Fate: Kill

Chapter 30

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F

rom the moment Shirou had first given the order to charge, he hadn't quite realized the impact he had on the opposing side. Then again, it was kind of difficult to the expression of your enemies when you were being fired upon and forced to defend your entire crew.
It was only now that he was charging forward using Saber's experiences in warfare with shield and sword in hand that he noticed a distinct reaction from the Empire's forces. The droning of bullets and steel clanging against Rho Aias to kill him and his allies hadn't changed, but the air around the Empire's forces did.
A few looked stunned, absentminded even, and then there was the overwhelming majority stricken with panic and disbelief especially among the army's upper echelons.
Seeing another hail of attack incoming, he rotated his shield arm, and the eight-petalled projected flower of Rho Aias shifted in accordance, the petals unfurling and dancing in the ensuing breeze.
"Focus on the long-range units!" Bulat's voice advised from somewhere behind him through the chaos and adrenaline pumping through all their veins.
Shirou couldn't locate just where exactly Bulat was at in the sheer number of comrades behind him, but it didn't matter much considering he knew that Bulat was a former military solider. His words were sound. The sooner the archers and riflemen were dealt with, the sooner he could stop the consumption of maintaining his shield.
The others roared in ascent, charging alongside him in the direction of the heaviest number of ranged soldiers. From the backline, intermittent flashes of light signalled Mine and Najenda's participation from afar.
Dozens fell, likely dead as no one in Calla and its allies were ignorant enough to show mercy on the battlefield, but all this death, this familiar setting of a battlefield, all of it was grounds for bitter memories.
'Harden your heart.'
He'd told himself this before. Just as his experience could allow him to be level-headed in the most stressful of times, it enabled him to know what must be done. And yet…
Why weren't they fighting back?
It wasn't true for everyone, but ever since the beginning, the rate of fire hitting Rho Aias had been steadily declining without correlation to casualty figures.
With Reinforcement magecraft coursing through his body, Shirou could see further than anyone else. The snipers and long-range units Najenda, Mine, and the others were aiming for didn't stop firing because they were reloading, they stopped firing because they'd lost the will to fight. They just stood there, leaving themselves open to enemy fire in a daze.
Unlike himself, Shirou knew for a fact that everyone else couldn't see that the people that they were killing as 'easy pickings' had instead just lost their drive.
Almost intimately, he could discern the cause of the hesitation and indecisiveness found in the Empire's soldiers.
Caliburn thrummed in the grasp of his right hand, its warm glow shining with the promise of its legend to guide the chosen King and save the land. There were just too many parallels between what he was doing now, and what Saber had been doing for her own homeland: Hidden Royalty, a greater purpose, and even the conviction to see it through for the sake of the innocent and those that they cared for.
Caliburn's light had never shone in his hands so brilliantly as it did now, and it affected the hearts of all.
The world wasn't just black and white.
Were all of the current Empire's citizens and soldiers mired in the pits of corruption and deceit? Did everyone standing on the side of the Empire's army deserve death if they may or may not be simply fighting to preserve their own livelihoods and that of their family's?
There was killing because it was necessary, but this was nothing else but slaughter. Murder.
Shirou watched as three more soldiers were killed right before him in vivid detail.
This wasn't right, but Bulat's advice wasn't wrong either. For every solider that was hesitating, there were still those that didn't care and were firing regardless.
War was a dark thing. There were no such concepts as good or evil, only that of survival and the will to do whatever it took. He understood this vividly, which was all the more reason he felt like he was once more walking through hell.
What should he do?
Caliburn's light enveloped him as if in consolation, yet it did little to ease the growing guilt.
"Charge forward and kill him up close! W-We'll remain near the rearguard to oversee the battlefield!" Several commanders on the Empire's side issued at once.
Seeing how ineffective projectiles were faring, there was little choice but to send in the infantry. However, the sight of generals clambering and bickering over each other to be the ones to retreat to the rearguard while ordering the rest onward was as appalling to Shirou as it was for those being ordered forward.
Their faith was shaking, their resolve shattering in the wind as their very leaders practically left them for dead.
This wasn't right. None of this was right.
"Cowards," Selka strode up to run beside Shirou, Akame bringing up Selka's right.
"They're just sending these men and women to their deaths," Akame commented blandly.
"You can see it in their eyes. They're scared," Selka could feel their trepidation as an experienced Hunter.
"All the better," Akame readied her sword, the rest of Calla's forces following suit.
"With Shirou around, we need to eliminate as much of the Empire's forces as we can before the Revolutionaries intervene," Leone spoke up.
A blood bath would surely begin.
Shirou's teeth gritted, before he finally couldn't take this anymore.
"Stop! Stop all of you!" He ordered, hands balling into fists as he recalled his purpose in ignoring Elaine's plans and going through with his present actions. "None of you seem to understand. This was never a war about killing!"
Stopping in place, he unwaveringly held Rho Aias aloft to hold off the Empire's barrage while regarding his allies.
"This is war!" Bulat argued back sternly before anyone else.
"And not everyone is an enemy!"
Shirou resolved himself in this moment. He could see where Bulat and everyone else was obviously coming from, but he could never stomach harming those who didn't need to be harmed.
Caliburn thrummed in his hands, and suddenly he realized that there was a way.
Before anyone else could respond, he broke out of formation while keeping Rho Aias's shield projected over him and the rest, before immediately arriving at the front of the charging Empire soldiers.
"S-Shirou! What are you doing?!" Akame, Selka, and everyone else exclaimed in alarm and worry.
'What was he doing indeed.'
If Rin were around, she'd probably consider this action as another noteworthy accolade in the chronicles of Emiya, but in his eyes this was something that needed to be done.
The Empire foot soldiers Shirou arrived directly before froze at his sudden appearance. His eyes narrowed upon all of them, their own 'comrades' still firing at Rho Aias despite their proximity to him.
"Your trembling, why? Is it because of me?" He questioned; his eyes narrowed on one particular solider shaking in her combat boots. "Where is the strength of your conviction? Your mettle?" He stressed, voice growing ever louder, ever stronger until it was droning across the expanse.
The soldiers before him at the very front were those who'd already resigned themselves to their fates. He could infer this clearly.
He'd seen the worst and the best of people in order to know that behind every action was an underlying motivation.
"Why do you all fight? What meaning is there in this victory for you all? Do you all fight because of honour, pride, achievement, or simply because of circumstances outside your own control?" He inquired, volume growing with his own righteousness and idealism.
"Is my life so important that it outweighs that of each of your own?"
He ranted his very soul out, his grievances, his empathy.
"You, all of you are citizens of the Empire! What will this victory grant you knowing the type of Prime Minster you're dedicating your life towards?! Your deaths are meaningless, your efforts vain, your legacy worth nothing more than dirt to those that are actually deemed to matter! It's not fair right? It's not just! It's not humane! That kind of world, that kind of society, I won't stand for it! So, why would you all?!"
No answer. Perhaps it was due to the sincerity of his tone and his own beliefs willing him to say what mattered most that rendered them speechless. Everyone speechless.
He spoke not with any agenda, nor hidden motives, but genuine honesty that lies could never hope to conceal.
From afar, his voice echoed past the hail of bullets, carried through the wind first to those before him, then to the Empire and the Revolutionaries.
To Liver, it even felt as if Shirou was yelling and admonishing him directly, needless to say of everyone else with their own inner demons.
Shirou just couldn't understand the Empire's current mentality, and that was what made it even more unacceptable regarding the desires of its citizens!
"Do you really want to win, and put an end to anything remotely close to change?! If that's the type of victory that you want, the future that you want, then strike me down right here and now!"
Walking up the nearest soldier, Shirou stared them all down one by one, not even considering to guard himself. He didn't have to. None of those directly in front of him could meet his gaze.
"If none of you even posses the courage to raise your weapons, then what reason do you have to protect those that cower behind the security of underhanded authority?!"
The silence was suffocating at those words for the common citizens, but a flat-out declaration of hostility to those already in high positions in the Empire. Still, one crucial fact remained. Those not in high positions far outnumbered those that were.
The true backbone of any nation wasn't its leaders, but the people that comprised it.
"I see a future beyond deceit, a future beyond corruption, and a land bereft of it, if none of you can picture it, then stand aside and look first upon the light of this sword and the miracle in victory it grants!"
To others, this sword will only ever be known with a single title.
'Sword of the Emperor.'
Shirou hoisted Caliburn up, the glow surrounding it near blinding in its holy-esque luster.
If a certain sword was the sword carrying the dreams of mankind, then Caliburn was a sword that represented hope. By calling out its true name, it would be an attack equivalent to the Sword of the Victorious, annihilating all in its way. However, it wasn't a sword meant for mass slaughter to begin with, but one of choosing and choice.
He overloaded it, shattered it into fragments bursting with magical energy fading out into the surroundings.
The legacy of a crystalized legend at its strongest output was known as a Broken Phantasm, unleashing the truest representation of the mystery that legacy embodied and represented.
"The stars tell the tale of a miracle unseen, nor heard."
Layers of golden dust glimmered sharply, encapsulating all within their glow.
"Like guiding beacons, they are signs seen by all travelers staring upon the same sky no matter where one stands in the night. They represent hope and aspiration in the dark never to be smothered."
The layers of golden dust swirled and swept across all, passing straight through their bodies and touching upon their very characters.
Sword of Selection.
"…Illuminate the wicked," the rest of what comprised Caliburn faded entirely from Shirou's hands at the utterance of these last three words.
The very light that had touched upon all those present exuded out from each person in an aura of either white, black, or gray.
What would occur now would no longer affect his morality.
All hesitation vanished from Shirou's eyes at the sight. Shattering Caliburn had cost him a great expense of energy, but it stayed true to his own ideals and convictions. He stayed true to himself.
There was a time and place for mercy and repentance, but the enemies that stood before him judged black by the sword of selection were rotten to the core.
The enemies that needed to be killed could not have been anymore blatant.
The true battle would begin now. However-
His knees wobbled.
His body likely wouldn't be able to endure the strain of overloading Caliburn for long, but it mattered little in his considerations. He had to maintain consciousness if only to maintain Rho Aias.
Forcing himself to remain steady, he barely got a step in before he very nearly fell over before a hand steadied him in a manor that made it look like she was merely patting his shoulder.
"Kid, you're really just something else, aren't you? The way some of these soldiers are looking at you, you've likely swayed several turn-coats." A familiar authoritative voice spoke into his ear. "No wait, or is should I call you your Majesty?"
Shirou glanced up to see the nearest Empire soldiers giving him a wide berth, then to crane his neck to the side to the person keeping him standing properly.
"Najenda," he called out. "I thought you'd be keeping a vantage point?"
"That was the plan, and then you went and did this," Najenda didn't know whether to be amused or moved as they were still technically in a war zone, but she was leaning towards the latter. What Shirou had said and done carried a charisma and drive that instigated old dreams. "I spoke with Chouri in secret, and I assume it won't be good for your image if you were seen falling? Of course, Akame, Selka, or the rest could have made just as good a support, but none of them know how to lead or be very subtle in keeping you steady."
Saying this, Najenda helped prop Shirou up in a way that made it seem like he'd never staggered in the first place. From how effortlessly she did it, it spoke volumes for her experience, and the slight awe must have shown on his face because she snorted. .
"I sometimes forget I only ever met you in the guise of the leader of Night Raid. Let me take this opportunity to reintroduce myself." She inclined her head. "Former General of the Empire's Strike Forces, Najenda at your service. Leave the commanding to me. Now what's going on with all the lights?"
"My sword, it reveals the truest reflection of a person's heart and character."
"Aim for black then, but be cautious of gray. It's rather explicit."
"That's the idea," Shirou eked out, body trembling, muscles screaming in agony. "I'll be needing a moment to recover," he was forced to admit while short of breath.
"Just a bit?"
"Yes."
"That's a lot of black," Najenda drawled before returning to all seriousness. She narrowed her eyes. "Be truthful here, how long do you really need? Our numbers aren't the greatest right now, and skirting the issue isn't going to aid anyone."
Shirou's countenance hardened.
"…At least ten minutes," he admitted his shortest estimate, and given the number of hostiles, it was a bleak figure.
"…"
"Is it too long?"
"No." Najenda shook her head. "We'll get it done, so just take the time to recover as soon as you can. You've spoken your part, now let us do ours. Anyways, that future you spoke of…can you really see it in this rotten country?"
"Don't you already have the answer?"
Both Shirou and Najenda's attention fell upon the Empire and Revolutionary army.
In the sea of depressing black, many lights still shone.
In the Greek fable of Pandora and a box that contained the world's evils, hope existed within the dark, and that alone was the spark worth fighting for.
Something within Najenda and the hearts of many others stirred at the display of radiance.
As one, they glanced towards one person alone.
Exhausted, yet standing firm, holding a shield aloft for the sake of those behind him.
Where he stood, the Empire stood.
Where he fell, the betterment and aspirations of a better Empire would fall.
This was their Emperor, and just like the First Emperor, he'd shown the path through his sword; the impact of which would echo in the annals of history and legend.
"You heard him," Najenda's voice echoed solemnly amidst Calla's ranks. "Ten minutes."
Eyes hardening and features growing resolute, the air shifted.
'Offer your hearts.'
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