章 24: Chapter 23: Tales of Gods and Campione

Emiya Estate

As Rin and the others returned, they were greeted by the sight of Shirou cooking while Saber was eating.

"I'm still convinced that you'll pay the price for that excessive appetite of yours someday, Saber," said Rin.

Saber chose to not dignify Rin's statement with a response and continued eating without interruption.

"Well, now that we have the time, it would probably be good to tell Rider about the other authorities and the relations we have with other Campione." Shirou broke the silence.

As everyone else nodded, Rider interjected, "are there any other important lessons in the tales? Because otherwise just give me a list instead of the whole story."

Shirou though for a moment before responding, "nothing on the scale of Rhongomyniad, but the relations with the other Campione are more or less based upon how the fights with them happened in addition to their conclusions. I can give you the short version, but it still might take a while explaining everything regarding the last god I defeated before you, Luo Hao, and John Pluto Smith."

Rider nodded, "that is fine. Just so long as we can get everything squared away."

Shirou spoke, "the authority I got from Mordred is called [Secret of Pedigree]. It prevents any and all forms of identifying any of my other authorities except in the moment of their use. It can also cause people to be unable to identify me. I become just like a face in a crowd to other people, even if they are staring right at me with no distractions. The moment I leave their line of sight, they are unable to recall anything about me. It is this authority that has allowed me to remain anonymous for so long with nobody having any idea of what I can do."

Rider understood the value for anonymity, agree with Shirou's decision to do so.

Shirou continued on, "the next authority I got from a heretic god of smithing, mainly Hephaestus and Vulcan but traces of minor gods present. It is simply called [Smithing God]. It offered a passive boost to my projections and allows me to create and alter magical artifacts as long as they are made partially or completely out of metal. I used it to help make that sword that was specifically designed with Nyx in mind as the target as well as improve the Noble Phantasms that I can make by removing curses and weaknesses or improve strengths. I've left Ea, the Divine Sword of Salvation and Rhongomyniad alone though."

"A wise decision," Rider responded, "tampering with the latter two would produce results that you'd have no way of predicting and only a complete imbecile would even think of messing with Ea. "

Shirou smiled in response, "glad you agree with my thoughts. After [Smithing God], the next authority I got is called [Origin of Hidden Wisdom]. I got it from an amalgamation of Medea and Hecate from Greek mythology, and Morrigan, both the Celtic goddess and the Arthurian witch. It grants an effect of being able to learn all forms of magic without restriction and a complete understanding of all forms of formalcraft. Using both this authority and [Smithing God], I've been able to create talismans with different effects, including boosting spirit sight accuracy and neutralizing the effects that would weaken the bodies of powerful hime-miko. Both effects of this authority are spread through [Fellowship of the King], albeit to a lesser degree than what I possess."

Rider grinned. She had noticed the effects and very much enjoyed looking forward to testing everything she could do with it in the future.

"The next event with heretic gods that we were a part of was the fiasco at Naples. You know who descended there. He granted me the authority of [Dragon-Slaying Hero]. It offers a boost to all physical abilities, the effect of which is doubled when fighting something draconic nature. It also weakens the effects of draconic based abilities," said Shirou.

The hybrid of heroic spirit and goddess nodded, remembering that day. A grimoire known as the Heraneion had been cut in two by Salvatore Doni, resulting in an explosion and the energy of the grimoire forming a dragon. Its formation called both Athena and the heretic god Perseus to the city. Athena had absorbed the dragon and managed to escape while Perseus fought and lost to Shirou quite rapidly.

"Moving on, the final authority I got before yours was from the original god of fire, in the form of the Greek titan Prometheus combined with Lucifer of the Bible. As I've already said, there isn't a short version of the story, so I'll tell you what happened later. The authority I received is [Origin Flame] which allows me to produce and control all forms of flame, whether natural, magical, or divine in origin. Due to the fact that it is the original authority of fire, I can also seize control of all authorities of fire in nature, when I'm in close proximity to its possessor. No form of fire can harm me either. I've mostly used it during forging because using it in battle would cause too much destruction and I haven't encountered and fire-type authorities that I would use after hijacking them," Shirou explained.

Rider gulped. She understood why Shirou was cautious of [Origin Flame] and approved of his caution. As a general rule, the oldest of each type of authority was the strongest of that type, another example being [Fellowship of the King]. Most of the gods who possessed them didn't go rogue due to the consequences of doing so. It had occurred twice before, with the heretic gods in question rampaging without significant resistance until being defeated by the King of the End. The fact that Shirou managed to defeat the original god of fire, not to mention the fact that the god had a Christian link, spoke more of Shirou's ability than his defeats of Hephaestus, Morrigan, and Perseus combined.

Rather, if you looked at everything Shirou is capable of, he could earn the title of the strongest Campione four times over, with both the Divine Sword of Salvation and [Origin Flame] earning the title on their own, much less the sum total of what he can do. It was unlikely that any Campione capable of matching him will ever exist with the only god possibly being capable of matching him being the King of the End, maybe.