"Of course! Something this fun... no! We definitely can't just ignore something this dangerous!" the girl declared righteously. Besides, it was precisely that slightly dangerous feeling that made such an exciting, fun game impossible to put down.
"That's wonderful, Shirou-senpai. A powerful companion has joined us." Mash clenched her little fists and looked at the Youth happily.
"Then please take care of me, everyone. And just call me Asuna! That's what friends call me." Asuna said with a smile.
"The pleasure is ours. Please take care of us too!" Shirou nodded.
"Please take care of us, Yuuki-san, and thank you for the information you gave me earlier. Having a reliable companion join us and resolving these monster incidents as soon as possible could not be better." Yukino nodded in agreement.
"I told you, it's Asuna! And can I call you Yukino?" Asuna stepped forward and took the black-haired girl's hand.
"Mm, mm... if that's what you want to call me." Yukino said softly, her face faintly flushed.
"Huh? Don't tell me you're embarrassed, Yukino! That won't do, you know. I'm supposed to be Yukino's number one best friend!" Yuihama hugged her with a hint of jealousy.
"Yuihama, don't hug me. It's hot." Yukino tried to push the girl away, only to be hugged even tighter.
Mash watched in silence for a moment, then suddenly understood and spread her arms before pouncing over as well.
"Yukino-senpai! Please let me join too!"
"I said don't come any closer!" Yukino shouted, blushing furiously.
"Today sure was peaceful." Shirou, sitting to one side, leisurely took a sip of tea.
From then on, after school and during holidays, Shirou and the girls would make time to deal with the problems in the otherworldly spaces together. Clearing out the monsters became much smoother.
One reason was Asuna's addition. As a gaming expert, she could always devise the most appropriate tactical assignments for monsters of different classes in a short time.
"What are you looking at? You're not a pig, you're a dragon! Then slaughter it! It's that simple." Asuna taught Shirou the proper way to use Teacher Qiao. He was not a meat shield, but an ultimate powerhouse capable of slaying dragons.
"I've learned something, Teacher Asuna." Shirou, who had summoned Saint George, put away his notebook.
He leaped down at the demonic boar underground, removing his cloak with one hand and drawing Ascalon with the other.
He flung out the cloak to envelop the monster, then brought the holy sword down. You are a dragon, burdened with sin—Mightiest Slaughter Blessing Sword (Ascalon)!
"Awooo!" The demonic boar let out a scream before being cleaved in two as a dragon-pig.
Then Shirou skillfully stood beside Asuna, who was making a V-sign, and pressed the shutter. Lately, the number of photos on his phone taken with girls seemed to be gradually increasing.
Another reason was that with Merlin providing support, their combat strength had indeed risen by a large margin. Ushiwakamaru's skill, Tengu's Tactics, combined with Merlin and Mash, could all increase the speed of charging. Since they were a five-person team with Xiao Da added on, using Noble Phantasms also became much more convenient, making their battles far more efficient.
Dozens of wolf-headed monsters emerged from the otherworldly space, red savage light glowing in their eyes. Some bared their claws, while others gripped weapons. Threatening growls came from between their jaws as saliva dripped down. No matter how one looked at them, they did not resemble intelligent lifeforms, but rather rabid beasts that had lost their minds.
Though they were monsters assigned various classes, they all charged forward without hesitation as if afflicted by Mad Enhancement.
"No matter how many times I fight them, I just can't get used to these insane monsters. Even goblins in games have some intelligence, don't they?" Yukino, who had used Pseudo-Servant summoning to summon Ushiwakamaru, dodged with movements as nimble as a swallow.
When facing this type of group monster, once they got close enough to entangle someone, it would be difficult to break free. The consequences would be unimaginable.
"These monsters are abnormal. They have no fear at all, as living creatures should. They really are being controlled by something." Xiao Da said, flying in the air with a frown on his little face.
Facing the savage wolf-headed monsters, Shirou raised his staff and cast an illusion. In the monsters' eyes, fog filled the entire space, concealing their prey's figures and instantly robbing them of their targets.
Using Merlin's Rank A mastery of illusions, the Youth confused the monster horde. Illusions were originally Magecraft that only affected the mind, creating false images; there were no useless skills, only useless users.
Any kind of skill, once brought to perfection, would undergo sublimation and gain incredible capabilities.
For example, the Great Hero's Rank A Clairvoyance could already read minds, see through things, and glimpse fragments of the future. Basic Magecraft projection, in the hands of the right person, could be used to mass-produce Noble Phantasms. Of course, if it were Chinese martial arts, Rank A would only be the beginning.
This Magecraft practitioner with Grand Class-level power had mastered illusions to the point of making falsehood indistinguishable from truth, deceiving the world, and changing the real environment. If Merlin himself had descended here, it would not have been impossible for him to create an entire Camelot out of thin air, though it would be corrected once the world discovered it.
With Mash and Shirou's support, Yuihama, transformed into the fox JK Suzuka Gozen, had finished charging her Noble Phantasm. After multiple enhancements from her companions, the Great Pass Chain in the Fox-eared girl's hand shone with incomparably dazzling golden light, splitting into hundreds of swords that circled through the air and formed a circular formation enclosed by layers of pillars of light.
The girl swung her sword down, and the blades instantly fell.
Tenkiame! Hundreds of golden meteors descended, piercing every wolf-headed humanoid around them.
Appear, my loyal retainers, my arms, my armor! The Four Heavenly Kings beneath the Genji banner—Ox King Thunder Summoning? Heaven's Net Is Vast!!!
The cool woman in armor stood in the center, displaying an invincible bearing with a blade in hand. Four figures carrying different Noble Phantasms appeared around her: a golden battle-axe, a longbow, a spear, and a white treasured sword. Magical lights of different colors flashed as they launched hundreds of attacks against the enormous ghost in an instant, devouring it amid lightning.
Thus, another huge red dot detected by the FGO system's map scan vanished from the otherworldly spaces.
"Senpai, that was amazing! At this rate, we'll clear out all the monsters in the otherworldly spaces very soon." Mash said happily, hugging her phone.
"Mm, that's great." Shirou nodded. Yet after their combat strength rose, the troublesome matter was now on his own side. For some reason, the Minamoto no Yorimitsu Asuna summoned would occasionally be Berserker class. With the maternal instincts of Mad Enhancement EX, even if Asuna did everything she could to stop her, she would be completely suppressed by that mental power.
"Shirou, when exactly are you going to answer mother's proposal from last time? Your silence means you agree, right? Right? Right? Right?" Berserker class Minamoto no Yorimitsu, dressed in a skintight bodysuit, fixed the Youth with a loving gaze, looking as though she would never let the matter rest unless he agreed.
"Why don't you tell me your wish first?" Shirou requested.
"Then this time, mother wants to hold her child tightly in her arms and dote on him properly. After all, a mother and child need physical contact to truly understand one another's hearts. If we do that, Shirou, you will surely understand mother's love." Berserker class Minamoto no Yorimitsu said, a blush spreading across her face.
"..." The three girls stared at the Youth, and he felt a great deal of pressure.
"Yui! I choose you!" Shirou said as he pushed Yuihama forward.
Minamoto no Yorimitsu hugged the bun-haired girl in her arms. Her gaze toward Shirou carried a slight grievance, but her overflowing maternal instincts quickly made her accept this child, and she gently stroked the girl's head.
"Eh? A daughter? Mother actually wanted Shirou more, but Yui... Yui? I feel like if I had a daughter, I would want to give her that name. There, there..."
"Hehehe, Mother Raikou? But this body is still Asuna's, after all. Being hugged and patted on the head by someone my age is a little embarrassing." Yuihama said with an embarrassed smile from within her embrace. Still, the girl being patted on the head looked like she was enjoying it quite a bit.
"I'm sorry, Yuihama!"
Afterward, the recovered Asuna pressed her hands together and apologized to the girl with a bow. She had clearly wanted to summon Lancer class, yet for some reason Berserker class had automatically appeared. Things like that had been happening a lot lately.
"It's fine, it's fine. I'm used to it anyway, and it actually feels pretty comfortable." Yuihama said with a smile, waving her hand.
"..." Mash looked at Senpai Yuigahama enviously.
"But seriously, this transformation is really amazing! It feels softer here than the first time. Did it really get bigger from being stretched?" Yuihama said as she once more plunged into the girl's embrace, confirming it through touch.
"Eh? Really?" Asuna looked down in delighted surprise.
"!" Yukino's eyes immediately lit up, as though she had seen some kind of hope. She silently made up her mind, muttering, "When will the CCC collaboration limited banner rerun next? I'll whale hard! This time, I absolutely have to get Passion Lip! Meltryllis is already NP5, so why won't she come home? The lower-rarity substitutes are Mother Raikou, Gorgon..."
Beside them, Shirou wiped away sweat and thought, There's no need to be in such a hurry. From a genetics perspective, your future still has plenty of possibilities.
Shirou had learned many team combat tactics, but because he had Merlin, he only needed to support Servants with red cards and deal high damage.
At that moment, Chaldea's search detected the reaction of the mastermind.
"Director! We found a special magical energy reaction that wasn't there before!" Staff member B shouted.
"Lock onto it immediately! Has the mastermind finally appeared?" Da Vinci's spirits lifted as she shouted.
"Understood! Magical energy reaction locked!" Staff member B immediately operated the machine.
The screen displayed a male Servant standing there, his entire body pitch-black as though covered in black mud, just like Ushiwakamaru in Mesopotamia. A Holy Grail reaction had also been detected from his body.
Batches of Demonic Beasts crawled out from behind the man. This cave was continuously producing them, sending them to attack Chaldea's forces.
The man entered the cave, which then closed, and the reaction disappeared.
"Tch, we lost him. Keep monitoring!"
"Yes!"
Within the void, the black Servant held what looked like reins in one hand and the Holy Grail in the other, summoning new Demonic Beasts. With the Holy Grail's assistance, the summoned Demonic Beasts entered one nest after another and began devouring their own kind.
It was like raising venomous insects. According to legend, someone making gu would place the five poisons—snakes, scorpions, spiders, centipedes, golden silkworms, and all manner of rare venomous creatures—into a sealed space without feeding them, allowing the maddened creatures to kill one another. The last survivor would become the king of poisons among poisons.
The nests here were the same. The monsters that survived until the end grew huge, their innate abilities strengthened, and they gained mutated traits. Their eyes also turned a mindless crimson red.
"Go in there! Find our sworn enemy!" The black Servant pointed toward a tunnel like a black hole. It led directly to the world where Shirou was.
"Awooo!"
Led by three enormous beastly silhouettes, the horde of Demonic Beasts followed the giant shadows into the black hole and surged inside.
Morning Routine at Home
After a week of effort from the boys and girls, the otherworldly spaces... and just like that, the weekend had passed in the blink of an eye. It was time for school again.
At six in the morning, Shirou finished his training for the day and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
Thump, thump, thump. The sound of someone coming down the stairs rang out.
"Good morning." The girl with short black hair came downstairs, rubbing her eyes.
"This is awful! Brother has seemed really busy lately. Komachi is clearly preparing for exams, but you won't even study with me. You just leave my late-night snacks outside my door and leave!" Komachi complained.
"That's not right, is it? You're the one who wouldn't let me into your room." Shirou retorted casually as he chopped vegetables in the kitchen.
"If I don't let you in, you just won't come in?!" Komachi looked at her Brother as though he had failed to meet expectations.
"What exactly do you want me to do?" Shirou complained helplessly.
"Well, Brother is busy, but Komachi is busy reviewing too. And seeing how fulfilled Brother seems lately makes Komachi happy too. That was worth lots of Komachi points just now~!" his younger sister said with a giggle.
"Yes, yes. No matter how much you raise my affection for you, there won't be any reward, you know." Shirou picked up a little octopus sausage and stuffed it into Komachi's mouth.
"Mmm, yummy~!" Komachi swallowed the little octopus in a few bites, then smiled and revealed her little canine teeth.
His younger sister's words made the Youth fall into thought.
That was right. He had been living a fulfilling life lately. As an ordinary person, he had indeed been happy after being reborn into this world. Yet all he could do for others while living that happiness was repair machines or carry things around. Though perhaps a world that had no need for a hero of justice was the most peaceful and happiest kind of world.
Yet deep in the Youth's heart, whenever he saw accidents and disasters, he still thought that if he had been there, perhaps those tragedies would not have happened.
After the experiences of his previous life, he cherished those around him even more. But now, being able to help Mash and defeat monsters to save the world, he truly felt that this life was fulfilling.
After these days of battle, he would help fulfill the Servants' wishes, so he had many chances to be alone with them. Minamoto no Yorimitsu had said this to him then.
"Your justice is admirable, but it is twisted. You need someone by your side to guide you. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to find happiness."
Minamoto no Yorimitsu, who possessed the Mad Enhancement trait, was dependable in battle and troublesome in daily life. Although many aspects of her after Mad Enhancement differed from ordinary people, there was one thing she said that struck Shirou's heart.
Perhaps that really was true. In his previous life, Kiritsugu had died very early. Fujimura-ane had only been a high school student then, so it could hardly be called taking care of him. She had merely kept him company.
If there had been someone back then to teach him how to live and grow, perhaps he might have become a completely different kind of person.
That was why, when Raikou invited him, he had actually been very happy inside.
"Shirou, I swear I will cherish you as though you were my son. So become my family. I will forge a bond with you as close and inseparable as the one I share with the Four Heavenly Kings." Minamoto no Yorimitsu said to the Youth.
If there were a world like that, where it had not been Kiritsugu who found him but Raikou, then perhaps he would have been like the Four Heavenly Kings under Minamoto no Yorimitsu, following at her side and helping her slay demons and monsters. His archery skills could be useful, and he was actually rather confident in the maintenance and forging of katana. He probably would not be useless. Perhaps he unexpectedly got along well with those ancient Warlords.
"Thank you, but I already have a family here, so I can't become your son. But I do hope that we can have a friendly and close relationship. Please take care of me." Shirou had said that to Raikou then.
"Eh? I can't be your son? But you still want us to be close? Even if I'm like this now, unable to restrain my demonic nature because of Mad Enhancement and like a monster?" Minamoto no Yorimitsu asked in surprise.
"Mm, of course!" Shirou agreed without hesitation. Friends were friends. If they did something wrong, he would give them a good beating, but if he saw them in trouble, even if they were rotten to the core, he would never just leave them alone. Not to mention Minamoto no Yorimitsu had long been a trusted comrade.
"I-I see. Even if we are not mother and son, we can still be family as close as mother and son." As she murmured those words, Minamoto no Yorimitsu's cheeks flushed red. Excitedly, she pulled Shirou into her arms, then returned in a shower of light with a satisfied expression.
Only Shirou, who hurriedly pulled himself out of the girl's embrace and was still somewhat confused, and Asuna, blushing furiously, remained.
After that, Shirou discovered that his compatibility with Merlin had somehow already reached one hundred percent.
By seven in the morning, his parents, who had worked overtime until after nine the previous night, had also gotten up.
Shirou and Komachi began carrying the food to the table, and the family prepared to eat.
While eating breakfast, Hachiman's father, who was reading the newspaper, suddenly said:
"Things haven't been peaceful lately. There was another earthquake the other afternoon, wasn't there? It seemed to be around Shirou's school. Did you notice anything?"
"No." Shirou lowered his head and shoveled rice into his mouth.
The morning news on television was also reporting that unexplained tremors had continued to occur frequently in recent days.
The video then played, showing the windows, hanging banners, and flags of that building shaking unnaturally.
An abandoned shopping mall in Shinjuku suddenly shook. It was suspected to be underground movement caused by the recent frequent earthquakes.
That building was precisely where Shirou had fought alongside Yuihama. The video then showed several other places as well, all otherworldly spaces where they had fought recently. He had not expected someone to have recorded them.
"That's dangerous. Komachi, make sure you come home early after school. More and more inexplicable accidents like this have been happening lately."
"Shirou too. These accidents have been really strange lately. Like a large bus parked in a lot suddenly tipping over, or an explosion in an apartment building. Luckily, no one was there. It's practically like supernatural incidents. It's really frightening." Hachiman's mother said.
"I know. Don't worry, Father, Mother. Brother, be careful too." Komachi obediently nodded in agreement, not forgetting to remind her Brother.
I'm sorry! Not knowing what else he could say, Shirou apologized to his family in his heart. He became even more determined to settle this matter as quickly as possible.
Before you continue