Chapter 154

The first thing she saw was the leaves above her, swaying slightly in the night breeze. The smell of ash and razed dirt entered her nose, making her wrinkle it as she sat up, her mind still in a daze from what had happened earlier. Blinking her eyes, she sat in place as her mental faculties reasserted themselves, bit by bit. Her body no longer felt that cold, her bare skin merely feeling a light chill from the night.

Staring at the ground mindlessly, she finally noticed that it was a grayish white around her, with blackened sticks and flecks that dotted the ground around her as well. The strong scent she had been selling all this time was coming from the ground all around her. Her body also smelled the same, like she had jumped into a forest fire and came out smelling just like it.

Looking at the bushes where the unicorn had come through, she thought she had sensed something. A glimmer of white shone in the darkness, a sliver of silver, and then there was nothing more. Staring hard into the shadows for a few more seconds, she gave up, unable to spot anything more.

Holding a hand up to her face she flexed it, the fingers bending and responding as they should, the skin whole and unblemished. Standing up, she patted herself all over her body, checking for any wounds or strange marks.

After patting herself and bending her limbs to inspect for a full minute, she concluded that there was nothing out of place on her body. By all rights, she should have perished when she lost control of her Magic Core, but by some miracle, she had remained whole and unharmed. Had something happened to her while she was unconscious on the ground? Perhaps her body had automatically adjusted to the power and adapted to it after she fainted? Or her fainting had subconsciously limited its output out of instinct?

The burnt dirt and forest debris turned to ashes around her served as a poignant reminder of what her fate could have been if she had

Placing a hand on her chest, she could still feel the warmth pulsing through her body. The Magic Core was still up and running, a steady stream of energy flowing through her, but it was no longer like a raging tsunami that was uncontrollable, bursting through her body until it broke from the stress. It was much more tame, a reliable source of strength, though she could feel that if she tried to reach deeper, she could make it burn to great heights until it became a raging inferno again. That would have to wait until she trained further though. For now, having it activated in a controllable manner to keep her warm was enough. She would figure out how she survived later.

Unicorns possessed the property to cleanse humans, a purifying power that was intrinsic in their very nature, creatures of regal nobility that exemplified the beauty of nature, surpassing any mundane creatures. Their powers extended to the effects of mana oversurging, a poison like any other, such as water when drunk in quantities too large, and the unicorn had purified it until Saber was able to handle the amount, the purification also regulating the amount cycling through her body as long as she didn't try to extract more power from her Core. With it's job done purging her of the excess mana and tuning her Core, it had left without a word.

As for why it had helped her, well, the unicorn was part of the modern royal coat of arms of Britain for a reason.

With her body recovered from the backlash of her Magic Core, she was able to sit down and think calmly, her body no longer so susceptible to the temperature as she thought of a way to deal with her current crisis. Though she was young, she had been taught to keep a calm mind at all times to deal with her problems, shelving her desire to bawl for later. She was supposed to be a King when she grew up after all, though running away from a social event like a brat was definitely not what a king would do.

Currently, all she had with her was her wooden sword, with not even her clothes to shield her, and she was lost in the forest as well, though if she made it to the outskirts, she would probably be able to recognize the landmarks and navigate the forest. From there, she could request help from the nearby village after getting out of the forest. With her objective decided, she stood up and took action. To start with, she should probably get her bearings first.

Looking around, the tree behind her seemed as good a place to start as any. It was decent enough to climb, able to support her weight in various places, with rough surfaces and plenty of places to serve as holds for both her feet and hands, and it was tall enough to provide a vantage point to observe the surroundings. Placing the sword on the ground, she slowly climbed up, taking advantage of her lightness to nimbly swing up the trees, though there were a few branches that took some stretching and footword to reach.

As she pulled herself up one of the thicker limbs splitting off the main trunk, she came face to face with an ugly face that would scare any baby into tears.

"Urk."

The boggart, attracted by her uncontrollable mana pouring out of her like a spring of fresh water to a thirsty traveler in the desert, came close to her, hoping to get something, like several other Phantasmal Beasts in the area. Unfortunately, it was the only one who was unable to high tail it out of there when the unicorn appeared, scaring away all the lesser Phantasmal Beasts, and it was only able to escape its attention by crawling up the tree in its haste to escape and hid there without making a sound.

It had planned to make a run for it after the unicorn left, but Saber had woken up soon after just as it left, and the boggart had been unable to leave without making any sound that would alert Saber to its position. It had desperately waited for Saber to move away or get distracted so that it could make its getaway, but unfortunately she had chosen to climb up the tree that it had chosen as its hiding spot.

The moment it was spotted, it gave a tremendous leap, pushing off the tree trunk to jump far enough that it was almost like it had wings, his intent to get a massive head start and lose her in the forest.

Unfortunately for it, this time Saber had her Magic Core pumping energy throughout her entire body, amplifying her physical prowess as well as keeping her warm.

It felt a sudden gust pass his face, tickling its cheek, and then it felt a tight grip on its shoulder.

*Don!*

The boggart went flying into the ground below, crashing through the branches and leaves, his body breaking them and giving him a shower of snapped twigs and leaves to accompany his brief trip to the ground. All the breath left its lungs as it slammed into the ground, stars swimming in its eyes as it lay there, stunned.

Leaping down, Saber crouched next to it and smiled sweetly, her lips stretching just a tad wider than it should, her hands grabbing the wooden sword lying next to the tree and tapping the tip next to its head. She knelt above its body, ensuring that it wouldn't escape without some difficulty, though for Shirou watching from the side, it was an embarrassing position for him to see with Saber naked above the humanoid creature.

"Can you p-l-e-a-s-e show me where you took my clothes?"

Fear gripped the boggart's heart when he heard her voice, cheerful on the surface, but spoken without any inflection at all. The tapping sword next to his head didn't help, and when he turned his head, he realized it was slowly making a hole in the dirt with how hard she was tapping it, even with how tightly packed the earth was.

Gulping, it nodded quickly.

"You will? Great, then let's go."

Keeping a firm grip on the boggarts arm, they walked into the forest, with the boggart leading the way. Behind them, Shirou followed closely, watching as the dream unfolded in front of his eyes.