Guest 1: What is funny is that I wrote the present chapter using some psychological knowledge, on "cognitive bias", and that to answer your remarks I need to talk about psychological bias.
When Pyrrha compares the eyes of Archer to those of Ruby, it is a Bias of Comparison that is called "taking note", which comes back to always comparing a thing to what we already know rather than considering it by itself.
When you contradict her bias, you say "Always felt Archer's eyes were more steel-colored than silver" is another bias called "Confirmation Bias". You know Archer's story, so you interpret the color of his eyes as steel grey in connection with his Noble Phantasm... except that his hair and eyes have been discolored because of the damage suffered by overuse of his Magic Circuits (this is not a direct consequence of his Noble Phantasm). Ah, and "steel grey"... its blue-grey eyes, 'cause steel has blues reflections.
Reincarnation? It has no reincarnation in this story. Pyrrha was not born a second time. Pyrrha was resurrected in the Fateverse, the Bright Shadow exchange her Aura and her Semblance for Magic Circuits, Origin and Element because... he didn't want her to attract attention.
"And why didn't "god" just get Shirou's family to go on vacation before the fire happened if he wanted to save him. Why doesn't "god" save Archer?"
This time it was I who did a cognitive bias called "Curse of Knowledge" (When better-informed people find it extremely difficult to think about problems from the perspective of lesser-informed people).
It seemed so obvious to me -because I'm the writer- that I forgot to explain this point. The purpose of the Bright Shadow wasn't to save the lives of Shirou or his parents. For him the death of an individual or even a group is unimportant. Humans are born, live, die, and reincarnate. For the Bright Shadow, the life and death of humans are like raindrops that fall, evaporate and condense again into the rain. Do we care about a drop of rain?
But Archer stopped reincarnating, trapped for eternity. It is an anomaly. And it is this anomaly that is a problem for the Bright Shadow.
Guest 2: "Saber and Archer Vs Rider!" Maybe, maybe not...
Guest 3: No, Thank you for reading my story.
Guest 4: At least this time, the Master won't be used as a toy by Medusa.
Melantha4: But was Shirou saved? Really saved? After all, Archer was still invoked by Rin in this Grail War...
Author Note: Within a few weeks, I wrote three fights between Medusa (Rider) and EMIYA (Archer)... coincidence... At least I am now well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of these two Servants. And a fight between these two Heroes is very interesting... Well, I guess (as usual) EMIYA fans will say "YES! But Archer has so many weapons... if he uses his arsenal he can win without difficulty because he's so powerful"... Yes... but no! Medusa would have to give him time to Trace them! Don't forget, Medusa is among the fastest Servants of this Grail War (Agility B - with Shinji as Master-, by comparison, Assassin has A+ rank agility, and EMIYA... C!). Medusa is well aware that her agility, speed, and strength (1) constitutes her main asset in combat... at least after her Nobles Phantasms. So she always seeks to attract her enemies on a terrain that favors her (like the glass facade of a skyscraper) and resort to a hit-and-run tactic. Obviously, she's not going to let EMIYA focus on Tracing powerful balance-breaker Nobles Phantasms and doing nothing. On the contrary, if he mobilizes energy and concentration in Tracing weapons (or playing duck from the point of view of Medusa) she's not going to waste this opportunity and will immediately attack. Of course, EMIYA is too experienced to not understand this. So, Archer resorted to the weapons he can Project instantly (or almost instantly), like the Married Blades and (theoretically) his black bow... because in practice, in a forest with an enemy lurking within ten meters, the bow is not a viable option.
But Archer's arsenal is not limited to physical weapons or combat techniques. His touches of sarcasm are a way to probe his enemies and find their weak points...
Cognitive bias
Hostile attribution bias, or hostile attribution of intent, is the tendency to interpret others' behaviors as having hostile intent, even when the behavior is ambiguous or benign. For example, a person with high levels of hostile attribution bias might see two people laughing and immediately interpret this behavior as two people laughing about them, even though the behavior was ambiguous and may have been benign.
Archer ran from one tree of the forest to another, silently. Stopping for a few moments, with his back to a trunk, to look for a sign of the enemy Servant's presence, then he resumed his course.
Out of the corner of one's eye, the Dog of Alaya saw a shadow leaping from one branch to another. As he turned suddenly, it was only to discover a few fallen leaves swirling in the air. His enemy was there, nearby, he felt her presence like stiffness in his neck, a chill that electrified his spine.
His heart was pumping adrenaline. A part of him loved this feeling of danger. He never felt more alive than in those moments when his survival instinct was exacerbated by the proximity of a foe.
He was the mouse and the cat was hiding in the shadows nearby.
A mocking smile appeared on Shirou Emiya's lips, for the mouse had fangs as sharp as the cat:
"So Rider... Since I guess you are the Rider-Class Servant of this Grail War... Would you be shy... Or would you be afraid of me?"
A deep and sensual voice replied... reverberating between the trees:
"You say something interesting... Do you think I'm weak? I think I'm gonna have to get you to revise your opinion..."
The next moment, a sound of chains was heard. With moves becoming reflexes after centuries spent on the battlefield, Archer jumped aside, crossing the Twin blades on his chest. A violent shock shook his wrists as Kanshou and Bakuya vibrated... after bouncing the dagger that had just hit them.
Archer threw himself forward, heading for Rider. The buxom lady with long purple hair and an eye cover mask had just discovered herself to strike, and he intended to take the opportunity to counter-attack. Nevertheless, Rider jumped from his perch and wrapped her chains around another branch, disappearing into the foliage. The move of the Servant had been so fast that the hero Emiya was distanced. When he arrived at the foot of the tree, she was already crouching on a branch of a distant grove. He sent Bakuya to his opponent, but she blocked the attack utilizing her chain as a shield and jumped to another tree.
A few leaps later, he had lost all trace of his presence...
Archer recovered his sword, magnetized by his twin, and leaned against a tree. He felt the presence of Rider... she was there... Probably less than ten meters away. His fighting instinct warned him that the masked woman could not be further away. But he never saw her for more than a few seconds. Rider was always hiding behind an obstacle to change direction and vanish into the shadows of the forest. On the other hand... although her eyes are hidden by a mask, Rider "saw" much better than him. No doubt she perceived her environment thanks to a combination of her other senses, in particular the touch that would make her sensitive to air movements, thus to the displacements of her opponents. Anyway, Archer felt like a fly trapped in the invisible web of the spider.
Archer smiled. He was beginning to enjoy the fight. He thought for a moment about how to make his next reply. Rider had to be cautiously led to reveal the chink of her armor:
"So, we're playing hide-and-seek? Why not... I hadn't played hide-and-seek for a long time. But I was really good when I was a kid. If I find you, do I get a pledge?"
He was playing provocation. After all, she had already made the mistake of answering him... even if he had not been able to locate her precisely.
But, this time, only silence answered him. He lowered his arms along the body, taking the risk of feigning perfect self-confidence... yet a cold sweat soaked his neck and his heart pounded into his chest. He was well aware that Rider was faster than him and that he was taking big risks.
Well, he tried to talk to her like a child and she didn't react. In his list, the following trick was to bring the conversation back to a classic male/female opposition... proud women often felt humiliated when a man suggested that he had nothing to fear BECAUSE their opponent was a woman.
His voice took a wicked tone:
"You know, I think we're past the age of this kind of game. We should get a room and play something more adult..."
A burning roar replied and Archer only had time to jump and rolling over, the tree behind him exploded in a cloud of chips and fragments of bark.
Archer opened wide, frightened eyes as he saw the tree break in half and fall into a great crackle. He had underestimated the physical strength of the enemy Servant... and her anger.
Two more times the chain hit. He blocks in-extremis while raising his blades, made a backflip leaving Rider's dagger to crash in the ground. His eyes tracked the origin of the attack. The enemy Servant was hanging from a tree, head down, and her beautiful hair falling to the ground... she looked like a monstrous spider. And the blind gaze of her masked face radiated anger...
Despite the cold sweat that bathed his face, Archer had a crooked smile...
So Rider was as sensitive about her physique as a pure girl... That was good to know!
He threw his pair of Chinese swords in her direction while Tracing another identical set before rolling to the (relative) shelter of a tree.
Archer remained only for a moment motionless, before getting up and running to another tree.
He did well... because the sabers he had just thrown bounced off a metal obstacle just before a long ribbon of chains rolled up around the trunk he had just left. Archer grimaced... obviously his swords had not hurt Rider. And she had immediately retaliated. His gaze covered the shadows, branches, and trunks nearby... no sign of the Servant.
He sighed.
She was cautious and preferred ambush to frontal combat.
In the compartmentalized environment of the forest, with the advantage of her sharper senses, superior speed, and agility, Rider had all the aces in her sleeve.
The fight was going to be long and difficult.
In fact, Emiya's only chance of victory was to trap his enemy... helping her make a mistake.
He smiles sarcastically:
"I'm going to end up offended. I have before me a beautiful, curvaceous, and highly feminine lady... and she flies away. This is very offensive!"
He heard a howl of rage and jumped aside to avoid a length of chain that wrapped around the trunk, making pieces of bark flying in all directions.
Already, Kanshou and Bakuya left his hands, swirling gracefully... The white sword cut the branch on which she had stood. The black sword followed Rider who had just jumped. But she arched herself in middle air, stretching her chain to deflect the sword.
Of course, she had blocked the attack... but for the first time since the beginning of the fight, she fell back on the ground.
The next minute, Archer was on her, having Traced two new copies of Kanshou and Bakuya.
The forest resounds with metallic shocks and sheaves of sparks as the two Servants clashed, faster than the human eye could follow them.
Archer had a sarcastic sniff.
Once again, he had managed to manipulate an opponent to make her lose the advantage... After centuries of being used as a pawn, Archer had lost all pride. But true Heroes were the opposite of an Alaya's Dog. They accepted to be invoked in the Holy Grail Wars only to appease the gaping wound of their ego, to mend their past, or in their obsession with a lost cause left unfinished when they died. They had so many moral traumas, so many sorrows, so many Cognitive Bias waiting to be turned against them.
Arthur Pendragon entered Homurahara academy through the emergency door left open by Rider. He discovered his master, standing near Rin, kneeling beside an unknown and unconscious girl. All three wore school uniforms.
Without a word, he handed her bag to Pyrrha. The young redhead thanked him with a nod of the head.
"Your orders, Master?"
"Stay closes to us and keeps us safe until Rin heals Mitsuzuri-san."
"Yes, Master."
There was silence. Opening the backpack, the Spartan Girl took her spear and her shield, ready to fight.
Saber had turned to the always open door. We heard rumors of a fight. Archer must have found the Servant who had attacked Ayako Mitsuzuri. Nevertheless, he had no way to know who had the upper hand.
Arthur and Pyrrha heard a sudden sigh, and turned to Rin, who was wiping the sweat on her forehead. In her hand, the precious stones had ceased to shine. An instant later, they crumbled into a cloud of grayish and worthless dust. The Magus rose up and had a slight hesitation, promptly contained, at the sight of the Servant of the Sword.
Certainly, the heiress of the Tohsaka had seen Saber through the eyes of her own Servant, but being in front of him was far more impressive.
Her first reaction was jealousy. A small hungry and covetous voice whispered to her that it was she who should have summoned Saber and no one else. But the most rational part of Rin's mind rejected this thought. There was no point in crying over the spilled milk.
Her eyes creased, reducing themselves to two thin slits as she detailed the Servant who returned her gaze without showing any emotion.
Even without knowing the name of the Heroic Spirit invoked by Pyrrha Emiya, it was clear that he was a powerful and determined figure. He looked like a handsome young man with hair like powdered gold, and emerald eyes. The skin was pale, the face regular, with no age mark. He wore a cerulean tobard that covered him from the throat to his feet. A breastplate decorated with a few lines of blue enamel cosseted his chest, while his left arm and two hands were protected by other pieces of armor.
He didn't seem to be armed... but how can I be sure with a Servant?
"Is Mitsuzuri-san safe?"
Rin Tohsaka turned to Pyrrha. The young woman now had a bronze shield on her left arm and a short sword on her right. She wielded these two weapons with the ease born of a long habit... as if it were a natural extension of her hands.
While observing her with interest, Rin agreed:
"Yes, I have sacrificed many of my best gems to replace the elements of Ayako-san's soul."
The remark seemed to make the Amazon uncomfortable:
"Is she going to be okay?"
"With what it cost me, I hope so."
"Sorry... what now?"
Rin shrugged her shoulders:
"We should take Ayako-san to the infirmary." She hesitated and turned to the Servant, caressing her chin with a thoughtful look."So you are Saber... "
Arthur replied with a simple affirmative movement.
"Well, I can't give you orders, of course... but we have a temporary alliance, your Master and I."
The quiet voice of the knight rose:
"Yes, Master of Archer, Pyrrha Nikos has allied himself with you... to protect the innocent endangered by Rider's Red Sigil. As long as you do not violate this armistice, my knight's honor commands me to respect this agreement."
"Don't you perceive other Servants nearby?"
"Just Archer and Rider in the forest."
Rin turned to Pyrrha who listened to them without intervening:
"Emiya-san, since we are not in immediate danger, maybe Saber should join Archer..."
Pyrrha glanced at Arthur:
"I actually think that would be a good idea... Saber?"
King Arthur stiffened himself slightly, while a mistrustful glare veiled his gaze:
"If you give the order, Master... "
The Invincible Girl sighed. She began to know her Servant...
"But you don't want to."
He shook his head:
"A knight cannot intervene in a duel without undermining the honor of the two combatants, or without derogating from the rules of courtesy."
"Okay, but you can go down there and watch the fight... and protect Archer if he loses?"
"Yes, Master."
He bowed one hand to his heart, but his movement still showed certain repugnance. Merlin intervened:
[I will guide Arthur to Rider.]
"Thank you" replied the Spartan Girl, addressing both Arthur and the magician.
As Saber drove off at the speed of the wind (literally), Rin leaned to pass Ayako Mitsuzuri's arm over her shoulder. But her friend was a tall and athletic girl, and she had a somewhat forced smile:
"Emiya-san, can you help me?"
Pyrrha nodded without saying anything. Making Miló and Akoúo disappear in her bag, she seized Mitsuzuri effortlessly. Rin slightly widened her eyes at the sight of this demonstration of quiet force... When she straightened up, the difference in size between them caused Mitsuzuri to hang obliquely. They took a few steps, hindering each other and Pyrrha sighed:
"Tohsaka-san... I think it would be easier if I carry her alone."
King Arthur stopped with a movement of surprise.
He ran into the forest, guided by Merlin, and discovered the battlefield between the two Servants. But that was not at all what he had imagined.
Archer wasn't just a bowman... he was also a talented swordsman.
An ordinary human would have seen only fragments of the confrontation between the two Heroes. But his eyes had no difficulty in following the Servants who pursued each other, jumping, running, dodging, and blocking. The battle filled the space from the ground to the treetops.
The weapons collided with each other in bursts of sparks or by projecting discharges of the prana they contained.
Yet the two enemies could not have been more different...
Archer was a tall man with white hair, silver eyes, and tanned skin color. He wears some sort of black body armor with white accents, made from a high-tech Kevlar-like material under a red garment in two parts. The upper piece of this clothing was a vest covering only arms and shoulders tied with an agemaki knot covered by a silver plate. And the lower part was an open shirt.
He wielded a pair of complementary swords of astonishing beauty.
His opponent was a woman whose sculptural forms were tightly fastened by a short black dress, hip boot, and gloves leaving bare fingers but going up to the top of the arms. Her hair was purple and so long that it looked like a cloak.
The eyes remained invisible, hidden by a mask.
On the other hand, a strange sign marked her forehead.
Her weapon was a long chain terminated at one end by a dagger similar to a nail and at the other by a ring.
Arthur Pendragon had spent a lifetime fighting, and he was much older than his appearance would suggest. Many of his friends and enemies had been brilliant swordsmen and he himself had studied under some of the best. Plus, he was probably one of the best fighters ever to walk this world.
His first reaction?
He was in awe.
Archer's fencing was... so pure.
Arthur believed from the bottom of his heart that the way one handled a sword could not be false. And the manner in which this Servant wielded his two blades reflected above all an exceptional devotion to the path of the warrior, but also numberless sacrifices and an ideal sublimated by the trials of life.
At the same time, Archer's fencing was so sad, like mourning...
But as he followed the confrontation, Saber gradually felt a sense of unease. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but... there was something abnormal in Archer's movements. Like... an imperfection.
Arthur frowned. An imperfection?
It was that... but not that.
It was different from anything he had seen before, something truly unique.
His first reaction was admiration for the purity of Archer's sword art. But when you look more closely at it, there was a fundamental anomaly.
As Archer and Rider continued to exchange blows, Arthur began to understand the problem. In fact, by other Servants' standards, Archer's martial skills were pretty... average. He was not particularly strong, not particularly fast or enduring. He often blocked the blows by the thickness of a hair and struggled to keep pace against an opponent who surpasses him both in terms of speed and power.
Yet... Each of his actions was executed with perfect purity. This betrayed hours of hard work, every day, and every week, the repetition of gestures with manic precision, without tolerating an error in execution, in search of perfection, the repetition of exercises, month after month, year after year. An entire life devoted to training.
Suddenly, Saber's eyes widened.
No, it wasn't possible... was it?
From the beginning, Arthur had unconsciously compared Archer to the Knights of the Round and other Servants like Rider, Heracles, or Cù Chulainn. All were Heroes by right of birth. Half-gods, or carrying a supernatural heritage like him, they far outclassed ordinary humans.
If Archer's style betrayed a flawless devotion and inhuman training at the same time as run-of-the-mill skills (at least for a Heroic Spirit) it was because... there was absolutely nothing innate in the style of the Servant of the Bow!
Archer was an ordinary human, who had learned an ordinary fighting style, with ordinary professors or maybe self-teaching.
But this normal man had managed to push his limits so far that he joined the very closed club of Heroes.
Arthur shook his head with amazement.
In fact, this "ordinary" man was the most unordinary person he had ever encountered!
As for Rider...
He felt for her a surprising repulsion.
Arthur was nothing like a frivolous man. In general, the feminine beauty left him quite indifferent. Nevertheless, he was "male" enough to admit that Rider had the kind of physique that attracted gentleman interest.
Except that she wielded her barbaric weapon with strong, sharp movements, flogging the bark of the trees, ripping out the branches, piercing the trunks, betraying that she felt nothing for those who could be hurt by her actions, or the innocent victims. She was a selfish being.
She expressed in her attacks an excessive fury, which seemed too great for her. As if her anger had remained on the scale of what she had been and what she had lost.
There was also grief, remorse, and weight that brought Rider down to the ground.
At times she looked like a bird with broken wings.
But sometimes she moved like a snake, waving with her rings, seductive and deadly.
Rider fighting style was murky, the complete opposite of Archer's pure one.
There was untouched purity in this woman, but a perfume of blood was floating around her.
A pure and immaculate priestess.
A bloody, violent monster.
What tragedy could have left her in two pieces badly mended together?
Archer jumped forward and, for a moment, chains and Twin Blades collided. Then, Rider dropped to the ground. Her legs mowed those of her opponent. Instead of trying to keep the balance, Shirou Emiya dropped, rolls on one shoulder, and threw his two swords at her.
Rider who had just leaped screamed in pain as the white sword tore her hip. She let herself fall back, kneeling at the place where Archer's head had been.
But the latter had rolled sideways again and had straightened in a smooth movement.
Two more copies of Kanshou and Bakuya had just appeared between his fingers. And, once again, the steel struck the steel.
Dodging, blocking, retreating, Archer managed to collect only a few scratches facing his furious adversary who leaped or rolled to the ground, never motionless, striking feet, fists, elbows, seeking to seize him in the vice of her thighs, the folds of her chains, or stab him with her dagger.
As she struck him with her knee under his chin, he was catapulted from a distance. As he fell back, the Married Blade evaporated into a bluish mist as a black bow came into his hands.
A shower of arrows fell on Rider who had just jumped... wiggling, she escaped all the shots, only two of the arrows scratched her arm and thigh. She fell back... and her chain snapped.
Archer threw himself aside, to avoid the steel nail that failed to pierce his chest.
He materialized again his two swords but... the chains spread out on all sides, setting up ramparts of steel links between the trees, braiding nets to block his way. And the purple-haired woman jumps, jumping from one chain to another, flickering and constantly changing position.
Hero Emiya was forced to constantly turn around to stay in front of her... But she was faster than him and, at some point, he eventually lost sight of her.
It was the opportunity the snake woman was waiting for.
She hit him with a kick to the lower kidneys, then jumped back and bounced back to a chain, to start again, gaining speed.
Archer was attacked on all sides, taking blows. The bones cracked under the impact of fists and feet. The skin split. He blocked some shots, dodged others, but Rider came back and came back again, taking more and more speed.
As Rider landed on her hands, her legs seemed to turn into a typhoon, striking him in the head.
But he had managed to sidestep the blow and was only slightly injured. The skull quivering and staggering on his legs, he retreated by reflex, the blades crossed in front of his face.
But she had just recovered her dagger and threw it to Archer's uncovered belly, holding the ring in her left hand.
Once again, Archer's fighting instinct saved his life. He dropped to the ground and rolled aside to dodge. Simultaneously, he threw his blades. Then Rider pulled on the ring, and the chain began to wave, metamorphosing into a whirlpool that repelled Kanshou and Bakuya.
Only, without dispelling the repelled pair of blades, Archer Projects another Traced set. By the time the Gorgon blocked the four Married Blades, his opponent had summoned a last pair.
He ran and stooped to dodge the chain... and leaped aside as she punched him. Deflecting the blow of his opponent, Archer forced her to pivot by redirecting her arm and passing behind her swirl on himself.
Kanshou opened her hip.
Bakuya drew a scarlet line on Rider's back from shoulder to buttock.
Elusive like mercury, the snake woman managed to avoid more serious injuries by wiggling. She leaped and her thighs closed around Archer's neck, her hands resting on the ground, she arched her kidneys, turning into a living catapult. Torn from the ground, Emiya's fly lasted only a moment, already rider's chain wrapped around his waist. Cruelly, Medusa made him spin and hit the trees around before projecting him back to the floor with an overhead kick.
Emiya's face was turned into a blood mask, his clothes were torn, and even her armor was damaged. He had broken bones but he rose painfully.
On the other side, Medusa was doing a little better... but her dress looked like a lacerated rag and was dyed scarlet.
The vitality of the Servants was such that they were still able to fight.
However, Saber had come forward, interposing himself between the combatants. He pointed his sword of wind at the throat of the Gorgon:
"That's enough. Archer is my ally. If you keep attacking him, I will defend him."
Rider's mouth formed a bitter fold. For a moment, she remained motionless, legs slightly flexed, and then...
Arthur raised his eyes to follow the woman-serpent who had just leaped up a tree and turned in the air to hit the trunk of the heels and turn her vertical impulse into a horizontal impulse.
"I didn't ask for your help, Saber."
King Arthur lowered his sword and slowly turned to stare at Archer. Despite his multiple wounds, Emiya looked at Pyrrha's Servant without amenity.
The King of Knight nodded gravely:
"I apologize for that. It was an order from my Master."
Archer turned around before moving away ostensibly... then he stopped, continuing to look straight ahead:
"Next time, don't interfere."
Then he jumped out of it, moving away to Homurahara academy. Although Archer could not hear him anymore, Saber nodded:
"I'll take that under advisement."
The Heroes were proud, certain of being able to overcome any obstacle with their only strength... and - undeniably- Archer had the pride of a great Hero.
Author Note: This is a very difficult chapter to write (it took a lot of work). Medusa is a widely underestimated Servant and often considered weak. This is false! The fight between EMIYA and Medusa is very short, two or three minutes in length! But it is very fast, focused, and very reactive. Archer has no time to plan. He fights only by instinct. And of course, he can't Trace powerful weapons because he has no time to prepare the pre-Projection steps.
In fact, Rider is a real nightmare for Archer, he would do a lot better against Heracles or Gilgamesh... Archer NEEDS time to prepare his attacks because his main advantage is UNLIMITED BLADE WORK, a library of solutions in which he must seek a weapon able to defeat his enemies. He is therefore particularly ill-suited to confront an all-seeing enemy who plays hide-and-seek, strikes (hard), and withdraws (fast) putting him on the defensive and leaving him only the minimum time to retaliate...
(1) With Shinji for Master, Medusa's strength is reduced to C Rank (B normally)... However, she has the "Monstrous strength" skill (B Rank) which allows her to regain B rank strength for a short duration of time... as long as she does not use her other abilities (Bellorophon, Gorgon Breaker, and Blood Fort Andromeda).