The Huntsman of Red V2

Chapter 2 Beginnings

Seeing his Master scurry away into the debris of a collapsed portion of the wooden building, Archer only sighed.

Archer wasn't Archer's true name, but instead a designation of a certain class he was summoned into based on a magic ritual created to materialize what was called the Holy Grail. Seven Masters would summon seven Servants from the Throne of Heroes, a location existing outside of the world and its very time axis; preserving within it, the legends of Heroes of time immemorial; Legends long lost in the world of Remnant and spoken of only in myth and folklore.

In regards to the ritual of the Holy Grail itself, the seven Masters and seven Servants would fight in a type of Battle Royal in which the last one standing would obtain the golden chalice with the ability and sheer magical power to grant any one desire. Masters would supply their magical energy or prana, and Servants making use of that, would unleash their unique skills and abilities to gain an advantage over the others. In which case, of the seven Servant classes involved, the Archer class, his class, was best known for projectile proficiency and Independent Action; a skill allowing the Archer class Servants to be near-totally independent of their Masters. In fact, it was the class known to be able to survive the longest even without a supply of magical energy from their Masters. Therefore, there was a danger in summoning Archer class Servants for Masters depending on personality.

Fortunately, he wasn't a very difficult kind of Archer.

His true name was Shirou Emiya, a fairly recent Hero to enter the throngs of the Throne of Heroes, but even then, due to the obscurity of his heroics, he was simply known as the Nameless Hero.

Hair the colour of red, and skin a bronze tan, he stood strongly at six-feet tall and wore a crimson mantle shrouding a black skin-tight underarmour with matching pants.

Thinking of the lack of information in his head about the situation, he already understood that his current summoning was far different from what he was expecting. He was a Heroic Spirit, a hero who had accumulated great deeds in life and became an object of worship after death. Summoned, he was expecting to be involved in what seemed to be another Holy Grail War, yet clearly nothing seemed right about the situation.

From the moment he was summoned, the Holy Grail should have had at least provided him with enough information about the current era to allow him to get a better understanding of it. This basic procedure was used to even out the playing field and reduce the differences in knowledge between olden Servants of a bygone era, and the newer Servants of a more recent era. In any case, the fact that he understanding nothing of the current world left him at a loss for answers, more so when the first inhabitant he saw upon arrival was a soulless monster.

His gaze shifted, his attention drawn towards the fading body of the creature he had killed upon his summons.

It was dissolving fast, the blood, muscle, and bone that comprised its shadow-like body breaking down into ember like pieces that sizzled before being snuffed out in a pallid odourless smoke.

His bronze coloured eyes watched on silently until the entire thing was no more than a vague imprint on the ground that at least proved its existence.

Scratching at the back of his head, he was already frowning by the time his keen senses picked up the fact that he wasn't alone with the child that had left towards the debris moments earlier.

The sounds of growling and clicking were originating from outside the building, the scraping of claws against wood echoing out in the silence.

Wordlessly, he peaked out through an open window of the building to see two more of the very same creatures he had just dealt with using the swords still in his hands prowling outside. Judging from the fact that one slash was enough to kill based on his own experience, then perhaps it might have had been overkill to be using Kanshou and Bakuya, the swords held in his palms, in the first place.