After a few months of deep depression, suicidal thoughts, nearly carrying out with my plans to kill myself, my muse is back! ...or is that just the little voice in my head that used to say I'm crazy...

Well, whatever. After my muse suffering a horrible burning death with my FSN/Campione! fic due to real life angst, I'm finally back with a new story.

SPOILER!

Well, I don't think it is a spoiler per se... This story will most likely lean slightly Nanoha's story style: i.e. the 'Blowing up people is the best way to friendship' plot style. If anyone thinks Shirou might be too powerful in this story, do keep in mind that what he will face simply by being in contact with Nanoha. Hell, the only people in Type-Moon verse I can think of at the moment with Nanoha's firepower are some servants, possibly a few Dead Apostle Ancestors, and possibly Aozaki Aoko (Whom I have plans in the future for).

Barrier Jackets wise, I will be using their movie counterparts since I like those designs more.

For those of you can't tell, this chapter already has some foreshadowing on what the heroic idiot will be delving into earlier than expected.

SPOILER END!

I will try and go for a weekly update but that might be pushing my capabilities at this moment. Constructive criticisms are welcomed and all flames will be reduced to raw mana for charging up Nanoha's Starlight Breaker.

Without further ado, Let the story begin!

Disclaimer: This story is inspired by Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days by Hero Slayer and in honor of the upcoming Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA. Fate/stay night belongs to a certain Eggplant Mushroom (Nasu Kinoko) and Nanoha belongs to Tsuzuki Masaki

We've all heard of the story before; how a redheaded boy was born in the city of Fuyuki, died by the flames of a cursed Holy Grail, and was reborn as a distorted individual seeking to be a hero.

However, a simple shift in decision may set this pitiful human being down the path he sought after instead of the tragedy that awaits him at the end of his life. Instead of staying in the accursed city that had claimed his wife, the man who had shown the young lad a whole new world chose to leave behind Fuyuki City along with the child, hoping he never has to return to.

And thus, the broken man and his newly adopted son started their new life in a new city.

The boy still seeks to save the people around him, trying to emulate the man who pulled him out of the fire.

The father still takes constant leaves for his endeavor to reclaim his daughter, hoping to take her away from a certain snow-covered castle.

Years gone by and the difference between the two paths laid down by Fate become more and more pronounced. With the unexpected meeting between the incarnation of swords in red and the lonely devil in white during their preadolescent years, a new tale begins.

Mahou Senki Limitless Blades will now begin.

It truly was hell on earth. There was no other way to describe the horrid scene before me as I traversed the burning wasteland that was once my home town.

Surrounded by the agonizing groans of the dying.

Charred limbs sticking out of the burning and collapsed houses.

Burned up corpses littered the once busy street that I could barely remember anymore.

As despairing as the sight before me is, I continued on. Deep in my mind I knew it was pointless, to cling onto life in this inferno as my mind slow crumbling and my body weakening by the second. I don't even remember who I was anymore.

All I was doing was prolonging my suffering.

Yet my body continued to strive forth.

Never stopping; never looking back.

There was no salvation in this hellhole, yet my tiring body pushed on.

I had lost track of how long I've been walking before I finally collapsed from the sheer burden placed upon my fragile body, but the sight that met me when my mind regained some cognizant was forever burned into my memory. The face of a raggedy old man, looking down at me with tears in his eyes, repeating 'thank goodness' over and over again; it was as if he had found salvation in this hellish setting, as if he had found… happiness.

At that time, I couldn't help but think, 'Ahh, I wish I could be as happy as him…'

'It's that dream again…' Emiya Shirou thought as he drowsily opened his eyes. 'I haven't had that dream in years…'

"Emiya! Watch out!" a sudden shout woke the redheaded boy fully from his slumber… right before a soccer ball plowed into his face. The force was enough to knock him back into unconsciousness.

Out in the field, a certain pigtailed brunette winced and quickly rushed over to the boy. "Shirou-kun! I'm sorry! Are you alright!" she shouted, waving her arms around frantically.

"Ite," Shirou clicked his tongue in pain as he lightly poked at his slightly swollen left cheek. It had been quite humorous for two of the three girls currently next to him while the last one was still blushing from embarrassment at what she had accidentally done to the redheaded boy. The quartet was currently walking to their destination after school; the three girls to cram school and Shirou escorting them before heading to the Takamachi's dojo for his kendo lessons.

With a sigh, he turned his attention to the giggling girl. "Alisa-san, could you please stop laughing?"

Alisa Bannings, the person Shirou had mentioned, continued snickering in amusement. "You got to admit, it was funny, especially how much Nanoha fretted over you afterwards. How did you even fall asleep during gym in the first place?"

"I just had a long night," Shirou sighed as he tried to scratch his nose bashfully, only to cling at the stinging sensation. That comment caused Nanoha to shoot him a glare.

"Staying up late again, Shirou-kun?"

The redheaded boy froze when he heard the usually cheerful girl's tone. "Ano… Ji-san is gone on one of his trips again so I had to keep the place cleaned?"

Alisa palmed her face when she heard Shirou's questionable reply. "You're a really bad liar, Shirou."

Trying to diffuse the tension he was receiving from Nanoha, Shirou quickly shifted topic. "So what do you girls think of class today?" he quickly asked.

Fortunately, Nanoha decided to ease up her glare at him. "About our future jobs huh?" the pigtailed girl mused with a melancholic look. "Alisa-chan and Suzuka-chan had already decided on them right?"

Alisa nodded at her. "My mom and dad are both company managers, so I will need to work hard to succeed them. Well, that's my plan anyway."

"And since I like machines, I think I would try and become an engineer," answered Suzuka.

"What about you, Shirou-kun?" The attention of all three girls suddenly turned to the lone boy in their group.

"Well, I want to become a Hero of Justice and save people," Shirou proclaimed with a smile, causing Alisa to slap the back of his head and Suzuka to sigh.

"An Ally of Justice is not a profession! You should be more serious about your future career!"

"But I am serious!" Shirou retorted, but was promptly ignored by the most outspoken girl of the group.

"How 'bout you, Nanoha? Are you going to take over Midori-ya?" Alisa asked, disregarding the currently pouting Shirou.

"That is one path I could take, but I feel like there is something else out there that might suit me better." A sad sigh escaped her lips. "I don't have any special skills or any strong points…"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" This time, it was Nanoha who received a slap to the back of her head courtesy of Alisa. "You are the last person I want to hear that from!"

"Yea," Shirou agreed immediately. "You have the highest grade amongst us, decent at most sports we played during gym and you're quite good at figuring how things work; especially compared to the rest of your family, 'Digital Girl'," the boy choked out a laugh at the end, causing Nanoha to pout and mumbled 'that was a long time ago'.

"That's right. You shouldn't look down on yourself like that," Suzuka chided softly. "I'm sure there is something only you can do." She then turned to the nodding redhead, "And you really should be more serious about your future career, Shirou-kun."

"I'm serious! There are plenty of heroes in the world!" Shirou countered. After all, he was sharing a house with someone he considered a real-life hero.

"Argh, I give up!" Alisa cried out, throwing up her arms up in frustration. Trying to argue with someone as bullheaded as Shirou was simply a waste of time, especially when it comes to his misguided resolves.

Walking down their usual path, Alisa suddenly made a detour into a wooded path. "This is a shortcut I found earlier. We should be able to get to the cram school faster and away from Hero-san's stupidity," the multimillionaire heiress stated, prompted an indignant 'Oi' from the lone boy of the group.

Shirou would've protested in the selected route due to the thick foliage but he decided against it. Besides, he had seen a few people walking out of the path already so it shouldn't have been dangerous. And if there were some animals like a wild dog or something, then he could handle it.

His thoughts came to a halt when he realized one of the girls started lagging behind the group.

Apparently, Nanoha had stopped in the middle of the path. Her eyes were staring off into the distance as if she had noticed something no one else did. "Did you hear that?" the girl suddenly asked, tilting her head at the rest of the group.

"Hear what?" Shirou asked as he turned his head left and right, trying to locate what Nanoha might've heard. However, Nanoha had already taken off into the wood before Shirou could hear anything out of the ordinary. "Oi! Nanoha!"

Giving a silent thanks to all the inhumane physical conditioning at the Takamichi's dojo, Shirou was able to catch up with Nanoha in a heartbeat. "So, mind telling me what got you so caught up that you would suddenly try to leave the rest of us behind?" he asked, sparing a quick glance back at the two other girls trying to keep up with their pace. While Alisa and Suzuka usually have no such problem, they were a lot more mindful about their uniform's cleanliness than the pigtailed brunette. Alisa usually blames that part of her consciousness on her parents.

"I think I heard someone calling out for help" Nanoha answered without sparing a glance at Shirou. "It came from over there!"

Shirou turned his attention to where Nanoha pointed out and saw a clearing coming up. Without a thought, he sped up passed her and leaped onto the open area, looking around for any signs of distress. He silently cursed his current lack of weapon since he usually left his kendo equipment at the dojo Nanoha's family owned.

Luckily for him, the clearing was completely devoid of anyone, which made him tilt his head slightly in confusion. "Are you sure there's someone here, Nanoha?" He was slightly disappointed that there was no one needing help but quickly shook himself off that thought. He shouldn't be hoping for someone to be hurt in the first place.

Taking another quick glance around, he finally noticed something yellow and furry lying on the ground. Bending down to take a closer look at it, he finally identified it as a ferret. Its fur was dirtied and he could see some dried on blood, but there was no open wound on the creature. There was also a ruby sphere attached to a piece of string around its neck. The small animal's ears twitched upon hearing someone near it and looked up at the boy weakly before lying its head back down on the ground.

Seeing as it isn't going to be getting up any time soon, Shirou decided to take off his jacket and wrap the injured-looking critter up. For a second, a seemingly childish thought went through him. Maybe the tiny animal was magical? He had heard from Kiritsugu about familiar and it wasn't uncommon for them to take the form of a random critter.

"Mou. Nanoha, Shirou, couldn't the two of you slow down?"

The sound of the girls approaching shook him out of his musing as he turned to their direction. Apparently, Nanoha had caught her sleeve on a branch and had slowed down enough for Alisa and Suzuka to catch up to her.

"Well, I didn't see anyone here other than an injured ferret," Shirou stated as he bought up the critter, causing the girls to start cooing at it.

"Ahh, it's hurt! We need to take it to a hospital!" Alisa cried out frantically.

"Not a hospital, we need to take it to a veterinarian," Suzuka corrected.

"I think there's a vet somewhere around here!" Nanoha supplied. "I think it's that way!"

The quartet decided to take a quick detour from their destination in favor of getting treatment for a random critter they had found.

When Shirou first started learning the basics of Thaumaturgy, or Magecraft as most people called it, Kiritsugu had told him to maintain a strong mind and body.

He had been confused at first when the rugged man had set up an exercise routine for him since the way he pictured magic had always been how most kids had imagined it to be; pulling things out of thin air, making things disappear with nothing but a wave of a hand, or even shooting beams of multicolored lights at their opponents. His questions were put to rest when Kiritsugu had explained a small part about his family's special brand of Magecraft and how he had utilized it. While the man never did give Shirou a demonstration on his Innate Time Control, the boy had taken his teachings to heart.

As time passed, their usual exercises slowly turned into sparring matches between Kiritsugu using unarmed martial arts and Shirou swinging a bokken around. When Kiritsugu had left on one of his trips to parts unknown, Shirou had been left to train aimlessly using what he had learned.

Joining a kendo dojo had never really crossed Shirou's mind until he had met the Takamachi family one day when he was practicing his sword swings in a park on a weekend. Nanoha had apparently noticed him working on his usual routine in a nearby park one day and decided to drag him to her older brother, Kyōya. Apparently Kyouya had taken an interest in the boy after hearing his style had been self-taught.

On that day, Shirou experienced his first blessing in disguise.

Almost every day after school, he would come to practice at the Takamichi's dojo, working on both single and double-handed swings. After that would be a quick sparring match between him and Kyōya, if one could call a one-sided trouncing sparring. Even after two full years of learning under the currently 19-year-old teen, Shirou had yet to land a hit on him.

At least his stamina and pain tolerant had increased by a large margin.

Shirou sighed as he continued doing overhead swings with his suburitō. He had always found the repetitive exercise boring. However, practice was different from usual this time. While swinging his sword, Shirou's mind was wandering elsewhere, specifically the ferret he had found earlier.

When the quartet was at the clinic getting treatment for the fuzz ball, it had woken up when the veterinarian had tried to touch the red gem around its neck before it shrunk back defensively. The critter had then proceeded to scan the occupants in the room before setting its eyes on Nanoha. It had even given her a tentative lick on the finger when she had presented the outstretched digit to the critter before it went back to sleep, coiling its body around the gem in its possession.

"That's enough, Shirou," the slightly concerned voice of his instructor, Takamachi Kyōya, pulled him from his thoughts. "What's troubling you today?"

Turning his head to meet the older male, Shirou gave him a shrug. "Just thinking about an injured ferret the girls and I found in the park earlier. I was just wondering what we should do with it if it doesn't have an owner." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth.

Luckily for the redheaded boy, Kyōya seemed to have accepted his answer. Giving him a smile, the older male grabbed a pair of bokken and threw one at Shirou. "Well, that's fine and all, but we are going to be moving onto the sparring portion of our lesson, so you should clear your mind of any distracting thoughts for now. Otherwise, you might just get a few more bruises than usual."

While Kyōya had put on a disarming smile, it had caused Shirou to sweating profusely. It was the same smile the older male had on right before he had given Shirou his first taste of the Fuwa clan's kenjutsu.

Seeing the panicked look Shirou had on his face, Kyōya couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. The young boy Nanoha had dragged before him two years ago had improved greatly in his kenjutsu. Sure, there were still room for a lot of improvements, but the boy's determination to get stronger had driven him very far in his self-appointed quest.

"Here I come!" Kyōya suddenly stated before he charged forth with his bokken, prompting Shirou to do the same.

And thus, another day of training ended with Nanoha finding a huge lump of bruise on her family's dojo floor named Emiya Shirou when she got back from cram school.

After the redhead had arrived home and had the relaxing task of trying a new recipe for dinner, Shirou made his way up to his room.

The day had been rather stressful for him since finding the ferret. It had been occupying his mind for a large portion of his time after school. He had wished Kiritsugu was home so he could discuss his thoughts, but he was going to push them away for the time being.

Entering his room, which only consists of a bed, a desk in front of a window, a bookshelf off to the side and a closet across from the bed, he quickly took out his bokken before taking a seat on his bed.

Taking a quick breath, the redhead began his daily Magecraft practice. At his current level, Shirou couldn't afford to have any distractions. One mistake could kill him or leave him in a state worse than death.

However, the boy wasn't deterred. To learn Magecraft is to walk with death; that had been what Kiritsugu told him when he first started his lessons. The fact that he had nearly fried his mind at least three times in the past merely solidified the truth to that statement.

Taking a few deep breaths, Shirou slowly focused on the wooden sword in front of him. The process of making a magical circuit from his nerve had always been painful, but he had continued to endure the agony.

With the Magic Circuit in place and the more dangerous part of the exercise over, it was time to start executing his Magecraft.

Trace on

Giving the wooden sword a quick scan with Structural Grasp Projection, Shirou started to push his Od into it. With one last deep breath, he finished filling up strengthening the item in his hand…

*Snap*

The sound pulled Shirou out of his trance as he looked down at the bokken in his hand. Apparently, a small portion of its hilt had exploded into splinters. While it was far from perfect, the redheaded boy couldn't help but grin. Seeing as how he had turned a metal pipe into a twisted mess that had nearly caused him a few fingers, and it happened only a day ago, this had been his best attempt at Reinforcement thus far.

It was the first time he had tried using Reinforcement on his bokken seeing as he had apparently ran out of metal pipes a day ago and hadn't had the chance to restock. Just as he was about to cut the flow of Od into the practice sword, he was suddenly assaulted by a voice echoing in his head.

'Ca…me…her…'

"What…"

'…le…so…strength…too late!'

Slightly shaken from the weird voice, Shirou tried clearing his head. He wondered if this was some form of mental attack by some magus, but before he could entertain that idea further, a loud cry of 'Help me!' slammed into his head.

Without thinking, Shirou had leaped off his bed with the reinforced bokken in hand before rushing out of the house, before doubling back to change his indoor slippers for his outdoor shoes.

As the boy rushed down the street, following the echoing voice in his mind, he nearly crashed into Nanoha. After gaining back his balance at the near collision, he quickly directed his attention toward the girl. "Nanoha, what are you doing out this late?"

"Shirou-kun?" the pigtailed girl asked in surprise. "I think the ferret we took to the vet is calling out for help!"

The redheaded boy merely nodded at the girl. That had explained why he had been tense when they had found the critter. He cursed himself for not realizing the magical nature of the animal but refrained from thinking such thoughts for the time being.

Shirou replied with a nod. "We should hurry up. There's no telling what sort of trouble it is facing."

Reaching the vet they had dropped the ferret off earlier in the day, Shirou couldn't help but stare at the scene in front of him. "Uhh… Is it just me or do you also see the ferret being attacked by a giant shifting ball of magical furry-blob-thing?"

Nanoha could do nothing but nod dumbly.

When the duo arrived, the entire front of the clinic had already collapsed and some weird blob was chasing the ferret in a deadly game of tag. There was also the fact that the entire area seemed to be devoid of any life other than the two humans and two creatures present. There was also the weird red tint to the entire landscape as if they had just stepped into another world.

When the ferret saw the duo, it quickly leaped onto Nanoha, forgetting for a second that the blob creature was still hot on its tail.

Seeing the creature charging at them, Shirou quickly spun into action. Lashing out a hand, he quickly pushed Nanoha and the ferret off to the side while meeting the charging monster. Right as the creature shot forth, the boy tilted his body and slammed his reinforced bokken into its side, causing it to veer off course away from where he had pushed Nanoha and into a concrete fence.

Of course, such recklessness also caused Shirou to slam into a nearby lamppost. After all, the boy's still lacking in strength and size, and he had just tried to parry a charging monstrosity the size of a car.

Gritting his teeth at the pain, Shirou quickly made a grab at Nanoha's hand and pulled her up from the ground. "Sorry 'bout that," the boy said, flinching slightly due to his sore back.

Before Nanoha could start questioning Shirou on what just happened, a voice interrupted them. "You've actually came!"

"Ahh it talked!" the pigtailed girl exclaimed, nearly dropping the furry critter if it weren't for its grip on her sleeve.

"Aha! I knew there was something magical about you!" Shirou shouted in glee as he jabbed a finger at the ferret before wincing at his earlier injury. Remembering the cause of his current pain, he turned his attention to where the blob monster crashed into. Apparently, the creature was starting to reform itself. "So any idea how we could kill that thing?" he asked, his voice suddenly cold and calculating.

Seeing the sudden shift in personality, the ferret quickly replied. "It can't be killed. We can only seal it."

"And how do we do that?"

"Raising Heart has a sealing function, but I'm currently low on mana," the critter stated regrettably as it held up the red gem around its neck in its mouth. "Could one of you lend me your strength? I will pay you back! I promise!"

If the situation hadn't been so grave, Shirou would've been jumping in joy at finally getting a chance to be a hero. Instead, he just gave the ferret a nod. Unfortunately, before he could reach out for it, he noticed a dark shadow getting wider and wider on the ground. Looking up, he saw the monster had somehow reformed in the air and had started falling, planning to crush the trio under its weight.

Nanoha had apparently noticed the incoming attack as well, and had leaped away from the point of impact. Unfortunately she had jumped away from Shirou as well, causing the two to be separated by the blob.

Shirou couldn't help but curse at his luck. Not only had he been separated from the only means to defeat this beast, Nanoha was alone on the other side of it. To make matter worse, he had accidentally dropped his weapon when he escaped from being crushed.

Looking down the street, he couldn't help but be slightly amazed by the reinforced training weapon he had wielded earlier. It had been used to veer the giant rampaging beast off its course earlier and he had seen the edge of the blob impacted the blade when he had dropped it, but other than the indentation on its hilt caused by him earlier, it didn't look damaged at all.

Making a quick search around him, he spotted a meter-long piece of lumber lying in a pile of debris. Without a second thought, he hoisted it out and charged at the creature. While knowing the threat of performing Magecraft under these types of circumstances is suicidal for him, Shirou could care less. In his mind, if he didn't act, Nanoha and the talking rodent would be in danger. Bracing himself for whatever consequences he might be facing soon, Shirou cried out his aria.

"Trace on!"

The familiar surge of pain flooded through his nerves was pushed to the side as he started flooding Od through the makeshift weapon. With a loud yell, the redhead charged forth, lifting the piece of wood above his head before swinging it down as hard as he could. Surprisingly, the hastily created weapon held strong in its first use, impacting the still growing blob with enough force to leave an indent.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Shirou continued his assault. It would've been a bad idea for the beast to regain any footing seeing how dangerous it was. Unfortunately, after he had stabbed it on his fifth strike, the makeshift weapon exploded from being overloaded with magical energy.

The boy clicked his tongue in frustration at losing his weapon, but he was thankful whatever he did was enough to disperse the reforming beast once again. He had lucked out when the meter-long wooden column exploded in a shower of splinters, seeing as the backlash from his overloaded weapon had somehow managed to pop it like an overinflated balloon.

A sudden bright flash of pink appeared from his side, causing him to turn his attention to it. He was surprised when he found Nanoha's form appearing with what looked like a sailor uniform lightly decorated with blue linings and red gems, matching pair of shoes, and even a pair of blue metallic cuffs around her forearms acting like guards. She was also holding onto a white staff with pink and blue parts, a large red gem suspended in a large partial golden ring with two exhaust valves, and a white piece protruding from the ring, looking like a fin.

"What's that?" the redhead asked, dumbfounded.

Before the girl could reply, the ferret spoke up. "All questions will be answered later! We need to get the Jewel Seed sealed before it could continue its rampage!"

"Right!" the girl replied, holding up the staff and pointing it at where the beast was. "…Ano… how do I do that?"

Both Shirou and the ferret facefaulted at that. Shaking away the awkward moment, the ferret answered, "Just point the staff at there the beast was and say Jewel Seed Seal. Raising Heart should handle the sealing automatically."

As Nanoha commenced the sealing sequence, Shirou couldn't help but feel a bit of pride. He had fought his first true battle, executed Magecraft under a scenario which most likely would've left him a cripple at best, and came out of it alive! His whole body had felt like it could collapse at any moment but his he couldn't care less about that.

Another bright pink flash later and Shirou saw the result of the sealing the ferret was talking about. The part near the ring on Nanoha's staff opened up before protruding three pink wing-like fins completely made of pure mana before a magic circle unfolded under her. It had then proceeded to wrap whatever was left of the blob together before piercing it with a dozen pink beams.

The redhead couldn't help but wonder if he would have a chance to learn something like that in the future. Maybe he should search for a magical staff like the one Nanoha was currently using.

The creature gave one last strangled growl before its body shattered, leaving behind a small diamond-shaped jewel. Walking over to the floating bluish gem, Shirou couldn't help but looked in awe at it. He was having a hard time imagining something so insignificantly looking causing that much damage.

"That is a Jewel Seed," the ferret explained. "Just touch it with Raising Heart."

Nanoha nodded and followed its instruction. Holding out the staff, the duo watched in fascination as the gem slowly drifting toward the red sphere on it before it disappeared.

[Receipt number XXI] the staff intoned, signifying the success of the sealing. With its task done, the staff flashed again and started shrinking. By the time the light died down, all that was left was the red gem the ferret was carrying.

The two humans gave a sigh before Shirou turned to the talking animal. "Well, now that the monster is defeated, mind telling us what is going on?"