Shirou would never claim to be devoid of fear. Unlike others who could stand their ground with confidence against the mightiest of opponents he was always intimately aware of how outclassed he was in each situation. The situation had actually grown worse as he got older and wiser and he looked back with a fond exasperation at his young recklessness, like trying to go head to head with a Dead Apostle Ancestor at the age of ten. Even when he was Enki with all the power that his divine form entailed he trembled at facing the King of the Underwater Ocean, The father of All, Apsu. However if he had decided to back down, to run and hid then the primordial fresh water would not only have killed all his fellow gods but also the humans that he so cared for.

The fear of the latter was magnitudes more powerful than the fear of a mere primordial god and thus Enki descended with all of his determination into the depths of the earth and into legend. The same thoughts repeated through his mind as the god of all vampires charged towards him wearing the body of his friend. While the very thought of facing such a powerful foe filled him with anxiety; the thought of losing Arcueid who he loved filled him with dread.

Twenty-seven magic circuits burst into action creating streams of prana that circled the body. The ocean beneath his skin bubbled and boiled thrumming with mystery. His crest burnt with such power that it felt like his heart was on fire and his mind was filled with all the wonders of Magic.

The air exploded into the form of an ocean as lakes from Shirou's veins manifested into the world. In less than a heartbeat later the entire ocean was [frozen] and at the very same time Shirou thrust the titanic impromptu iceberg down through every floor of the building making sure to hit every load bearing pillar so that the skyscraper collapsed on his foe. Shirou didn't even hover in the air for half a second before teleporting onto a nearby skyscraper as his instincts warned him.

That quick reaction saved his life as he teleported backwards onto the edge of a nearby roof a split-second before a massive pillar of wind manifested extending countless kilometres into the air. When the wind died down he witnessed the fact that the remains of the building, his iceberg and the third Dead Apostle Ancestor were gone. Extending his senses he dodged backwards in time to avoid the strike from below that would have torn him in two.

Taking advantage of his foes momentum he twisted his body and lashed out with a kick catching her in the head to absolutely no effect and his attempt to move to the side ended in a brutal retaliatory kick that sent him flying through the side of the building. Catching his breath as his lungs forcibly expanded he formed ice beneath his feet and rocketed off that patch of airborne ice into the floor below. The roof above him exploded and he looked past the dust and debris firing out javelins of ice with concepts of [piercing] that were avoided or shattered by her descending form. Shirou bent space teleporting away from the spot he was standing in the instant before her axe kick would have shattered his skull and he watched as the floor collapsed.

Without slowing down he darted among the pieces of falling rubble using the debris as cover to launch a sneak attack to her unprotected skull. Unfortunately the imposter possessed all of Arcueid's sensory powers and his hand was caught without even a side look. In the next instant he was sent crushing into the floor and he had to move his head to the side very quickly as her other hand penetrated through the concrete of the floor as if it was made of butter.

Gathering water into his mouth he spat in her eye piercing deep into the vulnerable orb and drawing his first blood of the fight. The retaliation was brutal and Shirou found himself punched through the floor, and all the remaining floors hitting the ground floor and sinking and cratering the lobby of what looked to be like a hotel. Shirou shakily crawled out of the hole, immensely thankful for the fact that his body was very good at avoiding blunt damage.

His opponent gracefully landed down in front of him and Shirou clicked his neck as he felt Nolava II repair some minor skeletal damage. Taking an unsteady step he straightened and stood tall facing his opponent.

"You hit just like Arcueid," he said conversationally. "It almost feels like you dislodged something back there."

"Well it is her body," the being replied with the voice of Shirou's favourite True Ancestor. "You actually got in a pretty good hit as well," she said gesturing to her uninjured eyes. "It was a nice trick, but cheap tricks won't help against a body this strong."

They paused for a moment contemplating the other then Shirou broke the silence. "I'm sorry I have to ask is this body an upgrade or…"

"It's actually weaker I think," the revived Crimson Moon said flexing her muscles. "But I haven't really put it through its paces."

The silence stretched for a bit longer until Shirou brimming with curiosity decided to ask another question that had been intriguing him. "How does it feel?" he started feeling around with the best way to ask the question. "How does it feel like to have a woman's body?"

"This is a womans' body?" she asked inspecting it. "Really?"

"You can't tell," Shirou said incredoulously.

"All you humans look the same to me," she said offhand and then laughed at Shirou's expression. "I'm joking," she said through her chuckles. "The True Ancestors were made based off my body, there's no way I wouldn't recognize her gender."

Shirou didn't laugh and instead he kept his eyes fixed on the woman trying to analyse her stance guard and powers. He had already identified a few new tricks that she used that Arcueid had not and Shirou got the feeling that she had yet to really show him anything yet.

"That's because I haven't really even got started," she said breaking Shirou's internal monologue. "But then again you haven't really gotten serious either. No I can't read your thoughts," she said in response to Shirou's look of suspicion. "You probably have some naive hope of beating me quickly and then going to stop the others from completing that ritual."

Shirou didn't speak and merely matched her movements as she started to circle him, the two of them looking like prowling tigers before they were to fight or mate.

"But there's no way I'm letting you go," she said in a tone that would have sounded seductive coming from Arcueid's mouth in most circumstances but now simply gave Shirou chills. "I got the second Magician pretty well the last time we fought and the fifth Magician is still weak and asleep. Right now you're the biggest threat to my return."

Shirou sighed and then smiled a moment later. "I guess I can't hold back then," he said. "I tend to avoid going all out when I can avoid it. You never know what you may have to fight later," he said and then his grin widened. "But you're worth it Arcueid. Just hold on and let me save you."

xxx

Magic was amazing. That was Shirou's opinion as the foremost expert of Magic in the world, and he would fight Zelretch for that title. It was a power so far beyond humanity that to use it unrestrained was to court calamity and death. Shirou had taken that raw unrestrained power to shape the universe and parcelled it out creating techniques that could be used easily on a moment's notice taking his formidable Magic and using it like formidable magecraft.

Easily the longest and most difficult technique he had ever tried learning was to add concepts to Shirou himself. Not just to give his fist [piercing] or [crushing] for a single attack but to modify himself so that he became more. In theory the Fourth Magic would be perfect for this task. A user of the First Magic could create mountains but a user of the Fourth could create mountains of [strength].

The problem came with adding concepts onto a human being; any tampering almost immediately put a person out of Alaya's purview and that was only the start. The only other example that he had of tampering with body of humans come from either the Dead Apostles or Zouken and they were both repugnant creatures. The first and only time Shirou had ever used the Fourth to alter a person resulted in Satsuki years later he was still figuring out exactly what the hell happened there.

His research eventually concluded with the knowledge that it was possible to alter oneself and not lose the essential parts of him only if he had a strong comprehension of his origin and a powerful origin that would be able to resist the decay. Unwilling to awaken his own origin his research stalled until last night. Shirou's origin was [Enki]. There were very few origins stronger than that.

xxx

The walls of the hotel barely slowed her down as she found herself airborne and out in the streets, nor did the second or third wall or the others. Taking action she controlled the winds and forcibly controlled her momentum angling herself so that she could dig deep into the stone of the Earth to halt her momentum. Standing up on stable legs and feeling her jaw mercifully unbroken, she took a glance around her. While originally they were in a quieter part of the city it looked like Shirou's punch carried her quite a distance.

There were a few onlookers, probably drawn here by the noise of battle. She sneered at that, human stupidity was truly beyond her ability to comprehend. If they had hunkered down then they may have lasted longer. She raised her hand in an unnecessary gesture. She rather enjoyed her new ability to control nature, and when targets come to display themselves so brazenly how could she resist.

"Focus on me," a familiar voice said, and in the same instance an icy mist descended on the battlefield blocking off the sight of the humans and sending them scurrying away from the arctic temperatures.

"Oh," she said turning towards the Magician. Despite looking the exact same as he did previously somehow he seemed to convey the feeling that he was more than before. "You've finally got here," she said. "Took you quite a while."

"Yeah," Shirou said his eyes never leaving her own. "I had to pick up something from the house. Never let anybody tell you that girl's rooms are any less messy than guys."

"Okay," she said not bothering with puzzling out the way that the Magicians head worked. She took a step forward towards the Magician and was intrigued to see that he mirrored her movements. "By the way try not to destroy my stomach too badly. I'm still digesting Nine's cooking," she lied.

Shirou's eyes flickered slightly before his step faltered and his face drained of any expression. A moment's pause was all it took for the Vampire to be on him with a devastating right hook that caused the bones in his face to buckle. Still she didn't have any time to relax as in the next second she was hit by an icy fist that knocked her backwards. Shirou stepped forward his eyes showing intense focus as he lashed out with a pair of icy hands thrusting claws forward in an attempt to rip her to pieces.

Smiling she leapt taking to the air and out of his range letting the wind hold her aloft. A hand gesture and a tornado appeared in her palm and then she threw it at the Magician. Shirou had only about a second before the tornado engulfed him, more than enough time for him to freeze the tornado leaving a spiral staircase that he ascended at speeds that defied human imagination. Crimson Moon scowled as she saw her attack countered so easily and she snapped her fingers causing the ground beneath the icy staircase to buckle and boil engulfing the entire structure in magma. She crossed her arms in satisfaction in her work an instant later she turned to avoid a kick from behind. Twisting she lashed out with a kick that was ducked by the magician and she felt her leg bend the wrong way as Shirou drove his fist into her kneecap.

Stumbling a bit she took a blow to the chin from Shirou followed by a rapid series of punches to the face. Snarling she caught both of his arms and then head butted him. Unfortunately she chose to head butt his forehead and both of them reeled back from the pain.

She recovered momentarily quicker and activated her Marble Phantasm causing the air around him to spontaneously combust. The air in seconds became as hot as the surface of the sun and the atmosphere was engulfed in fire. She watched for a while as the white faded and then instantly created a vacuum snuffing out the remaining flames. Her eyes widened in disbelief as in the middle of the area defying gravity what appeared to be a coffin shaped block of clear ice. The inside of the ice was foggy and she could barely make out a peaceful-looking Shirou encased inside the ice as he hung there with his eyes closed and his arms over his chest. A few breaths later and the ice disappeared cracking and fading into non-existence.

"In case you're wondering," Shirou said opening his eyes. "It's a spell based on my experiences with Avalon and it works by freezing space-time around me. Unfortunately once I set it's duration I can't alter how long it lasts. Fortunately I know that Arcueid deactivates any effect from her Marble Phantasm after thirty seconds."

"I think you forgot that I'm not Arcueid," the god of all vampires said, impressed despite herself at the utility of the spell.

"Believe me I did not," Shirou said. He clapped his hands together and thousands of sharp icy spears rapidly converged on the True Ancestor. Arcueid casually flexed her power and the wind convulsed redirecting and shattering their forms but it was only a distraction. An absolutely massive serpentine dragon formed in the sky. It had a skull of ice with massive jaws and teeth but the rest was made out of a pale liquid and the creature stretched for over a kilometre. The creature bore down on Arcueid and the True Ancestor raised her hands to block it. Her attempt at stopping the dragon didn't work however as the momentum was too great and she was sent rocketing down into the ground creating a massive crater.

In annoyance Crimson Moon used one of her skills summoning a massive pillar of wind that shredding the water construct. Her relief was short lived as from the from the remaining pieces a group of smaller water dragons emerged attacking in an attempt to latch onto soft flesh. Scowling she casually punched the remaining few dozen dragons and then searched the night for Shirou.

She had lost track of him as soon as the giant dragon hit her and it was starting to get slightly concerning. Whenever Shirou backed off in a duel it either meant that he was going to heal or he had something nasty prepared, and considering he looked fine when they last fought meant that Arc was really not looking for whatever he had up his sleeve.

"…" quiet unintelligible words were heard by Arcueid's sharp ears. That voice was Shirou's, she would recognize it anyway. The Magician very seldom used a single word for a spell and those spells denoted his most powerful attacks. She had never heard him cast a sentence and a sudden chill ran through her body at the thought of what spell he could be casting. In a snap she was at his position. He stood with his eyes close chanting out in a foreign tongue and she took a brief portion of a second to try to decipher the eldritch words before giving up and charging him.

She came within a couple of feet of him when her clothes suddenly locked up. Her shoes stuck to the ground, her cape wrapped around her and her gloves forced her to hug herself. A brief sense of annoyance rippled through her head as she came to the realisation that her paranoid friend had booby trapped the suit he had given her. Her outrage didn't last long as the next second Shirou's eyes were open and otherworldly power washed over her.

In an instant the vast energies that her body produced were all plundered, her sharp mind was dulled, her muscles ached with exhaustion and a weight settled on her shoulders causing her to fall backwards onto the ground. It felt like that time that she had been partially restrained by Nrvnqsr Chaos, only far worse. Shirou walked towards her in that way that he did when he was fatigued but was trying to hide it.

"You made me very happy when you called me a Magician Arc," Shirou said. He knelt down onto the ground next to her and took her right hand. "One of the things that every magus is taught is that memories are stored in the soul. Ergo if you can remember me then the soul of Arcueid Brunestud still exists somewhere in there". She wanted to contradict him but her mouth still felt heavy. Even she could feel the spell wearing off as she lay there; she had not yet recovered enough to move. Shirou delicately took off her right glove and she sighed in some relief as the restraining feel of her hand-wear disappeared, for all the good that it would do her now.

Laying her hand down on the ground Shirou put his own hand over it and with his other hand pulled out a black dagger. "Just hold on Arcueid I'll be there in a moment." And then he plunged the dagger down driving it through both of their hands. Arcueid had just enough time for to see script on the blade glow a dazzling blue before the world faded to white.

xxx

Shirou opened his eyes to the sight of magnificent fortress walls that loomed in front of him. Sweeping his eyes along their length he noticed that the one solitary gate to the stronghold stood in front of him, unopened and imposing. Still Shirou had no hope that the gates and defences would be the hardest obstacle to his success. "I guess I'm going to have to rescue a princess from a castle then," the Magician observed with a wry smile as he stepped from the frying pan to the fire.

Author Note: Hmm freezing himself in time. Did I just make Shirou !Reverse Esdeath.

ulttoanova: Does Gil hate vampires? Was this an apocrypha thing?

Nofocus: Really good trick I suppose. I suppose substantial power-up could also count as Shirou stopped holding back.

hyperomegasonic26: I really enjoy reading your answers. I suppose I should explain that Zelretch won't show up. I don't believe in introducing new characters so late in the show. (Actually reads the chapter he's written). I don't believe in introducing new characters so late in the show if they're on the side of the heroes.

DPSS: I feel this would be the one situation that everybody brings up over a round of drinks decades into the future. The one thing he will never live down.

Please read and review. I'll bring the second half of the fight when i have a moment.