14 Chapter 14

~Shinji Matou POV~

"What do you mean another part of Illyasviel?" Rin asked while slouching in the wooden chair.

"Did you ever wonder why Illya was able to use Ruby with so much ease? How she was almost putting out the same amount of magical energy as you two when you're at your best. That was due to her status as a lesser grail, and as such, her magical energy far surpassed yours."

"A lesser grail?" Luvia asked in confusion. Looking over to Miyu also showed her eyes slightly widening in slight shock.

"A vessel forged to contain a colossal amount of magical energy. Enough to change the very world by sheer force alone."

"But... that should be impossible! The sheer amount of magical energy needed would take centuries to procure alone!" Rin yelled as she stood up in shock.

"Yes, you're right, but Illya's family, the Einzbern, have a unique sorcery trait that allows them to circumvent the usual rules of magecraft and skip the process of it, and get the results immediately." I said as I took a seat. "Anyway, that's where Kuro here comes in. She was a dormant personality inside of Illya's body, and she took over whenever Illya was in a dire situation."

"All those times she installed the card, right?" Miyu asked.

"Yeah, and in Illya's recent Install, Kuro's desire to live manifested as her gaining a body through using their sorcery trait and the archer card."

"I see." Luvia hummed dismissively before glaring at Kuro with narrowed eyes. "Then let's simply retrieve the card."

"What the hell, Luvia!" Rin yelled, spinning to face her fellow magus.

"What? Rin, have you forgotten our mission? Our mission was to retrieve the cards and keep them secure, and when the time comes we take them back to the Clocktower. Letting yourself get attached is illogical and cruel when you will have to kill her in the future." Luvia said with the cold logic befitting a magus, and it disgusted me to my core.

*crack*

"Luvia, you overstep your bounds; she's my servant, so I get the final say in her fate, and I say she shall live. Unless you wish to go against my desires, then you can die right here right now on these Japanese soils today." I spat out as I glared daggers at Luvia.

"Do you think you can kill me, Matou?" Luvia said, returning my glare with her own.

"Yes, I'll kill you, even if I have to blow us up together to do so." I said not that I thought that it would come to that point since I had so many advantages over her.

Luvia continued to glare at me for several seconds before huffing and leaning back in her chair. "Fine, I'll relent for now."

"Anyway, back to what I was talking about before. Since Kuro used the magical energy of Illya as well as the Archer class card, she now has a body similar to the servants we fought, and Illya will be weaker as a result since Kuro here took most of the magical energy with her to manifest."

"Wait, I'm going to be weaker!" Illya said in shock.

"Yup, that means that you can no longer just throw blasts of magical energy with Ruby. You're going to have to start getting creative with your use of her now." I said before standing up. "Anyway, that's all I wanted to say, so you guys don't worry about this coming to bite you in the ass later, so seeya. Come on, Kuro, let's head out." I expected her to say something snarky in response, but all I got was silence.

Turning around, I saw Kuro standing beside the chair in which I was sitting, staring at me with a dumbstruck look on her face.

"Hey Kuro, what's up?" Reaching forward, I set my hand on her shoulder and gently shook her, bringing her out of her stupor.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Kuro said with slight confusion.

"Yeah, I said, let's head out."

"Oh… okay." Kuro said as she followed me out of Luvia's mansion.

The walk back to my house was filled with silence until Kuro spoke up, in a tone of voice that contrasted with her usual one; it was much more subdued. "Why did you defend me? Usually you're the more mature of the group, taking the option that will help you."

"Well, you had your life taken away from you without ever getting a chance to live it, so your anger, while misguided, wasn't unjustified." I spun around and placed my hand gently on her head, giving her a soft smile. "And now that you can finally live, as your master, I'll make sure your life is a fulfilling one."

Kuro's eyes widened in shock before turning away from me, and I was able to see a blush on her cheeks.

I chose to disregard the implications of that blush on her face as I continued to walk back to my house.

[****]

"Kuro, you do know you can go to school, right?" I asked while examining the scroll in my grasp.

"Yeah, I think I would just lose interest in going there every day." Kuro said with a shrug as she sat beside me. "Anyway, what is this anyway? You've been looking at it for a couple of days."

"If this works as intended, then I should be able to speed up my training significantly." I said, smiling as I gazed at the scroll. On the scroll were a series of hand signs in a specific order.

"Shadow clone… Jutsu? So it's something from Japan, right?" Kuro said eagerly.

"Ehhh, I guess you could say that." I said as I went back to looking at the scroll and practicing the hand signs.

Kunzite and I had been working on it as well as one more thing, but I knew there were about two months left before shit hit the fan for real. So using the caster class card, we had been studying the assassin card. She was able to reproduce every Zabaniya technique besides Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion due to her own noble phantasm since it was Hundred Persona weaponizing their multiple personality disorder. But with this shadow clone jutsu as well as the card, we were hoping to make them more solid than they already were so they weren't heavily rejected by Gaia, as well as the energy cost of the clones.

Then I would pull a Naruto if I could and use them so I could train all the stuff I had acquired in my time in this world-line.

The next couple of hours were spent practicing until I was hungry. "Hey Kuro, you want some pizza for dinner? I don't feel like cooking today."

"Oh yeah, sure, I actually never had it before." Kuro said enthusiastically.

Taking out my phone I ordered several pizzas, and after twenty minutes, they arrived.

I couldn't help but smile in amusement as Kuro ate the pizza with gusto.

"So, is it good?"

"Mmmm mmmm." Kuro said with a thumbs up before going back to eat her food.

After eating my fill, I headed outside, preparing to test out if this would actually work. I had already unlocked my potential to use chakra, and with the help of Kunzite, I now had decent control over it.

"Alright, Kunzite, let's do this." I said to the hovering wand next to me.

"Yes, master Shinji, let us begin." Kunzite said, allowing me to grab his handle, and I transformed into my prisma trace form.

I then concentrated on my chakra, spinning it into a tight spiral around my heart before I began using the hand signs.

First, I raised my left and right index and middle fingers and pressed them together. I then slid them down my right hand so that my fingertips touched the back of my knuckles on my left hand, overlapping my left ring finger and pinky over the ones on my right hand.

I then pressed my palms together and interlocked my fingers.

Finally, I raised my left and right index and middle fingers, and then pressed them together.

I began pulling on my chakra, focusing on a mental image of myself. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke erupted from around me, and I felt my magical energy, aura, chakra, and cursed energy reserves be halved.

I instantly fell to the ground, and I could barely hear Kunzite's worried voice as my head was throbbing.

After a couple of minutes, I was able to regain my wits and look up into blue eyes similar to my own.

"So it was a success me." Me and my clone said together.

"How is your body holding up?" I asked while pulling out a notebook and pencil.

The clone of myself looked himself over, and I even felt him use structural grasp on himself.

"My body is fine, and as you felt earlier, I took half of your reserves, and I also took half your circuits with me as well." He said confirming our suspensions on how the technique would affect magic circuits.

"So we can divide our magic potential thirty times." I hummed in thought while writing everything down. "And Kunzite, what about our contract?"

"It is still intact, a fully functional master Shinji, though it seems to split between you two." Kunzite said while looking between us.

"Alright then." I said as I activated my reinforcement, mana burst, curse energy reinforcement, water armor, and chakra reinforcement.

Across from me, my clone followed suit, donning his water armor as well, and judging by how his presence increased, he followed suit and reinforced himself as well.

Using Arc of Embodiment, I made two swords and threw one at my clone, who caught it with ease.

We immediately dashed toward each other and clashed weapons, sending a shockwave that destroyed our surroundings in an instant.

Jumping back I looked down at my now broken blade before throwing it away, and looking up, I saw that my clone had thrown away his blade as well.

We both dashed toward each other and threw punches at each other, ending up punching each other in the face.

"Shinji-kun! What's happening!" A yelling Kuro's voice took us out of our fight. Turning to the house, I saw Kuro in her servant attire, with Kanshou and Bakuya in hand. "Huh!? Two Shinji-kun's, what is going on?"

Crap I kind of forgot she was here. Turning to my clone, he gave me a nod before I dismissed him and dropped my enhancements.

"Uh, training." I said with a shrug.

[****]

You know, I didn't expect this meeting to come along since Kuro had somewhat given up on her revenge. Across from me sat Illyasviel and her mother, Irisviel.

I was conflicted about her. On one hand, she basically got rid of Kuro without hesitation. But on the other hand, I hoped she was probably a good parent since, half the time, she wasn't even here.

Looking to the side, I saw Kuro shifting her gaze between me and Irisviel, and when I glanced at Illya, she was equally uneasy.

"Anyway, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Irisviel-san."

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you too, Shinji-san. Now what do you plan to do with my little Illya-chan?" She said with a saccharine smile.

"Mom!!" Illya yelled out in shock, a blush on her face.

"Yeah, no way, they are way too young for me." I said dismissively, ignoring the looks on both Illya's and Kuro's faces.

"Ahh, too bad." Irisviel said with a sigh before gaining a serious expression. "Anyway, could you be so kind as to get rid of those command seals?"

"Firstly, it's Kuro… mom." Kuro said, speaking up. "And secondly, you don't have the right to have control over my life! At least with Shinji, I can actually have a life of my own!"

"But you can have a..." Irisviel wasn't able to finish as Kuro cut her off.

"It's not the same! I watched on for years as you raised her and completely forgot about my existence. And now that I'm out here now you suddenly have an interest in my life! No, I'll stay right here with Shinji! He may act awkward at times, and is way too mature for his age, but at least he treats me like actual family!" Kuro screamed, tears spilling from her eyes.

"I think you should leave Irisviel you as well, Illya." I said with a slightly awkward tone.

"But…" Irisviel said, but after looking at Kuro, she simply stood up and walked out of the front door.

"See you later, Shinji-san, and you too, Kuro-san." Illya said with a smile that I could immediately tell was forced before she followed after Irisviel.

Alright, I'll let Kuro clear her head. With that in mind, I stood up and was about to head into my room, but I felt Kuro quickly stand up and bury her head in my back.

"Shinji-kun, can we stay like this for a while?"

Releasing a sigh, I sat back down. "Sure, I'll stay as long as you need."