Chapter 63: Chapter:63 Kokabiel...?
Never Retreating...
"Gremory...Sempai...?" Shirou murmured, tilting his head back to look at her only to break out into harsh, wracking coughs, the Devil’s eyes widening as blood stained his lips one ochre eye shutting from the strain "Are...are the others...alright?"
"We’re fine, Emiya-kun." Akeno assured him, his left hand clasped to her bosom as she continued to try and reduce the excess power pouring into his body from the arm as best she could "Though I can’t say the same for Kokabiel..."
"I’ll say!" Issei agreed, grinning down at the redhead, all enmity forgotten as he tried to psych him up "There wasn’t anything left of that bastard to bury in a matchbox! You really stole the show, you damned handsome!"
"Then...everyone...made it out...alive?" Shirou asked, his tone almost hesitant, as if hardly daring to believe, the others slowly chiming in to confirm their continued existence.
Then he smiled. A beautiful, wondrous smile that seemed to emanate from the bottom of his heart, tears of gratitude forming in his eyes as gazed upon them all with unseeing eyes. To Issei, who up till now had only recently come to grudgingly respect the redhead, it seemed as if he was thanking them. As if by saving them, they had somehow saved him.
Yet Never Victorious.
And in that instant, Issei knew that he would never see that smile again. That in the next moment, those golden eyes would lose their lustre, and the Man behind them would be lost forever.
"Hey! Stay with me, Emiya!" he barked, tears streaming from his face as he gripped the redhead’s collar tightly "Open your eyes damn it! You don’t get to just die like that! I still haven’t paid you back for my nose dammit!"
"Emiya-kun..." Kiba muttered, his expression grim even as Xenovia gripped her crucifix, torn between her desire to offer a prayer to their comrade and her knowledge that there was no point in doing so. After all, how could she beg God for assistance when he’d been dead for centuries? "Rias-Buchou," the knight called out "Isn’t there anything you can do?"
"Don’t you think I tried, Yuuto?" Rias muttered grimly, holding up her remaining Rook and Knight pieces, which she’d apparently been attempting to place into the Faker’s chest "Neither of them reacted...either he’s worth more than a single Rook or Knight...or he’s too-far gone to be revived."
"Well that certainly won’t do." A voice declared from above, the group tensing as they glanced upwards just in time for a blue light to shatter the barrier around the Academy, their eyes widening as a figure on eight wings of blue light, his form clad in white plate armour inlaid with several blue gems, descended from on high "I can’t have someone so interesting die before I’ve had a chance to fight him."
Figured I’d get this out as thanks for some of the advice people gave me regarding power-leveling.
Did you guys like the fight? Did you like the ending? Originally I was planning to just ’Gae Bolg’ Kokabiel to a wall but I figured that’d be way too easy...and there’s no way in hell Kokabiel would just stand still long enough for Shirou to activate ’Impaling Barbed Death’, especially considering how even humans can sense the spear’s malevolence when active.
Still ending on another cliffhanger, but I’m sure the fans out there can guess who showed up right?
In any case, I figured now’s a good enough time as any to answer a few questions.
The Artificial Phantasm/Archer’s Arm: Isn’t going anywhere. It’s bound to Shirou’s soul for crying out loud and due to the unique nature of their existence you couldn’t even begin to separate them if you tried. As a result, while Shirou’s skills will eventually develop to the point he won’t need the arm, he will eventually begin taking on more of the Counter Guardian’s traits and mannerisms.
In short, his existence will become something similar to Saber’s, a being who belongs in the Throne of Heroes yet isn’t due to a technicality. In Saber’s case, she entered into a contract with the world to seek the Holy Grail. Even in Fate Route, where Shirou convinces her to put her desire aside, thus negating the contract, she is taken to Avalon after her death, thus sparing ’that’ version of Saber from the Throne of Heroes.
In the case of Shirou/EMIYA, despite their contract with Alaya essentially perverting their ideal, there is little doubt that EMIYA is indeed worthy of ascending to the Throne of Heroes based on his skills alone, a rarity for a magus from the modern age. However, unlike Saber, whose contract was negated unfulfilled, EMIYA is not so lucky in that the only way for him to be freed from the Counter-Force is if people learn his true name & come to revere him as a Hero.
In short, Fake x Fate isn’t just about Shirou finding a new lease on life after having virtually everything he valued torn from him. It’s about Shirou slowly developing into an existence that surpasses that of the ’Counter Guardian Emiya’ to become the true ’Heroic Spirit Emiya Shirou’, not out of any childish ideal to become a Hero like before, but simply because he cannot sit back and ignore the chaos that’s going on around him.
Shirou’s Humanity: A lot of people have been asking me if I intend to have Shirou join a peerage or become some other form of Magical entity like an Angel or a Dragon of all things. Let me be the first to say that Shirou will remain 100% a Sword.
Lol, I kid I kid, but in all honesty Shirou will remain human, though he will receive a few tempting offers down the line.
Shirou’s Magecraft: Will eventually grow to surpass that of EMIYA, both in terms of skill and due to the reduced limitations of the DxD world. Since the Gods are still faffing about, albeit in a reduced capacity, Gaia hasn’t seen the need to develop a consciousness, though it might not be the same for Alaya since Humanity’s drive to survive is pretty much universal. That being said, weapons like Ea & Excalibur remain beyond him.
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