Wrought King of Iron

Chapter 4: Chance Encounter

The clanging of swords was ringing in my ears. The striking of metal on metal. The dissonance of the connection may seem crude to others, but to me it was a beautiful sound forged from the emotions of combatants.

Or at least that's what an ideal fight would be like. However, with a shopping bag in my left hand and Bakuya in my right, fending off agile strikes, this was clearly not the ideal circumstance upon which one has a true battle.

~ A few hours earlier ~

In the morning I woke up before Tohsaka. This much had been the same for as long as I have been living with her. I was the latest to sleep and the earliest to rise. Anyways, I needed to go buy breakfast for the two of us, and then back to hunting for apartments close to Clocktower. I didn't have much time, however, with the term starting in a month, so we needed to move soon in order to save money. Not that we really needed to as we had quite a bit of money from our families' inheritances as well as from part-time jobs.

Coming out of the convenience store with my shopping, I thought I should go take a look around for places to move, as it was quite early and Tohsaka wouldn't be up yet. I walked around for 30 minutes, which somehow was enough time for me to get completely lost in the streets of London. I thought it was about time I headed back, however, there was something... strange. The air felt stagnant and somewhat suffocating.

A bounded field. Why was there a bounded field here? I looked around me to see if there was anyone who might have been the culprit. I could only see one person. A women with blonde hair done in drills, wearing a blue dress and white gloves. She was quite beautiful... though not as beautiful as Tohsaka! Damn it, I let my thoughts slip away from me there.

I slowly approached her, as the sole suspect, and she looked like she was on guard. Suddenly, chills ran down my spine. This feeling was of intense bloodlust. A murdering intent towords my direction. However, it wasn't towards me, but the women. I could tell she felt it too, which explains why she was on guard.  Out of nowhere, a cloudy fog started to build.

'Here they come!' I shouted towards the blond haired woman. She jolted her head towards me in surprise, and looked at me with suspicion. I realised I had just assisted the assailants in their assassination attempt by distracting her. How foolish of me.

A knife of some sort was thrown at the woman as she looked at me. Without thinking, pouring some mana into my legs, I sprung towards the dagger, and deflected the blade while projecting Bakuya in my right hand. I was about to inquire of her safety, however the attacker wasn't too eager on letting this drag on.

~ Present ~

The assailant dressed in... I couldn't tell because of some sort of cloaking magecraft,  flung towards me at full force with a sharp, double-edged blade. Our swords smashed together creating a discordant sound that rung in my ears. This sound was utterly displeasing to hear. A sound created with such a lack of attachment or emotion in their sword had led to such an unpleasant sound. My opponent was wielding their blade with nothing but a murderous intent, lacking any emotions such as anger or hate behind it. This person really pisses me off.

When someone picks up their blade, they do it for a reason, such as to protect someone or to save someone. But this person. They wield their blade for no discernible reason except to end a life. The clear disconnect to their emotions that they do not channel through their blades indicates a lack of reasoning to fight. This person is fighting merely to kill, and nothing else. The phrase - 'It's not personal' - is something I truly hate, because if that is so, then the person on the receiving end of their blows is fighting their all for a reason whereas the opponent fights because there is a battle to be fought. Fighting for no reason other than to fight or to kill is something I can't stand. Right then I thought: I will defeat this attacker in order to save the victim of such distasteful violence.

They swung at the left side of my body, where I was still holding my shopping bag. I deflected their blow just in time with the tip of my blade while pushing upwards, directing their blade towards the sky. I lunged forward trying to stab them, however they dodged the thrust, and using their other hand smashed my sword with their fist. They knew it was a projection and so they aimed for the most fragile point of the blade to shatter it. However, my subsequent projection was faster than what they expected and I managed to cut their forearm quite deeply. As I kept swinging my sword using different techniques to push them back, the distance between us and the women was increasing.

I had already thrown my shopping bag to the ground and projected Kanshou, however even after a few minutes of trading blows and blocking strikes, we were at a stalemate. This pointless battle was going nowhere. I lacked the strength to destroy their blade or the range to cut deeply, however now with the distance significantly further from the women I could try out something different.

'Trace on: Overedge!' 

Upon shouting this, my swords grew in weight, size and length. The overwhelming might that I gained from this gave me the upper hand. Each swing landed with more and more force due to increasing momentum, and was slowly incapacitating the enemy, who's movements were gradually becoming more sluggish. For a decisive blow, I thrust forward with both blades to pierce their body, however I failed to notice my position due to the fog. I had stabbed the assassin with my swords but there was a wall behind them, and so my swords became lodged in the wall. Despite this foe having swords piercing their sides, they grabbed on to my hands so I could not let go, which was confusing to me as to how this was beneficial to them. However I quickly realised, only an arrogant fool sends in a single assassin for a one on one battle. 

From behind me, a second assassin pulled back their blade swiftly in preparation to slash me. I could not escape however, for the other  assassin wouldn't let go of me no matter how hard I pulled. All I could think of was how to minimalize the damage from the assassin's strike. However a familiar figure with blonde hair burst forwards towards the second assailant.

She grabbed their body and lifted them into the air. Doing what looked like a German suplex, she smashed the assailants upper back against the concrete. She was clearly using mana to physically enhance herself, as upon impact with the floor, the ground and concrete shattered, and cracks grew around my feet. That assassin looked quite dead to me upon witnessing the sheer amount of strength that was poured into the suplex.

Both I and the assassin I had pinned were in shock, with our mouths gaping wide open. They shouted in a deep voice, 'I didn't sign up for this sh*t. I wasn't told she would have a body guard. Two on one is fine, but two on two is not worth the risk.'

Suddenly and with great force, the assassin pinned against the wall then shattered my swords and swiftly picked up their partner and jumped over the buildings. The fog dissipated; the bounded field I assumed they had erected deactivated.

I turned to this unknown woman and asked. 'Are you okay?'

'Thanks to you, I have made it out unscathed. May I ask your name in order to express my gratitude?'

'My name is Shirou Emiya.'

'A foreigner... My name is Luviagelita Edefelt, daughter of the prestigious Edefelt family. Thank you for fending off those disgusting people, Sherou!'