The end of his Peace
By the time Shirou turned the corner, he saw four thugs taking her to a black van on the end of the alleyway. She was struggling with two of the guys, holding on to both their arms. Despite her shouting, no one noticed them.
'Small scale bounded field, in an isolated area.' he projected an iron pipe in his hand. He'd try to talk them down before beating them up. If they let her go and talk, they walk away. If not… 'Save Mitsurugi, then get answers.'
"Hey!" Shirou called out before reaching forward, grabbing the goon who was holding a gun to Ayako's back, causing her to freeze.
"What do you want, brat? Scam, we're busy here!" the tall one in front said to Shirou. He was taller and had an ugly sneer. Looked like a loudmouth who liked to talk.
"Funny…" Shirou said, though he didn't find the situation humorous at all. "It looks like you're trying to kidnap a friend of mine."
"Stop talking." Another of the mooks said. He then spoke to the loudmouth in front. "Knock him out quick and let's go."
The loudmout ginned at that and took out a pair of brass knuckles. Shirou met his glare with an annoyed look. Shirou just projected a steel pipe from behind - out of sight of the goons- and readied it.
From the side, Ayako was scared. 'I got grabbed by thugs and about to be dragged, who knows where, when Emiya shows up!' She hoped he but feared that she was about to see a friend die trying to save her.
As the braggart leveled his fist, Shirou rushed him, swinging with his pipe. He knocked his arm away then decked him straight in the face. The thug fell, knocked out cold from the single hit.
The other two just stared before they readied themselves to fight as well. Unlike their friend, their arms and legs faintly glowed as circuits appeared. 'They're magi. Meaning I don't need to hold back.' Shirou could guess that the last one was trying to get away. 'Can't have that…'
Shirou projected daggers, three in each hand and threw them. Four of them aimed at the two thugs who dodged them. The last two struck their targets, the tires on the van.
The three first surrounded him, two with reinforced fists raised, and the third held a serrated dagger. The last one backed away near the van and drew a pistol and aimed at him.
Shirou covertly generated an iron pipe, and swung.
"Shit! He's a magus too!?" one of them grunted as Shirou struck him, knocking them into a wall and out of the fight. He rushed the second one, swinging with his pipe and kicking him in the gut. The second
For the goon with the dagger, he decided to charge at him. Shirou saw it coming… and could tell the blade was reinforced, meaning it would hurt. He didn't even bring his arms up to block it. Just let the guy stab him in the chest.
Or rather… tried to stab him. The small iron blade cut through his clothes but bent as it hit where his heart would be. The thug pulled back the dagger, stilled at that, and looked up to Shirou who just raised an eyebrow. The red head then grabbed his arm and flung him into the nearby wall, hard enough to knock him out as well.
The last thug, the one with the gun, turned tail and tried to run. Shirou just sighed. He then generated a bow along with a custom knockout arrow. He'd been experimenting with different swords - his specialty - and managed to create one that had a venom that could paralyze and knock its targets unconscious.
One well trained shot later, and the final goon laid on the ground, out cold.
Shirou clasped his hands; he wasn't done yet. He grabbed all four of the goons and hauled them to the wall, lining them up before binding their arms in cuffs he generated.
In the years since bonding with Tetsu, he gained a new form of… unique magecraft. combining his own skill with projection and Tetsu's own Biomass creation to form a unique skill. Metal Generation. The result was solid objects that were stronger than reinforced projections and could last for weeks without being faded away by Gaia's influence.
Shirou thus bound the four of them, and left them on the ground. He'd then hypnotised each of them, altering their memories. They'd still remember being beat up, but they wouldn't recognize him doing it.
Rather, he let Tetsu do hypnosis on them. He himself had no skill with hypnosis… Fortunately for him, the iron symbiote had picked it up from Kiritsugu, and modified it to work on unconscious magi.
'We could break a few more of their limbs. Just saying.' Tetsu commented. Shirou ignored the violent suggestion, as usual.
Once he was sure the four were properly bound, he moved to check on Aiko
"Emiya…" The shell-shocked girl started but couldn't put into words at first. When she found her voice again, she "What the
"I'm glad you're alright." Shirou said as he helped her back to her feet. Ayako let him, still lost in thought, trying to make sense of what just happened.
Ayako just started freaking out.
"What? No! Wait…" Ayako looked between one of the knocked out goons and Shirou. "You summoned a dagger, their arms were glowing at one point, you beat them up… What is this? What is going ON?!"
Shirou scratched the back of his head. "Ehh…" he sighed; he might as well be honest with her. "Okay, just to start off, Magic is real."
"Yeah, I figured." Ayako sighed and held her head.
From there. Shirou went into detail about the moon lit world, specifically about the dangers to mundanes - non magi- like her.
"Does it happen often? The random kidnapping I mean?" She did not like the picture Shirou painted of his world.
"Err…" Shirou wasn't sure how to answer that. "No…?" She glared at him until he amended that. "Okay, I can't say about other places but here in Fuyuki it's very rare. Mainly because there's very few magi here to begin with."
Shirou didn't know. It felt like a random magi presence, but it felt bigger than that. Either way, he knew they weren't working alone and that there were probably more magi holed up somewhere.
'Talk to Raiga. I bet his people can trace it.' Tetsu suggested.
Shirou shook his head. 'Nah, don't wanna bother them about this. I already traced the punk's dagger: We'll head to their hideout tonight and have a… chat with them.'
Shirou led Ayako home, answering any questions she had. He could have hypnotized her - he gained the skill from Tetsu, who in turn gained the skill from Kiritsugu - but decided against it.
She seemed… despondent that the Moonlit world was more brutal than the fantasies she started to have in her head. She agreed to keep quiet, but wanted to talk more later on. Shirou agreed, happy to share what he could.
Now, Shirou headed home. He still had a meal to prepare for his kouhai and self appointed big sis. Or as Tetsu called her, 'Tiger chiwuawua'. Shirou wisely kept such a title to
For the day, Shirou would relax with his family. Come nightfall, he'd show them what the son of the magus killer could do.
_Later, Nightfall_
"How's it look with the Tohsaka girl?" Kaigo asked from his desk in their hideout. He and his people had set up in the harbor warehouse for a few days, all in preparation for their master's plans. He was in charge of the team sent to Fuyuki.
Their mission was a simple one; capture a classmate related to their target, leave evidence of Magecraft in the area, and lure the target into a trap. A single magus couldn't escape a well placed ambush, Even if their family had a larger ancestry. Then, deliver her to the main facility.
Despite the ease of the mission, he dreaded coming here. There's been rumors of a monster that dwells in the city. One that's active in the dark of night. One
Whether they're true or not, Kaigo did not want to find out. 'Better to get this done before any
Now, they just had to wait for the retrieval team to return, then set up the breadcrumbs for the brat to follow.
One of the grunts finally stepped forward and answered him. "... the ah, retrieval team hasn't called in yet."
Kaigo put down his papers - a detailed map of fuyuki - and looked the goon in the eye as he spoke. "The hell do you mean they haven't called in yet?"
When the goon didn't answer, Kaigo felt an immense pain in his head along with the destruction of the bounded field. He had set up the bounded field and tied it with himself. It was a simple one, meant to only warn of strangers entering the warehouse or the open yard surrounding it
And the field has just been torn asunder. A thud from above could be heard. Whatever it was, It landed on the roof.
"Fan out! Find whoever, or whatever, disabled the bounded field." Kaego ordered. The dozen grunts with him did as instructed.
'Let it not be him. By Kami, please let it not be him.' That was his only thought as he and the others grabbed their firearms, prepared whatever magic they could, and started the hunt.
That's when the lights went out. They got their lights out - either using fire magecraft or using common flashlights - and proceeded.
Two of the grunts moved to the room with the backup power. One got to work on the power. The others
"This is all bogus." One of the grunts, Ken, adjusting the power complained. "You think the Saka brat is cute? I know she's going to the boss, but do ya think we could have some fun with her before…" He turned to his partner… who wasn't there. "Ibara? Where'd you go-"
A creature grabbed him from above. As the metallic figure pulled him up, all he could do was scream… or try to as the beast grabbed him by his face and knocked him out.
Elsewhere, Another pair of grunts checked out the roof. The former leaned over the roof, only to see nothing. When he turned to his partner to announce the all clear, He also saw-
"What is that-!" that was all he could say before he was pinned down and knocked out.
Over the next half hour, each of the goons was picked off, one by one. One of them was thrown through a wall. Another was pinned to the wall by iron spears with chains muffling his screams. A pair of thugs were bashed together and dropped against a wall and bound by metal bands.
Kaigo took the last four men and set up in his office, fortifying it to withstand the assault. As he and the others waited in dread, he cursed. His prayers were left unanswered.
They weren't prepared for the blades to come down from above, piercing their flesh and pinning all of them to the ground. By some miracle - or by the design of whatever monster that hunted them - none of them died.
It tore a hole in the roof and descended down to the main level, looking every bit the demon they have come to fear. It was tall, standing at over 8 feet in height, with shining skin like metal all across its body with stylized streaks of red along its legs and chest. Its arms ended in sharp claws and dozens of blades grew and disappeared from its arms and back. For its eyes it had two large, glowing, pure red ovals on its head, both without Iris.
It was the reason no one in the moonlit world tried to start trouble in Fuyuki. And it was out for them.
Kaigo watched as the chimera, demon thing - what was it supposed to be other than a nightmare!? - held him by his throat against the wall. When he tried to resist, two tendrils burst from his shoulders, binding his arms. The gunmetal gray fiend held its other claw to its face.
"Wha- what…" Kaigo could barely speak, but managed to get his plea across. "A-are you?"
The iron covered just smiled, got closer and said… "We are Arsenal. And we would have the truth from you. The truth… or your screams…"
Evidently, Kaigo gave him both, as he pleaded, begged and screamed for mercy. He told the creature everything he knew.
Before he felt his life end, he cursed the damned fool that sent him there in the first place. Calypsoh.
_Later_
Shirou extracted as much info as he could from the leader before ending him. He made it quick, despite his partner's desire to make it slow and painful. The rest of the thugs were tied up and left for the cops; they never got a clear look at him, so he felt it was safe to let them live. His tenant however…
'We should sneak into the precinct and scare them. Wouldn't it be fun to scare them? Again? Like if the horror will follow them wherever they go…' He wanted more.
"No, it seems pointless." Shirou shook his head. "Besides, we took them down like a monster out of a horror movie. I think we've had our fill of horror for one night."
'I Strongly disagree.' Tetsu complained. 'They went down so fast that I couldn't relish the fear in their eyes. Pleeeaase, won't you reconsider?'
Shirou just ignored the question and kept walking. He was too busy thinking about the magi mercenaries.
Outside of the Clocktower, magi did have some organizations, though none were as grand as the one in London. Some groups have even begun imitating modern mercenaries, mainly in the use of modern firearms. These groups are typically made up of 3rd rate magi, people who either couldn't find a future in the clocktower or focused on the darker aspects of the moonlit world. Thievery, blackmail, abduction and assassination were their main sources of revenue.
Apparently the group at the warehouse was aiming to kidnap Rin Tohsaka. They hoped to use Ayako as bait to lay a trap for the second owner. After interrogating the boss, he got answers, one that angered him. He didn't get angry easily, he had a lot of patience. But when it was pushed he'd push back.
Rin wasn't their first target, nor their last. The organization backing them, had gone after several magi across Japan. Shirou found a list of other potential targets… one of those targets happened to be Sakura. They had his kohai in their crosshairs. They would suffer for that.
'Let's hope Raiga's willing to help us out.' He'd talk to his surrogate grandfather, get more information, then act. Whoever hired these hit squads would pay dearly for threatening those he cared for.
_Days Later_
"Do you really have to go?" Taiga asked her surrogate little brother. He'd long since told her about Tetsu, he and Kiritsugu being magi - spellcasters but to normal people, it made little difference - and
Shirou just sighed as he picked up his duffle bag. "Hopefully, it will only be a few days. But I need to find these people.
And tracking down other magi clans will help with that, how? Last I checked, magi are suspicious as hell." Taiga knew enough to know that magi weren't known to help each other. She'd known about the moonlit world for a few months now, mainly because Tetsu revealed himself to argue with her about something inane.
Shirou nodded. "I need to make sure these guys don't try again. Fortunately, thanks to Raiga's contacts, I have a pretty good idea of which family of magi they'll attack next."
Taiga pouted at that, but nodded. "Fine. Just be careful… and give them hell."
Shirou nodded. "Can do." He started walking to the train station.
He liked the life he had, living with Taiga, Sakura and even Tetsu. He missed Kiritsugu, but the loss faded with time. Tetsu even helped him work through some of the trauma from the fire. He still had his saving people syndrome, as Tetsu called it, but it was less… self destructive. More flexible, like iron still hot from the forge.
'You okay?' the iron Klyntar asked.
Shirou just nodded as he walked. 'I will be, once we find the men who hired them.'
'Yes, I look forward to it. Do you think we can play with them before they die?' The iron symbiote had a violent streak a mile wide, but thanks to Shirou, reserved it for the cruel and vile only.
'We'll see.' He made no promises. Depending on their sins, he may let Tetsu loose.
Eventually, he'd make good on his promise as the son of the magus killer. He'd save his sister, no matter what. But for now, he had other targets to track down.
"Alright." Shirou said, mostly getting himself focused on the task at hand. He had a job to do. "Let's go find the Fujimaru clan."
Glad to be back to this fic. For those still waiting, thanks for your patience. I still do plan to finish it, though
I'll try to submit at least once a month, though it will either be for this work or one of my other works. My main project right now is "Persona Edgerunners: Providence," so if you're interested, feel free to check out that work.