Chapter 27

If one knew what it was like to stare upon a specter of death, then surely it would be similar to the expressions reflected upon the steel of the swords looming above. Some were jagged, others pristine and smooth, their edges coated with a thin tint of red from the heat surrounding them.

The danger of them was evident; the tension alone that had suddenly manifested serving as a deterrence that caused one's strength to gradually be sapped away.

After all, if the fires that raged and writhed weren't enough of a warning, then those swords themselves hanging from above without physical means surely would be.

Humans were fickle things. If they couldn't understand something, then it was the work of a higher power, good or evil. In which case, something else must be taken into consideration.

And that is the prospect of perspective.

The undisputed weapons of offence in the entire era was the Sword. They were the work of legends and the vessels able to contain that which could not be understood by normal means. Swords able to pierce the hides of dragons and bath in their blood, and swords that could split the mountains with a single swing, such legends were not rare. Often, they were told to younglings commonly of Noble Birth, and in some cases even to the masses.

Such weapons told of in the folktales spread throughout the continent resounded within the minds of many.

Siegfried, the bather of Dragon's Blood.

Beowolf, the Beast Killer.

Both were known for their bravery and power, yet it was indisputable to many Knights that without their swords and weapons figures like Beowulf and Siegfried would never have had triumphed. Magic Swords they were. They had to be, to be able to accomplish the feats described of in legend.

Therefore, there was a certain terror that took root within the hearts of the Vernier family Knights who stared up at the floating swords.

Magic Swords; there was no doubt to what those Knights and people present were thinking. And if such a thing were true, did that not mean that they were facing a figure comparable to those spoken of in legend? The one's regaled to them by their fathers as people to strive forward to become?

As the sound of his steps began to echo from within the dust created from the impact of the rubble, this was the sight he witnessed: Grown men frozen stiff from the fear in their eyes, their legs trembling as some had even fallen to the ground on their knees.

He disregarded them soon after, turning his attention to the one bleeding on the ground, a wound cut across her back. For a moment, his breath hitched recognizing that blond hair and small back attempting to shoulder more than one could ever carry. From there, his eyes quickly shifted to the armoured youth standing next to her looking for answers, and even then, that only lasted for a moment before he ran to her side.

Arturia.

She had been lying face-down on her stomach, her arm still outstretched towards a smudged marking on the wall of the building that had exploded as a result of his and Efret's release of magical power. Though, more on Efret's case as the rapid expansion and flowing flames from its body increased the pressure exponentially within that underground room.

Carefully, he propped her up against him. Her eyes were half-lidded, and it appeared as if she would lose consciousness at any moment. He held her close, urging Efret up above to protect them for a moment.

Immediately, a caw came from the sky before a dome of fire descended down around him and Arturia. Unfortunately for the armoured youth, this dome encompassed the youth within as well.

As he had run forward, the armoured youth had taken several steps back and made some distance, but that distance clearly wasn't enough. Feeling stifled, the youth quietly placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

He didn't notice this action and instead was focusing on calling out to Avalon, the sheath whose true owner was right before it. He could almost feel the excitement in the sheath crafted by the Fey to hold within the Holy Sword unsurpassed throughout time.

Avalon didn't require much prompting to come into existence. Instead, it appeared in tiny mots of glowing yellow lights, like fireflies in the night that slowly converged and entered Arturia's body.

Her wounds completely healed, dried blood caking off and pinkish skin forming visibly on the damaged areas. Next, the complexion on her face near instantly grew better, the paleness replaced by a healthy vibrance that caused her eyes to flutter open in confusion.

She appeared as if she was staring at an illusion, and this was verified when she slowly brought a hand up to pinch his face and then her own. The sheer surprise and mortification that flashed across her expression when she realized that it wasn't an illusion was endearing despite the current situation.

Evidently, she was also not expecting him to be so close to her, his face close enough that she could feel his breath. She couldn't utter a word in this situation and swiftly pushed him away, forgetting that he was the one supporting her in the first place. Without his support that she had been leaning on, she fell back on the ground, spluttering and trying to make sense of the situation.

Moments later though, she shook her head, a frantic expression coming to her face.

"We have to help them!" She spoke desperately while searching out for her sword. She had apparently dropped in when she had gotten injured moments before.

When she had spoken of injuries, his eyes immediately returned to the armoured youth a distance away from him that he had neglected till now. A sword manifested in his hands, and he stood up to his full height, near half-a-head taller than the youth.

Perhaps Arturia had noticed this behaviour or had just seen through his actions, but she moved to defend the armoured youth.

"He helped me," she said anxiously.

After words, she then explained what had happened as quickly as she could. When she told him about the situation Sir Ector and the others were in, he couldn't help but clench his hands into fists. By the time Arturia finished explaining everything, his eyes had already grown to show a cold resolve.

"Thank you," he said, bowing his head to the armoured youth.

If the armoured youth had not allowed Arturia to stagger forward and disrupt the magic sigil, then he would never have had even known what was going on above.

The black armoured youth didn't reply.

However, he wasn't put out by this. Instead, he had other more pressing things to accomplish.

He closed his eyes.

Efret.

That link that connected the two allowed Efret to understand what he wanted even without explanation. In this case, the wall of flame surrounding them in a protective dome vanished. What appeared was himself, a healed Arturia, and the armoured youth who had taken the time to retreat.

There was a sudden pause at his re-emergence, a lull that was quick to die out as Efret spat out a ball of flame that ignited a man upon contact. Said man began flailing, screaming and rolling against the ground to put out the flame, yet nothing worked and the screams soon faded into a heavy silence.

One of the Vernier family's Knights gulped audibly.

"W-What are you all doing!" A Knight captain stuttered to his men. "E-Even if we're facing a Wizard, they're not known for their skill in close combat so don't even think about running. The farther away you run, the greater the odds of death are."

Hearing what the Knight Captain said, he realized that there was actually a hint of truth in it. Of the two known magic users of the era between Merlin and Morgan, these Knights have clearly witnessed a form of Morgan's magecraft. However, what they didn't know between magi, was that all magi were different, researching and specializing in numerous fields. He was no different, just that his magecraft leaned more towards battle.

"Stand firm, if we all converge on him together, then the fire bird will have no one to control it!" The Knight captain continued speaking.

"S-Sir, what about those swords?" Another Knight spoke apprehensively.

"Are shields and armours are blessed by the Madam," the Knight captain spoke. "We shall not fear."

Meanwhile as the Knights of Verneir discussed amongst themselves, he did not remain idle.

Already, enough time had passed that danger may have had already befallen Sir Ector and the others.

He had no more time to stand around and do nothing. From what the Knight Captain spoke of, the Knights of Vernier all had the same thought that if he was defeated than Efret would no longer do battle. However, weren't they getting a little too ahead of themselves with just armour shields alone?

Efret was not the only thing they had to worry about.

"Trace, on: Continuous Fire!"

The swords hanging above him began to whine, vibrating with bluish light that left streaks in the air as they propelled forward.

They were as numerous as rain. Reinforced shields and armour may save them from one or two blows, but what about ten, or even a hundred? Furthermore, the sheer impact alone was enough to cause death by concussion and battered bones, and even then, the heated edges left uncomfortable black scorch marks over the armour.

Gauges filled the earth, swords burrowing into the dirt like shrapnel. Blood splattered outwards from the impact, forming large areas of red on the long grass.

"C-Charge!" The Knight leader pushed forward.

Behind the leader were many others who loyally followed.

Their only hope lied in taking him down. Unfortunately, such a thing would not be happening.

Zzztt.

It was a buzzing like sound that sent shivers down the Knight's spines.

ZZZZTTTT!

Swords numbering in the hundreds swung down from the sky, twisting and turning, and clattering against each other. It was reminiscent of thousands of needles bunched together and pointed forwards.

One Knight faltered, and then another until only the Knight captain himself was the only one moving forward remaining. Ahead, a wall of swords was the only sight that entered the Knight Captain's eyes, impossible to bypass.

Finally, the last hopes seemed to have died from the Knight Captain's eye as the man fell forward on his knees, staring up at the sky as if God had forsaken him.

"Is this the price to pay?" The Knight Captain mumbled. "Lord Vernier, this Knight of yours expresses his regret in following the instructions of a Witch. But now it's too late."

As the swords began to shoot forward at unimaginable speeds, a flash of unbreakable will appeared reflected within wizened eyes. At that moment, a single order was given by the Knight Captain.

"Retreat."

The voice resounded for but a moment, but it was enough to get all the Knights of Vernier to beat a hasty withdrawal. However, a few still remained.

Noticing this, the Knight Captain gave a low grunt of acknowledgment.

My brothers in arms, the Knight Captain thought before forsaking everything else.

"OOAAHHH!" The Knight Captain screamed with a battle cry, charging forward.

Shields were broken, armour sets pierced and singed, and yet it did not matter in the face of the storm of swords. It didn't even take more than a few seconds to completely wipe out the group, and furthermore, the swords still struck out at those retreating without hesitation.

Arturia swallowed, looking up in apprehension at the steadily wilting numbers of the Vernier Family's Knights. Admittedly, it was the first she had ever seen anything like it. In the battle of the River Glein, it had always been Efret and Gerrard who had left the largest impact. For one, because of Efret's size and power, and the fear associated with monsters. As for Gerrard, no words were needed after a single arrow had devastated the enemy's lines. Yet what she was seeing now was completely different. It wasn't Gerrard or Efret who were the true monsters of the battlefield, it was the friend who had remained with her throughout her childhood years and till present. The one who smiled at her while she ate, and the one who wilted under her demands.

Her Knight.

Her gaze had changed as she stared at him, unknowingly flushing red with heated emotions.

He didn't take notice of this though, instead, he held Arturia close as he leapt into the air.

"Efret!" He called out.

The great fire bird above swooped down, catching himself and Arturia on its back.

This was the first time he had ever rode on Efret's back, but based on the calm of Arturia's expression, the same could not be said for her. In any case, his eyes surveyed the land beneath them.

"Sir Ector and everyone else are over there!" Arturia pointed impatiently.

From their position up above, they could see the encirclement the Knights of Vernier had made around Sir Ector and the rest. They were being besieged from all sides, but Kay, Sir Ector, and Bors were managing to keep the majority of the Knights at bay. Palamid and the Son of Wolfred were striking out in the small gaps left behind by the older men.

Seeing the situation, he immediately maneuvered with Efret to intervene. Wind whipped across his face, the sound produced from their decent numbing his ears. Just as they were about to land though, a voice echoed in his mind.

"You've made the wrong choice."

Suddenly, a power pressed itself against his face and blasted him off of Efret's back, pulling him towards a source further away.

Efrat cawed in indignation, circling around towards him, but was quickly retrained by the emergence of a magic circle preventing Efret from moving forward.

"I coming master,"

Efret's thoughts were conveyed to him, yet he shook his head as he then motioned towards Sir Ector and the rest. Reluctantly, Efret complied, moving towards the area with Arturia still on its back.

As for himself, the pulling force on him only tightened until he was dragged to stand within a dark forest, the Witch Morgan in front of him, and Merlin near his right. The both of them appeared winded, but Merlin still took the time to smile in his direction.

"Isn't it about time to end things here, Morgan?" Merlin asked. "The situation is far from favorable for you."

The Morgan sneered, her face creasing together in her anger.

"Far from favourable, yes," Morgan spoke, idly taking a few steps to the left before she paused and stared at him, hard. "But, it'll be even more unfavorable in the future."

It was clear about what Morgan was hinting at. It was because of him. What he had done with his magecraft earlier should not have had escaped her notice. The swords he had traced weren't Noble Phantasm, but the power they exuded as mystic codes should have been more than enough for any magus to feel a sense of dread. In fact, those swords he had created were still floating around him, having followed him as Morgan dragged him towards the location. Clearly though, what Morgan was currently feeling was a budding pressure that would be better to be dealt with before it became too severe.

"Mystic codes," Morgan spoke slowly, her eyes discerning each sword above. "In the end, what family do you come from?"

He didn't answer. After all, it was beneficial if Morgan or any other magus assumed he was related to an even bigger line of prominent magi. It could prevent trouble from coming to Arturia by acting as a deterrence for any magus wishing to approach.

Seeing that he wouldn't answer, Morgan pursed her lips, her attempts failed.

"Will you give it up here then, Morgan?" Merlin asked again.

Morgan's shoulders trembled, her expression shifting into contempt before she burst out into laughter that rocked across her body before she eventually stopped.

"You fools, the both of you," Morgan said. "Do you really think that you could gain the advantage while in the territory of another magus? Naïve!"

Morgan stepped forward, and then pointed out towards the distance. "You both are in my realm, and even though you both together may have pressured me into a tactical retreat today after careful consideration, but I have more than a single way to resolve this matter."

He immediately felt apprehensive as Morgan's body began to shimmer away from existence.

"I hope you enjoy it, and you," Morgan's eyes narrowed on him. "If you are lucky enough to survive this, I will remember you and your choice on this day."

As Morgan's voice faded away, the ground began to rumble beneath his feet and he could feel the sudden emergence of magical power converging on a central point in the Verneir estate.

"Hmmm, not good," Merlin said, eyes widened. "That Morgan, she set up a bounded field of extraction."

Merlin then explained to him of the bounded field's purpose, and hearing the explanation, he immediately wanted to move into action. Because in the end, what he had derived from Merlin's explanation was that the bounded field was similar in effect to the magic circles he had found scattered across his previous school of Homurahara Academy. It was during the Holy Grail war, and those magic circles were designed for the express purpose of extracting the magical power of everything within. And for regular humans, and even magi, they would die after having their vitality sucked out of them. The power gathered would then be used as a source for other magecraft, or assimilated to be used as the caster's own strength.

As such, he couldn't let that happen.

"We have to move fast," he spoke.

Merlin nodded before bringing up a problem. "We may not have enough time to deactivate all the magical circles supplying the power to the bounded field. Even for me, it would take a couple minutes just to deactivate one, and knowing how devious Morgan is, there's bound to be several dozens of these magic circles. With my speed, and just the two of us alone, assuming that you can deactivate those seals yourself, we still may not make it in time," Merlin concluded.

He understood what Merlin was implying.

"Therefore, it's better to just take Arturia and everyone else out of here before the bounded field activates?" He questioned.

"Precisely," Merlin acknowledged.

However, he could not acknowledge such an answer.

"When something terrible happens, it's true that you can only save a handful of people, no matter how hard you try." A fierce light appeared in his eyes as he spoke, a decision having been made. "But that doesn't mean it's okay!"

He dismissed the swords still floating above the air and made sure he had Merlin's attention.

"Would it make a difference if you can immediately deactivate a magic circle?" He asked.

The question caught Merlin by surprise, but he quickly composed himself.

"I am the greatest Wizard of the Land. Such a thing would be trivial in such a case," Merlin scoffed. "Yet how would you plan to allow me to do that?"

No words were needed for his next actions. Instead he merely took a breath before extending a hand out.

Judging the concept of creation.

The possession of a woman who was betrayed flashed across his mind. A simple woman, and one that was common throughout the various stories across the land. A maiden in love.

Hypothesizing the basic structure

It was an item of Greek origin, dating from before one of the world's earliest empire's fell.

In which case, it harbored within it the hopes of a woman waiting for the return of her loved one. Made of common metals of man, and forged through the efforts of the olden blacksmiths of Colchis, it became something much more sinister.

A dagger of betrayal.

Duplicating the composition material.

Imitating the skill of its making.

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.

Reproducing the accumulated years.

Excelling every manufacturing process.

The seven steps of tracing flashed across his mind, and in that moment, his eyes opened to stare at the jagged dagger before them.

Rule Breaker, the dagger of the Witch of Colchis.

The power coming off from it was unmistakable in Merlin's eyes. And that was what caused the man to be so stunned. It was another Noble Phantasm!

Already he had seen the disbelief the first time Merlin laid eyes on his tracing, but now he knew that Merlin had thought that to be the limit of his capabilities regarding them. Merlin was wrong. And if Merlin ever found out that he could trace an untold number of them, he was afraid of what Merlin would do to him at that point.

"T-This, what does it do?" Merlin inquired.

Instead of explaining, it was easier to show its abilities.

At the spot Morgan had vanished from, a glowing magic circle was in its place. Swiftly, he stabbed down with Rule Breaker, watching wordlessly as the magical power in the circle dissipated with its destruction. This was the power of Rule Breaker, the power of Medea of Colchis, the Witch of Betrayal.

Seeing the magical circle dissipate, Merlin was at a loss for words.

He took the opportunity of Merlin's inattentiveness to slip the dagger into the man's hands.

"This is a sword of negation and betrayal that nullifies every kind of magecraft in the world," he spoke the words Caster had once spoken of from within the dagger's history. "With this, you shouldn't have a problem getting rid of those magic circles supplying power to the bounded field. While you do your part, I'll do mine."

He left before Merlin could stop staring dumbly at Rule Breaker, heading back in the direction of where Arturia and the others were. At the same time, he located and nullified any magic circle he discovered on his way.

LINE BREAK

Balls of flames fell down from the sky, scorching the earth beneath and killing the armoured Knights unlucky enough to be caught under the explosion.

This was all because of Efret.

After Shirou had instructed it to help Sir Ector and the others, Efret had first deposited Arturia on the ground before then taking to the skies where it pelted the Knights of Verneir with an unrelenting storm of attacks. Even worse, the Knights of Vernier couldn't even do anything back because of Efret's altitude.

Moral was considerably low as a result, but the loyalty the Knights of Vernier displayed by not immediately fleeing was admirable.

The tide of victory was completely one-sided.

As such, it was completely unexpected then when Efret suddenly plummeted from the sky, crashing into the ground near Arturia and the others, and beginning to shrink until it was its regular size of half-a-man's leg.

Efret groaned feebly, its eyes narrowing as they stared resentfully at the sudden emergence of a magic circle nearby. This magic circle had seemed to focus on it first and drained its power completely dry.

"Circle, bad. Get away," Efret warned Arturia as she and the rest questioned Efret about what was wrong.

"Not good," Sir Ector immediately said staring off at Lord Vernier's Knights.

After seeing Efret suddenly plummet to the ground, they had regained some confidence in winning and were once again charging forward. The sound of their clinking steps resounded through the field, none of them knowing that the Madam had tossed them aside like fodder; not even Lord Vernier knew this.

Some of the Knights of Vernier included those that had run away from when Shirou was let loose. Those Knights had expressed their desire to retreat and continued to insist on it to Lord Vernier. However, Lord Vernier just scoffed and placated them by reminding them of the Madam. 'She would return and deal with everything,' was the general gist of it.

With that said, no more protest emerged from those particular Knights.

"They're coming," Sir Ector spoke grimly. "Kay, you and Bors take the vanguard and defend our retreat. I don't know what that magic circle there is, but if it's enough to put down Efret, then it's far more dangerous to us. We have to move."

Everyone listened to Sir Ector's instruction as the man had years of experience in his life.

As Kay and Bors stepped forward to intercept the oncoming Knights, Arturia, Emily, Palamid, and the Son of Wolfred helped support the lightly breathing Gerrard and a winded Charles.

Sir Ector took the lead in the retreat, beating back the Knights of Vernier near the back of the encirclement. However, it was doomed to be futile. More and more of them just kept appearing like ants.

"These bastards," Sir Ector swore through gritted teeth. Weariness was clear on his face, and even the grip he had on his sword was beginning to slacken from over exertion.

"Let me," Arturia spoke, moving away from Gerrard and letting Palamid shoulder more of the burden. "I can go out and try to break a hole for you to follow."

Sir Ector didn't approve of Arturia's suggestion. After all, something was beginning to happen to the enemy's line, and Sir Ector didn't want Arturia to get close.

One by one, the speed of the Knights of Vernier seemed to be stumbling into a crawl, their faces growing pale, and their breaths erratic. Soon, one of them collapsed on the ground, unmoving, then another quickly followed. Lord Vernier himself was not exempt from this, his expression growing bitter as he realized better than anyone else that he had been betrayed.

"What's going on?" The Son of Wolfred asked.

"Hmph," a shrug of disdain sounded out from a short way behind the Son of Wolfred. "Someone has set up a Bounded Field of Extraction. If you all don't get out soon, you will be effected by it just the same as those men before you."

While the voice was speaking, everyone turned in its direction. Out of everyone though, only Emily was the one unsurprised with the person's arrival.

It was a woman Shirou and Merlin would recognize as Alizine of the Barthomeloi family of magi, and behind her was a trail of broken bodies leading all the way from the entrance of the Vernier estate. It was obvious that she had been barred entry, but had forced her way in anyway.

She had been someone who participated in the magi's gathering hosted in Roan. She was in no way weak.

Currently, a frown worked its way onto Alizine's face upon noticing the paleness of Emily's. It was clear that the effect of the bounded field was already beginning to occur.

"We're getting out of here," Alizine spoke, walking in Emily's direction. However, Alizine's face darkened when Emily refused.

"I'm not going without my friends," Emily spoke stubbornly. "I want it as part of my two favours."

The object Emily had once had in her hands before crushing it had the function of alerting Alizine of Emily's location. She and Alizine had come to an agreement of sorts, and it was the action of breaking the object that signaled Emily's agreement.

"You damn brat," Alizine's mouth twitched before she turned to face Arturia and the rest, her eyes resting on Gerrard and Charles.

"Leave them," she spoke. "We don't have much time to flee before this bounded field completely activates, and it will be impossible for you all if you have to drag others along with you."

"Then they won't have to."

From the trees in front of Alizine, Shirou appeared with Rule Breaker in hand.

Shirou's appearance caused Alizine to lift a brow. After all, she and Shirou had already met once before during the gathering of magi. Still, what caused Alizine's expression to shift from a raised brow to surprise was the Noble Phantasm in Shirou's hand.

As Alizine was well acquainted with Lord Archibald of the Archibald family, she had heard from him that Shirou had two Noble Phantasms in his possession, yet neither of the two described a dagger. Then didn't that mean that Shirou was in possession of three Noble Phantasms?

She held her tongue before her curiousty got the better of her. In which case, she just watched as Shirou made his way towards the magic circle and stabbed the dagger down over it.

As the circle disappeared swiftly under Shirou's gaze, he finally let out a sigh of relief as the feeling of energy leaving his body faded. Merlin had probably moved on to neutralize any of the other magic circles so it can be said that he and the rest had successfully made it through the encounter.

Briefly, he wondered how Morgan would feel if she knew that her last resort was so easily neutralized? It couldn't be helped though. There weren't very many things that couldn't be fixed using Rule Breaker. If one could disrupt the source of magic or the magecraft itself, then the entire spell would prove useless. It really was something of a cheat, and something he had abused even before he had arrived at the current timeline.

"H-How did you?" Alizine's expression was full of curiosity, and it appeared as she had finally failed to hold herself back from asking. She coughed in her hand and composed herself before staring out expectantly.

Shirou debated for a moment, but decided not to share Rule Breaker's abilities. It could bring far more trouble than what it was worth. As a result, Alizine's upper lip began to twitch, coldness exuding from her body as strong winds began to pick up.

She was not happy.

Luckily for him, Merlin showed up soon after, an appraising expression on his face. Noticing the situation, Merlin discreetly hid the copy of Rule Breaker in his possession before arriving.

Shirou quickly moved behind the famous Wizard, and away from Alizine's scathing gaze.

Soon afterwards, Merlin sorted everything out, and even took used a potion of healing on Gerrard and Charles, their complexions greatly improving.

With the bounded field dealt with, and Lord Vernier and his Knights out of commission, the entire group slowly made their way out of the estate. Once outside, Merlin posed the question on Shirou's mind.

"What brings you here today Lady Barthomeloi?" Merlin asked.

Currently the group was taking a break seated near the main road back towards Roan, Merlin having made seats from the nearby plants.

"Her," was the only response Alizine gave, pointing a finger out at Emily.

At which point, everyone turned towards the person in particular. Emily seemed to close inwardly on herself, shy from all the attention, but quickly regaining her calm under Alizine's glare.

Eventually, Emily sighed before standing up.

"This is my aunt from my mother's side," Emily introduced. "She wants me to return to the family to undergo teaching there."

When the words left Emily's mouth, perhaps the one the most surprised with the situation was Shirou himself. Never would he have had believed that Emily was related to the Barthomeloi.

"Then it's decided," Alizine spoke, grabbing hold of Emily's hand. "You will return to the house of Barthomeloi after a brief visit to Bristol as discussed."

Emily weakly nodded her head. It was her decision that she had made the moment she decided to break the object Alizine had given her prior. Besides, based on what she had seen today, she wouldn't be of any use at all if she wasn't stronger. As of right now, her goal was reaching a strength similar to her aunt's in order to help her friends. The only down side was that she was going to have to leave them and her parents behind until she was strong enough.

With everything sorted out, Alizine impatiently began to leave, staring expectantly behind her for Emily to follow.

"Goodbye everyone," Emily said softly.

Shirou nodded in return recalling the memories he had of this girl, and what it meant now that she was going to be taught in a prominent family of magi. "We'll meet again in the future," he spoke, raising a hand forward.

Emily was unsure of the gesture, but then quickly took Shirou's hand in her own. "It's a promise," she spoke smiling.

Emily then went to Palamid, Arturia, and then to the Son of Wolfred individually, pausing on the Son of Wolfred the longest.

"I forgive you," was all that Emily said after her goodbyes to the Son of Wolfred, leaving the youth in a daze.

Moments afterwards, Alizine forcibly took Emily away, having grown tired of waiting.

LINE BREAK

Ever since Emily left, a sense of urgency seemed to have taken root within Palamid and the others.

Bors, being the eldest in seniority in regard to Palamid and the Son of Wolfred sensed this the most. It was on one such day of seeing Palamid and the Son of Wolfred training in the yard that Bors brought up a certain subject.

"Palamid, it's time for you and the young master to return to home," Bors said. "I can see it in your eyes. You both don't want to be left behind having such companions: Two from Wizard families, and the other trained by a wizard. Which is why, it's best to quickly return and resume proper training."

"But, we can't just leave now," the Son of Wolfred said. "I haven't gotten to make a name for myself, so how can I possibly return back under father's shadow?"

"Then you'd rather weigh everyone else down in battle?" Bors said skeptically. "What will you do one day when you are the cause of a friend's death. What would you do if that person were Palamid or myself for example because we were covering for your faults? Strength is the only path in this world. Righteousness can come after. Diligence is key."

The Son of Wolfred remained silent, eventually nodding his head. As for Palmid, the young squire had long since resolved himself to return to training. In which case, there were no problems with Bors's suggestion of returning home to train.

"Good, then we leave in the following days. You and your friends will meet again when fate deems it right," Bors said.

-)

Elsewhere, a similar situation like Bors's was occurring within the front of the tavern in Roan.

"You're leaving, Gerrard?" Sir Ector asked.

Gerrard already healed most of his injuries, and today, the man was currently siting on the front porch putting on his footwear.

Hearing Sir Ector's question, Gerrard gave pause before answering, a seriousness in his eyes.

"Aye, if this battle has let me learn one thing, it's that my old man was right about a few matters that I should have had considered before. I'll be returning for now, but I'll be back eventually. Tell Red that sooner or later I'll be challenging him back to that Archery contest from years ago," Gerrard finished with a laugh, hobbling off with Charles following behind in a carriage.

Silently, Sir Ector watched the two men go.

In the flow of time, people meet, and then similarly, they part. What was occurring today was something that he had seen much of in his life with past friends and even family. The tavern would be lonely with everyone leaving, but Sir Ector was sure that everyone would return together one day soon. After all, he could understand the reason as to why everyone was departing. They could not grow stronger if they were to remain here. Unlike Shirou and Arturia, they didn't have a tutor like Merlin to train them.

Sir Ector let out sigh before turning around to see Kay staring at him with his back against a wall.

"So, when will training begin again?" Kay asked absently. "I just wouldn't feel right if I let any of those brats surpass me."

A small smile appeared over Sir Ector's face. "Knowing you, they probably will," Sir Ector joked.

Kay's expression remained blank. "That's not funny," Kay spoke flatly.

Sir Ector grinned in response, the two lapsing into a moment of silence as they stared out through the windows at the three outside.

What would the following years of training bring?

With a small shake of their heads, Sir Ector and Kay focused their attention towards the open fields where Merlin had an amused expression on his face while Arturia was chasing after him in a fluster; Shirou attempting to placate her from behind.

It was a peaceful sight, and one that caused the edges of Sir Ector's mouth to twitch into a fond smile. After all, looking out at Arturia now and comparing her to that determined and headstrong child of the past bound by duty, he felt a sense of fulfillment only a parent would know.

And it all started from that one meeting in her youth.

"C'mon father, there's no use in us just staying here watching," Kay spoke. "If anything, I can use that damned horse that found its way here for practice sharpening my blade."

"And lose the moniker of the Foul End?" Sir Ector rebuked, watching Kay's face darken.

"O shut up, by the time I'm done with that horse, it'll wish that it had never crossed me," Kay grunted out.

Sir Ector shook his head before reminding Kay of something vital. "Where is your sword, Kay?"

"Fuck," was the only word Kay said before he charged out of the room. A tragic wail soon followed that Sir Ector ignored.

Instead, Sir Ector returned to watching Arturia, Shirou, and Merlin out practicing in the fields. Watching the scene, he couldn't help but step forward, a giddiness to his gait. It was time to once again put his old bones to use.

At this time, no one would have had known the effects that would occur as a result of the battle at the Vernier estate. After all, when the matter had concluded, and the Knights of Vernier who survived returned to their families, a new name began circulating throughout the lands on par with the Witch Morgan and the Wizard Merlin.

The Wizard of Swords.

Shirou Emiya

-Young Adolescence: END