"Shirou!"

The red-head reacted instinctively at her words, immediately flipping away from his opponent. Where he was originally standing, a grey blur passed by, moving fast enough to have sent him flying if he had stood there. Without hesitation, he leapt forward, well within his opponent's guard, and spun, opening shallow cuts on its chest and arms. That was then followed up by him abruptly stopping, raising both blades above his head before he brought them down with all his might, causing a deep wound.

Seeing a golden glow from the corner of his eye, Shirou disengaged, leaping back again. As he did, a blade of golden light came to strike the Aragami he was fighting, a Vajra, leaving a deep gash in the Vajra's left arm. Losing its stability, the Vajra collapsed, struggling to get up.

"Shirou!"

Another voice called to him, causing him to turn on his feet. Seeing a black and red projectile fly towards him, Shirou leapt over it, now on a collision course with the other Aragami, a Gboro-Gboro. As he heard an explosion occur behind him, Shirou brought his God Arcs upward, crossing them. When he was moments away from reaching the Aragami, he brought both blades downward, colliding against the Gboro-Gboro's 'turret'.

The force behind his leap wasn't enough to overcome tthe force of the Gboro-Gboro, sending him flying backwards. As he was airborne, the Aragami charged up its Oracle before shooting a ball of concentrated water right at him. Shirou quickly brought up his God Arcs to block it, only causing him to be sent flying further back. Landing on the floor in a roll, Shirou found himself in front of the now dead Vajra.

As he stood up to continue the fight, his attention was drawn to the figure dressed in blue next to the Gboro-Gboro. With a swing of her golden God Arc, the Aragami found itself airborne, a deep slash wound on its underside. Without quarter, a figure dressed in red appeared from above it, pulling the trigger on her black Blaster God Arc, sending a black and red orb of Oracle Energy into it, causing it to hit the floor then rebound back up.

"Shirou!"

At once, the two figures yelled out to him, prompting him to finish the Gboro-Gboro. With a deep breath, Shirou charged forward, focusing on his blades all the while. He felt the Oracle pumping through his Armlets, how it went through his entire body, from his brain to his toes. He felt the connection between his Armlets and his God Arc cores, and trailed it until he reached the blades. Then, slowly, he forced the Oracle through his blades, before solidifying it atop the God Arcs.

As he reached the airborne Gboro-Gboro, he managed to create two neon-green blades to coat his God Arcs, increasing their range and enhancing their damage. Then, in a split-second, he brought his God Arcs down, quartering the Aragami in a spray of blood. Stopping, he landed on one knee and then quickly let the gathered Oracle energy disperse before it became unstable.

Standing upwards, Shirou looked around the environment, seeing the handiwork of him and his team. They were in the Wailing Plains, and had been there for the last half hour. As such, even though their remnants weren't there as proof, the trio had slain many Aragami. They had, for reasons unknown, been moving in this direction for the last three days. Only in small groups, but it was still worrying. Not worrying enough to warrant more than one team, but still worrying.

The trio had volunteered, with Rin suggesting the idea, three days after Shirou's last talk with Sakaki. The goal was to help Shirou with his Oracle control, so that his Oracle blades could stay stable long enough for him to attack his opponents without them exploding. They were given the go ahead by Sakaki, and here they were.

Shirou's attention was pulled to the sounds of Devouring, causing him to see Rin pulling her God Arc away from the Vajra, flicking her twin-tails as she did. She turned, only to see him looking at her, and smiled. Shirou felt a slight flutter in his chest, but ignored it for the slight giddiness he felt. He walked over, and she asked him,

"So? Did it work?"

She looked at him expectantly, and he tried to make a downtrodden expression, but was given away by the slight quirk to his lips, his slowly-becoming-trademark smirk spreading. Rin, seeing the smirk at odds with his expression, began to laugh, a giggle at first, before it turned into hunched over hooting, Shirou soon joining in, although less extreme, and the third figure, Saber, walking into the scene with confusion.

As Rin's laughter slowly tapered off into laboured breathing, Saber looked to Shirou with a slight quirk in her eyebrow, before asking the same question Rin did. With his smirk now proudly on his face, Shirou answered in the positive. Saber looked at him with pride before clapping his shoulder.

"Congratulations, Shirou!"

Rin came over, still panting slightly, and gave him a similar message.

"Y-yeah! I... I knew you could do it... Shirou!"

Shirou smiled at the two of them, happy at their praise (even if a part of him, a small part but a part nonetheless, told him he didn't deserve their praise) before he looked to his God Arcs, Unlimited Blade Works. He asked them, both mentally and aloud, although in a mumble,

"How are you doing?"

A slight mental image formed, of Archer doing stretches and shaking out parts of his body, as if sore. Archer shot him a slight smirk, before answering mentally.

"I'm doing fine. Much better than the first few times. Although... I am a bit hungry. Think you could get me the leftovers?"

Shirou nodded enthusiastically, before moving past Saber and Rin, who both looked at him in slight confusion, and towards the Vajra. Taking a pose, with his left arm and black God Arc, Kanshou, held forward, and his right arm and his white God Arc, Bakuya, held behind him, he thrust Bakuya forward as, simultaneously, a creature made of a jet-black substance with neon-green eyes and fangs formed over it. It extended beyond Bakuya, which seemed to shrink in response, before biting into the dead Vajra, taking out a chunk.

Ignoring the slight sensation of meat and blood in his mouth, which definitely did not taste oddly pleasant, no sirree, nor did it make him think of that Chinese food he had read about, Shirou turned and made his way to the Gboro-Gboro. Repeating his actions, with Kanshou devouring instead of Bakuya, and the not-taste of fish instead of imaginary Chinese. With that done, he turned to speak to his teammates, only to hear...

Crackle

"Congratulations you three! You all did really well dealing with the large number of Aragami. This should be the end of the extended operation, so you can come home. The chopper is coming for you now."

"Thanks, Hibari."

"You're welcome."

With that, the earpiece turned off, and Shirou looked to Saber and Rin. The two were talking to each other, likely about their performance, and Shirou moved over to join them, only...

Crash! Boom!

Noises suddenly came from the ruins resting on the lip above the Wailing Plains, alongside clouds of displaced dust. Shirou quickly made his way to the other two before assuming a combat stance, Rin and Saber following suit. As the noise got louder, and the dustclouds started appearing closer and closer, Shirou's earpiece crackled again.

Crackle

"Shirou! Saber! Rin! Be careful! Another group of Aragami is coming your way at high speeds! Actually-- Wait, what!? The number of Aragami is decreasing!?" The worry in Hibari's voice immediately hiked up, alongside the addition of confusion. Swallowing it down, she gave one last warning, "Be careful you three! We don't know what's coming now!"

The earpiece turned off, leaving the three in silence. So, they waited, the tension in the air thock. They didn't have to wait long. Suddenly, a large object came flying over the cliff towards them. On closer inspection, it was actually a torn apart Quadriga, but they weren't paying attention to that. Their eyes were instead drawn to blonde man, his hair swept backwards in a style reminiscent of Archer's, with golden... armour?

No, they weren't crazy. The man was wearing legitimate golden armour over his body, with black pants and a red waistcoat. It would have looked ridiculous, if not for his expression. His crimson eyes, along with his sneer, displayed a man who was disgusted by what he was seeing. The trio disgusted him down to his core.

But more worrying was what they weren't seeing. The slain Quadriga was covered in deep cuts from various locations. But the man didn't seem to have any weapons on him, despite having an Armlet the same as Saber's own. So where was his God Arc?

"Hmph. Who are you mongrels, that dare raise your weapons at your King?"

The blonde man suddenly spoke, and when he did, it was with a tone that brooked no argument, as if he was speaking to mere animals. Considering his placeholder title for them, that may not have been too far off the mark. Shirou tightened his stance as he answered.

"Shirou Emiya. A God Eater from the Far East Branch. Who are you?"

The blonde man's eyes flicked over to him, his sneer deepening with distaste, before he looked back to the others. A mocking laugh came from him, before he answered with a question.

"Hah! And why should I tell you that, mongrel? Can you not tell by my sheer presence who I am!?"

He asked with sheer cockiness in his tone, and if Shirou wasn't as keen as he was, he would have regarded the blonde man as hot air and nothing more. But there was a confidence in his actions, a look in his eyes, that kept Shirou on his toes, preparing for whatever would occur.

"And besides that," His expression, which had shifted into one of cockiness, changed into one that inferred anger and curiosity in equal measure, "Your two companions haven't introduced themselves yet. Is it not the custom of your people to give your own name first before asking for another?"

Ignoring the blatant hypocrisy in his statement, and the negative implications behind his tone when he called the two companions, Rin and Saber shared a look before introducing themselves as such.

"Rin Tohsaka, a God Eater affiliated with the Far East Branch."

"Saber, God Eater Prototype currently assigned to the Far East Branch."

The blonde man seemed to start at that, before he began to laugh. It was different to his earlier one. Instead of mocking, it seemed to show true amusement. When he was eventually done, he pointed a finger at Saber.

"So you're Saber? If that's true, then you may call me Archer. The last Prototype God Eater. Although, I am far stronger than any made before me. That is why I am King."

The arrogance of his comments would have ticked Shirou off if not for what he gave his name as. Archer. Like his partner. Archer, who seems to have far too deep an understanding of Shirou, of how his abilities work, of his friends. Archer, who he should probably have a conversation with but doesn't think is important enough. That's suddenly been bumped up.

Rin was much more vocal in her confusion.

"Archer!?"

Saber, too, spoke, albeit as more of a mutter.

"Archer?"

Rin, of course, didn't let the question remain unanswered though.

"What do you mean, Archer!? Archer is tall, and tan, and has white hair, and looks like Shirou! You-- You don't look a thing like him, aside from the hair-do, but besides that--" Suddenly, she pointed at Saber, "How do you know Saber!?"

Shirou could see annoyance creep over the man's face, but he laughed before mockingly asking Saber,

"Oh, Saber. Did you never tell them? Did you not want them to know, or did it just never come up in conversation?"

Before Rin could ask another question, or Saber could give a response, the blonde man (calling him Archer was too bizarre for Shirou to even grasp) raised his finger before proclaiming,

"Listen up and listen well, mongrels! Just this once, your King shall explain to you about Prototype God Eaters, so be grateful!"

The trio could only give him blank looks, with Rin's brow twitching and Shirou keeping his God Arcs close. Then, the blonde man explained about Prototype God Eaters, about the names he and Saber were gifted, everything.

Essentially, Prototype God Eaters were just that, God Eaters made with experimental technology and abilities in mind. The death rate of these God Eaters was high, and Saber and the blonde man were hardly the first generation. As far as they knew, they were closer to the 4th or 5th generation, with the blonde man being the most recent.

They were each given a name that corresponded with either their experimental God Arcs or their experimental abilities, each according to names observed in a book. There was:

Saber, one who wields swords

Archer, one who attacks from range

Lancer, one who wields a spear

Caster, one who used unknown arts

Rider, one that controlled the battlefield by proxy

Assassin, one that attacked from the shadows

Berserker, one that fought with pure rage

When related to experimental God Eaters, this would be experimental Blade Arcs, experimental Arcs that attack from range, experimental Spear Arcs, experimental abilities that allow the manipulation of Oracle, experimental abilities or Arcs that allowed the control of a proxy, experimental stealth abilities and Arcs, and experimental abilities that put everything into strength, depriving the wielders of thought.

Shirou was able to relate a few of these. Saber did use an experimental Long Blade God Arc. Berserker had abilities that would deprive him of sanity, granting him immense strength. Lancer also used an experimental Charge Spear Arc. If those three were accurate, the man would then have a ranged God Arc. Yet...

"Bu-What!? Experimental technology, classes dedicated to each branch, and no one knows anything of this!? Why wasn't any of this ever implemented!? Or-"

As Rin continued questioning and picking apart the information she was given, in a way that felt alarmingly out of character for her, the blonde man sighed in annoyance.

"You are annoying, mongrel. Why don't you act like your fellow mongrels and just sit there quietly." Looking to Saber, a small smile grew on his face before he asked, "Saber. Why don't you and me battle? It has been a long time since I had a worthy opponent. It would bring me joy to let loose for once."

Saber bristled at his words, before responding, "Do you take me for a coward, Archer!? I would never attack someone without a means to defend themselves!"

The blonde chuckled at her words. "Ah, do not worry, Saber. I am far from undefended. Just let me get rid of these other mongrels, then we can commence our battle."

At those words, Shirou tensed. Far from undefended? Allow me to get rid of them? What did he mean? Shirou kept his eyes peeled, trying to find the slightest sign of an attack. Suddenly, he saw a flash of metal to his left, coming towards the still thinking Rin. With haste, he threw Bakuya towards where he expected the flash of metal would be, successfully deflecting it and awakening Rin from her thoughts.

However, something deep within seemed to scream at him to watch out for behind him. Slightly turning his head, Shirou saw another flash of metal, what he could now realize was more like a long, thin blade, coming towards his left. Raising Kanshou behind his back, he blocked the second blade, feeling slight reverberations throughout his arm.

Looking back to the blonde man, he saw that he had a surprised expression, his mouth slightly agape. He quickly closed it before giving Shirou an appraising look. Then a slight huff.

"It seems I underestimated you, mongrel. It normally takes other mongrels longer to notice the blades, but you caught them immediately. It seems I'll have to take you a tad more seriously."

Yet again, a blade appeared and flew towards him. He easily deflected It, sending it flying off to the side. Immediately after that, two blades came flying at him. This was slightly more difficult with only one blade, but not impossible. Shirou deflected one and dodged underneath the other, which came from the opposite direction.

After that, there were three blades, all coming from different directions at a different tempo. Shirou blocked one, twisted around another, then parried the third. Four blades appeared, and then Shirou found himself in trouble. He blocked the first blade, dodged the second, but the third and fourth came at the same time, leaving him unable to block both or dodge from his current position. So, reaching out his hand, he called for Bakuya.

In the next instant, it came flying from where it was embedded in the ground, seamlessly landing in Shirou's outstretched palm. Now with both blades in hand, Shirou spun, deflecting both oncoming blades.

The entire proceeding took less than ten seconds. In that time, Saber attacked the blonde man in an attempt to take the heat off Shirou, but was then attacked by a few blades herself. Shirou didn't have the time to count when he glanced over, but it was way more than he was dealing with. Rin had also tried to attack, but was dealing with a similar problem, leading to her and Saber standing back to back.

The blonde man's eyes widened at the sight of Shirou calling his God Arc to him. Suddenly, a look of outrage emerged, before he raised his hand. Immediately, five blades came. Then six. Then seven. Each time, Shirou's dodges were closer and closer, each of his blocks or parries sending stronger reverberations up his arms.

Then eight blades came, and he felt a wound emerge over his right hip, the blade cutting through his body armour. Nine blades, two cuts appearing on each arm. Then ten blades. All of them coming from from various directions. Above, behind, to his sides, in front of him, all at different tempos, all at different speeds. Shirou managed to block one that came from above, then jumped over one that flew for his legs. In the air, he had to block two that came for his chest, managing to twist his way around a third.

But when he landed, the remaining five blades all came at once. Being off-balance, Shirou couldn't dodge without putting himself in a worse position. Bringing his God Arcs up, he blocked the two blades that came straight for him. The two blades, however, were moving with a high velocity, completely destroying Shirou's guard and whatever balance he may have had.

The other three blades, which were further away than the previous two, continued towards him. He was able to spin around on his heel, dodging one, but leading him into the path of the other two. He tried to move his God Arc to defend, but had nowhere near enough time, causing the blades to impale him through his left side and right shoulder. As they slid through him, Shirou took note of the gathering amount of displaced dirt starting to inhibit his vision from the blades that had hit the ground. Then slowly, he looked up to the blonde man.

Gilgamesh was annoyed. When he left the cave, he had expected it to be a long stroll, maybe the better part of a day, for him to reach the mongrel's den. Instead, he had been walking for three days and was constantly encountering weak beasts that fancied themselves Kingslayers. That confidence of theirs quickly diminished in the face of his power, sending them all running.

Now here he was, dealing with some annoying mongrels. The red one had been the most irritating, blithely asking and demanding information from him, the King. He had thought he found a worthy adversary in Saber, another Prototype like him. But before he could get her alone, the other mongrel, the one with two God Arcs, saved the red one and himself. That was annoying, but also interesting. Gilgamesh decided to test him.

When Saber and the red mongrel attacked him, he spared them some attention, at least for Saber's sake. But his focus was mostly on the other mongrel. His diligence was repaid by the sight of the mongrel's God Arc flying into his palm. It was surprising, but more than that, it was annoying. That was similar to his own ability. Looking closer, Gilgamesh saw that the mongrel had an Armlet the same as his own on his right wrist.

With a look of annoyance, internally brimming with anger, Gilgamesh made his weapon attack faster, from more various angles. It was when he saw the mongrel be impaled by two of his weapon's segments, as a dustcloud rose, that he let out a sigh. It looks like the mongrel couldn't exceed his expectations. Ignoring the slight sense of satisfaction he felt from putting down the copy mongrel, he looked over to Saber and the red mongrel, intending to end the farce and take his time with her, when he saw a faint glow out of the corner of his eye.

It was coming from the dustcloud the copy mongrel was in. Suddenly, a blur of green came flying towards him. Operating on instinct, Gilgamesh summoned one of his segments to block it, causing the green blade to part in two. Where the blade came from, the dust had parted to reveal the mongrel's heterochromatic eyes looking at him. Then, another green blade ememerged from the smoke, and Gilgamesh easily blocked that, sending it flying off.

"Hahahaha! Is that all you can muster, mongrel?"

He looked down on the copy mongrel, a smirk present on his face. But, the smirk fell off when the mongrel brought his right arm up, pointing the blade at him, and spoke.

"Don't underestimate those below you. Otherwise, you'll find yourself being usurped, 'King'."

It was only the slight whistling noise he heard that kept Gilgamesh from dying. Spinning around, he saw the green blades that he had deflected spinning towards him. He brought out two segments to block them, successfully destroying them, but a third blade slipped through. It was the fragment of the first blade he broke. He brought one of his segments towards himself to block the blade.

The whistling noise was heard again, this time from the copy mongrel. Gilgamesh spun once more, hurriedly blocking the newly formed blade, but a fragment of it that split off from the collision with Gilgamesh's segment flew past Gilgamesh's face, leaving a shallow cut. Suddenly, there was silence. One second passed. Then another. Slowly, Gilgamesh brought his hand up to his cheek, rubbing at it and slightly flinching from the pain. On his hand was something red.

Something red and wet.

Something red and wet that came out of him.

His blood.

His blood, from his face. Meaning... he was bleeding.

He was bleeding.

He was bleeding because of that copy mongrel.

Bleeding because of that mongrel's ability to manipulate his blades like his own limbs.

Just like him.

Bleeding because of that mongrel's ability to create blades at a moment's notice.

Just. Like. Him.

Bleeding because of that... that damn...

That damn Faker!

Trembling with barely restrained rage, Gilgamesh looked over to the Faker, his crimson eyes practically glowing. With a snarl to his tone, he roared.

"How dare you!? You damn Faker! How dare you harm me, your King!? The punishment for this, shall be grand!"

Shirou looked at the blonde man, warily keeping his God Arcs near him, specifically to his two deep wounds. When the blonde man yelled, Shirou waited for his 'grand punishment', and was not disappointed. Suddenly, all of the blades that had been littered around the area flew towards him. Not just the 55 that Shirou dealt with, but even the ones that Saber and Rin were fighting.

They all came together, forming a cylinder of blades. Then, the blonde man reached his hand into the cylinder. From his Armlet on his right wrist, a crimson red pulse, like crackling electricity, worked its way up his arm and into the cylinder. The cylinder of blades started to spin, the red energy circling it, until it was just a red blur. Then there was a flash, causing everyone to look away.

When they looked back, they saw the blonde man holding something strange. It was like a God Arc in appearance, yet not. It was as long as a Knife Arc, maybe even shorter, but without an edge. Actually, it looked more like a smooth cylinder. No matter how hard Shirou tried to look at it, he couldn't get a read on it. Not even a name. Just a slight headache.

The blonde man slowly lowered the cylinder, then moved it horizontally, as if parting water. As he did, the cylinder began to glow red near the tip, before blades started to appear from it. When he was done moving the cylinder, there floated a line of twenty or so blades. Raising his left hand, the blades rearranged themselves so they surrounded Shirou, and by proxy Saber and Rin.

"Face your punishment, and regret the choices that led you to me, Faker!"

The dome of blades then brought the wrath of the Golden King on the trio.

Thank you for reading. This is Cee, and I still can't do Gil. Who would have thought writing like an asshole with an overinflated sense of ego (although a well proven one) would have been difficult.

So this chapter was longer than expected, thanks to the power of fight scenes. Yay. Now I need to figure out how to bring it to an end next chapter. Don't worry, Gil won't die. Probably.

Also, no, I won't introduce any more Servants. It will be better for everyone involved.

Thank you alatreon56 and Finder18 for favouriting or following.

Goodbye.

Word Count: 4279