DxD:the fake Dream

"I won't say anything to her about it later if you don't." Kiritsugu stated casually before finishing his meal.

o. o. o.

That night Kiritsugu and Shirou were once again in their shack which Shirou had chosen to be his workshop, the core of his research as a magus…

Kiritsugu was fairly certain that if any high ranking magus had actually seen the state and location of the boy's center of operations, filled with random mechanical rubbish and no magical appliances, they would either laugh their asses off and pass the whole thing off as some sort of joke… or more realistically kill him, the boy, and then torch the place down in order to make them repent to the insult they had inadvertently done to all of those who practiced thaumaturgy.

Still, the shack served its purpose well as once more Shirou started off the night analyzing over a dozen random objects inside and telling his father what he knew of the object and what was wrong if it didn't work, carefully going over each and every detail as he did so. Since Shirou actually knew what the hell he was doing now, he could actually trace more than at most 3 objects in a session without keeling over, and because of that they were making great progress.

"Alright Shirou." Kitsirugu nodded, pleased with the boy's dedication to his practice. "Now that we are done with your foundation training, I am going to teach you a bit about bounded fields."

"You mean like that magic security system you have set up around the house?" The boy tilted his head to the side curiously. He was a bit winded from his training so far, however his somewhat large number of now activated magic circuits had quickly replenished his energy.

Kiritsugu nodded. "Correct. A Bounded Field is a topographic type of Magecraft, or in layman's terms a long term spell spread over a given area. To make one you have to in a sense knit a network of prana and spread it on base area, such as a piece of land or a building, to create a mystic boundary line that separates the inside from the outside. The clearly advanced ones cover literal spaces, be it in mid air or underground, however that is something beyond what I can teach you." He scratched his head sheepishly. "Like you know, I'm unable to use much magic anymore, however I was rather good at setting up and especially good at tearing down fields. The one around the house for example is almost impossible to detect even by strong mages since it does not attack or defend, but simply informs us of when someone with ill intentions comes inside. This includes humans and non humans which is somewhat rare for bounded fields…"

Shirou's eyes however did not seem disappointed in the man in the slightest. "Cool! I knew you were awesome at this stuff!"

"Right…" Kiritsugu laughed nervously, knowing that all he was teaching the boy was stuff he could only remember since he had barely any magic text books on hand. "Anyways, bounded fields are what pretty much every magi use to protect their workshop. There are 2 ways to make an effective defense against a workshop. The first is to make the fields you construct so subtle that the invading magi won't detect them and their effects until it is too late, and the other is to make the fields so overwhelmingly strong that they can overwhelm any offense that the enemy can think of." He smirked lazily. "I have a different approach in using and looking at magic compared to other magi, so I was pretty good at finding the weaknesses in strong fields. I once broke through a very strong set of fields around one noble's homes in about 3 hours. According to my guesses, it would take even a strong magus to do the same about a year."

He was somewhat embarrassed and ashamed that the boy looking at him in awe since he was pretty much bragging about how well he was a mystical breaking and entering. He prayed that this wouldn't leave the kid with ideas in the future.

"So then." He coughed and getting back to his lesson. "Once made, the boundary line will limit the range of the powers of the bounded field, but it is possible to set magic sigils across a the inside of the field to expand the area of effect, strengthen it, and do other things. A magus can erase the sigils of course as long as they know what they are doing. As for the boundaries themselves by interrupting and removing the prana fueling it… so long as you know that the field is there and that you have the knowhow and prana yourself to do so. Some of the stronger fields are nearly impossible to destroy alone since they require certain methods to do so, or they rely on a nearby prana "battery" to support it."

Kiritsugu paused for a moment as he saw Shirou blinking at him. It was at this point that he remembered that he was talking to a 10 year old. He might have accidentally overwhelmed the kid with all the technical talk…

"So… basically." The boy said slowly. "You draw a shape with magic, and depending on the spell and how much prana you put in it you get different strengths and effects…" He began to put the lecture into his own words. "Then you can make the field better with those rune things… but the runes and the field can be removed by a guy who knows what they are doing… and they will most likely get rid of the runes first because it makes things easier."

Kitsirugu nodded. "Yeah. The guys at the clock tower would use more complicated words, but that's the gist of it." He sat down casually. "For now though, let's get back to your training. First you have to learn how to make the lines to shape your bounded fields. Now close your mind and access your circuit. Most fields are rather big, but for now we are just going to focus on making a small circle around the both of us…"

o. o. o.

It had been 2 months now and Kiritsugu was fairly certain he had more than enough information on the future war to start preparing for specifics now. He was aware of the identity of every master and every servant fighting in the war. Their powers, strengths, weaknesses, noble phantasms, personalities, desires… everything was written down in his notebook with as much detail as he could. He had no doubt that some things would change from how they were now. The war could start at an earlier or later date for some reason. Different masters or servants could be participating…

He had though a list of things that would be present in this current war though…

Shirou would for certain summon Arturia again. The boy possessed Avalon, the sheath of Excalibur inside his body after all. The grail was not a living being and had no consciousness… but with the constant presence of a potential master and a strong catalyst such as this there was no mistaking this would pass…

The master for the Tohsaka family would obviously be the daughter of Archer's original master seeing as she was the only one in her family with the name and the ability left. Who she would summon on the other hand was now up in the air though, as Kiritsugu's training of Shirou would have no doubt complicated things on that end. However… should the heroic spirit Emiya be summoned once more… he should prepare something just in case for that…

The master for the Mato family would likewise be the sister of Rin… the adopted girl Sakura, whose body was flooded with crest worms and her mind and body being corrupted and defiled by the remains of the previous holy grail. The girl was the definition of a wild card at this stage, posing as a great threat or ally either way… especially with Zoken still surviving somehow. His best bet was to nudge the boy into archery club in middle school since from the dreams they both attended it, and likewise push him in her direction with a few suggestions afterwards should he still be alive at the time. Still… she was a difficult card to guide, maneuver or control.