Nasuverse [FSN] Centralized Random Idea Thread

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
daniel_gudman said:
When you are directly responding to the last post, you don't need to quote them, let alone an unabridged nested quote of the last six posts.

It strikes me as disrespectful of other peoples' time when you just click the quote button and make everyone else scroll past the exact same thing they just read, again, because you were too thoughtless (lazy?) to spend four seconds editing your post.
Ummm... for some of us who are unfamiliar with the discussion, to pop in and have an easy recap is useful. From that stand-point, I think it's unfair to call it disrespectful of people's time.

-chronodekar
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
If you are referring to the annoyance of having to scroll over a lot of quoted text, I'm of the opinion that the benefits outweigh the trouble.

-chronodekar
 
I was struck by something of a silly idea: let's call it Fate/Stay Smite. Basically, instead of Heroes, the Gods of myth ala the MOBA Smite are summoned instead. This certainly leads to a few scenarios of how to proceed (especially if one doesn't want to rehash yet another 4th/5th Grail War). Basically the permutations boil down to how one might want to format things: do you use the seven FSN classes or the five Smite classes? Is it a deathmatch or team vs team? There's a lot to play around with.
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
Professional Cynic said:
I was struck by something of a silly idea: let's call it Fate/Stay Smite.  Basically, instead of Heroes, the Gods of myth ala the MOBA Smite are summoned instead.  This certainly leads to a few scenarios of how to proceed (especially if one doesn't want to rehash yet another 4th/5th Grail War).  Basically the permutations boil down to how one might want to format things: do you use the seven FSN classes or the five Smite classes?  Is it a deathmatch or team vs team?  There's a lot to play around with.
This makes me feel that it wouldn't be surprising if something had already written a Fate fanfic using the heros from DOTA2 or something similar ...

-chronodekar
 
To me, one of the fun things would be playing off the potential of cross-pantheon and inter-pantheon rivalries. Let's say it's team-based, and I'm using Smite classes.

One that jumps out to me is Anubis vs Thanatos. These two are Egyptian and Greek death gods respectively. Thanatos in the game is rather more bloodthirsty, while Anubis is more of a good guy, and judge of character. Thanatos would want to test his mettle against another death god. So, then we have two gpds, and they have some pretty distinctive abilities as well. Anubis can vomit locusts at people and shoot death rays out of his eyes. Thanatos has his scythe and can fly up into the air and drop down to execute wounded enemies.

Then there's Loki. He's both iconic in the game itself and his lore has all sorts of opportunities for conflict. Maybe you put Thor or Odin on the opposite team so that they won't follow orders because they want to settle their grudge with Loki. You could also put Odin on the same team (because both Loki and Thor are Assassins) and have them try and betray each other and otherwise not get along. However, I'll go with Tyr, because Tyr is very much about THE LAW which is another element of conflict with Loki

Warrior: Tyr
Mage: Anubis
Assassin: Loki - Thanatos

So, for another cross-pantheon rivalry, maybe one can throw in Bellona (warrior) vs Ares (guardian), since they are the gods of war of the Roman and Greek pantheons respectively. Amusingly enough, their personalities through and game lore and quotes aren't so different, so you can build up that to a climax where they realize they aren't so different after all, but it has to be this way (cue Metal Gear Rising soundtrack). Bellona is also something of a mascot, so she's a good iconic Smite character to have. Ares also has some of the most recognizable abilities in the game.

Guardian: Ares -
Warrior: Tyr - Bellona
Mage: Anubis -
Assassin: Loki - Thanatos

As another guardian, the Chinese Xing Tian could be a fun one. He's very Berserker-like in the game lore.

Guardian: Ares - Xing Tian
Warrior: Tyr - Bellona
Mage: Anubis
Assassin: Loki - Thanatos

This choice is more playing off the in-game abilities being cool, but having the Mayan serpent of the winds, Kukulkan, as the opposite mage. Xing Tian and hook someone and fling them into the path of Kukulkan's ultimate. Really, few things say battle of the gods, quite like a giant serpent screaming out of the sky to blow up a city block between the shockwave of its passage and the whirlwinds of its flapping wings.

At this point, I'm seeing that the team on the right is starting to get more morally ambiguous than the team on the left, and few things deliver conflict quite like interparty rivalries. So, I'll put Neith, the Egyptian mother of creation and weaver of fate, on team right. And it wouldn't be Fate if we didn't have waifubait. And I'll give team left Hou Yi as their hunter, because nothing says "Battle of the Gods" quite like dropping nine suns down on your enemy, and it combos nicely with Ares.

Hunter: Hou Yi - Neith
Guardian: Ares - Xing Tian
Warrior: Tyr - Bellona
Mage: Anubis - Kukulkan
Assassin: Loki - Thanatos

This is just one small permutation.
 

bissek

Well-Known Member
One of the greatest gem-based mystic codes in fiction (The Great Waystone, a millennia-old flawless, perfectly spherical amethyst the size of a melon) has a basis in reality in the Nasuverse, and Rin learns this.
 

AoMythology

Apparently a report-er
Idea: Tokiomi summons the wrong Gilgamesh - the one from the Final Fantasy series. ^_^

It's just a fragment of an idea, to be truthful, and someone might have thought of it before, but there you have it.

Edit: @chronodekar, daniel_gudman: I think that the problem is in the way the forum is set up - maybe it would be better if, when quoting, it doesn't go beyond two layers (quote, and the quote inside it, but not the quote in the quote of the quote); or am I being too confusing?
 

bissek

Well-Known Member
The remake of Ys IV actually includes the concept of Akasha - and provides a very good argument as to why, if that interpretation of the Akashic Records is true, the Magus Association must NEVER be allowed to reach it.

Picture the Akashic Records as the greatest wiki in the universe. One that has articles on absolutely everything, and is 100% accurate. Not because it reflects reality, but because it defines reality. The world is as it is because Akasha declares it to be so. But the reason why I use the concept of a wiki to describe it is because no piece of information within it exists in isolation. Anything that can be cross-referenced to each other is cross-referenced, even if the association is so obscure that most people would not think to connect the two items (and anyone who's wiki-walked knows how far associations can go once you've clicked a few random links).

And therein lies the danger. If people can access the Akashic Records, then they can edit the Akashic Records. And merely editing one piece of information cannot be done. You then have to edit all the references to remain consistent with that change. And all of their references to ensure that they remain consistent with those changes, etc. If the Akashic Records are not kept 100% internally consistent, the fabric of reality can tear itself apart along the contradictions, as part of the world try to be two or more mutually exclusive things simultaneously. It's doubtful that any human is capable of safely altering the records.

Could a Magus whose life of research and experimentation allowed him to reach Akasha be trusted to look and not touch? What would happen if some Magus actually realized this?
 
I always thought it was canon that anyone who reached the root had infinite knowledge and power, and could effectively rewrite the universe as they see fit.

And those who vanished upon touching couldn't handle it, or were stopped by its final line of defence or something. IIRC, the users of the 1st and 5th magics got within a single step of it, and then turned back.
 

bissek

Well-Known Member
The notion here is that yes, you can rewrite the universe as you see fit, but if you aren't careful, you're likely to destroy the universe by accident. Absolute power and the ability to wield it effectively are not the same thing.
 
Wouldn't infinite knowledge give one the ability to wield absolute power effectively?
 
Well, yeah, sure, but there's a difference between doing something stupid, and screwing up an attempt to do something. Infinite Knowledge means that the answer to "Can I do this?" is always yes, but not "Should I do this?"
 

daniel_gudman

KING (In Land of Blind)
Staff member
Isn't the answer to any given question "should I do this?" obviously a subset of "infinite knowledge"?

Additionally there's the question not just of total information but information rate; if a given mind has less than infinite thinking capacity, then it obviously would asymptotically take forever to actually look up everything.

That sets up a scenario where someone very well might access the Akashic Record to learn how to do something, but "log out" before they fully figured out what the consequences would be.
 
I dunno, isn't part of the 3rd Magic transforming into a "high-dimensional planar being capable of interacting with the material world as a mental body without having to return to Akasha?" And apparently "the practitioner will acquire an unlimited source of magical energy due to the soul becoming analogous to a perpetual motion machine."

If a "mere" sorcery can do that, I'd imagine that "truly" reaching the Root would probably involve some sort of ascension/transformation to be more capable of interpreting/comprehending/retaining information. I mean, Alaya altered Archer's soul in some way, to the point where the arm of his spiritual body, moulded into shape by his soul, completely overwhelmed the still-human Shirou in the HF route.

Then again, the "spiritual weight" of Gilgamesh's soul is worth thousands of modern humans. Maybe Touko is almost right, and the souls of modern humans aren't sturdy enough to handle even an infinitesimally small fraction of the infinite Knowledge/Power, and would pop like an over-filled balloon. Maybe that's what happened to the Magi that vanished.
 

bissek

Well-Known Member
I've seen something like that in other verses. In Omamori Himari volume 0, Kuesu read a magical book that purportedly held infinite knowledge. As a rule, everyone who tries to read it ends up dead or insane. The person who spent years secretly prepping Kuesu so that she could potentially read it safely and was using her as a medium to read the book safely was unable to handle the information rate Kuesu was exposed to, resulting in her head exploding. In the end, Kuesu pulled herself out of the book after realizing that if she went any deeper into what it offered, she wouldn't be able to get back, and thus would be unable to keep her promise to Yuuto.

Put her in the Nasuverse, and she'd likely be dubbed a heretic for choosing a boy over Akasha, and a Sealing Designate for getting as close as she did.
 

AoMythology

Apparently a report-er
I'm far from an expert on the Nasuverse. Does anyone know what Shirou might be like if he had a dual Origin of Creation - and Sword, of course? How would his abilities and personality change?
 

AoMythology

Apparently a report-er
New story idea: a cross between Persona 5 and FSN.

-----

"Emiya-senpai has a palace? Seriously?" Panther said, disbelieving. "He seems like such a nice guy; how can he be distorted? Could it be... is he secretly a pervert?!"

"Relax, Panther," Queen said, "remember how Oracle had one too? One doesn't have to be a horrible person to possess one. That said, Emiya-kun is remarkably well-adjusted - or so he seems. It makes me wonder."

"Do you think his usual behavior is a mask?" Joker, their leader, asked seriously.

Queen said, "I don't know; it is definitely possible."

Oracle said, "Aargh! We know too little! But, why did we pick the entrance of Mementos to talk about of all people, of all places, Shirou Emiya? Is-"

Beep! Match found for 'All places Shirou Emiya is in'

Everyone fell silent. After a few token attempts to discover what the key words were, they gave up and left.

-----
-----
Three guesses as to what the palace is called. :p
 
With doors that require specific meals to be prepared to open them.
 

AoMythology

Apparently a report-er
Another (shadow of an) idea: Shirou receives the Factor/Lacrima of the Iron Dragon, Metalicana. Slight cross with Fairy Tail.
 

AoMythology

Apparently a report-er
I don't know if I've captured the Fate/stay Night atmosphere well.

BTW, yes, Shirou is a Third Generation Dragon Slayer.

And no, he can't use Dragon Slayer Magic anymore, or any FT-style magic at all. This is a way to get him a Dragon Factor that suits him, as well as set up a full-fledged crossover as a sequel.

-----

Fire that seemed almost alive was spreading everywhere; the boy’s surroundings were full of smoke and a disgusting feeling was in the air, like the place had been cursed by the gods.

People spread a hand to plead for help; mothers shouted for someone to save their child; everyone wanted to be saved.

Still, the boy walked forward. He could smell the burning corpses; his ever-sensitive nose could also tell there was something wrong with the flames, and in this situation in general.

But, the only thing left was to continue on, selfishly ignoring the cries of the damned, not giving thought to the strangeness of the situation.


This dream again, Shirou thought; instead of waking up, though, he ended up in what he thought was another dream.

“Shirou,” an armored monstrosity said, very large and shaped similarly to a dragon from Europe’s stories. “Shirou,” it repeated.

Shirou examined the creature carefully, but without fear. It was then he realized that it wasn’t armored; it was simply made of metal. The creature spoke again.

It kept saying his name and the voice, however inhuman, sounded familiar.


Shirou woke up drenched in cold sweat, shivering. ‘What was that… metal dragon thing?’ He thought, taken aback at the nature of his new dream.

‘Either way, I gotta prepare for school,’ Shirou thought, ‘Fuji-nee will know if I’m late and be angry, and Shinji is gonna mock me again.’

Shirou made breakfast, which he ate by himself, Taiga being at her University’s dorm. She checked on him almost daily, of course, and ate his dinner in what she called 'killing two birds with one stone', which, with his limited knowledge of English, sounded ridiculous - even Magecraft would have a hard time accomplishing such a thing.

Two years had passed since Kiritsugu’s death, and Shirou was coping; he had become more abrupt and less polite since then, though. Even if, according to his older sister figure, it was mostly Shinji’s fault.

‘Why does everyone rag on Shinji, anyway?’ Shirou thought. He found the other boy very fun, even if he was a bit… prickly. After all, Shinji was the one who introduced Shirou to videogames and archery both; he was also the one who was there and stood up for Shirou.

-----

The history teacher, Akebino-sensei, kept droning on; Shirou, having not had a restful night, was slowly lulled to sleep.

“Shirou. Shirou,” the metal dragon- no, Iron Dragon (and how did Shirou know that?), said again.

Shirou just looked at it.

The Dragon said, “you idiot brat. It is I, M---------,” the buzzing in the boy’s ears drowning out the rest of its- no, his, sentence.


Shirou shot up, causing Akebino-sensei to scold him and the rest of the class to laugh at him.

-----

In the teachers’ lounge, the printer was out of order; naturally, instead of calling in an expert, the first person they spoke to was the ‘Fake Janitor’ of Fuyuki’s only Middle School. They were cheapskates according to Shinji, but Shirou didn’t really mind.

Everyone cleared out, even the teachers knowing better than to get between Shirou and his self-imposed mission.

Trace On, he whispered, activating the artificial Circuit he had made last night. He used Structural Analysis on the device, only to fail, causing himself pain. He held his temple, hearing a vaguely familiar metallic rumble, which he soon recognized as the Iron Dragon’s voice.

Feeling very foolish for following the instructions, Shirou tried Reinforcement on a balled up paper until he succeeded perfectly; then, he swallowed said paper ball.

Is something supposed to happen- uh oh

Warmth spread in Shirou’s insides, which steadily turned into burning; he was being boiled from the inside out. For all of Shirou’s agony, though, his pain tolerance was high enough to only let out a small moan.

‘What did this do?’ Shirou thought. Shrugging and deciding he would check at his workshop later, he whispered his activation aria again, only to feel a lot more than one Circuit. In fact, there were what he thought was twenty-seven, except they worked as one. Shrugging again, and ignoring the dragon’s voice saying something about a Magical Core, he scanned the printer with unheard of ease (for him).

Pinpointing the problem, he set out to fix it; using mundane means, of course.

-----

At Shirou’s workshop, night

Shirou tried meditating to reach the dragon that might or might not be in his body.

He thought, ‘are you there, Iron Dragon?’ Feeling a bit stupid. He certainly didn’t expect a response.
 

AoMythology

Apparently a report-er
Summary: Shirou is a (Third Generation) Dragon Slayer in the Fate world. Without access to his Dragon Slayer magic and with a voice in his head, he sets out to uncover his past and fulfill his dream.

Edited for canon compliance and more reasons.

-----

Fire; fire. Everything was fire. He walked until he no longer could. Not because he was tired; his lungs were simply full of toxic gases.

Haven’t remembered this in a while, Shirou thought; instead of waking up, though, he ended up in what he thought was another dream.

“Shirou,” an armored monstrosity said, very large and shaped similarly to a dragon from Europe’s legends. “Shirou,” it repeated.

Shirou examined the creature carefully, but without fear. It was then he realized that it wasn’t armored; it was simply made of metal. The creature spoke again.

It kept saying his name and the voice, however inhuman, sounded familiar.


Shirou woke up drenched in cold sweat, shivering. ‘What was that… metal dragon thing?’ He thought, taken aback at the nature of his new dream.

‘Either way, I gotta prepare for school,’ Shirou thought, ‘Fuji-nee will know if I’m late and be angry, and Shinji is gonna mock me again.’

Shirou made breakfast, which he ate by himself, Taiga being at her University’s dorm. She checked on him daily, of course, and ate his dinner in what she called killing two birds with one stone, which with his limited knowledge of English sounded ridiculous - even Magecraft would have a hard time accomplishing such a thing.

Two years had passed since Kiritsugu’s death, and Shirou was coping; he had become more abrupt and less polite since then, though. Even if, according to his older sister figure, it was mostly Shinji’s fault.

‘Why does everyone rag on Shinji, anyway?’ Shirou thought. He found the other boy very fun, even if he was a bit… prickly. After all, Shinji was the one who introduced Shirou to videogames and archery both; he was also the one who was there and stood up for Shirou.

-----

The history teacher, Akebino-sensei, kept droning on; Shirou, having not had a restful night, was slowly lulled to sleep.

“Shirou. Shirou,” the metal dragon- no, Iron Dragon (and how did Shirou know that?), said again.

Shirou just looked at it.

The Dragon said, “you idiot brat. It is I, M---------,” the buzzing in the boy’s ears drowning out the rest of its- no, his, sentence.


Shirou shot up, causing Akebino-sensei to scold him and the rest of the class to laugh at him.

-----

In the teachers’ lounge, the printer was out of order; naturally, instead of calling in an expert, the first person they spoke to was the ‘Fake Janitor’ of Shinto’s only Middle School. They were cheapskates according to Shinji, but Shirou didn’t really mind.

Everyone cleared out, even the teachers knowing better than to get between Shirou and his self-imposed mission.

“Trace On”, he whispered, activating the artificial Circuit he had just made. He used Structural Analysis on the device, only to fail, causing himself pain. He held his temple, hearing a vaguely familiar metallic rumble, which he soon recognized as the Iron Dragon’s voice.

Feeling very foolish for following the instructions, Shirou tried Reinforcement on a balled up paper until he succeeded perfectly (and somehow, despite not having used it right in years, it took only two tries); then, he swallowed said paper ball.

Is something supposed to happen- uh oh-

Warmth spread in Shirou’s insides, which steadily turned into burning; he was being boiled alive from the inside out. He also felt dizzy, and his limbs went numb.

For all of Shirou’s agony, though, his pain tolerance was high enough to only let out a small moan. Then, the feelings subsided; only a milder burning remained, spread throughout his body.

Shirou was worried that he was getting sick, but after a bit of deep breathing, he stopped feeling so dizzy, and feeling returned to his limbs slowly.

‘What was this supposed to do?’ Shirou thought. In hindsight, it reminded him of the failed creation of a Circuit, but it couldn’t be that. Deciding he would check at the shed later, he whispered his aria again, only to feel a lot more than one Circuit.

In fact, there were what he thought was a hundred or more, except he couldn’t pick which to use. Shrugging again, and ignoring the dragon’s voice saying something about a Magical Core, he scanned the printer with unheard of difficulty, even for him, due to his condition; it was like a person with a high fever trying to walk a tightrope, but he managed it.

Pinpointing the problem, he set out to fix it, using mundane means, of course; he was a bit dizzy still, could barely move, but he controlled himself - his instincts telling him that it was temporary helped.

-----

At Shirou’s ‘workshop’, night

Shirou tried meditating to reach the dragon that might or might not be in his body.

He thought, ‘are you there, Iron Dragon?’ Feeling a bit stupid. He certainly didn’t expect a response.

I am here, Shirou. My name is Metalicana; do not forget again.

The young boy flinched.

I was your foster father before you met Kiritsugu; do not ask of your birth parents. I know nothing about them.

‘Wait,’ Shirou “said” to the Dragon, ‘what was I like? Where was I from? How did you end up in my head?’

It’s complicated, Metalicana said in Shirou’s mind, I had to seal myself inside you to protect both of us, and you’re from a very distant land… and time. You were not too dissimilar to how you are now, except you were a lot ruder and more selfish then.

“A different time?!” Shirou said, shouting. A few seconds of contemplation later, he thought to the dragon, ‘well, that does explain some things - like why a Dragon still exists and has made contact with a human. But what were you saying before about a “Magical Core” and why did you have me eat paper?’

You still subconsciously trust me. Not all your memory is gone - or, at least, I hope it’s because of that and not naivete and gullibility, Metalicana told Shirou, making the boy blush.

Then, the dragon said, eating something imbued with Prana forced open your Magical Core; it would have been preferable for something made of iron to be used, but you’d probably refuse. As it was, I needed to help you along a bit, otherwise such a small amount of Magical Energy wouldn’t have been enough. Don’t worry about the burning - it will pass soon.

‘Okay,’ the boy told the dragon, ‘but what is a Magical Core? Is it another term for Circuits?’

Not quite. It’s a dragon’s version of Magical Circuits - I think. You have the Lacri- the factor of a Dragon, and a hundred-and-eight unified Circuits. I don’t know much of this form of magic- Magecraft, I mean. I am not a Magus, after all. Now leave me be - I am tired, Metalicana said to Shirou’s mind.

Shirou had the distinct impression that he and Metalicana bickered a lot in his previous life. Especially if he had been rude and selfish, like the dragon had told him.

Still, the Dragon also patiently explained that the way he had used Magecraft before was incorrect, that he had had Circuits all along, and that he needed to learn how to turn them off. (In exactly those words; well, maybe not so patiently, after all.)

-----

“Oi, Emiya,” someone said.

Shirou turned to see Mitsuzuri Ayako. He said, “oh, Mitsuzuri. What is it?”

Ayako beckoned him closer… then, she flicked his forehead.

“Ouch. What was that for?” Shirou said, reacting more in surprise rather than pain.

Ayako said, “what do you think? Maybe it’s because I’ve been trying to talk to you for five minutes and you had your head in the clouds.”

“Oh,” Shirou said, “sorry, Mitsuzuri - I have a lot on my mind. What did you want?”

“Please set that friend of yours straight,” the girl said, “he didn’t warn me or the faculty advisor he wouldn’t be here in the afternoon practice. Again.”

“I’ll try,” Shirou said, “can’t promise anything, though. He is usually very punctual; he must have had a good reason.”

“Knew I could count on you, Emiya,” Mitsuzuri said, hitting his shoulder lightly. “Oh, there she is,” she said and waved to another girl. “See ya, Emiya.”

Shirou nodded at her, then he looked at Ayako’s friend. Tohsaka, the school idol everyone admired; even Shirou, admittedly. His golden brown eyes met aquamarine; they narrowed - she looked at him like she suspected him of a crime, then turned away. All the while, she was on alert.

The boy tuned out the two girls’ conversation in order to think about the mystery that was Tohsaka. He didn’t remember that girl as quite so high-strung; maybe his memory was faulty? He also didn’t remember Mitsuzuri being friends with Tohsaka; maybe they usually hung out in the weekends, outside of school?

-----

Metalicana didn’t contact Shirou for months, during which Shirou was worried. The dragon had said he was tired. That was almost the last thing Shirou heard from him. In the meanwhile, Shirou was trying to get his power output under control. He used to have the problem of his spells simply fizzling out; now, he overpowered the Reinforcement enough to break the target objects.

He had had the idea to Reinforce his body before; it was proven a pipe dream after over two years of failures, but now that he could use spells successfully, he simply overpowered them.

Still, Shirou persevered. After much meditation, he realized that the nature of a Magical Core was many Circuits working as one - if he put pressure on one of them, he was exercising all of them. Additionally, a Magical Core was not something a human being was supposed to have.

Well, Circuits were also something people weren’t supposed to have, but he knew that he wasn’t fully human now. It took him a while to somewhat come to terms with it, but he didn’t abandon his dream of saving humanity - even if he had been part-dragon to begin with.

After those realizations and a lot of practice, things became easier - Shirou was able to Reinforce even thin paper now, though he wasn’t risking using it on his body just yet. The way he could switch off his Circuits also occurred to him suddenly a week or so after he activated them, when he heard about a murder occurring in Fuyuki. To turn them on, his trigger was the hammer of a gun striking a bullet.

In the meanwhile, now that he knew he could keep up with the Moonlit World in a fight, or be able to eventually, he stepped up his physical training.

That was when Metalicana contacted him again.

-----

Shirou. You’re doing it wrong, you moron.

‘Metalicana,’ Shirou said mentally, ‘I was worried for you. But what do you mean I’m doing it wrong?’

The dragon sent him a mental image of how that particular exercise was supposed to be done.

‘Got it- wait a minute. How do you know something like calisthenics and exercises?’ Shirou asked his dragon tenant.

Metalicana said, it’s a dragon’s intuition. It also allows full-fledged dragons to gather information they otherwise wouldn’t have any way of possessing. I am informed that you now possess a skill called a ‘C-rank Instinct’, though I’m not quite sure if it’s related. That may also have something to do with the way you’ve distanced yourself from that ‘Shinji’ boy lately.

‘What do you mean?’ Shirou asked. He thought he had simply neglected Shinji because he put all his time into Magecraft. No, that didn’t make much sense for him. If he was being hypnotized or mind-controlled somehow-

Worry not - it is not mind control. It is simply your instincts warning you that someone is not trustworthy. That boy may be a lot more malicious than he lets on, Metalicana “said”, unfortunately, the flashes of knowledge can be quite random, and I can only tell that he is most likely a snake in the grass.

-----

The brat was being stubborn over his friend, intent on disregarding Metalicana’s sage advice and his own instincts. Shirou’s nature hadn’t changed as much as the boy seemed to think - still stubborn and literal-minded. Still, he would learn to trust his own intuition, one way or the other.

Metalicana hadn’t expected to be able to speak with his foster son. The Mana in the air was, indeed, thicker than Ethernano had been in Earthland four hundred years in the past, but nothing compared to present Earthland; it shouldn’t have been enough to even let the dragon survive for long.

He suspected it was a combination of Dragons being more powerful in this world, Shirou’s unusually strong stamina -and Od, as he believed was the name of one’s internal magical energy- and, most importantly, something else inside Shirou amplifying the latter and even healing Metalicana.

Unfortunately, the Dragon Intuition only provided vital information, and the definition of ‘vital’ varied in random ways. He knew nothing of the item inside Shirou, other than that it was, in fact, an item and not a creature.

Of course, Shirou’s further increased healing factor only made Metalicana more determined to push the boy’s body to its limits and beyond. ‘Ah yes,’ he thought, ‘I was not known as the most merciless of training instructors among dragons and Dragon Slayers for no reason. The boy will learn to curse my name - again. Hahahahaha!’

-----

A new recruit had come to the Archery club and introduced herself. Her name was Matou Sakura, and she was a freshman.

Her talent with the bow was almost prodigious, but Shirou was worried - that look in her eyes was so… empty. Her smell also was off; it reminded him of rot and decay.

He tried to make conversation, but the girl was closed-off, and gave mainly one-word answers. ‘Is this girl seriously related to Shinji?’ He thought, more than a little crept out.

When he saw Shinji follow her, Shirou decided to go after him to ask what the deal with this Sakura was.

-----

An angry voice rang out. Shirou was worried, so he checked things out. What he saw ended his friendship with Shinji. Or, rather, what the boy said afterwards and how Shirou reacted did.

Shinji punched Sakura in the cheek, but the girl didn’t react, which only made Shinji angrier. Shirou could barely contain himself, but resolved to think things through.
Then Shinji grabbed Sakura’s breast, and all bets were off.

-----

Shirou was sulking. He truly had thought of Shinji as his friend, even if the guy was a womanizer and had a prickly personality. But what happened, and the way Shinji reacted showed him he should have never befriended that- that worm.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Shirou yelled at Shinji after opening the door fully.

Shinji turned and smirked. He said, “ah, Emiya. What’s up?” Pretending he hadn’t just been touching his sister inappropriately.

“Shinji,” Shirou said, suddenly quiet, “this isn’t the worst you’ve done to her, is it?”

“I don’t see how that’s your business, Emiya,” said Shinji, sealing his fate.

Shirou punched the piece of trash, the way Kiritsugu and Metalicana had instructed him to, nearly shattering Shinji’s jaw.


He had gotten in trouble for violence in school, but it was definitely worth it. Matou Sakura had started living with the Fujimuras (Fuji-nee’s parents) and came by the Emiya residence almost as often as Fuji-nee herself did.

Unfortunately, Shirou simply couldn’t connect with the girl, though she didn’t seem to resent that and still treated him with politeness. She was also a lot more animated nowadays.

She also insisted she should try to take care of him, including cooking for him, but Shirou adamantly refused. Her expression nearly made him falter, but he still didn’t trust the girl, Shinji’s victim or not.
 

AoMythology

Apparently a report-er
Metalicana was glad that Shirou had gotten rid of the parasite called Matou Shinji; with such a friend, he wouldn’t have needed enemies. The dragon had also enjoyed the expression on Shirou’s face before he punched that smug snake - it was a blast from the past, except more fierce than ever.

Either way, it was up to the brat to make new friends. Metalicana was concerned about something else: with Shirou’s Magic Container permanently damaged with no cure in sight, he would have to learn this ‘Magecraft’ if he wanted to have even a small chance of fulfilling his impossible dream or killing Acnologia - but the information the dragon got pointed to a ‘Magic Crest’ being necessary to cast most Magecraft.

Strangely enough, the idea wasn’t all that new to Metalicana; dying dragons used a form of Enchantment that remained after death to bestow part of their power to their descendant (or, rather, they ‘lived on’ through their descendants in a way, so it was the one type of Enchantment that remained after they passed on).

It normally didn’t work on humans, but if Metalicana got more information about Magic Crests, he might be able to modify the spell and construct something like that in Shirou.

It wasn’t like Metalicana had anything else to do with his time; Shirou’s body had already been immunized against dragonification, and he had already determined that returning to their original world was unachievable for now. He would definitely try to nudge Shirou in that direction, though. But, for now….

Brat, Metalicana told his son, stop sulking. It’s annoying.

‘So, my pain annoys you?’ Was the brat’s reply.

Metalicana felt a metallic eyebrow twitch. He knew that Shirou wasn’t being sarcastic - he meant what he said literally. Still, the brat could still get on his nerves, even if nowadays, it was usually by accident.

He said, well, moving on, this sulking is not a productive way to spend your time. If you can do that, you can train your body or Magecraft or do something else - anything else. That Matou Shinji was a poor choice in friends to begin with anyway.

‘Train? It seems like that’s all I’m doing nowadays. I’m not big on videogames, especially considering I usually played multiplayer ones with- with that bastard,’ the boy replied, ‘any other suggestions?’

Metalicana considered that for a moment, when his intuition went haywire. Slowly, he smiled; he could tell it was the kind of smile that scared away even Dragon Slayers. He said, how do you feel about a trip to China?

‘Now? How did you think that idea up and why China? Will Fuji-nee even allow that?’ Shirou asked.

Yes, now; to be exact, you are going to the Tomb of Three Kings, Metalicana replied, grin still on his face.
 
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