasn't just a complete surrender without conditions on her part. Even if it was put in nice, legal-sounding terms, if he accepted the second part of the contract Mikado Ryouko would become his veritable slave so long as he helped her, to the point that she'd share all of her magecraft with him.
Moreover, she had already signed it. The first part of the contract was already in effect. She could no longer act against him in any way. All that was left was for him to sign it as well, to bind her to him for life.
That other woman in the crystal, Tearju Lunatique, had to be someone incredibly important to Mikado Ryouko if these were the lengths she was willing to go.
Shirou glanced at Ryouko, who was standing quietly to the side. She didn't look perturbed in the least for someone who had just signed away her free will.
Now, if he had been anyone else, he would have been more wary. He would have suspected something was amiss, because there was no way that someone would expose herself so much for the sake of someone else.
Except that he was Emiya Shirou and he understood perfectly well how it felt to have the burning wish to save someone. As such, there was just one thing he could say about it.
"I refuse."
"What?" Mikado blinked.
"I said I refuse. I don't mind at all helping your friend. I don't need you to go to these lengths. More importantly, Saeko needs help faster. Let's move her outside of the Reverse Side right now."
His refusal seemed to finally make her composure crack and a hint of panic flashed on her face.
"No... I need a guarantee that you won't just go back on your word when the task proves to be too difficult or too dangerous."
Shirou narrowed his eyes. So the binding wasn't for her as much as it was for him. She fully expected the task to be so hazardous that her complete subservience for life was a fair price to pay for his cooperation. She wouldn't be surprised if he died in the process, so she wanted to make sure he couldn't bail out. This way, she'd either have her friend successfully saved, or she would have ultimately succeeded in killing him. Either way this was a win-win proposition for her.
Clearly she didn't know him if she had to use such means. The lack of trust, it seemed, was entirely mutual. Then again, her first plan hadn't been to ask for his help, but rather to capture him for experimentation. This was just the next best thing to achieve her primary objective.
Alas, Shirou had no time to waste trying to convince he would never renege on the promise of helping someone, and since with this contract she had provided him with a sureway to make her save Saeko, he had no choice but to take the chance that was being proffered.
"Fine! Have it your way."
He grabbed hold of the pen and signed his own name at the bottom of the scroll.
[Status Received: Geas]
[You have been willingly bound by an oath]
[Clear Conditions: Heal Tearju Lunatique]
[NEW QUEST: Through the Valley of the Shadow (I)]
[Description: Find a way to heal Tearju Lunatique]
[Rewards for success: 1,000,000 Exp, ?, ?, ?, ?]
[Consequences of failure: Tearju Lunatique's DEATH, Mikado Ryouko's DEATH]
'Heok,' Shirou thought, looking at the prompt in front of his face. The amount of EXP was always proportional to the difficulty of a Quest. What kind of gargantuan task did he just sign himself up to? The amount of experience offered as reward was greater than all the cumulative experience he had acquired until now. Not to mention the other hidden rewards.
However, the thing that worried him the most was neither the difficulty nor the reward, but rather what would happen if he failed. Two lives depended on him surpassing whatever obstacle this Quest had in store for him.
Still, that too was a thought for another time.
"You've got what you wanted, now it's time to save Saeko. Let's get going."
"Understood," Mikado agreed. "Let me just get what I need for the job."
[br]
It was hard to say how long Saeko had been laying inside the replica of Shirou's toolshed. Time had the tendency to slow to a crawl inside a closed space while her body was being ravaged by a strong fever.
A first, the heat had subsided a little when Shirou had locked her inside of the shed. Whatever Mystery he had used, it managed to lower the amount of ambient Mana, but ultimately it was still more than her body could deal with.
With the passing of the minutes, staying conscious was becoming increasingly more difficult, but she knew that if she fell unconscious, her survival chances would plummet.
She had to hold out, not just for herself, but for Shirou as well.
He was out there, fighting against who knew what for the single reason of saving her. He wasn't affected as badly as her from the excess Mana and he was both driven and skilled enough to get himself out of this predicament.
She would not have him go through all of that only for him to come back to her lifeless body. She wasn't that much of an ingrate, thank you very much.
But although the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak and getting weaker by the minute. Her sweat-covered body ached and her lungs burned with every breath she took. She didn't know how much longer she could last, and she didn't even have enough strength to pray.
Not for herself. Even if she were to die on this day, she wouldn't regret a thing. She had already received more than she deserved in her opinion. Her prayers would have been for Shirou, because she knew he would have blamed himself for anything that happened to her.
He was, by far, the most kind-hearted person she knew. It was one of the reason why she loved him, but it was also his greatest weakness. He had a heart made of glass. Pure and transparent but all too easy to shatter.
Saeko never wanted to see the day when Shirou's heart broke, and at this rate she certainly wouldn't, even if she was the cause for it breaking in the first place.
However, just as all hopes seemed to on the brink of disappearing, she heard his voice calling out for her.
For a moment, she thought she had imagined it. An hallucination brought by the fever, but his voice only became stronger, until the steel door cracked open and his silhouette appeared.
She gave him a weak smile a moment before darkness claimed her and she knew no more.
[br]
"Saeko!" Shirou cried out when he saw his girlfriend close her eyes. He rushed to her side but stopped short of touching her. With his hands in their current state, he would turn her to shreds.
"Allow me." Mikado said, kneeling next to Saeko's unconscious form. She pulled out an amulet from the pocket of her white coat and rapidly put it around Saeko's neck.
Shirou examined the object with his Gamer Eyes.
[Amulet of Mana Resistance (I)]
[Description: Increases the user's natural resistance to foreign energies by 25%]
'So that's how Mikado-san managed to stay down here for such a long time.'
A Mystic Code that increased the resistance to the dense ambient Mana of the Reverse Side was just about what he would need to venture deeper and longer into this mysterious land.
"Your friend should be fine. With this amulet around her neck it's only a matter of time before her temperature drops to normal level. It might take a while though, so I suggest you cool down her body with fresh water.
"Can you… could you please carry her for me?" Shirou asked. "I can't really touch her right now."
"As you wish." she said, hooking one arm behind Saeko's knees and her shoulders, lifting Saeo bridal style. Mikado Ryouko had considerable strength for a woman of her size, but then again she was a magus and Reinforcement was the most basic of spells.
Shirou quickly showed her to one of his rooms and went to fetch cool water and towels for Saeko. When he returned, Mikado was sitting seiza next to Saeko, dutifully waiting his return.
He proceeded to wipe Saeko's sweat and placed the wet towel on her forehead. Her labored breath was slowly becoming more relaxed and her complexion improved by the minute.
Shirou felt himself relax as well, and with the draining of the tension that kept him going until know he started to feel the weight of his extreme exertion. He was still bleeding Stamina due to being in Die Hard mode.
He looked straight into Mikado's eyes who looked back calmly.
"I'm going to take a nap."
That sudden declaration made Mikado blink in surprise, but understanding slowly filtered through her eyes.
"I take that your regenerative ability works only while you rest, yes?"
"... what gave it away?" he asked.
"You have a reputation for healing from the most grievous of wounds in the span of a few hours, but I haven't seen any sign of that happening yet. Clearly, some condition have to be met for it to happen. A restriction of some sort."
"You are too clever for your own good." he said with a snort.
"Not as clever as I would have liked. In the end, I drove myself into a corner."
There was nothing that Shirou could say to that. He knew little of the situation to make a comment.
"We'll talk more once I wake up. Still, there is something I want to know before turning in. You clearly have some idea for what it takes to help your friend. What exactly do you expect me to do?"
"The nature of Tearju's wound is mystical," she explained. "I need to break the curse that prevents her to be healed and the most direct way to do that is to kill the originator of the curse."
"Huh. And who exactly is this originator?"
"Her name… she is known to the world as Scáthach, the Queen of the Land of Shadows. The woman that ascended to the rank of a Divine Spirit by her own merit and was was expelled from the world as result."
'Well,' Shirou thought with dark humor, 'It sure sounds like I'm going to have to sweat for those experience points after all.'
The poor fool had no idea what he was talking about. There was nowhere enough compensation in the entire world for taking on this task, but that was something he would inevitably find out on his own.
For better or worse.
XXX