Shirou, Blade of Emiya

[Dunno.]

This is a self-insert, mostly self-indulgent piece of fan work and nothing else. Enjoy this garbage.

P.S: Expect random power-ups.

Chapter 1: Shirou Emiya. (15D/3M/24Y)

[Have fun! Sincerely, Dunnonia.] A youthful voice reached my ears, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"What?" Confused, I turned my head to look at my surroundings, yet found no anomalies in sight that could've caused such a noise. I was alone in my kitchen, running water being the only sound one can hear as I was currently washing the dishes. Blinking a few times, I chalked it up to my mind playing tricks and resumed cleaning the plates before placing them back at the cupboard.

After wiping my hands clean and turning the faucet off, a weak thump sounded from behind me, catching my attention. Upon facing the origin of the noise—an empty wall, my eyes trembled in fear as a wall of fire engulfed my vision, before being violently flung backwards straight into the wall by an invisible force.

"Gah!" A pained shout forced its way out of my mouth as I dropped to the ground. Opening my eyes, I caught sight of my home being ruthlessly swallowed by a sea of flames that seemed twist and writhe with a life of their own. My barely functioning brain processed the information and came up with a probable explanation: an explosion of some sort.

My ears rang a sharp tune, unable to pick up any noise from the surroundings, and my entire being was submerged in a pit of untold agony. Despite the pain my body was subjected to, I clenched my jaw, picked myself off the ground, and immediately rushed towards the back door to escape.

Emerging into the outside world, I was met with a sight that can only be described as a hellscape; the ground below were but of ash and cinder, the buildings groaned then crumbled into fine dust, the sky plagued with ominous clouds that seemed to spell out the end of the world, and pillars of flame that seared anything it touched were everywhere.

I swiftly snapped out of my bewilderment and focused on escaping the area. Trudging across the fiery landscape, my legs threatened to collapse with each step, but I refused to fall and pushed my body to its limits to move even a single centimeter forward.

Screams resonated from all around the place; a man was digging through piles of debris in search of his loved one, a young girl shouted their parents' names amidst a cage of rubble, and a bunch of others were yelling in agony as the flames swiftly consumed them.

"Please!" A desperate voice called out. Halting my steps, I faced the direction of the shout and saw a woman trapped under a concrete pillar "My baby! Please take her!" She extended her arms forward to show me a blanket wrapped around the charred form of what I can only assume to be a child at one point.

"Sorry…" I quietly said before walking past the ill-fated mother, ignoring her pleas that gradually blended into the background. Some might call me cruel for leaving someone to die, but I rationalized my decision by thinking that I, too am a victim in this scenario, trying their best to survive.

I marched through, letting the cacophony of cries go from one ear to the other. I did not know where I was heading, the place was utterly unrecognizable with all the destruction spread about. After a few minutes of non-stop walking, ignoring the pain that came with each stride, the limits of my body has finally been reached, causing it to unceremoniously drop to the scorched ground. The sensation of pain slowly left as my senses began to numb.

"Haa…" A defeated sigh left my lips as I lied on my back, staring at the dark skies above. In my delirium, I spotted a star that shone brighter than most amongst the clouds and reached out for it without much thought. For some odd reason, my limb felt light and shorter, but it was probably my imagination.

My mind and body has failed me, there was nothing else I could do to extend my life for even a second more. A series of blurry images brushed over my head—memories I've come to cherish over the years played in my mind like a feature-film, causing a small smile to form on my lips.

Accepting my fate, I took one last breath as death approached and stopped holding my arm up. However, before it could fall back down, a pair of hands took firm hold of mine as if scared it would disappear the moment they let go.

Suddenly, a burst of golden light enveloped my whole being before vanishing just as quickly as it appeared. Though confused, I swifty threw the phenomenon at the back of my mind.

Then, the voice of a man reached my ears. "Thank goodness..." Relief and happiness could be felt in his words, as to why, I didn't know. Perhaps they mistook me for someone they knew.

My eyes trained on their face; he appeared to be of asian descent with rowdy black hair, his eyes were filled with emotion as tears slid down their cheeks, the smile on his face matching the brightness of a star, and he mumbled out words of gratitude while grasping my hand.

As my conciousness flickered, one final thought crossed my mind. 'Why… are you smiling like that?'

----

"Welp, this ought to be fun." A being of pure darkness muttered. Its shape continuously shifted, but always retained a vague humanoid shape with a silky scarf draped around their neck. It picked up a book labled "Shirou, Blade of Emiya" from a weathered bookcase and made its way through the unnatural structure it resided in.

The being hummed a jolly tune as it walked across the space with swift, yet elegant steps. Eventually, it arrived at a small garden crowded with all sorts of colourful flowers.

The blackened creature sat on the chair in the middle of it all before opening the book in its grasp, eager to read its contents—a story following the life of a normal person who got reincarnated into the world of Fate/Stay Night as a certain Hero of Justice with a System on their side.

----

Through the window, I stared at the endless expanse of white and blue that incased the morning sky, until the silence was broken by the harmonious sounds of children interacting with one another in the same room as I.

Earlier on the news today, the investigation about the particular incident had finished, and the disaster that took the lives of hundreds was concluded to be nothing more than an accident due to a gas leak.

It had been a few days since then, and I had come to discover something shocking upon waking up. "I'm a child again." I whisper to myself. Specifically, a seven year old child with a head of auburn hair and a pair of amber-coloured eyes. No matter how much I tried to tell the doctors and nurses, they remained unconvinced, attributing it to me still being in a state of shock, so I gave up and tried to think of an explanation of my own—which went nowhere as expected.

I mean, how can one even begin to understand the peculiar position I found myself in? I was but a normal member of society, not a scientist. And the fact I was in Japan midway through the year 1994, could write and speak their native tongue as if I had grown up with it all my life, only complicated everything else.

"You must be Shirou, yes?" As I wallow in my own thoughts, a familiar voice pulled me back to reality. I turned, facing the same man who dragged me out of the sea of flames days ago. He wore a black trench-coat that fell just below his shin and had a briefcase on hand for some reason. Unlike when I first met him, his expression was blank, and his eyes shone weakly.

'Shirou… yeah, that's what they called me.' I didn't know why, but my name was registered as "Shirou" in their database even though I don't recall claiming my name to be as such, however, I was too preoccupied with my thoughts at the time to correct it.

"I am Emiya Kiritsugu." My eyes twitched for the briefest of moments, remembering a character of the same name from a certain franchise. "Well, little Shirou, you have a choice. You can chose to go enter an orphanage, or be adopted by me."

I stroke my chin while putting on a thoughtful expression. This man went out of his way to save a kid he barely knew about from a deadly place that could've easily killed him, so I didn't think he'll do anything bad to me, but his empty gaze and impassive face made me a tad apprehensive about accepting his offer. However, his intentions of taking care of me was genuine, that much I could tell. My physical form might've regressed back to a child, but my thought process was still that of an adult.

"Sure." I pointed my hand towards him, welcoming his offer with a kind smile. I feel a little aweful about taking advantage of his kindness, but one should take whatever they could get when thrown into a unfamiliar environment.

The kids around us stared in wonder, causing a bit of a clamour. I did not know how they feel watching another kid in the same circumstances as you be adopted so quickly, but I ignored them in favour of switching into a new set of clothing a nurse had kindly given me.

The nurse felt somewhat off; her eyes were hollow, and her movements punctual, as if she were a robot following a set of instructions. Were nurses in Japan like this? However, what caught my attention the most was the fact that Kiritsugu already had the paperwork necessary to adopt "Shirou", as I am known by at this moment, in the briefcase he possessed.

Though a bit surprised, I chalked it up as him eager to take me in, perhaps he'd started the process right after dropping me off the hospital some days ago. After putting on my new garments, which consisted of a dark jacket and pair of shorts, I followed my adoptive father outside the hospital and hopped inside a black car parked right at the entrance.

Now comfortably sat down with my seatbelt in place, Kiritsugu ignited the engine and drove out of the hospital grounds into the busy highway. He and I never spoke the whole ride, but the atmosphere between us never went awkward, thankfully.

While lazily staring out the window, watching the shifting landscape, my thoughts drifted. I'd already concluded this to be real, and not just some dream my mind had conjured while on the brink of death. I've tried hurting myself, much to the horror of the caretakers, and did everything I could to 'wake up', but all of my attempts failed, leaving me to acknowledge my current reality. As unbelievable as it was, all I could do was accept it and try my best not to fumble this chance I was graciously gifted.

Time whizzed by until the car went into a stop before a wall that wrapped around a traditional Japanese mansion, its splendor out for all to see. It was a sight to behold for sure, but my first thought was rather mundane: 'This place would be a pain to clean.'

The mansion didn't appear to be manned, there were no cleaners or caretakers on sight with the only occupants being Kiritsugu and I, so instead of feeling excited at the prospect of living in such a large house, a sense of unease went over me.

My adoptive father and I emerged from the vehicle and entered the mansion's parameters. Upon stepping into the foyer, I was greeted by an imposing empty hallway which made my eyes narrow slightly. While not abundant, an accumulation of dust could still be spotted on some surfaces, causing an itch to form in my head that badly needed to be scratched.

Kiritsugu, seeing me glare at the floor, ushered me inside with a weak push on the back before strolling past me. Broken out of my thoughts, I trailed behind him and entered a living room with a small low-table in the middle.

"Shirou, I have something to tell you something." Kiritsugu sat down on the wooden floor and declared: "I'm a mage, or 'magus' you could say."

"What do you mean?" I asked, echoing my confusion. Was he some sort of stage magician? How can such profession even let you buy a house as large as this one in the middle of a city? I know this was the past, but buying a property like this shouldn't have been easy even back then.

His face became more earnest. "I know it might sound absurd, but magic does truly exist in the world we live in. The correct term would be 'magecraft', as 'true magic' has been lost to time, the distinction between the two is pretty important."

Then, a sudden jolt of electricity flashed across my mind. My face was stuck in a state of disbelief after finally figuring out why he, and the strange happenings prior to this, seemed familiar.

Kiritsugu Emiya, a man known throughout the supernatural space as the "Magus Killer", was sitting before me, and I was none other than his adoptive son, Shirou Emiya, whom the man rescued from the disaster he, himself created —— How could I have missed such obvious signs?

'I'm in Fate?'

----

Some time later, after getting over the sudden revelation that I now reside in a world thought to be purely fictional, I stood near the kitchen in utter silence, confusion mixed with fear washing over my entire being.

'What the hell happened here?' I thought to myself while watching plumes of smoke occupy the small kitchen area connected to the living room. In the middle of it all was none other than Kiritsugu Emiya holding a spatula of all things.

He turned to me before apologizing with a stoic expression. "Ah, sorry. I was trying to cook dinner."

Seeing his attempt at conjuring a meal, my eyes twitched. I knew he was horrible at kitchen work - as it was repeatedly told in the show, leaving Shirou to do it in his stead - but this was just straight up disastrous. How can one even fail at cooking eggs so badly that it literally got burned into a crisp?

"How about I do it instead?" I kindly suggested. This man should never be placed behind a counter ever again to prevent sudden house fires from happening in the future. Here I thought finding ways to triumph over the upcoming Holy Grail war would take precedence, but it appears the world had other plans for me.

After politely kicking Kiritsugu out of the kitchen and cleaning the wreckage he had created, I took it upon myself to prepare dinner. Thankfully, I wasn't as inept as him in the art of cooking, having lived by myself for many years naturally forced me to learn how to make proper meals.

As we sat across one another at the table, eating our food in silence, I sifted through ways on how to increase my abysmal survival rate in the future, and quickly found a simple solution to that question: Magecraft.

If this body of mine remained true to my memories of the show, the farther the craft strays from the concept of a sword, the more difficult it is for me to comprehend it, leaving me with very little options. However even that wouldn't pose a problem, because unlike the original, I already knew what to do with my limited skill-set.

"Dad?" I paused, wincing a little. It still felt somewhat weird calling someone my own (mental) age 'dad', but I'll get used to it eventually. He turned, facing me with a questioning look. "Can you teach me magecraft?"

He had revealed the existence of mana earlier by using 'Reinforcement', a spell that bolstered a given target's purpose of existence, on himself—increasing his physical strength by two-folds. If I were a normal child to begin with, such phenomenon would pique my interest more than anything else, so he should've expected this outcome.

"No." He shot back immediately, firmly refusing to teach the boy any kind of thaumaturgy,

"Please?" Once again, my request was met with rejection. However, I wouldn't let such setback stop me from getting what I wanted. So for the next couple of minutes, I pestered him on teaching me the art of magecraft until he finally gave in.

"Fine, only after we finish our food." He said with a defeated sigh. I almost let out a shout after hearing his answer, but I reined my excitement in and resumed eating my food with renewed vigour.

Though a little surprised that he caved in pretty easily, you won't find me complaining about it. He'll most-likely only teach me the very basics much like the original, but as stated earlier, it posed little to no problems as long as I master it. If Shirou Emiya (from the show) can do it, then so can I… hopefully.

Later that night, after putting our dishes in the sink, he told me to sit down next to him. Placing his rugged hand on my back, he spoke with a hardened tone. "I'm telling you now, the moment you start this journey, there's no going back, you'll be putting yourself in more danger just by practicing this."

I gave him a simple nod in response. There was no way I was backing out from this as it was the only way for me to possibly avoid the many life-threatening events that are about to come. A cold shiver ran down my spine just from remembering how much strength a single Servant - a hero of past renown summoned to the modern world with the help of an artefact - possessed.

"First off, you need a mental trigger, something to recall whenever you activate your magic circuits, so I want you to imagine an action, like stabbing yourself or breaking something." Quite the morbid thing to tell a child to imagine, but now's not the time to be fixated on that particular detail.

Quietly taking in his words, I pulled my senses inward, imagining two moving swords that produced a flare of sparks upon impact with one another. I could've went for something simpler like the hammer of a gun going off, but swinging swords came more naturally to me.

Possessing Magic Circuits is how one qualifies as a magus, and are needed to employ any form of modern magecraft. It is connected to one's soul and cannot be altered in any way; once destroyed, it remains as such for the rest of one's life. From what I could remember, Shirou Emiya is said to had 27 of these circuits—which was higher than average (20).

Kiritsugu's hand became warmer, followed by the prickling of my skin, then a wave of electricity abruptly spread across my body, causing me to clench my teeth, but the sensation disappeared shortly after. From deep within my very essence, I felt something move in tandem with my thoughts; an intangible force that took whatever shape I wanted it to.

As I drew steady breaths to familiarize myself with the odd feeling persisting all across my form, a translucent screen with written text suddenly appeared before me, startling me somewhat.

[Your Magic Circuits has been opened]

'What?' I stilled, gazing at the interface before me. Is this what I think it is? A tool to aid me in my journey in this world filled with danger and opportunity?

"You alright?" Seeing Shirou's stupefied expression, Kiritsugu asked worriedly after taking his hand off the boy's back. He'd heard that some children went into shock after opening their Magic Circuits for the first time, and he hoped this wasn't the case for his adoptive son.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just a little surprised." I replied calmly to erase his concern. Throwing a swift glance at his face, it appears that he couldn't see the interface that just popped up, saving me the effort of explaining what it was.

Nodding at my words, Kiritsugu told me to head straight to bed for tonight, saying that he'll continue my lessons on magecraft tomorrow after I get used to the mysterious feeling.

END.

 

[CrimsonCodex]

Looks interesting

 

[Gwynx]

nice work, looking forward to the next chapter, would this Shirou take on suicidal ideals? or he will become the food hero saving everyone through food, because the real enemy is hunger!!!

 

[Hyperionthetitan]

Interesting ,looking forward for more.

 

[Tarnal pasta]

when I looked at the title the first image I thought of was Gilgamesh calling shiro a mongrel for saying the "I have never know defeat" line

Anyway thanks for the chapter looking forward to the next one

 

[Dunno.]

Chapter 2: System.

In my grasp was a kitchen knife the length of my entire forearm. Some might say giving a knife to a 7 year old is irresponsible—and they would be right, but Kiritsugu knows I can handle myself. And god forbid that man be allowed inside a kitchen, he'll just burn everything down without even doing anything.

With a thought, a surge of magical energy covered the sharp object before breaking down into wisps of light just as quickly. I winced at the sudden flood of information being inserted into my brain; its manufacturing process, material composition, and entire history before & after its creation, played like a film inside my head. The amount of detail being crammed into my head could easily incapacitate the average person, but not me.

[Skill 'Structural Analysis' has leveled up]

A translucent screen appeared before me. Upon reading its contents, a smile creeped its way onto my face, before dismissing the interface with a wave of my hand. It wasn't necessary as the System functioned with my thoughts alone, but I still did 'cause why not.

Sheathing the knife, I stepped off the stool I used to reach the counter top and returned to the living room. It had been an entire week since my Magic Circuits were opened, and Kiritsugu still remained in the dark about my newly acquired powers. I pondered about telling him at first, but ultimately decided not to.

After lowering myself on the floor, a single word rolled off my tongue: "System."

———

-Shirou Emiya-

Wanderer of worlds.
- An entity who've broken through another reality.

[You are gifted a System to aid in your journey]

Sword Incarnation.
- A sword given the form of a human.

[Boosted learning efficiency with 'sword' related skills by 800%. Lessened learning efficiency from any other form of magecraft unrelated to a 'sword' by 400%.]

Bearer of Avalon.
- You, who've become one with the sheathe of Excalibur, are blessed with great vitality.

[Increases Vitality by 3 per level up, and amplifies health regeneration by 800% for long as the Player has Avalon equipped.]

Saber-face.
- Given by an entity beyond Man's understanding for the fun of it.

[Those who possess this will bear a great resemblance to none other than Saber.]

Level: 3

STR: 0.7
VIT: 9.3
AGI: 1
MAG: 0.8
Points: 6

Skills:
Cooking (D - 1) - Reinforcement (E - 3) - Structural Analysis (E - 2)

Reality Marble:
Unlimited Blade Works.

Quest:
1,818 days remaining until the next quest.

———

A videogame-like interface, one that's invisible to everyone but myself, answered my call. Not in a million years did I expect to have a System after being reincarnated as Shirou Emiya of all people, but here it was. Like a child on Christmas eve, giddiness lingered over me despite spending an entire week familiarizing with it.

I went over this many times before, studying its features and understanding its effects on my entire being. First of: my body still functioned like normal; sleeping doesn't wisk away any injuries I've sustained, nor does consuming food quicken my regeneration. Second: a point in any parameter corresponds to a single person's. Meaning I, a seven year old, could easily outlast 5 people in an endurance race thanks to Avalon, the Everdistant Utopia.

As for how it was functioning at its maximum capability despite being separated from its rightful owner, King Arthur, I did not know. It probably had something to do with the System's mechanics if I were to guess.

'Skills' were self-explanatory; my abilities and mastery over them. [Saber-face] made my eyebrows rise, why in God's name is it there, was the almighty being who brought me just bored? Anyways, the 'Quest' at the very bottom would remain a mystery until 5 years later, so I can't do much except wait.

While recalling everything I knew about the System, the sliding door leading to the hallway opened, revealing Kiritsugu standing behind it carrying a folder and a small bag in his hands. He acknowledged my presence with a simple nod, to which I returned in kind, before placing the items on the table.

"What's that?" I spoke first, expressing my curiosity.

After making himself comfortable on the cushion, he replied while pushing the bag across the desk. "A new semester is starting in a few days, so I enrolled you to a nearby school and bought everything you needed."

Opening the bag, an arrangement of school supplies could be found inside neatly packed together. A groan almost escaped my lips after seeing them. The idea of reliving school irked me, but there wasn't much I could do to avoid it. I pushed the items aside with a sigh of acceptance, stood up from my seat, and strode towards the kitchen area.

"I'll start preparing lunch, are you fine with rice and omeletes?" I asked, yet received no response. I turned and saw Kiritsugu's unmoving form, a layer of mist seemed to cover his eyes. "Dad?"

Snapped out of his reverie, my adoptive father answers after a short pause. "Oh, sure."

Hearing his delayed response, my lips threatened to curve downward. Was the curse inflicted on him by the source all evil - Angra Mainyu - already taking a toll on him this early on? A weight pressed against my shoulders, causing them to slump. Despite my newfound ability, there wasn't much I could do to avoid his death. Avalon might help, but I doubt it'll do much apart from delaying the inevitable.

In the midst of preparing our afternoon meal, a System notification broke me out of my depressive thoughts.

[Skill 'Cooking' has leveled up]

'How in the—didn't it just rise a rank this morning?' One of the things I've had trouble wrapping my head around for the past few days was the fact that my 'Cooking' skill leveled up faster than my other skills. Why can't the others be that quick? Was this some sort of joke?

After eating lunch with Kiritsugu, I emerge from my home with a small box in my hand containing some food I've prepared prior. I left the periphery and stopped at a crosswalk, and after checking both sides of the road, making sure no heavy-vehicles blind side me to another world, I briskly crossed and entered a familiar residential house I've been visiting for the past few days.

Upon entry, an old man with whitening hair and a robust build for someone his age came into view. He was sitting on a wooden chair while his gaze ran through the newspaper in his grasp. The heels of my shoes produced a noise with each step, catching the man's attention. Hearing my approach, he lowered the papers and glared my in direction, a deadly glint flashing across his eyes. After seeing who it was that neared however, the threatening air around him was heavily subdued.

"Oh, young man. You're here again." He greeted the boy with a nod before pulling his eyes back at the newspapers, having grown used to the child's sudden unannounced visits. "Do you ever get tired of this, helping an old man like me?"

"Hello Soichirou," I bowed slightly then casually replied, "not really, and is it wrong to do so?" I then placed the food container atop the table beside him and unwrapped it from its case. Unable to refuse the food's delicious aroma, he neatly folded the newspaper and took the box off the desk.

He devoured the meal like a starved beast, gaining a chuckle from me. The man before me was Tanaka Soichirou, a veteran who survived World War II before peacefully retiring in Fuyuki. I met him some days after settling into town, and it was through him that I discovered something important. As my growing anticipation reached its peak, a screen appeared in front of me.

[You have completed a side-quest]

A smile captured my lips upon seeing the System notification. I had learned about the existence of "side-quests" after I had cooked way too much food one morning and decided to hand it to Tanaka, who lived nearby and was coincidentally hungry at the time.

I went through a lot of trial and error figuring out the mechanics of these side-quests; ways to trigger it, and how to complete them. It was quite a simple system really, all I had to do was figure out what a person was having trouble with and provide a solution or finish the task for them, and my reward for doing so was experience points with its amount in accordance to the objective's difficulty.

For the next few days after that, I've done nothing but run around town, offering my assistance to anyone I've spotted encountering a problem to the best of my abilities, netting me with enough EXP to level up twice in just 2 days. Tanaka was one of the people who constantly gave me side-quests, providing a steady stream of experience points for me to harvest.

At first I felt bad at taking advantage of the old man's inability to cook for himself, then later realized what I was doing wasn't even harmful in the slightest, rather the exact opposite. He's received perhaps some of the best food he's ever had - his words not mine - for free, while I grow stronger in exhange, a fair trade in my opinion. Some people I've met around town had even given me some treats after recognizing my face, which I took without shame. An adult I might've been, but free treats were free treats.

"You know, kid," Tanaka gulped down the last parcel of rice inside the lunchbox and spoke to me, "Kiritsugu is really lucky to have a child as bright as you."

I let out a stifled giggle at his comment. If you consider having a broken child without an identity of his own, merely following the footsteps of the person he admired, which the original Shirou Emiya most certainly was, then I suppose Kiritsugu Emiya is a lucky man. Now however, with me at the helm, things wouldn't go as fate instructed it to.

----

The morning breeze brushed past my face as I stared at the monolithic structure that loomed a dozen or so meter from me. The chatter of children and adult alike flooded the surroundings, their voices blending into a mix of laughter and excitement as they waved goodbye to one another. At the moment, I was standing alone before a large metal gate which lead to the school my adoptive father had enrolled me in. Speaking of, Kiritsugu couldn't see me off unfortunately, but it mattered little to me.

I entered and walked into the enourmous gym that's the size of a basketball court the preschool of all things possessed, went through the arduous task of staying awake during the entrance ceremony, then entered the bustling halls of my new school and was immediately assaulted by a gaggle of kids asking questions about my unique appearance. Auburn was a rare hair colour in Japan, especially at a time when foreigners were few and far between.

Fairly certain the chances of you finding a ghost was higher than spotting someone who came from another country. Japan during the mid nineties were quite apprehensive towards anyone not of their ilk, but did not treat them harshly and gave them the minimum amount of respect.

It took the majority of my remaining will power to not tell them to screw off. I deftly weaved through the crowd of curious children and headed straight towards my classroom which was just around the corner. Around 15 other kids around my age were already inside, talking about various topics with one another.

My entrance went unnoticed, which I was grateful for, I'm afraid I might just start saying the most traumatizing stuff these toddlers had ever heard if they gang up on me once again. There were no desks specifically assigned to me, so I just took the empty seat at the very back and hoisted my bag at the side before sitting down.

Naturally, I felt out of place. I was a functioning member of society before waking up as Shirou Emiya, while my peers were talking about various television shows, favorite toys, and whatnot—acting like proper 7 year olds. I simply sat in the back and stared wistfully at the cloudless blue sky, plans for the imminent future brewing in my head.

Soon enough, after half an hour of waiting, a teacher dressed in casual garments came into the classroom and introduced herself to the crowd, then encouraged us to do the same with a kind smile of her face. Honestly, their names disappeared to the deepest parts of my brain the second they appeared, forever forgotten till the heat death of the universe.

Next, they spoke of their aspirations; some wanted to be astronauts, musicians, or professional sports players, the usual stuff kids wanted to be but failed to achieve later on in their life.

Truth be told, I could not be bothered to remember any of them. Disassociating myself might be the best course of action so I could focus more on training myself. Though my anti-social attitude might land Kiritsugu a few phone calls here and there from the school, my safety came first and foremost.

----

A young girl dressed in crimson passed through the busy halls with swift and elegant steps, an air of nobility shrouded her form, preventing anyone from halting her gait. Her hair, black as the night itself, were tied into twin-tails which complimented her soft features.

Rin Tohsaka, the lass in red, entered the large garden connected to the cafeteria with her gaze locked in front of her, silently passing by her fellow schoolmates who were interacting with each other.

Upon passing a certain tree however, her stride came to a screeching halt. Rin's teal eyes widen by a small margin as she felt an intangible force crawl up her skin. As the sole successor of the Tohsaka family's magecraft, she was taught in the art of thaumaturgy from a young age and was quite familiar with the peculiar sensation.

'A magus?' Rin thought while training her gaze in the direction of the strange phenomena, which felt awefully similar to a magus operating their magecraft. What were they doing inside a preschool of all places? she asked herself, and came to an answer immediately after; a rogue magus had probably kidnapped a child attending this school to conduct their sick experiments to.

Magi (plural of Magus) were an odd—nay, deplorable bunch, going so far as to commit atrocious acts to further their research on magecraft, indifferent to the lives they've ruined. And as the second owner of Fuyuki - a title passed onto her after her father, the previous owner, had perished - she had to enforce her authority and keep any rogue magus from creating chaos in her territory.

Steeling her nerves, she switched directions and went towards the origin of the disturbance to investigate. However, instead of her worst fears coming to life, what she found was rather mundane.

"You need something?" A boy with a head of red hair asked in a monotone voice, his eyes flashed with a hint of recognition for a brief moment upon seeing her appearance. He was in a seated position, back resting against the sturdy tree, with a pair of chopsticks stuck betwixt his fingers.

"You…" Rin looked down at the item in his grasp—a pair of lunch boxes filled with an assortment of home-cooked meals that released a delectable scent, making her mouth water.

"You want some?" The boy spoke after seeing her stare at his meal - breaking Rin's train of thought - and extended the container in his hand towards her. "Take one, I don't mind."

"Can I?" She responded, wholly tempted by the sweet aroma. 'No wait, what am I doing!' She quickly snapped out of her trance and asked the boy: "You, who are you!"

The redhead merely raised his brows at her question before dropping his arm, calmly placing the lunch box atop his lap, and shifted his legs to a more comfortable position.

"Aren't you supposed to introduce yourself first?" He returned with a grin that irked her more than she thought for some unknown reason. She stilled upon registering his words, a bit embarrassed by her blunder. She was raised better than this, how can she make such a simple mistake?

"I-I am Tohsaka Rin from class A-1." she said while planting her hands on her hips, trying her best to project an image of superiority, intentionally ignoring the stuttering of her voice. The boy was utterly unimpressed by her act, finding it amusing more than anything.

"Emiya Shirou, class B-1. Nice to meet you, Tohsaka." The young girl recognized the name, he was one of the smartest bunch in the whole school, quite mature for his age, and was favoured by many teachers. "So you want one or no?" He said, pushing the savory delight right in front of her once again.

Rin was about to refuse when her stomach let out a loud rumble in protest of her thoughts, causing Rin's face to be dyed cherry-pink with imaginary steam wafting off her head.

"Don't laugh!" She exclaimed, sending the boy a glare that promised violence, completely forgetting about her purpose of coming here in the first place.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Shirou openly chuckled, fueling Rin's piling embarrassment. Deep in his mindscape, he desperately fought off the urge to ruffle the young girl's head.

She let out an audible "Hmph!" before swiftly turning around and walking away without taking a piece of the boy's food despite his openhanded offer.

"Your loss," he shrugged, "you should be more honest next time!" The redhead hollered, his voice echoing throughout the coutyard. In response, the girl in red glowered in his direction just as she was about to turn a corner in. As Rin disappeared from the boy's sight, he let out a relieved sigh.

"That was close... I did not expect her to be here." Shirou whispered to himself while staring at his lunch box. The idea of him being the same preschool with none other than Rin Tohsaka, one of the 3 heroines from Fate/Stay Night, never crossed his mind. So it caught him by surprise when she decided to appear out of nowhere.

Throughout their entire interaction, a cold sweat trickled down his back. The Tohsaka heir had almost caught him using magecraft, but thankfully, he managed to pull the conversation elsewhere before she noticed anything odd. Children are generally pretty easy to distract with other things.

He lifted his legs, revealing a pair of sharp sticks hidden underneath, something most people would discard if found on the side of the road. However, these weren't ordinary tipped sticks, but deadly weapons capable of penetrating flesh with little effort.

How can a twig do so? some may ask. The answer was quite simple—magecraft.

[Skill 'Alteration' has leveled up]

A weak smile made its way across Shirou's lips, his excitement about leveling up one of his skills dampened by the fact he almost got found out due to his carelessness.

Altercation, the ability he'd successfully learned earlier today, as the name suggests, lets him transform and reshape any object within his grasp to however he sees fit. Much like Structural Analysis, Alteration was a skill that stemmed from the only magecraft Kiritsugu had ever taught him; 'Reinforcement'.

He rejoiced at the amount of skills he's picked up over a short time frame. All that was left now was a single skill to complete Shirou Emiya's original skill-set, that being 'Projection', or 'Gradiation Air' as some called it. It was a practice involving the materialization of an object based on the caster's imagination.

While it might sound powerful at a glance, the summoned object would shatter if struck or once a certain amount of time had elapsed, so most magi deemed it useless. With Shirou Emiya's Reality Marble however, Projection became capable of replicating even the most powerful of weaponry mankind had ever seen.

'Honestly, if not for the System, I doubt I'd even have half the skills I have now.' When he first started learning Reinforcement, he struggled to even comprehend the process in manifesting it, until the System registered it as a skill, that is, flooding him with enough knowledge to be considered an amateur of the craft. And with each level up, even more information about the specific ability enters his mind, filling in the blanks.

The System he possessed made learning things way easier, and Shirou was forever grateful for its existence.

"Well, let's finish this up." Shirou Emiya quickened his pace and finished eating his food a few minutes later before making his way back to his classroom.

END.

 

[Odd1todd89]

Thank you for sharing...

 

[Tarnal pasta]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Wisard]

Not bad, but there's a big mistake:

[Skill 'Altercation' has leveled up]

Click to shrink...

Altercation, the ability he'd successfully learned earlier today, as the name suggests, lets him transform and reshape any object

Click to shrink...

This should be Alteration, which comes from "to alter", meaning to change something. Altercation would be an argument or disagreement. This is particularly bad here because it fits initially, since he just came out of a not so friendly interaction with Rin. Pretty confusing.

 

[Dunno.]

Chapter 3: A withering flower.

"Shirou… is it ready yet?" A young woman's tired voice sounded from the living room.

"In a moment, so stop whining." I replied while keeping my hands busy. They danced between countertops, deftly chopping vegetables with practiced precision. The sizzle of onions hitting the hot pan greeted me as I added them, followed by a medley of garlic and peppers.

As the sauce bubbled and thickened, I turned my attention to the main course. Tender cuts of chicken sizzled on the grill, releasing a tantalizing scent that made mouths water. With a flourish, I plated the dish, arranging the colouring vegetables around the succulent chicken.

With a satisfied smile, I dropped down the stool and carried the plates to the table, where a young woman with short brown hair in a high school uniform awaited. As I placed the dish down, her eyes lit up with anticipation, like that of a tiger about to pounce on their prey.

[Skill 'Cooking' has leveled up]

I dismissed the System notification and sat down across from the girl, who took her share with a bowl of rice already in her hands before I could even settle down. She was brimming with energy, her previously depressive mood was nowhere to be seen.

"Thanks for the food!" The young woman exclaimed, clapping her hands together. As the teen eagerly munched down on the fruits of my labour, I, too started feasting, but with much more restraint; eating at a much slower pace.

While doing so, I threw a swift glance at my companion. The girl was none other than Taiga Fujimura, surrogate older sister, future legal guardian of Shirou Emiya, and most important of all, the granddaughter of Raiga Fujimura—the head of an old Yakuza group situated in Fuyuki.

Kiritsugu introduced me to her over a month ago, saying that she was the family of a friend of his, and ever since then she's been visiting me on the regular to eat breakfast. I couldn't blame her, really. If one were to taste the dishes I've made, everything else would seem bland and uninteresting.

Albeit short, our time spent together had been nothing but fun and enjoyable, so I've grown quite attached to her. I welcomed Taiga's presence as much as I do with Kiritsugu's. Soon enough, the two of us finished our food and placed the plates in the sink to be cleaned.

"Ah, that hits the spot." She comments while patting stomach, a content smile plastered on her face. "You know Shirou, you should totally open a restaurant in the future."

"Perhaps, I just might." I answered out loud as my thoughts stirred. 'If nothing ruins my plans for the future, maybe I could.' I turned the faucet off, carefully stored the clean plates, then left the kitchen area only to find Taiga on the wooden floor, slipping into a blissful slumber while muttering incoherent words to herself.

Stealing a glance at the clock stuck against the wall, I spoke. "Hey, Taiga. It's half past 7 already, you better get going if you don't want to be late for school."

"Gah!" She immediately shot up to her feet before grabbing her bag and rushing towards the foyer in undue haste. Her next words made me giggle a bit; "Your food is just way to good, Shirou. I thought I entered heaven for a second!"

I joined her at the entrance and watched in amusement as she struggled to put on her shoes. After finally inserting her feet in, she opened the sliding door and walked into the front yard. She turned, motioning towards me to convey her goodbyes. "Well, see you later, Shirou! Don't go accept candies from random strangers, alright?"

A warm smile spread across my lips as I returned a wave of my own. "I should be the one telling you that with how much of an airhead you are. Be careful out there."

She disappeared into the distance a short while later, leaving me alone inside my not-so humble abode. A sigh escaped my lips upon reaching the living room once again, seriously, this place is way too big for my taste. It especially felt even more empty when my adoptive father, the only other occupant of the house, was absent for the next month or so.

Kiritsugu said he simply had some unfinished business back in Europe, but I knew it wasn't that simple. He was undoubtedly trying his best to rescue his daughter, Illyasviel, from the Einzbern family. And he would repeatedly fail until his body deteriorated due the curses ingrained onto it, depriving Kiritsugu of his ability to employ magecraft and weakening him greatly.

As for me, school had been suspended for the next 3 days, something along the lines of pipes being broken—the reason already disappeared from my mind. The only thing I took out from this was that I had more time to master my magecraft and harvest EXP from random strangers.

Unknown to Shirou however, Rin Tohsaka, after sensing the presence of a magus, decided to postpone school activities using her authority as the Second Owner in order to investigate it, but she would find nothing but disappointment in the future.

"Well, I've got nothing better to do." Changing into a more comfortable set of apparels consisting of a red sweater and dark shorts, I left my home and went to the market to assist anyone I could find in order to complete side-quests. At the moment, only about a dozen or so experience points were needed in order for me to graduate from the fifth level, and I was hoping to accomplish it by today.

----

"Just place it over there, Shirou." A man with jet-black hair directed me to a corner. I followed his instructions and gently planted the cardboard box in my arms atop another.

The very second the package left my hands, a transparent partition appeared before my eyes, signaling the end of a side-quest, which was followed up by another screen that I was most eager to see.

[You have leveled up]

'Yes!' My mind raced. It had been some time since I've begun helping people out, and my level had finally risen.

As it was early in the morning, there were still some people that were opening their shops, and I was there to aid them no matter how small it was. Need help cleaning your store front? or perhaps some trash needed to be thrown out? You bet I'm helping. Even something as little as arranging furniture rewarded me with a bit of experience points, so I did them since it literally takes no time to do so.

"Good work, Shirou. That's all for today." The same man entered the scene with a friendly smile on his face. "You should take a break, I don't wanna be the one who gets blamed if you all of the sudden dropped dead due to exhaustion."

"I'm good, I can easily go for a few more hours." I casually replied. Oh boy, if he only knew how much I eclipsed him in pure stamina. With the amount of points Vitality currently had, I could continue working for many hours straight without taking a single break.

"Well okay, if you want, go take a beer from—" His next words failed to manifest as he noticed a young woman dressed in green appear behind the red-haired boy's back. A look of terror quickly spread across his face upon recognizing who it was.

I turned my head, facing the new addition to our conversation. A ring could be found fitted on one of her fingers and a similar one could be seen on the man's, signifying their relationship.

"What were you going to give him, dear?" She stood at the elevated doorway, a hint of madness whirling within her eyes as she looked down at her significant other.

"Uh," he paused for a moment before squeaking out a single word: "beer?"

"You are giving a child… beer. What are you thinking?" A frown marred her otherwise beautiful face upon hearing his honest answer. An air of oppression radiated off from her as she crossed her arms below her chest.

"Go man the register, now." She commanded, to which her partner obeyed without asking questions, lest he suffer her unbridled wrath. After seeing him off, she then turned to me with a different aura altogether. Her features had softened, and her eyes no longer sharp as a blade.

Gone were the crushing air surrounding her being, and was instead replaced by a motherly presence that brought safety and warmth to anyone near it. Honestly, it was scary how she could switch from one to another so seamlessly without any prior indication.

"Are you alright, Shirou? He didn't make you do anything too much for you, did he?" She worriedly asked while giving my form a once-over. Unbeknownst to her, I could probably win a fist-fight against most adults as I am right now, so her worries were unwarranted, but she didn't need to know that of course.

"Don't worry, he didn't. And please don't be too harsh on him, I was the one to wanted to help." I replied with a bright smile to ease her concerns for my well-being.

"You're such a kind child, aren't you?" The woman took out a small food container from God knows where and handed it to me. "Here, take this. Don't forget to eat or you'll grow up thin and skinny, alright?"

Accepting her gift, she then gently caressed the top of my head, which I did not mind. It still annoyed me at certain times, but I was gradually getting used to my physical age and how people treated me because of it.

With that, I left the couple's store, was kindly greeted by a lot of people, and made my way towards the nearby park then settled down on a wooden bench. My legs swayed back and forth, humming joyously as I opened the plastic container—which bore an assortment of freshly prepared sandwiches. One of them quickly found its way into my mouth, a small bite having been taken out of it.

While indulging myself, my eyes caught sight of a young girl's sleeping figure below a large tree. She slumbered in a seated position, her form gently slanted to the side, resting against the sturdy trunk for stability. She possessed a head of silky purple hair, donned a simple muted dress, and looked a year younger than me.

Out of the blue, my chest begun to twist in pain before disappearing just as quickly. My vision refused to process anything else apart from the child's figure.

Unable to hold my curiosity any longer, I slid off my seat, walked right in front of her slumped body, and lowered myself to the ground. My approach produced a noise loud enough to be captured by the girl's senses, causing her mind to jolt awake.

Stirred from her sleep, she slowly opened her eyes to reveal a pair of amethyst-coloured irises that stared back into mine. Upon closer inspection, I notice that her gaze appeared listless, as if a layer of mist clouded her vision.

"Hello there, are you alright?" Unconsciously, my voice came out rather tender. For some reason I could not put my finger on, a sense of protectiveness overwhelmed me.

The girl continued to stare into my eyes instead of providing an answer, forcing me to act in order resume the conversation. I placed the sandwiches between us and incentivized her to take one. "Go on, take one. I don't mind."

She tilted her head slightly, looking a the box with curiosity for a while, before reaching out to pick one. She placed the food next to her mouth then took a small bite, and to my surprise, a hint of life flared from within her blank eyes before swiftly dissipating into nothingness, causing my chest to knot tightly.

She took another bite, but to my disappointment, not a smidgen of light appeared within her gaze. I patiently waited for her finish her sandwich before saying; "I'm Emiya Shirou, you are?"

After a minute of silence, she opened her mouth to speak. "I'm Toh—" she stopped before correcting herself, "Matou… Sakura."

A frown threatened to replace the smile on my lips. Truthfully, I had my suspicions, but hearing it directly from her caused an even heavier weight to grapple onto my heart. I dropped my head, glaring at the flowing grass beneath while biting my lower lip.

She was Sakura Matou, one of the main heroines of the story, and was perhaps the saddest character throughout the series, undeserving of the suffering she had went through. Sakura had originally been part of the Tohsaka family, but was given to the Matous by her father at a young age, essentially abandoning her, and forcing the poor girl into a life of untold pain and misery due to the machinations of Zouken Matou.

"I see," I raised my head and looked at Sakura, "oh, you have some bits on the corner of your mouth, let me get rid of them."

I pulled out a handkerchief from my pocket and cleaned the foodstuff off her face while doing my best rein in the rage bubbling within me. She didn't react to my sudden physical touch, merely staring at me with a mix of apathy and confusion.

"Hey, how about we play together at my house? It's pretty cozy there." People would've taken my words differently if I were an adult talking to a child, my next actions evermore so; I did not wait for the purple-haired girl to answer and rose to my feet, wrapped my hand around her's, then gently pulled her up to stand.

Sakura was startled to say the least, yet did not do much to separate from my hold. What I was about to do was literally kidnapping, but I could not care any less, my mind was occupied with nothing but thoughts of rescuing the ill-fated girl.

Keeping our hands intertwined with one another, I turned and started walking with Sakura in tow, who offered little to no resistance to my pull. My actions were slow and steady, as if she were a delicate piece that would shatter at the slightest touch.

Emerging from the park, the two of us crossed many streets and passed through various crowds. Along the way, I could not help but throw a glance at everyone who neared, in fear that one of them would suddenly jump and take away the frail girl at my side.

Thankfully, we arrived at the Emiya residence without any problems—well, apart from the weird and expectant looks some of the adults who knew me were giving, there was nothing to worry about.

The entrance was clean and tidy, not a speck of tarnish was visible. Seeing this, a sense of pride swelled within me. It was a herculean task and a half to clean the entire mansion by myself, with a child's height no-less, but the end result was all worth it. Besides, the intense labour did wonders in increasing my stats.

Reaching the living room, I told Sakura to get comfortable however she liked and opened the television to occupy her mind for the time being, while I made my way towards the kitchen with shaky steps. It was incredibly idiotic of me, a completely irrational decision—I knew that, but my mind could not think of anything else at the moment.

The moment I decided to help Sakura, a scythe loomed over my shoulders, primed to lop my head off at any moment. Alas, I had revealed my existence to Zouken Matou, Sakura's adoptive grandfather and the man behind her torment. His main body - a worm he'd transferred his soul into via magecraft - should have already been planted beside Sakura's heart, giving me no choice but to confront the old maggot himself when he makes an appearance in the future.

'I should've thought this more thoroughly…' A whirlwind occupied my head at the time, preventing me from forming a coherent thought. There was a myriad of ways to handle this situation if I only thought more rationally, but there was no going back now.

To remove the turbulent thoughts forming in my head, I started preparing the best meal I could feasibly create with my current skills for the two of us to eat. With practiced hand, I seasoned an arrangement of mackerel fillets with a blend of herbs and spices before placing them over lit stove, the hiss of the fish echoing in the room.

With a gentle clatter, I transferred the golden-brown fillets onto a large platter and turned to the table where Sakura sat, who watched my actions with slight interest, then laid out the mackerel with care. She stared at the food for a moment, taking in the delicious aroma, then shot me a look as if asking for permission to continue, to which I positively gestured.

Shoving a piece of mackerel into her mouth, vitality appeared within her languid gaze which lasted for a whole second before going away. She ate slowly at first, but gradually increased her pace and finished her meal at the same time as I did.

As the night chased away the sun, blanketing the sky with darkness, Sakura pulled her attention away from the TV screen and tried to return back to that abominable place she called a home, but reluctantly stayed over for the night after a short discussion with me. More than happy to accommodate her, I lead Sakura to an empty room situated beside mine and gave her a futon to sleep on.

Later inside my room, I sat on the floor with my legs crossed, a thoughtful look on my my face. My first idea was to contact Kirei Kotomine - a priest of the Church - and ask for help on this matter, but immediately tossed that idea overboard. He would pose even more of a problem if he catches a whiff of my existence, that emotionless man wanted nothing more than cause pain to people.

An hour later, my mind all but failed to come up with a plan of action, causing me to drag my hands down my face in utter exasperation. With a defeated sigh, I ceased my current thoughts, deciding to leave it up for tomorrow, then crashed into bed. For now, there was nothing I could do other than hope for the best.

I gazed to my left, staring at the thin wall separating my room from Sakura's. "I'll keep you safe… I promise." I made a silent vow before entering a deep slumber.

----

On the other room, Sakura rested peacefully on her bed, blankly looking at the ceiling with her gem-like eyes. Unlike the pit of worms below the Matou manor, where Zouken Matou told her to lie inside of daily, the soft matress underneath her back was heavenly. It wasn't painful, much more comfortable, and there was not a single grub on sight to breach her insides or emerge from it.

Despite staying at a complete stranger's home, she was calm, and perhaps a little glad by this development. She had wanted to escape that chasm of filth, scream out for help, but she knew nobody would offer a hand to someone unclean as her. What would happen if this boy, Shirou Emiya, find out the truth about her? She was afraid that he might leave her like everyone else, dwindling what little hope she had left.

When they first met on that park, she could see it; deep within his amber eyes, the desire to save her shone brighter than everything else. 'But why?' She asked herself. She was a failure, even her own father abandoned her, what does he see in her that compelled him to do what he did? It was probably a lie; the concern he showed, the smile he sported, he must've showed that to everyone, she wasn't anyone special.

Truthfully, she began to think that this might not even be real in the first place, perhaps she was still stuck inside of that deplorable pit, being indoctrinated by her grandfather, and had merely started hallucinating to escape from the pain.

Even if this were indeed a dream, Sakura hoped for it to never end.

END.

 

[Odd1todd89]

Thank you for sharing this corner of the multiverse with us.

 

[Monsterboy]

This should be Alteration, which comes from "to alter", meaning to change something. Altercation would be an argument or disagreement. This is particularly bad here because it fits initially, since he just came out of a not so friendly interaction with Rin. Pretty confusing.

Click to shrink...

Personally, I thought that was unintentionally hilarious.

But yeah, good stuff thus far. We have some Emiya-isms with a SI spin and less inhuman seigi no mikata distortion. Metaknowledge and a system that isn't hilariously broken such that by 8 years old he can style on his contemporaries, no ID:Create, Emiya's true NP, EX-tier cooking, etc. All good stuff. Also Sakura is best girl and is getting focus, which is always nice in my view.

 

[Dunno.]

Chapter 4: Training.

The bell sung its melodic tune, signaling the end of today's school activities. Thankfully, I wasn't on cleaning duty, so I was allowed to leave immediately. Many of the students barreled out of the gates and ran into their guardians, while I continued walking without giving any of them a smidgen of attention.

My pace gradually increased with each corner I turned. My steps were slow and steady at first, but it eventually turned into a full-blown sprint the moment my figure was out of everyone's sight. For some odd reason I could not put my finger on, a foreboding feeling washed over my being, telling me to rush back home this instance.

I surged through secluded alleyways, vaulted over obstacles while doing my best to remain undetected, and arrived at my house a minute later. Having the combined agility of 3 people and the stamina of 15 certainly made my journey back way easier, I was practically a superhuman already despite not even allocating a single stat point yet.

Upon reaching the Emiya residence, my movement came to an abrupt halt. A freezing hand gripped my heart as I trained my gaze at the shady figure standing by the entrance; it was a bald man with a hunched back, the creases on his face showing his age. He wore a plain set of robes, a walking stick in his grasp, and was surrounded by a revolting air that elicited unconditional hatred with just a glance.

'Zouken Matou.' My mind flared with recognition, the old maggot who pushed Sakura into a decade of pain was standing right before me. He remained oblivious to my presence and stared at the young girl by the doorway, who trembled as if an earthquake had accosted her entire body.

Without a second thought, I bolted forward and placed myself in front of the terrified girl, my arm hovered protectively over Sakura as I sent the old magus a sharp glare. His eyes widen slightly, taken aback by my sudden appearance, but quickly recovered and switched his gaze towards me, scrutinizing my form in utter silence.

The atmosphere around us slowly became unbearable for me as we continued our impromptu staring contest. A tinge of hostility formed within my gaze after recalling the unforgivable sins the old man had committed against Sakura and the others that came before her.

Zouken Matou cared for no one except himself and was a monster in human skin, literally; his body was nothing more than a swarm of worms that, when destroyed, could reform itself by devouring humans, making him pseudo-immortal. The only way to effectively kill him was to eliminate his main body which resided next to Sakura's heart, something I've been planning to do.

"You," I initiated, unable to take the silence any longer, "what are you doing here?" He let out a hum, seemingly confused by my accusatory tone, before opening his mouth to speak.

"You know me, boy? I don't remember meeting a child like you before this." The magus replied, tapping the ground with his cane. His voice was jarring; grating my ears with each word.

"No, I don't. But you look like you came straight out of my nightmares." I spat out in discontent, letting my thoughts about him known.

"An honest youth, you are." He barked a laugh, not taking the boy's insult to heart. Staring into the boy's eyes, Zouken found something interesting. Burried deep within the mountain of scorn, a blinding wish to protect shone more beautifully than anything else, bemusing the old man.

'What could have possibly drove this child into harbouring such strong feelings?' He questioned himself before looking behind the boy and quickly found the source of this desire—his adopted granddaughter. Sakura averted her eyes from meeting Zouken's and grasped the edges of the redhead's uniform, granting her a sense of safety and comfort she's never had before.

He did not know how, but it seems the boy had an inkling of what he's done to the girl and decided to intervene. Zouken didn't even suspect Sakura of asking for help. He originally wanted to get rid of the child after he made his appearance and take Sakura back by force, but he changed his mind upon seeing her inclination towards the peculiar boy. An opportunity to break her state of mind even further had graciously presented itself in front of him, why wouldn't he take advantage of it?

Out of the blue, a sinister smile crept up to the old magus' lips that sent a cold shiver down my spine. The disgusting aura permeating off him was magnified by two-fold before vanishing just ask quickly, almost making me take a step back in fright.

'What the hell is this old maggot up to now?' My brain stirred; thinking of ways to escape this situation if an altercation were to suddenly erupt. However, his next words stopped this train of thought.

"I see... enjoy your time with him, granddaughter of mine. Be sure to take care of yourself." Zouken chuckled and took a step back. "I can see that my presence is unwanted here, I'll be out of my way."

He turned around then started walking away without giving us a second glance. 'What? That's it?' I stared at Zouken Matou's retreating figure in bewilderment. Soon enough, he left the compound without issues, leaving Sakura and I alone at the foyer.

Sensing his presence disappear into the distance, I faced the girl behind me and inquired worriedly. "Sakura, are you okay? He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

I quickly scanned her form, ensuring that not a single abnormality - apart from what I already knew - could be found on her body. Thankfully, it seems Zouken Matou didn't do anything harmful to her before I arrived.

"No-no… he just told me to go home, he didn't do anything…" Her voice lost its vigour after each word she spoke. I swiftly pulled her into a comforting hug, to which she returned after a bit of hesitation.

"Don't worry. I'm here, I won't leave you." At my reassurance, she eventually stopped shaking and relaxed in my arms. We ended our embrace some time later and went inside the house. I watched the door intently as we walked, as if expecting someone to go throught it, but nobody did.

As I began preparing a simple dish, Sakura surprised me by asking if she could help. Knowing it would distract her from her recent meeting with her grandfather, I welcomed her into the kitchen. Being a complete novice, Sakura clumsily handled the kitchenware and made a few mistakes. Instead of reprimanding her, I patiently guided and encouraged her, hoping to lift her spirits.

By the time we finished our meal, the sun had vanished, casting the world into darkness. Sakura retreated to her room for some rest, while I stayed behind to wash the dishes.

Lost in my thoughts, I remained in the living room, keeping watch over the manor throughout the night by expanding my senses to detect any form of disturbances. Fueled by paranoia, I had ended up staying up all night, but fatigue failed to encroach my mind thanks to my superhuman stamina.

Only when the morning rays streamed through the windows did I snap out of my trance. First thing I did was check on Sakura, and found her still asleep within her room. A sense of relief washed over me, albeit tinged with lingering caution.

Satisfied that the night had passed without incident, I began preparing for today's activities.

----

A week after encountering Zouken Matou, with nothing amiss happening, the weak pings of a chime entered my ears as I sauntered into the common room. A moment later, Kiritsugu Emiya opened the sliding door and entered the scene, his shoulders were a little slouched and a mask of impassiveness covered his face as usual.

I'm guessing he had failed to rescue his daughter from the Einzberns, and would probably make an attempt again after recovering from his injuries. He might not show it, but I could tell he pertained some nasty wounds from how differently he conducted his movements.

"Oh, hey dad. Welcome back." I greeted him, to which he responded with a nod before taking his coat off and placing them to the side. Only after doing so did he finally take notice of another figure, a young girl with purple hair, sitting next to me.

"Who's this? a friend of yours?" Truthfully, Kiritsugu didn't expect Shirou to bring anyone over to their home with how distant he treated everyone apart from himself and Taiga, so he was a little curious who it could be.

"This is Matou Sakura." Said girl addressed Kiritsugu by lowering her head, but otherwise stayed quiet and allowed me to continue. "She has nowhere to go right now, so she's staying here for the time being."

The surname Shirou had spoken piqued the Magus Killer's interest, he sifted through his memories and recalled the basic information he had on them. The Matous were one of the three founding families - the others being Tohsaka and Einzbern - who gave birth to the Heaven's Feel ritual, also known as the Holy Grail war; a blood sport that he, himself had taken a part of some time ago for a chance to realize his wish, only to attain nothing but destruction.

"Care to explain?" He sent a cursory glance at the young girl and gave me a questioning look. Having dispatched a multitude of magi throughout his life, Kiritsugu possessed an air of oppression that made one falter just by being in his sight.

I steeled my nerves and successfully pushed through the crushing atmosphere. "What do you mean?"

"I have told you not to engage with any of the magus families staying here, yet you still did." His tone then shifted, and his face became more earnest. "You never know what those magi are up to, it's best to steer away from their kind."

True, he has repeatedly instilled the cruelty of those attuned with the supernatural into my head and told me not to interact with them in any way shape or form, and I agree with that notion. Magi weren't the kindest bunch and would eliminate anyone who even accidentally stumbles upon a lick of magecraft—but Sakura was a special case that I couldn't possibly ignore.

"But I couldn't leave her alone in that decrepit place, do you even know what that old maggot was doing to her? That fucking monster is making his familiars eat her Magic Circuits, violating her with those worms almost everyday!" Each word I spat out carried the sharpness of a blade.

"Hm?" Not once had he heard Shirou raise his voice before, always sounding indifferent to those around him, so he was genuinely taken aback by the boy's small outburst. Kiritsugu ignored his casual use of profanity and asked: "And how do you even know that? Did go into their home? Willingly venturing into a magus' workshop, a space they have full control over, is one of the most dangerous things you could do, Shirou."

His eyes turned into slits, the air surrounding us becoming colder by the second. His instincts as the Magus Killer, a name feared by many in the world of Mysteries, flared into life, causing the ends of my hair to stand in alarm. Realizing his misunderstanding, I decided to clear the air.

While keeping the System's existence hidden, I revealed my ability to analyze anything and even catch a glimpse of their history, explaining that this very skill is what allowed me to discover what was happening inside Sakura's body. It was a lie, of course. Revealing the real truth would simply spawn more questions. What was I even supposed to say? that they were nothing more than fictional characters in my eyes until some time ago?

Sakura on the side became more demure, an aura of depression surrounded her form the more she heard the boy speak. She wanted to keep it a secret, she wished that he never found out about how dirty she was, but it seems Shirou already knew from the start. She waited for him to push her away, throw words of disgust in her direction for what she truly was, but it never did. He still accepted her despite the filth she's been tainted with. She's seen him deliver unparalleled kindness to everyone he met, but the moment it happens to involve her, he'll drop everything to be at her side, which sparked a fire within her static heart.

Unbeknownst to her, a hand covered in utter blackness once again extended itself, but refused to interact with anything as if unsure of its decision, before ultimately retreating. It remained vigilant however, its claws ready to pounce at the boundless emptiness when needed.

Kiritsugu was surprised to say the least and was quite skeptical of my claims, having the ability to glean into an item's past was unheard of. Kiritsugu quickly concluded that it was an advanced form of Structural Analysis I had somehow developed, but still didn't believe the full extent of my words much to my annoyance.

"That particular spell cannot possibly go that far—" He tried to refute my application of Structural Analysis, but I quickly opened my mouth and talked over him.

"But mine does. I've seen what that old coot has done to her and I'm not going to let it be." I met his hardened gaze with my determined glare, then declared: "I'll protect her. For long as I breathe, Sakura will receive the happiness she deserves."

Sakura, who was doing her best to minimize her presence by holding her head down, couldn't help but squirm in her seat and fought down the heat in her cheeks. A small smile made it across her lips, which stuck for the next few minutes. She remembered the days they've spent together, which brought her nothing but joy. The walls she's constructed around herself to separate from others creaked, opening a path for a single person to pass through—Shirou. If Sakura really delved into wishful thinking, she hoped for Shirou to continue being that way.

Seeing my firm stance on the matter, Kiritsugu relented with a sigh before asking something unexpected. "I want you to answer my next question truthfully, Shirou. If you were to pick between two sinking ships, one with 100 people while the other has 10, which one would you save?" Truth be told, the retired hitman was worried the boy had a bad case of survivor's guilt, leading Shirou to value himself less.

"Depends who's on it. If someone I care about is on those ships, then I'll do everything in my power to rescue them." I replied without missing a beat. "Even if it results in me getting hurt, I'll do it if it meant their safety."

"What about the other passengers on those ships? Do you think you can help them in time?" He reminded Shirou about the presence of other people, thinking it would make the boy pause even for a little while, but he was dead wrong.

"I missed the part where that's my problem." I answered in the most straightforward tone I could muster. As much as they aren't responsible for my life, I'm not responsible for theirs. Not that I'm completely indifferent to people's lives, but when forced to pick between a stranger and a loved one, I'm choosing the latter without hesitation.

The Magus Killer's eyes widened by a margin in reaction to the boy's words, seemingly caught off guard by them. He stayed quiet as the memories of his mentor, the one who taught him everything, and his wife, the woman who brought him even a sliver of happiness, resurfaced from the darkest pits of his mindscape, both of whom Kiritsugu ended with his own hands in favour of saving the majority, because that's what a hero does, no?

Regret slowly swelled within him; his chest becoming more tighter, vision turning hazy. Had he chosen those who he knew instead of a faceless crowd, he wouldn't be in the abyss he had found himself in today, he would've been happy. He was a person with a beating heart, yet possessed the mind of a machine—an ill-fated combination. The only thing that kept him from breaking down was the boy he's speaking to at this moment and the faint chance of seeing his daughter once again.

Kiritsugu snapped out of his reverie and took a book from his bag then slid it across the table, stopping right in front of me. It appeared worn with scratches here and there, yet well taken care off. There wasn't a label on its cover or anything, just a plain book you'd find anywhere.

"What's this?" I asked, wrapping my hands around the seemingly ordinary object. It was thick, for my current size anyway, and casted an arcane feel.

"An introductory book about Bounded Fields, go read it later. You want to protect Sakura, right?" He answered, motioning towards the sheepish young girl beside me. "Then I'll give you the means to do so starting tomorrow."

My brows to rose a tad, I would've never thought he'd breach the topic without me asking him. And so, my tutelage under the renowned Magus Killer begun.

----

A few weeks had passed since then, and my lessons went along swimmingly. Currently, Kiritsugu and I stood in front of one another inside the shed situated behind the main building.

"You see, Shirou, using your Magic Circuits raises the temperature of your body. Even if you can't detect them using your senses, you can still pinpoint a magus' location using modern technology, something the majority of magi overlook, don't forget that." He handed me an infrared scope and laid his forearm bare for me to inspect.

My mind quickly stored the information. Magi weren't the best when it came to modern technology, deeming them inferior to the miracles of magecraft, so having a way to detect their kind without tipping them off was a great boon to have. Cameras, due to their non-magical origins, would effortlessly slip past even a trained magus' senses.

I placed the scope over my right eye and peeked through it, staring at Kiritsugu's arm with interest. With my natural senses, I felt something in the air stir; an ethereal force manifested from nothing and gently wrapped itself around his forearm. While in the infrared scope, his arm began to glow an iridescent orange, displaying the sudden change in temperature. Shortly after, the invisible energy turned back into a state of nonexistence, and so did abnormal readings shown by the scope.

I removed the object from my face and heard Kiritsugu speak. "With this, it's easy to track a magus if you ever lose them in a crowd or an unfavorable environment. That's it for now about magical energy. Time to move on to the next."

He then took a unassuming briefcase off a shelf and placed it in between us. With a satisfying click, the box opened to reveal a handgun—more specifically, a standard Baretta M9, along with an extra set of magazines laying beside it.

My brows furrowed upon seeing the case's contents. It hasn't even been a month since we started, the only thing I've learned so far were the intricate mechanics of Bounded Fields, a few practical spells that could potentially give me an edge over my opponent, and how magical energy affected the human body, and now we're tackling another topic entirely.

I activated my skill and watched as a wave of magical energy glossed over the item, before swiftly dissipating after completing its task. From what my Structural Analysis gave me, the firearm was made a few months back, bought using less than legal means, and was carefully smuggled into the land of the rising sun (Japan) from the land of the free (America).

"Now that I've taught you how to identify them, it's time I teach you how to kill them." He said bluntly. Both of us ignored the fact that he was about to teach a child how to commit murder.

'He's teaching me how to use a gun this early?' Excitement swelled from within as I carefully took the pistol from its place. Not a tinge of worry marred Kiritsugu face as he watched me do so, he'd already taught me how to handle a firearm and could be trusted around such objects.

The two of us then emerged from the shack and stood at the open yard. The place was eerily silent, the sounds of ruffling leaves and morning breeze being the only perceivable noise.

"Is this fine? The neighbours would definitely hear if I shoot this thing." I relayed my concern. Even if we live in a pretty isolated part of town, the sound of a gun going off wouldn't go unnoticed, the cops would undoubtedly swarm this place almost instantly.

"I've already set up a Bounded Field to stop loud sounds from leaving the backyard, and there's no need to worry about Sakura, she'll be fine inside the house." Kiritsugu reassured. It seems he's already thought about it, as expected I suppose. He then lifted his arm, pointing at the bright circular target placed at the end of the yard. "Aim, then shoot. You'll be doing this every other day for the next month until I say otherwise."

With a heave, I raised my arms and held the firearm forward, peeking through its iron-sights with my right eye. My breath stilled and the surrounding noise disappeared, my attention fully engrossed at my current objective.

With a pull of my finger, a loud bang erupted from the pistol, causing my ears to ring a sharp tune which lasted for a few seconds before returning to normal. The gun was forced backward due to recoil, but my firm grip prevented it from flying off. To nobody's surprise, the target in the distance remained untouched; the bullet having missed it by an entire meter to the left, burying itself deep into nearby the concrete wall.

Instead of wallowing at my terrible accuracy, anticipation rose from within. Not a moment later, a transparent screen that's invisible to anyone but myself made an appearance.

[Skill 'Firearms mastery' has been learned]

A stream of information suddenly entered my conciousness; basic knowledge about firearms usage and maintenance work filled my brain. It took a moment, but I eventually acclimated with my newfound instincts and entered another trance. I assumed a firing stance and pulled the trigger, this time however, the result was considerably better than the last.

The edge of the target was struck, but I didn't stop there. I lined up my sights once more and fired, again and again, causing a burst of loud bangs to echo throughout the space. At the corner of my vision, the progress bar of my newly acquired skill steadily increased with each bullet that left the gun's barrel. My ears ultimately got used to the piercing noise and my skills with the weapon improved at a visible pace.

[Skill 'Firearms mastery' has leveled up]

I dismissed the notification and deftly removed the empty magazine, letting it fall to the ground, then swiftly replaced it with the grace of a trained soldier. Kiritsugu's surprise grew as he watched me hit the target's center multiple times in a row while only making a margin amount of error.

The Magus Killer's stunned state didn't last long however, as the lesson plans he had created for Shirou began to shift to accommodate his seemingly supernatural ability to handle firearms. It appears he'd underestimated the boy's drive to protect Sakura, who knew he had such hidden potential within him.

'If I train him, he might be able to rescue… no. There's no need to bring him into my problems.' Kiritsugu shook off his current thoughts and went back to observering Shirou. After the boy emptied 5 magazines, Kiritsugu promptly stopped their session and went back to the house in order to modify his plans for the coming months.

I followed him back and arrived in my room to begin my own magecraft training. My concentration level reached a new height as I pulled upon the space know as Unlimited Blade Works located inside my soulscape. The reason for how it remained eludes me, as from what I could remember, it was Shirou Emiya's distorted way of thinking that spawned his Reality Marble—the physical manifestation of one's inner self. I was under no delusions in the first place, so perhaps the System had something to do with it.

"Trace on." Following those words, a blue spark appeared atop my open palm that quickly took the form of a small knife, which appeared similarly to the one we had inside the kitchen, even down the little nicks and chips on it.

[Skill 'Projection' has been learned]

"Haha! I finally did it!" I cheered, jumping onto my feet and pumping my fist in the air. With this, all the skills required to replicate Noble Phantasms has been assembled, all it needs now was to master them. In the heat of my celebration, I did not notice Sakura enter my room.

"Um, Is everything alright?" Her voice was weak, but laced with worry for my well-being.

"Oh…uh, yeah. I'm fine, just a little excited that's all." Thrown out of my joyous moment, I replied with welcoming smile to ease her concerns.

Nodding with a hint of red on her face, she then brought out a plate of omeletes for me to eat. I gently pat Sakura on the head and gave her my heartfelt thanks.

END.

 

[Trashmammal177013]

Hate to be that guy, but UBW isn't a result of Shirou's "distorted mind"(he's not really inhuman either, just needs therapy), it's a result of his origin and element both being sword.

 

[Dunno.]

Chapter 5: Time skip.

In the secluded yard of the Emiya residence, a small workshop, formerly an ordinary shed turned smithy, hummed with rhythmic clang of metal against metal. Inside, a young man with crown braided auburn hair worked diligently, his hands moved expertly shaping glowing metal into the form of a straight blade—a two-sided broadsword.

The forge roared with intense heat as he poured his heart and soul into the sword, channeling the wisdom he's accumulated throughout the years with each precise movement. Sweat beaded on his brow, yet he pressed on, his hands steady and sure as he shaped the broadsword's deadly, yet elegant edge.

Magical energy begun to swirl around the young man's form as his undying desire to cut the intangible was projected into the blade itself, manifesting into something real. The weapon lets off a weak shimmer, capturing his wish, and started to develop an ability of its own.

With a final flourish, he quenched the blade in water, the hiss of steam echoing through the silent space. And as the first light of dawn painted the sky, the young man stepped back, his heart swelling with pride at the sight of his creation.

As he wiped the sweat off his face using a clean towel, an ever familiar screen appeared before his eyes, resulting in a smile to cross his face.

[Enchantment 'Inferior soul slash' has been added to the item]

"Haha! Yes!" I exclaimed. After many failed attempts, I had finally succeeded in crafting a blade that could rend not just flesh, but the soul itself, albeit imperfectly. Some tweaking still needed to be done for it to be completed. As for why I require such a thing, it's for a certain old magus that refused to die through natural means.

Satisfied with my recent creation, I wrapped a pristine cloth around it and carefully stored it away before extinguishing the dancing flames of the forge. Emerging from my small smithy, I entered the manor and cleansed myself of filth with a hot shower.

After changing into some fresh clothing and donning a red apron upon reaching the kitchen, a single word left my lips: "System."

———

Shirou Emiya

Title(s):

Wanderer of worlds.
Sword Incarnation.
Bearer of Avalon.
Saber-face.
Fuyuki's Helping Hand.
(-Collapse-)

Level: 17

STR: 5.6 (+3)
VIT: 55 (+3)
AGI: 14.5 (+3)
MAG: 6 (+3)
Points: 41

Skills:
(-Expand-)

Quest:
3 days remaining until the next quest.

———

Five years had passed since my reincarnation into the world of Fate/Stay Night, and a lot had happened during that time. First of, my level; I have reached the 17th level through side-quests alone, and had stalled on it for the past 3 months with little to no progress being done; helping random strangers just wasn't enough anymore. An alternative was needed, but I have yet to find any.

So, I placed my attention elsewhere—blacksmithing. I took up the craft a few years ago and had created over hundred blades with the sole purpose of making a weapon that could strike the soul.

Forging a sword that could hurt one's inner-self was an incredible feat in itself, something most smiths could only dream of, however, I wasn't satisfied with that. My goal was something even more grand—creating a weapon that could dissect the fabric of reality itself. Any swordsmith worth their salt should strive to make a blade that could not only slash the material, but the abstract as well. Unfortunately, that's for another time as my current skills with the forge cannot possibly reach such heights. Perhaps I could even create an item to call my own, something people would associate with nobody but myself in the future.

Second: the newly acquired title, obtained after helping people with their problems for half-a-decade straight. It's effect was pretty easy to understand; my entire parameters sheet receives a slight boost whenever I'm inside Fuyuki. It might not sound much, but that's four whole levels (a level up rewards 3 stat points) given to me for simply standing within the city borders.

On that note. Despite having yet to allocate a single point into my stats, my physical prowess - without the aid of magecraft - already surpassed every normal human being on this planet. Thanks to Avalon's miraculous powers, sleep became nothing more than an enjoyable pastime. Meaning most of my time, excluding school activities, was spent either hanging out with Sakura or honing my abilities from the break of dawn till the dead of night.

Speaking of Sakura, she started going to school as well. I was completely against the idea at first, feeling a sense of doom at the thought of leaving her unprotected, but eventually got over it so she could experience what it was like to be a child. I still watched her closely, picking her up from school everyday, just in case something does happen. Zouken made no attempts on us so far, and this inactivity had brought me nothing but worry. What was he concocting in that rotten brain of his?

Well, no matter. I've already collected everything that was needed to take the old maggot down, all that's left now was to enact judgement. Five whole years was enough time to prepare, and his dismissive attitude towards me only worked greatly in my favour. It was only a matter of time.

Back to whatever I was currently doing. My hands practically moved on their own without my input; the vegetables were cut, the meat was seasoned and perfectly cooked before being plated, a good chunk of it was placed on the side and packed inside a plastic container. Bending forward, I opened the oven which caused hot air to spew out directly into my face, but I remained unperturbed and took out a bunch of freshly baked cookies from within, then arranged them in a small basket. Satisfied, I unwrapped the apron from my waist and headed out of the house with the packed foodstuff in my hands.

After crossing some roads, I arrived at a familiar residential abode—Tanaka Soichirou's home. Without even knocking, I swung the front door open and went in, dropping my slippers off by the entrace. This place was practically my second home at this point with how frequent I've visited here, mostly to deliver Tanaka lunch or dinner. Out of habit, my steps were swift and silent and the magical energy being emitted by my body was so miniscule, a magus would've mistaken it for a random animal.

Inside the common room, the television was turned on, airing some sort of children's show, and in front of it was a child sitting on the ground, about 7 years old, with short black hair and a round face. His ocean-blue eyes were glued to the screen, utterly fascinated by the program.

"Hey, it's not good to stare at a screen all day, it might damage your eyes. You don't wan to have bad eyesight, right?" I strode beside the kid and placed the cookie basket down on the floor, then ruffled his head because why not. "Here, your favorite cookies. It's still hot so be careful. Oh, be sure not to cause a mess or gramps would be mad, got it?" He nodded with a grumble.

I navigated my way through the house with familiarity and ended up in the backyard, where an old man, Tanaka Soichirou, could be seen sitting on a reclining chair. His hair was pure white, reminiscent of the clouds he was observering in the sky, displaying his age. His health, while not as great when we first met, was still in good shape.

"Morning, gramps. Here's breakfast." I made my presence known and handed him the plastic constainer.

"Ah, Shirou. Good morning." He turned from his seat, returning with a warm greeting of his own. He took the food case and opened it, sending a delicious aroma to drift into the air. "How's Ritsuka? Still at that television, I'm guessing?"

"Still at it, unfortunately," I shook my head, "he'll be blind by the time he's an adult if he keeps this up, I just know it. Kids these days, they spend all their days inside instead of going outside to play."

"Careful, now. You're starting to sound like an old man. Let kids enjoy the things available to them. Isn't that the whole point of advancing? to let the next generation live a better life? Stop being a stuck-up brat." Tanaka took another bite of his meal and continued. "Aren't you like, what… twelve? I keep thinking you're older with how you act. You should properly enjoy your early life as much as he is, you might regret not doing so."

"I wish I could. Unfortunately, there's a lot of things in my mind at the moment." The Holy Grail War, and many other variables such as the Mage Association, was constantly on the forefront of my mind, leaking into my everyday thoughts and putting me under great stress. I practically had no time to think about normal things. Hearing my answer, the old man leveled a blank stare at me. Confused, I asked: "What?"

"Ha!" He barked out a hearty laugh. "What's even going in your head, huh? All you think about is helping people around town and scaring other boys from approaching Sakura, you two are practically inseparable. At least you're enjoying your youth one way or another."

Warmth encroached my face, but it quickly died down. "You've got to understand, gramps," my voice lowered to a dangerous octave, "if I ever catch any of those boys do something bad to her, not even God would save their sorry asses from me."

"Goodness, you're sounding like my son whenever he talks about his daughter—his little princess or whatever." Tanaka rolled his eyes, then puts on a toothy grin. "You'll be a great dad one day, you already have the foundations for it."

We continued our talk for a few more minutes until I promptly ended it, saying there's still some stuff for me to do back home.

"Yeah yeah. Can't go on for more than an minute without needing your dose of Sakura. Shoo-shoo." He motioned as if pushing an animal away, then resumed gorging. I reentered the house with a sigh and found Ritsuka, the 7 year old boy, still staring intently at the television screen.

"Hm?" My brows quirked slighly upon spotting an empty basket beside him. It was the same one I gave him earlier, now devoid of cookies. 'Did this kid really just eat all of that in a few minutes? I baked 30 pieces!'

Thankfully, he followed my words and made no mess on the floor, but his cheeks were covered in crumbs instead. I took out a handkerchief and crouched down to clean Ritsuka's face, who didn't give my action much attention, fully entranced by the show he was watching.

"Kids these days, really." I stood back up and headed to the door. "Hey Ritsuka, I'm leaving now. Don't cause any touble, alright?" The dark-haired boy replied with nothing more than a hum as I exited the place.

We met less than a year ago; when he and his parents decided to move in nearby. The two adults were a bright pair, even inviting me to their place to eat several times. As for why Ritsuka's here, he would take shelter inside Tanaka's home whenever his guardians were out for work. The old man had no problems with that and allowed the child wander around his house.

Imagine my surprise when I first learned about his full name—Ritsuka Fujumaru. At first, I couldn't figure out why the name sounded so familiar, but then it dawned on me on the very next day. The protagonist of "Fate Grand Order", a gacha game in my previous life, possessed the same name and appearance, possibly hinting towards Finis Chaldea's existence in this world.

I kept my eyes on the boy, basically becoming an older brother figure to him which I didn't mind. What worried me the most was that if this world were to follow FGO's line of events, then my plans for the future would go down the drain before it even started. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do apart from hope and prepare for the worst.

A couple of twist and turns later, I arrive back home and found Sakura inside the living room holding a broom that's taller than herself. A warm smile was etched onto her lips as she noticed me enter. I tried to dissuade her from doing such menial tasks, but couldn't bring myself to refuse any of Sakura's wishes.

We talked to one another for a short while before splitting off; Sakura resumed sweeping the floor while I walked straight towards the storage room near the end of the hall. Entering, not a smidgen of dust could be found inside the space, I'm fairly certain my diligence in cleaning had turned into an obsession at this point.

Carefully moving a couple crates containing deadly explosives to the side, I unearthed a briefcase that was intricately hidden behind a false wall then returned everything to their original position as to not draw attention to that particular spot. Before leaving the mortal plane, Kiritsugu gave me access to his most deadliest armament yet, which was in my hands at this very moment. I knew it was here, but not once have I touched it until today.

It had been 6 months after Kiritsugu's death, and my training and drive for self improvement had not diminished since his passing. Speaking of him; my feelings for the man was a complicated mix of emotions. Due to my past life's memories, it prevented me from treating him like a proper parent, instead he was more of a mentor to me. That doesn't mean we did not spend time together like how a father and son would, but only on rare occasions as I have not the same interests nor mindset as a child would have.

A click resounded around the room as the case opened to reveal a collection of seemingly regular bullets painted in brass. They were anything but ordinary, of course. Every single one of them was an Origin bullet made from Kiritsugu's own lower ribs. Apart from me, not a single soul on this planet knew of its true power—as everyone who've seen it had perished. There was originally 66 pieces, but 37 had already been used by the Magus Killer in the past; each bullet having successfully killed their intended target.

"I'll try my best to not ruin that streak." With a quick scan of my eyes, Unlimited Blade Works immediately went to work, adding the ammunition to my soulscape. The bullets would take a substantial amount of magical energy to replicate, as it was the farthest thing from the concept of a 'sword', but not crippling.

I closed the briefcase and tucked it inside my sleeping quarters with great care before joining Sakura by the living room to eat breakfast. On the television screen, a news segment about a string of murders that's been happening inside the city was playing, warning us of a possible serial killer on the loose, and repeatedly told everyone watching to stay safe and lock their doors.

This caught my attention, so I shelved the information on the back of my mind and continued eating. A homely atmosphere whirled around the two of us as we engaged in a myriad of topics. Sakura had more or less opened up to me, showing more emotion than ever before, but I could tell she was still repressing them quite a lot.

Truth be told, she was afraid. Afraid that that Zouken might take the little happiness she had left in the world away from her. She didn't want Shirou to disappear, she wanted her grandfather to wisk away, crushed like the bug that he was. A shadow nestled within Sakura's soul fed on her emotions, but it wasn't enough to cause any external reactions.

'Don't worry, Sakura. Just wait a bit more and that old worm is going to die, I promise you that.' I thought to myself.

----

Later that afternoon as I was leaping from one roof to another, doing my usual patrol over the city, a prickling sensation washed over me, forcing my stride to halt. My nose picked up the scent of blood and decay, catapulting me into a heightened state of alertness.

Following the peculiar smell, I ended up in front of an abandoned warehouse. There was nothing odd about it; the area was silent and the air was calm—from a distance at least. Leaning forward, a translucent membrane emitting a small amount of magical energy could be seen covering the entire compound. At the back of my mind, the urge to turn around and vacate the area arose, but I shrugged the feeling off fairly easily.

Raising my hand, I gave the invisible wall a few taps and quickly concluded that it was a Bounded Field. The entire space was blocked off, preventing civilians from nearing or seeing whatever was happening inside.

Without a second thought, I pushed myself forward and breached through the magical barrier with relative ease, as its main purpose was to simply turn away anyone nearby, and saw the warehouse's true state; mutilated corpses were strewn all around, fresh blood painted the walls and dismembered limbs decorated the ground. A bile went up my throat as an intense wave of rot assaulted my nose. Fortunately, I managed to force it down and took a moment to regain my calm.

With a clear head, I took another look at my surroundings. Despite missing critical organs like the lungs and heart, a few fallen carcasses still moved as if it were alive, dragging themselves across the pavement using whatever was left of them. Their eyes appeared hollow, devoid of substance, not a hint of intelligence could be seen behind them. Seeing this, a single thought crossed my mind: 'Ghouls.'

Ghouls were nothing more than reanimated corpses, their sole purpose being to serve whoever brought them to existence. It was a foul practice most magi would look at in utter contempt due to its association with Dead Apostles—vampire-like beings. Their main strength comes from their overwhelming numbers as an individual undead was no better than the average human. I trained my sight on the trail of bodies on the road, it seems whoever preceded me had already taken out most of them, leaving only a dozen or so to mindlessly scamper around.

While taking stock of the area, a sudden noise caught my attention; the sound of metal clashing against one another reverberated from behind the building, indicating some sort of battle. I swiftly went into motion and marched towards the source of the noise, only for an undead with one missing arm to suddenly block my path.

With a neutral expression, I extended an arm and pulled my conciousness inward. A spark, caused by two blades striking each other, flew across my head. Magical energy begun to coalesce atop my open palm, shaping itself into a sleek and compact firearm adorned with intricate engravings.

A few years ago, using Kiritsugu's old connections, I had ordered a custom firearm that appeared exactly like the "Hunter Pistol" from the video game 'Bloodborne', one of my favorite games ever in my past life. The one in my hand was a copy using magecraft, of course, the real handgun was safely stored back home.

Mana entered the gun's singular chamber, morphing into a silver-hued bullet. Projecting ordinary ammunition, while costing less than an Origin bullet, still required an abundant amount of magical energy compared to a sword. Squeezing the trigger, the hammer at the end snapped forward. A single bullet left the chamber accompanied by a loud bang and traced a straight line directly into the undead's forehead, tearing through its rotting flesh with ease. The living corpse, deprived of its motor functions, dropped with a sickening thud.

[You have slain an undead]

"Oh?" On the status screen, I watched the experience bar increase by a noticeable amount. As expected, much like any other video game, killing monsters was the superior method of raising one's level. A feral grin broke through my stoic facade as I locked gazes with another ghoul that was dragging its battered body towards my position. Whatever problem was happening behind the storehouse could wait, leveling up took priority.

In a manic fit of bloodlust, I eliminated every single straggler I could find within the premises with extreme efficiency, gaining enough experience points to almost level up, but not quite. The amount of EXP I've gained in the last few minutes alone was equal to a week's worth of side-quests. After successfully purging all abominable creatures by the entrance, I made my way behind the structure where a group of men dressed in priestly robes could be seen circling an unmoving body lying over a pool of blood.

The presence of priests was unexpected, surprising me somewhat. So, I'm guessing whatever's been causing the recent murder spree was the same one they've just killed. Their breaths were laboured and a few of them were even covered in wounds, blood having stained their clothing, yet they appeared unbothered by it and continued on like normal.

"Hm?" A tall man with a neatly groomed beard noticed my appearance, in turn putting the his companion's attention on me, then asked in a friendly tone: "What might you be doing here, young man? This place isn't safe, I'd recommend vacating the area immediately."

Feeling the combined weight of their scrutinizing glare, a weak shiver crept up my back. "Ah, I was nearby and noticed a commotion. I came to offer my aid, but it appears it wasn't needed."

A shame, really. I was hoping to earn more experience points by killing monsters, but there was nothing I could do about that. Had I arrive a tad bit earlier, my level would've already risen. Though, there was one thing I could do that will benefit both parties. "I can see some of you had suffered, I could offer my prayers and help quicken your recovery."

This piques the priest's interest. "Are you perhaps a member of the local church?"

Naturally, he did not suspect me of being an ordinary citizen, as only those who has knowledge of the supernatural could bypass the barrier they had erected around the compound.

"Not exactly, but I do go there on a regular basis." While true, my purpose of going there wasn't to seek the Lord's guidance, but had something to do with the System.

"I see." He nodded, mistaking my identity as a deacon. "We're plenty exhausted from the fight, we would greatly appreciate your help, young man."

The group's tense atmosphere loosened up, some sat down on the floor to rest while others opted to remain standing. I lowered my head and held my hands together in a prayer, then employed one of the skills I gained after many days of attending the Lord's home.

As holy energy swirled around us, the priests' eyes widen in shock. The energy combined into a malevolent pillar, casting a radiant light upon my entire figure. The believers dropped to their knees, cupped their hands above their chest, offering heartfelt prayers in reverence. Their wounds, from most grievous to the slightest cuts, swiftly closed, while their fatigue was gently swept away by the warm light.

As they basked under the pillar's brilliance, a System notification appeared before me.

[Skill 'Healing Prayer' has ranked up to C - 1]

Healing Prayer was, as the name suggests, a skill that mended all kinds of wounds dealt to the body and also restored some of the target's vitality. Due to its nature as a holy sacrament, it was wholly unaffected by [Sword Incarnation] as it wasn't a form of magecraft.

After regularly attending church services, I gained this extraordinary ability. Apparently, anything can be turned into a skill if you practice it for long enough, even something as abstract as praying. I wonder if it's possible to gain a skill that could make anything spontaneously explode if I wished for it hard enough?

Anyways, since then, I've been visiting hospitals to heal the wounded. However, I didn't want to turn Fuyuki into a city of miracles, so I decided to only make occasional visits to hospitals to avoid drawing too much attention.

The members of the Church stood in awe of what they had just witnessed. They couldn't believe it—they had just seen the Lord's light in action. The bearded priest had expected some form of healing art or magecraft disguised as a Sacrament, but what they experienced was beyond their expectations.

The Church had always been opposed to the use of magecraft, but they couldn't deny its usefulness. So, some higher-ups in the Vatican decided to select a few specific thaumaturgy methods - such as Bounded Fields - and repurposed them. However, what they were witnessing now wasn't any of that; it was a genuine gift bestowed by the Lord himself. Within the Church, only the most devout followers had ever been granted this power, but it had never been this potent before. Only figures like Martha or Joan of Arc, saints of long ago, had ever received such strong favour from their deity.

For some odd reason, I felt a warm and comforting sensation across my very being, like that of a mother's touch, before it briskly disappeared. I brushed the feeling off, chalking it up to the skill's effects. Having already obtained what I wanted, there was no need for me to stay here any longer. I took advantage of their stunned state and kicked off the ground using all of my strength, vanishing out of sight with a flurry of dust.

"What—where did he go? Find him! We mustn't lose someone chosen by the Lord!" The bearded priest broke out of his trance and exclaimed, then turned to his most trusted person in the group. "George, call the others. The air is still rife with holy energy, have them come here, quickly!"

Little did Shirou know, this little stunt of his would reach the Pope's ears in a matter of minutes, raising a furor all across the Vatican and bringing unwanted attention to himself.

END.

 

[ReignBloodark]

Hm? I admit I'm kind of reaching but is this possibly a potential flag for caren hortensia? I don't know why but I always have a liking for her.
Honestly... it's probably the white hair. Fate has thoroughly brainwashed me to love white hair.

 

[Monsterboy]

Hate to be that guy, but UBW isn't a result of Shirou's "distorted mind"(he's not really inhuman either, just needs therapy), it's a result of his origin and element both being sword.

Click to shrink...

Eh, sort of. The original and majority of those who could develop one was restricted to daemons, whose alien common sense made it far more natural. In other words, being fundamentally distant from the common sense of man makes it a lot easier to develop one, even if it isn't a prerequisite and other DA and human RM users exist, albeit are extremely rare.

Also, I disagree with the trauma assessment. Rin even specifically said he's distorted fundamentally, and if you go over the shit he does on a regular, he is broken to the point wherein mere therapy would do nothing. If you read the VN, he does stuff like jumping in front of a super-powered Saber, him killing Sakura, insane monofocus to the point of madness on not killing in the Fate route, or honestly almost anything in HF. And, a lot of indications from HF imply that he's still fucked up, he was just convinced to try being happy with what he had, because, for him, 'being a hero' was changed into 'being Sakura's hero', and she wants him to be happy.

 

[Poke_verse]

This is excellent. Keep at it

 

[Trashmammal177013]

Eh, sort of. The original and majority of those who could develop one was restricted to daemons, whose alien common sense made it far more natural. In other words, being fundamentally distant from the common sense of man makes it a lot easier to develop one, even if it isn't a prerequisite and other DA and human RM users exist, albeit are extremely rare.

Also, I disagree with the trauma assessment. Rin even specifically said he's distorted fundamentally, and if you go over the shit he does on a regular, he is broken to the point wherein mere therapy would do nothing. If you read the VN, he does stuff like jumping in front of a super-powered Saber, him killing Sakura, insane monofocus to the point of madness on not killing in the Fate route, or honestly almost anything in HF. And, a lot of indications from HF imply that he's still fucked up, he was just convinced to try being happy with what he had, because, for him, 'being a hero' was changed into 'being Sakura's hero', and she wants him to be happy.

Click to shrink...

I'm gonna be honest, I ain't gonna hunt for sources on the rm thing, so hey.

As for the distortion thing, he's undeniably fucked in the head, not disagreeing there. I was just saying he isn't "inhuman". After all, no matter how exacerbated his hero complex is(in no small part due to his promise to Kiritsugu) survivor's guilt isn't exactly new.

 

[xbox432]

Ah, so Shirou multiclassed into Swordmage AND Paladin? Yeah, that fits. Where ever he kills Zouken is gonna be considered consecrated holy ground, isn't it?

Also, we need more Tiger -cough- Taiga! Let the adorable glutton bring happiness into the lives of those two depressed and messed up kids!

 

[Dunno.]

Chapter 6: Extermination.

As night broke across Fuyuki, I emerge from my room with newfound determination coursing through my veins. Tonight was the night where my plans came into fruition. Before that however, there was one last thing I needed to do.

Opening a sliding door, my entry into Sakura's room was soundless thanks to Kiritsugu teachings. On the floor, resting underneath a fluffy blanket, lied Sakura's sleeping form. School activities had drained her quite a lot, resulting in her retiring to bed earlier than usual. I crouched beside her while keeping my presence minimal, then induced myself in a state of hypnosis to tap into Unlimited Blade Works' countless armaments. I went through a sea of blades and found what I was looking for atop a grassy hill, shining brilliantly amongst a crowd of colourful flowers.

"I am the bone of my sword." The first line of Shirou Emiya's aria rolled off my tongue, followed by a burst of golden light. Not a moment later, a beautiful blue and golden sheath, the Ever Distant Utopia—Avalon, answered my prayers and appeared before me. It radiated an otherworldly glow that brought safety to those nearby.

It was a copy of course, nothing more than a fake made with modern magecraft, yet despite all that, its essence was near indistinguishable to the original, a near perfect replica of Avalon thanks to me having a deep understanding of the genuine article. Throughout the years, I've pushed my Projection ability to its absolute limits, causing a small patch of my forearm to darken as a consequence, in order to replicate Avalon's full might just for this very moment.

I motioned the sheath forward and merged it inside Sakura's body without a problem. She let out a weak hum in response to the change before slipping back to sleep. The fake scabbard should only last for an hour at best, which was more than enough for tonight's objective—killing Zouken Matou. After giving Sakura the Ever Distant Utopia, I quickly left the abode and headed towards the Matou residence while blending into the night to prevent anyone from spotting me.

A short while later, a weathered manor came into view. Each corner of the structure released a disgusting feel that sent goosebumps all over my body. A Bounded Field encased the whole place to keep anyone from entering, as expected, but it did not prevent me from breaching through as if it was never there. Kiritsugu had taught me many things in the past, one of them was how to effectively bypass a magus' Bounded Field without triggering it, and combine that with a skill of mine, "Presence Concealment", which blurs my existence inside people's minds, I became nigh-undetectable through normal or magical means.

Without hesitation, I went inside the decrepit abode. My movements were swift and utterly muted, eyes going to and fro, analyzing every surface of the way for any anomalies. Zouken Matou's familiars covered the whole house which made my infiltration more difficult, but not impossible. Eventually, without alerting any of the despicable creatures, I arrive at my destination—a stairwell leading down the basement oozing with the smell of decay.

After carefully making my way down the flight of stairs, I was greeted by a sight one could only stare at in absolute abhorrence. Stuffed inside a pit was a bed of phallus shaped worms wriggling in place, eager to violate anyone unfortunate enough to fall on top of them.

Gazing into the gorge of filth was none other than Zouken Matou, not much had changed about him, he still possessed a repulsive air I could not help but hate. I intentionally increased the noise of my heels striking the floor, causing a loud tap to echo throughout the space. The old man turned around after hearing the disturbance, surprise clearly evident on their face as he saw me standing idly by the entrance.

"Hoh? I did not expect a visit from you at this time of day." The worms crawling on the walls stirred, locking their beady eyes upon my lonesome figure. "My, you've grown into a splendid young man since we last met, Emiya Shirou. How's my granddaughter fairing?"

"She's doing way better now, that's for sure," I calmly replied, humouring the old coot. "Answer me, Zouken. Why didn't you do anything to take her back? Surely you wouldn't have abandoned the only heir to the Matou magecraft, right?."

For some demented reason I could not comprehend, magi families would only pass down their craft - otherwise known as a Magic Crest - to one child and left the other siblings to fend for their own. To them, family was no more important than the air they breathed. Sakura was one such victim of this practice and was given away at a young age to become the Matou heir after the previous heir, Shinji, showed not a smidgen of talent in the art of thaumaturgy.

From what I could recall, he would have Sakura lie in that worm infested hole every waking moment of the day all in the name of 'training'. Zouken's familiars latched onto her insides and regularly force her into ejaculating to feed themselves, as the liquid substance was a potent way to recover mana without hurting the ill-fated girl.

He sighed, placing both hands around his back. "I'm getting old, is it wrong for me to leave my granddaughter in good hands until she's old enough to take over the family business? Everyone in town speaks nothing but kind words about you, I knew you'll take care of her just fine."

"That's bullshit and you know it." Fury coated my words, turning the atmosphere around us tense as a result. "You just wanted to turn her into a lesser Grail, didn't you?"

He blinked, taken aback by my sentence. "I'm certain not even the Mage Association knows of this, did you figure it all out by yourself? Pretty impressive, I might say. As expected of the Magus Killer's successor." Of course he knew who my adoptive father was, that wasn't much of a surprise to be honest. "I suppose you won't tell me how you came across that piece of information?"

"No. Figure it out yourself." I venomously snapped back. I've known what he precisely wanted since the start—it was to turn Sakura into a vessel for the Holy Grail using a shard of the Grail itself, which would've killed her had it been completed. He merely wanted to use me to break her state of mind even further and accelerate the process. I just wanted to hear it from his mouth, but it seems he won't grant me that wish.

Without uttering another word, my magic circuits hummed to life, causing magical energy to erupt from my body. There was no need to speak of my reason for being here, my apparent hostility towards him was enough of an answer on how this meeting would end.

"Are children nowadays allowed to simply barge into an old man's home and attack them?" He gave out nothing more than an amused laugh in response to my aggression. Then, an eerie grin spread across his face as he spread his arms outward. As if responding to his actions, a loud thump reverberated from behind the walls, making the whole place shake. "As unfortunate as it is, you will die here, young man. Perhaps if you had come here in peace, we could have struck an accord that would benefit the both of us."

The partition behind him suddenly collapsed, revealing a tide of grubs that swiftly moved towards my direction, each of them possessed a pair of wings and a row of sharp teeth that could no doubt penetrate steel in one bite. Fear did not take hold of me, for my will was that of steel.

"Trace on." I chanted. A sensation of warmth welled from within my chest, gradually spreading throughout my entire being, infusing me with newfound strength and vigor.

Next, a new set of apparels manifested into existence; my figure was draped in flowing burnished robes that billow around my form like dark clouds. Adorning my head is a winged helmet of similar hue, its sleek curves and intricate detailing reminiscent of ancient warriors of legend. The entirety of my right arm was encased in armour painted in gold, and my hand wielded a long, curved blade carrying an air of menace and power.

It was a carbon copy of Malenia the Severed's garments, who is one of, if not my favorite character ever. I have not a shred of shame for imitating her style, could anyone even blame me? All I needed now was a healing effect on my blade that mends my own wounds whenever I draw the opponent's blood, and everything would be complete. One day, once my smithing skils were high enough, I'd be able to make it.

Its past is totally empty, being made no longer than 2 months ago with ordinary materials by yours truly. Of course, I have never seen Malenia the Severed, so there was no feasible way for me to replicate her garb including its unique properties and history. My equipment was nothing more than pale imitations of the real thing.

"Interesting get-up you have there, boy." He commented on my peculiar appearance as swarms of his familiars quickly surrounded me from all sides. He undoubtedly dismissed the magical constructs as a whole due to its nature as a Projection, a spell known for its less than practical effects.

I part my lips and responded with: "Time alter—square accel." In my eyes, the movements of the world itself slowed to a snail's pace, yet for some odd reason my whole body remained unaffected by this phenomenon, moving at what seemed to be normal speed. It was the power of none other than the Magic Crest engraved on my left shoulder.

Surprisingly, Kiritsugu had passed down the Emiya family's Magic Crest, a craft known for its ability to manipulate time inside a designated space, onto me before his passing. Though he only possessed a fragment of the Crest due to an incident in the past, the Magus Killer utilized the magecraft to its fullest, breaking through human limitations and moving at such insane speeds that the human eye failed to register even a flicker of his figure.

With a flourish, I raised the blade and lashed out, cutting through the flood of worms with deadly expertise. Each arc it passed was a path of death, resulting in a dozen or so worms being sliced into two halves by the second. To the outside world however, not even a fraction of that time had elapsed.

"Release." I muttered out, disabling Time Alter and returning my accelerated senses to normal. As the effects fizzled out, a rain of invertebrate carcasses fell from the air, creating a circle around me as if an invisible barrier had stopped them in their tracks.

Suddenly, a stiffled grunt escaped my lips as a formless rope tightly wrapped itself around my entire being, before disappearing just as quickly as it appeared. Time manipulation had it own sets of drawbacks like everything else. Using 'square accel', the final stage, should have destroyed me from the inside in an instant, but the punishment was balanced out by the combined forces of Avalon's miraculous healing and my innate endurance.

Zouken wasn't surprised in the slightest, he had expected some form of resistance from the boy. The old man swiftly responded by sending even more winged worms at the redhead to overwhelm him with sheer numbers while also ordering another batch of familiars he had hidden around the mansion to gather. He had done his research, he knew of what just transpired. 'The Emiya boy shouldn't be able to use that technique for an extended period of time.' He thought, blissfully unaware of what said boy had in store for him.

Brandishing my curved sword, I cut and slice through the sea of flying critters while steadily narrowing the distance between the old magus and I. He showed little to no worry, clearly undermining my abilities. Out of the blue, an explosion of concrete and dust erupted from the ceiling as an amalgamation of worms the size of a car dropped into the scene with a shrill screech, forcing my march to halt.

"Time alter—triple accel." I recited, increasing my overall speed by three-fold. Without wasting another moment, I brought my weapon to bear and delivered a myriad of slashes at the fat invertebrate, dismantling the poor thing in one fell swoop. The boost in agility remained as I continued my rush to my opponent. I twist and twirled, pressing forward like a storm.

As the fight raged on, Zouken unleashed a swarm of winged worms to obscure my vision, creating an opening that he briskly exploited. A dozen of his familiars broke through my defenses and dug their dirty fangs onto my legs, stealing my attention away for a brief moment. With a violent swing, the distasteful creatures were thrown off my legs and quickly met the heels of my boots. The floor shattered underneath the force of my stomps, sending shards of stone flying in all directions. Within that small time frame, the wounds they've inflicted had already recovered thanks to Avalon.

To my left and right, a pair of inflated worms abruptly bursts forth with the grace of a car being driven by a drunkard, their razor-sharp teeth primed and ready to tear me apart. As I was about to cleave the beasts into bite sized pieces, a sea of winged grubs appeared from all sides, enveloping my whole form in a heartbeat and began eating away at my frame.

"Square accel." I whispered then twisted my wrist. In one moment; I was trapped inside a sarcophagus of vile worms, and in the next; each critter popped into a mist of blood as if air itself had denied their existence. "Release." I drew a sharp breath and spoke again. "Time alter—triple accel."

More and more of Zouken's familiars entered the cellar from various entry points and did their best to halt my charge, but no matter how many disgusting bugs threw themselves at me, the results remained the same; I continued advancing without stopping.

Eventually, I managed to breach the wall of creepy-crawlers and honed my sights on the old magus hiding at the back end. Raising a hand, my mana reserves dropped by a large margin as a sleek handgun appeared in my grasp with a shimmer of light. With a tug, the gun fired a single Origin bullet at Zouken's form. Not a hint of concern marred his disgusting face as the projectile flew at him at high speeds. The bullet struck him dead in the chest with a crunch, but the old magus treated it nothing more than a slight annoyance, expecting the hole to fix itself.

As Zouken stood in place, a creeping sense of dread washed over him. It started as a subtle tremor, a faint quiver running through his body, but quickly escalated into something far more sinister. A collection of familiars that made up his muscles tensed and spasmed uncontrollably, as if rebelling against his commands. With each passing moment, it felt as though his very essence was slipping through his fingers, dissolving into nothingness.

A smile went up my face as I saw panic surge through him. Kiritsugu's Origin bullets did more than inflict physical wounds, it also broke down the magic circuits of whoever it hits, taking away their ability to manipulate magical energy and perform magecraft. Given enough time, Zouken would eventually lose his control over his familiars, preventing the magus from reforming another vessel at a later date.

"Trace on." Malenia's hand (the curved sword) vanished from my hand and was swiftly replaced by a peculiar broadsword. Putting strength into my legs, I launched forward with a burst of speed, killing everything that blocked my path like a raging berserker and crossed the distance between him and I in a blink of an eye. Stopping before the man, I rotated my upper body, held the sword high above my head, then executed a swift vertical slash.

Unable to move away in time, Zouken quickly raised a limb to intercept my attack, however it did nothing to stop the blade's sharp edge from effortlessly cleaving his right arm clean off his shoulders.

"Gah!" Suddenly, a piercing pain tore through Zouken's body, sharp and agonizing, as if his very being was being torn apart by the seams. The sensation disoriented him, this shouldn't have been possible, his familiars should have been the one that got hurt as his main body was still beside Sakura's heart, yet he felt as if unseen hands were tearing his soul, pulling him apart piece by piece. He tried to rationalize the strange occurrence, but the boy prevented him from expanding on this thought.

I swiftly withdrew my weapon and executed a flurry of strikes at my opponent, aiming to lay as much suffering as I possibly could. To my surprise, the old maggot's injuries mended itself at a pace that matched my swings. I notice that his remaining familiars had forgone attacking me altogether in favour of attaching themselves onto Zouken's current body in a vain attempt to keep their host alive. I wasn't alarmed by this, the blade in my grasp struck one's soul, restoring his body only gave me more opportunities to inflict pain upon him. I swung, again and again, severing his soul's hold over the mortal plane in an act of unfiltered violence. Soon enough, the amount of worms that followed his instructions lessened, leaving him with nothing more than a withering upper body to work with.

"Release." I deactivated Time Alter, ignoring the throbbing pain that came with it, and strode towards the old coot's slumped form.

"You—" He tried to speak, but I cut him off by grabbing his head and brutally pummeling it onto the ground, scraping it across the surface. A few more cuts from the broadsword would have fully extinguished his soul, but there was something else I wanted to do just as a precaution. I took a deep breath before opening my mouth to speak.

"I kill. I let live. I harm, and I heal. None will escape me. None will escape my sight." I activated the only holy sacrament skill in my arsenal.

Due to Zouken Matou's unique existence, he was extremely susceptible to such practices, hence why I went through the trouble of learning it.

"Be crushed. I welcome those who have grown old and those who have lost." A pillar of malevolent light answered my words, connecting up into the sky and bathing the entire basement in an ethereal glow. "Devote yourself to me, learn from me, and obey me." Holy energy swirled, enveloping the area with warmth. "Do not forget song, do not forget prayer, and do not forget me." All across the city, members of the Holy Church took notice of the divine column in the distance and hastily made their way to it. "I give you rest. I will lighten your burdens and make you forget them."

Zouken's eyes threatened to pop out of its sockets. While his body convulsed in reaction to the sacrament, he uttered in disbelief: "What—?" He did not understand where the boy got all of these tricks from. He had watched him from the sidelines since the day he took Sakura away, and concluded that he was nothing more than a kind young man with an inflated sense of justice.

And that sword, the blade that struck his very essence—where did he get it? The old magus knew Shirou dabbled in smithing, but what can a 12 year old upstart magus realistically do with bars of metal? Not once did he even consider the redhead a threat, and now the magus was paying the price for his hubris. Decades worth of work to achieve his goal, gone right before his eyes all because of a child's interference.

His body refused to move even an inch and could do nothing but watch as his remaining frame crumbled into fine dust due to the Lord's light. He'd known that Shirou attended the local kirk, but he never could've expected him to attain such strong connection with the Lord during that short amount of time.

"Did you receive guidance from God, child?" Zouken strained himself to speak, longing wrapped his words for some odd reason. In truth, his corroded soul slowly reverted back to its natural state, allowing memories he'd long forgotten to play in his mind. It brought him back to a simpler time.

Letting his words flow from one ear to another, I continued the rite, "Do not pretend. Retribution for forgiveness, betrayal for trust, despair for hope, darkness for light, and death for the living." White lines suddenly weaved across the old magus' skin, covering his entire form like a web. "Solice is in my hands. I shall pour oil unto your sins and mark you. Only in death will eternal life be given." As the rite neared its conclusion, the holy pillar shone brighter. "You'll find forgiveness here. On my Incarnation I swear——Kyrei Eleison." Following my words, Zouken's soul shattered, torn into a thousand fragments by the light of God, never to walk amongst the ranks of Man ever again.

Now without a master to follow, the left over familiars scurried away from my figure in a panic. The grubs' presence all over the city brought me little concern as once daybreak hits, each and every single one of them would hurl over due to mana exhaustion. Even if a few of these critters somehow survive, they'd have no choice but to cannibalize one another for magical energy to live even a second more, culling their numbers without me having to do anything.

After ending the sacrament, the divine beam gradually dispersed into beautiful motes of light and I rose to my feet. A burst of System notifications appeared, telling me that "Purify" had reached B rank, but I pushed it aside and took another deep breath to calm my bubbling excitement.

"I did it." Just like how Kiritsugu had taught me, I had dispatched my target with extreme efficiency, there was no need to draw the battle out when there was nothing to gain. While the process had some rough edges, it went as well as I had expected. Had the poor bastard taken me seriously from the start, our fight would've ended differently, too bad he couldn't take into account that I had a video game System on my side.

To be honest, it was a bit of an overkill to use a literal God given gift to end him, but better to err on the side of caution. With a near perfect copy of Avalon planted within Sakura, she should be fine even if Zouken did anything with his main body out of desperation.

Manic laughter bursts out of my mouth, before it was briskly shot down. 'Celebrations can come later, I need to get back home first.'

Upon emerging from the Matou mansion, I was immediately confronted by a group of men dressed in dark vestments standing idly by the foyer. A myriad of expressions donned each of their faces as they stared at my appearance, the most prominent being shock and reverence. Thankfully, the winged helm covered the majority of my facial features, preventing them from determining my identity. However, I have no doubt they eventually would with enough time, given that red hair wasn't really that common around here.

As for the members of the Church, they could not help but gawk at the red-haired boy's blinding figure. A strong amount of holy energy continuously radiated off of him, flooding the entire area with warmth and mellowness. A weak glimmer accompanied his every step, as if a messenger of God walked right beside him. Truly, a mark of the Lord's chosen, they all collectively thought. The bearded man, the highest ranking cardinal in their group, took a step forward and presented himself with a small bow. "Good evening young man, I am Ivan Williams, a member of the Holy Church. May I ask what has happened here?"

"Good evening," I nod my head slightly, but refused to announce my name, "nothing too serious, I can assure you. There was merely a force of evil that needed to be taken care of," I spoke the truth, yet remained vague on the details. "Now, If I may, there's a place that requires my immediate presence. Have a good night."

I quickly went into motion to vacate the area, but the man known as Ivan Williams raised his arm as I was about to walk past him, halting my stride. "A moment, please. Would it trouble you to tell us your name?"

"I am nothing more than a simple man of the Lord. Hopefully that would suffice," I spoke calmly, fully knowing my answer would not satisfy even a quarter of their curiosity, before speaking in a whisper, "Time alter—square accel."

The following phenomena left the priests frozen in astonishment. As if blessed by the Lord himself, a pair of malevolent wings made of pure light hovered behind Shirou's armour before he vanished with a flash of light, leaving the starstruck clergymen abandoned on the Matou residence. After his disappearance, they quickly went into action, some tried to follow the boy but lost him after a single turn, while others stayed behind to investigate the place, later finding an unconscious boy with a head of blue hair and took him into an infirmary.

I swiftly left the scene while supressing my presence to seamlessly blend into the surroundings, fully ignorant of the events that just transpired behind me. While weaving through the familiar streets of Fuyuki, a translucent screen appeared before my eyes, saying something about gaining a new title. I pushed it aside for now and placed my attention back at my current task. Soon enough, I arrive back home and dematerialized my equipment, then quietly entered Sakura's room.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the young girl squirming in her bed while donning a face of discomfort. I dropped to the ground and took her into my arms, hoping to soothe whatever pain she was going through. As I gently embraced her, Avalon registered my touch and went into overdrive, producing a golden glow from within her chest as it did its best to fix whatever damage Zouken's remaining familiars inflicted on her.

Sakura's hair colour shifts into a darker shade of purple for some odd reason. Seeing as how Avalon wasn't reacting to the change, it was probably nothing harmful. As time progressed, Sakura's breathing returned to normal, her spasms stopped and her face now sported one of comfort. Seeing this, I released a breath I was unconsciously holding and gently tucked her back into bed, then opened the System menu to check on something.

[Title 'Saint' has been acquired]

"What?" I muttered in surprise. I checked its contents and found out what it did; the title provided me a major experience boost in everything that's related to holy energy. It acted similarly to [Sword Incarnation], except it's for divine sacraments instead of swords. It was most-likely generated due to some misunderstanding created by my ability to utilize the Lord's gifts, but you wouldn't see me complain about it. A power up was a power up.

And with that, I caressed Sakura's hair one last time and left her alone to recover.

----

As the morning rays shone through the windows, Sakura stirred from her slumber and sat upright right while rubbing her eyes. Relief washed over the young girl as she scanned the whole room, realizing that she was still inside Shirou's home and not her grandfather's.

It had been many years since she'd left that place and was offered a new home, but Sakura still felt as if it was a dream. Dread kept a firm hold over her mind, she was deathly afraid that the times she has spent with Shirou was all but a lie created by Zouken to torment her even further. She doesn't want this to end, hoping this moment would last forever. But, she knew it wouldn't last, like always. Her uncle had already tried and failed in the past which lead to his demise, what's to say this would go any different?

Upon rising to her feet, she immediately noticed that the worms inside of her was awefully silent. Usually, they would wiggle and crawl, giving her a sense of formication (the feeling of insects crawling in, on or under your skin) at every waking moment, but for some reason she could not feel any of those dastardly creatures, as if they had disappeared. She didn't give it much attention though, they'll probably awake later and continue like normal.

Reaching the dining room, she quickly spotted Shirou sitting down by the table, a heavy atmosphere circled the boy like clouds during a storm. Witnessing this side of him that she's never seen, a tinge of nervousness spread across her body.

"Oh, Sakura. Come here, I have something to tell you." A cold hand grasped her heart as she heard him speak in a weighty tone. Had he gotten tired of her? Disgusted by the filth that befouled her person? She hesitated, stopping just before entering the room. Seeing her odd behavior, Shirou worriedly asked: "Is something wrong? Do you need some help?"

She regained a fraction of her wits back and replied with a stutter. "O-oh… it's nothing." Sakura shuffled her way to the desk and sat down beside him, her fingers digging into her thighs as she waited for him to start. Did her grandfather do something to him? Maybe he threatened Shirou to give her back? She quickly tossed those thoughts away, Shirou wouldn't do something like that, right? She prays that's not the case.

"Sakura," the redhead looked directly into her eyes, "you don't have to worry about Zouken anymore. He's dead, I killed him," he decided to speak the truth without beating around the bush. The redhead said it with such conviction that she almost believed it to be true.

Whatever was brewing inside Sakura's head could not even compare to what Shirou had just revealed. She stilled, thinking she heard wrong, but Shirou made it abundantly clear that the man known as Zouken Matou had perished not too long ago by his own hands.

"But…but how?" The young girl squeaked out in denial. She knew what her grandfather was capable of to some extent, so it shouldn't have been possible for Shirou to do anything to him, yet he claims to have gotten rid of Zouken? It confused her more than anything. She fervently hoped that nothing harmful happened to him, otherwise she might just lose the only one who gave her joy.

Shirou then went on to explain what had transpired last night while excluding the gruesome details of course, and told her that he had been preparing for this moment since they day they met. By the end of his account, Sakura's mind whirled like a hurricane. Then, she realized why the worms inside her stopped—they had vanished along with Zouken's death.

A choked breath escaped the young girl as tears slowly formed in her eyes. She doesn't deserve any of this, there was no reason for Shirou to go that far for someone like her, yet he did for no other reason than he cared. She felt happy to say the least, yet guilty for dragging Shirou into her problems.

"I-I'm sorry," she sputtered out, a stream of tears rolling down her cheeks. "I didn't want to drag you into–" she paused due to a hiccup, "–how can I even thank you for this… I don't even have anything to—"

Shirou pulls her into a tender hold, cutting her words off. "Hush. Don't apologize. You deserve this much, Sakura. Just continue living your life, whatever makes you happy makes me happy as well."

Sakura wrapped her arms around the boy's neck in response, slamming her whole body onto his as tears resumed to flow from her eyes. For the next hour or so, the young girl refused to let go of Shirou as if afraid something would take him away from her. This is fine, right? If whatever she did made him happy, then he wouldn't mind staying with her for a while, no? In her mind, she made a silent vow to never leave the boy's side, no matter what the world threw at her.

Deep within her soul, a being of pure darkness screamed, its shrill cries reverberating across the space it inhabited, thrashing as if showered in molten lava. Nothing answered the creature's shrieks until a loud crack sounded from across its blackened form. Suddenly, the thing was split into two distinct entities: one made of raw hate and wrath, while the other emanated joy, love, and a hint of obsession. It even had a form of its own, which was eerily similar to Sakura's physical appearance.

The two opposing existences stared at one another for a moment until the former was abruptly banished out of the vast emptiness by an unseen force tinged with a shred of divine into the material plane—right inside the Matou manor's ruined basement.

"You finally made your appearance. You kept me waiting, you insolent cur," a man with golden hair spoke. He exuded a kingly aura no one could reject, forcing anyone to kneel with just a glance from his penetrating gaze.

As the beast of enmity roared in response to the man's presence, a series of chains emerged from brilliant portals behind the golden-haired man and swiftly enfolded the creature, binding it to the ground.

"Although you are only a fraction of it, under my care, you'll become an adequate weapon to extinguish this era's blight," he declared in a haughty voice.

END.

Author's Notes: Uh, yeah—Didn't plan much ahead when I wrote the fight scene. Oops?

I'll be writing notes every chapter from now on because I can.

Also, I've been playing a game called Supermarket Simulator, and it's quite addicting.

 

[UndeadLord22]

So how much or how long would it take to bet that some of the Church members would mistake him as a Angel that walks among the mortal realm?

Its already given they take him as a Saint, but there's bound to be at least few numbering to take the guesswork into a radical manner to make them think him as such.

 

[xbox432]

Aw, I always love Fate fics where Sakura gets a happy ending. Poor girl suffered so much...

And now Shirou has been named a living Saint. I wonder if Kotomine is gonna be annoyed by all his co-workers in the church snooping around?

Lastly... do you think Rin will notice that the Matou manner basically imploded? And if she does, what will she do about it?

known that Shirou attended the local kirk,

Click to shrink...

When did Shirou start attending the local church for our lord and savior, Admiral James T. Kirk?

"I did it." Just like how Kiritsugu had taught me, I had dispatched my target with extreme efficiency, there was no need to draw the battle out when there was nothing to gain.

Click to shrink...

I don't know, his pops might be disapointed Shirou revealed himself and stopped to banter, rather than just sneaking up behind the old monster and shooting him in the back of the head. But I guess Shirou IS at the age where he'd be subject to chuunibyou syndrome.

 

[Daddycool101]

Kirk

Click to shrink...

Kirk is an old word for church. Like Kirk hammer in bloodborne.

 

[xbox432]

Something that was percolating in my head earlier, but has just now solidified...

With the increased Church presence in Fuyuki, they would check in with Rin, wouldn't they? Not only is she the Second owner, and the church DOES make an attempt to play nice with the Magus Association. But the Tohsakas are known as allies of the church, that's why Kirei was allied with Tokiomi in the first place.

And well... considering how Kirei was squandering the Tohsaka fortune while acting as Rin's guardian? Maybe while meeting with the visiting Church officials Rin could make a formal complaint/request?

"Poor Kirei broke after his father died, and hasn't been in his right mind since. Add on to this that he has no knowledge of economics or managing an estate, it's no wonder the poor man has made so many bad financial decisions. See, just look at these financial reports. And all of these donations of funds which are not his own! Maybe it would be for the best if you helped Kirei set up my inheritance into a Trust instead of managing it personally?"

Because I can only imagine Rin being in a much better mood if she isn't forced to live as a pauper.

On a side note... In most Fate fics like this with an SI I like to make a suggestion. No one has ever done it before, but I shall persist! Maybe when Shirou meets Kirei he can hand him a job application for a position as a physical therapist (Get paid to make people endure suffering, and it's for their own good!) alongside a brochure for the local BDSM club. That weirdo of a priest might chill out a bit if he got to hang out with people who share his hobbies.

Kirk is an old word for church. Like Kirk hammer in bloodborne.

Click to shrink...

Really? Hmm, looks like I learned something new today!

 

[Monsterboy]

So how much or how long would it take to bet that some of the Church members would mistake him as a Angel that walks among the mortal

Click to shrink...

Unlikely. For the uninitiated, sure, but for people like Kotomine or Caren, it's an actual impossibility. Everything that was magical left fo the reverse side of the world long ago, and literally cannot survive on this side of the world due to insufficient magic, with rare exception. Even a laymagus would be aware of that.

With the increased Church presence in Fuyuki, they would check in with Rin, wouldn't they? Not only is she the Second owner, and the church DOES make an attempt to play nice with the Magus Association. But the Tohsakas are known as allies of the church, that's why Kirei was allied with Tokiomi in the first place.

Click to shrink...

More than that, Rin is a Christian, likely owing to her being raised by Kotomine. I mean, she seems casual about it, like she was raised into it but cares little for it, and she's a magus first and foremost, she questions her bisexuality when it came to Artoria after all. But her usual outfit does have a prominent cross on it.

Kirei he can hand him a job application for a position as a physical therapist (Get paid to make people endure suffering, and it's for their own good!)

Click to shrink...

Eh, it's too late for that. If this was F/Z, I'd agree with you, but he literally has Angry Mango as his heart without any alteration of behavior and is fully corrupted to the point of feeding numerous orphans below the church to Gilgamesh. I mean, if he reframed his life as an Executor into stomping on magi and DA's lifetime of efforts for funsies, just taking a more sadistic approach he could do a lot of good while sating his needs.

Not to mention strong opposition is necessary so that this isn't a stomp.

 

[Trashmammal177013]

It's always a great thing to see, when a Shirou si takes care of Zouken swiftly. Loving the fic so far.

 

[Daddycool101]

malevolent

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Malevolent has a negative meaning, so maybe something more positive would fit good here imo.

 

[Perpetual Tim]

I always listen to this when I'm reading a Shirou Emiya fight, makes it more epic that way.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTA2nSOBDis&t=781s

 

[sandmanwake]

So did Rin never show up asking why her sister was living with Shirou? It's not like something like that would have been kept secret and unlike when Sakura was living with Zouken, Sakura has no reason to live with Shirou from Rin's perspective.

For that matter, Rin and Sakura's mom lived for a while after the War and since he has a functioning Avalon, he could have healed her. I guess he could have forgotten, but is probably going to kick himself when he remembers.

Throughout the years, I've pushed my Projection ability to its absolute limits, causing a small patch of my forearm to darken as a consequence, in order to replicate Avalon's full might just for this very moment.

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Wouldn't Avalon repair any damage he got from his magic which caused changes to his skin and hair?

Zouken's familiars latched onto her insides and regularly force her into releasing semen to feed themselves, as the liquid substance was a potent way to recover mana without hurting the ill-fated girl.

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Don't you mean force her into seeking out semen rather than her releasing semen? Girls don't produce semen....

Next, a new set of apparels manifested into existence; my figure was draped in flowing burnished robes that billow around my form like dark clouds. Adorning my head is a winged helmet of similar hue, its sleek curves and intricate detailing reminiscent of ancient warriors of legend. The entirety of my right arm was encased in armour painted in gold, and my hand wielded a long, curved blade carrying an air of menace and power.

Click to shrink...

He's got a magical boy/Power Ranger transformation sequence!

With a tug, the gun fired a single Origin bullet at Zouken's form. Not a hint of concern marred his disgusting face as the projectile flew at him at high speeds. The bullet struck him dead in the chest with a crunch, but the old magus treated it nothing more than a slight annoyance, expecting the hole to fix itself.

Click to shrink...

After Kiritsugu died, it would have been useful to use some of his bones to create Origin Blades that would have similar effects as his Origin Bullets. They'd also be reusable, unlike the bullets.

"Did you receive guidance from God, child?" Zouken strained himself to speak, longing wrapped his words for some odd reason. In truth, his corroded soul slowly reverted back to its natural state, allowing memories he'd long forgotten to play in his mind. It brought him back to a simpler time.

Click to shrink...

Zouken was a heroic figure back when he was younger, wasn't he? He literally lived long enough to become a villain.

Manic laughter bursts out of my mouth, before it was briskly shot down. 'Celebrations can come later, I need to get back home first.'

Click to shrink...

Later he can loot the place.

later finding an unconscious boy with a head of blue hair and took him into an infirmary.

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It'd be ironic if this leads Shinji to becoming a priest.

Sakura's hair colour shifts into a darker shade of purple for some odd reason.

Click to shrink...

Did Zouken getting his sanity restored cause him as a last act to pass his Crest to Sakura properly?

And well... considering how Kirei was squandering the Tohsaka fortune while acting as Rin's guardian? Maybe while meeting with the visiting Church officials Rin could make a formal complaint/request?

Click to shrink...

Shirou, knowing what Kirei was planning with the Tohsaka fortune, and since he was attending his church anyway, bought up all the Tohsaka stuff on the cheap using the fortune his dad left him.