Day 8: Shirou — An Impossible Ideal

The first fringes of dawn were beginning to creep into the sky as Arturia watched over to Shirou and placed one gentle hand on his chest. The golden glow of Avalon had faded; but when he closed his eyes and focused his attention within himself, Shirou could still feel the power of the Noble Phantasm pulsing through him. It was as though trying to waste that Command Spell in a desperate attempt to protect Arturia from False Avenger had broken some floodgate within him and allowed a long-dormant power to spill forth and fill his body with a warm, healing light.

"I don't understand." Shirou said. "You told me that your scabbard was lost centuries ago, before the Battle of Camlann. How could it have ended up inside my body?"

"I can only speculate." Arturia said. "However, the only sensible conclusion is that it was Kiritsugu's doing. I never knew what artifact he used as a catalyst to summon me in the previous War; but it must have been a very powerful one, very closely tied to my legend, for him to have contracted me despite our irreconcilable ideological differences. In retrospect, it must have been Avalon. He kept it concealed from me for the entire length of the War, probably using its power for himself. And afterwards... he must have given it to you. That's the reason you survived the great fire ten years ago, when no one else did."

"I see..." Shirou said, but then shook his head. "No, that still doesn't make sense. You said that Avalon's power made you immortal, even stopped you from ageing. But I've still gotten older; and there are times when I've gotten hurt or sick, too. How could that be if I've had Avalon within me all the time?"

"Though it was long ago stolen, Avalon is still my Noble Phantasm." Arturia said. "It functions best when connected to my prana. When I disappeared at the end of the Fourth War, it's power would have dwindled; it probably fell dormant after healing you of the wounds you sustained in the fire. When this War began, it acted as your catalyst, summoning me as your Servant. It began regaining power at that time, and has been responsible for your remarkable resilience and recovery from injury. However, our connection was weak, due to your inexperience as a magus and also expending much of your prana supporting Crow as an additional Servant; thus, you were unable to draw on all of its power. But now that the energy released by your Command Spell has fully activated it, the full power of immortality resides within you."

"I don't want it." Shirou said. "Something like that is... look, people die when they're killed, right?"

Arturia looked at him oddly.

"That's the way it should be, anyway." Shirou said. "I never wanted to be some kind of ageless immortal. You should take it back. It belongs to you, anyway; I have no right to take it."

"I am truly honored by the gesture, Shirou." Arturia said. "But given the dangers posed by the War, I think it would be best for you to hold on to it for the time being. The light of the Ever-Distant Utopia is capable of repelling even False Avenger's chains; I can defend myself, but you need the protection. When the War is over and we have destroyed the Grail, you may return it then."

"Are you sure?" Shirou asked.

"I am." Arturia said. "Had I known Kiritsugu had possessed it, I would have demanded its return, but you... I trust. I know you will use its power justly."

==Interlude: Rin Tohsaka==

Rin hurriedly ran over to where Homura's body lay on the battle-churned dirt of the lawn.

"I apologize for ending her life, but swift action was necessary." Red Archer said stiffly. "I could see no other way to protect you from the spreading corruption of the curse. And I could not allow the enemy to add another Dark Servant to their forces."

"You can save your apologies." Rin said. "It's fine, because Homura is still alive."

Red Arher gave her a doubtful look.

"I severed her head." Red Archer said. "As resilient as Servants are, not even we can survive decapitation. It was without a doubt a fatal strike."

"But her body's still here." Rin said. "Servant's forms are only temporary vessels which crumble to dust when they're slain; but Homura hasn't disappeared. That's because she's still alive, somehow. I can feel it through our connection – she's still drawing prana from me."

Rin lifted Homura's left hand by the wrist. Her skin was cool and there was no pulse, but the purple gemstone mounted on the back of the fallen Servant's hand was glowing with magical energy.

The game suddenly flared with blinding light, and Rin felt a huge surge of prana being drawn from her body. As her stored-up reserves were not enough to fuel this sudden massive outflow of energy, the drain began to eat into her od, her life-force. Having her life siphoned away this way gave her a fierce, tearing pain in her gut, as though her internal organs were being suctioned out. Rin fell to her knees and gritted her teeth, fighting through the pain. After only a few moments, the agony receded; the prana burden on her body had fallen back to down to ordinary levels. And Homura had begun to heal.

The purple light from her gemstone flowed out over her whole body, then the severed stump of her neck began to spark and crackle with energy. The light surged upwards, assuming the shape of Homura's lost head, then condensed into flesh, blood, bone, and hair. When the light faded, Homura was blinking up at her: lying on her back in the dirt, but apparently completely unharmed.

"Resurrection magic?" Red Archer asked in disbelief. "A Noble Phantasm like True Berserker's God Hand?"

"Nothing so potent." Homura said, drawing herself to her feet. "Just a little trick for hiding my soul away so it doesn't die with my body, providing me an opportunity for this Servant vessel to be repaired with prana from my Master. The second of my three Noble Phantasms; Soul Gem: Materialization of the Soul."

Rin tried to stand as well, but wave of weakness passed through her and she fell back to her knees. Homura knelt down and lent her an arm to steady herself with.

"I was concerned that this might happen." Homura said. "Completely regenerating from an injury that would ordinarily prove fatal consumed far more of your prana than healing would usually take. In saving myself, I have left you gravely weakened."

"I'll be fine." Rin said. "I still have some backup power stored in gemstones; I can recharge using them."

Rin tried to stand again, and this time her feet supported her. In truth, her stockpile of gemstones was running perilously low. However, Luviagelita Edelfelt was also a user of gem magic; and obscenely wealthy as she was, she was bound to have a good stockpile built up. If Rin was going to be forced to ally with that hyena, as now seemed unfortunately likely given present circumstances, she was at least going to ensure that she received proper compensation.

"Rin, there is something important I must tell you." Homura said. "I... have changed my mind. I told you before that I didn't care about the outcome of this Holy Grail War; that this wasn't my world, wasn't my fight. And so, I was indifferent to your struggle. I did not put forth my full effort in battle. I was content to simply wait for whatever might come, even be it defeat, death, or disappearance. But no longer. After seeing what False Avenger has done to Sakura, I've realized that I have to fight. Someone I loved once made a sacrifice to ensure that girls wouldn't have to die in despair; that their wishes wouldn't turn to curses. Sakura said that she couldn't bear to hope anymore. But the girl who I loved, she said: if anyone ever tells me that it's a mistake to have hope, I'll tell them that they're wrong. And so, in honor of her wish... I want to win, and to save Sakura."

"When I entered this War, it was for stupid, childish reason; nothing but pure ego." Rin said. "But there are more important things in this world than some stupid cup. I won't fight for the Grail anymore. I'll fight for Sakura."

She turned and looked at Red Archer.

"Ah, what a bother." Red Archer said. "I though you might cure that stupid kid of his fatal naivety; but instead, it seems he's managed to infect you as well. I think it's impossible to save her, and foolish to try. Still, I never had any interest in the Holy Grail to begin with, so it's not like I stand anything to lose. Alright. So long as you remain my Master, I will continue to assist you in pursuing your goal... no matter how foolish it may be."

==Interlude Out==

==Interlude: Luviagelita Edelfelt==

To Luvia's relief, Lina Inverse was recovering quickly after the battle; Luvia was still just beginning to come to terms with Rei having been consumed by the darkness, and would not have been able to bear another loss so soon. Though she had been defenseless in her unconscious state, the strange golden light which had erupted from Shirou's body had banished the shadow magic and cursed chains before they could do any harm to the prone Caster. Now, Lina was already back on her feet again, seemingly as energetic as usual. Even her hair, which had faded to a ghostly white shade when she had depleted her energy powering her dark magic sword spell, had returned to its normal lively chestnut color. For any other Servant, such an expenditure of power would have been suicide: even with the prana of a Master to draw on, they would exhaust all of their energy within moments and disappear. However, Lina's Noble Phantasm, the Demon Blood Talismans, gave her an effectively infinite power source to recharge from. Already, she was brimming with energy; by the time the sun was fully risen, she would probably be back to full power. Were this any other War, facing ordinary opponents not empowered by the infinite energy of the cursed chains, Lina would probably be able to secure an easy victory by performing repeated hit-and-run attacks until her enemies vanished from exhaustion.

As it was, though, their opponents had energy reserves as capacious as Lina's. And the battle had made Lina's main weakness apparent: though her reserves might be effectively unlimited, she could only access that power a limited amount at a time. Wrapped up in heated battle, throwing her strongest spell one after another, she could expend her magical energy even faster than her Talismans could replenish it. Even though it hadn't been her battle, even though she could have just as easily flown away, Lina had pushed herself to complete collapse fighting against the Dark Servants. Risking her life for the sake of Luvia, who wasn't even her Master.

"Thank you." Luvia said. "For all you've done to protect me."

"Hey, it's no big deal." Lina said. "I'm just paying back my debt from when you saved me from that golden Servant, that's all."

"Any debt has been more than paid." Luvia said. "I only saved you once; but you helped me set the trap for False Berserker, then helped me escape when Rei got corrupted, and now you helped in this battle on top of that. I can't in good conscience ask you to do any more on my behalf."

"Alright, I'll be honest with you." Lina said. "I'm a simple girl, with simple wants: wealth, power, praise and adulation... just your everyday selfish desires. But even though I'm in it for myself, there are some things that just don't sit well with me. When something as powerful and evil as False Avenger is on the loose, hurting innocent people and threatening to end the world... as much as I'd like to say it's not my problem and sit the fight out, I just can't bring myself to walk away. Maybe it's just force of habit from saving my own world so many times. Well... this may not be my world, but I'm not ready to give up on it just yet. There's still plenty of otherworldly treasure I'd like to plunder, exotic food I'd like to taste, strange sights I'd like to see... and maybe even people I'd like to meet. I mean, I haven't been doing so well in the last category thus far, but there's at least one person I'm glad I've met. So, there you have it: debt or not, I'll stick by your side until this is over."

"I... I'm honored you think so highly of me." Luvia said. "I regret that, having used all three of my Command Spells, I have been eliminated from the War and cannot make a proper contract to become your Master..."

"Hey!" Lina said sharply. "Don't go getting any ideas just because I went soft for a second there! I meant what I said when we met: I'm nobody's Servant. No one commands me to do anything. I'm willing to work with you as a partner. A senior partner, entitled to first pick from the loot. In fact, if anything, you're my dim-witted sidekick. Got that?"

"Yes, yes; understood." Luvia said, inclining her head. "As you say, lady sorceress."

"Now that's more like it." Lina said. "About time I got some proper respect around here. So, um, by the way... could you fill me in on what happened after I lost consciousness? I kind of missed the last half of whatever happened around here..."

Lina trailed off in embarrassment; and for the first time since Rei had been chained, Luvia found herself able to smile.

==Interlude Out==

Shirou burned with determination.

He had not, he realized, treated the War with appropriate seriousness up until now. Since he had no wish of his own for the Holy Grail, he had not committed himself towards fighting for it with the same fervor as the other Masters. He had only agreed to fight at all in order to prevent an unworthy Master from obtaining the Grail and causing another disaster like the fire ten years ago. But even then, he had not been able to resolve himself to actually killing off other Masters, other humans – he had though to limit himself to eliminating Servants, which he justified to himself as not really being killing because they weren't truly human.

It had never sat well with him, from the start. Having interacted with Arturia and Crow, he knew that they were not mere magical familiars; they were people, even if not technically human anymore. Fighting for a prize he didn't want, using methods he didn't believe in... there was no way Shirou could have won such a War. It would have been an intolerable betrayal of himself.

Now, though, everything was different. He had a cause he believed in: saving Sakura, and the others who had been enslaved by False Avenger's chains. His opponent was not a person, but a force of absolute evil that he could strive against without moral qualm. He was finally ready to fight in order to protect – to be a proper hero.

It was time to get serious.

He had assembled everyone together in his dining room: Rin, Luvia, and Bazett; and the Servants, Arturia, Crow, Homura, Red Archer, and Lina Inverse. He explained everything to them, all that Arturia had told him about Avalon. In a normal War, it would be unthinkable for a Master to openly inform others of his Servant's identity and Noble Phantasm. But it was time to stop thinking of this as a normal War. If they were going to prevail over False Avenger, his allies needed to openly share all the information they had. And since they'd never get anywhere if everyone was too suspicious to trust one another and wanted to wwait for someone else to open up before revealing their own secrets, Shirou had decided to go first.

"Crow, there's a very big favor I'd like to ask of you." Shirou said. "I'm sorry to have to make this request, but finding a way to save Sakura is my biggest priority right now; and that may mean having to take extreme measures."

"Just go ahead and say it, kid." Crow said.

"The only Noble Phantasm we have that has had any effect on False Avenger's chains is Avalon." Shirou said. "However, I only have a single Command Spell remaining, so I can't activate the light that way again. Arturia said that she believes the reason it's been dormant until now is that my connection to her isn't strong enough – I didn't have enough prana to begin with, and I've been trying to split it two ways on top of that. So..."

"Yeah, I get it." Crow said, shaking his head in resignation. "You want to break your contract with me so you can use all your prana to power Avalon. I understand. You can't reach checkmate without sacrificing a few pawns, and sometimes someone has to take a bullet for the good of the team. This was never my world to begin with, so it was inevitable that I'd eventually have to say goodbye. I wish I could have gone out more heroically, in the middle of a pitched battle, but you can't have everything. So, I just want to say: brief as it's been, it's been a pleasure working with you all."

"Uh... Crow, what are you talking about?" Shirou asked.

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" Crow said. "I don't have the Independent Action skill, so I'll vanish after just a few minutes without a contract. And there's no one else here who can take me: Rin's already at her limit supporting two Servants of her own, Luvia's lost her status as Master, and Bazett is under geass not to make another contract. Whatever way you cut it, this is my curtain call."

"Actually, I was thinking you could transfer your contract to Lina." Shirou said. "I mean... True Caster was able to summon a Servant of her own, Sasaki Kojirou, because she was a magus as well as a Servant. So I just figured that Lina would be able to do the same thing."

"I don't see why not." Lina said. "It's just like supporting a really strong familiar, right? I've got magic energy to spare, so it shouldn't be a problem. If anything, you'll probably be stronger drawing your support from my vast ocean of sorcerous might rather than whatever trickle of power Shirou's been able to spare."

There was a momentary pause while Crow digested this.

"Did you really think I'd be willing to just cut off your prana and let you disappear?" Shirou asked.

"Well, what was I supposed to think?" Crow demanded. "Why'd you make such a big deal about being reluctant to ask, if it was something so minor?"

"Oh, well, I just wasn't sure you'd be okay with the idea of having Lina as your Master." Shirou said. "You seem to have had problems with Arturia and the Dark Rider... I thought you might have some sort of issue with women."

"What?" Crow said. "Don't be ridiculous. It's just chicks with huge boobs flaunting their bodies in super-revealing outfits that make me upset. Lina's no problem at all in that regard: she's perfectly sensibly dressed, and it's not like she really has any assets to begin with..."

"What the hell did you just say!?" Lina said. "I take it back! You aren't fit to be my Servant! Die, scum!"

"Hey, it was a compliment!" Crow said. "A compliment – ow! Don't throw things at me!"

After spending some time calming Lina down, Luvia proceeded to walk her through the incantation for forming a contract with Crow. As she chanted the final words, Shirou felt the invisible cord connecting him to Crow snap. At the same time, Crow suddenly radiated a burst of power. He seemed to grow slightly taller, his muscles became more defined, and the strength of his aura more than doubled in potency.

"Whoa, what a rush!" Crow said. "So this is what a proper summoning feels like, huh? I feel like I could climb a mountain with my hand tied behind my back!"

"You're welcome, my new Servant." Lina said. "Though, unless I'm missing something, I don't seem to have acquired any Command Spells. Too bad; I was looking forward to ordering you to perform some penance."

"The Holy Grail only distributes Command Spells to Master at the beginning of the War; it's well past that point by now." Rin said. "Even if new contracts are formed, the Masters will have to make use of the Command Spells already in circulation. I believe Shirou is still technically Crow's Master, in that he could use his last Command Spell on him – all he's transferred to you is the connection through which prana is delivered. Even so, the effect is incredible: it looks like all of Crow's parameters have ranked up. Shirou really must have been starving him of energy quite badly."

"What about you, Arturia?" Shirou asked. "Are you receiving more of my prana now?"

"I am indeed strengthened." Arturia said. "However, rather than giving your new spare magical energy to me, you should save it for yourself in order to power Avalon."

"I will when I need to." Shirou said. "But for the time being, I want you to refill your reserves as much as you can, so you won't be in danger of disappearing like you nearly did after using Excalibur. We need Avalon to free Sakura, but we'll also need your holy sword in order to destroy the Grail."

Saber frowned at this.

"I was able to destroy the Holy Grail at the end of the last War at Kiritsugu's order, but it clearly was not an adequate solution – else the ritual would not have begun again a mere ten years later, the Cup of Heaven still poisoned with evil. Furthermore, due to Zouken's tampering with the ritual, there are now two Holy Grails. I fear the solution to our problems will not be so simple."

"Alright." Shirou said. "Rin, Luvia, Bazett; you all know more about the ritual than I do, so I'm leaving it up to you to figure out how to put a stop to it. In the meantime, there's something I'd like to discuss with Red Archer."

Red Archer raised an eyebrow and glanced at Rin, who nodded her head. The red-coated knight stood and walked from the dining room, Shirou following after him. Once they had moved far enough away from the others to be certain of their privacy, Red Archer turned around and fixed Shirou with a glare.

"You probably think you're clever, finding a way to save Crow from having to disappear." Red Archer said. "But you won't be able to keep it up forever. It is the fate of Servants to ultimately vanish from the world. We are anchored only by the Command Spells provided by the Grail. If you succeed in destroying it as planned, all unused Command Spells will vanish as the ritual recalls them to the Overseer's possession; and then Crow will disappear regardless of your little contract-switching stunt. Arturia as well. You haven't really saved anyone."

"I'm not giving up on them." Shirou said. "The Grail they allowed themselves to be summoned for turned out to be a lie; they deserve the chance to find some other purpose to their life, something worth living for. The fact that they're Servants doesn't change that. I'll think of something."

"Such utter naivety." Red Archer said. "Every time I speak to you, only prove how hopeless you are."

"But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Shirou said. "I'd like to know what you make of this."

He handed Red Archer the small crystal dagger pendant which Sakura had flung at his feet in those few precious moments she'd been able to resist False Avenger's curse. Red Archer inspected it visually for a few moments; then he pinched it between his fingers, and Shirou felt the tingle of magecraft being used.

"It's a Servant's tool." Red Archer finally answered. "Nothing so powerful as a Noble Phantasm; more like a weak Mystic Code, I'd say. It was a possession of the False Rider called Mononoke-hime, who gave it to Sakura before her demise."

"If it was summoned along with the False Rider, shouldn't it also have disappeared along with her?" Shirou asked.

"That would normally be the case for a Servant's equipment." Red Archer agreed. "However, this item's mystical properties make it a special exception. It embodies the concept of 'a gift for remembrance', something given to a loved one before parting forever so that they will remember you after you are gone. Obviously, it would violate the essential nature of such an item for it to disappear along with the giver. Thus, the nature of its magic caused it to be granted true incarnation: it has become an actual physical artifact rather than a temporary phantasm."

"What magical properties does it have?" Shirou asked. "It's shaped like a dagger – is it a weapon?"

Hardly." Red Archer said. "It only records the memories of the its owners. It's a momento, nothing more. Something for you to remember Sakura by after she dies."

"No." Shirou said firmly. "I won't accept that. When Sakura told me to give up on her, that was her despair speaking. In her true heart of hearts, I know she was begging me to save her. And I won't let her down."

Shirou lashed out with his fist, punching a will with a solid thump.

"All I've ever dreamed of is becoming a hero." he said. "I wanted the power to save the world. But, the people close to me are my world. If I can't even save them, I truly am worthless. Kiritsugu also tried to save the world, but in the end he only succeeded in saving one person: me. So I at least have to pass on the gift he gave me and save someone else; even just one person. I can't bear to think of Sakura crying, alone in the darkness. I have to restore the smile to her face. So, no matter how impossible you say it is, I am definitely going to save her. No matter what!"

Red Archer stared at Shirou in silence.

==Interlude: True Archer==

Conflict had been building within Red Archer's heart for some time. When he'd first been summoned, his path had seemed so clear, so obvious. And yet, each time he'd tried time muster the will to follow through on his resolution, some undefinable doubt had frozen his mind and stayed his hand.

He'd kept his goal and his reasons hidden from his Master; Rin, despite the tough image she strove to project, was soft at heart and would doubtless have disapproved. The only one he'd dared open up to was the irregular other Archer, Homura. Given her obvious disinterest in the War, he'd had no fear of her relaying his comments to Rin, no matter how insubordinate; and he'd hoped that giving voice to his confused jumble of thoughts and feelings might help clarify them in his own mind. He'd spoken to Homura the previous night, following the battle at the school against the Dark Rider, as they'd stood guard on the roof while their Master slept.

"I was going to kill the boy, Shirou Emiya." he had confessed. "It's all I've desired since I was summoned to this era. My sole wish – not for the Grail to grant, but to carry out with my own hands."

Homura had given no reaction to Red Archer's statement.

"He's too naive." Red Archer had continued. "Too soft, too weak, too enamored with his false and hopelessly foolish ideals. The future holds nothing but suffering for him. The cruelty of the world will shatter his dreams, and his betrayal by his own ideals will condemn him to eternal torment. It would be a mercy to put him out of his misery. But for some, reason, when I watch him try to fight... throwing himself against opponents like Heracles or that Rider, knowing that his efforts are futile but still striving... when I see him like that, as much as his stubbornness and stupidity enrage me, I can't bring myself to cut him down."

"I understand." Homura had said, finally turning to look at him. "You and I are alike. We're antiheroes, tainted by the darkness of the world. Once we dreamed childish romantic dreams; but in pursuit of them, we stained ourselves with sin after sin, until we had so immersed ourselves in the darkness that we came to resent and scorn our original naive desires. And occasionally, we come across someone who reminds us of what we used to be; some hopelessly idealistic hero who the world has not yet sullied. We cannot help but hate them, for reminding us of our mistakes and our failures; but we also cannot help but admire them, because their shining light reminds us of the beauty of the dreams we once dreamed. Your world and mine may differ in details, but they are alike in essence: cruel and dark and merciless, so far beyond redemption or salvation that I once considered becoming a monster and destroying it with my own hands – and yet there are people who can look at all the tragedy and the horror in the world and still fight to save it, because they are still capable of seeing beauty in it. And seeing someone like that strive for the impossible, even in vain... makes me want to do it, too. To just for one moment remember what it was like to be a hero."

Homura had lapsed into silence, then, lost in some dark labyrinth of memory. Red Archer's initial reaction had been to dismiss her words as nonsense: there was nothing noble or admirable about the self-destructive stupidity of Shirou Emiya. And yet, Homura's words had continued to gnaw at him. What else could explain his hesitation but the pain of nostalgia; the memory of something broken at what it was like to be whole?

And now he found himself once more staring into the earnest young eyes of that boy he had sworn to destroy, that foolish child who thought ideals could defy the painful reality of the world. And though logic told him that he should materialize a sword and cut the boy down where he stood, some small, aching part of his heart that he'd thought had long ago been destroyed forever yearned to try one more time. To just once more allow himself the foolish hope, the impossible dream, of being a hero of justice.

==Interlude Out==

"It would be much easier to kill Sakura than to save her." Red Archer said at last. "By sacrificing one, you could save many. It is the only practical choice. Any naive dreams you might have to the contrary will surely betray you and leave you with nothing but regret and despair in the end. But if you insist on walking that cruelest and most difficult of paths..."

"I do." Shirou said.

"Then let me tell you: Avalon alone will not be enough." Red Archer said. "It may have repelled the Dark Servants; but even taken off guard, the False Avenger was able to command them to retreat to safety before their chains broke. Now that the enemy is aware you possess this power, they will doubtless be even more cautious about confronting you in the future. What you require is a weapon capable of dispelling the curse on Sakura in a single strike. Unfortunately, no such weapon exists... at least, not at the moment. But using the memory recorded in this pendant and your magecraft, you could create one. Shirou Emiya, your true talent does not lie in structural grasp or reinforcement, and certainly not in combat; these are just side-effects of your true nature. You are not one who fights, but one who creates."

...have withstood pain to create many weapons...

Shirou doubled over in pain as his mind was filled with the image of grinding gears in a burning sky, of an endless plain strewn with infinite swords.

"You see it, don't you?" Red Archer asked. "I'm not surprised; it is a natural consequence performing magecraft beyond your meager ability. What you are witnessing is the inevitable outcome of your attempts to play hero; the eternal suffering you will bring upon yourself. In order to save Sakura, you will need to master Projection in the short time left to you in this war. The effort will likely break you. The greatest opponent you face is not the enemy Servants, but rather your own limitations. If you are truly willing to face that challenge..."

Red Archer tossed the crystal dagger pendant back at Shirou, and he grabbed it out of the air.

"Teach me." Shirou commanded.

"So be it, boy." Red Archer said. "Let us strive one more time for that impossible ideal."

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