Edit: Minor change in some dialogue, probably unnoticeable to old readers, but one line really bothered me so I changed it. Remember this is based off of Fate Apocrypha, and although it has been completed it's English translations hasn't been finished yet. Free creative liberty has been taken for this outcome of events to happen. Thank you, and I hope this story will be to your liking.

In a golden throne room, high above the torn landscape of the battlefield below, a lone man stood. He was garbed in the vestments of an Executor of the Church, with a red Holy Shroud around his shoulders flowing out like a small cape and a golden cross around his neck. His appearance would be average for a priest, however his peculiar looks was anything but. With tanned skin, piercing steel-grey eyes, and pure white hair, the word 'average' didn't apply to him. His face looked very boyish and innocent, further accentuating his uniqueness.

This man was Shirou Kotomine, and In front of him was his prize: the Greater Grail. Riding on his Servant's Noble Phantasm, The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon, the young man felt a considerable amount of satisfaction and relief. The Great Holy Grail War was practically already won, with the Black Faction destroyed and his faction pretty much completely unharmed.

The war has gone heavily in Shirou's favor once he assumed command of six of the total seven Servants on the Red Faction. The arrogance of the opposing faction, the Yggdmillenia family, that their all-powerful Lancer of Black, the great Vlad Tepes III, would be able to attain complete victory for their side tips the scale even more in his favor. After all, in his life he was no stranger against such... easygoing enemies.

Their confidence was somewhat justified, as the Holy Grail War was held in Trifas, a city in the Transylvania region of Romania, pretty much the Lancer of Black's backyard. The closer a Servant was summoned to the source of their legend, the more powerful the Servant would become, and this place gave Vlad III a massive buff in his parameters, even before considering Lancer's own Noble Phantasms. They became cocky, and so gave him enough time to prepare for his assault.

It took three days, but Assassin of Red's Hanging Garden was finally created, giving the Red Faction a floating fortress far stronger than the one Yggdmillennia was holed up in. Not to mention that two of Shirou's Servants, the Rider Achilles and Lancer Karna both had the parameters and skills to already fight on par with, if not defeat, Vlad III.

Unfortunately, despite his superior position, Shirou was only able to eventually crush the Black Faction at the cost of all of the servants under his command, except for Assassin and Lancer of Red. Every single one of the Masters of Yggdimllenia, he slaughtered. They had no future left even if he left them alive, and the Magus Association of the Clock Tower would have disposed of them anyways. However, Shirou Kotomine still had to deal with a couple thorns left in his side.

An explosion ripped a hole in the side of the room Shirou Kotomine currently stood in. Out of the smoke came one of the few who stood in his way: Kairi Sisigou, the Master of Saber of Red and the only Master from the Red Faction that had a Servant not under his control.

"Kairi, I'd say it's a pleasure seeing you again, but I'd be lying. Why don't you surrender now? Your Saber might be powerful, but she doesn't stand a chance against Lancer."

The Necromancer only snorted, "Huh, Saber would castrate you if she heard that! But who said she was fighting alone?"

It was then that Shirou noticed another presence.

"So that Ruler Class Servant is helping you as well?" Shirou sighed in contemplation. "I knew it, not being able to eliminate her early on would bite me. Although, as only you are here right now, Kairi, does that mean you intend to fight me alone?"

"Damn right! While Ruler and Saber fight of Lancer, I'm going to enjoy tearing apart your fake holy ass!" Kairi brought up his sawed off shotgun, pointing it at Shirou.

Shirou just looked at his opponent in amusement before producing three Black Keys, the weapons of the Holy Church, in his right hand before charging at the last remaining Master.

Kairi, although proficient in combat was caught off guard by Shirou's speed. barely dodging a lethal slash at his abdomen, instead he received three gashes on his left side. They weren't lethal, but would definitely cause a problem during the rest of the battle. The Black Keys were originally designed as a throwing weapon and exorcism mediums, and it showed in their shape: a handle far too short and stubby with an overly long and thin blade. Kairi raised up his shotgun before firing a hail of Gandr-infused bones at Shirou. The bones flew at subsonic speed before hitting the priest dead on, causing a small dust could to emerge from the impact.

"Well that was..."

A voice finished Kairi's statement.

"Disappointing. I know." A completely unharmed Shirou Kotomine stepped out of the carnage, saying casually, "I expected better from you, Kairi. I guess I should not have expected too much, though. We are on completely different leagues from each other."

Not even a scratch on his clothing was present.

" How are you still alive? I saw my attack hit you dead on," Kairi asked, preparing to launch another salvo at Shirou.

"It's simple, really. I'm surprised Ruler withheld this information from you when you decided to attack my remaining forces."

Shirou appeared before Kairi in an instant, shoving his Black Keys into his gut. A fatal blow. Shirou leaned in close to the dying man and whispered into his ear.

"I'm a Servant."

With that phrase, Shirou swung his Black Keys upward, through Kairi's lungs, heart, and out of his neck.

The next moment, a Crimson wave of Prana blasted its way into the throne room, Saber of Red directly behind it.

Shirou raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. "You're still alive? Tsk... that must mean that Lancer have fallen. Very surprising, but at least it seems he has taken care of Ruler with his demise." With a confident gait, Shirou smiled saintly at her, "Well, you'll follow shortly, though."

'He read me like a book...!' Saber growled inside her mind. With her Master gone, and having used her Noble Phantasm more than once already in her fight against Lancer, Mordred was operating with dangerously small amout of Prana. She estimated that she would never have enough for another shot of Clarent Blood Arthur, no matter how fast her recovery rate is.

Fuck that shit.

Her Master was lying in front of her eyes, his corpse unrecognizable visually due to his brutal death. She got along with him well enough, much better than most others in her actual life, and her remaining pride as a Servant still made her blood boil. She had casted away her pride as a knight, as a woman, and as a daughter, but she'll be damned if she couldn't chop off that smug priest's face off his skull right now!

Raising her sword, she gathered every last bit of her energy. Blood-red Prana began to swirl around her cursed sword... the exact sword that claimed the life of her father and idol.

"CLARENT-"

It was a suicide charge. The priest would normally laugh at the attempt and gladly recieve the blow, for what remained of his life was dedicated to God and all the people he wanted to save. However, now that the tool to salvation was already in his grasp, he couldn't afford to die yet.

Because he was the man who would save all of them.

He raised his sleeves, revealing a strange series of markings going up to his elbows. The markings started to glow black-and-white, radiating power equalling Saber.

"RIGHT ARM-"

Mordred swung her sword down.

"BLOOD ARTHUR!"

Shirou Kotomine struck his right hand forward.

"WICKEDNESS PREDATION!"

A crimson blast of destruction rushed towards Shirou intent on eliminating his existence, but it was stopped by the black-and-white vortex that emerged from Shirou's right hand, swallowing it.

Shirou Kotomine's, or rather Amakusa Shirou Tokisada's Noble Phantasm: Right Arm - Wickedness Predation, also known as Right Hand - Evil Eater, can reproduce Shirou's many miracles, one of them is swallowing and destroying anything fueled by dark, negative or corrupted energy. Clarent, although a powerful sword, was tainted by Mordred's sins and its attack is being fueled by Mordred's hate, leaving it susceptible to Shirou's own Noble Phantasm.

As a Saint, and one of the most prominent in the Far East, God had bestowed upon the man His blessings, allowing Shirou to commit many miracles when he was originally alive. This manifested as his two Noble Phantasms, his Right Arm and Left Arm. The two of them held the Almighty Key, the symbol of God's Grace to him, allowing him access to the Thaumaturgy foundation, and by default, any Magecraft. However, his skill in using Magecraft was only slightly above average, so his Noble Phantasms only enabled him to use what skills he knew effectively and without any drawbacks. Certainly, it's a system with many flaws instead of an invincible skill.

Such flaws were, for example, unable to completely nullify an A++-ranked Noble Phantasm without any collateral damage.

His Prana reserves rapidly dropped. With the speed he's wasting it, it wouldn't be a stretch for him to die from Prana exhaustion, before his body was incinerated from whatever remains of Clarent Blood Arthur.

'Am I actually going to fall here after coming so far?'

A pair of smooth, slender arms embracing him from behind. It was a sensation Shirou knew too well; the softness of a female's body, the sweetness of a female's scent, the light touch of a female's palm, all of them overwhelmingly and inhumanely vivid and sensual. Throughout the War, it was this presence that never left his side, always comforting and supporting him whenever he went and whatever his desicions.

It was the first presence that Shirou ever yearned with his heart after his long life and afterlife.

The gentle voice of Assassin blew into his ear.

"You have come way too far to fall now."

His prana reserves slowly refilled. Looking back, he saw the body of his Servant slowly disappearing.

He panicked, and shouted, "Semiramis, what are you doing!?"

All that Semiramis, the Queen of Assyria, did was smile. "I'm just giving what was already yours back to you."

Shirou was shocked by his Servant's reply. Closing his eyes, his mind recalled his previous life. A life eternally watching his friends die, his followers martyred, a life of helplessness. A life of perpetual hatred, of humans and God. A life which birthed the Shirou Kotomine of today, the one that made him hungry for humanity's salvation.

And now he would watch it all over again.

It was for naught. The plans he made, the sacrifices he gave, the lives he took and exterminated, and one of the few people he ever thought of as precious still ended up like this.

He was scared. Not of her death, no, but that his heart could feel nothing anymore. He watched her figure dissipating, like fireflies on a plain, and all he could think of was how she could be useful to him. He was scared. He wanted to be angry. To be vengeful. To feel his heart clench and his eyes water.

There was none of those.

Steeling himself, he returned his focus to the crimson onslaught before once again. "As you wish my Queen."

Semiramis could only smile at his reply.

The next moment, it was over. The crimson blast of destruction was devoured by Shirou's right hand, and Mordred laid face down on the floor her legs, already disappearing.

Shirou turned around and sat, gently putting his Servant's head in his lap as he stared upon the Greater Grail. All other opposition before him finally defeated. He looked down at his Servant's beautiful face, stroking her long raven hair gently. He saw her otherworldly stunning face in a relaxed smile, her long, pointy ears drooped lifelessly. Was she out of breath? Was she getting sleepy? Wa-

Finally, Semiramis spoke up.

"Eh, Shirou. Tell me those words you said to me when you first summoned me. I want to hear them again."

How could he said no?

"O Queen of Assyria - in this Great Holy Grail War, I aim not for victory or defeat, but for another goal. Will you aid me?"

Semiramis chuckled lightly at those words. "You're a liar, you know. Not aiming for victory, but here you are, the victor of all this madness. I am glad to have been summoned as your Servant." Semiramis pushed herself up with her fading body, before placing a kiss on Shirou's lips.

She then faded, leaving one final word.

"Goodbye..."

Then all his defenses fell.

'Is this... how they always felt? Those heroes that died, knowing that they accomplished nothing? Those men that died, knowing that their death amounted to nothing? Those sould that cried, knowing that nothing would answer them?

'...hurts'

Shirou stood up. He didn't know if he could call it love. Not having any experience with the emotion during his time as Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, but he did know he harbored some sort of feelings for the beautiful Servant. Walking towards the Greater Grail, he prepared to ask for his wish, knowing Semiramis would not want him to linger on her passing. As the Hanging Gardens of Babylon slowly fell apart around him, Shirou presented the Grail with his wish.

"Oh, Greater Grail… Humankind needs salvation, yet they constantly eat each other and stomp on each other to grow and advance, much like Ouroboros. I have come to terms with my failure during my rebellion, and I strive for salvation! So I, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, no, Shirou Kotomine ask of you! Bring me forth to a land in need of salvation for this one is too far down the path of destruction to be saved. Lead me to a rebellion where I may bring about true justice, as penance for the hopes of the people I have failed!"

A golden light emerged from the Greater Grail, embracing Shirou Kotomine in its pure power. When the light faded, Shirou Kotomine was no longer there.