"Hmm, so not only a wizard in hiding, you are also a talented cook? So many talents indeed." Rias mused as she sampled a macaroon.
"Rias, don't even think about it." Sona adjusted her glasses while looking impossibly adorable with a piece of chiffon cake on her plate. "I have my eye on him for some time, and you are not taking him without a fight."
...
I had a few words to say regarding that conversation, but a tap on the shoulder put that on hold. I turned around to see Tomoe and Reya standing next to me. "This is really good, did you make all of these Emiya-kun?" Reya asked while holding up one of the vegetarian sandwiches.
"Yeah, I had to learn to cook at a young age, so I got a lot of mileage on this." I replied before pausing to look at Tomoe who was shifting her feet uneasily. "Is the food not to your liking, Tomoe-san?" That seemed to have startled her a little, judging from the light jump she did.
"N` no, the food is great!" She stammered before looking down. "D` aren't you angry?"
"Angry?" I blinked at her odd question.
"Angry for not telling you about us?" She looked at me with somewhat tearful eyes. "I mean, you must hate us a little."
'Ah, that's what she meant.' I absentmindedly scratched my head as I looked at her. Better not screw this up. "I admit, I was a little angry that the people I had talked to for a while could possibly be the type of creatures I hunted down for years. A part of me did not want to believe that innocent looking girls such as yourselves would be the type that would enslave others."
"However." I pressed on to stop them from interrupting. "After seeing the different sides of the Devils, I guess much of my prejudice was somewhat misplaced. So I cannot be angry at you anymore." I put a hand on her head and rubbed her hair lightly. There were some advantages of being the tall man in the group. "So you can stop worrying yourself and put that smile back on your face okay?"
Tomoe looked at me for a moment with a light blush on her cheeks, then with a quick wipe from her sleeves, the tears were gone and her smile was back on her face. Even Reya seemed to have a more relaxed smile on her face. I guess they were more worried of my reactions than the others.
"So are we friends now?"
"Hmmm… almost, just one more favour." Tomoe looked at me with a serious face somewhat marred by the mischievous smile on her face. "You have to call me Meguri from now on, got that?"
"You are still trying that?" I raised an eyebrow in amusement. Well, I might as well humour her, wouldn't want to spoil the mood now. "Very well then, Meguri-san."
There, at least I kept my promise and maintained a certain form of formality towards her. That much Reya seemed to agree, as she moved to intercept Tomoe who was pouting lightly. "Now Meguri-chan, do not rush him so much okay? At least he is doing what you asked him to." Tomoe, or rather Meguri could only nod after a moment.
"That said…" Reya turned to me with a twinkle and a smile that reminded me a little too much of Rin's when she was in a teasing mood. "Now that you have started with the first names, you should also call me by my first name. Okay?"
… Was this girl by chance related to Rin's ancestors in this world? Because I certainly did not expect that from her! I mentally shook off the image of her and Rin laughing together and took a deep breath. "Understood. Reya-san." At that, she let out one of the most radiant smiles I had seen yet.
"Well, since you are doing that, we might as well do the same." I turned to find the rest of the group looking at me with smiles. "You were already introduced to her, so I shall skip that part." Sona motioned to Rias before taking a step forward and let out a curtsy. "Allow me to reintroduce myself, I am Sona Sitri, heir to the Sitri Clan."
'So a princess?' I thought to myself as I looked at the rest. Since they were doing all of this, I might as well do the same. I faced them with my legs together and my right hand above my heart and bowed my head. "An honour to be introduced to two of Ars Goetia's Demon Clans, my name is Emiya Shirou, a magus of blades. I thank you for your welcome." And with that, I shook hands with them and made up for the craziness that occurred.
Well, I guess with the Kaleido-Amulet still out of commission, I would make do with the simple pleasures of this world. At least this world was more peaceful without the crazy magus, Dead Apostles or any other creatures roaming around from my world.
...
"You got them?"
"Yeah, I got your feathers and a few drops of blood. No body though, that crimson princess totally disintegrated it to nothing, not even ashes were left."
"That's a shame, still at least you got the others."
"But seriously, would it not be better to get a fresh sample? Why not grab that blonde haired loli, she should be suitable for your experiments? Or any other Fallen Angel since they frequent the area, there should be stronger types for you to sample?"
"Maybe later, but for now this would do just fine."
"Hmmm… If I didn't know you and your experiments well enough, I would say you have a fetish for objects that used to belong to dead people."
"HAHAHA! Now that would be laughable. So, what do you think?"
"Meaning?"
"You know what I mean. Based on your findings, the damage of the surround areas resembled that person. Do you think it is him?"
"… The damage based on the bodies I managed to secure before the clean-up crew bared the signs similar to his style of fighting, but I cannot be certain because there was very little to go on. And even if it is similar, there is a possibility it may not be that guy, after all this is not our old world. Perhaps it is the alternate version, but we have not seen or met that in this world since our arrival."
"Yeah, guess that is true. But then again, we should be on guard, after all the Wizard Marshall did give that guy the ability to traverse between universes, we should not be surprised if he came here. And when it comes down to the possibilities, well… Who would have thought that we ended up here ourselves?"
"If that is the case, what would you do if it is him?"
"KEKEKEKE! I will gladly take my revenge on him for stopping my work, and I will prove to those fools at the Association that I am not someone whom they could just throw away for them to hog the knowledge of Akasha."
"Hmmm… well that is you, and I think we can more or less guess how our other companions would feel."
"HA! I could care less for the others, especially 'that monster'. He should curl up in the corner and die for his type of work."
"Yeah~ about him, I met him at the church along with a few of the others, seemed like he went there earlier to grab the same materials as us, and again, only those belonging to the females. He just ignored the other bodies around him that could yield other materials."
"TCH! That guy alone, I would be willing to work alongside the Twenty-Seven Apostles just to rid the world of his existence. From what I hear, even our mutual enemy has a score to settle with."
"Well, Shirou Emiya has always been a righteous individual, if not strange in his behaviour, but for this person, I highly doubt anyone would miss the monster at all, if anything they were considering working together with Shirou to kill him."
"That figures, but enough of that topic. How about you? If it is the Shirou Emiya we know, what would you do?"
"A rematch. That is all I want."
"A quick answer, but is that really all you want?"
"Our previous fight got interrupted so abruptly and rudely, and I know for a fact that Shirou would probably feel the same about loose ends."
"Well then, looks like we are all in for a little fun after a long time. And if it is Shirou Emiya who has travelled all the way to this universe to find us, then I guess we better roll out the welcoming carpet and give out the biggest surprise of his life. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
...
( This part's just a quick explanation of the weapons. You can totally skip it if you want, but make sure to catch the final author note at the end )
..
..
Previous Chapters Noble Phantasms:
Claiomh Solais - The Sword of Virtuous Light
Type: Anti-Unit
Rank: C to D- (Normal) / B (Broken Phantasm)
This blade is a double-edged sword that is roughly one arm's length, with a small silver hilt and a small plumage of pale yellow feathers around it, with leather wrappings around the handle and runes on it. When activated, the blade glows with a bright light that can strike down average demons
A blade that typically appears in Irish stories and folklore which talk about a hero compelled to complete three tasks to be proven worthy of his skills, it belonged to Nuada Airgetlam who was the first king of Tuatha De Danann, and considered to be one of the four treasures of the country. Being more of a ceremonial weapon that deals with storytelling, its purpose as a weapon of war gets severely diminished, rendering it a little more than a glorified dagger.
Its main ability is to light up in the dark to fend off creatures of dark nature. Its effectiveness is severely diminished when facing off stronger opponents, even Avenger could defend against it if given time to do so. Its strength however gets stronger if the user gets help from his aide, usually a female given the nature of the stories where the female would be able to find the weak spot of monsters.
As a Broken Phantasm, Shirou uses it more as a cross between a stun grenade and incendiary grenade, the bright light blinding those around it and the blast taking out a large number of enemies.
...
Sutr - The Flaming Sword of Jotnar
Type: Anti-Army
Rank: A+ to B-
A double-edged blade roughly the height of a full grown man, with red runes on its handles and adorning the edge. The hilt has a single red ruby that shines brightly when it senses danger to the user, and it has a light veneer of gold along the center of the blade. When activated, the runes on the blade would light up before covering it with red flames with tinges of yellow and black.
Despite its name, it is NOT the true blade of Sutr, rather it is the essence of him and some of his kindred forged into the core of the blade. During the waning years that led to the end of the Age of Gods, Sutr sent out waves of his essence that could be detected by anyone with a hint of Prana within to store them within, eventually settling for a blacksmith who was known for creating unusual blades for the people.
Fueled by the visions of Sutr and his kind, the man strived to forge the blade to placate them. Upon its completion, Sutr poured a better portion of his power inside, making a safeguard if ever he needed to resurrect himself should the Age of Gods survived. But after his death, the blade got passed on to others, never fulfilling that purpose.
Being a weapon holding the essence of the giants within, this is a weapon that could take on multiple Dead Apostles and even a couple of the Twenty Seven Apostles, provided the user is proficient enough to wield it. Having the essence of the flame giant itself, it can incinerate almost everything in its path, but if pitted against other flame-wielding creatures, it has a fifty-fifty shot of winning a fight.
...
Current Noble Phantasms:
The Staff/Rod of Asclepius - The healer's staff
Type: Anti-Unit
Rank: B++
A wooden staff cut from the bark of an aged pine tree, it has the wood carving of a serpent entwined around it, with green gems embedded in the snakes head as eyes.
Used by the God of Healing and Medicine, the staff can heal the sickly and remove all ailments from the body. However the effectiveness is slightly reduced for open wounds that are considered extremely fatal and from supernatural causes, and reduced further if the user is a human since only a god could truly understand how the wounds of supernatural come about.
Shirou came across this staff in one of the old Greek temples and added it to the Reality Marble for mostly cases where he needed Avalon for himself and had to spare other means of healing for Rin or other people. When activated, the gems would light up and the staff would spread its glow on the recipient, focusing its effects on the ailment or the wounds in question. Its effectiveness would be considered a trifle compared to Avalon, but its Prana cost is significantly lower, allowing Shirou to bring out two more if needed.
...
Lobera - The Wolf-Slaying Blade of the King
Type: Anti-Army
Rank: A++
A thin blade that has a golden hilt and indentations on the blade. At the tip is a golden protrusion with etchings adorned on it, with the end sharpened to resemble a spear.
A sword that belonged to Saint Ferdinand III, it was one of the few objects in history that replaced the typical rod as a symbol of power. Forged with the intention to take on an army of monsters, the blade was forged by some of the best blacksmiths with priests blessing it at every step of its creation.
The power is more than enough to take on enemies of at least B-rank, and can do reasonably well against those of A-rank. Due to its reputation of being a wolf-slayer, the blade experiences a big jump in the power rankings any time its faces off with a creature that is remotely a wolf. It would not be an understatement to say that the blade would be a game-breaker against any wolf-type creatures, even a wolf god would have a hard time fending off its effects.
Shirou encountered it twice in his life. The first time was on his trip to Spain, where he had seen the blade and stored it inside his Reality Marble. The second time was during one of his adventures in a different dimension, where he encountered the king as an alternate Saber in the Fifth Grail War and witnessed its use against Medea and her minions.
...
AN
For me, I just wanted to write a little about a Shirou who had some background from the Fate route and be done.
I have taken the advice of some of the readers to look through the other stories, and one thing I had noted with them and other Fate inspired stories, Shirou would always boil down to these types:
1) UBW Shirou
2) Heaven's Feel Shirou
3) Archer EMIYA
4) Some variation of fore-mentioned Shirou from the far future.
Yet for whatever reasons, none seemed to encompass much of the Shirou from the Fate route or anything regarding his future choices that could potentially lead to his role as EMIYA, so I figured I would try my luck with it, but with some differences. I also found that every story for this crossover involves him becoming a Devil for Rias, so I thought why not make him a human for this round?
For those who are interested, Shirou has Avalon in this universe because Saber gave it back right before she returned, so it has stuck with him for the years he had been fighting. I figured since she gave up on the Grail, made peace with her decisions and possessed Avalon for a while, that meant she could wait for Shirou in Avalon.
For those who wondered why this Shirou seemed to be different in terms of manners and mentality, keep in mind this is an alternate Shirou who has spent a few years fighting on the battlefield and is slightly jaded in his thoughts regarding the people around him, not to mention the fact he is currently having doubts about his ideals, so he is trying to find middle ground while trying to maintain a bit of humor forcefully. This will be a Shirou who is approaching a crossroads that would decide whether he would find Saber or would take the path that would lead to him becoming Archer.
And before you ask, yes he has a Reality Marble. One which I might add has gone through two iterations due to his experience, so in this story he is on the verge of realizing his new Aria. I'm still thinking how best to say those words.
Oh, and someone once mentioned why it had to be only Shirou that gets transferred to DxD world. I agree, why only him, so I decided to add in a little something at the end.
And I lay my pen down for now.
...
AN : if we hit 110 power stones before tomorrow I will do a double release ;)
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :
p atreon.com/Aerle