To Love a Sword Chapter 25: Empress (Patreon)

Partially beta read by Paragon of Awesomeness.

So someone mentioned I could create a sort of folder for each story on my profile to make it easier to browse through the contents. I didn't know that existed to be honest and will be trying to implement it. Was waiting to do so after finish this chapter first.

Next update is Fake Familiar Reborn.

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-Planet Deviluke-


Planet Deviluke glowed brightly even from the void of space, surrounded by two satellite planets the size of Earth’s moon, orbiting with artificial lights visible upon both of their surfaces, with a myriad of ships traveling in and out of orbit, 


The advanced species dominating the galaxy considered this place their home, having for millennia protected both its people and its fauna from outside invaders. On this very day, rather than the calm and peaceful atmosphere, the people of the planet were in a state of momentous joy, celebrating and cheering from the streets as they watched an entire armada of ships descend from the sky. In the middle, a vessel clad in purple and black alloy unlike the others stood out the most, with the imperial insignia clearly visible on its metal hull.


A veritable parade, reserved for only a handful of individuals in the entire planet. 


The hatch hissed open. Two lines of armored soldiers snapped to attention, spears thudding in unison as they knelt before the individual known as the strongest being in the galaxy. Their ruler emerged, a wave of reverence washing over them at being in his presence. 


"Your Majesty!" they roared, sending a tremor of echoes through the metal deck. 


From the darkness walked out a single individual, not accompanied by any bodyguards as he needed none. He stood tall and clad in dark cloth garments, a fur coat and a necklace of three fangs hung proudly around his neck. Looking vastly different from his time on Earth, Gid Lucione Deviluke exuded an invisible pressure upon everyone who so much as glanced in his direction. 


“…”


He said nothing and instead gave them a single nod of his head before making his way towards the royal palace, where a group of handmaidens awaited, all of them surrounding a woman who from her appearance alone stood out like a beacon, clad in pink and white clothing that complimented her natural beauty to make her a woman unlike any other.


Even the thin veil, doing little to hinder her natural allure.


She bore a striking resemblance to Lala; calling them twins would have been more appropriate — though her being more mature and gifted in many aspects. Sephie Michaela Deviluke smiled tenderly when her eyes fell on her returned husband. Walking towards him, she greeted him with a loving smile.


"Welcome home, dear. I suppose you managed to get some time to check up on our daughters rather than wasting time all of your time goofing off and having fun with other pretty girls?" she asked with a clear and calming voice, one which many would have found soothing. Though it had an opposing reaction on the emperor, who flinched ever so slightly, his reaction was noted by the woman who squinted her eyes ever so slightly.


“Y-yeah, Lala is doing fine," he responded, cursing the slight stutter in the beginning, his tone slightly strained. "You're wasting your time worrying about her, that brat is lazing around the human's house all day and goes to ‘school’ of all things. Pft, how ridiculous."


Sephie rolled her eyes. "Well, she does take after a certain someone more than me in some aspects." Her hands went to his cheeks, pinching them gently, an action that made the handmaidens in the back nearly have a heart attack. “And if I remember correctly, the reason you even chose to blow up that planet in the first place was because you wanted to check up on your daughter as soon as possible. Don't use that civil war nonsense as an excuse, dear.” 


He did not acknowledge that, "As for those other two brats, they tried to stay hidden and thought I wouldn't notice them stalking their elder sister, but they still have much to learn. Though I'm not very worried about them; they'll manage." From his arrival on Earth, Gid managed to take note of his two daughters intentionally hiding within plain sight at times. Sometimes flying in the sky directly above the boy's house and taking pictures or spying on their elder sister. He did not make any comments about that, nor did he ever acknowledge them. Whatever things they were doing, he let them.


"Hah, I'm tired!" he shouted, yawning and taking off his royal garb without any regard. His cloak was thrown to the side as he made his way towards their main living quarters, his wife following behind while the handmaids were tasked to clean up after her husband's discarded garments. "I swear, if the king of that wasteland of a planet once again causes me more trouble then I'll just destroy all of the worlds under his rule without warning — I hate being turned into my small form."


"Is that so?" Sephie mused, though she kept smiling her eyes certainly didn't believe the entirety of his story. While others feared and revered Gid Lucione Deliuke for obvious and valid reasons, she knew him better than anyone — including his bad habits of using his child-like form to peek beneath girls’ skirts… having caught him doing so to her own handmaidens on many occassions. 


The way she said that made the emperor sweat ever so slightly. His suspicion turned into slight panic as she retrieved a handful of holographic pictures showing him in his small form hanging around Sainan highschool and even pinching some of the students’ butts. “To me, the you in this picture seem to be having a lot of… fun.”


She then switched the display to another image that showed him using his small form to sneak into the vents that led to the girls’ locker room. “And what do you make of these? You certainly don't look like you're having a hard time being stuck in your smaller form, dear."


His eyes widened as he exclaimed with anger, "You planted a spy in my entourage!? Tell me who it is, and I'll have them gutted and pulveri—ouch!" His furious roar ended as soon as his ears were caught and stretched painfully by the pink-haired woman.


"Enough of your acting! Next time you blow up a planet, don't use it as an excuse to go harassing young maidens across the galaxy! Next time, I'll make sure to accompany you everywhere, so no more of your silly shenanigans or else…”


The man growled, giving her a deathly stare, which didn't even seem to have any effect on the smiling woman. His anger simmered for a few seconds before he managed to calm down after she twisted his ears with a bit more force. "Tch, you win, you troublesome woman."


Sephie chuckled, letting go of his ears, which he rubbed gently, seeing how they had become all red in the mirror. For someone so passive, she sure did possess a troublesome amount of strength. 


"You still haven't told me everything. Who is this human our daughter has taken such a liking to? You know how picky Lala can be; there are very few things that can make her so interested other than her own inventions and the twins."


As soon as she said that, Gid grinned. "Hehehehe, he's a stubborn brat, an interesting human. But still a brat. He even threatened to kill me without batting an eye despite knowing my identity! I’ve never laughed so much before in my life!"


A flash of interest appeared in her eyes. "Truly? That's an odd person for Lala to have chosen as her future husband. He sounds aggressive. Hopefully, she didn't inherit that trait of mine…" She said while looking weirdly at her husband, the latter gorging himself on the table filled with food, his cheeks bulging before he gave her a suspicious look.


"What’s that supposed to mean?"


"Nothing dear, you may continue."


At that, he shrugged. "I don't know if I should even call him a human; he's clearly very much different from your average human. The boy can create swords and weapons that even gave me the chills out of thin air. Either he found a treasure trove of god-killing weapons forgotten throughout history or it's something else entirely. And from what Zastin has mentioned, the boy never left the planet and his record is as clean as it can be; which just doesn't make sense." 


His grin grew, recalling the sensation he got from the boy when he pulled out that red spear. 


"That spear exuded enough killing intent to momentarily force my body to react through pure instinct in the presence of something capable of threatening my own life; how long has it been I felt like this?” 


The sheer amount of bloodlust exuding from that speer wasn't something that could be created by just killing a few dozens or even hundreds of people. It was unnatural with a very high likelihood to be boosted through some magic rather than advanced technology. 


“That little girl of mine managed to land herself someone very unusual, to say the least. Now it's up to him. If he makes her cry or breaks the engagement, then I will personally destroy that planet into bits and scatter them across the universe or throw them into the system’s sun. It doesn't matter how good of a warrior he proves himself to be in the end, that doesn't matter to me as much.” 


At that, the queen of Deviluke frowned, "Don't you kill our daughter's first love like that. If she is genuinely happy with him, then let her have her peace for a little while longer. Arguing is a normal thing for any couple; just look at the two of us. You've been pestering her about her coming marriage and fiancé candidates for years. Even I was starting to get tired of all those princes visiting our usually quiet place daily, trying to court her through ridiculous means. Don't you recall that one king who tried to flirt with me as well?"


A disgusted expression flashed across Gid’s face. “Don't talk about that squid piece fo shit anymore. His kingdom should be happy that other than killing their entire royal lineage, I only destroyed half of their planet out of mercy."


"The other half crumbled in a matter of days. There is only so much their technology could do to prevent their atmosphere from destroying and the planet collapsing due to the half the core missing.” 


He shrugged without much of a care, "That's nature taking its course, and it was completely preventable if he had only kept his mouth shut rather than forgetting who he was in the presence of in the first place."


Sephie sighed, knowing full well the kind of person her husband was, but rather than finding it troublesome, she found it cute in a way. He was still as possessive of her in such moments as he was in the past, and it warmed her heart. 


"Speaking of Lala's fiancé, I am curious about the kind of boy who not only threatened to kill you, but also tried to do so and yet is still alive. It's very rare for you to not kill someone like that on the spot. He must have caught your interest more than what you're saying. Should I be jealous?" She said teasingly, deliberately poking his cheeks as he continued to eat.


Gid rolled his eyes, pushing his hand away. “Nothing like that. He may be a new fiancé for Lala, but he's definitely earned his place as a new form of entertainment for me. Next time we'll meet, I'll make sure to force him to go all out and reveal that little secret he cheekily tried to avoid showing to me."


“Oh?” 


“His magic is weird, I acted too quick and thought he was going to get himself killed. But at that last moment… I sensed something in the air, and for a brief moment even saw the presence of some odd blue flames. I should have been more aggressive! Put him in another life and death scenario and pushed him to his limits!” 


She had to be honest; this was the first time she had seen her husband talk about one of Lala's fiancé candidates in such a light. There was genuine interest in his eyes, childlike curiosity coupled with an intense desire to fight again. The more she learned about this boy, the more curious she got herself.


“Alright, I'll go take a nap, don't disturb me. Tell anyone who is looking to have an audience with me to fuck off, I'll deal with them later.” After finishing his meal, he yawned and stretched his limbs. Leaving the opulent dining hall and headed towards the bedroom, leaving Sephie all by herself with her thoughts.


Silence filled the room, followed by some light fingers tapping against the table, then the empress walking to the balcony that stood above even the highest skyscrapers in their empire. Humming for a while, leaning against the railing and digesting everything Gid had mentioned. 


Grabbing her staff which displayed other images sent by her little bird hidden amongst Gid's loyal soldiers. Multiple pictures which included her eldest daughter, Lala dressed in some sort of uniform walking arms locked with a human she guessed was the one who was the main topic of the prior conversation. 


“It's not fair that all of you got to meet him. I want to see my future son-in-law with my own eyes as well,” she whispered to herself, looking towards the image with an unreadable expression, absentmindedly going through other pictures, most of which consisted of him cleaning and cooking throughout the entire day. 


“Fufufufu~, an odd one indeed.”


Too bad her position as Empress left her with a lot of responsibilities to govern literally thousands of sectors across the galaxy, her husband not exactly being the ideal individual to handle matters relating to governing, let alone politics. All of this severely cut down what little time she might have had for herself, let alone traveling.


“Ah, that planet should also fall within the Devilukean territory.” She said, thinking about this matter with a smile rising on her face. “So… it could be seen as my responsibility to give it a visit soon regardless.” 


Perhaps she would be seeing her son-in-law sooner than anticipated.


{Break}


-Sainan- 


The circumstances of his presence in this world were still a complete mystery to him. How he ended up here, despite having been clearly killed by his damaged core and mortal wounds that could not be healed regardless of how much Mana Rin supplied him with. 


Suddenly, he found himself reincarnated as a living, infant human in a world foreign to him, living a life he thought impossible. The reasons behind these events remained unknown to the former Counter Guardian.


For many years, he searched for answers, trying to glean whatever information he could from analyzing his own body daily, his surroundings, and the world's history from the moment he could walk. Yet to this day, he remained without any answers, a frustration that gnawed at him to no end. A part of him even wondered why he was putting so much effort into uncovering the truth. Wasn't this what he wanted?


Living a life outside of Alaya’s control and away from the endless killing and bloodshed… wasn't this all he’d sought and more? Yet, even in his most optimistic moments, he refused to believe his wish could be granted so easily, especially when that corrupted Holy Grail couldn't possibly be responsible for this outcome. Never did he suspect that his body was nearing its end; the question of whether he was about to die soon never crossed his mind. He had no ailments or curse, as far as he knew, that were chipping away at his life.


So, he reacted with pure confusion when Haruna told him she knew he was dying.


‘Is she pulling a prank on me?’ he wondered. Though that seemed highly unlikely. Haruna wasn’t one to joke about something so morbid, especially not in such a serious tone — even if her sister was. Besides, she was a bad actor who couldn’t lie at all even if her life was on the line. 


So she must truly believe what she just said.


He backtracked, trying to make sense of her statement by recalling her previous words — something about festivals and a subject that had occupied her mind ever since then.


Did something happen during the festival? Not much time had passed since then, and Emiya tried to remember every single detail of his interaction with her. As brief as it was, at no point should she have gotten such a misunderstanding. They spoke for barely a few minutes and then coincidentally watched the fireworks together. After that, he hadn't interacted with her for a couple of days.


‘At least that explains why she was being so evasive and quiet on Monday,’ he thought, ‘but all of this still doesn't make sense.’


Thankfully, a part of him sighed in relief at the realization that she did not come here to confess her feelings to him. He truly could not see himself agreeing to start anything with the girl his brother was in love with. He had done terrible things in his past life, but this would be absolutely scummy and idiotic since he didn't even hold any romantic feelings for her to begin with.


“E-eh? What did you say about not wanting a relationship?” Now it was Haruna's turn to ask a question, visibly caught off guard by his words and momentarily forgetting about what she had just declared a few seconds ago. Not wanting to deal with that topic, he quickly waved his hand and acted calmly.


“Oh, that? You didn't hear me right. I said… well, forget about it for now. What is this about me dying?” He gestured to himself. “As you can see, I'm clearly in perfect health.”


The girl showed no signs of understanding his words. Instead, she looked deeply saddened and even took hold of his hand with hers.


"You don't have to keep this hidden and burden yourself with such things all on your own, Emiya-kun. It all starts to make sense when you look at the signs. Your hair has been gradually losing its color, and you've always been so tired during class, often sleeping due to a lack of energy most likely. And most of all how your skin keeps darkening lately! The symptoms must have been unbearable for you. I just wish I could have been there from the beginning to help you in any way I can, even if it was just moral support."


“First of all,” he retracted his hand from her hold and gave the girl a strange stare. “My hair losing its color has nothing to do with any kind of disease. That’s just… stress and faulty genetics from whoever my real parents are — same explanation for my skin. Secondly, the reason why I mostly fall asleep in the classroom is due to boredom since I already know the material and because I tend to stay up very late at night working on my hobbies. If I had any kind of dangerous disease or was terminally ill, the first people to know about it would be my parents. But as you can see, they barely bother to hang around my family’s home and spend most of their time working or just goofing off. Not exactly the behavior you’d expect from people dealing with a dying son."


Disbelief filled her eyes, "B-But… but the note. You said that you wanted to live your life to the fullest before the end…"


"The note?" After a few seconds of pondering, it finally hit him like a hammer. He immediately facepalmed, realizing that the cause of all this confusion was none other than himself. The note—the wish he wrote on that paper—must have somehow made its way to Haruna when they fell on the ground. She must have read it, thinking it was hers, and immediately jumped to such a ridiculous conclusion.


"Oh dear. All right, I have a few things to explain to you," he said, bracing himself for the conversation ahead.


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(A few minutes later)


“Pft—Hahahahaha!” A few minutes passed, and a loud laughter resounded within the shack, coming from the phone which Emiya held away from his ears while squinting a bit from the ringing.


"In all these years, I’ve never heard you laugh so loudly once in my life, I almost believed you got possessed." He said dryly, but unable to stop himself from smiling as he recalled the entire debacle with Haruna.


"Me? Getting possessed by a ghost? Fufufufu~! Would certainly be very interesting to experience it. But putting that aside, tell me what happened next." the voice on the other side asked, having calmed down for a second.


"Well, as you might expect, she became quite embarrassed when she found out the truth. I even proposed that we both go to a hospital together and have me checked for any diseases if she didn't believe me. I may have laughed or chuckled more than necessary, which ended up making her so embarrassed that she ran away. She nearly broke the doors to my shed with her superhuman strength, might I add."


He did feel a tad bit bad about finding amusement in Haruna's reaction. He had deliberately chuckled more to provoke a reaction from her. The face she made, especially in Lala's body, was more hilarious than he had expected—an expression he believed he would never see from the actual princess. And he might or might not have taken a picture or two. It was a shame it wasn't an expression he got when she was in her own body; her sister would have been very happy if he used it as bargaining material.


The voice on the other side managed to calm down, yet her tone still sounded jovial, it being none other than his school nurse and full time alien doctor.


"Well, you can't blame the poor girl for her misunderstanding. It is very much your fault she ended up thinking that way. What kind of person writes such a phrase in the first place? Couldn't it have been something simple like, 'I wish to live a comfortable and peaceful life with my siblings'?"


He couldn't deny Mikado's point, but it was a bit hard to explain that he hadn't used misleading words on purpose. He genuinely meant that phrase, considering his existence in this world. However, it was only meant for his eyes to see and understand its meaning, not anyone else.


"Well, what's done is done. It explains why she's been so evasive and quiet around me lately. That girl wouldn't stop talking usually if Rito and I hung around her, thankfully everything is back to normal… hopefully."

 

The nurse on the other side of the call also shared his sentiment. "And it also explains why she came over to my infirmary and asked plenty of strange questions about cancer and other types of diseases that can affect one’s hair and skin color," she said, leaving Emiya surprised at the extent of Haruna's misunderstanding.


"For a moment, I even believed that it was her sister who was suffering from such a terrible case, and I got genuinely worried about her. Though it's not like she needs to worry about your life because of a disease. Thankfully, she does not know about your little habit of going up against alien terrorists and taking on the literal emperor of the galaxy with nothing but magic swords. At that point, she would believe you were ridiculously brave or suicidal."


"She already found out about Lala's origin as an alien. I won't delude myself into thinking I can keep every single detail hidden from her, as everyone else will accidentally spill it to her one way or another," he remarked, having already prepared himself for such an outcome.


"She might turn into a mother hen and try to look after you constantly," the nurse said with amusement, a notion that made Emiya sigh.


"Don't even joke about that, as that might very well happen. I already heard from her sister how overprotective Haruna can be in certain scenarios. She wouldn't stop telling me the story about how worried and protective she would get last time she fell sick. I already have to deal with Mikan, and lately it seems even Rito has been keeping an eye on me more than usual. I don't want to be under constant observation from everyone I know."


"Then perhaps you should stop getting mixed up in trouble," Mikado replied dryly, as if it were so easy. Though he supposed he should have expected such an answer from her.


"I am trying my utmost to do exactly that. It's just trouble that is constantly finding its way towards me. I'm not going out hunting for it," Emiya defended rather quickly, getting the other side to scoff in amusement.


"Yes, yes, you very much aren't," she answered without missing a beat, leaving him stunned at how certain she sounded. "If it weren't for a certain nosy individual wanting to stick his nose into my affairs so stubbornly, then I would have been on another planet tending to perhaps an army sized barracks while working overtime on a super soldier serum."


"…" He didn't really have anything to say to that.


"Who knows, perhaps I would have been in a worse situation, as those people would have been more interested in my body more than anything else. You've seen how lustful even alien royals can be for those like me, and I assure you that a bunch of soldiers aren’t much better," Mikado continued. He could practically feel her smirking on the other side of the phone.


"Alright, alright, you can stop talking now. I was just trying to repay my debt to you," he clarified.


"Sure you were," Mikado replied sarcastically.


His eyelids twitched. It seemed this woman was deliberately phrasing her responses like that to gain a reaction out of him.


"Putting all of that aside, you had something to tell me, didn't you?" Before he gave a small summary of his interaction with Haruna, Mikado mentioned she had something important to tell him. He wondered if it was related to matters with the emperor or Solgum. He was warned by multiple parties that an organization like them would hardly give up so easily. Even if the group that made their way to them was completely annihilated, they wouldn't stop pursuing their goals until either Mikado was captured or Lala. These two were technically one of the few ways they could gain an upper hand against Gid.


"Yes, I nearly forgot about that. Did you recently talk with Yami?" Mikado asked.


"Yes, it was this morning when she caught this strange girl spying on my conversation with Risa. Why?”


"Then she probably didn't tell you this, but there is a matter that has been weighing on her mind rather heavily lately. And even I can see it during my checkups. It's better you address it sooner or later," Mikado said, sounding serious. She still gave the young former assassin regular checkups ever since their battle. Though the wounds he inflicted with his Noble Phantasms had healed by now, it was still better to be cautious.


"She hasn't told me out loud, but I reckon she is very much looking forward to improving her skills as an assassin. She has asked me on multiple occasions how you got so skilled with the blade and where she could learn a similar level of swordsmanship. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what she's after."


The redhead leaned against his chair, staring at the ceiling and rubbing his chin. "So she's thinking about that, huh? Not that she needs any training, to be honest. My style and hers differ quite a bit. I'm familiar with the bow and handheld weapons, while she is using her hair to wield dozens of blades at the same time. I physically can't teach her anything that would improve on the things she knows currently, and if she wanted to learn my style, she would have to learn everything from scratch."


Mikado on the other side shrugged. "I am not a combatant nor an expert with these topics. I'll leave them to you, and you can figure out how to address the subject with her personally."


"Got it, I'll be going for now. Lala has already started the procedure to swap their bodies back, and they should be done by now. You should be going to sleep as well. Don't stay up all night like I usually do and overdose yourself on caffeine because of a handful of hours of sleep," he advised Mikado.


"It makes my heart flutter to know I have a man like you to worry about my health," she said jokingly, though there was a tinge of honesty within her voice. "Though I should be saying that to you as well. Oh! Before you go, I have a question to ask you. Though if you don't want to answer it, then don't. I'll leave it up to you."


Emiya raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the question. "Go on."


"It may sound weird but tell me, Emiya, are you familiar with a place, or more accurately, have you ever been in a wasteland or desert of sorts covered in swords?" Mikado asked.


“—!”


He was greatly taken aback, his eyes widening at the question, and complete silence following. It was more than enough for Mikado to hum in acknowledgment. 


"I see… Well, you don't have to answer anyway. It's a silly question. I'll see you next time. Good night~!" She didn't even give him any time to respond before ending the call. 


Emiya looked back at his phone with confusion, an unreadable emotion swimming within his gaze as a myriad of questions stormed his mind, but one in particular stood out the most.


"How does she know?"


{Break}


(next day at school)


“Hah? You were in Lala’s body!?” Risa exclaimed with wide eyes, finally understanding what had happened between Haruna and Lala. The blue-haired girl and the princess now stood in front of her, back in their respective bodies. “And how are you feeling finding out that aliens are real?” 


Haruna blinked, unsure how to answer that question and pondered on it for a moment. “Eh… surprising?” 


"I’ll be honest," Risa’s voice couldn't be any dryer, "I was hoping for a more shocked and disbelieving reaction from you. This seems rather lackluster, considering one of your friends turned out to be an alien princess from another world sharing the same bed as Emiya over here."


From the other side of the classroom, packing up his notes, Emiya who had been listening to the conversation with his arms rolled his eyes at Risa’s comment but also agreeing with what she mentioned previously. Like her, he couldn’t quite comprehend how everyone was so accepting of such a revelation, including Haruna wouldn't didn't even attempt denying Lala's origin’s once or coming up with another possible answer. 


‘Best not to waste any more time on such things anymore; everyone is weird.’ He let out a sigh, at the very least glad that he wasn’t the only one who thought this way. However, regarding the last part, he chose to remain silent to avoid further misunderstandings, suspecting that the girls might be aiming for exactly that for her own amusement.


Haruna and Lala, exchanged glances before the blue haired girl shrugged nonchalantly. “It's not like I wasn't shocked or surprised when I first heard about it, but it doesn't really change anything. To be fair, it does explain some of her traits and that tail, rather than it being a constant cosplay she’s wearing.”


Risa turned back to him. “So what are you going to do about this?” she shouted without any fears of being overhead by others, given they were the only ones remaining in class.


“What do you mean by that?” he replied, looking back at the girls. Haruna immediately avoided his gaze with a full on crimson face, still embarrassed by the misunderstanding from last night still weighing on her mind.


“I mean, are you going to tell everyone about Lala’s identity and nature as an alien princess? You can only keep it hidden for so long. Sooner or later, more people will find out, just like I did. So why not just tell everybody and avoid unnecessary trouble for yourself?”


Pulling back on his instinct to label this plan as a failure, Emiya carefully considered her suggestion. “That might happen in the event that Lala continues to stay here for a long period of time, but it's very much likely that she'll need to go back home before that happens and I would rather that not happen even if the students won't care that much.” he said calmly. “At the end of the day, she’s still an alien entity from another planet. While the school might not react strongly to her nature, the same can’t be said for everyone else. Worst case scenario, she’ll be taken away by the authorities, and we might never see her again.” 


Not to mention, if her home planet or anyone like Gid found out, the safety of Earth could be at risk.


“Huh, I guess you’re right. Can’t trust those people to keep our precious Lala safe!” Risa said, and then suddenly lunged forward. Emiya initially thought she was aiming for a hug but quickly realized her true intent as she tightly grabbed onto the princess’s chest. “I would’ve missed getting a hold of these two beauties!”


Emiya shook his head, feeling that there wasn’t much he needed to say in this situation. “Wait, other than me and Haruna, who else knows about her identity?” Risa asked seriously, suspecting there could be others aware of such a secret. “Did you really manage to keep it a secret from everyone else but us?”


He hesitated, thinking for a moment before sighing. “There are a few others who know about her identity, but mostly because they are aliens themselves, so it’s a different case.”


As soon as he said that, a look of pure shock and surprise appeared on Risa’s face. “There are more aliens in the school!? Just why did you have to tell me that… is Mio an alien!?” 


While Risa continued to panic over the revelation that her friend might have been an alien this entire time, Emiya quietly left the classroom. He had another matter to attend to, something that had come to his attention thanks to Mikado. 


“Eh, you're not going home?” Lala noticed his departure and went over to ask, to which he shook his head. 


“You can go back with Rito, I'll be back in a bit.” Now that he had more time to focus on matters at his pace, best to start with what Mikado mentioned. With no more threats to Earth in the form of a deranged emperor and a danger to his family with all the fiance candidates coming any time soon. “By the way, what will you do about your sisters? They can't just loiter around the house the entire day.” 


“Why not?” She asked with genuine curiosity. “I can make them swear to never look through your stuff again.” 


“No, not that. I'm afraid they'll make a mess of the place after I thoroughly cleaned it. You realize how hard it is to remove hot cocoa stains from the couch?”


“Hehehe, come on now, it can't be that har—”


“—I put more effort into cleaning it than all of my current battles here combined… including dealing with your father. Not just clean it spotless, but making sure I don't go too far and leave a bleached mark on the material.” He wasn't kidding, after using a great amount of baking soda, commercial spot cleaner and multiple hours of elbow grease — to the point of staying up all night just to make some progress and creating multiple dehumidifiers. Contemplating just tracing a completely new couch entirely from nearly giving up, thankfully he succeeded in the end, but barely.


“Eh, really!?” 


Those words left Lala shaken with her mouth hung open, disbelief and shock visible in her eyes along with her brain trying to make sense of his statement. Risa in the background looked at him weirdly while Haruna having momentarily forgotten her embarrassment nodded in complete agreement. 


“Harder than the time you fought against Yami-chan who was trying to kill you?” She tried to affirm again, only to get a stern nod from the man who soon left the classroom leaving the pink haired princess rooted in her spot. 


“I'm sorry, but am I going crazy or did I just hear Yami-chan try to kill Emiya?” Risa asked, getting no response from girls as Haruna was equally lost.


“Who is Yami?” Haruna said, having yet to meet the former assassin.


“I thought she was Emiya's subordinate or disciple of some kind like those old martial arts movies…”


Peke chimed in, “I told you, Lala-sama. There is something very wrong with that man.” 


.


.


.


Walking down the road, he arrived at a small store that specializes in making Taiyaki, a place he knew was regularly visited by a certain former assassin according to Mikado. 


“You really did take a liking to this stuff,” he said, standing behind the blonde girl who was quietly munching on a batch of them. The latter sitting on a bench and minding her own business, she turned her head, golden-brown eyes meeting her crimson red ones.


“Yuuki Emiya Shirou,” she acknowledged his existence in a monotone voice, neither excited nor disappointed by his arrival. Her behavior was almost robotic, with little emotion, something that would have caught his attention in the past but now seemed almost normal. He knew she wasn’t doing it deliberately, that was just her normal personality. 


“Here,” Yami said, extending her hand to offer him a piece of the half eaten Taiyaki. “Try it.” There was a hint of eagerness in her gesture, almost as if she was looking forward to his reaction. Without much thought or suspicion, Emiya accepted it, taking a seat next to her. 


“Hmm, tastes okay, I guess. The red bean paste filling is a bit too bland for my taste, but the dough is on point,” he remarked, seeing the girl look at him without saying a word. “I can make a better version of it if you want.” 


“Hm.” 


Both sat there for the next few minutes in silence, gazing at the passing people whilst enjoying their snacks. “Hm?” Emiya felt as if he was being watched, gazing behind to find nothing in particular, perhaps he was just being too overly cautious due to recent events. 


“Apparently you want to learn how to fight like me?” 


“I… I'm not sure.” Her answer was rather unexpected, deciding to let her explain he waited patiently. “I tried to find a new purpose after what you told me at the library. I thought I had an answer later on, but the more I think about it the more I realize it was just a waste of time. You don't need my protection and I can't keep my promise with Mikan to protect you.” 


His eyes widened, hearing about this deal between both girls for the first time. “I didn't expect for her to go behind my back and give you such a task.”


“Yuuki Rito also asked me to keep you safe.” 


“...”


Those two, hopefully it wouldn't become a habit of doing such things in the future. Protection was the last thing he needed, but it sort of warmed his heart to hear that. “So that is why you've been keeping an eye on me even at school, being a little bodyguard and all.” 


She nodded, “Yet I failed again, forced you to handle the matters relating to the princess by yourself and even made you fight the emperor alone. I have failed your sister and brother.” Yami looked at him while taking another bite. “If I were to learn your skill sets and accommodate to my own, would that change the outcome?” 


“No, that's not how it works I'm afraid.” He gave her a clear answer, not willing to delude the girl with fake promises. “I use more than just swords, but also spears, bows and many more different kinds of weapons. My ability in part facilitates acquiring the knowledge of how to effectively use them to some degree. But that is also mixed in with my own accumulated experience. You can't exactly mimic me, even the smallest factors like your height can pose a challenge.”


Rather than giving him a clear answer, Yami frowned. He was about to continue his explanation but shut up the moment he heard the sound of her clothing… stretching? “What?” 


Right before his eyes, the young blonde began to change physically. A sensation that gave him a strong feeling of déjà vu washed over him as Golden Darkness's body changed and grew in a way eerily similar to what had happened with Lala earlier. Her face remained the same while her body slowly but surely stretched and filled out in certain areas, now resembling a woman around his age, if not older. Certain parts of her black clothing stretched and struggled to maintain their shape, barely concealing her lower region. In less than a second, Emiya was gazing at a completely different person, albeit with her regular face.


"That is not a problem," she answered in a monotone tone, her voice thankfully remaining unchanged, unlike what had happened with Lala.


"I want to be surprised, but after everything that’s happened so far, I’m not," he mumbled, unsure whether to feel relieved or worried that all of this was becoming a regular sight to him. "So you can do more than just turn parts of your body into bladed weapons. Polymorphism?"


She shook her head. "I can't turn into someone else or even something else entirely. I can only make myself taller or older-looking to a certain extent. It was useful during certain missions but also kept getting in the way of battle," she said, glancing down at her chest, which now closely resembled Mikado's and was even larger than Lala's. "I can only go beyond my limits with my hair."


"Can you turn back?"


"Yes," she replied. In an instant, she reverted back to her old self, making him feel much more comfortable and less awkward.


"So, can you teach me?"


"So that is your goal? To constantly be my guardian and dedicate your life to keeping a promise to my sister, even though I don't need your protection?"


"N-No," she answered with a slight hesitation. "I will continue to do so until I’m able to truly find my purpose. This will help me find it, and it will make your sister happy in the meantime." 


Despite their rocky start and the unconventional way they were introduced to each other, he couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved. If one day he were to be gone and pulled back to a world he thought he left behind, at least there would be someone like Yami to stay alongside his siblings and keep them safe. Having exchanged blows with her, he was more reassured of her capabilities than anyone else.


"Good for you, but I'm afraid that's—hm?"


The bushes in the background rustled once more. This time, both of them sensed someone spying on them, and he was certain it wasn’t just his paranoia. The assassin acted faster, her hair stretching and piercing the foliage with multiple hand-shaped strands of golden locks, capturing whoever hid behind it.


"Argh, let me go! Where do you think you're touching!? I wasn't doing anything bad in the first place!" A struggling noise sounded near them, a girl's voice that sounded particularly familiar to the counter guardian. Golden Darkness paid no heed and forcefully yanked out the stranger by their ankle, fully restraining them.


"Kya!" It was a white-haired girl, yelping and holding her skirt down as she dangled upside down, making sure her panties wouldn’t be shown.


"It's you," Emiya said, recognizing the person as the one who had been spying on them on the rooftop when he was with Rissa. His eyes squinted, becoming increasingly suspicious of this individual and why she was stalking him in the first place. 


"Don't tell me you're another one of Lala's fiancé candidates…" It was more of a threat than a question. Yami observed him for a second with concentrated eyes before looking back at her prisoner, mirroring his expression.


"Speak, or your head will touch the ground," she commanded. Multiple blades appeared around the stranger, some shaped like a certain white-married blade but without the same pattern. One pressed against the stranger’s throat, making her squirm, her face turning pale and frightened.


"Stop, you’ve got it all wrong! I am not one of Lala's fiancé candidates at all! Why the hell would I try to get married to Lala of all people!? I'm not into girls!"


Her words sounded genuine, but both individuals remained vigilant. Golden Darkness looked at Emiya. "She doesn't sound trustworthy. She could easily be an alien. We should dispose of her."


“Dispose!?” Shouted the girl.


He wasn't sure what type of alien she might be, but Golden Darkness seemed to be insinuating she was a creature capable of shape-shifting. He nodded, scratching the back of his head. "She doesn't look trustworthy to me either. I feel like I've seen her somewhere other than last time."


"The princess’s bodyguard should have a record if we provide them with her blood."


"They have access to such a thing? Interesting."


Seeing how casually they discussed her fate, the white-haired girl panicked even more, waving her hand frantically. "What is this about using my blood and finding me suspicious? We've met before, and I didn’t try to hurt you!"


"Not yet, at least," Emiya added.


"Wait, wait, wait! My name is Run, I'm Ren’s sister!" she hurriedly revealed, hoping this information would prevent further harm. "I swear I’m not after Lala or trying to harm you. That's the last thing I want! She's my enemy instead!"


Now it was Emiya's turn to give her a weird look. Crossing his arms, he slowly said, "She is your enemy? Quick question, do you know what my relationship to Lala is?"


Run quickly nodded. "Yes! Yes! Of course, I know. There's no one in the realm of affairs and news surrounding the royal family, including Lala's fiancé candidates."


"Yes, that. And for some reason, you think it's a good idea to mention that you're Lala's enemy in front of said ‘fiancé’?" He watched as the cogs in her brain slowly started to turn, trying to uncover the meaning behind his words. At least now it became clear that she truly had no intentions to hurt Lala or anyone else, unlike the other candidates he had met. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t keep an eye on her in case this turned out to be a farce.


"I'm sorry, but it's a bit hard to think straight when all my blood is rushing to my head," the girl whimpered pathetically, her face indeed turning red. Emiya sighed at her expression.


"It's fine, you can let her go. She's not here to hurt us." On cue, all of the blades and Golden Darkness's blonde strands of hair released the woman, who fell to the ground with a short shout of pain as her face struck the dirt, leaving her with a dirty face filled with mud.


"That's not how you should treat a lady, young girl!" Run shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at her captor. Emiya rolled his eyes and knelt beside her, offering a towel. Her face did an immediate one eighty as she accepted it with a large smile.


"Thank you! No wonder Ren looks up to you!"


"All right, enough of these games. You may be Ren's sister, but that doesn’t explain why you’ve been constantly stalking me lately. So why don’t you just tell me what your business with me is?" He hoped this wouldn’t be another case like her brother, where the girl begged him to take her as a disciple or some other nonsense about being a true man or woman in her case. After cleaning up her face, Run smiled and got to her feet before extending her hand towards him.


"I was just bored and wanted to join in on the fun my brother was experiencing. You wouldn’t happen to be willing to help someone like me, right?" she said in a cutesy voice, Emiya’s eyes twitching as he saw her trying to act and look both cute and small. "I have an idea. I can bring you to my ship, and we can get to know each other be—” 


He interrupted her.


"I told you I’m not in the mood to play games with you, right?" Emiya interrupted her without missing a beat. Yami loomed right behind him, looking down at Run with a chilling expression. "My patience is really running thin with these lies. If you continue, I'll let my friend over here interrogate you instead of myself."


On queue, Yami's hand morphed into a blade with the light shining on its edge ominously.


Her face turned white with fear once more as she frantically waved her hands in surrender. "No, no, no! There's no need for that! I'll tell you the truth! I just wanted to learn about you, okay? I've heard so much about your skills and wanted to see what kind of person you were! Ren keeps talking about you constantly and won't shut up about you! So I wanted to get a closer look at you myself, I swear!” 


Emiya hummed, finally seeing a sliver of honesty in her eyes. "Fine. But if I catch you lying or doing anything suspicious again, I won't be so lenient."


Run nodded vigorously, clearly relieved. "Thank you! I promise I won't cause any trouble! Ah, I also wanted to add something that I know may interest you.” 


“Is that so?” 


“Yup, I know a way to break you out of this engagement!”