[EMIYA SHIROU]
[THE GAMER]
[LV 46 -13000/45.000]
[HP: 3800][MP: 35][MC: 27][ST: 920][SP: 5]
[STR: 50][DEX: 50][INT: 50][WIS: 50][CHR: 102]
[ATK: 100] [DEF:100]

[You have slept on the ground]

[HP, MP and ST restored up to 20%]

Shirou blinked and sat up, immediately checking his surroundings.

Even though it was night, there was enough moonlight for him to see the outline of trees all around him,

"Why was I sleeping in a place like this?" he asked himself, shaking his head as he tried to recall his last memory. "I had dinner with Mikado-san and then… ow!"

The moment he tried to remember the events after that he felt a sharp pain through his head and his vision turned white. It was painful enough to make him want to puke and considering his innate resistance that was saying something.

"What the hell happened?" he groaned, massaging his forehead. "How long have I been here?"

He checked his wristwatch, which showed it was slightly before midnight. That was almost four hours since his most recent memory. Four hour of nothingness. What had happened to knock him out cold that way?

Through his Gamer powers, the simple act of sleeping should have denied any and every aftereffect from physical trauma he might have suffered. A quick glance showed that his HP was maxed out, even though sleeping on the ground could restore just 20% of it.

He was also wearing his leather armor, which meant that at some point he had put it on

Everything suggested that his amnesia wasn't the result of being hit too hard on the head, so he called out the status screen and found an explanation for his condition right there.

[Mana Backlash]
[Description: You suffered from an overload of Mana, which messed up with your mind. The duration of the abnormal status is: XX:XX:XX]

"Well, that's helpful," he sighed. Although he didn't know how long it would take to recover his memories, he could guess what had happened. Something must have gone wrong with the ritual to open a portal to the Reverse Side. What, however, he didn't know.

"There's too much energy!"

He managed to recall a small memory. A shard like a piece of glass that stabbed through his skull and stopped him from recalling anything further. Yep, something had not gone according to plan.

Obviously and as usual.

"No use sitting here, then," he decided, pulling himself up to his feet.

The world wobbled dangerously and he almost fell back on his ass, but he managed to steady himself by putting a hand on the tree under which he had been sleeping. He took a few slow breaths until he felt confident enough about standing on his legs once more.

"Alright. Let's figure out where the hell I am."

The place was nothing like the area that he had picked to perform the ritual, which was a flat clearing next to the mountain side. His current location was a much steeper slope, so he definitely wasn't in the same place as before.

However, the concentration of Mana in the air was quite thick, so it was safe to assume that he had successfully crossed over to the Reverse Side.

This was not a good thing. The plan consisted of him going in on his own, while Mikado remained in the real world to open the portal again, at the same place 24 hours later.

However, was Mikado alright? She was there when the ritual went ass-over-teakettle. He hoped she had gotten away better than he did.

But what if she hadn't? What if she had fallen into this side as well?

Mikado was a Magus, but not a fighter. Unlike the second layer in Misaki, this wasn't her territory. Would she be fine on her own?

"First thing, I must find the area of the ritual again," he concluded. "Maybe I'll find some clue over there, but how will I find the place again?"

Without knowing his position, going in a direction at random would only make things worse. He needed to reach a vantage point from which he could assess which way was which.

Fortunately, he was on a mountain. If he could go to the top, he would have the eagle eye over the island, and from there he would be able to locate his destination.

With that in mind, he started to make his way upward.

[br]

Shirou had the impression that something was wrong almost immediately, but he got confirmation when he found himself faced by a rocky cliff wall that went up above the tree. There shouldn't have been any part like that on the island, according to the research he did before leaving. The mountain of Megijima wasn't that tall to begin with.

"Can it be that the topography changes in the Reverse Side?"

He never stepped out of the city limits back in Fuyuki, except for his unfortunate stint in the park, as it was regarded as an elaborate form of suicide. It could very well be that the landscape was different outside of humanity's sphere of influence.

In any event, the plan didn't change. He needed to go up, and up he would go. Climbing a vertical cliff wall didn't rank very high on the scale of the dangerous things he did. Besides, with his high STR it was more likely that the rock itself would give in before his grip would.

Putting the sword back into the inventory, he started to make his way towards the summit.

It was a very slow business. Although his grip was solid, he still had to plan his route carefully. Rock-climbing was only fifty percent physical preparation, after all. Experience and focus also played a huge role, and while Shirou had lots of the latter he didn't possess much of the former.

However, his persistence paid off, and he eventually reached the peak.

Between the moonlight and the fact that he had reinforced his eyes, Shirou was able to see very far despite being night, but nothing of what he was seeing really put him in a good mood.

Megijima was a very small island. It would take less than two hours for an ordinary person on foot to do a round trip of its coastline.

The island that Shirou was currently on was easily ten times the size of that, and the mountain upon which he was standing was much taller than the one on Megijima. Furthermore, it was neither the only mountain nor the tallest one. He could see at least three more, the tallest of which was four or five times bigger than the one he was currently on.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of displaced water, and his attention was drawn to his left.

"Oh," he said. "Fuck."

Shirou wasn't really prone to swearing. It would take something extreme to bring him to the point where his dismay needed to be expressed in such a crass manner, but this was most definitely the case.

A figure had emerged from the ocean, several kilometers away from his position. A snake-like creature big enough for him to see despite it being so far away. It kept on rising towards the sky, as high above the sea level as Shirou stood and perhaps even a bit higher. All of this, even though the end of its tail had yet to come out.

It then arched back down, heading back towards the ocean, breaking the surface of the water in a second point, creating an arc in the sky. Only after several seconds did the end of the tail emerge, following the trail of the creature's head and finally disappearing into the waters once again.

'Phantasmal Beast,' he concluded, because what else could it be? But Phantasmal Beasts were existences akin to gods and they had been long since repelled into the depths of the Reverse Side.

Which in turn meant that that's exactly where he was.

'No, I was supposed to just get to the first layer. How did I end up here?'

"There's too much energy!"

Oh, yeah. Something had gone awfully, terribly and horribly wrong, and now he had to find a way back entirely on his own. It would be neither simple nor easy. He'd be willing to bet it wouldn't be fast either. He was struck with the painful awareness that even if he survived and made his way back, Taiga and Saeko would probably kill him.

Where was he supposed to go from there? How would he find his way back?

"Why do things like these keep happening to me?" he complained under his breath, lest he attracted the attention of some creature lurking in the darkness.

That wasn't a question to which he would find an answer anytime soon.

[br]

Somewhere, upon the island, another person opened her eyes. She stood up slowly but steadily, but her face soon morphed into one of confusion. There was something wrong with her body. It was different than usual, bigger. Even her clothes weren't her own.

What had happened? What had caused this sudden change?

She slowly examined her hands and then used her fingers to draw the line of her face, from the chin and up to the forehead. She had the impression that her face was different as well.

What a mystery.

Oh, well. Surely everything would become apparent, in time. Furthermore, it was an interesting diversion. More importantly, she was very thirsty and very, very hungry. There should be a village nearby. It was time to swoop down for a midnight snack.

[br]

Similarly, in different locations of the island, two more people jolted awake, both of them disgruntled from waking up in a strange place in and in even stranger circumstances. How had they gotten there?

Something weird was afoot and they intended to get at the bottom of this situation. Especially because they couldn't recall what they had been doing before ending up like that.

Neither one of them was the kind of person to let a mystery go unsolved, although for very different reasons. They both got up and started moving, each in theìr own direction, entirely unaware that there were other people that were just as lost as themselves.

[br]

Since the island was mostly covered by woods, looking at it from above bore only mixed results. Trying to find someone in the forest was worse than searching for a needle in a haystack.

If Mikado had been brought to this side with him, she would soon realize as much, and head down to the shore instead, like he was doing in that moment.

He only hoped that she wouldn't run onto any problem. So far, Shirou didn't encounter anything dangerous, but that could change at any moment.

That was why he made his way down slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible. He truly didn't fancy fighting anything that lived this deep within the reverse side. Fortunately, his ability to sense the supernatural would warn him long before anything spotted him, but it never hurt to be cautious.

By the time he made it down, the sun was starting to rise, making it easier to see around.

Unfortunately, the shore wasn't as empty as he had hoped for, as there were some crustacean monsters that averaged on level 50 roaming around the place. Each and everyone of them was bigger than Shirou. Their shells looked as sturdy as rocks and Shirou didn't really like his odds against them, as he had no idea how strong they actually were. His experience with seafaring creatures suggested that there could be much more hiding under the surface.

He decided to stay behind the treeline, for the time being, and check out the coastline from the relative safety of the forest.

He walked through the trees for several hours following the beach. At some point he detected other supernatural presences deeper in the woods but he stayed away from them.

He proceeded until he came upon an unusual sight.

Mummified corpses of some small, horned humanoid creatures. Dozens of them were strewn about the surrounding woods. Speaking of which, even the trees seemed to have suffered a similar fate, having lost all their leaves.

Shirou threw the [Mysterious Corpse]s into his inventory, because there was no good reason to leave behind the body of a supernatural creature when he could effortlessly transport them. He also found several weapons, such as clubs and hand scythes. Those too went into his Inventory.

Interestingly enough, even his Gamer Eyes didn't recognize what these creatures were. It was odd, since it could tell the names of people he didn't know. He wondered what was the difference, but he already knew that the Gamer Eyes weren't all seeing, so he left it at that.

The most important thing, he realized after he was done cleaning up the area, was that this was not some spontaneous occurrence, but rather the result of a fight. He could tell from the footprints, especially those moving away from the area.

A handful of smaller prints that obviously belonged to some other of these creatures, and then a single pair of human imprints.

'A female adult. Mikado-san?"

If that was the case, then this situation could easily be explained by Magecraft, even though Shirou couldn't be sure of it. Modern day Magecraft shouldn't work in the deeper layer of the Reverse Side, except for the simplest one's like Shirou's own Reinforcement and Projection.

Whatever did this damage should not fall in this category. However, previously Mikado had set up her base into the second Layer of the Reverse Side, where her mysteries still worked fine, so perhaps she had a way around that?

Regardless, that wasn't really important at the moment.

What mattered was that a woman had obviously been taken captive by these creatures and that didn't bode well for her at all. There was no need to consider pro and cons. Shirou had to rescue her, regardless of who she was and the risks involved.

Shirou wasn't much of a tracker, but the group and their captive moved towards the beach. Unless they went too close to the sea, he should be able to follow their footprints

He dashed out of the forest, ignoring the sea creatures near the water. They ignored him in return or didn't notice him at all.

In any case their bulky bodies and short legs wouldn't have been able to keep up with Shirou's running speed, which kicked up a trail of sand in his wake. Even without Reinforcement, with his high DEX he was faster than a speeding car.

Unfortunately the imprints on the sand were almost completely gone, which suggested it had been a few hours since they had passed by there. He needed to make haste.

He didn't know what these creatures were yet, or what they wanted, but it couldn't possibly be anything good. Supernatural creatures that didn't see humans as enemies or prey were few and far between.

Unfortunately, the tracks turned from the beach back towards the forest, disappearing between the trees.

Cursing under his breath, Shirou was forced to slow down. Even if he could and would disregard the damage he received from running into a tree, or a dozen, he would be broadcasting his approach from miles away if he rushed through the vegetation with all the grace of a freight train.

Losing the element of surprise against a numerically superior opponent of unknown abilities with a hostage was the worst possible scenario he could think of. Although his first instinct was to bulldoze through everything, he had to slow down and proceed carefully. It wasn't his life that was at stake here.

Following the trail in the forest was far less simple, looking for broken branches and stepping upon leaves was a more subtle affair than following semi-distinct footprints on the sand.

Unfortunately, his quarry didn't seem to have such reservations, and Shirou did not catch up with them.

At least, not until he arrived at their destination.

It was a village, of sorts. Misshapen huts erected on a forest ground, muddy from having been stepped upon too many times. No, more than a village, it looked like a temporary camp that had been lived for longer than it was supposed to, and it had started resembling a permanent settlement.

But the architecture of the place was the least of Shirou's interests. Its inhabitants were a much greater reason for worry.

Small, hunched-over, green-skinned creatures with a single horn growing at one corner of their foreheads. Their living version was something that his Gamer Eyes could recognize.

[Lesser Oni]

[Lv. 75]

There were perhaps two dozen of them in the area, and probably more hiding in the nearby trees. To his surprise, there were also humans among them, dressed in rags and looking like they had been through hell. By the looks of it, it seemed they were being treated as slaves.

Now, Shirou wasn't necessarily pro-human just because he was one himself. He harbored no ill intent for supernatural creatures on a principle and he would treat a sentient one the same as he would a human being. That is, provided that they embraced a humane way of living. Regardless if they were humans or not, he would not condone slavery.

He had to free these people.

But he needed a plan, and he didn't have one. Putting aside the personal risk of facing higher level opponents in such numbers, there was the fact that their captives could be used as hostages.

Unfortunately, there was no way he could sneak in. He was the very antithesis of circumspect.

At least, he could spy upon them from a distance by Reinforcing his hearing.

"Kiik! The last one we caught looks juicy! When are we going to eat her?"

"Fsha! Are you crazy? She killed twenty of ours. She's going to turn you into a mummy the moment you touch her. Nah, we'll keep her caged up till the boss comes back."

"Shame," a third Oni lamented. "She looks delicious."

Shirou's blood ran cold as he heard their conversation. Indeed, Oni were notoriously eaters of people in Japanese folklore, but he had hoped that wasn't really the case. Their prisoners weren't just slaves, but food as well.

Now more than ever he needed to rescue the hostages.

Since sneaking in wasn't an option, he would have to bring the Oni out instead with a distraction. If he could lure most of them away from the camp, he was reasonably sure he could kill those left behind.

He only had to find something that would get their attention.

But what could he use?

He opened his inventory and scrolled through its contents. stopping only when something drew his attention.

Hm. It would be dangerous, and there was a high chance that things would turn from bad to worse…

… but it was worth a shot. This plan would get the Oni running. In one direction or another.

[br]

The Oni encampment had a rudimentary wall made of wooden stakes, and a small watchtower from which a guard watched the surroundings.

Oni were inherently lazy creatures, so guard duty was fundamentally a time for napping, since there wasn't anyone that would come causing trouble for them upon this island.

The only excitement was the occasional outsider, like the woman they had captured earlier that day, but those happened once in a blue moon.

Sol, the Oni that was supposed to stand guard, slept easily and did not wake up until the smell of smoke had become too strong for him to sleep through.

When he cracked open his eyes, the fire had already become a wall of flames wider than their camp and clearly moving in their direction.

At first, he did not believe what he was seeing and he rubbed his eyes several times before accepting it as the uncomfortable reality.

"WATER! GET THE FIRE! NO! THERE'S A FIRE! GET THE WATER!" he shouted in a panic

On another side of the camp, a redhead boy grinned and clutched his weapons tighter, ready to snap into action.

[br]

Inside one of the buildings, a bound and gagged woman heard the cries coming from outside.

It could be nothing, or it could be something.

After she had been captured, she thought she was done for. Unable to make use of her abilities, she was as powerless as a newborn kitten. Therefore, when she heard the ruckus outside, she couldn't help but hope that it was part of a rescue operation, even though it was most likely impossible.

Who would ever come to rescue her of all people? Even if there was someone willing to mount a token effort elsewhere, no one would come looking for her in a place like this.

There was just no way.

And yet, her heart couldn't let go of that sliver of hope.

[br]

Reinforced molotov-fire, Shirou realized, spread faster than he had hoped.

Much, much faster.

In the concrete jungle of Fuyuki, it died out pretty fast. Inside a forest, the effect was downright vicious. He never thought that such an impromptu weapon would be so devastating, but there it was.

That was for the best though.

The great majority of the Oni population went to try and put it out, leaving behind just a small garrison to watch the camp.

Ironically, the weakened condition of the slaves made them absolutely useless in these circumstances. Their demanciated bodies couldn't carry heavy buckets of water. A few of the Oni had tried to corral them into doing just that, but no matter how much they threatened punishment by eating, the slaves just didn't have the strength in them anymore.

On the downside, that also meant that he couldn't just take them and run. He would have to kill every single Oni before the slaves could be considered safe.

Well, that just meant that he would have to unleash a bloodbath again. The Oni had left him no other choice.

He studied their movements a little bit, trying to gauge what their strength and overall speed was.

Even if their level were about the same, these Oni didn't look as fast or as powerful as the Wraith controlled by Mikado. However, they weren't mere manifestations of human hatred and resentment that zeroed onto the nearest human being, mindless of their own vulnerability.

The Oni were far more intelligent, and it was precisely this aspect that made them as dangerous as something superior in raw power.

Still, that meant that if Shirou could mow them down with more ease, and if he did fast enough, they would not be able to display that intelligence against him.

It would have to be a Blitzkrieg.

[br]

Suddenly the commotion outside intensified. Those creatures had been shouting for a while now, something about a fire. That blew the wind out of her sails, tossing her back in that abyss of despair she had barely started to crawl out from.

However, these new shouts rekindled her hopes. These new sounds were something she was more familiar with.

There were the sounds and screams of battle.

"HMMMPH! HMMMPH!"she tried to shout through her gag, slamming her body against the wall in an attempt to be heard.

There was no guarantee that whomever had attacked this camp would be any better than the creatures that had captured her. However, beggars could not be choosers, and at the present time there was no one who was more beggar than her.

The sounds kept escalating, until they started to die down, instead, almost as if the battle was moving elsewhere.

It wasn't a rescue operation after all. Whatever was happening outside, it wasn't about her. No one was coming to save her.

Eventually, even the distant sound of battle died out completely, and the only thing that she could hear was the intense noise of a fire not too far away as well as the smell of smoke, getting more intense by the minute, becoming almost suffocating in a relatively short time.

Now hopelessness turned into abject terror. This is how she'd die? Suffocated by smoke? Burned alive?

She trashed further against her restraints, but they held strong no matter how much she tried.

Now the smell of smoke was starting to get overpowering, and tears had begun falling from her eyes and not just because the smoke stung them.

'I don't want to die. Please. Please, save me. Please, someone. Anyone!'

And almost as if someone up above had heard her desperate plea, the door to her prison was yanked away from its crude but sturdy frame and she found herself staring at the last person in the world who she'd expect to see.

And he looked just as surprised to see her as she was.

"Huh? Why are you here? Matsumoto-san!"

And as much as she would have loved to answer him, Rangiku could only sob through her gag in sheer relief.

Against all odds, she had been saved.

[XXX]

AN: Hey everyone, it's been a while. Did you forget about me? I'm sure most of you did. I decided to return (tentatively) to this site after a long time. For the sake of keeping in touch with you all and discuss my stories, I've made a Discord Server. Send me a PM and I'll send you an invite.