Fate's Way
Chapter 7 - First Battle, First Blood
The warrior who was Saber leaps off the road to nearby terrain.
The black giant of the Berserker class roars, charging in pursuit of the dual-wielding warrior.
Tohsaka has already run off after the Berserker, intending to keep fighting against this monster that shrugs off all of those attacks.
The same monster that was nigh immortal- No! It is Immortal.
'If you can, try to run away.' He recalls her last words
He knew he wouldn't be able to do anything even if he does follow, but still, he couldn't just let her fight alone.
He could remember their conversation last night.
He promised to help her win the war, he promised by becoming her apprentice he would do whatever he could to help her. The words of that priest further reaffirmed his resolve to fight.
The Great Fire… The same fire he came from, the same fire that started his life anew, his life saved by Kiritsugu. It was caused by the Grail going into the wrong hands.
He mustn't let such a thing happen! He must make sure that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. To save everyone was his goal.
How was he to accomplish that if he runs away from this?
"..." Artoria shifts her attention to the Emiya
"Decide." She simply states
Shirou turns to look at her in confusion "Huh?"
"Either leave as Tohsaka advised or follow her, do not hesitate lest you'd do neither." The girl stares him down in the eyes
There's nothing else he could do. Reaffirming himself he met her eyes with a determined look.
Artoria gave an affirmative nod, as she went to her friend Gwen.
"I'll follow you regardless, Arty," Gwen responded
He could tell that she was concerned, her facial expression was perfectly still and neutral, but the glint in her eyes radiated concern.
But in the end, she didn't argue.
"Very well, let's all go together." She turned her head up the hill and began running up the slope
The rest followed, he knew that he'd be killed going after that giant, his body was trembling but he suppressed it regardless.
Besides, the other girls of the group were doing the same, what kind of man would he be if he cowers in fear while they courageously traverse the battlefield.
They ran to the open terrain where they heard the clash of the two warriors.
The scenery there is totally unexpected.
The gravestones were flying around, each swing of the sword, that giant split the gravestones in half.
The whirlwind of slashes sends a storm of gravestones.
On the opposite side was the warrior in black.
In the chaos created by the raging axe sword, Saber is fighting Berserker with the same-no, in fact with less power than his previous stunt.
Saber is in the defensive position and is fighting conservatively, and yet neither truly has the advantage.
Saber merely evades the onslaught of the axe sword and parries away the gravestones.
Meanwhile, Berserker, who he'd thought to have the advantage in this situation was in fact hindered itself, the obstacles were hindering his movement,
Saber however weaved through them easily, letting him keep up with the raging warrior.
Though obstacles are a minor hindrance for someone as powerful as Berserker, it tipped enough that Saber is perfectly capable of avoiding its attacks.
Then suddenly, the passive warrior turned the tides in his favour and lunged for a strike at the mad warrior.
Shirou knows that the warrior clad in dark armour wasn't strong enough to hurt Heracles, and yet something in his mind says otherwise.
For an instant, he saw a vision. He saw streaks of lines akin to a Magical Circuit suddenly crackling in an abundance of mana.
At the same time, Saber crackled in magical energy, his speed, his strength, his movement amplified to extreme levels.
Within a blink of an eye, his power that in comparison to the Mad Warrior seemed trivial, suddenly burst in strength akin to a dragon waking up from its slumber.
His blade manages to swiftly cleave through the skin of the Mad Warrior with ease, the sudden burst of strength disappeared as fast as it appeared as his body no longer crackled in power.
"This way! You'll get hit if you're there!" A voice snaps him out of his fascination
"Huh? Whoa!?" He felt himself being dragged
"What are you thinking!?" Tohsaka angrily asked
"I told you to run away right!? Or did you not hear me!?" She angrily chastised him,
She's really angry right now.
"Um… I heard you, but I couldn't just run away, could I?" Her face scrounges up in anger
"What!? How could you reach that conclusion!? Can't you tell that you'll only be a bother to us since you can't fight!? And you too Guinevere, you're not even a Magus nor do you have any combat capabilities!"
The two that were chastised were stunned at the Tohsaka's reaction
"You shouldn't be that hard, besides they should be fine as long as they merely observe." Artoria defended them
The Tohsaka rubs her temples in frustration.
"It can't be helped if they wanted to try making a difference, but it'd be meaningless if they die doing absolutely nothing! There's also no guarantee other Servants may not pop out and what would you do then? You don't seriously expect me to believe any of you could win against one even if you worked together, do you!?" Artoria flinches at the retort
Shirou didn't know why, but Tohsaka was seriously angry. Although he didn't feel bad about getting yelled at, he did felt bad that his classmate Artoria was yelled at for defending them
"Hey, is that something you should get mad about. It shouldn't matter to you if I die meaninglessly or not." Shirou to reason
"It does matter! I told you that you're now my apprentice, so it'll trouble me if you don't get home safely!" Tohsaka exclaimed angrily
"Geez. Just go ahead and run away now. That Illyasviel girl intends to kill us all." Tohsaka told him again
"I know that, but I couldn't just run away. All of you are fighting, so I can't run away by myself." It isn't right for him to not contribute to winning
"That's a line for someone who can make a difference. Besides not all of us are going to fight, it should be clear there's only two trained magus in this ragtag group. If nothing else, then just leave the battling to the ones who could actually support our Servants." She crosses her arm in annoyance
"This is your last warning. Just run away"
"Hey, hey. I don't think it's fair that you would tell us something you wouldn't do." A wild Guinevere interrupts the heated debate
"..." The other three turned their heads toward the one sidelined girl
The Tohsaka had a serious expression on her face before she turned away
"Perhaps it is shameless of me to ask so. But I still think you should do so, although Saber is holding himself well, neither of them is in the advantage, this is a battle of magical energy reserves at this point." She took a peek from behind the tree
The battle was continuing without any change.
Berserker's attacks smash through the terrain, destroying the surrounding area.
Meanwhile within the rampaging whirlwind.
Within the rain of broken gravestones are flying clods.
Saber evaded each and every attack which all could cause a fatal blow.
Deflecting the storm of debris and retreating before the giant warrior charges, avoiding the axe sword.
Then within split seconds, Saber would suddenly stride forward through the clouds of debris and pounce on the mad giant with a ferocity of a dragon and injure the Berserker.
It fascinates him, even to someone as untrained as him, he could see the many flaws in Saber's stance, and each time Berserker attempts to take advantage of them, Saber would simply evade it beforehand, and time to time use those opportunities to fuel his own counter-attacks.
It is a work of the utmost excellence.
He couldn't take his eye off of the Servant of the Sword. No matter how impossible it seemed in his eyes, the Servant would create miracles after miracles and made the impossible possible.
Saber would move his body and blades before the mad warrior made his move, and with the early headstart it compensated for his lack of agility and successfully evades or blocks the attacks, it is as if he knew it beforehand.
Following them occasionally would be a sudden counterattack that bypasses Berserker's defences and lands a strike either by using his earlier methods, or summoning a different weapon to do the job.
His arsenal was seemingly limitless, each time his swords broke, he would simply create a new pair.
This deadly combination allowed the Servant to keep up with the mad warrior with minimal repercussions.
The sight they were seeing is one that is impossible to be replicated by humans.
He could hardly believe he's in this Holy Grail War thing.
One day he would be going through his normal day, eating together with Sakura and Fuji-nee, thinking of ways to help other people, and then the next he would participate in a war between heroes.
Although it does bring him uneasiness. No, not only just the fact this war exists in the first place, but also upon the Servant he's admiring at the moment.
It is a contributing factor that occasionally when Saber would do something, at the same time he would vaguely understand beforehand of what's next to come as if resonating with the Servant.
Each and every one of those foreign feelings bothers him and seeing them happening before his eyes right after bothers him even more.
He couldn't put his finger, but he seemed eerily similar and that brought him uneasiness. He couldn't tell why, but he got the feeling that he would be able to work with him decently (but would deny each other in some areas).
He clears his head, he shouldn't be bothered by such things, it could simply just be coincidences.
Within the whirlwind of fatal destruction, swords danced at extreme speeds, steel clashed against steel- No, in this case, it is steel clashing against the stone.
Within the battle would be occasional streaks of silver lights masterfully weaving through the battle and landing their marks on the mad warrior giving the swordsman an opportunity to exploit.
Those arrows weren't anything to scoff at, be it that it barely interrupts the mad warrior, even those moments are valuable.
Although it is partially to be blamed that the man named Archer couldn't fire higher-powered arrows without risking injuring Saber.
Although this combination, even as incompatible as it is, clearly enough is working to slowly chip off Berserker's overwhelming strength.
"... I thought so. It was strange, but he's leaving his stance open on purpose." Tohsaka murmurs emotionlessly, eyes trained on the duel
"...Was that to lure Berserker to attack them?" Tohsaka gave him a glance of surprise before looking back
"Yup. It seems Saber's combat style revolves in leaving openings and predicting ways to form a counter-attack off of them, against Berserker he plays more cautiously, but it seems that's the baseline where he's operating off." Tohsaka explained
"Though it is odd for a Heroic Spirit to focus on projection magecraft out of all things." Artoria sheepishly look at Rin
"How did you figure that one out?" She asked the Tohsaka Heir
"I'm not an idiot. He's producing those Noble phantasms out of nothing, and it is easy to piece it together when he starts reproducing his swords every time it breaks." Tohsaka elaborated
"Although he looks nothing like a blacksmith to me, nor do I know any Magus who could reproduce Noble Phantasms without breaking a sweat, because things like that would surely catch the Association's attention." She frowns to herself
"Back on topic, it seems that it had been right to put Archer as a backup. Be it that the enemy could mostly resist Archer's arrows, it allowed the sides to tip in our favour occasionally. "
"Although we'd have to give up on Archer being hands-on with the battle, as his sword isn't a Noble Phantasm to pierce God's Hands nullification," Tohsaka murmurs as she watches the bout between Saber and Berserker
"...Archer's arrows…" Those words caught his attention
Archer isn't here if he really is an archer, he should not fight hand-to-hand, but-
A sudden explosion was suddenly visible
"He got him!" Tohsaka snaps her fingers
Just as she said… Berserker's body was completely wrecked, the swords Saber got stuck on Berserker's body must've been planted on purpose as he had detonated them.
Berserker's body, previously held firm, now with large gashes throughout his body had lost its balance.
The beast lashes out desperately but to no avail, as Saber dodges by jumping back.
Then suddenly something caught everyone's eye.
The originally empty night sky was suddenly filled with silver lights that burned through the sky.
It is akin to a shower of shooting stars, though it is at that moment Shirou realizes what it was, it most definitely came from Archer, yet… These arrows seem to be more powerful if the brighter luminance were of any indication, and were fired at absurd speeds.
The aim was clearly for Berserker… And yet it looks like, it's wide enough to hit-
"Saber!" Artoria yelled at the top of her lungs
The arrows that were aimed towards the two warriors weren't as powerful as indicated, it is merely compressed air. However, for all the lack of destructive power those arrows held, they are travelling at an unreal velocity.
This means that the air bullet was practically undodgeable, if it were just one or two aimed towards him, she's sure her Servant would be able to deal with them, but this was a rain of them
The piercing power of such "arrows" was off the charts
Saber turned to her after hearing the call
Looking back what greeted him was a beautiful sight.
It was a rain of shooting stars that would reach them at any moment.
'Don't worry, Master.' That is all he says
His arms rose, searching through the arsenal of Noble Phantasms within his world he came upon one conclusion.
"Trace On!" He whispered, going through the seven steps of tracing to recreate a certain Noble Phantasm
Judging the concept of creation
Hypothesizing the basic structure
Duplicating the composition material
Imitating the skill of its making
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth
Reproducing the accumulated years
Excelling every manufacturing process
Projection Complete
The rain of starlight tore through the heavens and onto the battleground.
The first few silver lights reached their intended mark of the warrior behind him, he could hear the roars of the struggle of the mad servant.
However that in no way was an indication that he would be safe.
Right before the hail of arrows coming from the stars above strikes Saber
With a yell, he called upon the true name of the Noble Phantasm,
"RHO AIAS!" The greatest defensive Noble Phantasm stored inside his library of weapons he'd seen throughout his journey around the world.
Four petals of an iridescent flower bloomed and sprung forth from nothingness.
The onslaught of bullets rained upon the shield of Ajax.
The silver lights that embodies speed in itself, was stopped short from hitting by Saber's Noble Phantasm.
The shield used by Aias the Great and the only shield capable of repelling Durindana, the javelin of the great hero Hector in the Trojan War.
There are four barriers in the shape of flower petals, each layer is as strong as a castle wall. In its full glory, it would've consisted of seven, representing the seven layers of oxhide of the bronze shield that was sublimated into a conceptual armament.
It is a barrier Noble Phantasm that is supposed to be invincible against all projectile weapons. A hail of arrows will be defeated by this shield without penetrating even one of the petals.
At the very least, Saber has never faced an arrow powerful enough to penetrate this shield throughout his lifetime.
And that was the case for the time, until…
The pressure from the hail of arrows broke the first petal
A single arrow may not be able to even scratch it, with enough quantity even arrows could cause a fortress wall to collapse.
His body seared in pain, it is the side effect of the Noble Phantasm.
To receive such a powerful defence, one must be prepared to shoulder the pain for each petal that was destroyed.
As he pushes on, he no longer hears the sound of explosions, and the assault of arrows on his shield was no longer.
Approaching the end, the shield's second layer was halfway to being destroyed but it was still in no way in the position of threatening him.
He inwardly notes that whatever trick Archer pulled would be extremely lethal if one wasn't prepared for it.
Dismissing the conceptual weapon, he looks around the surrounding area.
It was still filled with clouds of dust, but it didn't take long for it to dissipate
At the same exact moment, another roar was heard.
And the next moment a gigantic dark mass flew through the air.
Berserker… and it was going towards…
"Get out of there!" He yelled with all his might
There's no way for him to catch up to Berserker in time.
The black giant's body is superficially healed, he could see that even a well-placed cut could take a life without effort.
But that wasn't the problem, even if the mad warrior could snap like a twig, the parameter difference is still too much for him to stop it from reaching.
He projects his bow on one hand and a sword on the other. The Hound of the Red Plains, Hrunting.
It is a pitch-black blade and is one of Beowulf's magical swords. It would seek the blood of the enemy, and won't stop until it had drawn blood.
It is for that reason it is the perfect hunter as no matter what the Berserker may try unless he outright destroys it, it would continue to attack him.
Drawing it back on his bow, he changes it into the form of an arrow which's edges coil around the thin core.
"Hrunting" With its name called it flew from his bow, transforming into a red light.
Although Berserker has already nearly reached his Master, all he could hope is that Artoria could survive the first attack and give it enough time to reach.
Her Servant's warning didn't reach her ears, as she's too deep into her thoughts.
Artoria was concerned about the state of her Servant, the hail of arrows seemed to have destroyed the area they were fighting in, with clouds of dust covering the terrain, and debris flying everywhere.
'Damn that Archer, he could've at least given a warning.' She inwardly curses
Was he trying to kill Saber? She's not even sure if Saber could've survived that, and the notion that her saviour slash companion might be dead sparks anger in her.
A long shadow was visible etching closer and closer to their area, but she was too distracted to realize it.
Her instincts suddenly screamed at her, if she didn't act then she would face imminent death.
However, her instinct's own potency is the thing that held her back, as it came as a shock that disoriented her due to her differing thoughts at the time.
By the time her thoughts had time to gather themselves… It was already too late
Looking up, the world suddenly ground to a halt.
The body of the black whirlwind was inches away from landing next to her, she's going to die.
Her sword was still unsheathed, the blade she picked up from Saber was still held by her arms which were still relaxed. Her magecraft would take half a second to activate, a second that she doesn't have.
She could see the killing intent of the gaze of the mad giant. The Servant of Madness's body radiates off the air of death which's intensity exceeds when she observes from afar.
Her instinct warned her how she would die well enough, which was by getting cleaved in half.
She still had so many things to do in this world, and many people that she still needed to go back to…
And yet, it seems all of her hopes and dreams dashed the one instant she let go of her guard.
It seems it would be the last mistake she would ever make. She wonders how Gwen's reaction would be seeing her friend cut in half right in front of her eyes, powerless to prevent it.
She wondered what her family would think, actually… Would they even see her again?
Chances are she would just be reported as missing alongside everyone else in this group, all evidence disposed of.
'Huh,' It is moments like these that she reflects on herself, and truly understands the meaning of life.
She watches her imminent death in slow motion, at the same time she heard another voice.
"Artoria!" The voice belongs to Emiya reached her
He was rushing towards her using all of his strength with a determined look.
What was he doing? He wouldn't be able to do anything to save her in this case-
Her thoughts grinding to a halt as she realized what was going to happen next.
No… Don't tell me... Her life should mean nothing to him, after all, they're simply acquaintances. So why does… Why does he look like he's going to throw away his life for hers?
Her answer was never received, as Emiya pushed her out of the way, she no longer felt death approaching her, but she knew it would reach him.
Her face shocked, with 'Why?' written all over. Emiya gave her a relieved look, as the giant landed and sent a killing blow.
His face contorted into one of shock as he fell. Shocked voices were heard from all sides.
"Huh?" Emiya let out a sound,
Out of sheer luck, his body manages to stay intact, but that wouldn't change the result.
The Berserker raises his greatsword once more to resume his attack on his intended target.
Artoria snaps out of her shocked (and half angered) state, as she chanted her personal Aria "Sigetíber…" and reinforces her body.
She pulled all the stops as she ignored the end result of her previous utilization of her certain spell.
"[Mana Burst]" She yelled, her body burst in magical energy
She held the Golden Sword with her two hands and raised it, to meet the Berserker's
Magical energy expelled out of her body like a raging jet stream, pushing her body the strength of heroes, the sword made of stone met the golden sword of assured victory.
The clash between the two swords once more produced a noise that tore through the air.
However, in that instant, she knew even when she pushed her spell to its absolute limit it was still not enough.
The strength of the mad warrior overwhelming strength crushes hers, as she and her sword was driven back and sliding right in front of where Emiya had fallen
"Ga-ha" She could hear him squirm in pain, feeling a pang of guilt, but she couldn't fall here nor abandon her comrade
The Berserker was preparing to leap forward to land another decisive blow, she raised her sword to a defensive stance, she has to repel this strike at all cost, or else… Both of them would surely die
It is then she found herself gazing at a rapidly approaching red bullet of death.
Artoria put her sword down and swiftly crouches to pick up Emiya to a safer location, as he let out more pained groans but ultimately didn't resist.
The Berserker, as if realizing a danger behind him, went to turn back to block the incoming bloody red arrow.
However, it was too late to do so as the red light crashes onto it and setting off an explosion of huge proportions. At the same time in the short moments, she manages to retreat behind a pile of rubble.
Following which she could hear the sounds of feet approaching them.
"Emiya-kun!" Tohsaka called out, meanwhile, Gwen seems to stare in shock contemplating what to say
"...Hu… h?" Emiya looked down towards his missing stomach.
"...I see." He merely murmurs before falling unconscious
"Why?" Everyone's head turns towards the voice of a familiar girl
Standing there dumbfoundedly was the silver-haired girl.
She stood there for a while before she told them, "Your Saber's pretty good, I wanted to get the boring stuff over with first, but I've changed my mind."
Saber, not a second later landed near the group with his swords on hand once more.
"After all of this… You're just running away?" Tohsaka narrows her eyes
"Yup, I'm interested in Saber now. So I'll let you live for a bit longer." She cheerfully says
She took a glance at the now unconscious Emiya before sighing "...That's enough Berserker, let's get going."
The giant disappears, the girl goes away without saying another word.
It didn't take long for everyone to ease up again,
Artoria looking back at the male guiltily yet angrily mutters "Why did you do that."
She of course knew of his tendencies to help people, but to the extent of self-sacrificing? He needs to be mentally ill-
She internally growls, she shouldn't be thinking such things about him, he did save her life, but…
"Saber… Can you project anything to heal him?" As expected, he shook his head
"The one I was able to project was only possible with a command seal."
Looking down upon the two remaining pairs on her hand, she was contemplating using up another one to save his life.
After all, how could one measly spell be comparable to the life of the person who saved her from death's grasp?
"However I should be able to fix him up, so you don't need to use another command spell." He proclaims
"And how do you intend to do that?" The Tohsaka asked the Servant
"My own ways of course, though it'll be a little risky." He calmly said
With no other options left, we left him alone to concentrate on doing whatever he's doing to save Shirou.
Saber waited for everyone to leave before starting his work.
"Great. Without Saber, the only thing powering Avalon is just the excess mana Artoria releases, which means I'll have to manually transfer her mana into you." He talks to himself
He had forgotten how rotten his luck was, it seems the world is always out to get him killed by Berserker. Although this time his past self would probably die if he didn't interfere.
He had nearly forgotten that without summoning Saber his past self wouldn't have anything powering Avalon to survive doing suicidal things.
This means he'll need to establish a connection between his past self and Artoria if he wants to keep him alive through all of this.
He searches for Avalon inside the boy's body.
'Ah there' He visualizes its shape,
Continued by drawing magical energy from his Master and poured it into the magical sheathe.
Shirou's wound started glowing, basking in golden light as it rapidly repaired the fatal wounds.
After a few minutes, the life-threatening wounds should be gone, and there he began his second step.
Cutting his artery, blood started pouring out and he directly injected his blood into his past self's bloodstream.
By doing this, his blood would serve as a connection between Shirou and Artoria's mana.
It might aggravate his past self's body with more pain, but no matter how compatible they were, this is the blood of a Heroic Spirit being transfused to a human.
In the end, such measures are necessary.
One may ask why he's doing so much to help Shirou… The answer is really just that it would help his Master, Artoria in the long run.
He holds no delusion that he could be with Artoria for the entirety of the war, and he believes that he could put faith in this version of "him".
The deed is now done, he projected some bandages and wrapped them around the wounds. Before lifting the boy and walked back towards the group.
Saber didn't know this, but the act of transfusing his blood into Shirou would ultimately impact the future forever.
Artoria had a small talk with Gwen while waiting, it was to lighten up the mood after the semi disastrous result of the battle.
By this point in time, she had already completely forgotten that Archer quite possibly could've killed Saber, as it was overshadowed by her concerns of the state of the Emiya.
Archer and Rin were conversing about something off to the distance, but she doesn't bother to listen in.
"Alright, I've patched him all up." She turned her head to the sight of Saber carrying Shirou
"How will it go?" She asked
"The wounds should be alright, he should be fine by tomorrow." He replied
"How did you heal him so quickly though? Shirou's wounds looked to be bad." Gwen asked
"I merely attempted to reform his organs using a healing magecraft and it worked well." Saber lied through his teeth, telling the truth wouldn't help the situation.
"Oh, so that's why you took a portion of my mana." Artoria nods in understanding, oblivious to what her servant actually did.
As far as she knew, healing magecraft mana consumption would vary depending on what was being treated and the proficiency of the user, as such she wouldn't suspect her Servant drawing her magical energy.
"So Master, where are we going now?" Saber asks
Artoria proceeded to check the time, and it's already halfway to eleven.
Looking towards the unconscious Emiya, she briefly considered his well being. Emiya's house should be closer than hers, and well… She's sure everyone is tired from the recent battle, he went ahead and pulled out her cellphone and gave a call towards her house's telephone.
It didn't take long for someone to pick up,
"Hello?" The voice of her younger brother answered
"Bedi? Why are you still up?" Artoria asked in surprise
"Eh?! Sis? Uhm… I j-just woke up to go to the bathroom." Her younger responded nervously
"Bedi, you're not lying right?" Noticing her brother's odd behaviour, she suspiciously asked
"N-No, no! Of course not." Her brother timidly responded, which raises even more red flags
She shook her head, it might just be she's overreacting right now.
"Alright then, by the way, could you tell whoever's awake that I won't be returning tonight." Her brother gasped
"Eh? Why?!" Her little brother is acting suspiciously this night, but she carried on
"I got into a fickle, and me and Gwen are tired right now, and I plan to just stay in a friend's house tonight so as to not to give dad or our brothers more trouble ." She explained
"Oh… O-Okay." She could hear the disappointment in her brother's voice
"Well Goodbye then Bedi, make sure to have enough sleep, you have more school tomorrow." Her brother gave her a goodbye before she hung up the phone.
"Ah, you're finally done?" Rin said the moment they hung up
"Mhm, I presume you don't mind if we sleep in his home for the night?"
"Not particularly, but I presume from your omission of information, you haven't told your family about the existence of the Moonlit world, correct?" Rin deducted
"Yeah, Gwen's the only exception." She nodded
"Arty, why don't we just walk back home? It's only a few minutes away from Emiya's." Gwen rightfully so asked her
"It'll bring too much trouble, especially with these clothes." Gwen's dress is soaked in sweat even by simply observing, and dirty from the debris that reached her.
Meanwhile, Artoria's clothing is even worse being right at the centre of the battle momentarily and is covered with Emiya's blood, both from when his blood spilt on her when he saved her life, and when she carried him.
"Then we agree on going back now?" The two blonde girls nodded to the Tohsaka's question
"Great, I'd like to leave this area as soon as possible, our battle might've attracted other Servants," Rin said
The two other Servants silently followed the three girls.
They took a short walk silently and arrived at a familiar house.
Finding the key for the house wasn't difficult as Emiya put it in his pockets.
Unlocking the door, they turned on the lights, Archer went to the roof as per his Master's orders, meanwhile, Saber set the unconscious red-head down on a futon lying around in a room, and went to cook food for the three hungry teenagers.
"Saber… That is a projection right?" Rin suddenly asked out of nowhere
Saber turned to look back and shifted his head towards where the Master of Archer was pointing at.
Oh, the golden sword Caliburn he initially projected was still there.
"Yeah?" It turned out more into a question than an answer
Projections on the level of Noble Phantasms are supposed to last minutes at most without any mana to sustain its existence, and yet… Caliburn is still resting on the hand of Artoria.
"What's wrong?" Gwen asked, meanwhile Artoria is still processing what's on her hand
"How is that thing still here?" Rin furrows her eyebrows
"That blade is the sword that chooses kings, even an imitation would retain such a feature," Archer responded, his voice a little muffled due to being on the rood
"You know what it is? Why didn't you tell me?" Rin questioned her Servant
"Forgive me Milady, but I wasn't sure until its glory was revealed, and we were still in the middle of battling the Berserker," Archer admitted
"Although the sword was broken halfway through the reign of my King, so I ask this swordsman, where did you obtain it?" Saber shrugged off the accusing look being sent his way
"Like all things in my arsenal, I've stumbled upon it. Sir Tristan" Saber revealed he knew of the identity of his allied Servant
"If you were a Hero renowned during my time then there would've been mention of you. Yet, everything about you doesn't match, so who really are you?"
"Perhaps I was a Knight, a Wizard, maybe a Bowman, or even a peasant who knew a tidbit of sword magic." Saber sarcastically responds, unnecessarily trying to rile his partner
Archer frowns at the answer he got,
"Cease your pointless squabbling, you two." Artoria finally got a word in
Saber merely gave her an apologetic smile. Archer however gave her a look that honestly made her uncomfortable, was it analytical or familiarity(?) she didn't know
"Oh! So that's how it is!" Rin suddenly said as if enlightened-, before she gave her a look of envy
"First you got a Saber that could project Noble Phantasm, and now you received the acknowledgement of one that could kill Heracles?!" Eh, wait where did that come from?
As if sensing her confusion, Rin explained
"Since what Archer said Saber projected was a noble phantasm that could choose whether or not you could wield it, when it found someone worthy it binds itself to the person, therefore, bypassing Gaia's suppression."
"Although… " She scrutinizes Artoria
"If the concept of that sword is to select kings, specifically the King of England. I wonder if you could claim the throne with this." Artoria didn't know what's going on in Rin's head, but if her eyes shining greedily towards her were of any indication, it is something that she'd rather avoid.
"Arty as King?" Her friend thoughtfully said
Suddenly her cellphone rang.
Pulling it out of her pockets, she answered.
"Art, you do know that we could just pick you up, right?" The voice belonging to Lancelot immediately said
Ah, she's going to have a long conversation about this.
Author's Notes:
Sorry for the delay, procrastination is hitting me a lot. With this chapter though I revised some parts so it would come off better than what I initially wrote.
Today's chapter reached around 6000 words, another good amount.
A third of the chapter is written from Shirou's perspective, since gathering from previous reviews some of you may get the feeling that I sidelined Shirou, so there's your sip of Shirou POV. The next chapter would similarly start from Shirou's POV.
Shirou's magical circuits would be partly unlocked by Saber's blood flowing through him which may be a good thing or a bad thing, the good thing is Shirou would have the mana to do something more than reinforcement, meanwhile, his magical circuits would temporarily be rendered dangerous as he wouldn't instantly get used to it.
Although it will be until Rin realizes Shirou's method of creating magical circuits would he finally get his circuits fully unlocked to… Do the more intense stuff, so don't worry about Shirou becoming like his UBW counterpart.
This is all I'm going to write for this chapter's notes, I also realized my notes have been getting shorter and shorter. That's simply because of my loss of motivation, that much should be obvious because my update schedule keeps getting messed up.
The next chapter would be up by Sunday hopefully, I don't want to leave you guys hanging without a chapter again.