The Story of Illya Emiya
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Fate Stay franchise or the characters associated with them.
"talking"
Thoughts
All hail the king II
"Archer" as Saber shook uncontrollably.
"What?!" as the girls were startled at hearing that.
Before they could question her, the knightly servant jumped up creating a shockwave as a burst of wind gushed passed them.
Easily clearing the roof barrier, Saber landed nimbly to the ground below much to the shock of the surrounding students as they were flustered as to where she came from. Before they could question her, she was already running towards the school's entrance.
"Saber!" Illya shouted only for her servant to ignore her. "What's gotten into her?"
"Must be serious if she went and did that" as Kuro looked to see the confused students below.
"Let's follow her" said Miyu.
Taking her friend and sister's hand, "space alter" as Illya and co. chased after Saber.
At the entrance of the school the blond-haired man was raising all kinds of trouble as disciplinary students and teachers tried to calm things down. But they weren't having much success as said man pretty much acted like they weren't there or weren't worth the effort to talk too.
"Archer!" Saber shouted getting the man's attention.
With his arrogant condescending grin, "Saber" said Archer. "Feel honored that a king like myself has graced you with my presence".
Even as disciplined as Saber was, she couldn't help but cringe in irritation as he was still the same jerk she knew him as years ago. "Why or even how are you here?" she then asked as she refused to back off from such an egotistical man.
"To proposition you once more of course".
"Proposition?"
Reaching into his pocket, the golden king revealed a glamorous piece of jewelry that would make even the most modest girl take a second look. "Be mine" he demanded rather then asked.
For everyone who was watching this exchange they had to wonder why all this strangeness was happening at this school or why all these important people were showing up. But disregarding that, this was quite the juicy gossip.
Regardless of this stranger's rudeness and ego, they had to applaud his confidence to so openly propose marriage in such a casual way.
"I refuse" Saber answered flatly without hesitation. Not even for all the wealth of the world would she even consider submitting to him. As far as she was concerned, he was the epitome of shameless and deplorable as both a man and a king.
Contrary to a normal reaction as most would feel embarrassed at being harshly and publicly turned down, the golden king sneered. A low chuckle soon escaped his lips before a full-on condescending laugh came out. "I would expect nothing less of that answer. But nonetheless you will be mine before the end of it".
As tensions were running high, the watching students weren't sure what to do.
Saber on the other hand had to be careful. With the way Archer was, he could care less if every student here died if he felt they were in his way. Being one of the most powerful servants, she doubted there would be much to stop him if he decided to start a fight now.
Gripping her hand as she readied her sword, "what is your purpose here?"
"Isn't that obvious?" as he suspiciously seemed to be reaching for something.
"Space time alter! Rift!" Illya shouted as the area around them started to distort like ripples in water. Rift was a new magic she created that combined space and time together. It was a spell she made for containing threats by shifting dimensions off the axis of the world's own domain. While in this dimension, there was only them in the world without time.
With it, she could reduce possible casualties to just them till the threat was dealt with.
Assembled with Saber was Berserker Illya, Archer Kuro, Rider Miyu, Caster, Rin, Luvia, and Shirou as they were ready to go to war against the golden king.
But even against all of them, Archer was not even the least bit fazed. If anything, he was flattered as they stood before his magnificence.
Though they were gathered, Saber didn't feel any better about the situation. After all, Archer was the strongest for his numerous noble phantasms. Aside from that making him the strongest it also provided no clues to what his true identity was. Holding the sword of wind in front of her in defensive stance, "what is your purpose here?" the knightly servant asked again.
Chuckling indifferently, "As I said, to claim you".
Grimacing at his answer, "are you still participating for the holy grail?" Saber then asked.
"Participating?" Archer then questioned as if it was ridiculous to ask. "As I told you before the holy grail was mine to begin with. So, what business do I have in participating for something that already belongs to me? If anything, I'm just defending my property from low lives".
"Oh?" Caster smiled as he didn't feel the least bit tense about the situation. "Do you actually have a purpose for the grail?"
"I do" as he looked back to Saber. "After I take the grail, I'll make you drink it's contents giving you a body in this world. Then I shall make you mine".
"She's not going with you!" Shirou then exclaimed. "She doesn't belong to you!"
Looking annoyed at the mage smith, he barely even noticed he was there before. Glaring at this child who was no better then a dog as far as he was concerned, "watch your tongue mongrel!". A golden rippling portal then opened up next to him, a sword then shot out.
Tracing a shield in a hurry, his projection was destroyed as Shirou was thrown back from the shockwave.
In that moment they all acted baring their weapons towards Archer as he was instantly in full armor.
Yet without batting an eye, the golden king had already acted against them.
Illya and Miyu was immediately incapacitated as they were bound in chains. No matter how they struggled they couldn't break free.
Caster protected Rin and Luvia within his barrier as the chains coiled around them as they were effectively immobilized.
However, Kuro and Saber had escaped the bindings as they charged at their opponent.
Responding in kind, multiple portals opened up as noble phantasms were being shot at them like arrows.
Quickly overwhelmed, the pair were put on the defensive.
Obviously, they couldn't keep this up forever as they needed to make a decisive move.
"At this rate we're going to be killed. We need to end this now!" Kuro had just the trick. Her eyes then shined as they scanned every blade that was being shot at them. Projecting the exact same weapons, she fired them right back canceling those used by their opponent.
With the path cleared Saber didn't waste the opportunity. Blitzing in at maximum speed she was ready to draw out her sword and end this with the full might of Excalibur.
"Hmm, pathetic" Archer muttered as he repositioned his portals which once again forced Saber to retreat.
Just as Kuro and Saber regrouped, the golden king had stopped his attack as everyone else was freed from his chains. Illya and Miyu joined up with Saber and Kuro while Rin, Luvia, and Caster checked up on Shirou.
"What's the meaning of this?" Saber then asked as she kept her guard up.
"Hmph, I have grown bored of this" Archer answered indifferently. "I find this place unworthy of an appropriate battlefield" as he returned back to his regular cloths.
"What?!" as Saber just couldn't understand the gull of this man.
"Nonetheless I shall return another time" as Archer pulled a sword from his portal and shattered the dimensional space.
Reacting quickly Saber returned to her uniform as Illya, Kuro, and Miyu deinstalled while Caster made himself scarce.
With the surrounding students none the wiser of what had transpired, it was just another day for everyone else as they talked about the daring proposal.
~ Emiya residence ~
Once school was over everyone gathered for an emergency meeting.
After getting routed by such a powerful servant they were all on edge as they stayed close to each other in the event he decided to come back.
Gathered around the table Saber told them everything she knew concerning the mysterious king.
"But that doesn't make sense!" Rin exclaimed. "How can he even be here? An eighth servant let alone an Archer".
"No point in asking that now" Luvia shrugged. "The fact is he's here and we have to deal with it".
"If only we had a clue to who he was we might have some fighting chance against him" as Kuro rubbed her chin.
Shirou then looked to Caster as he was just sitting aside enjoying his cup of tea. "Do you have any clues on the matter?"
"Oh, I already know who he is".
"You do!" everyone shouted.
"Yeah" as Caster still held his whimsical smile while sipping down his drink.
"And?"
"Well there's no point in me giving you the answer if you didn't bother working for it" Caster then said playfully.
Saber could only sigh at how troublesome her teacher could be at times.
"I just thought the answer was rather obvious if you just thought about it. So, tell me what do you know so far about him?"
Compiling everything they knew; the golden king's most defining trait was his over bearing ego. But aside from that was his claim to all the treasures in the world and his numerous noble phantasms.
Under normal circumstance such a thing wasn't possible.
After continuing to talk for an hour or so they weren't making much progress as they kept getting hung up on two of his most defining traits. The first being his large repertoire of treasures and the second being his status as a king.
All things considered it narrowed down where they had to look.
If he was initially properly summoned, he would be based in one of the European mythos.
Going off that line of logic, it would have to be a king known for his avarice of what they knew of him.
So why couldn't they figure out who he was?
With piles of books stacked up on the table, everyone was busy reading and cross-referencing possible candidates.
Practically at their wits end as it was evening as Sella started preparing dinner, Shirou picked up one last book before he decided to call it quits for today. Reading its contents carefully he came to a possible realization to who the golden king might be.
Seeing Shirou approach him, "how may I help you master?" Caster asked.
"The identity of the eighth servant, is he Gilgamesh?"
"Ding ding ding ding ding" Caster smiled.
Everyone was astonished at the answer.
"The king of heroes . . . . Certainly not some empty title . . . ."
Now knowing what they were up against the group was rather disheartened. Aside from needing to worry about Lancer and Assassin, how do you defeat the strongest hero in history?
Mulling over this new information, they had hit another road block.
With the atmosphere getting dimmer by the minute Illya slammed her hands on the table rousing everyone's attention. "I know things look bleak. But I'm not going to give up without trying!"
"Illya . . . ."
"We don't know when Gilgamesh is going to return. But that just makes every second we breath matter. If there is at least one small thing we can do to turn the situation around we have to take that chance!" Illya then stood up. "I'm not just going to leave my life to fate!"
"My sword is at your command!" said Saber standing up.
Allowing her little speech to sink in, Kuro then chuckled as she too stood up. "Hell, if we're going to die let's do it together".
"I'm with you Illya!" Miyu joined in.
"Let's get to work!" said Shirou.
"Can't believe how pathetic I was" Rin grinned. "We only live once right".
"Try not to be a burden" Luvia poked her long-time rival.
"I'll do my best!" as Sakura pumped her fists.
"I guess I can help out too" Caster chuckled.
"We are ready to serve in whatever capacity we can!" Sella stated as Leysritt just nodded.
With everyone's hopes revived the group got straight to it doing whatever they could to get stronger.
As everyone crammed in what they could they soon washed up and headed to bed.
Walking into her room drying her hair, Illya saw her sister deep in thought as she pensively looked at the wall.
Before the young homunculus could ask what was on her mind, "Archer can beat Gilgamesh".
"What?! Are you sure?!" Illya exclaimed.
"Yes" Kuro nodded. Archer's memories were a bit of a mess. There were just so many things happening that were and weren't as the red servant had a difficult time keeping it all straight.
In one dusty vague memory Shirou had not only encountered Gilgamesh but defeated him as well.
"There lay two paths to victory in front of us. The first is Avalon".
"Saber's sheath? I thought it was lost".
"Not lost" as Kuro shook her head. "Sealed away inside Shirou. It was no accident when you summoned Saber. With Avalon's presence close by it acted as the catalyst to summon her. But whether or not Shirou can give it back is unknown as it might have completely merged with him after all these years".
"And the other?"
"Archer's reality marble. The unlimited blade works. It has the power to beat Gilgamesh. But I'm not compatible with it due to my circumstance. However it's not our only option on the matter . . . ."
Thinking carefully about what Kuro meant, Illya's eyes flashed angrily at what her plan was. "I won't allow it!"
"Does it look like I want to either!" Kuro retorted. "If we can't retrieve Avalon this is our next best option. By connecting Archer to Shirou, he will be the ace we'll need to outcome the situation".
"But it might destroy him as well . . . ."
To be continued . . . .
Author's notes: It's been a while. But I had a lot to do irl as things just happened. Now for some commentary.
If you're having trouble picturing Illya's new spell just watch Shakugan no Shana when they use the fuzetsu spell. Just minus all the people standing around.
Surprisingly enough I had a hard time writing out Gilgamesh's personality of a narcissist. Most times he just does things on a whim. He chooses when he cares to fight or grows bored and leaves. When he decides to be charitable or a real d**k. But more then that I'm not so sure about his current self during the fifth war seeing as he was created from the corrupted grail. So I'm not sure if his current wishes and desires are due to the grail or something of his own choosing. But as most argued, he is being influenced by the grail which is causing more of his destructive habits.
Otherwise his reveal in canon was kind of anti-climatic and I kind of felt it was the same in my story.
I'm also not even certain if servant card holders can use reality marbles. As noted, a reality marble is the crystallization of the ideals of that individual. With how personal a reality marble is and it baring no relation to the person who installs it I'm more or less on the fence if they can even invoke it. Personally, I think they can't due to differing mentalities thus why I believe Archer Kuro should not be able to summon the unlimited blade works. But for the sake of this story they can.
Assuming constant factors in branching universes, Shirou from Archer's original timeline where he won the war must have encountered Gilgamesh and beat him. Thus the conclusion that Kuro has the vague memories on how to beat him.
So next chapter will pretty much be training before they go off to the final battle.
If there are any questions or concerns feel free to ask as I'll try to answer them.
So thank you for reading as I further my gratitude if you can review as well.