Steel Eyed Faker

Chapter 25: New Teigu

Beta read by Shigiya and Paragon of Awesomeness

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-Night Raid Base-

If there was one constant across all realities, it was the fact that the entity known as Emiya Shirou was not a talented mage by standard views.

Rin often called that foolish boy a third rate Magus, with very little chance of ever advancing beyond that unless he truly pushed himself beyond his limits — much less earning a title. The fact that his sole talent also involved a taboo form of Magecraft that would instantly lead him to getting slapped with a Sealing Designation did not help. 

Despite possessing a slightly above average number of Magic Circuits, the boy had always been limited to a single spell due to his overspecialization. No Magus worth their salt would ever proudly show their face or declare themselves gifted if their entire repertoire amounted to only one technique. Such a person would be regarded as little more than a trainee, an apprentice who had barely set foot on the path. Trying to learn anything beyond that spell was pointless for all those who bore the name of Emiya Shirou. Hundreds if not thousands of hours poured into additional training would barely move the needle. 

That had been a reality Emiya accepted long before his first death. It was one he never truly resented and the main reason why he never even bothered to experiment with other forms of Magecraft. 

It was simply who he was. The single spell that represented his entire existence, his truest identity and everything his life embodied. A Magecraft that hovered on the edge of True Magic, close in concept yet separated by an enormous gulf. A Magecraft intertwined with the theory of the world egg; a Reality Marble.

Something that imposed his inner world upon the outer one. It created a space where he was strongest, where the world reflected how he saw himself, revealing his authentic form for all to witness. 

That was Unlimited Blade Works.

It was a spell he relied on for both offense and defense. Whether he called forth swords from the barren wasteland within his soul into the physical world or manifested shields, pieces of armor, or projectiles, everything originated from that inner domain. 

Every technique and ability he possessed branched from that one spell, each thread leading back to it. One of those abilities happened to be something he disliked using and avoided whenever he could. It leaned toward defensive application, yet it frequently harmed the user, oftentimes even more than whatever they were trying to defend against. 

The same concept of calling forth swords from his inner world was applied within his own body. It was brutal, efficient, and barbaric, sprouting blades like a human-shaped porcupine to deter attackers while holding his body together. Muscle fibres twisted around manifested blades that pierced through damaged tissue, stitching torn areas together like a sewing machine until his body merely resembled something close to its original state. It was not healing in any proper sense, merely a crude method of taping himself back into one piece before dealing with the consequences later.

"I can't remember the last time I had to use this in such a way," Emiya said as he stood in front of the bathroom mirror, examining the condition of his body. 

Horrific was the only fitting word. 

His limbs had been reattached, his bones and ligaments set back into their proper places, but the damage to his skin and flesh remained far from healed. Lines of fresh scars crossed old ones, several cuts still leaked thin trails of blood, and tiny metallic blades protruded visibly beneath the surface. His fingers traced slowly across the lines that ran over his chest, feeling the hard metal beneath the skin where the swords had briefly acted as armor during the explosion.