"Welcome back, oh fearless leader~" The monkey yokai called out as he watched Vali appear from the magic circle. "How was your trip downtown~ HOLY CRAP! What the heck happened to you?"
"It was okay, Bikou." Vali replied as he stepped out of the circle. "It was a little boring since the town is too peaceful for my taste, but it got better when I found myself meeting Shirou Emiya and we got into a fight."
"The guy who fought Kokabiel?" Bikou walked alongside Vali as they continued talking, subtly noting all the tears on his clothes and the number of wounds he has. "This guy has been appearing all over the area as of late. But how is he in person?"
"Someone who would most certainly be a challenge." Vali answered as he thought back to his fight. "He was holding back a lot since we were in a residential area, he is certainly resourceful to deal with that minor setback. Also the bit of him having [Hell's Trident] alone is false, he seemed to have acquired a few demonic swords created with a Sacred Gear elsewhere."
"Well, that is definitely going to be a question mark." Bikou remarked. "Does that mean he can get other Sacred Gears? That would mean yours could be a prime target."
"Indeed." Vali frowned internally as he recalled the odd sensations [Divine Dividing] gave off when he was close to Shirou Emiya at both the aftermath of Kokabiel's attacks and his earlier scuffle. The feeling made him think of a child who was able to meet his father again after so many years, one of joy and excitement, and briefly during his scuffle with Shirou Emiya, the Sacred Gear actually tried to fight against him, as though it did not want to hurt him and was angry at Vali.
In fact…
"Vali, your back?" Bikou pointed to his back with a slightly curious expression marred with a hint of worry. With a sigh, Valie removed his coat to reveal a shirt soaked with blood, the deepening color showing where the wings would appear and where the injuries inflicted by the gear were made.
"This was not done by Shirou Emiya. This was by [Divine Dividing]." Vali answered as he removed his shirt to reveal two deep lacerations in his back, showing both the nerves and a bit of bone underneath. Lightly hissing from the pain, he focused his energy to start healing the wounds.
"What?!" Bikou looked at him with an incredulous expression. "Albion did this to you?" Before Vali could reply, the dragon decided to answer.
["Nay, he said 'Divine Dividing', not me."] Albion answered with a notable tone of irritation. ["It would seem that Shirou Emiya has an unusual trait to Sacred Gears that made them feel a connection to him. When Vali was attacking the magician, the gear responded by hurting him instead."]
"Well, that is something new." Bikou scratched his chin as he watched the wounds close via his senses. "Still, it seems there is more to it than just a regular takeover of Sacred Gears. He has [Hell's Trident] and perhaps a demonic sword gear, and he has six of the Excalibur Shards." He shook his head in disbelief at the information he got. "At this rate, I think it is best to not tell Arthur about this. He is already getting excited about looking for this guy ever since he found out about him attaining the shards. He might actually go and challenge him to a fight for the other shards or something."
"Well, you have a point there." Vali nodded his head at both Bikou's comment and the condition of his body after he healed the wounds. "Let's keep this to ourselves for now."
After all, Vali wanted to have another round at Shirou Emiya.
...
Georg thought silently as he made his way back to the hideout through the dimension he created. Truthfully he could just teleport directly into the base or even use [Dimension Lost] to open a direct path to it, but he decided to take the scenic route and use the time to review what he learnt about the target of interest.
To say that Shirou Emiya was not whom he expected was a bit of an understatement. Everything about the fellow told him that he was an ordinary teenager growing up in a normal neighbourhood, albeit one with devils running the show. Aside from his hospital records, he seemed to be a normal person in every other aspects of life.
When it came to fighting, that was when the person seemed to change into someone completely different.
Shirou Emiya has shown the mentality to go against other fighters with the aim to kill, and the resourcefulness to do so. Granted he could not see the full extent of his abilities, but what little he could tell, the magic he performed was along the lines of concept creation, meaning almost anything that he could think of would become a possible weapon. The only caveat he could tell seemed to suggest that he could not create modern weaponry with those concepts, though whether it was honestly that or his personal preference to swords that he did not create guns of that level.
At the same time though, Shirou Emiya has shown the odd desire to limit the amount of exposure of the supernatural and damage to a minimum. Commendable, but it would certainly pose some problems for Cao Cao and their group in the future if they wish to recruit him. Most of the recruits they have were either willing to shed blood for their thirst of revenge, their desire to gain power or otherwise mind-controlled to do their work. And it was a bit of an open secret that they could care less about collateral damage.
Georg frowned as he exited out of the dimension and walked through the halls of their hideout. Yes, Shirou Emiya was an investment that would need special handling due to his unique skillsets and likely his personality. If he could persuaded properly, he would be a great asset against the other factions, specifically those of non-human races.
But if he was to become a threat…
"Hello Georg." The magician stopped at the voice and turned to find Joan and Hercules standing nearby with a curious smirk on their faces. "You went to visit the mysterious Shirou Emiya, I presume?"
"Guilty as charged." Georg shrugged not seeing the point of withholding the information. "I wanted to see if he went to his workshop or any location that we could use to spy on. Good thing as I saw him got into a short tussle with Vali."
"Vali?" Hercules tilted his head at the name. "Why the hell did he appear there?"
"For the same reason as us." The wizard replied back with a wave of his hand. "To spy on Shirou Emiya, though in his case, he decided to escalate to combat."
"Oh~ so Vali had a fight with him huh?" Jeanne put a finger on her chin while having that mischievous smile on her face. "So how does our mystery guest fight?"
"Brief, but enough to guess something about his magic." Georg leaned against the wall as he recalled whatever he could. "His magic-craft focuses on the creation of concepts, meaning anything that he thinks of could potentially become a weapon. That was apparent from his fight with Kokabiel where he seems to base his weaponry around legends and myths."
"Hmm~ so he can do this without a Sacred Gear?" Jeanne asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, however it seems to be limited to weapons like swords, spears and other type of weaponry, not guns." Georg answered back. "That said, that does not seem to faze him that much as he can deliver them at high speeds and over long distances. Add [Hell's Trident] into the equation, he can deliver huge damage in no time. Not to mention his originality in creating spells that make use of their magical properties for barriers and attacks."
"And?" Hercules asked now showing interest himself.
Georg smiled as he recalled the fights he had witnessed. "You will definitely have a good fight with him, Hercules. That man is someone who would most certainly get your blood pumping."
"HO! HAHAHAHAHA!" Hercules threw back his head and let out a hearty laugh that echoed in the corridor. After a while he calmed down and lowered his head back to reveal eyes glowing with determination and a hint of bloodlust. "Now that I can get behind. Next time you visit him, bring me along."
"Me too!" Jeanne raised her hand, her smile now showing teeth and her eyes also showing a hint of lust. "I want to meet him in person and see if he is really good with his swordsmanship!"
"Well…" Georg pushed himself off the wall and looked at them with a big smile. "That would be coming really soon."
...
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
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :
p atreon.com/Aerle
