Then, to remove the suds, he Projected a bowl, which he filled with water to pour over Sakura's head several times, while using the other hand to tussle her hair, ensuring that all shampoo was gone.
He then combed her hair one last time, and with that, he was finished.
"Thank you, Senpai." Sakura's mood seemed to have increased leaps and bounds, and she turned her head slightly to smile at him, before a frown formed between her eyebrows. "Sorry about getting angry."
"There is no need to apologise." Shirou shook his head. "It was my fault. I should have trusted you to know what you were doing, rather than doubting you."
"Hm." Sakura made a small noise, before she brought the tips of her fingers together, looking away shyly. "Was it really so scary to have me shave you?"
"…Maybe a bit." Shirou admitted after a moment, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Your hand did not seem very steady."
"It was surprisingly difficult. It's much easier when I do it to myself." Sakura muttered dejectedly, before her expression became determined. "I'm sure I'll get better if I practise."
"Of course." Shirou nodded with a smile, resigning himself to being a training dummy for the foreseeable future. For Sakura, he'd happily endure it.
For a minute or so, he and Sakura sat in companionable silence, as he traced his fingers over her neck and shoulders, before he spoke up again.
"Now, is there anything else you want to do now that we're in the bathroom? I could use the distraction."
"Distraction? Ah, right, she still hasn't called back, has she?" Sakura asked as she opened her eyes again, correctly realising what he needed to be distracted from.
"No, she hasn't."
It had been over sixteen hours now since their call with lady Barthomeloi, sixteen hours of no further contact, and Shirou was honestly starting to get worried at this point.
Rationally, he knew that being worried was wholly unnecessary. Lady Barthomeloi was immensely powerful and tough as nails, so the idea that she could have lost the battle was ludicrous. Unless the Wolpertinger had suddenly and spontaneously developed Divine properties, he was pretty sure that her victory was a given.
But why then did it take so long for her to contact him again?
He'd been fretting about it, a lot, and at the fourteen-hour mark, his fretting had become so bad that Sakura had dragged him into the bathroom, if only to distract him.
It had worked, for a while, but now the worry was returning, and Sakura knew that she had to go a step further in her distractions.
"You shouldn't fret, Senpai. It doesn't help anyone." She told him, before she shifted her gaze to the tray of shampoos and soaps. "Instead, you should help me apply… this."
She picked a bottle of odourless body lotion from the selection, studied the label for a moment, and then handed it to him.
"…Alright." Shirou nodded, now very effectively distracted, feeling his cheeks heat up at the prospect of helping her apply the lotion. "Where do you want me to apply it? On your shoulders, or…?"
"Everywhere." She replied, her voice almost purring.
"…Everywhere?" Shirou swallowed through his suddenly dry throat, acutely aware once more of the fact she was completely naked right now.
"Everywhere." She confirmed, before she turned around at last.
Everything Shirou wanted to say in response was lost as he found himself unable to do anything but admire her full, perky breasts, sufficiently big that he needed both hands to cover just one of them and topped with lovely pink nipples.
Sakura only gave him a few seconds to look though, before she placed her hands on the side of the pool and began lifting herself up.
Her midriff was the first to appear, followed closely behind by her smooth belly, which he knew from experience to be highly ticklish.
Her hips appeared next, beautiful and wide, fitting perfectly with her flawless bottom.
And then, in a fraction of a second that seemed to be stretched into an eternity, he saw how her hips came together into a gentle V-shape, which extended in a gentle slope of beautiful pale skin, that ended in-
'RING-RING'
A sudden pinging noise made both teens freeze, and Shirou almost face-vaulted at the realisation that it was the folding mirror that served as his means of contacting lady Barthomeloi, which he kept at the ready near him, even in the bath.
What kind of timing was this?!
"Moo." Disappointed, Sakura let herself slip back into the water, pouting moodily again, but she did gesture at him to pick up.
So he did, promptly, remembering once more why he had been expecting and worrying about this call.
"Fujimaru." Lady Barthomeloi greeted him when her face appeared in the mirror, and Shirou was relieved to see she seemed perfectly well, without a single scratch on her. "I apologise for the delay-"
"I am glad you are alright, my lady." He interrupted her, not hiding his relief at all. "When you didn't contact us for so long, I feared the worst."
"…You were concerned about me." She surmised after a moment of surprised silence, her expression turning a tad confused, though also pleased. "There is no need for that. I subjugated and imprisoned the creatures many hours ago, but I was unable to contact you because of the presence of Church-affiliated forces."
"Is that what happened?" Shirou immediately understood why that would be a hindrance, as the Church would never stand for letting Phantasmal Creatures live. "I understand. You managed to shake them off though?"
"I did." The brunette nodded, before the background began moving, as if she was walking somewhere else. "Currently, I am returning to the Clocktower. My hunt has been concluded, and I need to arrange proper accommodation for the Wolpertingers in my department."
"Wait. Wolpertingers? Was that a plural?"
"It was." She confirmed, before turning the mirror around to show him what lay before her.
Seeing the boar-sized, rabbit-like Phantasmal Beast in a cage was not unexpected, as lady Barthomeloi had already told him she'd captured the creature.
The three babies with it in the cage however, which were currently lying on their sides, fast asleep, were in fact a total surprise.
By reflex, Shirou held the mirror down so Sakura could look into it too, and she promptly released a squeal of excitement.
"Babies!" She beamed, instantly forgiving lady Barthomeloi for the interruption. "Senpai, there are baby rabbits there!"
"Correct." Lady Barthomeloi said from her end, and she must have turned her mirror back around again, for her next phrase sounded a lot flatter in tone. "Miss Sakura, why are you naked?"
"Ah, sorry." Shirou apologised, turning the mirror back to him. "We are in the baths."
"In the baths?" Lady Barthomeloi repeated, before she inclined her head in understanding. "I interrupted you then."
"Maybe a little." Shirou confirmed, unable to entirely wave away the fact that she had cut him off at the very worst point imaginable, just when Sakura was about to come into view entirely. "But I was expecting your call, so it's not too bad."
"I'll forgive you if you give us the rabbits!" Sakura called out, her eyes shining at the prospect of obtaining the Wolpertingers.
"That was always my intention." Lady Barthomeloi replied. "Though I and my finest researchers will have to study them first. If Phantasmal Species are indeed returning to the world, it is of paramount importance that we understand their inner workings. Even if no two Phantasmal Beasts are the same, studying the Wolpertingers could still provide critical insights that can save many lives."
"Well, it's hard to argue with that." Shirou began, before clearing his throat when Sakura glared at him. "But I must insist that you tell me what 'study' means in this context."
"Nothing intrusive, you have my word on that." The brunette responded, her tone serious and sincere. "Doctor Kix, my main medical researcher, is of sufficient skill to have outgrown the need for any sort of vivisection. The Wolpertingers will not be harmed, and when you come to the Clocktower this winter, you will find them in perfect condition."
"Normally, I would not trust the word of a Magus when it comes to matters like this." Shirou frowned slightly, before he smiled, placing his hand on his heart. "But I know you are as trustworthy as they come, lady Barthomeloi. Very well, I will believe you."
His words got him another confused look from lady Barthomeloi, and she opened her mouth slightly, before she closed it again.
"…Your words please me to hear." She said eventually, in a tone that was so much softer than her usual that Shirou almost blushed.
It remained silent for a while after that, but lady Barthomeloi recovered quickly, and she returned her focus to the matter at hand.
"When you return to the Clocktower, we will also discuss the return of Phantasmal Species in detail." She ordered him. "We are among the few in the world who are capable of fighting these creatures, and among the fewer who are willing to. It is imperative that we coordinate our efforts."
"Of course." Shirou nodded, speaking much easier now that they had returned to a business-topic. "I will be there."
"I look forward to it." Lady Barthomeloi said, before glancing past him, at the tiled floors of the bathhouse. "I will keep you from your business no longer. Until we meet again."
"Ah, yes, goodbye." He responded, before smiling at her again. "Congratulations on your first victory against a Phantasmal Beast, lady Barthomeloi."
"…Lorelei."
"Pardon me?"
"If you are going to congratulate me, you may call me Lorelei." She explained, giving him an expectant look.
What?
Shirou was baffled by her order, and he almost, nearly thought it to be a joke despite the fact she never made jokes, but lady Barthomeloi looked so serious he instantly realised that refusing was not an option.
"C-Congratulations on your first victory against a Phantasmal Beast, L-Lorelei."
His poor, Japanese heart was beating a mile a minute at the immense familiarity he was displaying, but the brunette nodded in satisfaction, an actual sparkle appearing in her eyes.
…Hold on, had she always been this attractive?
"I look forward to seeing you again." She said warmly, before she disconnected, leaving him to stare at his own reflection, his cheeks flushed and his mouth open.
It took him some effort to compose himself again, and then he looked at Sakura…
Who was looking back at him with an empty gaze.
"S-Sakura?"
"Senpai is a horrible man." She spoke in a dead tone, and her words were like a hammer to the gut.
"W-Why?!"
"Seducing poor older ladies like that, what a terrible thing." She sighed, before waving him off. "Please leave, Senpai. I want to dry myself off. Alone."
"W-What did I do?" Shirou asked, unable to understand why she was giving him the cold shoulder like that.
"Hmpf." Sakura resolutely turned away from him, refusing to give him another second of her time. "Senpai is such a villain."
"What?! N-No! I'm innocent!"
What on Earth was going on?!
At the same time that Shirou was desperately trying to get Sakura to talk to him again, the team of undercover Burial Agency-Executors in the Clocktower, the ones investigating the Magus Association's links to the Dead Apostle Ancestors, were trying just as desperately to get a grip on the Clocktower's maddening bureaucracy, with varying levels of success.
Holed up inside the office given to them by Lord El-Melloi, they tirelessly laboured to discover discrepancies in the records that they had obtained. Discrepancies such as an excess of money or resources, a sudden disappearance of personnel, or even a direct mention of a paymaster.
The Ancestors were extremely capricious and unpredictable masters to have, and to answer to them meant dealing with difficult and sometimes even outright unreasonable requests. They were vampires in more ways than one, and tended to suck their accomplices dry of everything they had, including their energy, their motivation, and their very will to live.
As such, those accomplices were often unable or unwilling to properly hide their illegal transactions and cover their tracks, which made following the money a very effective way of tracking them down. The method had proven its worth several times within the Burial Agency, and the undercover Executors had hoped it would be the same within the Magus Association.
Only to learn very quickly that a loosely connected conglomerate that was held together by nothing more than greed, intimidation, and duct tape didn't keep its books in order anywhere near as good as an oiled and well-functioning organisation like the Burial Agency.
The long and the short of it was that the paperwork of the Clocktower was an utter mess. Its bureaucracy had grown completely out of control, and trying to make sense of it was a titanic effort that did not guarantee any worthwhile returns.
But even so, they tried their hardest.
"Alright, done!" Jonah cheered as he threw a file over his shoulder, a huge smile on his face. "That concludes my audit of the research group 'Animal Fertility' of the Department of Zoology. As far as I can see in the papers, nothing suspicious is taking place there, like bribes or gifts or resources they shouldn't have, and certainly nothing related to the Bloodsucker Ancestors."
The young man clearly expected to be praised, but if that was his aim, he'd chosen the wrong crowd today.
"Animal Fertility is the smallest research group of that Department." Kayla noted, cocking her head to the side as she gave him a bemused look. "It took you two weeks to audit it?"
"Don't ruin the moment, Kayla." Jonah replied, half admonishing, half pleading.
"Just auditing the group itself is not enough though." Lily added, lifting an eyebrow. "You also need to gather witness statements, you need to make personality sketches, and do a full audit of everyone they work and trade with, to ensure they aren't doctoring their own books."
"W-Well…"
"And if you do find clues that something is amiss, you still need to gather evidence to actually prove they have done misdeeds." That was Kayla again. "Which involves actual legwork."
"B-But-"
"And might I remind you that we agreed that you would audit the Department of Zoology in its entirety as well as the Department of Lore?" Lily's tone had become sterner at this point. "Are you planning to take years before you finish?"
"Ugh." Jonah's head landed on his desk with an audible thud, his body-language speaking of total defeat.
Upon seeing this, Sidonus, the oldest member of the group, shook his head with a sigh.
Doing paperwork certainly wasn't the young man's forte, that was apparent, but Sidonus couldn't offer him a helping hand, not when he had his own departments to check and audit.
Sidonus had been an agent of the Burial Agency for almost all his life. How long that was exactly was a secret, but he could say with confidence that he had served His Excellency the Pope for more decades than could be counted on the fingers of two hands.
In that time, he'd been an Executor, an Exorcist, a blade-master, a spy within several Asian Magus Conglomerates, and he'd even had a brief stint as an honorary Cardinal as a reward for exemplary services, though that hadn't lasted long.
The point was, Sidonus had lived a very long and active life, always doing something, and that meant he was no stranger to either a fast life of fighting every other day, or to a slow life filled with weeks of hard, tedious work.
Especially the latter had been difficult for him to get used to, as he was by nature not a calm, patient individual, but he had learned quickly. He'd done multiple deep cover missions in the past after all, so if he hadn't learned the value of patience early on in his life, he'd have died long ago.
Yes, he had learned the value of patience, and right now, he was very grateful for that experience, because the Clocktower's administration had proven itself to be a fearsome opponent even to someone of his level.
It had been very generous of Lord El-Melloi to procure all these files and forms for them to check for any suspicious activity that might hint at the hands of extremely powerful and wealthy figures that seemed intent on undermining order, but there were so many they were practically drowning in them now.
And that wasn't even mentioning their quality.
The only departments that had records that were worth the paper they were written on were the Department of Policies and the Department of Modern Magical Theories, but considering that the former department was run by the Barthomeloi and the latter by Lord El-Melloi himself, none of them expected to find any treachery there.
The forms and documents of the other departments… The less said about them, the better.
Frankly, Sidonus expected a lot more results from their other line of inquiry.
Right now, Mira, the only one of their group not present in the room, was going around the Clocktower, searching for physical traces of Dead Apostles or anything related to them.
Every Executor and Exorcist was thoroughly trained at being able to recognise the inhuman. Whether it were Dead Apostles, Wraiths, Ghouls, or anything else, they were able to sniff them out quite handily from the traces that their presence would inevitably leave behind. These traces could stick to areas, to objects, and even to people.
Mira was particularly skilled at finding these traces, which was why, of the five of them, she had been chosen to wander around the Clocktower, clandestinely looking for clues.
But that avenue too had yielded little result so far.
It had been three weeks already since they had started, with both the paperwork and the fieldwork. In all that time, the returns had been small, nowhere near enough to seriously accuse anyone of colluding with the Ancestors, but at the same time, not small enough either to confidently state that no collusion was taking place at all.
Sidonus wished they could have said that the Magus Association was on the straight and narrow, as much as Magi could be at least, but there were just enough discrepancies and odd entries in the books to hint at the fact that the Ancestors, or some other nefarious group, could very well be influencing matters in the Clocktower, and that meant they couldn't give up yet.
It wasn't much, but it was worth checking out. Even Lord El-Melloi himself, who frequently visited them for an update, thought so.
"This really is tedious though." Lily inadvertently complained a few minutes later, before she blushed slightly. "Ah, did I say that out loud?"
"You did." Kayla nodded. "But I don't disagree. The returns are quite low when compared to the work we have to put in."
"I just hope that Mira is having more success than us." Jonah sighed wistfully, having recovered from his earlier bout of depression, before looking at the clock. "By the way, shouldn't she have been back by now?"
"She is a bit late, yes." Sidonus confirmed, having already noticed that, before he shrugged his shoulders. "Though not so much we need to worry just yet."
"It's a bit odd though, she is normally so punctual." Lily mused, before smiling when the door opened. "Speak of the devil. Welcome back, Mira-"
Lily stopped in the middle of her sentence.
Then she, as well as the other three Executors, got up from their chairs, all happiness and cheer disappearing as the air of caution took its place.
For Mira had not returned alone.
With her was an old woman, a woman none of them recognised.
"Good afternoon, everyone." Mira greeted them, before gesturing at the elderly lady behind her, who was smiling innocently even in the face of four people who seemed ready to bash her head in. "I met this lady during my tour. She was quite insistent on accompanying me to our room, as she has something to tell us."
Mira spoke a total of three sentences, and in those sentences, no less than five key words and -phrases had been hidden, together indicating that she was not being actively threatened or coerced by the elderly lady, but that they shouldn't trust her either, as she was by no means an ally.
In short, it wasn't a full-blown emergency, but it certainly wasn't the all-clear either.
"Thank you, my dear." The elderly woman said, entering the room fully and closing the door behind her, showing a brazenness that Sidonus normally only saw in veterans. "I will keep this short, for I imagine we are all short on time here. You can call me Miss Marple for now, and I want the five of you to join my operation to hunt down traitors within the Magus Association instead of floundering around on your own."
Sidonus kept his poker face on, not giving anything away, but Kayla sucked in a breath while Lily audibly gulped.
"What do you mean?" Jonah asked, doing a good job of sounding genuinely confused. It was a brave effort to turn the tide, but ultimately, it proved futile.
"Your efforts to track down the Magi who are in league with the Dead Apostle Ancestors have been quite impressive so far." Miss Marple smirked, revealing that she was perfectly aware of what they were doing in the Clocktower. "I wish that everyone in my employ worked as hard as you did. However, I know that you haven't been making much progress, and I am offering you the chance to join my investigation and work as part of a larger force. Many hands make light work and all that."
"You want us, to join you, in your investigation that is exactly the same as ours?" Sidonus asked, just to clarify.
He'd thought about continuing to deny that they had anything to do with traitors or Ancestors, but at this point, that would just be a waste of time.
She already knew about their purpose, and while it wasn't yet confirmed she knew their true allegiance, Sidonus wasn't willing to bet a single dime on her being ignorant either.
"I do." Miss Marple confirmed. "I admit that you being agents of the Burial Agency makes this matter a bit more complicated, but in the end, I cannot be too picky about my allies, not when I have so few."
So she did indeed know they were Executors.
Caught red-handed in enemy-territory, Sidonus considered making a break for it, to overpower this elderly woman and run, but even if she didn't have contingencies in place for something like that, which she probably did, that would still leave them stranded in the middle of the Clocktower, with no allies, resources, or plans.
His mind raced, frantically searching for a way out, and to gain himself some time, he played along for now, stealthily gesturing at his young companions to let him do all the talking.
"But how would you benefit from including us into your force? How would we benefit from accepting your offer?"
"To answer your last question first, you would benefit from not having to do all this paperwork anymore." Miss Marple grinned, giving a pointed look to all the forms on Sidonus' desk. "I have quite some influence over the Clocktower's bureaucracy, and I can check far quicker than you whether any of the books have been doctored. In other words, if you accept my offer, you can focus entirely on practical investigation and leave the files to me."
"..." Jonah twitched slightly at the notion of no longer having to do paperwork, but he obeyed Sidonus' instructions and remained quiet.
"You didn't tell us how you benefit." Sidonus reminded the elderly lady.
"I get five new skilled agents whose hatred for our enemies is without question, and whose loyalty, at least to the Church, is beyond doubt." Miss Marple replied, her expression turning serious. "I cannot overstate the importance of such things, not when the Ancestors have their claws so deeply in my institution."
"Hm." Sidonus made a contemplative noise, as he found himself seriously considering the offer now.
The woman's arguments were, at first glance, quite sound, and the principle of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' was what laid at the very foundation of every collaboration and alliance between the Clocktower and the Burial Agency ever. If it was to fight the Ancestors, Magi and Executors could easily and gladly work together. They had proven that numerous times in the past.
If he could take the woman's words at face value, Sidonus wouldn't have been opposed to accepting her offer.
Unfortunately, Magi lied; they lied often and they lied well. This woman might mean every word she said, or she was just spinning a tale she knew they wanted to hear, in order to lure them into some sort of trap.
Hence, he remained uncertain.
"If you have doubts as to my honesty in this matter, I can have Lord El-Melloi confirm everything I have said." Miss Marple offered when she saw him hesitate. "I believe you consider him trustworthy, do you not? He'll definitely vouch for me."
It was another surprise on top of all the others, but even with that assurance, that Lord El-Melloi would vouch for her, the Executors just couldn't accept an offer like that out of the blue.
This called for a private discussion.
"…Please give us a moment of privacy." Lily spoke up after a moment, voicing what they were all thinking. "We need to discuss this between ourselves."
"Of course." The elderly lady nodded, before turning around and leaving the room, though not without a last comment. "I'll wait outside. Call me when you have made a decision."
The door then closed behind her, and after a heartbeat of silence, the group of Executors-turned-spies quickly huddled together.
"Seems like we weren't as clandestine as we'd hoped." Jonah spoke up first, a terse smile on his face. "I can't say it's a complete surprise that we were found out, but honestly, I thought we'd be killed immediately, not offered a deal of mutual benefit."
"Can't we just shut the old lady up?" Kayla ventured, not feeling at all bad about attacking old people if they were Magi.
"She likely has many contingencies in case we do something like that." Sidonus shook his head. "It would be better if we decided how to react to her proposal."
"If she's genuine in her offer and she meant what she said about wanting to weed out traitors, joining her would be our best option right now." Lily said bluntly. "We aren't really getting anywhere with our own investigations, so getting access to the information network of someone who is clearly much more connected and much better informed than us would be an outright blessing."
"I agree." Sidonus nodded, as Lily pretty much echoed his own thoughts. "But that is only if she's actually genuine. She might very well be lying to us, to lure us into a trap."
"What kind of trap?" Jonah asked.
"I do not know." Sidonus admitted. "As far as I can see, there's nothing she stands to gain from stringing us along that she couldn't get by force at this point. We are, after all, at her mercy now."
"Which implies she is honest in her proposal, does it not?" Lily pointed out.
"What if she can really get Lord El-Melloi to vouch for her?" Mira was clearly on Lily's side, looking as if she was also seriously considering accepting the elderly lady's offer. "Would that help?"
"A little, though we still cannot be certain." Sidonus grumbled. "We cannot discount the possibility that it was Lord El-Melloi who told Marple about our presence here in the first place. He might have plans of his own."
"I'm sorry, but if we cannot be certain about Lord El-Melloi's motives, we never should have come here at all." Lily reminded him sharply, frowning in disapproval. "Might I remind you that we are only here because he arranged literally everything we needed? It's a bit late to have doubts about his trustworthiness now."
"You are right of course." Sidonus inclined his head, accepting her rebuke. "It was not my intention to sow even more confusion. I apologise."
"So Lord El-Melloi's vote of confidence is enough?" Mira pressed, once more making it rather clear which side she was on. "We are going to accept her offer?"
"…" Sidonus didn't immediately reply, and instead looked around at his team members. When he received nothing but nods, some eager and some reluctant, he let out a sigh of resignation. "I fear we'll have to accept, for our own sakes as well as for the mission."
That closed the discussion, and they called miss Marple back into the room to tell her the good(?) news.
"I'm so happy to hear that." She smiled in jubilation after they finished. "Honestly, when I first noticed you, several weeks ago, I considered throwing you out by your ears. Now I am very glad I exercised some self-control before I did that."
"So am I." Jonah muttered softly, rubbing his right ear, making Mira roll her eyes.
"But if you already knew we were here weeks ago, why did you wait until now to approach us?" Sidonus asked, before sighing yet again when he realised the answer to his own question. "Because you wanted us to be desperate enough to accept your offer."
"Quite so." Miss Marple nodded, smiling innocently. "I couldn't take the risk that you would reject me, so I waited until you realised that you weren't getting very far on your own. I judged that you would be likelier to hear me out if you had very few other options aside from me."
"You are a crafty old lady, aren't you?" Kayla asked brusquely, eliciting another smile from the lady. "Manipulative too, and underhanded."
"Oh, you're making me blush." Miss Marple giggled, and from what Sidonus could see, she was genuinely taking Kayla's remarks as compliments.
Magi sure were a weird lot.
"Can I ask a question?" Jonah raised his hand as if he were in class.
"Of course, dear."
"Is Lord El-Melloi working with you?" He asked suspiciously. "Did he tell you of our presence here?"
"No, he didn't tell me. He probably suspected that I knew, rightly so, but he hasn't breathed as much as a single word about your work to me." Miss Marple shook her head. "I don't need that young man to tell me what is going on to stay on top of everything that happens here. You'll find that I am more than capable of discovering secrets on my own."
"Right." Jonah nodded. "Of course."
"Now, before we continue in earnest, I'll go and get Lord El-Melloi so he can vouch for my good intentions. I don't think you'll trust anything I say before then." Miss Marple smirked slightly, before a shadow passed over her face, and she slumped in exhaustion. "Yet more work to do. It seems as if it never ends."
"You must be very busy." Lily nodded, a sympathetic look on her face.
"Oh, dearie, you won't believe how much work I have to do." Miss Marple groused, apparently taking the remark as an invitation to complain. "It was already a lot, between diplomatic talks, paperwork, running the department, and making sure that at some kind of justice is done, but now I also have to track down deep cover agents of the Dead Apostle Ancestors themselves, and help take care of four rabbits on top of that."
"Taking care of rabbits doesn't sound so bad." Lily ventured, trying to set the elderly lady at ease a bit. "It might even be relaxing."
"They are… rather special rabbits." Miss Marple mumbled, the look in her eyes becoming a bit haunted. "Which reminds me I am also in the middle of preparing a public statement that will rock the Moonlit World and the Church on its foundations."
"Oh?"
"You'll hear about it soon enough." Miss Marple sighed. "Now, I am off to fetch Lord El-Melloi. After he has confirmed my story, we can get to work. I already have numerous leads, and far too few people to track them all. If you could take one or two off my hands, I'd appreciate it."
"Which one is the most promising?" Kayla asked immediately, getting a curious look in return. "Don't get me wrong, I will not trust you until Lord El-Melloi vouches for you, but even so, I would like to know."
"…Gladstone Phamrsolone." Miss Marple answered after a few moments. "He is currently the most promising lead, though he is simultaneously the hardest, as he is the chairman of the Neutral Faction. You can investigate him, if you want, but make sure not to ruffle any feathers just yet. We cannot use another large-scale conflict so soon after the Purge."
"Sounds exciting." Lily grinned, the idea of bringing down some high-level Magus being quite appealing to her. "Leave it to us, miss Marple."
"Gladly then. It's some work off my plate at least."
With those words, the elderly lady left the office again, and the Executors returned to their duties. This time though, they did not bother with general audits, and instead devoted all their attention towards the Phamrsolone-family.
And in his office, Gladstone Phamrsolene felt cold shivers run down his spine, prompting him to put on a sweater.
Summer was nearing its end after all, and it could get a bit chilly outside.
Inside the dojo of his house, which had recently been transformed into a sporter's paradise, Shirou stood on the recently added archery range, trying to clear his mind, so he could engage in a round of kyudo, Japanese archery.
Not to use in battle though. Frankly, kyudo was far from the most efficient style of archery, and utterly unsuitable for battle of any kind. In fact, it could almost be considered a form of meditational yoga rather than a style of long-range fighting. Its entire foundation rested on the idea that you could stand upright in the open on a completely flat surface, take a calming breath, aim carefully, shoot the arrow, and then maintain your position until the arrow had struck something, all without being chopped in half by your target or your target's friends.
That only worked in some of Illya's anime, not in the real world. His days as a vigilante had made that perfectly clear.
Despite Shirou's low opinion of kyudo's usefulness however, he was still going to practise it now. It was after all the only form of archery that was taught at Homurahara, and he really needed to learn how to limit his strength and skill to not arouse suspicion during training. He could hardly go in there with Olympic class talent after all, not if he wanted to keep a low profile.
Most importantly, he needed to practise his grip strength.
During his time as Rakurai, he had used a special, Reinforced bow that had been able to withstand his strength without breaking. This was very much necessary, as Shirou could currently shatter normal bows merely by drawing them. In the archery-club though, they were not allowed to use their own bows. Only the school's equipment was allowed, to keep things fair.
In other words, Shirou better find out quickly what the limit of those standard bows was, before he accidentally snapped one in half during practise in front of all the other members of the club.
That would be hard to explain, to say the least.
Hence his decision to spend some time on his new archery range, practising kyudo, before school would begin, to ensure nothing like that would happen.
The range was about a hundred meters long and thirty metres wide, with a hard wooden floor and hard wooden walls to both sides of and behind the targets, to ensure that any inaccurate arrows would not end up in another section of the dojo, where they might hit someone.
The range consisted of twelve different 'lanes', split into four groups of three, with the first group having the targets at a distance of twenty metres, the second group at fifty metres, the third at seventy-five, and the last at a full hundred meters.
Considering a normal indoors archery range was only twenty metres long, while even an Olympic range was only seventy meters, the last section could be considered a bit much, but since it was a range meant for demigods, it was perhaps only fitting.
Shirou picked up one of the standard bows that had been prepared next to the range and grabbed a quiver of arrows, before walking to the range's first lane, where the target had been put at twenty meters.
Hitting the bull's eye at twenty meters was a breeze for Shirou, who during his time as Rakurai had been able to snipe moving targets at more than a hundred with his bow. It didn't even qualify as a warm-up really.
Shirou took a deep breath, before he raised the bow and drew an arrow out of the quiver. He nocked the arrow on the bow and focused on the target, not yet drawing the string back. Only when he had perfectly visualised the path between himself and the bull's eye did he draw the bow, carefully pulling the string backwards, using Structural Analysis to ensure he wasn't damaging the weapon, before he let the arrow fly.
It flawlessly struck the bull's eye, penetrating deeply, and if the target had been an enemy knight's eye instead of a wooden board, the arrow would have killed them on the spot.
Satisfied with the result, Shirou moved on to the fourth lane, with the target at fifty metres, where he again struck the bull's eye with ease. He achieved the same result at the seventh lane, with the target at seventy-five meters, but it was in the tenth lane that it happened.
With the target a hundred meters away, far further than the standard bows should be able to reach, Shirou drew the arrow too far back, and the wood of the bow started fracturing. The weapon didn't snap, but it did warp and bend, ruining its firing power.
Upon feeling the damage, Shirou immediately moved the string back to its starting position, not about to fire an arrow with a broken bow, and he made a mental note of the precise point of pressure at which the bow had started to give in. That point, or actually a bit below it, would be his limit during practice at school.
The redhead then used Alteration to repair the bow, putting it back into its original shape, before he moved back to the seventy-metre lanes and started practicing some more.
Only when he was completely satisfied with his shooting, when it was sufficiently slow and inaccurate to be appropriate for a teenager with above average skill, did he stop.
After that, he retrieved the arrows he'd shot, repaired the targets, and put both the quiver and the repaired bow back at their designated spots.
Then Shirou made his way over to the girls, who were also in the dojo at the moment, practising self-defence.
Well, Sakura, Ayako, and Rin were. Illya and her maids had elected not to join, and while Caren had for a moment considered participating in the training, she'd ultimately decided she'd rather stay with Illya and watch anime with her. Physical labour was just not her thing, apparently.
That was fine. Shirou wasn't going to force anyone to train if they didn't want to. It was strictly voluntary, at least for now.
As his dojo had become huge as a result of his 'renovations', Shirou needed to cover quite a bit of distance to get to his girls, and he passed a lot of different areas on the way.
He walked past the tennis court, the baseball field, the running track, and the Olympic pool, and then crossed the football field and the fencing area. Only then did he arrive at his destination, the wrestling section of the dojo.
The section's floor had been covered entirely by tatami mats and other forms of cushions, except for the wrestling ring, which was located right in the middle of the section. It was quite a large area, and since wrestling was a straightforward sport that didn't require much in the way of equipment, it was also empty.
Hence, he could see the girls perfectly well as they practised together, a small distance away from the arena.
Currently, Sakura and Rin were sparring while Ayako watched from the side, giving pointers and warnings to both competitors, though mainly to Sakura, as the plum-haired girl clearly needed them far more than her sister.
Since Rin had been trained in fighting for years by Kotomine and Sakura had never done more than the absolute minimum at gym-classes at school, the black-haired girl was utterly dominating the match, even though she was obviously going very easy on her little sister.
As Shirou watched, Rin swept Sakura's legs out from under her and took her in an arm-lock with the same amount of effort it would have cost her to flip over a small table. Rin's movements were purposefully slow and obvious, yet still enough to defeat the plum-haired girl.
Upon being released, Sakura tried to lunge for Rin, but was caught in a hip-throw and smacked back onto the ground harshly.
She then made a brave attempt at a leg-sweep, trying to bring Rin down too, but the black-haired girl simply trapped her leg between her own, before grabbing it and twisting it into a painful position, effectively ending the fight for the third time within ten seconds.
Sakura still didn't give up though, and threw herself at Rin again. This time, Rin met her head on, and the two began grappling, pushing and pulling each other in an attempt to bring the other down, their bodies pressed together.
The sight of two beautiful girls doing a spot of wrestling was more than a little sexy, and Shirou stilled for a moment to properly appreciate the spectacle, which was only enhanced by the outfits that they had chosen to wear.
Rin wore black elastic sports pants that were both very tight and very short, seemingly painted onto her bottom, coupled with a small sports top and elbow- and knee protectors, all black. The outfit left her limbs and her stomach almost entirely bare, while the covered parts jiggled ever so slightly with every movement she made.
Sakura was wearing a one-piece sports suit, purple coloured, which sort of covered her torso but left entire swaths of skin on her back and her flanks bare. Her limbs were also uncovered, and since her suit was every bit as tight as Rin's, her 'assets' bounced like there was no tomorrow every time she was thrown onto the mats.
Ayako was a bit more conservative than the sisters, wearing sports pants that came halfway down her thighs and a top that completely covered her upper torso and her upper arms. Still, while the outfit may not be quite as sexualised as Rin's and Sakura's, she was rocking it nonetheless, the definition of her biceps being visible even underneath the brown cloth. The exposed belly and bare legs were of course added treats.
Seeing the most beautiful girls in the city, in the world even, in such a state, while knowing that they didn't mind him looking, was a blessing, and Shirou muttered a quick prayer of thanks to whatever deity was listening for allowing him to witness this spectacle.
It was a memory that would stay with him until the very end.
"Got you!"
Shirou looked back at the sisters upon hearing Rin's exclamation, and he let out a soft whistle when he saw that Rin had managed to pin Sakura down. The purple-haired girl was lying face-down on the ground, while Rin had locked her arms behind her back. The black-haired girl was lying flush on top of her little sister, bare skin pressing against bare skin, while Sakura squirmed in an attempt to escape, causing both girls to wiggle slightly.
That Rin was currently holding her face right next to Sakura's, their cheeks almost touching, only made the picture even more erotic.
"And that's ten!" Ayako called, having apparently counted the seconds since Sakura had been pinned. "Rin wins!"
"Ah." Sakura let out a noise of disappointment, ceasing her struggle now that the fight was over. "I lost."
"Did you think you ever had a chance of winning?" Rin asked with a frown, letting go of Sakura's arms and pushing herself off from the ground. "Aren't you underestimating me a bit too much?"
"I never thought I would win." Sakura shook her head, also getting up, before dusting herself off. "I just thought I could give you a little more trouble than I did. I was no challenge at all, was I?"
"No." As was typical of her, Rin was entirely blunt in her assessment, making no attempt to spare Sakura's feelings. "If I'd wanted to, I would have floored you long before you could have completed your first attack. You were, quite simply, hopeless."
Sakura slumped in depression, looking quite miserable at the negative assessment, and Shirou stepped forward to console her, before stopping when Rin shot him a quick look, her expression making it clear she wanted to deal with her sister herself.
The black-haired girl gave him a grateful nod when he stopped, before she sighed deeply, moving her hand towards Sakura's shoulder, as if to soothe her…
…Before she lashed out at the plum-haired girl's bottom instead, slapping it harshly in reproach.
"Eep?!" Sakura squeaked in shock. "N-Nee-san?!"
"Serves you right for being such a fool." Rin sniffed, giving the plum-haired girl a cross look. "Adjust your expectations! Of course you can't fight worth a damn if you've never trained before! What else did you expect?! No one is an expert right from the beginning, that would be preposterous!"
"B-But-"
"No buts!" Rin's reproach was coupled with another smack to Sakura behind, making the girl let out another squeak. "I never expected you to put up much of a fight. Our little spar was meant to give us an idea of your capabilities so we can train you properly. That you would lose was inevitable and nothing to be ashamed of."
"B-But it means I'm not good at fighting- EEK!" Sakura tried to protest, but received another spank for her troubles, unable to avoid Rin's deft slaps.
"It means you're untrained." Rin corrected her sternly, before finally softening her tone. "But we'll fix that. Between Ayako, Shirou, and me, there is a lot we can teach you. We'll train you, and I have no doubt that you'll become a decent fighter in no time."
"At your level, Nee-san?" Sakura asked, perking up slightly.
"Not a chance. Just decent." Rin promptly shot her down.
"You're so harsh." Sakura wilted again, before hastily shielding her butt when Rin raised her hand again. "Eck! A-Alright, I get it! I'll train as hard as I can!"
"Good." Rin nodded in satisfaction, before smiling kindly at Sakura, as she hadn't just scolded her. "I liked sparring with you by the way. I hope we can do it more often."
"Eh? Uhm, sure, I guess?"
"Marvellous!"
"If you want to, I would be glad to spar with you as well." Shirou fell in, offering his own services.
"Oh, Senpai!" Sakura turned towards him with a happy smile, only now noticing him. "I would be happy to spar with you too!"
"Me too." Rin nodded, looking more eager than when she'd offered to spar with Sakura. "Though I'll Reinforce myself during the spar. That's non-negotiable."
"Of course. It wouldn't be very fair otherwise." Shirou easily accepted her condition, before giving the sisters a lopsided grin. "You can even ask Sakura for help. I'll gladly fight both of you at the same time, if you'd prefer."
Both Rin and Sakura stilled, before they gave him very similar empty looks.
"…Hey Sakura?"
"Yes, Nee-san?"
"Do you also get the idea that our boyfriend is getting a little full of himself?"
"Why, I do."
"Wanna do something about it?"
"Excellent idea."
They both turned towards him, crouching slightly in preparation for launching themselves at him, and Shirou, who had purposefully goaded them a bit, smiled in anticipation, before also readying himself for battle.
"Surprise!"
But then someone suddenly jumped onto his back, and an arm was wrapped around his neck while another went over his eyes, effectively blinding him.
"Wha-?"
"I've got you!" Ayako cheered right next to his ear, having just successfully ambushed him. "Get him, girls!"
The brunette had joined the battle, and her first move had been to efficiently hobble him right at the start. Sakura and Rin didn't let such an opportunity slip by, and they threw themselves at him, with Rin swiftly Reinforcing herself in the same motion.
Blinded and off-balance, Shirou was unprepared for the attack, and the girls were not shy about capitalising on his weakness.
Unfortunately for the girls though, Shirou was far from helpless.
Yes, Rin had been trained by Kirei and Ayako had studied several martial arts, but Shirou had been taught extensively by Kiritsugu, a legendary assassin, he had broad experience in actual battles from his time as Rakurai and at the Clocktower, and he had even received some training from Taiga.
All that was to say that the situation was far from hopeless for him, which he further demonstrated when within ten seconds, he had Sakura on the ground, pinned down by his knee, he was holding Rin's wrists together behind her back, holding them high up so she was forced to bend over uncomfortably, and he had Ayako in a gentle chokehold.
An effortless victory.
"Do you surrender?" He asked, unable to suppress a victorious grin.
"Yes." Sakura said immediately.
"No!" Rin fumed, searching for a way to escape.
"M-Maybe." Ayako managed to wheeze out, her cheeks getting strangely flushed as he kept cutting off most of her airflow.
Regardless of their answers though, Shirou released all three of them at the same time.
"Again!" Unsurprisingly, it was Rin who spoke up first after that, demanding a rematch.
"Fine by me." Shirou nodded, not one to reject a friendly fight.
The fight ended the same as the previous one however, with Rin in a submission hold, as did the third fight, the fourth, and the fifth.
"Argh!" Rin groaned when Shirou caught her in a bearhug, ending their sixth fight in a row, before she started angrily kicking her legs. "You stupid, handsome, annoying, strong idiot!"
"Now now, Rin. Remember what you told Sakura." Shirou laughed, letting her go again. "Expecting to win against someone with more training, experience, and ability is a sign of arrogance."
"Hmpf." Rin scoffed, but she didn't argue with him, recognising he was right. "Just you wait! I'll start training now too, and I'll have you in a hold before you know it."
"I'm looking forward to it." Shirou replied honestly, giving her a fond smile.
The sneer he received in return was a thing of beauty, honestly.
Man, he loved his tsundere girlfriend.
The sparring sessions between the girls and Shirou continued for a while, periodically interrupted by some proper muscle training, until they were all too tired, mentally and physically, to continue.
At that point, Sakura, Ayako, and Rin returned to the house to take a nice bath and then tend to their own matters, while Shirou went to his shed, alone, to work on a private project.
So ended their first day of training together.
Over the course of the day, they'd made some good progress together, mostly in the form of identifying each other's weak points. Sakura was still a total novice, that was painfully obvious to them all, but she was showing great potential that was just waiting to be unlocked. Ayako meanwhile had a very strong theoretical foundation, having trained for hours to master the proper motions of her various martial arts, but her lack of actual experience meant that she couldn't properly apply them in a serious battle. Rin on the other hand did have actual experience, mostly in the form of sparring with Kirei, who had no compunction about breaking bones if she made a mistake, but she was largely unaware of the proper theory, making her repertoire a bit limited.
They were rather glaring weak points, but there was no reason for concern. They were all flaws that could be fixed with hard work, and if there was anything that they all did well, it was hard work.
With mindsets like theirs, it was inevitable that they would improve themselves. Even Shirou was determined to get better, gratefully accepting the girls' help in finding his own weaknesses.
But the prospect of getting better at martials arts provided the redhead no solace as he stepped into his shed-turned-research-hall, heading straight for the corner where he practised his spells. In fact, it felt entirely useless.
For Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes and his current greatest enemy, was not an opponent who could be defeated by sheer muscle or fancy moves.
No measure of training with the girls was going to prepare Shirou for dealing with him. No style or form would avail him in such a fight.
A fight that was inevitably going to take place, for the King himself had promised to meet him on the battlefield when the Grail War began once more.
To deal with Gilgamesh, one would need either a massive amount of raw power, equal to that of a major god, or an immense number of special attacks, preferably equal to Noble Phantasms, as well as some very clever strategizing to trap him.
Both things that Shirou did not have.
Sure, he had lightning, his many Runes, several other tricks and gimmicks, and most importantly, Mjolnir, but aside from his faithful hammer, those were not going to be of much use against the Golden King.
The weapons in his Vault, or at least the ones he had access to, were at the level of high-powered Mystic Codes, which was convenient, but not nearly sufficient to even hamper Gilgamesh, except perhaps when used by the thousands at once.
One way or another, Shirou needed to prepare himself better, much better, lest he be killed when Gilgamesh came for him again.
But that was easier said than done, especially in light of their previous encounter.
In truth, Shirou felt disheartened by that first encounter with Gilgamesh, disheartened and disappointed in himself.
After his adventures at the Clocktower, during which he'd saved many innocents, defeated numerous Magus families, and gained the respect of the Vice-Director herself, he had allowed himself to fall into complacency.
Everyone's praises had been lavished upon him. Time and again, he had been told how powerful he was, how extraordinary, by friends and foe alike. The mightiest of lords and ladies had trod carefully around him, and they had all been vying for his favour.
To his shame, he had to admit that he'd started unconsciously believing them. He too had begun to see himself as special, and he had thought himself to be capable of fighting anything the modern age had to offer.
But then Gilgamesh had pretty much mopped the floor with him. The fight had only lasted a few moments, yet it was clear that the King of Uruk had been the decisive victor. He had dominated the entire fight, all twenty-one seconds of it.
Granted, Gilgamesh had surprised him with the first punch, but the redhead was honest enough to admit that even if he'd been fully prepared and armed, he still wouldn't have stood a chance against the King of Heroes himself.
That had been painfully obvious.
Which, in turn, had a few nasty implications.
Gilgamesh hadn't used a single skill during the battle, nor had he used his favourite Noble Phantasm-rain attack. He'd fought mostly with his fists, and only used a few low-level Noble Phantasms to defend against Shirou's esoteric attacks and dish out a few pinpricks at most.
In other words, the demigod had been holding back so much it wasn't even funny anymore.
Kiritsugu had always said that Servants were existences far beyond humanity, and for the first time since the man had passed, Shirou felt he could properly appreciate just what that meant.
It really drove home that he wasn't ready for the Grail War. He'd been casual in his training, negligent in his preparations, and now, it was highly likely any Servant that would be summoned could kick his ass.
It was high time he changed that.
A fire had been ignited within him, a fire that called for him to become more powerful. Fuelled by his feelings of inadequacy and shame, it demanded that he became stronger. Strong enough to present an actual threat even to a full-powered and fully serious Gilgamesh, let alone other Servants.
It was a titanic mountain to climb, especially in three years or less, but Shirou intended to give it his all. He was going to get stronger, and unlike before, he was going to take his training seriously.
He would practise with his Magecraft, practise with the Mysterious Power, with Runes, and with all his other abilities. He wasn't going to wait passively anymore for him to gain strength as he changed into an Asgardian, but he would actively work at becoming more powerful.
And as a part of that, he was going to develop his latent talents as well, in particular his ability to copy weapons.
That was the whole reason he'd stopped by his shed after his training with the girls.
Ever since he was a young boy, Shirou had had a knack for Projecting blades. He was good at Structural Analysis and Projection in general, having even developed a more advanced version of them that he'd called Tracing, but it was with weapons that this talent really shone.
Recently, he'd even discovered that he could recreate Magical weapons with his Tracing spell, when he had successfully Projected a Katana-shaped Mystic Code that could cut through Magically Reinforced materials at the cost of being less effective against mundane materials.
With his access to the Magical Weapons in the Vault, his trip to see the collection of the world's most renowned blade-shaped Mystic Code-collector back in London, and with the vast supply of Magical Weapons lying in the world's many museums that were just waiting to be Traced, that meant he could carry a veritable arsenal of blades wherever he went, all of them just a fraction of a second of Tracing away.
It was an ability with massive potential, but Shirou had to admit he'd neglected it so far in favour of using Mjolnir and the Mysterious Power, which provided more immediate advantages and more power than any Mystic Code ever could.
But that might change, now that he'd possibly made another breakthrough.
Shirou reached into the Vault and pulled out a sword. A nodachi to be precise, one that appeared to be unpractically long yet still had been used to great effect by various users over the centuries.
It was Monohoshi Zao.
A sword that was technically a mere Mystic Code of unimpressive power, yet held within it a technique that was unlike anything else in the world.
Tsubame Gaeshi.
One swing that resulted in three simultaneous strikes. One line that became three, capable of catching a swallow mid-flight and cutting through anything in its way.
The strike contained neither Magic nor Mystery, yet it still slipped right past the boundaries of physical laws and restraints to become something that could rightly be called god-like.
Or rather, could be called a Noble Phantasm.
Of course, the sword did not actually hold that technique within it. Monohoshi Zao was not Mjolnir, capable of holding and transferring power and techniques. It had only been the nameless third wielder, later named Sasaki Kojiro, who'd been able to perform that flawless strike.
But now, the sword had ended up in Shirou's hands, and to Shirou and Shirou alone, the technique was clearly visible.
One could almost say… Traceable.
Shirou shifted into a battle-ready stance, placing his feet in the correct position while lifting the sword to eye-height, pointing it straight at an imaginary opponent.
He crouched slightly, and tensed his shoulders, before taking in a deep breath.
Then he moved.
"Tsubame Gaeshi!"
He swung the sword, exactly as the technique prescribed…
…And then almost emptied his stomach when he suddenly saw not double, but triple, as the world spun before his eyes and his sense of balance evaporated.
One straight line became three blurry, spotted lines that were aimed at nothing in particular as Shirou made a silly half-twirl that ended in him smacking against the ground hip-first, hard enough to actually hurt him, while the sword went flying off somewhere.
There was no way that strike would have hurt any opponent, save for perhaps making them laugh themselves to death at the sight of his clownish fumble.
"Ouch." He groaned in pain, before he sighed in relief when his healing factor quickly dealt with the bruise on his hip.
…If only it could heal his bruised ego just as easily. He was just grateful Caren nor Rin had been present to see that.
Safe to say, his first attempt at copying the third wielder's Noble Phantasm had been a laughable mishap.
Not strange, if one considered that Shirou was shorter than the third wielder, lighter than the third wielder, stronger than the third wielder, and not nearly as well-trained. All factors he had not accounted for.
When seen from that point of view, it should be considered a success instead.
For it confirmed what he'd already suspected.
He was in fact capable of Tracing Noble Phantasms.
No matter how shoddily, he had just performed Tsubame Gaeshi, something that was supposed to be utterly impossible.
It was a discovery that genuinely baffled him for a while. The fact that he'd expected, or rather hoped, that it would be the case did not prevent it from being an utter and complete bombshell.
It elevated his ability to Trace weapons from a convenient extra ability to a total game-changer on a fundamental level.
The idea of being able to make and use Noble Phantasms was incredible, and Shirou lost himself for a few moments to a pleasant fantasy of drowning Gilgamesh in an endless barrage that far exceeded the Golden King's firing speed.
But he quickly focused again, for there were more experiments to be done.
As said before, the third wielder's Noble Phantasm was one that was utterly devoid of Mystery or Magic. It depended on nothing but pure skill, and was technically attainable to any human who practised enough, at least in theory.
On top of that, the third wielder had lived relatively recently, had not possessed any special bloodline or inborn ability, and used a sword that was made of simple steel.
In other words, it was probably one of the easiest Noble Phantasms in existence to be roughly copied.
No insult intended.
If Shirou really wanted to be sure he could copy Noble Phantasms, and that Tsubame Gaeshi wasn't just a fluke, he needed to do it again with a different one.
Fortunately, after his scuffle with Gilgamesh, who was basically a Noble Phantasm-dispensing machine, he had just the one.
It would be a difficult one, as it was over four thousand years old, but even so, Shirou was pretty sure he'd be able to manage it.
"Trace on."
The redhead closed his eyes, cocked back the hammer of his mental gun, and then pulled the trigger, activating his Magic Circuits.
Power flooded his body, both Magical Energy and the Mysterious Power, and Shirou began the process of Tracing a difficult weapon.
Judging the concept of creation.
This step was inherent to Projection, and was essentially nothing more than indicating what sort of object you wanted to Trace, in this case a spear.
Hypothesizing the basic structure.
He had to imagine the spear's precise shape and structure.
Duplicating the composition material.
He had to recreate the material of which the spear had been made, which was Drake Bone.
A shape began taking form in his mind as he completed the first three steps. This part was roughly what a normal Magus with some skill in Gradation Air would be able to accomplish, and it would result in an object that looked similar enough to the original, but held nothing of its background or its properties. It would be a hollow copy, full of flaws, and would disappear quickly.
Hence, Shirou needed to go a little further.
Imitating the skill of its making.
This would give the copy some of the background that normal Projections lacked. It would make it seem as if it had been made by the same creator as the original rather than Shirou, removing one of the most glaring flaws that would make the world reject it.
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.
This step did not really do anything for the Projection itself. Rather, Shirou took a good look at the weapon's past, saw everything it had been through, from the moment of its making until it had ended up in Gilgamesh's Vault, and he carefully memorised it all.
Reproducing the accumulated years.
This was where the Magic happened. Everything he had observed during the previous step was now added to the Projection, giving it all the background, the properties, and experiences that the original also possessed.
Excelling every manufacturing process!
The last step, at which every previous step was polished and perfected, and then…
"…!"
A weight settled in his hand, and something inside him shifted, something deep within his Soul that was now truly awakening at last.
Shirou let out a shaky breath. He'd Projected something, that was obvious, but whether it was what he had envisioned…
He almost didn't dare look.
But he had to. He had to find out whether he was on to something or whether copying Noble Phantasms was just a pipe dream.
So he opened his eyes…
And looked at his hand.
Then delight washed over him.
For there, in his hand, was the mean looking spear that Gilgamesh had flung at him during their confrontation in the church.
It was perfect. A perfect copy.
He performed a quick Structural Analysis to double check, but he hardly needed that to see that the spear was a genuine Noble Phantasm. The very Noble Phantasm he'd set out to recreate.
Four thousand years old and constructed from a Drake's bones after the wielder had beaten the beast to death with a rock, it was truly a weapon from the Age of the Gods. Wielded for decades to defeat all manners of Phantasmal Species, the only reason it was low in rank was because it was nameless and unknown.
It was uniquely suited for killing dragon-like enemies, carried a potent poison that was deadlier than anything the Modern Age had to offer, and possessed the ability to 'phase' through armour in order to strike what lay behind it, which apparently had been an ability of the Drake.
And yes, 'armour' in this sense did not only mean actual armour, but could also mean a force field, a vest of Kevlar, or even, and Shirou really liked this, a hostage.
If someone was holding a hostage in front of them as a 'shield', and Shirou stabbed this spear through both hostage and hostage-taker, then only the latter would actually be hurt, as the spear would phase through the hostage.
It was admittedly fairly low in Mystery when compared to other Noble Phantasms, meaning that high-grade armour-type- and shield-type Noble Phantasms could likely block it despite its ability, but that did not diminish its value at all in Shirou's eyes.
For he had just Projected it himself.
He had used his improved version of Gradation Air, a spell widely considered to be worthless, to create a very decent copy of a Noble Phantasm.
One that was so close to the original, so close to being flawless, that the difference was utterly negligible. In fact, Shirou was willing to bet he could place the spear in a nearby museum, walk away, and then return years later to find it still in perfect condition, like the Projected knickknacks in his shed.
Granted, it was only an E-rank Noble Phantasm that had been created by a human and wielded by a human, making it not very exotic or particularly unique as Noble Phantasms went, but even so, this was an incredible feat, one that would make the Magus Association tremble on its foundation.
But making it was one thing. Actually using it was another thing entirely.
Normally, Noble Phantasms could only be truly wielded by their creator and their owner. There were exceptions of course, as there always were with Heroic Spirits, but that was the general rule.
Shirou was neither the spear's owner nor its creator, as those had been that one guy four thousand years ago, but that only went for the original. For this copy in his hands, he was both the creator and the owner, so technically...
…He should be able to use it.
Intending to test his hypothesis, Shirou held the spear up in an attack position, before he channelled his power through it.
The tip immediately became covered in a baleful purple light, and glowing lines spread across the length of the spear, signifying that it was indeed being activated by Shirou's power.
A hopeful sign.
The redhead then turned around, towards an empty space.
In that space, he quickly Projected several practice dummies that were covered in various forms of armour, to test the spear's capabilities.
Shirou took a deep breath, before he pulled the spear back in preparation for throwing it.
All that was needed now to fully activate the Noble Phantasm was its name, which was of course fully known to Shirou now that he had Traced it so successfully.
"Pierce that what lies before and throughout, SARPANITUM!"
With a chant that was, unbeknownst to him, in ancient Sumerian, Shirou threw the spear, and it became a bolt of purple fire, shooting towards the dummies at breakneck speed.
Being dummies, they did not dodge, and the spear hit them full on, triggering a purple explosion upon impact.
Shirou's vision was impaired for a few seconds, but when the dust settled and he saw what had happened, he grinned widely.
The dummies themselves were greatly damaged, and covered with a purple poison on top of that, but the armours, the armours that they had worn…
They were perfectly undamaged.
Exactly as they should be.
"YEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!"
Shirou pumped his fist.
Both his fists.
He threw his arms wide.
And jumped in the air in joy.
All while shouting his delight to the ceiling.
"Yes, yes, YEEEEESSSSSS!"
His loss of control was almost embarrassing, yet there was not a soul alive, or dead, who would think anything disparaging of him.
For he had just done something that was supposed to be impossible.
"Take that, Gilgamesh!" Shirou laughed, grinning so widely it nearly hurt his cheeks.
It was a massive success! The Noble Phantasm had perfectly served its purpose, fully living up to its legend, not impaired in the slightest by being a copy!
Which meant his ability to copy Noble Phantasms could be a very decent counter to Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon. Their attacks would cancel each other out!
Hopefully.
His massive, full-blown grin would surely have gained him a snide comment from Rin and a mocking remark from Caren, but he didn't care about that. He was just delighted his experiment had worked out so well.
This called for a celebration!
Shirou promptly left his experiments for what they were and made for the main house. He didn't even pause to retrieve the spear, content to let it lie when it had ended up.
He had obtained other Noble Phantasms from Gilgamesh, but those could be tested next time, as could that strange shifting feeling inside his Soul, something he experienced every time he Projected a special blade.
For now, he was going to spend the evening and the night with his girlfriends in glorious celebration.
School would start again in only two days, which would also mark the departure of both Ayako and Rin, so this was the last opportunity he'd get for a while to properly express his love for them.
He was going to make the most of it.
That night, while they were subjected to every sensual and amorous action that Shirou could think of, Sakura, Ayako, and Rin could only wonder what had their boyfriend in such an amazing and enthusiastic mood.
Asking him about it was impossible though. It was all they could do to keep up with him, and even Rin couldn't summon the breath or the energy to even make a token protest as she was kissed and fondled into a stupor.
There was no room for any other thoughts, and by the end of the wonderful, wonderful night, all three had collapsed in utter exhaustion.
Even Shirou was slightly spent, but that was good, for it meant he could lie down beside his girls and spend the night with them, cuddling them as he too fell asleep.
It had been a successful day, but exhausting too, and he should take this opportunity to rest while he could.
For when school would begin again, his schedule was going to get a lot fuller once more.