THIS ILLUSION BLADE WORKS

12 years had passed by just like that since the events of Fate/Hollow Ataraxia. Everything looked normal at first sight, with Shirou Emiya now a fully grown man with a well built body and owning his own repair shop…

Flashback…

You've really reached your limit, Emiya." Said Caren as she leaped over him. Shirou was left defenseless as he tried to heal his wounds.

"She's getting too much here." Thought Shirou as he leaped aside in time as Caren tried to bind him with her Magdala cloth. He quickly stood up and tried to create another weapon.

"Trace…on!" His hand glowed and a dagger appeared in his grasp.

"That is enough." She stood there calmly.

"Nani?"

"I've test you enough for now. You really have what it takes to be a fighter. Though I'm just a mediator in the church till now, but remember, your actions during the Holy Grail War attracted me so much, I just can't ignore it till now."

"Get it straight to the point. Are you trying to say that I'm not qualified enough to be a hero?" Shirou was getting on his nerves. With all the bruises everywhere his body, he was exhausted just after fighting with her.

"I'll tell you one more time, Emiya Shirou." She pushed her hair backwards. "What you are trying to do is just unusual. That's right. You want to save other lives without caring for your own life. It's not really gonna pay for you. You're pulling yourself further into guilt just like your father."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"I can only tell you right until here. It's up to you whether you want to go on with that dream of yours. Now it you'll excuse me." She turned around and left him.

"What's that suppose to mean?" he thought, before slumping to the ground due to exhaustion.

END OF THE FLASHBACK….

That was a few nights ago, when the adult Caren met the adult Shirou.

Fire was surrounding him right now. The horror of those yelling in pain to escape the fire could be heard again, just like what happened 22 years ago.

That night was supposed to be a Spring Festival Night, with people celebrating around the city. They were supposed to be laughing and having fun at the stalls that were set up for the festival. But an unexpected explosion followed by flames engulfing everywhere wiped out the joy and merry-making. The stalls were burnt down and bodies lying everywhere.

"Urrghh." Shirou crawled away to a corner for safety. He was among the few survivors so far. "What happened?" He rubbed his head in pain. And when he looked at the burning fire around him, fear struck him. The horrifying memory 22 years ago during the 4th Holy Grail War rushed through his mind again.

"How can this be happening again?" he got up, trying to look for the other survivors.

"Ha ha ha ha!!"

"Dare da?!" Shirou was struck by that laughter.

"How does it feel now, Emiya Shirou?" an unknown figure stood not far from him. There was a spell book in his left hand.

"This is our first meeting, Emiya, right?"

"Umae wa…" Shirou stared at him. But when the person walked closer to him, Shirou's eyes became wide-opened. He could guess who that person was.

"Shinji!!"

"Oh?! So I looked like him, eh?" the guy in front of him looked like Shinji, Shirou could tell the similarity although it had been 12 years.

"Boku wa… Mato Seiji. I am Shinji aniue's estranged brother."

"Seiji?" Shirou clenched his fist. "Shinji had a brother?"

"It's been a while since I met Shinji aniue, until you sent him to his death 12 years ago."

"If you're here because of revenge, then you're wrong. I didn't kill Shinji."

"Of course you didn't kill him."

"Nani?"

"You're the one who beat him in the Holy Grail War and ended our hopes, the Mato family's hopes of getting the Holy Grail. Einzbern killed him, right?"

Shirou's dumbstruck. Ilya's image flashed through his mind. The once happy yet cheeky Ilya when she was still with him.

"Illyasviel Von Einzbern is dead! SO, you're the only one left to be eliminated now! You're the one who will be taking responsibility for aniue's death. Aniue couldn't kill you during the War, so I'll finish the job for him!"

"Matte! How do you know so much about the War? You're not there aren't you?"

"Oji-san knew a lot about it. After all, he summoned True Assassin, didn't he?"

Shirou's eyes were filled with fear again.

"Zoken…! That old man is still alive?"

"He knew something would have gone wrong during the War, that's why he sent me away to grow up while training my Magic skills. Of course, Shinji aniue should have been the next head of the Mato family, but now that you killed him, I will be the next head of the family." He held up his spell book and unleashed a dark wave towards Shirou.

"Orrgh!" Shirou dodged it and charged towards him. "You're gonna pay for the death of those innocent ones out there!" Shirou tried to punch him, but Seiji evaded it with ease.

"You're not acting good enough, Emiya." He leaped back towards part of a broken down stall. "Why not settle this like in the Holy Grail War?"

"You ask for it! Trace…on!" he activated his skills again. His right hand shined again and a long stick appeared in his grasp. He held it up and prepared to attack.

"That's it! This is real war, Emiya!" Seiji held up his right hand. It shined the same as Shirou's and in an instant, he was wielding Durendal.

"What the…!!" Shirou's eyes were wide-opened again. "You knew that kind of magic too?"

"Ho ho ho." Seiji glared at him. "Reinforcement & Tracing are just ordinary magic spells to me. Oji-san knew I had talent in this kind of magic, so he trained me secretly for this very day." He pointed Durendal at him and the blade was covered in total darkness.

"Die, Emiya Shirou!" Seiji charged at him and slashed him. Shirou blocked the attack with his stick, and tried to attack back. Initially Seiji was gaining the upperhand at the moment since he was using a blade. Shirou's stick was broken within a minute.

"Damn!" Shirou leaped backwards and held both hands upfront. "Trace.…on!" And this time, Kansho and Bakuya appeared in his grasps..

"Let's see who is better here." Seiji held both hands upfront too, following the same steps as Shirou, and then Kansho and Bakuya also appeared in his grasps. He charged forward and slashed Shirou. Shirou blocked the attack and slashed back. The two exchanged blows against each other. The swords clashed loudly each time, despite the sound of fire burning around them, causing an intense situation around them with all the heat capacity. The fire started spreading towards the nearby building.

"Seiji!!" Shirou slammed Kansho with all his might at the moment at Seiji's Kansho and both of them fell out of their hands.

"Aarrgh." Seiji retreated, holding his right hand in pain. Shirou quickly traced another Kansho in his hand. Seiji looked up and all of a sudden, he smiled.

"Interesting." Seiji held his left hand at Shirou and a PPK gun appeared in his grasp after the usual glow.

"Nani?"

Hah!" Seiji fired it at Shirou. Shirou blocked the first shot with his blades and leaped here and there to avoid the next shots, trying to get closer to him.

"Seiji!" Shirou reached him and swung his blade at him. Seiji countered with his blade and both of them exchanged blows at each other again. Eventually Shirou was gaining advantage since Seiji was only using 1 sword while he himself was still using his pair together.

"Arrgh!" Seiji was pushed behind by Shirou and he tripped over a torn down store behind him and fell to the ground. At the same time, a little girl crawled out of the store, weeping in fear and pain as she tried to get away for safety.

"Help me." She crawled away and towards Shirou. "Help me. Momee."

"Urrgh, what a disturbance here!" Seiji went mad, threw Bakuya aside and took out his spell book and aimed at the girl.

"Dame daaaaaa!!" Shirou dropped his blades and rushed forward to protect her.

"Die!!" Seiji shot out flames from his spell book towards the girl. Shirou went in front of her to block the flames, but…

"Aaaarrghhhh!!" Shirou was burnt badly by the flames, as if he was in hellfire right now. It was worse than the time was he was consumed by the Holy Grail itself. Shirou was thrown back far behind and hit the ground with a thud. Not even the girl was spared from the fire. The flames caught hold of the other end of the wrecked store and caused another fire. Shirou laid onto the ground, motionless. His clothes and body was burnt. The girl was lying at a corner, burnt to death.

"Oh, over so soon?" Seiji kept his spell book and looked at Shirou's body. Fire was still burning around them, exactly the same during the end of the 4th Holy Grail War. Some cries and yells could still be heard nearby, including a few from the nearby building. Then, as Seiji was about to laugh out in terror, Shirou got up slowly and knelt on the ground in agony. His skin was now darker than before and his hair had lost its color, completely white. His outer clothes had been burnt off, revealing his singlet left.

"Doshite, Emiya Shirou? Still want a more painful way to die?" Seiji looked on.

"Naze?! Why do you have to kill her?! She's just an innocent girl!!" he yelled back.

"Oh, you still care about those unimportant lives, eh? Didn't I say we're treating this fight as a Holy Grail War? Whoever dies is not important anymore. Ha ha ha ha!" Seiji laughed hystericallyas he covered his face with his hand.

"Temee! You and Shinji are just the same. Saying that you don't wanna fight, but then taking the lives of the innocent ones for the sake of winning!"

"You have yourself to blame for being the winner of the Holy Grail War!" Seiji made another PPK in his right hand and fired at Shirou.

"Arrgh!" the bullet hit Shirou's left arm. He grabbed it, trying to withhold the pain. "If I don't get rid of you, more lives will have to be sacrificed, and I will be disappointing oyaji once more." He stood up and surprisingly, smiled.

"To hell with your dreams, hero of justice!" Seiji's left hand created a hand grenade. He quickly pulled out the trigger with his mouth and threw it at Shirou.

"Huh?!" Shirou's eyes were wide open again. "This is getting too over it." He thought as he held his right hand forward. "Trace…on!" Light glowed in his grasps again and Merodach appeared. He parried the grenade with the blade, sending it flying back towards Seiji.

"Urrgh!" Seiji leaped aside. But the grenade flew above him and slammed into a nearby building and exploded, bursting the ground floor of the building into flames. A few yelling could be heard again from within.

"Arrgh! Urrgh!" Shirou grabbed his own head. The yelling affected his mind again, as he remembered those yelling and screaming during the 4th war.

"You're getting on my nerves, Emiya. I guess it's time for you to go to hell. And if you're lucky enough, stop by and beg for mercy from Shinji-aniue first." He threw his PPK aside and placed both hands to his left. "Trace it!" A very bright light surrounded his hands and an oversize Flamberge appeared in his grasp. "Your head is mine now!" he wielded it towards Shirou.

"You really underestimate me, Seiji." Shirou glared at him, with confidence in his face. He struck Merodach to the ground and stood still as Seiji charged towards him.

"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou's right hand created another Kansho and he threw it straight towards Seiji like a boomerang.

"Urrgh!" Seiji swung his Flamberge and hit Kansho aside. It flew up into the sky. Shirou took the time to leap further from Seiji.

"Steel is my body, and fire is my blood." This time he made another Bakuya and threw it at Seiji again .Seiji hit back Bakuya and it flew into the sky and collided with Kansho. The blades exploded right above him, causing a big impact that Seiji was pushed backwards by the strong wind from the explosion. He lost his balance, tripped to the ground and dropped his Flamberge.

"I have created over a thousand blades" he leaped aside and pulled out Merodach from the ground again and threw it at Seiji.

"Stop wasting my time anymore!" Seiji countered it with his Flamberge. Merodach knocked off Flamberge from his grasp and flew into the building once more and exploded, causing a big fire within the building. Seiji held his face, which was bleeding after the explosion. "Konno yaro!"

"Unaware of loss. Nor aware of gain" He stood still again, with his eyes closed. Seiji wiped his face and charged towards Shirou as he traced another weapon in his hand.

"Withstood pain to create many weapons." Shirou traced his right hand and Rho Aias appeared in his hand. Seiji exclaimed in anger as he traced another Durendal and tossed it at Shirou.

"Waiting for one's arrival." Shirou activated Rho Aias and a magic field surrounded him. Deurendal hit the field and was reflected back towards Seiji.

"Urrgh!!" Seiji grabbed his spell book and muttered some spell. Gigantic flower thorns struck out of the ground violently and blocked Durendal, and struck towards Shirou. Shirou's Rho Aias continued to block the attacks that were aimed at him.

"I have no regrets, this is the only path." Shirou opened his eyes, held his hand down and Rho Aias disappeared. The thorns struck him but he leaped aside and stood on rubble nearby. Seiji glared and took his chance to charge at Shirou while he was still trying to evade the thorns.

"Emiya!!" Seiji aimed his spell book at him.

"My whole life was "Unlimited Blade Works"!" The ground around them started glowing brightly, as it started devouring everything around them.

"What's going on?" Seiji retreated. He couldn't see anything for it was too bright, and he couldn't avoid being devoured by the light as well. It took some while before he could open his eyes again. Seiji was shocked. He was standing on a vastly empty ground, the buildings and everything had vanished. All were there on the ground struck many kinds of swords. He looked around. The sky was orange, as if it was late in the evening.

"Where the hell is this?" Seiji panicked for the while. Then he remembered about Shirou. He couldn't really sense his presence around, but he knew he was there. He tried to calm down, but his heart was still in a state of panic. He opened his eyes wide, and then turned behind him. Shirou was standing straight behind him, smiling.

"Well done, Seiji. You just forced me to unleash my ultimate technique. It's been a long time since I used it. I never believe I had to use it against a person like you, instead of against a Servant." He grabbed the nearest sword and pulled it out of the ground.

"What's the meaning of this? You think you can scare me with all of this kind of trick? I'm not afraid, Emiya!!" Seiji grabbed his spell book tightly. Shirou smiled on.

"You still don't realize it, don't you? You're now surrounded by all of the finest blades you can ever find in this world." He pointed his sword at Seiji. "Mato Seiji, if you're a man, then come and face me now! Let's finish this once and for all!"

"Emiya!!" Seiji went hysterical. "You think I'll let you win at all? I'll kill you for aniue's sake!!" He held his spell book upfront. The shadows appeared out of the book again, this time surrounding Seiji's body.

"Aarrggghhh!!" Seiji held his hands high. "This is it! Emiya, you will be dead!" Most of the dark entity went to his fists and he seemed to have gone mad. "I have all the power right now!" He dropped his spell book and charged at Shirou.

"Aaaaaarrghgghgh!!" Seiji aimed a punch at Shirou as he charged on. His fist scattered some of the shadows around him, but it seemed to be devouring him as well, turning him into a shadow fighter instead.

"This is the end." Shirou smiled, and dashed towards him with his sword in front of him

"Aarrrggghhhh!! Seiji unleashed his shadow fist at him.

"Uuurrgghhh!!" Shirou aimed his sword at him down the path.

"AArrrrggghhh!!"

"Urrgghhh!!"

The bight light surrounded everything around the burning area. Then the building which exploded just a while ago started crashing down, just like during Sept 11th attacks. Smoke and dusts covered the area, as everywhere was full of rubbles and stones from the crashing building. No survivors could be found or heard anymore. Then from the nearby rubble, Shirou crawled out of the crumbling pieces. His body was covered with blood and dust. He crawled closer to safety before slumping to the ground and passed out. Apparently he had defeated Seiji with his Reality Marble, but who knew? Seiji's body on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. Everywhere was still burning as Shirou laid motionless on the ground.

A dream...

"You can never be what you always wanted. Some dreams are not meant to be fulfilled, what more trying to be a hero of justice. If you can't defeat it, then imagine what you can." Archer's words filled his memories again. "Shirou, you're fighting for other people's sake, without even caring for yourself. You put too much priority in saving other lives rather than caring about your own first. Some day in the future, you're gonna regret it." Saber's words flew past his mind.

"What you are trying to do is just unusual. That's right. You want to save other lives without caring for your own life. It's not really gonna pay for you. You're pulling yourself further into guilt just like your father." Caren's words from the other day also reignited in his memory bank.

"What's all this? Everyone's trying to discourage me from fulfilling oyaji's dream?!" Shirou yelled as he opened his eyes.

"Are?" Shirou sat up in surprise. He was lying on the bed, but not his usual bed. He was dressed directly in white; even the bed was directly white. He stared at the window.

"Where the hell is this? What am I doing here?" he rubbed his head in confusion, covered his eyes for a while, before snapping out.

"Oh man, Seiji! That's right. Damn it, I couldn't save those over there, only able to kill Seiji. Wait, then this must be the hospital. Owww." Shirou grabbed his chest tightly. He could still feel the sharp pain from the burning. He looked at his skin, which was now darker than before.

"Are wa…"

"Shirou!!" Rin Tohsaka slammed open the door and rushed into the room. She was sporting a single ponytail now and dressed in a rather sexier outfit, a woman's trend in those days. "Daijobu? I heard you got hurt…" Her eyes opened wide before she could finish her words. "Arr… Ar. Archer?"

"Tohsaka? Oi, What's up? What's with Archer all a sudden? That's the first thing you're asking me? Shirou rubbed his burnt hand.

"Shirou? Oh, I mean… you got burnt up till like that? Who did it?" Rin smacked her cheek.

"Mato Shinji's estranged brother."

"Estranged brother? A Mato? I couldn't believe it. So they still have more relatives around…"

But Shirou got up of bed unexpectedly.

"Oi, Shirou! What the hell? You still need to rest…

"Tohsaka!" he grabbed her all of a sudden. "What do you mean Archer just now?" His face was filled with agony.

"Errr…. anno…"

"Answer me!" he was a little mad all of a sudden. "Why did you say Archer all of a sudden?" "Your face… well…"

"Nani?!" Shirou rushed into the washroom next to him. "The mirror! Where's the mirror?!" he slammed the door open and saw the mirror in front of him. To his horror, he saw his own face there, a face which he had seen before now that his features had changed. "Archer?!" Shirou fell back. "Archer is really me after all." He covered his face with his left hand. All of his old memories regarding the 5ht Holy Grail War, especially about Archer flashed through his mind again "Shirou? You knew about it?" Rin went to help him up. "I didn't expect things like this to happen. Archer is me after all, but I didn't expect to become him in this kind of way." "Shirou… is Archer?" Rin's face changed. "Impossible… No wonder he said he couldn't remember his own name in the first place. He's lying… after all the magic skills I taught to you and eventually to him…" "Archer is me after all…" said Shirou unexpectedly. "It's no wonder I could use Reality Marble just like him. Everything's confirmed now. I fought against myself in the 5th Holy Grail War." Shirou rubbed his face again in despair. Rin just stood next to him, not knowing what to do next. Their lives just took another twist, for Shirou had just became what he was fated to be…