"Truth regarding the recent thefts and attack with the Excalibur Shards. Upon failure to tell the truth, the person in question will suffer damage accordingly to the lies that is told. This oath is hereby active as of this moment." The moment the words left his mouth, the chains around Azazel glowed brightly and for a brief moment loosened before tightening and seemingly sunk into his flesh, making the fallen angel shudder from the transition.
...
"How about a little test?" Shirou stepped forward and looked at Azazel in the eye. "Tell me, did you know that he was going to steal the Excalibur Shards?"
Azazel looked at his own body as he flexed his fingers, lightly frowning as if to sense the chains before turning back to Shirou. "No."
"But you have suspected that he might pull something?" Shirou maintained the stare as he continued with his questioning.
"…Yes." The Fallen Angel answered now looking less uncomfortable.
"Then did you try to contact anyone about it?"
"I did." Azazel shrugged.
'SPLAT!'
Everyone turned to look at the blood that suddenly appeared on the ground. Upon closer examination, the blood originated from a deep gash that appeared on his arm. Sona felt her stomach clenched tightly at the sight of veins and muscles in plain view.
"You might want to answer truthfully, Azazel. Depending on the lies, the severity would increase." Shirou said without looking the least bit surprised at what just happened. "You did not try to warn them did you?"
"No, I did not." Azazel spoke the truth this time as his wound started to heal, leaving behind whole skin and a small tattoo of a chain link. Suddenly the atmosphere of the room seemed to have changed with everyone now understanding that Shirou Emiya had called their bluff and was now demonstrating it.
"Do you know the person who was acting as an informant for Galilei?" Shirou asked with his eyes momentarily changing color.
"Yes." Azazel answered now sporting a very serious expression.
"Then can you tell me details about him?"
"Sorry, he is dead~ AHG!" Azazel spoke only to yelp in pain as a bigger gash appeared on his other arm, before it closed up again with a bigger tattoo in its place.
"Azazel!" For the first time, Vali dropped his smile and started to struggle against the chains. With a great effort, he broke the chains and rushed forward with his hand extended like a spear to stab Shirou when…
"Stop!" Vali stopped just in time to have his hand almost pushing at Shirou's chest while a sword being held by Shirou was just barely touching Vali's neck and drawing a bit of blood. Trembling, Sona turned to find Azazel who had raised his hand to stop Vali with some weird energy glowing around it. With a gesture, Vali floated away from Shirou in the same position, his face showing the strain of him trying to break out of Azazel's control. With a glare to tell him to stop, Azazel removed his control over Vali, making him stumble lightly before straightening himself.
"Do you doubt my words now?" Shirou spoke out to everyone while holding up the sword. "This is a mere sample of what I can do to enforce my oaths onto anyone who tries to harm the innocent in this area or any other places. If I see a normal person or innocent get attacked by anyone from your factions, be they from your organizations or outside factions, I will do whatever it takes to drive the point home that no one under my watch will get hurt." His eyes hardened as he looked at the leaders. "Are we clear on that?"
For a moment, Sona blinked and she found herself seeing a hazy figure standing next to Shirou with his arms crossed across his chest. The figure was that of a man taller than Shirou with blond-gold hair that stood in spikes and clad in gold armor with ornate decorations and a red cloth that was attached to his waist and long enough to reach his ankles. The figure gave the presence of someone blessed by the gods who lived a luxurious life. But the thing that got to her was the expression of disdain and venom on the man's face as he looked at Azazel and the others, looking every bit of a man who hated the gods and looked down on them as he seemingly towered over the Fallen Angel.
"I may be human, but I make my living hunting any supernatural creatures that preyed on the innocent. I am just telling you 'nicely' what would happen if you do not uphold your bargain." Shirou tilted his head while maintaining that cold smile, the figure beside him doing the same motion. "Okay?"
A silence descended in the room as the leaders now looked at Shirou supposedly in a new light. Sona herself was shivering from the manner he delivered his speech and his method to prove that he would enforce his rule. Time and again, she had fallen prey to the age-old idea that humans could not do much against higher beings, even with Sacred Gears.
Shirou Emiya on the other hand was no ordinary human; his mentality was too extreme at the ends of the scale and the smooth motions he performed to demonstrate his spells was evidence that he had done this multiple times, making her shudder at the idea that he was used to interrogation and other methods to get information or to ensure the person got the point such as the time with Raynare.
The kind, gentlemanly teenager who always helped others at the expense of his own will.
The cold, calculating mercenary who had no qualms in dishing out huge amounts of pain and spilling lots of blood to get the objective done.
Which was the real Shirou Emiya?
Her thoughts were broken by Azazel who started to chuckle before throwing back his head and laughing out loud. He continued while ignoring everyone's stares of confusion while Shirou looked on impassively. After a while Azazel calmed down enough to lower his head, showing off a smile that was a mix of mischief, joyfulness and a hint of viciousness not seen before.
"Not bad Shirou Emiya! This is good!" He exclaimed as he leaned back and maintained his sight on the wizard. "This is what I want from the one taking possession of the Excalibur Shards!"
"Uh~ what?" Hyoudou Issei blinked as he looked at the Fallen Angel as though the leader had gained a concussion, something that Sona was inclined to believe.
"It is one thing to boast that you can do something, it is another thing entirely to prove that you can uphold that rule." Azazel started speaking with a jovial tone, as though the incident did not happen. "Especially for someone who is supposed to take custody of the shards, you need to be able to handle some situations where you cannot hesitate to draw blood no matter how much horror you need to handle." He turned to Shirou with eyes that spoke of long years.
"This was the trial that God created in the form of Excalibur and given to Arthur Pendragon when he took up the blade to rule the kingdom. There will be times where you would need to handle spilling of blood to uphold your vows. He was able to do so, and I think that is one of the reasons the shards got together and went to you. You share the same conviction as him." Azazel now displayed a smile that was melancholic in some ways. "Guess no matter the age, there will be those who have to shed blood at such young years of childhood."
Everyone hung on to his words as though they were in a trance. This was by far the most they have heard from him at all, even the leaders of the other factions looked shocked by what he had said. Michael for one had a contemplative expression alongside Griselda as they turned to look Shirou who looked at Azazel with a steady eye.
With a slow motion, Shirou raised the sword and lightly twisted the handle, making Azazel's body glowed lightly before chains appeared from his chest and linked back to the handle. With a gesture, Shirou dismissed all the chains that tied the intended targets and the sword.
"What, no more demonstrations?" Azazel asked while crossing a leg.
"That won't be necessary." Shirou let out a sigh that made him sound very old for some reason. "You also passed the test that I made. There is no need to continue."
"That was a test?" Issei nearly fell out of his chair as he looked at the both of them like they were mad, something Sona was inclined to agree again.
"Yup." Both Shirou and Azazel nodded their heads at the same time.
"I wanted to make sure that the leaders understood that just because I am a human magus, it does not mean I don't have the resources to deal with any higher beings." Shirou said as he sat back in his chair while looking at the others with a steady eye.
"I for one, needed to make sure that he could back it up properly. I have encountered several in my life, but our friend is the first one who can really back up his words with actions." Azazel replied as he waved a hand. "Excalibur has chosen a good user, Steel Mage. Quite a showing indeed."
"You are one tough bastard yourself, old crow." Shirou shot back with a wry smile. The atmosphere seemed to have dissolved to a level that was more cheerful with the leaders and representatives relaxing, although Sona could see Grayfia was just restraining herself greatly to not attack the both of them while Griselda was sporting a thoughtful expression with an odd blush on her cheeks.
Why was that?
...
A/N : The Story Needs More Power Stones ;)
PS : if we can reach 400 Stones by the end of the week, I will throw you an extra chapter
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if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :
p atreon.com/Aerle