Outsider Chronicles: Storm of Swords
Waking up with memories of your past life, but not your current is...strange. On the up side, I apparently live in a world that looks to be fun, have a lot of power to survive in said world and no real need to go searching for my past. On the other hand, my past might come searching for me.
So I had this idea while half asleep and now it won't leave me alone. Its a wee bit different than what I normally do because, while its technically DXD, its set before the events of canon due to the fact that the main story takes place when Rias is 15. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
My memories of this, my second life, begin in a field of ash and ruins. I still don't know for sure what happened, all I do know is that I was in Kyoto for some reason when an enormous fire ripped through the city, killed my family and nearly killed me, leaving me with only flashes of memory of this life and my past life to fall back on. Yeah, I remember my last life to which is...interesting. It was also kind of helpful considering that I didn't wake up in hospital, but instead in the Underworld.
How is that possible when I said I survived the fire you ask? Well, that would be because I got saved by one Sirzechs Lucifer who was apparently in the city for...reasons I guess. Quite why he decided to do so I don't know, but I'm certainly not going to complain! I mean, I might have lost my memories, but I'm apparently in the DXD world and marked as a future member of Rias Peerage, whats not to like? Plus, young Rias is so damn cute, especially when she was in her Chunibyo phase. Seriously, watching the ACTUAL sister of the Devil running around in a cape and calling herself the Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess and making dramatic speeches about taking over the world and being a Queen of Evil is down-right hilarious, no matter how much Akeno found the whole thing utterly humiliating.
On the other hand, because I had no idea who I was, that left Rias to come up with a new name for me and, since she'd just got done watching Fate/Stay Night, decided to call me Shirou Emiya. To be fair, its not like the name didn't suit me, not when I had auburn hair, hazel eyes and the Blade Blacksmith Sacred Gear which I discovered quite by accident could actually create weapons from Fate. The smug look Rias gave me when I managed to create Kanshou and Bakuya was legendary.
Naturally, the fact I possessed one of the Sword Creation Sacred Gears meant that I was immediately pegged for a Knight piece and shuffled off to train under Souji. The old geezer quickly proved to be an excellent, if demanding, teacher who was able to train me to wield just about any sword I pulled out of my ass and even give me some pointers in archery when I decided that I needed a ranged option and figured out how to use my Sacred Gear, combined with a bit of Alchemy, to create powerful arrows. What? Archers got an awesome powerset, why shouldn't I embrace it? Besides, the look of sheer glee on Rias face when I showed off my new trick was awesome. Akeno found the whole thing more exasperating than anything and wondered off muttering about geeks while Rias and I started exchanging ideas.
One cool thing I found was that, whoever I had been was an excellent cook, a talent that had apparently managed to avoid being wiped. Quite how that worked I wasn't sure, but I'm a Human living with the Devil Kings sister and a literal Miracle in my Soul. Why is that relevant? Because the best way to a depressed Nekomata's heart is apparently through her stomach.
I was ten when Koneko was placed into Rias care and oh my god, the sight of her looking so utterly despondent was heartbreaking. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look quite that defeated before or since and, regardless of the crush I'd had on her last time through, the fact I really like cats and the fact she was a future comrade and friend, I'm pretty sure I would have still done whatever I could to help her. It...wasn't easy, not when you consider the fact she'd been betrayed, lost everything, sentenced to death and the fact she was technically a cat, but armed with the knowledge of her sweet tooth and my newly discovered culinary skills, I could at least help her to smile, at least a little.
I hummed happily as I took a tray of fresh baked cookies out of the oven and transferred them to a plate I dropped onto the island in the middle of the kitchen.
"Here, enjoy," I said.
"Don't mind if I do," said Akeno, taking one of the sweets and biting into it with a pleased sound, "Mmm, your really good at this Shirou."
"Thanks," I said with a grin, "Its nice to have a skill that doesn't involve chopping people up."
"I really don't think you should be using your Sacred Gear for this sort of thing though," said the future Queen, indicating to the spatula in my hand that had an oddly hilt shaped handle.
"Heh, its my power, I'll use it how I want," I said as the tool vanished, "Plus, it cuts down on the washing up, so you really shouldn't complain."
"Well when you put it like that, I suppose I shouldn't argue," said Akeno, "I still don't know how you managed to convince Rias to go along with that system though."
"Those who want to eat better be prepared to work for it," I said, "Besides, with Magic its not that difficult."
"Says the guy who doesn't have to do it."
"I'm the one who does the cooking!"
Akeno twitched and took another bite from her cookie, muttering under her breath. I just grinned, before glancing at Koneko, who was watching us with a blank expression. Which was pretty much par for the course for the depressed Nekomata.
"Not eating Koneko?" I asked, "They won't bite you know."
Koneko eyed me for a moment, before looking at the plate of sweets in front of her. There was a pause before she reached out and picked one up. For a moment, she stared at it, then took a bite...and promptly froze, her eyes going wide. I blinked and took a closer look.
"Um, Koneko?" I said, "Are you…"
Koneko unfroze and swallowed, slowly working her way through the rest of the cookie with an expression of bliss on her face and, unless I was very much mistaken, a few soft moans and pleasurable shudders.
"Did she just have a foodgasm?" I asked.
"Apparently," said Akeno, "I can't blame her though. Your food really is that good Shirou."
"Huh, well, I can't say thats not good for my ego," I said as I pushed the plate of cookies closer to Koneko.
"Don't worry, I'll deflate your head if it gets to large," said Akeno, "But its good to see Koneko smiling for a change."
Sure enough, the white haired cat-girl was indeed smiling as she dug into the plate of sweets in front of her.
"Well then, I'd say mission accomplished," I said with a smile of my own.
The door suddenly slammed open, making us all jump and turn to see Rias storming into the room.
"Hey Rias, do you want some…" I started, but trailed off as Rias stormed past me as she stomped into her room and slammed the door.
I stared after her, feeling a great deal of worry start to build.
"What was that all about?" asked Akeno.
"I don't know, but she was crying," I said.
"She just went to talk to her dad, right?" asked Akeno, looking shocked, "What happened to make her cry?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," I said, getting to my feet and heading over to Rias door.
I knocked and, after a few moments of waiting, got no response.
"Rias, are you alright?" I called, knocking again.
"I'm fine, go away!" shouted Rias.
I frowned
"Pull the other one Rias, I can tell your crying," I said, "We can help, but you need to tell us what's wrong for us to do so."
There was a strangled laugh from the other side.
"You can't help with this," she said, "My Father's set his mind to it, you won't be able to change it."
I stared at the door, then let out a huff.
"Let me guess, the old geezers set up a Marriage Contract?" I asked.
The door slammed open to reveal a red faced Rias who looked both furious and upset.
"How did you know that?!" she snarled.
"Lucky guess," I said, "So who is it? Judging from your reaction, its no one you'd actually have a chance of liking and, regardless of any other fault, your Dad is unlikely to set you up with anyone that much older, so that narrows it down to either Diodora or Riser. And since he made the fact he considers the former to be a creepy little shit before, I can conclude that its likely the fried chicken."
Rias stared at me for a moment, before she sighed.
"You're really too smart for your own good," she muttered as she stumped over to the sofa and slumped down on it, "Yeah, your right. I wouldn't mind so much, but the little bastard had the nerve to try and tell me that I couldn't take you into my Peerage!"
I snorted.
"So, the little shits jealous," I said, "Big surprise. I am curious though, why did your Dad decide to go with him? The rest of the Phenex clan are really nice people, but Riser isn't exactly known for being the same. In fact, his reputation for being an arrogant, womanizing prat is extremely well known."
"Apparently Father and Lord Phenex want to preserve our Pureblood lines or something," said Rias, "Rather hypocritical considering none of the other Phenex clan members were married off, but I guess Father wants to try and take advantage of the Phenex clans fertility to try and increase our families size."
I grunted in agreement. Regardless of the fact he was generally a good man and Father, Zeoticus was still very ambitious and was willing to pull some pretty underhanded moves to get what he wanted. That said, this was probably more to do with the fact that he wanted more grandkids to spoil than anything truly malicious. Actually, that might be worse…
I frowned as a thought suddenly struck me.
"Hang on a second, that doesn't make any sense," I muttered.
"What doesn't?" asked Rias.
"Theres...not actually any difference between the Phenex Clan and any other Devil, other than their Crest Power," I said thoughtfully, "And yet they have more kids than any other Pureblood family that doesn't involve fucking the Peerage members. How is that possible…"
My frown deepened as I thought it over before a rather interesting realization hit me.
"Rias, how long did it take Grayfia to get pregnant after she and Sirzechs announced they were trying for a child?" I asked.
Rias blinked at the apparent non sequitur.
"Um, about a week, why?" she asked.
"And yet she didn't fall pregnant before that, regardless of the fact that there aren't any contraceptives that work on Devils," I said, "That is very interesting."
I got to my feet.
"I need to go do some research," I said, "If I'm right, I have a feeling you won't be marrying Riser anytime soon. And if I'm not, well, I'll just kick the bastards arse until he agrees to stop being a douche."
"Wait wait wait, back up," said Rias, waving her arms frantically, "What are you talking about?"
"I'll explain later," I said as I made a beeline for the door, "I'll be in the library if you need me! Snacks are in the fridge!"
The last thing I heard was Rias muttering about hating it when I got like this, which I ignored as I jogged down the corridor towards the library.
Once I arrived, I headed for the back of the vast room where the truly massive, old and dusty old tomes were kept. These weren't books of magic or ancient, demonic secrets, but were instead genealogies, archived newspapers and the like. Because of a number of things, the genealogies of the older families, especially the Pillars, were public knowledge and every Houses library had a self-updating edition stashed somewhere. They included things like births, deaths, marriages and so on and were some of the most boring things ever to exist in the Underworld.
Still, if I wanted to get the information I needed, these were the perfect place to start, so I grabbed the Genealogy tome and a few binders full of ancient newspapers and set to work.
It was boring, dusty and often depressing work going through all the data, but I stuck at it and slowly, a picture began to build up in my mind that supported my hypothesis that led me to this research.
"Well, this is rather unexpected."
"GAH!"
I nearly jumped out of my skin as a voice cut through my concentration. Unfortunately, since my feet were wrapped around the chair legs, the sudden movement caused me to end up slamming into the ground with a loud crash. I groaned in pain as I opened my eyes and looked up at the giggling woman stood over me.
She was a gorgeous woman with porcelain skin, long, platinum blonde hair and warm, red eyes. Her figure wasn't completely implausible like some Devils, but it was still pleasing and visible under her simple, white dress and blue cardigan with a small, bird shaped pin on the collar. Her name was, appropriately enough, Irisviel von Einzbern, although she wasn't a Homunculus and was instead Lord Gremory's Bishop, along with her Husband who looked like Kiritsugu, but was called Edward. She was also a major lover of children and had a habit of mothering anyone who happened to cross her path, including Sirzechs on occasion and was the person who had been tapped to teach Akeno Magic, as well as being the person who had basically taken me in after Sirzechs had brought me to the Gremory House. Oh, Rias had helped, but a fellow kid wasn't exactly the best person to help someone with near complete retrograde amnesia regain their equilibrium.
"So, what are you doing looking at these dusty old books?" asked Irisviel, "They don't seem like the sort of thing you should be interested in."
"I'm doing some research," I said as I got to my feet and righted my chair, "I take it you know about Rias and Riser?"
Irisviel's face tightened slightly.
"Yes, I am aware," she said, "What about it?"
"Well, a few things that came up while we were discussing it came up and I decided to look into them in the hopes I could use them to get the contract dissolved," I said, "This was the start and I think that I'm right. However, it'll need some more research of a larger sample size than just the Pillars to be more than a hypothesis."
"Oh? And what would this conclusion be?" asked Irisviel.
I told her and her eyes went wide.
"Huh...thats certainly interesting," she said, "Its not really something I ever thought about, but I think you might be right. Edward and I...well, we didn't have kids for a long time after what happened with our first Daughter, but when we decided to try for another kid…"
She looked thoughtful for a moment, before she suddenly grabbed my hand and started dragging me out of the library.
"Wha...HEY!" I yelped.
"This idea of yours is truly fascinating," she said, ignoring my protests, "I really want to see where this goes so your coming with me to talk to Ed about it."
I blinked in surprise.
"Wait, really?" I asked.
Irisviel glanced back at me and smiled.
"Sure, why not?" she said, "It'll be an interesting question to study and if it means getting rid of that stupid contract, all the better."
I quickly stopped arguing after that. The von Einzbern's were among the best researchers in the Underworld, to the point where they often worked with Ajuka on his projects. According to some of the stories I'd heard about them, they had been just as good when they were Human, to the point that they had managed to develop all sorts of incredible Magical creations, including some that were supposed to be impossible. As a result, they had access to data I couldn't dream of having and could get any data we didn't have but needed much easier than a ten year old kid. Basically, if I wanted the best chance for my research to actually work without a horrific amount of setbacks, they were my best bet short of Beelzebub himself.
As it turned out, Edward was just as fascinated by my hypothesis as his wife was and the two of them dove into the research with surprising vigour. With their help, getting the information I needed was a lot easier, even if they did occasionally decide that a more...active form of experimentation was required, which led to me being left with their Daughters, a pair of twins called Illyasviel and Chloe. Who were basically dead ringers for the two girls from Fate/Prisma.
The next two years passed by quickly as I worked hard to both continue my research and confirm my hypothesis and my training, just in case I had to break out the big guns to get Riser off Rias' back. I had no intention of allowing it to get to the point of having to compete in a Rating Game if I could help it. Fortunately, I had finally reached the point where I could safely say I was ready, regardless of what was needed. All I needed to to was complete my single greatest creation since I had unlocked my Sacred Gear.
I stood in the center of the Gremory training field, my eyes closed as I focused on the flow of my Mana and my Sacred Gear, my mind utterly focused on what I wanted the power to form. I had been working on this sword for a long time, only to fail every single time I'd tried in the past. While I had discovered that most of the 'limits' on my Sacred Gear were mostly psychosomatic. Oh, no sword created could directly match a true Holy Sword like Durandal in terms of raw Holy power, but the power that the weapon itself possessed wasn't so limited. When it came to that, the only limit was the wielders imagination and power, both of which I had in spades, especially when I based the swords I made on something.
Thats not to say that it was easy to create every weapon that I wanted. One of the biggest problems was power, after all, it wouldn't do me any good to create a stupidly powerful sword, only to be unable to actually use the damn thing, but another problem was the fact that it took practice to be able to reliably create the sword that I wanted. Since practice also served to increase my reserves and make creating the swords more efficient and thus, cost less Mana, that was perfectly fine with me.
I shook my head, dismissing the thoughts as I refocused on the energy inside my Soul and began to draw on it. I saw the blade I wanted in my mind, calling forth the design I'd created the year before when I first started training. I probably should have started smaller, but this sword was one of the strongest I could conceivably create, so creating it was an excellent exercise for making the creation of lesser swords easier.
I opened my eyes and watched as a brilliant, golden glow emerged from my hand, slowly moving down as gleaming steel began to form. I gritted my teeth as sweat began to form on my brow. I would not allow this sword to break, today would be the day I finished it. I remained completely still, my entire being focused on my efforts to bring my imagination into reality, to make an illusion solid.
Finally, after what felt like forever, I felt a familiar twist deep inside my Soul as my Sacred Gear accepted my creation and the light faded, revealing a long, gleaming blade that seemed almost too perfect to be real. I slowly lifted it, staring at the faintly glowing blade in no small amount of awe. While I wasn't a Devil yet, it was only a matter of time and I could hardly wait to see peoples reactions to seeing me wield this particular sword. I couldn't help the grin that crossed my face. Yes, this would make an excellent trump card.
I returned home that day, tired but extremely happy with myself. My masterpiece was complete and I finally had all the information I needed to present my theory to Lord Gremory to, hopefully, get him to break off the contract with Riser. This day could not get any better...
"SURPRISE!"
I blinked in shock as I stared at the room that served as the main home for Rias' (future) Servants and the many people who were gathered their under a banner that read 'Happy Birthday Shirou'. I stared for a moment, then smiled.
"Ah, of course," I said, "Its September 30th. I can't believe I forgot my birthday."
You know what? Its a bit short, but I think I'll end this here. Its a good place to do so and I suck at writing parties.
So, does anyone want to guess what the significance of Shirou's birthday is? Its really the only clue in there for what I actually have planned for the future, although I will say that the Fate bits will be limited to cameo's and expies, mostly Shirou, the von Einzberns (who I suppose could serve as another clue if you think about it hard enough) and Shirou's trick of using his Sacred Gear to create Noble Phantasms. You can probably guess what his trump card is.
That said, if you've been paying attention to some of my other contributions, other than stories, lately, you might be able to guess what I have in mind...
The entire thing of his research being what gets Rias off was something I planned from the start, simply because I liked the idea of someone using logic and knowledge rather than just punching Riser really hard. He'll still get punched, but that won't be the main thing to break off the contract.
Anyway, I'm done so I'll sign off. Don't forget to leave a review!