End of the Journey

After they both got equipped Shirou easily fell in line just behind Nishka and the pair continued walking. He was grateful for the time to contemplate and try to digest some of the things he had learned. The most compelling were the words Nishka had said earlier when describing her healing technique. 

That word Nishka had used to describe her abilities sounded strange to his ears, like the auditory equivalent of the visual interference from his own runes. It was almost like a word was said but then was smeared over with a blend of different sounds to make the original utterance unintelligible. Which was honestly bizarre to consider the longer Shirou thought about it. Nishka had uttered it casually and without great fanfare so whatever it was seemed to be something well known to her. Which likely meant that the issue with it had to do with Shirou himself or with the Nightmare he was currently in.

Shirou's memories were not the most reliable indicator of things at present but some of his undamaged memories consisted of him and Rin looking over books and digital archives in a library of sorts back in the waking world. It seems like both of them were trying to prepare for the nightmare spell as much as they could and although the information available to the public was limited at least a cliff notes version of things could be pieced together. 

The very existence of the Nightmare he was in for example was actually not so much a nightmare in the conventional sense as it was an illusion built by the Nightmare spell itself. What little information Shirou and Rin had access to didn't provide anything more concrete than that, although there was one academic paper not blocked by paywalls that posited these illusions all used real historical events as a foundation. 

Shirou was certainly inclined to believe that idea now given his experiences alongside Nishka. The idea that she was an elaborate figment of his own imagination or a simulation was hard to accept, which all told worked well for his own heart. Shirou couldn't imagine being forced to let innocent people die for his sake, illusionary or not, so treating everyone he met as real helped calm his heart.

Musings on the nature of the nightmare aside though it gave him another clue to why that word had been blocked like it did. If it wasn't himself causing then the other obvious culprit was the spell itself. Considering that Shirou's own memories seemed to become damaged just after he entered the nightmare, the idea of the spell trying to censor certain things made even more sense. 

The very nature of the "Nightmare Spell" itself seemed to be rather odd to Shirou the more he thought about it. There may have been more information available to those who pass their first nightmare which made it all more sensible but from what little Shirou and Rin had found, the very idea of the spell was odd. 

It seemed purpose built and strangely designed to support the people burdened by it even as it was placing them in mortal peril. It gave them access to abilities beyond a normal person in the form of aspects and attributes, granted items and artifacts to those that fought while infected by it in the form of [Memories] and [Echoes], and even provided information about the nature of creatures and items by ranking them into one of seven ranks. Even without a firm foundation of his own memories to draw upon, Shirou knew that something like that was not natural, and had to have been put in place by some kind of intelligence. 

Whatever the mystery of the spell may be thought Shirou wasn't willing to worry too much more about it now. For the time being the actual events going on around him were more important, plus he had some confidence that he would be able to fish for information from Nishka or some of the other refugees. He didn't want to interrogate her too much now while they were walking though given that he was still playing the role of Ozen and he would have time to learn more once they were safe.

The pair's trek through the forest continued for several more hours. As it went on Nishka's steps grew increasingly steady as she seemed to shake off the remnants of whatever she had done to herself. It was a bit worrying in shirou's mind to consider what her power might have done to her but he wasn't going to press the girl too much on it. If he'd been stuck carrying her his own body's ability to recover would have been affected. 

As it was he'd been able to get a proper second wind and was burdened by only minor wounds and pains. Manageable enough that he would be able to fight properly if it came down to it. 

Which was especially important once the pair reached a clearing bisected by a shallow creek. They had been having good luck so far as they traveled but sadly the fact they only had one working amulet meant getting through the woods unnoticed would be unlikely. 

And as luck would have it another pack of Juvenile wolves was occupying the clearing in front of the pair, already sniffing around and starting to approach the hiding spot the two of them were in. The spell's runes had labeled those things [Dormant] before and although they were a threat Shirou was confident now that he could handle a group of them. He and Nishka could easily scale a tree and he could take the amulet to pick them off one by one.

As he was preparing to tell Nishka his plan and sprint for a tree though his confidence evaporated entirely. Across the clearing from them four more shapes slowly plodded forth before stopping just on the other side of the creek. In the illuminating light of day the four massive wolves were easy to see, which left no doubt in Shirou's mind that they were both [Adolescent Guardian Wolves], just like the creature that had nearly ended his life last night. 

Despite their size the footsteps of the beasts were almost silent, to the point that the pack of younger wolves in front of them didn't even turn around to look at them. The older beasts seemed content with that fact and allowed the younger beasts to continue on, looking like elder siblings or even parents watching over children as they played. That comparison filled Shirou's mind with dread though as he realized that any attack on the [Dormant] wolves would likely invite immediate retaliation from their [Awakened] counterparts.

Shirou's mind began to scramble to try and come up with some way out of this. Fighting them all would be a death sentence. One had nearly killed him but with four of the Adolescent wolves he would be lucky to even swing his sword before all his limbs were ripped off and he was devoured. 

That only left one option left then didn't it. If fighting was death then the two of them would have to carefully escape. They weren't spotted yet given the way the younger wolves were sniffing around still, so if they were careful they would have a chance to run.

But as Shirou thought that and started to try and figure out how exactly to get away he looked up and saw the four beasts across the creek. Each one was sitting calmly, one even licking its paws. And yet all of them were staring straight at Shirou with unflinching focus.

The world fell out from under Shirou as he realized the reality in front of him. Those four weren't inattentive elders keeping an eye out for unseen threats. They had found some prey in front of them and decided to give the youngest members of their pack a chance to track and hunt, all the while staring the prey down ready to pounce if they had to. 

As soon as Shirou's hand silently slid to the hilt of his sword his fears were proven right when the wolves across the way stood up and took a step towards the water, all too willing and able to kill him before he could harm even a single one of the lesser creatures.

As so Shirou and Nishka were left staring down two faces of death itself. On one side, the slowly approaching forms of the wolf pack were steadily making progress towards them and would tear them to pieces once they spotted the pair. On the other end was the promise of nigh instant death at the claws and fangs of beasts they had no chance of even wounding.

As the pair were left sitting and waiting for the end Shirou did his best to come up with some plan despite it all. To be honest the only card left to play in this situation was the amulet around Nishka's neck. It alone would give whoever was wearing it a ticket out of here provided they were willing to abandon the other person. 

If Shirou was a logical person he would no doubt be weighing the option of taking the amulet from Nishka to wear himself. According to the little he had read she was a construct of the nightmare spell, so letting a real living person like himself die to save her was objectively foolish. Despite all the rational reasons though, Shirou's mind categorically rejected the idea of taking it from her and running away. 

Shirou wasn't the only one sitting there though, and although he wouldn't even consider taking the Tamimat Aliaikhtifa from Nishka, nothing stopped her from undoing the clasp around her neck and putting it around Shirou's neck. 

As soon as the clasp was undone the [Dormant] beasts in front of them perked up and their sniffing grew more focused and purposeful. Every head turned towards the pair and the closest began growling as they stalked towards the pair. Even the four [Awakened] Wolves were startled by whatever the effect of trading the amulet looked like to them. Whatever it looked like to their eyes It was enough to draw their attention and soon they were creeping forwards as well.

As the whole of the nightmarish wolfpack was only seconds away from crashing down on both of them Shirou was left staring down at his neck with wide uncomprehending eyes. He flicked his gaze up to the softly smiling face of the girl across from him and only saw her smile warmly at him with tears in her eyes. 

The sight of her face as she seemingly prepared to die was too jarring to understand and everything around them was moving too fast for him to try and force the amulet back on her neck. Even as he was getting ready to pull the clasp back off and hand it to her Nishka wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. 

Then she grabbed Shiro's cheeks and planted a chaste and somewhat clumsy kiss on his lips. "I'm sorry Ozen. Your Padishah demands that you live." As she whispered those words Nisha stood up from their hiding spot, drawing every beast's attention and driving the younger wolves to fall upon her like a storm of fangs and claws. 

***

Nishka had felt an eerie sense of calm settle over her as soon as she laid eyes on the giant wolves. Seeing them all and knowing how hard Ozen had fought against even one made it all too clear how things would end if they fought. The only remotely smart plan then was to flee but she saw the way their eyes bored into Ozen beside her, it was a lot to hope for the amulets protection to extend to another and it seemed like it ultimately didn't. 

Which meant only one of them would be able to leave this place, all they'd have to do is abandon the other. 

It was almost a joke to consider that though. There might as well have been no option at all in that case. She knew that despite her duty, her role, even her responsibility to her people that she would never be able to abandon Ozen. She proved that fact the moment she spat on his valiant mission to distract the Sun worshippers by following him, and she proved it when she tried to distract that beast to let him live. Whether she liked it or not she knew that she wouldn't abandon him as long as she was alive, just as much as she knew he wouldn't abandon her while she was alive. 

But that did leave one option left to her, cruel though it would no doubt be. 

And so she put the amulet around his neck, held his cheeks for the first time in her life and even stole a parting kiss before standing up and throwing herself to the wolves in the most literal sense of the words.

She'd kept her eyes clenched shut as soon as she stood up, hoping to get it all over quick and not feeling the need to impress anyone by staring death in the face. Despite her bravado, and how cool she idly thought she must have looked when she got ready to sacrifice herself Nishka was visibly trembling as she stood. She knew that it would be a violent death and the thought of being forced to experience all of it was unnerving. Actually scratch unnerving it was horrifying, terrifying, even paralyzing!

She could imagine the feeling of their teeth sinking into her ripping muscle and bone apart. Would it be quick with a strike to her throat? Would one go for her head and end it in a moment? Would they gnaw on her limbs like dog toys as she suffered?

As all these thoughts kept rushing through her mind Nishka finally realized that she'd been standing for whole seconds and yet despite that no pain had come. She opened her eyes almost afraid to break whatever spell was keeping her alive still and was met with a veritable whirlwind of blood and limbs erupting in front of her. 

Where the closest of the juvenile wolves had been pouncing mere seconds ago was now a pile of bloodied corpses, cleaved apart by deep violent slashes. One lay decapitated entirely, a single clean cut slicing straight through bone and flesh. Another twitched on its sides bleeding and whimpering as its left legs were severed and its left flank was open to the air. A third had been lopped clean in half and was now scattering its organs across the dirt as its front paws futility pulled it forward.

And in the center of all the mounting carnage was an invisible specter of death, slashing everything that got near it with devastating force and speed. A paw crossed its boundary and was cut clean off. Snapping jaws surged forth towards it the top of a wolf's skull landed on the ground, eyes still frantically looking for what had killed it. 

The pace and speed of the blows seemed to ramp up as the slaughter continued, being matched only by the mounting ferocity of the wolves as they became ever more desperate to kill the unseen thing in front of them. They began attacking two at one, then three, then the entire pack charged as fast as they could. 

Through it all the specter of death kept up its pace and matched the beasts it was slaying. By the time the last mass of hounds charged every swing of the phantom's blade left a trail of electric blue sparks in its wake as it swung. 

And finally as the final wolf charged forth a single swing smashed down on its skull with the force of a battering ram. The blow rang out through the clearing with a violent bang, throwing up a cloud of dust and driving the now headless beast down to the ground. 

When the dust settled Nishka finally got a look and confirmed her impossible suspicion about who it was. There in the dust cloud Ozen stood in all his terrible and gore soaked glory, hunched over and clutching the hilt of a broken longsword in both hands. The whole of his body was trembling and seemed to be steaming slightly as he stood. 

Said blade's fragments were scattered across the floor, each one slightly glowing as though they had been subjected to extreme heat. When the final blow had landed the sword finally broke under the strain of it all and exploded like a hand grenade, scattering shrapnel everywhere.

Ozen himself hadn't been spared from that either and several shards hit him too. All but one of them was mercifully blocked by the [Guardian's Mantle] but one shard slipped past and smashed squarely into Tamimat Aliaikhtifa's gem, destroying it completely and rendering the artifact worthless.

Which meant that now the two of them were left unarmed, standing in a pile of cooling corpses, completely out of cards to play, and still staring down four now furious [Awakened] demons. 

Nishka let out an involuntary laugh at the situation. Honestly it was an improvement for her given that she was expecting to have been dead by now, but the fact that Ozen had handled her bid to die for him by committing his own brand of suicide was somehow simply hilarious.

***

Shirou could barely stand. Actually that wasn't right, he in fact couldnt stand at all. If not for his muscles being gripped by a painful rictus of agony after… whatever in the hell he just did to himself, then he was certain he'd be on the ground in a limp pile. In fact it was only a fleeting stroke of luck that he ended up running out of steam in a position that had a low center of mass.

But that scrap of luck wouldn't help anymore. Shirou had felt something surge through every part of his body when he saw Nishka about to be devoured and like a switch had been flipped he was moving faster, striking harder, seeing clearer, hearing sharper, and all around being better than he had any memory of being. 

Even as he was in the throes of whatever that had been, the process was not pleasant. Every twitch of his unseen body, and every swing of his blade had been piling ever more pain onto Shirou, made all the worse as he pushed farther and farther. It felt as though the whole of his body was going to burst apart at the seams if he went on any further but before it came to that his sword ended up being the weakest link and finally exploded under the force of energy in it. 

In the end though it likely didn't matter. As Shirou shakily craned his neck up and caught sight of the now snarling wolves left, each of the four looked blindingly furious and desperate to tear him apart.

It seemed like his act of heroics only amounted to clearing a group of fodder in the end. Honestly it was a bit of a shame in hindsight. With that amulet on he might have been able to do more if he was a bit more careful. If he had struck with actual skill rather than power his sword might have lasted, and his body might still be able to move. In fact there were a number of things he would have changed if he had a chance to. 

As those thoughts began to mount one final idea trickled to the front of Shirou's thoughts and earned a smile from him. 'Ah… So this is how I face death then? Judging my own life choices like I'm critiquing a poorly written book'

He was past the point of last stands though sadly. Not only were each of those beasts alone a match for him, there was the far more pressing issue of his body no longer responding to his commands. No doubt some price for whatever he had just done. 

What followed should have been a fairly one sided slaughter as the last four nightmare creatures descended on the two like blenders made of fang and claw. And yet what actually happened was so far from that expected and forgone conclusion that it left Nishka and Shirou both speechless. 

Afterall, just moments before their certain death's, one of the four wolves exploded out of nowhere into a rain of warm guts and viscera. 

The sight of it was so jarring and so abrupt that it left Shirou, Nishka, and even the remaining three wolves stunned and unable to move. Before even the thought of questioning it could enter anyone's mind though a blur shot from the macabre art piece that had been the deceased wolf's ribcage and blew through the head from a second of the former quartet in a flash of thunderous movement. 

The two remaining beasts finally regained their senses and turned towards the newfound threat, any fear that would be found in a normal animal seemingly non-existent in them. 

It didn't matter though, as the human sized blur nimbly ducked under one wolf's bite and smashed its jaw with an uppercut, performed so fast as to be unseen by anyone in the clearing, and so violently that it tore the jaw and upper skull of the beast apart.

The last of Shirou and Nishka's former angels of death met its end in a similarly violent and ignoble fashion. It lunged forth with one final bite, intent on crushing the intruder in its jaws and then finishing off the other two. But as soon as it did its jaws were stopped and held fast. Two impossibly strong gauntlets held the wolf's jaws apart, and with an explosive show of force both arms whipped apart. Had the action been done in an anime or manga it would have surely been enough to rip the whole beast in two, regardless of logic, reason, or leverage and acceleration. 

In truth, perhaps something like splitting the creature down the middle would have been a cleaned death. As it was though both halves of jaw were accelerated at impossible speeds and the bone and muscle simply yielded under the force. Sadly for the beast its jaws were not its brain and so it stumbled back, bare esophagus open and exposed as it reeled from the staggering pain of having its snout ripped apart. 

It was a telling indicator of how brutal the carnage was that Nishka and Shirou both felt a sense of pity for the beast at the sight of it, and then merciful relief when another thunderous jab crashed into the side of its head and detonated its skull.

All told the conflict against the four creatures had lasted a paltry few seconds. The most of it was actually spent staring at the final mangled creature as it seemed even the mysterious warrior was surprised to have seen it. But that didn't change the reality that whoever had arrived was impossibly powerful. The blows she dealt were impossibly fast and, as evident by the state of the fallen enemies, impossibly strong. 

As they approached the pair Shirou was fearful that they had traded one enemy for another, not that such a revelation would change anything. He was as vulnerable now as he had been moments before, not to mention that anything he could have done to the wolves would mean even less here.

When the figure approached them and Shirou was able to get a clear look at them he realized that the odds were pretty likely that they were a she, given the sizeable accommodations made to the chest of her armor. She was wearing a pair of sizable silver gauntlets on her hands, sporting both spiked knuckles and fingertips capped with steel claws. Her outfit seemed to be composed of a set of armor similar to Shirou's own though slightly better tailored and with a hooded cloak to hide her face. One of the more odd features of her outfit though was the belt. It seemed far fluffier than any he was familiar with, not to mention the yellow color stood out against everything else. 

As Shirou was taking in the sight of the stranger she finally stopped in front of himself and Nishka before putting a hand on her hip and shaking her head "Well well well, looks like little Ozen grew a pair since I last saw him. Honestly kid, pretty gutsy to be ogling your savior in your condition. I could probably flick you to death right now." As she spoke she reached up and pulled off her hood, revealing a wild mane of blond hair and a pair of cat ears on the top of her head. Her eyes were an almost impossibly bright shade of green, and the teasing smile on her face all came together to make her look like someone had distilled down the essence of beauty before pouring it onto someone.

Shirou was feeling a bit lost at the moment but at least knew that she seemed to know his vessel. He wasn't entirely relaxed yet though since he didn't know how she knew him but even that fear was banished when Nishka took a shaky step forward before running up and throwing her arms around the woman like some beautiful life raft. "PASHA!...Pasha I'm… sniff I'm so glad you're here!"

Pasha looked down at the girl holding her and her eyes softened. The bright teasing look she had sent Shirou's way melted into a relieved gentle smile as she returned the hug, pulling the girl tight. "It's ok now princess, you're both safe now." 

That sight was enough for Shirou to know that this Pasha person was no enemy. And so he let his body relax for the first time since he entered the nightmare and crumbled to the ground, a relieved smile on his face.