Author Note

Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Fate: Sword and Arrow.

Right now, the final battle commences. But before we proceed with the chapter, I will answer the reviews.

gaidzani - This story will finish after this Great War. I have more ideas in mind for other stories and I will ponder about these ideas after I finish this one.

tl34lt12 - Well, can't confirm nor deny...the answers will appear soon.

downix2k - The Harrrier has both one-seat and two-seats variants. And though it's british, it does not mean that other Country can't purchase it. Actually, I had to ponder a bit about the possible transportations they could use to reach the base. In Aprocrypha, Mordred pretty much threw the plane at Semiramis. Although a funny scene, it is certainly don't favor the old backup plan to leave afterward. I had even thought of a helicopter, but the platform was above the clouds and a chopper cannot fly in those altitudes. So, yes, the Harrier was the only possible choice.

Now, with that out of the way, let us proceed with the chapter.

Fate: Sword and Arrow

Part II – Fate Aprocrypha

Chapter 18 – Final Battle Part I

It is nighttime as Semiramis' platform hovers above the clouds.

All the servants from the Red Faction (minus Saber) and Caster of Black were looking at the horizon, waiting for the other servants to appear. It would be only a matter of time really. All of them were at the whims of a single master now, but the priest's words managed to sway even the most stubborn of servants, namely Achilles. Karna was fine with whoever his master was; Semiramis was actually Shirou's servant and Achilles, well, Achilles just wanted to have a good fight and especially the opportunity to face his teacher once more. Caster of Red, more known as William Shakespeare, was not interested in joining the battlefield, choosing, instead, to write about their fearless leader's utopia of somehow saving humanity by winning the war and then wishing it from the Greater Grail.

The addiction to the priest's faction was Caster of Black, more actively known as Avicebron.

Betraying the Yggdmillenia, he barged inside the castle and took possession of the last piece of the puzzle for his noble phantasm, namely Roche, one of the family's young magus. This war had provided the servant with plenty of material for him to fulfill his wish. And the priest had only asked him to do one thing and then he would be free to fulfil his own selfish desire. All four servants turned to a screen that materialized behind them as Semiramis appeared sitting in her throne. No one questioned why the servant was the one giving orders, instead of the priest.

"They are coming shortly, though I still can't feel Saber of Red's signature. Rider, please go and meet them halfway…"

Achilles showed his full teeth smile and jumped away from the platform before whistling to his chariot.

A hundred miles away from the platform, appeared a fleet of jumbo airplanes headed towards Semiramis' platform. On top of each airplane, was a different servant while the masters were inside a smaller jet flying behind the squadron. The reason being that if the servants were to attack, then both Ruler and Chiron would be the buffer until they arrived at the platform. Astolfo was flying ahead of them on top of his Hippogriff, hoping to at least deal with the platform's defenses.

Both Jeanne and Chiron saw what looked like a yellow comet, before Achilles attacked the first airplane, literally obliterating it with his Chariot.

Achilles then went forward to the plane where Chiron was. Chiron bombarded Achilles with his arrows in mid-flight, hoping to strike the Rider, but to no avail as Achilles also went through the plane that Chiron was standing on, forcing the Centaurus to quickly jump towards another plane to keep on the attack. Meanwhile, Jeanne looked forward to the platform until she saw a blue beam charging straight at her. The ruler servant used her lance and diverted the attack from Semirami's, simply redirecting the energy beam upward, until it faded.

Achilles kept on the offensive, until he stopped close to Chiron's position who had just fired a horde of arrows seemingly in the wrong direction.

Achilles saw that Chiron's eyes were closed and that was never a good thing. Usually it meant that his teacher would be teaching him a lesson. Truth to his experience, Achilles looked up and saw Chiron's arrow rain bombarding his Chariot, rendering his noble phantasm useless and forcing the proud warrior to jump to the airplane where his master was there waiting for him. Because of this, the path for Jeanne and Astolfo was clear to keep their advancement towards the platform.

'Ruler, the path is clear…'

'I appreciate it Archer of Black…I will be waiting for you.'

'There is no need Ruler, this battle will be my last…'

"So, we meet again sensei…" Chiron opened his eyes as he saw Achilles pointing his lance at him threateningly.

"Why are you helping Amakusa Shirou, Achilles…"

"I don't have a wish for the Grail, and after hearing about his, I can't say that is not a noble path for a hero to follow. Not eradicating humans, nor selecting them…and certainly not destroying anything. Just using the Grail to save humanity." Chiron snorted at that. Truly, even in this era, there were those who strove for the impossible, dwelling into unknown power of unknown consequences to reach unachievable goals. The past mistakes will unfortunately keep being repeated and by people who never believed in reading history to realize their folly.

"There is no such plan that can be that convenient, Achilles. I thought that I had taught you better than that. There is no shortcut to this path."

"Surely, you did not hear me sensei, if this path is truly impossible, then the greater grail shall provide."

"I heard you Achilles, but it's still wrong…but you have never heard to reason before…come Achilles, let us resume our fight."

Achilles saw Chiron pointing his arrows and smirked.

===Astolfo===

Flying in her phantasmal beast, Astolfo was giving her all to dodge the incoming blasts from the platform. He had a mission from her master.

Master Sieg believed in him when no one would.

And now it was full moon and his power was at is peak. Astolfo saw the giant beam of light about ready to blast him off the planet and immediately opened up a rather thick book. As soon as the book opened, it emitted a gold yellow energy as the pages manifested around the androgynous servant. As soon as the beam reached him, the pages surged forward, forming a shield of sorts against Semiramis's attack. The phantasmal beast then charged towards the first panel of beam and smashed right through it. Semiramis cursed Astolfo and used her magic to attack from all sides, but to no avail.

"You won't be successful…tonight is full moon and is when my power is at its peak. I will fulfil my master's orders even if it's the last thing I will do, Assassin."

Astolfo then went right through another panel, thus leaving six left to deal with it. Semiramis saw that she would not be able to stop Rider from destroying the panels.

"Lancer, you are close to Rider, deal with him before he destroys the rest." Karna was standing on top of one of the panels and complied with the order. However, as soon as he slashed Astolfo in two, he was surprised to see that the person he stroke vanished in thin air, appearing unscathed behind him. It was clear that the book in Astolfo's hands served for other purpose rather than to annul magic. Astolfo, still, kept her mission going and smashed two other panels, while her magic allowed to escape from Karna's attacks. Still, Astolfo could feel the amount of mana he was sucking from his master and would not be able to keep doing this forever. With four more panels left to destroy, he focused what was left of his mana and gently caressed her phantasmal beast, who was already injured due to smashing through the energy panels.

"Sorry there, Hippogriff, we have to continue…without us, master won't be able to keep going."

The beast let out a screech in return as it flapped its wings with gusto, surging towards the other panels.

By the time that the last one remained, Astolfo's body started glowing in yellow as he was out of breath and almost on the verge of fainting. By this time, Karna found it useless to keep on attacking and even Semiramis as well, though the latter was more vocal in her distaste of the situation. With a battle cry and almost vanishing due to the lack of energy, Astolfo surged towards the only remaining panel of Semiramis' defense system. The androgynous servant smashed through it, earning a snarl from Semiramis. In the end, she had underestimated the pathetic servant and paid the price.

Still, the very least, this pathetic servant now perished.

So engrossed were Semiramis in dealing with Astolfo, that she did not see a black plane landing on her platform, as Shirou, Lancer and Arturia left the plane. From the air, Shirou could see that the Yggdmillenia servants kept the Red Faction occupied and used a spell to obscure their presence from Semiramis. Normally, it would be insufficient against a servant of Semiramis who had both Caster and Assassin like attributes, but right now her attention lied elsewhere.

===Karna x Sieg===

As soon as the plane that Jeanne was passed on top of the platform, now free of its defenses, Jeanne jumped from the plane and onto the platform, followed by Sieg who left from within the plane, using a parachute. However, neither of them made a step before Jeanne had to parry a strike from Lancer of Red that would have certainly beheaded Sieg.

Still, the homunculus had his mind made up as soon as he felt the link with Rider disappear from his right hand.

"Ruler, please go on ahead…I will fight him." Jeanne looked back at him in quite a shock, while Karna had the same disinterested look as always.

"Are you insane Sieg, you have only one use left before you…" She looked at him and saw his resolve, though she had doubts. Ever since she had met him, her chest ached for some reason. Jeanne D'Arc concluded first that Laeticia was the one who had developed feelings for him. However, the heroic figure had doubts, seeing as she was the one in charge of the body and the feeling of dread at seeing Sieg killed was too much for her. She blamed herself for not pushing him away from this…he had received Siegfried's heart to have a shot at living, not to sacrifice his life for this war.

"It's alright Ruler…this is what I want to do…you should go on ahead and stop Amakusa Shirou."

Before she could try to convince him, he had already lifted his left hand and transformed into Siegfried.

"Sieg…" The boy now turned warrior now posed his sword against Karna, who got into position as well.

"Saber of Black…let us continue where we left off…" Sieg kept on looking and simply nodded, before turning to her. She could see Siegfried smiling at her, making her chest ache even more at the resolution.

"Ruler, please go…I will catch up to you." Karna just kept on looking as Ruler held her lance firmly and her mind drawing a blank. Choosing between her mission in this war and staying to protect him. In the end, she closed her eyes and willed her heart to move forward. She was chosen by the Grail to be the overseer of this war and her mission was to stop the stray servant Amakusa Shirou from having his way. She simply ran away towards the platform's entrance, earning a smile from Sieg as he faced Karna.

"You believe that you will defeat me and even have enough strength to reach her…I did not expect such arrogance from the man who inherited a warrior's heart."

"In order to help Ruler, I shall try to aid her as much as possible. So, I shall stop you here right now." Sieg then focused enough mana on his sword to a small noble phantasm of Siegfried, before bringing the sword down, forcing Karna to parry with his lance and then release the energy. Karna then attacked with his lance in close range, releasing a ball of fire towards Sieg, who backed away and remained with his guarded stance. Both warriors then stared at each other.

"I see…so, let's see if your love for her is enough for you to keep up with me, otherwise this fight shall not be as heroic…"

===Avicebron x Lancelot ===

Shirou, Lancelot and Arturia looked around and saw major fights occurring throughout the platform.

The amount of mana in the air was enough to suffocate the weak-minded. They had landed in a safe space far away from prying eyes as they scanned the platform for their next destination. By Lancelot's estimates, many servants had already perished due to the fights going on. However, neither would be surprised if one servant caught up to them any minute now. It took only a second for the area to be surrounded by an army of Golems.

Lancelot stood in front of Shirou and Arturia as they looked around.

"Nice of you to finally join us Saber and Saber's master. Assassin wished for me to take care of you as soon as you arrived." Lancelot and Shirou looked around, assessing the threat. However, none of these Golems appeared any different from those who attacked them on the first day. Shirou never once took his eyes from Caster of Black. So far, he was perhaps the only servant he had yet to meet. Though, considering that Caster servant tended to fight from the sidelines, it was understandable. Still…

"Saber…Arturia, feel free to dispose of the threat."

Within seconds, two beams of light, one golden yellow and one blue each vanished from their position and sliced the entire army of Golems with their respective mana burst and sword play.

"Most impressive...indeed I can be considered quite weak compared to other servants. Hence why in this war, I needed something more…something that I could not finish in life, but now thanks to the Yggdmillenia Family's resources, I was able to." Shirou and the others saw the rocks on the ground all moving at the same time, towards Caster who manifested a summoning circle in front of him and from the looks of it, it was quite the big one. The rocks from the downed golems all reached the summoning circle and vanished as the summoning circle glowed white. "Please behold my ultimate creation, Golem Keter Malkuth. With it, I shall cleanse this world and revert to Eden."

What emerged from the summoning circle was nothing short of astounding as a giant golem now stood before them.

The creature roared as it tried to attack the three fighters on the ground, forcing them to evade.

Shirou immediately summoned his longbow and bombarded the creature with his arrows, though he was surprised to see the arrows being absorbed by the huge golem. His next set of arrows was fired, though it was for a different target. He reinforced them, forcing Caster to lift a spell shield, though he only blocked one or two. The others filled his entire body and even his face as one arrow was lodged on his forehead. Caster's mask was shattered at the region of his eye as he laughed at the attack.

"A great shot Saber's master…indeed your archery skills rivals even Atalante and Chiron. Though it is useless to attack me. My role here is already over. Now that I have activated my noble phantasm, I have no regrets." Caster began to glow in blue energy as the servant was killed by Shirou's arrows. Though all three were surprised to see that the energy that Caster now turned into was absorbed the huge Golem, meaning that Caster had transferred his energy and perhaps consciousness to the beast. Afterward, a set of eyes appeared from the once empty sockets as the creature screamed at them, releasing a powerful air blast. Lancelot stood, but Shirou and Arturia both took shelter behind one of the crates at the platform.

"How on earth are we dealing with this thing, Shirou?" The master looked at his wife also pondering about it.

"We have to check for weaknesses. Lancelot, Arturia, attack the creature from all sides and avoid capture at all costs. That thing can absorb you if you are not careful".

Arturia and Lancelot both nodded as the holy swords Excalibur and Arondight got into action, evading the creatures' strikes while using their swords to attack multiple places. Still, no matter how much damage their swords made to the huge golem, it would reform soon afterward. Shirou would even use one of his strongest arrows on the places that Arturia and Lancelot attacked, but once more it grew back. Worse was the fact that Shirou could not keep doing this attack forever. His mana capacity had to endure for at least against Semiramis and Amakusa Shirou. Jumping to higher ground, Shirou reinforced his eyes as he looked at the creature more closely, while the rest kept on the attack.

His eyes could see a heavy load of mana focused on what appeared to be two points, close to a human's heart and the creature's skull region.

Right now, he would kill for an X-ray vision, but this would have to do.

'Lancelot, Arturia, we will need to kill it with your noble phantasms.'

'Do you have a plan, master?'

'From what I have seen, there are two main areas when mana is more concentrated…one in the heart region and another at the head, more closely to the skull. You two shall attack the heart at the same time and I will deal with the skull. But the attacks have to be at the same time, so we will have to mark it right'.

Shirou then opened his palm and focused enough mana to project Cadalbolg II. He knew that Lancelot and Arturia had enough teamwork to attack at the same time. His mission was the most troublesome, as he had to aim and then his arrow had to cover a larger distance. He could see Arturia and Lancelot side by side both with their swords down as they focused enough mana to lift energy pillars towards the sky. By this time, Shirou had already transformed his spiral sword into a projected arrow as he pulled the bow string. Wave of mana exuded from his position as he gave the command to his partners to unleash their noble phantasms. When both lifted the sword upwards, Shirou released his blue comet arrow.

EX-CALIBURRRR

ARONDIGHT OVERHEAD

The three energy blasts travelled at the same time as Arturia and Lancelot's joined forces to form a powerful beam of yellow and blue just as Shirou's arrow reached their position. The huge golem saw the attacks coming and even tried to parry it with its arm, but it was reduced to dust as Arturia and Lancelot's attack stroke the golem's chest area, pretty much breaking the Golem in half. Shirou's Cadalbolg II exploded the Golem's head. Arturia and Lancelot then landed on the platform as the body parts fell one by one.

===Achilles x Chiron===

The battle between the gods of the Greek mythology was massive.

Achilles had used one of his noble phantasms in order to transport them to an outside dimension when time freezes and also no other noble phantasms can be used. Only their actual powers as fighters. Hence, the fight was resumed into a pankration match to the death. Chiron appeared to be winning the match and surprisingly so, Achilles remained on the defensive until it was time for the final blow and for that Achilles had surprised Chiron very positively, to the point that he no longer had anything left to teach the young warrior. Achilles had finished the fight with a powerful punch to Chiron's stomach. The blow was so strong that Achilles' fist had emerged from Chiron's back.

It was no doubt a crippling blow. They both knew that. And Chiron was on his back, looking up to the sky as Achilles released his noble phantasm.

"I had my doubts first, but you have indeed grown Achilles."

"I appreciate it, teacher. This power, this skill, it was all thanks to you." Chiron had his eyes closed in deep contemplation.

"You can stop calling me your teacher. I am no longer in a position where you can call me as such." Achilles was looking at his fist, still wondering how he was able to best his teacher. "Now, there is one thing you need to learn, Achilles. When the enemy is down, you need to make sure he is defeated." When Chiron pointed his finger to the heavens, Achilles inadvertently looked upwards, wondering what his teacher would do next. "Sagittarius in the heavens…. if that's me…I always have an arrow fitted on my bow." The star in the sky glowed with utmost intensity. "And so, my ultimate noble phantasm has been unleashed. There is no need to activate with its true name, that's because the arrow has already been shot!". True to Chiron's words, a powerful comet descended from the heavens and pierced Achilles's chest and his ankle, followed by the plane as well.

"D…damn you Archer!" Achilles coughed up blood and kneeled next to his also dying teacher.

"Well, I never believed I could win against you Achilles, but that does not mean that I cannot take you with me." Despite it all, Achilles found that he could not get mad at his teacher. It was a glorious battle and he had enjoyed it.

"Tch…even after all I have grown, I still could not defeat you. I bet the gods are looking down upon us laughing huh…" Chiron smiled at his student laid down next to him as the plane was blown to pieces.

===Karna x Sieg===

Much to Karna's delight as a heroic spirit, Sieg's spirit and his love for Ruler overcame many of the homunculus's deficiencies. The fight turned to be quite destructive as most of the platform was destroyed. Yellow fire and blue miasma battled for supremacy as the destruction continued. The two threw noble phantasms at one another, followed by energy and fire blasts. Aside from that, Balmung and Karna's golden spear battled for supremacy in the midst of battle. Still, Sieg by this time was fighting beyond the usual capabilities as his body now lacked the usual fitness of Siegfried. Still, his sword strikes packed enough of a punch that forced Karna to use everything at his disposal. As Siegfried fell to the ground, he looked up and saw Karna's projected lances circling until the projected weapon charged and exploded upon impact.

Sieg managed to evade, though at a great cost of many injuries.

Still, he had already realized that there was no walking away from this fight. Sieg saw as Karna released his armor entirely as it combusted. Not only him, but a wave of fire enveloped the area, as if the sun was releasing its solar flares. Sieg stood in the midst of the inferno and closed his eyes in deep concentration. Like Karna, he needed to focus everything he had into this last attack. Balmung glowed in blue miasma and lifted a pillar of energy towards the sky.

"Sequential noble phantasms…impressive. I feel the determination of a protective warrior from your blade. To defeat you, it seems, I am lacking in my current state. Therefore, I need a blow of absolute destruction! Before, though, warrior who holds the Saber of Black within, tell me your name!"

"I'm Sieg!"

"A good name…then, to my greatest and strongest rival in this second life of mine, I shall dedicate this one blow with the greatest of respect."

For a moment, there, both warriors exchanged eye contact followed by a smile only shared between battle-hardened warriors.

As they readied their final attacks towards each other's, both screamed the names of their strongest attacks.

'Vasavi Shakti!'

'Balmung!'

What followed was a powerful explosion as both yellow and blue fire energy lifted the skies looking like dragons that twirled with each other, battling for supremacy. Still, Sieg searched from within himself and even somewhere else to overcome this final battle of wits. Using his own life force, his last possible magic circuits, and doubled his own noble phantasm, earning a surprise from Karna as his top attack was sliced clean by Balmung. And since he had released his armory to use his most powerful attack, his body had no defense against Sieg's final thrust. Karna doubled down in pain, holding his injured chest as Sieg was no longer able to hold the power of Siegfried, reverting to his usual body, though bloody and almost without energy to sustain himself.

"I apologize for having you playing along with my ego…we had a full-on battle. And as a heroic spirit, it's been quite an honor."

Sieg was on the ground paining hard, holding his heart as it was fading. His left hand was all black and no command seal remained. Still, Sieg found out that he had no regret in this fight and he had an opponent who did something that Sieg had only seen in another person, though a magus. Emiya Shirou had treated him as a human being when he extended his hand in a greeting after healing the homunculus. While others would simply discard him as non-important, Shirou helped him and without second intentions. Now, Karna did the same.

"You are an enemy, yet you treated me as a human." Karna's bloody smile was enough evidence that the servant was satisfied.

"That is natural for a heroic spirit…we are merely shadows of the past. You, living in the future, are treasure for heroic spirits, no matter who you are. We had fought to our heart's content and I feel elated at this opportunity."

"It is I who appreciate Karna…Though, right now, I can barely stand." Karna chuckled as his body turned to glow, indicating that he was about to vanish.

"Unfortunately, you won't be able to assist Ruler…and for that I apologize." Sieg smirked as he saw Karna leaving this plane of existence and he closed his eyes wondering what would happen to him now. His magic circuits were fried, his command seals no longer gave him power and Siegfried's heart was beating slowly, up to the point of going into cardiac arrest. His eyes felt heavy and he felt the need to get to sleep. When he was about to fall to the ground, however, Sieg was surprised to see two familiar arms holding him gently and laying him on the ground. When Sieg opened his eyes, he saw Emiya Shirou looking down at him. Sieg could look at Shirou's eyes and saw the look of elation from the magus as he used healing mage craft on Sieg's dying body.

In Shirou's mind, he was looking at Sieg just like Emiya Kiritsugu looked at him a long time ago.

Sieg felt the healing energy of Avalon and, within seconds, he could feel his heart beating more constantly and he had enough strength to at least sit as he looked at Arturia and Saber of Red standing behind the healing magus.

"I was glad to reach you in time, Sieg. Now, please rest."

Sieg looked at the magus and breathed more calmly. His eyes once more closed, but this time he was at least sure that it was due to fatigue.

"Emiya Shirou, please help Ruler…"

Those were Sieg's last words before succumbing to exhaustion. A immediate check on his pulse and magic circuits allowed Shirou to conclude that the boy would be alright with a bit of rest. He then looked at Arturia and Lancelot and nodded as they ran towards the entrance of the platform's inner corridors. With many servants now dead, only a few remained alive.

Author Note

Wow, it was tough to fit the fight scenes and add Shirou's into the mix.

Aprocrypha fights are way more powerful (I don't know why) than the other Fate series, as if the servants could fire noble phantams left and right with no need to worry about the master's mana capacity. Even if Shirou Amakusa is a servant, there was simply no way he could supply mana to five servants and all of them using noble phantasms at the same time.

I don't get me started on Achilles using his feet and kicking a jumbo plane. That was just out of this world.

Well, now, in my story, the battle are progressing and we are close to the finish line.

I also want to thank everyone who marked this story to 'follow'. This story is now close to have 500 followers. It's indeed awesome to see that so many people are enjoying my work. For that I thank you.

In case you wish to discuss about some of the changes I've made thus far, fell free to review it or send me a PM.

See ya next chapter.