17 - Boundless Sea

As the rain kept pouring, Shirou had collapsed to the ground. Nobody was able to see the expression on his face, but they were able to hear the unusual words that Shirou had spoken. It seemed quite out-of-character for him to taunt his enemy in such a way, but decided that it was most likely just a way of getting it's attention.

Of course, a certain Lost From Light was able to see everything.

Although he was dying before Nephis healed him, he had achieved a state of clarity, and made sure to pay attention to the fight. He had dismissed and summoned the Scavenger in order to protect him and Nephis, but it seemed that it wasn't necessary.

When he saw Shirou's face, there was not a single expression. He simply had a steely gaze on the Nightmare Creature. After he killed it, he could have sworn that he saw a manic grin on his face.

I knew this guy was a sociopath! Or is it psychopath?

Sunny felt a weight fall on top of him. He turned and saw Nephis unconscious.

So that's her flaw.

Nephis's flaw seemed to cause her extreme pain whenever she uses her Aspect. It made sense now as to why she didn't use her Aspect earlier.

Sunny sighed as he got up. He reinforced his body with his shadow and lifted Nephis. She was much larger than him, so it was slightly difficult to carry her body. He left her in the cave before going out to get Shirou and Cassie.

He did not notice the puddle that followed them after he picked up Shirou.

————————————————————

Shirou opened his eyes robotically. He mechanically rubbed his eyes, before immediately standing up.

"What the hell happened to your arm?"

Shirou snapped his head in the direction of the voice. When he saw that it was only Sunny, he relaxed.

"It got cut off by the Carapace Centurion. I stitched it together with my Aspect Legacy."

"…What?!"

"Don't be too loud, the others are still asleep."

Shirou glanced down at the puddle near his feet. He crouched down and started to pat his hand on the puddle. Strangely enough, it started to steam.

"I got it in my First Nightmare, this is the first time I used it though."

"…Lucky bastard."

"I guess so."

Shirou looked towards Nephis, who was completely unconscious.

"What happened to her?"

"Her flaw makes it really painful to use her Aspect."

"…So that's what it was."

Shirou had felt an excruciating pain before his arm got cut off. He also felt the feeling of his ribs caging in, but he didn't let that distract him because he knew that it was from Sunny.

"Anyways, I got a new memory. It's an armor. I'm going to give it to Nephis."

"Why? She already has her own armor."

"I was hoping she would give it to Cassie. I want my armor back…"

Later, once everyone had woken up, the three of them had exchanged armors, allowing Shirou to get the [Rebellion] back.

Now that he had something covering his torso, he was more confident in his ability to take hits. He decided to summon his runes to see how many Sword Fragments he had gotten since they had arrived.

Name: Shirou

True Name: Forged In Hell

Rank: Dreamer

Forge Core: Dormant

Sword Fragments: [42/1000].

He should have gotten 4 Sword Fragments from killing the Carapce Centurion, which means that he had killed 19 awakened monsters since the Winter Solstice.

That's probably more than most other Sleepers, right?

As Shirou was looking at his runes, he heard a feminine voice speak to him.

[…Are you okay?]

[Don't worry about me. My arm is completely fine. Well, I guess I lost quite a bit of blood.]

[…That's not what I meant.]

She didn't say anything more.

The group was not going to leave for a couple of days. They were going to stay here and rest for awhile, since the battle against the Carapace Centurion had taken quite the toll on their minds and bodies.

After cooking up the meat they had gotten from the Centurion, Shirou took some and left the cave. He sat behind a rocky outcrop and started to eat his food. He stared down at the labyrinth below, and saw many Carapace Scavengers walking around. He thought about how nice it would feel to slaughter them all.

Shirou froze.

…What the hell was that?

He sighed. He held out some of the meat. Ingvild appeared and took it from his hand. She sat down next to him, with their shoulders touching. Shirou thought that she was trying to push him.

[…Why are you doing that?]

[Doing what?]

She looked at him with an angry expression. It wasn't very intimidating due to the food that stuffed her cheeks.

[Nothing.]

[That's what I thought.]

They just sat there in silence, until Ingvild got tired and passed out on his shoulder.

Shirou just looked out into the distance, as the black sea had arrived again.

There were gaps in Shirou's memories recently. Every time he ended up snapping, he would forget everything that occurred right after. It was almost as if a completely different person would take over his body.

It wasn't "Shirou the human", but rather "Shirou the sword".

If he was being honest, he doesn't think that this behavior was completely new. He thinks that this was simply who he used to be before the fire, and it only started surfacing now. It worried him that his body can be used without him knowing what it was being used for. He bit his lip.

Once morning came, Ingvild had taken on her liquid form, and Shirou went back to the cave in which everyone else stayed. He took a seat between Sunny and Cassie.

"I have seen some visions that I haven't told you guys about."

Sunny and Shirou snapped their heads towards her. Nephis looked up at her from where she was sitting as well. Sunny slowly asked:

"More… visions? Why haven't you told us?"

"I was afraid that by telling you, it would have ended up happening."

She glanced at Nephis, and Shirou and Sunny immediately understood.

She's going to die.

Cassie sighed before looking towards Shirou and Sunny.

"Just… make sure you stay alive. No matter what."

Shirou and Sunny had replied at the same time.

"I can't promise that."

"Of course I'll stay alive."

The group looked towards Shirou in confusion. Sweat started to roll down his face.

"Well… you never know what will happen?"

Why did that sound like a question?

Sunny and Cassie sighed at him, while Nephis still seemed to be confused. Cassie turned towards her and told her:

"I'll tell you later."

Nephis nodded before grabbing onto Sunny's shroud. She started to drag him outside in order to train him more.

Currently, Shirou, Sunny, and Nephis were the main combatants of the group. Although Shirou and Sunny had decided to give all of the soul shards to Nephis, she had shared around half of it with Cassie.

Cassie was slowly starting to get used to her disability, and started to need less help from them.

Shirou decided to go test out his Aspect Legacy, which he had neglected until now. He sat behind the rock, and held up his hand. He tried to put an image into his mind.

A split second later, the skin surrounding his arm turned into scales of steel. He knocked against it and felt that it was quite sturdy. He decided to take it up a notch, and turned his whole arm into a blade.

He had decided to turn his arm into the weapon of the Withering Wolf, and surprisingly, it actually worked. He had simply overlaid the image of the memory onto his body. There was no hilt, but the full blade of the weapon was sticking out of his arm.

[Stop!]

When Shirou heard that voice, he decided to turn his arm back into it's original form. He turned to his right, and saw Ingvild looking at him in worry.

[…Don't get too lost in it. I've seen people completely forget what their bodies have looked like after playing around with those types of Aspects.]

[…Oh.]

[You have a True Name, so you should be able to bring yourself back. However, there is a point where not even that could save you.]

She sat down next to him.

[You can keep going. I'll tell you if you're going too far.]

Shirou nodded his head before trying to replicate what he did before. This time, he tried to change his arm into Ingvild's sword.

Shirou looked at his deformed arm for a moment before changing it back. He didn't think that he was supposed to use it like that. He turned towards Ingvild.

[Can I see the Storm Ruler?]

She tilted her head before nodding. She summoned the weapon and passed it over to Shirou.

Once it fell into Shirou's grasp, he flinched. It was like an entity beyond his comprehension had laid it's eyes upon him. He felt the eldritch being accept him, before new runes appeared in his vision.

[Your Blade has received a Noble Phantasm: Storm Ruler.]

Shirou stared at the runes.

What?

He looked through his runes, and did not find anything explaining what he just got. He then decided to look through Ingvild's runes.

Name: Ingvild of the Storm

True Name: —

Soul Core: Awakened

Soul Shards: [0/1000].

Aspect: [Storm Priestess].

Aspect Rank: [Divine].

Aspect Description: [There was once a priestess who carried the blood of the Storm God. Wherever she walks, the sea parts and storms disperse. She had achieved a higher level of divinity after offering herself to a Divine Sword. THE WORLD SHALL WITNESS THE REBIRTH OF THE SEA SERPENT.]

Attributes: [Mark of Divinity], [Undrowning], [Child of Storms], [Reforged].

Aspect Abilities: [Galebreathe], [Sea-Sunk], [Vorpal Blade].

Noble Phantasms: [Storm Ruler].

He immediately opened up the runes for [Storm Ruler].

Noble Phantasm Name: [Storm Ruler]

Noble Phantasm Rank: Divine

Noble Phantasm Tier: VII

Noble Phantasms Type: Weapon

Noble Phantasms Description: [An unknown amount of time ago, the descendants of the Storm God have slain an Unholy Titan. Forged from the bones of the Sea Serpent, with the eye of one of their strongest warrior implanted, this weapon was passed down through the Storm God's bloodline, before falling into the hands of Ingvild. Once Forged In Hell laid his hands upon the weapon, it had become a Noble Phantasm: a crystallization of legends.]

Divine?!

Shirou never thought that he would ever hold onto a Divine memory, much less whatever the hell a Noble Phantasm was. He slowly passed it back to Ingvild, who was looking at the weapon strangely.

The runes never showed what the sword was now able to do. Yet, Ingvild instinctually knew how to use it. She pointed her weapon towards the black sea, and it had bent to her will.

Shirou stared at what was happening in front of him with wide eyes. The black sea was a Nightmare Creature, yet the Noble Phantasm in Ingvild's hand was of the Divine rank and the seventh tier. If it was a memory, it would have been one of the most powerful in the world.

Shirou watched as Ingvild caused the water to fly into the air and form a sphere. Said sphere started to unravel itself, and the water approached Ingvild. It spiraled down the [Storm Ruler]'s blade, before being absorbed in a golden eye that was engraved into the hilt.

Once the show ended, Ingvild had hugged the weapon towards her chest. Shirou couldn't see her face since she was looking downwards, but he could see her body tremble slightly.

[Thank you…]

Shirou did not know what she was thanking him for, but he just patted her back.

That's what people do in these situations, right?