12 - Sea of Darkness

The month was over in the blink of an eye, and the Winter Solstice has arrived. Over the course of the last few weeks, Shirou fell into a schedule of hanging out with Sunny and Cassia, while testing the limits of [Living Sword] against Nightmare Creatures.

As Shirou sat at the table with Sunny and Cassie one last time, he summoned his runes.

Name: Shirou

True Name: Forged In Hell

Rank: Dreamer

Forge Core: Dormant

Sword Fragments: [0/1000].

Attributes: [Spark Of Divinity], [Master Of Swords], [Mind Of Steel], [Anomaly].

Memories: [Washing Pole], [Rebellion], [War Medallion], [Shroud of Justice].

Echoes: [Ingvild of the Storm].

Aspect: [Sword Incarnation]

Aspect Rank: [Divine]

Aspect Description: [You are a sword who was forged in the depths of hell and quenched with the divine blood of the War Goddess. You were the greatest creation greatest blacksmith of them all, which makes you a sword above all the rest. All types of weapons recognize you as their master. The blacksmith created you in his own image, and left behind one simple, yet daunting task. Destroy Fate.]

Innate Ability: [Bloodstained]

Ability Description: [The blood of the War Goddess does not flow through you, as swords are not alive. When stained with the blood of the War Goddess, you are able to perform at your fullest potential.]

Aspect Abilities: [Living Sword]

Aspect Legacy: [Fleshforge]

Fleshforge Description: [The War Goddess accepted an offering of humanity from the heroic Forged In Hell. In respect of his sense of Justice, and value of life, she bestowed upon him the ability to truly become the sword itself. This was only possible due to his ability to abandon his humanity for the sake of others.]

Legacy Relics:

First Relic: [Claimed]

Second Relic: [Locked]

Third Relic: [Locked]

Fourth Relic: [Locked]

Fifth Relic: [Locked]

Sixth Relic: [Locked]

Seventh Relic: [Locked]

Blades: —

Yesterday, Shiou had just hit 100 Sword Fragments, and decided to immediately use them on Ingvild, who's runes were currently grey. He had tried to summon her earlier when he woke up, but she didn't appear. He assumed that since she was still considered an echo, that she probably was transitioning into becoming a Blade.

Shirou didn't know what would happen to Ingvild, but unlike someone like Sunny, he would've just taken the plunge no matter the consequences.

Shirou dismissed his runes and joined in on Sunny and Cassie's conversation.

"To be honest, I don't think you'll survive in the Dream Realm."

Shirou blinked twice after hearing what Sunny had just said.

"Yeah, I thought so."

Shirou blinked again when he heard Cassie's response.

"I think she'll be fine."

Sunny and Cassie turned to Shirou and looked at him like was stupid. Well, Cassie wasn't really looking at him, but the point still stands.

"She's blind, you know?"

"I'm blind, you know?"

Shirou simply smirked.

"That may be the case, but you both forgot about the most important variable."

Sunny leaned forward and said in a sarcastic tone:

"Oh? And what could that possibly be?"

"Me, of course."

Sunny and Cassie sighed at his answer.

"And what could you possibly do?"

"I'll save her, obviously."

He stated it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Shirou could have sworn that he saw Cassie's face go red.

Sunny looked at him seriously.

"I think you're forgetting something."

"What?"

"The odds of you being in the same area as Cassie before a Nightmare Creature finds her are extremely low."

Sunny's face darkened.

"Even worse, other people might find her first."

"Why would that be worse?"

Sunny sighed.

"What do you think a group of men would do when they find an attractive blind girl all alone?"

Shirou dropped his smile.

"Sunny, you're scaring her."

"I'm sure you already knew that, yet you asked me anyways. Playing dumb doesn't work in all situations, you know?"

Shirou glanced at Cassie and saw her staring down at her food, a last meal of sorts. Shirou patted her shoulder before saying:

"Don't worry too much about it. I'll definitely find you, even if you're halfway across the Dream Realm. I'll bring Sunny along with me too, of course."

Cassie faced his direction.

"…You can't say something that you don't mean. I've already accepted that I'm going to die. You can't give me hope at the last second."

"I do mean it though? I'm sure Sunny agrees, right?"

"…I never said I was going to do that."

"But you do actually want to save her, right?"

"…Yes."

Shirou figured that Sunny had an issue with lying, since he couldn't recall him ever telling a lie to anyone.

I wonder how he survived in the outskirts like that.

Shirou turned back to Cassie with a big smile on his face.

"See? Even Sunny wants to help you, and he's the rudest person I've ever met! Between me and him, there's no way that anything bad could happen to you."

Cassie averted her empty gaze.

"…Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Well I'm going to keep it, so just wait for us when you're in the Dream Realm, okay?"

Seeing that she couldn't say anything back to him, she just smiled somberly.

————————————————————

An hour later, Shirou was standing in front of a pod. As he was standing their, he felt a burning sensation. It was as if his very soul was being put into a furnace.

Huh, that's pretty bad.

Strangely enough, Shirou did not even flinch at the feeling of intense pain. He opened up the pod, and hopped into it. He felt the pain fade away after a few seconds.

I wonder what that was all about.

In another room similar to his, a silver-haired girl was holding white flames in her hand. Strangely enough, she seemed to be in intense agony, if her face being scrunched up was any indication.

In another room, a blind girl was sobbing as she was trying to find her way around the room. She slumped against the pod and curled up.

In one last room, that was slightly darker than the others, a pale boy can be seen conversing with his shadow. He looked towards the pod with both determination and spite.

————————————————————

Shirou learned that he couldn't swim.

Normally, he would have been able to, but it looks like [Living Sword] made his body much heavier than it used to be.

[You have reforged Ingvild of the Storm.]

Perfect!

When Shirou tried to summon her, strangely enough, her sword was the first thing that appeared. He didn't know why, but it seemed to have grown stronger, as if it's presence in the world was more prominent than before.

A moment later, he saw Ingvild appear in motes of golden light, grasping the sword. She didn't seem to have any issues in the water. Most likely due to her [Undrowning] attribute.

She quickly turned towards Shirou and grabbed his arm with a single hand. She didn't even seem to be swimming, as the water just started to form into a whirpool. She was using [Galebreathe] to propel them to the surface of the water.

Shirou didn't feel the pressure of the water, and assumed that she was using [Galebreathe] to protect him from the force of moving so quickly underwater.

They penetrated the surface of the water, and we're currently airborne. As they were both launched out of what seemed to be a black sea, Shirou took this chance to look around for any land. He noticed a small island some distance away.

Shirou turned towards his new Blade, and told her:

"There's land that way!"

She nodded her head, before using [Galebreathe] to propel them in that direction while they were still airborne.

…She never nodded when I told her something before.

Shirou decided to ignore the strange behavior of his Blade, and looked forward towards the the island.

They landed in the black water, and Ingvild slowly propelled them in the direction of the island. Strangely enough, she seemed to be panting. She turned towards him and let out a crooked smile.

[Sorry, master. I almost ran out of essence after using my wind so much.]

Shirou heard a soft, feminine voice in his head. It sounded quite pleasant if he was being honest, like what you would hear from a singer.

Shirou froze after realizing what just happened. He looked towards Ingvild, who was tilting her head after seeing him freeze up.

"Y-you can talk!"

She shook her head.

[Ah, I never was able to talk. It was my flaw, you know?]

"How are you doing that?!"

[Doing what?]

"Speaking in my head!"

[Oh. I don't really understand it myself, but I instinctually knew how to talk to you like this.]

Shirou was absolutely bamboozled.

[Are you okay, master?]

"Don't call me that!"

[I-is there something wrong with it?]

Ingvild seemed quite nervous about having upset him.

"It's weird! I don't really get it, but it feels like I've accomplished something that all men have longed for! I don't want to be associated with that."

Truly enough, Shirou thought that he could see countless men saluting him in his mind.

…Is that the old man?!

[W-what?]

"Don't question it. Just call me Shirou, okay?"

[Um… okay, Shirou.]

As they stepped onto the island, Shirou tried to dismiss Ingvild.

Keyword: "tried".

"Huh? Why are you still here?"

[Did you need me to do something?]

"Why didn't you go back to my soul sea? Do I have to tell you to do it instead?"

[I can't go back.]

"What?"

[You're soul sea can only be accessed by you alone. This is just a guess, but I think you made me a seperate existence entirely. Although, your soul cores seems to be bound to Storm Ruler. Oh, I guess it's a Forge Core for you, right?]

Shirou scrambled his brain to try to figure out what is going on. He recalled something from a book he read when he was trying to research the War Goddess.

…The War Goddess is also the Goddess of progress, technology, intellect, humanity, and…

…Life.

Shirou's eyes widened when he recalled this piece of information.

"…Can I revive my echoes?!"

[I believe so, but it seems to have it's downsides.]

"What do you mean?"

[For starters, it seems that I can get tired.]

Shirou remembered the sight of Ingvild panting. He had a strange grin on his face when he recalled the image.

[…Why are you smiling like that?]

"No reason!"

[…If you say so.]

She looked at him suspiciously.

[Anyways, if we go by that logic, I would most likely need to perform other actions that I wouldn't have needed to do, like eating.]

"…Did you become more of a problem after becoming a Blade?"

[O-of course not! I don't really know, but I'm sure that there's some good things that you can get out of this!]

"…Right. We'll I need you to hide somehow. If we run into something, we'll need the element of surprise."

[Oh. I could do that!]

Ingvild seemed to just sink into the ground. If he looked closely, Shirou could see a puddle of water where she just was.

…I guess she had to be a little wet after swimming through that.

A moment later, Ingvild reappeared with a haunted look on her face.

"…Why did you turn back?"

She looked towards him before staring at the black sea.

[I knew that there was something wrong with that water. It's not just some normal water, but rather, an abomination.]

"…And we were swimming in that?!"

Ingvild sighed before looking at Shirou.

[It doesn't seem to try to harm me, so it should be fine if I hide in there.]

"Alright, but get out of there if you feel threatened."

She nodded before sinking into the puddle again.

As Shirou walked away, the small puddle followed. As he was looking around the small island, he noticed a small opening in the middle. He could hear something breathing, so he summoned the [Washing Pole] just in case.

When Shirou slowly leaned over to see what was in there, he was pleasantly surprised to see a head of blonde hair.

"You don't seem to be looking to hot down there."

Cassie flinched before turning her face upwards. She recognized the voice she just heard.

"Shirou?"

"Yeah, it's me. Why are you naked?"

When being sent into the Dream Realm, the only things that can carried along would be your memories. Shirou was wearing the [Rebellion] when he stepped into the pod, so that was what he was wearing when he dropped into the black sea.

It seems Cassie did not have anything of the sort, as she blushed before trying to cover up her body. Shirou didn't think that someone's face could get so red.

He reached out to her hand before transferring the [Rebellion] over to her.

[You have lost a memory.]

"You should probably wear that."

Cassie immediately wore the memory.

"Thanks, Shirou. But do you have anything to wear left?"

He did, and was currently wearing the [Shroud of Justice] around his waist. Although it would have normally have been mix between a skirt and a cape, the red shroud had given him some pants now that he wasn't wearing the [Rebellion].

"I am, but I'm shirtless. It's fine since you wouldn't be able to see anyways."

[…You should think about me first.]

Shirou ignored the Blade, and gave Cassie one end of the [Washing Pole]'s sheath. He held onto the other end, and walked Cassie out of the crevice.

"Don't let go of that, okay?"

"…You really kept your promise."

"Not really, I was supposed to bring Sunny with me, but that guy is way too good at hiding."

"…Thank you."

"I'm sure anyone else would have helped."

"No you're not."

"I guess you're right."

Cassie giggled as they walked to the edge of the island. They both sat down on the sand.

…Let's try something.

[Ingvild, can you hear me?]

[Ah! So you can do it too?]

[I guess so.]

[But why are you trying to hide me from Miss Cassia? Is she a threat?]

You're probably older than her.

[No. I just wanted to have your reveal be cool.]

[…Are you serious?]

[Why wouldn't I be? A hero needs to keep some trump cards that he pulls out at the best moment.]

He could have sworn he heard her palm her face.

[…If that's what you want.]

[Thank you for your understanding, my lady.]

Shirou heard the sound of boiling water, but he brushed it off as his imagination.

As the sun rose in the horizon, the water levels started to quickly lower.

"…What the hell?!"