Fate: Bonds Beyond Humanity

The stray just chuckles and lets out his energy once again, all condensing around him, Shirou could see that but he had no choice, this was his best sword and he was reinforcing it to the max.

With an overhead swing abandoning all defense Shirou's swords clashed against the barrier.

It stopped, the energy not even being disturbed.

"You know there is this funny story of a invencible sword against an invincible shield. I always hated that story." The devil was talking but Shirou just kept swinging. "The whole idea is that, since they were equal, mutual destruction was their fate and it would be a tie."

Shirou jumps back. "Trace on!" He uses his aria to channel more mana and trace kitchen knives, four of them on his free hand and he throws them without missing a bit.

Even if their appearance was non conspicuous they were also his creations, tools of utility to help in the kitchen of all things. "Why is it a tie?" The devil didn't care for what Shirou was doing. "The shield did its job! It stopped the killing blow!"

Shirou threw the knives, the small weapons catching fire mid flight. Usually they were used to lit the stove without matches or electricity but by using more mana he managed to turn them into fireballs.

"It is almost like people forget that the guy with the shield can have a weapon of his own!" The impact of the fireballs didn't make the devil even flinch. "That is why I hate that analogy. But it gave me an idea: What if the shield didn't break? Or better yet, it got fixed?"

Once the fire stopped with just the small blazes around the shield the stray just stood there, in the same position. Shirou was starting to lose his patience and launched himself again.

"So here I am with a shield that doesn't matter how many times you break I can just make it again!" Once he said it Shirou noticed how the barrier 'moved' with every impact. It was not absorbing the blows, just countering with enough energy to nullify them.

This time Shirou didn't retreat, he was racing against time to save Rias. Channeling more mana he called forth another of his creations, a huge two handed sword, bigger than his arm.

Its european design was both for experimentation and praticity. It was the first sword that ran away from the japanese standard he grew used to trying and practicing but he wanted to branch out.

But the real feature of it, the other reason for the design, was to make it easy to stick it to the ground, right outside the barrier in this case, and unleash electricity.

Using his mana Shirou empowers the sword and directs the energy to the stray and once again the barrier holds and unlike the Power of Destruction the electricity travels around failing in destroying the barrier.

But it was exerting pressure, the notion that his opponent had unlimited energy being completely discarded. Shirou could see it only as impossible and tried another route, instead of the battering ram of absolute power he used a steadier and incremental approach.

"What are you? You use projections but every single one of them is different and each carries power of their own." Shirou was ignoring the comments, focusing only on the task at hand. "Oh, that's so cute! You are trying to make me run out of energy!" The output of power started to increase to the devil. "FOOL!"

He ended up flying back, only the reinforcement of his body saved his life but he was still in a great degree of pain, only his will to keep him going.

The smell was there, and stronger than ever. Forcing his eyes to the limit one more time he could see whispers of energy running around the cave and then back to the devil. "You- How? You are absorbing your own energy?"

"Bah! I wish it was that easy!" The stray tried to move its arms again only to fail. "I may be stuck on this form but this is the best place to be!"

'The best place to be…' That clicked on Shirou's mind, unlocking a memory from when he was starting to learn magecraft.

"There are two types of ley lines." His mother explained to him once with a book in hand. "Those made on nature and those made on actions. The first comes to be because of the flux of mana of the world. Like you the world also has circuits to circulate its own mana."

She made a crude drawing of a ball with lines in it. "Mom, that is ugly." Illya was there too, passing through the kitchen where the lesson was being held. "Here, let me!" His older sister was the most talented of them both in many aspects… but her drawing was worse than their mother's.

"I think I got it… so the world also has magic circuits right?" His ten year old mind registered the information.

"Yes!" Both, woman and girl, affirmed. The older of two then continued. "Those are just natural but new ones can also be created. Like a human that can have implants of external circuits to improve their magic capabilities the world also gains circuits when events happen or important constructions are made by anyone if those buildings or places have meaning and a strong influence."

"Forgive my rudeness Irisviel-sama," Sella intrudes in the lesson, "the important thing is that once we get your forge ready we need to place it in a good position for the ley line. Fuyuki has the second biggest one in Japan and if you want success in your experiments you need them to happen in the best place to be."

'That is it!' Shirou figured out the trick. The guy was using his position to absorb the mana of the ley line, even if it wasn't the main vein it was still enough to empower him. He was acting like a living workshop.

But that shouldn't be possible… except that he is using his own energy to absorb the land's… "You are a plague!" Shirou declared. "You are infecting the ley line with your own power to devour it! You are the reason why Homurahara has been struggling more than it should."

The bolts of bad luck, the broken structure, it was all symptomatic. The ley line did more than just circulate mana for those who could use it, it brought good fortune, helped in prosperity and even wards off bad omens. Maybe the school would still be in decline but not on the level that it was now.