The Protector

Arc1-part3

Shirou heard the sound of swords clashing, but there was nothing but darkness all around him. be blinked and the scene changed right before him to one of the worst moments of his life. The day his life turned to hell. He and Saber were clashing in the cave that contained the Greater Grail of Fuyuki. Sbaer tried to cut in him half by slicing his head down the middle, but he parried it with Bakuya II before slicing her left arm with Kanshou II. Their fight looked more like dancing if anything else. Both of them twirling and spinning left and right, but at the same time trying to kill each other.

Suddenly, his younger self parried another strike and managed to knock out Saber's grip on her corrupted sword. pointing Kanshou II at her neck.

"Finish it…my friend." Saber said with little emotion. A single tear trickled out of younger Shirou's right eye before he sheathed his blades.

"No…" he said with a somewhat trembling voice.

"Why…why do you continue to play this childish game Shirou? Can't you see that I'm sufferi-" she couldn't finish her sentence; a purple haired shadow wrapped her arms around Saber's neck before she twisted them in a fast motion.

*SNAP*

"SABER!" Shirou yelled as he rushed to her side. She was already dead, slowly disappearing before him. He cried out her name over and over, praying for her to not leave his side but to no avail. Her sword, Excalibur Morgan, stayed. It was whispering to him, offering him the chance to enact his vengeance. He reached out his right hand, gripping the dark blade and said two words. "I accept."

"What?" the purple haired Servant said. Puzzled that Saber's blade was still around and in Shirou's hands. "Shirou stop! Sakura can help you."

"The only thing that can help me…is this" he held the blade and readied himself, but the sword did something to him.

Shirou began to shake as the power from the blade bled into him, mending his wounds, and blocking out so many things that made him Shirou Emiya. His mercy, his love, his compassion, all replaced with rage, anger, fury, wrath, and a cold, unfeeling heart. He looked at the Fallen Earth Goddess that took away the woman he loved most and yelled "RIDERRRRR!" Lunging towards her with inhuman speed and agility, fighting like a madman with monstrous strength, not caring about the injuries he sustained from her, even going so far as to look at her in the eye without turning into stone.

Rider blocked every attack he made, trying desperately not to hurt the man her master loved, but Shirou didn't even care, he was beyond caring at this point. He roared a bone chilling battle cry as he continued his barrage of attacks. He raised the blade up and roared out its true name, darkness spread all around him as he did.

"EXCALIBUR! MORGAN!" He aimed it directly at Rider but missed, but little did she know she fell right into his trap. Shirou lunged at her with the acceleration of Time Alter and griped her neck with his left hand, almost snapping her neck with is grip alone, but he impaled her in the stomach before cutting her up the middle and stopping right at her chest before beheading her with animalistic fury. But the rage did not stop. The blade whispered to him who he really needed to kill to satisfy his anger. He needed to kill Sakura Matou.

Shirou had enough of this dream, he forced himself awake and found himself laying down on the ground just outside of Gladdu Village. The campfire he made last night was extinguished from over time, he got up and kicked some dirt into it to kill it before leaving off into the forest where a group a knights died days earlier to confirm his suspicion.

But first, he needed to Check on Wyn in the church. The walk to there was uneventful, all the inhabitants retreated into their homes once they saw his signature red cloak. It made it easier to get through, but also harder to get more information for his investigation.

He approached the church doors to find Wyn and Friar Rhain waiting for him inside already eating breakfast. "Ah, Archer, welcome back." Wyn said with both of her hands full with bread. "Hungry" Friar Rhain asked kindly. "sure." Shirou replied, internally smiling, or something like that. "But before I start, I need some information on where those knights died."

"Of course." The friar said with a serious look. Shirou sat down and accepted the meal. Just simple bread and clean water.

"It started just after…Wyn's husband perished." Friar Rhain tried to tread his ground carefully. "A group of knights were sent by Lord Amren. He lives in a Castle that's a day's ride away. He thought, along with all of us, that Wyn was on a rampage. But just a few days after they entered the forest, a boy from my flock found their burned remains."

"Did he smell something like rotten eggs, or were there any strange footprints in the area?" Shirou questioned.

"Hm…he did say something about a terrible smell in the area and was looking for the source of it. why?" Friar Rhain said. Both Wyn and Shirou looked at him in horror at what might be in the area. "Can you bring the child here to guide me."

"Of course. I'll be back with him shortly." he left soon after that, Shirou heard life returning to the village from the windows.

"do you think it might be one of them?" Wyn asked.

"A Demon, most certainly, it can't be a Daemon, they are harmless to humans, but Demons are not. Ii'm hoping it isn't an Oni." Shirou said with a serious tone.

"An Oni?"

"A demon first discovered and named in my homeland, in the Far East."

"Serica?" Wyn asked. Shirou shook his head, Japan wasn't known to all of Europe at this point in history. And what would be called China is currently called 'Serica' by the Europeans.

"A bit further than that really. It's a land called Japan. But that's a story we sadly don't have time for." Shirou was very serious this time, he knew all too well how dangerous Oni were, demons capable of incinerating a fully grown human, or entire groups of them, to ash in mere moments. And incredibly hard to kill if you don't know what you're doing.

"What does an 'Oni' do exactly?" Wyn ask.

"They are fire demons. Extremely hard to kill, they can regenerate just about all lost limbs by consuming human flesh, or they can reshape limbs they've taken from others and make it their own. It is possible for them to survive without some vital organs and they can even turn parts of their bodies into incredible swords or throwing weapons." Shirou continued on with his explanation, the more fascinated and horrified Wyn became.

The very thought of a human going up against one of these monsters was already madness, but the fact this is stranger clad in red and black has killed several of these 'Oni' is even more maddening. The sound of the church door opening suddenly made Wyn jump slightly but Shirou just sat there in his chair, not surprised by anything.

"I said I would be back shortly, but the boy's mother was a bit troublesome." Friar Rhain said as he rubbed the back of his head. The kid was in typical peasant clothing and had dark brown hair. He was hiding behind the Friar, most likely because of Shirou.

"Is…is that bad man forcing you to do this, Friar?" the boy said with a trembling voice.

"Heavens no. He is here to help us. All he needs you to do is lead him to where you found those knights." the Friar said with a warm tone.

Morgan groaned as she woke up. Hating the sunlight that shone on her face. She heard bird wings flapping and a crow crying to her.

("Mistress, more news from the border.") it said to her.

"Just give it." Morgan groaned and moved her hair out of her face before finally getting out of bed to retrieve the letter.

She got dressed and grabbed the message and found that it was a request for more reinforcements to deal with the Angles and the Saxons approaching them. But was soon furious over the last part of it, a marriage proposal from Lord Amren's eldest son, Dylan. She almost broke the parchment out of sheer anger.

"I will inform Lord Amren that I will send more Enforcer Knights to aid him, and that I reject his son's proposal." She said with venom in her voice. The crow backed away to some unknown location.

She stormed her way out of her bedroom and went to work making her meal, she hated having to go through this over and over and over again. The son of a lord proposes to her, she rejects them because they are only interested in the power being King offers. Morgan knows she can keep this kingdom stable until Caliburn choses a proper successor. But the lords and other nobles have been becoming more impatient with there being no King to lead them.

She knew that they didn't want her leading them for the sole reason that she was really a child of Uther raised in secret. some of them even questioned the legitimacy of her family ties. Not only that, almost all of them didn't want her leading them solely because of her sex and the fact that she wasn't Christian. But those most loyal to her family knew that she has potential to lead them.

Morgan threw her hands up and clutched her head in frustration, all of this political drama was giving her more and more headaches and making it increasingly hard to control herself and the curse.

"Why can't they just stay in line like they're supposed to and focus more on protecting this kingdom?" Morgan muttered to herself as she laid her head on her dinning room table. She was doing all of this alone, no advisers, no extra hands to keep her company, no nobles to entertain, not even friends. She knew that she was an expert in socializing with others, but she didn't want to run the risk of being betrayed.

She then felt something wet trickled down her face, "huh?" she breathed out and sat up, tracing her left hand to find a single tear had escaped her eyes. "Damn it…" she cursed over and over. She hated all of this. The politics, the throne, the crown, the curse, all of it. she just wanted someone to talk to, to understand her plight.

It took Morgan a while to calm down until she finally decided to go outside and get some fresh air, but not before grabbing her novel to read outside. It was a sunny day; it would be a shame to not read outside while it was nice out. Her Flower Garden stood just outside her front doors. The entire hill that her castle rested on was covered with flowers of various colors, the sweet fragrance it gave always calmed her and gave Morgan a strange sense of nostalgia. Like a lost home or something, almost like she belonged here.

She sat in the middle of her garden reading her book for several hours, just enjoying how beautiful the day really was. everything was perfect weather wise, a soft breeze, not a cloud in the sky.

"I guess I'd better stop for now. I need to get to work on making the next generation of Enforcer Knights." She calmly said to herself with a warm smile. She looked around the area that surrounded her castle one more time, there was a large forest behind her castle and in front of her was a large plain. From the distance, another castle could be seen with some villages here and there seen through their smoke.

A strange sense began to overpower Morgan, a strange urge to sing in her mother's native tongue. She couldn't fight it back, she began to sing in a quiet voice, a single tear began to trickle down her right eyes this time as she sang the Fae song. It was hard to describe what this song was, yet it felt familiar to her, like she heard it once before she met Nimue.

All of this almost made Morgan forget that she was in troubling times. Her Kingdom was at war with invaders from another land and the political drama that happened. It even almost made her forget that her Uncle, the former king Vortigern, was out hunting her.

"This is the place." The kid said to Shirou. before them was a horrific scene, scorch marks littered the area, knight armor and weapons laid scattered around the entire area and there was one body, rotting and still armored, but impaled onto a tree with a large metal spike sticking out of his chest cavity. To make things worse, his eyes were gouged out and burned. Shirou used his mystic eyes to trace any dark magical energy in the area, only to see that the entire area was covered with it. the body and the human shape scorch marks, the armor, the plants, everything.

But Shirou also found boot shaped footprints in the area. "Get back to the village." He said to the kid. "I'll take it from here."

"Are you going to bury them?"

"Not yet, I need to investigate these remains to kind who did this. Shouldn't take too long." He said with seriousness. The child left without argument.

As Shirou got a closer look at the remains, the more he realized how badly these Knights were outmatched and outgunned. They didn't even have anything resembling a chance, they were slaughtered in seconds at most. The ones closest to the Demon died first obviously, but the Knight furthers way was spared for only a few moments by the looks of it.

"The poor guy was lifted by the demon before it created a large metal spike from itself and impaled him to the tree. This is definitely the work of an Oni." Shirou concluded. He removed the body from the tree and buried the remains before moving on to follow the boot prints that went further into the woods and to who knows where.

It was Midday to early afternoon until Shirou found where the led to, a rather Large Castle with Guards patrolling everywhere, and Archers stationed on all towers. An inhumanly large knights marching, they weren't human at all, there was a large jewel where their visor should be. Shirou knew that they were Golems.

"Hm, to think that Morgan would go so far to protect the people of this Kingdom? I think I must be near the border to Angle and Saxon controlled territory. That would explain the increased security, but then that means there's an Oni disguising itself as a human…or it's a human becoming an Oni." Shirou thought out loud.

"Looks like things just got more interesting." Shirou took a mental note and spied on the Knights to get to know their patrol patterns, that is until a storm cloud suddenly appeared over the Castle. But the strangest thing happened when the archers started shooting at it. Shirou could have sworn he heard an animalistic cry come out of it.

Morgan silently looked outside her carriage window as her horses carried her towards her destination, Lord Amren Lewis's Castle. But making sure to bring several books along with her on the ride, along with her personal notebook to note if anything strange of mystical happened.

She wore a black dress with blue highlights, patterns that her mother's people wore quite often. Nimue even said that the colors meant something important to them or even defined them as an individual. But some Fairies would wear… revealing… dresses. But because of her birthmarks, Morgan decided to make sure that she was covered up to her neck and wore a veil to make sure that men weren't distracted by her Fae-like beauty.

A sudden bright flash and the sound of roaring thunder abruptly stopped her reading. Morgan heard the cries of her horses. She knew that if she didn't calm down the horses, there'd be chaos. She used her link to them to make sure that they stayed calm, until a loud and deep animalistic cry was heard, Morgan could have sword that it sounded like a large Dragon of all things.

"What in the Root is going on here?" Morgan yelled as she tried to calm down her horses once more.

"Are you going to arrest him? Lady Tohsaka?" the hooded girl asked.

"Yes…my mentor is guilty with conspiring with our enemy." Rin Tohsaka said as she tried to surpass the physical effects of her Kaleidostick, Magical Ruby.

"I had hopes that you two would look beyond old grudges and move on…I just wanted you to spend more time with your mentor while you still had time." The hooded girl said with a sad tone. Rin didn't blame her, Shirou Emiya also killed this girl's family too, all of them were brought together by her mentor, Weaver Velvet or Lord El Melloii the II.

"I know you want the best for others, Gray. But…we both know that…monster… deserves nothing but the worst punishment we can give him." Rin said with venom in her voice. She hated Shirou Emiya, she hated him so much that it became an obsession. She thought about nothing more but seeing him pay for what he did to her.

"…Does he...?" Gray Pendragon questioned. "He was right." She said with a firm voice.

Rin paused. Anger growing rapidly as she looked back towards the hooded girl who held her familiar in its cage. "What did you say." She said with the voice of pure malice.

"Shirou Emiya is right, we Magi are the one true monsters of this world. All we have done is kill and destroy, all for the sake of reaching some higher power or some more knowledge on something."

"HE THREW CALUS OFF A GODDAMN ROOF! HE CUT OFF FLAT'S HEAD! AND HE IMPALED SVIN THROUGH THE HEART WITH A SPEAR! AND HE SHOT REINES WITH AN ORGIN ROUND! AND LET'S NOT FORGET THE HUNDREDS OF MAGI HE'S KILLED!" Rin yelled at Gray with so much fury in her eyes. It was like looking at Hell itself, but Gray didn't look away or blink, she stood her ground.

"And is all of that the equivalent as what happened to him in Fuyuki?" Gray said with anger. Rin then noticed that she had a full suitcase next to her. Rin knew exactly what Gray was doing.

"You're leaving us? Now of all times?!"

"Yes…the family matriarch as granted me freedom; I don't have to worry about the cult's actions towards me anymore." Gray said to her as she picked up her suitcase and began to walk away. Rin's fist started to shake with anger. After all that they have been through, the 8 years they have spent fighting alongside each other in their taskforce. Gray just left her there.

Gray looked around as she was leaving the Clocktower, and being a Magus, for good. To her right, just outside the window, stood a memorial. Dedicated to all the lives lost in these 8 years, both members of The Mages Association and The Holy Church gathered here. It was two walls, covered in the names of everyone killed by Shirou Emiya when he was on his Crusade against both organizations. Gray walked through the memorial to one spot, the engraved names of her task force, a group built by Reines and her mentor, El-Melloii II, to put and end to his reign of terror. But one by one they were systematically killed, by only one man.

Gray placed a hand onto the wall and looked back fondly at her memories of them. They all had their own reasons for joining the task force, all of them filled with so much life in them, until Shirou revealed to them the cold truth. They, and the two secret societies, were guilty for the destruction of Fuyuki. They had all the power in the world to stop the war before it started, but they did nothing and just let it happen.

Gray look down to the last name, the one that hurt the Mages Association the hardest, Barthomeloi Lorelei, The Vice Director of the Mage's Association and the late head of the Clocktower.

"Forgive me…everyone…"

Kept you waiting huh?

In all honesty, this is as much of Shiruo's backstory that you're getting for now. When I said I'm making him into a true magus killer, I wasn't kidding.

Please leave a review and follow if you liked what I've made so far.