13 Chapter 12: Campione vs the God of War and Betrayal

"If the start is a logic place to begin with, then I suppose our tale begins with the battle against the first true heretic god we ever faced." As Shirou spoke, his thoughts went to the island where he first understood how much everything had changed.

10 years ago, 3 week after arrival

Remote Island off the coast of Japan

Four men walked through the forest. While they traveled as if they knew the woods like the back of their hand, their clothes hinted otherwise. Nobody with even the slightest understanding of the island would wear suits when traveling on it.

But the men weren't familiar with the island. They were from the HHC. A spike of divine power had been detected from the island and they were sent to investigate.

They were certain a god hadn't descended, the spike was too brief. A grimoire would give off a constant amount of divine power, which the island had a distinct lack of. After ruling out the only two options that anybody could think of, surveyors had been sent to figure out what caused the spike.

Upon arrival, the group discovered a faint amount of divine energy radiating from somewhere in the woods. It was too small to be either god or grimoire, so the team went further into the woods.

After nearly two hours of trekking through the woods, the men final stumbled into a clearing and discovered the source of the divine energy.

It was a small shrine. Very old and clearly not tended to for a very long time. The group's leader approached and examined the shrine. His examination didn't take long.

"We have a problem gentlemen."

"What is it boss?" another man questioned.

"A god sleeps here. This shrine was made to prevent him from waking, but it has not been tended to in some time. The god is awakening and it is too late to prevent him from doing so. Our only option is to call the 5th."

The rest of the group didn't disagree. Although most of the HHC was troubled by the good deal they had with Shirou and wanted to trouble him as little as possible, the group on site could all feel the divine energy. They had hoped what they believed it to be would be wrong, but they weren't. A god was awakening, and the only ones who can stand up to gods were Campione.

Emiya Estate

Several hours after the agents discovered the shrine, one of the HHC leaders went to the newly dubbed "Emiya Estate" to inform Shirou and his "court" of the looming crisis. Shirou listed to the representative, with none of his inner turmoil showing on his face. It wasn't until the representative finished speaking that Shirou moved from the position he had taken before the representative entered the room. "Leave us."

The representative left the room and Shirou turned to the others. "Mordred?"

Saber nodded, her face clearly displaying her frustration and anxiety, "I doubt there are two gods sealed in remote islands off Japan."

Rin nodded, then she asked the question on everyone's mind, "so which of us are going and which are staying?"

Shirou was the first to respond, "I'm going alone."

All the others immediately protested when Shirou continued in a calm voice, "there isn't another choice. Arthuria can't go, the power needed to impact the fight's outcome would act as a beacon for Guinevere and Lancelot. Based upon what the HHC elders told us, they're a much larger threat than Mordred. It would be a pyrrhic victory, even if we beat Mordred at all. Gods are highly resistant to magic, assuming they aren't the same for magecraft would be dumb. We've already proven my magic resistance is higher that Arthuria's originally was, so assuming gods are the same is a safe bet. I have authorities which would work by definition and my magecraft is indirect by nature, so I'll likely have better luck."

The other four stared at Shirou with their mouths wide open. Shirou was unnerved and question why, "what?"

Rin responded, "who are you and what have you done with Shirou? Our idiot wouldn't be able to clearly and reasonably explain why he should fight alone without our help."

Illya, Saber, and Sakura almost burst out laughing at the angry look on Shirou's face while Shirou responded to Rin's provocation, "I don't think that what you just said was called for."

The others only gave him a flat look and jointly responded, """"why in the world would it be uncalled for?""""

Shirou pouted briefly, before refocusing on the task at hand, "it still doesn't change the fact I'm right."

Saber countered in response, "don't forget that overuse of Avalon will do the same."

Shirou grinned in response, "you're forgetting that Avalon doesn't truly exist here, it's pure fiction. Based on what you've said, the closest thing to its equivalent is the Holy Grail. The differences between our worlds is why I'm positive that I'm going to win."

The others were confused to the point that question marks almost appeared over their heads, """"how so?""""

Shirou's grin grew wider, "what weapon killed Mordred?"

Modred's shrine

One week after Shirou had been informed and six days after he had arrived on the island, the time had finally arrived. The divine energy had spiked several times since the first time, with each time gap between two shorter than the one before it. That day, the gap had dropped to one hour.

Shirou was crouched down in a mid-level concealment bounded field just outside the edge of the clearing. His right hand was clenched around the hilt of the weapon he had chosen to use. He hoped that it would be enough but was prepared if it wasn't. Thankfully his traced weapons weren't rejected by the world, otherwise he wouldn't have noticed the change in his Reality Marble.

It had taken four days and some advice from Saber for him to figure out how it had changed and his new incantation. Shirou was prepared to drag the battle into his Reality Marble the moment his weapon failed to kill Mordred.

Shirou saw the shrine begin to glow and rechecked everything. His weapon was ready, he was at full magical capacity, he was well rested, and, thanks to several training sessions with Saber, he understood how all his powers worked.

The glow grew until it was blinding. When Shirou could once again look where the shrine had been, a new view entered his vision. Where the shrine once was, there now existed a shallow crater with a man located in the center. The man was large, almost five meters in height, and was clad from head to toe in pitch-black knight armor.

"Fitting for the knight of betrayal." was what Shirou's first impression was.

Shirou waited, expecting the heretic god to call out to him, but what happened next was outside of his expectations.

"So the King of the End has returned at last. The time has come for me to claim the title of Strongest Steel as my own." The knight then got up and began walking in the exact opposite direction as Shirou.

"WHAT?!? I was told Campione and Heretic Gods are like cats and dogs! How is he able to ignore me? Is this bounded field stronger than I thought? We'll need to check that latter, for now, Mordred must be dealt with." Shirou thought rapidly and moved quickly.

After reinforcing himself to his limit, Shirou charged toward Mordred. Mordred froze, his thoughts mirroring Shirou's earlier thoughts, "a Campione, but how? I sensed nothing!"

Before Mordred recovered from the shock, Shirou's lance pierced his chest, causing Mordred to freeze again, "I know this spear, it's Rhongomyniad. But Rhongomyniad is pure fantasy, it doesn't exist. What's going on?"

Before Mordred could recover from his second shock, Shirou spoke. And his words were the last thing Mordred heard.

"Holy Lance, anchor!

Let light be released from the Ends of the World. It shall split the heavens, and connect the land. Anchor of the Storm! Rhongomyniad!!"

A pillar of light erupted from Shirou's location and a beam of light emitted from Rhongomyniad's tip. When the light faded, only Shirou remained. "Good thing he was taller than me, it would have been bad if that hit the ground."

Shirou closed his eyes and tried to determine the new authority he had gotten when a vision interrupted his concentration.

"Pandora-oka-san? What is it?"

"I need to speak to you as soon as possible, please get Arthuria to take you to me!"

As rapidly as the vision appeared, it vanished, leaving Shirou unsettled.

"What was that? It came out of nowhere. Well, looks like I need to speak to Pandora-oka-san to find out. Best be heading home." Shirou dispelled Rhongomyniad and turned to leave, unaware of just how much the world had changed due to his actions that day. Or at least he didn't at the time.