1 Chapter 1

"So this is it, huh?"

I looked at myself in the mirror. The face reflected back was different than I remembered. Red hair, golden eyes, a fairly handsome face... for a kid. Yes, a kid.

I had been de-aged.Hair? It can be dyed. A different face? Makeup. Different eye color? There are differently colored contacts. It would definitely be weird, but it wouldn't be impossible. It all can be explained within the boundaries of science (no matter how unlikely). But de-aging! What kind of sorcery is this?

Goodbye atheism, goodbye science. I will miss you guys because there is no way in hell I would deny the existence of the supernatural after such a blatant display. But it doesn't mean I will instantly become religious. Imperial truth all the way.

Anyway, I need to figure out what is going on here, and ... uh, I remember now. Last night, I filled out a waifu catalog before I went to sleep. But let's not be hasty. Before concluding anything this outrages, let's check if my situation is similar to the waifu catalog build I filled yesterday.

Let's see, in the build, I chose my world as Nasuverse and my origin (substitute) as Shirou Emiya. Substitute origin should ensure that I live as Shirou Emiya until I am 13, then I would unlock my memories.

In a sense, it's like possession, but unlike possession, I would genuinely live my life as Shirou for 13 years. So I wouldn't have to worry about taking an innocent life or fear that my loved ones would eventually figure out that I am not real Shirou Emiya.

Because even if they would figure it out, it wouldn't be a problem. After all, I would be the same Shirou Emiya they knew. And this would help me when I decide to introduce the Company to my friends.

Interestingly, if I had chosen the possession option, I don't think Shirou would mind. The poor guy might even be happy with the fact that he gave his life for the well-being of another. OG Shirou had some serious problems.

Anyway, long story short, if I had come here because of the WC (Waifu Catalog), I should have remembered my life as Shirou. But I don't.Shame. It would be cool to have all those amazing powers and defenses, but hey, at least I don't have to spend the rest of my life as a multiversal slaver. Anyway, I need to find out my whereabouts.

"A message, huh?"

I took my phone from my pocket, and the phone in question was not the cheap-ass Xiaomi phone that I bought on Black Friday. The phone's design looked like it came from the future, a far future. With a slight hesitation, I unlocked the phone and saw the message.

Memory calibration has been put on hold due to unforeseen events that occurred during the transmission of the agent. The agent's condition was deemed stable enough. Memory calibration now starts.

"Me and my big mouth."

A terrible pain struck my head as 13 years of memories flooded into my mind. From my early childhood - as I saw my younger self playing with my parents - to the great fire that claimed my memories. I watched my amnestic self get saved by Kiritsugu Emiya, then later get adopted by the same man. I saw how my younger self begged Kiritsugu to teach him magic and, despite his reluctance.

New memories continued to come until the memories of this morning came, as I saw my past self trying to figure out why he became a shota again, then he picked up the phone, and the circle completed. I returned to the present.

"This was so weird."

In a way, I am Shirou Emiya, yes, but also I am so much more. Unlike Shirou, I have memories of my childhood and memories of my past life.

So despite living 13 years as Shirou Emiya, I am not a broken child with a crippling amount of survivor's guilt. Yet, I'm still the same weirdo who treats things like housework as hobbies.

"Seriously, I can understand cooking, but why, God, why? Out of all the things to do, why cleaning? I can understand it can be relaxing, especially once you manage to become one with its motion. In fact, doing it almost feels like meditating..."

I answered my own question, didn't I? Well, I might be closer to the OG Shirou than I first thought. Anyway, let's not dive too deep into the philosophical side of things. I am who I am, and that is enough for me.

"Well, since my minor identity crisis is resolved, let's check the company phone and see if the rest of the build is the same as the build I made yesterday."

WorldName: Nasuverse

Rating:6 (365)

Difficulty

[ Legacy Difficulty(Legacy), Me and My Girlfriend(s) (PvE)(Team), No Loyalty(Bindings) ]

Origin

You as Emiya Shirou (Substitute) of T5 [Dragon]

Binding & Lure

Bindings:

[ Company Stamp, Empty Hand ]

Lures:

No Lures

Other Controls:

No Other Controls

Heritage ( Your tier - T7 )

[ Dragon Heart{ Light}, Dragon Scale{ Life}, Treasure Hoard ]

Talents & Perks

Ride:

No Ride

Home:

[ Pocket Space, Pocket Apartment ]

Talents:

[ Science, Engineering, Talent Sharing{ Everlasting}, Communication, Everlasting, Body Tune-Up, Athletic, Martial, Wild, Soul ]

Defenses:

[ Fatality, Trace, Stress(x2), Body(x2), Wild(x2), Environmental(x2) ]

Misc:

No Misc Perks

Generic:

No Generic Perks

Waifu:

No Waifu Perks

[DUO YOU ARE OUR 1.000.000.000.000TH AGINT YOU WILL BE GRANTED A RANDOM SPECIAL ABILITY SUITED TO YOUR ORIGIN. ABILITY IS BEING CREATING... ABILITY IS BEEN CREATED.

SPECIAL SKILL- [ HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES]:

AS A FAKER YOU CAN COPY ANY BLADED MELEE WEAPON AND RECREATE THEM WITH SLIGHTLY LESS QUALITY. BUT NOT ANY MORE. NOW WITH THIS SKILL, YOU CAN TRULY MAKE YOUR COPIED WEPONS YOURS AND RECREATE THEM PERFECTLY. BUT IT WON'T BE EASY BECAUSE YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT THE WEAPON'S ORIGINAL OWNERS IN THEIR PRIME

THE CHALLENGE MAY BE HARD BUT TO COMPENSATE FOR THIS REWORD ALSO WILL BE BOUNTIFUL. THE BENEFITS OF OBTAINING A WEAPON THIS WAY ARE:

-ABILITY TO SUMMON THEM FROM ABW PERMENTLY.

-SUMOND WEAPONS DON'T REQUIRE MANA TO SUMMON OR CONTINUE THEIR EXISTENCE AS, UNLIKE PROJECTIONS GAIA WILL NOT ACTIVELY TRY TO DESTROY THEM.

-IF THE WEAPON HAS A MYTHICAL ORIGIN WEAPON'S MYSTERY WON'T DECLINE.

-WEAPON'S DEFEATED OWNERS CAN BE SUMMONED AS PHANTOMS TO FIGHT FOR YOUR SIDE. THE LEVEL OF POWER AND INTELLIGENCE OF THESE PHANTOMS ARE EQUAL TO THOSE FAKER PREVIOUSLY DEFEATED. (FAKER CAN NOT CAPTURE ANY OF THIS SUMMONS)

-FAKER CAN TAKE THE FORMS OF THE WEAPONS ORIGINAL OWNERS. THIS SKILL ALLOWS FAKER TO USE PREVIOUSLY UNUSABLE TECHNIQUES AND NOBLE PHANTASMS BECAUSE SOME TECHNIQUES AND NOBLE PHANTASMS REQUIRE SPECIFIC BODY TYPES.

NOTE: IF THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF THE WEAPON IS A SERVANT THEN YOU WILL ONLY HAVE TO FIGHT A LIVING VERSION OF THAT SERVANT.]

"Wow."

I wasn't expecting something like that. I almost regretted choosing Shirou. I mean, a skill that is tailored to the user's chosen character? Imagine what I would get if I only had chosen a tier 9 character. Anyway, crying after spilled milk won't do me any good. Besides the skill I got may not make me invincible, but with time, I am sure it would raise my power tremendously.

Besides, combat isn't the only thing my build made up for. You see, magic in this world doesn't solely depend on mystical energies like mana but also depends on the mysteries and beliefs of the masses.

When in the age of gods, humans didn't really know how the world works, so everything was a mystery to them. In this period, mages were at their strongest, but that time is long past.

Due to some (not really) complicated events involving an alien god, the Age of Gods collapsed, and humans, free from their tyranny, slowly replaced superstitions and dogmatic beliefs with logic and understanding. Also, as a result, magic in this world -magecraft- is been slowly dying. In fact, the only reason magecraft didn't die like the gods is that humanity's collective consciousness still somewhat believes in the supernatural.

Because even in this modern age, some people still believe in superstitions like ghosts, vampires, flat earth, or magic itself. And not all humans' living conditions are the same. While in the West, people can live without fear for their lives, in the Middle East, people still fight over their supposed 'holy lands'.

There are still mysteries left for them to operate in; in fact, if not for the alien god's attack, some gods could still live among us, albeit a bit weaker. But even with the remaining mysteries, magecraft is a thing of the past. There is no future for magecraft. Those who use magecraft will only get weaker and weaker until they can only light a candle.

And because of my everlasting talent, I have eternal youth; thus, if I choose to stay after the 5th Holy Grail War, I will most likely witness the end of magecraft.

So rather than putting all of my eggs in one basket, I chose to invest in more than one subject. In fact, I purposely chose a subject that doesn't share any of the weaknesses of magecraft. I even went beyond and chose a subject that is prophesied to end magic itself. The one subject that can make even the most bloodthirsty magus dread is science.

With my science and engineering talents, who knows what I can achieve in the future? I know for a fact that space travel is possible in this world. After all, both the Olympians and the White Giant came from outer space. And if I remember correctly, there is an alternative timeline where humans could make artificial humans that used the very earth itself as a power source.

But I am not sure. In my past life, I was just a casual fan of the Fate franchise. As I only watched the Fate Zero and Fate Stay/Night. Though I knew bits about some of the well-known stuff like Lord El-Melloi's case files, I neither watched nor read any other content.

"Dammit, I knew I should have watched Grand Order instead of Carnival Phantasm."

"What phantasm? Shirou, did you have a bad dream last night, or is my little Shirou still afraid of ghosts?"

I jumped out of fright.

"What are you doing, Fuji-nee? You shouldn't be here until 8."

"Shirou, it's already 8. Are you alright? Do you feel cold? Wait, let me check."

She put her hand on my forehead as she tried to see if I had a fever.

"Fuji-nee, I am fine. I just had a late-night reading session last night. I am just sleepy and... I didn't even make breakfast!"

I left without saying a thing and I ran to the kitchen. After all, I had little time left and a hungry tiger to feed. Fortunately, I managed to make a simple yet tasty breakfast in time.

'Honestly, I didn't even try. I know how to cook so I wasn't expecting a bad result, but this is far beyond my expectations. Man, Fairy Feast is a cheat, huh?'

After breakfast, Fuji-nee left, and I followed her soon after.

"It sucks to go to school again, but it's important for my future... except it's not. With my science talent, I could easily learn stuff on my own, so I didn't need to apply to a university. But on the other hand, if I became a middle school dropout, Fuji-nee would kill me for real, and also, as a middle school dropout, I can't work in Asia. Unlike in the West, people here won't take anybody seriously unless they have a college degree.

"Maybe I can skip grades. Though, I don't know if Japan allows kids to skip grades," I murmured as I entered the middle school.

----AFTER SCHOOL----

"I need to find a way to skip classes; it's torture,"

I said out loud in the safety of my own house. At least, this is Friday so I can sleep whenever I want and after dinner with Fuji-nee, I should be free for the rest of the night. Anyway, I made dinner in advance, and to pass the time I did some chores around the house. I would like to explore my powers, but I don't want Fuji-nee to walk up to me as she did in the morning. So when the chores finished I decided to watch the TV. And surprisingly luck did smile on my face.

"Ah, I can't believe I came across the first airing of the first episode of the YU-GI-OH I am so lucky"

After finishing the episode Fuji-nee came. I served the dinner and began to dig in. Dinner was good, though I would love to have some beer with the fried chicken, but I don't think anyone would sell beer to a minor. Maybe I can make my own beer later. Though I don't know how to make beer other than the most basic stuff, with the Fairy Feast, nothing is impossible.

Fuji-nee was ecstatic too. Maybe I should limit Fairy Feast more. I am already using 50% of its power, but Fuji-nee is on the brink of a foodgasm. She may be cute, but I don't want to see her making expressions like that. She is like a sister to me. Anyway, after dinner, I served us both tea and this time only used 30%.

"Ah, Shirou, you outdid yourself today. But honestly, for Sunday, I would like us to go to a restaurant, but I know how much you love your hobby, so I won't force you."

"What are you talking about, Fuji-nee?"

"Oh, Shirou, did you really forget your own birthday?"

"Oh, that's right; this Sunday is May 28."

"Well ..."

"You should care for yourself more, Shirou. I know things have been hard since Kritsugu died, but-"

"I am fine, Fuji-nee. It's just there are a lot of things in my head right now."

She looked at me with tender eyes.

"Shirou, you know you can come to me anytime. I may never replace Kritsugu, but I will be there for you anytime you need me."

A silence filled the room.

"Thank you, Fuji-nee. I know you will be there for me," I gave her a bright smile.

For the rest of the night, we chatted about the usual stuff until our tea ended, and it was time for her departure. And when I passed her to the door, she said.

"See you later, Shirou; it was a wonderful dinner. Oh, and I forgot to mention I won't be here tomorrow. You see, I have a date with a really handsome guy, and I plan to spend my whole Saturday with him."

And when she was getting on the motorcycle, I replied.

"Oh, I am happy for you, Fuji-nee. I honestly thought you would be single forever, so don't let him slip through your grasp. Get him, tiger."

"What are saying to you sister Shirou and DON'T CALL ME A TIG-" I slammed the door before she could finish her sentence.

"Hehe, she is easy to tease, as I remembered. With a person like her around, a man can never feel lonely. You are a lucky man mister 'handsome guy'. Anyway, without Fuji-nee snooping around, I can finally test my powers."

I made my way to the shed. As the shed is my workshop.

"For now," I mumbled.

Once I entered the shed, I tried to open my circuits, and (un)surprisingly, when I tried to use my magical circuits, something entirely different answered. It turns out, that becoming a dragon in human skin gives you a dragon core. How unpredictable.

Jokes aside, I wasn't sure I would get a dragon core, because the information on the company phone was very vague. And Kritsugu didn't say anything about me having an inhuman heritage or a dragon core when he performed Structural Grasp on me.

In this world, when Kritsugu teaching me the beginner spells, my past self surprisingly performed well. He even managed to understand despite Kritsugu's shitty teaching and opened his circuits instead of creating new circuits every time. I am not sure why, but my theory is that some of my company talents have resurfaced before they should. Why only talents and not my heritage?

Anyway, despite seeing my talent at the beginner spells, Kritsugu did his Kritsugu thing and said to my chibi self that my talent wasn't that good and that if I wanted to get good at them and learn more spells then I should practice the point Kirtsugu approve.

Of course, Kritsugu had no intentions of teaching me more and only said to me like that to distract me. Well, this went on until I projected our kitchen knife and showed it to Kritsugu.

His expression was priceless. I wish I could have taken his photo. It would have been a good reminder of Kritsugu. Anyways, after seeing his son create a new branch out of a seemingly dead branch of magecraft, Kritsugu had no choice but to acknowledge my talents.

But things didn't end there. On the same night, Kritsugu finally gave up and stopped treating me like a child. After dinner he told me to come to the veranda, he said he wanted to talk so we had a heart-to-heart. He told me his life story all bit in an abridged way. He talked about how magecraft brought him nothing but pain and how he wished for me to live a normal life.

Of course, even at that time, I had no plans to live a normal life, but I didn't say this to Kritsugu. So I told Kritsugu, 'I understand,' and after a little pause, he continued.

He told me more about the moonlit world, but he carefully avoided going into much detail and only told things I should know as a 'spell caster,' like the second owners or clock tower.

After our talk, he said he would teach me how to make bounded and operatively bounded fields. And before I could ask 'why?', he told me in order to keep myself safe from the moonlit world, I needed to know how to defend or at least hide my home from a magus.

So he taught me the basics of the craft and some outer spells I should know like hypnosis magecraft. But our lessons were cut short because of the Kritsugu's decelerating health. So when he couldn't physically teach me, he taught me the theoretical aspects of bounded fields.

Kritsugu Emiya may not be a great magus, but he is a true bounded field expert. This skill of his, along with his modern methods, made him the magus killer. After all, to be able to kill a magus first, you will need a way to get past his defenses.

And last year, he wrote down all he knew about bounded fields. Old man probably felt his time coming to an end, so he acted accordingly. Ahh.... let's turn our focus on the other subjects, shall we?

Anyway, thanks to Kritsugu's teaching and my company-bought talents, I have an active dragon core, and I can use tracing/projection magecraft. The only thing I need to complete the OG Shirou's power set is a Reality Marble.

Thought I might already have my Reality Marble. Because to use projection magecraft, I would need Unlimited Blade Works. Otherwise, my brain would take damage from the massive amount of data that comes every time I trace something. So I believe I have UBW, but it's not fully realized yet. Also, my knowledge of bounded fields is still incomplete. To be able to bring UBW into the real world, I would need very extensive knowledge about bounded fields or I need to witness Archer's own UBW first.

So for now, using UBW is out of the question. Let's focus on my other abilities. Like my heritage. Well, I am a full-blooded dragon now. Also, something in the back of my head tells me that I can transform into a frickin' 30m long dragon if I wish. And other than being able to transform into a 30m tall lizard, I can feel myself growing stronger with every second. And it's not just physically; because I can also feel my magic core strengthening as well. The progress itself is slow but it is also consistent.

I believe this is happening because of my nature as a dragon. As most of the dragons grow stronger with age. Well, anyway, let's put aside the fact that I am no longer human for a while, and let's focus on my other powers.d

Well, the only other power I didn't check is the power I got as a bonus.

"Hmm, I don't think I should try this in the shed."

According to the description in order to use Hero With A Thousand Faces(HTF), I need to defeat the original owner of the weapon I want.

"So let's try this in the backyard."

I exited the shed and started making a basic bounded field in order to not disturb my neighbors with my late-night experiment.

"Hmm, one more touch and ... it's done. It's really weird to be able to cast magic easily as if I have been practicing it for years."

Despite having memories of the times I lived simply as Shirou Emiya, feels like a dream. And like in a dream, I do not question whether whatever the man I see is me or another; no, I know it's me. But just like a dream, when the time I experienced it, it felt real, but when I woke up, it began to feel surreal.

"I need to interact with more people. Or at least I need some kind of normalcy to anchor me to reality; otherwise, I may lose my sense of reality. Interacting with Fuji-nee really helped me in that regard. Anyways, let's put the potential decline of my mental health aside for a minute and focus on the experiment."

Wow, that sounds way worse than expected. Anyways, let's do this.

As a 13-year-old, I didn't have many weapons to project, and also I didn't want to risk my life needlessly, so I chose to start with something easy. I quickly searched for what to use, and then I decided to use Mister Miyagi's knife. Mister Miyagi is our local butcher, and he is an overweight middle-aged man. He should be easy enough when I reinforce myself.

I projected a sword I saw in a museum that I went to with Fuji-nee. The sword itself was nothing special. It was just the sword of a nameless samurai who lived in the 16th century.

The sword itself may be nothing special, but against a normal man, it would be more than enough. So I took a defensive stance (courtesy of the nameless samurai fighting experience) and activated the HTF.

As soon as I activated my ability, a flash of light blinded me; then, I found myself in a different place. I was in a green plain, swords were stuck into the ground like monumental stones as far as the eye could see. The air was bright, and the morning sun was glittering the swords below. Except there was no sun. Instead of the sun's place, there was a golden scabbard that was unlike anything I had ever seen.

It was an ethereal otherworld thing that was so unspeakably beautiful, to the point that calling it simply 'beautiful' would only dirty it.

"AHHHHHHHHH-" Before I could marvel at the scenery more, Mister Miyagi cried out a mighty war cry and began to charge toward me.

Mister Miyagi's war cry may have scared me for a bit and made me act on an instinct that I did not know I possessed because a moment later, countless blades freed themselves from the ground and flew straight toward Mister Miyagi.

And Mister Miyagi, the normal man he was, couldn't dodge it, and the sword found its mark. Luckily for me, before Mister Miyagi's gored remains could traumatize me, I was blinded by the same light before.

And when could see again, there were no plains, swords in the stones, or any godly scabbards. I was back in my humble backyard. And the only difference was the Mister Miyagi's knife that I unconsciously held.

"That was something... ugh!"

Then I proceeded to throw up last night's dinner on the grass. The sudden change of scenery, the ethereal realm, and Mister Miyagi's gruesome death really took a toll on me.

"I think I should take a break, at least an hour or two. I need time to think as well as to rest. And I can afford to take things slowly. I have 4 whole years to prepare for the Holy Grail War."

I decided to take a shower- I was really sweaty after all of my experiments- and think about what I saw.

"I think I will make a private onsen in my backyard when I have enough money. Japanese baths are the best!"

I exclaimed passionately. Good thing Kritsugu made the house soundproof, or otherwise, I would be so embarrassed.

"Hehe, I feel much better now. Now let's review what happened."

That strange place must be UBW. It's interesting. Rather than fighting weapons phantoms in the real world, the ability transferred me to UBW.

"Or did it just transfer my mind to the UBW?"

After all, I have no way of knowing whether I was completely gone or just my consciousness transferred to my reality marble. Otherwise, maybe set up a camera set before next time using the ability. After all, I have no one to help me...

I soaked in the bath for at least 30 minutes more, then grabbed a towel and proceeded to leave.

"Oh wait! There is one thing left to test."

I went in front of the mirror and recalled Mister Miyagi's phantom.

"Trace on."

Then, in the blink of an eye, the red-haired boy was gone, and in his place was a plump middle-aged man.

"Interesting. I don't experience any discomfort. It doesn't feel any different than my normal mode." I said with an aged voice.

And with a blink of an eye, the red-haired boy was back.

"Hmm, there is only one thing left. Let's try to summon a phantom."

Miyagi's blade materialized

in my hand without consuming any magical energy.

"I am the bone of my sword."

The blade itself flew from my hand then a ghostly hand grabbed the blade. After the hand, the rest of its body materialized at lightning speed. When the materialization over being standing before me was a more ghastly version of Mister Miyagi I killed earlier.

"Can you talk?"

He only shook his head.

"Can you understand me?

He nodded his head.

"I can work with this. You are dismissed."

The ghastly figure left upon a breeze into the sands of dust and darkness.

"And now the exploration of HTF is over, there is only one thing left, my waifu."