The battlefield of Gallifrey was what history itself would crown for all eternity.
The Master brandished the Sword of Gallifrey, readying to orchestrate this requiem of death.
The last of the valiant Magic-alliance stood, readying to protect the Root of Akasha to the end.
"I am eternally more of a thinker rather than a warrior...although I believe I shall have to do this as the would-be ruler of the universe...die!" the Master launched himself at the Magic-alliance.
Zelretch was the first to counter, deflecting the Master`s blade with his Jeweled Sword.
Chaos bloomed as the Master activated everything within his arsenal of Noble Phantasms until all was an unthinkable cacophony. Space-time itself began to crack, paradoxes blooming as the emperor of evil continued this eldritch onslaught.
"I have this!" Aoko Aozaki was barely able to counter the Master`s time-manipulation Noble Phantasms with the True Magic of the 'Magic Blue', giving the rest of the Magic-alliance time to re-assemble.
"Caladbolg (The Spiral Sword)!" Shirou Projected a Broken Phantasm, summoning Archer`s signature bow to snipe at the Master point-blank while carefully missing the force-field barrier where Gray was paralyzed behind.
The Master howled as Caladbolg incinerated him to a charcoal skeleton in less than a single moment...only this was futilely temporary, his body regenerating back like time had rewinded itself.
"The Master is absolutely immortal, being the living avatar of Type-Gallifrey...the collective will of this planet of Science to survive in a universe of Magic... " Ryougi Shiki observed at a safe distance.
The hacked Cyber-Legions under the Master`s command began to assist the Master, scattering the already weakened Megic-alliance.
"The TARDIS!" Jeanne Alter screamed in the chaos, creating a conflagration of dragon-fire to devastate the landscape. "Remember, the Doctor`s TARDIS!"
Merlin grimaced, creating a windstorm of flowers with illusion-Magecraft to distract the Master before heading towards a wounded Zelretch. "Zelretch! Activate your 'Operation of Parallel Worlds', bring whoever you need with you! The TARDIS has to be rescued before the Master could reach it!"
"Understood! I - " Zelretch was shot in the heart by the Master`s laser-screwdriver, collapsing upon the ground.
"I suppose the Doctor told you to never meddle in the affairs of wizards!?" The surrounding landscape become molten as the Master amplified the capabilities of the laser-screwdriver with his Noble Phantasms, sending Excalibur-like blasts of radiant light everywhere.
"Excalibur..." Shirou gasped, the Master`s laser-screwdriver reminding the boy of the Doctor himself, especially... "Trace...On!"
The Doctor`s signature sonic-screwdriver sppeared on Shirou by Projection Magecraft. It had been strange this Scientific gadget would be Trace-able by him considering it was not a sword... Only once Shirou thought about it, the Doctor weilds the sonic-screwdriver as the 'blade' of a healer...therefore it was able to be Projected under the concept of a 'sword'.
Shirou aimed the sonic-screwdriver at the laser force-field to disintegrate it.
Gray fell onto the ground, unconscious. "Doctor...lost...child..."
Whatever the girl spoke about while unconscious would never be known as Shirou then hastily pointed the screwdriver at the Master.
A deafening sonic-blast bursted from the gadget, causing the Master to stagger backward in agony. At this time, Rin blinded the villain too by shooting Gandr spells into his head. Sakura gave her assistance by summoning the remnants of Angra Mainyu, restraining the adversary with chains made out of solidified darkness. Ayaka finally used her signature Witchcraft to distort the Master`s body like a broken rag doll, causing him to fall lifelessly upon the ground.
"Zelretch is undergoing regeneration as a vampire, we have to distract the Master until the Wizard Marshall is healed!" Merlin called as the Master slowly began to regenerate once more.
"Time to die, you creature of Science!" Altrouge Brunestud appeared out of nowhere to activate her Marble Phantasm (Fantasy Manifestation), creating a cloud of darkened mist to continue blinding the Master before clawing at him with her vampire strength.
"Shirou, do it!" Illya appeared from behind to heal Shirou hastily with Magecraft before making a retreat.
Shirou stood resolutely, beginning his incantation of endless blades. "I am the bone of my - "
"You...foolish...heroes!" The Master furiously slashed a supernova of temporal chaos at the surrounding warriors with his blade to send everyone flying backward. The emperor of evil then mercilessly stalked over to a wounded Illya on the ground, glaring at the helpless girl. "I was going to be victorious with the Doctor not around, only you miserable Earthlings had to stand in my way all this time! It is like I am re-living all the defeats of my past incarnations! Only at this moment this has to continue...no more!"
"No...stop!" Shirou screamed, launching at the Master as the villain raised his blade in the air.
"Shirou..." Illya became silent as the Master stabbed the homunculus-girl in the heart, the temporal blade disintegrating her into sorrowful ashes.
Shirou could not remember what happened afterward.
A boy was screaming. Shirou could only remember it was himself. All this time, the ever-distant dream of being a hero...it was a futile fantasy that merely a child would think of in the end. A hopeless child, unable to save what is precious above all...like the death of Illya.
The Master was sent flying back, covered in blood as Shirou furiously stabbed Kanshou/Bakuya in his chest. The boy continued Projecting more blades, screaming like a berserker as he wrought retribution on the Master.
"...Magnificent! What beautiful hatred!" the Master gasped, more surprised than harmed as his Time Lord body continued to regenerate. "You would make a good Doctor with all that hatred...the need to save everyone while sacrificing oneself...what a foolish philosophy to the end!"
Shirou hesitated at this before Rin restrained him back with Sakura. These heroine`s had the look of fear on them...not of the Master...rather, the fear of what Shirou was becoming...one who was about to give in to vengeance to abandon others before him...
This was not what Archer died to fulfill...
Rather...
It was at this moment Shirou finally sighed...time to manifest that dream once more.
The dream of that unforgettable field of endless blades...
The endless blades that Archer had died upon.
"I am the bone of my sword."
The Master hesitated at the boy, valiant despite everything that happened.
"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."
It was all of creation itself that has to be saved at this moment...otherwise everything was lost.
"I have created over a thousand blades."
The last hope Shirou was able to identify within his weary heart was to never forget this beautiful meaningless ideal of becoming a hero of justice.
"Unaware of loss,
Nor aware of gain."
Shirou remained resolute, readying for this battle that would end with certain-death.
"Withstood pain to create weapons, waiting for one's arrival."
What a strange thought...that it was the Doctor himself who gave him inspiration to carry on this sacrifice...the legacy of a 'healer' who never needed a blade in the first place to protect others...
"I have no regrets. This is the only path."
A legacy that last for all eternity...like an universe of endless swords.
"My whole life was Unlimited Blade Works."
A light flared, blinding all to its radiant majesty. The Master was the first to recover, looking onward in bewilderment at this otherworldly field of never-ending blades. "Blimey..."
This was the legendary Infinite Creation of Swords?
What a desolate mechanical landscape...far from the presence of the Gallifrey itself. As the Master was an ancient destroyer embodied by a universe of darkness, this was the crystallized existence of a bladed warrior instead.
Shirou stood at the heart of this field, the lonely sovereign within the lost kingdom of debris. The Reality Marble resonated in a weaving of steel, metal-forges bursting to life. This battle would hopefully not end like it did when the Archer faced the Doctor Alter all that time ago...
"You call yourself the 'Master' of all space-time..." Shirou glared at the emperor of evil. "I wonder then...would you have enough 'time' here to survive me?"
The Master resisted the instinct to shatter this Reality Marble on sight with the Sword of Gallifrey. After all...it is not going to be that enjoyable merely destroying everyone here as the would-be ruler of the universe. The mistake of over-sophisticating everything was what all his other incarnations had been guilty of in the past when facing the Doctor, only with the foolish healer not around...
"I suppose I am going to rather enjoy myself first..." the Master eagerly brandished the Sword of Gallifrey.
"Time to end this!" Shirou began to summon swords from throughout human history, blades gathering until it was like the sky itself became covered in steel. Past. Present. Future. All those forgotten Noble Phantasms, re-created once more to save Akasha itself. The sound of steel flying through air howled as Shirou launched the blades the Master. The landscape shattered, blooming into a deafening cacophony of endless chaos.
The Master projected a force-field made of solidified light with the laser-screwdriver, only the infinite rain of swords flew at hyper-sonic velocity to send cracks throughout the barrier. "Hmph...what about this!?"
Blades of unidentifiable alien-origin appeared around the Master like he was capable of Projecting swords too, the villain having summoned every sword-based Noble Phantasm he had himself in his arsenal to launch back as retribution.
Shirou grimaced as the sky itself became covered in flying steel, acknowledging the Master`s blades are far too 'unearthly' for him to Trace.
All the other Magic-alliance warriors hastily retreated, unable to give assistance in this absolute devastation. Zelretch had finally regenerated in the meantime, silently indicating to Merlin to use Shirou`s distraction of the Master to an advantage. The Wizard Marshall created a Magical Circle on the ground, hastily teleporting the alliance warriors closest to him into outer space to rescue the TARDIS while everyone else remained to continue distracting the Master under Merlin`s command. Although...
"Oi, you forgot Gray!" Merlin cried, only the sound of his voice was lost in the steel-bladed chaos. The young descendant of King Arthur remained unconscious on the ground like a beautiful rag doll.
At this time, all the remaining hacked Cybermen had been absolutely destroyed in the chaos. A miserable end to the once iron-wrought Cyber-Legions, the last fallen legacy of Science.
Shirou staggered, the rain of swords stopping as he gasped for breath. The strain of over-using Unlimited Blade Works was beginning to destroy his body from the inside out. The sole reason Shirou was alive all this time was the implanted sheath of Avalon healing him...only this could not like like it did with Archer once more...
It was a strange thought...the Master called the collection of Noble Phantasms from throughout his incarnations as a 'arsenal' while the Doctor called his Noble Phantasms an 'library'. The destroyer to the healer indeed...
"Trace...Overedge!" Shirou`s signature blades Projected once more, this time lengthening into longswords resembling Excalibur itself.
"Magnificent! This promise of yours to be a hero...it is certainly a self-destructive one like the Doctor as a healer too!" the Master laughed like a berserker, regenerating back to being unscathed. "I think I love it!"
It was then a certain Magic-alliance warrior walked towards Shirou, unable to resist the call to battle despite everything. The warrior being the Assassin-Class Emiya Kiritsugu. The parallel-universe Counter Guardian-version of Shirou`s father, one who never knew the boy in the first place...although this field of unlimited blades strangely reminded Kiritsugu of his futile life-long dream of being a fallen hero to the end...
Kiritsugu sighed sentimentally, activating the Noble Phantasm that was the embodiment of his 'Time Alter' Magecraft.
"Chronos Rose (Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May)!"
The Master staggered backward in surprise as Kiritsugu accelerated time to launch at him, stabbing with the Phantasm Punishment (Mystery Bisection) combat-knife that was his other Noble Phantasm.
It was a battle of space-time itself, with Shirou manifesting space with Unlimited Blade Works while Kiritsugu manifested time with Chronos Rose. The Master was unable to protect as Shirou calmly disarmed the Sword of Gallifrey from him, stabbing the villain in the head like Archer himself would do had he been alive.
"A...healer...to the end..." the Master collapsed lifelessly.
The Reality Marble of Unlimited Blade Works (Infinite Creation of Swords) slowly disappeared like an awakening dream as Shirou collapsed too.
The devastated molten landscape of Gallifrey returned once more.
"A...healer...indeed..." Shirou used the last of his strength to stagger up, heading over to the unconscious Gray to move the girl to safety. Although...
"My...I see you certainly are a lunatic-hero like the Doctor!" Zelretch had re-appeared out of nowhere, smiling wearily at the boy. "I am here to retrieve Gray since I forgot her only as you are not looking all that wonderful yourself...come with me, I suppose."
Shirou never had the time to understand what was going on before Zelretch teleported him to an unknown destination.
The Master awakened from the oblivion of regenerating from death once more.
"Oh, Gallifrey...I miss watching you be destroyed..."
The remaining Magic-alliance under Merlin`s command had surrounded the Master despite acknowledging this would end with certain-death.
"When you mentioned never to meddle in the affairs of wizards...I suppose you are the one meddling with everything, eh?" Merlin spoke calmly, standing behind everyone with his magician`s staff at the ready.
The Master merely smiled, staggering up to re-summon the Sword of Gallifrey back to him. "All life has to end...therefore I am merely meddling to give you Earthlings a reason to live by becoming the ruler of the universe! What do you think of that, eh - ?"
"You..." a voice called.
"...Who, me?" the Master hesitated with everyone else, looking at the origin of the voice.
Arcueid Brunestud was strangely standing motionlessly, like she was not herself.
Rather...at this moment, the almighty spirit-entity who Arcueid was originally supposed to host had finally awaken in the crisis of this battlefield.
The embodied will of planet Earth.
The Archetype-Earth.
"You...archenemy of the nameless Doctor...destroyer of Earth`s Mysteries..." the Ultimate One of Earth itself spoke with Arcueid`s voice...only one could discern the Crimson Moon Brunestud was speaking through her too. Arcueid`s ancestor, the almighty lunar entity who embodied the spirit of the Moon itself. The original King of Vampires. The progenitor of the True Ancestors. The immortal sovereign of the Millennium Castle.
The Type-Moon itself.
"This battle shall continue on...no more!" Archetype-Earth launched at the surprised Master, space-time distorting at her almighty presence.
"Oh, dear...I am beginning to miss the Doctor..." the Master brandished the Sword of Gallifrey.
All became a cacophony of oblivion on this lonely Gallifrey...