Okay, before we start this chapter, let me go over some reviews and answer so questions.

Imc9389: As counter guardians and servants, I would personally rank them at around Vali's level, especially Archer. Illya, on the other hand, can go beyond that and may have the potential to be around Cao Cao's.

Not very strong especially on Archer's side, well for me, but they are servants from modern times and I ain't just gonna give them super buffs for bashing sake.

YuukiAsuna-Chan: I never said they were Heroic Spirits and Archer scoffed at Siegfried even saying the phrase. Also, Siegfried himself does not know what he was comparing himself to.

Regarding Ophis, she herself represents the Infinite, and Archer as a protagonist does not know that there are boundaries to her power.

I am no fool.

A/N: Not many questions for me to answer and I know I haven't been answering them so if you have anymore please do ask.

Chapter 22

Hero Faction Part 3


Archer stood firmly as he shifted himself into a roof guard with his sword pointed behind him.

Siegfried himself took a strange stance due to his wielding of four blades on four arms.

Troublesome. Was the only word that crossed Archer's mind as he awaited Siegfried to make the first move.

"I am the bone of my sword," he muttered under his breath as he readied blueprints in case he needed to switch up his approach in a moment's notice.

Siegfried took the first move as he launched himself at Archer. With Balmung and Nothung on his right, he used the two swords as his leading strike. He sought to use his and the swords' weight to force a lock.

Realizing what Siegfried was planning, Archer quickly dodged Balmung and Nothung by sidestepping diagonally to the right. He then swiftly delivered punishment by used the pommel of Excalibur Destruction to hit Siegfried in the face.

Siegfried responded by quickly stabilizing his footing and used the sword on his second left arm, Dáinself, to block the strike. Using the other left arm, he punched Archer in the gut.

Having expected a reprisal after his pommel strike had failed, Archer had readied his body for punishment and thus was relatively unharmed as he was sent flying. He flew for a little while until he was able to get a footing on the floor once more. He implanted Excalibur Destruction into the floor, the sword creating a little crater in where he impaled it.

"I would say this is quite unfair," Archer mused with amusement. "It is like fighting two highly skilled ladies at once."

Siegfried merely scoffed at the little jest as took up another unorthodox guard. "It is wrong to take me lightly, Archer. If you truly want to even have the ability to rival me in the skill of swordsmanship then use your own weapons."

Archer smirked as he stood up straight and dismissed Excalibur Destruction. "I suppose you are right..." he admitted. "But one thing you got wrong was that I have ownership over any blades." Trace on.

As he made his little dialogue, he traced the familiar blades of Kanshou and Bakuya. "Shall we begin?" he asked with a little gleam in his eye.


Illya and Le Fay watched alongside Arthur the battle unfolding before them. "Things are really heating up, I hope they won't hurt each other badly..." Illya said with a worrisome tone.

"I'm sure they will be fine! Plus big brother can break them up if they go too far!" Le Fay replied with confidence.

Arthur meanwhile merely watched the proceedings with an intrigued expression.

"So this is the man who as a power similar to Blade Blacksmith in action," another voice spoke up as they got closer.

"Ah! Jeanne!" Le Fay said excitedly as she went over to her fellow female blonde. "How have you been?"

Jeanne merely shrugged as she continued to look at the ensuing battle. "Fine, I just got finished with ensuring the people that took Illya's medicine were well," she revealed nonchalantly whilst sending a side glance at Illya.

Illya, meanwhile, gained a worried look as she walked up to Jeanne. "Are they well?" she asked with uncertainty.

"Yeah, most of them are going to make it out with little scars."

Illya released a sigh of relief at that information. "That's good..."

"I assume Cao Cao is going to recruit our next member soon?" Arthur inquired while his gaze was still glued to the fight.

"Oh! Right! Thanks, Arthur!" Jeanne said in appreciation and a bit of enthusiasm. "Illya, guess what?"

Illya looked at Jeanne with a confused look at the sudden enthusiasm. "Um... Chicken butt?"

"The newest member is going to be younger than you!"

Le Fay and Jeanne watched with amusement as Illya's mind promptly fried itself with excitement.


Archer frowned as he retreated for the sixth time only to re-engage with Siegfried immediately.

"I have to commend you, Archer," Siegfried spoke as they continued to lock blades. "Despite my not using my blades' abilities, you are holding strong."

"My compliments as well," Arched quipped as he parted his blades to the side. This had the intended effect of briefly off-setting Siegfried's balance as he fell forward from the sheer combined weight of his swords.

Utilizing the little momentum and the opening in Siegfried's mistake, Archer punished it by kneeing Siegfried under the jaw and kicking the four-armed man on the side of the head.

Spittle escaped Siegfried's lips as he reeled from the disorientating blows.

Archer then used the momentum gained from his flying side-kick to spin.

Cuts soon appeared on Siegfried's wrists as Kanshou and Bakuya shredded muscles and tendons.

Archer landed on the ground once more and immediately kicked himself away using Siegfried's kneecap as a launching off point. He then flipped himself into the air and threw his blades at Siegfried's shoulders whilst tracing a new one immediately.

Siegfried had quickly regained his bearings and balance when he noticed the two blades coming at him. He then swiftly smashed both blades into motes of light. "That quite hurt," he noted as he wiped off some drool that hung from his lips. "Would've knocked me out if you had a hit more strength in them."

As he spoke, his swords gained different hues as their abilities charged up. Ignoring the pain and numbness from both the abilities of the swords and the cuts in his wrists, he aimed three of his swords at Archer.

"I am the bone of my sword."

"Blow away all obstacles, smash everything in your wake, and freeze the very hells themselves! Balmung, Tyrfing, Dáinself!"

"Rho Aias!"

An unfathomable whirlwind erupted from Balmung, tearing anything nearby into shreds. A pure beam of destruction shot our from Tyrfing, cutting through the air like a hot knife through butter. A dozen or so small ice pillars shot from the ground and raced towards Archer, hoping to bind him in courtesy of Dáinself.

In response to the triple attack, a seven-layered petal opposed it. Having to block attacks from two directions, Archer angled Rho Aias and extended it so that it may cover most areas of attack.

The whole little area they were fighting in lit up brilliantly. Four of the petals broke simultaneously and the last three only had mere seconds before they shattered under the overwhelming attack.

Using his unused right arm, he quickly traced Excalibur Destruction and aimed it at the center of the triple attack. "Excalibur Destruction!"

From the large, unwieldy sword a large beam of pure energy shot forth. Now, despite his personal reservations towards the sword, it is undeniable that Excalibur Destruction was a superior holy sword of which was undoubtedly around a C-rank noble phantasm.

Also, since he broke it, it was undeniable that it surpassed the limits imparted to it by its inherent creation by the hands of humans. It now truly had the sheer destructive power of Excalibur of this world.

Thus, it pierced through the Balmung and Tyrfing combination attacks.

Being as experienced as he was, Siegfried had already prepared himself for such an outcome as he brought his last sword, Nothung.

A legendary sword known for its sharpness, it easily cut through Excalibur Destruction's attack and dispersed the rest of it entirely.

However, this had the unintended effect of bringing up a large amount of smoke and dust, blanketing the battlefield.

Siegfried stood his guard as he activated Balmung's ability to conjure up winds. Yet, before he could utilize the ability, he saw from the corner of his eye a large distortion in the smoke.

Still activating Balmung's ability, he brought Nothung on the distortion whilst angling his body to face it.

He soon realized his mistake.

His blade met no foe for the foe came from behind. Shit!

He tried to continue his spin in order to be in a position to parry but he knew it was too late. There was, however, something he could do. "Balmung!"

He angled the sword that belonged to the legendary figure who he descended from.

The wind blew away the smoke immediately, allowing him to see- Another feint.

Instead of facing his opponent, he was instead faced with a leisurely strong wind that was canceled out by his Balmung.

He then felt the familiar pain of a sword being stabbed into his abdomen.

Then soon, he felt an unfamiliar weight aimed towards his neck.

"Stop!" Arthur declared as he interceded incase Siegfried tried to retaliate and Archer responding in kind. He popped in between Archer and Siegfried as he used his own Excalibur to lower Excalibur Destruction. "I believe Archer wins."

Siegfried frowned but never said anything as Archer dismissed Excalibur Destruction.

"Brilliant fight," Siegfried complimented as he lowered his blades, "looks like Cao Cao was right in recruiting you."

"You were holding back," Archer said pointedly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, we are comrades, are we not?" he shot back as he implanted his swords into the ground and extended his hand.

Archer raised an eyebrow before smirking as he took the hand and shook it. "I suppose we are."


Chapter 22 End

I am going to focus on writing Ashes in order to hopefully at least get the Presage Flower arc before the official English dub for the last Heaven's Feels movie is released.

Nice little fight, eh? I do hope I pleased you guys somewhat.

Anyways, I am going to move on to the next arc instead of doing another chapter of this arc.

SaveTheWeak, out.