Little Things

"Ha!"

With a fierce shout, a streak of white flashed across the azure sky. The eagle soaring through the boundless heavens was struck by the flash, and its powerful wings abruptly stopped beating.

"Ha!"

Another fierce shout! Another streak of white raced across the sky, slicing precisely through the eagle. Its sturdy body, which had been soaring through the heavens, instantly stiffened.

"Haah~~!!!! Ultimate move! Second High Counter, First Form!"

A third fierce shout! In the forest, where the trees stood nearly a hundred meters tall, a figure suddenly flashed into view. In an instant, he shot up to the treetops, then used them as a springboard and kicked off hard! In the blink of an eye, he shot straight into the sky.

Bathed in sunlight, his airborne form revealed a powerful physique. His long black hair was casually tied behind his head with a piece of grass rope. His perfectly proportioned body stretched across the air like a leopard, and his dark eyes were fixed on the eagle, a hundred meters above.

His hands were slender but strong, gripping a crudely made wooden sword. He held it horizontally before him, as if passing judgment on a sinner.

"Ultimate move! Tensei Meijo...!"

His low voice was tender and intimate, like a lover's whisper.

But the consequences of those words were nothing like the tenderness of a lover. They were an invitation from Lucifer, the lord of hell...

The figure, which had been rising slowly through the air, suddenly blazed with golden light from head to toe. Like a golden shooting star, he crossed the distance in an instant and appeared before the still-stiffened eagle.

Only when you were right in front of it could you appreciate just how huge and terrifying the giant eagle was. Its outstretched wings spanned nearly ten meters, and its hooked beak, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, glinted coldly in the sunlight...

"Pangu!!!"

The moment the brilliant golden light touched the giant eagle, it flared again! His speed, already close to the limit of what a human could achieve, increased by more than half once more!

Splurt~~!!!

Bright red blood sprayed across the azure sky... A streak of golden light pierced straight through the eagle.

The boy, his whole body glowing gold, had bloodshot eyes. His waist-length black hair had come loose and streamed in the wind... He stood proudly in the sky, like a god passing judgment on the heavens!

"Caw~~~~~~!!!" The giant eagle, drenched in scarlet blood, let out a heart-rending cry that echoed through the endless sky... Then it spun as it plunged straight toward the ground.

As it began to fall, the boy instantly reached out and grabbed one of its feathers, hauling himself onto the eagle's back.

He clung tightly to its back, letting the falling eagle take the full force of the wind and air resistance.

The giant eagle plunged rapidly toward the ground. Just before it hit, the boy curled up, drew in his legs, and kicked off hard, springing from the eagle's back. He grabbed a thick tree branch and hung there safely.

Crash~~~!! The eagle, still falling straight down, wasn't so lucky. It hit the ground and became a huge slab of meat. Blood flowed everywhere... Shattered flesh and brains mixed together and ran across the grass...

"Hyah~!" The boy flipped up onto a thick branch nearby. Satisfied with the prey he had slain in an instant, he pushed off and leaped away, disappearing into the dense forest in the blink of an eye...

After weaving through the forest for about ten minutes, the boy arrived at an exceptionally massive tree.

The tree stood nearly a hundred meters tall, with a trunk more than thirty meters around. Its sturdy branches were as big as small trees, and its dense canopy was so vast it seemed to blot out the sky—just like the legendary sacred tree of the elves, the Life Tree...

Though the boy simply called it the Life Tree...

Xia had lived in this forest with Artoria for two years. Using their own hands and wits, they had trained hard and supported each other through each passing day.

Over those two years, Xia had encountered countless terrifying dangers in the forest. There were monsters with the heads of lions and the bodies of tigers that could fly and swallow prey twice his size whole. There were also three-headed hounds, each with three heads like the dogs of hell, whose roar could destroy a small hill.

Worried that his interference might put Artoria's life in danger—even though she had always been safe up until the moment she drew the Sword in the Stone—Xia strictly forbade her from wandering around. He only let her do the training she needed. As a result, Artoria ignored him for several weeks, leaving Xia absolutely miserable...

Later, Xia happened upon this Life Tree in the forest. After spending a month repeatedly confirming that no dangerous monsters came near it, he spent nearly half a year hollowing out a treehouse. He quickly moved Artoria from the wooden house he had built in a tree to this one. Every three days, he went out on patrol, in case a monster he couldn't stop—even at the cost of his life—wandered in and hurt Artoria.

In truth, all of this was completely unnecessary. Even without considering the Red Dragon Bloodline Artoria carried within her, the immense potential she had recently begun to awaken already made her more than a match for ordinary beasts.

Besides, Artoria herself was the one chosen by the heavens—or perhaps by Alaya—to become the king of Britannia. How could anything that threatened her life be allowed to happen before the gears of fate had even begun to creak into motion?

It was nothing but Xia's guilt—or perhaps his intense possessiveness—at work. He didn't want to give her to anyone, didn't want anyone to touch her, and didn't want anyone else to see her smile. Her sunshine, her smiles, her happiness, her pain, her tears, her heartache—good or bad, he wanted to bear and enjoy it all by himself.

With that mindset, combined with the intense sense of danger this strange and terrifying forest inspired in Xia, scenes like this often played out somewhere among the trees...

The sunny girl and the handsome boy were always arguing beneath a tree. The girl hated how he kept her by his side and protected her, never letting her suffer hardship or face danger. It meant her strength never got the life-or-death trials she needed to grow.

Although she really did love how the boy always brought her strange fruits and dates from the forest. Before handing them over, he would taste them himself, then wait an hour to make sure they weren't poisonous before smiling and giving them to her.

Whenever they encountered fog or darkness along the path ahead, the boy would make her stay behind him, then plunge alone into the dangerous area to find out whether there was any threat up ahead.

Only after confirming again and again that it was safe would the boy emerge with a smile, take the girl's hand, and lead her inside.

The boy deeply loved the girl before him, so he worried about her getting hurt and feared for her safety. Even if he might not be able to keep bearing the burden for her in the future, at least for now... right now, he wanted to take on a little more of her pain, in the hope that her smile might last just one more moment...

The boy's actions made the girl feel deeply cherished. She loved being protected and treasured, and she enjoyed his affection and care all the more.

But... she enjoyed his affection and accepted his protection. Still, nothing should be taken to extremes.

At last, the anxious girl could no longer bear being kept somewhere safe all the time, unable to make any further progress in her training. Thinking that if she didn't grow stronger soon, she wouldn't become the perfect Knight King he dreamed of, she secretly slipped away from the boy and went into the forest to train.

The girl had left around noon. At dusk... the boy carried her back to the wooden house, step by difficult step, his whole body drenched in blood.

In the second before he passed out, the boy made sure the golden-haired girl lying on the bed had only been frightened and scraped up a little. Then he could no longer hold on and collapsed to the floor...

That was the closest the boy had ever come to death... When the girl awoke, his breathing had already stopped. Completely terrified, she scrambled off the bed, picked him up, and held him in her arms, begging him to wake up again. Tears streamed down her face as she blamed herself over and over...

Her throat went hoarse from crying, and her tears ran dry.

When bloody tears began to drip from her eyes, the girl had fallen into utter despair... Holding the stiff body in her arms, she sank helplessly to her knees and stared blankly at the boy's face.

Then the boy suddenly opened his eyes and woke up. He raised his stiff hands and gently placed them against the girl's face, making her dazed eyes meet his.

"Sorry for the wait... I'm back, Artoria." His lips strained to move, tugging at the muscles in his face as he forced out a strange expression that was half crying, half smiling...

After that, the girl listened to almost everything the boy said, which gave him no end of headaches.

Later, as the girl gradually calmed down, the boy finally managed to soothe her. She had been clutching the hem of his shirt every day, looking up at him with tearful, worried eyes. Only after he promised not to frighten, scare, or despair her again did she slowly return to her old self.

The Knight King's stubbornness is such a cute trait, damn it~~~!!!!

And now, a year and a half had passed since that incident...

Having just finished his hunt for the day, the boy rushed into the treehouse he had carved out inside the Life Tree, one game animal dangling from each hand.

"Artoria~! Artoria~! Come on out~ The provisions for our journey are ready~!"

Hearing the boy call from inside, Artoria smiled and set down the clothing she had been mending. She walked out of the house, and when the warm sunlight washed over her, she felt as if all the fatigue in her body had vanished.

"Mm~~~!" Artoria stretched luxuriously in the sunlight.

He had seen this scene many times, but whenever the golden-haired girl stood in the sunlight... the boy always gazed at her with an utterly adoring expression. Perhaps, in his heart... the golden-haired girl was his only light.

"It looks like it was the right call to stop the intense training three days before we set out. That way, we can make sure illness won't trouble us on the road. Also... don't let any other man see you in that pose next time." The boy smiled as he spoke. His voice turned so noticeably awkward at the last part that it was hard not to laugh.

Artoria smiled and turned to look at the boy.

Her lips moved slightly...

"I understand, Xia~."

At most two more chapters until FATE-ZERO begins.

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