Sorry for being away for so long but was lazy after college had ended. That and had been bouncing ideas around my head for a while but I'll try to upload faster. To those who are a fan of my other Steelish Silver, sorry but I want to write what currently has my attention. I'll update that soon enough.

That and while this is somewhat based on Rusty Edge, the idea for Shirou's race came way before I read that story. I was somewhat surprised to see a fic with a similar premise Fate: Hero and Sword by Parcasious but that's what I get for being lazy SOB but go read it as anything from Parcasious is good shit.

Shirou sighed looking a rather aged looking helmet that was sitting beside his desk. It was his fourth helmet that he received over the years. To be quite honest, it was the highlight of his life for over a decade. The Neural Nano-Interface was born in the year of 2079 and eventually was extremely widespread by the year 2126. Though the reason isn't simply because of its potent gaming and computing capabilities, but for protection as well. Society as a whole is more hostile towards potential criminals and has adopted a guilty till proven otherwise than vice versa.

If Shirou was younger than perhaps he could have done something to improve society but that's not possible now with his current body. Now, perhaps he was forced to due to his physical limitations is content with living the rest of his life with this machine that changed his life or at least the way he lived his life. Unlike most mages, the Reality Marble wielder was decently versed with technology though he hadn't picked up a smart phone until 2016 despite that technology being out for over a decade at that point.

Before Waver Velvet now known as Lord El-Melloi II, one of the Masters of the fourth Holy Grail war passed away, the older man had given him this VR technology as a gift and then that prank loving Vampire gave him the new models every so often. Shirou wasn't a person that sat down and played games unless an acquaintance wanted him to play but it was different these days. Back when the Neural Nano-Interface was restricted to military and medical use, the Faker at first used it to see how credible the claim that it could be used for military training was. Back then in the initial model, it was far less sophisticated and was scrapped until technology was improved. It was discovered that it had a vast potential regarding those patients with incurable diseases and cancers, in that virtual world they could ignore the pain in their body.

Such an incredible technological progress. If the Neural Nano-Interface was created in his Enforcer/Executor free lance days 2004-2064 there would be no telling how much he could have improved his skills. To be able to train himself in spite of working himself to the bone which Rin and Sakura oftened complained would truly have been a godsend.

Back then, the white-haired man was young, strong and most importantly capable. His jobs that were either secretive revolving around assassinations, being a soldier, and his Enforcer/Executor jobs had kept the Magus busy.

But like he said, things were different now, like all Human beings, age was an inescapable factor. Sure, there are some mystical means that could prolong one's life on this world, but those sorts of rituals and practices were more often than not immoral and required a sacrifice of another often times innocent Human. Needless to say, that went against his very foundation of his existence, he who was born from the hellish flames and the sheathe of the legendary King of Knights Sabe… Arthur…. Artoria.

Despite becoming the Master of Chaldea in his late 20s, the adopted Emiya had associated that class with one person alone. When Saber was summoned in that worn down shed with the moon lighting up her radiant form… it was a scene that the white-haired Faker would never be able to forget. He would sooner forget the patterns that his circuits and veins before that ingrained memory. Shirou smiled as he remembered all the heroes that he met, their weapons and armor that are all stored within his one and only power, and all that he been through. Despite knowing his inherited ideals were impossible, it wasn't wrong, and he wasn't wrong in chasing and believing in it.

Taking a deep breath which when exhaling, came out as a wheeze. Shirou sighed again, he was feeling his age. Born in some month of 1986, the exact date he couldn't remember but the important number is that he was now almost 152 years old. An impressive lifespan for a Human that wasn't augmented with magecraft in anyway, though the scabbard of King Arthur Avalon might have had a hand in that even if it couldn't stop his aging like it did with Saber but Shirou had no way of knowing. He wasn't like Rin whose curiosity led to experimentation, even now Shirou was one that simply accepted a phenomenon and leave it at that. Rin on the other hand would most likely take a car she bought piece by piece and try and put it back together if it was at all related to magecraft. Shirou smiled wryly at remembering Tohsaka's antics… even if it resulted in her taking money from him to deal with her debts.

Sitting down, he stared at his aged and wrinkled hand and chuckled lightly. It was hard to believe that these hands had taken down multiple Superior Dead Apostles, various Servants and even a few Demon Gods and Divine Spirits at one point. Now these hands could barely lift a pan or a glass of water without shaking. It still had strength should he need it but it was fraction of what he was capable of.

The reason he was somewhat sad was that his favorite DMMO-RPG Yggdrasil was going to end today. The Reality Marble wielder had played many of those types of games over his admittedly long-life span and he wouldn't be surprised if he reached 2 centuries worth of age due to how science and medicine had advanced. Yggdrasil was more than just a game to him, it was his life for over a decade. The Virtual World was a world where the Magus could forget about his aging body and feel like he was living again, even if there were limitations to the technology like taste and smell, but he could honestly care less, technology had already advanced far beyond what he had thought possible. Plus, another reason why he accepted this VR technology and used it was partially due to him already have experienced something similar back in Chaldea for training purposes, but it was somehow more amazing as a pure technology working independently of magecraft in his opinion.

Yggdrasil was a game that had a near infinite amount of character customizations and that was very enjoyable to the aged Magnus, that and the fact that Yggdrasil was a game that was also not very beginner friendly also contributed to it becoming Shirou Emiya's favorite game. A player could have had ten years of experience and not know everything about this game. In fact, that was true of all players besides those who have direct connections to the developers. It was an immersive game with a large world and it was also somewhat educational seeing that such as the name implies, has a lot of Norse Mythology that can be taught discretely through said game.

Enough reminiscing he told himself. Today was the last day for the Yggdrasil server and he might as well enjoy the last day. The assassin was tempted to play the game on an illegal Chinese server whenever that comes out, but he doubts that his Guildmates would play the game again. Most of them had quit a few years back or last month when it was announced that the game will end.

Plugging the black cable into the nearest wall socket, Shirou removed the plug casing that protected the end and watched on as a silvery liquid coated the 3 millimeters in diameter plug. With some shakiness, he managed to skillfully plug it in to the neural port lodged in the nape of his neck.

He wasn't alarmed as lights moved throughout his body especially the blood vessels which glowed radiantly almost akin to magic circuits.

Picking up the VR helmet after glimpsing the recent news, the mage placed it on his head and operated the window icon. Scrolling around for a minute until he found the Yggdrasil window and clicked on it with anticipation.

The world itself was replaced with the illusion. The cerebral nano machines started up and took control of his body, his vision and nervous system to be exact.

The world became darkness, an abyss that encompassed everything around him, then stars that sparkled in the void winked into existence as if space itself had manifested before him. A gigantic tree loaded itself into the void of stars, it was the tree that everything the game derived from Yggdrasil. The tree of the world and it indeed lived up to its name.

His vision blurred and flicked before becoming clear as crystal. A strange beast then appeared in that moment, a roughly humanoid figure with bright molten gold eyes with reptillain or feline like slits, standing over 6 feet wearing full plate armor made from the toughest metals and dragon scales, on it's back was strapped with a bow the size of a man, a sword with a pristine silver platinum glow and a staff. The fingers were long and slender unlike a man they almost looked insect like. This was the Avatar which Shirou made to interact with the world.

A hybrid doppelganger with Golem and Dragonoid racial points. Players as they level up have the ability to chose what race they are and level up according to the different evolved races to make an optimal build. It wouldn't be out of place for someone to have a new race and build after the loss of levels via resurrection due to PK type of Guild out there. And not that he was proud of it, he too had contributed to that PK aspect of the game. Shirou as one of the rarer Heteromorphic type of Player was the victim of Pking in the past to the point that he would stay in Human/Demi-Human form through shape shifting. That's how most people get the majority of their rare drops besides farming and it is a very viable way to guarantee rare items if someone betrays a large party and collect their rare equipment. The developers were particularly sadistic in deliberately making the rarest items being the priority drop.

Compared to other Heteromorphic Races, Doppelgangers are different in the sense of only having one upgraded evolution build. Take the Skeleton mage undead race, it has to go through being a Lich, to a Elder Lich before being an Overlord, same with the Demonic races.

Because there is an initial race and only one evolution that a Doppelganger could take and that is the Greater Doppelganger, it gives the Doppelganger type Players a vast room of customization among all other races.

To level up 2 racial levels to the max, a general cost would be roughly 25 out of 45 possible racial points. Of course, that 45 racial points is the bare minimum that a Player in the max level 100 is allowed but if Players meet the requirements then they could exceed that amount. As one of the players that had bought the first copies of the game, Shirou Emiya had access to a very special race without extra charge. Half Golems are not particularly rare for Players to pick, in fact it is a very common Race to use seeing it could fit practically any sort of build so long that it's a Humanoid build. While Doppelgangers are considered a Heteromorphic Race, it's body is very close to that of a Humanoid allowing it to be compatible with the Half Golem upgrade.

As he was saying, the special race was the Dragon bone Golem, a Golem construct made from the bones and flesh of a Dragon that is usually reserved for NPCs or mini-Bosses was now a part of his build which gave skills such as higher magic resistance and immunities to ailments like paralysis and poison much like an Undead character.

Most Half Golems are made out of wood, metal or crystal but that would hamper his Doppelganger's ability to transform which is the reason that he even picked that class in the first place, otherwise he would have simply picked a human instead despite not having racial points leaving them for skills.

The Faker was drawn to the Doppelganger due to his own nature as mage, being the creator of his own style of magecraft which combines Projection and Structural Anlaysis both considered borderline useless spells, Shirou Emiya could copy weapons specifically swords and other bladed objects right down to the material, construction and history with only a slight decrease in power. That is very much akin to a Doppelganger taking the form of another character build up to 80 percent. Truly, this race spoke to the Faker more so than he was willing to admit.

Each class both Racial and Job classes had a maximum of 15 levels and for a level one hundred Player, 7 job classes need to be taken at a bare minimum making one's Avatar extremely unique. In fact, you'd have to be actively trying to replicate someone for an identical build, the customization is that vast compared to other games of this type. That also doesn't include armor and weapon customization, appearance and flavor text.

With 15 points into Doppelganger, 10 in Greater Doppelganger, 10 for Half Golem, free Dragon Bone Golem, and the rest in Dragonoid. He had one more Dragon related race but that was simply due to completing the Siegfried Ritual quest back when the update Valkyrie's Downfall patch was added. His guild discovered the quest and monopolized on the extra Racial points and to this day no other guild, clan or single player save for close friends or relatives of his guild were aware of the quest, Yggdrasil is not a beginner friendly game and knowledge was power.

His guild had fiercely guarded the secrets they discovered and sold it for a reasonable price and that was only to be expected. As stated, this game is not beginner friendly and the price of boldness often lead to death of the player which reduces one's level and the loss of rare items which no one is willing to part save for the most extreme of circumstances thus the need of a guild like his World Searcher which was ranked second out of the whole server was needed. They did eventually release the information once they by majority vote decided that they no longer felt the benefits of keeping was worth it compared to their reputation.

They were always the first to discover new parts of the game and reaping the benefits and the closest guild to how the developers wanted their players to play. As a reward, the shitty devs as the younger generation affectionately called them or cursed them awarded their Guild World searcher with a World class item and rewarded the Guild Master (himself) with an extremely rare class World Guardian. They the World Searcher guild out of all of Yggdrasil had the most World class items save for one once prominent guild of Heteromorphs comprised of only 41 members in their heyday. Though they are still rather infamous despite the drop of their Guild's rating but that was due to their supposedly unconquerable Guild base even with a 1500 Player and Mercenary NPC party. Shirou smiled wryly at that memory, 6 of his Guild members quit after losing their rarest items. He too lost his favorite weapon made from rare Data Crystals.

Touching his Avatar's hand, Shirou was enveloped by countless lines of algorithms and codes before vanishing shortly after. Their meaning was lost to him due to him not being a computer programmer or being proficient in any field relating to it. He was always more of hands on type of person, like fixing a heater or a motorcycle but not codes. Not that it really mattered, it wasn't as if knowing would have improved his investment to the game.

After waiting a while, he pressed the home button. Then it loaded into the waiting area. As expected, only 3 of the original 100 members would have logged in today but it was fine. He only really wanted to bask in his 12 years long commitment to his Guild base, it would be a shame to send its way out without so much as a look over. Shirou had actually spent real money in expanding his Guild base despite it being one of the very few dungeons that naturally had 3000 levels of NPC data for custom creation and add in the free 500 levels as a reward of clearing the dungeon in one shot. He made over half of the custom NPCs of his Guild Valhalla but as he said, he expanded the level data using his own money that he saved up over his long career as a freelancer… the money that he managed to hide away from Rin that is. It was actually somewhat of a hobby to create NPCs that resembled people that he met in life and give them a viable build that mirrors their real-life counterpart in some degree.

Walking out of the grey cement like waiting area, Shirou opened a door and entered Valhalla. The top level to be more specific, it was where all of his former Guild member hung out when not in quests, farming or PKing, an area called the Round Table which he based off the real thing during the Camelot Singularity.

It was kind of fitting to have the dungeon called Valhalla as his base seeing that Shirou had met and conversed with real heroes from that were summoned into the world from the Throne. There were many things from his own memory that he would rather not remember but meeting the greatest of Humanity's heroes was something he would never regret. His body might be stabbed and burned but he would never ever regret his time and his journey. He wasn't like Archer, he was stronger than that.

"Hey Guys! Looks like the old Geezer is here!" A masculine voice shouted excitedly. It wasn't old, well no one was really considered old to Shirou really. To him everyone under sixty would be a 'kid', to be more specific the voice was roughly in the mid-thirties.

"And here we thought that you finally kicked the bucket old man." Another masculine voice said with a happy expression popping up. Since facial features weren't coded into the game, Players had to rely on their console to display their emotions supplementing one's tone. This voice was significantly younger than the previous voice and sounded barely out of high school.

The first voice's username was Gary Stu Kirito! Shirou did some research on the what that username meant out of curiosity and apparently it was based on an anime that he never watched despite it being almost as old as he was. The premise was fascinating as it was horrifying seeing how being stuck in a game could realistically happen in reality with the Neural Nano-Interface resembling the fictional Nervegear to a startling degree despite the technology back then was nowhere near as advanced or sophisticated back in the 21st century. The other voice's username was PlzNewds which somehow gotten past the R-18 filter. Kids these days. Shirou shook his head, either people were more reserved back in 2004 or the people showed their true selves more hiding in anonymity.

"Guys, that's messed up." The only female voice scolded. Her username was LonelyDevilxxx "It wasn't funny twelve years ago and it isn't funny now. Sorry for my idiot brother's insensitive jokes Vulcanus San." She bowed to him but Shirou could only smile amusingly at the joke which did not show up due to the lack of facial movement from the limitation of the game and thus picked a nonchalant expression from his console.

"It's not that big of a deal besides, it kind of became an inside joke over the years." Vulcanus shrugged. Vulcanus was his own username. He originally wanted his username to be Muramasa the famous Japanese blacksmith but that was already taken so he picked the Roman god of forging Vulcanus and Shirou eventually grew into liking the name more than the original choice. Not that there was something wrong with Muramasa but there was something strong about the name Vulcanus. It gave off the air of reliability that Shirou admired and wanted to embody to the point of becoming the Fake Janitor of Homurahara.

"If you say so," LonelyDevilxxx said doubtfully before changing the subject. "Kind of hard to believe that this shitty game if finally ending." She said shitty in a endearing way and they agreed. Yggdrasil was a beast of a game that lasted 12 years which is rather long for games of its genre but even Vulcanus had to agree that Yggdrasil lost a lot of its charms with the updates over the years.

"But look at the bright side," PlzNewds interjected scrolling through his inventory. Eventually he gave a startling "Aha!" when he reached the end and found what he was looking for.

Shirou's, Gary Stu Kirito's, LonelyDevilxxx's eyes dropped at the sight when the items materialized. Well… they would if they could have but people could tell that other Players are shocked if their Avatars stay still and silent after a while… that or their Nano machines are running low which does happen every once in a while.

There had been an incident where a former member of World Searcher had gotten a Nano machine depletion message and was forcibly logged out of a game when their old Guild base before the Valkyrie's Downfall patch was being attacked. While they won in the end, it was because of that member that the party he was in was almost wiped out if it wasn't for the Mercenary type NPCs that became their make-shift Tank support. Needless to say, that member wasn't particularly liked for a long while due to his long standing history of tardiness and laziness. It was honestly a miracle that he wasn't kicked out sooner.

"Is all 4 of those World Class Items?!"

"Yup Yup Yup, Bought them from those other guilds especially from that one guy from those damn upstart Seraph bastards." PlzNewds made a heh sound giving the impression that he was smirking with his real body.

"You even got Ouroboros back!" LonelyDevil exclaimed. "Didn't expect to see this sucker again honestly."

Ouroboros, a World Class item and among the more powerful ones in terms of effects at the drawback of it being one of the twenty which were one time use only before it disappears. Alongside Five Elements Overcoming, Ouroboros was capable of affecting and altering the mechanics of Yggdrasil itself and such an item would naturally make mages in the real-world froth from the mouth if it actually existed in real life.

While World Searcher first used Ouroboros to get back at the Guild Ainz Ooal Gown for petty revenge, they did so behind Vulcanus' behind Shirou's back seeing he disproved the notion at needing to get back at that Heteromorphic Guild in the first place. While it was highly obvious that someone in that Guild intentionally leaked information of their location in the first place and obviously in a highly taunting matter indicating that he wanted people to come to their base and most likely capitalize on the rare drops that would inevitably drop, that Player most likely didn't expect such a large party of 1500.

At the end of the day, no one forced World Searcher to be a part of that party and thus Shirou took that loss on the chin. It would have been somewhat shameful otherwise but people these days are too thin skinned.

"I know that face of yours Guild Leader," PlzNewds said in a somewhat scolding in a joking way. "Those bastards deserved it, especially that goat faced bastard Ulbert and that fake angel Luci Fer."

"Damn Chunnis." LonelyDevil spat. "Still haven't heard about them in a while, guess they quit the game." Ulbert was one of 50 Players that had the unique class World Disaster, so it would had been strange for people not to know that name but Luci Fer… tackiness aside must have caused a personal grudge of some sort.

"Guess so," Gary Stu shrugged in an exaggerated manner. "Still Newds san, why did you buy these World Items anyways? The game will literally be deleted in a few hours anyways."

"Bragging rights, duh."

"…That's it?"

"World Searcher is one of the top Guild and that alone will make us semi-famous, but I just wanted to break the World record of the most World Items in one Guild!"

"…Hate to break it to you but even with these World Class items including ours in the treasury added only goes up to 7. That Guild has at least 9 from what I have heard… probably more now seeing how stingy their Guild Master is."

"…Damnit!" Newds spat. "Fuck those guys, they been giving us Heteromorphs a bad rep for the longest time."

"You could have changed races to a Doppelganger like me," Vulcanus said. "I could be in any of the 9 realms and no one would have been the wiser."

"Yeah but I would have redone my entire build and it's not like I have a crazy powerful class like you do Vulcanus san."

Shirou could understand where he was coming from, Doppelgangers for an ordinary Player would have been rather mediocre seeing the 45 racial points aren't that much to play around with after investing 25 of the possible points to the Race. It would have normally been more advantageous to play another Heteromorphic race with its various racial skills without the 20 percent loss which is quite substantial unless you're fortunate enough to copy a build of a rather remarkable Player. It was only through the series of coincidences that Shirou had went through to even make his character among the echelons of Top ranked Players.

"Soo… what do the others do?" The others meaning the 3 other World items that were laid across the round table.

"So, this tacky gold cup looking thing is called the Holy Grail," Newds picked it up. "It's some sort of healing and resurrecting type item but it's all hypothetical without actual usage."

Shirou made a choking sound. It was at times like these that he wondered if Archer was calling in favors from higher powers to mess with him. While Alaya in of itself had no personality or will of its own beyond the desire of preserving Humanity, the white-haired mage could see it catering to her Counter Guardians if the favor wasn't asking too much. Obviously, the desire to break the contract between the Counter Guardian and the world is nonnegotiable but it wasn't too outlandish to barter with the world even if it technically owned the souls of all Guardians.

"Something wrong boss?" Gary Stu asked looking at the club shaped World item.

"It's nothing," Shirou lied. "I was a… fan of King Arthur so it just caught me off guard is all." Half lie, he did admire the King of Knights but the reason of his reaction towards the Holy Grail was for another reason.

"…Right," LonelyDevil was damn sure it was more than that, but it wasn't her place to ask. "More importantly, how DID you get World Savior anyways? Pretty sure those Seraph bastards still want to get back at THAT Guild."

"Oh, knew the Guild master from way back and promised him a free 12-month access to that power suit game Aberage from the connections I have."

Shirou played Aberage once but it wasn't his cup of tea. He could understand the traction and popularity it gets but he was always more of a fan of the magical fantasy type games like Yggdrasil especially since it had a crafting type system.

"Oh shit, been meaning to get into that game... Think you could hook me up?"

"Sure! Unlike the Devs here, they aren't lazy or shitty in the least." Gary Stu gave off a victorious laugh. "I'll introduce you to my party, Nishkienrai is a beast at the game and Beast King… well he tries to say the least but not too terrible."

The two chatted energetically before LonelyDevil coughed rather loudly getting them out of their conversation sounding a bit sheepish.

"Sorry boss, we're being rude talking about another game when this was supposed to be savoring our last moments together."

"It's fine," Vulcanus brushed it off. "I bought Aberage a few years back, so I could pop in every once in a while." Shirou didn't like the game but he did bond with these people who joined his guild even if he had never met them in person.

After a few more hours, LonelyDevil had to leave due to her Nano machines being low and her brother PlzNewds had to drive her to the pharmacy to get a refill on her syringe. GaryStu also had to call it a night due to having some sort of job interview early in the morning so Shirou couldn't fault him for that.

At the end, Yggdrasil and this Guild was just a game, it wasn't worth risking one's own life and prosperity for. Shirou was lucky that he didn't have to deal with having a mundane job anymore, ever since his introduction into the deeper parts of the moonlit world what his father called the supernatural world, the Faker never had a mundane job again besides the occasional lending of a hand as a car mechanic or cook for an underhanded restaurant.

Not to say that he disliked his job in Copenhagen, but it just wasn't fulfilling compared to his more dangerous jobs.

"It was fun while it lasted, it truly was. Probably the first time I enjoyed myself in a long while and in a game no less" Shirou looked at the Guild room called the Round Table once more. The pure white pillars that were erect gave any temples dedicated to the gods a rub for their money, the extravagant, grand yet humble gray marble floors gave it character for each tile had a unique dark spotting different from the other yet somehow fitting in harmoniously. The blue and gold tapestry containing each of the 100 members' emblems hung proudly suspended in the air without any movement despite the wind blowing. It was made with precious metals that would have bankrupted a small city if it were real but Shirou took pride in his 12-year commitment to make the greatest base to the best of his ability. He knew it was not reality but perhaps he had better aesthetic choice than he had given himself credit for even if the design was based on the real palace of King Arthur.

Placing the World Items that was bought by Newds with the 3 World items that the guild already possesses making a grand total of 7. It truly was a large number seeing only a handful of Guilds has more than two World items. Well if he included his personal equipment then it would go up to 8 but that still second compared to THAT Guild that possessed at least 9 World class items. Shirou could see why that irked Newds so much even if he didn't care about keeping score all too much.

Pushing the 3 chairs that his Guildmates sat on back in place with the rest of the 99 chairs and one throne for he the Guild master, Shirou walked to the center of the room, a giant carved stone in the form of a short and rather crude pedestal where a golden hand and a half sword rested on. Seeing that this 13th layer of his floating Guild base was based on the real King Arthur's castle, Vulcanus figured that he might as well go full in and make his Guild Weapon be a sword in the stone analog.

The Guild Weapon while gold and grand, it didn't look like Caliburn or Excalibur at all despite his admiration of the swords of his former servant. The Guild weapon was overall a larger sword without it being oversized like most swords in fiction were, the gold blade itself had a vine like engraving that was also on fire, the tip to the mid-section of the blade was engraved with Primordial and Greater Runes that glowed in all colors of the rainbow at once with blue and red being the most dominant. The edge was so sharp that it almost cut from just looking at it, the fuller on the flat removed weight making it faster to swing without sacrificing damage. It is a shame that Vulcanus rarely ever used it, but that was true for most Guild Weapons. With the destruction of the Guild Weapon, the immediate termination of the Guild follows it and thus despite how powerful a Guild Weapon is, it is not used besides a Guild Raid.

While there is a huge spectrum for Guild Weapons in terms of power most if not all Guild Weapons are as strong if not stronger than Divine tier equipment. His own Guild Weapon is stronger than some World items due to the materials used to craft it. The blade itself is a rare drop coming from a Christmas limited event class boss Surtr Prime IV specifically his sword Laevateinn for the item skin, the hilt and handle was imbued with artifact jewels that each possessed a super tier spell or ability which could be cast without strain on the reserves of the Guild Master. Even the Data Crystals were collected from all 9 realms of Yggdrasil and undoubtedly were of the highest and rarest quality due to the nature of his Guild World Searcher being the first to explore the entirety of Yggdrasil and its expansions, the center of the guard possessed a diamond shaped metal decoration that glowed with the purest rainbow light made from the 7 prismatic ores. The multi-colored rainbow and golden glow of the sword was designed in such a way that it was grand but not to the point of gaudiness or making the sword unnecessarily bulky. The pommel was contained a philosopher's stone burning with a red that puts even the deepest if rubies to shame.

The one hundred members of his Guild grinded and farmed over for years even taking 'sick' days from work to get all the items and data crystals to make this beast of sword made for him and to this day it filled Vulcanus with joy remembering the day of its completion. 9 World enemies were defeated just to make his ideals a reality, a shame that this sword custom tailored for him wasn't a real sword or else he could have added it to his Reality Marble Unlimited Blade Works.

Putting his left hand on the hilt, Vulcanus braced himself as if he's about to pull up something heavy. In actuality, the sword came lose with a flick of his hand as if the whole blade was coated in a lubricant oil.

The moment it was set free, an aura of holy light bathed the air and wisps of illuminating orbs came free from the main source eerily akin to Excalibur the crystallized holy sword of the planet embodying the hope of all mankind past, present and future.

23:59:57

23:59:58

23:59:59

The days of Yggdrasil had come to an end.

00:00:00

But the new Journey of Vulcanus of a man named Shirou Emiya had just started.

00:00:01

00:00:02

"…Huh?" Shirou blinked in surprise. "What happened? Did the shutdown get delayed? Or was the cancellation being simply a long joke?" Knowing the habits of the developers, Vulcanus wasn't surprised in the least.

Trying to pull up the forced log out function, nothing came except the feeling of wind. Shirou bit his lip in frustration. He wasn't annoyed yet, but a tiny bud was starting to form in his heart.

Wait…

Feeling of wind?

The taste of blood?

Those features weren't in Yggdrasil or any game for that matter, the technology was not yet advanced enough for that. Then again it could be magecraft, Zelretch was the one that had given him his Neural Nano-Interface after his initial one from Waver.

Trying his luck one more time, none of the other game feature responded. Not the chat, not the Gm call or anything.

Sighing, Shirou rubbed the back of his neck and felt something metal on it. It was the Neural port where all who had the surgery to use the Neural Nano Interface had. Looking downwards at his right arm, there even was the socket for the syringe to refill one's Nano machines was there.

Was this situation caused by Kaleidoscope the operation of parallel worlds? Damn Zelretch, even after the passing of Rin this bloodsucker still likes to play tricks on him. Noticing something minute that he didn't notice earlier, it was his body. His body no longer felt… labored from his advanced age almost as if he was a young man in the prime of his life again. Still, while space and time are connected such a thing is not what the Second Magic causes. Time is more related with 5th magic the Blue than the Kaleidoscope. What were the chances that woman and that vampire working together to pull a prank on him? Knowing his luck any percentage higher than zero meant that it is possible and probable.

Closing his eyes, Shirou activated his circuits and traced a mirror polished sword that had no enchantments to preserve Prana. Opening his eyes, he brought the sword to his face Shirou flinched at the sight. They were golden eyes which wouldn't had been a surprise seeing his eyes prior to him overusing his magecraft turning it into a gray steel coloration just like Archer was an amber brown close to gold but not quite. But the eyes that were staring back at him was slit just like a reptile… just like the strongest phantasmal species a Dragon.

"Trace on," Shirou chanted and analyzed his body. A faint hum that came from using his circuits filled him with a bit of relief, if he could use magecraft then he could at least defend himself and other should the need arise.

The reason he did this was for the simple reason that his body felt TOO different to what he was used to. His original 27 Magic Circuits was still there and functional, but they were changed and for the better, before his crippled circuits despite his slightly higher amount compared to the average Magus was barely able to handle 10 units each were now far beyond what could be considered humanly possible. Even compared to a prodigy like Rin, Shirou was now hundreds if not thousands of times beyond her and even compared to being like a Homunculus Shirou could not be found lacking in any way.

He also felt his heart was replaced by a Magical Core, if a Magus with Magic Circuit can be considered a machine that produces magical energy than one who possesses a Magical Core is a gigantic factory that mass produces Magical energy. Now, Shirou Emiya has both to work with alongside another source of Magical energy production, the core of a magical molded being known a Golem. A man-made creation that has the general form of a man unless created to be contrary otherwise. A Golem core which honestly resembles a Prana powered nuclear reactor which put him on edge.

Despite his body transferring over to this new world, it still had qualities that his Yggdrasil avatar had and that terrified him despite the pros of having its benefits.

The merging of reality with fiction… it was something that he witnessed before with the fusion of Phantoms and Heroic Spirits from another self EMIYA Alter. If he found regular Emiya unacceptable, Emiya Alter was absolutely abhorrent. Just thinking about that guy made him want to summon a bunch a Noble Phantasms and turn his future selves into a pin cushion.

Shaking his blood lust aside, even his body was far stronger than before. Throwing a slash with his nameless mundane sword a blade of wind erupted without the use of reinforcement. Is this what it feels like to have the strength of a servant? Even the weakest servants had a strength that surpasses mankind, E rank the lowest for a servant is still ten times the strength of a human and his body is comparable to even high tier servants due to his Yggdrasil character build.

The strength of 1 in Yggdrasil was still considered beyond what untrained average Humans are capable of and taking that logic his own 85 strength made his peer to even the greatest of Heroic Spirits without special abilities.

"Okay Shirou," Vulcanus thought. "One last test." Somehow his body had gained the qualities that his Yggdrasil character had but if this truly was reality then his ability to record weapons would confirm whether this is reality or not despite how life like it felt to be in Guild base is currently. Dropping the Traced sword which faded into motes of magical energy before it even hit the ground, Vulcanus brought the Guild Weapon into his view and immediately his eyes dilated as he read everything about the sword.

Judging its concept of creation.

A weapon made from the best fruits and treasures of the World tree. Born from the single-minded journey and goals of 100 beings, born from the desire to map Yggdrasil the realm of 9 that no longer exists in reality or illusion.

Hypothesizing the base structure

A sword that would not be found lacking even compared to the World. If Excalibur is the crystallized sword borne from the planet then this sword is borne from the leaves and essence of the World Tree and forged by the fire that surpasses the sun.

Duplicating the composition, reading how it was made and the experience of its growth or lack thereof.

Everything

Once he analyzed it the sword deposited itself into his Reality Marble Unlimited Blade Works. "What the actual hell?!" Shirou exclaimed, this was too much for it to be a dream, somehow, he has gotten a new even better body and got transported in a world where his digital Guild base is real.

Shirou couldn't deny the reality he was in right now and struggled to comprehend his situation. It was one thing to be a magus, it was one thing to experience the summoning of ancient heroes, and it was one thing to meet his future selves but to have a digital world become real out of the blue is stretching his ability to calmly access the situation.

It had been a long time since he had been a freelancer accepting jobs like his adoptive father had done but by manually drawing on that past experience his heart pulse slowed itself and Shirou controlled the emotions that was boiling inside.

Could this new world be some sort of collective Reality Marble like Iskandar's Ionioi Hetairoi?

Taking the fact that his Guild base becoming real as a reference… how about the monsters and NPCs that were within it? Would they be alive?

As much as the Faker wanted to say no and that reality has well-placed rules, he also is well aware of phantasmal species. Some of them only exist because humans perceive and acknowledge them, and some Heroic Spirits are purely fictional like Nursery Rhyme and certain Demi-Gods. BB was also a simply a Digital A.I that became an individual… and looks like Sakura.

Steeling himself, Vulcanus left the Round Table with his Guild Weapon in hand and his own personal weapon that was made to be a sister sword to said Guild Weapon in the other.

There's no guarantee that the creatures and NPCs in this city fortress base would be friendly or neutral to humanity and Shirou resolved himself that the encounter might devolve into bloodshed. Walking out the grand gigantic doors, the assassin walked down the spotless clean halls minimizing the sound of his footsteps. Sure, there might be some Yggdrasil spells that he could theoretically use but he would rather not experiment at the moment and stick to the tried and true method of Tracing Noble Phantasms.

Dragons and Demons exists in large numbers in the lower layers and the swords within his Reality Marble is ready to taste their blood.

Swallowing the lump that formed in his throat, Shirou proceeded down the majestic blue and gold rimmed rugs and ignored the chandeliers made of precious stones of perfect cut and clarity. It would appear that that Magus part of Rin had rubbed off on the Faker because the back of his mind was calculating how much it would cost and the capacity the gems could store once they made contact with the spirits of the Earth.

He stealthily turned the corner and saw the presence of a maid that cleaning the wood and stone top furniture humming to herself. A Homunculus Maid, for all castle-based Guilds its almost like an unspoken tradition to have these weaker Heteromorphic beings born from alchemy to complete the aesthetic even if they served no purpose in defending the Guild base from invasions.

There were 102 of these servants, one for each of the guild members that had joined World Searcher and the 3 set that he made.

Finishing the surface of the wooden flower stand the Homonculus Maid clad in a high-quality uniform and short mini skirt that would put most noble attire to shame turned around and was startled by his presence.

It wasn't fear that Shirou had been expecting and there was a sense of reverence to her gaze akin to servant to a charismatic king.

"S-sorry for blocking your way Vulcanus Sama," She dropped to her knees and bowed as if he was a god incarnated. "The sin of blocking your way can't even be atoned even with my death. Please punish me in the harshest way possible to make up with this foolish ignorant one's folly!"

Shirou felt… uncomfortable being regarded so highly. He never really had a high self-worth and to be treated this way like an absolute all knowing superior was an alien feeling to him.

That honestly felt more fake to him than the whole digital world turned real and that was saying something. That and he couldn't bring himself to callously kill such an innocent being either despite doing so in the past. Collateral damage was unavoidable but even so, it felt like an iron rod gouging a hole in his chest each time the 3rd rate magus did it.

"Please stand," Vulcanus coughed awkwardly.

The maid rose but there was a hint of fear in her eyes thinking she failed the last of Great Supreme ones. The One above All, the World Guardian Lord Vulcanus, the greatest and most powerful of the Supreme Beings who also created the majority of the NPCs and floors of Valhalla.

Shirou analyzed her words and with great effort, disregarding the borderline worship of him. One, she called him Vulcanus. 2, he's of high rank meaning that there is a hierarchy. Since she called him by his gaming Avatar name and him being of high rank… does that mean the entities of this fortress?

A level 1 being should be an easy meal for the creatures within and she indicated that she has memories beyond simply just popping out of existence. Perhaps Yggdrasil and flavor text history apply to her as well.

"I'm not angry at you," Shirou attempted to calm the maid down. "Is there anyone else on this Layer?"

"The 13th layer is the residence of the Supreme ones, Player entities like yourself and the only ones here is the ones your almighty and omniscient self allows which currently are my fellow maid sisters, the Lord Supervisor Dispel Sama and the Aasimar." She bowed her head respectfully despite the confusion in her voice.

"Tell… Dispel to come to my quarters." Shirou tried to sound professional and regal emulating the kings and rulers that he met in his long life. "Alone." If they were having a one on one conversation, then Shirou could have a general grasp of what Dispel's personality is and who was also the NPC created by his Guildmate Betatron Prime made.

"O-of course Great one," The maid blushed furiously, no doubt picturing something else than what Vulcanus had in mind. "I'll inform her with a message at once."

Shirou felt like slapping himself for wording his command that held such an easily misunderstood insinuation. "…Right, I'll be waiting then."

"P-please wait a moment Supreme one," The maid interjected. "Having one such as your exalted self exert yourself is our fault. Please allow us lowly servants convenience you even in the slightest of ways." She took out a scroll which then was lightly tossed into the air which soon erupted in an unnatural blue flame as the parchment burned.

[Message]

"Zel Wretch Sama? Please open a Gate for Vulcanus Sama," The maid whispered taking glances at the form of her noble Supreme one. "Yes, to his room please." The scroll's blue light faded and a foul dark energy in the form of a sphere manifested a few inches away from his feet.

Zel Wretch, a Vampiric NPC that he himself had crafted to guard the 7th Layer area Library. He was based on a certain annoying Vampire that he unfortunately was acquainted with. Besides being Rin's apprentice during his time in the Clock Tower, he also managed to reproduce the Jeweled Sword of that being which garnered his interest and attention.

Staring at the portal for a second, Shirou managed to not appear startled or hesitant despite his inner feelings. Thanking the maid, the Faker walked forward despite his skepticism. It was one thing to give the benefit of the doubt to a roughly humanoid being like a harmless homunculus than a blood sucking monster that feeds upon mankind or simply murders them as a form of amusement without a shred of guilt. Vampires, Apostles to be more specific are ultimately alien in mind set to Humans and simply don't see the world the same as them either. All Vampires that managed to live long enough will eventually develop a Reality Marble and only beings with a mindset sufficiently different than normal humans could develop that world just a step or two away from True Magic.

Exiting the portal Shirou found himself in his designed room, it was grander than Rin's room back in her house, but truth be told that he never really been in this room more than a moment or two since he claimed this as his Guild base. After all this room was nothing more than data before a few minutes ago, why bother waiting in a fake room when he could be doing something in reality?

Plopping on to the western style bed with a stylish canopy, the Faker touched the fluffy fabric amazed at the softness and quality. He was never one that spent money on meaningless luxuries, but he could tell that this was more expensive than even Luvia's possessions.

It would be ideal if Yggdrasil somehow became real so he if it came down to an armed confrontation he would at least know the layout and use it to his advantage. If it was a new world then he would need information and time to adjust to its nuance.

The air so to speak and the magical energy in it has a different 'texture' to it making him doubt that this was even Earth, as someone who has a contract with the world he was at least able to tell that much. Though he has to die first before the World Alaya could have him. Shaking his head, he Traced Kanshou and Bakuya into his hands reveling in the familiar grip.

These 2 besides being relatively cheap to Trace for a Noble Phantasm, they also have some general Anti-Monster properties which would undoubtedly be useful considering the circumstances.

Knock knock.

His door was knocked 3 times loud enough to be heard but not overly noisy to avoid being annoying and uncourteous. "Vulcanus Sama, can I come in?" A heavenly otherworldly voice came from the other side, a bell like feminine voice that would garner the attention of any man.

"Go ahead." Shirou noted the honorific but kept a small semblance of guard just in case. He knew that Sirens lead men to their deaths with their so-called heavenly voice and thus wanted to double and triple check to be sure. If he died prematurely then the lives of others would suffer for he will not be there to save them like Kiritsugu did with him.

The doorknob was turned and a beautiful woman beyond even the most beautiful mortals came in. she had slightly longer than shoulder length golden hair tied with a black and silver trimmed ribbon in the back and a smaller fluffier ribbon of the same color. Her dress was rather revealing for an angel, a black and gold trimmed dress with an extremely short skirt and had 2 diamond-shaped cut out slits revealing some cleavage and her belly button. The bangs of her hair is long enough to cover her forehead and the bridge of her nose. Her face didn't look natural like she was a living being rather her perfection was akin to a marble statue carved and chiseled into the right shape. Over her dress is a ruby red overcoat giving her an oddly professional look despite the revealing clothing. Her arm was covered in long black elegant gloves that most likely long enough to reach just below the armpit. Over her stockings were greaves of silvery platinum and gold. The right was the silver greave with the head of an undead Dragon as a design on where the knee was, and the left was a golden colored greave that had a fiery maned lion. Her skin was unnaturally pale almost like a Vampire and hasn't touched the sun even once and her eyes were multicolored from blood red to pink and the bottom golden yellow like her hair.

She immediately bowed like the maid earlier confirming his thoughts. He was of high rank for the inhabitants of his Guild, so it stands to reason that his position of Guild Leader and the only Player that exists currently makes him the top of the hierarchy… for now. Who knows if they decide to succumb to their own desires like all living beings do. Faust certainly didn't consider his Homunculus Mephistopheles to turn out the way that he did and there was nothing to stop his and his friend's NPCs from going independent.

"Dispel, the Lord Overseer at your command Supreme One." Her voice was filled with subservience that threatened to throw Shirou out of the loop.

"Rise," Shirou ordered, his voice oddly had a more charismatic quality than the one he had as a human. Perhaps this was the Avatar of his character was affecting him and gave him more than just physical changes… he'll have to think about that later.

Dispel the NPC created by Betatron gracefully rose to feet and awaited the orders of her superior. "At your command." She repeated.

"Have you noticed anything… strange in Valhalla in the last hour?" Shirou asked as politely as he could to avoid angering this beautiful but ultimately inhuman being.

"…Nothing besides the Sub Lord of the 3rd Layer being more hungry than usual. Why do ask such a thing Lord Above all?"

"There's something odd in the 'taste' of the air lately. I suspect we aren't in Asgard anymore. Take some of your former subordinates from the Feel of Heaven and investigate the area. This goes without saying but if you encounter anyone with intelligence do not provoke a fight and question him through charm spells if necessary."

As she exited the room to fufill her superior's orders, Shirou pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. "Is this a sick joke or this is just a chance to start again? Either way, I doubt anything good will come out of it."