DxD : Emiya Shirou

There are times that we're so alike that I can hardly believe we're not truly father and son

Kiritsugu hadn't wanted to teach me magic. Time and time again I asked only to be rejected. After almost two years of trying, I could only convince him to teach me the very basics. Even then, it was half-hearted.

Nothing I said or did seemed to budge him.

I had always been told how stubborn I could be but when compared to Kirisugu, I had found my match. I had actually begun to resign myself to the little that he was willing to part with.

That was, at least, until he found out my Origin.

Then everything changed.

A Dual-Origin is a rare thing Shirou.

How rare?

So rare, that you and I are the only people I personally know that have one.

I still ended up learning nothing of what I thought then as 'real' magic. Nothing to do with fighting or anything that may have been useful in helping me in accomplishing my dream of becoming a hero. Despite his change of heart, Kiritsugu viciously guarded me from any form of magic he deemed dangerous.

Which was almost everything, really. Magic, or Magecraft as he called it, was a very dangerous art. 'To be a Magus was to walk with death'. I did, however, end up learning the fundamental theories of Magecraft and developed a better understanding of how the supernatural world worked, but that was pretty much it.

In his heart, Kiritsugu never wanted me to learn magic.

You only have a single Element, Sword, the same as your Origin.

When an Element and Origin match, the magic becomes specialized. Incredibly so. Enabling you to cast spells in your field that no one else can match.

Consequently, it will make it almost impossible for you to cast spells outside of your Element. Only the most basic spells will not be beyond you.

Even then it will take years of practice to learn what would take another Magus mere days.

While I knew he said that to discourage me, I didn't mind. I knew, even back then, that I didn't have any talent. It didn't matter. I was willing to work as hard and as long as it takes. Besides, at the time I thought magic based on swords was a really cool thing to have. Kiritsugu just laughed when I told him.

However, though you only have one Element your Origin is dual-natured. Though, it is unlikely to have any real effects on your Thaumaturgy.

Why?

An Origin doesn't have anything directly to do with your Magecraft; It instead tells more about what kind of person you are and what path in life you'll follow.

It is questionable if you would ever be any to cast any spells relating to your second Origin. With a paired Element and Origin of Sword, along with lacking any of the 5 Primary Elements, it borders on impossible for you to do so.

You just might be able to grasp some of the lower levels spells, but even that is unlikely, and even if you succeed I highly doubt it will be anything impressive.

He was right. Even after all these years, I haven't learned a single thing that could be referred to as a proper spell when it came to my second Origin.

I probably never will either.

Do not be mistaken, despite its name your Origin has nothing to do with the Third Magic. While there may appear to be some similarity between the two, in reality, they are completely different.

The Third Magic is the magic of the soul and the power to control it.

Your Origin, however, deals with what's within the soul and the ability to understand it.

I didn't understand what he meant of the time, but I just nodded along anyway.

Honestly, you will probably never find any use from it in combat. Other than helping you better understand and empathize with people, I doubt you'll gain anything of worth from it.

But then again, perhaps if I had a bit more empathy back then I wouldn't have...

Kiritsugu does this sometimes, where he just drifts off in a middle of speaking, losing himself in his thoughts. I never thought anything of it back then. To me he was old, and old people did that all the time, right? He kept doing it more and more as he got older after all.

Shirou.

I still won't teach you anything more than the basics and theories. But I think that second Origin of yours can do the world some good.

I didn't understand why Kiritsugu needed to state the obvious. Of course it'll be good for the world. I was gonna be a Hero, wasn't I? Again, he just laughed at me when I told him.

But really, whoever heard of such an absurd thing?

A Dual-Origin of

'Spirit and Sword'

...

The sun broke out from behind the clouds, spilling light down onto the smooth white surface of the rooftop. The muffled shouts and cheers of the playing students made its way up from the courtyard below, giving the place a lively atmosphere despite its current empty state. 

A soothing gentle breeze flowed through the rooftop, ruffling the bangs of my hair and cooling my warm body.

At this moment, there was perhaps no better location in the entire school. A place of peace and tranquillity where any weary student can come to rest their body and soul.

But of course, I noticed none of it.

I had no time to waste on such foolishness, oh no. Something far more worthy is currently holding my attention. I leaned back to better take the sight of it in, to bask in its presence. A more beautiful sight I had never seen.

In front of me was an open lunch-box.

Filled with rice so white and fluffed up it looked to be made from flakes of the purest snow. Shrimp tempura that has been baked to such a perfect shade of brown that it shone like glittering gold in the sunlight. 

Fresh green vegetables carved into the shapes of flowers lined the edges of the box, paired with slices of brightly coloured fruits, giving the entire ensemble an almost aesthetic feel to it. And finally, the very heart of this masterpiece, ten perfectly boiled sausages sliced up to form little octopuses... with tiny little smiles on their faces.

It...it was beautiful, simply beautiful.

Is this what Fuji-nee felt whenever I cooked for her? Is this why she went crazy whenever she didn't get the chance to sample my food? If so, then I understood. I completely understood. My cooking is freaking awesome.

Pride. That was the Sin that had been placed upon me when I had willingly chosen to abandon my human form and replaced it with that of a Devil. Once, I had thought of it as nothing more than another burden for me to bear. A Sin was no different than what the Bible had claimed it to be.

But I was wrong, so very very wrong.

Not long after my transformation, I had discovered that my Pride had manifested itself in primarily two forms outside of the general feeling of self-pride. The first was in my swords. To me my swords have always been tools, a means to an end. The cause that I would wield them for was something that I could be proud of, never the swords themselves.

As even from the start I knew that they were flawed. Compared to the real thing my blades were defective copies. Even the greatest of my swords would be found lacking when placed side-by-side to its predecessor. 

The reason for their strength lies not in the skills of my craftmanship but the majesty of the originals. So what reason was there to take pride in when the swords that I forged with my own hands could never match the one that I pictured in my mind?

That, however, was how things were in the past, it no longer held any truth in the present reality. Since my arrival in this dimension and my reincarnation as a Devil, my skills have grown. 

With no resistance from Gaia for me to fight when I cast my Projections, with no constant deterioration to my swords, I could now create blades of far better quality with significantly less effort than I ever had been able to before.

Add in the boost in quality and power that my circuits have received, and I have finally been able to bridge the gap to the image I held in my mind. No longer are my swords defects, inferiors. While not quite the level of the original, they could now stand side by side with their predecessors without shame.

I have finally found pride in my swords.

The second manifestation of my Pride appeared in a completely unexpected manner. Although now that I looked back on it, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise. After all, if the first form my Pride manifested itself was in my skills in crafting swords, it only stood to reason that the second way it would manifest itself would also be in my skills to craft something.

Still, I never would have expected it to be cooking.

That's right people I, Emiya Shirou, have sold my eternal soul and have been transformed into the fiendish and despicable form of a Cooking Devil. Hide your children and run away before I cook you all a demonic dinner...

...The sad part is I really should have seen something like this coming when I decided to sell my soul to a Devil that was dressed up as a Magic girl.

But despite the sound of it, it has actually been great. I have never realized how good my cooking was before. Sure I've had many people compliment me on it. Fuji-nee would end up shedding tears of anguish if I fail to cook her at least one meal a day and even Saber, a king, loved my cooking.

But it wasn't until I finally tasted my own cooking as a Devil and realized how amazingly good it was that I finally believed them. Till then I had always believed they were exaggerating or simply praised me because they were unwilling or unable to cook for themselves. How did I never notice how good I was before I'll never know.

Pride may still be a sin but it made my food taste so much better. That alone would have made turning into a Devil worth it. Hell, if it meant I can enjoy life even more than as far as I'm concerned more Sin is a great thing. Banzai for sin, Banzai for debauchery.

Speaking of tasting better, it was time for me to finally enjoy my food.

Snapping open a pair of wooden chopsticks, I picked up a nice good chunk of my rice. Closing my eyes to better savour the taste, I opened my mouth and slowly brought the rice up to my lips before snapping my jaws over...nothing apparently.

I opened my eyes and looked down to find my chopsticks empty of rice. Confused, I glanced around to find out where it had gone when I froze in place as I caught sight of a familiar looking girl.

Ilya!?

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