Shirou and Kurono were guided to extravagant rooms that were big enough to cover up most of their house. The rooms had everything beds, carpets and other furniture that was first class, something Kurono had only seen in expensive hotels while Shirou had seen such things daily at Rin's, Illya's and Sakura's place.
Nonetheless it showed that Semiramis took good care of her retainers and didn't just force people to serve her needs.
The room was warm because of magic that regulated the temperature and it even had a large bathroom where they could finally clean up their bodies.
The duo took a bath and went to bed without much hassle as they were now under the protection of the Duchess.
It had been an eventful day for both of them and Shirou planned to take advantage of the situation to learn more about the world before escaping.
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While the duo was involved in such events, Judas was not happy with the result but it only increased his interest in Shirou.
Without even showing himself, Shirou had taken care of two four ring magic warriors.
The Pegasus Knights had brought his servants and they had been healed from their serious injuries. It showed that his servants still lacked experience to fight skilled fighters and were too robotic.
'Fights in a controlled environment weren't good enough. They need real world experience.' Judas was not happy but it didn't mean he blamed the servants. It was his fault for thinking too low of his target.
"What is the matter Bishop Judas?" A young man called out to him in a voice that made him feel like he was the younger one.
This young man was someone from the White Sacrament and stood above him. It was the Cardinal Ars who had come to check on his project according to the request he had put out and following the man was the seventh Apostle Sariel. The Cardinal Ars who sat on the white chair was only 30 years in age but he already possessed a presence fitting for his position. Wearing a special made robe made out of Mithril, he possessed rich blonde hair and sharp forward looking blue eyes. With a face that looked like the heroes of ancient times, that figure of him sitting on the giant armchair was indeed looking appropriate.
The Cardinal was certainly worthy of admiration but the Apostle beside him overshadowed him with her charming appearance. She was petite woman with silver long hair and red eyes. She was 160 cm in size and appearance like that of a fairy.
She was also dressed in all white that made her gave off a pure feeling that none would think those delicate hands had created rivers of bloods.
Judas was close to both individuals as Ars had been just a young man that had passed him by in ranks while Sariel was one of his oldest subjects.
She was a homunculus that had been created to be an avatar and among the many of her kind, she had been chosen. But before she was a homunculus, she had been human and had been turned into a homunculus.
She was just a shell of her past self with no memories and even though she had been released from slavery, she had not killed Judas for the cruelty he had inflicted upon her.
Moving on, Judas had yet to report properly about the escape to the higher ups but now it seems he would have to do it or he would get in trouble with the Law Enforcement department of the Sacrament. It didn't matter how much you had done for the cause, none were spared from the punishment they deserved.
"Apologies for showing such poor form but two of the subjects have escaped the lab. Both of them are exceptional and one of them was an actual mage from the other world." Judas explained as three of his master pieces stood behind him.
Kotaro, Saitou, Tawara Touta and Raikou, all of them stood behind him where the Cardinal could inspect them. The reports about the project and the average soldier's stats were also provided.
These were the top rank fighters beside Kurono and Raikou was the strongest of the bunch, only second to Sariel.
She was an elegant, virtuous and glamorous woman in the prime of her youth. She had very long hair, which was tied at the very end. Her height stood out as she was taller than everyone in the room with a height of 180 cm.
She wore magical latex bodysuit, with a piece of cloth draped over her chest, with a heart-shaped insignia, linked to her collar. A similar piece of cloth was found over her crotch, tied by a rope around her waist. Raikou possessed some armor in the form of tight gauntlets and grieves, elbow and knee-length respectively. Her Katana was seen sheathed, connected to her by another sort of rope.
There was also a quiver holding a set of arrows by her right hip, and there was a tall bow on her back.
On her side was Tawara, a muscular young man with long black hair and black eyes. He wore light armor with a long sword on his back and he carried a magical quiver along with a magical bow.
Raikou was the all range specialist and had already been deployed more than five times already while Tawara was one of the new subjects without any real field experience.
All four them had impressed the Cardinal as all of them would be considered geniuses in this world. It really was a miraculous project that would push Judas from the Bishop rank to the Cardinal rank.
His fellow Bishops were surely going to cry tears of blood from the jealousy.
But hearing those words took away his attention, a magician from the other world. That was a dangerous situation as it could mean the other side could declare war on them and from the data gathered about the other world, they would be lucky to even last for a month in a war.
"Bishop Judas, do tell me that there are countermeasures?" Ars controlled his anger from exploding at the risk the man had put their world into.
"I understand my sin, Cardinal. I have broken the summoning circle and made sure to apply anti-magic artifact in the room. It was a mistake that couldn't have been seen as the magical side seems to have declined and has been hiding.
Regardless of the risk, the magician has brought an opportunity for our world. His magic was unique and the system he was following was not the same. If we can study him, we might be able to enter the tenth circle naturally." Judas explained with a crazy smile as the idea just made his body shake in excitement. The tenth circle was not the realm of mortals but dragons and Apostles along with rare few Magical beings.
It was the realm of Immortals who walked the path of twelve circles, doing things that were like miracles to them casually.
Seeing the calm man show such an unsightly expression, Cardinal Ars understood his feeling as the thought of such advancement was an exciting prospect and Sariel had said nothing against it, meaning the White Lord didn't mind them reaching higher heights.
"Please pass me the information and I will have the Eighth Apostle track them down." Ars muttered calmly as he looked at Sariel for her reaction but just like always the avatar acted like a doll. The others were different and were actual people from this world so they acted like normal people.
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But her silence didn't disturb as he respected her more than anyone else as she was the one that had saved him from death some years ago when he was just a Bishop.
That brush with death had pushed him to grow into the man he was today, within two years.
Judas couldn't decline his words and passed him the report written by Kotaro, and the Pegasus Knights.
"Well then, please excuse me. I will handle this case and bring up the results of your project with the Pope. Bishop Judas, you can expect a raise so please relax and visit your family." Cardinal Ars said with a gentle tone as he got up.
"Thank you for your kind words, Cardinal. Please pass my greetings to the Pope and my desire to participate in the golem department."
"I will pass it on and you can look forward to a positive result." Ars said as he walked towards exit along with Sariel who was acting as his bodyguard as he had asked for her so he could let her see the world outside.
She was a combat puppet that only went outside for a mission so he wanted her to see the outside world in a normal setting.
Judas watched them leave before turning his attention to his four servants. He had taken them for his personal use as he was the leader of the project.
But they were lacking in experience and equipment. Saitou had his swords destroyed even after enhancement that was in just poor taste.
Judas decided to let them get into real life training and acquire powerful artifacts for them. The Pandora exploration was the right event to showcase the power of the Heavenly Soldiers and even acquire subjects from the heretics that will be captured.
The project had been halted with the risk of the other world but only a month later things will start up again.
Judas was looking forward to exploring the ruins on the next continent as the secrets of the immortals might still be available on the other side unlike Arc continent where those things had been erased by the White Lord.
"Raikou, I look forward to your growth. Show me that you can surpass that little girl."
"Yes, Master." Raikou replied in a gentle tone and a beautiful smile. It had been six months since her experiment was completed so her personality was surfacing more and more. She had a very strong mind so it had not been altered.
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With war on the horizon, Shirou and Kurono were in the city where people were gathering for it and other events.
Getting up in the morning, he was completely healed and went through a normal routine where they got refreshed before getting some breakfast.
They were shown around and Shirou gathered more basic knowledge about the place. Making him understand that there were many servants in this world and how dangerous the White Lord was for him.
He learned that there were other immortals that were worshipped by the people of Pandora and the believers that were chosen by their lords got blessings.
It was the same for the White Lord, he gave blessing to those he liked and considered pure. The blessing of the White Lord could not be given to non-virgins as purity was a requirement, meaning all the Apostles were virgin.
Shirou could see that was a clear cut weakness for the Apostles, have sex with them and majority of their power would be gone.
With the knowledge of the incoming conflict and the power of the White Sacrament clear in his eyes, Shirou decided that they needed to escape.
The Bishop would have shared the data by now and one of the Apostles was a hunter named Ai. She was a short beautiful woman with platinum blond hair, green eyes and a cheerful personality from what he gathered.
But her friendly personality couldn't hide the fact that she was a cold blooded hunter that was like the grim reaper. There was no tracker better than her on the continent and she would always find her targets if you left enough clues.
With permission, the duo explored the city before their meeting with Semiramis. They walked to the port after having stored their items into the space ring that Shirou copied and left the original in the room. William had passed them the magical item for storing items but Shirou could tell it had the tracking magic carved into it.
At the port, Shirou and Kurono looked around before deciding their actions. They were going to steal one of the smaller boats and using magic Shirou would push them far away from the region.
They had the map to guide them towards Pandora and even getting lost on the sea won't be a problem for them.
With everything settled, Shirou produced the Rule Breaker and it was uncomfortable like always as he also understood the object with his UBW. He didn't just reproduce it, he also understood its history and could use it like its master.
There wasn't much time left so without delay, Shirou slashed in Kurono's direction and cut the contract before doing the same to himself.
With that out of the way, he threw the dagger into the UBW that he unleashed slightly. He didn't have time to fully unleash it at the moment. Once he was out of the fire, he was making it his priority as he was weakened without it.
Running at full speed while turning invisible, the duo jumped onto the small boat and threw out the sailors using telekinesis.
Shirou bad about stealing but he knew that Semiramis would pay them for the loss as the ship was stolen in under her protection.
Going full power, Shirou turned the ship invisible and pushed it with telekinesis while Kurono decided to help by creating propellers using his dark magic.
The group work gave excellent results as the ship pulled away from the harbor without a hitch and the unexpected speed made it hard for anyone to react.
The canons, magic and such were shot in their direction but none worked as the speed was too fast and Kurono shot them down.
"Stop the ship" A cold voice entered his ear and Shirou focused his powers on the target by instinct, sending them crashing into the railings.
The target turned out to be a petite assassin that cancelled his magic with her magical daggers. It was a female assassin wearing a mask, wearing a skin tight black suit.
Jack had the appearance of a white-haired girl with green-yellow eyes, with stitched-up scars on her face. Her upper body was that of an adolescent, while her lower body was more mature like that of an adult, creating an odd juxtaposition to her appearance. She donned a black vest, black panties and black stockings with pink shoes. Both her arms were bandaged but only her left hand wears a glove. She had a purple oval-shaped 'O' on each of her shoulders. At the small of her back she carried a number of sheathes that held her knives. She wore a black cloak over her outfit that made her seem like a shadow.
Shirou realized that he would have died if she hadn't warned him.
'No, Avalon would have saved me but Kurono could have died.'
"Kurono, don't stop. I will handle her." Shirou shouted as he produced Gae Dearg and Gae Buidhe as short swords along with Enkidu, the golden chains as support.
He could kill the foe but it would go against his way if he killed them after being shown such mercy. The other side had only shown him mercy and had given no reason for the kill.
At this moment, he was almost at full power and there was no way he could lose to an assassin. If it had been Achilles or William, things could have been troublesome but an Assassin in this field was not a threat.
He wasn't the only one to rely the problem as Shirou summoned the weapons. Jacky was a pure elf that had lived for more than two hundred years but she had been tortured and broken, leading to a broken psyche.
She was a contradiction, childish and adult like at different times.
But one thing was sure. She was a skilled assassin that was taken care by Semiramis who treated her like a daughter.
As an Elf, Jacky had strong magical resistance and affinity. She could feel the power of the items and the danger they represented.
'Fight or retreat. I do not wish to disappoint mother.' Jacky thought as she released mist the covered up the whole ship and blinded everyone.
Jacky could feel everything that was touched by the mist while the mist blinded all senses of the victims even magical senses.
With body enhancement and speed up, Jacky enhanced her daggers and activated them to disable the nerves in Shirou's limbs. The speed was boosted to the highest degree and the strike was impossible to dodge but Shirou had summoned Rho Aias to shield him, blocking her attack and unleashing Enkidu on her.
Jacky tried to back away but the golden chains were fast as they acted the moment she crashed into the barrier.
Jacky tried to slip away from the chains but Shirou attacked directly causing her to block his blades. With her body stopped, the chains coiled around her body and suppressed her mana.
"Don't struggle, I won't kill you. Just deliver my thanks and apologies to your master. I have my own purpose in life and it means that I will never serve anyone. Tell her to live a good life or I would have to cut her down. I am the hero of justice, just remember that." Shirou said gently as felt relaxed and his powers had been increased by the new environment.
The spells were being deployed faster than usual and they had been strengthened slightly. With his words finished, Shirou controlled the chains to throw Jacky back towards the harbor.
With the invisibility on their side and the speed even Achilles was stumped or he would have been forced into another battle.
Achilles saw Jacky fly and caught her, he could feel the general direction of the ship and could attack indiscriminately but decided not to.
They had let go of his friend without killing her, it was a sign that they didn't intend any bad feelings.
'I wonder who they really were. We might end up fighting each other soon.' Achilles thought as he remembered the expedition coming up.
With Jacky taken out, the duo travelled towards Pandora while Achilles went back to Semiramis who slapped him.
She knew he let them go. If he had attacked, the ship would have been delayed allowing Semiramis to send others as back up.
Regardless of her anger, she was very much intrigued by Shirou now and thankful to him for not killing Jacky. She was such a precious child that her death would have made Semiramis want to kill him.
Semiramis wasn't the only one angered by the incident as Salome was absolutely enraged so Achilles was punished for his mistake and sent into isolation until the expedition.
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A.N Hope you enjoyed and comment