Fate Identity Reborn

by Nick of Fire

Kirei Kotomine, at the temptations of Gilgamesh, gave in to his dark desires and caused a flood of death and tragedy. But, what if he didn't give in and remained true to his ideals? A cavalcade of changes would follow. The birth of the makeshift family of Kirei, Rin, Sakura, and Caren. Another makeshift family of Artoria, Irisviel, Illyasviel, and Gray. This is a new Fate.

12. 12: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Lancer

Fate/Identity Reborn Chapter 12: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Lancer

There were no clouds above Fuyuki for they were all blown away from the typhoon that had its eye above the Center Building.

The sounds of weapons clashing echoed throughout Shinto and Gray knew that every resident was wondering if the sounds were from a building collapsing because of this freak storm.

They didn't know the true origin of this chaos but Gray did. She knew that three titans were at war atop the roof of Fuyuki's tallest skyscraper to determine who would acquire the Holy Grail.

Gray wanted to run away. She stood at the base of the Center Building and even from there she could feel the power of those who fought atop it. Mom, Lancer, and Archer were all up there and the collective aura of magical energy they generated was like a layer of concrete around Gray's body. It was suffocating her as her blood ran ice cold, her skin burned, and her stomach had become a Gordian Knot. She couldn't help but feel like the entire city would be decimated at any moment which made all of her instincts beg her to run away to the other side of the planet and never look back.

In a failed attempt to step forward, Gray found that her legs were paralyzed. Her body wouldn't let her move and neither would the waves of power that were coming from the building's peak.

Gray wanted to run so bad but she knew that if she ran away now then she'd never be able to turn back. She'd abandon her family all for her own sake despite her previous enthusiasm to participate in this war. She had no right to run so she had to fight and keep fighting until this battle royale reached its conclusion.

She knew she couldn't give herself a chance to question herself and lose her nerve again so Gray just got moving. She jumped and when her feet touched the skyscraper's side she sprinted. She was moving faster than a bullet train as she ran up the building's side with a blank mind. She couldn't focus on anything but getting to the roof so she could help her mom. She had to be zen. Don't think, just act. That wasn't really how the human brain worked but that didn't matter because she just had to do what she knew she had to.

The magical energy got thicker as Gray got closer to the source. Keeping up her pace became a battle in and of itself as she was doing the equivalent of trying to dash up through a waterfall of honey. It was too late to give up though because she'd plummet to the pavement if she stopped running.

The fear the magical energy continued to instill in Gray was also ever-growing. Her heart was beating so fast it hurt and she could no longer tell if she was breathing. Gray began to question if she was dying but she killed that thought before it could cause her to hesitate and fall to the sidewalk. Zen. She had to be zen.

Gray reached the top and as soon as her feet touched the roof she got slammed with so much raw magical energy that she had to pierce her fingers into the ground to not get blown away. The mana shifted and became a weight on Gray that pinned her to the floor and weighed on her soul. All the resolve she acquired on her way up was murdered in an instant as she fianlly saw the three Servants duking it out at a level beyond her comprehension. It was like trying to understand the face of God when your own mind was only that of a gnat's. All you could do was let your consciousness recede into the comforting darkness of being in awe.

The one who generated the most horrifying wonderment was the Servant presumed to be Archer. His body was dark and statuesque in its physical perfection with divine light was clear to see as it flowed through his veins and glowed through his skin. His black hair was long and wild which contrasted the hero's calm expression and piercing eyes. He wore little clothing which let everyone see how flawless of a specimen he was in all meaningful respects. He was a being beyond the world of humanity that made all that were around him fear for their lives and do all they could to placate the two and a half meters tall giant. The wind eternally galloped around him as a constant aftereffect of his mere existence thanks to power that leaked out of him. Even if mom and Lancer weren't present, the uncanny magical energy that pressed Gray into the floor would still be present. Despite the animated gusts he was accompanied by, the giant was of reserved countenance. His face gave away that he was focused only on the fight and not on anything such as vanity or pleasure. He was doing his duty for it was a duty that had to be done as far as he knew. Slung around his torso was a black bow as long as he was tall and designed to look like two snakes connected by their tails while in one of his hands was a weapon that fused design elements of axes and swords and appeared carved from stone. It appeared unwieldy but being in the hands of the giant made it one of the finest tools ever made as it turned the atmosphere into a hurricane with every swing. Raw might melded with acrobatic movements and precise swordsmanship to cause each slash to leave a vacuum in its wake that pulled enemies in. There was no running from this god on Earth.

How were mom and Lancer fighting this giant when his mere presence was making Gray struggle not to go mad? The answer was because they were also monsters of power and heroism but not of the same sort.

Lancer was a remarkable woman who had transcended humanity to become a war deity merely due to how skilled she was. Every tactic, every technique, every method of combat. All of them were familiar to her and she nearly used them all as a part of her boundless arsenal so as to extend the battles she loved. And oh how clear it was that she loved battle as a serene but unerring smile formed from her lips while she used her spears like extensions of her own limbs. Combat was the thing that brought her happiness in the same way most people indulged in simple pleasures to get through each day. It couldn't just be any battle, though. It had to be a grandiose and evenly matched mortal combat between consenting warriors where one mistake meant the end. She needed to fight someone that plucked her heartstrings with the skills they forged over a lifetime. Now she had found such warriors as she made fire, water, and lighting her weapons and constantly enhanced her body to be faster, stronger, and tougher than it was the second before. Her physiology shifted in subtle ways to be able to handle whatever threat presented itself and she looked with a metaphorical third eye born from myriad skills and nigh-unparalleled experience to see an unbelievable number of steps ahead of everyone else. She was one with her surroundings, one with her opponents, and one with the fight itself.

Mom was like a fusion of these two heroes of heroes. She had the determination towards a goal of great worth that Archer had whilst also having the oneness with combat as a concept that Lancer possessed. Mom was a force of the World that was aiming to save that World from a supreme evil and would do all it took to do so. She did it for the sake of justice as well as for the family she had constructed from the ruins of her past and the pasts of so many other wayward souls. That is why she fought with the golden sword Excalibur in her hands. All knew who Artoria Pendragon was with a single glance at that peerless holy sword, but that didn't discourage her. She was a woman on a mission to save all she held dear and so she wielded her blade with a sort of swordsmanship that could only be called the embodiment of fate. Every one of her movements was born from experience like Lancer and might like Archer yet still stood out due to the underlying instincts that fueled the actions of Artoria Pendragon. She was the one fated to be king and as such it is her destiny to be a warrior of the highest caliber feasible. And so she let her sword be guided by the same fate that made her the Once and Future King who caused entire armies to fall to their knees and a court full of knights of the highest quality serve her unquestioningly. This was how the almighty King Arthur wielded her Excalibur.

That king thrust her sword towards Archer and used a small-scale activation of Excalibur to fire a thin laser at the Heroic Spirit. The giant swerved out of the path of the line of light which left him open which both mom and Lancer took advantage of. Both women dashed at Archer whose toes clutched the floor and kept himself balanced despite his upper body being near parallel with the roof.

Lancer got their first in a flash with a series of twirling slashes with her two spears that Archer managed to jump away from. He had avoided getting completely diced though he did end up with multiple lesions on one of his arms. More red spears appeared in the air and shot towards both Archer and mom but they both managed to knock them away.

Mom decided to follow up on the assault on the giant as she continued her charge towards Archer's new location. A swing of Archer's giant blade came for mom but she ducked it and sliced Archer's stomach open with Excalibur. Sadly this success was followed by a front kick from Archer that hit mom square in the chest which pushed her away and towards Lancer. Mom spun around to face the woman in purple as she sensed the spearman's magical energy spike.

Lancer changed her spears with red energy and rapidly thrusted them both in a barrage. Each lunge of the spears was paired with beams of fire and lightning coming from the tips and a detonation of red energy upon the polearms touching anything. Mom guarded against each attack with enough accuracy and fortitude to stop each thrust, endure each explosion of red, and avoid each elemental ray.

When she found an opening mom tried to counter with a golden slash empowered by a Mana Burst that sadly failed to hit its mark because Lancer impaled mom in her solar plexus. Mom improvised as she grabbed Lancer's arm while she was close to make sure she couldn't get away. Excalibur swung for Lancer's neck and the other red spear Lancer held rose to block the iridescent sword. Meanwhile, a water element Mana Burst activated to form a liquid barrier to bolster Lancer's defense. The heat of Excalibur evaporated the water shield but it couldn't breach the defense of the red spear Lancer held up. Mom released Lancer's arm with her hand wearing a mitt of metal and punched Lancer in the face with it with enough force to make the air visibly vibrate and send the purple woman flying back. The spear in mom's torso was ripped out which did extra damage but it was better than it being left in and making it so all Lancer would have to do is activate Mana Burst to kill mom.

Archer jumped at Mom and their blade's clashed with mom getting pushed back before facing the giant in a one-on-one duel of swordsmanship. It was a spectacle of power and skill in equal measure as both warriors displayed such widely different styles of swordsmanship from different cultures. The giant blade of Archer was like a natural disaster made manifest yet still used with a truly human understanding like that of a sniper coolly taking out their target. Excalibur felt like a shield in how brilliantly it was used defensively by mom. It refused the unbridled and meteoric strength of Archer's slashes and carved a path to attack back whenever possible. The battle escalated in the brief instant that it occurred to the point that it appeared to be a clash not between humans but between a storm of wind and a flash of light.

That briefest of duels was a masterpiece that Gray would never forget but it had to end and it did when Lancer returned to the engagement. Yet her return just resulted in a new kind of beauty as the three-way brawl from earlier was reborn and with even greater ferocity. Lancer was a one-woman-army whose spears appeared capable of any kind of offense or defense which forced both mom and Archer to be ready to adapt to anything.

The sight of her mom fighting made Gray feel nostalgic for some reason she couldn't understand. It was like she could see herself in her mom's shoes doing exactly what she was. Memories that weren't Gray's own took root in the back of her mind but she lacked the luxury of dwelling on them.

Gray was far more preoccupied with the state of the three-way melee so far. Despite her immaculate technique, mom was the Servant closest to losing. The poison from Archer's arrows was still in mom's veins. The toxins caused her pain and made her worn out plus she had spent much of her mana of healing the puncture wounds she got on her way to the Center Building. That wasn't even considering how many times she used Mana Burst to halt the deluge of arrows from Archer earlier. Mom was far from top shape while Lancer and Archer were ready to fight for hours or even days if they had to.

It was an open secret as to mom's condition as she became more and more defensive in her swordsmanship. She deflected blows more often than she tried blocking them. She only attempted to counter attack when it appeared like it was guaranteed to lead to a direct hit and even then she never managed to wound either of her opponents deeply. Not only that but Lancer began using some kind of curse that caused wounds she acquired to be mirrored in her opponents several-fold so Artoria's occasional hits would leave her with large wounds on her own she'd have to regenerate. Lancer was such a cheater with all these powers. At least it was a spell Lancer had to constantly reactivate after each hit she took so she couldn't reuse it if she was too preoccupied fighting. Add the curse on top of the hits from Lancer's spears that couldn't be healed and the great ravages that Archer's blows would cause and mom would likely run out of mana soon.

Meanwhile, Lancer seemed to have endless stamina to pair with her inexhaustible series of different techniques and powers. She never used the same method of attack or defense twice. She charged her body with a defensive Mana Burst to block a slash from Archer before countering with a salvo of summoned spears that tracked both her enemies and left them distracted defending. She took advantage of the moment by drawing runes in the air that flew at and marked mom and Archer's bodies. As soon as they tried to respond, the ground beneath them both cracked and they tripped. It had been a rune that induced misfortune which led to the roof cracking and both mom and Archer failing to react to Lancer's newest spell in the form of a rune that could induce death in the living mixed with curse magecraft. A wave of ghastly magical energy covered and injected into mom and Archer's bodies and even reached their Spirit Cores to try and slay them. They were able to endure but only in so much as they didn't just instantly die like how most Servants would from such a blow thanks to their high Magic Resistance.

Mom had to prop herself up on her sword for a moment to keep from dropping while Archer was still able to keep on fighting without showing any sign of weakness beyond the few unhealing cuts Lancer gave him. Making an unexpected play, Archer chucked his axe-sword at Lancer that turned the weapon into a spinning saw that she had to use both her spears to block. Sparks were flying as Lancer's polearms held back the rotating weapon that had no intention of stopping anytime soon. That was why Lancer forced the blade to stop with a strong push with her spears that ended the twirling of Archer's blade and sent it across the Shinto skyline.

While Lancer was dealing with the axe-sword, Archer got his bow ready and loaded an arrow he summoned that could have been used as a javelin by the giant thanks to its ridiculous length. The shot was far stronger than any of the ones from Archer's previous barrage. The verity of that idea could not be questioned when the bolt moved so swiftly that even Lancer was caught off guard when it nearly hit her. She still managed to deflect the shot in time but Archer followed up with another gatling stream of more arrows than Gray could perceive. The bombardment was so wide in its range that it was coming for both Lancer and mom. Lancer once again deflected every arrow that drove towards her while mom used a large swing enhanced by Mana Burst that drilled a path through the projectiles. Both mom and Lancer ran for Archer to stop him from unloading another volley but they both detected that the previous arrows hadn't all been dealt with. Many of the projectiles that had been avoided or knocked away had curved through the air and were now coming back to the Center Building's roof.

The shower came and while both mom and Lancer had successfully used mana and flame to create a roof over the skyscraper that disintegrated most of the bolts, some still got through. Those projectiles hit the rooftop and splintered it. Mom dove to Gray and grabbed her so she wouldn't fall while incapacitated.

Archer rushed at Lancer at the very last instant that the rooftop remained in one piece. Lancer saw it coming so even though she lacked any footing, she knew to deploy jets of flame from her heels to fly out of the way from a punch. The giant swung his bow like a sword and he created another vacuum which pulled Lancer back to him and sucked away the oxygen from her flames to try and prevent her from rocketing away. Lancer used her mana to force her flames to stay alive but the brief lull in the jets was all the time necessary for Lancer to get dragged back to Archer by the vacuum. Another punch came and was dodged by Lancer though she failed to avoid the following kick. It got her right in the torso and the sounds of her bones getting pulverized were easy to hear. It was revealed that Lancer wasn't the only one that was multi-talented as Archer showed he wasn't only a master of marksmanship and swordsmanship but also martial arts. Strikes of all sorts set upon Lancer who blocked, deflected, or dodged most. Yet, even as she used multiple defensive abilities she still ended up taking a few blows that made her body deform in various ways.

Traditional defense wasn't going to work so Lancer shifted to offense. Thrusts and swings of Lancer's spears were paired with waves of different elements that peeled away slabs of Archer's skin and left him with even more lesions and puncture wounds that couldn't be fully repaired. Archer kept fighting back with his hand-to-hand combat knowledge. It was a close quarters brawl whilst they were still falling to the floor below.

When they hit the next floor, Archer and Lancer continued their duel. They stopped focusing much on mom since she was so weakened she wasn't really a threat anymore. In their eyes, they could take her out whenever they wanted or needed to, even if she tried to run. This gave mom the chance to jump away to a distant roof with Gray in tow. Gray became able to breathe again as the distance from Lancer and Archer increased. Gray hadn't even realized she had stopped taking in air until the sweet taste of oxygen glided across her tongue. Mom put Gray down and the young woman tried to stand only to immediately fail as her body was still recovering from the pressure of three top tier Servants.

"You're not hurt are you? Did the magical energy do any serious damage to you?"

"N-N-Nah-N-No. I'm just a bit shaken up." Gray would have died from even a grazing blow, a stay arrow, anything. She was so close to dying and she couldn't stop thinking about that fact no matter how hard she tried to forget.

"Okay. I'm going to return to the fight. As soon as you can, you need to run away. This is far too dangerous for you."

That desire to endure the harshness of the Holy Grail War inflated within Gray once more as she remembered why she wanted to come to Fuyuki. She wanted to be reforged in a furnace filled with the flames of life and death combat. She could finally understand who she was if she could push herself to the brink and break the wall in her mind. But, she couldn't. She was scared. She remembered that she was just a little girl who was way in over her head. She should have never insisted she come to Fuyuki. When her mom told her it was too dangerous she was right and so Gray responded to her mom's order the way she should have all those days ago.

"Yes, mom."

Mom smiled and patted Gray on the head. "Be safe. I'll be back." She turned and jumped back to the Center Building.

Gray's eyes leaked tears and her throat released tiny sounds like those of a frightened animal. She was terrified of the death that nearly came for her and humiliated at her idiocy that put her in this situation. She was so stupid that even as she cried on the roof she still felt an urge to jump back into the fight to help her mom. That would just make things harder for mom again. She was so stupid and selfish and a complete piece of garbage that should have been left at her old village. She made everything worse for those around her. She made mom feel wracked with guilt constantly for no good reason. Her selfish desire to join the Holy Grail War was the only reason that Illya even decided to help so if anything happened to her it would be all Gray's fault. How dare she cry like she's the victim. Gray wiped the tears from her face but new droplets kept on coming.

"Gray. Why're you crying?" Add asked as he was held tight in Gray's hand. He spoke without the usual mocking tone he always had and instead with genuine love and care in his voice.

"I'm a stupid idiot."

"I thought we all knew that. Did it finally sink in? It's a little early for a quarter life crisis."

"Add, this isn't funny! I'm serious!"

"Tell me why this is so serious."

Gray touched her chest with her free hand. She clutched the front of her hoodie but she couldn't build up the strength to do so very hard. "I-I-I wanted to get into this war and now I can't do anything because I'm weak and scared and now mom's fighting and I c-can't help and Illya is here because of me and she could die because of me. It-It's just so frustrating."

"Mm. Mm. Welp, I can't say you made a smart decision in coming here. You were about as brash as Mordred is and that ain't great."

"Because I'm an idiot."

"But, you joining the war is why Mordred was summoned. He and Artoria never would have reconciled if it weren't for you. You saw them before having that cute moment and bantering and shit and they never would've had that without you."

"That's true." Gray sniffled.

"And you don't know how things would have gone if you, Illya, and Mordred weren't here. Things could have gone way worse. Irisviel may have gotten separated from Artoria and killed and then Artoria would have died and that would be that."

"You're right."

"So stop beating yourself up. You aren't helping anything."

"I know but it's easier said than done." Gray grumbled, but she was able to understand Add's point and hearing him be so genuinely nice was powerful. Gray still felt annoyed at herself for being a liability to her mom instead of an asset. There was no way Gray could have ever imagined that the enemy Servants in this Grail War would be so powerful. Mordred had been strong but Lancer and Archer were an order of magnitude greater in all respects worth mentioning. If all the other Servants were on such a level then there was little chance that Gray and her family could win the Grail War and dismantle the Greater Grail.

"Gray, you wanna be helpful?"

"Yeah."

"Then why don't you go try and help Irisviel and Illya and Mordred and stuff. They might be dealing with Lancer's Master. You'd be a big help considering Mordred wasn't looking too hot."

"You're right!" Gray's paralysis perished as she zoomed to her feet upon realizing the rest of her family could be in danger. "We need to help them."

"Then get going. You can leave Archer and Lancer to your mom and we could bring Mordred back here to help Artoria if he's free."

"That's true and she could use the assist since she was pretty beat up."

"Yeah, but she'll be okay. She's King Arthur. There's basically nobody that can beat her in a fight."

"But with her injuries and the poison."

"Okay, she wasn't in good shape. But, you can't help anyway and if things go bad for her then we can get Iri to warp her away with a Command Spell."

"That depends on mom lasting until we get to mama."

"She can call Irisviel telepathically! Quit nitpicking already, Christ! Your mom will be fine!"

The sound of concrete and steel breaking apart was accompanied by the sight of mom's limp body careening through the air. Her armor was in pieces and the bits that remained were decorated with cracks and painted with mom's blood. Her body traveled from the Center Building to the side of a nearby skyscraper. Mom crashed through a window and into the structure.

"I was wrong. Call Irisviel right now!"

Gray sent out a telepathic signal to her mama but she couldn't connect for some reason. Mama's mind was sealed off by something that repelled all attempts at communication like a pebble pinging off a shield. There was no time to waste trying to decipher the cause of this block so Gray just moved on to calling Illya. There was no response but specifically because the telepathic link between Gray and her sister had been severed, likely because of her using Avalon.

Time to try Mordred.

"Mordred are you there?"

"Kinda busy right now! Irisviel is vomiting death slime and going nuts and Illya just used Avalon and went into the slime and the slime is covering the whole park by the way and I'm dodging slime tentacles!"

"What? Wait, so what's happening to mama?"

"I don't know but we'll deal with it, you just keep fighting the Archer and Lancer and shit!"

"Can you come a-"

"No!"

"But, mom is in gonna die y-"

"YougottasaveherItrustyouIneedtofendoffthesetentac lessotheydon'treachtherestofthecityyou'llbefineyou gotthisbye!"

Well things were apparently even worse than they seemed. What was wrong with mama?

"Are they gonna do something or are they sitting around with their thumbs up their asses?" Add said. "We need their help or Artoria's gonna die at this rate!"

"They're busy because mama's gone crazy or something like that and they need to stop her from destroying the city."

"Fan-fucking-tastic."

"What do we do now?"

Arrows were firing from the Center Building to the skyscraper mom just rammed into.

Imaginings of mom appearing and knocking away all the arrows before using Excalibur to blast away both Archer and Lancer manifested in Gray's mind. She at least wanted something grand to happen like her mom actually being okay and showing deeper reserves of strength. It would make things so much easier. It would mean Gray didn't have to jump into the fight and make contact with that gravity-like aura again or risk her body getting run through by arrows or spears. Gray didn't have that luxury. She had to do something or her mom would die and that was something completely unacceptable. Everything became clear and calm in Gray's mind as she accepted the irrefusible reality she was faced with and took action.

On instinct alone, Gray used Mana Burst for the first time to jump and cross the distance between the building she was on and the one her mom got knocked into which was thankfully nearby. Gray's body reached the space in the air between the building her mom was in and the arrows. She was directly in the path of the projectiles and would have to defend against them using her own power or both she and her mom were dead.

"We're doing this, apparently!" Add's eyes lit up pink and parts of him began to open up, shift, grow, and mold to become something entirely new. He became the scythe that was Gray's favored armament and was twirled to build momentum. Gray used Mana Burst again to power up Add before swinging him at the nearest arrow.

As the trajectile made contact with the scythe, Gray could feel a shock wave travel through her body. The bolt had force great enough to pulverize several mountains behind it and that power coursed through Gray and made her cry out. She hadn't even taken the full brunt of the shot yet and she still felt enough despair from the pain that she wanted to give up and die. She couldn't die yet though because her mom's life was on the line. Gray grit her teeth and began absorbing the magical energy infused in the arrow her scythe was clashing with. Archer was such a sensational Servant that even his individual arrows were fountains of mana for the taking. There was so much energy in just this single arrow that Gray's whole body screamed at her to stop taking it in because it was too much for her to bear with such a normal body. Her blood vessels began to pop from the strain of trying to house such vast swaths of energy and yet Gray kept on drinking it in and overclocking her Magic Circuits. This was the only way she had any chance of deflecting the arrow. Not even a nanosecond had passed since Add had made contact with the projectile and Gray was already being pushed beyond her limits. There were a few dozen more to go so this boded poorly. Gray had to step up her game.

Gray screamed with indignation towards her reality and enhanced her body with the ocean of mana she just absorbed. More force was put behind Gray's scythe swing to the point that Archer's arrow was not only deflected but sent in a u-turn towards another one of the arrows. The two hit and destroyed each other just as Gray had planned. There was no way Gray would be fast enough to stop all the projectiles so she would have to redirect them into each other to lessen the number she had to directly deal with.

Blood oozed from Gray's orrifices as she was flung backwards from the power of the arrow she just knocked away which sent her through the hole in the building behind her. Gray's feet skidded across the marble floor of the fancy restaurant she just entered and rent it asunder as the young girl tried to stop her momentum. She couldn't use Add since she needed him free to deal with the next arrow that just got in range.

There was still plenty of absorbed mana in Gray's system which made deflecting the next bolt far easier than the previous. Easier didn't mean Gray still didn't get pushed back even faster, have her veins continue popping from the amount of magical energy subsumed, and have her muscles shredded from the shockwaves of the impact. Gray did manage to deflect the arrow and it collided with and destroyed two others which was great. That wasn't the only good thing that was happening to be honest. Gray's veins were regenerating for some reason and she was acclimatizing to the amount of mana she had stocked up inside her from the two arrows. Her biology currently wasn't like that of a human even though that was ostensibly her species since birth. With regeneration and Magic Circuits like she currently had, one might think she was a Servant. Considering the incident that happened when Gray summoned Mordred where Gray almost got possessed by a version of her mom, it was possible that it may have altered her physiology to be more Servant-esk.

This wasn't the time to be pondering the implications of Gray maybe being part servant as she still had plenty of arrows to deal with. And deal with them Gray did as she knocked away one after another and consumed their magical energy to become stronger each time. Gray funneled some of the stolen mana into Add to slowly expand his size until he was big enough that he barely fit in the spacious dining hall they were currently in. That room housed not only Gray and Add, but also mom who was lying on her side and was struggling to try and get up to no more avail than when Gray tried to earlier whilst still shaken up.

The arrows just kept on coming but with Add being as huge as he was, hitting a bunch of the arrows at a time was easy though the room was toppling in the process.

Gray wouldn't be able to keep up for long however as the amount of arrows being fired was increasing to the point that it was like when Archer unloaded his cavalcade of projectiles at the bridge. The skyscraper wasn't even collapsing from the innumerable arrows, it was just getting pulverized into a cloud which left Gray and her mom trapped midair.

With the choice to shift strategies, Gray changed Add's form to a more explicitly defensive one. Add's colossal shape condensed and reconfigured until it had shrunk into a great shield. Gray grabbed her mom with one arm and used her other to hold up Add to protect them as the swell of arrows impacted the shield. Add did a better job of absorbing the shock in this form but Gray could feel her body pulse like her whole body was going to explode after each arrow hit.

Don't think Gray was just defending as she was actually pouring as much of the magical energy she was imbibing as possible into Add. The great shield form wasn't just meant to guard but was actually designed to be used for countering. Gray just needed to wait for the right timing to unleash her surprise trump card.

This plan of Gray's looked to be foiled when the arrows decreased in number slightly but began to move in curving trajectories. Their vectors were almost unnatural in how they arced through the air. They would be able to go around Add and hit Gray and her mom and even if Gray tried to move her shield to stop the new arrows, they were all curving in unique directions. Gray could block low to stop some arrows but others would come from above, the left, the right, and every angle in-between.

This wasn't the opening Gray was hoping for, but she had to counterattack now or she and her mom would be turned to a red mist. Add released the magical energy that had been poured into him in the form of a burst of flame that made the air become a blurry haze. It was a focused beam of fire like a jet flame yet it was so wide that it easily encompassed all the incoming projectiles and turned them to nothing. Lighting up the night over the city, the conflagration burned through the arrow rain and devoured the upper half of the Center Building and turned it to vapor while the lower half began melting into slag. Gray saw that there was nowhere near the Center Building's base when she did so she didn't have to worry about anybody getting caught in a tsunami of melted steel and concrete. What Gray didn't consider was that liquid debris was flowing towards nearby city blocks which could be a big issue. A blaze that didn't come from Add fell down from above before wrapping the slag and evaporating it. The area had been saved by what was revealed to be Lancer flying above. She hadn't been caught in the blast Gray just used which put into question if Archer had either. This was why Gray wanted to wait for a moment where Archer and Lancer had no way of dodging.

The jet flame Gray had just unleashed propelled Gray backward and past dozens of buildings. She slowly descended and eventually hit the ground feet first and carved divots through the street as she continued skidding. When she stopped she lowered her mom to the ground.

"Mom, are you conscious?"

"Yes." Mom sat up but she didn't seem capable of much more. "We need to run but I can't move yet. Do you think you can carry me?"

"Are you sure running's the right idea? Archer and Lancer are so fast and Archer can attack us from halfway across the city plus I think Lancer can teleport of something."

"The other option is fighting and I can't win that fight nor can you."

"But, I'm actually feeling really strong right now, like, it's really weird and I think I might be turning into a Servant from when I almost got possessed by you or something."

There was only a brief moment of processing before mom responded. "We're going to discuss that later but even if that's true that doesn't mean you can handle both Lancer and Archer without my assistance while I possess my full strength. Even just one of them is too great a foe for you to slay. We can't keep wasting time, we have to go."

The street quaked from someone landing behind Gray and her mom. A profound aura washed over Gray and she almost passed out from the sudden and intense atmosphere change. Gray's knee hit the asphalt and dug into it and she forced her head to slowly but surely swivel to look behind herself. Right behind her was Archer, his towering form looming like an infallible pillar that could hold up the sky and keep the world intact when all else fails. In his hand was the axe-sword he had used as a surprise missile earlier. He had retrieved it and seeing the prodigious armament up close made Gray imagine the implement slicing her body in half so violently that she would be unrecognizable as a human.

It came to Gray what the True Name of this living legend who was sealed into the container of the Archer class was. His marksmanship was of the highest caliber, his arrows were coated in virulent poison, and he was a living mass of brawn and prowess. Archer's True Name was Heracles, the most famous of all heroes and the man who set the standard for what it even means to be a hero. There was no doubt that none of the tales of his achievements weren't mere hagiography but genuine feats born of his greatness that downplayed how incredible he was, if anything.

Absolute submission became Gray's emotional mantra as she thought she could do nothing more than yield to the colossus that was Archer. She didn't want to fight back and risk the touch of Archer's blade or the malignant tip of his arrows. Gray wanted to just let Archer do as he wished and pray that he had mercy in his heart for his enemies when they remained passive.

She couldn't actually do that because if her fighting spirit waned for the briefest instant then she would be unable to protect her mom who was so tightly pinned to the street that she might as well have been fused to it. Archer's goal was eliminating all enemy Servants and that included mom and so there was no chance he would spare her life. Gray had to fight back and face Archer then and there.

Gray lifted one leg which felt like it was on fire as it resisted the gravity-like pressure Archer emitted. Gray's foot was planted and used to keep her stable as she began raising up the rest of her body. It felt like the hand of God was trying to push her down and prevent her from standing. Groans turned to passionate yells as Gray kept rising against all the odds and straightened her body out to the point that she could raise her other leg and perch herself on both her feet. With clenched fists and teeth, Gray stood tall and looked Archer in the eye. The dark giant remained taciturn but Gray could feel something akin to respect forming in the titan's mind.

Add shifted form again and entered his halberd form that resembled the original sealed form of Rhongomyniad. Gray held Add with both hands and prepared to fight as she acclimated to Archer's aura.

The giant's lips began to part and he spoke in a voice so deep and strong it felt like he could kill with a word. "If we keep fighting here, we'll destroy the city. Let us move to the surrounding mountains so we don't risk killing innocents."

Archer made a perfectly reasonable request which displayed the truly heroic nature of Heracles. The question now was how to respond since Gray could use this to end the fight now. She could have said she refused to leave the city center which might make Archer leave since he doesn't want to put normal people in danger. There's also the chance that saying she wouldn't leave would imply she didn't care for innocent people's lives which could enrage Archer and make him kill her right then and there. Lancer was also a wild card in this since she had yet to reappear and after destroying the melted Center Building.

"The woman behind me is my mom." Gray decided to be honest. "If I go with you to fight in the mountains and leave her here then she could get picked off by another Servant. If I take my mom with me to fight you then I'll have to protect her as we fight and she and I will definitely die. I refuse to leave here but not because I don't put value on the lives of innocents around us. I refuse because agreeing to your request is a death sentence for my mom and there's a chance you'll leave us be if we stay here. I have to protect my mom."

The completely candid response elicited a moment of thought from Archer. "How is your mother a Servant?" A perfectly reasonable question.

"I'm her living descendant technically but she adopted me. My mom is a Servant from the last war who survived until now which is why there are two Saber Servants. Killing me won't fill the Grail and you don't need to kill my mom to do so either. I don't know what you want from the Grail but it can be invoked in a limited form with just five so you might not need to kill my mom. Actually, the Grail is corrupt, you heard about that, right? We're the ones who told the overseer about that and we aren't lying. Killing my mom won't get your wish granted so please let her live. Please don't kill my mom. I don't want to lose her." Gray was rambling and her voice kept cracking as she was on the brink of tears again. She just let everything out and hoped that Archer would sympathize with her plight or think she was too pitiful to be worth killing.

There was another moment of thought from Archer. "My goal and the goal of my Master is also to destroy the Grail due to its ability to be misused and its allure drawing out the evils in people's hearts. Whether you tell the truth or not does not change our overarching goal. That does not mean you are wrong that we don't need to kill all the Servants who oppose us and I am remiss to separate a child from her mother. I have known the loss of one's family more times than most and it never gets any less unbearable. I don't wish to inflict that suffering on you."

"Wait, you're letting us go? Really?" Holy shit this was the best possible way this could have gone and it was unbelievable. Gray was compelled to question the legitimacy of Archer's words but she didn't want to jinx things.

"Yes. Your mother is afflicted with numerous permanent wounds from Lancer's spears so there's little threat she poses to my Master. I suggest you leave this city and abandon the Holy Grail War. Assuming you spoke the truth earlier, worry not about the Grail's destruction. I have been tasked with its destruction and I never fail to complete a labor given to me. What about you, Lancer?"

Gray spun to see Lancer who arrived from nowhere and had regenerated all of her wounds already. She must have used her runes to do so which really showed how dangerous she was. Archer decided to let Gray and her mom go but Lancer might not be so merciful. Gray's whole body was focused only on what Lancer's response would be and getting ready to fight if necessary.

"I must say that this is a unique choice to make from my perspective." Lancer's posture was casual. "My Master and I do not have wishes worth killing the people of this era for so I don't want to risk innocents by fighting in the city if I can avoid it. On the other hand, I am confident in my ability to minimize collateral damage. The next point I need to consider is that my current main motivation in this fight is the fight itself. I wish to face powerful opponents and you Archer are definitely the greatest of opponents available to me at the moment. This connects to the third point which is that I appreciate courage and those with potential. Saber's daughter embodies both in large quantities. I feel it would be a shame to attack her mother and risk killing this girl when she tries to stop me. If I am to fight her, I want it to be when she's gotten stronger."

"So your determination is to let Saber and her daughter go." Archer said.

"Yes, but I will take you up on your offer to fight in the mountains."

Gray dropped to her knees and exhaled every molecule of oxygen in her lungs as she gave up all illusion of sangfroid she had put up. Relief hit her so hard she accidentally drooled a bit and embarrassedly wiped her mouth clean when she noticed.

It took Gray a while to realize that she was feeling completely at ease while within the bounds of Archer and Lancer's auras that previously pinned her to the floor. The aura didn't feel as sharp at the moment to be fair but Gray still wouldn't have been able to move if this had been the version of her before she evolved. Facing the arrows of Archer and being forced to defend her mom had caused Gray to transform and become a far stronger version of herself. It had only been a single exchange that had been relatively brief but it had been a life changing experience just like what Gray had wanted. Gray hadn't found out what she wanted to do with her life or who she was but she had grown and become stronger both physically and mentally.

Gray's mouth became a wide smile that hurt her face from its size. It hadn't been pointless for Gray to come to Fuyuki. She had become a stronger person who was on her way to becoming her true self as an individual separate from her mom and everyone else.

The smile shrank as Gray saw Lancer staring at her. "W-What's wrong?"

"Don't confuse losing who you are for growth."

"What do you mean? Hold on, how did you know what I was thinking?"

Lancer's face scrunched up as she realized something and didn't like it as far as Gray could tell. "It's nothing. I just fell into an old habit. Archer, let's get going."

Archer nodded and both he and Lancer went from standing still to a full sprint at speeds that Gray could actually perceive ever so slightly. They were headed to the mountains to finish their fight which no longer involved Gray or her mom. Gray put her odds on Archer winning just because of his ludicrous parameters and overall ability, though Lancer had a chance of pulling out a win if she fought smart and took advantage of her variability.

That didn't matter for the moment because Gray had just avoided a death so close that the blade of the reaper's scythe was right up to her neck. She actually saved her mom from two Servants that were so ridiculously powerful that just being near them could kill a person.

A hand on Gray's shoulder made her nearly go back into fight mode but she relaxed when she realized it was her mom's hand. Her mom had sat up again and she was happy. "You did amazing, Gray. You were brilliant as you defended me and your honesty saved us both. Thank you. I don't think I could have done what you just did. We're alive because you are you and nobody else."

"Thank you." Gray was happy to hear her mom's praise though she found her mom's emphasis on Gray succeeding by being herself a little too calculated in its phrasing. Mom knew what Gray cared about and was trying to reach her through that understanding. Gray appreciated the effort and what her mom was trying to say.

"That was nuts, Gray." Add shrunk back down into a tiny box. "You had no plan going in to that but it worked out so screw it!"

"Have you contacted the others?" mom said. "Are they fighting Lancer's Master?"

"Oh!" Gray just remembered the dire situation the rest of her family was in. "Mordred said something about mama going crazy and creating evil goo apparently!"

"Evil goo?" Mom went wide eyed. "The mud of the Grail. Iri's been possessed by the Greater Grail! We need to go to their aid! This could destroy the city! Call Mordred again while we move!"

"Right!" Gray lifted her mom into her arms and telepathically called Mordred again. "Mordred! Are you okay? Is mama still creating Grail mud?"

"Sup, Gray. Things have calmed down. Illya got to Irisviel and managed to shake her out of whatever the fuck the Grail was doing to her. The goo's all gone but the park we were at was flattened."

"But, you're all okay?"

"Yeah, we're good."

"Thank God." Gray spoke to her mom. "They're okay. The mud's gone and everything's normal."

"Thank goodness." Mom closed her eyes.

"Where are you?" Gray questioned Mordred.

"We're currently on the move since Illya can still feel herself connected to Lancer. I'm guessing you couldn't beat her."

"Both her and Archer were too much for us. Long story short, we escaped and Lancer and Archer went to fight in the mountains."

"Fuck. So Lancer can still track us and I'll be stuck with these wounds."

"You and mom. That's assuming Archer doesn't kill Lancer and there's a good chance that'll happen."

"Lancer could still win so that ain't very comforting. This sucks ass. We're stuck having to pray things go our way."

"Let's just focus on regrouping for now. Where are you headed?"

"We're gonna go to the sewers since we can use it as a discreet way to go anywhere in the city fast. Even if Lancer can track us then we can at least stay on the move to make sure she can never catch us."

"Got it. We'll meet you in the sewers. Stay safe."

"You, too."

Gray relayed her conversation with Mordred to mom and Add as she began making her way towards the sewage system of Fuyuki.

"Hoooo boy." Add was done with today. "Irisviel went crazy from evil Grail slime and could again at any moment. Anything else bad gonna happen today or are we gonna finally catch a break? I'm waiting for the meteor to come down for the punchline."

"Iri should be stable for now. It was probably her emotions that prompted her possession and she will have realized that if it's true. She'll focus on controlling her mood even more than usual though I do worry she'll try taking more of her usual medication than normal to keep herself emotionally vacant."

"Maybe she should leave Fuyuki so the Grail can't reach her. Illya might have all the Heroic Spirits enter her but she won't stop being human after five enter her like with mom. As long as we destroy the Greater Grail then it will be okay in the end and Illya could return to normal. She even has Avalon in her so she'll be extra resilient."

"Avalon can only do so much but I admit that's a fine plan. We need to talk things out with your mama first."

The conversation ended there as Gray and company searched for a manhole or some other entrance to the sewers. As they hunted, Gray had a gradually increasing sensation that something was off but not in a way that was readily apparent.

Everything looked lower to the ground at first but it quickly became evident that it was just that Gray had increased in height. Had she gone through a growth spurt? Her clothes seemed a little small, sleeves a tad short, so probably. Her bra was also a bit tight. Gray nearly stopped walking when she remembered that she shouldn't be able to have a growth spurt due to the magical energy that she was absorbing from her mom that physically molded her into a doppelganger of King Arthur. How could she grow in that case unless she wasn't actually bigger than normal? Then why did everything look shorter and why did her clothes feel uncomfortable? She had to have grown because there was no logical explanation otherwise.

Gray hoped that whatever was happening to her wasn't anything bad. Actually, if it made her different from her mom then she might like it. Perhaps her boost in strength just now had caused Gray to develop some immunity to her mom's magical energy. She could be developing her own unique appearance which would be Gray's greatest dream, one she had long given up on.

As long as it made her unique, she wasn't going to complain.

As long as she was unique.