"May I ask why you are in such a hurry?"
"I am looking for So-tan!" She spun on her heel as she started talking. "I was very angry that she did not tell me anything about this parent-teaching meeting going on, so I decided to come here and surprise her!"
...
… Okay, I do not know who was this 'So-tan', but something about this situation made me feel a little bad for that person. Hell, if Zelretch were involved, he would probably make the situation such that Sona would be the sister or something.
That would definitely be the weirdest thing ever. Sona being the sister of such a hyper-active kid. Bonus points if this girl was the older sister or something.
"Well, I am sure you can find her eventually." I bent down to pick up some of the items scattered all over the area. As I reached out for the next item, it got quickly snatched up and presented to me by the girl.
"Here you go!" The girl handed the item to me with a big smile. As I took the item from her, she set about trying to gather up the rest.
"Thanks for the help… GULP!" I tried to thank her only to sputter and looked away from her rear that was directed straight into my face. It did not helped at all that her skirt was lifted when she bent over, revealing the forbidden treasure beneath it.
Evil thoughts be gone, be gone!
"Okay, that is everything!" The girl cheered as she got up and handed me the items, pausing as she looked at me. "Are you okay? Your face is all red."
"I am fine." I answered while cursing my hormones more than ever. "Thank you for getting them for me."
"No problem!" She gave a cute salute before looking a little troubled. "Don't suppose you can direct me to the main hall? It was not too long since I came here, but considering the gas explosion destroyed a large portion of the academy, the place has changed too much."
"… Go down to the fourth level, take a right to the connecting bridge, then go to the first level." I gave the directions while maintaining my composure. I would see if she had any bad intentions by sending her to the paths that had my special charms added to the area.
"Thank you very much!" The girl gave another big smile and skipped her way to the end of the corridor before turning on the spot and calling out to me. "See you later, Emiya-tan!"
I whipped my head in time to see her figure disappearing around the corner, her fleeting words setting off the alarm I had for quite a while now. I was right, she was a devil who likely knew about me considering the manner she came straight at me in this corridor.
Question of the day though.
Was she my enemy?
...
It was such a surreal experience for the magus as he looked at the stands around him.
He had witnessed several such fairs at school academies on his travels before, but not once did he go to them, never really seeing the point for such events. Granted, that mentality was typical for traditional magus, forgoing simple pleasures for the continuation of his family art. Even after becoming a Dead Apostle, he had simply ignored such things.
So for a first time, it would be an understatement to say that the carnival was 'colourful'.
There were so many shades of colours that would make a person's eyes water in agony, so much sounds to disorientate him, and the smells coming from the food stalls were enough to make one's stomach growl in anticipation of the food. Indeed, he had partaken in some of the items since entering through the front gate a few minutes ago, many of which would probably make some of his old family clan recoil in disgust, denouncing what would be considered 'commoners' trash'.
Too bad for them then, this 'potato-twister' and 'corn-dog' tasted great.
Mildly chewing on the fried items while smiling at some girls who giggled and blushed as they waved back, he continued on to the main building, idly noting the placement of certain spells and charms in various areas. Most of it seemed to be used for early alerts of intruders with a few added for some deterrence. Only a few seemed to have enough power to deal damage should the intruders decide to get aggressive. Not bad considering their campus got wrecked by Kokabiel's attacks a few weeks ago.
'Yet they did not detect me.' The person in question mused mentally as he made his way towards the courtyard where he watched families walked about the stands without a single care in the world. Lightly prodding with his mage-craft, he could feel the presence of the devils spread all over the academy and interestingly enough, what seemed to be two of the Maous and at least one senior devil in the vicinity. But he ignored them all and focused on the presence of one human whose Prana Signature gave the feeling of blades grating against the skin.
'Ah, there you are.'
In a sense, it was a good thing the school was hosting this carnival where students were dressed up in costumes so at least he could get away with his clothes and a smirk that promised suffering, though it did scare off several younger children and sent them crying to their parents. With a slight increase in his pace, the magus made his way to a set of trees near the fencing, providing enough cover for those who wish to be out of the sun, and more importantly, to hide what he was about to do.
Taking a quick look-around, he made a small trench in the ground before pulling out a bottle that held white sand inside and removed the cork. Slowly, he tipped it to gradually release the contents, patiently holding his hand steady to ensure even spillage. Halfway in the pouring, an object resembling a dark marble with purple swirls fell out of the bottle and landed on the heap of sand, staying in position as the remainder of the sand covered it. Once all of the contents were out of the bottle, he covered the trench back with the soil, lightly patting it to look even before placing his palm over it.
"Hear my voice and heed my words. Take root in this spot and ready your strength. The time will come for your appearance, [Sammael], the Hound of Regeneration. For now, you will slumber until I call you out." The magus spoke while feeling the shell break and taking root in the ground. "This I promise you: for each time you fall, two shall take your place."
With a light nod he placed one more spell to hide the presence of the item before standing upright and looking back at the academy. Lifting a hand, the magus placed his fingers around the pendant that was on his wrist and lightly pressed it, pausing one more time to look at the general area where he sensed his most hated enemy.
'Right then, let's see if you recall who I am, Shirou Emiya.'
With that, the magus placed more pressure to break the pendant, releasing the Prana that was restricted to his body and outwards to the school.
...
"!"
I paused in taking the cake out of the oven and turned my head sharply to the window that faced the courtyard, all thoughts about the order vanishing from my mind and replaced with a sense of foreboding. This Prana Signature that sprung up without warning was immense; not at Servant Levels, but enough for anyone with a hint of magical ability or spiritual awareness to know that someone powerful just appeared in the academy grounds. That much was clear as I could see some of the customers and students unconsciously looked around with an uneasy expression before writing it off as a figment of their imagination.
But there was something more, the scent that came off it was something I would not expect to be smelling for a long time and that was setting off all sorts of alarm bells in my head.
The scent of a Dead Apostle.
"Emiya-kun, where are you going?!" One of my classmates looked at the cake I pushed into her hand before watching me go to the door.
"I got something to do for the Student Council. The cake is almost ready, just put the icing on it and serve with lemon slices!" I gave the answer and left the classroom before she could reply back, my mind preparing the trigger for some weapons and going through the different spells needed to wipe away the memories of the people around the area. This made no sense, why was the scent of a Dead Apostle here in this world?
Not to mention the secondary scent of someone who should not be alive at all…
"Shirou!" My thoughts were temporarily interrupted by Ise who came around the corner with Rias, followed shortly by Tsubasa and Sona. "I suppose you felt that?"
"Hard not to, the damn thing was broadcasting to everyone with a hint of awareness that he is here." I narrowed my eyes as I tried to push my way through the crowd, but the corridor was not making this easy and it was taking a bit of restraint on my part to not growl at everyone in my path. Every second wasted here meant more time for the possible Dead Apostle to run.
Well then, time for a shortcut.
I ignored the others as I made my way to the open window and proceeded to jump out, reinforcing my limbs enough for me to make a three-point landing, making a small crater with my fist while startling several passer-by who looked up to find where I dropped from. I stood up straight and looked around for the source. Unfortunately, it seemed I was too late as the scent was no longer potent, meaning whoever it was left the premises.
With that out of the way, I now had the issue of dealing with the witnesses who saw me jumped out from the window and hit the ground. I was contemplating several memory erasing spells when Tsubasa's voice broke my thoughts.
"Right then, hope you enjoyed our welcoming act! We are today's entertainment and if you wish for refreshments, you can come to our café that is on the fourth level, class 2B! Thank you for your time!" Tsubasa took a bow at the passers-by who looked slightly unconvinced but decided to leave it be and clapped their hands. Sona came to my side and beckoned me to come closer.
"Better not do that again." Sona said with a serious expression, but I merely gave a nod as I looked around me, expanding my senses as far as I could in this crowd.
It couldn't be that person.
Right?
...
"…"
The magus positioned himself a little more in the shadows as he watched his target look around with a cautionary glance, the sight of his movements reminding him of their bouts against one another, all the way to their final fight, where Shirou restrained him and destroy his body which drifted into a portal created by Zelretch. Unconsciously, the magus rubbed his arm as though there was a memory of an old wound.
Soon, very soon.
He would have his revenge.
...
A/N : The Story Needs More Power Stones ;)
PS : if we can reach 400 Stones by the end of the week, I will throw you an extra chapter
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :
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