Chapter 3 - "? ? ? Blade Works"

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They walked to the church in silence, Archer and Saber both having already said their parts.

Shirou was contemplating his new situation, and Rin was silently brooding over the connection between the two servants and her magically incompetent dunce of a class-mate.

Shirou and Rin went inside, leaving Saber and Archer to keep patrol outside of the church.

There was an awkward silence between them.

Saber was the first one to break the silence.

"If things are keep going on the same route, Berserker will be our next opponent."

"Yeah," Archer said, "...But things might not take the same route. After all, we don't know if Ilya has summoned the same Berserker or not. Lancer was the same, but you were different."

Saber nodded. "Yeah. And even if she did summon the same Berserker, she might decide to do things differently this time around, anyways."

Archer grunted his agreement.

They went back to their awkward silence, not having much else to talk about.

Shirou and Rin left the church. Shirou had a newfound determination in his eyes, though Rin looked a little bit flustered.

Shirou and Saber exchanged a look. Saber nodded. Nothing needed to be said, as they understood each other perfectly.

They started walking down the path back.

"Well, I can walk myself back from here, Emiya-kun." Rin said solemnly, "But keep in mind, the next time we meet, we'll be enemies."

Shirou looked at her and smiled.

"Thank you, Tohsaka. You really are a nice person."

Tohsaka blushed and stuttered with her words, denying it.

Saber and Archer both with were a bit amused. It was a rather familiar, and a bit of a nostalgic scene for the both of them.

But as Shirou and Rin were about to part, they were are intercepted by a certain small girl.

Ilya and Ilya's Berserker had finally made their appearance.

...

"You know," Ilya started, "I was really very surprised that I summoned you instead of Heracles, Onii-chan. But looking at your Servant and Tohsaka Rin's, I suppose that it's only natural. Still, to think that three of you were summoned here at once..."

Ilya sneered, "You're surprisingly popular, Onii-chan."

Shirou was surprised to see Berserker, who looked near identical to him (though severally wounded and much more beast-like in demeanor), but Berserker's appearance only confirmed his own suspicions about Saber (and Rin's suspicions about Archer).

Shirou was confused by Ilya's comment, though. Weren't there only two of him (Saber and Berserker) that had been summoned here?

"I'm not summoned, you know." Shirou commented.

Ilya (and Rin) rolled their eyes, and Ilya rebuked him, "Not you, silly. Tohsaka's Servant."

"Ah."

With that comment by Ilya, Shirou just now started making the connection between Saber and Archer's appearances.

Up until this point, Shirou was just assuming it might've been a coincidence that they looked similar. But now, upon seeing Ilya's Servant Berserker, and from Ilya's comment, Shirou had finally started putting the pieces.

'Wait, me?! Why are all these servants, besides that "Lancer" guy, all versions of me?'

...

Meanwhile, Saber and Archer had started talking, off to the side.

"I don't want to fight this guy." Saber said, "There's something wrong about him. I'll leave him to you. I'll take the masters to safety as you distract him."

"What? As a Saber, wouldn't you be the better choice to fight him off at close range? I would be better used as long-ranged support."

Saber nodded, "Yeah, you're right. If it was just close-ranged combat, I'd likely be able to win, no problem. And I might just be being paranoid."

"...But," Saber continued, "If it comes down to a battle of our trump cards, I feel like I'd lose. Or it'd be a bad match-up, at least. So I'll leave him to you."

Before Archer could argue any further, Saber already had taken each of the Masters under his arms (much to Rin's displeasure, followed by her protests and indignant squawking), and had fled before Archer could say anything else.

Archer sighed.

He had actually still half-heartedly wanted to assassinate Emiya Shirou, to snipe Emiya Shirou from a distance. Though now he was significantly less sure about his course of action, especially with Saber promising to lead the young Emiya Shirou on to a different path. Would killing Emiya Shirou now even do any good, given that?

For that matter, was Saber actually being sincere? Or did he know about Archer's hidden intent and flee with both Masters (Emiya Shirou to keep him safe, Rin as a "hostage") while making an excuse to appease and distract Archer?

Archer shook his head. Well, it didn't matter either way. Saber had already fled, so all he had to do was focus on the enemy before him.

...

"Hey, wait!" Tohsaka was protesting under Saber's grasp, "Don't tell me you're just going to leave Archer there alone?!"

"Don't worry," Saber assured, "He'll be fine. He's strong, after all."

Rin didn't look convinced.

"And I'll come back to support him, once you two are brought to safety."

That, at least, had Tohsaka relaxing slightly.

...

Ilya had let them talk patiently, mainly as a courtesy, but also to let them sort things out between themselves.

Just knowing what the starting point of their personalities would be like (from the dreams she had received from Berserker), and the information on the other Servants she was able to acquire as a Master of one of the Three Houses, she was had guessed that they would probably discuss having a proper one-on-one duel with Berserker, and would decide which one of them would go first. That being said, she had no actual intention of letting them escape.

Ilya a bit miffed that Saber just retreated like that, before she could even react in time, but, oh well, it wasn't a big deal anyways. Ilya could always just hunt down Saber later. It might even be better this way, since she could take her revenge out on all these different versions of Oniichan one by one and savor their deaths and suffering more like that.

Ilya smirked, and set Berserker loose.

Berserker snarled and charged forward like mad, with glazed over red eyes, with the tips of blades piecing out from them and blades gushing forth from the rest of his body, especially around his shoulders, and with an unnatural arm covered by a red Holy Shroud.

"SAKURAAAAAAAAA!"

...

Archer engaged Berserker.

His fighting style was like a mad beast, swinging and breaking sword after sword, and projecting and firing swords like mad.

No finesse or style, truly just a mad berserker-like charge.

Unlike Hercules, who was such an amazing warrior he could retain his some semblance of his honed skills even as a Berserker, this version of Emiya Shirou was truly just a mad beast, acting purely on instinct.

Normally, Archer would be able to easily defeat such an opponent, but with the extremely high level of Mad Enhancement that had been placed on him, and with Ilya supporting Berserker as the Master, all of Berserker's parameters (or at least his physical parameters) had exceeded Archer's own. They had gone up by 2? Maybe even 3 ranks?

In Archer's own Holy Grail War with Hercules, Hercules was already such a monster that even with Ilya's extensive mana supplies and a high level of Mad Enhancement, Hercules had at most a 1 rank boost in all physical parameters - if even that. No, maybe not even at all.

However, since Emiya Shirou was different case. As a much weaker existence, his parameters were boosted that much more.

The intense increase in speed and strength made it difficult for Archer to find an opening - And since Berserker wasn't a rational opponent, he didn't have fall for any of the false openings that Archer's style set up.

At the start of the battle, that was fine, since Berserker was just attacking randomly, so Archer could still exploit the many openings Berserker left.

But as the battle went on, more and more of Archer's experience was being leeched by Berserker, and Berserker's attacks continued to get sharper and more accurate as the battle went on. Berserker wasn't a thinking beast and couldn't analyze the experience he was gaining, but by instinct alone, and as Emiya Shirou, he knew exactly what the best angle to attack another Emiya Shirou was.

And it wasn't just that, either - Berserker was also using an insane method to defend himself from Archer's attacks.

Every time, right before Archer could slash or pierce him, Berserker would temporarily manifest blades inside of his own body the instant that Archer struck with Kanshou and Byakuya. Even if he dismissed the blades immediately afterwards, it would still rupture his flesh and sever his muscles and joints. The only way he could possibly be fighting and still moving as fluidly as he was, Archer deduced, was because his sense of pain had been cut off, and because of support from Ilya's magecraft.

Truly, an insane way of fighting. A fighting style that marked him as truly worthy of being called a "Berserker".

Beyond just that, the feedback also worked in reverse, with Archer feeling the intense pain from swords internally rupturing through his body, and from the swords emerging out of his body. It was only enough to distract Archer for a split second every time he felt it, but even those split seconds were enough for Berserker to knock Archer back and give him a few shallow wounds.

It would be best to end this quickly then, before Berserker improved any further.

All Archer could do at this point was to parry the attacks, setting up for Unlimited Blade Works while fending Berserker off.

...

"I am the Bone of my Sword."

Startled, Archer could hear something from Berserker, a similar line, an similar echo coming from Berserker. It was faint, but he could hear it through the snarling of Berserker's voice.

"I am the Bone of my Sword."

No, it was not accurate to say that he could hear it.

Berserker was not speaking any words, and all he could do was snarl and grunt, but the meaning of his sounds were resonating with Archer's own, and being projected directly into Archer's own mind.

Archer could tell. It wasn't an action that was being done consciously on Berserker's part, but rather that Berserker was instinctively reacting to Archer's own aria.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

But here, their paths diverged, and they took on opposite routes.

The red holy shroud that was covering Berserker's arm started to come off, as if reacting to Berserker's resolve.

"I have created over a thousand blades."

"I have pilfered over a thousand blades."

"Unknown to Life, nor known to Death."

"Unstopped by Pain, nor stopped by Suffering."

"Have withstood pain to create many weapons."

"Have withstood loss to protect what's precious."

"Yet these hands will never hold anything."

"For these hands will only ever hold her."

"So as I Pray,"

"So as I Shatter,"

"UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!"

"BROKEN BLADE WORKS!"

Clashing ideals, inner worlds, materialized realities,

Archer could feel it as their Reality Marbles clashed against each other. Their worlds were exact opposites, formed from inversed ideals.

Sacrificing the few to save the many, the minority to save the majority. That was the essence of Archer's own Reality Marble, the backbone that held up its structure.

Berserker's was the exact opposite. Saving the few, even if it meant sacrificing the many.

No, it wasn't just that.

It was that ideal taken even further, to it's logical extreme. The will and the resolve to sacrifice the many, no, to sacrifice the whole of humanity and even the world itself, in order to save the one, the one person who was truly precious to Berserker. The manifest form of Berserker's loyalty, his resolve, his madness (恋).

Archer smirked warily. Berserker, this version of Emiya Shirou truly was insane (恋病). Well, at least this version of Emiya Shirou would never go down the path that he did.

Their Reality Marbles clashed intensely, and were acting to nullify each other, but Berserker's Reality Marble had a slight advantage, and was gaining ground.

It wasn't that that Archer himself was lacking in power or resolve.

But Berserker's will way in no way weak, either.

Undeniably, Berserker's sheer will-power was incredibly strong. Even Archer himself would admit that this incarnation of Emiya Shirou had certainly far surpassed the degree of willpower Archer had in life and perhaps even early into death.

But even so, for as incredible as Berserker's will-power was during his lifetime, even he could not stand up to the willpower of a fellow Emiya Shirou which had been forged from the steel and hellfire of decades and centuries and millennia of despair and cynicism. The life of Archer, of EMIYA, would never lose in battle of sheer resolve.

Even so, in terms of just pure conceptuality, Berserker's version of "Unlimited Blades Works", his "Broken Blade Works", was stronger. Not because it was an inversal of Archer's ideals.

But because it was an inversal of Archer ideal's taken to it's logical extreme.

Just as a materialized ideal, and as a realization of an inner world itself, it was conceptually superior to Archer's own inner world.

However, it because of Archer's greater will-power that he was able to hold off and nullify as much of "Broke Blade Works" as he already did. But just in terms of conceptuality, with all other conditions the same, "Broken Blade Works" would undoubtedly always win out against "Unlimited Blade Works", 100 out of 100 times, without even one chance of victory for Archer.

That was just its inherent nature and advantage (superiority) relative to "Unlimited Blade Works", as a competing Reality Marble of Emiya Shirou.

Realizing his disadvantage, Archer jumped back, escaping outside of the range of the manifestation of "Broken Blade Works". Ilya, seeing this, also ordered Berserker to collapse his Reality Marble.

But, it was already too late. Archer had already fled to a far away building, intent on sniping down Berserker (though making sure Ilya was out of range first).

Saber had likely already taken their Masters to a safe range, so sniping down Berserker should be fine at this point.

From the far building, Archer projected a bow, and then Caladbolg, which he quickly altered into an arrow form, Caladbolg II.

Aiming closely, he fired.

And a massive explosion followed, though it had been driven a bit off course and had it's impact had been reduced by an intercepting Caladbolg fired by Berserker.

Still, the explosion had taken it's toll, and Berserker had collapsed on the ground, clearly heavily injured. Ilya looked concerned, and though Archer couldn't tell exactly what she was saying, Berserker quickly returned to spirit form, and Ilya looked to be retreating.

Archer sighed a breath of relief.

It had been a long night...

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Author's Notes:

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True Title: "Broken Blade Works", or "A Symphony of Broken Blades"

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Translation note: 恋 is Japanese for love (specifically, in the romantic sense). 恋病 means lovesick.

Saber really would be a bad match-up against Berserker. In some sense, Berserker is like a dark mirror of Saber, in terms of how they lived their lives. Both devoted everything they had to their one special, but one reached that utopic ending by pursuing their ideals to the extreme, while the other had to sacrifice all their ideals in order to strive for their own happy ending.

Shirou's "Broken Blade Works"'s "loss" refers not just to loss of his memory and the eventual loss of his life, but also to the loss (sacrifice) of his ideals in order to protect Sakura, his loss in order to become Sakura's own personal hero.

The fact that Ilya has seen Berserker's dreams is also significant, and will play a part in Berserker's (and Ilya's) brief interlude.

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Support from Ilya's magecraft means something like puppetry or a support-type of familiar magecraft, allowing Berserker Emiya Shirou to move beyond his natural limits. It would be extremely difficult, near impossible, even for someone like Ilya, to make a monster like Heracles into a familiar. But to make an already half-broken Emiya Shirou into a familiar? It could be done easily, especially for a monster of a magus like Ilya.

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So funny story, I actually decided on Heaven's Feel (True End) Shirou because I was thinking of the end of Heaven's feel, and how throughout Heaven's Feel, Shirou became an increasingly blank-minded and single-goal focused Shirou, and as such, would be an excellent match for the Berserker class, and as a target for Mad Enhancement.

I didn't even realize until a few weeks after writing down my ideas for the chapter down that Ilya used Berserker's stone slab as a summoning catalyst.

...And that in Heaven's Feel, Shirou used that very same stone slab against Berserker to defeat him, so he actually has a connection to that stone slab summoning catalyst!

The realization seriously blew my own mind at how coincidentally perfect it was, without me even realizing it or choosing Heaven's Feel Shirou as Berserker for that reason. Shirou was even witnessed using it by the Ilya of the Heaven's Feel route, so there's even more of a connection there. To be fair, you could call those just loose connections. And yeah, I agree, but even so, the fact that they coincidentally match up so well even though I wasn't really considering or thinking about that moment, or even considering those factors when deciding to make Heaven's Feel Shirou into Berserker is still pretty cool.

You could argue maybe I had subconsciously taken into account Shirou's fight against Berserker to protect Ilya moment into my account of making Heaven's Feel Shirou as Berserker, and maybe there was some subconscious influence there. And yeah, that might be true, there might've been subconscious influence or sway there. Although, I didn't know Ilya used the stone slab as Berserker's summoning catalyst at that time, so that part wasn't actually a factor in my choice.

Still, even if Heaven's Feel didn't have that moment, though, I still would've chosen Heaven's Feel Shirou for Berserker, for the first reasons I stated above (i.e. my main reasons). That being said though, the sub-reasons also aligned incredibly (and surprisingly) well, so it turned out even better and more well-suited than expected.

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Next up is the Rider and Assassin (Summoning) interlude. They'll both be pretty interesting, so look forward to it!

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