A Hero's Sacrifice
DevoidJK
A/N: Sorry for the unexpected hiatus, life spiraled a bit out of control. I will update when I have a computer again (my hard drive died a while back and took tons of writing with it, along with lots of other important stuff; I wrote this first chapter on a borrowed system while doing full time school and a part time job). Regardless, I'm sorry for the massive delay. Please enjoy!
Part 1: —Trigger, Off
"Rider?"
She loosely hefted her spiked nails and chains, and the tension within the shed became palpable. The blindfolded eyes stared straight through Shirou, and he found he could not meet her invisible gaze. A sense of impending danger crept up Shirou's spine, and his heart reflexively began to pound.
It was just like that terrifying first day, being pursued by an overwhelming opponent and cornered in his shed, certain that he would die for witnessing something he didn't understand. But this time, there would be no miraculous savior to protect him.
His right arm reflexively performed a basic projection, forming a weak imitation of Kanshou in his hand. He knew the blade would not hold beyond a single strike, but if he used his left arm, what would happen to the ever-expanding gaps in his consciousness? No, he had to save his left arm for Sakura. Dying before reaching her wasn't an option.
The nails in Rider's hands vanished. "I cannot fight you, for your arm will kill you before I do, but I also cannot help you harm Sakura. I promised to protect her until the end."
Her figure dissolved into purple sparks before Shirou could even open his mouth to tell her that he didn't want to hurt Sakura. The shed door fluttered open, and then her presence faded entirely before the door gently closed behind the invisible servant. The hollow blade in Shirou's hand disappeared. He wanted to tell Rider that he would give his life for Sakura's, that he would never lay a finger on her. But the Servant was already gone.
He would just have to hope Rider didn't help Sakura kill him and Rin. If only she could have helped them defeat Saber, then maybe—no, it wasn't worth considering impossibilities. He would have to fight, and somehow overcome, his old servant. He looked at his unnaturally long arm, at the impossible power bound within, and he knew that he had already pushed himself near his limit. But successfully saving Sakura was the only way to atone for his past failures.
Clenching his fists, he picked up the blade and red jeweled pendant. Alone once more, he headed out to find Tohsaka and Illya.
It was time to finish what should have been done long ago.
Shirou and Rin trudged down the path together. Their faces were grim, cut in harsh lines that accentuated their hollow eyes. The hallway should have been dark, but an unhealthy, sickly green glow dimly lit the path forward. Clouds of fog shrouded the spikes of stone around the edges of the cave. The dripping of water in the distance and the unstable footing were welcome distractions from the monumental task ahead of them.
The red shroud wrapped around the unnaturally long, muscular arm was ragged, torn from the constant fighting it had endured. The power within was fading, and small trickles of mana had begun to flow from the arm to its inexperienced wielder. Shirou's exposed fingers, bronzed by the suns of Archer's innumerable battles, tightened around the red knot in his palm.
Shirou's headache from earlier in the day had resumed with a pounding that reverberated in his ears. He suspected that without constant reinforcement, the broken bones in his arm would have killed him long ago. But that didn't matter. He just had to survive until he could save Sakura. Even if he died—no, even after he died, she had to survive, or else his struggles would be all for naught.
A splash of red caught Shirou's eye, and he crouched down to examine a trail of blood that led directly down into the darkness. Rin shot a glance over her shoulder, sensing him falling behind.
Her eyes lingered on his shoulder. "Shirou? Are you alright?"
He bit back his worry about Sakura's well-being. His teeth left lasting marks on his lips. "It's nothing. Let's keep moving."
Rin frowned. "Remember to stay focused. We'll have to defeat Saber, so prioritize your own survival. You can't save Sakura unless we get to her in one piece."
She fell silent, the noise of their shoes on the uneven stone mixing with the incessant sound of dripping water and the intoxicating, acidic taste of mana. It seemed to almost be a part of the air, and it was so suffocating that Shirou felt vaguely like he was drowning, his breaths shallow and heaving. It was a welcome distraction from the tingling around the rim of his shoulder, where it felt as though jumper cables had electrified the left side of his torso. An unpleasant buzz, like television static, rang in his ears.
The path narrowed and narrowed, and soon they were forced to walk in single file, the walls closing in on both sides. After a few minutes of inching along between the walls, they suddenly emerged into a cavern larger than the entire Emiya property.
It was shaped like a bowl, sloped at the edges with a depression in the middle. On the opposite side, they could just make out another dark tunnel through the fog in the air, doubtless leading towards the heart of the mountain and the Greater Grail. And in the middle of the cavern, as still as a statue, stood Saber.
The servant did not move. She stood so still, it was almost as if she was made of stone, paralyzed inside of her armor. The rings on her sword pulsed with a soft maroon light, and her gauntlets were as dark as the stone floor she stood upon.
For a fleeting moment, Shirou could still see the silhouette of his knight in shining armor. Unbidden, fragments of memories began to enter his mind.
The sun was just peeking over the horizon, painting the clouds and sky in shades of orange and violet. Outside of the Fuyuki Church, streetlights glowed a warm orange, illuminating the top of the stairway. The winter breeze had died down overnight, but the air was still cool and damp.
Shirou reached out with his hand. "Kiritsugu was the kind of hero I always looked up to. So that's why I'm going to fight. Sorry if I'm late, but Saber, I want you to fight together with me."
Saber smiled and blinked, slightly abashed. Her golden-blonde hair and glittering silver armor gleamed in the sun's rays as dawn began to creep through Fuyuki. "No matter what has happened in my past, those command seals engraved on your hand bind me to you, my Master."
Shirou smiled. It was the first genuinely joyful expression that Saber had seen on his face, and she bit back her surprise. "If you don't mind, you can call me Shirou."
"Then Shirou it is."
The two of them reached out to clasp their hands, one calloused, yet gentle, and the other petite, yet firm.
But instead of the handshake he was expecting, Shirou's mind jerked back into reality as he felt the sharp edges of Rin's pendant in the palm of his right hand. His breaths came in shallow gasps and heaves as he forced the fractured portions of his consciousness back into order. He squeezed the pendant so hard he was sure he would draw blood again, only slowly relaxing as the intrusive memories seemed to fade into that faint buzzing in his ears again.
He was snapped out of his reverie when Saber's harsh voice echoed across the cave.
"Rin."
Saber lifted the tip of Excalibur out of the ground, and a grating rasp rang through the mana-infused air. Her eyes opened, and the poisonous yellow irises narrowed into a glare that pierced into Shirou like invisible blades.
Rin's hand reached under her coat, grasping the handle of the Jeweled Sword. She had no idea how effective Shirou's projection would be against a Noble Phantasm like Excalibur, but she could only hope that it could hold off the Servant who walked through Berserker like nothing. "Saber. What do you want with me?"
The blackened servant gestured towards the darkness behind her with a jerk of her head. "Sakura wishes to see you. She does not wish for me to kill you here."
Even as she addressed Tohsaka, her eyes focused only on her former master.
"Oh." Rin's empty hand emerged from under her coat. "Sakura's serious about this, then."
Shirou spared a glance to the right, meeting Rin's apologetic gaze. "Tohsaka, are you going on alone?"
She gave him a grim nod, her lips pursed into a thin line. "Yeah. Regardless of if we win here, Sakura has to be stopped, and we have a better chance of getting to her if Saber's distracted."
Shirou watched as Tohsaka walked into the middle of the cavern, waiting for Saber to make a sudden move. He reached under the collar of his jacket, loosening the knot of red cloth at his shoulder, ready to project a blade at a moment's notice. But Saber stood as still as a statue, her eyes never straying from Shirou's own.
Rin looked down into the tunnel at the end of the cavern, watching as a pulsing red glow reflected off the black stone walls like the beating of a heart.
How unfair for Shirou, that he would have to face his old servant alone. But she couldn't let Sakura unleash Angra Mainyu on the world, either. Not reconciling with Sakura would forever be her greatest mistake, and she would accept death as long as it meant stopping her.
She sighed deeply. "You'd better catch up quick, Shirou. And remember not to overuse your arm if you want to save Sakura."
And with that declaration, she descended into the hole that led ever deeper into the mountain, towards Sakura and the corrupted heart of the Greater Grail.
Shirou wanted to call after Rin, to shout a reply that he wasn't sure would reach her ears. He wanted to tell her that he would be fine, that he would catch up, that he would save Sakura. But one look at Saber killed the response on his lips. Barring another miracle like his earlier fight with Berserker, he could not defeat a fully powered Servant in combat.
As if she could read his thoughts, Saber's cold voice sounded out again. "You will die here, Shirou."
Shirou decided to test Saber's hostility, trying to goad her into moving away from the other exit. If he could trap her here or somehow escape, he might distract Saber long enough to find Sakura and end their pact, and, just maybe, Saber wouldn't be corrupted anymore. "Haven't you been ordered to kill me? Why don't you come here so we can get started?"
She laughed, a haunting echo sounding across the entire cave. "We both know that you would never run away from this fight, not when Sakura's life is on the line. There's no need for me to go anywhere."
Shirou cursed inwardly. "You know me too well." Even if Saber would let him leave untouched, he could never walk away from the one he loved, from the fight he chose, from the people he had to protect. Even if he had given up on being a hero for everyone, he still had to do it for Sakura.
If Saber refused to move away from her post, he would have to defeat her somehow to continue onwards. And to fight her in regular combat, no matter what weapons his arm could Trace, was suicide.
But at least fighting Saber could give Tohsaka a chance to talk down Sakura. Even if he didn't survive the next few minutes, at least someone else might end this in his place. "You're not going to run away no matter what? Even if Tohsaka talks down Sakura, you'll fight me to the end?"
Saber smiled. It was a cold, humorless smirk that died before it approached her pale yellow eyes. "My job is to fight you here, as Sakura ordered. If you do not kill me here, you will certainly die."
He looked at his hand, covered by the Shroud of Martin, and he knew that he would have to defeat Saber with projection, just like with Berserker. The trigger that had fired once had already shattered part of his brain, and he was cocking the hammer again. But there was no other way that he could overcome her power. He would just have to ensure that he retained enough of his consciousness to make it to Sakura.
Shirou sighed. This was the cost of his forsaken ideals, of choosing his love instead of his childhood dream. And Saber, the very embodiment of the heroism he once strived for, was the last obstacle before saving Sakura. His resolve hardened like steel around his heart, and the fearful pounding in his chest dulled into a fiery anger that boiled in his blood. His fists and jaw clenched. "Saber! I'll fight you. To save Sakura, to make all this killing worth it, I'll destroy you where you stand."
Even from across the cavern, Saber could see the set of his jaw. That determination to fight for what he believed in, even against impossible odds, was admirable. But she had no intention of letting him win. "I don't need to take a single step forward to prevent you from getting by me." The thin edges of her lips curled upwards in a frigid smile. "Are you ready for your last lesson, Master?"
Shirou shrugged his favorite black-and-white jacket over his shoulders, letting it fall to the ground at his feet. The weight of the red jeweled pendant sat in his right pocket, and he felt the weight of the Azoth sword strapped to his back. He saw the room around him, the servant on the other side of the cavern, and the artificial red glow of the tunnel ahead. He felt the mana-infused air, the rumbles in the ground, and the palpable hostility radiating from his enemy.
Shirou Emiya opened the knot on his left shoulder, and for an infinitely long moment, the world stood still.
He was blind. The sand grit into his skin, making a scraping sound like pieces of metal grinding together. The wind pressed into his eyes.
He grasped the hilt of a sword ahead of him, hauling himself towards the faint light in the distance. Hand after hand, blade after blade, he dragged himself through the howling wind and blistering sands towards the silhouetted figure in the distance.
His eyes closed. He knew this world. It was his world. He knew where each and every blade existed in this strange world. Gae Bolg to his left. Caladbolg on his right. Gram and Hrunting ahead of those. Every step felt like a mile.
His hands started slipping. The sands dug into his steel palms. Still, he continued on. With every step, he grasped for the next hilt amidst a forest of blades, guided by endless memories that were not his. His hands guided him forward, climbing closer to the light ahead.
The swords in front of him grew thinner as Shirou crawled along the ground, until he could only see a pair of twin blades. The wind around him began to flag, revealing a clear blue sky above the sandstorm billowing in his wake. As he cleared the sand away from his eyes, he saw the silhouettes of the married blades atop the hill of swords. He grasped the hilts in his hands, pulling them from the rocky earth, and at that instant, he understood. The infinite lifetimes, the endless battles, the struggles of a single knight enslaved to humanity's future. The muscle memory of an infinite number of lifetimes flowed into his arms, lighting his magic circuits aflame, and the world around him cracked like a shattered pane of stained glass.
"Trace… ON!"
Energy took physical form, and he could feel the matter taking form in his palms. Kanshou and Bakuya were swords without special properties or strong magic, but they were strong blades. They were the blades best suited for his—no, Archer's fighting style.
The smell of ozone permeated the air as the green sparks of excess mana burned through the air with a crackle. The circuits in Shirou's arms pulsed with a sharp heat, and the electric sensation in his arm expanded tenfold. He felt the grinding of metal in his left arm, but the pain was quickly eclipsed by the growing heat around him. Even as the swords in his hands coalesced, the ever-growing spiderweb of cracks in his consciousness only grew larger. Unneeded memories dissolved to make room for Archer's lifetimes of experiences.
"You chose to imitate Archer's swords instead of mine, Shirou?" Saber's cold voice brought Shirou back to reality. The haze in his brain felt like the remnants of an endless dream.
"What… what did she say?" Shirou's temples throbbed as if a screwdriver was piercing through his brain. "Did she ask why I wouldn't project her sword?"
Even if projecting Excalibur was possible with such a damaged mind, it would be impossible to use effectively against its original wielder. Trying to use its true name would only leave him open to a swift death by Saber's hand. Shirou discarded the notion.
Saber sighed. "In the end, nothing matters other than that you've armed yourself. Even though you pose no threat to me, I will still regard it as a hostile action." Her eyes closed, and for a moment she almost looked calm. The ends of her lips curled up into a predatory smile. Saber's aura seemed to darken for a moment before an artificial pink glow shone from the ground beneath her feet.
Lightning erupted from around Saber. Pure jets of concentrated mana in red, royal purple, and pure black speared through the air, forming a storm of lightning around her. The cavern shook as the power of the Holy Grail poured through her body, filling the dragon core within her with an endless supply of fuel. The red veins of her armor glowed so brightly that Shirou reflexively shielded his eyes, and even from a distance the hungry glint in Saber's glowing, reptilian eyes was obvious. Her armor had the tinge of bright crimson, and the pulsing light completed the illusion that streams of fresh, fiery blood flowed freely down Saber's body.
She held the black holy sword, glowing with power, and leveled its point directly at Shirou. The glow of its four red rings pulsed with heat, the fiery blaze within threatening to spill out at a moment's notice like the magma of an erupting volcano.
And yet, after displaying the true extent of her power, the look on Saber's face turned solemn, almost melancholic. Shirou faintly heard her whisper: "Your dying body will not last much longer." She shifted back into the guarded stance she had always favored, and with a nod of her chin, gave Shirou a gentle invitation. Her voice was the softest he'd heard since her transformation, and for a moment, he faced the gallant knight he had once known.
"Come, and be put to rest like the remains of your foolish dream."
Rin walked down into the cave, watching as the glow reflecting off the walls and ground grew brighter with each step. Her back felt terribly exposed, and she fought the urge to turn and run back to Shirou, to help him defeat Saber like they had planned. At any moment, she was sure Assassin or Zouken would appear from a dark shadow and try to strike her down.
Her fingers tightened against the hilt of the Jeweled Sword strapped to her back. The air was chilly, devoid of warmth. Goosebumps rose on Rin's legs, exposed to the air, and the sensation ran up her spine to the base of her neck. The air whispering in her ears felt like the cold steel of a sword about to cut her down.
Mana flared in her legs, and she whirled around, reinforced legs digging grooves into the stone beneath her feet as she turned faster than the human eye could follow. In the same motion, she drew the Jeweled Sword and leveled it at head height, the gems slotted between her left fingers flaring to light.
She was greeted only by the quiet drifting of mist along the hallway.
Rin belatedly realized after a beat that the pounding she heard was the uneasy rhythm of her heart, beating a frenetic pace. Cold beads of sweat formed on her brow, and the anxious, nauseating coil in her stomach tightened with every passing second. Suddenly feeling embarrassed by her fraying nerves, she trudged further down the tunnel.
She was disturbed by the fact that, for the first time in her life, she was full of regrets. She had put on a show of being determined, of seemingly knowing everything and being under perfect control. She had never doubted that she would walk the path of a magus, nor that she would strive to succeed in everything she did. And yet, when confronted with Sakura, she wanted to curl up and sob.
It wasn't fair that her sister had to be the one given away, nor that she would have to suffer at the hands of the Matou family. How could a parent be so cruel to their child, their flesh and blood? How could she truly be a "magus" if that was what she would have to stomach? It was one thing to sacrifice one's own life and time, to suffer for an experiment's results or studies, to forgo the luxuries of a childhood to master spellcasting. But to sacrifice the life of another, to choose one life over another purely based on the calculus of which magus was better? Her teeth clenched with an audible click.
She was so lost in thought that she yelped when she rounded the next bend and found a circle of six—no, seven—familiars in a circle. The formless blobs blinked, the eight dots that served as eyes flickering like stars in a cloudy night. The smallest familiar, flanked on all sides by its larger brethren, raised a stubby limb and waved at her.
Rin grumbled to herself as she fell into line behind the chain of familiars. She looked down at the smallest one, jumping up and down to catch her attention, and hesitated before picking it up and sighing.
"This might be the most obvious trap I'm consciously falling for." And yet, despite her doubts, her feet kept walking forward, each step bringing her closer to the one dilemma she had no answer for.
Shirou desperately tried to recall the few fundamental skills Saber had tried to teach him in their brief time together.
The difference between their technique and speed had been apparent in the dojo, even when she was unarmored and held only a simple shinai. She had led him in circles around the dojo, letting him chase her while she simply exploited the openings in his swings. He had been battered and tripped and bruised, and even an expert like Taiga was utterly dismantled by her skill.
Shirou grimaced. He considered where he would strike the first blow, and where her counterattack lay in wait. She favored quick, strong overhead attacks, but he couldn't rely on mere assumptions to save him. Worse, her precognitive perception of his attacks would likely mean any planned sequence of swings would be stopped. If she surpassed him so far in sword technique, then there wasn't much point strategizing. Throwing away his doubts and fears, Shirou let the blades guide his body.
His leg flexed, and the stone underneath his reinforced leg cracked as he launched forward towards Saber. The energy of his body concentrated in his left arm, and Kanshou swung downwards in a vicious arc, fast enough to cleave through metal like butter.
Excalibur flicked upwards, and Kanshou's blade harmlessly deflected off of its edge. Bakuya sliced towards her waist, opposite to the point of her blade, but a quick pivot backwards blocked the attack midway through.
Lunging forwards again, Shirou pulled both blades together, letting their mutual attraction accelerate the razor edges leveled at Saber's neck.
"Too slow." Saber simultaneously brought her blade upwards and ducked beneath his strike, then instantly reversed her strike, aiming to cleave Shirou from shoulder to hip. She was sure that was the killing blow. Shirou Emiya had neither the speed nor the experience to dodge an attack he had never seen before. After all, he was no superhero. He was only human.
Blankly, Shirou registered his blades skimming above Saber's head. He noticed Saber's blade angle towards his neck, and, for a moment, his eyes closed as he moved.
Saber's eyes widened in shock as Shirou's crossed arms braced against each other to block her attack in its tracks. "What—?" She immediately brought down three crushing blows, aiming for his head, neck, and liver, and yet he turned, as if possessed, to deflect the first, block the second, and parry the third using techniques she had never taught him, ones that should have been beyond any swordmaster of the modern era.
Shirou knew that imitating Archer's moves would only break down his mind further. But in the heat of the fight, he pressed onward, moving with the strength of a nameless legend and the experience of lifetimes of battle. His arms flowed like water, the strain and tear on his muscles evaporating as he parried and dodged through a sea of deadly blows. Despite moving at inhuman speeds, he felt balanced. He was a sword, a blade ready to cut down his opponents until there was nothing left of himself.
Somehow, after every strike, Shirou knew what blow would come next. Even as he moved faster than his eyes could follow, his arms moving like lightning to catch Saber's blade, he felt almost at ease. Saber's body began to glow as mana poured into her swings, sending out shockwaves that reverberated through the whole cavern. But for every strike he blocked, Shirou knew he inched closer to making a mistake, closer to a quick and bloody death.
Shirou watched as she reversed a missed thrust into a low swipe at his legs, which he jumped over. She reversed the blade, and he just managed to block with Kanshou before her spiked left gauntlet flew by his eyes with millimeters to spare, the glow of her armor nearly blinding him as his eyes squeezed shut. But even without his sight, Shirou could feel her movements. He heard the sword rise high above her head, and as she stepped forward to begin her strike, his feet stepped forward in turn to meet her.
Shirou's eyes snapped open and he thrust both shortswords upwards, crossing them to catch Excalibur near the hilt as it began a vertical slice. Instead of cleaving him in two, the energy flaring from her armor knocked him back several steps. As Shirou crouched down to catch his stumble, he could see Saber's brow, furrowed in anger.
As Shirou steadied his feet, time stopped as his mind ran far ahead of what his body could handle. The pain in his arms had only just now started to register. The attacks that Archer could flawlessly execute were imperfect. It allowed him to keep up with Saber, but after his first attack, he could only manage to defend. And with his arms growing sore, the next flurry of attacks might overwhelm him.
Saber seized her momentary advantage, raining heavy blows from alternating angles. Shirou's sight blurred and darkness began to creep into the corners of his vision with every blow he foresaw. The static in his mind began to worsen, and as his arms grew stiffer and the precision of his moves grew worse, Shirou saw death draw closer.
The iron heart inside of Shirou's chest began to pound quicker and quicker, a drum that beat in time with the frenetic pace of Saber's attacks. Even though the pain in his arms grew, they moved even faster, compensating for precision with raw speed and power. Shirou grimaced as the shroud on his left arm pulled on his shoulder and restrained Kanshou's movement, and hissed as Excalibur nicked a shallow wound in his right leg.
And yet, he did not grow afraid or retreat. He didn't know whether or not his mind had finally broken, nor if he had gone insane from living Archer's endless battles throughout history, but he laughed. It was a raspy cough, rusty with underuse and pain, but his face gleamed with genuine joy. He could keep up with Saber! Even if his swords, his techniques, and his very body were all borrowed imitations, he was exchanging blows with a legendary hero.
"Sorry if I'm late, but Saber, I want you to fight together with me."
It wasn't what he had imagined, and he knew she was holding back her mana reserves, but he could, even if for a brief moment, stand on equal footing with her. But he knew this wouldn't last forever. If he had any chance of winning, he would have to find it quickly.
There had to be some opening, some mistake, some strategy that he could exploit. Even though he had thrown only a single strike, Shirou knew these techniques were not the limit of Archer's knowledge. He waded ever deeper through the desert, extracting the experiences and lifetimes that powered his current self beyond superhuman levels. If he could only inch ever closer to his limit, there might be answers there. Shirou paid no heed as the edges of his Reality Marble began to crumble into the void and the headwind grew stronger, instead diving into the sands and leaving his consciousness further behind. He hated that he had to save a final projection for Sakura, that he had to hold back the trigger that was primed to fire in his mind. The image of his death—a broken corpse laid to rest—began to crystallize, a mere dozen steps away.
Saber's sword drew back, but it paused midair without slashing forward. Instead, her spiked black boot slammed into Shirou's stomach, passing under his guard. He staggered back, reeling from the sheer force of the blow. He tumbled, and rolled into a crouch ten meters away from Saber.
His chest heaved. Every breath felt like a knife being twisted further into his ribs, and his arms and legs shook with a burning pain. The heat from his magic circuits and Saber's core seemed to envelop him, burning into every pore.
Subconsciously, Shirou placed a hand on his stomach, trying to feel for any broken bones and bruises, but his hand felt the sharp edge of a blade where flesh and blood should have been. He glanced down and winced as he saw a web of swords growing out of his wound, knitting together like oversized needles threading through flesh.
A quick prod told Shirou that the blades within him seemed to be repairing the damage and dulling the pain temporarily. Or was that his nerves cauterizing from the heat and excess prana usage? It didn't matter. As long as it didn't kill him, he would bear it. But the decrease to his flexibility and speed could be fatal in the long run.
If Saber kept pressuring him, the visions of his future began to diverge. Shirou couldn't decipher the best path forward if he continued to be conservative with his attacks. In that case, he would have to find an opening and strike a fatal blow at that moment. And yet, that hope seemed impossible after having already been defeated so thoroughly.
Saber sighed, her patience wearing thin. "This is pointless. You can't even touch me with your swords, let alone defeat me." The look on her face was one of disappointment mixed with pity, almost like she was remonishing a child.
The tendons and veins in Shirou's hands flared as his fists and teeth clenched in unison. "I'm keeping up with you right now, aren't I?"
Saber's grating laugh only served to dig Shirou's fingernails into his palms further.
"You wish to defeat me in your condition? Your plan, as reckless as it is, is only sustained by your dying body. Even though you cannot bleed, the swords invading your body have pushed you to your limit. In this next exchange, if I do not pierce your heart with my sword, your own body will."
Shirou already knew his body had almost nothing left to give. And his mind was one step away from annihilation. Already, Sakura's name had begun to slip from his tongue. He had to use the swords in his hands to defeat Saber somehow. He shook his head.
"… I can't win if I don't try now. I'll put everything into these next few attacks, and if I can create even one opening—"
Saber's voice, gruff yet suddenly also gentle, cut him off: "Shirou. Why are you holding back?"
The cacophony inside Shirou's mind paused momentarily. That voice… it sounded like the Saber he knew. Those words struck a chord inside him, and the huge gears in Unlimited Blade Works moved with a grinding screech that made even the eroding sands pause their ebb and flow.
What good would it be to hold back now?
If he couldn't defeat Saber, he would certainly die. And even though he had been saving a projection for Sakura's sake, would that matter if he couldn't even reach her? Would it be worth it to give up his chance to save Sakura just to beat Saber? Which battle was more important?
Saber sighed. "Shirou, I will return to Sakura if you cannot defeat me. Together, Rin will stand no chance." It was not a boast, but a statement of fact. No weapon could hold off the likes of Sakura's shadows while contending with Saber's infinitely regenerating energy blasts.
"Do you understand? Unless you fight me with your full power, Rin will die. Sakura can recall me to her side as long as our connection is intact."
"But, Saber—"
Shirou paused and frowned. Was there no way for Sakura to be saved and Saber defeated? Tohsaka, even with the Jeweled Sword, had no way to separate her sister from the shadow, which would mean Sakura would—no. He refused to accept the consequences of failure. Sakura can't die. Her happiness was his only wish, the reason his body still clutched at the fragments of a corpse's consciousness.
Saber quietly spoke: "Shirou. Is this all I am to you?"
Shirou understood. She was more than just her Saber class, a servant to be used and discarded. She was a hero, a knight who risked her life to overcome every obstacle in her path, the kind of person he had aspired to fight alongside with his full strength. She deserved his full attention as a warrior, and to save Sakura as well, he would just have to push the limits of his body further.
It made sense, in a way. Saber was tethered to him as long as he kept fighting, since Sakura would summon Saber if Rin posed any threat. Then, his only objective was to disconnect Saber from her master.
In that case, there might be a chance after all. It was obvious when he managed to connect the fragmented shards of his brain. If Rule Breaker could sever Sakura's ties to the grail, then surely it could do the same for Saber. He didn't dare to hope that it would undo her transformation, but at least by disconnecting Saber from Sakura, he could ensure that Tohsaka had a chance to win her own battle.
Shirou's heartbeat stopped. He could barely control his breathing. The revolver had fired too many shots already, and he was about to use another bullet. But he stood unafraid. With a shattered sense of self and an inability to feel pain, he no longer feared death. As long as the girl could be saved, he was ready to die with a smile on his face.
He cocked the hammer and squeezed the trigger.
The gun in his mind fired again, and his mental atmosphere disintegrated as every circuit in his body burned with heat. The sky of Unlimited Blade Works became an infinite void, and the sands began to rise up in sandstorms that threatened to tear away the fabric of his mental landscape. The remaining part of his landscape destabilized further. Swords spiraled in a bladed maelstrom that bled into the void.
The boy pressed deeper into the landscape, digging into the shifting sands, searching for a way to create an opening with just his twin blades. There had to be a path, a special technique. There had to be some sort of attack that the red knight favored. One that could create an opening against any opponent.
His consciousness dwindled. Like the great fire of years past, the boy's identity was left behind. Memories, habits, and experiences evaporated. Instead, foreign experiences took their place, drawn from an inner well of experience.
In that case…
Twin blades.
Yin and Yang attract one another.
Reinforce the projections beyond their limits.
Shatter through any previous techniques.
The static was deafening, but he didn't mind.
I͞ ͜am t̶he̵ ̨bo͞ne of͝ ̶m̡y swo̴r͘d.
Ţ̧̛RA̵͡C̕͠͞Ę̕͘ Ǫ̴̷̡N̴̕!̨͡
Green lightning arced from his arms as Shirou poured his mana into the swords into his hands. The microscopic cracks and chips in the blades were smoothed back into the pristine edges of the twin steel blades.
Shirou had stopped just short of his body's limit. Any further, and he was sure the mass of swords inside him would tear through his heart or brain. But if there was a single attack that could prevent Saber from ever escaping, this was it: The ultimate evolution of Kanshou and Bakuya. If these final three attacks failed, he had nothing left to give.
Saber shifted into a guarding stance, sensing an impending assault.
A mighty wind seemed to sweep through Shirou's mind, jumbling his thoughts and washing his concentration away. He blinked in confusion, and stared at the figure ahead of him.
Who… is that? A knight in blue and silver?
Her armor gleamed, as if it carried the essence of the moon, and her hair glittered like gold. The air around her glittered, as if it was bathed in moonlight. Her ethereal presence seemed to prickle at some indelible mark in his mind. But, try as he might, her name continued to elude him.
Then he felt the grips of the twin shortswords in his hands, and the purpose of his battle came flooding back. There wasn't time or energy to be wasted on something so unimportant. The false silver glow vanished, replaced with the jet-black spikes of her stone armor. The waves of heat radiating off of her figure blurred the air, but to Shirou's reinforced eyes, it was as clear as a sunny day.
Shirou sprang into action faster than he could comprehend. In a single motion, he focused the energy of his left arm into Kanshou and hurled the blade with his right arm. Its razor-sharp edge spiraled towards Saber's neck like a solid disk of steel. Bakuya followed immediately after, the two blades forming a cross that threatened to cleave the servant in two.
But with a flick of her wrists, Saber deflected both blades so they harmlessly passed around her head. She stood unflinching, even as the shortswords flew by her head with millimeters to spare, cutting a few loose strands of her hair away in the process.
Shirou grimaced. Time for the second salvo.
Projecting weapons away from my hands is going to hurt like hell.
"Freeze, out! T̶̵̷R͞͠Á̶C̛E͟͡ Ǫ̧̛͠N̕͠͝!̨"
Saber frowned as she watched Shirou push himself further, watching as the swords sprouting out of his left arm continued to grow, like plants unnaturally sprouting from the concrete where they didn't belong. With every projection, his voice deepened and grew rawer, his chants sounding more and more like Archer's baritone growls.
As soon as the swords had harmlessly passed by her, Saber dashed in, using a deliberately telegraphed thrust to break his concentration, and he unexpectedly closed the distance, deflecting her thrust into the ground before she could fully extend her arms and hooking her hilt with a hammer grip. Another pair of his yin and yang swords had already appeared in his hands, ready and waiting.
She grit her teeth in frustration. "The same weapons again?"
Does he not understand that these swords are useless on their own?
She pulled her sword free with her monstrous strength and used a mana burst to throw him off balance. He merely took two calm steps back. Saber growled in frustration: "That Noble Phantasm is no match for me!"
Saber knew that his arms had lost much of their fine motor control. The trembling in his arms had shown her all the weakness she had needed to capitalize on. Stomping down so hard her boot cracked a hole in the stone floor, Saber twisted her hips and brought Excalibur in a perfect arc towards Shirou's neck. He had neither the strength to block her blow or the agility to dodge.
But right before her blow connected, Shirou's voice sounded once again: "Release freeze! All projections, successive fire!"
The hair on the back of Saber's neck itched, her instincts screaming that danger approached from behind. Saber let her swing carry past Shirou, spotting the Bakuya that he had just thrown and shattering it with the pommel of her blade. With inhuman speed, she reversed her sword again to meet Shirou's attack, but he had already started to move—
"Tear a mountain from the earth—!"
Saber's eyes widened as she saw Kanshou swinging towards her exposed flank. But this wasn't the same sword that she had thoughtlessly deflected earlier. It was twice as long, with spikes lining its reverse edge. Saber's eyes widened at the sight, and she hurriedly yanked Excalibur into an awkward parry the moment before she was struck.
Even so, she was unprepared for the effect that followed. Though Shirou had barely managed to rebuff her attacks earlier, the mana poured into the blade exploded, simulating an rudimentary, volatile mana burst. The shattered fragments of the sword shot into her armor like shrapnel, and for a moment, even her draconic eyes were briefly blinded by the light and debris.
Even blind, however, she trusted her instincts, moving forwards to pressure Shirou even as spots danced in her eyes like Sakura's shadow familiars. The strike had done no permanent damage; its explosion was, at best, a distraction against a Servant as powerful as her. Saber cleaved downwards with a vertical strike, giving Shirou no option but to block it, but through the ringing in her ears, she heard him scream—
"—the sword divides water into two—!"
Saber snarled, baring the sharp fangs of the lion. "Another one… !?"
She felt Shirou close the distance, preventing her from turning her back to block again. Biting back curses, Saber ducked into an awkward crouch, letting the previously thrown Kanshou fly above her head harmlessly and fall to the ground. But even Shirou's delirious mind could see the opening that her clumsy dodge enabled. He struck with all his might, lunging toward Saber's exposed breastplate with a two-handed thrust.
"—the blade carries the razor winds!"
Saber grit her teeth as she realized she had left herself open. Just as the over-reinforced Bakuya began shooting toward her, she coated her ridged left gauntlet with all of her mana, setting it aflame with the boundless energy of six fallen servants. Saber clenched her hand into a fist, focusing the violet heat into her knuckles and illuminating her pale face in shades of red, purple, and black.
Saber let out a guttural, hoarse roar as she hurled her fist into Bakuya's razor edge, and the blade shattered with the full force of a Noble Phantasm.
Shirou's ears rang.
His entire body ached. The adrenaline rush that had saved his life earlier had entirely worn off, leaving only a deep, throbbing pain that resonated through every fiber of his body. Still, he stood, heedless of the stiffness in his body and the swords growing out of the innumerable cuts on his chest and arms. Seeing the last Kanshou blade on the ground near him, he picked it up in a shaky, two-handed grip.
His final attack had been cobbled together, a desperate attempt to distract Saber long enough for him to land a final blow. But even through the dust and mana in the air, he could still sense Saber's lethal aura. Despite the cracks in her breastplate and bloody left gauntlet, the fire in her eyes blazed, as if her dragon's heart threatened to burst forth from her chest.
Drops of blood, tinged black with the corruption of the grail, dripped between Saber's boots. It was an oddly rhythmic sound that seemed to fill the entire cavern, breaking up the heavy silence between the Servant and her former Master.
After a tense beat, Saber broke their mutual gaze to examine her left arm and torso. Though she had blunted the vast majority of the force with her mana, the blade had cut through skin, tendons, and muscle before exploding. The flesh below her left elbow had been shredded, and the arm hung limply at her side. Blood and mana oozed out of a dozen lacerations as her magical core worked to staunch the flow, and a pool of maroon and black grew beneath her feet, burning the stone floor like acid. As she hefted Excalibur in her undamaged right arm, her fractured breastplate cracked like a pane of shattered glass.
Shirou quickly canvassed his options. He had the strength for one last reinforcement. He could perhaps push himself to project one more time, but if he did, it would certainly kill him. Regardless, if he let Saber regenerate, there would be no chance at victory.
Staggering forwards, he swung his shortsword, relying on muscle memory to chain together his attacks, groaning as the swords within him tore up his organs further. Saber quickly threw a backhanded strike before jumping away and nearly skewering him with a long thrust.
Even with only one working arm, her power and control were still overwhelming, swinging Excalibur with long, heavy arcs like a greatsword. Since his short blade provided no leverage, Shirou could only dodge and roll to avoid the sweeps of her blade. He quickly retreated, hoping to gain some distance and reset the engagement, but Saber leapt into the air and slammed her sword down, maintaining her overwhelming pressure.
Shirou rolled away, barely dodging the blow, and quickly circled to her weaker left side to avoid the growing pools of blood on the ground, lining himself up with the exit to the cavern. He cursed as he noticed Saber gather a fistful of blood and toss it to his right side, shrinking the area where he could safely step. He had no idea what her blood could do to him, but he assumed it would be just as bad as being cut by her sword.
Saber threw another two blows to distract Shirou before quickly pivoting into a crouch. Knocking his blade upwards, she prodded at his feet. As he stumbled backwards, she lunged forwards. With his legs tired and his hands occupied, she would thrust through his blade and kill him once and for all.
Shirou saw the pommel of her sword draw back and her right arm bunch together. Ignoring his irresistible instinct to try and dodge, even if he would die regardless, he poured all his remaining strength into Kanshou.
The stab shot forward like lightning—
Shirou crouched and threw his entire body into Kanshou, deflecting Excalibur to the side—
His rusty iron voice scraped out: "Projection, FIRE—!"
The demonic sword pierced through Kanshou, breaking the blade and stabbing deep into Shirou's right arm with a lava-like heat—
And Saber's mana set the air ablaze.
Shirou pulled himself free, staggering away and falling to his knees as his right bicep enveloped itself with a forest of steel. He bit back the screams that threatened to burst out of his chest as he writhed in agony. He winced as the blades in his flesh began to cut through veins and muscles, compounding the damage further. He knelt on the ground, cradling his arm. Cuts littered his arms and chest, and as more blades grew from his body, the pain magnified tenfold. Any second now, he expected Saber to plunge Excalibur into his chest.
But when he looked up, she was frozen in shock, surprise and irritation written all over her scowling face. Rule Breaker clattered to the ground between her feet, and her aura of death began to fade.
Shirou let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding, a hoarse chuckle of disbelief escaping his lips. He had staked everything on this desperate gamble, and it had somehow worked.
The red glow of Excalibur began to fade, becoming an obsidian black once more. Saber's mana reserves flickered for a moment before dying out altogether. Excalibur slipped out of her hand and clattered to the ground, its weight too much for Saber's weakened form. The veins of her armor, which had glowed crimson with power, were now barely visible.
Saber, recognizing the blade as Caster's, asked, "Did you remove my connection to the Grail?"
Shirou barely registered what she had said. What was she asking? It was so difficult to remember anything anymore. He dimly nodded, his neck and shoulders stiff.
Saber smirked in spite of defeat, her features devoid of malice or hatred. "Ah, you have grown strong, Shirou." She paused, seeming to suddenly recall some far-off memory: A knight and her liege, a king and her subject, a girl and a boy, shaking hands in a sunrise, forging an oath that could overwrite time and space.
A tender scoff escaped her lips. Was she becoming sentimental? Perhaps, in the end, the path of a hero had meaning after all. "No, I am wrong. You were strong from the very start."
Shirou struggled to recognize who stood before him. He knew it was someone he shouldn't forget, one he wouldn't want to forget. All he knew was that the one name he sought, "Sakura", was not here. By all accounts, he should have left already. So why were his feet still rooted to the ground?
"Shirou? Did you ever find out what you meant when you said you wanted to be a hero?"
The boy thought back to the girl, the one with purple hair and soft eyes, the girl who he would always love and protect. His sacrifices were not in vain. Despite his battered condition, the corners of his lips curled up in a tired, fond smile.
"I'll be a hero for Sakura. I'll protect her from anything."
To both of their surprise, Saber smiled back, a tear forming in her eye.
"A hero is someone who cuts down his opponents with everything he has to protect what he cares about. I'm grateful… that someone worthy of being a hero will protect her."
As chunks of her mana-infused armor began to crumble and melt into dark patches on the floor, Shirou began to recognize the one in front of him. Despite her eyes being unfamiliar, she was undoubtedly the one he had looked up to, the one whose ideals had once inspired him.
Shirou gave Saber a weak smile, despite the pain wracking his body and the blood dripping from his arm. He didn't know how to express his gratitude for her steadfast presence and protective nature. And even if they had ended up fighting… he had never really wanted to oppose her. She was just the final sacrifice he had to make to reach the end of his journey.
Shirou hesitated for a moment, then said, "Thanks, S-Saber."
He was glad that he could remember her name, even if only for these final moments.
Saber collapsed to one knee, mana sloughing off her body in waves. At least, she thought, one of us could save others from their fate. She wished she could stand tall and find a way to fulfill her dream. But for now, she'd sleep. Her eyelids were heavy, and she was so tired… so, so tired…
Her eyes closed, and they didn't reopen. But despite her bowed head, Shirou didn't miss the tender smile on her face.
A/N: Part 2 coming out as soon as I am able. This will be a two-shot, most likely. I hope you enjoyed reading, and please review!