Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Purified by Fire, Dancing with Fairies

Chapter 11

"I had a really great time tonight."

"Yeah, who'd have thought someone as…well, wimpy-looking like you would be so fun to hang out with?"

The two college girls giggled as they stood with Shinji outside a love hotel, the latter chuckling good-naturedly before his two paramours for the night. "Well, what can I say ladies?" he said with a surprisingly-winning smile. "Looks can be deceiving."

"Oh yeah, they definitely are." One of the girls said, prompting another set of giggles from them both. "Well, we've got to go Matou-kun. See you around…maybe."

Giggling and winking, the two girls sauntered off as Shinji waved them goodbye. Waiting until they were out of sight, Shinji stretched his limbs before walking off, his mood good and his needs satisfied after a good afternoon and evening out with pleasant company. Well…maybe more than an evening. It was quite late already, the traffic on the roads having lightened up in terms of numbers, though most of what was left were heavy trucks and loaders taking advantage of the reduced traffic and the lack of business at night to move goods in bulk to and from storage.

Even the sidewalks weren't as crowded as earlier, though still greater in volume than the traffic on the roads were. For all that much less business was conducted at night, big cities do not ever truly sleep. Plenty of people were still up and about, the light of streetlamps, advertising, and those from inside stores and shops and other open businesses lighting up the nightlife of Fuyuki City.

Shinji hummed to himself as he made his way away from the pleasure districts to more subdued areas, passing through side roads while heading back home. As he did so, a nagging sensation rose and slowly but steadily grew as he went on his way, until finally, he stopped and turned to look behind him.

There was nothing there.

And yet Shinji just knew that someone was either watching or following him, or maybe even both. "Rider," he thought. "I think someone's taken an interest in us."

"It certainly seems so, Master." The Servant said. "However, they're hiding themselves from our eyes very well."

"Do you think they might ambush us?" Shinji asked. "Or are we being herded towards a prepared battlefield? I do not want to repeat Tohsaka's mistake. And I'm sure neither do you want to be the next Servant to fall after Archer."

"As you say, Master." Rider replied. "But, I do not think we are being herded. No, I think they're just looking for an opportunity. Which means that yes, they may ambush us, or more likely, emerge to engage in open battle once we arrive at a suitable battlefield."

"Looks like our first battle is going to be tonight." Shinji said. "That's fine with me, and I assume it's even more the case for you. Let's go."

"Do you have a plan in mind?" Rider asked.

"Not really," Shinji said. "We just need to draw them to a place where we can fight freely with limited risk of causing too much damage or being witnessed. Once we're there…we'll do things as expected: you fight the Servant, and I'll fight the Master."

"Any instructions for my part?"

"First and most important of all," Shinji said at once. "Don't get yourself killed."

"Of course that's expected."

"Second," Shinji continued. "Don't hold back any more than you have to. Try not to reveal your identity if you can, but as you said before, with Archer's defeat the war is now in full swing, even more than when it properly began. If it's a choice between dying and revealing your identity, choose the latter. And if an opportunity to use your Noble Phantasm and win shows up, take it."

"Understoody, Master."

Shinji nodded. "Leave the enemy Master to me." He said. "I'm not as good as most other Masters might be…but if Emiya could go as far as she did despite being a nobody, I can too. And all I need to do is not lose anyway. Because once their Servant loses, we win."

"As you say, Master."


Shinji stopped as he arrived at his chosen battlefield, a large, empty expanse of crumbling concrete in a dilapidated section of the city, surrounded by broken walls and dead lampposts. Abandoned buildings stood all around, empty warehouses and derelict factories through which the cold wind blew with a mournful, howling sound. There was not a soul or creature in sight, not even rats or insects.

Neither Shinji nor Rider knew if that was or was not an omen of some sort.

Shinji stood still and silent on one end of the expanse, arms crossed over his chest, the wind gently blowing and tugging at his bleached white hair as the minutes ticked past. And then violet eyes narrowed, Rider materializing protectively before his Master as a pair of figures appeared on the far side of the expanse.

One was a little girl, about ten years old or so, but the Servant behind her…a swarthy giant, wearing only a loincloth of some sort and wielding a crude but gigantic axe, breath steaming in the air as it looked over at them. "Good evening, Matou." The little girl said with a curtsy. "I am Illyasviel von Einzbern. It's nice to meet you."

"Oh shit…Einzbern…of course it just had to be Einzbern…" Shinji cursed and muttered. "It's just my luck to face off against a homunculus designed and coined to be the perfect Master…and the Lesser Grail to boot…and Archer's dead too which means…fuck…fuck…fuck…this cannot get any worse…"

Illya tilted her head. "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" she asked. "That's impolite, you know."

"I am Shinji Matou, heir of the Matou Clan." Shinji answered. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"I did." Illya said with a nod. "And it's rather surprising too. Last I heard, the Matou bloodline had completely withered. And yet…here you are…"

Shinji smirked. "Well," he said slowly. "It looks like Einzbern isn't nearly as omniscient as they like to think they are."

"Maybe," Illya said, smirking back at Shinji. "But we do know that Tohsaka's spare was given to your family…she's dead now though…and all of a sudden a blood Matou shows up out of nowhere with actual magic circuits…is there any connection, I wonder?"

Shinji didn't reply, and Illya giggled. "It's okay if you don't answer." She said. "I'll find out soon enough. Once I kill your Servant, I'm going to strap you down and take you apart and find the answer myself. Go, Berserker! Kill his Servant, and drag him back to my castle!"

Berserker roared thunderously in reply, eyes glowing red and gold before he charged, every footstep shaking the ground and cracking the concrete, axe swinging from one hand. "Berserker?" Shinji echoed, face twisted into an incredulous scowl. "You've got to be joking!"

Rider and Shinji threw themselves away from each other, just moments before Berserker came within arm's reach and brought his axe down, shattering the ground and sending debris flying all around. Ignoring Shinji, Berserker turned and chased after Rider who jumped away, intent on leading Berserker away from his Master.

"Looks like it's one on one." Shinji said as he got to his feet.

"Yes, it is." Illya agreed before narrowing her eyes. "Do you really think you can win though?"

"I'll never know until I try."

Illya laughed, and it was utterly without mirth. "Worms should just crawl and eat dirt." She spat, and tugged several strands of hair free. "They shouldn't grow limbs and ape how Humans look and do. Now, shut up and die!"

Muttering an aria, Illya threw the strands of hair into the air, where they fashioned themselves into glowing birdlike constructs that flew towards Shinji at high speed. He sneered and imagined fangs biting down into his flesh, burning pain flooding through his body as his magic circuits filled with prana. They flickered over his flesh, and as Illya's constructs approached, they flashed and died, tangled strands of hair drifting with the breeze as the prana used to make them and sustain their mysteries was absorbed by Shinji, and causing them to fail.

"Did you think it would be that easy?" Shinji spat. "My turn!"

Shinji contorted his hands, claw-like in front of him, blood vessels throbbing over his hands and arms before erupting with blood. It spilled down onto the ground, only to stop as worms squeezed themselves out and fell, squealing and squirming onto the ground. "Partake of my life," Shinji said, holding out his hands and with prana swirling around him. "Grow and become more, to destroy mine enemies."

The worms quickly cocooned themselves, and after but a few moments broke their cocoons to emerge changed. No longer worms, they were now like locusts, flying into the air on buzzing, translucent wings, poisonous fangs snapping as they stared at Illya through multifaceted eyes.

Shinji pointed, and the Blade Wing Worms flew at her. Illya narrowed her eyes as they approached, the swarm splitting into three as they moved to attack her from three directions: front, left, and right.

"Disgusting," she said, an ethereal breeze beginning to blow around her and whipping through her clothes and hair. "Keep your filthy pets away from me!"

White light bloomed around and away from her, burning the Blade Wing Worms to ash and leaving the concrete hot and smoking. Pointing a finger at Shinji, energy gathered at its tip before lancing out as a blazing beam of light.

Shinji dodged to one side, hands moving in circular motions to gather the moisture in the air between them. Magic circuits flashed as the moisture was flash-frozen into ice, and with a gesture sent towards Illya at high speed.

Illya scoffed and gestured, white light blazing out again to turn the ice to steam. A finger was pointed, and another energy blast was thrown at Shinji's direction. Shinji dodged, the beam flying past to tear into a nearby building…and a water pipe which ruptured with a gush of steam and high-pressure water, the former pluming into the air and the latter fountaining out behind Shinji, water pooling on the ground.

Shinji smiled as Illya's eyes widened in alarm. He gestured, three crude projectiles freezing from the water as they rose into the air, and with a gesture were thrown at Illya.

A gesture and they shattered, broken bits and pieces of ice scattering on the ground. Illya fired another blast, but Shinji made a rising up gesture, water quickly flowing forward and then up like a wave before freezing into a wall. The blast exploded against the wall, blowing a gaping hole in it but expending its force in the process. Shinji smirked at a frustrated Illya before the hole froze up again.

Growling in frustration, Illya gestured, muttering in German as glowing orbs appeared in the air all around her. As she continued to cast the spell, the orbs simultaneously shrank and glowed brighter, turning incandescent before Illya gestured, sending them flying forward. They struck the wall, spreading themselves out to coat the surface in milliseconds before exploding, and turning the wall to frozen rubble.

Illya threw her head back and laughed….a laugh that was cut short as Shinji gestured, ice jetting forward at high speed along the ground in man-high crystals from Shinji towards Illya. Illya held out a hand, halting the progression of the ice with a thunderous boom as though of two heavy objects colliding at high speed, and the air visibly distorting.

Shinji raised his hands, and the ice wall repaired itself. And then he staggered back, clutching at his right forearm, gritting his teeth as his right hand shook uncontrollably. "This isn't good." He thought. "I need to end this before I reach my limit…and it's much too close. Damn it…I should be better than this!"

Stepping back again, Shinji raised his hands once more, an ice wall rising up on command. He stepped back some more, and then raised another ice wall.

And then he ran…but not to retreat. "I can't keep fighting like this." Shinji thought as he slipped a music box out a pocket. "Stupid…stupid…stupid…I never should have tried to fight an Einzbern homunculus head on in the first place…stupid…stupid…I can't match their capacity or abilities…stupid…"

Shinji briefly closed his eyes he reached out to Rider. "Rider," he asked. "How are you doing?"

"Not good," Rider replied. "Harpe can't cut through Berserker's skin, and for someone so big he's far from clumsy and…!"

"Rider? Rider…answer me damn it…Rider!"

"My apologies," Rider finally said, and Shinji sighed in relief. "That was too close…as I was saying, he's fast and very agile…I'm going to have to go all out on Berserker at this rate…"

"Do what you have to do." Shinji said, before wincing as he heard and felt his ice walls collapsing, and heard the sounds of Illya's taunts and threats behind him.

"What about you, Master? What is your situation?"

"I am currently repositioning, but I'm not beat just yet."

Shinji paused and narrowed his eyes. "Not yet," he murmured to himself as he reinforced his legs and jumped up onto a building. "I'm not beaten just yet, and I can still defeat you, Einzbern."


Illya stalked through the streets, between the abandoned buildings all around, surrounded by a swarm of constructs built from prana and her hair. More of them flew ahead and to her flanks and rear, putting themselves between their maker and a potential ambush or some other surprise attack.

"Come out worm!" Illya shouted. "I know you're still out here somewhere! Or do you think you can hide from me until the sunrise? You can try of course, but let me tell you now: I've never lost a game of hide and seek before!"

Then again…I haven't played hide and seek since mama and papa left…

Illya staggered and nearly fell at the thought, gritting her teeth and lowering her face with mix of anger, resentment, and sadness. After a moment, she took a deep breath and continued on her way.

"Or," she began again. "Are you planning on ambushing me?"

Illya snorted and then actually laughed. "So," she said. "You finally realized the stupidity of trying to take on someone with much, much more prana than you head on, and with older and more powerful spells than yours to boot."

The only response was silence, and after another moment of teeth grinding, Illya continued. "Well, if that's what you want, then fine." She said. "If you want to dig your own grave trying to fight smart, then who am I do deny you?"

Again there was silence, and then Illya giggled. "Oops," she said. "Oh that's right, I can't kill you. I still need to figure out how you tick, Matou."

Illya giggled again. "If you come out right now," she said. "I promise I won't forget to use the anesthesia when I start cutting you open."

There was silence, and Illya scoffed. "Fine then," she said. "Be that way! Let's see if you can keep quiet and oh so brave and all when you're strapped down on a steel table with your worm-filled guts being ripped out of your belly!"

Finally, there was an answer: music. And not just any music, it was the sound of a…music box? Yes, that was it. It was the kind of music you'd expect to find playing from a music box.

But why…

Illya scoffed before her whole body began to glow. "Trying to use music as a way to affect me with some kind of mental interference," she sneered. "Amateur…still underestimating me…worthless little…"

The tirade of insults was cut short as something punched its way through a nearby building. Illya's eyes narrowed before a swarm of her constructed descending on it, cutting through ice and sending jets of powder flying…only for their attacks to be of no effect whatsoever, unable to cut deep enough to cause critical damage, and what damage they could cause quickly freezing back over.

It…it looked like a knight of some sort, only made of ice and moving very well. "I see." Illya thought. "As I thought, the music is a spell, probably needing to be constantly in play to keep the mystery active. And it's probably being generated by a mystic code of some sort."

Illya briefly closed her eyes. "So that's how he plans to counter my advantage in prana." She thought while brushing some hair out of her eyes. "He only needs enough prana to activate or keep the mystic code active, the mystic code then uses mana from the environment to power this second spell. Not bad Matou, not bad at all…but it's still not good enough."

The knight of ice charged at Illya, barely slowed by her constructs trying to stop it from getting close. Illya wasn't going to let it though…and she was curious as well. "Something tells me there's more to this than meets the eye." She thought as she pulled more strands of her hair free. Muttering a spell, she wove the hair into a sword-like shape, and then threw it at the knight.

It carved through the chest to punch nearly all the way through, and then Illya said a single word.

"Entwirren."

The strands of hair that made up the construct violently unraveled, shearing the knight apart from the inside, dealing enough damage to keep it from regenerating. And then Illya saw that she was right. There was something more to the knight than what met the eye.

Dead worms were among the fragments of melting ice, clearly used to refine control and prana absorption from the surrounding environment than would otherwise be the case. Illya scoffed, though internally she had to admit it was much more than what she expected from a family in decline.

"Is that it?" she sneered. "Is this all you are capable of conjuring, Matou?"

As though in reply, more knights punched their way out of surrounding buildings, and this time drew longswords that glittered with sharpened edges. "Oh," Illya said, smiling with amused approval. "I take it back. You certainly have quite a lot of tricks up your sleeve. It won't save you…but I'll admit it: it's definitely more than what I expected from a worm like you."

Raising a hand, Illya pointed a finger and charged and fired an energy beam. One of the knights went down…and the rest charged.


Rider jumped back, leaping up to land on a rooftop. Berserker quickly turned to face him, somehow knowing whether from instinct or experience where Rider would go, and then with a roar charged in his direction.

Within moments, the building was falling apart, Berserking charging out of the clouds of dust and debris in pursuit of Rider. And that was quite the feat: Rider was wearing his winged sandals, gifted from and based on those worn by the god Hermes himself.

"Phobos and Deimos," Rider swore as he danced from side to side in the air, trying to throw Berserker off his tail. "I need to find a way to get this monster away from me for more than I have so far, otherwise I can't summon a Pegasus. And without a Pegasus…"

Rider's eyes widened, and without a care for the fact that Berserker should be behind him, abruptly swung his legs forward, and arresting his forward movement. At the same time, guided by the same instinct that made his stop moving forward in the first place, he twisted to the side…

…and narrowly avoiding getting grabbed by the legs or pummeled by Berserker's axe.

Rider flew back and landed on the ground behind Berserker who turned to glance at him in confusion. "Phobos and Deimos," Rider breathed. "He actually managed to catch up to me…unbelievable…just who is this?"

Berserker's confusion quickly came to an end as he roared and swung his axe down into the ground. A crack opened and then erupted in Rider's direction, who flew up and away, Berserker in quick pursuit.

The ground broke as Berserker leaped up, and Rider was again cursing as Berserker jumped from roof to roof, moving quickly enough to avoid putting too much stress on any building he landed on before he moved to the next one, in order to keep up with Rider. "Phobos and Deimos," Rider snarled. "Is there no end to this?"

And then he blinked as he saw the river in the distance. And then he glanced back at Berserker. And then he looked back at the river. Rider blinked, and narrowed his eyes. "That'll do." He said, and leaning forward jetted towards the river as fast as he could.

But somehow, Berserker just knew what Rider was up to, and picked up the pace. Buildings collapsed in his wake, but Berserker didn't care, only that he managed to catch up with Rider before he could reach the river.

Rider wildly banked from side to side, corkscrewing and diving and climbing at random to try and throw Berserker off, and it was barely enough. And then up ahead, he could see and smell the water. "Come on, come on, come on…!" Rider snarled, Berserker growling behind him as he closed the distance, and with a triumphant roar Berserker grabbed out with a hand, to pluck Rider from the air and throw him to the ground before finishing him off.

But while his fingers brushed the barest end of Rider's feet…it wasn't enough. And Berserker's roar of rage and frustration shook the air as Rider slowed to a halt, before turning and smirking in Berserker's direction as he floated over the water.

"Sorry," Rider said before smirking. "Well, not really. It's over."

And with that Rider flew up, high into the sky, as high as he could without daring to repeat Icarus' folly. And then closing his eyes, Rider deactivated his winged sandals.

As he began to fall, Rider turned to face the ground, spreading his limbs to slow down as best he can, and once he was sure he was falling as fast as he could possibly go, he summoned another of his Noble Phantasms. Kibisis: Bag of Barrier Inversion, wherein he had kept Medusa's head after he had struck it off with Harpe.

And wherein her blood remained.

That same blood Rider now spilled into the air before him, and he smiled as they flowed and drew up a magic circle on their accord. An eye split open to glare down at the water below, before a powerful surge of prana and a blast of wind split the air.

With a loud neigh, a Pegasus spread its wings, Rider mounted on its back, galloping as though down a steep slope before leveling out just above the water. And then building up speed, they turned and charged at Berserker, bowling the giant off his feet, cracking the surrounding concrete, and tearing up the steel parapet.

Meanwhile, Rider and his Pegasus climbed up into the sky like a brilliantly-shining star, the former briefly looking back over his shoulder. "Looks like I really have to go all out, don't I?" he muttered before holding out his hands. Golden light flowed out and around the Pegasus' neck, and solidified into reigns and a bridle.

The Pegasus gave a maddened screech, eyes glowing red as they galloped and flew faster and higher, turning in a wide arc to descend back down at the ground, their star-like visage trailing a glowing, comet-like trail of afterimages and superheated air behind them. "BELLEROPHON!" Rider roared moments before they broke the sound barrier and striking down, levelled the target area down to the water table, and Berserker with it.

And then as Rider flew off into the air, breathing a triumphant sigh of relief, a blazing pillar of light split the heavens behind them. "WHAT?" Rider bellowed in shock as he turned to look, and then his eyes widened in horror and disbelief, as the light faded and a giant rose from the ruins, piles of rubble, and the rapidly rising water of the water table and river alike filling the crater, and glaring up at Rider, roared in anger.

"No…" Rider whispered, shaking his head. "This…can't be…he survived? How in…that light…was it a Noble Phantasm…but what?"


"Six times," Illya murmured in disbelief. "Unbelievable…Berserker was killed six times…no way…"

Scowling and gritting her teeth and clenching her fists in disbelief, Illya turned and stomped off. A knight tried to get in her way but the enraged homunculus just blew it apart…along with the surrounding area, Illya climbing out of the resulting crater before continuing on her way.

"Berserker," she ordered. "We're leaving."

A flurry of emotions flowed through their link, and briefly staggered Illya before she drew herself up, her command spells glowing all over her body. "Berserker." She growled audibly. "We're. Leaving."

There was silence over their link, and then with another flurry of emotions Berserker responded to Illya's satisfaction. Behind her the remaining three knights formed up, but made no move to attack. Illya ignored them at first, but as she reached the limits of hearing, she turned and narrowed her eyes at them…

…and through them, Shinji Matou.

"We'll call it a draw then." She said. "But, I haven't lost. And I haven't given up seeing you on a dissection table either, Matou."

Illya paused and smiled. "And though you don't know it yet," she mocked. "You've already lost."

Laughing to herself, Illya turned and walked away, vanishing into the night. The knights silently looked on before falling apart as the music died, Shinji standing on the roof of the building he'd been hiding on.

Breathing and sweating hard, he looked to the distance where sounds of emergency and police sirens were beginning to sound, government services responding with surprising speed to the damage caused by Rider and Berserker's battle. And then he looked up as Rider approached and then landed next to him.

"Are you alright, Master?" Rider asked.

"I've been better." Shinji said, wiping at his face. "Let's get out of here, Rider."

"Yes, Master."

Helping Shinji get up on the Pegasus, Rider gently tapped the Pegasus' flanks with his legs and feet, and then flapping its wings the Pegasus galloped up into the sky. But as Shinji took a deep breath, he glanced back, and narrowed his eyes at the battlefield.

"I've already lost, she said." He thought. "It's probably just a taunt…but then…why am I feeling…uneasy, at it?"

Sighing again, Shinji shook his head and drove the matter from his head. The battle was over, if not in a victory but in a draw…and still better than defeat, especially when the Einzbern Master seemed to be an unstable psychopath of a homunculus.

And he was tired, very tired. He'd think the battle over again once he'd rested and regained his strength.

"Let's go home, Rider." Shinji said softly, and the Servant nodded.

"Yes, Master."


A/N

Pretty straightforward chapter to be honest…

…though I'm sure you people know why Illya said Shinji and Rider had already lost (to her). If you don't, then you'll have to wait and see why that's the case.