Sunny felt like he was stumbling through a dream as he walked into the main cafeteria.
True to Master Raidian's words, after her speech everyone had been smoothly moved to a wing of interview suites, staffed with mundane workers who asked everyone all the questions they could.
In the Terran woman's own words, the questions were intended to help prepare the best and most effective training plan for each Sleeper. Sunny was hard pressed to outright challenge the idea of that but he would definitely not be trusting anyone and freely giving away information about himself.
Thankfully, he had an out due to how the questions were framed.
In keeping with the idea of not wanting to pressure the Sleepers too much, all the questions had been worded gently with phrases like "Would you like to tell me…" or "Do you feel comfortable sharing…"
In each such case Sunny firmly agreed with his Flaw and gave resounding answers of No.
That didn't mean he told them nothing though. He did have an interest in ensuring any questions about him would stop and keeping everything about him hidden might make him seem mysterious. And so he explained that his aspect appeared to be useless in direct combat.
It was the truth afterall. His aspect ability had, as far as he had learned, only granted him the ability to move his shadow around in defiance of physics and see and hear through it.
The interviewer didn't get that much information out of him though, he hadn't asked Sunny if he could see or hear with his shadow afterall and so all Sunny's record stated was that he had a vaguely utility based Aspect ability that used shadows.
Now one would normally think that Sunny would be walking with his head held high after another successful step on the road to keeping everyone's eyes off of himself but all the joy he might have felt was being balanced out by the dread of what was to come.
He still had a spar to worry about and because of his blasted flaw he had no way to lie and take back his words in order to get himself out of it.
What's more, every other sleeper was treating him like the plague and staying far away. Partially out of fear that they might earn the ire of the clan heir Sunny had offended, and partially because Sunny had been getting the hang of his flaw by speaking to many of them before he called out Emiya and Caster.
Suffice it to say that Sunny learned a great deal about the depths of his heart and mind in the twenty minutes he tried talking to people.
It was a humbling and frustrating experience to realize that when your mind was forced to be honest you apparently insulted every man you saw, and tried to hit on every woman.
Circumstances around his isolation aside, nothing changed the fact that the spar was very much still on. Sunny's only stay of execution now was the fact that the sparring ring hadn't yet been shown to everyone, but he could already tell that many of the students were eager.
As he walked through the throngs of tables that were already filling up with other Sleepers who finished their interviews, Sunny saw the way they whispered and sent glances his way. For all that they wanted nothing to do with him they were equally eager to speculate and discuss his coming death.
He had no way of knowing how long he might still be walking the mortal coil, and so he resigned himself to a state of quiet zen as he approached the buffet line, his heart perfectly aligned between terror and elation.
At the sight of the food before him though, even the thought of impending death became secondary and pure unadulterated joy poured through him.
There was so much food laid out before him, and of so many varieties that he honestly didn't know what to try first! After a life of eating protein bricks and grime from the trash, seeing food with real plants and honest to Gods MEAT was like a blow to the head.
After confirming that there really was no checkout or prices attached to any of it, Sunny loaded up his plate as much as he possibly could, stopping only when the food mountain he built threatened to topple.
With his tower of food in hand Sunny scanned his eyes across the cafeteria for a free table to sit at.
Sadly, even with people still trickling in, all the tables were occupied by one group of other people. Those were out given the last thing he needed was a bunch of curious teenagers asking him things.
With no simple choice he took the next best option and headed for one in the farthest corner of the room that only had a single girl sitting at it.
She was well dressed, though not extravagantly so; a clear indicator that she came from a family in the broad middle class of people. Her overall appearance called to mind the words dainty or perhaps fragile, with a thin lean build and pale blonde hair that made her look like a kindly storybook princess.
Sunny stepped past her and took a seat with his back pressed against the wall, looking for any sign that the girl might react negatively to him or ask him to leave. Much to his surprise though she didn't actually react to him at all until he pulled his chair out.
When she looked up at the sound he saw the way her bright blue eyes emptily stared forward and her pupils moved yet focussed on nothing. He recognized that sightless gaze from the blind Tyrant he faced off against his Nightmare.
"Hello? Is someone there?"
Sunny's flaw pulled the words out of his mouth and he replied. "Ah… yea I'm here. Is it ok if I sit here?"
The girl paused and offered him a sullen nod before turning back to slowly and carefully eating her food seemingly as uninterested in talking as he was.
Honestly, Sunny could understand her feelings perfectly.
There was no chance she was blind before her first Nightmare. The shaky, stuttering way she was moving was one indicator but even more telling was the absolute improbability of a blind girl surviving her first Nightmare.
That meant that losing her sight was likely the work of her [Flaw].
Sunny could certainly admit he was no fan of his own and the risk it posed to his freedom, but he still wouldn't trade his flaw for hers even if his life depended on it. Afterall, being thrown into the monster-filled hell of the Dream Realm blind was basically a death sentence. Unless someone reached out and carried you you'd certainly die.
Sunny spared her a sympathetic thought as he dug into his food, thoughts of pity already fading from his head as he focussed on his meal.
As he dug into his food Sunny heard a clattering from the girl beside him and turned to see that her knife had slipped from her grasp and clattered to the floor.
He watched the girl grit her teeth in frustration and clench her hands together before she started trying to feel around for the cutlery, faint tears of frustration in her eyes.
A fleeting part of Sunny's mind called out at him to offer his knife to the girl. He could easily grab another one himself afterall and it would save her the trouble.
He quashed that part of his mind down though. There wasn't any point offering someone else pity or coddling them. If she couldn't manage this on her own then what was to come would be even worse. Besides, this was the first real food he could ever remember eating, she could afford to spend some time getting a new knife.
"Excuse me Miss, I've got a clean knife here if you'd like?"
The girl stopped her rummaging on the floor and looked up at a new voice as Sunny did the same.
Standing at their table with a tray of food in his hand was Emiya, still clad in his military uniform and carrying an aura of infuriating grace and kindness. He set his food tray down on the table and offered the girl a hand as he held the knife towards her, still waiting for a reply.
"I… thanks for the offer but I don't want to trouble you. I need to figure things out myself…"
Emiya lightly shook his head and handed her the knife.
"It's no trouble. In my case literally."
The girl was unable to see what Emiya did, but Sunny had a front row seat to the young man holding out his empty hands as wireframe models of the knife he just held began taking shape. Sunny's mouth slid open as the process finished and six knives were held between his fingers, five of which he gently placed in the girl's free hand.
The action earned wide eyed confusion from her which Emiya was quick to answer
"Part of my aspect is the ability to copy and recreate weapons I see. It's hardly a proper example but a kitchen knife is still enough of a weapon for me to make as many copies as I wish."
The girl cast her sightless gaze down at the mass of knives in her hand and offered Emiya a quiet thank you as she continued eating. Sunny meanwhile felt his mind completely reeling from the revelation Emiya had just given him, and the brazen, casual way he described it.
What the hell do you mean you can just copy any weapon you see!? That… that's the most broken ability Sunny had ever heard of! Did it work on Memories? Maybe it was limited to only regular mundane weapons. That had to be the trick to it because if Emiya could just… will offensive Memories into existence…
"You could have done that without an explanation Shirou. There's no reason to be sharing your abilities so freely."
"Sorry Rin. I really didn't want her to feel bad about getting my knife. A meal should be a time for happiness and respite, not sadness."
Sunny looked up from Emiya and saw Tohsaka taking a seat beside him.
Much like Emiya she was back to wearing her military uniform, that foreboding robbed memory from earlier likely dispelled back to her soul sea.
"Hmph, you still shouldn't be coddling her. She's hardly some invalid who needs to be treated like she's made of glass. She made it through her Nightmare just like everyone else here isn't that right?"
The girl turned toward Tohsaka's voice, though failed to look her in the eye. The expression on her face was one of sadness tinged with shame. She opened her mouth to offer a reply, only to stop and cast her sightless gaze down at the table as she shook her head.
"I'm not stupid. You don't need to pretend that you can't tell I'm blind."
"Of course I can tell. It's clear as day that you can't see. That doesn't change what I said just now though. You're still perfectly capable of taking care of yourself."
Some of the sadness slid off the girl's shoulders and her blued eyes crunched up in anger. "Take care of myself? I can barely walk without bumping into things! How am I supposed to survive anything if I can't even walk!?"
Sunny could understand her frustration. Blindness wasn't even something people suffered from anymore. Anyone who needed it and had money could buy Song clan genetic modifications or get a Valor clan prosthesis and have their sight restored easily. Such fixes were so commonplace now that most of the Waking World had actually stopped being accommodating for those with disabilities.
Sadly for her a Spell granted Flaw was not so trivial to cast aside, and so she had to face a world even more hostile to her.
Tohsaka suffered the girl's anger by simply raising her eyebrow. "I did notice you are lacking a cane or staff of any sort. But that says more about you giving up that it does your condition. It's better late than never though… Shirou, make the girl a cane."
Emiya blinked and looked down at his hands in thought. "I… don't know how to make that Rin? I don't think I've seen a cane since I got my aspect."
The girl beside him simply shrugged. "Then just make her a spear and break the end off it."
Emiya opened his mouth to offer a retort, yet seemed to trail off as he thought about her request. A look of contemplation came over him as he held his hand up on the table and the same wireframe pattern that had forged the knives appeared.
This time it formed a long shaft that took up most of the table and nearly stabbed into Sunny's tower of food. After only a second the wireframe vanished and a metallic spear landed in Emiya's hands. The thing was an odd blend of gaudy and high tech to Sunny's eyes, looking like someone sprinkled gold leaves onto cartoon mecha lance.
Sunny's opinion of it was apparently shared by Tohsaka, who stared at the spear with a look of disappointment, even as Emiya began poking and prodding it. "Shirou, is that really the best spear you could think of? That thing looks like it weighs five kilos."
Emiya kept prodding at the weapon in his hands, poking and tugging at it with a look of deep thought. Sunny could only guess what the other boy was thinking about as he stared at the weapon until with a widening of the eyes Emiya flexed his hands and snapped the spearhead off.
The entire thing dissolved into sparkling lights.
"Ah… Sorry Rin, I don't think that idea will work. I'm not sure how to alter the weapons I make."
He held his arm up again forming another spear though unlike the last this one was a simple wooden pole with a bronze tip bolted to it. "Would this work?"
Rin massaged the bridge of her nose and grabbed the weapon before snatching up Emiya's napkin and tying it around the small spear tip.
Satisfied with her work she handed the weapon to the girl before them, taking a moment to gently grab the younger looking girl's hands and run them along the weapon up to its clothcovered point.
"There, you've got a… somewhat proper walking stick. Perfectly ready for you to start practicing with."
The girl held it in her hands and gently tapped its tip on the ground, getting a feel for the weapon as she did. She moved it around across the floor and gently tapped it as she went, seemingly gaining a touch of confidence from the simple tool.
"Why are you trying to help me? You didn't need to give me this. You didn't even need to talk to me."
Tohsaka huffed in what seemed like false annoyance and held her palm up.
"We only came over because we needed to talk with our impromptu sparring partner here. As for me helping you… I simply didn't like the sight of you looking like a broken doll waiting to be picked up by someone. Even if you're blind now that doesn't mean you can't still stand on your own power."
The girl digested those words and opened her mouth to respond, only to close it without a word and instead simply stare down at her plate in silent contemplation. As the moment dragged on the girl seemed to come to some decision and stood up from her seat before grabbing her plate and walking away, improvised walking stick in hand as she went.
Tohsaka seemed satisfied with having said her piece and didn't press the girl any further. Instead turned towards Sunny.
"As for you, considering we're going to be fighting on the same side as soon as they let us near a sparring ring, it seems prudent to talk."
Sunny swallowed a mouthful of food and let a frown cover his face. "I'm in no mood to talk to you about that. Thanks to your arrogance I'm going to get torn to shreds out there! I'll be lucky to survive!"
Tohsaka waved his concern away with a dismissive flick of her wrist. "Its hardly arrogance on our part, but it's also not my fault. You're the one that infuriated that girl to the point she nearly had a stroke. If you're that afraid of dying, then what were you thinking insulting her like that?"
Sunny's head throbbed as his flaw pulled the truth out of him. "I… eh was thinking that I didn't want to show her the Memory I got."
That answer was far too close to the truth for Sunny's tastes, especially considering the way that Tohsaka's eyes narrowed at him when he spoke. Unlike the dismissive glares that Sunny was working towards most people having, she was looking at him with actual curiosity as though he was some puzzle to be unraveled.
"Hmmmmm. If you didn't want to show off you have a funny way of showing it. You seem like the type who would be jumping at the chance to flaunt." She turned her attention to her own meal and started eating, stopping only to chuckle to herself. "Is that Memory something so embarrassing you don't want to be seen with it?"
Again Sunny's flaw tugged at him, though mercifully he didn't need much thought to come up with a safe way to respond.
"No! Of course it isn't. It's… it's actually really really cool and amazing. I just don't want people to see it because they'll… ask questions about it."
By this point Tohsaka's interest in Sunny seemed to wane, his well crafted truth doing a good job of reinforcing his image as a childish brat who was only after praise.
Unfortunately for Sunny, Emiya turned out to be kind. Frustratingly kind as a matter of fact, and rather than the dismissive chuckle his apparent girlfriend sent Sunny's way, Emiya gave him a genuine smile.
"I'm sure your Memory is nothing at all to be ashamed of, especially if it was the reward for felling an [Awakened Tyrant]. If you don't want to talk about it though, there's other things to discuss." He held a hand out towards Sunny "Like introductions, My name is Emiya Shirou."
Sunny stared at the offered limb, and noted with a bit of interest that his Flaw wasn't tugging him to reply. It was handy to know that implicit questions didn't count. He lightly gripped the other boy's hand and gave it a shake, idly noting how tight his grip was.
"Sunless, but everyone calls me Sunny."
Tohsaka's eyebrow rose at the mention of his name yet She didn't question him on it and instead simply offered her own name. "Tohsaka Rin."
With the introduction out of the way Emiya nodded his head and looked back at Sunny. "I think we should discuss a little bit about how to handle the fight. I don't want to worry you Sunny, but I think Yuanchun may be aiming to severely wound or kill you after what you said."
Sunny's face took on a deadpan expression as he realized Emiya seemingly had a very low opinion of his intelligence. Sunny also got to find out that his flaw prevented him from giving an overly sarcastic response of "Wow Really? I would have never guessed."
Instead he gave the truth. "I'm well aware of that. It's part of what has me so frustrated about Tohsaka dragging another six people into this. With that many bodies I'm basically doomed."
Emiya held up his hands in a reassuring gesture. "I wouldn't worry that much about it. It may be hard to guarantee this but based on what I heard from them about their Nightmares I have a lot of confidence in Rin and I. What I wanted to ask you about was how involved you want to be? It wouldn't be right for us to overshadow you."
Sunny blinked, the paranoid part of his mind wondering if he had really been asked that. Afterall, there was no way that these two were checking with him to make sure he wouldn't mind if they fought everyone themselves right?
It was too good to be true, too perfect to be real! The very deepest part of his paranoia even latched on to Emiya's mention of shadow and tried to claim this was all a trap!
The sting of his flaw cut through Sunny's deliberation though and he offered the most unabashedly true answer he could.
"I want nothing more than to fight as few of them as possible. Honestly, I won't even be mad if I get through this being known as a coward who hid in the corner and didn't lift a finger."
His response was enough to leave Emiya speechless and earned laughter from Tohsaka. "Well then, it seems you can be honest when it counts. If that's what he wants Shirou, I suppose we'll have to do our best to keep him in the back row."
Emiya gave her a nod and turned back to Sunny, his eyes holding a look of concerned caution. "If you're ok with that then Sunny… I'll do my best to keep you out of the fight as much as I can. If you have a change of heart in the middle of the fight and want to show off just try not to attack someone we're fighting ok? I'd hate for us to have a case of friendly fire."
Sunny put his hand on Emiyas shoulder and stared at him with the most serious expression he had ever worn.
"My aspect ability is physically incapable of causing someone harm. You have nothing to fear from me."
Emiya gave him a confused and scrutinizing look but after a moment it faded into one of acceptance.
"Right…In that case I look forward to fighting beside… or I guess in front of you Sunny."
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
It took the straggling sleepers only another hour to finish being processed through the interviews and get released to the cafeteria. From there everyone was shown to their dorms and given a tablet with their curriculum loaded onto it.
For the first few days everything would be rather standardized for everyone, a consequence of some of the courses having evaluations baked into them to help get the best help for each Sleeper.
That meant that all the new sleepers were still together for their first few lessons, the very first of which happened to be a combat class.
Shirou couldn't really say he understood the logic of this order himself. It would have made more sense to him to have an introduction to the Dream Realm class ahead of a combat one but he wasn't the one developing the curriculum.
He was standing in front of the mass of his fellow Sleepers as they gathered inside a massive gymnasium that was decorated like a classical dojo.
They had all gathered here early and while the naive might think it was due to a passionate hunger to learn, the reality was everyone seemed to know that the expected fight would be happening soon.
Caster, Yuanchun, and their allies all stood far to Shirou's right while Rin and Sunny stood to the left of him. Their soon to be opponents were sending varied glances their way. Genuine anticipation from Caster and his ilk, apoplectic rage from Yuanchun aimed squarely at Sunny, and total indifference from her guards.
Still despite the powder keg of interest and anticipation, everyone was still patioently waiting for the instructors to arrive.
At the exact second class was slated to begin, the door to the warehouse sized gymnasium opened up and a group of Awakened walked in led by three Terran women.
One of them was a slender looking young woman with long straw blond hair and a very dainty physique. She had seafoam blue eyes with pupils that shone in a bright and eerie gold and the outfit she wore consisted of a layered white dress seemingly made of overlapping layers of silk.
The mark of her Terran heritage took the form of two thick black horns on her head which curled outward and forward to form an echo of a crown. Atop her outfit, wrists, fingers, and even her horns were pieces of golden jewelry and turquoise enamel which had been seemingly picked to be the same color as her eyes.
As she walked her hand tightly gripped a metal staff, crafted from golden metal and spanning two meters long. The top of the staff was crowned by a crystal blue tetrahedron floating in defiance of gravity as it was orbited by a ring of golden stones.
Walking next to her was another woman though the vibe her appearance gave off was the complete opposite of the first.
Whereas her compatriot had thick black horns and an elegant white outfit the second woman had thin white horns poking out from her head and was wearing a ragged black cloak over top a uniform that was reminiscent of a leather medieval surgeon's smock.
Her long white hair ran free from under her hood and her brown eyes raked across the room quietly taking in the Sleepers present. Unlike her companion she did not hold a staff, instead clutching a thin and very long sword held in its sheath.
Even as Shirou's eyes took in and cataloged everything he could form those two, the one walking at the head of the group of instructors was by far the most eye-catching.
She had bright orange eyes and faint wrinkles on her face. Guessing the age of Awakened, let alone Terrans was difficult at the best of times but based on her face she looked to be at least in her thirties.
Her long slightly graying blond hair was tied up into a pony tail, a rather ironic hairstyle considering she had a pair of blonde furred ears atop her head and a long blonde horse tail behind her. Her Terran features were not what was most eye-catching about her though. That honor went to the armor she was wearing and the weapon she held.
She was decked in a suit of form fitting metal armor, that at a glance was reminiscent of Caster's knightly apparel but on closer inspection, seemed to be more advanced.
While Casters had a bulk and futuristic sharp sleekness to it, hers was effortlessly thin and rounded, fitting over her almost like a second skin of overlapping metal plates.
It might well be that the thinness of her armor would leave it weaker than something like Caster's but as Shirou's eyes drank the metal work in, he became confident that hers would come out on top of a contest of strength.
Despite the quality of the metalwork standing out the most, the rest of her outfit was equally impressive. She wore a long white cloak that trailed behind her showing signs of lingering battle damage from various nicks and cuts yet looked all the more refined for it. Over top the cloak she wore a feathered mantle that was festooned across her chest with an elegant gold chain. Mounted on her left pauldron was a decorative heraldic shield that showed a symbol Shirou didn't recognize on a backdrop of blue and pink.
The impressive and almost regal outfit gave off the image of a proud knight, and said image was capped off by the massive sword spear she held in her hand. The weapon was formed from a massive double edge blade easily as long as any longsword Shirou had even wielded. Its blade seemed to be made of some kind of shimmering and sparkling blue glass that merged seamlessly with the black steel polearm it was attached to.
Such a weapon was clearly a poor sword and for a normal person the weight would have made it a very poor spear. Given her terran physiology, on top of whatever Awakenings she'd been through, the weight likely wasn't an issue and it became a far more frightening weapon.
As everyone else entered the room behind her, the lead Terran took a step in front of everyone else and addressed the gathered mass of sleepers with a melodic yet firm voice.
"Hello Everyone, I am Margaret Nearl, an [Ascended] Master from Babel and your primary combat instructor for the coming month."
He gestured her hand behind her to the gathering of others. "The support staff and assistants in this class will change based on student need and in the interest of time their introductions will be saved for those they are directly teaching. Most of these faces will be changing out over the coming days as we find teachers who can best help each of you with your own needs but myself, and the members of our medical staff will remain."
At the mention of medics she nodded her head towards the other two Terran women who had walked in behind her.
"With that brief introduction out of the way we'll get started on a rough evaluation of each of you. Then we can have some introductory spars for anyone with an interest."
At the mention of spars, Yuanchun's had shot up in the air, the gesture was exactly what one would expect from a model student. Based on Master Nearl's surprised look though it wasn't normal for combat class.
"Ah, I hadn't expected any questions but that's all right. What would you like to ask, miss…?"
"Yuanchun of the Jia Clan. I was wondering if we could start with a spar before the evaluations. Myself and some associates are eager to test ourselves against one another."
Master Nearl paused and furrowed her brow in thought before turning back to her colleagues. The gathered instructors spoke quietly to each other before Nearl turned back around to face the group.
"That's… not unreasonable so we can accommodate it. The evaluation process is fairly straightforward but given the excitement I'm seeing on all your faces, it may be best to get this out of the way so that everyone can focus on it. That said…"
Master Nearl's grip tightened around her spearsword as she brandished it at her side, and the light shining from it grew heavier and brighter. From around her an aura of light began gathering, brightening to the point that it appeared she was backlit by a spot light but also being thick enough that it clung to her form like an incandescent fluid.
"I will not permit or tolerate the use of an arena under my watch for cruelty, bullying or petty politicking. You are each of you here to be trained and grow stronger so that you can best survive the trials to come. Despite the television dramas you all may have watched, or any manga you've read, this is not a place for puffing up your ego at the expense of others."
The shining aura of light behind her flexed and exploded outward, growing bright enough that every other instructor, and even the entire gymnasium, vanished from sight leaving only Master Nearl standing in the midst of a sea of gold. The light shining out from her gained a physical weight to it as it shined brighter and the heat from it was enough for all the sleepers to feel as though they had opened an oven door.
Still, it was hardly a violent threat. Shirou noted the fact his eyes weren't blind or bleeding and realized that Master Nearl must be doing something to hold herself back.
That said Shirou had the unique benefit of being exposed to the weight of a furious Saint before, and so appreciated the restraint Master Nearl was showing. For the other Sleepers the display was a much more effective deterrent.
"Am I clear?"
All the sleepers present nodded their heads with varying levels of speed and panic, even Yuanchun giving a firm but clearly rattled nod in reply.
Satisfied with the response Master Nearl nodded and drew back her light, revealing all the other instructors standing behind her unbothered or untouched by the display.
"Then with that out of the way we'll get started. You may gather those you had in mind into the main viewing ring, Miss Jia. We'll get started immediately."
Yuanchun bowed to the older woman and strode towards the arena, her guards following like shadows while Caster and his companions followed a slight distance behind.
Seeing them all go Shirou turned to Rin and followed suit, Sunny lingering behind them at a distance.
The nine combatants made their way to the far size of the warehouse sized room until they reached a large depression. Sunk into the floor by nearly five meters was a fighting ring with seats and seating built into the side walls.
The spectating sleepers and instructors found seats around the perimeter while the combatants followed Master Nearl down into the ring and readied their weapons and armor.
Rin manifested her Spire Regalia once more, though rather than draw a weapon her hands remained empty. She didn't seem concerned about that though and simply took a relaxed martial arts stance.
Across from her stood Caster and his five allies, each of them sporting metal armor and weapons that ranged from a flanged mace to a pair of knives. Caster for his part was wielding a rather stereotypical longsword though it was odd that rather than blade and shield, he simply had the sword.
Next to Rin was Shirou, decked in the black fur of his Guardian's Mantle but for the moment unarmed. Instead both hands were poised at his side, relaxed and ready to call forth a weapon.
Across the Ring stood Yuanchun, now wearing a far more modest set of blood red leather armor and sporting a yellow short bow styled like a twisted vine of thorns.
Her two guards stood in front of her, both wearing the same black bandages and black leather armor they had been since they arrived though now also openly carrying massive bundles on their blacks. Each one had a handle that marked them as a weapon yet the sharp was such that it hardly seemed like a proper sword. Rather than a narrow edge they looked like rectangular slabs with a handle on them.
Lastly was Sunless, the outlier in the lineup, who stood wearing his police issued track suit. He was unarmed and had positioned himself in the backline, taking care to keep Shirou's body between himself and Yuanchun.
Those gathered around were quick to notice the way Sunny was hiding himself, and the fact that unlike the other two he didn't seem all that ready to fight.
"Whats up with him? Isn't he the one who said he took down an [Awakened Tyrant]?"
"Of course he said that but that's just because he wanted to look good. Guy's a liar for sure."
"Isnt he the one who was insulting people yesterday before the whole argument started?"
"Exactly! He told me my new Amor memory would look even better if I took it off. I hope Lady Yuanchun kicks his pervy ass!"
As the chatter grew into a light din Sunny could tell that his reputation was plummeting like a stone. He could have done with a bit less of the perv accusations but in all honesty the first few girls he had spoken to were forced to face the unfiltered sting of his personal truthfulness. It had taken a dozen conversations for him to figure out how to tell only partial truths.
In his defense though, having drop dead gorgeous Sleeper girls ask how their Memories looked was too much for his truthful heart!
All that said, it served his needs well. While the death and murder of his social standing would be a blow, at least it would ensure no one asked him any questions he didn't want to answer.
Master Nearl silenced the chattering voices by clearing her throat, the sound cutting across the room like a gun shot. "Now then, before we begin this rather…unbalalnced match my colleague will be going over the rules that we'll be employing."
She gestured her hand at the white horned Terran woman to her side. "Master Shining has a great talent for the use of barriers and protective Arts, in addition to her talent as a medic. In order to ensure that no crippling harm befalls you she'll be placing two barriers over each of your bodies."
Master Shining stepped forward and held a hand towards them, above which appeared a geometric shape woven out of light. She clenched it as it arose and each of the nine sleepers watched as a rippling barrier of triangular facets appeared mere millimeters over their skin, so close in fact that it ran under their clothes and armor rather than over it.
Shining addressed the sleepers, her voice sounding distant yet still clear, as though she was whispering in their ears from across the room. "The first barrier will serve to keep you all safe. It's solid enough to stand against vastly more force than most Ascended could produce, let alone a Sleeper. However it will not prevent your armor from serving its purpose."
Her hand twitched again, and once more an ethereal shape appeared and was crushed in her hand. Another fractal barrier surged over the sleeper's skin, though this one seemed much more faint as it formed.
"The second barrier will serve as the marker for when you must yield. Your fists and feet will remain uncovered in case any of you fight hand to hand, but if any other parts of your body suffer a significant blow that breaches your armor, the barrier will shatter and you shall be considered out of the fight. That said, it's not completely fragile and although I will have no maiming or death before me, bruises can help sharpen your instincts."
Seeing those gathered nod their heads with carrying degrees of confidence, Shining stepped back and inclined her head to Nearl. The blonde woman nodded and addressed them all.
"With that out of the way, feel free to fight as you are accustomed, but do not press an opponent after you've taken them out of the fight. This is for education not rage. The rest of you watching should pay attention and try to learn from your fellow students as much as you can."
Master Nearly raised her spearblade up in the air.
"Three…"
Shirou flexed his hands, his siegebow and a simple lance arrow appearing from thin air.
The two Heishou Guards opposite him drew their wrapped blades from their backs and took a defensive stance in front of Yuanchun as she drew back her own bow which formed a shimmering arrow of light.
"Two…"
Rin lowered her stance and pointed her left arm at her opponents, bracing her other arm against it like the limb was a high powered rifle.
Caster's allies readied shields and hunkered themselves down. Caster gripped his sword tightly and lowered himself down, almost into a running stance.
"One…"
Sunny crouched behind Shirou and flicked his eyes back and forth, frantically thinking up the best way to look pathetic to the crowd while also not discovering the limit of how injured Master Shining's barrier would let him get.
"FIGHT!"
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Name: Sunless
True Name: Lost From Light
Rank: Dreamer
Shadow Core: Dormant
Shadow Fragments: 12/1000
Memories: [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Silver Bell]
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Child of Shadows], [Acknowledged]
Flaw: [Clear Conscious]
Flaw Description: [You Cannot Lie]
Aspect: [Shadow Slave]
Aspect Rank: [Divine]
Aspect Description: [You are a miraculous shadow left behind by a dead god. As a divine shadow you possess plenty of strange and wondrous powers. However your existence is empty and lonesome; you mourn the passing of your former master and long to find a new one.]
Innate Ability: [Shadow Bond]
Ability Description: [Find a worthy master and let them know your true name. Once they recite it out loud, you will be bound to their will, unable to disobey any command. It is improper for a shadow, let alone a divine one, to walk around without a master.]
Aspect Ability: [Shadow Control]
Ability Description: [Your shadow is more independent than most. It is an invaluable helper.]