Standing in the Emiya courtyard, beads of sweat ran down Shirou's forehead. The air seems to be still, as while he followed Archer, no one appeared in the way of the two. It made him wonder where everyone is.

He stopped walking.

With his back facing the boy, Archer sighed. "You had to do it, didn't you?"

Shirou blinked. "...What?"

Archer slowly turned around. His arm pointed at Shirou's right arm, wrapped around in red cloak. Shirou stepped back, grabbing at the red cloak.

"Fool." Archer's eyes narrowed. "By trying to save everyone, you almost ended up becoming a monster. You should have killed her then and there-"

Shirou's eyes widened. "-That's not true!" He tries to deny Archer's words. "Sakura is still in there, I know it! And even with this, I wouldn't have become a monster!" He shouted fervently.

"And if she kills off Fuyuki, Japan, the world, what then?" Archer continued.

Shirou shook his head. "Kill one to save a hundred. Kill a hundred to save a thousand. No, I am not like you, Counter Guardian!"

Archer growled. "Be that as it may." He pointed at the arm again. "That thing wrapped around your arm is the Shroud of Martin. Your Reality Marble is sealed off as long as it's on. It will protect you from that curse-" At this, his voice sharpened. "-until you take it off."

Shirou's eyes quickly looked at the arm wrapped in red cloth, then back at Archer. "...What are you trying to say, Archer?"

Archer smirked "It's simple. If you take that thing off..." His smirk turned cynical. "-You should be ready to kill."

Shirou's eyes widened.

"You see, taking that off will mean that that ideal of yours of saving everyone, is unreachable for you." Archer's grey eyes glared into the younger boy. "-So, are you going that cloth off?"

"Of course not!" If taking off that cloth meant that he'd lose his ideal, then there's no way he'd take it off. "Why are you saying that?" Shirou's voice sharpened.

"The curse the Shadow infected you with will consume you." Archer answered. "Even if your mind and body withstands it and controls it, your naive ideal will eventually be twisted along with your soul." Archer stepped forward.

"-That's...!" Shirou started, but he does not know how to answer. He felt the curse only for moments back then, and it definitely took a toll on him. "Where are you trying to get at, Archer?"

Archer raised an eyebrow, seeing that his counterpart is trying to get straight to the point. "Emiya Shirou. I'm asking you-" Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands. "-can you save everyone without taking off that cloth?"

Shirou's eyes widened.

"I don't know." He answers truthfully. But, just as Archer let down his guard.

"But... I'll definitely try!"

Archer grits his teeth. "At this rate, you'll end up becoming me. I won't allow that!"

Still, this time, things are different.

"Prove it to me."

He will not hold back.

"Prove to me how much you believe in your foolish ideals!"

And he leaps. With Kanshou and Bakuya at his sides, he flies at Shirou.

"Trace on!"

Archer's swords are blocked by their twins.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Archer jumped over him, turning around to strike at his right side.

CRASH!

Archer's blades slashed through Shirou's side, knocking him away as splinters of metal explode from his torso.

Shirou recovered, standing back up. Dropping Kanshou, Berserker's axe sword appeared in his left hand in a burst of prana.

"Archer!" Shirou dashed at the red knight, axe sword at the ready.

"Steel is my body and Fire is my blood."

CLASH!

Shirou's axe sword meets another axe sword, both fakers holding their weapons with two hands.

Shirou gritted his teeth, as he continued to attack, imitating Berserker's strength. However, his blows are matched by strength equal to his.

"I have created over a thousand blades."

Smashing his knee against Shirou's gut, forcing him to back away, Archer swiped at him with his axe sword.

Shirou rolled backwards, dodging the blow.

"Unknown to Death,"

Archer started to pour prana into the axe sword. He jumped at Shirou, and started getting increasingly faster as he closed the distance between them.

"Nor known to life."

Shirou also focused prana into the blade of rock, and moved at equally fast speeds towards Archer.

"Have withstood pain to create many weapons."

SLA-SLA-SLA-SLA-SLA-SLA-SLA-SLA-SLASH!

Nine times in the span of a split second, their Axe Swords clashed at godspeed. The ground buckled over the massive strength being applied to it, as the earth erupted from the ground in the form of boulders of dirt.

But then-

"Yet those hands will never hold anything."

Archer projected a second axe sword with his right hand and swung it down.

SLA-SLA-SLA-SLA-SLA-SLA-SLA-SLA-SLASH!

Shirou's body is knocked away, various places of his torso, legs, and left arm being torn apart by monstrous swings at unbelievable speed.

"So as I pray-"

Shirou shakily stands up, his body starting to recover immediately, minuscule swords once again stitching his wounds together. Yet, as he prepares to come at Archer again-

"Unlimited Blade Works."


Shirou's eyes slowly open, as he becomes aware of his surroundings. Daylight streamed onto his face as he recalled the what happened in the past two weeks.

Everyone, Saber... I will return to you.

He got up and continued to move on.

The mushroom forest eventually faded into a less bizarre multi-coloured forest dotted with the occasional over-sized mushroom. A quick scan revealed what seemed to be a small village off on the other side of the valley built atop a cliff.

Shirou continued down the path, hoping that not every local is an entirely unreasonable rapist incapable of higher thought. Unfortunately, as he got closer to the village, he could hear moaning, groaning, and animalistic screaming coming from the buildings, and once it was in clear view, even the streets. Some people were doing indescribable things, acting with absolutely no concern for others seemingly going about their everyday routine, who were equally unconcerned with the public displays of 'love' just off of the main road.

The smell was something else, to put it mildly. It disgusted him, made him want to paint the ground with their entrails.

Shut up.

Shirou's right arm pulsed as if shocked. He glared at the offending limb and tied the Shroud tighter around his arm.

So it survived the trip as well...

Preoccupied as he was, he did not notice until the hand was on his shoulder.

"What's the rush cutey? You clearly like what you see, why traipse by so quickly when you could partake?"

A woman. Dusky skin complementing an absurdly shapely body barely covered by a ridiculously skimpy black minidress.

But what concerned Shirou the most were the horns that grew out of her scalp above her ears and the large, leathery wings. What he thought at first were gauntlets were in fact layers of black scales covering her hands.

Trace on.

A nameless steel longsword shattered on her skin, but it held enough force to push the dragon woman away from him.

"Feisty. I like that!" The woman exclaimed, her husky voice coming out as smooth as silk. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Emiya Shirou. I don't take kindly to getting propositioned as you can see."

"Shirou." She tested the word. "Hm, we don't get travellers from Yamatai very often. Say-"

"Lucrezia!" A ginger-haired woman ran towards them. Shirou baulked at what he could only describe as a skimpy emerald green and chocolate brown Three Musketeers costume, complete with primitive laced tube top worn under a cropped long-sleeved jacket with a mantle, shorts and leather thigh-high boots complete with a wide-brimmed feathered hat. Oh, and a sheathed rapier by her side.

Why, just why? Gouge her eyes out-

Shirou winced in pain as his right arm throbbed.

The girl called out with an excited wave. "Is this him? Did you get him?" She gestured towards Shirou excitedly. "Interesting. His clothes are rather distinct from known styles, and-" She stepped forward, and frowned deeply at his wrapped up arm."This... demonic energy? No, something else?"


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AN: The setting is a mixture of MGQ and MGE, but more Monmusu Quest with elements of Monmusu Encyclopedia. Overlapping points and other things about the setting will be cleared up next chapter.