Elsois Ruins.Once: a jewel of an ancient civilization, a lunar sanctuary built to worship the Moon Goddess.Now: a blackened nest, wrapped in fog, crawling with the things that should not exist.
"ROAAAAAR—!"
A red magic beam tore upward from the ruins like an anti-air artillery round. The wyvern bucked violently and climbed, barely scraping past the beam's edge.
"Too close!" Asfi yanked the reins, sweat sliding down her temple as she shoved her glasses up with the back of her hand. "Lady Hermes, we can't get any nearer. Mana turbulence is spiking, and those 'anti-air intercept' monsters are everywhere!"
"Ahh, so they don't want us doing a clean 'airdrop,' huh?" Hermes leaned over the wyvern's side, whistling at the black haze below. "Tower-defense style. Fortified, layered, and absolutely obnoxious. That's Antares for you."
Shirou stood, wind snapping at his red hair. His gaze stayed calm—like he was staring at an overgrown backyard that simply needed pruning.
"Land here."
Asfi blinked. "Here?"
"If the front gate won't open…" Shirou's eyes narrowed.
"…then we break it."
The moment boots hit the ground, the "rescue squad" formed up—an absurdly luxury lineup for what was supposed to be a "subjugation" mission:
Vanguard: Ais Wallenstein (Lv.6, the Sword Princess—beautiful and lethal)
Midline: Emiya Shirou (Lv.3, walking arsenal), Artemis (goddess projection / mission core)
Rear: Hestia (morale unit / jealous hazard), Lili (logistics / sanity), Hermes & Asfi (technical support / suspicious laughter)
"Contact!" Lili raised her crossbow, voice sharp. "So many—my 'danger sense' is going to explode!"
From the shadows poured a tide of scorpion-like monsters—Familiars. Hardened carapace, tails tipped with red mana, packed so tightly they looked like a living carpet spilling over the stone.
"A swarm…" Ais tightened her grip. Wind wrapped her blade, restless and eager. "They're trying to drown us in numbers."
Shirou stepped beside her, hands lifting as if he were holding an invisible weapon.
"Numbers don't matter," he said quietly.
"For trash mobs…"
"Quantity is meaningless."
"Trace."
His circuits lit, and the solution snapped into place—not single-target burst, not dueling blades, but area denial.
Unlimited Blade Works—Scatter Mode.
"Projection: Many Swords."
Dozens of crude, throw-oriented projected weapons appeared overhead—cheap by heroic standards, but lethal in bulk. They fell like rain.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!
Each impact sparked a compact mana detonation. The front ranks of Familiars disintegrated, chitin and ichor scattering like shattered pottery.
"Ais! Left flank!"
"Understood."
She became a golden streak, slipping through the opening he'd carved.Lil Rafaga—!A tight, controlled burst of wind and sword-light swept the flank clean. Familiars fell in sheets—like wheat under a scythe.
Hestia stared from the back line, mouth open.
"T-This is… mowing the lawn…?"
Asfi's eyes tightened behind her lenses.
"It's not just teamwork," she murmured. "He's… commanding the battlefield."
She was right.
Shirou wasn't firing blindly. Mind's Eye (True) drank in the terrain, enemy vectors, and ally positioning as if the whole ruin were a tactical map.
"Lili—three o'clock. Fire bottle. Cut that approach.""Asfi—shield Hestia. Now.""Artemis—do not move. Stay within five meters behind me."
He spoke like an RTS player with a god's-eye view, and chaos obeyed him. The fight stopped being a brawl and became an execution.
Artemis clutched her bow—symbolic, for now—and watched Shirou's back with trembling devotion.
"You're reliable… Orion."
"Stop flirting and move!" Hestia snapped, yanking Artemis forward like she was dragging contraband. "Can't you see Shirou-kun is literally doing everything?!"
They advanced—hard and fast—like a blade driven into the ruin's heart.
The Familiars were endless, but against "infinite throwing" and "infinite basic attacks," their only meaningful function was to drop magic stones.
Shirou wiped sweat from his brow. Sustained output was taxing even for him.
"Let's pause," Ais said, returning to his side like a guardian blade. "The next wave… is stronger."
She wasn't wrong. The swarms thickened into heavier shapes:
Obsidian Giant Scorpions with siege-grade armor
Flying variants spitting venom in arcs
Suicide bugs that pulsed red and detonated on contact
Hermes pointed ahead at a tower-like structure leaking red light through broken stone.
"Antares is getting impatient. It's trying to stop us before we reach the core."
"Then we don't give it time," Shirou said, uncorking a blue mana potion and downing it in one pull.
"Trace: On."
This time, he didn't summon a dozen cheap tools.
He summoned a single, heavy answer—an enormous crimson greatsword, heat shivering in the air around it.
Aestus Estus—Replica.Not the "true theater," not the full myth—just the concept of burning made into steel.
"Burn."
A red wave rolled out. Venom bugs ignited mid-leap. Flying types dropped like ash. The air stank of scorched chitin.
Lili, refusing to be dead weight, produced a "special" crossbow Shirou had modified.
A Gatling-style hand crossbow—more pressure than power.
"D-d-d-d-d-d—!"
It pinned the smaller bugs and bought time.
Then the ruin itself screamed.
"ROOOOOAAAR—!!!"
A roar deeper than stone, heavier than fear.
The ground buckled.
A pressure—divine in texture—hit everyone's chest like a wave.
Hestia and Artemis both clutched at their hearts, faces turning pale.
"That feeling…" Hestia hissed. "That's—"
"Divinity," Artemis whispered, shaking. "Antares is… absorbing my power."
Stone exploded ahead.
A mountain of black armor rose from beneath the ruins: a titanic scorpion, tail crowned with a red crystal pulsing like a heartbeat.
And on its back—
embedded into the carapace like an offering—
was half of a colossal statue-like form, unmistakably goddess in shape.
Antares.The beast that devours gods.
Shirou stared up at it, breath slow, eyes sharp.
This wasn't "Lv.6."This wasn't "deep floors."This was a myth made hostile.
Artemis's voice wavered.
"Orion… that's my end. Please… kill me."
Shirou's jaw tightened.
"Don't say that."
He stepped forward, grip hard on the crimson blade.
"I told you I'm bringing you back."
"Not killing you—"
He pointed the sword at the monster's vast shadow.
"—Dragging you out of its stomach."
He raised his voice, snapping into command mode.
"All units, spread!""Ais—frontline tether! Keep it facing you!""Lili, Asfi—protect the goddesses!""Hermes—find a rock and practice being very, very alive!"
"Hey! Respect your gods!" Hermes complained weakly, already retreating.
Shirou launched.
Structure Reinforcement: Full.His body moved like a red meteor.
The scorpion tail came down—fast enough to tear the air.
Mind's Eye screamed a single verdict:
UNAVOIDABLE.
Shirou didn't flinch.
"Then I take it."
"Reinforcement—Hardness Max."
CLANG—!!!
Impact.
He was swatted like a ball, smashed through three ruined walls before stopping in a cloud of dust.
Ais's voice cracked.
"Shirou!"
He coughed, blood on his lips, and pushed himself up.
The crimson sword had shattered into fragments. His left arm hung wrong.
"Yeah… that's about right," he muttered, voice rough. "God-killer class."
And then—
he smiled.
Not a happy smile.
The kind you see on a man who's decided that fear will not be allowed to exist in him today.
"…This is fun."
He lifted his right hand.
"Trace."
This time, the air changed.
The mana didn't form into a tool.
It formed into a law.
A blade appeared—shining with a star-like radiance—its surface layered in thirteen restraints, as if the world itself had to approve before it could be used.
A sword that did not belong to "humans."A sword that did not belong to "now."
The Sword of Stars.
Even as a projection, even for an instant—its presence warped the battlefield into silence.
Shirou's circuits screamed warnings he ignored.
"Just a little," he breathed.
"…I'll get serious."
He raised the star-sword—briefly, like holding up a piece of night sky made metal.
And somewhere deep inside the ruin, as if answering the blade's existence—
a pressure like a Round Table's gaze settled on the world.
Shirou exhaled, eyes locked on Antares.
"The real fight starts now."
....
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