Shirou materialised in an underground chamber without a sound and yet not one of the occupants so much as twitched a muscle. Arcueid and Shiki sat chatting on two comfy looking reclining chairs discussing movies they had both seen. Apparently the servant Shiki's Arcueid was also a connoisseur of movies and the pair of them had seen a great many back when they were together. Unfortunately the few seconds of conversation he overheard swiftly informed him that the films that they were in such heavy discussion were Arcueid movies and he was sorely tempted to turn around and leave the room.
He didn't turn around and leave because that would be stupid considering the current situation. He was already forced to abandon his fight when the alarm attached to his bounded field went off and a short scan of the surrounds told him that his aid was more urgently needed here. The last thing he saw was the death of the enemy Caster and he mentally commanded Ishtar to go all out in killing her opponent leaving somewhat favourable odds for his team if she were to succeed.
"Hey Shirou," Arcueid said as he strode forward towards the pair. "What do you think makes a good romantic comedy?"
"Brevity," the magician replied without slowing down. "Can you sense that?"
"I'm pretty sure that even the Tiger could have sensed that," Arcueid said standing up from her comfy chair. "What happened to her anyway?"
"A compulsion to stay home mixed with some minor bounded fields," Shirou replied shrugging his shoulders. "I would give her stronger protections but it would likely draw attention." Shirou frowned briefly. "Honestly if I knew it was going to be this bad I would have given her a ticket to some European country."
"I'm sure if you knew how bad it was going to get you probably would have done a lot of things differently," Shiki said speaking to Shirou for a change. In all honesty Shirou had avoided speaking to him before as the young man was a somewhat painful reminder of the first person he had failed to save and the servant seemed to pick up on that.
"Yeah probably," he said as he counted down the seconds. "Primate Murder, Altrouge Brunestud, Achilles, Rizo-Waal Strout and Altrouge's servant. If we can defeat them here then the war will be as good as over.
"That's a bit of a tall order," Shiki said mirroring Shirou's thoughts. "Even in my old world I wouldn't have dared to take on Altrouge or Primate Murder."
Shirou nodded. "If I had a few decades more I would probably hunt down the Beast of Gaia myself. Unfortunately we're both short on time and resources. We most likely will not be able to hold this outpost and if prior data holds true Altrouge Brunestud will go directly for the lesser grail. We need to thin out their numbers so that we can effectively hold at the final outpost."
"I don't know if I can kill Primate Murder," Arcueid said with some doubt.
"I'm not sure I can either," Shirou commiserated. "Can you do me a favour and stall him for a bit. I want to battle the red one."
"That's unusual," Arcueid said with an unspoken question in her voice. "That would leave Shiki to fight Strout and Achilles alone. No offence Shiki but those aren't very good odds."
"None taken," the assassin servant said. "I don't fancy my odds against the two of them. Maybe if I fight defensively I can stall until you are finished."
"Please give me your knife," Shirou said after a moment of thought. Shiki handed it over without any fuss and Shirou accessed the fourth appending the concept of divinity onto the weapon turning it into a pseudo-divine construct.
"It should be able to harm Achilles now," Shirou said offering no further explanation.
Shiki asked no questions and took the blade back feeling the weight of the knife and nodding in satisfaction. "You have far more to lose in this war," he stated standing up from his seat. "From what I've seen you seem to be the sort to always have a plan, so I'll trust you to do what's best."
"They're coming," Arcueid said interrupting the conversation.
Whipping his head towards the far side of the warehouse Shirou sensed multiple figures on the side of the door. He easily picked up the presence of the five opponents that he had met previously and sighed when he felt the existence of about a dozen more.
A knock sounded on the door and then two more in rapid succession when the first was not answered immediately.
"Should somebody get that," Arcueid said, but nobody provided a response and the last True Ancestor huffed and crossed her arms.
Abruptly the stillness in the warehouse was shattered as the door exploded inwards flying towards the three standing figures. The door was intercepted by Shiki who with a swift stab reduced the encroaching wall into flakes of rust.
From the gap a dozen vampires emerged bearing down onto the party with speed that would have rendered them invisible to the untrained eye. No mere dead, a single glance was enough to ensure Shirou that these were vampires that had lived for hundreds of years and survived all that had been thrown at them so far. These were monsters that had wiped out towns and forced squads of enforcers and executors to hunt them down with only minor success. They were blight on the world that only got stronger over time, as their body and mind soared past the comparably pitiful limits of their former mortality.
The closest vampire barely got halfway before a jet of water pierced right through the centre of his throat. While he could normally have recovered from that quite easily he lacked the opportunity as his entire body exploded into a cloud of blood and in the next half-second the next three vampires were pierced through the chest with lances of blood. They stumbled and in the second the three of them had turned around and attacked those behind them. The vampire rush ground to a halt as the remaining elite vampires dissolved into an orgy of blood and violence.
Thankfully the skirmish was over extremely quickly and Shirou stepped forwards over the ash and rust to politely greet his five visitors.
"Really," the Magician said. "This late in the game and you're throwing cannon fodder at us."
"Sorry," a wickedly beautiful raven-haired girl replied. "I brought them here and I kept forgetting to use them." She huffed in a manner that was disturbingly akin to Arcueid. "You know how it is, you keep saying I'll wait for the right time to use them, or I'll save it until I need it, but you forget and then you're left with a bunch of things and no reason to use them."
"I can't say I've ever had that particular problem," Shirou said looking slightly disconcerted.
"Yeah well just wait until you get to my age," she said flashing a lively grin. "Wait a minute," she said her smile fading as she gave him a pensive look. "We haven't met, have we? You look slightly familiar. Did I perhaps bite one of your ancestors?"
"Pretty unlikely," Shirou said answering shortly. Despite her remaining quiet he could almost feel the irritation emanating from Arcueid. Apparently she really didn't like her pseudo-sister. "Why don't we call this thing off," Shirou said with very little hope in his voice.
"Hmm," Altrouge said and she looked briefly like she was considering it. "No, I don't feel like it. How about you join me and become a Dead Apostle," she said and Shirou could almost feel his back burning from the heat of Arcueid's gaze. "Sumire killed one of my lieutenants and I've been missing him for a while." She stopped as if something just occurred to her and she looked at Shirou with a somewhat hungry. "You're actually pretty cute. We could have plenty of fun together," she said suggestively.
"I would rather not," Shirou said as despite the girl's attractiveness he could practically feel the hatred from Arcueid boil over at this point.
"Oh," Altrouge said, her eyes widening. "Is it because I'm too old, I mean you are Japanese."
"Okay fuck this," Arcueid said borrowing one of Shirou's favourite words and in the next second Shirou watched in fatalistic enjoyment as he watched a massive chunk of earth held together by specific circumstances that could have only been replicated by the use of Marble Phantasm launch past him and into the massive form of Primate Murder where it crumbled away into dust.
Shirou sighed. "I guess diplomacy has failed," he said and with a single gesture a massive wave of water bore down on Strout and Achilles. Turning his head to fix on his target he watched as the True Ancestor charged into the massive form of the Beast of Gaia causing the two of them to go sprawling through the metal walls which bent like aluminium. Altrouge was already gone which meant that she likely was going to destroy the lesser grail and Shirou found himself in the unenviable position of having lots to do and little time to do it.
Steeling himself he teleported inside the guard of the red-cloaked servant with the familiar features and thrust forward with his hand. The push connected with zero time for the servant to dodge and he injected prana straight into the pseudo-blood of his opponent thrusting him forward and through the wall of the warehouse.
Shirou walked forward and stepped through the hole in the wall casually catching a pair of swords that looked to skewer his vital organs. He lifted up one of the swords and admired the craftsmanship. Covering his hand in ice he crushed the sword watching as it dispersed into prana.
"Some modified and greatly improved form of gradation air," Shirou said casually strolling towards the wary servant, looking for all intents and purposes like a man going for a night-time walk. That is if you could ignore the fact that he was still wearing Kiritsugu's cloak which made him look inherently suspicious. "By including the recreation of an objects history you improve stability causing, at a minimum, the world to be more accepting of the existence of the aforementioned object. That's quite an interesting piece of magecraft," Shirou said smiling with a bit of warmth. "But no less than I would expect from myself."
"What do you mean," the servant said drawing that pair of white and black swords that he seemed especially familiar with.
"Are you really going to play dumb Shirou," the Magician with the same name said. "We have the same facial features on the one hand and the second hand contains the fact that I can see the history and concept of anything I lay my eyes upon."
"I don't go by that name anymore," the red-cloaked counter guardian said suddenly drawing out a bow letting his sword disintegrate into the background mana. Shirou cocked an eyebrow and teleported behind him landing a kick that would have snapped a normal man's spine. The alternate version of him was a lot tougher and he managed to twist out of the way getting a glancing blow for his troubles.
"So what can I do for you Emiya," Shirou said stepping back out of the range of one of his black swords."
"Well if you killed yourself it would make my job much easier," the dry reply came from the red-cloaked servant and Shirou summoned his golden blades to block the onslaught of black and white. Immediately he realised that his alternate had better pure sword skills then him. Although considering Shirou's sword skills hovered somewhere between 'fuck' and 'all' on a good day that was very understandable. Letting the blades push him backwards Shirou slid his foot along the ground coating the entire floor with slippery ice and then materialised a flood from the nearly immeasurable reserves of water in his body. The servant hit the ground taking a knee and sliding backwards but still holding his swords defensively.
"Do you know when I first saw your ability to replicate a sword I thought it to be eerily similar to the First Magic. You know of the First True Magic," Shirou said conversationally as he disappeared from the spot and reappeared a dozen metres backwards leaning against a wall. "But I've come to think about it for about," Shirou adopted a contemplating position. "A couple second and I've come to the conclusion that your trick more closely resembles the Fourth True Magic." Shirou dropped the pair of gold swords into the ground letting them sink into the concrete. From his hands to streams of water arose forming into the shape of two familiar Chinese swords. "After all what is a Noble Phantasm but a very unique concept."
At the end of the sentence he stepped forward altering space so that he appeared in front of the counter-guardian swinging down his blades in an attempt to divest his opponent of his limbs. His opponent reacted quickly, stepping back and redirecting the blows but Shirou wasn't slowing. Kanshou and Byakuya were conceptually simple and aside from giving a boost to magical and physical resistance of the wielder were rather shit, relying on the inherent skill of a wielder who had very little.
Still skill could be overcome in some situations and this situation qualified. Shirou was stronger than his alternate, using [time alter] he was faster than his alternate and his swords created of immensely durable ice shattered their weaker counterparts. Still Shirou had to admit that Emiya's style was incredible and something to be respected. His intense ability to read the flow of battle and react as well as his habit of deliberately leaving pseudo-openings that closed like a trap was something he had never seen in his life as Shirou Inke and seldom seen in his life as Enki. Unfortunately the style relied on taking advantage of those who were so experienced at combat that they automatically took those opportunities and their lack of knowledge of how to counter the style. Shirou was neither of those things.
Locking his blades momentarily he let go of his left blade leaving the sword hanging in the air by his will and magecraft alone and with swift action punched the servant straight in the chest. The red-cloaked foe was sent skidding back along the ground and Shirou shook the feeling of having punched an iron wall out of his hand.
"You can actually understand my confusion," Shirou said continuing his conversation from earlier. "Do you know that the First and Fourth Magic actually reflect each other," Shirou said that conversational tone returning to his voice. A pair of black and white swords rushed towards him spinning at high speeds and he casually deflected them away from his torso ignoring them as they whirled behind him. "It's true," he said watching as the servant dashed towards him. "The First True Magic arose when God snapped his fingers at the beginning of the universe." A pair of icy arms grew from his shoulders, catching the pair of blades that were striking at his back, and at the same time he sped up time shattering the blades that were wielded by his enemy. A final pair of blades advanced and Shirou teleported away from the final attack.
"On the other hand the Fourth True Magic arose about a hundred thousand years ago when Man looked at the universe and started imagining gods and demons and dreaming up the concepts over which they ruled."
"Thank you for the history lesson," the red-cloaked servant replied with biting sarcasm.
"It's never too late to learn," Shirou said only half sincerely to the man doomed to hell. "On the other hand do you know that the Second reflects the Fifth?" He idly watched as the multiple swords converged on his position. "The Second arose about four and a half billion years ago when the world decided it didn't quite feel like crystalline life and settled on something less fucking difficult to harm." He raised his hand sending a wave of water that instantly froze the multitudes of swords that converged on his position. With a quick hand motion the wall of ice shattered revealing nothing but water and no servant in sight.
Lifting his eyes Shirou scanned the skyline and saw what he was looking for. He barely had any time to savour his find as in the next second he sensed a massive build-up of prana heading towards him. Slowing down time to the point that the world started losing colour he froze the spiral shaped projectile a few feet away from him stopping it dead under a layer of super-condensed ice.
Teleporting behind the red-cloaked guardian he kicked him off the roof of the building and then jumped off himself. "On the other hand the Fifth Magic only arose in the year 3100BC when human civilisation arose and human time and human history started becoming a thing." Crashing into the ground a few seconds before him his adversary only had a few seconds to summon his rose-petaled shield before he was on him crashing fists of ice into his defence.
"The problem was that at this point in time the possibilities exploded into the uncountable numbers stretching the Second True Magic to its limits as the very Dimension started to clutter. Shirou shook his head and his next words were almost reverent. "Almost at the same time as human history arose so did the human consciousness. An anti-primordial force that always acts in mankind's best interests as they believe it," Shirou said looking almost disappointingly at the counter guardian as he watched the last layer of his shield crumble.
"What is the point of this," the servant said his voice indicating his impatience. "There is no possible way I can beat you. Why haven't you finished me off?"
"I wasn't talking to you," Shirou said looking through Emiya. The Fourth Magician walked forward towards the counter-guardian. "Have I ever acted against mankind's best interests?" he asked. "I know you're scared, and you believe this needs to be done, that this is just one universe amongst uncountable millions and its destruction will save many more, I know all of this and yet I'm asking you to trust me. Give me a chance to prove that we can move beyond this terrible status quo."
"It's impossible," thousands of whispering voices came from the throat of the counter guardian.
"I am Enki," Shirou said smiling hopefully. "How many times have I done the impossible?"
The servant was silent for a dreadfully long moment and then his eyes snapped and fixed Shirou with a blank stare. "Enough," the multitude of voices said. "Do not make this a mistake Enki." Shirou watched the body of the servant as innumerable swords skewered its body and it dissolved into prana.
"Thank you Alaya," Shirou said. "I won't let you down."
Author Note:Meh
SentinalSlice: Casters ability allows him a tremendous ability to read into a persons actions.
Jubzy650: In order to not use the Black Barrel you have to not be radiating grain which is the thing that Types and humans in the land of steel have in abundance. Narbareck has mystic eyes and can use some sacraments, neither of which are potent enough to prevent her from using the weapon. She's not exactly Ado Edem