Day 9: Shirou — Grail War
A foul wind blew through the tunnel leading to the cavern that held the Great Grail. The air itself felt as if it were tainted by the evil energy overflowing from the two Grail vessels incubating beneath the mountain. It flowed over the cautiously advancing group of heroes like fetid breath of some terrible beast, its hour come round at last.
The group was fraught with tension as they made their way through the twisted stone passage leading them to the bowels of the mountain. It was inconceivable that the enemy did not know they were approaching – since there was only one entrance to the cavern, it was certain to be watched. The question was where the enemy was lying in wait for them. Probably, they were massing their forces in the cavern, where they would be best able to fight – True Berserker Heracles, for instance, could probably not even fit in the tunnel at all without assuming spiritual form. But, the False Avenger also had an Assassin under its command: a Servant which could strike at them from the shadows ahead at any moment, or conceal itself until they passed and then pick them off from behind one by one. The terror of that scenario led them to take every possible precaution.
False Archer Homura scouted ahead at the front of the group, making liberal use of her shield's ability to suspend the flow of time in order to fully inspect the tunnel for traps and ambushes before motioning the rest of the group forwards. Such heavy use of her Noble Phantasm was a significant drain on her prana reserves, and would weaken her for the battle to come; but she had already expressed her resolve not to hold anything back from this final confrontation. She was prepared to completely expend her existence if need be; and she was willing to do so however necessary, even if it meant being denied a glorious final battle.
As they approached the tunnel's end, though, it became clear that there was no trickery here, no subterfuge. All the enemy's forces were awaiting them at the center, at the Grail itself, prepared for one ultimate clash. It was not a tactic Shirou would have expected from the False Avenger, which had thus far favored quick strikes from the shadows; but when he thought of Kotomine, of the theatrical way the priest had promised a final confrontation... yes, Shirou could see the priest preferring this. And, if half of what his allies had told him about Gilgamesh was true, Shirou could easily imagine the King of Heroes demanding that he be allowed to bear witness to the deaths of the mongrels who dared oppose him from a spot of honor by the Grails themselves.
Shirou nodded to himself. This confirmed what he had already suspected. True Avenger, despite bearing the name Angra Mainyu, was really nothing more than a pathetic joke of a Servant; his False counterpart, while blessed with a Noble Phantasm that let it channel the Grail's curse to enslave victims, was fundamentally similar. Shirou was now certain: the final obstacle in his path, the true enemy he had to overcome, was not False Avenger and its chained Servants, but Kirie Kotomine.
Kotomine. Kotomine. Kotomine. The man filled Shirou's thoughts. From the very start, the priest had been nothing but abrasive: smug, condescending, duplicitous, hostile. And yet, Shirou did not hate him, could not find it in himself to hate him. He had tried; he had tried with all his might to imagine Kirie Kotomine as the ultimate evil which the hero Shirou Emiya must destroy. But regardless of what his mind thought, his heart already knew the truth. He felt a inexplicable kinship with Kotomine; and no matter how maliciously the priest behaved towards him, Shirou couldn't help but like him. Subconsciously, he could sense that they birds of a feather: broken men for whom normal human happiness was impossible. The only happiness allowed for Shirou was to live his life as a sword, sacrificing himself for the protection of others. And as for Kotomine, his only happiness lay in All Evils of This World. As opposite sides of the same coin, their very similarity meant that they were irreconcilably opposed.
"Rejoice, Kirie Kotomine." Shirou whispered to himself. "Today, you and I will face one another, and we will settle matters. One way or the other."
Behind him, there was a soft thud as Caren Ortensia collapsed to the ground.
The Servants instantly readied their weapons; but there was still no sign of the enemy within the corridor. Rather, as Shirou rushed to Caren's side, it was immediately obvious that the cause of her collapse was her medical condition. When she had explained her spiritual allergy to evil energy, she had spoken of it casually, like a minor inconvenience to be worked around. Given that she had been able to contract with Angra Mainyu, an evil Servant if there ever was one, Shirou hadn't given it much thought. But here, in the shadow of the Grail itself, the true gravity of Caren's condition was evident. Blood was oozing from the corners of her eyes, her nostrils, and her mouth. Spots of blood stained her clothing in other places as well, where black spikes had begun to sprout from her flesh and tear her open her skin from the inside.
"My... apologies." Caren said. "I thought I would be able to endure, but it seems it is too much for me after all. Please forgive me my pride and my weakness."
"No, it's my fault for just pressing ahead without thinking of you." Shirou said. "Crow, can you carry her back to the exit?"
"Ah man, and just when I was looking forwards to a good fight." Crow complained.
As he moved towards her, however, Caren held up a hand.
"There is no need for that." she said. "Though I can proceed no further, I also will not die from something on this level... not unless the Grail opens, in which case it will not matter where I am. Rather than wasting any more time on me, move ahead without me. As soon as you eliminate the Grail, my condition will improve, and I can come help you with any remaining foes."
"Are you sure?" Shirou asked. "If we leave you alone, you'll be helpless if any enemy attacks."
"I do not think there is much danger of that." Caren said. "In fact, it would probably be a huge tactical advantage for you if the enemy were to weaken their defense by sending one of their Servants away from the final battle just to kill someone who is already incapacitated."
"Don't joke about that." Shirou said sternly.
"...She's right, Shirou." Rin said. "For us to leave her behind is the safest option for her. We can't spare any of our Servants, and we can't delay."
"Alright, dammit, I understand." Shirou said. "But make sure you stay alive and greet us again after we've won. Don't throw your life away for nothing. I won't forgive you if you die pointlessly in a place like this."
"How harsh." Caren said.
Propping herself up against the stony tunnel wall, she stared unblinkingly at Shirou until he turned his back on her to face once more towards the dark depths ahead.
"Onwards." he said.
Though Caren's body had finally failed her, the short length of tunnel remaining was a testament to the fortitude of her spirit – even tormented by her body's reaction to the overflowing evil energy pouring from the Grail, she had still forced herself onwards to nearly the brink of the cavern. It was only a few minutes later that the passage came to an end and the group stepped out into the massive cave which held the Great Grail.
Under normal circumstances, Shirou would have been astounded by the vastness of the cavern, which might have held entire city blocks beneath its great vaulted stone ceiling. Currently, however, the presence of the two manifested Grails made it seem small and claustrophobic. They dominated the space: a pair of seething black holes in the fabric of space, outlined by whirling coronas of pulsing red light. The cursed energy that poured forth from them gave the impression of a pair of massive, soulless eyes, pinning Shirou with a baleful glare. For a moment, he felt paralyzed, unable to tear his attention away from those malevolently pulsating black stars. He felt he had been transported back in time, to that day ten years ago when he had been consumed by the fires of hell. He remembered feeling that same black sun beat down on him as he wandered among the screams of the dying...
Then Shirou's hand unconsciously gripped the crystal pendant hanging from around his neck, and he snapped back to reality. Things were different now. On that day, he had been powerless, unable to save anyone; but now, the power to deliver salvation was within his hands. To save another as he himself had been saved; to give meaning to a meaningless life.
Tearing his gaze away from the Grails, Shirou began scanning the cavern for his true goal. He applied Reinforcement magic to his eyeballs, directing magical energy to the organs in order to enhance his vision. With supernatural sight, he was able to peer through the pulsing red light and seething shadows that filled the space to spot a structure in the center – something like a giant throne assembled out of massed and coiled chains. And rising from it like a needle, a twisted helix of a spire; and bound together at the top, the prone bodies of Ilyasviel von Einzbern and Sakura Matou. They were the conduits through which the curse "all evils of this world" was exerting itself: ripping holes in the sky above to birth itself into the world, and channeling infinite mana to sustain the Dark Servants below to defend it while it incubated.
The enemy... Shirou could see the False Avenger sitting upon its throne, like a spider at the center of its web. Kotomine and his golden Archer both stood beside it; as expected, they had elected to oversee the final battle from the place of honor. The corrupted Servants, however, didn't appear to be at the throne. Were they stationed elsewhere in the cavern? Even with his enhanced eyes, there were plenty of places Shirou couldn't see; the cavern floor was uneven, filled with crests and mounds. They had to be here somewhere; no way would the enemy allow him to reach the center without a fight. And Shirou knew one sure way to draw them out.
"Everyone..." he said, then took a deep breath. "Charge!"
The group broke into a run, exploding out from the entranceway and racing towards the center of the cavern. In response, an undulation passed through the floor, and Shirou realized that nearly the entire ground was covered in a seething carpet of the False Avenger's chains. Even using his improved vision, Shirou had mistaken their movement for a dance of shadows caused by the irregular pulsations of light given off by the churning Grails. Sensing the presence of intruders, the chains began to rear up, becoming a massive wall obstructing the group's path. Then the barbed spearheads turned towards the group, and the chains were no longer a wall; they were a cresting wave, a looming tsunami ready to crash down and crush all that was caught beneath them. Lina began shouting the words of a spell, but the chains were already bearing down on them.
True Avenger ran forwards like lightning and flung his body into the approaching wall of chains, seizing one of the spear-point heads and deliberately driving it into his own chest over his heart. As the metal entered his body, the demonic tattoos carved into his skin burned with red light. The chain was a conduit for the curse of All Evils of This World; but False Avenger was not the only Servant to carry that curse. True Avenger's own curse began flowing back through the chains, and the mass bearing down on the group lost cohesion. Torn between two competing curses, the attacking chains began to waver drunkenly in their path; they tangled and collided with one another. Though they were still carried generally forwards by their momentum, they were slowed enough for Lina to complete her incantation.
"Blast Bomb!"
A dozen burning fireballs materialized in the air around Lina and flew forwards to collide with the descending wall of chains. They exploded on contact in a tremendous conflagration of light and heat which blew the chains apart. Only the chain which had anchored itself to True Avenger and now served as an umbilicus between him and the False Avenger survived. It began to retract, dragging True Avenger away with it.
"Keep going!" he shouted. "I'll keep the chains out of play!"
Then he was yanked out of sight. The only evidence of his continued survival was the behavior of the chains covering the cavern, which were now twitching and flailing about entirely at random as the two Avengers' wills warred through them.
"Forwards!" Shirou shouted. "To the Grails!"
They dashed out from the tunnel mouth, running across the chain-covered cavern floor. The chains convulsed when stepped on, but their movements were random; the sluggish and disoriented barbed heads posed no risk at all in their current condition. The true danger was still waiting for them: the Dark Servants which danced upon the False Avenger's chains. Angra Mainyu could disrupt the False Avenger's control over the cursed chains which were still seeking victims, but Shirou was not optimistic enough to believe that the self-proclaimed weakest Servant would be able to sever the bonds already formed with enslaved Servants. He had witnessed how, in contrast to the relatively fragile roving chains, the ones that had sunk into a heart became nearly unbreakable.
"Enemy spotted!" Red Archer called.
The False Berserker with a scarred face had leapt forth from a dark crevice and was now charging across the ground towards them. Perhaps it had been intended to wait in ambush and strike when they grew close, but apparently not even False Avenger could truly control this Servant: it charged across the ground with a loping, beast-like gait, howling incoherently and letting off sparks of red energy from the tattoo on its right arm. The chain in its heart might bind it to the False Avenger, but not even its Master could suppress the boundless fury burning within its soul. The cursed energy which flowed through the chain only inflamed the Berserker's hatred and made it that much more unruly. Upon laying eyes on the intruders into the cavern, it had spotted the prey which had once before eluded it – the blue-eyed magus Luviagelita Edelfelt – and now nothing could hold it back from seeking its vengeance.
Luvia, unsurprised that the mad Servant had once more fixated on her, hurled a blue gem through the air. It had been charged up with so much magical energy by Lina that it blazed like a blue comet in the dark cavern. Arcing through the air to strike the ground in front of the approaching Servant, the gemstone exploded into a cloud of faintly glowing mist. The Dark Berserker tried to charge right through it, right arm extended towards Luvia's head, only for the cloud to suddenly coalesce around him. It formed into a mass of jagged ice crystals which snapped shut around his body like a bear trap, leaving only his head visible above the freezing prison.
"Now, Bazett!" Luvia called.
Bazett leapt forwards, her magically enhanced legs propelling her towards the trapped Servant like she'd been fired out of a cannon. One of her arms drew back, winding up for a devastating punch at the Berserker's exposed and vulnerable head. Green runes burned on back of her black glove as she charged the strike with enough magical energy to pulverize the enemy's brain and kill him instantly.
Before Bazett could reach him, however, red light blazed from deep within the ice. Energy exploded outwards from the enemy's right arm, and the iceberg entrapping him exploded into a cloud of steam and icy shrapnel. Bazett and Luvia were blown backwards by the shockwave of expanding superheated air, and pelted by jagged shards of unmelted ice. The Berserker roared, screaming defiance at the mere humans who thought themselves equal to a Servant.
"Dammit, Luvia!" Rin said. "I knew that hyena couldn't get anything right. Keep going, Shirou; I'm going back to help them."
Rin skidded to a stop and reversed direction, throwing a gemstone ahead of her as she raced back towards where Luvia and Bazett had fallen. Another explosion kicked up a cloud of smoke and hid them from view. Shirou resolutely turned his head back towards his goal. He had to trust Rin, had to believe that she could prevail. Just as he was counting on her to do her part in stopping the Grails, she was counting on him to do his.
"Don't stop!" he told the Servants. "We need to reach the Grail!"
Shirou and the Servants continued their headlong charge across the cavern. However, difficult terrain soon began to hamper their progress. The stone floor of the cave was wildly uneven, dotted by towering boulders and split by deep chasms. What's more, the floor was covered with masses of the False Avenger's chains. In some places, they were piled up high like dams across the path; in others, what appeared to be level ground turned out to be a thin layer of chains hanging over a bottomless pit. The only illumination was the pulsing red light from the magic circle of the Great Grail, and the drunken writhing of the chains made it nearly impossible to distinguish shifting shadows from rifts and gorges. Shirou knew that he was the one limiting the group's pace; the Servants could have easily outpaced him, but were hanging back in order to protect him.
"I'm too slow!" Shirou said. "Crow – can you help?"
"Thought you'd never ask, kid." Crow said.
With his one arm, Crow grabbed Shirou around the waist and hoisted him over his shoulder like a piece of baggage. It normally would have felt humiliating to be carried in such a manner; but in this case, speed outweighed all else, and Crow moved with long, powerful, confident strides. When he encountered a barrier of chains or a broken ravine, he simply leaped over it. He never hesitated, he never stumbled; he covered ground at an incredible rate. Shirou's only complaint was that Crow had tossed him over his shoulder backwards, so that he couldn't see the Grail. The only way he had to judge their progress towards their goal was by the increasing distance from the dust and explosions that marked the place where Rin, Luvia, and Bazett still battled the False Berserker. Being forced to watch, unable to help, only fueled his anxiety. He needed to focus only on his goal, to put aside all of his other feelings until the Grail was dealt with. He needed to be looking forwards, not back.
However, it was because he was facing back that he saw the attack.
Crow had just made a particularly mighty leap, one that carried him in a long, high arc over a particularly broad gorge in the cavern floor. Looking down into that shadowy rift, Shirou saw the moment that a chain lanced upwards and pierced Crow through the leg.
Shirou's first thought was one of panic – if True Avenger's disruption of False Avenger's control over the chains had failed, they were doomed. As his eyes focused on the chain, however, he saw that it was different – instead of the barbed head that False Avenger drove into the hearts of Servants to make them slaves, it terminated in a long, thin spike. This was the weapon of the True Rider Medusa.
Then Shirou was flying through the air. Reacting in an instant, Crow had hurled him towards the nearest patch of open ground. Shirou hit the cold, hard stone roughly, but mostly unharmed. He glimpsed Crow for an instant more, seemingly hanging in midair; then the chain pulled taut, and Crow was dragged down into the abyss below.
Shirou scrambled to his feet and gazed over the edge into the chasm. He could hear the sound of Crow's blood blades clashing against Medusa's chains, but could see nothing in the dark depths below. And even if he could, there was nothing he could do about it. He would have to trust in Crow's ability to fight his own battle, while the rest of them continued towards the Grail.
For a moment, Shirou awkwardly wondered if he should ask one of the other Servants to carry him. However, unlike Crow, who could generate his blood blades from any part of his body, the rest of the Servants all needed their hands free to fight. Shirou couldn't afford to be such a burden on them when they were such danger.
A glance around at his surroundings, however, eased his mind. The central portion of the cavern was a single large plateau, at the center of which was False Avenger's throne. The ground here was solid, without pits or ridges to obstruct his progress. Though he could never move as fast as a Servant, he wouldn't be as much of a hindrance on this unobstructed level ground. He could move forwards on his own two feet now.
"We're almost there." he said. "Just a little further now."
No sooner had he spoken than a thousand small, golden lights appeared above them, appearing the fill the cavern's sky with stars. Then they expanded into circular portals, and weapons began emerging from them. Uncountable swords and spears, each of them unique, each of them giving off an aura of deadly power, began to fall like rain. Shirou instinctively raised an arm above his head to protect himself – though he could not imagine he would be able to Project anything in time to block the onslaught.
"Trace, on!"
The words rose to his lips instinctively; but though he spoke them softly, they were echoed with forceful conviction by Red Archer speaking in unison. The Servant had also extended his hand heavenwards; but unlike Shirou, he seemed prepared for this. There was not the slightest bit of doubt or hesitation in his eyes as he faced down the ceiling of blades falling to pierce them. And, in response to his invocation, a second wall of weapons appeared above them. It was a perfect mirror image to the storm of weapons descending down upon them: every weapon matched with an identical counterpart. Red Archer's arsenal leapt upwards, each blade rushing to collide with its counterpart; and then there was a tremendous explosion as the two walls met. The concussion shook the bedrock of the cavern itself, causing Shirou to stumble as a cloud of smoke and chunks of burning hot metal fell on them from the site of impact.
"Keep going!" Red Archer urged. "I don't have enough mana to keep countering him. We must close the distance while this smoke obscures us from his aim!"
Shirou forced himself back to his feet and resumed running. The smoke was thick and chocking; Shirou had lost track of the rest of his allies. He could only keep charging forwards, trusting that they were keeping pace with him and Red Archer.
Then there was a sonic boom, and something rushed towards them with such speed that it tore through the smoke like a whirlwind. Once again, Red Archer's reflexes saved them. Before Shirou could even begin processing the sound, Red Archer had already begun Projecting again.
"Rho Aias!"
From his outstretched hand he projected a pink shield of energy, shaped like a seven petaled flower. No sooner had it formed than a red spear slammed against it with terrible force: the False Lancer's Lance of Longinus. Though the impact should have brought the weapon to a dead stop, it seemed possessed of a malevolent will that continued to drive it forwards. The double-helix prongs, which had wrapped together into a single point to allow the weapon to be thrown, uncoiled slightly as the Lance began driving itself into the shield like a screw. Archer grunted in pain as the Lance began to bore through the petals: this barrier was a projection of his magical energy, an extension of his soul – and the Lance was a weapon designed to rend souls. One of the petals shredded under the unceasing pressure of the Lancer's advance, and the sound of it shattering was echoed by the sound of cracking bone from the elbow of the arm Red Archer was using to support the Projection. The Servant gritted his teeth, but did not allow his concentration to falter for even a moment – letting the shield drop would mean instant death upon the tip of the weapon slowly driving its way towards him.
Shirou was turning to dash towards Red Archer's aid before he'd even come up with a plan. He didn't know what he could do, only that he must do something. His first thought was to project his own copy of Red Archer's shield, to aid him in blocking the Lance – even though that would only delay its unceasing penetration, and would leave him pinned as well. Then his structural grasp magecraft brushed the Lance, and he felt a weakness in it – a scar in the otherwise flawless red metal composing the weapon. It was the gouge which Lina had burned into it when she'd struck it with her Ragna Blade spell; damage which could apparently could not be repaired – or perhaps could not be healed, given the unnatural life that seemed the fill the Lance as it twisted deeper into Red Archer's shield.
"Trace, on!"
A sword materialized within Shirou's hand, and he brought it down directly on the weakened deformity in the Lance. It smashed against the gouge with a resounding clang, but the Lance didn't react. In his haste to act, Shirou had Projected only an ordinary sword, rather than a proper Noble Phantasm, and such a weapon was no match for a crystallization of Divine Mystery. But with over half the petals of Red Archer's shield now gone and the Lance showing no sign of stopping, Shirou didn't have time to Project again. He instead focused all his magical energy on Reinforcement, pouring power into the blade as he ground it against the notch in the Lance.
"Astral Vine!" Lina's voice shouted from behind him.
The False Caster burst forth from the swirling smoke, arms extended, magical energy flying from her fingers to soak into Shirou's sword. This power, raw sorcerous energy drawn from a world with magic that dwarfed the pitiful magecraft found on Earth, was on an entirely different level than anything Shirou could have managed. The sword began to vibrate in his hands like a chainsaw, and it burned so brightly with arcane energies that Shirou had to avert his gaze from it. A spray of spark erupted from the point where it was pressed against the Lance; and at last, the dreadful spear recoiled. Perhaps recognizing the sorcery which had nearly broken it once before, it immediately tumbled backwards in the direction from whence it had come, returning to it's owner's hand so she could shield it behind her impenetrable AT Field.
A moment after the Lance had disappeared, Black Archer dashed passed Shirou. She paused only a moment to give Shirou a cool glance over her shoulder, then leapt forwards through the smoke and out of sight in pursuit of the Lance. But though she had only held his gaze for a moment, Shirou clearly understood her message: leave the Dark Lancer to her. There was no way he could have failed to understand – it was the look of someone who had chosen to become a sword, devoting the whole of her body and soul to becoming a weapon to defeat the enemy before her. Not a trace of the casual aloofness she had displayed up until now remained. Shirou knew that she would find a way to overcome Rei's AT Field, or else die trying. Either way, she would keep the enemy occupied and the Lance out of play for the time being – and it was up to him to use that time to achieve his goal.
"Are you okay?" Shirou asked Red Archer.
Though the red-coated man's arm hung limply and his sleeve was stained with blood, his face showed only annoyance.
"I can still fight." he said. "Keep moving forwards!"
Onwards, through the thick cloud of obscuring dust and over the rough, chain-covered ground. Shirou did not need to see the Grail, he could feel its presence like a pressure against his body. He forced himself to walk unflinchingly forwards against the pressure of that gale-like wind of evil energy, even as every fiber of his nerves screamed at him to run.
Then, from ahead, came a tremendous bellow; a deep and throaty roar that seemed to vibrate his bones inside his body. The pressure of the spiritual energy blowing over him with joined by a physical wind – the smoke being blown away by the force of a mighty blow cleaving the air. Standing exposed in the center of the clearing created by the wind was a gigantic figure holding a stone axe-sword: True Berserker Heracles.
All of those Servants afflicted by False Avenger's curse had been visibly stained by its corrupting energy, but Heracles was affected most of all. His entire body dripped with inky black mud, the Grail's curses given physical form; and whenever he moved, red light illuminated his body from within as though he were being devoured by an internal conflagration. Whereas the other Dark Servants were anchored by only a single chain in their hearts, Heracles's body still bristled with dozens and dozens of them – such was the giant's might that one umbilicus alone could not sustain or control him. He roared to the heavens, burning light pouring from his mouth as though from a furnace; then, he charged.
It began as a slow, lumbering motion; but with each successive step, the giant picked up speed. As stone shattered beneath his feet with each stomping step, it became apparent that there was nothing that would be able to stop his forwards momentum. Anything that tried to stand in his path would be pulverized beneath his thundering legs without even slowing him down.
"Go, Shirou." Arturia said. "I will distract him for as long as I can."
Before Shirou could reply, Arturia swung her sword behind her and released the binding of Invisible Air. The burst of prana blasted her up and forwards like a jet engine, sending her arcing over the monstrous Servant's head. As she passed over him, she swung the exposed golden blade of Excalibur around, chopping the back of the monstrous Servant's neck. Any lesser foe would surely have been decapitated by such a blow; True Berserker merely bellowed in rage as Arturia was knocked away from him by the impact. Digging in his heels, the Dark Servant skidded to a stop, then turned to pursue the irksome gnat with the stinging blade.
Shirou took advantage of the opportunity to continue forwards, passing by the monster while its back was turned. However, doubt gnawed at his heart. He had to trust in the ability of his comrades to win their own respective battles while he pressed on to the final goal. However, that tone of grim resolve in Arturia's voice had shaken him. It was the voice of a martyr who had resolved herself to a fight she knew she could not win or survive. Against his better judgement, he paused and looked back.
He was just in time to see the corrupted giant swing down his enormous stone axe-sword. Arturia leapt backwards, out of range of the strike; but the giant Berserker's swing was so mighty that his weapon created a shockwave as it tore through the air. The concussion of this blast was enough to knock Arturia off her feet and send her tumbling backwards. Heracles immediately leapt after her, intended to crush her with his landing; Arturia barely managed to roll out of the way before the giant impacted, his enormous weight shattering stone. Arturia desperately scrambled backwards, trying to put distance between herself and this monster of an opponent. All she could so was dodge; there was no way she could block or parry a blow with such inconceivable force behind it. Even a single, glancing strike from this titan was turn her to jelly. Surely, she knew this. Yet, without hope of victory, she continued to fight.
Once already in her life, Arturia had chosen to walk the thorny path of a martyr: choosing to live as a king rather than a girl, and sacrificing her life in service to her country. Now, having been resurrected and granted a second chance at life, was she doomed to merely repeat the same fate?
Shirou noticed that Red Archer had also stopped to observe the fight. As soon as the red-coated Servant noticed Shirou's scrutiny, he scowled at him.
"Forget about her." Red Archer said. "She has chosen the path of a Servant, and you are but a human. There's nothing you can do to save her."
He spoke harshly, his words dripping with scorn... but hadn't he also stopped?
"Maybe I can't... but you can." Shirou said. "So go. Help her."
"Idiot; have you forgotten about Gilgamesh!?" Red Archer snarled. "Risking everything for the sake of just one person–"
"Doesn't matter." Shirou said. "Someone in front of you needs help. Save them."
"Of course you'd say something so foolish." Red Archer said.
But despite his rebuke, the red knight obeyed. He leapt back towards where Saber was fighting, a dozen swords materializing from thin air to bombard True Berserker; then a series of explosions shrouded the fighting Servants in smoke. Wishing his allies luck, regretful that he could not remain to fight by their side but dedicated to his purpose, Shirou turned and dashed the remainder of the distance to the Great Grail.
He had lost track of the number of enemies they had confronted out of the total number that False Avenger controlled; but if any remained unaccounted for, none appeared to take him as he ran across the final stretch of ground. There was no longer anything to delay him. The time had finally come to fight his own battle.
With only Lina still by his side, Shirou finally reached the base of the throne of chains. The sounds of battle echoed through the cave behind him, but he had eyes only for the two figures who still remained blocking his path: clad in shining golden armor, the King of Heroes Gilgamesh; and standing calmly like a shepherd before his flock, the priest Kirie Kotomine.
Kotomine stood calmly, hands clasped behind his back, clearly granting his companion the privilege of acting first. Gilgamesh's eyes flicked over Shirou, dismissed him in a moment, then settled on Lina. The Servant's expression immediately shifted from one of contempt to malice.
"So, thief, you dare show your face before me?" Gilgamesh declared. "Twice now you have affronted me with your presence and escaped with your life; but there will not be a third. Prepare yourself to have the king's judgement rendered upon you!"
Even as Gilgamesh was threatening her, Lina was chanting a spell under her breath. A hexagram of glowing light appeared on the ground underneath her, then expanded to encompass the golden Servant as well. Then she finished her spell, and they both vanished amidst a blinding pillar of light. The last glimpse Shirou got of Lina's face showed a look of intense resolve and determination, whereas Gilgamesh merely looked mildly amused as he faded into the light. Then both of them were gone, temporarily sealed within a Reality Marble-like subspace generated by Lina's spell.
Shirou stood alone before Kirie Kotomine. As they faced each other, he could not help but feel a shared sense of understanding with his enemy; a feeling that they had both long ago been set on the path to this inevitable destiny. The priest raised his arms in benediction, here in the very womb of the curse that would end the world; and Shirou knew without a doubt the words he would say. And so, he spoke them as well, in tandem with his enemy:
"Rejoice. Your wish shall finally be granted."
Author's Note:
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