Chapter Nine: The Nun

Shirou POV

When I awoke again it was with a groan my torso ached a lot and my arm muscles burned, I moved up into a sitting position "so your finally awake Shirou," came the familiar voice of Kiara. 

Ah crud how the hell am I going to explain last night I open my mouth to speak but a cough escapes my lips dry mouth I thought "here drink this," Kiara said with a calm smile handing out a cup of water which I gratefully took and drank with greed. 

Once I finished the cup, I let out a loud exhale "th-thank you Kiara I apologize for having made you take care of me last night especially after that...episode I had," I said placing the cup onto the nearby nightstand with an awkward stutter. 

She only laughed though with a smile on her face "it's alright Shirou I don't hold what happened against you the deliriousness from the amount of blood you lost probably made you not that all down to earth. 

But if you really want to make it up to me you can start by explaining what happened last night? And how did you make those swords appear out of nowhere?" she said with a concerned tone at the end. 

That in itself was the million-dollar question do I tell her, or do I perhaps make up some random bullshit '𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞' came the condescending voice of the lost man 'you be quiet I'll be dealing with you later' I admonished causing the man to scoff.

"Shirou are you there?" Kiara voice calls out pulling me back to reality "ah right sorry again I am just not all too sure how to start without sounding crazy," I said in a nervous voice she reached her hand out clasping it over my own. 

It was sort of calming in a rather weird way "how about you start from the beginning," she said with a gentle look one would normally be found on a doctor. 

 I swallow heavily "well I guess it started back around last week," and from there I started to explain everything the archer card, magecraft, the corrupted things that pretended to be humans, and what little else I knew of the other cards. 

"And that was how I ended coming back here the class of the card I finished off was assassin," I said slowly looking up to meet her face only to see that she was completely composed like she wasn't even phased "yo-you don't believe me do you?" I questioned automatically assuming the worst. 

"Calm yourself Shirou, I believe you in fact how do you think I healed your wounds so quickly?" she said lifting her hand then the familiar smell of ozone entered my nose, and her hand began glowing a soft green color.

"I actually am a magus although I would consider myself more of a spellcaster like you since my focus is only on healing," she continued with a nervous smile now wondering what my reaction would be. 

I am left speechless for a moment until I just started chuckling causing her to raise an eyebrow of concern "I am sorry it's just I am really glad I met you otherwise I would probably breakdown," I admitted causing the nun to let out an "oh" sound. 

My hand swipes away the small tear coming out of my eye "...so you can do magecraft to huh? Can you explain it a bit more to me you're probably a lot more knowledgeable than I am since I only just discovered it," I asked wanting to learn more. 

Kiara hesitantly nodded her head "I suppose I can starting with the fact that magecraft isn't really just about learning spells it's more of like a pseudo form of science that involves equations and certain requirements to be met," she started off. 

"Od is the amount of magical energy a magi can have however once you've depleted your Od though your magecraft won't work until it's been fully regenerated," she continued though with the way it was explained it kind of reminds me an RPG game. 

"Or at least that's what I know of...my teacher and current guardian is a bit unorthodox to say the least and has only taught me the basics of what I need to know," she said with a flush of embarrassment. 

She then coughed into her hand regaining her composure "anyways all of that becomes entirely useless though without magic circuits which allows the flow of magical energy to run through them when activated although you could probably think of them to be like -" 

"Like pipes," I filled in as an image of myself working in a shed appeared in my mind, I looked to be doing some kind of incantation on the pipe that my other self was grasping onto. 

Now that I think of it didn't, I use to practice most of my spells in the shed mainly reinforcement and- wait a minute that's not right I've never done any of that before and my household doesn't even have a shed so where did this memory come from. 

"Shirou are you still there?" came Kiara's concerned call "oh right sorry I was just thinking about what you've explained to me over in my mind," I quickly replied. 

This didn't seem to work though if anything the look on her face grew a bit more serious "Shirou the things you've been through this past week...it hasn't been easy, has it?" she asked. 

I swallow thickly feeling all kinds of emotions swell up in my chest "no it really hasn't," I whispered recalling every near-death experience. 

The swordsmen, hunting me down while trying to strike me down in his pursuit. The Crimson Assassin, nearly ending my life with his abnormal speed, flexibility, and knife skills. Fuck the only reason I even managed to survive the second encounter this time around was because of sheer perseveration and luck. 

I wasn't sure what would come after me next? Getting blasted apart by bomb? Or maybe getting all my limbs chopped up into tiny pieces like a bowl of salad? The possibilities only continued to grow. 

"Truth is I am just exhausted and want to just stop already there's only so many near death experiences I can take before I shatter apart like glass...and yet," I continue with a pause at the end. 

Something was making me want to fight them. Something deep down inside my very soul- a desire or rather an ideal that had been settled inside of me since the moment I not only installed the black Archer card but had also started seeing those visions of the lost man. 

A hand cups my cheek forcing me to face her back "do you perhaps want to fight these creatures simply because you want or is it because of some other reason?" Kiara asked her honey-colored eyes gazing deep into my own burning amber. 

Our eyes remained stuck on each other for who knows how long until I couldn't take it anymore "I don't know! I just don't fucking know anymore!" I exclaimed with frustration. 

I really didn't know why I wanted to keep on fighting those abominations I only fought against two of them so far, and there would surely be a lot more following after.

 I'd like to think I only went off to face the Crimson Assassin because I wanted to but did I really? I moved by instinct when I went to the card's location and yet I also recalled the words of the lost man "𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧. 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐡,"

The feeling of cold steel bears down onto my head. 

𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐞-

"Shirou," Kiara called out after another long moment of sombre silence "I can… help ease your burden if you so wish it," she offered catching my attention instantly "How?" I question with hidden desperation. 

"I've only begun developing my own type of magecraft I am still kind of working on it but as it is now it should still be able to help calm your mind down," The girl explained moving over to sit right next onto the bed "with your permission… I could use it, to grant you the relief you seek," she asked. 

"...Sigh it's worth a shot at least let's try it," I said as the nun began turning me over so that I was now lying on her lap which were soft, her fingers brush past my hair sending a slight shiver down my body. 

Then her fingers pressed up against both sides of my temple '𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮' came familiar voice of steel I ignored him since I would deal with him once I had the proper time. 

The nun closed her eyes her hands engulfed in a greenish-blue color signifying the activation of her magic circuits "relieve thyself from their burden...thesis of the still heart," she intoned

A burst of green aura enveloped Kiara's hands, before flowing into my temples it reminded me of a gentle stream of water that go down a river. 

I could feel the effects coming into effect in an instant the images that had been haunting me were slowly being not erased but rather pushed down away from my mind's eye. 

The memories of that 'man' killing both Sakura and Toshaka, the knight with beautiful golden hair and green eyes, the familiar red bowman, the black skull themed assassin, killing all of those cultists, the hill of swords, and finally the image of that 'man' shattering away because of what 'he' had done were now subsided. 

I open my eyes feeling so much lighter as if the weight of the world had been removed granting Atlas relief after spending many centuries of holding the world upon his back. 

"There that should have done the trick," Kiara said deactivating her magic circuits her eyes now looked down at me "thesis of the still heart is my own magecraft that I created it's still in its development process but none of the less works to a small degree like it should," she explained. 

I rub my face still getting used to the feel of this sudden lightness "it's a weird name I know but I think it's appropriate for this situation since you are now light without any feelings of stress," she said with a chuckle. 

Slowly I lifted myself out from her lap and steadied myself into standing the difference compared to before and now was obvious I thought doing a small jumping jack.

 All the while Kiara watched her eyes trailing over my figure making sure I didn't suddenly collapse or anything of the like 

"Thank you, Kiara...this really means a lot to me" I thanked her with all of the sincerity I could muster into my voice "you have no idea just how appreciative I am for what you've done."

I wanted to pay her back but was unsure how to she had not only healed my physical wounds but also cured the mental pain that I've constantly been in since I installed that damn Archer card. 

Suddenly I paused now realizing that not only was I in a girl's room, but I was still shirtless, and standing right in front of one right now much less the fact that said girl is a nun. 

A red flush of embarrassment appears over my face "um, Kiara?" I asked rather nervously.

"Yes?" she replied with a curious tilt of her head that somehow made her look kind of cute "I uh sort of need to get home so that I can reassure my guardians that I am perfectly fine and alive but um...." I awkwardly pointed at my shirtless body "you wouldn't happen to have a spare shirt, would you?" I asked. 

She gave a smile of amusement much to my chagrin "well I am sure I could procure one of Issei's shirts please wait here," she replied heading out to go steal one of his shirts.

-end of chapter nine-

sorry for not posting on time lately I've been feeling tired these past few days, but rest assured I intend to try and get my focus together and maintain my posting schedule.