27 - Unwanted Savior

As Shirou ascended the Crimson Spire, he saw Caster's corpse. He had been stabbed through the heart, most likely due to a trick from Sunny.

He walked past the body without sparing it a second glance. His current objective was to save Sunny and Nephis from Cassie's vision. He didn't mind if he had to die himself to make it a reality.

After all, their lives were more important.

Shirou froze when he heard the sound of steel against steel. He was quite familiar with it, as he had created many weapons for the Dreamer Army.

He started to sprint in order to get to them in time. Once he was almost there, the sounds of steel ringing against each other had stopped.

Was I too late?!

He then saw a shape moving in the corner of his eye. He widened his eyes as Sunny and Nephis were gliding down the Crimson Spire while circling each other. They didn't seem to notice him, and couldn't attack each other as they didn't have a way to reliably fight while airborne.

Shirou gawked at how dramatic they were being, but snapped out of it before sprinting down the Spire.

Shirou sent a grim look towards the bottom of the Crimson Spire, before jumping off of the coral root he was standing on.

The sound of steel scraping against itself can be heard, as his back started to deform around his shoulder blades. Metal started to sprout from his back, spreading out as it did. The metal itself wasn't very thick, but instead was extremely dense.

After a few seconds of falling through the air, Shirou felt himself slow down. He had grown steel wings. They were quite crude, but they were efficient. Shirou had created this technique in case he had to take a big fall, which he certainly did right now.

All around him, the Crimson Spire was crumbling, breaking down due to the damages inflicted in the fight between Nephis and the Crimson Terror.

He saw Sunny and Nephis glide into the balcony, causing him to dive at a steep angle in order to catch up to them. After around a minute, he had gotten close enough for Ingvild send a gust of wind to send him towards the balcony, while still in her puddle form.

Shirou landed on the balcony before looking up towards Sunny and Nephis. He widened his eyes at the scene before him.

"…No. I can't. I can't let you stay, Sunny. Go! Go and meet your sister. There's something waiting for you in the real world at least. All that's waiting for me is emptiness, bloodshed, and graves. If I return, the same thing that happened in the Bright Castle will repeat itself, over and over again, until there's nothing else. So go while you can."

Sunny was kneeling before Nephis, who was leaning on some rubble. They were both heavily wounded, but Shirou could tell that Nephis had it worse. He sighed before approaching them.

"You know, I don't really know what you guys are fighting about, but I'm sure that there are better times to do it."

They both snapped their heads into his direction. They stared at him in shock as Shirou stood there, scratching the back of his head. Sunny was the first to react.

"Wha- Shirou! What the hell are you doing here!"

"I'm going to stop you two from killing each other, if that wasn't obvious enough. Anyways, what was the whole point of all that?"

Sunny and Nephis had grown silent. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of falling rubble. Seeing that he wasn't going to get an answer, Shirou called upon Ingvild's help.

All of the sudden, a gust of wind started to blow around the crumbling balcony. Sunny and Nephis did not have any time to react before they were blown in the direction of the gateway.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you guys back in the Waking World."

Sunny immediately started shouting towards him.

"Shirou! The gate! Someone needs to be left behind!"

"Hm? That's pretty inconvenient. In that case, could I trust you to check on my little sister for me? Who am I kidding? Of course you will!"

"You can't seriously be doing this right now!"

Shirou simply looked at the two of them as if they were idiots.

"Did you really think that I was going to just leave? The best option in these types of scenarios is to abandon the person with the least worth. Out of all the Sleepers that have survived, that person would be me."

Nephis couldn't resist the the wind in any way, so she had arrived at the gateway first. She looked at Shirou with a conflicted expression. She couldn't understand his logic in any sense.

Sunny seemed to be in the same position, as he attempted to fight against the wind.

"Did you hit your head, you damn sociopath?! There is no way in hell that you have the least worth out of everyone here!"

Nephis had dissapeared in notes of light, meaning that the only one left was Sunny.

"Actually, you would have been right. But the only other person who has less worth than me is dead. You left him inside the Spire after all."

Debris kept on falling from the sky, threatening to destroy the gateway. Sunny growled as his injured body could not have put up enough of a fight against the powerful gale.

"Damn it! Why the hell are you so delusional?! Nobody had even asked you to save us!"

"Not really. Cassie was the one who asked me to save the both of you. It was in the vision after all. Hungry shadows and dying angels. It's actually pretty symbolic."

Sunny's eyes widened. Had Cassie knew all along? No, it was impossible for her to see this outcome. She must have not been aware of how the gateway functions. She also couldn't see Shirou in her visions.

"Why the hell do you have to be like this?! Don't tell me that leaving someone here is below you or some bullshit like that!"

"Tell me, am I smiling right now?"

"What?!"

"Probably not. I'm sure I've told you about my dream, but you probably didn't take me seriously. To put it simply, my savior had a smile of salvation on his face. I never understood why, as I was the one who was saved. To be honest…"

Shirou gazed into Sunny's eyes, as if looking at his nonexistent reflection within those lightless orbs.

"…I want to smile like that too, someday."

Sunny felt as if he started to truly understand Shirou. All of his actions made sense. His altruism was simply a selfish desire. He was willing to do anything to obtain his goal. Willing to sacrifice anything and everything, as long as his wish could be made true.

Fortunately, his goal requires him to save people. Otherwise, he might have become a mass-murderer to achieve it.

Unfortunately, Sunny knew that Shirou was absolutely insane. So insane that not even Nephis could compare. She had insane goals, yet Shirou would definitely do those same things just to smile in a particular way.

"Did… did you even care about anybody?! Was it all just because you wanted to achieve that?!"

Shirou tilted his head at the question, as if thinking about it for himself.

"…At first, not really. I had thought of you as something of a sidekick. Cassie was a convenient way for me to be able to help someone. Nephis was like a weapon to use against evil. I've never consciously thought this, but it was always there, I guess."

Sunny didn't react. He had already knew the answer to that, but still felt extremely bitter. Shirou was always wearing a mask. One so good that he had fooled even himself.

He was surprised as Shirou smiled softly towards him. Knowing what he knew now, it had to be the most genuine expression he had ever seen from him.

"However, you and the others were able to break through that [Mind of Steel]. Wait, no. I'm pretty sure that it was mostly the eyes, but it wouldn't have made much of a difference without people to care about."

Sunny was almost at the gateway, he tried to resist, but to no avail.

"I should thank you, Sunny. For being my friend, and doing crazy things with me. It was pretty fun."

Sunny screamed as he put all of his might into resisting the powerful winds.

"I've never told you my True Name, right? I'm sure that I'll end up famous in the Waking World somehow, so I want you to spread it for me. I have to look cool for my sister after all. She has high expectations."

Sunny started to glow as he looked towards Shirou in utter despair.

"My True Name is Forged In Hell. I hope that you'll tell me yours, someday."

Sunny had faded away into nothingness.

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Shirou watched as his first friend left the Dream Realm. He stood in silence as more debris fell around him. The gateway started to dim, signifying that there would be no way to leave now.

Shirou felt a pain assault him. A new Forge Core was forming. He didn't know why it was occurring right now, but he gladly accepted it.

[Your Forge Core is constructing…]

[You have received a new attribute: Clairvoyance.]

When his Forge Core finished forming, he had gained a new attribute. His eyesight had started to shift. Shirou closed his eyes until he felt that there was no more change. When he opened them again, he saw in extreme detail and range. He was able to see every grain of debris as if it was up close to his face.

Why did I get a new attribute?

Shirou decided that he will check once he had left this place. The Crimson Spire was collapsing in on itself, after all.

…Now, how do I get out of this one?