Shirou Emiya Stands Upon Terra
Author: Ah Jie One Slip of the Hand
Introduction:
That day, Penguin Logistics picked up a... househusband who fell from the sky.
Ever since they picked him up, everyday life was all about eating well, drinking well, and sleeping to their heart's content.
Shirou: What should I cook today?
Shirou Emiya, 17 years old this year, is a magus and also the househusband picked up by Penguin Logistics.
Aside from occasionally having a few nightmares, his days are going quite well.
It's just that recently he seems to have gained many strange titles...
The Last Conscience of Penguin Logistics
The Limiter of Penguin Logistics
The Most Wanted Recruit for the Knights of the Round Table
The Red Demon of Longmen... and other titles that make one's skin crawl just hearing them.
Shirou: If it were just this, that's fine, but may I ask what Mama Emiya is???
Penguin Logistics: Mama Emiya, we can't live without you! Don't let the people from the Knights of the Round Table pull the wool over your eyes!
Knights of the Round Table: We also want to eat Mama Emiya's cooking everyday! Down with Penguin Logistics and let Mama Emiya regain his freedom!!!
Shirou: The people here are so weird.
Anyway, this is about Shirou Emiya's daily life after being struck in the face by the Holy Grail and coming to Terra, with Arknights as the main setting.
Partial fanfiction (after all, you know how Arknights is—frequently backstabbing, but I will still try to stay close to the original setting).
Side Story 01: Arknights
Advance Notice:
Please treat side-story plots as an alternative if-line! Some settings may or may not be adopted!
Update status is casual; whenever I think of something, I'll write it out and release it!
Releasing it today is mainly because my physical condition is poor, so I'm taking this chapter that was finished quite a while ago to stall for time. Since some settings have already been thrown out there, just let me stall for a bit!
That's all!
-----Main Text Begins-----
I am the bone of my sword─
Upon the wasteland, a man wearing a red sleeve cover on his right arm and a black sleeve cover on his left arm held a firearm, aiming at the enemy before him.
With the incantation, a red-and-black bullet fired, striking a giant monster in the distance that possessed many tentacles.
After the bullet hit the target and sank into the monster's body, the man continued his chant:
So as I pray... Unlimited lost works!
As the final sentence fell, a sword burst forth from within the monster's body.
One, two, three, four, five...
Countless swords pierced out from inside the monster, and it collapsed onto the ground, struggling incessantly.
Die.
The man walked forward and fired a few more shots into the monster's head, and it ceased its struggle.
Lowering his body, the man used a projected blade to harvest chunks of flesh and blood from the monster's body.
After finishing what needed to be done, the man stood up and looked around.
He saw that the earth was covered with the bizarre corpses of various strange monsters, yet the man felt neither panic nor fear at the sight.
After all, these corpses were all created by him.
The man took out the walkie-talkie at his waist and pressed the button on it.
Beep─
"This is Shirou, the Sea Creatures have been cleared."
While speaking into the walkie-talkie, Shirou simultaneously packed the things he had harvested today into a special bag and placed it into the backpack at his waist.
"This is Amiya, the annihilation of the Sea Creatures is confirmed, are you returning?"
The light on the walkie-talkie flashed, and Amiya's voice came out from within.
"I harvested the bodily tissue of a large Sea Creature on my end."
After putting away his backpack, Shirou projected a large cloak and draped it over himself.
If he wanted to return, he had to do this.
"Understood, we'll come pick you up."
Hearing Shirou's words, Amiya understood the meaning behind them; this meant he was ready to come back.
"Mn."
Shirou gave a response and then turned off the walkie-talkie.
He looked into the distance, where black snow-fog swirled across the land.
That was humanity's final defense line, isolating most of the Sea Creatures.
But that was not a long-term solution after all. Kal'tsit had said that those Sea Creatures would eventually cross that black snow-fog one day.
"Humanity's extinction is sooner or later, but it is not yet time to despair. In the hearts of Rhodes Island, Doctor, Amiya, and the people still striving now, hope still remains, so Shirou... can I trust you?"
Shirou still remembered the day Kal'tsit spoke those words to him with an exhausted expression.
It was quite rare; someone who was usually always cold and always spoke in riddles would actually reveal that kind of expression.
Yet that was also a matter of course. Once one understood and comprehended the existence of the so-called Sea Creatures, anyone in his shoes would be like this.
Faced with Kal'tsit's question, Shirou's reply at the time was:
"What stands before you is merely a sword; until the blade snaps, I will follow your will."
He understood what Kal'tsit wanted to ask of him. In Rhodes Island—or rather, in this land—he was an extremely special existence, so Kal'tsit could only ask of him.
Kal'tsit knew that Shirou would not be disturbed by the Sea Creatures.
And Shirou knew that by relying on the task of protecting surviving humanity, he could maximize the ability infinitely close to brainwashing, keeping himself safe from the mental pollution of the Sea Creatures.
That was a steel heart ordinary people ought not to possess.
After that, under Kal'tsit's instructions, he began to assist the city in sweeping away the Sea Creatures that had slipped past the black fog earlier, as well as harvesting the tissue from their bodies.
Battle, battle, battle, battle, battle...
Incessant combat wore away at his mind and body.
Now, the blood-red patterns spreading across his body also represented that he was once again heading toward destruction.
Yet so what? Trading his single person for the lives of many more—wasn't that quite a bargain?
As long as he killed one more Sea Creature, it meant more people would be able to survive.
As long as he tried a little harder, it meant he could save more people.
This body, gradually heading toward destruction, still prayed for that initial wish──
Shirou!
Forgetting how long he had walked, Shirou suddenly heard a familiar voice calling out to him.
Amiya?
He raised his head to look in the direction of the voice, and it was Amiya. She had ridden over in a vehicle to pick him up.
Putting away his thoughts, the cloak-clad Shirou walked toward the vehicle.
In this environment, driving even a little further was fraught with danger, as strange creatures could rush out to attack people at any moment.
After rendezvoused, the first thing Amiya did was go up and flip open Shirou's cloak.
"Has this already become a routine?"
Shirou did not stop Amiya's action, having tried to stop it before, but it hadn't been of much use.
Seeing the worried expression that always hung on the other's face, Shirou stopped trying to stop her thereafter, and every time they met she would perform a similar action, which he no longer minded.
It was just that Amiya's recent routine checks had gotten a bit rougher. Clearly, she used to give a heads-up first, but now she just went straight to it.
"Of course. Shirou, you always conceal your physical condition. What if... what if..."
After checking Shirou's physical condition roundly and confirming that it hadn't worsened too severely, Amiya bit her lip as she spoke, though the final sentence refused to come out.
After all, speaking those words was deeply unlucky, and she didn't want to face that kind of reality either.
She had witnessed with her own eyes Wuming turn into stardust of mana and disappear before her; she could not guarantee she would be able to hold onto her emotions after seeing it a second time.
"It's fine, rest assured."
Looking at Amiya's worried appearance, Shirou reached out a hand to soothe her.
Unlike the cold and ruthless appearance he wore moments ago on the wasteland facing the Sea Creatures, Shirou now still carried a trace of human warmth.
Even if faint, it still existed.
"You're lying."
Seeing that Shirou's physical condition was even worse than last time, Amiya spoke through almost clenched teeth.
Simultaneously, she stripped off Shirou's cloak and handed him a Rhodes Island uniform jacket.
Shirou wearing a cloak was simply to mask the abnormalities on his body.
Right now, people inside the city looked at everything like it was a Sea Creature, so such trouble should be avoided whenever possible.
"I'm not lying to you, just a few more Originium crystals, it's not a big problem."
Without refusing the jacket in Amiya's hands, Shirou slipped it on.
Wearing the jacket, Shirou looked no different from an ordinary person.
Yet Amiya knew, Kal'tsit knew, Doctor knew, and the people of Rhodes Island all knew what condition had befallen Shirou's body.
When Shirou drew mana from the people of this land, he absorbed Originium along with it.
Once that boundary was crossed, Shirou Emiya would be completely engulfed by Originium.
Point of no return—once crossed, there was no longer any way to turn back.
And Shirou had long since crossed that boundary, steadily advancing toward the terminus of self-destruction.
"I say, you two, stop chatting over there, alright? Isn't this a battlefield? If you want to die, don't drag me down with you!"
Seeing the atmosphere gradually grow oppressive, a somewhat impatient voice came from the driver's seat.
"I'm very sorry, Miss W, we're getting in right now."
Amiya snapped back to her senses, apologized to W in the driver's seat, opened the passenger door, and sat inside.
"Your temper remains as volatile as ever."
Shirou looked at W, who was similarly wearing a Rhodes Island uniform in the driver's seat, and spoke.
"You're the same, always wearing a deadpan expression on your face."
Faced with Shirou's verbal attack, W did not show weakness and launched a counterattack.
"Hh, you pest really dare to talk."
Sitting in the back behind the passenger seat, Shirou let out a soft huff and said.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't you two start fighting!"
Before you continue