Chapter 4 Part 1, Raid on Aylesbury

Shirou and Kiritsugu were traveling in the direction of the town of Aylesbury.

He had to concentrate…

He was heading straight for a conflict against the most powerful dead apostles, and any mistake could cause his death, but even so, he couldn't take his mind off the conversation he had last night...

He was lying on his bed, exhausted. It had been an hour since he has managed to finish reforging Caliburn, and now the sword was resting inside the scabbard they had bought

for it. Calling this new sword Caliburn would no longer be correct. As they not only reformed the sword through its fragments but, thanks to his father's contacts, they also obtained the fragments of Merodach.

Merodach was the prototype of Gram, and Gram was the prototype of Caliburn, so in short, Merodach was the prototype of both swords. However, if Caliburn were to face either of these two, it would lose miserably.

The reason Caliburn is less powerful than Merodach is that this was created at the height of the age of magic, in the Age of Gods, while Caliburn was not. Also, Merodach was a sword related to Marduk, the slayer of Tiamat, and with which he probably dismembered the primordial goddess after slaying her. On the other hand, Gram was created based on Merodach, also in the age of magic, and unlike Caliburn, Gram was created as a sword made for battle, while Caliburn was more akin to the symbol of a monarch, a ceremonial sword. Therefore, Caliburn would always lose to both, or at least until now.

Ever since he found out about Avalon, he tried to track it down using his magecraft, and miraculously, the sheath manifested in front of him. Using his Structural Grasp, he was able to see the history of the sheath, and then he was able to see both of them, "King Arthur" and The Sword of Promised Victory.

Shirou was sure that he could not trace Excalibur, since being a Divine Construction he didn't fully understand its structure, but he could state something: If Excalibur and Merodach faced each other, Merodach would lose.

If he discussed this with Flat and explained the specs of the weapons, then the boy would say something like this:

"Oh, so Caliburn is a B-rank weapon, while Gram was originally an A-rank weapon, but after colliding with Gungnir, which caused it to break and later be reforged, it became a higher-rank weapon, and it even became so powerful that slew a dragon. On the other hand, Merodach was much more powerful than the original Gram but weaker than Excalibur, an A-rank weapon, therefore, Merodach is very likely to be an A-rank weapon and was equaled or surpassed by its successor, Gram, by being reformed and receiving Fafnir blood, something like that, right?"

Shirou couldn't understand how Flat could explain the capabilities of legendary weapons using videogame terms, and he also didn't know if things really happened that way, but contradicting him would only throw him into pointless conversations.

The reforged Caliburn was more powerful than the original since they used the Merodach fragments and fused them with those of Caliburn. And at first, he and his ancestor wondered whether they should turn Caliburn into a sword made solely for battle, however, knowing its history and capabilities, Shirou decided that Caliburn should remain a ceremonial sword that could be used as a sword for battle. And, using the terms Flat had taught him, the new Caliburn was an A-rank weapon, though he didn't know how strong it would become in the hands of a proper king.

Suddenly, a song began to play, taking him out of his reverie...

"Yume ni mite ita Ano hi no kage ni Todokanai sakebi..."

It was the tone of his cell phone. Shirou grabbed it and looked at who was calling him, since his departure from the Clock Tower, he had hardly spoken to someone.

He spoke to Rin once, a few weeks ago, and their conversation could be summarized as follows:

"Rin, I..."

"Once you get back, you're going to have to give me explanations, do you understand?" she interrupted him with a tone of voice that reflected that she would not take no for an answer.

"Yes, I know," he responded immediately.

"It better be that way. Until now, we've taken care of each other, but I might take this as a betrayal of my trust, do you know?"

"Yes, I know." Shirou felt sorry for not telling Rin the truth and wanted to show it to her, "You are really a good person, Rin. You didn't file a report when you discovered me, you acted as my tutor to help me pass my exams, and I... I am very grateful for everything you have done for me."

"W-What is this all about, idiot?" she asked somewhat embarrassed, "I'm just acting like a good second owner, be thankful."

"Yes, you're right. Thank you very much, Rin."

Although still a bit embarrassed, she continued, "I've heard about the jobs and other things your father has done," this worried the redhead, "I really can't believe you're his son, you of all people."

"It is a long story," Shirou made a pause, "the old man... He is no longer exactly as he was before. Although he is still the magus killer, he has changed... a little..."

She did not comment on this and simply said, "I don't know what you're up to, but whatever it is, make sure you get back alive. You can't die without giving me explanations first, do you understand?"

This time he smiled, although not everything was solved, he felt that a weight was lifted from him, "Yes, see you in a month."

On the other hand, Luvia hadn't called him, and he was worried about this. The apprentice magus was well aware of the antagonistic relationship his father had had with the theEdelfelt family, and this had led him to confront them in various jobs, and the boy was afraid that Luvia would begin to see him as an enemy. He didn't want to talk to her about this on the phone, he wanted the two of them to talk face-to-face, and he knew that when he got back to the Clock Tower, he would have to. It was something he could not avoid.

Caules, for his part, sent him a message asking how he was. He replied to the message, and the two struck up a conversation, in this, he was able to explain why he had withheld his last name and what his relationship with Kiritsugu was. On his side, Caules found it understandable that the redhead hid his last name, and Caules also told him about his troubled relationship with his sister and some things about his relationship with the rest of his family. Shirou found it amusing that they both had an older sister with whom they had a complicated relationship, at least in Caules's case, and well... he had no brotherly relationship with Illya, and that was something he wanted to fix.

And now, he was calling him Gray...

"Hello, Gray…?" Shirou asked.

"Shirou, is it you?" the girl spoke from the other end of the phone.

The boy nodded, more out of habit than anything else, "Yes."

"I see. I… well… I wanted to know... How are you?"

"Well, my old man and I are getting ready for a job..."

"Your father? Emiya Kiritsugu, right?"

"Yes, I know I have a lot of explanations to give, but…"

"But…?"

He didn't know how to express himself properly, "My father believed that if the Association magi knew about our relationship beforehand, I would be rejected by everyone. Maybe they might even want to get back at him by using me," Shirou laughed dryly, "you know, at first, I pretended to be strong by telling him that I didn't mind being judged for being related to him. Although, I guess, in the end, he saw through me."

Gray whispered a few words, "You didn't want to be judged for being related to someone else."

"Yes, I am not ashamed of my relationship with Kiritsugu, I am proud to be his son, but to keep me safe, he decided that hiding it was best."

"I... understand it," without the boy being able to see it, she touched her face, "I know perfectly…"

The boy could see that there was something else in her words, but he preferred not to pressure her...

"Will you go back to the Clock Tower?" Gray asked changing the subject.

"Yes, I just hope the teacher still accepts me in his classes, he seemed quite tense when he met with Kiritsugu…"

That caused the Lord's apprentice to let out a small laugh, she remembered the ghostly appearance her teacher had after meeting with Shirou's father. And though worried at first, after seeing Flat foolishly show his autograph, he had the teacher do his famous wrestling hold on him, proving that he was fine in the end. Another surprising thing was Reines'sappearance in the Lord's office after class, even the young Lady couldn't act calm after learning that the infamous magus killer visited her beloved older brother.

"Although the Sir was a bit… affected, after meeting with your father, he doesn't seem to hate him or anything like that, although I heard him say that he didn't want to have him as an enemy ever again..."

"Enemy? Were Kiritsugu and the professor enemies?"

"It seems. I couldn't find out much, but it seems they both met in Japan, in a city called Fuyuki..."

"I see…"

Those statements confused the boy. According to what Kiritsugu had told him, he had traveled to Japan to get away from the World of the Magecraft, so, why had he and his teacher been enemies?

"Wait, the professor went to Japan?"

"It seems, but I was not able to make him tell me more." Realizing that they had drifted off the subject, Gray tried to return to it, "But that's not what I wanted to talk about, what I mean is... I'm sure the Sir will continue to teach you!"

Maybe that's why he referred to Fuyuki as that damn city.

The boy thought, unable to stop reflecting on these revelations. And seeing the girl's effusiveness in her last statement,he snapped out of his thoughts and said, "Thanks for the support. I needed it. I'll do everything I can to get back to the Clock Tower."

"In that case, we'll see you in two weeks..." the girl said happily.

"Yeah, thanks, Gray. By the way, are you done with the social gathering with the Iselma family?"

"Well, more than a case it was a social gathering, at least, in the beginning, I traveled as the bodyguard of Lady Reines."

"The teacher's younger sister?"

"Yes, I'll tell you everything when we meet again..."

The call ended, and the redhead felt another weight being lifted from him. It was getting late, and it was time to go to bed. Tomorrow would be the day, and he was nervous. Would he be able to be of help? If he had learned something from his father, it was to be clear about his abilities. That said, he did a self-analysis...

He must have turned fifteen, or so he thought because he really didn't even know when his birthday was. It had been two years since he started studying as a blacksmith, since that day he met Muramasa and a school year since he entered the Clock Tower.

In all that time, Shirou had learned quite a bit:

He learned from his ancestor the properties of many metals and also studied the alloys they could create when combined. He also learned about the properties of non-metallic elements, but that they had been used in many weapons to give them special properties, Wyvern's scales, claws, and teeth, he had even learned to work with the bones of human beings and Phantasmal Species. For a moment, the redhead thought that he could work with any material, how naive he was.

The boy raised his bandaged hands, they were full of cuts and bruises, and he even had a burn, his fingers trembled, and the simple act of moving them caused him great pain. However, he smiled, these injuries were the result of reforging Caliburn, and it was then that he realized how far he was from reaching his goal. Caliburn was a B-rank HeroicRelic, B+ at best, and he'd just reforged it using its shards and Merodach's shards, probably an A-rank weapon, but even so, the redhead wouldn't make any excuse. Thanks to structural Grasp, he was able to examine the structure of both swords, he had seen how both blades were forged and also had their fragments as a basis, compared to creating anew sword, when rebuilding a sword instead of forging it from scratch, the blacksmith's apprentice had an overwhelming advantage.

"And my goal is to create the most powerful sword ever seen, a sword that surpasses Caliburn and Merodach, and I will have to create it from scratch…" Shirou didn't get depressed, but he realized how far he was from his goal, "I am far from reaching it..."

"Of course, you're far away, brat! Our family has been forging for over 500 years, the times we have been able to reach for something like the ultimate sword can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and none of those could be called the ultimate katana. You have only been training seriously for two years and have achieved more than most would, I could call you a prodigy."

"Thank you, grandfather. I will do my best to achieve it..." the boy smiled.

Instinctively Muramasa smiled. How many of his descendants had he guided? He had already lost count, and although none reached the ultimate sword, the blacksmith was proud of what every one of them had accomplished, and his latest descendant was no exception. "You're just starting, as a blacksmith, and as a magus, you still have a long way to go...Take advantage of all the experiences this will bring, kiddo."

The apprentice blacksmith nodded.

True, his path as a blacksmith was only beginning, and his path as a magus was not much different, and for a moment, he thought back to his first year in the Clock Tower...

Thanks to Lord Trambellio's classes in the Department of General Fundamentals, he was able to learn the most basic of the basics: The study of mana and the differences between the Mana of the World and the Od within it. He also learned things like studying leylines, how to feel them and how to analyze them, and also the location where they were. He learned about the different types of magecraft: offensive, defensive, healing, sympathetic, contagious, etc. And another of his achievements, one more personal than any other, was making her classmate not feel so uncomfortable with his presence, he even managed to find out her name: Ayaka Sajyou, though she still hadn't managed to get the two of them to have a conversation without making her feel uncomfortable.

In his classes in the Mineralogy Department, he had improved in the use of his Structural Grasp, thanks to his constant use of it to analyze minerals, precious stones, and different metals. Furthermore, since most of the jobs were done together with Rin and Luvia as a work team, Shirou had learned about their Jewel Magecraft. And, although he couldn't-transfer the Od from him to jewels and use them to cast different types of spells, he had come up with a few ideas on how to use the energy transfer to his advantage. However, he still didn't have the necessary knowledge to test his theory, he would have to wait until his second year and, if he got forgiveness from Rin or Luvia, ask for their help.

For another part, Lord El-Melloi's classes were a bubble of air in the middle of a flood. The redhead knew that his first year being the most general would also be the most difficult. In the other classes, there were many situations in which, due to his lack of elemental affinity, he couldn't do any of the activities proposed by the teachers. This caused his grades to drop, and he had no choice but to hold on to what little he could do, and also, he had to work twice or three times as much as his other classmates. Many times, this situation was very frustrating for him. However, Lord El-Melloi II managed to bring out the potential of each of his students...

He remembered the first time Caules showed his magecraft to the professor...

AN: Here is the chapter for the 5th review! I will post today also the one for the 6th one and for the 30 powerstones!