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I give up writing this scene with any sort of quality. Why are fight and fight planning scenes so hard?

So this is what writers call a writer's block. Some people are still reading this huh… thanks.

Apologies for not putting much quality in this chapter.

Chapter 20 – Holy Grail/Inevitable Struggle

"Wake up, Taiga." She felt someone nudging her. She rolled away from the annoying hands that were disturbing her and cocooned herself using the blanket.

"Taiga." A finger poked her cheeks, the only place uncovered by the blanket. She tried to ignore it, but eventually, she surrendered and opened her bleary eyes.

"…Kiritsugu-san?" With a yawn, she shed the blanket and stretched her muscles. "What time is it?" She complained.

"It's around 7 in the morning." He answered. "Get up, it's time for some light sparring." He got up and waited patiently by the door.

Shaking off her grogginess, she entered the bathroom and did her morning routine, brushing her teeth, washing her face, doing her business, and changing her clothes.

Bursting out of the bathroom door with her usual energy, she hurried to the exit. "I'm ready!"

{I'm counting on you, Rider.}

{Yes, Shirou, I'll inform you about the plans after the meeting.}

Rider left the hospital and began to make her way towards the forest.

Their safety and happiness hinged on their success, just like that time so long ago… and just like last time, they WILL win.

"Go get them Berserker!" Illya cheered, waving her arms wildly.

Berserker leaves the castle in spirit form. As he was about to leave the area, he hears his tiny Master shout out loud—

"BASAKA WA DARE NI MO MAKENAI!" She reaffirmed her faith in him. "SEKAI DE ICHIBAN TSUYOI DAKARA!"

The stoic giant disappears into the woods, a warm and firm determination filling his entire being.

Archer and Assassin finished their planning session. Considering every ally they have and the opponents they are to fight.

"This plan gives us the greatest chance of success." Assassin confirmed.

"Why didn't Master send a more tactically inclined Servant?" Archer sighed. "Risky as usual, but we beat worse odds."

The Servant they summoned was also briefed on what they would do.

All that was left was letting the others know and executing the plan.

This was it, the fate of Fuyuki, and possibly, the world, will be decided.

"Everyone ready?" Archer scans the group. "Well then—" He extends his arm forward as if grasping something "[Trace, on]"

A red spear appeared in Archer's hands. Adjusting his stance, and changing to a two-handed hold, he thrusts at the barrier keeping out intruders. [1]

FLASHBACK

"The barrier will be taken down by me." Archer declared. "I have the means necessary to destroy it with minimal effort."

FLASHBACK END

They watched as the barrier began to crack, the damage spreading little by little, until—

A shattering noise rang out as all of them rushed forward, intent on doing their respective roles.

As the barrier fell, Lancer rushed out of the cave to intercept the enemy. He stands at the entrance, vigilantly looking for anything that might give away the enemy's position. He activates certain runes to defend against one of the attacking Servants.

FLASHBACK

"Be wary of Rider, Lancer. Her [Mystic Eyes of Petrification] will kill you if it hits. Caster is a Magus from the Age of the Gods, but considering that she is missing, I don't think that she will be a problem to us. As for Archer…" She trailed off.

"I couldn't get a read on him either, an Archer using twin swords… no Heroic Spirit comes to mind. Despite having no Master, he seems to be able to operate independently, and he seems to be stronger than the last time we fought."

"Hmmm… Shirou, who used Archer's power, used a powerful shield that was able to somewhat defend against Excalibur."

""…"" Twin swords, archer, and a strong shield… Both of them haven't the slightest clue of his identity.

"This isn't getting us anywhere. As for Assassin, he seems to have a Noble Phantasm based on speed."

"I have fought Emiya Kiritsugu who was using his power, considering that Assassin seems to be a modern Heroic Spirit, his strength shouldn't be much of a problem, but let us be careful either way."

"As for Berserker—"

"Heracles is his name."

FLASHBACK END

Rider bursts through the woods, Mystic Eyes revealed, staring directly at him. His body felt stiff, all of his parameters being reduced by an entire rank.

He powered through, confident in his runes resisting the worst that the Mystic Eyes could do. He prepared his lance, rushing with an explosive rush towards his opponent, intent on finishing the battle in one blow. Unfortunately, it was meant to be.

Feeling his instincts honed in the battlefield flare, he stopped his charge and leaped back.

"▅▂▃▂▃▅▂▅" At that moment, Berserker crashed in the area, he would've been crushed had he not retreated.

Rider's Mystic Eyes homed in on his figure while avoiding Berserker's.

'…I'm in trouble'

FLASHBACK

"Berserker and Rider should keep Lancer occupied." Rider gazed at him with an incredulous expression.

"I do not think that Berserker can be defeated by Lancer, he doesn't have enough ways to kill him."

"It's not that, we want you to prevent him from escaping. Fighting them at the same time is impossible for us, and among us here, only Berserker can defeat Lancer with certainty."

FLASHBACK END

They went past the three fighters and entered the cavern.

'So far, so good.' She cut down a… Shade if she remembered that right as they went deeper.

Most of them didn't even reach her as the two men in front of her went with guns ablaze, mowing them down in droves.

It was then that she felt her presence, a pillar of unadulterated power. The Magical Energy filled the area with an immensely heavy pressure.

Saber was blocking their way.

Taiga controlled her breathing, mistakes weren't allowed. A single lapse of concentration is fatal. In front of them is the strongest obstacle.

Saber narrows her eyes as she directs her hostility to the group.

"None shall pass." An explosive force propelled Saber forward, a dark energy filling her blade.

The group evades the stream of darkness and initiated their counterattack.

Kiritsugu stayed back and hid behind one of the pillars while overlooking the battlefield. He provided her with extra vision and if it is needed, warnings. Though considering that she had [Instinct] it wasn't needed.

Saber batted away the arrows that Archer rained down with ease and advanced to meet her in bladed combat.

She ducked the strike that would've taken off her head and did a diagonal slash from below. Saber countered with a strike of her own, blowing back Taiga from the force. She tilted her body, avoiding the arrows aimed at her and resumed her offence at Taiga who has reoriented herself from the attack.

Saber was a bit confused as her opponent focused on the ground, but she got her answer when a flash of light went off in front of her.

Archer threw his twin blades and prepared to rush forward.

Saber, hearing the incoming projectiles, took no chances and blasted them off with her [Mana Burst], trusting her instinct and experience to accurately take them down. She wasn't disappointed as Kanshou and Bakuya were disintegrated.

Archer clicked his tongue as he returned to using his bow.

'There goes plan A…' Thought Taiga.

FLASHBACK

"K-Kiritsugu-san, my m-m-master?!" Taiga exclaimed, her face beet red from the perceived shameless statement.

"Yes, he's fine when fighting against Shades, but his skillset is simply useless against the heavy hitters. Like I said, you should become Servant and Master so that he can give you his Magical Energy."

Taiga breathed out. What he was asking of her was quite shameless. Still, she knew she could trust Kiritsugu, her Instinct tells her so. Walking towards her, m-master… she bowed and held out her hand.

"Please take care of me!"

Kiritsugu couldn't help but think that she has a bit of a misunderstanding, but he reached out his hand to Taiga's extended one and accepted.

FLASHBACK END

10 minutes have passed since their opening moves…

The Shades were avoiding the battling warriors in favor of going outside.

'She has improved again.' Noted Saber as she broke her opponent's stance and blocked the sword arrow aimed at her head.

She eyed Kiritsugu lurking at the background, but ultimately, he posed no threat to her. She would've liked to eliminate Archer first, but he was proving to be quite slippery. She kept her senses out for Assassin, making sure that he doesn't get past her by sneaking through.

Powerful her Master may be, but Heroic Spirits have Noble Phantasms of immense power. While she has only seen a Noble Phantasm that increases his speed, there was no telling what he still has beneath that cloak of his.

*Boom*

She stepped on a landmine again. Her opponents capitalized on her ruined footing and struck.

"[Strike Air]"

She raised her arms and blocked the winds that battered her armor. It pushed her back, allowing Archer a clear shot.

"[Hrunting]"

She poured her Magical Energy to her blade and struck the projectile down.

Were they hoping to outlast her? Gunning for a large opening that left her vulnerable to a fatal strike?

They kept on repeating this whole song and dance, defending against her, trying to break through her defenses after a small opening, and repeat.

She was getting irritated. 'Do they truly think that they could win like that?'

A spray of gunfire was ignored, doing virtually no damage against her.

She scanned the battlefield once again. Assassin was hiding once again after his fruitless assault. The girl was circling around her, trying to find any avenue of attack. Archer's fingers were ready to nock another arrow on his bow, his eyes focused solely on his target. Kiritsugu peeked out from his cover seemingly doing the same as her.

"Do you truly think that you could defeat me like this?" She questioned.

"…We are seriously trying to claim victory, Saber." Archer answered. "In fact, you already ruined our first plan."

She flashed a questioning glance at him, but Archer didn't give her a response.

All of a sudden, her Master sent out a distress signal. Her eyes roamed the area, looking for anything amiss.

'Ah…!' Her eyes widened as she realized that Assassin wasn't here.

Considering that Kiritsugu and Assassin were the same person, she could be forgiven for Kiritsugu pretending to be Assassin being able to fool her. That they matched their own energy signatures to be identical also messed with Saber's senses.

"…I see" She leaped back as far away from the enemy as possible. Raising her blade, she challenged them "Come!"

Magical Energy gathered around her blade.

"[Caladbolg]."

Saber diverted her attention to the arrow, having been prepared for such a scenario, she repels it, the explosive detonation washing on her back.

Returning her eyes forward, she charged her blade with Magical Energy once more, aiming at the rushing Taiga. Her blade turns into a black flame, and then into a torrent of darkness.

"[Ex—]"

"I am the bone of my sword—[Rho Aias]"

"[-calibur]"

The shield's seven petals covered Taiga as she put everything she had into her legs.

'It's impossible.' Saber concluded. Before Taiga could reach her, the shield protecting her would already be blown away. Even if the girl pulled Avalon, she would have sufficient preparation to counter considering the distance that she needs to cross. Slowly, the shield began to fall.

Six…

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

'It's my vic—'

"By my [Command Seal] Taiga, GO!" Kiritsugu shouted.

A sudden burst of speed allowed Taiga to close the distance to nil.

Saber realized at that moment, that she had repeated her mistake from her last Holy Grail War.

"By my second [Command Seal], defeat Saber!"

She made the mistake of underestimating the people who didn't seem to have any power.

"[Ex—]"

The light pierced through the darkness.

"[—calibur]"

She blanked out as she received an attack from her own Noble Phantasm. She managed to survive, but she might as well be dead, her right limbs and a good portion of her body was already gone.

Shaking off the blurriness in her eyes, she saw the young swordswoman drop on her stomach, her armor and sword gone, but her eyes still filled with intent to fight. From the back, she saw Archer clutching his damaged arm.

As the dust clears, a figure rushes up to her with a knife in hand. A memory flashes through her mind.

'Ah… how nostalgic… Shirou—'

The blade plunged into her Spirit Core, and she knew no more.

The mountain trembled from the release of so much power.

"Saber lost?" Justeaze muttered in surprise before refocusing on the battle. The Servant she was fighting managed to put a bullet straight to her heart, but thanks to the grail's power, she was able to heal herself and retreat.

There was something about that bullet, but she managed to negate the effects somehow. It was most likely due to the power of Heaven's Feel that she has in her body, but she couldn't really be sure about that. [2]

She did another bombardment with her Zelle, retreating to another location as the Servant sprints to catch her. She didn't know what he wanted to do, but she definitely didn't want to find out. [3]

Flinging the mud of the grail behind her, She fires a Degen. The Servant was able to evade it but was caught in her trap.

She smiles as the Servant was hit by the mud of the grail that sprang from his right in a surprise attack. A grunt of pain, followed by him falling to his knees.

Concentrating, she prepared the mud of the Grail—

"[Chronos Rose]"

The mud should've weakened the Servant greatly, but it seems that he was only exaggerating about the effects on his body to catch her off guard.

She adjusted her body, she would let whatever he planned to attack her with strike her and retaliate with deadly force.

'There!' She struck true, piercing the heart of the Servant.

His hand, holding a jagged dagger struck her in turn and she felt her connection to the grail shatter. [4]

Justeaze fell to the ground, unconscious.

"So we lost huh…"

Since there was no longer anything else to do…

Algiz, Nauthiz, Ansuz, Ingwaz—

Ath nGabla

Rider felt it, a power rejecting her interference in a sacred duel.

"Berserker, do you mind accompanying me for a while?"

"▅▂▃▂▃▅▅▂▃▂▃▅▂▅▂▅" A roar was his only answer.

The two warriors kept on fighting even as the battle was already over.

She felt her body regain Magical Energy from the Master and Servant bond. She slowly regained her senses and saw Kiritsugu's face.

"D-did we…?" They were moving, was she being carried?

"We won. You did great, Taiga." He praised.

"How about the others?" The Shades completely ignored them, rushing outside as if pursuing something.

"Rider and Berserker are both alright." He began. "Archer is injured, but he'll recover in time. As for Assassin—" Abruptly, he stopped moving, staring at something.

She felt it, a disgusting and dark energy filling up the air. She squirmed a bit to take a look at what Kiritsugu was staring at. Feeling the movement, he dropped her down gently and looked around.

Finding her footing after a brief bout of dizziness, she beheld a black pillar. It was upside down inside a bastardization of a womb. Inhuman eyes returned her gaze, strangely enough, she didn't feel any malice, but she understood that its very existence was pure evil. It was—

"Angra Mainyu…" It was the being that was threatening everything she cared for.

"It seems that Assassin died, but he accomplished his goals." He pointed out to somewhere on the left side of the pillar of evil.

Following his finger, she saw a person lying on their back with a jagged dagger, Rule Breaker, embedded on their arm.

She did a short prayer for Assassin. Though she didn't know him that well, she respected her actions.

"Taiga." She was taken out of her thoughts as Kiritsugu calls her out. "It's time."

They returned their gaze to All the World's Evil. With her somewhat restored Magical Energy, she transformed, the golden blade revealed, pointing forward.

"Kiritsugu-san." She waited for his command.

Kiritsugu stared at his last remaining seal, an unexpected boon that allowed them to make plan C. [5]

Refocusing on the matter at hand, he raised his hand.

"Taiga, by my last [Command Seal], destroy the grail and save the world." He declared.

"Hai!" That familiar rush of power gathers into her blade, she will wreck this bastard harder than S*n G*han did P*erfect C*ll!

"[Excalibur]!" The cut the unborn evil god in half. The holy light disintegrated its form. As she finished pouring out her entire power, the light from the sword dims and all that she sees are Shades losing their form, becoming dust into the wind.

She dismisses her transformation and leaned back, but before she fell, Kiritsugu caught her.

"Kiritsugu-san, we did it… we saved the world." A smile of pure happiness as she looked up at a person who despite meeting for only a few days, has become one of the people she considered precious in her heart.

"Yeah…" Unconsciously, he gave her a wonderful smile.

Taiga's heart skipped a beat as she saw such a rare sight.

Their moment was interrupted as a particularly large rock landed near them. She realized that she probably should've aimed better to avoid damaging the cavern.

"Do you require assistance?" A voice from behind asks.

Turning around, they faced a blindfolded Rider. At her question, Taiga realized something.

"Um… can you please rescue her?" She pointed to the woman lying on the ground. From what she was told, she was just a victim. She was aware that the woman killed many people, but considering that heroes ended up like Saber and Lancer, she couldn't fault the woman for her action. She would just blame Angra Mainyu for this.

With a nod, the beautiful Servant crossed the distance easily and returned with the woman. "Let's go." She started running out and avoiding the debris, more for her passenger than herself. She felt something strange when she touched her, but she'll leave it for later.

"Uwah!" As Taiga tried to get on her feet, she was scooped up by Kiritsugu in a princess carry. "C-can you please put me down Kiritsugu-san?" She was equal parts embarrassed and happy.

"You're still recovering." He responded firmly. "[Install]"

With his enhanced physical ability, he easily weaved around the fallen debris while carrying Taiga. Within seconds, they were able to leave the cavern that was still in the process of collapsing.

With all that's happened Taiga felt her body lean into Kiritsugu's arms in exhaustion. Kiritsugu took notice.

"You can take a rest, you've earned it."

She snuggled up to his chest and closed her eyes. She can finally rest. After all:

They won.

[1] Gae Dearg

[2] Heaven's Feel enhanced soul Origin Rounds. Also, Sakura was able to regen her heart in seconds while connected to the grail.

[3] The bird familiar, Degen is the sword and I think Storch Ritter is the base? Pretty confused about this, but I'm not gonna use it anymore anyways.

[4] Just like what happened to Sakura, it's not really affecting her soul as it is just severing anything connected to it. It also show how bad of a fighter she is.

[5] Plan A: Triple-Linked Crane Wings

Plan B: Double Fake Excalibur vs Excalibur

Plan C: Read the damn fanfic

AN:

Hahaha, sorry for the low quality, but I did my best. Just imagine what happened in between. This is more of a summary of events, I'm gonna say it again, I don't like writing fight scenes, sorry about that.

Why doesn't Origin Bullet affect Justeaze? Greater Mystery beats lesser Mystery. Since her soul is already empowered by the greatest Mystery, aka Magic, something that tries to damage it will just not have any effect. Or so I think that's how it goes.

Next chapter is whenever I get around to writing it. The theme will be what they will do afterwards and some scenes not depicted like the summoned Servant, Kirei, Rin and Kariya, Shirou, etc.