Fate: Isekai Tensei – Forged Sword

[Krak-Quinn]

"I'm stepping outside for a quick moment, I won't go far."

The thunk of a steel meeting wood played through the house repeatedly.

She didn't respond.

"Lilia, I'm not a Demon."

Then he walked away.

As he exited the house, a chilly breeze washed over his skin. It wouldn't be long until it began to snow.

The horse wasn't in the stable, so Paul had probably already left to patrol.

He walked to the center of the yard and focused on getting his magic to work.

After a few minutes, he was completely focused and he almost missed the sound of steel singing through the air right behind him.

Instinctively, he ducked down and rolled away before launching himself back up and facing the danger.

Lilia held a sword in her hands, and cold hatred was burning in her eyes. "A normal child would've died." She said, and raised her sword once more. "I'll have to get rid of you while you're still weak."

It was obvious she was determined, that this couldn't be resolved with mere words.

Unfortunately, she was currently wielding one of Paul's spare swords, so it didn't give away her own style or skill.

'Kill or be killed.'

Before he could even realize it, Roxy's Ice Sword formed in his hand, he Reinforced it and he took on a stance he learned form Paul's sword. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Then die." She launched off with one foot and swung her sword aiming for his neck.

He parried her first strike, and he had to dodge her second one, but as he blocked her third strike, his sword was sliced clean through.

The effects of her Mana around her blade had surged with her final strike, he was unfamiliar with her moves and hadn't been truly fighting to kill.

Her sword tore straight through his shoulder and most of his lung and ribcage, but then a rock spear pierced through her skull, causing her blade to cease.

The damage was already done.

The lifeblood of two different people stained the yard.

He was having trouble remaining awake.

Roxy and Zenith were both rushing up to him, he couldn't hear their voices but he recognized the green glow they emitted.

Pain exploded from his wounds as large swords bursted from his body.

The two women kneeling next to him, attempting to heal him, were stabbed and impaled.

They both died instantly.

...

...

Paul staggered into the yard, his eyes wide with disbelief.

A boy with numerous blades sticking out his body, two people impaled on them, and a person with a bloody sword in hand and a hole in her head.

"I'm... sorry." The boy mumbled with his final breaths.

...

...

Bad End!

---

Enter Tiger Dojo?

Yes!

...

...

It was the dojo at his old estate, Shirou was back in his own house, in his own world.

"So it was a dream after all." Even as he muttered these words, he didn't believe them.

"Foolish Shirou!"

A shinai was slammed down and it bounced back up off the top of his head.

He didn't feel physically sore, but he was still crippled with pain.

"Shirou?" The one wielding the practice sword asked from behind him.

He couldn't move.

They walked around and couched down in front of him. "Shirou, you shouldn't blame yourself."

He grasped his chest as he struggled to breathe. "I-I couldn't save you, Fuji-nee." He responded without looking up.

"I'm the adult, so it's my responsibility to be the one protecting you. My safety shouldn't ever have been your concern."

"S-some adult, you watch cartoons all day long." His jab felt hollow.

Taiga Fujimura had died, that was all that mattered.

He hadn't saved her, and she died.

"I wish, I honestly wish that this was real, that what comfort you could gain from this would affect the version of you who's living with your concerns buried deep beneath it all.

"What is this place?"

"Tiger Dojo, it's a place where heaven and hell meet, where nonsensically non-canon things happen. But more importantly, it's where I review your work and point out your mistakes!"

"Alright, so Tiger Sensei, where did I go wrong?"

"Lilia had been struggling with your existence, but by giving words to her concerns, you've tipped her over the edge."

"What happens now?"

"Everything and nothing, this is the end but we'll live on. [Let's go!]" Taiga shouted the final part in English.

 

[Krak-Quinn]

He risked getting closer, and knelt down next to her. "Are you injured anywhere?"

While crying, Sylphiette nodded.

He couldn't exactly see any wounds, and the scent of blood was entirely absent. Gently, he reached out. "Can you lend me your hand?"

A moment passed before she sat up and faced him, then she nervously nodded and reached out her hand to him.

He grasped her hand, she jumped slightly but didn't shake him off.

"Let this divine power be converted into a satisfying nourishment, and bestowed unto those who have lost the strength to stand once more. Healing."

Blood splashed on his face.

The small body of the five year old girl exploded as thousands of miniature swords manifested inside her.

...

...

Bad End!

 

[Krak-Quinn]

There hadn't been any complications on the mother's side, but as Lilia pulled out the baby, she hadn't felt any signs of life.

His heart wasn't beating.

His lungs weren't breathing.

The corpse was excitedly snatched away from her hands before she had mustered up the courage to tell Zenith and Paul their child was born dead.

And then it blinked, and its pale skin turned bright pink.

Zenith panicked that the baby suddenly felt hot in her arms, and casted Healing on it.

And then without a cry, the stillborn baby gazed around the room, his eyes seemed to be staring at his parents faces before he moved on.

Lilia felt pure terror as she was forced to stare into the empty silver eyes of the moving stillborn baby.

It was watching her, observing her.

The baby, the stillborn baby, was looking directly at her.

She had heard tales before, of demons replacing babies and other such things, so she immediately knew that a demon's soul had snuck into the corpse of the stillborn baby.

It didn't cry.

It just watched her every move.

Hollow eyes, empty, cold, the silver of steel, eyes that held no human compassion.

Lilia felt as if a blade was being pushed against her skin as the demon looked at her.

When they made eye contact, she could feel the bite of cold steel pressed against her eyes.

When it looked at her, she could feel his gaze as sharp steel being dragged against her skin.

The demon didn't need any assistance learning to crawl, walk, or talk.

And it definitely didn't need any help learning to read, write or cook.

Zenith and Paul foolishly began letting it learn how to cast magic and how to sword fight.

And she was also a fool, being always on edge and having been crippled, she didn't believe she could defeat the demon, but she knew Paul could.

And so she felt safe in his presence, and every night as he was making passionate love to his wife, so she began to feel envious.

Her first time had been stolen by Paul, and then he ran away. And now, she was here, in the same house as him and his wife.

Eventually she seduced him, he was a man of carnal desires in the end, and somewhere along the lines she had gotten pregnant.

She was ready to leave, her affection for Paul wasn't high enough that she wanted to risk the life of her baby by giving birth to it in the same house as that demon. Her baby might also have its body possessed by its friends or such.

However, Zenith convinced her to stay.

Paul had done wrong by both of them, and he needed to make it up to the both of them.

The demon hadn't attempted to kill her child so its brethren could possess it, and she gave birth to a crying, healthy, baby girl.

Zenith had been nice to her even after the incident, and they had grown close, so she had pitied her. Zenith had a stillborn possessed by a demon. So she tried to be kind to her, it was the least she could do.

Lilia had slept with a married man and had given birth to healthy child. She was lucky in comparison.

Raising a normal baby was taxing on her body and mind, it was hindering her work.

The demon's hand pushed against the fabric of her outfit and her flesh, and then an all-encompassing warmth flooded her body.

Her leg muscles spasmed as the effects of the poison were erased, a feat that even the palace hadn't accomplished.

The demon wasn't malevolent, for no being who could create such a warm miracle could ever be.

She had been going about it all wrong, she didn't need to fear him, she needed to endear herself to him for his grace.

It might be too late for her, but it wasn't too late for her daughter.

 

[Krak-Quinn]

"Just checking." Paul shrugged. "As a test, answer this: how many 'swords' should a man have? One or two?"

A seemingly endless amount swords that were buried inside Unlimited Blade Works flashed through Shirou's mind in an instant.

"Ah, well…" He scratched at the back of his head, and he could feel his cheek flush. "D-does there need to be a limit?" He stared at the ground.