I was referring to Shirou. Didn't he play a certain curtain shooter game on easy mode?
I was referring to Shirou. Didn't he play a certain curtain shooter game on easy mode?
Spoiler:
What Fate/Stay Night character are you?
Kotomine Kirei
You are Kirei. You've always been a little different from the rest. You probably have low social skills. Whatever, it's not like what they think matters anyway. Ever searching for something missing within you, you probably don't experience the same happiness as everyone else. Good and evil are just labels, you are who you are.
Hah. You subscribe to the view of the rabbits, don't you?
(Myrddin has a long road ahead of him with poor Shirou)
Since one of those rabbits is a practical jokes extraordinaire, why wouldn't I?
Maybe Shirou can start going against Tenshi's final spell card and work from there?
Last edited by EnigmaticFellow; May 10th, 2011 at 11:53 PM.
Spoiler:
What Fate/Stay Night character are you?
Kotomine Kirei
You are Kirei. You've always been a little different from the rest. You probably have low social skills. Whatever, it's not like what they think matters anyway. Ever searching for something missing within you, you probably don't experience the same happiness as everyone else. Good and evil are just labels, you are who you are.
Good thing he has infinite lives.LenIlya will be sure to comfort him.
...graze, Shirou! Graze!
So, wait, did Zouken's worms just tear themselves out of Sakura and start running away?
I'm a bit confused.
It was flee or live the rest of your existence as a girl. Zouken chosepoorlywisely.
What was his plan before, then?
He would've triggered the Shadow once he locked onto Sakura. But he got his senses bombarded by the link to Saver-Medusa. That's why Archer went and did that. The Master/Servant bond would've consumed the Soul Worm if Tarnhelm hadn't rewritten him into Sakura soul-stuff.
Oh! So the difference is that he wasn't going to be separately in control?
Yeah. He lost a chance to get Sakura's body to be a host for Angra Mainyu long ago. He would have been able to trigger the Shadow as a last act of pettiness, but he got interrupted by Medusa's rebirth.
Yes! Cats Here now!!! Glad to see you here, Cat.
It's me, Rc1212 from Spacebattles.
Welcome to Beast's Lair. How you liking it so far? Hope we're not too weird for you.XD
Originally Posted by Space_Mook From SpaceBattles
Nah. You guys are awesome. Been a while since I've seen you in my other threads on SB though, Rc1212! How are you doing?
Eh? What do you mean "rewritten into Sakura soul-stuff"?
You sure you don't want some pizza? It's NPlicious.
*Eats a slice from the pizza box RM*
Archer's plan was to trap Zouken on every side. Medusa going Saver would burn him alive through the Master/Servant connection if he tried to switch on the Shadow or reach out to her. Tarnhelm itself would basically consume Zouken alive and use him as fuel to restore Sakura to what she used to be before she got her magic circuits/soul tampered with.
Heh. Thanks. *takes one*
[QUOTE=VelspertheCat;89183]Archer's plan was to trap Zouken on every side. Medusa going Saver would burn him alive through the Master/Servant connection if he tried to switch on the Shadow or reach out to her. Tarnhelm itself would basically consume Zouken alive and use him as fuel to restore Sakura to what she used to be before she got her magic circuits/soul tampered with.
Ah, I see.
But didn't the whole "return Sakura to normal" thing work anyway? Albeit with a bit of an, erm, "side effect"....
It mostly worked as things stand. The original plan would've worked completely, and also removed Zouken. As things stand right now he's free in a city filled with things he can remotely control.
Ah, OK. So, it worked in curing Sakura, but failed at killing Zouken, then?
*****
Rin awoke with a startled gasp. Her head began to pound as she shook her head and began to stagger to her feet. In the back of her mind she could feel two distinct paths ebb and flow into her soul.
'Urobuchi-kun...' She had to go after her Servant first. Then...well...
It was time to do her duty as Manager of Fuyuki and put those warped souls to rest. She rushed up to shake both Medusa and Sakura awake.
*****
Shirou snarled as he dove past a weave of shadow magic. His pitch black fedora flew into the air as a few of his white locks of hair were snipped by a multi-legged insect horror summoned by the fleeing worm.
Something had definitely gone wrong here. Zouken actually had a small bit of access to that horror.
Two gleaming silver daggers swept out from beneath his jacket's long sleeves as he pushed himself off the ground. His reinforced muscles catapulted him high over the snapping jaws of the bug beneath him.
He glanced down as the monster easily crunched through a mouthful of stone with negligent ease before he began to descend blade first. The reinforced knives slid into the exoskeleton of the monster as smoothly as silk. He twisted the weapons so their curved, serrated edges could do the most damage possible.
Shirou went with the flow as the beast howled angrily and flung him off in the direction he had been running towards anyway. In mid-flight he tugged his hands, causing a thin line of prana connecting him to his blades to shake in a specific way.
The Ansuz rune, a modified rune of communication and one of the original eighteen runes of Odin, triggered as the knifes visibly glowed beneath the exoskeleton of the beast and then expanded into massive fireballs within the body of the monster.
'God, I love that Irish bastard.' Only Cú Chulainn or his mentor could have modified the original eighteen runes of Odin so each took on combat applications. He once again thanked the blue haired hero for noting all of his work down so the future could have even more ways of blowing shit up.
Shirou continued racing after the foul stench that signified a very frightening mix of Zouken and Angra Mainyu. The catacombs his sneakers were rapidly beating upon quickly gave way to a more natural tunnel system as he left the dark tunnels' faintly lit structure behind.
No enchanted gemstone were buried in these stone walls to light the path. Only darkness stretched ahead of him.
A familiar itch rose in the back of his head. Shirou trusted his body to know how to react as he dove forwards through a weave of razor sharp lances of darkness. The defenses weaved into his dark suit and jacket were nothing to the combination of the Makiri's Absorption Magicks and the Imaginary Numbers that Zouken had seemingly inherited from Sakura.
Several wet splashes of blood stained the ground from several deep lacerations along his body. Yet he continued pushing onwards as his body jerked and twitched down the path he knew had the possibility of victory behind it.
He leapt, his entire body flipping upside down as he vaulted over a set of lances that had been aiming to reduce everything below his knees to bloody ribbons. Shirou lashed out with a set of four knives out to embed themselves in the ceiling. Using them as a focus, he triggered the Kenaz, rune of transformation, in the knives to harden the earth they were stabbed into enough so they could support his weight in mid-air.
Shirou grunted. His arms tensed up as he began to leverage himself upwards on four prana strings connected to his knives. He felt the shadow lances tremble below as they began to slowly grow upwards.
Most likely to try and finish the job of piercing him through. Bitches.
Shirou began to slowly swing back and forth once the Servant decided he had climbed high enough. To help his momentum he kicked outwards. His dark pants fluttered and his steel toed oxfords shined in the gloom of the cave.
'Urobuchi-kun, are you alright!?' Rin's voice came out loud and clear. Ah, but if only he could hear such concern when he wasn't dangling over a pit of sentient shadows. 'I'm feeling you actually take prana from me now.'
Shirou let go of the two strings in his left hand. He immediately dropped a foot downwards. The extra bit of motion was added to his swing, though. The shadows pulsed down below as he felt his prana begin to dip low. The strings holding him up began to fray as well as their essence began to be drawn towards the pit below..
The white haired man scooped up a handful of blood from where it was bleeding out of his black jacket. Shirou curled his entire body into the last swing once his left hand was filled to the brim with blood.
'Just fine. Your selfish Servant is going to be borrowing some more, Master.' Shirou playfully responded. Best not to get her worried.
'Wait, what are you planning?' He ignored Rin's voice. Afterall, she could always peek through his eyes and violate his privacy if it was that important.
Shirou's hand flashed outwards once the ceiling came into range. He quickly slapped his palm against it, causing an wet slap to echo in the area. The blood began to quickly crawl across the ceiling towards the four knives. Yet the strings in his right hand completely faded and dropped him at the same time.
He began to twist his body so his legs were aimed below him as the final rune carved into the knives, Algiz – the rune of warding, activated with the blood offer. The steel shone supernaturally bright as they began to banish the unnatural shadows in this section of the cave system.
'Master, Medusa's opposite number is definitely hiding in the cave system with us.' Shirou winced as he landed on the ground with an unsteady wobble. Boy, that had taken a hefty donation.
'Why are you acting so blasé?! Those things nearly killed you a dozen times over!' So, apparently she had violated his privacy. Dirty pool, Rin. Dirty pool. 'I sensed that too!'
'Like a card shark.' Shirou decided to complete his damnation. It at least gave him a moment to rest.
'Hmph.' The white haired man grinned. He called his black felt fedora back to his side with a focus of will. Best not let it get chewed up by any of the centipede's relatives. It appeared in his right hand and he smoothly slipped it up on top of his head.
'Tell Medusa to keep her senses peeled. Sakura's grandfather is down here.' Shirou took a deep sniff. His stomach curled in on itself at his action, but he was able to get a bead on Zouken again. 'He's heading towards Fuyuki Central Park with enough power to burn a good part of the town into ash.'
'I saw while I was unconscious...' Rin hesistantly replied. 'Urobuchi-kun...what are you doing here? In that form?'
Shirou was silent. He lightly bit on the inside of his cheek. 'Is Sakura...alright?'
'She's confused.' Rin slowly admitted.
A loud shriek rang up ahead.
'We'll have to cut this short, Master.' Shirou called out the last two daggers he had. Up ahead were a trembling pair of nearly rotten corpses. Large portions of their bodies wiggled like jello as what appeared to be transparent sacks of gray worms wiggled about open sores.
He could feel the disgust of his Master flowing through their shared connection as the pair of undead walked towards him in jerky and halting steps.
Shirou simply clashed the edges of his knives together. A spark was lit in response as he triggered the Ansuz and Kenaz runes together. A tiny bit of happiness was ignited within him even as large flames were expelled from his knives.
Not quite Kanshou and Bakuya...but it'd do.
Shirou's sneakers kicked up small dust clouds as he rushed towards the two of them. One of the undead raised an arm at the end of a particularly deformed arm. The large sack that had seemingly replaced his shoulder blade wobbled once before a torrent of fluid squirted out of his palm and streamed towards him.
The Servant decided to spare his Master the universal feeling of 'grody' that all girls felt at seeing stuff like this. His knives swung in a blur as he rushed ahead with all the frightening speed he had both in life and, especially, in death. Worms screamed their useless cries as rapidly weakening flame or just the steel itself cleaved through them.
A large amount of them were smacked aside by his rapidly fraying sleeves as he brought up his arms to bat the fat familiars away from his person. Yet he found that fortune didn't favor this charge. The second undead began leani-Hello.
Shirou smacked his left foot down hard in front of him as the second monster began warping his neck as its head moved straight at him. His right foot came down on the cave floor and he threw his whole body to the left as razor sharp teeth snapped at where his right eye had just been a few moments ago.
'Don't cut me out like that!' Rin came back on the line as he soared to the left as the draining goop from from the first undead splashed harmlessly on the seco...nd?
“This...might be a problem.” Shirou admitted as the second undead began to swell up in size as the worms covering his body began to glow with a dark inner light. The amount of solid flesh remaining on the undead began to turn into more transparent gel as the worms within began to grow and multiply. The second of his attackers swelled to a little over ten feet in height as it glared at him with angry red eyes.
The first undead collapsed to the ground. It looked completely dessicated and was utterly motionless now. The second beast let out a bellow and lashed out with two gelatinous arms towards the Servant. Another dizzying wave of weakness brought Shirou to his knees as his ability to recover prana from the rich amount of mana in the atmosphere was swiftly overcome by the beast's ability to suck it away from him.
“Elemkia Lance!” Rin and Sakura's voices roared as a spear of light swept the shroud of fog over his senses away as it pierced straight into and then through both of the monster's arms from the side. Pieces of goo splashed about as the smell of burning trash filled the room. The lance harmlessly rushed onwards to splash off the side of the cave.
The beast let out a confused howl as it staggered backwards as both Rin and Sakura stood in between him and the monster. Both girls were holding their hands together as the Tohsaka crest on Rin's left arm blazed in defiance to the giant.
“You can take a break for now, Hero. We have you covered.” Medusa swept up next to Shirou with a warm smile as she knelt down next to him to offer him a hand upwards. He briefly glanced from her expression towards the two sisters as another spear of light began to gather in between the two.
“...I suppose you do.” Shirou smiled as he reached up and grasped Medusa's offered hand.
*****
Sakura silently paused as an awkward silence had descended upon the group. The four of them had begun moving quickly through the dark tunnels after her grandfather. Both Rin and herself were leading the group ahead with their Servants accessing their senses as the four of them navigated with the two sister's eyesight.
Ever since she had awoken, the darkness had parted before her gaze like it was nothing. Sakura felt like her senses weren't being muffled under a heavy blanket for the first time in years. Relaxing heat flowed through her veins whereas others would start feeling claustrophobic chills as the damp walls of the caves closed in on them.
Sakura wasn't sure what to make of it all, but she quite frankly didn't want to fret about it anymore. She just had to make sure to keep Rin in line. From the smug grin on her older sister's face, she'd have to use the dredges of the absorption abilities she had as a Matou sooner rather than later to keep the earth from collapsing on them.
Those new spells that her older sister were displaying were downright frightening when empowered by the massive swell of mana that was rushing down the same path they were walking. Apparently the awakening of Medusa's divine nature had overloaded Tarnhelm. This in turn had caused the leylines beneath Fuyuki to go wild.
Sakura knew more than enough about her grandfather's character. She knew he could do terrible things if they allowed him to get to where the excess mana were flowing down towards. Especially when he was desperate now that he had been driven out of her body.
If the person claiming to be Archer was correct, then Grandfather Zouken had basically lost his final chance to gain immortality. She faintly shuddered at the memories of what she had gone through to get her body converted.
Sakura decided to try and forget that for now by focusing on Archer.
The man looked radically different. His height was still the same as it had been before, but he had shed the majority of his muscle mass. Where before, his body rippled with strength and confidence, now he strode ahead, slinking about the darkness.
It was an attitude born of having been carrier of the Crest Worms for so long. She really shouldn't even think about it that way thanks to her time with Shinji, but to her rather distorted viewpoint...
Archer no longer looked as dependable.
A knot of guilt twisted itself in Sakura at her treacherous thoughts. Who was she to judge on appearances? This was still the same person that had helped her, right? That even now was trying to stop Grandfather Zouken.
Sakura's eyes lingered on his jet black clothes that drooped off his figure a bit and then at how pale his sharp features were now.
Apparently Archer caught her look – he gave her a bit of a strained smile and an awkward laugh. “Yeah. Not quite rocking the Messiah's charisma anymore, am I?” He tried to joke.
Sakura flushed and glanced at Medusa. Rin took this as the beginning of actual discussion as they began to move through the tunnels at a slower rate.
“What did you think you were doing?” Rin angrily told her Servant. “You should have consulted us instead of heading out on your own.”
“I can't risk that. The last time you came upon this guy you died. Zouken is just too much of a cold hearted monster to fight up front. Even with your new ability to shoot bullets with your mind.” Archer shook his head and crossed his arms. He seemed to realize his words and tried to soften them. “Which I'm ridiculously happy to see you learn, Master. That's how I started too.”
'Who are you?!' Sakura wanted to scream. 'You know Grandfather too? You know what happened to me?!'
Sakura's gaze sharpened into an intense laser, scrutinizing the man desperately from head to toe in search of familiar features. She digested his appearance, feeling a tug at seeing his new, sherry eyes...
'Master...he said he knew you...' Medusa carefully began. Sakura's heart began to rapidly beat. Wait, those eyes. The ease he had going into her home before she had crossed his path. There was only one person that knew both.
“Last time? Tell me ...was it all true? That dream I had about your past!” Rin walked up to him and clenched her fists around his dark vest and the white shirt under it. “Was it really true? How did you come back here?!”
“Who...are you?” Sakura's voice trembled.
“I'm...um...Shirou Urobuchi.” The white haired man nervously chuckled. He closed his eyes as he dipped his head. “Sorry about this?”
Sakura wobbled as her vision whited out as she fell.
*****
The air was rich with a disgusting mix of cleanliness and trash. The smell had grown thick and overwhelming when Shirou had triggered his magic circuits, but he couldn't afford to shut them down now.
“Atlas!” Caster's spells tore through the charging line of undead rushing towards Shirou, Kuzuki, Bazette, and Lancer. Shirou could hear Kiritsugu aiding the witch in trimming the hoard's numbers down through force of arms as the four of them primarily focused on keeping the walls from being breached.
Saber had planted herself in the front entrance to hold the line there as Taiga had taken Ilya and pulled her to the back. Anything that approached her and the invisible Excalibur were cleanly cleaved apart as she held her spot.
“Hold things down for a little while longer!” Taiga shouted as she drew Ilya into her arms and began to race back upstairs.
Kuzuki began to fall into a smooth groove as he moved to support Bazette. The maroon haired woman moved like a demon. Her blows rendered everything to a pulp as she drew in close and personal with the monsters. Those trying to go after the dark haired man found themselves just as easily destroyed as he calmly and effortlessly broke them down with lightning fast moves that came from wildly unpredictable directions.
It was hard to tell which of the two was the deadlier menace.
“Caster, cover the eastern wall!” Kiritsugu's shout could be heard above the howl of the undead as the sound of his gun going off stopped.
Lancer was a blur as he danced around like a devil in the melee. His spear was swiftly aimed to stab through hearts with great skill as he single handedly held his own part of the home by himself. When there was an opening in the flow of bodies, he'd be gone in the blink of an eye. Once that happened the crowd would quickly be dispersed by a rain of stone from above.
Shirou was trying his hardest to match Lancer's foot speed as he tore across the yard. His goal was to manage the flow of the crowd. All he could do at the moment was directing less of the crowd away from Saber and more towards Caster, since her attacks were wiping out whole crowds at once.
The redhead dove past the razor sharp claws of one of the grayish toned females that had been converted. Her rail thin and bizarrely elongated arms smacked hard into the ground as she attempted to strike at the spot he had been at only a few moments ago as he completed his dive and scooped up a stone.
With a hard flick of his wrist he smashed it into her forehead with a loud crack. Shirou rose to his feet and charged at her as she began to wail like a petulant child and completed his attack by thrusting his palm hard against her sternum.
“Kindly step out of the property!” Shirou breathed out towards the dazed woman as he pressed into the blow.
The zombie gagged for a moment before she was launched away from Shirou and through a crowd of zombies with all the power his reinforced muscles could generate. Monsters were sent pinballing away as the largest of them finally rushed at him.
Shirou got a worrying glance of several of the zombies turning and opening fire with some thick gel at some of their other allies. But he set the thought aside as the ground began to rapidly tremble beneath his feet just before he was bodily checked by the monster.
“SSSSHHHIIIRRRROOOOUUU!” The giant roared as he carried the teenager straight through the backyard. Several attacks blasted into the thick muscles and squirming worms the monster was seemingly made from wholecloth. Yet none of them stopped the charge of the monster as both it and Shirou were sent crashing through into the dojo.
'That voice...!' Shirou's eyes widened in surprise.
The redhead's breath exploded out of him as he was finally sent flying to bounce up against the back of the dojo. The shrine in the back shattered under his weight as incense and a portrait of Ilya's mother bounced to the ground next to him in pieces.
“Shi-shinji?!” Shirou hacked as his body trembled. He could feel the surge of Avalon trying to heal him dissipate under the hateful gaze of that giant.
The beast's exposed muscles gushed fluids out onto the floor along with a tiny trickle of blood from gunshot and sling induced wounds. Wounds that were closing even as rotten and burnt chunks of flesh and dead worms were pushed out of the giant's body. It raised a meaty fist and brought it down on Shirou's side with the same speed as before.
Shirou screamed as he felt several of his ribs snap under the monster's blow. Colors briefly inverted and his heart skipped a beat as shards of agony raced outwards from his side throughout his body.
Yet the monster wasn't done with him as he grabbed onto his shirt from the side and used it to leverage him upwards. The monster glared into his eyes and in that moment Shirou couldn't see anything of his acquaintensce at all in those angry and hungry eyes.
He desperately tried to flood his body with prana to Avalon to trigger like it had in his dream. But it was worthless in the grasp of this beast. He could feel his body's od be sucked out through that connection as his body began reverting back to the strength and durability he had as just another human.
Probably so he could get crushed at Shinji's leisure.
“What the hell happened to you...?” Shirou muttered in shock.
“BeEeTTeR.” A unified shout went up from the crowd and the giant in front of him. The monster gripping him leered at him hungrily.
A bullet cracked the air.
The beast roared as its entire frame shook. More rapidly shot bullets echoed in the dojo as the giant holding Shirou up staggered forwards. Shirou could visibly see the white flesh blacken and flake off through the front.
The giant's hand spasmed open and dropped Shirou as he spun and smashed Kiritsugu with the back of his fist. The gunner skidded back into the yard as an long barreled pistol clattered uselessly on the ruined porch as the massive beast crouched low and flung himself after the older man.
Kiritsugu disappeared from where he landed with a snap of displaced air as the giant's fist smashed down into the spot he had lying down on. He reappeared a few feet away visibly drained on his feet and with a look of agony on his face.
'I have to help him!' Shirou harshly gasped. He crawled towards the weapon left discarded on the ground. Avalon slowly was deadening the pain and returning grace to his motions as he scooped the fire-Thompson Contender-arm up.
Yet it was too unwieldy for Shirou's hands, though. His prana continued surging across the Thompson Contender's frame as his shaky grip on it quickly began to firm before his eyes. The redhead quickly checked the weapon and found there was only one shot left.
Could he really take it down with - Origin Bullet - one shot?
'Why the hell not?!' The redhead poured his power into that bullet. His magic surged down the weapon and into the final shot. He felt the energy soak into the imperfections in the round. Filling it with his own power - tinted with his Origin.
“Shinji!” Shirou shouted as he brought the gun up level to the giant. Prana surged up and down his arms as his arms' jerking motions began to smooth out. The weapon was brought up to bear as the giant began to turn towards him.
“Guh...?”
Shirou fired. The massive kickback forced the redhead to stagger back two steps as prana flared up his arms and into the bullet. The bullet flashed before tearing through the giant's skull and out the other side in a flash of yellow light.
The desiccated and mostly eaten corpse at the center of the hive crashed to the ground amongst chunks of raw meat as the worms shrieked and squirmed. The entire crowd wailed and screamed as one as several undead collapsed and screamed. Others which were apparently more worm than man erupted in piles of screeching worms.
Screams rang out throughout the night as Shirou calmly walked over towards a squirming pile of worms. One of them wasn't screaming at the moment as it stared up at the approaching redhead. He brought his foot upwards and swiftly brought it down on top of that one.
“Don't network everything together if you have a shitty firewall protecting it.” Shirou spat.
*****
Too much! Toomuch!TOOMUCH! The voice that Shinji had been struggling with began to madly yell as the void around him began to fracture. Images of far off places he had never been to began to blend with local scenery.
“What's going on?!” Shinji demanded as he slapped his hands down over his ears. Shrieks, pained moans, and death rattles from the youngest of children to the oldest simultaneously flooded his eardrums. A loud ringing muffled it as he felt thick liquid pour out of his ears as he crouched in on himself for protection.
Mashelpmeter! The personification of Shinji's familiars let out another scream. The images in the void began to swirl into a chaotic portrait of everything and anything the worms had access to within the hive of bodies. It was a portrait of madness the likes of which were fracturing Shinji's psyche.
“Disconnect, you foolish creatures! Now!” Shinji roared as he desperately clenched his eyes shut. But the token resistance was nothing before the onslaught of information as his mind was battered by the wave of countless lives.
Master Zouken! Shinji desperately tried to clutch at something familiar. Anything to ground himself in this storm of madness. An opening presented itself in the wildly surging monsoon of information around Shinji.
Shinji eagerly dove to escape the madness. The darkness of unconsciousness consumed him.
…
Everything ached.
Shinji awoke to find himself lying on his side in a pool of dirty brown water. He immediately began choking on the water as his surprise at seeing dark shapes swim on the surface caused him to snort some of the murky water up his nostrils. He gagged and hacked as he sat up with the maximum amount of thrashing possible.
His wild motions quickly drew his attention to the immediate differences in the length and tone of his arms. A shiver went down his spine as his wide eyes followed the path from the thin and graceful looking fingers up bare arms down to a flat and exposed chest. A quiet murmur of despair came out of his mouth as his gaze fixed between his legs.
A certain piece of his anatomy was gone now.
Dread began to build as Shinji glanced out at his surroundings with clearing eyes. Countless numbers of niches were carved into the brown walls of the Matou clan's workshop. Insects crawled about everywhere as the larger ones crawled up the walls and into and out of the holes carved in the walls.
Shinji could hear wet slurping and dry crunching above his head. It was loud enough that it could be heard over the wing beats of countless insects.
Shinji glanced up. A thick and disgustingly sweet smelling glob of meat and drool landed down on his face as an insect about twice the size of a human flew past him. The beast continued to drool as it flew with its passenger. Clutched tightly onto the underside of its body was the top half of a human being.
The corpse looked like it had been shredded to pieces from the waist downwards as the insects' serrated claws held onto the top half carefully. The large insect seemed to be heading towards one of the higher niches.
He wiped the gore off his face in dull horror. He silently stared as the insect flew in first and then dragged in the body. The shattered point of the corpse's spine was the last thing to vanish into the dark hole.
The constant and low droning buzzing surrounding him lodged into the back of his brain.
Shinji leapt to his feet, vision swarming in in and out of clarity as he pressed up his soft palms up against his eyes. He shook his head to try and regain control as he began to stumble towards the staircase.
The rapid wing beat of one of the insects passed him by closely.
Shinji looked up and let out a scream of terror as one of the more mutated of the insects down here hovered just a few feet away. He stumbled backwards as razor sharp mandibles clicked two inches away from his nose. The youth's left ankle wrenched beneath him as he twisted backwards from the snapping jaws, but he lost control over his balance as he began to topple off to the side of the staircase.
With one last desperate shriek, Shinji crash landed in the murky depths of the water in the workshop again. Two men's laughter rang up from all around the workshop as their amusement echoed around the cavernous room.
Shinji gagged as he sat out water as he went up on his hands and knees. He shuddered as a centipede slid out from the water he spat out and wiggled off into the depths of the workshop. The teenager looked up as a set of loud splashes signaled the approach of an healthy young man with rich blue hair and smokey blue eyes.
Byakuya Matou stood out like a star to Shinji's dazzled eyes as his father was stylishly dressed like he always was. A charismatic aura was draped around his father's form that made him envy the man as the murk and disease that clung thickly to the workshop and to his own changed body seemingly couldn't keep a hold on him.
'Father...'
Byakuya's thigh high boots continued splashing about in the murk of the water. In direct contrast, Zouken moved about the surface like a wraith. He and his cane appeared to move on top of the water as they approached him. Yet both men were wearing queer little smiles as they gazed on Shinji.
“...f-father? W-what are you doing?” The earlier sense of dread began to return three fold as Byakuya's gaze moved from Shinji's face down towards something below his back.
“So, this little girl will be my understudy, eh? You sure know how to twist the knife, father.” Byakuya calmly gazed over at Zouken.
“Ah, but we must move onwards. Kariya has lost the war. We must now go and accelerate the time table with young Sakura.” The old man's face twisted in pleasure. A dark tone entered his voice as his boney fists tightened around the end of his cane. “You will do your duty. Or you will find yourself entertaining less...pliant experiments than this one.”
Byakuya's skin tone went white as the horrific insect guarding the staircase buzzed its wings angrily.
Zouken cackled as he turned his gaze towards Shinji. “Now, do you know why you are down here?”
Shinji opened his mouth to speak, but words he didn't hadn't formulated sprang from his lips. “I-I was asleep...”
“Hmph. Only good as raw materials. No brain at all.” Zouken sneered.
Byakuya cleared his throat as Shinji sat up. “My brother is gone.” His words caused Shinji's heart to clench. “He was the only remaining Matou with the potential for magic.”
“U-uncle...” Shinji whimpered as he felt the pain freshly surge through him once again.
“He died because of you.” Zouken's words slapped Shinji in the face and made him pull back in horror. He looked up towards the niche at the highest point of the wall in this tomb. Despite himself, Shinji looked up. “Now he's nothing but food for the insects.”
A loud crunch echoed in the workshop. Byakuya closed his eyes. Shinji gagged as he remembered the fresh body...
“Aaaah?” Shinji let out a low pitched and anguished moan of realization. Zouken's cackles echoed in his ears as he frantically scooped up water and splashed himself over and over on the face as he tried to scrub off the blood and guts of his uncle from his face.
“It's too late for this generation.” Zouken's voice dryly continued even as Shinji's face ached as he tried to scratch at his face as he continued trying to clean his face. The old man's voice hissed in pleasure. “You'll help usher in a better generation of Matou though.”
“...get up, Sakura.” Byakuya reached down and firmly pulled her to her feet. Shinji's skin began to burn at the contact with his father's hands. Liquid heat flowed through his veins from the point of contact with his strong fingers as he began to pant.
“Ah, it's good to see the new Crest Worms are taking effect already. The ones that survived Kariya's foolish attempts at controlling Berserker were worthy enough to join the hive inside you.” Zouken's head split in two from the length of his twisted smirk. “Byakuya, go ahead and begin the calibrations on the worms. I don't want her dying on me from lack of prana.”
“Wha...what are you doing?” Shinji's voice trembled as fear surged through his body as he was firmly pushed towards the darkest part of the workshop by his father. The man kept a stoney expression on his face. “F-father...?”
“...I'm sorry, Sakura.” The older man reached towards the crotch of his designer pants. The sound of the zipper being drawn down echoed in Shinji's hypersensitive ears.
…
“Foolish boy. Useless until the end.” Zouken angrily hissed as he felt Shinji's mind fold in on itself. The weakling hadn't even lasted the first day of Sakura Matou's training.
At least the crest worms had done good work while they were attached to Shinji. Yet they had been driven to gibbering madness by that conceptual weapon wielded by Shinji's friend. The magus found it rather intriguing that a single bullet had contained that much raw data within.
Zouken continued rushing down the cavernous tunnels beneath Fuyuki City. The body he was currently wielding had been carrying him within until the crest worm hive had gone insane. He had been forced to take over the body with his soul worm to regain control over the few crest worms that remaining cognizant.
The body's name and gender were meaningless as the old magus overwrote them with his soul. Yet he'd only be able to enjoy his full youth and power for three hours at most before he withered back to his old body. The divinely tainted prana was seeing to making him burn through his peak time much faster than normal.
'Damned prana is still attempting to exorcise me.' Zouken cursed as he rushed through a curtain of water that was freely pouring down a crack in the ceiling. His magic circuits burned as long as he stayed here, but he was almost at his destination. 'Bah. I'll never die until I gain the Grail!'
Three hours were still plenty of time.
Zouken continued to move down towards Fuyuki Central Park with shadows clinging onto his body like robes. Dark clouds of insects rose and swayed around his figure as his mind desperately crawled through the broken minds of hundreds of puppets. Only one command was given.
'GATHER.'
*****
Wise Up...?
Ẻ̥̦͚̼̘̫̭̗͛ͪ͑͆ͫ̐r̛̺̖̰͍̥̳̈ͨ͑̄́̽̃̚ror
Erro̗̥ͤ͂̐̒͗̒̓ͨ̚͜͞r̴̻̟͚͕̯̊ͭ̈ͤͮ͢ͅ.̸̓͒ͩ͏͇̣̪̻̺̜̭͚̜
͇̣̭͙͍̔͛͘
A̡̳͎̰̰͂ͩ͟͝ͅt͛tempti̡̦̜̺̼̦͐̈́͒̋ͭ̽̐ͥ̕n̡͙̠̞͗̔ͮ̓̃̉͊͐́͝ͅ ͎g̨̗̝͚͚̜̋̍ͯ̒ͦͦͦ̏ ̸̨̱͓͙̟̙̟̬͋̓̀ͧ͘Ȑ̵̡͎̤̦̖̝̹̝ͪ͡eboot.̸̨̦̲̋ͭ̍̉̊ͦͤͭ̊ ̢̩̫̠
...
...
...
The silence from the Grail is deafening.
Last edited by VelspertheCat; June 2nd, 2011 at 11:59 AM.
Hooray~
Reply With Quote
