Chapter 51: Time Flows by

Shirou was back into the void but it's not correct to call it the void anymore. From the horizon, yellow flames were clearly visible, what appeared to be charred black ground appeared in the boy`s vision. From the 1st time he came here, he always felt that this place was somewhere he was very familiar with but he didn't know this place. 

What shirou didn't notice was the large improvement in his mental condition, after the gruesome death at the hands of Kotomine Kirei shirou had some mental scars finally shifting his view of the world. This change was represented by the reality marble that was starting to form.

Everyone has different views of the world but the most common view of the world is where people are friends, enemies or inconsequential to yourself. Seeing is believing and the 2nd unrelated magus that shirou met is the priest, after experiencing this the boy finally lost the naive illogical hope related to what it means to be the target of sealing designation. 

Shirou opened his eyes in a hospital bed and looking at the white ceiling he had a strong sense of deja vu, around 1 year before he had opened his eyes in a similar bed after his father had rescued him from the fire of holy grail.

He looked around and found that the room was devoid of people. After confirming the lack of cameras in what he considered likely to be a shabby clinic like the one where he and his father often visit to remove the blades from his flesh.

He opened his circuits and moved his energy through them, he found out that the flow of energy was a little smother and smiled. His circuits were very overworked in comparison to regular magus simply because while normal magus spent too much time on research Shirou's circuits were nearly perpetually active when he forges because he constantly uses structural grasp to get the feel of the material.

This was one of the reasons behind his success in smithing and his mastery of this basic magecraft has caught up to seasoned magus according to kiritsugu. This constant flux of energy had led to him being in near-constant soreness but it was working, his growth in od capacity was marginally faster than the normal of growing children of his age.

He sniffed around the scents in the room and finally came across the unique rotting smell characteristic of the mana of kiritsugu. Sensing his father`s remnant mana signature shirou sorted through the chain of events and looking at the bright light outside he guessed he might have fainted the whole morning and missed school.

Shirou waited till a nurse came to check up on him and he looked at the middle-aged woman and smiled innocently as he asked 

"Aunty, where is my father?"

"Mr Emiya just went out to have lunch, he should be back in about an hour. Don't move about on the bed wait for me to call the doctor." the nurse smiled gently as she thought the boy must be confused due to the coma and then left the room.

Kiritsugu came back within 30 minutes but the pair of father and son just looked into each other's eyes and then the magus killer opened his circuits and used suggestions on the nurse doctor and the record staff.

They made it seem like shirou had gained from fatigue and woke up after getting proper rest. Kiritsugu specially collected the blades that Shirou's body produced. after paying the fees the father and son pair walked home in peaceful silence.

Holding the bag of blade tips in his hand shirou was lost in thought about the information he gained during the period. The thing that puzzled him the most was the information about the sword called Caliburn that was forcefully stuffed into his head.

He felt that with practice and correct materials, he could make a passable imitation of Caliburn but the materials were impossible to find in the modern days. Things like dragon blood and bones of various phantasmal species and magic iron ore from the heart of the British leylines were constantly bathed in true ether for years.

Except for all that the archmage Merlin did the enchantment of the blade, the enchantments were nearly magic in nature hence shirou couldn't find someone to replicate it as he couldn't think of a substitute for those.

Moving on while in thought father and son pair reached the house and they swiftly moved inside it. Shirou spread the takeout they bright from a local restaurant on the table and they began talking while eating lunch.

Shirou 1st talked about his vision of the future where he was burnt to death in the grail mud. He talked about Sabre confronting Gilgamesh and him facing the priest. Then he talked about how the priest was able to control the grail mud to attack him and he described the state of Illiya.

Hearing this kiritsugu`s will to live was being worn out further as he learnt that his daughter will likely have a similar fate to his wife. Kiritsugu steeled his heart and forceful suppressed the panic attack and depression setting in and said 

"Shirou, the priest was probably speaking half-truths in your visions. He had probably wished for his life to be saved by the grail when I denied the wish during the last war. He had been given the control of the grail mud as a side effect of having his wish granted the 1st time."

"This should also be how his servant is able to stay in the world, they are your most formidable enemies in the upcoming war. They have years of planning time and I can't even currently fight him."

"As I might have matched him in my prime but now without a servant to obstruct Gilgamesh I stand no chance against him."

Kiritsugu stood up and he said 

"I have decided that I will send you to Clock Tower as soon as possible. 1st you have to stay here till I complete your training and 2nd the materials you need to practise making mystic codes are too scarce here."

In his mind, he added in his mind

.

.

.

…..

After the talk that after noon shirou learnt that he was unconscious for 3 days. And Rin had visited him twice during that time. She exploded the next day when they met at school. Kiritsugu had said to her that shirou tried to use magecraft from the crest before the transfer had been completed and hence went into a coma due to carelessness.

She skipped and made shirou skip a class as she used the time to lecture him on the hazards of making crafts and the risks of trying to use spells blindly. At last, she screamed 

"You giant idiot! What if you never woke up from that state or the spell damaged the nerves in your brain? What would I do then? Answer me what would I do then?"

It took her a second to process what she said during her outburst and hence she continued with her face red with anger and embarrassment and her twin tails swinging violently like whips

"I don't care whatever you do but I am worried for my sparing partner....and what would I do to the healing magecraft and the sealing of curses into gems that I am practising by cutting my sleeping time," she said the last part in low voice making it inaudible ti shirou was currently overwhelm due to scent of mana rin released as an outburst.

With this, his father began to increase his training. In the morning shirou only practised projection magecraft while doing physical training. Kiritsugu had said that he should be able to use magecraft in any situation and it should be an instinct to him.

Shirou took a week-long break from school and kiritsugu took him for survival training in the forest. 3 weeks prior the older emiya had provided all forms of theoretical material about survival in different environments and surveillance of people and groups to his son.

The materials also contained a lot of handwritten points pointed out by the magus killer himself. During this period shirou was immensely thankful to the Miller family for making the medicine to maintain the body. Most mages don't train their bodies and mana fill up their deficiencies in growth. families that train to bodies have their own medicine and drug formulas hence the pills produced by the millers were very unpopular.

These normally ignored things allowed shirou to do the spartan training that his father is making him undergo. This had also started showing accelerated results, shirou who was of average height among his peers had grown by 3 inches within the year and his body was flexible enough to perform sword arts and strong enough to smith.

He had made decent progress in reinforcement magecraft and should be able to use a rudimentary form of it by the end of this year. 

(A/N: this is a progress chapter summarizing some progress and highlighting the spartan nature of the training that kiritsugu gives. Plus some outbursts by Rin 

.

.

.

.

.

THANKS FOR READING:)