EMIYA Shirou's Self-Centered Holy Grail War
Preface:
Story Concept Summary:
Cornered by Lancer, in desperation, Emiya Shirou ends up summoning Archer EMIYA. And naturally, upon seeing his chance, EMIYA takes full advantage to repeatedly kill his younger self over and over again, until he's satisfied.
However, upon seeing the futility of his attempts, he decides to stop for the moment...
...At least, until the proper chance to kill Emiya Shirou for good finally presents itself.
Extra:
(Also, Tohsaka finally summons a top class Saber - Artoria Pendragon, one the highest tier Sabers she could get (barring FGO standards, lmao), so you can bet that she's certainly very excited for this Holy Grail War, at least.)
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Then, without further ado, please enjoy...
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Chapter 1 - Self-loathing
On the verge of death, Emiya Shirou had called out with his heart for someone to save him.
And the Grail replied, summoning a certain Archer in response.
But instead of summoning a certain king-knight, the one Emiya Shirou had manage to summon was EMIYA, who had answered the Grail's calls, and as he then unexpectedly found himself facing down his naive younger self, Emiya Shirou.
So naturally, seeing his perfect chance, Archer took the liberty of killing him.
It was easy, especially since his younger self didn't know how to use any of his command spells.
He could easily kill Emiya Shirou in an instant, before he even knew what was happening or what was going on.
The only problem?
The World rewound itself every time he did so.
But even so, the act itself was incredibly easy and practically effortless on his part. And he could do something like this a thousand times without blinking.
And so, he repeated the motion over, and over, and over again, without sweating the details.
If he did it enough times, then maybe it would cause the World to register EMIYA Shirou's existence some sort of glitch, and wipe him out entirely. As unlikely as that may be. But even so, it was worth a shot.
Like a certain boy constantly trying to jump over a bar that was too high for him, he would also continue to kill his younger self until he was satisfied.
Even if had to do this without end, he'd continue until The World itself refused to allow Emiya Shirou to continue existing, to continue causing any more time paradoxes.
And so, EMIYA Shirou continued to kill Emiya Shirou, a thousand times over.
Like clockwork, like a machine. Like the killing machine that he had since become.
Ten thousand times over. A hundred thousand times over.
Like gears turning, over and over again, in the distant sunset sky.
One million times, ten million times.
But, by fate's wheel, even the sunset would gradually end, and even he would eventually have to stay his hand for the night.
And by the the time Archer had gotten to ten million deaths, even he was starting to tire and wear down.
After all, even gears and machines started to rust over time, with continual use.
And this method was clearly not working.
Even the boy who had continued futilely trying to jump over the pole had to give up at some point, as the sun had started setting and night had begun to fall.
Sighing, he finally decided to do his proper duty as a Servant.
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...But first, he had allowed Lancer kill Shirou a few dozen times, or so; just to see if that would work, instead.
He would let Lancer kill him a few hundred or thousand or so times. But, even just a few dozen exchanges with Lancer, explaining why he was letting him kill Emiya Shirou, was enough to tire him out.
Even if he tried staying silent, or made a silent gesture for Lancer to go ahead and kill him, Lancer would just assume it was some sort of trap or ability of his and engage him anyways. And if he just went away, or gestured his neck to Shirou and then went away, Lancer would follow him anyway, seeking a good fight.
Seriously, what a pain in the neck Lancer was.
And in the end, it looked like even letting Lancer kill Emiya Shirou wouldn't work.
It was as if the world refused to let Emiya Shirou die for as long his immediate cause of death, direct or indirect, was caused by another Emiya Shirou.
...Well, maybe he could try poisoning Emiya Shirou over a long period of time. Not his preferred method, but he would do anything to prevent himself from going through this same hell of being a Counter-Guardian again.
Of course, that meant having to actually try to get along with Emiya Shirou in the first place, so that his naive younger self would trust him enough to make him a few meals.
Archer grimaced at the thought, especially as he remembered how much he disliked his own Archer from his own Grail War, and as he knew how difficult it would be to overcome Emiya Shirou's natural instinctual dislike of Archer. But, this was a necessary step.
Sighing, he finally decided to properly do his proper duty, and finally, he actually properly drove off Lancer.
It was surprisingly easy, too. Like chasing a mad dog off the family property, with a sufficient show of force.
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And just as he had finished with that duty, Archer had sensed another pair of Master and Servant approaching. But he didn't bother to intercept them.
It was probably just Rin, anyways. And if Emiya Shirou had summoned him as an Archer, then Rin had probably summoned...
And right on time, as if waiting for cue, Rin and Saber rushed in through the front gate.
Shirou looked surprised to see them, as Saber glared at Archer.
"Tohsaka?! And who...?"
"Emiya-kun? Are you alright?!"
Chapter 1 - Self-loathing END
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Author's Notes:
Instead of going through all that pointless effort, I dunno, maybe just having a heart-to-heart talk with Shirou would be a lot more effective? lmao
Or even just a sparring match, with the whole experience transference thing? Might not be enough to erase EMIYA from the Counter-Force's store of heroes, but it would be a first step, and at least take one Emiya Shirou from one timeline off the wrong path.
Well, Archer might figure that out a few chapters later, but not for now...
I dunno, maybe the spirit of Gaia (Artoria-Face) is watching from a distance, and is falling in love with Archer (EMIYA) as he continues to pointlessly kill Shirou over and over again.
Maybe, I'm just sayin'...!
I mean, if (Harem Protagonist EX + Polevaulting Failure EX) worked for seducing Rin and Sakura without even meeting them, then who's to say that (Harem Protagonist EX + Shirou-Killing EX) wouldn't accidentally seduce Gaia? (Especially if she was an Artoria-Face).
Just sayin, Just sayin'...
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Maybe an Omake with Rin indulging in her girly side upon seeing Saber after summoning her, and gushing about how adorable Saber is, and making her try on a bunch of new clothes?
Meanwhile Saber protests and resists at first, but actually finds herself surprisingly liking Tohsaka's clothes that she picks out for Saber, and dressing up. Especially since that was a side of her that she never got to express, what with her duty and obligations as King and all, and a reputation to uphold.
Saber finds herself surprisingly liking playing dress-up with Rin, and bonding with her new master that way.
...Before Rin starts coughing to try to compose herself and present herself as a proper magus to Saber, much to Saber's confusion.
lmao, not sure if I'll write up that Omake in full, but there you go. A short and sweet little bonding moment between Rin and Saber.
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So this story came from the idea I had for the story on Thursday (about Shirou summoning King Arthur and Rin summoning Artoria), and it was also inspired in part by another story that I read a few years ago (although I can't remember the exact name of it), about Shirou summoning Archer, and then getting offed by Archer a few times before he gave up, because The World kept reversing his killings. It was a one-shot, though, I think, and it didn't really go any further beyond that.
I actually liked that idea a lot though (Shirou summoning EMIYA, and The World not letting EMIYA kill himself), and I decided to offer up my own twist on it. The story I mentioned before mostly inspired that second part (about EMIYA being literally unable to kill Shirou permanently), as I though that would make for a great for Archer to begrudgingly work alongside Emiya Shirou, at least for a little while, until he got a proper chance to kill him off.
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That being said, though, I only have an idea for this chapter and two more so far, but we'll see where it goes...
I have an idea for where King Arthur's Legendary Grail War and where The Fuyuki Class Card War will ultimately end up and how they might lead to that end, but not for this one, yet.
Who knows, this might be the 4th story I finish after those two, though.
...If I can get a better feel for where this one is gonna go...
(Incidentally, "The First Edition Grail War: The War Without EMIYA" doesn't seem very popular at the moment, lol. Fittingly, I also thought that was probably the least interesting sounding idea and least interesting opening introduction among these 4 ideas lol. That story will also start get better from the second chapter onwards, though.)
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Also, just fyi, the second chapter for this story has some pretty entertaining interactions, so stick around for that!
Thanks!
'Till next time!