Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night or anything else that appears in this story or associated to it and I am in no way shape or form attempting to or making a profit from this work of fiction.
Alright, note here, this chapter seems a bit bad for me but if you have any suggestions for the story after this chapter feel free to leave a review on it.
In a forest there stood a castle like manor and from that manor a roar resounded, it would have normally sent any animal running away with the killing intent behind it but it was impossible as they had all long since abandoned the area around the castle.
"Calm down Berserker, you still aren't fully healed yet, let the blood do its work." Illyasveil von Einzbern told her Servant Berserker who merely let out another roar." We'll kill him soon and then we'll have the Holy Grail."
Another roar was her answer.
"Mongrels." A voice announced and the doors were tossed open and in an instant Berserker and smashed his way down to the main foyer, having been on the upper levels with Illyasveil." Present yourselves to me."
"Berserker, come back, now!" Illyasveil ordered but Berserker ignored her order, not stopping his fall and seemed to speed up." Berserker!"
The scream of outrage was ignored and Illyasveil turned off the machine pumping the blood of several Magus onto the floor, the needles at the end sending it all into Berserker only moments ago.
A roar was the intruder's only warning before Berserker's axe sword came swinging down at them, crumbling the ground beneath it in moments but the figure had dodged it, now standing at the top of the steps.
"So you are the Berserker?" the figure asked and Berserker roared before leaping at them again.
A golden portal as tall as the figure appeared next to them and as Berserker was airborne they drew out a beautifully carved crossbow from within it and with a roar from Berserker he unleashed a precise shot on the Servant who roared even as he was shot out of the air and crashed onto the ground.
The figure cast aside the weapon moments later and two smaller portals appeared with one on each of his sides and he drew out a pair of silver hatchets that the threw forward, nearly taking Berserker's arms off as they slammed into his shoulders.
"Berserker!" Illyasveil shouted as she raced down the steps and towards her downed Servant, quickly pouring a bag of the blood down his throat and Berserker instantly rose to his feet, his wounds sealing and the figure merely waited for the Servant to roar and charge again, his massive axe sword aiming to tear the attacker to pieces.
"Be gone you filthy dog." The figure spoke as with a wave of their hand a dozen small golden portals appeared behind them and moments later a rain of swords slammed into Berserker, the Servant able to bat some away at first but the volley steadily picking up speed with the figure soon gaining a borderline psychotic grin on his face, the weapons very quickly slamming into Berserker one after another and even as they shattered on impact they forced the mad Servant back from the force.
"Berserker, quit playing around and kill him!" Illyasveil ordered and Berserker with a roar charged forward, tanking the barrage and the figure's grin turned from psychotic to sadistic as a new set of weapons appeared from the portals and they were rapidly multiplying to include hundreds, all of them aimed at Berserker.
The mad Servant seemed to sense the danger he was in but a glance at Illyasveil standing behind him had him charge forward faster.
"If you insist to throw your life away then so be it." The figure commented as he saw Berserker's charge and the weapons fired down on the Servant with a wave of his hands.
Berserker somehow survived the onslaught and through the rain of steel he had reached the figure and with a roar he had his axe sword raised and from the figure's expression he was truly surprised at the endurance of the Servant.
"How in the na…" the figure couldn't finish his sentence as Berserker slammed his sword down and he was forced to cover himself as best as possible against the attack, it collapsing the floor and sending both down to the basement of the manor.
Roars and the sounds of steel striking the ground or something resounded up from it and once it all ceased the Einzbern Master walked over to the hole and looked down it.
"Berserker." Illyasveil's whisper seemed to carry down and with a grunt of effort the massive Servant managed to pull himself up from the basement moments later.
"Berserker, is he dead?" Illyasveil asked, noticing the blood pooling at her Servant's feet.
"Master, hide."
Berserker actually speaking and giving her a command at the same time was a shock to Illyasveil who was about to question her Servant when a glance, a moment of sanity from Berserker, sent her running up the stairs and into her heavily protected room in the manor.
Berserker, otherwise known as Heracles, savored his first moments of rational thoughts since his Summoning and slowly allowed Mad Enhancement to once again take effect.
'Illyasveil. Protect Illyasveil.'
Those were his last thoughts as the madness once again overtook him and with a roar he leaped down to face the golden armored figure below him.
Illyasveil heard the sounds of the fight downstairs and for once she was worried for her normally unstoppable Servant.
'Berserker…'
Berserker roared as he attacked the figure only to be thrown back by another hail of weapons that failed to actually pierce his skin.
"Learn your place dog!" the figure roared and with a raise of their hand a new set of portals appeared and bombarded Berserker again.
"Know your place dog!" the figure announced as a golden portal appeared behind the figure and moments later a golden headed jewel encrusted war hammer threw Berserker back and through the walls, sending the Servant crashing through trees and boulders in the way of his impromptu flight.
Illyasveil saw this from upstairs from where she had exited her room to watch only to quickly rush back.
The slow steps of the figure as they climbed up the steps and the walked down the hall, towards her room had her very much hoping for her Servant to arrive very soon. But she knew when to do anything in a situation was pointless and this was one of them.
So when the door was slowly opened she was in the right mind to panic as the figure opened the door to her room, casually bypassing the multitude of locks and magic covering it and most of the upper levels of the manor.
"Let's talk."
The door closed behind him and Illyasveil changed from being panicked at the figure's easy defeat of Berserker and entering the mansion to now nothing but terrified at the monster in front of her.
At the Emiya home Rin was in a state of half shock at the scene in front of her and half minor surprise at her ability to do something like this so quickly.
"I ask you again, are you my Master?" Shirou's repeated words drew her out of her half shocked and half surprised state and after a moment she nodded and Shirou rose to his feet.
"Good to know."
With a grin his fist lashed out and Rin doubled over, not even able to see the blow to her stomach, before she collapsed to the side with a nudge from the white haired Magus.
"Master!" Saber called out as she raced forward and attempted to cut Shirou down only for the Magus/Servant to flip over her head and well out of the reach of her sword and a bow formed in his hands, Kanshou in his other hand.
"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou's words shifted the sword into an arrow and now he simply waited for either Rin or Saber to move.
"What do you think you're doing?" Rin demanded, still on the ground but slowly drawing herself up.
"What do you think you're doing?" Shirou asked back as the arrow threatened to shoot towards her now." Where the hell do you get away with turning me into your Servant?"
"You're the one who merged with one and this is a war, you should have expected a betrayal, no not expected, realized allies betray one another. I just did it before you could do the same to me. Now listen to your Master and right now I'm ordering you to follow any commands I give you." Rin told him as part of the Command Spell on her hand faded.
Shirou was about to laugh at her demands when he felt a surge of power rip through his body and the suddenness of it had him lose his focus and his weapons faded and Rin turned to her other Servant.
"Saber, beat some sense into him!" Rin ordered her Servant before turning to Shirou." Archer, stay still!"
Shirou really questioned how the Command Spell could be manipulated like that but the blow of a gauntleted palm from Saber to his chest threw him back and he realized he actually was listening to Rin's command, his body wouldn't move at all.
'What's happening?' Shirou thought as he couldn't even drag himself up, not even speak, his body entirely frozen.
'She can control us dumbass.' Archer answered for him as Rin waved a hand towards them.
"Archer, stand." Rin's voice ordered and Shirou found himself standing but also felt the Command Spell's magic leave him.
'That was annoying.' Shirou thought even as a crossbow appeared in each hand.
"What the?" Rin asked and Shirou grinned as he fired only for Saber to appear in the way and knock away the bolts with her invisible sword.
"Master, leave him to me." Saber told Rin, not taking her eyes off Shirou who rolled his shoulders, glad he could move again.
"Well that was annoying." Shirou commented as the crossbows faded and he frowned." And your little betrayal messed up something, those should have lasted a few seconds longer, at least enough for me to get another shot off each."
Shirou shrugged before a bow appeared in one of his hands and moments later a broadsword appeared in his free hand and it quickly transformed into an arrow.
It was an explosive when he fired it so he expected Saber to dodge it, not cut it in half and her armor wasn't even marked by the explosion and Shirou frowned again.
'What the hell did that spell do to me?' Shirou asked himself as Saber charged forward and he dodged several of her blows but as she leapt back a spray of blood drew his attention to the side of his leg, it was cut.
'I couldn't dodge that, why?' Shirou thought as he formed a bow as he landed and a handful of knives changed into arrows shot towards Saber who batted them away and Shirou rolled out of the way of her next strike and noticed his leg was slowly being knitted back together by blades.
'That's taking far too long, I healed most of the damage from Berserker in that time.' Shirou thought even as another handful of knives changed into drill tipped arrows that he shot towards Saber, the Servant wisely dodging the weapons that kicked up a massive dust cloud on impact with the ground, no doubt aimed to take her sword from her grip.
Shirou used Reinforcement on himself as he dismissed his bow and instead a short sword appeared in each hand and he charged forward and cursed when Saber easily met his blades even when she should be blinded.
It didn't help that his swords shattered on contact and he was forced to leap back from Saber's retaliation, aiming to remove his head form his shoulders.
'This is getting bad, nothing is holding up!' Shirou threw a handful of metal darts forward from both hands that changed into javelins with a flash of red light only for all of them to be shattered by a single swing of Saber's sword.' What is going on?'
'Your Magic Circuits are running haywire, the flow will be irregular for a while.' Archer answered for him and Shirou cursed even as he formed a pair of silver hatchets and tried to attack Saber only to be forced to step back as they shattered as well.
'Then what do I do for the fight?' Shirou asked before he felt what were definitely not his Magic Circuits send a surge of power through him.
'There, I've activated mine so basically just go on instinct and let my power do all the work.' Archer told him after a moment and Shirou grinned before a pair of black handled and silver blades battle axes appeared in his hands and he moved the large weapons effortlessly.
"Let's see what these things can do." Shirou charged forward with the weapons and this time when they met Saber's sword they not only stopped her, but with a quick modification to nearly triple the weight in the axe heads he forced Saber back, her arms numb from the shock of the blow traveling up them.
Shirou pressed the offensive now and Saber saw him to continually hold the weapons with little difficulty, even as he increased their weight before decreasing it constantly and in a moment.
'The potential of this combat style is incredible. I would be dead already if he was to master it.' Saber thought as she sidestepped one axe and then kicked another, snapping the axe head off from the shaft but Shirou simply changed the broken weapon into a bomb he threw at Shirou before wielding his single remaining axe in one hand and his strikes grew faster and the axe heavier, causing Saber to curse as she now avoided his strikes at all costs or else she would be weaponless, the sheer weight of the weapon too much for her to block against when Shirou seemed to prefer overhead strikes.
Saber finally saw her chance to end the fight and a quick sidestep had her on the side of the weapon with Shirou in the midst of modifying the weapon's weight when Saber let out a battle cry and would have taken off his hands if he hadn't released the weapon and jumped back with Saber after him, slashing at him with lethal precision.
'Damn, she's too fast.' Shirou thought even as a cut opened up on his cheek, a warning strike from Saber, and felt his body getting tired as the unknown magic began to affect him.' How am I supposed to keep this up?'
'You idiot.' Archer told him, the Servant forcing himself into control and he dodged Saber's next blow.' I never said you would be able to use it like that.'
A pair of golden hilted and silver bladed rapiers appeared in his hands and a quick modification had strong bands of metal forming a basket like shield around his hands, stopping him from being disarmed easily.
"Let's see what you can do, Saber." Archer spoke up before rushing forward, the rapier's blades taking on the look one wound have with a broadsword.
Saber blocked both blades easily and Archer grinned at that.
'Just as good as I remember.'
Saber quickly caught onto his strategy of dodging and then attacking the moment she was recovering from the failed attack so it very quickly lost its effectiveness, Saber's strikes began leading to the next and she followed Archer anywhere he went.
She missed a downward slash as he sidestepped, the blade moved to cut into his side only for Archer to awkwardly bring up the rapier/broadsword in that hand and wince as he felt his wrist nearly snap.
'Damn, that blow nearly snapped my arm and she could barely put any strength behind it.' Archer thought as he stepped back to avoid the upward slash aimed to slip under his arm and remove it.' I can't keep this up with these weapons but not enough distance yet.'
He threw both swords towards Saber and they exploded as the Servant dodged them, a habit Archer was taking from Shirou.
"I am the bone of my sword." Archer quickly spoke and Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands.
He threw both swords at Saber who deflected them and he leapt into the air and onto the roof to avoid her, his movements a blur to her.
"Steel is my body and fire is my blood." Archer continued and another pair appeared in his hands and he used them to block Saber's blow as she appeared in front of him, her invisible blade slashing at his stomach and the Servant was lucky to get away with only a narrow cut.
"I have created over a thousand blades."
He sent the pair of swords into Overedge with those words and the pair Saber had deflected were drawn back with a thought and slammed into her back, throwing the Servant forward and towards him.
Saber recovered through and blocked his swing at her, noticing it was lacking much power and she quickly dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch and Archer flipped the blades in his hands into the air before holding them out to his sides.
"Unknown to Death…"
In a flash of red light a loaded ballista appeared at each of his sides and fired on Saber, the bolts exploding on impact and Saber wisely chose not to block any of the projectiles and instead avoid them.
"…Nor known to Life."
A new pair of Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands and he flung them both forward, the blades coming at the Servant from the sides and Saber stepped back and allowed the two blades to strike each other and detonate.
"Have withstood pain to create many weapons."
Archer caught the falling pair of transformed blades and he threw himself down towards Saber, the blades held in a certain way behind his back to resemble wings.
He was met by Saber charging him with the release of Prana Burst and using Reinforcement on his entire body and blades stopped him from losing his arms from the clash.
'Damn, I've reached my limit already.' Archer thought before pushing off of Saber and landing some distance away in front of the Servant, who canceled the ability moments later, before turning to see Rin begin standing up on the sidelines.' And if I make an attempt on her life there's no telling what will happen to either me or the brat if she dies.'
'I can hear you, you know that?' Shirou's voice asked and Archer winced at the sudden voice.
'My god that is annoying.' Archer thought as his face took on a shocked expression, confusing Saber.' And I kept doing that to you constantly?'
'Yeah, now dodge!' Shirou shouted and Archer looked up in time to see Saber's invisible blade shooting towards him from a lunge.
Archer sidestepped the sword and very quickly put some more distance between him and the powerful Servant.
"Yet those hands will never hold anything."
Rin's eyes widened in shock at those words, finally understanding he wasn't just using the chant to increase his power and she quickly turned to Saber.
"Saber! Kill him before he can finish that aria!" Rin ordered and Saber nodded as she pointed her sword behind her and rushed forward, releasing both Invisible Air and Prana Burst at a full sprint to charge Archer at top speed.
"So as I pray…" Archer sidestepped her charge, shocking the Servant before she heard cracks and he nearly collapsed.
'My legs just reached their limit even with Reinforcement, I can't move at that speed again.' Archer thought even as Saber charged forward again, the released Excalibur aiming to cut Archer in half when another crack was heard and her arms were stopped.
Saber's eyes widened as a multitude of cracks came from Archer who's face was covered in an agonized expression and his breaths coming in pants.
"…Un..limited Bla..de.."
"I order you to stop!" Rin nearly screamed, having no desire to see what would happen if Archer managed to finish such an aria.
Archer couldn't speak and after a moment he made a gamble and gave Shirou control over his body once again.
'Damn, my body is exhausted.' Shirou thought with a curse as he dropped to his knees.' What the hell did Archer do?'
'I've used most of our energy in my attempt to use my Noble Phantasm, it failed.' Archer spoke from inside his head.
'Then I guess we're done.' Shirou told him before he dragged himself to his feet, Kanshou and Bakuya appearing in his hands.
"I am the bone of my sword."
Shirou knew at this point it was pointless to attack the much stronger Saber but he simply felt like doing it, one of his last acts of free will he supposed.
"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."
He actually managed to dodge Saber's swing of Excalibur and stepped insider her guard, the sword too far out from the missed swing but Shirou stopped his blades before they could stab into her stomach and instead hit her with the blunt edge of the blades.
'She missed on purpose.'
Shirou's foot connected with Saber's gut and she was thrown back with Shirou catching Excalibur and looked at it for a moment before seemingly shrugging and tossing the incredibly powerful sword after its owner as he shot towards Rin.
"I have created over a thousand blades."
Kanshou and Bakuya began breaking down into light and that light flowed in front of him, quickly taking a definite shape in front of Shirou.
"Unknown to Death, Nor known to Life."
An exact copy of Excalibur appeared in front of him and as soon as Shirou grabbed it he felt any of his remaining energy going into fueling the blade.
'Repeat these next words, there's no time to say the rest!" Archer ordered and Shirou decided to listen.
"Thus my life needs no meaning."
Rin's eyes widened and Shirou saw a flash of golden light before he suddenly found himself stopped by chains wrapped around his wrist, neck, legs, abdomen, and around Excalibur even as it broke down into light.
"Which one was it?" a voice asked.
"The white haired one." a terrified voice answered.
"Good, you may now crawl away."
A both terrified and beaten Illyasveil was tossed to the ground as a golden armored blonde haired figure suddenly stood in front of Shirou, red eyes observing him.
"So, you are the Faker I've been looking for this entire time?" the figure asked as Rin very quickly backed away, recognizing the figure while hoping he didn't notice her.
She was wrong to think so as a chain wrapped around her legs moments after she took the first step.
"Don't think I forgot about you Rin." the figure spoke without taking his eyes off of Shirou." I still intend to do as I said I would but I will simply refrain myself, for now I have something more interesting to occupy my time."
'Shirou, the moment you get free, run.' Archer ordered him, a rare true fear in his voice.' Don't do anything but run, he will maim you just to be able to kill you slowly later on. Do you understand?'
'Probably not.' Shirou answered as in a flash of red light his hands were filled with knives and moving his hands as far back as he could he flung them forward and the knives shot forward, turning into weapons ranging from swords to axes.
"Pitiful." The figure commented, simply waving their hand and all Shirou saw were streaks of light that destroyed his weapons and then filled his chest and he was limp in the chains binding him moments later.
Saber saw this as she recovered from Shirou's kick and quickly grabbing Excalibur from where it laid embedded in the ground next to her and standing up.
"Stay away King of Knights." the figure ordered, still not turning around." I do not wish to do battle with you today."
"You have harmed my Master, I cannot allow you to walk away unharmed." Saber told him as she charged forward, the figure sighing but from a golden portal at their side they drew out a golden hilted silver longsword.
He blocked Excalibur with it and seemed to have expected it to shatter as he had already let go of it and from behind him countless of he golden portals opened with countless weapons emerging from them.
"I gave you warning King of Knights, now fall." The figure announced as the weapons shot forward and in moments Saber saw her shattered armor drop to the ground.
'Gilgamesh, you haven't changed at all.' Saber thought as she blocked most of the weapons with Excalibur but saw the change in them, they were now blunt and aimed to knock her out.
'Yes, he definitely hasn't changed.'
Gilgamesh turned away as Saber was finally overwhelmed by the rain of weapons and turned his attention to the healing Shirou.
"Tell me Faker, do you know what happened to you?" Gilgamesh asked as with a thought the weapons in Shirou vanished.
"I'm having a really bad day?" Shirou asked as he nodded towards the Rin and then the chains." First I become her Servant, against my will might I add, and now I'm probably dealing with some type of god with my luck."
The chains suddenly vanished and Shirou landed in a crouch with the temptation to attack the figure to think against it.
"You are correct, I am the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh. The closest a creature like you will ever come to the divine." Gilgamesh answered and with little warning he put a blade through Shirou's chest and pulled it out moments later, allowing Shirou to convulse on the ground.
"I recognize the power of Avalon, you seem to be adept at its usage." Gilgamesh commented as Shirou rolled on the ground, clutching at the now smoking wound on his chest." But, sadly for you Faker, I was prepared for this."
Blades began sprouting from the screaming Shirou's chest, tearing through his clothes as Gilgamesh stepped back, his eyes now holding interest in Shirou.
"You may scream all you want, it won't help heal a wound from something that cannot heal." Gilgamesh told him as he raised the blade in his hand up into the air." As my treasury holds everything I feel it important to tell you that this is one of the many prototypes of the Noble Phantasm known as Gae Bolg."
"Any reason you're telling me this?" Shirou managed to ask and one of Gilgamesh's armored boots threw him back and into a wall, cracking it as he hit it before dropping to the ground below it.
"I understand your ability and expect you to survive such a wound." Gilgamesh answered before turning away." But if you don't then I would have been mistaken."
"Mistaken on what?"
Gilgamesh had already vanished when Shirou asked his question so silence was his answer.
"Dammit." Shirou cursed even as he felt the stab finally begin to heal, the blades around it knitting together.
'Perhaps now is our chance to deal with Rin, we can free ourselves if the Servant bond.' Archer spoke up and Shirou looked towards Rin, the Magus having fainted at some point, and shook his head after a moment.
'We've got to wait it out, believe me when I say I'll kill her if we didn't risk killing ourselves.'
Since Gilgamesh had shattered the barrier both on his way in and on his way out Shirou grabbed Saber and Rin and with a look behind him at his house he left it.
"At least he's not a lost cause." Archer commented, sitting on the blackened sand and looking out to the distance, the twilight receding." But he'll get himself killed so I guess I need to make it soon."
The gears that hung above him continued to turn and Archer found some peace in that as he stood up.
"It's a shame I've got to waste so much energy on the brat but I can't have him dying, at least not yet."
He walked away and towards the forge, buried under a dune of blackened sand and marked with a single sword set at the top of the hill.
"Time to get to work."
AN: Well, chapter over with and good for you if you can guess what Archer is making and why Gilgamesh is interested in Shirou.
Peace.