Announcement: GOOD NEWS!
Trial On 'Roids
- Price 1.99$ (unchanged)
- Number of Available Advance Chapters: 2 to 3
- Number of Available Backlog Chapters: 3 to 5
- All compiled Original Images of Chaos and Order till Volume 22 (The Fate Borrower)
Hope a few of you will try the lowest Tier, access these chapters and images and support the work. It would mean a lot to me.
Enjoy!
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Chapter Start:
It was a vast chamber, roofed by a white dome.
For ground, it had nothing but raw earth, dust, and stones claiming the entire chamber for themselves.
Then there was the wind — dry and sharp.
But such a sight was not nearly enough to make the Marines pause to take it in.
What truly made them hold fire was the hundreds of holographic video screens scattered all over the domed roof, and the boy in a white-and-black jersey and blue jeans, who was watching them.
The video screens displayed scenes, covering different events.
Some had already taken place outside, like the scenes of the Marines butchering the Wizards, Witches, and Magical Creatures alike.
Some were taking place at the moment, like the tens of thousands of people running for their lives as the Witch of Endor's Black Death plagued them to death.
Some scenes weren't centered around events at all, but individuals.
Innocent Magical Creatures...
Old, helpless people...
Children…
... all getting killed mercilessly without ever getting to put up a resistance.
And the boy, standing in the middle of this vast chamber, with his back toward the Entry Point, was watching it happen… his reddish-brown hair flailing wildly with every gust of dry, sharp wind.
Slowly, the boy turned around.
Instantly, both Corvinus and Cassian pressed their triggers.
By that time, all the Marines, including Madam Villanelle, had stormed inside the chamber, finding the absence of gunfire extremely odd.
So, the moment the two Sergeants fired their weapons, the rest of the Ultramarines followed suit, turning the chamber into a bluish hell.
BOOMS deafened the ears as nineteen Bolters' fire converged on a single target.
Simultaneously, the two Librarians let themselves loose as well.
Both of them had already exhausted their minds by going all out with their abilities.
No amount of Invigoration Potion could have let them recover from that kind of exhaustion.
Still, with what little the Potions had done, they used it to cast the strongest of their abilities once again, knowing that their Brothers would take care of the rest.
So, along with hundreds of Bolter rounds, bolts of Warp Lightning leapt forth, getting spewed out from the Brother Tiber's eyes and mouths, Brother Thane once again using Compel at its strongest to break the target's mind from within, along with any foreign piece of mindscape it might hold.
The Ultramarines had only reacted according to their training for their mission.
So, their reaction to the boy by firing and with a mind to annihilate him was expected.
The strangest reaction came from Madam Villanelle.
The reincarnated Biblical Witch, who had used her Mirror-self to cast Black Death within Hogwarts Grounds, had… lost the color in her face.
Even before the Marines had fired, instead of using the Wand in her hand to cast a Spell, the first thing that Villanelle had done was to Disapparate.
Sadly, that had failed.
And the moment she had noticed that failure, she had also noticed the boy turning around and looking at them directly with his brown eyes, his blank face gaining an expression that could be named nothing else but… anger.
So, as the Marines fired and the Librarians attacked with Warp magic, Villanelle had no choice but to act accordingly, hurling her Wand hand forward almost in panic.
The Killing Curse was so bright and dense that it made it impossible to see anything else.
The white, domed roof pulsated with green and black colors, giving the several scenes of death the true, horrifying color that they deserved.
In return…
In return for that firing, that lightning, and the Magic…
In return for those gory scenes of innocent people dying a humiliating death…
In return for all that and beyond, the boy had nothing to say but only two words.
…
Shirou Emiya had thought nothing could have angered him so much ever again.
Not after what he had seen during the Great Holy Grail War.
Yet, here he was, his blood boiling within him.
He was looking up — at death.
But the only scenes that kept flashing in his mind were those of children covered in boils, drawing their last breaths, pleading for help.
He had been one of them years ago, when the Fourth Holy Grail War had caused the Great Fire, burning everything, including his parents.
Shirou still remembered that day.
A part of him, despite finally gaining a hint of the peace he had always desired, still lived in that day — in that moment, burning with angst and rage, cursing his helplessness.
A part of him still walked through the fire, looking at scorched corpses.
A part of him still cried, watching all that pain.
A part of him still breathed that smoke.
Shirou had seen how vile a form the Holy Grail could assume.
Yet, the hole in the sky pouring out blood-like mud from eleven years ago somehow felt viler than All The Evil they had destroyed only a year ago.
All this while, Shirou had been wondering for what purpose Black had left after helping them earn peace.
He still remembered his friend's words, echoing in his ears.
Salvation is not so easy to achieve, Shirou, Black had said. We will have to earn it.
Had Black been fighting for salvation across different worlds all this time, when… when he was enjoying his life…?
All this time, when he had continued to go to school, had continued to laugh, had continued to learn playfully under Rider and Medea, Black had already thrown himself into another fight for salvation?!
Yes.
Shirou was angry, but most of that anger was directed at himself.
Hero of Justice?!
Shirou found himself scoffing at those words.
What kind of Hero stopped searching for justice by momentarily finding it in one place?!
What kind of Hero promised to protect everyone, even if it meant sacrificing himself, yet forgot that injustice didn't cease to exist just because the people around him had been saved?!
Black… Shirou turned around and stared at Evil. Thank you. Thank you for showing me what you fight for. Now, let me fight with you… let us strive for salvation together… once again.
He needed to say all this to Black, Shirou knew.
But, to the Evil that stood in front of him, he had only two words.
"Trace—" Shirou Emiya said, cyan lightning thundering around him. "—On!"