"No way…" Tsubasa wiped her eyes as though to check if she was seeing correctly.
"Oh my word!" Momo had a hand on her mouth as she looked on with a shocked face.
"You have GOT to be kidding me?" Tsubaki muttered softly while her glasses slide off her nose.
"Holy SHIT!" Saji looked at the scene in front of him with an expression that could only be summed up with the words 'what the fuck just happened?!'
Sona would normally chastise her Pawn for using such language, but in this case she could only agree with a light nod and a dizzy head. This was not your typical sparring session at all.
The training grounds behind Rias's vacation home had been transformed greatly into something resembling a battlefield, with huge cracks in the earth, swords stabbed into the ground, trees broken up into pieces of wood and burn marks from the explosions that occurred.
But the biggest part of her shock came from the sight of the Gremory Peerage completely battered from the fight and strewn about the area like rag dolls, while Asia was going about trying to heal every one of them.
Issei was the least injured as he was knocked out within the first few seconds of the fight, while Koneko got some minor bruising on her body and her clothing got burnt from the earlier explosions. Kiba was by far the worst off of the lot, as one of his arms was nearly split in half down the middle and his legs were broken. A little further away, Rias and Akeno were lying flat on their back with a few bruises on them and completely depleted of energy.
The person responsible for this onslaught was casually sitting down on a rock in a distance, looking at the general surroundings with an analytical eye while absentmindedly cleaning his twin blades with a cloth, with dust on his clothes as the only indication of having taken part in the fight. Around him, five demonic blades that were taken from Kiba hovered closely, as though they were ready to do his bidding.
Sona looked at him in disbelief before turning back to Rias who had a similar expression of shock on her face. Granted, she knew that Shirou was strong, he had experience in fighting and he had a powerful magic on his side, but still?!
Two minutes. It took TWO MINUTES for Shirou to completely obliterate Rias and her Peerage.
How the heck did that happen?!
"Sitri-san." Sona gave a startled shiver before turning to Shirou who was looking at her with an almost resigned expression of boredom. "I think you can understand why this was the outcome, so I would like you to help me with explaining to Rias about it." She could only nod as the others went forward to help Asia with the treatments, with only one thought in her mind.
'Shirou Emiya, what in the name of the Maou are you?'
...
Well that was a little excessive, but it should get the point home.
I was now in the living room seated on one end of the table with the Sitri Peerage on my left and Gremory Peerage on my right. Judging from the somewhat nervous looks from Sitri's side and the half-glares from the Gremory's, it was safe to say I was being judged as scary and ruthless. Especially Kiba, who was looking at me with a fair amount of animosity, likely due to the amount of injuries I had given him and certainly not helped by the fact the swords I had grabbed from him earlier responded the same manner as their earlier counterparts and were now following me like faithful dogs. Even now, they were behind me, occasionally hovering closer before going back to their original positions.
Joy.
Oddly enough, Saji was looking at me with a bit of awe, while Akeno was looking at me with an expression that was making me feel like a slab of priced meat, not helped by the scent of leather being at its all-time high.
Not sure what the smell meant, but I think I could guess her personality based on the few times she fought.
"Shirou Emiya, please explain why did you attack us in such a manner?" Rias asked while clearly trying to restrain the frustration in her voice.
"Mostly to teach you something that you can't learn elsewhere." I replied back evenly as I looked straight in the eye. "So, what did you think of the fight, the both of you?" I asked to both Rias and Sona.
"… We were completely outmatched by you." Rias muttered softly in a reluctant tone while Sona nodded lightly to show her agreement.
"And I think you understand why, don't you?" I asked again with the same tone.
"Brutal tactics, a clear understanding of their fighting abilities, minimum waste in movements and…" Sona hesitated in adding the final part of her thoughts, only to be interjected by Koneko.
"A weapon." She looked at me with that blank face. "You become a weapon without emotions."
Well, that was putting it lightly.
"Here's the thing, you guys are technically a lot stronger and more durable than me. Even Ise here could beat me one on one if given the opportunity to do so." I motioned with my thumb. "So why do you think you guys lost?"
"Because you are more used to fighting?" Saji offered his opinion.
"What gives you that idea? I could easily be lucky."
"Yeah right! Lucky is what you call someone if they can throw in a few light punches without intending to. You are someone who basically wipe the floor with them and still have time for taking out the trash!" Saji pointed at the Gremory Peerage. "How else were you able to take them all out within two minutes?"
"A little excessive, but I agree with his description." Sona adjusted her glasses again as she looked at me. "I had suspected this for some time, but you tend to hold back a lot in your previous hunts. Even that time with the Fallen Angels, I got the feeling you were purposely restricting your strengths."
Well, give little miss president a gold star for attention.
"Fine. Saji is right on that point, I have been fighting a very long time, so I tend to limit myself a little to ensure that I don't use unnecessary force to fight others." I motioned to Rias. "Why don't you tell me where you went wrong? Sitri-san can put in her opinion as well."
Both sides looked at each other for a moment, then with a light nod, Rias started to explain from the start, how I took out Ise first with a quick hit to the head, then using a mixture of swordplay and martial arts to incapacitate Koneko, dealing with Kiba in the most brutal manner and finally taking both her and Akeno out with several arrows. Every now and then Sona and her Peerage threw in a comment about the fight and the others would nod in agreement. Rias later finished off with an idea of what to do in such a scenario. After she had told it all, I only reply with a nod.
"Congratulations, you now understand your own weaknesses and your own flaws. At the same time you have a better understanding of your teammates' strengths."
Their expressions were all I needed to see.
"As I have said, you guys are technically stronger than me, but I have fought your types long enough to get a general feel of your abilities, and as I have been by your sides for quite a while, I was able to study each of you and figure out your strengths and weaknesses, doubly so for Ise and Kiba since I am training them. With that in mind, Raiser's sister would probably get double the information and used that to destroy you, and that is not including Raiser himself. If you don't break your methods, you won't win."
"… That may be the case, but don't you think you may have gone too far with the sparring?"
"Would you have listened to me if I told you? Considering your reaction when I commented on your weaknesses in the Student Council Room, you would not take in a word I said. And no offence to you all, but in my experience, creatures who had lived a long time with power tend ignore other weaker creatures by default. They need a rude wake-up call to get them to listen. This was your wake-up call, which I might add, was me taking it easy on you."
"… In a way, that is true." Ise spoke for the first time in the whole conversation. "I have been undergoing his training and I can say that he was holding back on us a lot. That would be roughly 7 percent of his strength he is using."
"!"
Thank you for the assist, Ise.
"Right now, I am only using the bare minimum since I am a human, so what do you think will happen if Raiser decides to go all out on you guys?"
"What would you suggest?" Kiba asked after dropping the death glare and looked at me solemnly.
"At this point, I doubt my words would mean much, but you have to drop your previous plan of relying solely on the Longinus. I already took Ise out easily, so you need to readjust your plans accordingly." I got up and made my way out.
"Wait." My hand stopped short of turning the handle of the door. I turned my head to find Rias standing and with a very painful expression, one I recognized as one having to swallow their huge pride and going with their gut.
"Shirou." Rias hesitated for a moment before bowing her head down very low. "This may be too much to ask of you considering all that you have done so far, but I would like you to train us for the remainder of the training period? I really want use to get stronger to defeat Raiser."
"… Is that really all you want?" I asked her with an even tone. "Nothing beyond that?"
"I… I really want to take over the duties of the Gremory House, and I want to graduate without regrets. I want to become the champion of the Rating Games!" Rias let out those words with a bit of frustration. "I want to do a lot of things, but with Raiser as my opponent, those simple dreams would never come true. I need to win!"
"Please help us!" Ise also begged Shirou and bowed his head deeply. "We really need to beat the Yaktori Bastard in this Rating Game."
"You do realise that you only have roughly six more days to the match? Even if we start immediately, that is a lot of training to cover?"
"Yes we understand. But we still need an edge against Raiser, otherwise we will be toast!" Ise replied while bowing even lower.
"Emiya-kun?" I turned to find Reya standing a little close to me. "I think that they could really use your help. I understand if you still have reservations about us, but I can say for the Gremorys that they are a good group of Devils. It is Devils like Raiser that give us the type of reputation you have heard of. So at least, can you help them get rid of that image?"
...
Hey guys I really need you to throw some power Stones ;)
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