Shirou Emiya truthfully hadn't had much contact with Rin Tohsaka aside from the eventual coincidental run-ins during the day at Homurahara Academy, other than that he only knew of her because of her popularity.
Upright, studious, well-mannered and so, the model student the teachers would tell the average student to strive to be like.
That said however, "What the hell are you doing here?!" This was NOT what Shirou expected her to talk like. It was even more surprising when she stomped up to him and pointed a hand at his face, demanding answers.
"I.. How's your day?" He asked awkwardly, thinking that this ordeal was a little too out of place when there was a literal blue lightning storm raging on to their side, ripping open the soil and roads, leaving behind only charred black Earth.
"Fine thanks for as- Wait, no! Answer the question!" For her part, Rin was only so adamant about this because she didn't want the one person her younger sister, Sakura, was infatuated with, "You need to go!"
"I can't just leave." If he did, Saber would fight FOR him, to bring him victory in this accursed conflict.
"Wh-..?!"
Bazett cut the two off with a vein popping out on her forehead, "I do believe you do not have the luxury of a lover's quarrel amidst a battlefield." She'd had an isolated upbringing and completely misread the situation."
"L-Lov-..That's not it!" Rin stomped her foot, cheeks flushing from sudden embarrassment. She was only worried because of Sakura!
"Oh, it seems I misunderstood then." Bazett didn't even bother with glancing her way as she replied, "My apologies." Her observant gaze was fully fixed on the battle even if she couldn't make out anything other than blurs and lightning.
Artoria stood a small distance away from them, her hands resting on the hilt of her sword as she solemnly performed what was required of a King and watched over her knight as the man fought to bring them both victory.
Aston did his part, continually swerving his body to avoid contact with the massive cleaver Heracles ruthlessly swung at him, dead set on tearing him a new hole to breathe or eat out of, "I do realise we're enemies but is this truly necessary? If I didn't know better, I would think this was racially motivated." Mostly because just like the British hated everyone, everyone hated them back.
"GRAAHHH!"
"'GRAAHHH!' Indeed my honourable foe!" The Lancer shouted back, seemingly happy with his current situation. He appeared a blurry mess with a shining visor to the rampaging Demigod who continually dodged his counterattacks from sheer instinct, understanding that the vibrating blows and searing thunder could be fatal.
Aston ducked under a swing and delivered one of his own, tearing open Heracles' arm by shoving his own right into the elbow. The damage was done solely because Aston's speed could be said to be a by-product of his still unidentified noble phantasm, "Neat." The Lancer whispered under his breath before appearing behind him and smashing his foot into his kneecap, completely shattering it.
It was at this moment that Archer decided to pitch in, firing off multitudes of arrows from a distant spot he'd taken up in the city. The glowing red projectiles lodged themselves into the roaring servant's back except this only served to enrage him further, thereby boosting his physical capabilities to a level where he predicted the Lancer's trajectory and aimed to cut his knees.
"You know, just you predicting where I'm going doesn't exactly stop me from changing it." Aston felt people really underestimated the power someone capable of moving incredibly fast had.
And of course, unlike those that couldn't change trajectory because of the collateral damage, Aston was more than happy to blow another crater into the forest floor and stomp down on the cleaver to launch himself into the air before crashing down at the enemy like a veritable meteor enveloped with arching lightning.
Concurrently, "I am the bone of my sword." Archer chanted with closed eyes, drawing a cork-like pointed sword with his bow that overflowed with magical energy alongside each word that left the grey haired man's mouth.
And then, he released it.
The sword flew through the dark night sky, lighting it up momentarily as it left a trail behind it before eventually crashing right into Berserker's back just as Aston crashed into his face.
What followed was an explosion of terrific proportions that shook the already ruined landscape. Trees burnt away, the ground underneath was vapourised and what remained was torn away by the torrents of wind it generated, uprooted by shockwaves.
"How astounding." Bazett commented with a gloved hand over her mouth, eyes wide in astute shock. Was this what magi believed they could lord over only because they managed to summon them?
Three individuals had destroyed an entire section of the dense forest near Fuyuki to smithereens and were STILL standing.
Aston observed the Berserker in silence, standing a small distance away from the monster of a man with some sections of his armour destroyed, this was the first time in a long time that he'd employed his speed in a purely destructive manner and this was the result.
There was a reason he could slaughter an army of over a hundred thousand with nothing but a spear in his hand and armour on his body.
Admittedly, he'd never been able to go THIS fast in his lifetime but he attributed that to his contract with the world. The same contract that let him be without the world pruning him so long as he didn't go as fast as possible and crash into the planet or interfere with other timelines by tampering with the space time continuum. It was born of a threat he made when it came after him, even if it was a threat he would never follow through with even if he could.
"Sir Aston! It pleases me to see you the victor." Artoria joined her knight, a small smile on her exceptionally beautiful face that made the knight stumble, suddenly alarmed.
Aston put a hand over his beating heart, "M-My King, that is dangerous."
"What is the matter?" Artoria tilted her head in genuine confusion, wondering if he'd been injured during the battle. Of course when in reponse Aston told her she was too pretty to throw around such expressions casually, the King's face heated up and she looked down at the ground embarassed, "Y-You can not simply say such things so shamelessly!" She admonished his actions with half a heart.
"My words are the plain truth, I refuse to change my way of speaking. Hail the King's eternal beauty." With his smirk masked by his helmet, Aston made his declaration in an exaggerated manner prompting Artoria to hide behind him in shame when everyone started looking at them.
Archer grumbled, appearing next to Rin with his arms crossed, "Get a room or something." He was happy for the Saber and finally understood why he'd failed, why there had been a meagre to nonexistent chance of changing the heart of the self-hating but stubborn British King of Legend.
"Amazing, to think you could damage Berserker so much."
The atmosphere was ruined by a small girl that looked to be no older than 12, with long pale colourless hair several shades brighter than Aston's and scarlet eyes that seemed to softly glow in the dark night. She wore a collared, purple long-sleeved shirt with a match small scarf, a white skirt and purple boots.
Illyasviel von Einzbern, the Einzbern Grail War representative and the Master of Berserker, Heracles. She recognized Shirou Emiya instantly, along with the Tohsaka Master but failed to ascertain the identity of Bazett and wrote her off as some no name magus from the Association.
A tinge of hatred crossed her mind looking at the auburn haired teen, he was her adopted sibling was he not? The one her father abandoned her for, leaving her to be modified and experimented upon before being left to the wolves.
"Berserker! We're leaving. Come on." This small battle was proof enough of her servant's extraordinary prowess, it took two if not three servants to barely hold him off. This war would be easy with him under her, she would leave the other Masters to despair about their inevitable defeat.
"Young miss, I do believe he's de-" Aston stopped when the stationary but standing Heracles roared again, waves of magical energy rolling off his figure as his flesh sewed itself back together, "Oh how amazing, he has multiple lives. Or perhaps he's a cockroach." Aston put a hand to his chin, thinking.
"Be careful, the Greeks are weird about children." He warned her, waving her goodbye as his armour disappeared, "My Master, I do believe we had an objective in mind. Let the two lovebirds catch up as we depart for the other children."
He barely seemed to pay any mind to the Berserker following after the departing Einzbern, instead staring at the Church some distance away from them.
"What children?" Bazett asked, confused with his statement. He'd said it a number of times before but she never could understand what he meant when he said it.
"I thought I made it quite clear." Few things could disgust Aston as much as the priest, "The priest has malnourished husks of former children in his basement." If not for him prioritizing his Master, he'd have blasted the whole place to kingdom come.
"""What?"""
"HAH! Knew it! Never trusted that priest!" Rin seemed to have a very different reaction as compared to her peers but then became serious, "We'll help, that's too far, even for magi." She couldn't just stand by as such a thing transpired in her domain.
* * *
On a somewhat unrelated note, does anyone know what Aston being capable of going fast enough to see only darkness translates to scientifically? More specifically, a collision at such an impossible speed?
This is theoretically thought impossible because if a body ever reached light speed, it's mass would become infinite. The energy needed for it's movement will then also be infinite.
I hope that expands on why Aston is under contract to NOT utilise his top speed and just why he's allowed to remain by both Alaya and Gaia aside from his compassionate nature.
If it doesn't, don't worry. This'll be explained in the story somewhere down the line.
Any feedback for a newb?
Can anyone name a figure from some obscure legend that isn't well known enough to be cliché like Hercules or Achilles? Preferably someone with kids.
* * *
You can find +7 chapters ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap and support me as well. I really shouldn't be updating considering I'm 2 chapters behind on this so this time, I really am not going to update until I've filled up the tier.
It was certainly an odd sight, to see two teens and a grown woman walking up a paved road-like path in the dead night a small distance away from a flaming forest. It was even MORE odder that they were being followed after by two individuals in strangely gaudy sets of armour that looked to be a mixture of both old and modern walking side by side as if that simple gesture was of immense significance.
The crickets had long gone silent, either burnt to death, crushed under the massive feet of a raging Berserker. The lucky few that survived were those that had retreated when the chaos wrought by the humans had begun.
Aston had forgone wearing his helmet, intent on enjoying the gentle breeze against his skin and walked with a barely noticeable excitement in his steps, masked by the clanging of his metal sabatons. The Knight of Atrocity accompanied his King with a gentle smile on his face, "Quite the wondrous night is it not, My Ki-"
"A..Artoria." His King cut him off at the end, looking down at the road with a small embarrassed blush on her face, "Artoria.. will do. You no longer wish to be below me, is that not so?" It was a small gesture but it was a start, a step she'd worked up the courage to take.
"Then.." Aston inhaled deeply, "Artoria, I would still answer to you as a knight." That was a pact of honour, to be obeyed as a knight, though he supposed it wouldn't.. couldn't stay that way for too long.
Ignoring Artoria's small embarrassed smile, he looked up in thought for a moment before searching for something in his armour. Finding said something, the Lancer took it out, revealing it to be a small prettily adorned bag that immediately made Artoria raise her head and sniff the air, as if alarmed.
No sooner than he'd opened his mouth was the bag already gone, "I tried making something this age calls coo-" When he noticed what had occurred, Aston only smiled, "Oh."
Artoria carefully reached inside, pulling out a small biscuit that she eyed for a few seconds as the odd strand of hair sticking out her head swayed as if excited. When she bit into it, her green eyes shone for a second before the King of Legend chose to ignore everything in her immediate vicinity.
"I must say, this is a sight to die for." Aston nodded with crossed arms, proud of himself for honing his craft throughout his life but then closed his eyes and put a hand to his chin, "My treasured temporary ally, I do believe that you couldn't possible be so terrible with those female that you have to resort to spying on us. If that is the case, I do truly pity you."
Archer appeared by his side, a small annoyed smirk on his face, "Bazett is right, you do have a thing for being politely aggressive and no, I'm not, spying, on you." He was simply gauging what was so different about him and the grey haired knight that accomplished what he could not.
Aston narrowed his eyes and gestured to their surroundings, "The circumstances beg to differ." His tone was as gentle and polite as ever.
"No, no they do not. I was simply keeping an eye out." Archer defended himself disinterestedly, his gaze more fixed on the auburn haired boy being chewed out by his Master who also seemed to be briefing him on the situation, intent on not discussing the appearance of Berserker and his master with the, to be truthful, strangers.
"An eye out for how to not be an awkward and nervous wreck?" Aston questioned, choosing to relish the situation that had presented itself.
Archer stared at him estranged, "I reaffirm, I am not awkward OR nervous. Do I even remotely look as such?" He gestured to himself with both hands, going so far as to tilt his head to convey his confusion about the situation. What part of him gave that feeling?
"I don't quite have any sort of confirmation, do you wish to bet?" Aston looked right back at him, exuding confidence that Archer felt shouldn't have been there.
Archer just shook his head in denial, not even slightly interested in the, bet, as the Lancer put it.
That was until,
"I didn't realise you were so in touch with your feminine side, my apologies."
In plain words, he got called a pussy.
"Alright." Archer sighed, how bad could it be? "You know what? I'm in, what's the bet?"
"My temporary ally, we are in the middle of a war. Do you truly believe we have the time for bets?" Aston smiled gently, peering off to the side and whistling.
"But you were the one wh-"
"What? My K- Artoria, did you hear anything?"
"..Hm?"
"....." Left speechless, Archer dissipated back to his spiritual form, no longer even slightly interested in entertaining the Lancer and his way with words.
"That aside.." Aston closed his eyes in thought, thinking back to his younger days, "Have we perchance, met before?"
Archer, being an Archer, noticed the sudden shift in Aston's tone of speech. That and the knight seemed to be clenching his fist, "I don't think so, no."
"Truly? I could've sworn.." He shrugged, letting the matter go before picking it right back up, "Are you certain you don't remember trying to murder a red haired man in his early twenties?" The way of fighting, the manner of speech, and the calculative gaze, Aston felt it quite familiar.
Archer was grateful to himself for changing to a spiritual form; otherwise, the grey haired Lancer would have surely noted his eyes widening ever so slightly, "....No."
How could he have not noticed?
No, the lightning had been of a different colour, the hair was red and the height was far smaller, "Damn my luck." It just had to be a man he'd previously tried to murder, tasked by the collective subconscious of humanity to purge an unnecessary deviation from the original course of history.
"Sir Aston, I notice your speed is far greater than during your lifetime." Artoria spoke up, glancing his way with a biscuit held close to her lips. It was significant speed, perhaps surpassing sound itself BUT not as much as what he'd shown now. Wasn't the seeing darkness supposed to be a sort of metaphor for great agility?
"Ahaha..." Aston laughed awkwardly before pursing his lips, "It must be born of my legend."
He cut a deal and gave it up.
So long as his timeline wasn't pruned, he wouldn't start going all over the place and putting things where they weren't supposed to be, ruining history completely in the process.
Essentially, it was threatening to kill a LOT more to stop less death. THAT and giving up most of his speed as affirmation of the contract.
Aston didn't regret his choice one bit, if he didn't take the deal, his entire world would be destroyed only to get rid of him.
Archer thought about the matter in complete silence, following behind the two servants with a slight stutter in his movement.
THIS was the Lancer's actual speed and as a servant from the throne of heroes isolated from space time, there were virtually infinite versions of him all across the infinite timelines MEANING threatening him meant threatening someone who could possibly surpass the speed of light and crash into the planet.
Being of a more modern origin, he knew full well that for a body to move at light speed would make it's mass infinite thereby making the energy it needs to move infinite as well. If it WAS moving at that speed then scientifically, it DID have infinite energy.
News alert, that was MORE than enough to break through the laws that bound their world and scorch the planet.
In that one moment, the honourable knight that had given his life for the people appeared more like a threat to their continued existence to the Archer servant.
Meanwhile, Aston wondered what had made the Archer go completely silent all of a sudden. He narrowed his eyes in thought, he did feel familiar even if the man denied it but, as the situation would have it he didn't get the time to ponder as Bazett kicked the metal gates to the Church compound, blowing them into the air, all mangled and twisted.
They flew under the night sky before crashing into the walls of the majestically built Church, bringing them down in an explosion of dust and concrete.
"A..All that money came from the Tohsaka treasury." Rin stuttered, slack jawed at the perhaps the millions the foreign magus had thrown to the wind in a fraction of a second. Of course she, being a genius and all, noted that Bazett might outclass her as a magus, "It's all on Kirei." It was the priest's fault.
Shirou Emiya only watched with curious eyes, slightly awed by the prowess a well-established magus could possess, "..Couldn't you be a little less... destructive?" He was cut off when Artoria appeared in front of him and swung the invisible Excalibur, slicing in half the short sword aimed right at the teen's face.
"So, I researched." Aston spoke as he walked, his helmet appearing over his face, "It appears the populace shares a general belief that priests do have children in their basements."
"It appears even heroes of legend aren't exempt from petty emotions like spite."
"I do swear I came for the children." Aston's smile faded away, such a horrible and cruel thing couldn't be allowed to continue, not if he knew about it.
Archer retreated to the rooftop, keeping an eye on their surroundings, if they attacked Kirei, a certain King in Gold would surely take interest in the situation.
* * *
How would YOU go about romancing Caenis?
* * *
You can find +7 chapters ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap and support me as well.
All filled now. (<- What was hindering my updates till now)
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