33 - Hell of Your Own Making

Shirou walked through the blood filled streets of the city. It turned out that the knights were Nightmare Creatures, so he decided that he may as well kill them all. There were around 150 of them, and they were all Fallen Monsters. This would have been quite difficult normally, but they wielded swords, the answer to all of his problems.

It also helped that Draconis had become a menace during the past few months.

Shirou looked up at the large wyvern. It was now the size of a house, and was spewing many different types of breaths all over the place.

Shirou then looked towards Cerise, who was too busy doing some type of necromancy on the dead soldiers.

…Oh, right. She's a Tyrant.

Tyrants were able to control other Nightmare Creatures that were of a lower rank. Both Cerise and Draconis were able to do it, and it was related to their new attributes. If Cerise killed an enemy, she could simply revive them as a puppet.

Draconis most likely had to subjugate them with his willpower alone. Once he does so, they will follow his every command.

Currently, Cerise had obtained a couple dozen soldiers, while Draconis did not have any. The wyvern seemed to be quite confident in his own strength.

Even with all of these advantages, there was a massive issue.

Ingvild cannot fight on land.

Her serpentine form wouldn't be able to move, and unlike Shirou, she doesn't have a way to completely reconstruct her body.

Shirou looked towards the castle. It was going to be difficult, but he didn't have many options. The more time spent here is time that could have been spent saving people.

Shirou walked towards the castle with an army of undead soldiers behind him. Cerise was within his blood, and Draconis was within his soul sea. A small puddle was following him as they marched towards the castle.

After defeating all of the soldiers, Shirou had become a Terror, and now had six Forge Cores. [Chronos Rose] could be used to multiply his speed sevenfold. As per usual, the [Shroud of Justice] had received another new enchantment.

[Unbreakable]

Enchantment Description: [Although this garment can be damaged, it can never be completely destroyed.]

Although it was useful, he still wasn't sure if this would be enough to win.

The feeling of unease had returned.

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Shirou stood in front of the large doors to the room. The undead legion had followed him all the way here, thanks to Cerise's orders.

His instincts screamed for him to run away. That he would die if he even stepped foot within that room. He ignored it as the undead army started to open the doors.

Once the doors were fully opened, Shirou was able to see what was within the room. It was a mostly empty hall, with nothing but a throne in the back.

Atop the throne, was the girl that Shirou had seen in the paintings across the castle. She seemed to be in some type of slumber, and she had dark cracks slowly spreading across her face.

Shirou took a step into the room.

Her mismatched eyes snapped open. Green on the right, and one golden. They peered down upon him, as the undead army started to rush into the room, preparing for combat.

The girl started to speak.

"So you have all abandoned your duties, to serve this boy? It seems that I must remind you all…"

The girl stood from her throne.

"…Who your king is."

…King? Not Queen?

She summoned a sword into her hands, which was the same as in the paintings. However, it now had black cracks spread along it's blade, similar to what was on her face.

She's turning into a Nightmare Creature.

It seemed that the transformation was not complete. She slowly stepped forward. Every step made Shirou feel closer to death. She stopped in front of the army, and lashed out with her sword.

Shirou instinctively used [Chronos Rose], before quickly ducking down. All of the undead knights had lost their heads. Shirou was only able to react thanks to [Anomaly], as he predicted what her sword would do.

Shirou looked up slowly, before finding that she was standing right in front of him. His eyes widened as he tried to back away, but he was stopped due to her grabbing his face.

"…What are you supposed to be? That blasted blacksmith should have died centuries ago."

Shirou saw a conflicted expression on her face. She analyzed his body for a moment before looking into his eyes.

"…A sword with a soul… and not just any sword…"

A wicked grin appeared on her face, as she grabbed Shirou by the arm and dragged him back to the throne. He called Draconis to help him, but she simply grabbed Draconis with her free hand, and threw him out of the castle. There was a whole where he had been thrown.

"As it is your pet, I won't kill it. You should be grateful."

Shirou froze for a second. There is no reason for this girl to be considerate about whether or not Draconis is affiliated with him. Once she had gotten to the throne she roughly forced him to sit down. She stepped back a little before kneeling before him.

…Huh?

"I don't know how you have done it, but you have returned to Camelot with a human form. So I must ask you, Sword of Selection."

She looked up at him with a smirk on her face.

"Am I worthy to be crowned king?"

Shirou looked down at her for a few moments. He had no idea what was happening. He had no idea why it was happening. He had no idea how it was happening. Of course, he simply accepted and adapted.

Shirou rested his face upon his fist, while looking down upon her.

"Hm? No, of course you're not."

Her smirk faltered, as if she was not expecting to hear that. Shirou decided to ask her a question to figure out the situation.

"Ah! I must have forgotten. Why exactly are you asking me this question. Are you not the king of this… Camelot?"

She seemed confused as to why he would ask such a question.

"…Do you truly not know your purpose?"

"Truly. Truly indeed."

Although Shirou knew that he might die if he made the wrong move, he was having fun with this.

"…I see. It seems that taking the form of that blacksmith has given you some of his stupidity."

Shirou flinched.

"Once you had broken, the authority I had as a Sovereign had been lost. I require you to select me as the king, so that I would regain my ability as a Supreme."

On the outside, Shirou had a perfected poker expression. On the inside however…

I'M GOING TO DIE!

Within the Waking World, the strongest humans were of the Transcendent rank. However, he had just heard from this girl that she used to be a Supreme!

A bead of sweat rolled down his face.

"And why exactly do you need to become a Supreme again? From what I have seen, you have simply sat upon your throne. You already have far too much power for one as lazy as yourself."

I'M SCREWED!

She grit her teeth, as if restraining herself from killing him.

"…As I'm sure you can see, the corruption had spread across Camelot. The citizens were all killed by the guards, and not even I am immune to it. I would require even more power if I were to want to fight it off."

She looked through the whole in the wall caused by her throwing Draconis.

"More importantly, the Underworld is coming."

…The what?!

Shirou started to sweat even more. He didn't want to deal with anything that was called the underworld!

She sighed as she looked up at him.

"No matter what, I will need to be able to regain my authority. Would you tell me what it is I am lacking?"

Shirou kept his calm expression, while trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. He wasn't this Sword of Selection that she was talking about, so he couldn't actually give back here Supreme abilities.

"…Tell me. What do you believe that a king needs to become worthy?"

She immediately had an answer to that question.

"To abandon their humanity for the sake of their subjects."

Shirou froze. He didn't expect such a heartfelt answer from this girl. He had initially thought that she was simply a child with too much power in her hands.

Although she seemed to have a sense of responsibility, something didn't sit right with Shirou.

"…There is a major flaw in your answer."

She looked up at him in surprise. She was completely sure that her answer was correct.

"…What would that be?"

Shirou stood from the throne dramatically. He grinned as he looked down upon her kneeling form.

I'm having way too much fun with this.

"Before that, would you tell me your name, short stack?"

He truly was enjoying this position of power too much.

She scowled at him for a moment, before answering his question.

"Arthur."

Shirou froze.

"That's a boy's name."

"Is there a problem with that."

She glared up at him.

"…Please tell me that isn't your real name."

"…"

She didn't speak for a few seconds.

"…My name is Artoria."

"You see Artoria, there is one answer to your question. After all…"

Shirou grinned at his luck as the wind blowing in from the hole caused his cape to flap.

"…You can't rule over humans if you aren't one yourself."

Shirou was impressed by his own performance.

She stared at him for a few moments, before seeming deep in thought.

"…But, is the king not supposed to sacrifice everything for their people?"

Shirou shook his head as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He looked at her with an infuriating grin, as if she was a child being ridiculed by an adult.

Well, I'm not really qualified to teach someone about humanity, but I might as well have fun with it?

"It seems you still have much to learn Artoria. I am willing to teach you, as that is apart of my role. Do you know how much time you have before you become corrupted?"

She up at the ceiling, as if she was trying to look for something.

"I'll become an abomination in around a year."

"…I see."

She was going to become a Nightmare Creature after a year. Artoria would lose her humanity for good, and there is no way for Shirou to stop it.

Unless… he found the Sword of Selection himself.

He sent an order to Draconis, Cerise, and Ingvild. He could see Draconis flying away through the hole in the wall, a puddle moving through that hole, and Cerise taking a physical form to jump through the hole.

Artoria was quite confused about why he had done that.

"Why did you send your pets away?"

"Of course, if you fail to meet the requirements I've set for you, there will be a backup so you do not succumb to corruption."

Of course, the backup was actually the first option.

She nodded as if that was only to be expected.

"I see. You cannot allow Camelot to be with no ruler, am I correct Caliburn?"

Caliburn?

"You are. It is only my duty after all."

Shirou lied as easily as he breathed. He simply wanted to save a person, real or not.

Although he was initially in a rush to leave the Nightmare, he was willing to stay in order to help Artoria.

"Ah! I had almost forgotten. When will the underworld be attacking?"

"They will arrive in a month."

Shirou paled.

So that's what the conflict for the Nightmare was.

Shirou was currently in a hell of his own making.