Iteration #39
Shirou tensed as the Grail materialised, knowing that this was the moment. He'd spent the last dozen repeats preparing for this moment. Now, at last, it was time - his chance to break out of this endlessly looped hell.
Using his own resources hadn't worked, and neither had the seal Sakura and Shinji had enacted - so he'd decided the problem was rooted in the fact that he just didn't know much about pocket dimensions, recursive timelines, or other quantum phenomena that might as well be Magic, since Science couldn't actually prove their existence. So, to that end, he'd gone to the magus who specialised in that kind of thing: Rin Tohsaka.
It hadn't been easy, but he'd worked with her before this mess started, and thus, knew going in that it wouldn't be. Eventually, he'd convinced her to tell him what she knew about alternate dimensions, and so forth. It was, he admitted, one halfway decent side-effect of meeting and dealing endlessly with the same people. You learned how to manipulate them, given enough time, to the point where you could persuade them to do anything you wanted them to . . . Though he'd never look at Archer the same way again. And the next time
anyone mentioned a threeway . . . Shirou shook his head, making another effort (in what he suspected would be a lifetime of efforts) to repress the memories.
That first attempt hadn't yielded nearly as much information as he'd hoped, so Shirou had resolved to try to access Tohsaka's mansion, in hopes of finding more information, or to look at it himself, rather than hear it from Rin, in case it sparked ideas. He was well aware that most of the Tohsaka clan's thaumaturgical knowledge would be engraved within its crest - and the only way to access that would be to tear it out of Rin. Shirou wasn't that far gone . . .
yet. However, he suspected that things like personal diaries might contain preliminary notes, or speculations that hadn't been included in the crest, either because they
were speculative, or because the crest already had the information. Or, just as a secondary source, in the event the family crest was somehow lost - it never hurt to have backups.
He'd spent two repeats to observe Rin and Archer's patterns, to know when they were out, and it was therefore safe to break in. It had taken four attempts to bypass the barrier and other security measures on the Tohsaka home - mostly because he'd defeat one only to be killed by another. It had taken another two attempts to figure out how to get past it all without alerting Tohsaka, though Shirou admitted to a certain enjoyment in defeating Archer, after that . . . No, no, he was
not going to think about it. Stupid, perverted Tohsaka.
Shirou found himself smiling, though, as he remembered the way she'd writhed under . . .
no.
Once he'd done all that, it had still taken him four repeats to locate and read through all the generations' worth of material left behind by her ancestors on sorcery in general, and Jewel Magic. By now, he probably understood Tohsaka's hereditary style nearly as well as she did - and to be sure, he had far more power to put into it, since the Matou seal kept increasing his magic circuits by the amount he'd had when it was placed everytime he restarted the Grail War. By now, they numbered into the hundreds.
In any case, now he was ready. As the last moment came, Shirou concentrated on Tracing the Jeweled Sword Zelretch, bolstered by his memories of Rin's own forging of it. And, as the blade formed, he opened all his magic circuits, channelling his full energies through the tool as he used the teachings he'd absorbed to direct the considerable force according to his will. With a swing, a cry of righteous determination, and a flash of light, Shirou remained absolute in his conviction that finally, he would be free of this seemingly Infinite Time Loop.
. . . And the world went white . . .
