god slaying blade works

7/23/2019 God Slaying Blade Works

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God Slayer Blade Works

Chapter 1: Prologue: The Report

Disclaimer: The works of Type-Moon and J Taketsuki are their own

despite my most fervent wishes. This is a fan work and if anyone does

pay me for it the only thing it will accomplish is to get me into trouble.This is being done purely for fun constructive criticism is welcome and

!ames will be ignored. "lease be gentle though this is the #rst fan#c

$%ve put on the net.

Prologue

& report on the appearance of the 'ighth (ampione delivered to the

)itenagemot two weeks after the *aples $ncident.

There is no known information on Emiya Shirou or his !ompanion prior to theirappearan!e in "aples# $ll attempts to learn more ha%e as yet yielded no su!!ess

though o&ser%ation of the pair has pro%ided some information#Both are magi! users though the e'a!t s!hools of spells that they use remainsundetermined# (&ser%ation has determined that the youngest of the pair is themore e'perien!ed and knowledgea&le of the two ha%ing displayed a wide arrayof a&ilities su!h as hypnosis and mysti! threads# )rom what we ha%e &een a&le todetermine it would seem that Emiya Shirou is less well %ersed in general a&ility&ut instead possesses a greater skill for spe!iali*ation# +is own a&ilities seem tolie &est in the realms of self augmentation and the !reation of !onstru!ts in theform of %arious &laded weapons# While the pre!ise me!hani!s &ehind his magi!are unknown we !urrently &elie%e these !onstru!ts to &e possi&ly e!toplasmi! in

origin#Gi%en the %ery limited information a%aila&le at this time our !urrent theory,whi!h is su&-e!t to !hange as more information !omes to light. is that the pairare the apprenti!es of some hermeti!al mage and ha%e &een raised and trainedfar from any !on%entional !onta!t#

Whate%er their origins may &e what is know is that two weeks ago an unknown+ereti! God manifested in the streets of "aples# Though only manifest forappro'imately se%en minutes the result was a death !ount of eighty se%en%i!tims# The !auses of death ranged from heart atta!k to spontaneous!om&ustion to sui!ide# Whi!he%er +ereti! God was the !ause of this was

malignant to the point where its mere presen!e &egan to !orrode itssurroundings on physi!al mental and spiritual le%els#

$gain the details of the in!ident remain largely unknown due to the la!k of anymage witnesses# What is un/uestiona&le is that Emiya Shirou through unknownmeans was a&le to kill the +ereti! God and so &e!ame the Eighth Campione#

0nder any other !ir!umstan!es the new godslayer would ha%e &een approa!hedto determine what manner of person he was howe%er attempts to do so werethwarted &y his !ompanion who su!!eeded in es!aping with him and e%ading allattempts to 2nd her#

)urther attempts to 2nd the pair were !urtailed &y the arri%al of the +ereti! GodPerseus# When /uestioned &y one of the in%estigators in the !ity he !laimed to


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ha%e &een drawn &y the aura of one of his great enemies# $ll attempts that weremade to dissuade him met with failure and the hero god remained 2rm in his!ourse#

Three days after the original in!ident Perseus su!!eeded in lo!ating Emiya Shirouand immediately !hallenged him to !om&at# (n this o!!asion there was one ofour agents present to witness the !on3i!t# $!!ording to his report the newCampione made e%ery attempt to pre%ent a 2ght only rising to the !hallengewhen the hero god made threatening motions towards his !ompanion#

$!!ording to the report Perseus possessed an immediate ad%antage in !om&atsuggesting that the god defeated earlier &y Emiya was one possessing adisad%antage to Perseus a weakness inherent in the $uthority that theCampione had gained#

4espite this Emiya Shirou was a&le to sta& his opponent with a sword# E'a!tlyhow this wound pro%ed to &e de&ilitating to a deity is as yet undetermined

whate%er the !ase may &e it was a&le to slow the god enough for Emiya to dealanother su!!essful &low# Ea!h su!h strike was a&le to further weaken the deitysapping his speed and power until the newest Campione was a&le to slay ase!ond god#

(n!e again our agents were una&le to make !onta!t with the new godslayer ashis young !ompanion on!e more aided her wounded !omrade to e%ade allattempts to 2nd them#

Two nights later one of our agents was a&le to spot the pair 3ying away from the!ity on a white Pegasus similar to the one Perseus had &een o&ser%ed ridingduring his sear!h# $ttempts were made to follow them and e%entually managed

to !at!h up to them on a small island of the !oast further south from "aples#The reason for them &eing a&le to !at!h up was that the pair had &eeninter!epted &y another +ereti! God# (n!e more Emiya Shirou sought to a%oid!on3i!t &ut the deity who identi2ed himself as +ades stated he was onlyinterested in the elimination of what he des!ri&ed as an 5a&omination5 andatta!ked#

6n this !onfrontation the new Campione was a&le to mat!h his di%ine foe moree%enly than he had Perseus possi&ly due to whate%er new $uthorities he had&een a&le to gain# The !om&at took a turn against him when the +ereti! God&egan to summon dead souls as ser%ants to aid him as well as turning in%isi&le#

Emiya responded to this &y manifesting a great many swords and !asting thema&out him at random de!imating the ser%ants and in3i!ting enough !han!edamage upon his enemy to disa&le him# With his foe !rippled Emiya seemed!ontent with this %i!tory and indi!ated that he would ha%e left pea!efully# +adesopted to literally throw himself on the Campiones sword instead and did so witha sneer on his fa!e stating that he would prefer death to owing a mortal his life#

6t was at this point that Emiya Shirou and his !ompanion &e!ame aware of ouragent and demanded that he e'plain what had &een going on# 6t has &een

-udged &y the /uestions that they asked that they had no idea of what +ereti!Gods were nor of the e'isten!e of Campione and what &eing su!h entailed# $fter

o&taining the answers they desired the two remounted the Pegasus and left#


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+owe%er &efore they did so our agent was a&le to o%erhear the pair mentioningtheir plans to go to 7apan#

So in the 2nal analysis we ha%e a new Campione who has su!!eeded in thealmost a&surd task of killing three deities in the spa!e of a single week# We knowne't to nothing a&out him only that he is tra%elling towards the same !ountry asthe other most re!ent Campione to ha%e appeared# 6n the worst !ase s!enario heintends to fa!e 8usanagi Godou in &attle and lay !laim to his lands# While su!h a&attle !ould pro%e !atastrophi! it is this agents &elief that it is unlikely# 6n &oththe &attle that he was o&ser%ed in Emiya Shirou attempted to a%oid !on3i!t ore%en dealing the 2nishing &low in +ades5 !ase#

Still it remains a !on!ern that 7apan is now a&out to &e!ome the home of twoCampione# +istory has shown that two kings !annot rule the same lands withoutine%ita&ly !oming into !on3i!t#


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(hapter +ne

Shirou was feeling a &it lost#

"o that wasn5t /uite right there had &een times in his life that he had felt lostin fa!t feeling lost was one of his earliest memories# "o what he felt right now!ould &est &e des!ri&ed as shell sho!ked# 6t was hard to &elie%e it really had

&een only a month ago that his life had &een so # # # une%entful# +e5d -ust &eenthe 5fake -anitor5 at s!hool Tohsaka Rin had &een the s!hool idol and Sakura had&een -ust a friend that he had 2nally reali*ed was also now a &eautiful youngwoman#

Then the +oly Grail War had !ome to )uyuki and e%erything had !hanged# Rinhad &een re%ealed to &e a magus of a le%el he5d ne%er e%en &een aware ofShirou himself had &een dragged into the death mat!hes that were the +ea%ens)eel ritual and Sakura had &een re%ealed to !ontain far darker depths than he!ould e%er ha%e dreamed of#

6t still &oggled his mind of -ust how fast e%erything had spun out of e%en the

illusion of !ontrol# +e5d &een killed &y 9an!er only to &e sa%ed &y Rin ,e%enthough he only found out a&out that later.# When the spear wielding Ser%ant hadreturned to 2nish the -o& the only reason he5d sur%i%ed was through thea!!idental summoning of Sa&er# +e5d almost &een killed &y Berserker in hisse!ond meeting with 6llya as well# But despite ha%ing a si*a&le !hunk of his side&lasted o him &y a mere glan!ing &low from the mad Ser%ant his !ontra!t withSa&er seemed to ha%e granted him the healing needed to not only sur%i%e &utalso to re!o%er in short order#

By that time he had thought he had something of a handle on the situation# +emight ha%e &een in totally o%er his head &ut at least he felt like he had some

idea to the s!ale he was dealing with# Sa&er had gi%en him some &asi! lessons in!om&at and he had insisted on going out on patrol with her# That was when theyhad found Shin-i feeding his Ser%ant a li%ing %i!tim# E%en the memory of it still!arried a small sting after all Sakura5s &rother had &een as sort of estrangedfriend to Shirou for years# But that night the sheer ugliness of spirit that hidinside the &oy was laid &are for him to see# Cruelty to his %i!tim !ruelty to Shiroue%en !ruelty to his Ser%ant when she fell to Sa&er# 6t had all spilled forth from his!ra!ked %eneer of !oolness like 2lth from a &roken sewer pipe#

)rom there things had only spun further out of !ontrol# ;ouken


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despite Sakura getting si!k# +e5d managed to start a friendship with 6llya and hadhad something of a tru!e with Rin after they seemingly killed ;ouken#

Then e%erything had started to go to hell# Sa&er died during an in%estigation ofRyuudou temple and the only reason Shirou sur%i%ed was due to Ridersune'pe!ted aid# Shin-i kidnapped Sakura leading to her &eing re%ealed as Riderstrue


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She was far more knowledgea&le in the mysteries of thaumaturgy than he wasnot that that was %ery di=!ult &ut e%en so she wasn5t sure of -ust what it wasthat had taken pla!e# +er &est guess was that somehow the Grails originalfun!tion the !orruption of $ngra


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0nder any normal !ir!umstan!es tra!ing E'!ali&ur would ha%e &een as &eyondhim as the moon was from his tou!h# E%en though $r!hers arm had supplied the&lue print his mind should ha%e &roken in trying to do it#

But his mind was already in ruins so that was no pro&lem instin!t and will hadsu=!ed#

0nder normal !ir!umstan!es using that tra!ed E'!ali&ur would ha%e &een asimpossi&le as tou!hing the sun# Simply drawing forth that mu!h of his od shouldha%e killed him on the spot#

But his &ody was already dead so there was no pro&lem in drawing forth e%erys!rap of the power it held#

So as his last a!t the ruin that had on!e &een Emiya Shirou whispered one wordwith its last &reath and &rought the tra!ed weapons full for!e down on thea&omination &efore it#

@E'!ali&ur#@$!!ording to 6llya &oth $ngra


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of mage !raft# But &a!k then she had need something to help her mo%e herinsensate adopted si&ling so she had used the same mystery that her motherhad employed in the forth +ea%ens )eel#

Shortly thereafter a small girl in a da**ling white dress had made her getawaywhile &eing followed &y a %aguely human form !omposed entirely of glowing&lue strings !arrying an un!ons!ious redheaded teen#

6llya had no knowledge of the 6talian language &ut her English had &een goodenough to 2nd them a hotel where someone understood her# $ rather li&eral useof hypnosis later and she had &een a&le to se!ure them not only a room &ut alsoa !hange of rather ill 2tting !lothes that had on!e &elonged to the hotel ownersown son and daughter# They might ha%e &een a &it &ig on the snow fairy like girlalmost to the point of &eing !omi!al &ut it had &een less !onspi!uous than herfamilies5 mysti! !ode# (n!e they were safe 6llya had set up se%eral simple&onded 2elds around their room !rude &ut powerful ones designed to hide themfrom s!rying and sear!hing spells# She had 2gured that with the amount of

damage that had &een done whome%er was in !harge of the mysti! aspe!t of theworld around here would &e looking for someone to &lame# $nd 6llya had nointention of making it easy for that someone to &e either her or Shirou#

+e !ould still remem&er !oming to in that room in fa!t the memory was &randedinto his memory /uite ee!ti%ely# +e5d had the poor lu!k of regaining!ons!iousness -ust as 6llya had set a&out the task of !hanging him out of his tornand &loodied !lothes# To &e more spe!i2! he5d !ome to -ust when she was takingof his trousers#

+e !ould still remem&er it waking up shirtless to see the snow haired girldressed in an o%ersi*ed tshirt and shorts 2ddling with the &u!kle of his &elt#

@6llya # # # what are you doingA@

+ardly the most inspired words to say 2rst thing after ha%ing so narrowlyes!aped deaths !lut!hes &ut it had &een the only thing he !ould think of at thetime#

6llya had fro*en and then looked up at him while looking e'tremely guilty#

@Err # # # this # # # this isn5t what it looks like you knowA@

@So you5re not trying to take my pants oA@

@$h yes 6 mean no 6 mean # # #@

@ # # # @

@ # # # @

@6f 6 promise ne%er to speak of this again will you as wellA@

@# # # yesA@

@Good now 6llya # # # where are weA@

6n the end they had de!ided to stay in the spa!ious hotel room and wait while

one of 6llya5s hastily made familiars tried to make it to one of the Clo!k Tower&ran!hes that e'isted in 6taly# She /ui!kly e'plained to him that sin!e this


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!ountry housed the ati!an it was one of the nations in the world where theChur!h held the most in3uen!e# Conse/uently while there was no o=!ial tension&etween them and the mages asso!iation most sensi&le mage !raft users kepttheir heads down and their noses !lean while in the !ountry#

6n this !ase they had inad%ertently unleashed a demoni! god onto the streets of"aples and then pro!eeded to redu!e a num&er of those streets to ash andru&&le# $s far as 6llya was !on!erned the sooner they got out of there the &etter#

Shirou had felt slightly # # # o for those 2rst two days after he had woken up# +e-ust hadn5t &een a&le to shake the feeling that he had somehow forgottensomething something important#

,.

He fell towards the shattered stones of the street. This was the end, there wassimply nothing more left to give. His last attack had taken everything he hadleft, in the space of time it took for him to hit the ground the last of his life wouldfade and vanish. Just as his body had broken, just as his memories haddissolved.

And yet . . .

There was one memory, one single image, that of a beautiful young girl with sadbut caring eyes and a soft smile.

The tiny wrecked fragment that was all that remained of Emiya hirou refused tosurrender that one memory. He forgot his name, he forgot his fathers face, heforgot the colour of blood, he even forgot how to breathe, but that one smallrecollection it clung to with all the savage intensity of the desperate.

He didn!t want to die. He wanted to see that girl again, to hold her, to see hersmile, to smell the scent of her hair, to keep the promise they had made that hecould no longer remember.

He wanted to "#$E%

@$no # # # this is a most di=!ult !hoi!e you know # # #@

&hat was that voice, it sounded ve'ed, like a child pu(ng out their cheeks infrustration at not knowing the answer to a )uestion at school. And yet at thesame time it sounded so sweet, so loving, the sound of a mother using the voiceof a child.

@Both you and him# ou5re &oth &reaking the rules for this# +e was not at his fullstrength so 6 should say that this %i!tory won5t do# But look at you# our &ody&reaks your memories whither and your mind !ollapses and yet you still stru!kthat last &low e%en though there should ha%e &een nothing left of you to do thestriking# +ow !an a maiden5s heart not &e mo%ed &y su!h magni2!entfoolishnessA@


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Hadn!t he been falling just now* &hy was the back of his head now lying onsomeone!s soft lap* How could he even feel anything* Hadn!t his nerves alreadytransformed into steel*

@$nd yet though the kill was grand 65m not sure a&out the slain# +e is god enoughto fall &eneath the ritual of 6 and my hus&and and yet !an su!h a !reature truly&e !alled a godA@

He felt . . . warm, at peace. #t was similar to being held by his father hesupposed, but di+erent, softer, warmer. &hat was this feeling*

@6 ha%e de!ided# 6 Pandora the wit!h who &rought forth all disasters and a shredof hope do now de!lare this !hild to &e my new son#@

oft hands caress his face and warm lips touch his forehead. He was a son* &asthis what it was to be held by a mother*

@9et e%eryone present grant their &lessing and their hatred to this !hildD The

eighth Campione possessing the destiny of the strangest of the de%il kingsplease &estow the sa!red spell words upon this !hildD@

As though far in the distance he could hear a dull roar, not words or shouts, justa mindless enunciation of raw neverending hatred. #t should have chilled him, itshould have angered him, but here in this soft and gentle embrace he felt asthough nothing in the world could bother him.

@+ohoho rage all you want &ut 6 ha%e made my !hoi!e# Then Emiya Shirou 6grant my &lessing to thee who has &een re&orn as the new godslaying kingD

@By the &la!k art that 6 and Epimetheus left &ehind this is the sa!red &irth of an

illegitimate !hild shrouded in darkness &orn of a fool and a wit!h# $ se!ret ofusurpation only made possi&le through the sa!ri2!e of a god#

His eyes managed to drift open. He managed to see a blurred image, a sweetface, far too young for such a motherly tone, pale purple hair that reminded himof someone he couldn!t remember, but who had fought at his side. And such awarm smile.

6 the allgi%ing woman Pandora de!lare that you shall &e re&orn as a Campione#The godslayer the king of kings the Campione#@

Again she leaned in to place a kiss on his brow and at the same time he felt

something gently but insistently push #-T his chest.The world gently faded into white.

,.

Shirou knew he was forgetting something important &ut for the life in him he!ouldn5t remem&er what it was#

So mu!h had happened sin!e then 2rst Perseus his strange new powers +ades

2nally learning -ust what it was that he had &e!ome# Still despite the &i*arreness


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of all that had taken pla!e the 2rst time they had learnt they were in a!ompletely new world had possessed its own uni/ue form of sho!k#

6t was on the same day he had woken up the day &efore he had fa!ed Perseus6llya had &een getting annoyed that her familiar had not yet returned with ananswer to her message annoyed and &ored# Their room had a &ookshelf on itone with a num&er of dierent su&-e!ts &ut sadly all in 6talian whi!h neither ofthem !ould read# Wanting to do something to relie%e her restlessness hisadopted sister had pulled a pi!ture &ook of animals o the shelf and started to3i!k through it gasping in delight at the odd animals within# Then she had foundone that she hadn5t re!ogni*ed and had &rought the &ook o%er to the still&edridden Shirou to see if he knew whi!h it was#

+e5d simply glan!ed at the pi!ture and answered her without thinking#

@That5s a Cantor5s Giant Soft Shelled Turtle#@

@Wow onii!han knows his turtles#@

6t had &een hearing that from 6llya that had made Shirou reali*e that he did not infa!t know the answer to her /uestion? he had -ust glan!ed at the page and readthe !aption under the pi!ture#

Whi!h had &een in 6talian#

$nd he had read it#

Getting up of his &ed in a rush he had gra&&ed another of the &ooks o the shelfand opened it on a random page# 6t was in 6talian of that there was no dou&tand yet he had no trou&le in understanding it# (n!e he5d e'plained it to 6llya they

had &egun to e'periment she5d written a few words in German and on!e morehe had no trou&le in reading them# She5d then used what little she knew of)ren!h and Spanish to e'periment further and found that it didn5t seem to matterwhat the language was the red head !ould now intuiti%ely understand it#

They had no idea where this strange new talent had !ome from &ut had seen nopoint in not putting it to use# 6llya had &orrowed that day5s paper from their hostsand &rought it to Shirou so they !ould learn what was &eing said a&out what hadhappened the day &efore# $s was to &e e'pe!ted it was all &lamed on someterrorist group or other in fa!t se%eral dierent su!h groups were already tryingto !laim !redit for it# +owe%er that was not what had !aught Shirou5s eye whathad done that was the year at the top of the front page#

F1#

But as far as he knew the year was FF#

They5d !he!ked other papers and found them to &e the same? Shirou had thengone onto the internet after more hypnosis had &een used on their hosts tofurther %erify it# 6n the meantime 6llya had &een trying to work out if there wasaway to get in !onta!t with the Clo!k Tower that wouldn5t lead to them ending upas resear!h su&-e!ts sin!e it looked as though they had e'perien!e the )ifth


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light# The we&site hadn5t &een there so he had tried to look up his s!hool# "o lu!kthere either# +e5d tried to 2nd other pla!es on the net that might ha%e hadre!ords of Sakura or Rin &ut either found the sites not to e'ist or to ha%e nore!ord of them# 6n frustration he had simple tried to 2nd out if )uyuki !ity had&een damaged &y the Grails disappearan!e# The answer to his sear!h had

!aused his mouth to drop open in horror#)uyuki !ity did not e'ist#

6n fa!t it seemed that it had ne%er e'isted in the 2rst pla!e# $s he started lookingShirou had found other dieren!es? !ities he5d ne%er heard of politi!ians withimportant roles who had ne%er appeared new !ele&rities the list went on andon#

6t seemed that it had not &een the )ifth True


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Chapter Two

@"eh ShirouA What are we doing hereA@

When 6llya had heard that they were going to Tokyo she had &een %ery e'!ited#Growing up her entire life had &een !on2ned to the Ein*&ern manor in whi!h shehad li%ed# The furthest she had e%er gone from there had &een to walk throughthe woods though ne%er &eyond the outskirts of the &onded 2eld that hadshielded the great house# But sin!e she had known that she would take part inthe +oly Grail War she had &een raised to &e knowledgea&le of 7apan# $fter all itwould hardly do for the representati%e of one of the Grail Wars founding familiesto miss the war due to getting lost &e!ause she !ouldn5t read the signs that werein the nati%e language#

But during her studies she had seen so many things a&out 7apan that had stru!kher as strange and e'!iting# She wanted to !lim& Tokyo tower %isit (saka !astleplay in the famous ar!ades shop in the infamous otaku stores# These were -ustsome of what she wanted to do when she !ame to 7apan &ut hadn5t &een a&le todue to the responsi&ilities heaped on her &y her family# Still during thede%elopment of her friendship with Shirou she had &een a&le to do one thingshe5d always wanted %isit someone else5s home#

"ow though she didn5t ha%e those &urdens upon herself she was free of herfamilies e'pe!tation and right now Shirou !ould argua&ly &e !alled the ri!hestman in the world if he so !hose# They !ould &e eating in a restaurant where ea!hdish !ost more than an a%erage mans weekly salary# They !ould &e at a fun fairriding a roller!oaster like she5d always dreamed of then eating !otton !andy andriding the merry go round# They !ould &e at a !inema stu=ng pop!orn into theirmouths while wat!hing an e'!iting 2lm# 6llya5s fa!e reddened as she reali*ed thatall the situations she had -ust thought of !ould &e !onsidered dates &y those whosaw them#

The point was that with the resour!es a%aila&le to him Shirou !ould ha%e takenthem anywhere he wanted so why were they hereA

6n a !emetery#

@Well you see 6llya@ answered Shirou without looking up from the pie!e of paperhe held e'!ept to glan!e at the names on the headstone they were passing @thething is that we5%e got gold and -ewels &ut that5s it# So far we5%e &een a&le toget away with -ust selling a few &its here and there in pla!es that don5t ask/uestions and are pro&a&ly used to &uying from thie%es# That5s okay on!e oftwi!e &ut sooner or later someone5s going to start asking /uestions# $nd whenthey do they5ll 2nd that we5%e got no 64 no re!ords no do!umentation of anykind# $nd if we get noti!ed &y someone o=!ial then e%en you using hypnosis

might not &e enough#


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@So when we stopped at the li&rary earlier 6 looked through their re!ords to 2ndthe gra%e of someone who might &e -ust what we need# 6f we !an get this guy toagree to &e my ser%ant then most of our pro&lems will soon disappear and we!an start to fo!us on the important stu#@

6llya nodded her understanding as she trailed &ehind her adopted &rother# 6tseemed that he was going to use Rule of the 0nderworld to try and re!ruitsomeone# She really should ha%e thought of it already why else would they!ome to a gra%e yardA But she still wasn5t used to thinking of the strange newpowers that Shirou had gained sin!e !oming to this new world#

The others he had were in!redi&le in there own ways !urses that no magus!ould ha%e e/ualled physi!al powers e/ual to strong Ser%ants the summoningand !ontrolling of a true phantasmal &eing su!h fetes were well outside therea!h of e%en the most ad%an!e magus# But it was the a&ility he had gained &ydefeating the god +ades that was of spe!ial interest to her# The a&ility to simplymateriali*e true wealth not illusory or fake &ut the real thing out of nowhere

and in seemingly endless amounts was something that most magus familieswould ha%e &een willing to sell their heir for# Total li&eration from 2nan!ial!on!erns as well as &eing a&le to pur!hase the &est resour!es for their resear!hwho !ould refuse thatA But it was the other aspe!t to it that fas!inated her#

The Ein*&ern family had &een desperately trying to re!o%er the lost Third True


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&e someone of Berserkers !lass a%aila&le for re!ruitment in one of these gra%es#So may&e Shirou wasn5t looking for a Berserker &ut more for an $ssassinA


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@EEEEE+D@ 6llya e'!lamation of !onfusion !aused the smile of her !ompanionsfa!e to spread e%en wider#

@What we need is someone who knows how to play the system someone whoknows who to !onta!t to set us up with all the false do!uments and history thatwe5ll need to walk into a &ank and set up an a!!ount without ha%ing to worrya&out anyone noti!ing something5s wrong# Someone who5ll know how to get the&est pri!e for the treasures he !an sell for us and who !an manage that moneyinto more resour!es for us in a legitimate way#

@$nd amadasan here is -ust who we need# $pparently he managed to keep his&est friends !ompany running for si' years after it te!hni!ally went &ankrupt#$nd he e%en managed to make a pro2t out of it# 6t took all kinds of shady&a!kroom deals to pull it o not to mention some !reati%e &ookkeeping thatsounds like it was on a par with True


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@$h well that5s something you don5t see e%ery day# Well then why ha%e you!alled me &a!kA 65ll admit it5s a ni!e to ha%e a !hange of s!enery &ut 6 don5tthink that that5s why 65m here#@

6llya !ould see Shirou !arefully putting his words together in his head# She knewthat it wasn5t really his strong suit? he was a dire!t kind of guy not really suitedto spee!hifying or rhetori!# Still he was gi%ing it his &est#

@6 2nd myself in need of someone like you someone who knows who you knowwho !an do what you !an do who !an think like you think# 6 !an return you to a!lose sem&lan!e of life one that@

@(kay kid you5%e got a deal#@ amadasan !ut of the rest of Shirou5s re!ruitmentpit!h with an enthusiasti! nod of his head#

@EhA 4on5t you want to know what 6 need from youA What 65m willing to gi%e youin returnA@ The eighth Campione asked in !onfusion#

@8id 6 !an feel this power you5re using# ou don5t ha%e to ask me for anythingyou !ould order me to stand on my head and sing o !olour songs a&out my ownmother and 65d ha%e to do it# But you are asking not ordering and 6 know enougha&out people with power to know that that says something a&out you# Somethinggood too# Besides 6 might ha%e played a &it fast and free with the money when 6was su!king air &ut 6 ne%er did it to hurt anyone and it was ne%er for myself#

That seemed to e%en out to me going to the $sphodel


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the young Ein*&ern had to &ring up her hands to shield her eyes from it# Then asthough a swit!h had &een 3ipped the light went out#

There standing in front of them on top of his own gra%e was the distin!tly moresolid and 3eshy form of amadasan# +e was dressed in a ni!e &ut simple&usiness suit and seemed to &e fas!inated &y the a!t of tou!hing his new &odyas though to !he!k that it was in fa!t real# $s she wat!hed he looked down at hisgra%estone and then started to sway from side to side while wa%ing his arms inopposite time to his hips#

@Err what are you doingA@ asked Shirou sounding e%ery &it as !onfused as 6llyafelt as she tried to work out the man5s odd &eha%iour#

@65m dan!ing on my gra%e# +ah 6 wonder how many other people !an e%er ha%e&een a&le to honestly say they5%e done thatA@

6llya goggled at the mans anti!s and then &rought her hands to her mouth asshe tried to !ontain a giggle# 6t looked like her onii!han had managed to !hoose

a %ery # # # singular indi%idual to re!ruit#

Shirou had a grin of his own showing &ut wa%ed for the man to !ome of the&urial sight# amadasan !eased his gyrations and stepped o the small moundof earth and grass that marked the pla!e his earthly remains had &een laid torest# Then to the surprise of &oth the other worldly magus5 he went down to oneknee &efore the red haired Campione#

@6 thought you were some mage or something when you oered to do this to me#But 6 saw it in your power when you used it# ou5re a king a ruler supreme# This

amada usuke a!knowledges your so%ereignty and pledges his ser%i!e to you as

thanks for my deli%ery#@ The words were not mo!king and were deli%ered with/uiet seriousness and solemn dignity#

"eedless to say Shirou started pani!king# $lmost wildly 3apping his arms hewa%ed for the newly in!arnated man to stand up#

@9ook 65m no king 65m no ruler 65m -ust someone in o%er their head that !ould useyour skills# 6f doing this is the pri!e needed to get them then that5s all 6 don5tneed your pledge or anything#@

The older man smiled as he got to his feet &ut shook his head in a respe!tfuldenial#

@ou don5t know it yet &ut 6 think you will in time# 6t5s written right there into yourpower authority rule dominion 6 !ould feel them all in there as easily as 6 !ansee the sun on a !lear summers day# Trust me on this lad you5re a king you -ustdon5t ha%e a throne or !rown yet#@

6llya wat!hed Shirou with interest# Something like this had happened when they/uestioned the magus who had &een wat!hing the 2ght the red head had gotteninto with the god !alling himself +ades# +e5d also !alled Shirou a 8ing a supremeruler# The more that she heard a&out it the more she felt there was more to this&eing a Campione than either of them was aware of#

Shirou seemed to de!ide to -ust ignore the e'!hange that had -ust taken pla!eand stepped around his new ser%ant as he tra!ed a small !hisel#


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@What5s that forA@ the resurre!ted man asked in !uriosity as he wat!hed hisnewly of stone of one of the !ar%ed 3owers of his head stone then seal the smallfragment into a plasti! pod the si*e of his thum (n!e done he pulled out a penand wrote amadasan name on the pod in !lear letter#

@Shirou is using his own strength to maintain the &ody that you5re in right now@e'plained 6llya as Shirou put the pod &a!k into the small ru!ksa!k he5d taken to!arrying around# @


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&lasted into a hotel o%erlooking the s/uare# +ardly the apo!alypti!al wastelandsthat some su!h &attles had left in their wakes in ages past#

+owe%er despite the odd hour and the poli!e signs de!laring the area sealed othree 2gures were meeting &y the de%astated fountain# $ll three were young girlswho !ouldn5t &e more than thirteen or fourteen yet all !arried themsel%es with agra!e and !omposure that would ha%e laid most royalty to shame#

The 2rst was a slight pale skinned girl with greywhite hair and purple eyesdressed in a s!hool uniform with a knit !ap on her head# She was the goddess$thena who had re!ently returned to 6taly after her defeat at the hands of theCampione 8usanagi Godou# Sin!e her return she had had the good fortune ofstum&ling a!ross a large grimoire !alled the +eraneion during her in%estigationsof what had happened here# She5d &roken it open and immediately a&sor&ed thedragon that it had released into herself# $s a result the land had lost none of its%itality and she had managed to regain a small portion of her lost power#

+owe%er it had &een while doing this that she had met her !urrent !ompany#They like her had !ome to in%estigate &oth the &irth of the new Campione aswell as the strange &urst of &aIing power that had &rie3y appeared at a&out thesame time# That power had &een felt &y e%ery +ereti! god on the planetsomething !ompletely new to e%en the eldest of them#


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@6 still !an5t &elie%e that +E fell to a !hild of Pandora not e%en 2%e days old# $ndin su!h an unimpressi%e &attle too# So many years of planning and then this# 6t islike a plot de%elopment in some medio!re play#@

+er !ompanion shook her head !ausing her own !as!ade of golden hair toshimmer like a waterfall of ri!hes#

@6s that why you tri!ked +ades into atta!king himA That was unwise the king ofthe underworld was powerful &ut ne%er a 2ghter# $ll you5%e done is lose a%alua&le pawn and further strengthened the su&-e!t of your ire#@

@4on5t sound so wise with meD@ the 2rst snapped &a!k her sea &lue eyesnarrowing in anger as they met steel grey @"ot when you did the e'a!t samething when one of Epimetheus5 illegitimate !hildren slew your target# Who was itthat you sent to his deathA 6 !an5t /uite remem&er#@

The se!ond &roke her ga*e with the 2rst and instead turned her eyes upon$thena#

@6 know you re!ently fought the Se%enth Campione honoured


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@We don5t ha%e enough power &etween us to make it work howe%er if honoured$thena would &e willing to lend us her power # # # @

Both of them turned to regard her#

@Well $thenaA Would you &e willing to -oin us in thisA 65m willing to swear any

oath you desire of me that on!e our own power is restored to its fullness then wewill aid you in regaining yours#@

That sounded interesting# There were %ows that !ould &e made that would &inde%en a goddess at full strength# With two fully restored +ereti! Gods fully!ommitted to her own restoration then she guessed it would not e%en take her ayear to gather the power needed to !omplete her e%en without the use of theGorgoneion#

$nd there was also the fa!t that if she aided them she might &e a&le to meet8usanagi Godou again %ery soon#

Turning away from them slightly in order to hide her &lush she looked at theslashed fountain as though !onsidering their words# She5d already made up hermind &ut she took that !han!e to s!hool her features &a!k into their !ustomary&lankness#

@$greed# ou will &oth swear upon your own namesA@

$ powerful oath that one to %iolate it would pro&a&ly lea%e them e%en weakerthan they were now e%en if they 2rst regained their full strength#

@$greedD@ de!lared the &i!olour haired girl immediately#

@$greed#@ )ollowed the steel eyed girl after a slight hesitation#

6t was still early in "aples &ut something of great import had already takenpla!e#

The attack had come without any sort of warning. ne moment hirou had justbeen reclining against the wall idly 8icking through a book on the sights to see in-aples. The ne't the wall had e'ploded behind him throwing him forwards, butbefore he could 8y very far an arm clad in pure white clothe emerged from thesmoke, sei9ed the back of his shirt and pulled him back through the newly madehole.

He!d been sent tumbling towards the centre of the s)uare, but had instinctivelyreinforced his body to absorb the impacts with a skill he hadn!t known that he ad

possessed. All about him he could hear people crying out in alarm at the suddeneruption of sound and force, running towards it running away from it. And aboveit all he could hear one voice that rose in triumphant e'ultation.

:# have found you% # have found you my old foe and now we may battle.:

He had scrambled to his feet and cast about for the source of that voice. #t hadonly been after glancing right and left several times before he thought to lookup. There standing upon nothing but glowing blue light was a tall blond man

dressed in white clothes and a long cape and holding a long slightly curvedsword.


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As soon as he laid eyes on it hirou could feel his ;eality hinese twin swords dissolved into motes of light as hirou stood withhis hands open and free of arms. True the gesture was more symbolic than


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practical give that he could trace new weapons in an instant. Cut he was doingall he could to avoid a meaningless 0ght.

:hirou*:

#llya!s voice caught his attention and dragged it away from his enemy. #t seemed

that she had rushed down the stairs as fast as she could to see what washappening. n seeing her adopted brother engaged in combat she immediatelylashed out with her our mage craft to aid him.

:"eave hirou alone%: he shouted as a bird of 0ne glowing blue wires threwitself at the white clad swordsman. #t was a spell similar to the one used by hermother in her short con8ict with Birei. This version was deadlier using ra9or wireinstead. #llya had not had any real opportunity to use it in the ?rail &ar sincewhen she had had Cerserker he had been far more e+ective as a weapon. AfterCerserker had fallen she had never encountered an enemy against whom itcould be successfully employed.

Dnfortunately that remained the case as a mere 8ick of his sword allowed=erseus to destroy the shining construct and completely negate its thaumaturgy.

:Those are eastern blades that you carry my old foe. #s that where you havebeen hiding* &here you have learnt your new tricks* #t!s not where this 0ne

young maiden has come from though@ she looks more of a northerner to me.:

nce more he struck a pose, this time with his sword brandished above his head,and levelled a smile that seemed to be entirely too familiar at the youngEin9bern.

:$ery well% # shall defeat the demon lord and rescue the imperilled maiden% After

all that is the role of the hero. #t has been )uite some time since # took a bride,perhaps now!s a good time . . .:

That last sentence had been spoken more to himself than it had been to anyoneelse, but with his body as reinforced as he could safely manage hirou!s hearingwas sharp enough to catch it.

#ce ran through his veins at the thought. #llya being taken, and him helpless tostop it, #llya being the helpless sacri0ce and him unable to do a thing.

-ow he had a reason to 0ght.

eep within him something stirred, responding to the resolve to 0ght this god.:Touch her and #!ll kill you.: The words ground themselves from his lips, likeblades scraping against each other.

:ho* o you have found your spirit my foe, well then let us drink the wine ofwar together%:

:#llya, get back inside. # swear he won!t lay a 0nger on you. -ot one.:

As the white haired girl nodded and retreated to safety both the combatantscharged at teach other.

Traced versions of Banshou and Cakuya met the divine blade of their foe. Thefake =hantasms would hold for one or two blows but would then shatter under


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the pressure. That was no problem@ as soon as a blade broke hirou wouldabandon the hilt and immediately trace a new one. The ring of blades and theclash of steel rang throughout the now deserted s)uare in a rapid staccato beatof violence. The young magus had never managed to 0ght this well before,tracing was placing no burden on his, his magic circuits weren!t even getting

warm and his body was accepting the reinforcement with ease. Cut it wasn!tenough, =erseus! smile never changed and his sword never seemed to miss, tobe too slow, to be too weak. hirou was throwing everything he had into thisassault and it just wasn!t enough.

Again the hero god struck at him and the teen barely managed get both theblades crossed over his chest in time to block the blow. Coth swordsdisintegrated back into prana fragments and hirou was once again sent 8yingback opening distance between them.

:plendid, truly magni0cent my old enemy%: The white clad god!s complimentsrang across the s)uare. :# do not know what happened to you in the east, but

this is a 0ne improvement. ?one are your endless curse and instead you nowwield such 0ne steel. How truly glorious%:

As he spoke his sword disappeared and was replaced by a large golden bow.hirou didn!t even bother thinking about his action, he simply moved. His wilddive to the side took him just far enough to escape the e'plosion that eruptedfrom where the gods burning blue arrow struck, but its force still sent him rolling.

As he struggled back to his feet he idly noted that he seemed to be spending alot of his time today tumbling all over the place.

till, no time to think about that now. rantically he dodged again evadinganother arrow and just keeping ahead of its blast. The ne't one though wascoming too fast desperately hirou 8ung out a hand and traced the sturdiestshield he could manage. #t didn!t come )uite as naturally as a sword but ane'ceptionally thick roman scutum shield materiali9ed in time to protect him.

As he knelt in the smoke his lips curled into a frustrated grimace. #f things keptgoing like this then he knew that his only chance to win would be to start tracingthe strongest -oble =hantasms he could. The problem was that nothing weakerthan an A class would be enough to bring this guy down. He had seen thestrength of his divinity when he analysed his sword the likes of -ine "ives Clade&orks or ?ae Colg just didn!t have the power needed to drive him back. The

problem was that using the likes of E'calibur here would end up levelling a good

portion of the city if he made the slightest mistake. He needed something else,something more.

&ithin him something answered his need.

The words came unbidden to his lips as he charged at his foe once more.

:A mother who sees her child die, a soldier who ga9es on his killer, the beggar inthe gutter who stares at the palace. rom them # take their bile, their hate, theircurses.:

ne of his swords swung at his foes blade@ damn that blade if it were just a bit

weaker then he could break it.Weakness


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omething moved within him, something that made him think of a maddeneddiseased dog, one foaming at the mouth and straining at its leash as it tried tolash out at the world. The feeling ran from his chest, through his arm and intoCakuya just as it struck his foes blade.

Coth weapons e'ploded in a shockwave strong enough to break the glass in allthe windows around the s)uare. Cut both combatants were more than humanand so were undaunted by the eruption. &hat did take =erseus back was thesudden destruction of his weapon.

hirou didn!t hesitate but moved solely on instinct. His other hand dropped itscopy of Banshou and traced a nameless sword, not even a -oble =hantasm, in its

place. The power went into it as it 8owed from his centre. He had to slow his foedown enough to beat him.

Fatigue.

As the power touched it the blade changed. #ts sleek lines became jagged and

serrated, no longer a sword for 0ghting but rather it was now a sword designedto in8ict pain. Cefore the white clad god could react the sword was thrust into hisside. The ne't instant hirou had abandoned the blade and jumped back.

&ithin him the power changed now that it no longer had a target, where beforeit had been a rabid dog now it felt like an abused but still a+ectionate puppy, onegaunt with hunger and marked with scars, yet still eager to be patted and told itwas a good boy.

haking his head the >ampione focused back on his foe. To a human such awound would be debilitating, maybe even fatal, but to a god it was nothing more

than an uncommonly painful splinter. The god opened his mouth to speak, buthirou gave him no chance. Two more nameless blades appeared in his handsand the power surged within him. He was vaguely aware of his weaponschanging as he altered his stance to accommodate them, but it wasunimportant. All his focus was on the foe before him.

He was slower now, it was only a fraction but it was enough. ne of his bladesslipped past his defence as scored a scratch on his left arm.

Misortune.

#t was just a thin cut barely enough to draw blood, but the surprise of it causedhim to stumble back. As he did so a small piece of rubble moved under his footmaking him stumble. Again it was a small thing, but just enough to let hirouscore another shallow wound, this time on his right leg.

Conusion.

His defences were showing more holes now, as though he didn!t understandwhat was happening and was getting rattled by it.


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And now they seemed to be falling apart. The blond god was still so fast, sostrong, but hirou!s attacks were getting through now and the wounds werebecoming deeper and more serious.

Mistakes.

Fear.

anic.

!oubt.

He just had to do a bit more, just one more attack, just one more . . .

!eeat.

#t came to the young magus as a complete surprise when his last thrust seemedto go right through his foes and e+ectively nail him right through just below hisheart. This was a killing blow, why had he used it* He hadn!t wanted to kill this

deity@ he only wanted to drive him o+.

As both he and the god fell to their knees hirou tried to verbali9e his confusionand guilt.

:#!m sorry, # . . . # don!t, # didn!t, #!m . . . #!m so sorry.:

:Ah # see,: the voice from the god lacked it previous pride and con0dence butwas strangely calm, almost gentle. :Those are not the eyes and words of my oldfoe, # was so eager to battle him that # didn!t reali9e. /ou!ve already slain him,and by the grace of =andora his power is now yours.

:h what magni0cent foolishness, that # would ride here all set to play the role ofthe hero only to bumble my way into the part of the villain. &ell you have indeedkilled me now, but do not let your grief overburden you. ?ods do not die asmortals do, in time # shall return and we!ll battle once more, this time with bothof us in our correct roles.:

The hero god was cracking now, as though he were a statue crimson cracks wererunning from where the sword impaled him and were slowly spreading. His handcame up and grasped hirou!s shoulder.

:# hold no grudge, your victory was without any grace or elegance and yet it wasas grand as a lions roar. Take my Authority young >ampione, take it and become

strong, stronger than any. Then when we meet once more our battle shall be thelike from which legends are born.:

&ith a sound like rushing sand the slayer of


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As he collapsed to the ground he could distantly hear the sound of #llya!s voicecalling to him. "ooked like she!d be lumbered with having to haul him aboutagain.

&asn!t it the guy who was supposed to carry of the fainting damsel damn it%

Shirou sat up in his &ed and inhaled deeply# 6t was that damned dream againhim killing Perseus e%en though he didn5t mean to# +e knew now that when godswere slain like that then they simply returned to their myths &ut for some reasonthat -ust didn5t seem to get rid of his guilt#

+earing a soft murmur of protest from his side he glan!ed down# ep there was6llya dressed in her Super Samurai py-amas that she5d &row &eaten him into&uying her# 6t didn5t matter that she had her own room n this hotel suite that hewas hiring? she kept on sleep walking to his &ed where she treated him as herown fa%ourite teddy &ear# The 2rst two times he5d tried to send her &a!k to herown room &ut e%entually he5d -ust gi%en up# 6llya would do what 6llya wanted to

do and woes &etide anyone who tried to get in her way#4e!iding he -ust didn5t ha%e the energy to worry a&out it right now the eighthCampione lay &a!k on his &ed and rela'ed as the white haired girl snuggled intohis side# +e wondered if this was what it was like to ha%e a little sister it wasni!e#

$s his eyes drifted shut he wondered what tomorrow would &ring# Tomorrow waswhen his plans with amadasan would ki!k into high gear# Serious money wasgoing to start mo%ing around and the false identities they5d had set up would &etested &y s!rutiny#

So mu!h to do tomorrow and still e%en more to do further down the line# 9iketrying to !onta!t the lo!al mysti! !ommunity# 9ike trying to get a handle of -ustwhat it meant to &e a Campione#

So mu!h#

Well at least things weren5t going to &e &oring#

Chapter J

6t was a small room in whi!h they met one underground and &eneath a temple ina small and unimportant %illage in western 7apan# +owe%er it was a spe!ial roomone made &y sages in ages long past using se!rets and methods lost to the ages#Within this small !ham&er they !ould &e assured that their dis!ussion would not&e o%erheard# Entire pantheons of gods !ould try to s!ry what they said andwould only hear meaningless stati!#

Within this room sat se%en 2gures four men and three women all were dressedin traditional 7apanese style 8imonos yukata traditional shrine %estments#+owe%er all their gar&s were made form the 2nest materials and if one looked


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!losely you !ould see were mysti! designs had &een sewn into the !lothing andwere then artfully hidden#

Those gathered here represented almost three /uarters of the ruling !oun!il ofthe +istory Compilation Committee the se!ret organi*ation that had o%erseenand !ontrolled all supernatural related matters in the nation sin!e the


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up a largely mundane power &ase# +e has used the $uthority gained &y hisdefeat of +ades to a!/uire !onsidera&le wealth as well as a num&er ofresurre!ted ser%ants# So far he has re!ruited su!h ser%ants as will ser%e animmediate and useful fun!tion#

@The 2rst su!h re!ruited ser%ant was one amada usuke a famed a!!ountantwith underworld !onta!ts# 6 and others ha%e &een a&le to !on2rm that he has reesta&lished his !onne!tions under new aliases and has &een &uilding fake&a!kgrounds for Emiyasama and his !ompanion#@

@+ow does an a!!ountant &e!ome famousA@ en/uired on of the family heads#

@By keeping a &ankrupt !ompany running for se%eral years past the point that itshould ha%e !ollapsed simply through !reati%e &ookkeeping# That and &y lea%ingsu!h a spe!ta!ular mess to !ome out with his death that it held the front page onmultiple newspapers for si' days#@ $nswered the agent#

@Why would a 8ing re/uire the ser%i!es of su!h a manA@ asked another mem&er

this time a=liated to the 8uhoutsuka family#

@Be!ause as far as we !an tell he is trying to remain as in!onspi!uous as possi&lewhile not o%erly limiting himself# We ha%e learnt that one of his $uthorities grantshim a!!ess to enormous wealth were he to display su!h ri!hes with a&andonthen e%en our resour!es would &e strained to !ontain the pu&li! fallout# Byemploying the talents of this kind of man he !an /uietly &uild a fortune in su!h away that only the most detailed in%estigation would turn up anything suspi!ious#6t is in my own hum&le estimation a &rilliant mo%e#@

@So the eighth Campione is an intelligent manA What has your in%estigation &een

a&le to &ring to light a&out the man himselfA@ the !urrent head of theSayanomiya spoke up again asking the /uestion that had drawn them all to thismeeting#

@Based on the report that the Witenagemot ha%e pu&lished as well as my owno&ser%ations 6 ha%e !ompiled a report that 6 shall now present#@ $s he spokeGendo rea!hed out and tapped a &utton on his laptop &ringing up a pi!ture of&oth the new Campione and his young !ompanion#

@)irstly 6 feel that the theory posed &y the Witenagemots agents is !lose to thetruth &ut slightly erroneous# Their &elief that &oth him and his !ompanion assome sort of hermiti!al apprenti!es is only slightly o# Based on my own

o&ser%ations 6 &elie%e that it is in fa!t his young !ompanion who was the heir tosome re!lusi%e mage#@

+is 2nger pushed another &utton and the s!reen 2lled with an image of the whitehaired girl gleefully running down the roads of a shopping ar!ade#

@She appears to &e &y far the more !apa&le of the pair when it !omes to generalmagi! from what we ha%e &een a&le to o&ser%e# She also seems to &e a&le toere!t some sort of &oundary around any room or &uilding that they areo!!upying# This &arrier makes them pra!ti!ally in%isi&le to any mysti!al attemptsto lo!ate them? it was only &e!ause they mo%ed to a more industriali*ed areathat we were a&le to tra!k them# Without the use of modern methods su!h as

!losed !ir!uit !ameras and the like it would ha%e &een far more di=!ult#


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@$side from that she has displayed high le%el hypnosis a num&er of illusionspells and the a&ility to use some form of thread magi! that we are still trying toidentify# +owe%er one thing that we were a&le to !on2rm is that her &ody!ontains an astonishingly high amount of magi!al energy# We are as yet un!learas to e'a!tly how mu!h she possesses &ut from what we were a&le to s!ry she5s

!loser in le%el to a 4i%ine $n!estor than to a human# She un/uestiona&ly has ahigh le%el of di%ine &lood to possess su!h power perhaps only four or 2%egenerations remo%ed#

@We are also sure that she has &een raised in !lose to total isolation for mu!h ofher life# She has shown herself to &e thrilled &y some of the !ommonest thingsand has pro%en to &e e'tremely ae!tionate and possessi%e of the eighthCampione#@

+is 2nger worked on!e more and a new pi!ture appeared this one of the girlopenly glaring at a pretty young woman talking to the red haired teen#

@Emiyasama is also a mage from what we ha%e determined howe%er his ownskill set is far more limited than the !hilds# $s the Witenagemot report mentionedhis a&ilities appear to &e purely !om&at oriented in nature# +owe%er unlike his!ompanion he is !learly more at home in a hea%ily &uilt up and !rowded area#

@6t5s from this information as well as some other fa!ts that 6 ha%e assem&led &ytheory on the origins of the new Campione#

@Emiya Shirou and this girl are !learly the students of some hermit mage as theWitenagemot theori*ed# 6 &elie%e that the girl is the prin!iple heir and originally&oth the more powerful and more talented of the two# 6 &elie%e it is safe toassume that she has spent almost her entire life away from any ma-or population

!entres or hea%ily &uilt up areas# Emiyasama on the other hand has spent thema-ority of his life as a part of mainstream so!iety# 6t5s my guess that at somepoint the same mage who was training the girl saw that Emiyasama possessedsome sort of natural talent in the dire!tions of !om&at# $s a result the entirethrust of his training sin!e his re!ruitment has &een in that single dire!tion thuse'plaining his limited skills#

@6 imagine he was trained to &e the girl5s &odyguard or some similar role#Regardless he seems to ha%e &een the only person to ha%e shown her ae!tionin her isolated state a supposition that would e'plain her possessi%eness of him#6t5s my &elief that there !urrent situation is due to the re!ent death of their

tea!her# Whether due to a!!ident or natural !auses whoe%er was training them isnow no longer a fa!tor# Thus with the authority that pre%iously limited them gonethe girl who is now free is following Emiyasama5s lead in heading &a!k to hishomeland#

@+ow this led to Emiya Shirou en!ountering a +ereti! God is unknown -ust as isthe method &y whi!h he a!!omplished the kill# We are also unaware of how his&e!oming a Campione has ae!ted the personal dynami!s &etween the twosa%e that they remain !lose#

@What 6 do know for sure is that in his last two en!ounters with +ereti! GodsEmiyasama has &een !on2rmed as trying to a%oid !om&at &ut in &oth !ases

responded with lethal for!e when either he or his !ompanion was threatened#This indi!ates a reasona&le indi%idual not one to engage in open &attle without


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some serious form of pro%o!ation# Simply put Emiya Shirou seems to &e adangerous &ut reasona&le indi%idual#@

+is report deli%ered the agent &owed to his audien!e !losed his laptop and fellrespe!tfully silent#

(n!e more it was the head of the Sayanomiya family that &roke the silen!e#

@6 &elie%e the /uestion now is whether or not we shall attempt to approa!h thenew Campione and if we do de!ide to do so then in what manner#@

@Perhaps a sele!t group should make !onta!t with him@ Suggested the !urrentheir to the Ren-ou !lan @They !ould arrange a meeting to e'plain who we areand how we would like to esta&lish some sort of a!!ord#@

@65m not so sure that would &e a suita&le approa!h@ one of the others said @(urarrangement with 8usanagisama has pro!eeded well sin!e


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!apa&le +ime


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peer though not the e/ual of Seishuuin Ena# +owe%er 8aida was not a !om&ati%eperson &y nature and so had almost no aptitude for any sort of martial a!ti%ity#

6t was also a power that had an unfortunate tenden!y to go o whene%er 8aidalost her !omposure# "ormally su!h episodes only resulted in the release of small&ursts &ut when she really lost her temper she had &een known to a!!identallywre!k entire shrines#

@What happenedA@ an assistant asked !uriously#

@


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,.

@Well my 8ing does this meet your appro%alA@Shirou !ouldn5t do mu!h more than stare at the sight &efore him# 6t had &eenthree weeks sin!e he arri%ed in 7apan and two and a half weeks sin!e he hadre!ruited usukesan as a ser%ant# Sin!e then the resurre!ted soul had pro%enhimself to &e a pri!eless asset setting up false histories and do!umentation fornot only Shirou and 6llya &ut also for himself# +e had also arranged se%eral &anka!!ounts to store Shirou5s wealth and had arranged for a num&er of au!tionsaround the !ountry to sell se%eral of the more la%ish items of -ewellery that theCampione had pro%ided him with# $nd all of this had &een done in su!h a shorttime that it &eggared &elief

+owe%er a week ago 6llya had &e!ome tired of li%ing in hotel rooms no matterhow la%ish they were and had loudly %oi!ed her opinion while Shirou and his2nan!ial %assal were ha%ing a dis!ussion# 4e!iding to take a &reak the red hairedteen had asked his adopted sister -ust what kind of house she would like to get#

6llya had immediately &egun to list all the features she wanted their new dwellingto possess su!h as a swimming pool a 7a!u**i a tennis !ourt an o&ser%atory a&an/uet hall a &allroom and so on# Shirou had grinned and !ommented on howhe wanted a traditional 7apanese house a do-o a workshop a really &ig kit!henand may&e an e'er!ise room sin!e he5d always wanted to try out those weightma!hines#

To him it had -ust &een a way to 2ll a few moments and to rela' a &it# +e hadn5tnoti!ed usuke taking notes#

"ow he was standing in front of a large traditional 7apanese manor house onewith large garden ground a small &uilding set aside that he had &een told!ontained a swimming pool a 7a!u**i and a sauna# There were also se%eralouthouses that !ould &e !on%erted into a magus5 workshop if he so !hose as wellas a pri%ate do-o atta!hed to the houses main &uilding# usuke had saidsomething a&out some of the rooms &eing a&le to &e !leared to make a&allroom &ut Shirou had stopped listening at that point#

@This looks -ust right thank you usukesan#@

That was 6llya answering in a perfe!tly serious and matter of fa!t %oi!e# +e knewthat she5d grown up in the Ein*&ern !astle and that she didn5t like small houses&ut still # # #

@+ow # # # how mu!h did this !ostA@ +is %oi!e &roke after the 2rst word and hehad to stop to swallow so as to moisten his throat#

@(ne &illion 2%e hundred million two hundred and 2fty thousand yen#@ Came the!alm response#

Shirou fro*e in pla!e still as a statue he didn5t e%en seem to &y &reathing#

Curious as to his &eha%iour 6llya !ame up to him and ga%e him a slight push# Toher delight he a!tually ro!ked in pla!e as though he were a metal statue#


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@ou # # # you spent all our money on this pla!eAD 70ST +(W


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@Emiyasama 6 don5t think you understand -ust how %alua&le some of thosetreasures you ga%e me were or how mu!h 6 was a&le to au!tion them for# Thediamond and emerald diadem you ga%e me alone sold for almost a &illion yen#$ll of those sales !om&ined as well as my own modest eorts ha%e left you a%ery ri!h man# But at the same time not so ri!h that you will draw too mu!h

attention#@@$h 6 see#@ Shirou5s %oi!e sounded so far away from him#

@Would you like to see inside the manorA@ asked usuke#

Still in a state that !ould only &e des!ried as sho!k Shirou simply nodded andfollowed him and 6llya as they went in# $s he walked his mind seemed to &e stu!kon one /uestion: if that was not ri!h enough to draw unwanted attention thenwhy did it seem so hugeA

,.

Eri!a Blandelli read o%er the letter she had re!ei%ed on!e more as though &ydoing so the !ontent of the message would !hange# "ope still the same#

This was the kind of information that she should ha%e re!ei%ed as soon as it&e!ame known to the CopperBla!k Cross her un!le Paolo Blandelli should ha%esent her news a&out the new Campione within minutes of it passing his desk# +erirritation faded though as a thought !rossed her mind# E%er sin!e she hadatta!hed herself to Godou her orders stature among the many other

organi*ations that made up the magi!al !ommunity of Europe had risen!onsidera&ly#

+er un!le had sent her se%eral messages &oth !ongratulating her for this turn ofe%ents and !ursing her for the seemingly endless paperwork that newimportan!e seemed to generate# 6f his !laims of his new workload were to &e&elie%ed it would &e perfe!tly within the realms of possi&ility for him to ha%ere!ei%ed a detailed report on the su&-e!t then for it to &e so &uried under tri%ialdo!uments that he would ne%er e%en see it# 6n su!h a s!enario he was morelikely to learn a&out it during his e%ening at the lo!al &ar than from o=!ial!hannels#

The sad fa!t was that CopperBla!k Cross was a strong organi*ation and hadalways wielded !onsidera&le authority &ut for all that they had ne%er &een alarge group and so la!ked a !ertain le%el of prestige that su!h organi*ations asthe Witenagemot possessed# With their !lose asso!iation to the se%enthCampione that had !hanged thus &ringing an e'plosion of &oth re!ruitment and!orresponden!e that they had &een ill prepared to deal with#

Shaking su!h thoughts from her mind Eri!a wondered how she would handle this#+er original plan was to spend the summer holiday getting !loser to Godouduring a trip &a!k to 6taly# (f !ourse she was well aware that her &elo%ed would&e a &it relu!tant to do so sin!e he still hadn5t a!!epted their relationship# $s

su!h he had planned a!!ordingly and told him of her plans to spend the summerwith him# +e5d pro&a&ly try to 3ee to 6taly where 9u!retia ;ola would &e


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perfe!tly willing to let him stay# What he didn5t know was that Eri!a had li%ed upto her name of the Red 4e%il and anti!ipated him# She5d already madearrangements of her own and would &e there to greet Godou when he arri%ed#

"ow though it appeared that her plans would ha%e to &e shel%ed# The arri%al ofthis new Campione in the territory that had &een !laimed &y Godou ,though only&y default sin!e this was his homeland rather than through him !laiming anyauthority o%er them. was trou&ling#

6t had only &een a short time sin!e Godou had had his own mat!h up with hisfellow Campione Sasha 4e-anstahl o&an# Though te!hni!ally undefeated theelder godslayer had de!lared the out!ome of their mat!h to &e his loss sin!e hewas una&le to a!!omplish his goals in the time he allotted to himself#

Godou had also had a mat!h with 9ord Sal%atori 4oni the si'th Campioneshortly after his as!endan!e# That mat!h had ended in a draw despite the olderCampione5s superior e'perien!e and training#

She did not fear Godou5s defeat not only was he a powerful Campione &ut hepossessed a !ertain /uality that made her !ertain he !ould win e%en when theodds were against him# +owe%er he had on multiple o!!asions !ommented onhow mu!h he disliked ha%ing to deal with the supernatural aspe!ts of his life# 6fhe was told that a ri%al Campione was !hallenging him for his territory then aslong as the new 8ing was not a tyrant then Godou would happily had o%er theresponsi&ilities with a gift ri&&on atta!hed#

Still it was a wi%es duty to get her man going when he otherwise wouldn5t mo%e#Eri!a had total faith that Godou !ould &e the greatest 8ing in the world and sheintended to see him rea!h his potential#

"ow the only /uestion was what to doA The 2rst step was to ensure that he didn5tend up running of to 6taly not now anyway#


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"ow though now he ri!her than he5d e%er e%en thought of &eing and if hewanted to he !ould &e wealthier still# The sheer s!ale of his newly a!/uiredfortune still left him stunned# $fter his &attle with the god he had taken sometime in a !ouple of li&raries to do some !ursory resear!h on +ades trying tolearn something a&out the god he had slain# +e5d learnt that one of his titles was

5the Ri!h (ne5 &ut he hadn5t really grasped what that meant# E%en the a&ility topull treasure out of the air hadn5t really stru!k as that %alua&le not until usuketold him -ust how mu!h wealth it had yielded#

So here he sat in the new do-o he owned trying to 2nd his !entre on!e more#+owe%er his mind kept on drifting to Sakura# To her Rin and Rider wonderinghow they would ha%e taken his !urrent situation# Sakura would ha%e &eensupporti%e he was sure she would ha%e &een pleased not to ha%e to worry a&out2nan!es any more &ut aside from that her rea!tion would pro&a&ly ha%e &eensimilar to his# "ow Rin on the other hand there was a girl that would ha%e killedto ha%e his a&ility with treasure# Sin!e many of her mysti! !odes were &ased on

gems she5d pro&a&ly ha%e him !hurning out high /uality -ewels onto a !on%eyer&elt if she !ould# Rider though there was someone he wasn5t sure how theywould rea!t# (n the one hand he dou&ted the Ser%ant would ha%e appro%ed ofhim killing deities !onsidering that she had on!e &een one on the other hand heknew she &ore no lo%e for the gods of her time so indeed she might ha%e e%en!heered him on# +e -ust had no idea#

(n!e more his mind drifted to +ades to how they had fought to how he haddied#

,.

He and #llya had been riding his =egasus when they had 0rst seen him. They hadleft -aples only a few hours ago deciding to use hirou!s new mount to get themback to Japan. #t had been less risky than trying to use #llya!s skills in hypnosis toget onto a plane, that and the fact that she ;EA""/ wanted to ride the wingedhorse.

He had been ama9ed at his new ability, the link he felt to the creature he wasriding, the sheer strength that he felt within himself. &hat was even strangerwas the odd instinct that told him just how to use his new powers. #t was

incomplete, he could feel that, but it was su(cient to give him a handle on howto use these new powers. He!d spent the last day e'perimenting where he couldand still had some trouble believing the results.

-ow here he was, in the sky, heading anywhere he so wanted to. ;ight now hehas letting the =egasus set an easy pace so as to give him and #llya a chance toenjoy the view.

The feeling was indescribable@ hirou had never been on an airplane in his life.&hen Biritsugu had been alive then his failing health had led their few holidaysto being local a+airs limited to Japan itself. ince he had passed on his adopted

son had felt no urge to travel abroad and so had had little cause to e'perience8ight. The wind was in their faces, but some aura that the =egasus projected


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served to protect them from the worst of it. ince given that they were movingat speeds similar to a slow plane the air pressure should have been like a gale,instead it was simply a gentle bree9e. Celow them the lands of #taly lay spreadout from hori9on to hori9on, so small yet so e')uisite. The trees cast tiny shadowwhile looking like tiny splinters of wood@ rivers were simply tiny, shiny grey rivers

against the brown and green of the land.

:hirou*: #llya!s voice brought him out of his ruminations and focused hisattention on the girl sitting in front of him. &hen she had 0rst proposed using hisnew steed to get to Japan the red haired teen had been less than thrilled withthe idea. His main concern being that while they were 8ying one or both of themwould slip o+ the winged horse. ?iven that they had no saddle or reins for the

phantasmal beast he felt that the concern had some validity.

till some subse)uent e'perimentation had shown that falling of the =egasuswas to all intents and purposes impossible. #t wasn!t so much that its rider stuckto it or something like that, it was more as if the white creature radiated a

strange kind of personal gravity. #f one of its riders did somehow lose theirbalance then they would fall back into safety rather than o+ its back. #t was astrange phenomena, but one that hirou was grateful for. &ith the way #llya wastwisting about, trying to look every which way at once, if it weren!t for that e+ecthe was sure she would have gone plummeting to earth long since.

:Hmm* /es*:

:Have you thought of a name for him yet*:

That was another thing. The playful girl had insisted that she would not get onthe =egasus until hirou told her what gender it was. he also cunningly kept her

eagerness to ride the winged horse hidden until after her had performed theembarrassing task, at the time convinced it was the only way to get her onto themystic animal.

till she raised a good point@ a creature like this should have a name. =egasuswas more of a description these days, a word that meant winged horse.

:&hat do you think # should call him*: He asked the white haired girl as someideas spun through his own mind.

:# think:

whatever she might have thought was cut of as the pegasus let out a startled cryand baked sharply to the side to avoid a . . . what* #t looked like a huge black0reball, but as it shot passed them it radiated no heat and seemed to rumble liketumbling boulders. Even as he watched though the mass of darkness started tocome around and then came charging back at them.

Again the winged horse banked to the side, but this time the dodge was only justenough and the space between its wing tip and the black seething mass couldhave been measured in centimetres. #t also threw its passengers around nearly

jostled #llya right o+ its back despite the safety e+ect. >ursing under his breathhirou leaned forwards to grasp the animal!s mane with both hands thus forminga protective frame around his adopted sister.


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#nternally he wished he knew how better to control the mythic mount, he couldsee that for all its natural power and intelligence the pegasus was not up toanticipating the moves of its attacker and as a result its evasions were becomingmore and more frantic.

amn it he needed better control, he needed

The ne't thing he knew he was no longer holding on the animal!s mane butinstead was holding a set of silver reins. hirou just had time to blink in surprisebefore it felt as though a part of his mind had . . . unfolded. #t wasn!t an intrusivefeeling, more as though something had been added on in some gentle fashion.&hatever the case may be it was as though he could tell what the animalssenses were telling it. The sensation was e'tremely strange@ it wasn!t a case ofhim seeing through its eyes, but rather of him knowing what it was seeing. Theinformation seemed to slide seamlessly into his mind without any clear source.

&hatever the case might have been this development was e'actly what he

needed in order to better control the pegasus. eeing the black 0reball roaringtowards them once more he sent the winged horse not into a dodge but insteadinto a dive. As the huge orb of darkness sped by above them hirou took his 0rstchance to take a good look at it.

#n si9e it was about as big as a large minivan, not )uite a ball but rather it wasslightly more oval in form. Also he had been wrong to call it a 0reball, that wasan illusion made by the small tongues of . . . darkness* hadow* That licked uparound it. They moved similarly to 0re@ enough that it was an easy mistake tomake, but it wasn!t )uite the same now that he had the chance to play closerattention. Also the mass of darkness did radiate heat, but it wasn!t the sameheat that came from 0re, instead he was put in mind of hot rocks or lava, it wasa dull but oppressive hotness.

#t turned once more and came at them again, but the brief time in which it haddone so had allowed the young >ampione a chance to observe it. rom what hecould tell the attacking force seemed to possess greater speed than his pegasusbut su+ered from inferior agility. Those turns took precious time whereashirou!s mount could easily make them in only a second. Also it seemed his foelacked any sort of ranged attack, or at least it had yet to show any. #t might bewaiting to see if the red haired teen would show any such ability of his own.

f course if looked upon from a distance then it was clear to see that those on

the winged horse possessed no weapons of range, meaning the only way forthem to attack would be through spells or powers. Cut then hirou had moreoptions than that available to him.

;eaching into himself the red haired boy tapped the well of information that hehad inherited from Archers arm. #t was a reality marbles last imprint, a store ofknowledge he could access like a library. Cocks, or in this case weaponsblueprints, could be borrowed, but that information would never be his and assuch would fade from his mind as it was !returned! to Archers store of memories.

f course, as was the case with borrowed books, if he accessed a memoryenough then in time it would become imprinted into his own memories. nce

that happened then he no longer needed to access what he had come to think ofas !the Archer torage! in order to trace it. o far the only -oble =hantasms he


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had achieved this level of familiarity with were Banshou and Cakuya. Hardly asurprise given how many times he had had to trace them during his 0ght with=erseus.

However there was one other weapon in that mass of information that had cometo so smoothly, so easily, that it had immediately imprinted itself onto his mind.#t had no name, no history, no legend, it was not so much a -oble =hantasm as itwas a simple mystic code that Archer had traced so many times that theknowledge of how to do so had become a part of him.

#t was a large black longbow, made from a material possessing )ualities ofplastics, ceramics, metals and wood. To a normal human it would have beenimpossible to use, but for a magus like Archer, one skilled in self reinforcementthat was not a problem. And it also possessed a )uality that made it uni)uelyuseful to someone like Archer, and now hirou.

:Trace n%:

#nside the teens mind and gun barrel hammer was cocked as prana went surgingthrough his magic circuits. #n a shimmer of light the great black bow appeared inhis left hand.

He had dropped the reins now@ he didn!t really need them anyway. The link to hismount remained in his mind@ he could feel it eager and ready to respond to hiswill. At a mental command the pegasus turned in its 8ight so that its side wasfacing the oncoming enemy. hirou turned in his place and aimed the bow at hisattacker with his left arm while his right pulled back the string as though aimingan invisible arrow.

:Trigger +%:He knew he wasn!t Archers e)ual yet, not in the e'pertise of his tracing at anyrate. Having accessed the knowledge within the grafted arm had accelerated hisown development, but Archer had had years to re0ne his skills. o far the besthirou could accomplish was the imperfect recreation of the weapons he saw inhis mind. >ertainly the ability to recreate -oble =hantasms was a magni0centtalent. Cut his future self had been able to do more.

"ike this, for e'ample.

:Hrunting, set.:

Archer had been weak in comparison to more than half the ervants in the Holy?rail &ar. tats wise Cerserker and "ancer had been well above him. Coth ;iderand aber would also have been able to surpass him when they had propermasters. #n e+ect he only surpassed >aster and Assassin, the two classes withthe naturally lowest physical stats.

And yet despite this he was un)uestionably a strong ervant, one able to 0ghtmuch stronger foes if he wasn!t taken by surprise. He was suited to aber, but ithad been this ability that had made him so suitable for the Archer class.

Hrunting was the sword of the hero Ceowulf, used to slay the mother of ?rendal.Cut as it was traced Archer!s skill was brought into play. #n mid creation thesword was altered and changed. #ts characteristics modi0ed to suit his needsand its form shifted so it would suit them.


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As a result it was not a sword that materiali9ed in hirou!s hand, but an arrow.ne already knocked and ready to be released.

This was the other aspect of the bow that made it so valuable to Archer and nowhirou. #ts ability to launch the modi0ed arrows that were -oble =hantasms.

Another bow, one of more mundane construction, would never have been able towithstand the forces involved. &ith the black bow on the other hand, Archer hadbeen able to hit targets at a distance of literal kilometres.

&ithout a word the young Emiya released the strange black arrow.

hirou wasn!t sure of what powers the -oble =hantasm had possessed as asword, that part of the blueprint hadn!t been accessible to him as he made thearrow. However that wasn!t important at this point.

&hat was important was the e+ect the arrow had upon its release.

The arrow ceased to be a physical object and became what could only be

described as a large red bullet of energy. "ike a thing alive the scarlet projectileshot towards its target. The mass of darkness saw it coming though and swervedto the side to avoid its impact. #t was a small movement, unsurprising given itslack of manoeuvrability, but still enough to dodge the attack.

E'cept that it was not enough. Hrunting would not be denied its prey. That wasthe power of the sword become arrow@ it would pursue its target no matter howthey dodged, relentless as a hunting wolf on the scent of blood.

The red bullet responded to the change in its objective, turning to match theattempted evasion. Again the black ball of false 8ames tried to dodge, but thistime it was too late.

&ith a sound rather like a crate of dynamite going o+ the crimson projectilecrashed into the attacker and erupted into an e'plosion of otherworldly power. #nanother world another hirou would have been able to de8ect this attack usingan imperfect projection of ;ho Aias, but the fact that it re)uired the sacri0ce offour petals of the conceptual item meant that Hruntings power was su(cient to

penetrate a fortresses walls multiple times over.

Cut whatever the attacker was it was clearly sturdier than mortal materials couldhope to be. ut of the smoke of the e'plosion it came, its formally inde0nableform cracking like an eggshell. #t would seem that the black aura and Hruntinghad achieved mutual destruction on impact. The pieces of the aura that broke o+seemed to 8oat through the air for a few brief instants before fading frome'istence.

This didn!t interest hirou though, what was capturing his attention was whatwas being revealed by the disappearance of the black aura.

#t was a chariot, an old one of ?reek style. #t was worked in gold and silver buthad large panels of black giving it an ominous look. #t was being drawn by twohuge stallions, each easily as large as his pegasus. &hat was disconcertingabout them was that they had no eyes@ instead burning coals that let of tonguesof 8ames were 0tted into their skulls where their eyeballs should have been. The

8esh around them did not burn or roast, the animal simply galloped along,snorting and shaking its mane as though nothing were out of the ordinary.


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However as darkly magni0cent as both the beasts and the chariot were it wasthe man driving them that held hirou!s attention. He was a tall man with aclosely cut mane of midnight black hair and a trimmed ?reek beard the sameblack as his hair. He was clad in a 8owing toga of black silk and stood asimperiously as any king.

Though more than half a kilometre separated them his eyes locked with hirou!s.They were not the eyes of any mortal, the young Emiya was certain of that. -ohuman could possibly have eyes of that colour, a colour that impossibly held allthe shades of every gemstone at once.

or a moment their stares clashed like crossed weapons, then the dark hairedman jerked his head to the side, still not breaking his ga9e, indicating a smallisland. #t was not large thing, just a hump of sand that rose out of the waterabout a kilometre o+ the shore. #t was about the si9e of a small city block andhad nothing on it apart from a few patches of grass and a ship warning device.

&ith a nod of his head hirou turned his pegasus once more and headed towardsit.

:&hat!s happening hirou*: #llya!s voice was )uiet but unshaken. This was thegirl who had fearlessly accompanied Cerserker into battle after all.

:omeone else seems to want a 0ght.: He replied.

:o we have to stop* >an!t we just run*:

:He!s too fast. &e can dodge better than he can, but if we tried to run he couldcatch us pretty easily. #!ll have to meet him here and see if # can calm him down./ou stay with the pegasus, if things go badly he!ll get you to safety.:

hirou felt the pale girls back tense against his chest even as the winged horsereleased a snort of agreement, but she didn!t say a thing.

As soon as the 8ying beast!s hooves touched the sand of the island hirou waso+ its back and striding towards its centre, carefully putting some distancebetween himself and #llya. Ahead of him the chariot had come thundering downonto the sands leaving a trampled furrow in contrast to hirou!s own lightlanding. As it rumbled to a halt the tall man in black stepped o+ it and strodetowards the young Emiya.

:At least you are no coward, abomination though you may be.: His words echoed

in an odd way, as though they should have been in some great hall or cavern butwere instead forced to resound in the air like this. They still wanted to echo, butlacked the means to do so.

:# have no trouble with you,: hirou said calmly, even as his body tensed and hismagic circuits surged, :there doesn!t need to be any 0ghting here, # just want toleave.:

Even as he spoke those words he somehow knew that they wouldn!t be enough,that no words would be. This man had sought him out and there was nowviolence between them. >on8ict was inevitable@ no it was more than that.

Antagonism between them was their natural state, as natural as it was betweenthe cobra and the mongoose.


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