Far away from where their altercation took place, the Dragonslayer reconstituted. Breathing heavily, he leaned against a tree, the fight with Artorias having a serious effect. The Lancer had definitely prepared to fight during this mission, but did not expect to come across someone he knew, especially not someone he fought alongside numerous times. He chided himself for being so easily caught off guard. The Dragonslayer chuckled. "Artorias never was one to hold back, even during practice spars." He took a look around, having regained his composure, noting Artorias and his Master elected not to pursue. "How much has the abyss ravaged your mind, that you don't even recognize me? And worse yet, to be summoned to this war in that state... the Dark has even corrupted your soul," The Lancer mused, giving off a strained sigh, not because of the brief altercation with Artorias, but because the warrior had seen the terrible condition Artorias was in. Yet, Ornstein couldn't help but feel glad, seeing the Abysswalker walking around. That meant there was hope: he could still be saved from the Dark.
He thought back to the time he learned Artorias had died. He received a message from Ciaran after she and Gough had gone to search for him. She had acquired his soul, knowing without a doubt that the Abysswalker had fallen. Truthfully, Ornstein felt guilty. If he could have changed anything, he would have gone with him. Perhaps, if this grail he was fighting for had as much power as he heard, then he might be able to free him. But, that was enough reminiscing for now. He had to return to his 'Master'. Just the thought of that caused the Dragonslayer to scoff. "As if that cretin could truly control me," he said, words imbued with anger. Regardless of his feelings on the matter, he would comply for now. The sight of Artorias had given him something to strive for, and he would endure all he could for his cause.
"So you have to go to school everyday?"
"Not on Sundays." Currently, Rin was enjoying her lunch on the roof of her school, watching as the clouds passed by overhead. She would be enjoying it a lot more if Archer would stop with his annoying questions.
"I never went to school," the voice of Archer commented. "Too expensive for my poor family."
"Then what did you do?"
"Oh, that's not important. I wouldn't want to bother my Master by giving her a bunch of useless information, ha ha!" Rin sighed. For some reason, Archer would never give her a straight answer on anything regarding himself. It was starting to get on her nerves. Not because it had any bearing on the war itself, but she still wanted to know. Before Archer could continue with his inane prattling, her attention was directed to the sound of a door slamming open.
"Rin Tohsaka!" Called the one who created the disturbance. "I knew I'd find you up here, all by yourself!"
"Ugh," Rin rolled her eyes in disgust. "What do you want, Shinji?"
"Hey, hey," the blue haired youth said. "No need to be so hostile! I come with good intentions!"
"Of course you do," Rin replied sarcastically. Completely disregarding her tone, Shinji took this reply as affirmation and took a seat next to Rin, much closer than she felt comfortable with.
"It certainly is a wonderful day, isn't it?"
"Just cut to the chase," Rin hastily said. She wanted Shinji to get away from her as soon as possible.
"Straight to business as always!" Shinji exclaimed, a grin on his face that bothered Rin just by being there. Before he continued, Shinji gave a brief look around, ensuring that they were alone. "I know that you're participating in the Grail War."
"Oh?" Rin said, showing slight surprise. She had expected that Shinji was going to comment on that, though she couldn't surmise what his goal was in letting her know this.
"And I also know that you've summoned Archer."
"And how do you know this?"
"A little birdie gave me a hint," he chuckled. "The rest was process of elimination." Rin internally groaned. She knew he was talking about Kirei Kotomine. Why he would let Shinji know this is beyond her. She never could guess what that man was thinking. "Anyway," Shinji continued. "I've come to propose an alliance."
"...With who?" Rin asked, wary of where this conversation going.
"Why with me of course!"
"Yeah, right," Rin said, abruptly rising from her seat. With a flip of her hair, Rin made her way to the roof's exit. "Tell whoever got you to ask me that question that they won't get an answer unless they ask me in person."
"No one told me to do anything!" Shinji yelled, rising to his feet in anger. "I know that with the two of us, this war is good as done!"
"Wait…" Rin said, taking in what Shinji had just told her. "Are you saying you're a Master?"
"Yes, yes," Shinji said, reverting back to his calm, playful persona. "There is a lot more to me than what you know; I am a very deep and complex individual."
"But how?" Rin said, turning to face Shinji. "The Matous have been struggling with their mages for a while."
"What can I say?" Shinji shrugged, wearing a malicious grin. "I happen to be quite talented.
"Well who did you summon, then?"
"I suppose it would be fair to tell you, seeing as how we will be working together and all. I. Shinji Matou, have summoned Rider for the Grail War."
"Rider, huh?" Rin repeated. An impressive feat for Shinji, if he was telling the truth, which she was sure he wasn't. But, she recalled, the Rider class' greatest aspects were their magic resistance and their riding skill, as per their namesake; they were rather lackluster in other skills. "That could be a good matchup against Caster."
"Yeah it is," he smugly replied. "But so far, I haven't found out who they yet."
"Of course not," Rin mumbled. Knowing that would place the Master at a disadvantage, so obviously that's not going to be easy to learn.
"But," Shinji continued. "I do know that Saber still has yet to be summoned." This comment piqued Rin's interest.
"To think that the class that won the last war hasn't been summoned," She said. "That certainly is interesting," she chuckled. "Well, thanks for the information Shinji," Rin said, once again making her exit. "And about your proposition: my answer is a solid 'no'."
"What?" Shinji exclaimed. "You can't seriously deny me like that! You need me Rin Tohsaka! There is no way you'll win this war without my help!" Ignoring Shinji, Rin left the roof in the middle of his mad ravings. She had neither the time nor the patience to bear his lunacy; she had her class to get back to. Japan's educational system wasn't going to stop for something as trifling as Shinji's opinions on the Grail War.
"That was rather cold of you, don't you think?" Chester said once they were out of earshot.
"Please," Rin scoffed. "Shinji's like a toddler who throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way. He's harmless."
"Well he does strike me as that sort of type," Chester chortled. As she made her way back to class, she couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. She wasn't sure what it was specifically, but for the rest of the day, she had a nagging feeling of anxiety, as if something was slowly suffocating her. However, Rin wouldn't let that impede her studies. Rin chalked up that feeling to Shinji as something always went badly when he was involved. She continued to perform her scholarly duties as her various teachers came and went, pushing that dreadful feeling out of her try as she might, that feeling of anxiety would not he abated. On the contrary, the feeling became more intense as the day went on. Even Chester had been on edge.
"Be careful, Master," he had said. "Something foul is afoot, I can feel it. I remember feeling a sensation similar to this before… but I can't exactly recall what it was."
"That certainly doesn't bode well," Rin mused to her Servant. She hoped that this feeling was strictly that: a feeling, but she feared the worst. As a precaution, she decided to stay late after school. She would wait until all the students and faculty had left and examine the premises for signs of foul play to assuage her fears. Once the school day had officially ended, she passed the time by looking in on her friends in the archery club, thankful that Shinji had decided not to show up. Based on the conversations she had with her friends and the jovial mood other students seemed to have, she concluded that nothing was wrong with the students. That was good, but she wanted to be totally sure that nothing was wrong. Once she had parted ways with her friends and night had fallen, she set about to give the school grounds a thorough investigation.
"Your friends seem nice," Chester said as Rin stalked the halls, checking inside every room she passed. "And they are quite good at archery."
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Rin asked, continuing to move through the school.
"No, no! I really mean that!" Archer chuckled.
"Somehow it seems like you're making fun of them."
"Master, you wound me! You're friends are good shots, especially that one with the red hair."
"Now I know you're making fun of them."
"I know I'm supposed to be the 'Archer' here, but I'm really not that good at the whole aiming thing. Why I'm here, especially as that class, continues to baffle me." Before Rin could properly respond, That same feeling of dread came over her, yet this time the feeling was infinitely more intense, being nearly palpable. A wave of nausea overcame her with this feeling; it was so sudden, Rin lurched forward, almost being brought to her knees. In response, Chester materialized himself. He eyed his surroundings warily, not seeing any threat in the immediate vicinity. He could feel it too, that damnable feeling. At that is when he realized he knew where he first felt this. All of his senses heightened, directing him to a single point.
"Outside," he said, helping Rin to her feet. Pushing the nausea aside, Rin rushed out of the building as fast as she could. When she arrived to the front gates, she was greeted with two sights she had not wanted to see, causing her to look on in shock. The first, a large, monstrous entity, standing in full view. It's upper half held the visage of a lean, skeletal form, it's lower half vaguely resembling a dress of some form with skeletons interwoven into it, or rather, composed entirely of them. Underneath it, inky black tendrils whipped and flailed about in all directions. In its right hand was a large, black scythe that, even from this distance, Rin noted, reeked of some unfamiliar, yet invariably dark, magic. In its left hand, it was firmly grasping the neck of a student she was vaguely familiar with. Red hair, matted with dirt and sweat, betrayed the identity of an unconscious Shirou Emiya. The second sight, which Rin almost considered worse, was standing beside the horror: the seemingly disinterested and nonchalant figure of her history and ethics teacher, Souichirou Kuzuki.
"This one does possess some strength," the horrid creature said, its voice dark and reminiscent of an echo, yet vaguely feminine in nature. "It would seem your assumption was correct." The teacher nodded in response. The tendrils sharpened and pointed towards Shirou, inches away from his heart.
"Archer!" Rin yelled. Without needing another cue, Archer procured a slick, black crossbow from his coat and fired a shot, aiming directly towards the creature's head. Faster than a blink, the arrow found its mark, piercing the skull-like face of the monstrosity before them, causing the tendrils to go limp and for it to release its hostage who fell to the ground with an audible thud.
"A clean hit!" Chester exclaimed. Souichirou turned his head to look at these intruders, his face impassive.
"Let's go, Caster," he said.
"So soon?" The creature responded. Chester gave a nervous chuckle as his foe had shrugged off an arrow piercing its skull as if it were nothing. "These interlopers… they also possess a notable strength…"
"You'll have your chance," Souichirou replied.
"As you wish… Master." Caster wrapped its tendrils around the man, and the two sank into a puddle of Darkness.
"You're just gonna' let them go?" Chester asked.
"I don't want to fight where innocents could get hurt," Rin said, rushing over to examine Shirou.
"That makes sense. But what would they be doing at a school?"
"I can hazard a few guesses," Rin said grimly. "He doesn't seem too injured."
"What should we do with him?"
"We should take him with us. Those two might show up again and it'd be too dangerous if we left him by himself." Chester nodded and carried the unconscious youth as they made their way back.
The Unlimited Blade Works route is exactly the same as Evangelion: main character gets sad, giant monsters happen, and Shinji has to get saved by the worst girl.