Blood…

Bodies…

Death…

Steel…..

There is no definite way to explain the current situation EMIYA found himself in. However, incomprehensible as it seem, it is all too familiar for the red clad hero. For as long as remembers, he has always stood there, upon hills of swords, gazing at the horizon. 'Well not that I remember much of my past since I took it upon myself the duty of humanity's guardian,' EMIYA thought to himself. He glanced back to the battle field and watch as an army of lifeless corpse slowly inching themselves closer to him. His eyes then search for the source of this malice, the Dead Apostle he was assign to eliminate. There, standing about 2 miles away from the horde surrounded by about a 4 distinct lifeless warriors and magus, stood an almost decayed human being. 'If it could still be classified as human anymore,' thought the Red Archer. Somehow being the Hound of the World's Will always demanded him to be at the dangerous of happenings. However, Archer occasionally found other Counter Guardian to have better Jobs than he does.' Perhaps it is because of my luck stat that I am always found in such predicament,' thought Archer. Before he could contemplate further however, a roaring command from the Dead Apostle could be heard, and the legions of the undead charge themselves towards the Counter Guardian…..

"Trace…on!"

The sound of a gun cock and shot appears inside the mind of the heroic spirit, and within his blade works, summons his most favorable weapon: Kanshou and Bakuya.

Reinforcing his body to the upmost of his ability, Archer leap high and slam both of his swords at the unfortunate ghoul in the middle of the crowd, causing its body to shatter from the sheer magnitude of force. He then threw his swords to the sides, cutting down the undead, and projected Gae Bolg. Before any of the ghouls could think of attacking him, Archer spun the barbed spear which decimated the surrounding undead and threw the spear at them (which went past quite a number of skulls) just in time to catch the returning pair of Married blades coming at him. Archer then proceeded to hack and slash his way through the legion making his way to the Dead Apostle. Sensing the Counter Guardian, the Dead Apostle dispatches his bodyguards (which are the warriors) towards him. The first warrior, a man wearing a red karuta sashinuki style kote (Japanese chainmail) with a tribal looking haidate and suneate carrying a large nodachi burst towards him with incredible speed. The warrior slashes continuously at Archer, all of it aiming at vital spots of the body.' It seems that this warrior is a master swordsman during his life,' Archer thought. Archer was set on the defensive by the lifeless fighter, dodging and parrying the constant onslaught. Archer was surprise by how much skill this man posses, however after using Structural Analysis on the nodachi and finding out that this man is one of the few remaining people that practice their own sword style, he also found out that the man was holding back, no, scratch that, he didn't even have killing intent to begin with. It was as if he was force to fight Archer. In a flash, an arrow went through Archer's abdomen, startling him and made him lose focus, endangering him in combat against the swordsman. 'Damn it,' Archer groan. He puts distance between himself and the swordsman by kicking him in the chest, and searched the premise for the other 'archer'. Finding a well-built man wearing a torn army fatigue, he refocuses his gaze at his weapon, an impressive crossbow with a carbon handle which houses three arrows and mounted a magazine of sorts. Archer traces his infamous bow and 5 arrows each with a distinctive trait. Before he could fire however, the swordsman dash at him sword ready to cut him to pieces. With instinct borne from countless battle, Archer leapt just high enough to shoot the other sharpshooter, with three arrows spontaneously hitting the cranium of the deceased soldier, the other two intending to be feints, right before throwing his bow (it disappear soon after) and trace another weapon, Durandal: The Peerless Sword.

'Sword of light, pierce metal and flesh and destroy my enemies!' Archer shouted, and came down with his blade.

The swordsman readied his blade intending to block Archer's blow. But the blade easily cuts through him and split the swordsman in two. Archer wasted no time to celebrate as he turns his gaze towards the other two warriors, analyzing them and making proper tactics. One of them, veiled in a dark cloak with an all too familiar skull mask stand and watch him, before becoming invisible, the other warrior carried an abnormal lance with spikes at all sides. Knowing full well of what they intend to do, Archer act fast, summoning an array of blades and targeting randomly at all of the surrounding. The lancer moved to intercept the blades that stray towards the Dead Apostle, guarding him from danger, the assassin? Fortunately he got hit at the shoulders, compromising him of his stealth. Archer then dash towards the assassin with his newly traced married blades intending to end his demise, but the lancer came quickly to his ally's aid and parried Archers blow. The two fighters then were locking in an intense battle, each accepting and delivering fatal attacks. The lancer lunges and thrust his way into Archer's defense, forcing him back a few steps. Noticing an open from Archer's guard, he took the opportunity to leave the man dead and gone. He attacks Archer with all his strength, intending for it to end, only to find Archer dodging a mere inches from his lance and slash his throat with Kanshou and jamming his head with Bakuya. Before he goes down however, the lancer pulls the arrow from Archer's abdomen, spraying blood all over the ground. Grunting in pain, Archer loss his balance and kneel to the ground, only to yelp at the sharp pain coming at his back. Turning around, Archer notices the assassin holding a bloodied katar, with an annoying twitch; he throws Kanshou, hitting the assassins head.

There was something peculiar about the warriors that made Archers blood boil. After locking blades, exchanging blow, and fighting to the death, Archer senses traces of life, as if he was fighting against a human. It seems that these lifeless warriors weren't so lifeless at all, in fact, he feels like they even have souls. Well, except for the assassin but that's a different case all together.

"Hmph, it seems you could sense that they are alive, don't you Dog of Alaya?" The Dead Apostle questions.

"It's of no surprise really, knowing full well of what you are capable of. Though, I am surprise you didn't even control an elephant to come rampaging here" Archer answers with a smirk.

"Getting cocky now are we? Well I promise you the next would be a surprise," grinning from ear to ear, the Dead Apostle somehow disappear and reappears at the mountain of corpse courtesy of Archer.

Nothing was purely simple, that much was certain for Archer. Living as a Counter Guardian has served him a great deal of experience and knowing full well that every villain has a trump card. Then, all the ghouls that he brutally destroyed seem to assimilate with each other, forming a giant monstrosity of gigantic proportion, literally.

Leaping away a safe distance, Archer summon his signature bow and ready his stance, searching his Blade Works for something that he could use.

"I need a lot of firepower here, something that could level that…..that…. is that a Dragon? A Skeletal Dragon?!"

Catching his sanity, Archer looked towards the unholy creation of the beast some distance away from him. 'This is madness,' thought Archer. 'Did that Dead Apostle somehow created an abomination of a phantasmal beast using human undead bodies? This doesn't make sense!' before he could speculate further, the dragon completed its form and hovers until he flew from the grounds, carrying with it the Dead Apostle responsible for its twisted creation. Not letting it get away, Archer projected one of his destructive Nobel Phantasm, Caladbolg II: Fake Spiral Sword. As a safety measure, he created two of them.

'I am the bone of my sword'

With that chant, Archer accumulates enough prana to alter the blades to become liken to an arrow. He then fires the hybrid-sword-arrow at the dragon, ripping the skies as he did so. The arrow hit the body of it, causing an immense explosion. After the smoke has died following the aftermath, Archer saw the dragon and the Dead Apostle no more. Drained of both prana and stamina, Archer falls on all fours.

'Is this really my fate? Continuing this life while I have abandoned my ideals? Living as a hollow being not knowing or experiencing life?' Archer gritted his teeth, swallowing the mouthful of blood trying to escape his mouth. Suddenly, a surge of light came down blasting at Archer.

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.

.

.

.

.

.

"Where am I?"

Archer awakens at a white field. Still dazing, Archer collect his conscious and survey the odd place. He found, to his astonishment, a girl sitting in front of what seems to be a computer, mashing like mad.

"Urm, hey? What's going on here?"

Archer spoke only to have one finger raise at him, ordering him to cease any speech. "Just a minute," the weird woman spoke, then continued her mashing some more. After a few minutes she sighs deeply, stretching her body as she did so.

"Sooooo, you're the one Alaya got be riled up about huh? Mister Emiya Shirou?" ask the girl with a smile.

"Wait, whaat!? What has Alaya got to do with this?" Truly he could not fathom the situation; he has been put in countless battlefields, all hearing the scream of pain from war, but now….

'Is this a prank or something? I never knew she was even capable of it, but then again maybe she assign me to kill the girl? After all, I am sensing abnormal level of prana from her, she could be even more dangerous than Arcueid and Zelretch put together. This is bad; maybe if I open up Unlimited Blade Works I'll have a better chance of winning? Unlikely, this girl seems to be in a very level all together. If I use Vasavi Shakti and Caliburn I might have something? But is she a divine being? What about using another blade, like….'

"Hey, done thinking of ways to kill me yet?" the girl spoken after a very long pause, of which Archer just took notice of.

Archer silence, then focus himself at the woman. Trying to contemplate whether to ask her what the current situation is or beheading her before it's too late. "Relax boy, is this how you are going to behave in front of the Root?"

The shock in Archers face was so hilarious that even the Root, a being who seen all, laughs. "What the hell? Don't play with me! What do you mean 'the Root'? Who are you? What is this?" Archer pointed out at the landscape around them

"My my it seems someone's impatient, sit down and let's talk" the girl said smiling. Suddenly a chair appears and Archer quickly took it and sat, without even thinking or intending to do it. 'that…is scary,' it seems he realize that any confrontation would lead him to direct death.

"As for who I am, it is as I stated, I am Akasha, just in a form where you can comprehend. As for where you are, you are in the center of everything, a realm that converge every possible plane, yet distinctive all together. A place for a magus such as yourself to dream and wet their beds in hopes of achieving to reach this sanctum. Rejoice…Shirou, is it? Well it does not matter really, what matters is seeing you happy is all."

With that Archer made an even weirder face, challenging the swirl of the Root to be even more adamant about the humor."Relax, don't you remember what you wanted after your last job, somewhere between 'oh I want a life! Killing sucks balls! I want to make a harem and have orgies every night!' remember now? Akasha reminded Shirou.

Before he could retaliate about how indecent she is, Archer realizes suddenly. "But….why?" He asks her. "Beats me, Alaya is one of my friends so naturally I lend her a hand, she said something like…'please let this boy find peace within himself, I believe he should have happiness,' yeah, something like that" the girl answers while mimicking probably the voice of the will of Gaia.

Archer facepalm himself at the very thought of it, this is very surreal for the Counter Guardian. Hell, this could probably be even surreal for Zelretch. The very thought of having a second go in life, it seems…. So preposterous.

"So, what now?" Archer ask knowing full well trying to comprehend everything like the real reason for Alaya wanted to do this will leave him with more question then what he bargain for, he gets straight to the point. "Glad you ask, now I am going to put you into different situation across the different realms in different times with different goals and different outcomes! There's also different food, different cloths, different language…"

"So basically I am being reincarnated in different places right?" Archer cut her off.

"Hmph, your no fun" the girl glared at Archer, to which he didn't even flinch.

"Well, your right there I suppose, but you just miss some teeny winey detail is all, see, you're not gonna go from one place to another, I am going to separate your being into many copies of yourself, each of them is going to a different dimension. Once everything is done and settled, well, I determine if it's settled, then you are going to converge with all of yourself. Then this cumulative happiness will guarantee to make you less gloomy for Alaya for all of eternity! Pretty sweet plan right? I know, I know, you don't have to tell me" Akasha praises herself.

Leaving the proud girl to further pride herself, Archer just sat, completely dumbfounded. 'Is such a thing even possible? Well this is the ROOT here…. Still, this offer of hers, it's not that bad. Plus maybe I could try again, that stupid ideal of mine. Nah, what am I thinking. Chase what you can, that's all there is to it.'

"Alright then, I agree. Is there anything else I should know of?"

Before Shirou got his answer Akasha summons a portal above him, "My, my impatient now are we, relax and just enjoy the ride. I've tailored everything to have enough action to make your blood boil, enough comedy and humor to destroy your humorless behavior" she pauses and smile at Archer, "And enough women to keep your loins in check, now enjoy and remember to use protection kay? Byeee."

And with that Archer has gone into the many Universe, both pleasant and…. Well, you know what anime does right?

There ya go people, my first fanfic!

I am new here so if there are any comments or anything in particular about what I miss out, do point it out.

About the fanfic? Yeah this is Heroic Spirit Emiya not Emiya Shirou. He will probably use his name, maybe later on. Oh, I forgot to mention but this is my prologue for every Fate crossover(in due time I'll release) so if you have trouble knowing how he got where he got read this okay?

Further updates soon! Maybe! Probably!