Wrought King of Iron

Chapter 42: Bloodstained Moon

~Shirou Emiya~

'Welcome, welcome, Shirou Emiya! I am pleased you made your way here. And I welcome you to experience the eclipse of your life!'

Sick and tired of all this pointless talk, I shouted angrily,
'Enough of these games! I won all your stupid trials and battles you set out for me! Now that I've arrived here, I'll do what I came to do!'

Standing up from her seat to face us, she said,
'Now settle down. No need to get all worked up already! The night is not yet over, so you'll have to entertain me till it ends.'

I was losing all patience, and immediately tried to project something to attack her.

Seemingly noticing my intentions, she glared at me, with her eyes changing colour. Her sclera turned crimson, as if blood had filled it, and her irises glowed golden.

Immediately, under immense pressure that felt as if I were being crushed by a mountain, I ceased my actions. Being unable to go against her in any way, I stopped my projections in an act of what could be only described as obedience.

My breathing grew excessively, to the point where I was hyperventilating. And I was sweating uncontrollably; my eyes seemed to shake. I was trembling. In fear.

Eventually, the feeling that I thought would persist infinitely, stopped. Her eyes went back to normal, with her irises glowing the usual red from before.

'You are in such a rush, aren't you? Before we get to the fun part of killing each other, at least let me congratulate you on the amazing achievements you accomplished this night! Those trials would have broken most people by the end of them, or just outright killed them, but you came out alive. Even beating that vile White Knight at a tenth of his power would garner respect and praise from many esteemed magi and vampires, not to mention defeating him at half his power. Amazing!'

Half of his power? That insane beast with his extraordinary regeneration, able to beat me within an inch of my life within a few attacks, was not even fighting me at his full strength?

'You must be...!'

I was dumbfounded, and yet I could not even challenge her statement. That was because she said it with such fervour and confidence that I couldn't view it as a lie or exaggeration.

'I drank heavily the blood of my Knights before I sent them to battle your group, to ensure I would be at top form. I thought it would be fine to let their power suffer just a little. But alas, you shattered my expectations. Honestly and truly, I am so impressed that you could even survive such an extended period of time, let alone win the battle.'

'He was a pretty lousy opponent. His arrogance and negligence made him lose, as if he was purposefully trying to sabotage himself, so I shall not try to claim it as my victory. And in any case, I only won thanks to the support provided provided by Luvia, so why don't you praise her too while you're at.'

She looked at Luvia for a moment, and her smile only grew. 

Turning back to me, she exploded into laughter, saying,
'You really are a fool!'

'What was that?
She was acting as if I had missed something.

'Sorry, forgive me for that outburst but I could not help but laugh. Is it simply ignorance, or are you just pretending not to see?'

'...'

'Just return what you took from me!'
I readied myself for action.

She took a glove off her left hand, and was wearing a ring on her fourth finger beneath it, though I never noticed any sort of outline through the glove before.