They're calling me what!?(4)

"The problem is that you took it too far. Your plans for creating a Peerage that can adapt to every scenario has ended up creating several potentially fatal weaknesses." I addressed my words to Sona. "The first and the most obvious one is, your entire attack plan requires information on the enemy to work. You can't exploit their weaknesses nor nullify their strengths if you don't know what they are. Without detailed and accurate data on your enemy, your entire attack strategy falls apart.

"In a war reliable information is a scarce resource.

"What method have you prepared for scouting information on the battlefield? Other than familiars, which are easily stopped, or your family's information network, which is only geared towards Devils, you have no efficient method for gathering the information you'll need to win."

"Sure," I waved a hand flippantly in the air, "In a Rating game it might be possible to gather information on your enemy, but it's equally possible for you to miss something. I'm sure more than one Devil will have a trump card or two hidden up their sleeves.

"More importantly," Looking Sona straight in the eye, "Never forget that rating games are supposed to be a simulation of real war. There is no point in learning techniques that can only work in what is basically nothing more than a popular game, but is ineffective in a real fight where actual lives are at stake."

I paused to make sure the last statement sank in. If nothing else, I hope that she will at least take that particular lesson to heart, it may just end up saving her life one day.

"The second key mistake is the lack of raw fighting strength in your Peerage. It's all well and good to try and exploit your enemy's weakness, but there is no point to it when you're too weak to take advantage of said weakness."

Seeing the looks of confusion on some of the Peerage members, I tried to think of a better way to explain it. "Hmm, give me a second to think of an example." I leaned back into my chair as I ransacked my brain for a solution. "Ah, got one!" I exclaimed while punching the palm of my hand. I'm gonna have to change the details of the fight quite a bit, but it will do.

"A few years ago, I had to fight a very powerful witch. For convenience' sake let's simply call her Caster for now. Anyway, the biggest problem I had was with actually hitting her. For all her magical prowess she was rather fragile, so a single solid blow would have taken her out for good. Yet she was a fairly fast opponent, almost as fast as a knight, but the real problem appeared when she demonstrated her teleportation ability. She could jump from one place to another in a heartbeat, only needing a couple of seconds at most to cast the spell.

"What made it worse, she was an incredibly powerfully mage. Each of her spells was capable of bringing down a small building and she can cast dozens of them simultaneously. At times when she went on an all-out attack, it almost felt like it was raining spells."

That memory brought a grimace to my face. She was probably the most annoying opponent I had to fight in the entire war. I mean, sure, Saber may have had A-class magic resistance, but I sure as hell didn't!

"So the entire fight she would simply snipe us. She'd teleport to the top of a building a couple of hundred yards away and just bombard us with spells. There was no point finding cover because her spells would just plough right through it. Whenever we tried to rush her she'd just teleport away and we couldn't sneak up on her because she littered the place with familiars that would inform her whenever someone managed to get close to her." Saber might have thought of them as low-quality, but those Dragon Tooth Warriors were a pain to deal with.

"To make matters worse Caster was a prodigy of magic, on a scale I have never seen before, so magical based attacks or abilities were completely worthless against her." I pointedly looked at two of the Council members, Sona's two bishops, a long black haired girl and a brunet with braids. "So that invisibility spell you're so fond of will be less than worthless against her." I turned back towards Sona.

"So what will you do?" I questioned, "You are capable of harming her but not reaching her. Even your fastest peerage member has no chance of reaching her in time before she teleports away. None of your spells or magical tricks that your peerage specializes in will work on her. All the while she's raining spells down on you that will end up taking your peerage out one by one if you don't finish her soon." I gave her some time to think it through. "So what will you do?"

As I watched her ponder the problem, a thought hit me. "Ah, just to clarify. This is not a hypothetical scenario, Caster was as real as you or me and I wasn't exaggerating in the slightest when I described her combat abilities. She really was that strong." While it's true that the Casters class always had a bad rep of being weak in the Holy Grail wars, that was only because they were matched up against other heroic spirits. Compared to the standards of ordinary magi or even Devils, they were absolute monsters.

While Sona was still lost in thought, one of her Peerage members, a handsome looking blue-haired girl raised her hand. I felt a little too much like a teacher as I indicated for her to speak, "You said you fought this 'Caster' person right?" Seeing my nod, she continued, "Well, seeing as you're here with us alive and well, you obviously must have won right? So how did you win?"

I broke out in a smile at that. Even though I knew it was my Pride getting the best of me, as I would never have even imagined myself behaving like this before my Reincarnation, I couldn't resist a chance to show off one of my swords.

Plus, seeing as how Sona and the rest of the Peerage were watching me as they waited for my response, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to hammer the lesson in.

Raising both my hand before me, palms upwards as if I held something invisible within them, I began to project a sword.

Though perhaps calling it a projection was no longer accurate. In this world, one without Gaia's interference or degrading of Magecraft, my swords have become something more than a mere projection. They may be copies still, but they're copies that would no longer fall so short from the original.

That was not all that changed with my magic. Since becoming a Devil, I no longer need an Aria to activate my circuits. That's because my circuits were always on. The amount of Od I now possessed in my body was ludicrous. At a level that would make even Rin turn green with envy. That's not even mentioning the changes that my circuits have undergone.

Right now my circuits have reached a standard of quality that would have been impossible for a human to achieve. Nothing short of a Dead Apostle could channel anywhere near as much Prana as I was currently capable of. That was the reason why I no longer needed to close my circuits; I no longer even noticed the strain of them being kept open. Plus as a devil I needed to have my Prana, or Mana as they refer to it here, flowing throughout my body to survive. Mana was apparently the equivalent of blood for Devils, we needed it to keep pumping through our bodies or we'd simply drop dead.

A web of lines formed over my hand for the briefest instant, shaped in an outline of a sword, before with a flash of light, it was replaced with the real thing.

Exclamation of surprise and startlement came from all around me, which I ignored as I looked down at the sword that I held in my hands.

Caladbolg II: The Fake Spiral Sword

It was a modified sword, one that never existed in real life, at least not in its current form. Based on the demonic sword wielded by the Irish hero, Fergus mac Róich, it had been altered to become more aerodynamic so that it may be fired from a bow.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure if I could even refer to it as a sword anymore. Unlike most swords, the blade of this one was not straight or even curved but spiralled around like a screw. It looked more like a revolving drill bit than anything. If not for the hilt that was attached to the end of this spiralling blade, I doubt anyone would have guessed it to be a sword.

Done with my examination of the sword, not that it needed one, my blades were always perfect, I looked up to find every person in the room staring alternatively at either the blade or me with expression ranging from absolute shock to one of wonder as if I had performed a miracle worthy of Christ himself.

What? What is going on? Why are they acting so surprised? Something like this shouldn't surprise them, everyone here has seen magic before, and hell, they should all be capable of performing magic themselves. I mean, they're Devils for Hell's sake-

Oh~ right, Devils, forgot.

Devils are inherently beings born of magic. Unlike humans, who can easily survive or even thrive without even a drop of magic, Devils will drop dead without it. This made them especially sensitive to magic and magical anomalies, far more than a human mage or magus could ever be. And what did I do inform of them? I summoned a Noble phantasm packed with so much power, that it's more than capable of wiping the entire school off the map in an instant.

From their point of view, I had just summoned a sword that can tear down mountain tops with a single swing, from what appeared to be nothing but air. And I currently have that very same weapon of mass destruction draped across my lap like one would a cat.

Thinking about it that way, their surprise is starting to make a lot more sense.

Sona being the first to recover, not surprising considering she probably witnessed her sister do far more outrageous things growing up, was the one to ask the question they were all thinking. "Shirou," never taking her eyes off the Noble Phantasm, "What is that?"

"This?" I repeated as if I wasn't sure why she was asking, "This, Sona, is a sword."

"That's a sword?" The boy asked this time and the words came out of his throat in a strangled almost terrified whisper. Clearly he never experienced power even approaching this scale before. Most likely because he was only recently reincarnated. What I did was impressive, yes, but the supernatural world was full of monsters. Compared to what some of those beings are capable of, what I just did was nothing special.

"Well, yes and no," I answered, "To be accurate, it was a sword, now it's more of an arrow. It's called Caladbolg, and it was this weapon that was able to slay Caster."

Patting the side of the sword, careful not to cut my hand on the sharp edges, I explained.

"This was my solution to the Caster scenario. Caladbolg, in the hands of a skilled archer, can basically be fired upon a target like an arrow." I traced a path on the coiling edge of the sword. "You see how the blade corkscrews? When fired, it will cause the sword to spiral so fast that it can penetrate any target by creating a twisting distortion in space. The effect was so powerful that it tore thought Caster's magical defences like paper and was so fast that she didn't have enough time to even try to teleport. Even if she had, I honestly believe that she would have been twisted along with the space anyway."

Ok, I admit. I basically ripped this move from Archer, but so what? He was essentially me anyway; you can't plagiarize from yourself, now can you?

"Wait, wait," I was interrupted by blondie again as he pointed an accusing finger at me. Seems I was right in pinning him as the loudmouth. "You have a Sacred Gear too?"

I smiled at that, it wasn't a bad assumption by any means. It made sense too. No magic was able to craft swords out of thin air, at least not of this quality. Sacred Gears, on the other hand, were famous for doing things that were supposed to be impossible, magically or otherwise. It was, at least to them, the only thing that could explain what I had done.

It wasn't a bad assumption, but that still didn't make it the right one.

"No, I don't," I answered him and left it at that. It'll give them something to ponder on.

"Anyway, back to the original topic. Sona," She looked up from her examination of the blade, "this was my solution to Caster. An extremely powerful non-magical long-range attack. When I found I didn't have the speed to get close to her, nor the magic to match hers, I relied on the pure destructive power of this weapon to win."

"So answer me, Sona," finally getting back to the original question, "how would you have dealt with Caster if you and your Peerage had to face her as you currently are?"

This time I made sure not to interrupt Sona as she pondered the dilemma. I merely sat back and watched her think. Sona was a smart girl, far smarter than me if I was being honest. I had no doubt she'd figure out what I was trying to tell her on her own.

The fatal weakness of Sona's Peerage is the pure lack of firepower. I wasn't exaggerating when I said that this world was filled with monsters. Ones so powerful, that no amount of strategizing or planning can let you defeat them, simply because most people just lacked the strength to even scratch them, let alone actually injure them.

Compared to them Caster was nothing more than a fly. Yet Sona didn't even have anywhere near the power to defeat her.

Even that Gremory girl's Peerage had a better chance against Caster. Though I doubt she'd win considering how cunning she was, but in a straight head-to-head battle, she'll at least have a fighting chance. With her Power of Destruction and her knight, who was reported to be one of the fastest Devils alive, there was the real, if small, possibility of them winning.

With Sona, even that small possibility doesn't exist.

"Shirou," Sona called out, bringing me out from my thoughts. I looked up to find her watching me with a rather suspicious look on her face. "You've been taking a great deal of interest on my Peerage today, almost unusually so. In fact, I can't even remember a single occasion where you brought up the topic before." I resisted the urge to look away from her violet eyes that she had locked onto mine. "So, why the sudden interest?"

Now, you see, that's the problem with smart people. They made it almost impossible to sneak anything past them.

I shrugged, "Isn't it only natural to talk about Peerages after you brought up the Young Devils Gathering?"

"Actually," if anything my attempt in deflection just seemed to have made her even more suspicious, "I'm pretty sure it was you who brought it up."

"Did I?" Crap, I'm not even sure if that's true or not. "I honestly can't recall."

"Shirou, enough." She crossed her arms and glowered at me. "Just tell me what you're up to."

Ah well, looks like the jig is up. Even if I've gotten better at it recently, I've never been any good at this subtle manipulation stuff.

I rubbed my hand through my hair a couple of times as I looked away, "Well, it's just since the Gathering is only a few months away I thought you could use a hand in getting yourself ready, that's all."

She actually looked surprised at that. "You want to train us?" Her frames slipped down her nose as she said that. Huh, I guess, whatever it was she suspected I was going to say, it wasn't this.

"Pretty much," I crossed my arms and nodded at that. "So what do you say, want me to help out?"

For a long while, she just sat there, staring at me in disbelief before slumping back in her seat with a sigh. She took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "My sister put you up to this, didn't she?"

It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement.

"What?! No! Of course not." My denial was so over the top that I doubt even a kindergartener would have believed me. "She'd never do that, never. Especially since she knows that her beloved little sister would never accept anything from her if she thought it might be taken as favouritism. On the other hand, sometime over the last month she gained the most peculiar habit of talking to herself out loud. She kept repeating the same thing too. Kept going on and on about 'If only there was someone who would help my dear So-tan train, I wouldn't be so worried' or something like that. It was actually starting to get a bit creepy by the end."

It really was. The last night I spent in the Underworld, I ended up waking up to find Serafall standing next to my bed, just watching me with unblinking eyes and repeating the words over and over again. I suppressed a shiver at that memory. I'll give her this much at least, Serafall sure knows how to get what she wants.

Propping her head on one hand, the one that still held her glasses, she just gave me an exasperated look. "So let me get this straight. The entire 'chess is worthless' speech you just gave me was basically nothing but a sales pitch, wasn't it?"

"Yup." I nodded, not even bothering to deny it, "It was completely true, mind you, but yeah, basically that's what it was."

Covering her face in her hands, she just tiredly muttered through them, "You could have just asked, you know?"

"Actually no, I couldn't." I corrected her, "Not only would you have refused my offer if I just flat out asked you, but I'm technically not allowed to. Remember, my orders clearly state that I'm not allowed to directly interfere in your business. Butting into your training, even if it ended up becoming beneficial, would have qualified as direct interference. On the other hand, if you came and asked me to train you, it would not count as interfering as I would have been invited to join, thus I'd have been perfectly in my rights to accept and help you train."

Rather convoluted, wasn't it? I personally thought the entire situation was rather stupid, but apparently Devils love this kind of stuff. From the very first day of me setting foot in the Underworld, I've had it drilled into me that as a part of Maou's Peerage there were formal rules of behaviour that I was expected to follow. That was especially true since the Maou's themselves seemed to disregard them so completely, that their Peerage members are forced to pick up the slack by following them extra hard in their place.

Favouritism, for example, is one of the key issues. Apparently, when the four new Maous were coronated, there was a big fear among the Devils that they would end up using their power to unfairly support their family over everyone else. That was actually a rather valid concern since nepotism rampant in the Old Devil faction. So to dissuade those concerns, the new Maous willingly distanced themselves from their family by throwing away their old Clan names and adopting the traditional names for Satans.

That's actually why Sona refuses anything from her sister. Everyone knows how much Serafall loves her and Sona is apparently terrified of getting her sister in trouble. Unfortunately, it was actually a valid concern.

Just look at Grayfia. She has to go so far as to dress herself up as a maid to make it clear that she's not expecting to get any special treatment by marrying Sirzechs, and she's his bloody Queen. Well, actually, I've heard a few rumours that claimed she did it because Sirzechs has some kind of maid-dominatrix fetish, but that was too disturbing to contemplate, so I decided to just disregard it.

While it's not as bad as I was making it sound Sona, who has always been a stickler for the rules, has always taken things a bit to the extreme to make sure they're followed.

Raising her head from her hand, she gave a dead-pan stare, then without warning broke out laughing. Not a little one either, but an actual full-bellied laugh that shook her entire body. That actually caught me off guard a little bit as I had never actually seen Sona laugh so much before and, going by the looks that the rest of her Peerage were giving her, neither had they.

When her laughter finally subdued, although she still let out an occasional chuckle, she looked up at me with shining eyes, "I can see why my sister chose you. A better match in hell has never been made before."