Chapter 11

~Shinji Matou POV~

"So you decided to finally call me... Miyu." I said while speaking through the lacrima in my hand. "And I'm guessing Sapphire isn't there with you?"

"Yes, I asked Sapphire to leave for a little while so we could speak in private," Miyu said before her voice grew serious. "So how much do you know about 'my' world?"

"I know a fair bit about your world as well as yourself. You were kidnapped by the Ainsworth family for your power as a potential holy grail, and your brother Shirou Emiya saved you by using your wish-granting power to send you to this world. And now you live your life here in this world. Does that summarize what has happened to you, Miyu?"

"Yes, that is a rough summarization of what happened in my world. But how do you know all this if you're from this world?"

"Actually, I'm like you, being from a different world. I was sent here by the Zelretch of my world, who is Luvia and Rin's master." I said before releasing a sigh before continuing. "Anyway, you can rely on us in this world to help you, Miyu. After all, we are friends."

"Oh… so we're the same in that regard, then," Miyu said before continuing. "Well, I'll keep what you said in mind for the future, Matou-san."

"Good now; I'll talk to you later, Miyu. Also, call me whenever you need anything, okay?"

"Okay, Matou-san, see you later," Miyu said before hanging up.

"Alright, with that done, it's time to talk with Rin," I said as I walked up to the Tohsaka mansion. Once I was at the door, I rang the doorbell and waited. After a couple of minutes of not getting an answer, I rang the doorbell again. "I swear, what is she doing? I called her yesterday just so she could get ready." I continued to ring the doorbell over and over again until finally the door was slammed open by Rin, who was only wearing a nightgown. "Good morning, Rin. Did you forget what I called you yesterday for?" I said with a smile that I knew it definitely didn't match the annoyance in my eyes.

"Shit!" Rin said, closing the door, and I was able to hear her cursing and running through her house. After a couple of minutes, she opened the door wearing her usual outfit. "Please come in, Matou-san."

With a sigh, I walked past her into her home and then followed her through her home until we arrived in her living room, sitting on opposite seats.

"What did you want to speak to me about Matou-san?" Rin asked with a serious expression.

Without saying anything, I reached into my bag of holding and pulled out a piece of parchment and placed it on the coffee between us.

Rin looked at it and had her eyes widen in shock. "A geis scroll!"

"Yes, I wrote it myself so that this transaction goes smoothly," I said while leaning back into my chair. "Read through it, and if you agree, we'll go through with it."

Rin gained a contemplative look on her face as she picked up the Geis scroll and began reading it. After a couple of minutes of reading it, she set the scroll back on the table.

"Will you really follow your end of the bargain?" Rin asked with a speculative look on her face.

"Of course, I wouldn't have made this deal otherwise, Rin. And as a show of good faith." Reaching into my bag of holding, I pulled out another small bag that I placed in front of Rin, opening it and allowing her to see the gems inside it.

Rin's eyes widened in shock, and her eyes seemed to sparkle in excitement before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, she was much more composed, but I could still see the excitement in her eyes.

"Here," I said while handing her a pen. "You can just push your magical energy into it."

"Well, I guess I'll indulge your request, Matou-san." She said before quickly signing the paper. Immediately, I felt the contract come into effect, with my magic circuits being bound to the contract.

Rin then stood up and walked off to fulfill her end of the deal, while I fulfilled mine by producing several bags that were filled with gems as well.

After waiting for about half an hour, Rin came back with a stack of books and papers.

"Thanks, Rin, and thanks for your business," I said while taking them and putting them in my bag of holding. "Now the other thing, Rin."

"Alright, then I'll teach you the basics of Jewel Magecraft and the Gandr." The next couple of hours was Rin explaining the principles of flowing and transferring of power which were the cornerstones of Jewel Magecraft, as well as how to perform the Gandr spell.

"Matou-san, what is my sister like in your world?" Rin asked as I stood up. As an apprentice of Zelretch, I guess it was only a matter of time before she asked me about her.

"She's suffering right now under the hands of Zouken Matou. And that's why I came to this world—so I could get strong enough to kill him myself since your family wouldn't care in the least. Content to sit back and let what happens happen for the sake of your stupid goals and pride." I said with a scoff while walking away. "But if I were to give you some advice, I would say to speak to her since even after everything she's been through, she still wears that ribbon you gave her all those years ago," I said while leaving the house.

"Are you alright, Master Shinji?" Kunzite asked once we were a couple of blocks away from Rin's house.

"I'm fine, Kunzite, just taking out my frustrations on the Tohsaka lineage," I said with a sigh. While I knew that getting mad at her was useless since she wouldn't even be able to touch Zouken and she had her own circumstances to deal with, the fact that in most worlds Rin simply ignored her was unforgivable in my eyes. "Anyway, this visit has been fruitful," I said while pulling out my adventurers' card.

———————————————————

Name: Shinji Matou

Class: Adventurer

Age: 7

Origin: N̴̜̐̐̾ŏ̵̼̀b̶̯̲́l̶̙̎̿e̶̡̬̙͝ ̶͓͇̮͊͗E̵͙̅́͂n̷̦͐̍v̶̡͐̽͝y̶̛̭̤̝̒

Element: Aqua Radiance

Sorcery Trait: Absorption and Binding

Skill Points: 117

Magical Energy: 360

Strength: 41

Endurance: 34

Dexterity: 40

Agility: 39

Luck: 80

Skills:

One-Handed Sword Mastery

Enemy Detection

Dagger Mastery

Magical Energy Manipulation

Water Magecraft

Lurk

Wire Trap

Physical Resistance

Magic Resistance

Available Skills:

Jewel Magecraft: 30

Gandr: 20

———————————————————

"With this, we should be able to store even more magical energy in the gems I make. As well as having another avenue of attack." I said while buying both skills. Immediately, I felt myself change and gained knowledge of how to perform Jewel Magecraft as well as the Gandr curse.

After walking for a couple of minutes, I arrived back home. Once I was inside my home, I walked over to my room, where I grabbed some gems that I filled with 300 units of magical energy.

With that, it was simply using Kunzite to refill my reserves, and after filling out ten of them, I used five of them with Arc of Embodiment to create a small cyan pill that released a black miasma.

This was a cursed energy activation pill. As the name suggests, it unlocks the potential of a person to use cursed energy. This was the plan from the start. My magic circuits would always stay the same, and there was no way to increase my reserves unless I went and did something stupid like turn myself into a dead apostle. But if I continued to make these pills that could unlock my body's potential for more energies I could train those reserves. But I had no idea how Gaia's rejection would interfere with the cursed energy or how it would interact with my magic circuits.

"Kunzite I have no idea what will happen once I consume this, so monitor my vitals, and in the worst-case scenario, you can call the others over."

"Understood, Master Shinji."

With Kunzite's confirmation, I laid on my bed and popped the pill in my mouth. At first, I didn't feel anything, and even after ten minutes, I didn't feel anything. "Did I not make it righ–!" Immediately, I felt my blood freeze, and the beating of my heart filled my ears. Then I felt a pain shoot through my body, from my eyes to my toes.

"Grahhhhhhhhhh!" I couldn't help but scream out in pain as I felt like a fiery, hot liquid was being poured into my body. It wasn't long until I blacked out from the sheer pain.

[***]

Slowly, my eyes opened as I looked up at my ceiling. "Aquabind." That was the first thing I said as I sat up. It was all in my mind now, as I apparently had an innate curse technique. It had multiple applications, and with my sorcery trait, it would be even stronger than it normally would be.

"Master Shinji, you're awake," Kunzite said with relief while floating up to me. "Are you alright? You were out for an entire day."

"I'm fine, Kunzite," I said while waving off his concern while standing up. "Anyway, that pill worked as intended, and I can now use cursed energy."

"Yes, now that I concentrate on our connection, there is another energy flowing out of your body."

"Alright, then Kunzite It looks like I'm going to need your help once again; after all, I have no idea how this energy will interact with the world."

"Understood Master Shinji," Kunzite said, allowing me to grab him and transform. Immediately, with Kunzite's boost, I could also feel and see the curse energy billow out of me.

"Now Kunzite cursed energy takes its powers from emotions, specifically negative ones, so it can be influenced by them. So I'm going to let my emotions run rampant for the first time in over a year while you try and control the curse energy."

"... Understood, Master, but I will not tolerate you going out of control."

"You got it," I said, my voice initially calm, but as I pulled off the ring on my finger, my emotions began to swirl and surge. "...Hehe… Hahahahahaha! This is exhilarating—finally letting all these dark thoughts out after holding them in for so long! My life is set in stone, and I can't even change it. Even if I delude myself into thinking I have free will, it will never be possible due to the Akasha records! Then there's that infuriating Zelretch, forcing me to go along with his plan to avoid dying from ORT in the future! Then there's the Holy Grail War, where I have to deal with a suicidal idiot, a self-sacrificing king, a stubborn girl who's too proud for her own good, a counter guardian hellbent on killing that suicidal idiot, a girl who could become an avatar for an evil god if she isn't given enough attention, a homunculus seeking revenge against the suicidal idiot using her demigod pet, a priest who wants to watch the world burn, a demi-god king who sees humanity as nothing more than pests, a witch who will do anything for a second chance at life, and an evil God waiting to be born in the world to burn all of humanity! This life is a nightmarish hellscape, and it's far from funny! The only reason I'm even doing all this is because I'm selfish as hell! Why do I want to save Sakura? While I care about her, I also want the sexy Tohsaka sisters for myself! Why am I helping these naive idealists in this world? While I admire their resolve, I also want to use them later in the fight against ORT! And then there's the fact that I envy everything as far as the eye can see! I envy those oblivious protagonists who have everything go their way and get their happy endings! I envy their incredible powers that let them do as they please! I envy every single thing in this world! Hahahahahaha!" By this point, tears were streaming down my face, but the enormous smile wouldn't leave my face either. The more I spoke, letting these pent-up emotions run wild, I felt like I was finally being true to myself for the first time. "I'm a normal guy! I'm not some incredibly broken character with a traumatic backstory; I'm just a selfish bastard in every way!"

I don't know how long I continued my rant, but once I was done, I was sitting on the ground, my curse energy now under control thanks to Kunzite. "We never speak of this again, Kunzite," I said while picking up the negative emotion-dampening ring and slipping it back on my finger.

"Understood."

"Now let's go get some training done." I said with a smile while walking outside of my home while grabbing my adventurers' card as I did so."