Lost Time
Chapter 1 - A Night of Fate (possibly oneshot)
The wind blows.
A calming but eerily silence washes over the surrounding atmosphere.
At this time of the day, most people would've eaten their dinner by now, by this point many students would've gone and finished any homework they're assigned, by this time people would have gone home from work.
But not for a certain red-headed brownie,
"Man, it's cold." His cheeks feel numb from the low temperature, breathing out white clouds.
Today's certainly one of those odd days, as Fuyuki isn't usually cold even in the winters.
It reminds him of that day during the night of winter five years ago.
"I wonder what dad would think of me if he knew that I had wasted five entire years without making any difference." It's been five years since that day, of the promise I made
To be a Hero of Justice, that's what he promised and had taken that duty to his heart.
The image of Kiritsugu's serene expression during the last few minutes of his life lingers in his memory.
Shirou shook his head, "I shouldn't get stuck in the past."
Looking outside, it seems the weather is cloudy and relatively windy, which explains why it was dark.
Over the past few days, there have been several odd things he has noticed, but he's sure it didn't have any particular deeper meaning.
He knows something is wrong, but he refuses to acknowledge it.
The distant sounds of clanging interrupt the still atmosphere.
"..?" He heard something outside, it was extremely unusual that anyone would be in school premises this late at night.
Whether it is inside or outside, something is grating in his heart telling him that this is not normal. In his curiosity, decides to go outside.
It is common sense to check on what's going on before doing anything rash, even though he instinctually knows that he mustn't do so.
He walked to the schoolyard, and the sounds became clearer and clearer as he approaches.
"People?" The sound of metal clashing against metal reverberated through the air that even he could feel it at this distance
He approaches with a little bit of caution and approached more discreetly, lest he's seeking a death wish.
Hiding behind a tree, he took a peek at the commotion.
His mind immediately stops functioning.
People clad in battle armour fo opposing colours, one in red and black, while the other in blue and silver.
No… people could not describe them, if anything they'd be monsters in human form.
Both warriors are dangerously armed and were executing moves impossible for humans, their skills in the absolute pinnacle, that's even after considering Fuji-nee's demonic skills that beat every other kendo practitioner with her favourite shinai.
The blue warrior possesses a spear emanating an intense bloodlust, the warrior is equally as monstrous, most spearmen would take advantage of their range advantage, especially when the enemy is wielding two short swords, but not him, this man's inhumane agility and strength allows him to press for the advantage even when he threw away his range advantage.
While the man clad in dark armour and garbed in some kind of red cloth was wielding two identical short swords with contradicting colours. He could feel a form of enchantment engraved on both of those swords, however, compared to the spearman's, it's lacking in any conceptual strength, however, it seemed to not matter much, as even in the face of a spearman with beastly agility, he is capable of matching his blades with the spear, unlike his counterpart whom is fighting with his bloodhound instincts, each of the red-clad man's moves was executed with ruthless efficiency.
These two warriors are direct contradictory to each other, it is as if it was fate that allowed both of these monsters to fight.
Shirou internally slaps himself, "What am I doing joking around at a time like this." he whispers.
'Actually, what's more absurd is how even though my eyes can't keep up, I had managed to deduce that much.' He thought to himself
Watching these two inhuman fighters fight each other with intense murderous intent is giving him death flags, even without his brain working at this moment, his body understood if he were to stay any longer, he would perish.
His heart beats even faster at that realisation, however, he couldn't retreat at this moment, as his body is paralysed in place from the fear that's coursing through his body.
Now that he thought about it, the murder that happened yesterday must be related to whatever the hell that's happening right now. The survivor had described that their family was killed by a bladed object which's length isn't of any modern constructs, or in other words, the weapons that these monsters were holding fits the bill.
He wanted to just dash off, maybe he should've listened to Sakura's advice and been more careful, he certainly is regretting that he didn't right now. However, he knew that if he were to run without some kind of cover, he'd be seen almost immediately.
The two figures separate as the sounds stop.
He was relieved for a second when they stopped and converse with each other, however…
An enormous pool of mana whirl around the spearman's armament. The amount of magical power concentrated on a single weapon nearly stops his heart.
As a Mage, Emiya Shirou knows the monstrous amount of magical energy being poured into the spear is near impossible to be replicated by a single Mage, excessive in fact, the speed and efficiency of the spearman surpass the conventions.
Therefore that could only mean the spearman is superior to humans.
That man is going to die. The red garbed warrior is going to die.
But even in the face of a danger that would end his life, the dual-wielding warrior stood there calmly not even fazed by it, as if he knew that he wouldn't die.
He's still not convinced that the red man would survive this blow.
The amount of power concentrated on the spearman's attack is fatal to humans.
However, going back, the warrior is not human, he wouldn't die from something a human would die from.
But… But, what if he did?
Doubt fills Shirou's mind, is he really going to let the spearman execute this seemingly fatal blow on the off chance the red swordsman is able to survive it?
In his doubt, Shirou's body starts trembling as he subconsciously took a step back.
His foot retreated on top of a pile of leaves and creates a rustling.
Immediately the murderous intent is redirected towards his direction.
"Who's there!?" The man in blue stares at Shirou in his hiding place and sinks into a stance as if a predator locating its prey
Without even thinking, he took off and ran as fast and far his legs could take him.
He would die. He would really die.
He diverts all of his energy into running, there's absolutely no way for him, a human to be able to match an inhuman fighter, the only way to escape death is to retreat.
"Damn it! I shouldn't have stayed there for as long as I did." There's no way to change the past, so regrets at this moment are irrelevant.
He ran, entering the school, running through hallways, climbing up the stairs, everything. He never looked back, as to whether he knew or not if he were to look back then it would be the same as admitting that his death would come.
Before he knew it he ran out of breath and pants heavily.
"Agh! I'm stupid." He realised the stupidity behind his decision making
In this school, he's sealed off his chance to exit the situation, as there's only a limited amount of exits, he would be caught if he were to try exiting through one of them, as even though there are multiple ways to exit, the spearman possessed inhuman agility, he would be able to catch up if he were to spot me.
What should've been the rational decision is to run into town where he could've had witnesses, Mages prioritize the secret of magic than anything else, so considering the spearman was able to control magical energy to such degree means he must be a mage, even if he's an unconventional one.
Really, running to such a deserted place is like retreating back to a fortress and defending it without stockpiling any resources, meaning the attackers would siege the fort and cut off any supply points, the defenders would eventually need to come out of the fortress for food and water once their limited supply runs out.
"Haaa… Haaa… " He stops and turns around to check for any pursuers while holding his aching chest.
It seems the man has stopped chasing him.
Shirou sighs in relief as he wipes the sweat off his forehead and leans on the wall, his body feels as heavy as iron, and his aching heart feels as if fire courses through it.
"Haa… What was that?" He felt a false sense of security, his mind too held up on the fact that he was close to death itself.
Whatever that had transpired, he was sure he wasn't supposed to have seen that.
"Yo." A foreign accent called out behind him
Whatever composure he had left shattered, as he spun around in panic and was greeted by the very same man in blue.
"So you're done running, right?" A primal sense of dread courses through his entire being, as the man's very being sends chills down his spine
"You ran pretty far, though you know you can't escape right? It's nothing to be ashamed of, that was a typical response from someone who is in the face of death." The man puts his left hand on his waist and raises his lance in a casual manner
"Today's not your lucky day kid, mages are paranoid people, you saw us, so die." The lance thrust like thunder pierces through Emiya Shirou's heart in a heartbeat
Such an attack happened before he had even realised that death has rung the evening bells, there's no way to dodge it.
"Ah… ah…" His body couldn't even move
In fairy tales, many heroes would persist even in the face of an adversary that announces their death, in the face of death they would break through their bounds and limits and overcome their fear and defeat the villain.
Yet, in the face of death, all Emiya Shirou accomplished was to stand around and gawk at his foe.
All the training he did was for nothing.
There's no other fated path for Emiya Shirou than to die by the spearhead of a man he had merely met less than a minute ago.
Maybe if he had refined his body muscles harder, maybe if he had taken training his Magecraft more seriously…
Maybe if he had been more earnest in his wish to become a Hero, such an early death could've been averted.
It is the first taste of true regret this being has ever tasted.
His body grew cold and his perception of the world distorts into nothingness, no longer could he feel anything from his body.
He cough out blood once more, as his body pulled itself out of the spear that has been held in place by the man in blue.
The lance must be special, as a single pierce completely stops the heart.
His body stumbled backwards before he lost his balance and fell to the ground.
"... D-damn i-it.." Really, what a stupid reason to die.
"Deadman tells no tales. It's only natural for the weak to die, but…" He was able to make out what the man said in surprising clarity
By removing all of his senses, he is able to concentrate on the only perception that's working completely fine, his hearing.
"Man, you really do make me do unpleasant jobs. It's a joke for a hero to act like this."
"Yeah, I know. I already checked out that girl's Servant, so I'll go-" His hearing suddenly stopped
As he's once more submerged in the same void that he felt ten years ago, the feeling of death.
MY BODY IS MADE OF BLADES
His eyes snapped open as his body is covered in a cold sweat.
Alarmed, he looked around in every direction, but only the silence of an empty hallway greets him.
"I didn't die?" Shirou went to touch his chest but phantom pains manifested
"Ow-ow ouch." Headaches strikes him, his entire body throbbed in pain.
He feels sick.
He tried getting up and moved his hand towards the floor to support himself.
"Hm?" His hand touches something
He interrupts his current action to inspect what was it that his hands held.
Bringing his hand in front of him, he opened it to reveal a red gem.
There were traces of magical energy inside it, and the gem itself looks precious.
It was then the memories return to his brain and hits him like a truck.
Two Inhuman warriors looking similar to humans. Blue spearman chases and kills him. Cursed Spear.
Ingesting these memories made him feel like he's about to vomit out blood again, or perhaps it was the taste of blood in his mouth that is stimulating him in all the wrong ways.
He gathered up all of his willpower to endure the pain and revolting taste in his mouth and assessed the situation.
A large pool of blood lies on the ground…
"Damn, I actually had my chest pierced?" He had hoped it was just a bad dream and he had just dozed off while cleaning up the dojo, but it seems to be not the case.
"This looks like a murder scene." No, it really was a murder scene.
Shirou walked with great struggle to the janitor's closet and grabbed a mop and a bucket.
"Wait, what am I doing? I was killed and the first thing I do is to clean this up?" He seriously got his priorities wrong, but yet he couldn't just leave this mess here.
He soon mopped the floor clean, it might be considered as destroying the evidence, but when the victim(him) is still alive and kicking, he doesn't think it could be considered murder. Or at least his confused mind didn't think so.
Looking once more at the pendant, he grasped it with an indescribable feeling. Whoever whom owned this pendant had saved his life, even though he doesn't know who it is, he feels obligated to keep it until he could find the owner to return it to and at least say thanks.
He walked home with great struggle, each of his steps made his body ache, everything is hazy and the headaches aren't helping with it.
Reaching home, it's already the next day. At the same time, no one is home, Sakura and Fuji-nee must've gone home by now.
To be honest, I'd be more concerned if they stayed this late, and that's not even considering that blue foreign spearman is probably out to get him if he knew I was still alive.
Collapsing to the floor, he laid down on the ground and breathed to contemplate on the poorly timed decisions that has led him up to this point.
He must've still been on adrenaline when he woke up because the journey home progressively got harder and harder as the pain increased.
His heart felt like cracked glass, although considering that it didn't shatter, the more accurate description is that his heart had a hole in it. But by the miracle of the person who saved him, his heart weaved back into its original shape.
However the more he contemplates about this, the more he feels like the wound tries to re-open.
"So it really did happen." All in all, he had placed his hopes on the possibility that he has just been experiencing a disturbingly realistic dream, but he had nearly been killed- no, he really was killed.
"I wonder who was it." Even if the person was related to the fighters, it is irrelevant in front of the fact that they saved his life, thanking them is the least he could do.
The feeling of vomiting returns as the pain struck him the moment he had let his guard down.
He could imagine the spear entering his chest again, it was something unpleasant. He's going to definitely have nightmares of it for a while.
Calming himself down, he thought to himself about what had transpired this night.
The more he thought about the situation the more questions piles up.
"If only father was still alive." He complains, the pain is getting to him to make him complain about things he already knew isn't appropriate to be brought up in a situation like this.
"Idiot, I've already decided to do whatever I can, even when I don't understand anything." Complaining comes later, at the moment he has to decide whether he should concern himself with this.
But if only, imagining what his father would've done in this situation, if his father were still here, he could picture him solving the cases like a detective, finding out the source of the problem and defeating the villains with his magical powers and gun slinging skills.
"Agh, how childish of me.." His cheeks warmed up, if Fuji-nee or Sakura heard this he could only imagine their expressions, especially Fuji-nee she would tease him till her death bed.
However, the sound of the warning bells alarmed of an uninvited intruder detected by the bounded field.
"A burglar at this time?" The moment he spoke he realised how foolish he was
The events that have been transpiring this day and all the murder reports of the previous days only lead to one conclusion.
The blue spearman is out to get him.
It is natural, although his memory is fuzzy he could remember the guy saying "-you saw us, so die."
If the man discovers that the person he has killed was in fact not dead, then he'd certainly come back to finish the job, and probably is pissed that he had to kill the same guy twice.
He doesn't have time to get to the shed or dojo to get a weapon.
The only place he could get a weapon in time is the kitchen and the dining room, knifes wouldn't work against a spear due to obvious range advantage, he doesn't keep any wooden swords in here either.
"Seriously? This is the only thing that I could use." He stumbles and picks up the paper poster Fuji-nee had left earlier
Even though he looked calm on the outside (or at least he thinks he does), he was practically screaming in the inside, he knew that only death would await him, but he couldn't simply throw away his second chance at life so easily.
"Trace. On." Even this worthless poster could be turned into a weapon
Clearing his mind, he focused only on one thing.
To strengthen this object to the very peak.
If he were to value his life, then there's no other option than the very best, imagining how his ideal self could get out of this situation.
Analysing the basic structure of the object- It is a sixty-centimetre long poster made of paper
He pours magical energy into the crevices, he needs to turn this paperweight into something that could repel even a cursed lance.
Channelling his magical energy to every corner, to fill in any holes, to bring even something as useless as this paper into the ideal weapon.
Soaking his consciousness, his body and soul synchronize for just this one moment.
"Basic quality, reinforce." In an instant, he could feel he has nearly reached the limit of the paper
"Trace. Off." He cuts off the supply of magical energy before it overloads
What was left could only be described as the pinnacle form of paper, the feeling of success in his magecraft for the first time in the last five years, he could feel himself shudder.
He did it, even if the base object was worthless as a weapon, what held now is on par with a steel pole in terms of strength and durability, while retaining its featherlike weight, there's no better sword he could ask for in this seemingly hopeless situation.
"I did it." To finally achieve what has been a distant dream, what he held here is nothing short of the crystallization of the miracle he hoped for in a situation like this.
Although his excitement was slightly suppressed by the fact that the lance wielding warrior would outperform him in terms of basic combat ability, he could survive long enough to reach the shed to get a better weapon.
The image of a case pops into mind.
"That's my only hope of leaving this day with my life." He must reach the shed
It was at that same moment, he could feel the judgement of the heavens descend towards him.
He frantically rolled instinctually to escape and heard a large crashing sound behind him, he turned his back to face the opponent.
In blinding speed, a lance thrust at him with the same thunder-like speed. Shirou forced his body to move faster and twist at what he would normally consider impossible angles and met the lance with a heavy swing.
Clang. The fore of the blow reverberated through his hands, however, he got back his composure and readied himself for the next blow, even though he felt as if his joints are dislocated from the stunt he just pulled.
"Eh?" He could see the face of the man in blue very clearly, it shows a degree of surprise, he probably thought it was ordinary paper and was shocked that it turned out very much solid and parried his spear.
"I was trying to be considerate by giving you a quick death, it was a pain to have to kill the same person twice." Shirou's concern grew as he could see the man slightly grinning.
"But, that wasn't half bad for a mage, that strange spell of yours. Maybe you could entertain me a little bit." The blue spearman casually spoke as if it was a normal occurrence
"You..!" He retreated slowly to not alert the man, and approach the glass, his optimism was still at high levels as he had managed to prove his makeshift blade was up to the task, ignoring the difference in the spearman's performance against the red swordsman earlier compared to right now.
This time a lightning-fast swipe came from the right, Shirou devoted all of his energy to blocking this one strike, and after parrying it he would take off and-
The instance the poster met the spear, the amount of force put into this was leagues beyond what the spearman initially unleashed.
He could feel it once more, the feeling of death, as his swing was easily overpowered, he threw away any thoughts of clashing blades with the man and jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the spear chopping his body by a hair length, at the same time his body crash through the glass and he automatically rolled outside to lighten his landing.
Thousands of thoughts enter and exit him, predicting all of his possible chances.
"Trace. On." He mutters without realizing it
Analysing the basic structure
Using his momentum, he spun backwards.
"Basic Structure, Reinforce!" Pouring all of the magical energy he could muster into his arm, gambling away something this crucial is the only way he could think of.
Paper imitating metal met with a bone spear as hard as metal.
The two weapons crash, the amount of force from the spear was equal to the previous strike, however, Shirou gambled everything on reinforcing his arms and combined with his momentum-
The clash between the two weapons caused the earth to rumble, as the spearman had his lance knocked out of his hand due to the sudden change in strength.
"Hmh?" The man hesitates
Meanwhile, the clash had forced Shirou to cut off the supply of magical energy just before it overflows, resulting in the most perfect outcome he could've hoped for.
If his prediction was even off by a single millisecond, then he might've cut off the supply of magical power too late and blown up his arms, however, if he had swung too early, the spear would've ended his life.
He turned towards the shed and ran for it, but not even a moment after he does so-
"..Fly." he heavy kicked send him flying, before he realized what happened he crashed into the shed's door.
"Ugh!" He grunts and struggles on regaining his composure
He attempted to stand up, but the pain caused him to collapse immediately after.
It was for the best as a spear pierces through the door where his head was just a moment ago.
"Damn, at least keep yourself together if you're a man." He
Forcing himself to move, he opened the door and went inside the shed.
The many miracles that allowed him to survive up to this point, even with the impossible odds, he had somehow survived against the inhuman spearman up to this point, maybe he had a knack for fighting people than he initially thought.
'The case… The case… The case!' He scanned the shed for the one thing that could save him
"Here's the final blow." He wasn't given any opportunity to find it, as the lance thrust at him once more, but if the previous strikes were lightning, then this one is as if it had teleported.
"Yoouuuuu!" Parrying it is no longer possible at this speed and leaves him with the only option to unroll the paper and turn it into a throwaway shield.
The paper halted the spear in place, but the amount of strain it has undergone broke through its magical enhancement and returned it back to a normal sheet of paper.
The fact that it had sustained such heavy blows in the first place without showing any sign of wear and tear before this would undoubtedly earn its place as the best paper to exist in this world.
However, even so, the force of the spear pushes him backwards and flung him through several items that were waiting to be fixed.
I'm really going to die.
It was overly optimistic of him to think he stood a chance of fighting against a monster like this spearman. For those few moments, he truly felt like he has reached the level of his ideal self, predicting and outwitting the enemy, reinforcing a paper to something that is seriously more powerful than it merited.
For that moment he had truly felt like he had arrived at the faraway dream, however as all dreams must end, the moment he lost his momentum everything came crashing down.
He could feel his head bleeding from getting greeted by a wall.
Looking sideways, he spots it.
The case.
However, he could only wish to grasp it, as it was too far away on top of the only table in the shed.
He felt a spear pointed at his heart, and froze in anticipation.
"That's a pretty surprising move, kid. You've made my day, even for a little while, you should've shown your magic since the start, though it ended up working in your favour as you managed to surprise even me and knock my spear away." The spearman complements
"Your instincts are also not half bad, but what confuses me is how inexperience you seem at handling your magic, your expressions tell me that you're surprised by even your own ability to do anything. So, is it that you're good at pretending or did you really improve from a dimwit who failed to just stand still and hide into a half-competent fighter?" He casually questioned, as Shirou pulls himself nearer to the case.
"Nothing to say eh?" Lancer disappointedly shook his head
Shirou grabs onto the case and pulls it close.
"You have talent for sure, it's unlikely but maybe you could've been the seventh one," Lancer said and thrust his spear for one last blow
Shirou had barely got the case open when the spear had already reached his chest.
Inside the case is the last resort, and his most treasured item.
Imagine if you admire a hero from a legend, for example, King Arthur.
You'd surely want to become like him and become the knight in shining armour that was the King of Knights. With your parents telling you stories of his legend and recounting countless feats.
Now visualize if one day you uncovered the legendary holy blade of the King, Excalibur.
That was what this item in the box was to me.
The only connection and the only item that proves the existence of his Hero, Emiya Kiritsugu.
The weapon of modern origins, combined with the occultic enhancements made by Magecraft, and three bullets of unknown but most certainly special properties.
Not only does this remind him of the goal he has been searching for all this time, but also! The proof that Emiya Kiritsugu was truly the Hero of Justice that his father had told him in stories.
It may be childish, but he really did one day hope to be as great of a hero as his father was.
But, the cursed spear once more is about to take away his life for the second time.
He could remember vividly the memories of having metal pierce through his heart, why does it have to be him that suffer through this? Especially twice?
The taste of vomiting out blood… He couldn't waste his second opportunity at life this easily, this is the taste of absolute bullshit.
He has to live, to continue fulfilling his duties and obligations, if he were to die, then he wouldn't be able to accomplish such things. Not even becoming a Hero of Justice, but he wouldn't even be able to graduate school or say goodbye to Sakura and Fuji-nee.
"Damn it, I won't die so meaninglessly to someone like you!" Rage overtook his speech as he yelled his last words before the inevitable end
The spear which was supposed to pierce me suddenly disappeared from my sight, alongside the spearman.
".. What?" He was stunned, he was being carried by someone.
One moment he was in the shed when he was about to be killed, and the other he's now outside of the shed.
The man holding him appeared like magic, and his body was still glowing due to his summoning of short notice.
He was immediately dropped to the ground without being given any consideration.
Everything happened so sudden that he didn't even react to falling to the ground.
"Eh?" He didn't know what to say, the glow has finally dissipated, revealing a man that is the epitome of what an assassin in video games would look like, with a red hood, steel chest plate and boots, with bandages covering his face, any normal person would've found him intimidating.
"Servant Assassin, let's get this contract over with, are you my Master?" A deep unrecognizable yet somehow familiar and nostalgic voice booms through his world
"Eh..? Master…?" He couldn't think of anything to say
Lancer runs out of the shed with shock written all over his face.
"Truly? The Seventh Servant?"
However, Shirou didn't even take notice of him as he continued to admire the figure in front of him, under the gentle rays of moonlight, even though how dangerous this man appears, he couldn't help but feel an indescribable feeling of admiration.
Assassin moved his head to look at something, he couldn't tell due to his eyes being covered by his hood, but he could feel as if the gaze is directed towards his hands.
As if checking out a list, the man simply grunted before speaking once more.
"Then the pact is sealed, I don't care about what you do, but as long as you don't disturb my work then we have no qualms." The man simply says before turning his gaze back at the blue spearman
"You don't look like Saber to me, Archer is already taken, so you're probably Assassin aren't you?" Now that he thinks about it, he never learned how to address these people other than "man in blue" or "red swordsman"
Without even replying, in an instant at speeds that even the man in blue was hardly able to comprehend, Assassin has begun firing a submachine gun at the spearman.
Shirou was sure this would get the opponent, but… All the bullets seem to avoid the spearman like a plague, or rather he seems to be able to predict every single bullet and evade or deflect them at incredible speeds.
"Protection from Arrows, huh?" Assassin spoke for the first time after the whole Master and Servant thing.
"Oh? You speak now, Assassin? I thought you'd be more like your Master over there and just ignore my talk." The man in blue retorts
Assassin didn't bother responding as he immediately closed the distance between the two of them whilst bringing out a knife.
"..!" His speed surpasses even the spearman in blues, every time the spearman strikes, Assassin would simply evade the lance.
Actually, from this point on I'll just call him Lancer, as it's a pain to call him in such a roundabout way.
Assassin presses for the advantage and refuse to give Lancer even the slightest bit of distance, and close in on Lancer with terrifying effectiveness.
Lancer even with the superior instincts could only fight defensively as if he let Assassin have his way, then he would be at an increasingly heightening disadvantage.
Assassin slashed at lancer as if a whirlwind, Lancer with his heavier and longer weapon could only subtly move his lance to block the swift cuts.
Lancer attempts to retreat and gain distance by swinging his spear horizontally and preventing Assassin from approaching.
However for a moment, a purple glow could be seen, and the next thing both people who isn't Assassin knew is that Assassin has already reached behind Lancer and is about land a fatal stab.
For a moment Lancer seem to accelerate at an insane pace, however, an invisible force stopped his momentum, Assassin's knife was able to land a flesh deep cut, but not fatal.
"Damn with that priest's command spells, I can't fight in full capacity." Shirou hears Lancer complains
Lancer lowers his spear in a non-threatening stance.
"Hey Assassin, since this is our first meeting, why don't we call it a draw and duke it out once we both prepared more?" Assassin stood in silence as if contemplating
Memories start surging through him as he tries to scramble them in place and find the one bit of ueful information.
That stance… That stance…
"..!" That's the same stance that was supposed to end the battle with the twin-bladed swordsman.
"Don't! The next strike would be fatal!" But to no avail, Assassin has already begun to kill Lancer once and for all
"Now that's just, too bad!" An insane amount of magical energy once more coalescences into a single strike.
"No!" Shirou could only yell in despair, he couldn't do anything to stop Lancer
"Gae Bolg!" Lancer reveals the name of his Noble Phantasm and sends a stab that would surely hit
Assassin as if realizing his error accelerated his speed to an unobservable speed, however, the spear that strikes with death follows in pursuit even against the unseeable enemy.
The spear chases after the trails of Assassin for a total of five seconds, before something even more absurd happened.
The spear that claims an enemy's heart before it was thrust finally caught up with Assassin, Assassin seemingly possesses no escape from the spear.
Before just as the spear were to pierce Assassin, it was as if Assassin was never there, the spear that orders death itself plants itself onto the stone wall, and as if it has lost its target it stops glowing of thunder and returned to its original form.
"That's literally impossible!" Lancer yells out in absolute shock
Causality itself orders the death of Assassin, and yet like a master con artist, Assassin had managed to escape from the prison cell that was causality.
However not all was all and well, whatever Assassin did, it left him gasping for air and he seems weaker somehow.
Lancer could only stare in anger as if Assassin's entire existence was an insult to his credibility.
The cursed lancer pulled itself out of the wall and returns back to Lancer's hand.
"I'll be leaving, my Master doesn't want me to continue fighting after using my Noble Phantasm."
"See ya," Lancer mutters, looking at Assassin before settling his gaze at Shirou
The spearman disappeared into particles of magic.
Shirou didn't know what to say as he turned his gaze back to Assassin.
He didn't notice it before, but it seems Assassin's cloak had been ripped off while fighting Lancer.
He possesses distinctive Japanese features, though with pure white hair and a dark skin tone.
His face emits a familiarity that's far too close than he would imagine possible.
"No.. way…" The features of his father overlap with this man, Hero of Justice and an inhuman Assassin possessing the one and the same faces.
The cold weather couldn't be a bother to him at this moment, as the wind blows gently.
The rays of moonlight illuminated the distant figure.
A meeting of two people from different worlds, but possessing a relationship that is as close as family.
The true ideals of Emiya Shirou lie before him, the pinnacle of the Hero of Justice he admires, but at the same time, he's the ultimate challenger to his ideals, being his ideals incarnate, but yet possessing different values.
Author's Notes:
I'm back on short notice. You guys may be wondering why I haven't updated An Oath: Zero well there are two things to blame for that, the first being projects and exams that I had to prioritize over my hobby, and the second, being procrastination and enjoying other content. I've started to read the FSN VN, and started watching Apocrypha, but at the same time, I'm entering new fandom, which Vocaloid is surprisingly one that I had only discovered recently.
Anyway, due to then later a lack of motivation, I decided to conceive this idea because honestly I just want to see how this would go, think of this as my project to see if I'm still half-competent at writing, or maybe I'm now completely incompetent. But either way, yeah.
This story is of a possibility in which Shirou somehow finds Kiritsugu's gun and use it to summon Counter Guardian EMIYA Assassin. I just like writing these possibilities. As for Assasin's stats, since they weren't even good in the first place, they would receive no deranking, although that also means even his base agility is faster than Lance lmao, and add Time Alter with that, I'm surprised how Kiritsugu isn't a top Servant, the only things I could see reasonably be a hard counter to Kiritsugu's build would be armour Noble Phantasms like God's Hands or Armour of Fafnir. Although admittedly him having no sword beams of victory balances his broken set of skills.
(17/12/2021) extra notes:
For clarification on how the battles went, Shirou and Lancer, Shirou merely lucked on his roles, even though Lancer here was more aggressive and more serious compared to the original events of the VN, Shirou manages to roll a d20 on both reinforcing the poster, turning it into a very much real weapon, and reinforcing his body and pulling off that 180 double-handed swing and completely parrying Lancer's strike.
Then there's the case thing, the weapon inside is most obviously Kiritsugu's Thompson Contender, after giving up on saving Illya he has to put his weapon somewhere, and he ended up storing it and three of his origin bullets inside that case and put it in a hidden compartment of the shed, however Shirou being Shirou found it.
Finally the Lancer vs Assassin battle, Lancer was restrained by the command seal placed by Kirei at the time, same as canon, so all of his parameters were deranked by one rank. I should give an explanation on how + works, for example even if one's strength was B+, their base attack strength would still remain at of B rank, however unlike other B ranked strength, through some method they could temporarily go even further beyond and in this case they could double their strength stat. Assassin possesses A+ rank Agility, and even though his strength stat is also laughable, in terms of agility he's already a rank beyond Lancer, and then he could double his speed using Time Alter, and reach the A+ rank. Heroic Spirits's abilities reflect upon their ability in life and their legend, in which case Kerry is lacking of a real legend (his fame as the Magus Killer isn't really much, as only the Moonlit World would know of his deeds), in life, specifically in Fate/Zero, without Avalon Kiritsugu could only sustain Double Accel for a few seconds, now even though Assassin EMIYA never stopped training himself and travelling all across the globe, it still doesn't decrease the immense burden of Time Alter, in the entire span of his career, he could probably improve Time Alter to the point of letting him double his speed without too much consequences, but anything beyond that would still be risky.
However, it doesn't change the fact that Chronos Rose exist, in which I presume that it utilizes a Triple or even Square Accel. In the story, whenever Assassin disappears from sight or teleports, it signifies his usage of Time Alter, as imagine the second Archer vs Lancer, but this time Lancer could also double his speed. Not even Archer would be able to even move a muscle before a knife is already at his throat. However escaping from Gae Bolg, it is a combination of his EX rank luck, and also a perfectly timed escape, after being chased by Gae Bolg, he saw how futile it is to run away for him, so he decides to just wait until the last moment that he could escape before accelling to square, being assisted with EX rank luck it would trick Gae Bolg into thinking as if Assassin was still in the same spot, and by the time it realizes that Assassin is already gone it had already got itself stuck on a wall.
Anyway, that's the explanation for the fights.