The Reaping Of Heroes

by Undying Soul98

The corrupted Holy Grail longed for death in every Heaven's Feel and what better way to accomplish this than by using some stored up energy to bring in an extra seven servants in the form of Shinigami's? Emiya Shirou is officially screwed.

4. End Of Fated Night

Chapter 3: End Of Fated Night

AN- Hello all, and welcome to another chapter of ROH. I looked at the reviews and wow. There sure was a lot of Shinji hate. Sorta expected that though. (Nervous laugh) Anyway, I know people have lots of issues with me pairing up Saber and Shinji, although I do have good reasons for it. The fact that a large amount of reviews weren't about Shinji is sort of nice though.

The main reason Saber has not gone apeshit crazy on the Matou because of his actions to Sakura are simple and numerous. Firstly, HE DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT WHAT HE DOES TO HER! He was only summoned a day or two before the previous chapters events and has not seen Shinji do anything except slag of his sister, so has no reason to do anything. That's not to say that he likes Shinji. He has an off feeling about both Shinji and Zouken but can't act without anything to back up his assumptions. Also, Sakura asked him to give Shinji a chance and due to him thinking of her as a kindred spirit, is willing to do what she says for the time being. Lets also say that our Saber isn't quite as canon as normal...

I also received a review or two on power levels, complaining the Shinigami were being downplayed.

Fear not, while Saber should have been able to take out more than one of Berserker's lives, he was not going all out power wise with the technique because Saber is a bit more cautious than normal, safe for all the others. Also, if characters were spamming Mugetsu like attacks like it was nothing, it would not be a very fun fic to read, the non Shinigami would get no time to shine. Not only this, the Shinigami are Heroic Spirit versions of themselves, so must fit into Heroic Spirit levels of power, due to Class constraints.

At the moment, consider this fic to be in its early stages, like season one for Fate Zero. It builds up, character interaction is given and each team is given time to shine before they are ruthlessly cut down. In time we shall proceed to giant laser sword off's, just give it some time...

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Bleach and Fate belong to their respective owners, I am simply taking their characters and forcing them to compete in a sadistic battle royalle to the death. Yep, that's just me showing dem my love...

Shirou honestly felt no better about his situation after Tohsaka Rin had given him a full summary of just what he had been dragged into.

The Holy Grail War, a conflict between seven legendary heroes and their masters, although in this case an abnormality had occurred. Namely, more Servants. As Rin had explained it, the Einzbern's (a family name which seemed oddly familiar to the Magus, as if someone had mentioned it to him at some point) must have once again screwed with the ritual, forcing the Grail to manifest an extra Servant per Master. The Magus went on to explain how this theory was based solely on guesswork and assumptions, so could not be trusted.

Other things bothered the adopted Emiya, namely how Rin talked about the Servants. She didn't think of them as human, far from it, she specifically went out to present the image that they were simply after images of great men and women, echoes of entities who simply carry the memories, dreams and ambitions of their namesakes.

To Shirou, they seemed like real people. The girl, Saber, didn't seem like the memories of a dead person. Similarly, Assassin had to much character to just be a mass of magical energy given human form. From what the amateur Magus saw of the two Archers before they were left to patrol around the house, they too acted exactly like real people.

He still had many questions though, questions which overflowed with so many complexities and simplicities that he simply couldn't ask them. It seemed like Tohsaka had already gone far out of her way to help him, despite stating that she was one of the Masters in the war. He didn't want to burden her further, better to simply absorb that of her lecture which he could barely understand.

"Well," Finished Tohsaka cheerfully. "We're done talking, lets get going."

"Huh?" Questioned Shirou dumbly. "Go where?"

"We're going to go see the guy who knows all about the game you're involved in... The Holy Grail War. You want to know the reasons behind the Holy Grail War, right?"

"Ahh don't know." Pondered Assassin briefly, whom had stayed relatively quiet. "We just got attacked by two other Servants, and my Master still seems a little..." Assassin seemed to struggle to find a word which summed up his summoner. "...Helpless? More than likely, he'll get killed on the way due to his lack of skills."

"Oye!" Protested Shirou strongly. "I know Reinforcement Magecraft, I can protect myself if I have to!"

"But why risk so much when we can just go to the man Tohsaka suggested tomorrow after school? Our enemies would be less likely to attack during daylight hours."

"It'll be fine!" Rin brushed his complaints off. "Its only in the neighbouring town, so we won't be out long. Also, we have four Servants on our side. Who would be stupid enough to try against those odds?"

"That's not the problem!" Complained Shirou.

"What do you think Saber?" Asked Rin.

"Hold on." Interrupted Shirou. "Saber has nothing to do with this."

"Ahhh!" Ahhed Assassin happily. "Young love... already he's defending her, not letting Saber talk to people."

Shirou scowled, blushed, then protested loudly and strongly, alongside Saber.

"We're not like that!"

"We're just Servant and Master!"

"I just thought that since she's a heroine of past times..."

"I simply serve as his sword!"

"Don't be ridiculous Tohsaka!"

Rin gave a knowing grin hidden behind her palm. "Oh... its like that is it?" She joked. "They make a cute couple."

"Yep." Added Assassin. "Dey is just in denial."

By now Saber was a stuttering, blushing mess. Quite frankly she was just not use to be insinuated as a lovesick schoolgirl in denial.

"Enough!" Barked Shirou finally. "I was just worried that... that..." He struggled to remember the original reason for his comment. "That since Saber was summoned from the past she wouldn't know much about the modern world!" He breathed a sigh of relief at the barely passable excuse he had found.

"Shirou... Servants can adapt to any time." Rin mentioned.

"Yep. Us Servants are flexible, dis is my first summon so da grail gave me lots of info on the Human World in general, the sorta stuff I didn't know previously."

Saber frowned. "As much as I dislike to agree with Assassin, I am quite knowledgeable on this time period. This isn't my first summon after all."

"Wha?"

"No way! What are the chances of that?" Even Tohsaka was surprised by such a declaration. To her knowledge no Servant had ever been summoned twice in the Holy Grail War.

"Master, perhaps we should go. You lack experience and knowledge, in order for you to get stronger you shall need some of this."

"So you agree with Tohsaka." Concluded Assassin. "Ahh well." He shrugged. "May as well go, I fancy a bit of a walk."

"So we are in agreement." Spoke Rin as she got up from her seat. "We are going."

"Where is this place anyway?" Asked Shirou.

Rin gave her signature smirk, the sort of smirk that one dons when they know something someone else doesn't and takes momentary pleasure in knowing that they don't know it. "We're going to a place called Kotomine Church. A false priest lives there, who oversees this war."

"So shall we get going?" Asked Assassin with his own smirk. "The night is still young."

"Quite. I'll call my Servants, and then we'll be off."

XXXXXXXXXX

Elsewhere, Lancer was having his own talk with his Master. It wasn't going well.

"Let me get this straight," Said Bazette levelly. "I sent you to kill a teenager, then despite having Caster as backup, you still failed, not only letting him live, but also letting him summon two Servants?"

"Yes." Spoke Lancer hesitantly. "Although, I would like to state that it was totally not my fault. Blame it on the fact that the kid doesn't die when he is killed."

"Then he was assisted by another Master, meaning it is quite likely that we now have to fight against an alliance of four Servants this early on in the war."

"Yes."

"And Caster has been identified by the other party."

"...Yes."

"And you decided against killing the kid while he was helpless, eliminating two of our foes in the process, because you weren't having a good fight."

"... Yes."

Bazette sighed, placing her head in both hands as she sat on her basic chair contemplating the actions of her Servant. "For the hero of Ireland... you sort of suck."

"Hey!" Protested Lancer. "That was uncalled for! We can always kill them later on!"

"I'm not even going to bother shouting at you." Replied the powerful young woman who often fought against Sealing Designates of the association. "I'm just going to curse you silently and give Caster all of the important jobs."

"Come on! I mess up once and you remove my battle privileges?" Complained the hero. "That's a bit extreme."

"Perhaps so, but so far Caster has proven herself much more reliable than you."

"Thank you Master." Added Caster, who sat on a similar chair to Bazette, in the fairly basic hotel suite the trio currently inhabited. As far as rooms go, it was passable, with a double bed (That Caster and Bazette shared) and a single bed in another room for Lancer. The main reason it was selected was because it was located in the opposite side of the city to the priest who had tried to back stab the Enforcer. They also received little attention from the manager and the maid service was next to non existent, which was another advantage or disadvantage depending on how you thought of it.

"I'm plenty reliable!"

Bazette gave him a look which quite clearly showed her views on his reliability.

"Master, perhaps we should give him some leniency." Suggested Caster.

The Fraga sighed before answering. "Its not like I'm grounding him or anything, he's a god damned Heroic Spirit. I'll just stick him on bodyguard duty for a while, while you gather info on the other Servants. I'll sick Lancer on them after that."

"Speaking of Servants," Began the Servant identified as Unohana. "We should discuss those we are already aware of and plan to deal with the remaining unknowns."

"Right." Agreed Lancer, eager to change the topic. "We definitely have a Saber to contend with, that chick with the invisible weapon couldn't be any other."

"Then that female Master said 'Archer's', as in plural." Spoke the Kido master. "This means that the woman you said was Assassin is actually an Archer."

"Or the Master could have been lying." Hypothesised Bazette.

"Perhaps, the Statsheet I have gathered is inconclusive based on the skills shown. Adding to this, the other Archer may be a different class as well."

"What about that idiot with that extending sword?" Questioned Lancer. "He really pissed me off!"

"Sword, meaning a Saber." Guessed Bazette.

"Too crafty for one of the three Knight Classes. The kid screamed 'Assassin' at him as well."

"Lets get this straight." Clarified Bazette. "We have a Saber working with an Assassin, which is quite honestly a truly terrifying foe choice if both use their abilities affectively, we have two Archer's, who are potentially different Classes and in the worst case scenario we have them all working together."

"Pretty much." Lancer scratched his head awkwardly. "Maybe now would be a good time to say sorry about not killing the brat."

"This sucks." Concluded the mature woman.

"You're right about that." Agreed Caster. "These will be troublesome foes, in my current Class I am unfortunately unable to activate my strongest Noble Phantasm, which will greatly hinder me later on."

"An alliance?" Asked the bloodthirsty warrior. "While I hate to swallow my pride and all, if we had some allies we could have some pretty good one on one fights while the other three are dealt with individually."

"It all comes back to fighting." Sighed the seemingly peaceful medic. "I myself have abandoned much of my bloodlust, you too should attempt it."

"Screw that." Retorted the cursed spear wielder.

"Back to reconnaissance then." Decided the Master of the two. "Look for a Master willing for an alliance, then we take the four of them out."

XXXXXXXXXX

"YOU INCOMPETENT FOOL!" Screeched the witch of Betrayal loudly, having erected a minor Bounded Field before hand to suppress all the noise she would inevitably make. "NOT ONLY DO YOU FAIL TO DO YOUR ASSIGNED TASK, YOU ALSO FORCED ME TO USE ONE OF MY COMMAND SEALS TO RESCUE YOU!"

Lancer, the target for the witches ire, said nothing, instead observing the woman's antics through contemptuous emerald eyes, dismissive to the other Heroic Spirits worries.

"Useless!" Snapped Medea. "Useless! I would have done much better to have gone myself, even if I am not a close ranged fighter I still would have achieved more than you, you meaningless brute!"

Lancer could not like or dislike the woman before him due to his lack of emotions, but he could appreciate the wide vocabulary she had memorised. His previous Master tended not to use his vast repertoire, instead he normally just killed his issues, or drowned them under a literal sea of Reiatsu.

"And now my plans to obtain the Grail for both myself and Souichirou have been compromised! I shall have to re plan now that Berserker is not dead! He is the one major threat to myself, and YOU failed to kill him!"

By now the Arrancar was fed up with doing nothing productive. Normally, the pale skinned figure spent most of his time furthering his former Master's plans, so standing around being lectured at when he could instead be checking the perimeter or checking assisting Assassin in defending the gate was frustrating.

"May I speak now?" Asked Lancer, speaking for the first time since he was forcibly returned to the temple.

"You... dare?" Croaked Medea, shaking in anger at the impudence of the Servant under her control.

"Yes, I dare." He bore against her with his level, logical gaze. "Your summoning was a useless process. I was doing fine up until you wasted one of the beneficial Command Seals, you simply underestimated me. During the fight I did not fight seriously, at full strength I would have easily crushed both that stupid Shinigami and Hercules, regardless of his Noble Phantasm. The fight simply did not last long enough to do so, due to your foolish intervention."

"You lost an arm!" Pointed out the irritated Greek anti hero. "No one could win a fight against two opponents with only ONE arm!"

"I could. I have fast regeneration, as you can see." Ulquiorra pointed to his previously lost limb, which had already regrown. "Next time, I recommend you do not interrupt my fight against the orange haired one... woman." The last word was offered with much scorn, which consequently pissed the Caster off.

"That's... it!" Barked Medea, having crossed that unstable balance between irritated woman and scorned woman. She held up her hand, which now glowed a deep crimson colour. "Feel pain... you worm!"

Like a marionette with its strings severed, Lancer fell to both knees, while a savage growl threatened to sure from his throat, only being kept back by the Servants strong will. There he writhed on the floor, feeling unmeasurable agony like none he had ever felt before, even worse than when he had most of his body destroyed by a hollowified Ichigo. The pain was only increased further by the fact that its inflicter was a Magus from the Age of Gods, so the Command Seal was much more potent when she used it.

Needless to say, Lancer would not be able to back chat against his Master for a great deal of time.

XXXXXXXXXX

For the most part, the group travelled in uncomfortable silence, with five out of six of the walkers not wishing to speak. The odd man out was Assassin, who seemed to talk an often lot for a Class which specialised in silent killing.

The walk itself was rather quick, with them clearing the residential district in no time at all, reaching the bridge separating the two halves of the town without incidence.

They arrived at a battlefield. The bridge had various slashes and cuts coating it, while several deep trenches had been cut into the metal of the bridge through unknown methods. A suspicious bloodstain on the ground solidified this impression only further.

"What the hell happened here?" Wondered Shirou out loud.

"Simple, Emiya." Lectured Rin. "It seems we weren't the only ones to get busy tonight."

"You mean?"

"Yes, this was most likely the site for a battle between various Servants." The damage done made Shirou shiver, he remembered how long it took for Rin to fix up the damage done to his house.

"No use cryin' over spilt milk." Added Assassin. "Lets get a move on."

The group upped the pace, after the more experienced Magus assured the other that the man they were visiting would be able to clean up the mess inflicted to the bridge. Eventually, their destination was reached. A quaint church atop a hill, the holy building had an air of solemnity surrounding it, an aura Shirou associated with most Religious buildings he had ever visited. A much different feeling than what his friend Issei described his temple home to be like.

"Shirou, I will remain here." Decided Saber flatly, without any room for argument.

"Huh, why?" Asked Shirou bluntly a she continued to stare at the magnificent building towering over him. "I can't just leave you here when we've come up here together."

Saber shook her regal head. "I did not come here for the Church, I came here to protect you. If your destination is the church, then you should not go any further. I shall remain here."

"Similarly, I have no desire to see the fake priest." Added Rin bluntly. "I owe it to you to escort you here and back, but not to babysit you every step of the way."

"All right. Then, I'll be going." Finished Shirou.

"D'you mind if ah accompany ya Master?" Asked Assassin in his usual manor. The teenager was still not completely at ease around the snake, but could not find any reason to deny his request.

"Fine, just don't talk much." Shirou gave a general shrug. "We'll head in then." He then proceeded to walk into the forbearing abode, with a white snake accompanying him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Rider laughed his signature laugh, having just seen two increasingly interesting things. The conflict at the Emiya household through the minuscule camera's Kirei had instructed him to place just outside his home, and the fight on the bridge, also filmed through very small camera's, one of many the Servant had informed his Master to set up in the city. He was glad that he had, for if not he would have missed the chance to discover some of the competition early on.

"Fuhuhuhuhu!" He laughed. "Isn't this war interesting? Why, I'm quite surprised that they are taking part in this War. I will certainly have to alter my plans to suit this new development!"

Once more he looked at the recording of Saber and Berserker clashing, marvelling once again at the unique Noble Phantasm of the latter. An invulnerable, self repairing body, what he wouldn't give to receive such an ability to study! Certainly Saber should not have held back with his initial Getsuga, because now it would be much harder to kill the demigod with such an attack.

As a whole, Rider was content with sitting back in the early stages of the war while everyone else fought against one another. Primarily Rider was a manipulator, he had no desire to fight against worthy foes or defeat those of superior strength, thus sitting back in the small room set up in the church for his use was perfectly fine.

Rider wished he had been summoned as Caster instead of the witch though, that way he would have the Territory Creation skill, so could set up the workshop he normally used, instead of having to rely on the sub par contributions of the priest, and that which he had time to build himself. Being a Caster would suit him a hell of a lot more than his current Class.

Oh well, he had already been summoned, no changing that fact. At least if he won he could study the curious artefact known as the Holy Grail...

XXXXXXXXXX

"That went well." Commented Assassin dryly as he strolled out of Kotomine Church with his hands casually dwelling within his sleeves. Emiya Shirou followed his Servant out of the forbearing building, not at all in the mood to talk. "Not only have yer now become an official Master in this Grail War, but you also made a new friend!"

"Shut up Assassin." Sighed the boy. "That priest isn't my friend. I don't even like him."

"Nonsense! Yer just haven't given him a chance."

"He's the polar opposite of me." Growled Shirou moodily.

Ever heard that opposites attract?" Was the trouble stirrers own response.

"Look," Shirou turned round to his Servant. "There's just something about him that rubs me the wrong way."

"Shame, I sorta liked the guy."

"Well of course someone like you would like him."

Cue Assassins trademark grin. "Well why not? We have so much in common."

"Like evil grins?"

"Nah... my grin ain't evil. Just a bit sadistic is all."

"Face it Assassin." Blurted out Shirou. "You're grin is most definitely evil. Not just your grin, you just scream of 'evil'. I can tell that you're not a good guy, you sort of seem like a villain to me. Anyone called Assassin has got to be evil on some level."

Assassin simply maintained his grin, although he did place a hand on his Master's shoulder to stop the two of them walking further. He didn't want to have this conversation in front of the others. "There's a thin line betwixt good an' evil. 'Am I evil?' is an interesting question. 'Am I a villain?' is another one. The simple answer is yes and no. Its all about perspective. If a guy robs a woman in the street, stealing her bag, then to da woman and any bystanders the thief is evil. But what if da thief has lost his job and has a wife and three kids to feed, so needed money by any means? Would the thief consider himself to be evil and would others still have the same opinion of him if they knew?"

"Well that's different!" Huffed Shirou. "Clearly he was a good guy! He was only trying to feed his family and while what he did was bad, he had a good reason for doing so!"

"Well what if I told you that the same thief, during the depths of despair at havin' lost his job, turned to drinkin' to forget his problems? Most of the money he stole went to feed his addiction, and then when he returned to his family he beat his children because he was so drunk."

"That's terrible!" Stated the teen. "He's a bad guy then, he beat his children!"

"And so ta end my little tail lets say that the thief's family received a little visit in the night, a burglar very different to da guy we were just discussing. The wife and kids wake up and try ta face the burglar, so instead the burglar beats them up and prepares to rape da females. Then the thief wakes up from his drunken stupor, and sees this about to happen, so rushes to the aid of his family." Assassin looked thoughtfully into the distance, as if unable to continue. "What then ya ask? The burglar pulls out a knife ta kill the wife but the thief takes da blow for her, killing the burglar in da struggle but succumbs to his wounds afterwards. Is da thief a 'bad guy' as you call it?"

The young Magus considered the question and pondered, after all, it was a hard question. "No, in the end he loved his family and died for them, so all those bad deeds would be forgiven because in the end he was trying to do a good thing."

One more bitter smile crossed the white haired man's lips. "By da way, the thief didn't kill da man for his family, he did it because he had a vendetta against da burglar and only took the fatal wound by accident." Shirou answered his mouth to change his answer but Assassin interrupted him. "Ya don't get it!" He smiled. "There is no one answer, its all about perspective! There are so many different ways of looking at ones actions, so many different interpretations of a single event based on what each person involved or is told about the event knows. Was da thief evil? To the robbed woman, yes. To the burglar he killed, yes. But to himself? No. To his family, the answer kept changing."

Seconds passed, neither figure moved, silence embraced the two of them in a wide blanket and both seemed reluctant to remove it. After what felt like minutes, Shirou asked what had been on his mind. "What does this have to do with you, or anything for that matter?"

Assassin cocked his head to one side and folded his arms. "Nothing much really, it was just a tale after all." The white snaked slithered away slowly, back towards the group of three Servants and one Master who were looking at the duo from the other side of the street and wondering why they were standing there having a chat in the current circumstances. "Makes you think though, doesn't it? Who the hero in the story is... and who the villain is."

AN- Another nice chapter eh? I hope you like it, next one should be out when I finish writing it. By the way, the Servant stat from last chapter has been changed. A very kind reviewer pointed out I had been using the + symbol wrong. Now, I have taken advantage of the mysterious – symbol, which has never been explained. I am using it as a place holder between ranks. Therefore, A- would be a power level higher than a B rank attack, but weaker than an actual A grade technique.

Expect the next stat sheet next chapter, I don't want to give away too many things this early on.

Rate and review, etc. Everyone who has already reviewed has been a star, I hope you continue to do so because as a writer I feed on criticism and praise. Until next time, Undying Soul out.