Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night or anything else that appears in this story with it all belonging to their respective owners and I am not attempting to or making or profit from this work of fiction in any way shape or form.
And in response to a guest review, anderson, I think it's a bit extreme to kill her since I had reasons and a nice plot idea when she betrayed Shirou.
Shirou stopped at a forest and decided it was the best place to set up a temporarily camp, at least until Rin woke up and he could drag her back to the house to make another barrier.
Under his supervision of course, he didn't want a repeat of last time.
'I am the bone of my sword.'
'What?' Shirou asked as Archer's sudden use of the first line of the aria.
Shirou found himself consumed in red light and moments later he found his clothes changed to black body armor with parts of a red cloak covering his arms and shoulders and hanging down from his waist, the pieces secured with clasps, with black pants and combat boots.
'I thought you need better clothes since you are a Servant now.' Archer's voice spoke, Shirou hearing the exhaustion in it.
'So, I thought I was stuck with blades, how did you make this?' Shirou asked as he glanced down at the armor and immediately knew everything about it, same with the red cloak he was wearing.
'You only limit yourself to swords, since everything is necessary for swords than other things can be created with a larger effort, something I mastered during my lifetime.' Archer answered and Shirou nodded.
'So, is anything going to attack me since you gave me this now?' Shirou asked and could hear Archer's grin in his next words.
'Yes, Caster and her Master should be attacking right about…'
Shirou grabbed the still down Saber and Rin and rolled out of the way of a rain of what looked like beams of light.
'Now.' Archer finished his thought and Shirou quickly formed a bow in his hands followed by three arrows from knives in his other.
'You are an ass.' Shirou told Archer before turning his entire attention to the fight he was bound to have now.
He spotted what would be a blur to anyone else but to him and his Reinforcement eyesight it was very clear.
It was Caster's Master moving at inhumane speeds in a bid to kill either Rin or Saber and Shirou found himself grinning at the confused expression on the man's face at the sight of him standing over both of them.
He didn't give him much time to think on a target as he let the three arrows shot towards him only for Shirou's aim to be off as he forced to dodge another bombardment of beams of light.
'That's getting annoying but if the Master is close than the Servant is closer.' Shirou thought and Archer nodded in agreement.
'I can give you a surge of energy, but it will leave you weakened for a while afterwards, it would be more like an adrenaline shot really.' Archer told him and after a moment Shirou nodded.
'How long do I have?' Shirou asked as he felt the surge of energy shot through his Magic Circuits.
'A few minutes so either retreat quickly or kill faster.' Archer told him before going silent.
Shirou easily dodged another beam of light but quickly was sent far away from the downed Rin and Saber from a constant bombardment aimed at him.
"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou whispered as a javelin with a spiraling tip appeared in his hands before he threw it forward.
It slammed into the ground at the Master's feet moments later and the explosion it caused threw them back only for a figure to catch them and set him down.
"Master, are you alright?" Caster asked and Kuzuki nodded.
"We should retreat, even with your spells keeping him distracted he still managed to fire a shot that would have killed me even if it hit as it did." Kuzuki told Caster who quickly covered both with her cloak and they vanished, just as an arrow would have pierced their heads.
"You've got to be kidding me." Shirou spoke with a curse but let his bow disappear in a flash of light." I didn't even need anything to deal with those two."
'Maybe but now you can perhaps make a barrier, however crude it may be, with some of the weapons you have at your disposal.' Archer spoke up and Shirou sighed as he walked up to Rin and kicked her in the back, seeing if she got up only to receive no movement so he kicked her again.
'I said you make the barrier, not her.' Archer told Shirou even as he kicked Rin again, still receiving no response.
'I can't do anything besides Reinforcement and Projection so I don't trust myself to make even a decent barrier.' Shirou told the Servant as he kicked Rin again.' So I have to rely on her to do it.'
'Than you should probably try something else, kicking her may be entertaining but it won't get her up.' Archer spoke up after a moment and Shirou decided to take his advice, grinning as a plan came to mind.
Rin Tohsaka found herself shaken awake and she panicked at the situation she found herself in.
Shirou, now wearing parts of a red cloak and body armor, stood at a cliff with a raging river below it and she was hanging off, only stopped from falling by Shirou's hand holding both of her own above her head.
"Are you going to kill me?" Rin asked and Shirou chuckled, lessons from Archer in the few minutes it took for Rin to wake up making it demonic.
"Kill you?" Shirou asked before shaking Rin." That's too easy for what you did to me. I'll do things to you that will make you pray for it."
Shirou nearly dropped her as tremors raced through her body so added his other hand, around her throat to both hold her and stop her from shaking as she froze in fear.
"But right now I need you, Gilgamesh shattered the barrier around the house so I need you to put it up again." Shirou told her and Rin already was making a plan." But I'll be watching you and do remember, I can kill you with a lot of things and do it slowly."
Rin's plans stopped and burned moments later with her shaking returning.
Shirou internally sighed at her response and very quickly shifted his grip to her feet and held her so she was level with his eyes.
"Any plans you may have, stop them and prepare yourself to make the barrier. Saber will assist you and I will have both of you in my sight." Shirou told them and threw Rin behind him without another word.
Saber seemed to have woken up at some point and caught her Master before she could hit the ground.
"And by the way, who's Gilgamesh?"
Since Shirou didn't bother turning around when he asked he missed Rin's fearful expression at the name and Saber's sigh.
"A monster."
"Annoying."
The two very different answers had Shirou confused so he turned around and was instantly assaulted by a memory so sudden and violent he was sent stumbling back and over the cliff he had held Rin over
He of course didn't know it as he was sucked into memory not his own. Saber through did and set Rin down and dived after him moments later, quickly catching up to the falling Shirou and wrapping her arms around his waist and a quick use of Prana Burst had them slam into the cliff side with Saber taking most of the impact and her armor stopping most of it from reaching her.
One hand let go of Shirou and her hands dug into rock to keep them in place.
"Rin, I could use some help!" Saber called up to the cliff where Rin was looking down, her face thoughtful.
"Saber, throw him up!" Rin shouted down after a moment and with some trepidation the Servant threw the prone Magus up to her Master.
Rin quickly used Reinforcement to grab Shirou and moments later Saber ran up and stopped at her Master's side.
"What do you think is wrong with him Master?" Saber asked as Rin set Shirou down, more along the lines of slamming him down onto rocks.
"All I can tell you is that he's in a trance." Rin spoke after a moment as Shirou remained in the memory, unknown to the two.
"How long will he be in it?" Saber asked, moving her eyes from Shirou to the forests they found themselves in." We will have to move eventually and I do not know where he has brought us."
Rin was silent and stepped back as Shirou suddenly shot to his feet.
"So, why were you so terrified of Gilgamesh?" Shirou asked.
At Shirou's abandoned house Gilgamesh had reappeared and walked through the backdoor, finding no need to alert anyone to his presence inside.
He moved over the closet and after a moment of thought his armor once again appeared and he spiked his hair up once again.
'I have to have the proper appearance of a king.' Gilgamesh thought as he ripped open the door.
Shinji would have rushed straight into Gilgamesh if a mass of golden portals didn't appear behind the King of Heroes.
"What the hell?" Shinji nearly screamed as he backed into the closet." Where's that…"
"Faker." Gilgamesh interrupted him." He is gone and I am here to handle business, business that you are a part of."
"What do you mean?" Shinji asked and he grew very afraid at Gilgamesh's grin.
"All witnesses to the Grail War must be eliminated." Gilgamesh's words sent Shinji into a panic and he made a very valiant attempt to merge with the wall.
"W..wh..h..ha..at d..do y…you m…m…e…e..an?" Shinji stuttered and Gilgamesh merely chuckled.
"You are not a Master in the Grail War nor are you a Magus so you are someone who should be killed to preserve the secrecy of it." Gilgamesh told him as without further ado numerous weapons emerged from the golden portals behind him.
"Wait, wait, I can take you to another Master and her Servant!" Shinji hastily shouted and Gilgamesh merely laughed." What about money, jewelry, gold?"
"Nothing you can offer can even interest me." Gilgamesh spoke and Shinji panicked now.
"What about two, no three Masters and all of them together and without their Servants, is that enough!" Shinji pleaded with the golden armored Servant who paused.
"And how will you accomplish such a thing?" Gilgamesh asked, the weapons receding, for now at least.
"My useless sister is one of them and she comes over here every day and tow Master are here, I just need time and I can give you all three of them!" Shinji spoke up, glad that Gilgamesh seemed to accept his offer as the King of Heroes raised one gauntleted hand.
"I'm afraid I simply don't believe such a pathetic being such as yourself capable of something like that." Gilgamesh spoke and Shinji screamed as the weapons shot towards him.
At the Einzbern castle themed manor one Illyasveil von Einzbern found herself still shaking, even after Berserker had taken her far from Shirou's house after Gilgamesh had tossed her aside and she had strengthened the manor's protections considerably.
'Why am I still terrified of him?' Illyasveil questioned herself, the golden armored figure of Gilgamesh still very clear every time she closed her eyes.' What is that monster in the first place?'
At the church one former Executor, Kirei Kotomine, watched the diagram of Fuyuki that showed the position of all Servants and Masters in the Grail War.
'This maybe a more interesting task than I originally thought.' The 'Priest' thought.' Much more interesting.'
The only thing he regretted about this Grail War was that he wouldn't be there to see their expression when they reached the Grail, it would have been one of the greatest moments of his life.
Next to the fire he had caused ten years ago, it would be hard to ever find something that great again.
In the forest Rin found herself frozen even at the mention of the King of Heroes and Saber found herself annoyed at the mere mention of his name.
Shirou was really ignoring all of this, more focused on the memory that had nearly claimed his life.
'What was that?'
'A memory of when I was alive, it is a normal part of the Servant and Master process.' Archer answered after a moment.
'That is going to get incredibly annoying, very, very soon.'
'The point is it have it when you sleep, the memories being the Master's dream, your botched Summoning caused this.'
'I didn't botch it, there was just a problem.'
'Like I said before, it's called botching.'
'Shut up.'
'I won.'
Archer was silent after his last comment and Shirou decided to turn his attention to Rin once again.
"Well, what makes you so afraid of him?" Shirou asked and Rin took a step back at the glare on his face." Oh come on, I got filled with weapons from him and you don't see me shaking at mentioning him."
"He killed my father." Rin answered after a moment and Shirou frowned.
"And?" Shirou asked, not seeing much to be afraid about.
'Her father most likely died in the last Grail War and it looks like Gilgamesh got summoned in both this one and that one, but there's no reason for her to be this afraid of him.'
"He was his Servant and he killed him." Rin continued and Shirou took a glance towards the Command Spells on her hands.
'That explains why she did her little betrayal on us.' Archer spoke up and Shirou mentally nodded.
"You're the one who merged with one and this is a war, you should have expected a betrayal, no not expected, realized allies betray one another. I just did it before you could do the same to me. Now listen to your Master and right now I'm ordering you to follow any commands I give you."
'That clears up her little speech for us.' Shirou thought, remembering Rin's mini-speech after she had bond him as her Servant.
"I see, so that's why I'm stuck with you." Shirou commented as he made an obvious glance at her hand, two Command Spells left and he saw it was a bow with an arrow and sword crossed over it with the bow faded out." You've got a fear of betrayals since your father was betrayed by his Servant in the previous war."
"It's really…" Shirou couldn't find the right word for a moment before Archer supplied one for him."…pathetic."
He dodged the black sphere fired at him from Rin's fingertips and fired himself grinning at the enraged expression on her face.
"It's really, really, pathetic. I mean do you really think I even give a damn about that stupid Grail?" Shirou told her, rolling to avoid another of the same black orb from Rin." I mean, it's ridiculous to think anything can grant any wish, who's naïve enough to believe that?"
"My family helped create the Grail over two hundred years ago, how dare you insult them!" Rin snapped as she turned to Saber only for a hand to cover her mouth.
"Yeah, that's not going to work." Shirou told her, his voice coming from behind her and Shirou mentally sighed.
'That Reinforcement was a risk, a big one but it looks like my body's stronger than before. I barely felt any strain and that was nearly my max from before.'
Shirou backed away from Rin a few moments later and he formed a pair of triple bladed claws appeared in his hands and sliding into place between his fingers moments later.
"Are you done yet?" Shirou asked only to have to dodge another black sphere fired by Rin.
"I guess not."
In Fuyuki one Sakura Matou was set down by her Servant Rider and from what she could see it looked like a park.
"What happened to Shinji, why are you back to me?" Sakura asked her Servant who thought for a moment before responding.
"The fool angered a stronger Magus and the energy destroyed the Book of False Attendant." Rider blatantly lied to her Master, having destroyed the book herself when Shinji was trapped in the closet after he had stepped into the Emiya house and simply waited for her chance to grab Sakura." I have returned to you and I fear creating another book for your…Shinji will be detrimental to his health and your own."
Rider would very quickly kill Shinji and, if it came to it, hurt Sakura to stop her from giving up control of her to someone else.
"Then what about…"
"Shirou is fine, he is the Magus that Shinji angered so the fall didn't harm him." Rider continued before grabbing her Master and dragging her towards another part of the park.
'Hopefully I can wait out this war and if the worse happens I can enter an alliance with Emiya, he cares for my Master so he will at least help me protect her.' Rider thought even as she shifted Sakura to carry the purple haired girl on her back.' That is if he doesn't kill me on the spot.'
At the forest Shirou dodged Rin's Gandr shots with ease, his archery adjusted eyes easily seeing the spheres so he easily dodged them.
"Are you still not done?" Shirou asked even as he sidestepped another volley of Gandr shots from Rin.
"Take back what you said." Rin demanded and Shirou chuckled.
'I hope you have a plan, once she calms down she'll probably use a Command Spell and have us jump off a cliff or something.' Archer spoke up and Shirou waved off his worries.
'I've got this all under control, watch this.' Shirou answered back as he ducked another Gandr.
"So, is this all your father taught you? How to shoot, terribly might I add, before he went and died, killed by his own Servant?" Shirou asked and Rin froze for a moment.
'Did we break her?' Archer asked before Rin's body language seemed to scream nothing but murder as she raced towards Shirou.
'Nope.' Shirou answered even as a broadsword appeared in a flash of red light and he used the broad blade to block the half dozen Gandr shots fired at him.' Not one bit, we've just pissed her off.'
'No, you pissed her off.' Archer corrected before going silent and Shirou's eyes widened as he dodged a Gandr shot aimed for his more private area.
'She's trying to kill me.'
"Die you bastard!" Rin shouted as she fired a bowling ball sized Gandr from the palm of her hand and this one was explosive, forcing Shirou to dodge it or risk losing his arms, Reinforcement or not.
'I may have taken it too far.' Shirou thought as Archer remained silent.' But I can work with this.'
"What are you grinning about bastard!"
Shirou was forced to dodge another larger than average Gandr at that.
At the Emiya house Gilgamesh chuckled at Shinji's terrified expression before his amusement was gone and instead replaced by a look of revulsion, the many weapons aimed to kill Shinji stopped in midair, wrapped in a golden glow.
"You've…" Gilgamesh couldn't really speak at the awful smell emitting from a pleading and sobbing Shinji.
The King of Heroes found himself very tempted to kill Shinji but the idea of the blood, or whatever ran through the veins of something so pathetic, of such a creature staining any of his weapons made him want to vomit at even thinking it.
"This, this is too pathetic." Gilgamesh commented as his weapons and armor vanished." You are a creature I question the existence of and pray it is simply some trick of the Gods, surely something like you cannot be born from mortal means."
Without another word the King of Heroes decided to leave the house before he was forced to see Shinji do anything else and stain some of his weapons in eradicating him from this world.
He also sealed the closet door, barricading it with several weapons out of his sheer annoyance, hoping Shinji died a much slower and painful death of starvation than simply stabbing him would prove.
'That death will have to do.' Gilgamesh thought as he left the house, planning to see what Kotomine had discovered so far on the Grail War and its participants.
In the forests Shirou dodged Rin's kick before grabbing her leg and tossing her back into a tree where she used Reinforcement on her body, immediately getting up from her crash into the tree.
"So, is that it?" Shirou asked even as he rolled out of the way of Rin's fist as she shot forward." All it took was me
"You little bastard!" Rin screamed as she fired several Gandr at Shirou only for him to sidestep the projectiles.
"Why, just understand that you have a pointless fear of Gilgamesh. I was nearly burned to death in fire but I'm not terrified at the mention of it, without that fire I wouldn't be me so I accept it." Shirou snapped at Rin as he ducked under her blows as she closed the distance between them.
"Shut up, you didn't see your father die in front of you!" Rin snapped and Shirou merely grinned as he grabbed her arms with both hands.
"You're right, I had to watch my old man slowly wither away." Shirou answered before falling onto his back and sending Rin back even as he rolled back to his feet and turned on his heel to face her, dodging the Gandr shots fired at him." Every day I saw him grow weaker and weaker and the worse thing was that I knew it was happening, I knew he was going to die soon but does it look like I'm some loony afraid of tomorrow?"
A pair of silver longswords appeared in his hands and he raced towards Rin who used Reinforcement to speed herself up, dodging his deadly blows.
"No, I'm always ready for it and willing to face it!"
A blow to his arm knocked one sword from his grip and Rin snatched it out the air and taking a moment to adjust to the weapon she charged forward, slashing wildly at Shirou.
"How do you expect to beat me with a sword?" Shirou asked her as one strike shattered it before with a wave of his hands several dozen weapons appeared in the around them." Go and pick one up, it won't help you fight me."
A pair of knives in a tree drew Rin's attention and she quickly grabbed them before rushing towards Shirou again, failing to even scratch him with the weapons.
"Is that it?" Shirou asked before letting his sword go as it vanished in a flash of light and grabbed her wrist." Is that all you can do, throw a tantrum and try to stab someone who lives, breathes, and will die by the sword?"
Rin released the knives and instead fired several Gandr in rapid succession from her fingertips, Shirou letting her go to dodge them and he stopped next to a halberd, drawing it out of the ground and spinning it once before holding it with both hands.
"So, anything else in your arsenal?" Shirou asked and he batted away several Gandr fired at him with the halberd moments later before with Reinforcement Rin appeared behind him and kicked out the back of his leg only for the halberd in his hands to swing above him and aim to cut off her head if she wasn't in the process of locking Shirou in a choke hold so the shaft slammed into her, throwing her back before she recovered and sprinted towards Shirou again, her mind blinded by rage and the overwhelming desire for Shirou's blood on her hands.
Shirou decided enough was enough at this point so a booted foot slammed into her chest and would have sent her flying off the cliff if Shirou didn't move faster and grab her from behind.
"So, calm yet?" Shirou asked the Magus who was breathing heavily and was getting slower the longer the fight went on.
"I'll kill you later." Rin told him as he let her go and she took several minutes to compose herself.
"Well, that went reasonably well, I've finally got a level of your combat skills so now I have an idea on how much I should bother with you if I'm ever stuck fighting with you." Shirou spoke after a moment before bowing towards Rin." Even if I hate you, and I mean I really hate you, I shouldn't have insulted both your family and your father as I did. I really should have just insulted you, actually I could have just insulted you a lot more and gotten you really pissed off."
The apology, if it could really be called that, was a shock to Rin but after a quick thought and a sigh she nodded.
"I'll take what I can get. Apology accepted." Rin spoke after a moment and Shirou smirked.
"So, what do we do 'Master'?" Shirou asked and Rin turned to Saber to find her coming from the forest with a bundle of firewood in her arms, for now the Master ignoring Shirou's question and annoyance.
"Saber, what are you doing?" Rin asked as the King of Knights dropped the firewood in a growing pile.
"I am collecting firewood, we are camping here, correct?" Saber asked and Rin decided to just go along with it.
"I suppose so, Shirou, no, Archer, do you know anything about camping?" Rin asked as she turned to the Magus/Servant to find him gone." Where did he go so fast?"
"About a meter or so behind you."
Rin turned to see Shirou having, with some effort and a lot of energy, created a tent for each of them.
"How did you do that, I thought you could only do swords?" Rin demanded and Shirou shrugged.
"It's definitely harder but if I have the stuff to make swords I can make other things like the tents." Shirou decided on answering after a moment of thought and debate with Archer.
'You idiot.' The Servant in his head spoke after a moment.' Words can't describe how stupid you are.'
"Really?" Rin asked and Shirou nodded, albeit hesitantly at the grin forming on Rin's face.
"Yeah, it's just a little more effort." Shirou answered and he heard Archer face-palm.
'Dumbass.' Archer spoke up.
"Then you are useful after all." Rin commented and seemingly seconds later Shirou found a list in his hands." You can do all of this now."
Shirou could only stare in shock as Rin walked away and over to Saber and the growing mountain of firewood the Servant had gathered.
"Saber, we're not building a bonfire, we just need a small fire!"
"Wait, what?" Shirou found himself asking thin air.
The next morning found the three sitting around the remains of the campfire.
"Caster is located at Ryuudouji Temple and from what I could see from this distance she is using it as both a power source and a fortress." Shirou informed both Rin and Saber, drawing a quick map of the temple and the surrounding area in the ground using a dagger." And with that barrier around the temple, we'll go in weakened if we take anyway but the steps which she has a capable guard on, a Servant she or her Master summoned at some point."
"So, any ideas on how to attack her?" Rin asked after a moment and Shirou chuckled.
"I have a plan but I was hoping to save this for Berserker if we were to fight again." Shirou answered." It's a last resort but I'll still be able to provide cover and support from somewhere nearby, preferably out of Caster's range."
"Then that can wait, what of the other Servants?" Rin asked and Shirou had created a rough map of Fuyuki and it's surrounding in a few minutes.
"Well, from what I could sense, Lancer is mobile and so far he doesn't have a base of operations, Berserker is somewhere deep in the forest, and Rider is somewhere in Fuyuki, I just don't know where but she's staying in a general area." Shirou answered after a moment, either marking the location of each Servant or drawing a circle around the area he had sensed them last night and this morning.
"So what are your plans for the other Servants?" Saber asked, speaking for the first time and Shirou shrugged.
"As basic as I could get, shoot them with ridiculously powerful arrows and hope they manage to kill them, eventually." Shirou answered and Rin sighed as she took the dagger from his hands.
"We need help or need him weakened to take down Berserker so he will be one of the last Servants we fight, we can track down Rider and easily beat her but that will take time and effort that will waste one or several days so we can save her for a later date, Caster, as you said, has a fortress she is probably drawing power from as well as a capable Master and a second Servant is under her control most likely so it would be an annoyance to fight her but she's one of the easier targets since we know where she's at, and lastly we have Lancer who seems to be scouting out the Servants on orders from his Master who is no doubt a threat we need to deal with if they still haven't made an actual move yet besides scouting. So in the end we can either go find Rider, go deeper into the forest and deal with Berserker, or take out Caster, which one do you two want?"
Rin finished her speech by looking up at the two Servants, in her mind at least, and waited for an answer.
"We can split up." Shirou suggested only for both Saber and Rin to shake their heads no.
"It would weaken us as a group, it is better to remain together and defeat our opponents without having to worry about each other." Saber spoke after a moment and Shirou sighed.
"Then where can I shoot from?" Shirou asked and Rin thought for a moment before letting out a sigh.
"I have no idea, you may have to fight up the steps with Saber." Rin told him and Shirou mentally cursed.
'Patience, it's not like we can't do it now.' Archer spoke in his mind.
'It's more believable the other way.' Shirou answered back.
"I guess I'll find a spot myself, can't be too hard." Shirou spoke after a moment as he was going off which weapons to use.
"Then it's settled, we will face Caster today." Saber spoke as she stood up with Rin following her only for Shirou to remain crouched.
"What's wrong with you?" Rin immediate asked at the blank expression on one of her Servant's face.
"I just realized I'm probably going to end up dead by the end of this stupid thing." Shirou answered after a moment, rising to his feet as he did so and after a moment shrugging." But hey, everyone's got to go sometimes."
He wordlessly walked off and Rin felt a rare feeling of guilt from her actions before quickly brushing it aside.
'He would have betrayed me just like Gilgamesh did my father, he has to be under my control.' Rin reasoned with herself but her feeling of guilt were only pushed to the side for now and they were building up, ever since binding Archer as her Servant she's been pushing aside anything she felt towards it and it was going to come back and bite her soon enough, just not yet.' It's better that I win than someone else, I'm the most qualified and my wish won't cause any damage.'
"I am the bone of my sword."
Shirou's words brought her out of her thoughts and with a nod to Saber the Servant rushed ahead to see what went wrong.
"What's the matter with you?" Shirou asked as he saw Saber charge into the forest, her invisible sword drawn and ready to fight.
The Magus/Servant had merely created his bow and used Reinforcement on it to strengthen the already enhanced weapon.
"Nothing." Rin answered for her Servant as she walked up to him." Let's just get there quickly."
"If you insist." Shirou spoke and without warning he picked Rin up and with his max Reinforcement he was a bullet as he shot through the trees, narrowly avoiding certain death for both if he even stumbled at the speeds he was going.
Saber followed her screaming Master through the forests at a more normal pace and sighed.
'I sometimes wish I had not been summoned, these people are weirder than I would like and I pray for my sanity.'
At the Ryuudouji Temple Caster sat with her Master, one Souichirou Kuzuki, and planned her defense.
'That Archer Servant is bound to arrive soon and the moment he does I'll have a new bodyguard, two if Saber is brought as well.' Caster thought with a small smile.' And then I and Kuzuki will win this war unopposed with three extra Servants, even if one of them is nearly useless if he wasn't an adequate guard on those steps.'
Kuzuki himself was silent, he really didn't care for the war but if Caster did then he would at least offer his support in it. Even if he found no good reason to fight he didn't want to return to what he was before he met the Servant.
In under an hour the three stood at the base of the steps and with a sigh Shirou rushed up the steps after setting Rin down, firing arrow after arrow up at the guard he could see near the top.
Each arrow was dodged and Shirou cursed as he heard Saber quickly catch up to him.
"I will distract him, hit him when you can." Saber told him before rushing ahead with a short use of Prana Burst, Shirou cursing as she moved ahead of him.
He angled his bow into the air and fired a dozen more shots that rained down on the guard who stepped up the steps to dodge them.
"Rin, this is hopeless!" Shirou shouted down to her without turning around." We're going to die on these steps!"
"Keep going." Rin ordered from behind him and he sighed before picking up speed and leaping, hoping to hit the guard from above when the, in his mind, stupidly long, sword the guard wielded shot into the air and the tip wound have slit his throat it he didn't sacrifice his bow to block it.
"Trace on!"
He stopped the, admittedly slow, blow from behind aimed to decapitate him with an identical blade and flipped over the Servant to land in front of Saber.
"Go on ahead, I'll deal with him." Shirou told her and after a moment the powerful Servant rushed ahead with Shirou sprinting ahead of her and clashing blades with the Servant.
"Well this is interesting to say the least." The Servant commented as he looked on the same stance, or lack of, he used being used by his opponent." What an interesting duel this is shaping out to be."
"I'm not interesting in fighting you today, could you just give up?" Shirou asked and the Servant lightly chuckled.
"I can't allow that, Caster's going to have my head, or chest, for letting one of you pass so if I let you pass I'll not only miss a good fight but also she'll probably try to kill me." The Servant answered and Shirou's brain, Archer in reality, supplied a class for the Servant.
"It's weird for an Assassin to be this good and out in the open like this, are you sure you're in the right class?" Shirou asked after a moment and Assassin merely shrugged his shoulders.
"I can't truly tell you but enough talk." Assassin told him and their blades clashed once again, to any observer it would seem like a lazy spar at the way they held their stances but looks were deceiving.
The fight could end in a moment and every strike seemed to move towards the neck as if drawn by a magnet.
"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou whispered and moments later the sword he wielded grew longer than Assassin's and the Servant for once found himself backing up, falling to an inverted version of his own technique.
His opponent was using his longer blade coupled with his lower position to constantly attack Assassin's legs, making a counterattack harder as even at his full reach his sword wouldn't reach and with the thought of losing his legs forcing Assassin to climb up the steps, steadily losing his ground to Shirou who continued his attack.
"Steel is my body and fire is my blood." Shirou whispered and moments later a second identical sword appeared in his other hand and Assassin found himself quickly reaching the top of the steps in the hurricane that Shirou had become.
Unseen to Assassin blood dripped form Shirou's mouth, the strain of the Reinforcement to move so fast for so long very quickly getting to him.
'You can't keep this up, get him up the steps and kill him there.' Archer ordered and Shirou found himself following it, pressing his attack and Assassin was now leaping up the steps in his retreat.
He found himself growing more and more excited at the battle and began to press the attack, landing on one of Shirou's blades and pinning it to a step as he used his new position to follow his style of attacking from the higher ground.
Shirou was forced to let go of the sword to step back and avoid certain death before a dagger identical to Rider's appeared in his hands and he used it to pull the hilt of his sword back, sending it sliding down the steps with Assassin on it.
The Servant was seemingly unaffected and Shirou found himself running down the steps backwards in order to escape the onslaught while forced to defend at the same time, the quickly closing distance leaving less and less time for his own attacks and he was soon forced to block almost constantly.
"Enough of this." Shirou muttered to himself before stopping his retreat and instead racing forward, charging Assassin.
The Servant sighed at this, an easy kill now as Shirou came well within range of his blade.
A single swing should have done it but Shirou shocked him by grabbing the blade with his free hand, allowing it to cut into his hand before bringing his own blade down, aiming to cut Assassin in half only for the Servant to pull his blade out of Shirou's grasp and stop the blow before moving up the steps as Shirou kicked the hilt of his sword into the air and it would have thrown Assassin onto the steps if he hadn't already jumped off and moving up the steps, deflecting the storm of weapons Shirou began launching at him as he grabbed the still airborne second sword.
Shirou raced forward in the midst of the blades and once he had reached Assassin they stopped and the two clashed blades again, the Servant once again finding himself climbing up the steps as Shirou pressed his advantage, unwilling to be forced to start at the bottom of the steps again or even climb down them until he had defeated Assassin.
'Incredible.' Assassin found himself thinking even as he reached the top of the steps and stepped back to avoid Shirou's swords.' But I've reached the top, I have to end the fight now.'
With almost a sigh Assassin prepared for his ultimate and only technique, something that was a certain kill.
"Tsubame Gaeshi!"
What followed was hard to believe.
Both voices cried out the name and both seemed to deliver a single slash using both blades only for Assassin to lower his blade moments later, his body breaking down as it was surrounded in a blue glow but the Servant had a small smile on his face.
"Using my own technique from one blade to cancel it out and then attack me with it with the second, such an amazing style and I wish I had seen it a second time." Assassin spoke as Shirou's swords vanished in a flash of red light, the Magus not advancing and instead watching Assassin fade away." You may pass."
The Servant faded away completely and after a moment Shirou raced past the spot he had previously guarded with Rin following behind him.
"Archer, what was that?" Rin asked and Shirou remained silent." Archer, I asked you a question, what was that?"
Shirou continued to annoy her as he wordlessly formed his bow and a handful of knives lengthened into arrows before he fired them in an arc.
It was a good thing too as they stopped Caster from stabbing Saber in the back, the Servant forced to dodge the three arrows, each arrow landing moments after the other and forcing her to take a step back o dodge each.
With a curse the Servant vanished just as Shirou reached the top of the steps and was ready to fire another arrow.
"Saber, can you still fight?" Shirou asked and the Servant nodded, her armor unmarked and Shirou then turned his attention to the temple doors.
"Stand back."
With a flash of light an arrow covered in a red light appeared in his hands and moments later the doors exploded inward.
"Well, this is easier than I thought." Rin commented as Shirou lowered his bow and allowed it to vanish in a red light.
"No it's not, we're just lucky so far." Shirou answered as he stayed immobile at the temple doors." Very, very lucky."
A beam of light from above struck Shirou in the arm even as the explosive force behind it threw him back and rolling down the steps.
"Archer!"
Rin turned to Saber and without orders the Servant guarded the steps as she faced the temple with her sword drawn and held in front of her, ready to repel any attack as Rin used Reinforcement to race down the steps after the falling Archer.
Shirou found his left arm entirely worthless, the explosion from the attack breaking most of the bones in it and he cursed as his right arm desperately tried to grab onto the now slippery steps even as blood freely flowed from his left shoulder, leaving a trail as he fell.
'Dammit, dammit, dammit.' Shirou mentally cursed as even the weapons he used would fail, either breaking or not penetrating the steps.
Rin reached him around halfway down and she grabbed his uninjured arm and managed to at least slow him down long enough for him to get his feet under him and then leap, pulling Rin up with him and slipped his arm around her waist as he reached the top of the steps in a few jumps to see Saber knocking aside beams of light fired form all around her.
"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou whispered even as he dropped Rin off at the top of the stairs and leapt into the air, a crossbow appearing in his working hand and he fired it, the single bolt multiplying into many and they turned explosive.
He had aimed towards the temple and was basically trying to collapse it only for portals to open up in front of and around the temple and they unleashed more explosive beams of light that intercepted his attack, destroying them all outright, and then shot towards him.
Shirou couldn't even think of a curse as with his one arm he created a large silver Spartan shield that he held in front of him, blocking most of the attack but sending him crashing into Saber from the force of the countless explosions accompanying it. Both Servants were done from it with Saber stunned from Shirou slamming into her and Shirou clutching at his useless left arm as Caster seemed to have added something to the attack that wounded it as he struggled to even stay conscious, the pain worse than anything he had ever experienced.
Well actually it was a close third, maybe second.
With this in mind Shirou managed to roll off of Saber after a moment and dragged himself into a crouch.
"Archer, what are you waiting for? Get up and attack!" Rin ordered as Shirou turned to glare at her but this proved to be a mistake as from the temple doors a storm of the beams of light slammed into him and engulfed him in a near constant explosion, the smoke it created blocking him from view.
From the doorway Caster smirked to herself as she stepped out and into view.
She was immediately forced to dodge a Gandr shot from Rin as Saber picked herself up and after a moment her grip on her sword tightened and she rushed forward.
'Now!' Archer ordered Shirou and the injuries he had acquired rapidly healed with blades sprouting from his skin for a moment before receding and he appeared between a grinning Caster and shocked Saber.
Caster's dagger stabbed into him and even as it happened a grin appeared on his face.
"Rule Breaker."
Shirou's body shook for a moment before in a flash of light the Command Spells on Rin's hand faded.
"Finally." Shirou spoke as one hand shot out and grabbed Caster by her cloak." I was wondering when you would make your move."
Without further ado a broadsword appeared in his free hand and he stabbed Caster through the stomach with it before throwing her back into the temple and pointing a finger towards it.
"I am the bone of my sword."
Countless blades appeared in the air around him and with no warning they shot forward a second later, explosions rocking the temple as the blades met their targets.
Rin's Command Spells reappeared as the temple collapsed on itself and Shirou very quickly turned and tackled both Saber and Rin off of it and as he hit the steps he rolled so that when he released Saber she came up on her feet, sprinting down the steps with Shirou grabbing Rin and racing after her.
Nearby Gilgamesh watched the temple collapse in on itself and merely shook his head at the display before turning his attention to the fleeing group.
"You mongrels never cease to amaze me." Gilgamesh commented lound enough for the three to hear him as dozens of golden portals appeared behind him, several weapons emerging from each." But your two Servants are a threat Tohsaka so it's time to die!"
"Damn!" Shirou cursed as he and Saber stopped at the weapons emerging in front of them.
"Why does she have to be here now?" Rin asked as Shirou formed his bow in one hand.
"Steel is my body and fire is my blood." Shirou called out as a special sword shifted into an arrow in his free hand." Now, die by Caladbolg King of Heroes!"
Shirou fired the arrow and it swiftly replicated itself a dozen times, each of them shooting towards Gilgamesh.
The King of Heroes merely redirected his arm to the projectiles and fired on them with them, thousands of the weapon shooting forward to intercept.
"Is that all you have Faker?" Gilgamesh demanded as he was unfazed by the explosions from the intercepted projectiles." Is that really all you can do?"
His questions were pointless to ask as the three had vanished when his attention was diverted.
Instead of becoming angry the King of Heroes merely grinned his interest growing in the Faker.
Deep in the forests surrounding the temple the three, well two, moved as fast as they could to escape Gilgamesh.
"What was that?" Rin demanded from Shirou's back who decided to answer her.
"A Broken Phantasm, interesting, right?"
With a grin at her and Saber's shocked expression he continued forward, putting as much distance as possible between the three and Gilgamesh.
At the Ryuudouji Temple Kuzuki dragged himself and Caster deeper into it, the structure stable enough to survive the collapse from Shirou's attack.
"Caster, what happened?" Kuzuki asked after laying the Servant down on a mat.
"He ignored Rule Breaker, I know I severed his contract but he wasn't under my control at all, he completely ignored it."
At the Matou household one Zouken Matou looked on at the diagram of Fuyuki he had created, stealing the designs from the church and he didn't like the way events were heading but even if his main plan failed he had several backups to right the mess it would cause.
'At least I still have my trump card, it seems I was very lucky when I picked the host.' Zouken thought, his eyes locked onto a single figure on the diagram, one he had long ago prepared as a backup to his main plan.' Soon I will have what I seek, very soon if things continue as they are.'
AN: Alright, a quick note on the story here, I'm probably going to rush through the Grail Wars in the next three to four chapter, probably less, because afterwards the story will probably get more interesting.
And I hope I flushed out Rin's character a bit and her reasons for what she did in this chapter, so if your wondering her backstory was changed and it'll appear in a flashback later, probably.
Well read and review on what you think on the story and if anything is confusing, I wrote this chapter sporadically so I probably messed something up so it would be helpful to know what is was.
Peace.