Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Vahn was curious about the Control Programs decision to call upon a philosopher to serve as its next Security Administrator, but, as it had very little to do with him, he simply introduced himself to the rather dour-looking woman before parting ways a few minutes later. He had other matters to attend and there would be plenty of time to familiarize himself with both her and the Moon Cell in the near future.

Since Ayn refused to offer him any information regarding the locations of the Heroes, Vahn ended up having the Control Program just drop him off back in his original location. It was easier to think when you were surrounded by a familiar setting, and, though it wasn't the real Ivory Castle, having an appearance closer to the 'original', Vahn didn't mind borrowing Artoria's wooden Throne for a bit.

Once it was just the two of them, something he could confirm using a combination of his instincts and senses, Vahn had Artoria take a seat at his armrest before asking, "What do you think, Artoria? We can either meet with the Heroes and negotiate with them individually or summon our people in order to shore up the defenses of this digitalized Ivory Castle. We also have the option of just ignoring them, at least until the poke out their heads and cause trouble..."

Due to the nature of the Moon Cell, Vahn was no longer able to use the String of Fate that tied him and Musashi together, at least for the time being. He would need to contact Alaya and have her reactivate the ability, as, after being transferred inside the Virtual Reality Marble, the previous string had vanished. It undoubtedly still worked, but, at least for the moment, he didn't even know where to begin searching.

Since it was a very serious matter, Artoria fell into deep thought for several minutes before she ultimately answered, "Though it is always best to end things without a conflict...I fear the morale of our people will diminish if their preparations were for naught. Even if it is only to secure this place for a short period of time, I believe it is best if we give them a stage to perform on. Those women fear being made useless more than they fear death...we should respect their resolution and desire to serve."

Finding Artoria's point agreeable, Vahn ended up nodding his head before closing his eyes and focusing on his Unit Management function. He had already confirmed with the Control Program that summoning outsiders wouldn't initiate the procedure of establishing contact with the Root, an event that required an adequate number of willing participants to trigger. Since they would be arriving within the Moon Cell for an entirely different purpose, there was little chance of anything going wrong, something he had confirmed by viewing various currents.

Just as Vahn was about to initiate a mass transfer, a singular, obscure, current caught his attention. As a result, he opened his eyes, turning his head towards a stained glass mural that lined the high walls of the Throne Room. At the same time, Artoria followed his gaze, her eyes sharpening as she manifested her [Excalibur] and shouted, "Show yourself!" due to her [Instinct] triggering.

In response to Artoria's outburst, space seemed to contract within an area, almost like individual molecules were being pulled from nothingness to form the outline of a person. This only took a few milliseconds, but, from Vahn's point of view, he had been able to witness the entire event in slow motion. He found the technique rather interesting due to the fact that, prior to knowing the man was going to attack, the would-be assassin didn't even seem to exist...

After fully manifesting, a rather tall man, standing at 187cm, wearing black trousers, black shoes, and a black hoodie dropped down from his perch. When he lifted his face, silver eyes with a very subtle tinge of gold came into view, peering through the gap between black fabrics. Despite this, Artoria's [Excalibur] dropped slightly, followed by her asking, "Shirou...?" in an uncertain tone.

With his cover blown, Shirou ended up removing his hood and pulling down his face mask, a wry smile on his face as he said, "I guess hiding my identity doesn't work when you've already met the past and future versions of myself, huh?"

Despite the fact she recognized the man standing before her, Artoria didn't completely lower her sword. Instead, she furrowed her brows deeply, stating, "You shouldn't be here...how is it possible for you to manifest a second time after becoming a Counter Guardian? You aren't the same man I knew...it is impossible..."

Rather than refute her words, Shirou nodded his head in affirmation, explaining, "Though I have the same memories, I am not the same Shirou Emiya you knew. It would be more accurate to say I am how the Moon Cell remembers me, a pale imitation of a foolish man's dreams of becoming a Hero. Even then...its good to see you...Artoria..."

Hearing Shirou's words, Artoria's shoulders trembled lightly, but, from start to finish, her sword had continued to point toward him. This was noted by both Shirou, and, of course, Vahn, the latter of which slowly rose to his feet before placing his hand on Artoria's shoulder. It was only after this that she lowered her sword, understanding that Vahn had taken control of the situation in order to ease her burden.

Seeing Artoria shrink behind Vahn, Shirou took a deep breath through his nose, his eyes shining in the low light of the Throne Room as he turned his gaze upon the Emperor who had thrown the world into chaos.

Truth be told, Shirou didn't actually disagree with Vahn's views, only the methods he had used to bring them to fruition. Thus, if the circumstances had been different, there is a good chance they would have been on the same side, not opposing each other. Unfortunately, the die had already been cast, and, though he had a fair number of inhibitions about the current situation, Shirou was not the type to let his emotions interfere with his mission. That was an aspect of his character that had died in his youth, a time before he understood the true nature of the world and became the modern era's most infamous assassin.

Understanding what Shirou intended, Vahn squinted his eyes slightly, cautioning, "I am not a foe you can defeat...if possible, I'd like to avoid fighting, at least for the time being. That isn't even the reason you came here, is it? You wanted to determine the truth behind my words and discuss the terms of our future engagements..."

Though Vahn's words struck at the heart of the matter, Shirou proffered forth a wry smile, his mana beginning to surge as he said, "You're right...that is the reason I came here. However, I also have a bit of a grudge to settle. I trust you aren't petty enough to hold others accountable for my actions so I'm afraid I can't really hold myself back...hahaha-"

In the middle of his laughter, Shirou leaped backward, kicking up a plume of magical energy in a similar manner to [Mana Burst] as he pulled out two pistols, one black, and the other white. As he pulled their triggers, runes glowed along the length of the barrels while, inside the chamber, pale blue energy created a swirling vortex that discharged the rounds within at a speed several times faster than even the most advanced, modern, firearms.

After training with Scáthach, who had harassed him with countless projectiles, Vahn developed the ability to identify various curses and effects through intuition alone. At times, he had less than a microsecond to respond, so, while the projectiles fired from Shirou's pistols were quite fast, they moved a negligible speed from his perspective. Though it wasn't quite an accurate depiction of the situation, Vahn even felt like he could slowly reach out, grabbing the engraved bullet out of the air like an inert pebble without any effort whatsoever...

Ultimately, Vahn did extend his hand outward, but, instead of grabbing the bullets, he created two small tears in the fabric of space, seemingly absorbing them. In actuality, however, he had created an exit point behind Shirou, taking advantage of the fact he was still mid-leap to hit the man's left shoulder and right calf, fully aware that it wouldn't deal much damage to him.

Feeling the impact of his own bullets against his body, Shirou's eyes widened slightly as, from his perspective, Vahn had countered him without any discernible effort. Unfortunately, by the time his mind had processed this thought, the man in question had disappeared from view, followed by a much stronger impact that sent him sliding along the hard marble floor before slamming into the adjoining wall.

Without giving Shirou any time to recover, Vahn appeared at his side, coinciding exactly with the moment he impacted the wall. He used this as an opportunity to kick the defenseless man again, this time sending him crashing through the wall as he remarked, "If you try to activate your Noble Phantasm, I will cut off both of your arms."

Hearing Vahn's remark, Shirou's mind began to race, as, after the second kick, that was the main thought running through his mind. This caused him to raise his head, staring at Vahn with shaken yet resolute eyes as he asked, "You can see the future?" while forcibly accelerating the healing of his body.

As it wouldn't matter if Shirou was injured or fighting at full capacity, Vahn didn't mind the man's attempt to heal his wounds. Instead, he maintained a calm and composed demeanor as he shook his head and answered, "Some may refer to it in such a manner, but, the true nature of my ability is to read the Flow of Fate. I don't simply see the future, Shirou Emiya...no, I see something much more concrete...the present, and the many paths available to us all..."

Following Vahn's statement, he reached out his right hand, grabbing at the void just as Shirou's body began to disperse. Then, before the latter could react, he slammed the man into the dense white stone with enough force to kick up a cloud of debris more than 10m high. This left Shirou, who had attempted to sneak attack him, completely unconscious as blood dripped from most of his orifices.

If he were being honest, Vahn didn't really like Shirou all that much, but, knowing he had great sentimental value to many people, killing him outright seemed wrong. While it may not be the 'real' Shirou Emiya, Vahn knew he could provide the girls some degree of closure due to the fact he possessed the same memories. He could also sense a 'very' potent Flow of Fate around the man, and, despite the fact Shirou had been trying to assassinate him, his aura was a pale blue, indicating he had no malicious feelings, only the purpose he believed in...

---

Though they were still several kilometers away, Musashi and co could feel the fluctuations of a battle taking place within the Ivory Castle. This caused the former to release a tired sigh while Caenis, ever-thirsty for battle, shouted, "We should charge in! That man might be an idiot but he is still our ally! We can't just stand and here and do nothing...!!"

Musashi didn't completely disagree with Caenis' sentiments, but, knowing Shirou and having a decent understanding of Vahn, she felt it would be foolish to intervene. The latter wasn't likely to kill Shirou outright so it would only make matters worse if they were to throw themselves into the fray. Thus, rather than respond to Caenis' outburst, she turned to Berserker, who, despite only a few minutes passing since Shirou's departure, was now surrounded by empty plastic wrappers as she ceaselessly devoured some kind of curry bread.

Noticing Musashi's gaze, Berserker blinked her amber-eyes in surprise before turning away and saying, "You can't have any..." in a threatening tone. This caused Musashi to release another sigh, followed by her asking, "Is Shirou okay? He should have contacted you, right...?"

Before answering Musashi's question, Berserker finished the rest of her curry bread, large pieces vanishing with each of her tiny bites. Only after the final crumbs had vanished did she finally nod her head, explaining, "He said to leave it to him...do not interfere..."

Hearing Berserker's response, Caenis hissed through her teeth, hefting her spear and shield as she shouted, "Fuck that! I'll go in there and drag that dumbass out by his ass hairs if I have to!"

Not expecting such a remark from Caenis, Musashi was temporarily at a loss for words, silence the former took as acquiescence. As a result, Caenis kicked off the ground with enough force to cover nearly the entire distance between their perch and the Ivory Castle in an instant. This caused the veritable wall of automatons to immediately react, each working together to form a defensive line as four of the shadowy figures moved to intercept...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'You ain't sneaky','An absolute difference in power...','Shirou's cheeks just clenched...')

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