Fate: Hammer Time

Chapter 12: In the Water

Magecraft left traces.

This was an undeniable and inescapable truth. A power that could shape the world on a fundamental level, that allowed a person, a Magus, to play with Reality itself, always left a mark on the world. That was completely inevitable.

This mark was visible to anyone who dabbled in the Mystic Arts, though to varying levels. Most Magi could somewhat perceive the presence of Magecraft in their vicinity, through a variety of senses, and with Spells, this perception could be amplified.

There were some however that took that ability to a whole other level. A select few individuals who were more perceptive to the world at large, and who could track down the traces like blood hounds on a trail.

Emiya Shirou was one of these individuals. With his sense for Magical Energy, which for him translated into scents, he could pick up traces of Magecraft from dozens of metres away, and he could almost always determine precisely what kind of Magecraft it was too.

It was an incredibly convenient talent to have. It had proven its worth with the criminals smelling of magic, and it had significantly contributed to finding the Dead Apostle in Urayasu, and undoubtedly, it would be invaluable many more times in the future. Without it, Shirou would be grasping in the dark.

This talent also allowed the redhead to pin down any and all sources of Magecraft within the borders of Fuyuki-City, which was certainly convenient for someone like him, who had to avoid those sources like the plague.

In general, that meant he had to avoid the Tohsaka-manor, inhabited by Tohsaka Rin, the Matou-estate, inhabited by Zouken, and the church, inhabited by Kotomine Kirei.

Kotomine Kirei in particular was one to avoid, and Shirou, warned by Kiritsugu of how dangerous that priest was, had never gone anywhere near his Church. Even now, with Mjolnir at his side, he avoided that place as much as he could.

Not just because of Kotomine however. Something else lived in that Church as well, something Mystical, something that smelled like the Fuyuki Memorial Park, where the Great Fire had taken place, along with some whiffs of the scent of gold, a bit of steel, and something bittersweet that brought to mind extreme arrogance, mixed with an overbearing scent that indicated an overwhelming amount of power and authority, to the point that it made Shirou's nose hurt.

Shirou didn't have a clue as to what it could be, but he did know that whatever it was, it was Strong, with a well-deserved capital S. Stronger than anything he had ever smelled, save for Mjolnir itself, enough to obliterate Shirou if he got into a confrontation with it.

Fortunately, Shirou had always been able to avoid it quite well, and recently, it hadn't even been present in the city at all, having gone elsewhere, which suited the redhead just fine.

In comparison, Matou Zouken was more difficult to avoid. True, the ancient Magus might not venture out much, if at all, but from what Shirou had been able to smell, he had an extremely good surveillance system in place across the entire city.

If Shirou had to describe it, he would say that it was like many 'pieces' of Matou Zouken had been scattered all over town. Those 'parts' of the old man were seemingly everywhere, even under and around Tohsaka's house and in the vicinity of the church. He had even smelled their taint, if less intense, on Sakura, though that was to be expected, as she lived with the old man.

Fortunately, no such parts were anywhere near Shirou's house. Apparently, Zouken did not consider him important enough to spy on.

Still, just to be sure, he had added a few more Runes to the defences of his house, mainly focused on stopping small pests, since he'd quickly figured out those pieces were probably the worm-familiars of the Matou-family.