Prologue part 2: Forging a goal.

Tunk…! Tunk! Tunk…!

The sound of a constant hammering was repeated over and over again...

Tunk…! Tunk…! Tunk…!

With each hit, the sparks fly, like little sparkles.

Who was forging?

He did not know why but was used to the sound of the hammer. It is as if the simple act of listening to him brings calm...

"Finally…"

He heard a voice among the hammering sounded low and distorted.

"Is the connection getting lost? Well, never mind, you'll come back here eventually. You will achieve it... you will be... my... last job..."

He opened his eyes; his body felt surrounded by intense flames, like in the great Fuyuki fire. Generally, when dreamed of something related to flames, it brought back bad memories; but, this time, it was different. The flames were surrounding him and transforming him. Shirou tried to open his eyes to hear the voice that spoke to him, for a moment, succeeded and what saw was:

A hammer; falling rapidly towards him.

The rational part of his brain told him to dodge and run, but the part of him that kept in a trance made him close his eyes and wait for the impact.

TUNC!

And so, the hammer fell...

"After so much... It's time to forge again..."

"What...?" Shirou opened his eyes and met a familiar ceiling, "This is... My room?"

The redhead was lying on his futon; the katana was still held tightly in his hands. He stared at it with a mixture of emotions inside him: fascination, respect, admiration, and even a little fear.

"Shirou, you're good!?" Kiritsugu had just entered the room carrying a tray with water and towels, quickly ran to his side.

"Yes. What... What happened to me?"

"You suffered a forced opening." The old magecraft user replied.

"A forced opening?"

Kiritsugu nodded. "Yes. Shirou, when a user of magecraft begins to learn to use it, the first thing that must be done to him is: open his magic circuits. These are closed by nature, and only after being opened can they begin to be used. Generally, this is done through a small ritual, but, in your case, they were opened without any preparation and abruptly. This caused you to pass out, and your temperature begins to rise."

"I see... Will it cause any problems in the future?"

The freelancer shook his head. "No, in fact, it was something we had to do sooner or later. The trigger must have been the katana. Did something happen after you passed out?"

Shirou tried to remember, "Yes, I heard the sound of a hammer. I think I was in a forge, and there was a voice… But I don't remember it very well."

"Hmm... It seems that my theory was true or, at least, it seems so…"

"What do you mean?" The boy asked as he cooled down with a towel soaked in cold water.

"Do you remember why I looked for the sword? I had a theory that your family was tied to the Moonlit World. The fact that you have reacted that way and that the sword also seems to have a kind of curse is enough to confirm my theory."

"What? Is the sword cursed?"

"It seems so, although I'm not quite sure what kind of effect it has, at least it is not harmful to its wearer."

"By the way, you said you would teach me how to use magecraft. It's not like that? When will we start?"

"We will start tomorrow. Today it is better that you let your magic circuits rest. Reinforcement is simple magecraft, and I can teach you to use it correctly, but the Projection is different."

"Understand," Shirou nodded as he got up.

"Where are you going?"

The redhead smiled like he hadn't in a long time, "At the dojo, I want to learn how to use it as soon as possible."

"Shirou…" For the first time since he met him, the young magecraft apprentice listened to his father in a serious tone of voice, "You have to be careful... Learning to use magecraft is the same as walking along with death. This katana is not a toy like your shinai; it is a real weapon made to kill. Keep this in mind, do you understand?"

Understanding the weight of his father's words, the boy nodded, "I understand, won't treat it like a toy. Well used, a sword can be used to protect people, so I will try to continue down that path."

Kiritsugu showed a faint smile again, "I'm glad you understand."

The rest of the day passed with relative ease. Shirou kept training with the katana, trying to use it in the best possible way. However, the sword was still too big for him. Meanwhile, Kiritsugu began to inquire into those things from his past as the magus killer and about the history of Muramasa. And finally, the two of them met Taiga for dinner in the evening.

The next day…

"Old man, what are we doing here?" Shirou said while he and Kiritsugu stood in front of the old shed of their house.

"Shirou, in our world, all magi have a place where they conduct their research and practice their magecraft. This place is called: the workshop," after saying that, Kiritsugu opened the door of the shed, "We are not conventional magi. We are more like... well, specialists, at best. But that doesn't mean we don't need a place to prepare and practice. Generally, the homes of magi are equipped with a place that they can use for this purpose."

"So... will we use the shed as our workshop?"

Kiritsugu nodded.

"But isn't it a bit small?"

"In the future, we will be able to expand it through magecraft, but, for now, this will be enough."

Shirou nodded, "I understand. In that case, let's get this place in order," said the boy when he saw the great disorder that was inside the shed.

"Yes, you're right…"

Thus, both got down to work.

"Old man? What is this?" asked the redhead while pointing to a magic circle etched on the ground.

The old man freelancer frowned, "This is a summoning circle. Don't lend too much attention to it as we won't put any use to it."

"But why is it here?"

"At one point, I was forced to use said magecraft, but it is not my field of action. So, it is unlikely that we will put any use to it..."

"Do we delete it?"

Kiritsugu was speechless for a while until finally answered, "No, it would be a waste of materials. Also... Although it was made to summon a specific type of familiars, perhaps we can adapt it to summon other things..."

"Will I be able to summon familiars?" asked the excited boy.

"I doubt it. Anyway, they wouldn't be too big or too powerful. Since, in this era, Phantasmal Species are not very normal. Also, I doubt that you can provide them with the amount of mana they require to maintain themselves in our world. But, if they're not a big deal, maybe it's possible."

"I understand…" Although disappointed, the boy tried to keep his spirits up, "Well, I think this will be enough!"

"For my magecraft or, well, the little that I can still use, I don't need anything specific. But, to improve your Reinforcement and Projection magecraft, we will need objects of all kinds, with which you can practice."

The child was somewhat uncomfortable as if he wanted to say something.

"Is there something bothering you, Shirou?"

"I... I wanted to know if we could have some more things."

This surprised the magus killer, "What things?"

At that moment, the child's eyes shone, "A forge! And an anvil! Also, a hammer, some pliers, and some molds."

"Do you want to create a forge?" asked the surprised magus.

Shirou nodded, "Yes, exactly."

"Why? Do you aspire to enter the Creation Department?"

"The Creation Department?" asked the confused little boy.

"It is one of the departments of the Clock Tower. This is one of the three great institutes where magecraft is studied. Those who enter the Creation Faculty are said to be artists of some kind. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, there is a family of magi who wants to create: "the most beautiful person" or something like that."

"So, in that department are the people who want to create something through magecraft?" Shirou asked.

Kiritsugu nodded, "Yes, so is. I never related more than necessary to the Mage's Association; but, if my memory serves me correctly, the Creation Department is run by the Valuay family."

"I understand..."

"Still, I don't think you are well-received, Shirou."

"Why?"

The old freelancer scratched his head uncomfortably, "Inside the Clock Tower, there are three factions: The Aristocrat, the Democratic, and the Neutral. I don't think I have to explain much to you about how the three differ. The name itself tells you. Even so, I'll give you a little summary:

The Aristocratic Faction gives preference to the lineage of the magi and the quality of the magic circuits. They also prefer magecraft with a long history.

The Democratic Faction gives more importance to the achievements of the magi than to his origin.

And the Neutral Faction does not go for one or the other. They prefer to stay away from power struggles."

"So, not belonging to a great lineage, they will not take me into account."

The magus killer shook his head, "Not necessarily. If you want to enter a department run by the Aristocratic Faction, that is very likely to happen. However, the Valuay family is part of the Democratic Faction within the Clock Tower. So, as long as you get results and achieve success, you should be recognized by the department," Kiritsugu sighed, "That's not the problem. Projection is magecraft that is based on materializing what already exists through your imagination. Also, it cannot materialize anything perfectly. For a department studying creation, the Projection must be considered the most insulting magecraft out there. It is likely that, no matter how good the copy you make, it will never be recognized."

"What if I don't create copies...?" Shirou asked nervously.

"What do you mean?"

"After you take the Muramasa sword, I started having strange dreams..."

"Strange dreams?" Kiritsugu asked. Could it be the curse of the katana? After doing some research, I was able to find out about the swords of Muramasa. According to rumors, these were said to be cursed. It is obvious the katana has a curse, but it didn't activate when Shirou unsheathed it. Could it be a non-harmful kind of curse?

Shirou nodded, "The first dream was quite confusing. I felt great flames and heard the blows of a hammer. And, last night, I could see someone's silhouette. He was in front of an anvil and beside him was a forge. I could see how he used his hammer to shape a weapon. I'm sure it was a sword. I watched him closely for a while until I felt like I was going to wake up. Before the dream ended, he stopped and spoke to me..."

"And what did he say?"

"He said: 'The time to re-forge has come. If you are going to learn techniques that we have created and perfected over many generations, then watch closely. Maybe you are the descendant who can achieve our goal.' After that, I woke up."

Kiritsugu rubbed his chin, "I understand. So, the research I did was correct."

"Did you investigate Muramasa?"

Kiritsugu nodded, "Yes. Muramasa and his katanas are legendary in Japan. It is said that they are all cursed and that Muramasa's goal was to create the last and greatest sword, one that could cut everything."

"And I am his descendant..."

"It is very probable. The Muramasa forging school kept forging swords for three generations. In other words, there were at least three master blacksmiths with the surname Muramasa. After the third master blacksmith, the school closed and disappeared..."

This surprised the redhead, "Why did it disappear?"

"The Muramasa swords are said to be Anti-Tokugawa swords, as they brought death to various members of this dynasty. This resulted in katanas being banned. It's not safe, and it's just my guesses, but this almost certainly impaired the forging of new swords. As Anti-Tokugawa activists increased the demand, and counterfeits began to appear. And, the members of the Pro-Tokugawa Faction surely tried to prevent the swords from being further forged. All of this likely caused the school to close and disappear..."

"But they continued to forge in anonymity, generation after generation, they continued to bequeath and perfect the techniques they had learned from the first Muramasa. All for a single goal: the creation of that sword..." Shirou whispered with security and firmness that he didn't even know he possessed.

"So, it seems. That sword most likely acts like a Magic Crest."

This confused the redhead, "A Magic Crest? What is that?"

"Well, do you remember the marks you have on your chest Shirou?"

The redhead nodded.

"That is a Magic Crest. It could be said that it is how a magi family transmits its legacy from generation to generation. Within these are the knowledge studied by the heirs of each family since its creation. Crests are made of magical circuits and can normally only be inherited from people with whom you have a blood relationship."

"Then how…?"

The old magus killer interrupted him before he could finish, "What you have is but a small portion of the Emiya family's magical crest. The rest of our Magic Crest is held by the Mage's Association. I was able to recover that part, thanks to the fact that my teacher negotiated with the Association. Under normal circumstances, you shouldn't be able to inherit it."

"So?"

"I performed the transplant together with another object that allowed it to be a success. Thanks to this, I was able to save your life from that fire. But I don't know if you will be able to use the magecraft it contains." Kiritsugu was thoughtful for a moment, "Now that I think about it, it is possible that what allowed me to save myself from that curse was that object..." Or at least, so he believed.

Shirou didn't understand what his father was referring to and decided to continue the conversation, "I guess, in the end, we won't know until we try. What do you mean about the sword acting the same way?"

"It is only a hypothesis, but, likely, the curse that the sword possesses does not act during combat. Perhaps it is a curse that allows the learning of the forging techniques that the Muramasa family have created and perfected for generations, just as you say."

This left the boy thoughtful and worried, "Create the ultimate sword... when I hear those words feel like my blood boils with emotion... Is this normal?"

"It is not something strange within a magi family. Generally, members within families are obsessively focused on achieving their goals. But be careful Shirou, the obsession can be dangerous."

A little worried, the boy nodded.

In an attempt to reassure him, the freelancer tried to pat his head, although, not being used to it, he ended up using too much force.

"Ouch…"

"S-Sorry."

"Does not matter."

Kiritsugu smiled, "If you want to continue the legacy of your family, I have no reason to object. In fact, it could be helpful for our purpose."

"To rescue Illya-neesan?"

"Yes. We will need everything that can be at our disposal if we are to face the Einzberns. If you managed to enter the Clock Tower, you could create contacts. This would help us get materials and information. Maybe we could try to get the rest of our family's magic crest back as well..."

"But it won't be easy at all, right?"

Kiritsugu shook his head, "No, quite the opposite. It will be very complicated and, inevitably, many things will play against us..."

Seeing his father's state, the redhead tried to cheer him up, "But... We must also have some advantages, right?"

"Yes. The rest of the world does not know my current state, so even if the Einzberns suspect something, it is unlikely that they will relate with outsiders to verify it. We can use this to an advantage. There is also the fact that the rest of the world does not know anything about you."

"So, do we have a chance?"

Kiritsugu smiled slightly, "If we play the cards right..."

Shirou smiled happily, "Then let's make it old! Let's save Illya-neesan."

The boy's innocent smile comforted him. However, the world where he was going to throw his son was a dangerous world where death was around every corner. He would have to show it to him, prepare him as best he could to face it. Even if he could no longer fight as well as in his prime years as the magus killer, he could still think and reason like him. Kiritsugu felt his determination begin to ignite within him, a determination as cold as steel. He hadn't felt like this since he'd had the chance to fulfill his wish, just before he got the grail.

"Shirou, from here to a year, I will train you as much as I can. I will teach you to reinforce perfectly, you will also practice your Projection, and we will find a way to make it useful. We will investigate if the Emiya magic crest can still be used in any way. And finally, we will make this shed that can be used so that you will be able to use the knowledge you acquire from Muramasa."

"And what will happen when the year ends?"

"So far, I've been taking little trips. I took on the few jobs I could do and made sure to get as much attention away from you and Fuyuki as possible. But a year is probably the longest time interval that I can stay hidden, without the enemies I made becoming suspicious. So, after I spend this year, you will travel with me."

"And where will we go?"

Kiritsugu frowned, "To one of the most dangerous places for both. The Clock Tower in England..."