[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]

Now more than ever, Shirou was glad to have acquired the Archery skill. Although far from being a master at it, being able to strike the enemy before coming in contact with them was a game changer.

Especially when setting up an ambush.

It was pretty useful all around, although the two Oni who had their eyes pierced by his arrows before they could shout in alarm wouldn't quite agree with that sentiment if they still could think.

Shirou rushed past their dead bodies mere seconds after they had hit the ground. The other Oni inside the camp noticed him right away, but still far too late to organize themselves in a way that mattered.

Before he even came into contact with them, he equipped the throwing knives he had bought from Yoruichi and threw them at the creatures closest to the building that he had identified as the slave pens, before switching to Saeko's katana Shisui and mowing down the Oni in close range territory.

The level of every individual Oni was higher than Shirou, but his raw Stats were much higher than how they would have been if he had increased them through points-allocation only. In combination with Reinforcement they were magnified even further.

The end result was that he mowed them down as if he was reaping wheat. Although Shisui was specialized in destroying incorporeal beings like Wraiths, it was still a better weapon than what the Oni had brought to bear. Iron clubs and assorted farming tools didn't quite cut it against an actual weapon wielded by a master swordsman backed up by Magecraft like Shirou.

It was a bloodbath. Heads rolled and blood spewed up in the air like fireworks during Tanabata. No one who knew Shirou for the kind-hearted, violence-hating young man that he was could possibly picture him in that moment without seeing him.

A (miniature) Death God descended.

Not the furious type either. There was no anger on his face as he slaughtered Oni after Oni, but rather a quiet resignation. They had to die, so he killed them. He found no enjoyment or satisfaction, but rather a silent pang of regret for every life he took.

However, there was no other choice.

'You can only be a hero to the people you side with,' he recalled Kiritsugu saying, and unfortunately for the Oni, Shirou wasn't on their side.

He did not hate them, for it was their very nature to be that way. They were monsters not because they were not human, but because they enjoyed and thrived upon human beings. He lacked the means to control them in any significant way, so the only thing he could do was to kill them as swiftly as possible.

They might have stood a chance if they had organized their numbers, or taken the slaves hostage, but since most of them had gone to put out the fire, and Shirou had killed the guards, they could only drop like flies in the wake of his passing.

It took less than a minute to kill the dozen or so monsters that were still inside the camp. The last of them died before the dust from the first dead body had settled.

Only the sound of raging fire could be heard in the distance, and a banging noise coming from the slave cells.

As much as he would have wanted to free them right there and then, they were safer in there. He needed to clean up the rest of the Oni first. Scattered through the forest as they were and with the fire at their back, they would be even more easy pickings.

With a last glance to the cells, he immediately dashed towards the woods.

He ran into a solitary Oni with an empty bucket of water and he slayed it down before it even registered that it was under attack. By the time its body hit the ground, Shirou was already nowhere in sight. With his small frame and high DEX it was impossible to keep track of him inside the densely packed forest.

He didn't need to worry about making noise. Between the fire and the Oni running around madly, no one would pay attention to one more set of footsteps, and they would die by the time they saw him.

There was a tiny little problem though. He was running out of stamina. Lilith's Blessing (curse) was draining him at twice the usual speed, so at one point he had to stop and stuff his mouth full with food before he could resume reaping lives.

Snacking in the middle of a battle was a luxury he could afford only because he was fighting weaker opponents in short bursts. In a prolonged battle against a more powerful opponent, he would burn himself out much more quickly. For someone who was heavily reliant on stamina like he did, it was truly a curse.

Cleaning up the Oni came first, then freeing the slaves and fleeing the forest before they all barbecued.

It took less than ten minutes to kill all of them. A few had probably run away, because his kill count didn't match with the numbers he had counted before setting up the fire. All the more reason to free the prisoners. It would be a disaster if the missing Oni came back with reinforcements. Shirou was acutely aware that they were Lesser Oni, which probably meant that there would also be not-Lesser Oni of much higher power.

He didn't fancy running into them anytime soon, so he backtracked all the way to the camp.

He was glad to find it exactly how he left it, without signs of other Oni coming back in his absence. However, the wind had turned into this direction, causing the smoke to blow this way. It wasn't to the point of being dangerous yet, but the sooner they left the happier he'd be.

The prison building was clearly the sturdiest of all, for obvious reasons. Whereas the other buildings were made of wood, this one was actually made with stone. The construction was still a little shoddy but much firmer. Breaking out with the strength of an ordinary human being wasn't possible.

There were several cells closed by thick iron bars, inside which sat emaciated people with eyes like those of a dead fish. They didn't react to his presence, seemingly having lost all will to live. They didn't seem to care about what would happen to them.

Shirou could only imagine what the Oni had put them through. He was about to free them, when he noticed that at the very end of the building there was another door, this one made entirely of iron without a single hole.

It didn't take a genius to figure that it was meant to keep something more dangerous than the average slave.

Shirou didn't have the key to open it, and neither did he have the time to go look for it, so he put his hands on it and pulled. The building was sturdy, but nowhere near enough to go against his Reinforced strength.

The door came cleanly off its hinges with a groan of twisted metal and he threw it unceremoniously aside with a loud slam.

As he hoped, there was a woman inside the cell. However, against his wishes, it wasn't Mikado.

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

"Hmphh!" the blonde woman replied. Now that he really looked at her, he saw that she was gagged and her hands were tied behind her back. She was still wearing the white sundress from when he last saw her the previous day. However, it was ripped in places and dirty with blood and mud. Her shoes were also notably absent.

"Hold on, I'll free you right away," he told her. They might not have been in the friendliest of terms, but this was way beyond that. As he walked behind her to undo her restraints, he noticed that her blonde hair was stained with encrusted blood. She must have received a hit to the head.

"Oh, God," she said as soon as her gag was removed. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Don't worry about it. How are you? Is the wound on your head serious?"

"I…I should be fine, I think. I've been hit worse than that."

"How did you end up here?" he asked next.

"I…. don't know. I'm not sure. The last thing I recall for certain is visiting the cherry trees at the overlook on the mountain, yesterday evening. Or at least I think it was yesterday. Next thing I know I woke up on this other island. I ran into a patrol of these creatures while I was trying to figure out where the hell I was."

"Sounds about the same as me," he told her, as he finished untying her arms. "Did you see anyone else? If you are here, then I think Mikado-san might too."

"Ryouko? No, you are the only other person I know. I saw other humans in the camp, but no one I recognized."

"I see. Too bad. Anyway, we should get out of here. Can you walk?" he asked as he helped her to her feet.

"Yes. I'm fine. I'm a bit ditzy but walking is no problem. I assume you killed the Oni?"

"All those I could find, but they might be back with reinforcements anytime soon."

"Did you happen to find the hilt of a sword on them?" she asked. "They took it from me."

"A hilt? Just the hilt? No, I can't say that I have, but I haven't been looking out for it either. Is it important?"

"Sort of. It doesn't matter right now. Cough! Let's get out of here."

"I'm going to free the other prisoners, come with me."

They both left the room and Shirou immediately started cracking open every other cell by ripping open the crude lock that kept them close.

"Come on, you're free. Let's leave this place."

The slaves got on their feet slowly, part because they were weak and part because they didn't seem to believe that what they heard was real.

"Free? Are we... really free?"

"Yes, come on," Shirou confirmed. "The fire is spreading this way. We need to get as far away as we can right now."

That seemed to return a bit of hope in their eyes, and they followed him unsteadily out of the prison. They became further invigorated when they saw the corpses of the Oni littering the ground outside.

These had been their captors and their tormentors. Only someone like Shirou wouldn't feel a sense of vindication upon seeing them slaughtered to the last.

They left the area in the direction of the beach, just when the fire Shirou had caused started to burn the edges of the perimeter walls. The flames soon engulfed the camp, turning to ashes everything in its path except the unforgettable memories of the horrors that had taken place inside it.

No fire could extinguish those.

[br]

With a wall of hot flames on their tails, the ragtag group led by Shirou moved faster than what he would have expected from the emaciated lot. However, when someone became too tired to walk he ended up having to help them move himself.

At one point he had a person riding him over the shoulders while he simultaneously carried someone's bridal style. It was quite odd, seeing someone his size easily carrying two people much bigger than himself.

As his passengers took turns in being carried, Shirou noticed something that had escaped him until that moment, due to how dirty and starved the former prisoners were.

They were all young women. The oldest seemed to be in her mid-twenties and Shirou would be willing to bet that with some food and rest they would look even younger. There was no need to ask where the men had gone. They had either fought to death, or they had ended up as Oni food first.

If Shirou had any feeling of remorse for killing them before, it was completely gone by now.

Eventually, they made it to the beach short before sunset. The stretch of sand was wide enough to put them at a safe distance from the vegetation. The fire would not reach them there.

Just in time too, because Shirou's stamina was again near zero.

He gently put down the two women that he had carried for the last stretch and sat heavily on the sand. He was imitated by just about everybody else, minus Matsumoto, who was nowhere near as tired as the others.

In fact, she looked like she was perfectly rested. The blemishes on her skin were gone and even her hair seemed like she had just walked out of the hairdresser.

Was he hallucinating, or did she have some weird ability? Of course it had to be the latter. She wouldn't be part of the Moonlit World if she wasn't special in some way like that.

"Are you alright?" she asked, kneeling next to him and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah… that was just… a bit tiring."

"No kidding," she said smiling. "You are tougher than you look and much stronger than I thought."

"You are not half bad either. Coming all this way with a head wound and after what you've been through isn't a walk in the park either."

"That is true, although I don't think we are going any further than this. The two of us can manage, but they are too weak to move. All these women have been fed the bare minimum to keep them alive and working. I don't think they can go anywhere without food and rest."

That much, Shirou had to grimly agree with. It was already a miracle they had gotten this far. Now that they were relatively safe, they could rest as much as they wanted. However, there was the issue of food to be addressed.

Fortunately, it was an issue that Shirou could solve with ease. Unfortunately, it would put him in an even tighter spot than the one he already was in. Of course, Emiya Shirou being himself, there wasn't even the need to ponder which course of action was better.

He sighed and stretched out his hand, calling forth his inventory.

It was packed with all manners of things, chief among them the food he had prepared.

He had so much of it stocked away in airtight containers that he had no need to cook in weeks, which was incidentally why he had yet to max out the related skill. Unfortunately, he had just received a blessing (curse) that sapped his stamina at double the usual rate and he didn't have the opportunity of restocking before coming onto this misbegotten trip.

He could share what he had with everyone, but with over twenty people who had been starving for an unknown amount of time, he could kiss his reserves goodbye.

"I'll take care of that, but first we need to protect ourselves. I'll try to set up a Boundary Field."

"I thought Magecraft didn't work deep inside the Reverse Side."

"Yeah, it shouldn't but… I don't think we are as deep as I initially thought."

"What do you mean?" Matsumoto asked.

"Humans shouldn't be able to survive too deep in the Reverse Side. The concentration of Mana is too high for that. I have an amulet to protect me and a higher resistance because I'm a Magus. You are clearly different from ordinary humans as well, but what about them?"

"... I see. When you put it like that, it certainly makes sense. Well, go ahead and set it up then. I'm looking forward to not being a sitting duck."

"Alright, I'm on it," he said, standing up to his feet.

Setting up the Fortress Boundary Field was a piece of cake. Small as it was and with his reserves of Mana nearly untouched, he could probably keep it up for an entire day. He put a little more effort into making it extra sturdier, just in case something strong came knocking.

After that he returned to the group of survivors. Matsumoto was eyeing him all the while.

There was no hiding what he was about to do, but lucky for him he was a Magus, so materializing stuff from seemingly nowhere could be chalked up as a Mystery.

He pulled out of his inventory a bunch of things, among which there was some camping equipment that he had put in there because there was no reason not to.

"He….Hero-sama, are you a Magician?" one of the former slaves asked with her eyes wide.

"Hm? Yes, I'm a Magus," he replied after a moment. It took him a moment to figure they were talking about him. Immediately afterwards, he brought out all the food he had in stock and distributed it evenly with everyone, Matsumoto included.

Before such a feast, the previously dull eyes of the women shone with the primal fire of long withstood hunger. It was like dangling a piece of fresh meat in front of a pack of wolves. They hesitated for only a minute, looking at him for permission.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Eat to your heart content," he said with a smile.

They tore into the meal without reservation, using their bare hands even though he had given them proper utensils. It was the first time that Shirou saw someone cry while they ate. He was taken aback more than just a little, but then again he had never starved to such a degree either.

"Slow down, slow down. If you eat that fast you're going to hurt yourselves," he warned gently.

It was a testament of how much they feared and revered him in that moment that they even heard him, much less comply with his request. However, Shirou himself didn't think much of it, and he just began eating his own meal.

[br]

Rangiku looked at the scene unfolding with a disbelieving eye. Ever since he had rescued her, which was a noteworthy feat in and of itself, she had seen him do things she didn't think possible.

He had carried two women at a time without looking strained in the slightest, walking for seemingly miles without showing signs of fatigue, only to summon enough food to satiate a platoon of staving women out of seemingly nowhere.

Adding what she already knew about him beforehand,it painted a pretty outrageous picture. There was no way he was just a kid with beginner-tier Magecraft. Her curiosity about him swelled even further, but then again so did her respect for him.

He had saved her life, even though they weren't on the best of terms. It wasn't something she'd take lightly. Matsumoto had many flaws, but she believed in equal exchange. Although he wasn't looking for her specifically, that didn't change that without him, she would be facing a very grim fate.

It almost made her feel guilty about having lied to him.

Rangiku had not come to Megijima for the cherry blossoms. Although it was true that she visited every year, she had already come once before. She had returned a second time because she caught wind that he was coming. With Ryouko, no less.

Furthermore, although her memory was out of whack, the truth was that the last thing she recalled was him fighting someone, before a burst of blinding light. The next thing she knew was waking up on this other island.

However, she couldn't tell him that. She was still on thin ice with him as it was, and without her weapon she was almost defenseless on her own. If he decided to leave her behind, she was screwed.

That just meant she would make up with him in some other way. Surely an opportunity would present itself sometime. That, of course, didn't mean she would stop trying to figure out where the hell a guy like this had come from.

'Curiosity, thy name is woman,' she thought, and in her opinion there was none more womanly than her.

Most people would have been inclined to agree, for all the wrong reasons.

[br]

Once they had finished eating every little scrap of food in their plates, the women huddled together, talking in hushed tones, while looking at Shirou sideways. There were many emotions flashing through their eyes.

There was gratitude, for certain, but also a hint of wariness. They were clearly curious about his origins, but then again so was he. The fact that he was a Magus surprised them, but it didn't really shock them. They already knew of Magecraft and that meant they did not come from the same place as him and Matsumoto.

In fact, he suspected that they were native of this place.

However, before he could decide whether to ask or not, one woman from the group approached him. It was the one he had tagged as the oldest of the group. It seemed that she was considered the leader.

"Magician-sama, please allow this lowly one to thank you for your kindness," she said, bowing as deep as she could.

"Ah, no need for that," Shirou replied, waving his hands in front of his face embarrassedly. "It was simply the right thing to do, that is all."

His dismissal of their gratitude seemed to trouble her.

"If… If this lowly one can be so bold as to ask... what is that you wish to do with us now?"

Magi did not have a good reputation on this side either, it seemed.

"Do you have somewhere to return to?" he asked.

"None, Magician-sama. Our village was razed by the Oni. Our relatives were all killed or eaten. There is no place for us to return to."

"Hmm," Shirou groaned, crossing his arms over his chest. He could not just abandon these people to their fate, but he couldn't take them with him in his search for Mikado either. "Do you know of any place that can be easily fortified? Even just temporarily?"

"I… I am not sure. Please forgive this lowly one's uselessness."

"Now, now. None of that. And none of that Magician-sama, either. I'm Emiya Shirou. What's your name, onee-san?" he asked, turning on his innocent smile full blast.

"I… this one is called Fujimaru Mikoto," she replied. uncertain expression shifting in a more relaxed one.

"Mikoto onee-san, then," he nodded. "Can I call you that?"

"I… yes, of course. If you wish so, Emiya-sama."

"Right, then would you mind asking the others if they know of such a place. I can turn it into a stronghold with my Magecraft."

"Yes, right away," Mikoto agreed, elated by the possibility of a safe haven.

She went back to the others and returned shortly after.

"We know of a place. There is a cave not too far from here. It said that a spirit inhabits it, but they are just tales our elders told to keep the children away from it."

"So you don't know what's inside?"

"No, Emiya-sama. I never went there myself, but one of my sisters did. She said that she only saw traces of small animals and nothing else."

"Alright then. I think it sounds better than staying here like sitting ducks. Do you think you can show me the way, onee-san?"

"Of course. It will be my pleasure," she replied with a tired smile.

There was only a little time left before it became dark. He hoped to make his way there before that so that he could ward it properly. He also hoped that they wouldn't run into anything else on the way there. He had enough of fighting and bloodshed for a single day.

[br]

Meanwhile, on another side of the island a man with long dark hair in a battered looking suit stared at the ocean underneath the cliff upon which he was standing. Right behind him, a shapeless body of a mercury-like liquid crushed an unlucky Oni into paste.

The creature died with a muffled shriek and then it was spat like so much garbage into the crashing waters down below.

Waver Velvet put a cigar into his mouth and lit it up, taking a long breath through it before puffing the smoke up in the darkening skies. He then turned around and disappeared into the woods.

He had a troublesome redhead to locate.

[XXX]

AN: Here's another chapter. If you want to read up to chapter 45 you can join my Discord. Just send me a PM for the invite. I've got custom artwork. Don't miss out.