Situational Gravitas

by MaskedEngineer

William Brown, a depressive prick of a human being who has trudged through life unfulfilled and lacking purpose, unwittingly gets embroiled into the Fifth Holy Grail War as the eighth Master. With forces beyond his understanding at bay, he has no choice but to fight... but when the reward is a wish to grant him what he desires most, no struggle is too great. Oh, they will see...

3. Going Down Under II

A/N: Greetings again, and welcome to the third chapter. A longer one this time, mainly because I had fun with writing the fight scenes, as well as making blatant references to a series with ghosts that punch things for you. Also, I will now do a separate section that gives some background info about the Effigies you will be seeing in the future chapters.

Needless to say, please enjoy.

-0-

Chapter 3: Going Down Under II

"Hmm?"

The ivory-skinned figure looks up from her teacup on a leather-bound sofa, gazing at the wooden mahogany ceiling of her hotel room while the warm yellowish liquid inside the cup sloshes around. A peculiar sensation just ran through her veins, not quite hot but not quite cold either. It's a lukewarm feeling that spreads all across her body. This sensation…it was odd, yet familiar at the same time.

But she might just have an idea of what it meant. "Someone of the blood my body carries has…ascended. This early on? The last son of Brown must have been aware of my presence to awaken his power."

Running a hand down her naked back, the womanly figure walked over to the switch and flipped the lights back on. She should be ready to leave again. Fuyuki City is not so far away anymore. In fact, it is only a few hours worth of walking.

Elegantly slipping into her dress, the figure picks up a single bag made of plain white cloth and slung it over her back before opening the door and leaving downstairs. Once reaching the entrance of the motel, she stood still and patiently waited for the rest of her luggage to be delivered by an array of bellboys, all of whom did not speak during the entire process. Not even a grumble as they struggle with the heavier items. After delivering the last piece of luggage, the bellboys give her a bow, their irises glowing purple for some reason.

Once all of her things have been stacked outside, the pale figure swayed her long, flowing hair before a purplish-red aura engulfs her. Two slender, armored arms manifest behind their mistress as she snaps her fingers. Immediately, they began to tie her hair up with expert precision and speed, and in no time, the flowing mane was a prim and proper bun.

Turning to the receptionist table where the owner also works at, the woman's alien black-and-red eyes shine with faux gratefulness as her thin lips part into a graceful smile. "I must express my gratitude to both you and your staff. The services here are nothing short of wonderful! But alas, I must leave now. I do hope I get a chance to return here." She said politely, before giving the owner a light nod and left the premise. The hotel owner was slumping over his table, unresponsive to the outside world, so most would assume that he was catching up on lost sleep.

The moment the figure moved away, however, the real reason for his current state is revealed.

His torso has been punched clean through, leaving behind a hole the size of a woman's fist, as well as copious amounts of blood and gore dribbling down his legs and splashing on the burgundy carpeted floor, staining the already red color an even deeper crimson. Despite such a grisly sight in the middle of the day, none of the employees seems to care.

The figure stood by the side of a highway, sitting on top of a wooden chest while smiling to herself. It wasn't the kind of smile that a person makes when they're happy, or when they are joking around.

No, it was far from it. This is the smile that would sooner make hardened criminals soil themselves rather than calming down infants from their latest tantrum. "Oh, dear owner. If only you would listen to your heart and let a poor maiden like myself have a free night. Some people can be so cheap at times." And then, she snaps her fingers again.

"AAH!"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?!"

"THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE! SOMEONE CALL THE AMBULANCE!"

Ah, the screams of the unwitting innocents always made her a little excited. Though, it would arguably sound even better if one of them has the last name of the lineage she hated. If she could have it her way, she would just teleport to his place out of sheer, unrelenting hatred and cut him up into tiny unrecognizable pieces, bury his remains in an unmarked grave before pissing on it-

But as fate ordains, sometimes you just have to work hard to get what you want. As such, an esteemed lady such as herself has to extend her arm out, waiting for someone to hitchhike with.

But this blow to her pride is of no consequence. After all, the driver wouldn't be able to tell anyone about the time they picked her up…if they are dead. "Prepare yourself, descendant of Brown. Even if I have to upturn every plot of land and eviscerate every single insignificant insect in that city…I will find you. And I will kill you."

And with that, the figure returned to her polite smile as she caught herself a ride.

-0-

In the frigid hallway of Homurahara Academy, a ghost, bathed in a blue light, hovers dutifully over William.

"This…this is my Effigy…" Said the physics teacher with a hushed tone, finally revealing what this spirit is.

Coincidentally and unsurprisingly, that is also about where his knowledge about the ghostly being ended: at the name. And that the thing apparently spawned into this world via his left arm, since that's where it makes its first appearance.

If he were to be honest with himself, William has no clue what is the true nature of the robotic apparition, nor how it came to be, other than that 'Effigy' is what his grandmother used to refer to the imaginary figure floating above her head all the time.

And considering how vivid her conversations were while looking at the vacant air, he assumed that she has a spirit just like him as well. Then that means, if she claims herself to be a 'magus' and always going off about a guardian spirit by her side, and now William actually has one himself…

It's hard to say how he felt about that.

"Ah-ha! So you're a magus after all. And not just a regular one, from what I can see. Now…this is getting interesting!" In spite of the large weight being forcing every single limb of his down, the spearman still has more than enough strength to stand up and face the teacher, even though his posture was hunched over. "It's feeble, but I can sense the magic coming from that thing…it could be the reason why you were able to repel my strike." Said the stranger, flexing his arms and rotating his shoulders before raising his spear.

"Wait…" William's eyes slowly begin to widen as he realizes that the spearman didn't look nearby as affected as by the increased weight his Effigy has applied on him. Before he could think of anything else, his opponent blitzed at him with the blade of the spear gleaming in the moonlight.

The stranger wasn't moving quite as impossibly graceful as earlier, thanks to William's Effigy getting out of the way and thus able to keep its weight-inducing ability active, but he was still fast enough to catch the teacher off guard. Performing an upward swing, the spearman smiles with thinly veiled bloodlust as the blade connects with William's neck, the cold metal easily cutting into his flesh and drawing blood. If stabbing him in the stomach didn't work, then surely no one could survive a clean slash to the jugular.

But then…that strange phenomenon happened again, where for some odd reason, any strike that pierces more than an inch or so of skin suddenly gets repelled away by a force that seems to surround William's body. Thus, before the spearman could fully touch his jugular vein, the blade bounces off and his spear is forcefully pushed back.

William once again fell on his back, screaming in pain as he felt his throat getting literally opened up. "GURK!" Feeling the blood flowing in between his fingers from his new wound, the teacher tried to assess the severity of his injury just to count down the time it would take for him to die. His neck was moderately lacerated, that's for sure, but otherwise…no fatal wounds. The cut didn't hit any major vessels, and the blood loss was relatively low compared to an actual slit throat.

"How the fuck…I survived that?!" To say that William was confused would be the understatement of the century. Just less than ten minutes ago, his hand and thigh were harpooned so swimmingly by that spear, and now he's taking slashes and thrusts from that same spear and emerging with no more than minor to moderate wounds. Not to mention, this apparent resistance to cutting force only appeared after he summoned the spirit…

Could this have been it's doing as well?

So many questions, yet so little answers and even less time for him to worry about, as the spearman had already recovered from the repelling force and was rapidly closing the distance between them. The stranger delivered another right sweep with his spear, which William managed to dodge by dropping to the ground and covering his head. However, by doing so he left himself at a vulnerable position where the spearman could follow up with a low blow.

And predictably, that's what he did. Reeling his foot back, the stranger kicks William right in the face, sending him flying through the air as the eponymous red liquid spills out of his nostrils. He didn't hear a crunch, so at least he took solace in knowing that his nose wasn't broken again. Still, the damage was done.

"Goddamn it!" Cursed William in his mind, feeling a searing pain coursing towards his nose.

While William was still careening through the air, the spearman's muscles bulged as he leaped forward to take the opportunity to inflict further damage, delivering a short but rapid flurry of stabs at the teacher's chest, abdominal region and several points around his lower half as well. The mysterious aura of repulsion around his body prevented most of these jabs from penetrating too deeply that they would be life-threatening, but blood was still drawn and the blunt force generated from the spear thrusting at high speeds was enough to make William cough all the air out of his lungs as his internal organs became increasingly bruised.

Crashing into the wall underneath a window, William groaned in abject pain as by now, his injuries were really starting to stack up to the point of being unbearable. Multiple wounds, oozing with blood and reddened by shreds of broken skin appeared on his upper half and staining his mild-colored dress shirt a deep crimson on several different spots, not that it weren't already so from the same fluid leaking from his slashed neck.

"I was right. That 'Effigy' of yours may have provided you with resistance, but not total immunity to my attacks. Even then, simply cutting you up and leaving you to bleed out could work too." Said the spearman calmly, but with an added edge of aggressiveness to his voice, noting how his weapon still hurts William regardless of whether or not it did its intended job of going through a target like a macabre shish kebab.

William's tongue tasted his own blood as his bruised nose leaks like a faucet, creating a thin stream that runs down his lips. Grunting harshly, his hand held onto the window frame behind him for support as he heaved himself back up to his feet, stumbling back and forth upon doing so. It was such a grueling task that William finds his eyelids tightly shut from the excruciating soreness that is spreading all over his body like an incurable plague.

He barely had the strength to stand anymore, let alone fight. The aura that formerly blazes blue around him has considerably dulled down to a mere haze that weakly flounders between his hands and body. Looking at his Effigy, he realizes that even it wasn't immune to the wounds inflicted on him. There were splotches of blood all over the same area he was stabbed repeatedly in, along with a small hole punched through its right thigh. Despite all of that, the ghost didn't appear to be fazed.

Taking a few steps forwards, William would have tripped over his own feet if it wasn't for his Effigy coming to his assistance as his innate thought of needing assistance not going unnoticed by the combat apparition. But with the spirit actively helping its host, there was no one to maintain the heavy pressure keeping the spearman handicapped.

Upon feeling his shoulders becoming lighter again, the spearman swings and spins his spear several times around before planting it to the ground with a delighted face as he is no longer under the effect of the Effigy's power. "What a relief! I think my arms got even lighter than before. Looks like this little battle of ours isn't all for naught." Unlike at the start, the stranger's tone now seems to be more…respectful? "Compared to that kid from earlier, you actually managed to give me a little bit of trouble. Even though you acquired that power mere moments ago, you were still able to put up a struggle."

William, still clutching onto his wounds, looks at the spear wielder in disbelief before simply snorts in barely-hidden sarcasm. "Thanks so much. I guess I should thank you for bloodying me up too." If this guy was going to kill him, he might as well be over with it. Appraising his ability only to end him later is just going to hurt his pride even more than not saying anything at all.

It was like the spearman was complimenting him out of pity for downing him so quickly. And that pisses him off to no end. Though, he was currently in no position to make any threats right now, so all he could really do is to give the stranger a seething glare that could melt straight through steel if such a thing is possible.

"You've been fun to fight against, magus, as short as it is. I bet you could give me an even greater challenge if I let you off now…but I can't guarantee that you won't keep your mouth shut about this whole mess, so no loose ends." The stranger ran a hand along the ornate lines engraved onto his spear smoothly, speaking with a disappointed voice before pointing the tip at William with a determined gaze. "This will be my last and final attack, human! Now, die!" No longer held down by a heavy weight, the spearman makes use of his regained agility and rushes the teacher with a maniacal grin plastered on his face, moving at such an intense speed that every step kicks up a plume of dust.

William shakily raises his hands to flip off the stranger with both fingers, knowing that it will do nothing against a thrust from that spear anyway. But still, no one could fault him for at least trying to put up one last act of defiance. "I'm definitely going to haunt you after this, you cun-"

His vulgar insult was cut off at the last syllable as the spearman stops short, turns his leg around and delivers a back kick to William's solar plexus, strong enough to launch him out of the window, easily shattering the glass panel to a million pieces as his body bursts through the window frame like a speeding bullet.

William's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets like a pair of golf balls, feeling his liver violently flattened against his diaphragm and his ribcage getting pushed in and forcing him to cough up a mouthful of spit from the power behind the kick. However, he promptly forces all the air back into his lungs anyway as he gasps in realization.

He is now falling, with only the shower of broken glass accompanying him on the trip down.

Not looking towards his oncoming fate of becoming a bloody paste on school grounds, William desperately grabs the air, to no effect. His Effigy was following him closely, still having its static floating position despite falling along William.

Then, panic sets in. Opening his mouth, he screamed. Screamed as the rough, stony texture of the cold, hard ground approaches him at increasing speeds. Given that the protective field around his body provides nearly no mitigation against blunt force trauma, William was tentatively sure that the fall would kill him if he landed on his head.

Assuming a leg-first position as he fell, William reaches a hand towards his Effigy. If the ghost is levitating, then surely grabbing onto it would slow down his rapid descent somewhat. "Help me!" He sent out a frantic thought to the apparition, hoping that it would take his hand.

The vaguely robotic spirit gave him a blank stare with its hollow sockets shaped like cogs in a clockwork device, before moving in front of the falling William and rested its diminutive legs on his knee. Rather than doing what it is told, the Effigy insteads joins its hands again and aims at its own summoner.

"W-Wait, what are you doing?! I need you to save me, not make me heavier! No, don't-" William, now scared beyond his wits that even his Effigy has decided to work against him, shakes his head at what he thought the ghost was about to do. "NOOOOOO!" He cried out the universal word of denial as hard as his vocal cords will allow him, any semblance of coolheadedness and confidence breaking down to atoms by terror and fear as he thought about the way he is about to be send off: brain matter spilling out of his broken skull as countless shards of glass litter his corpse. If not that, then a severe case of multiple spinal fractures is in order.

He can't die like that! Not like an accident! It cannot be-

As the teacher fell to his death, there was not a sound to be made. No birds shall sing for him, no eulogies will be delivered to his name, and no shrieks of horror will be made from the unwitting passersby…

Aside from his own scream, of course.

Hang on a minute…he didn't die?

Or maybe he did die, it's just that death was so instantaneous that he has been sent straight to the afterlife.

But since when did the afterlife have a tangible floor beneath him that he could feel? He expected the realm where souls roam should be some kind of infinite void, like the vacuum of space.

Slowly opening his eyes, William was shocked to see that he was lying on the ground.

Completely unharmed and as soft as a rose, his existing injuries notwithstanding.

Looking up, he saw that his Effigy was performing the pose that allows it to activate its weight-related power. However, unlike before with the spearman when its left hand was raised, this time it was the palm of its right hand that was facing William's prone form.

He barely has time to register what just happened before his brain reminds him of something else: the hailstorm of broken glass raining down on both him and his Effigy. Mentally ordering the incorporeal being to get the hell out of dodge, he too leaps away to relative safety…

Well, 'total' safety would be a better word, as William did not merely hop to one side and lower the risk of getting pelted by shards of broken glass. He makes one little jump with his hip bouncing…and flies up without the assistance of any exterior motion other than his own, all while barreling in the middle of the air as if he was in a zero-gravity environment, avoiding the glass shards but at the cost of being sent up higher and higher. "W-Woah! What the hell?! I'm…I'm floating off!"

Fearing that he might go all the way up the darkened sky, William wildly flails his limbs in a swimming motion to try to stop himself from floating any higher. "What the hell is even going on?"

It seems to have worked, with William slowing down with every kick and flail from his legs and arms, eventually coming to a halt. After making sure that his weightless body remains in a fixed position underneath a nearby tree, the teacher clutches the cuts and gashes on his body again the second the adrenaline generated from the tense encounter wears off, subjecting William to another debilitating bout of stinging aches.

Tightening his fists to the point of whitening his knuckles, William braces himself against the pain, before breathing a huge sigh of relief once the worst of the feelings finally subside, at least for now. With a hand resting on his wounded thigh, he turns to look at his Effigy. "You…you could do that too?"

The ghost gave him that supernaturally blank look again, partially because it doesn't have proper eyes before nodding to his question.

"So…you can add extra weight, but you can also remove it." William spoke with a voice barely above a whisper, his dull blue eyes conveying great amazement as his uninjured hand approached the Effigy…and smacks the spirit on the top of it's bucket-shaped head. "Then why didn't you say anything about it? Gee, scared the piss out of me back there." The irate teacher scolded his spirit, rubbing his own dome as the force of the smack somehow reflected back to him.

His Effigy said nothing, simply tapping one of its elongated, sharp-tipped fingers on the region where its mouth would be, wordlessly pointing out that it does not have one needed to feasibly 'say' anything to William.

The silence was deafening. He stared at the spirit for a moment, before rubbing his eyes and stewing over his own obliviousness. "Right. I forgot." Said William in a faux-apologetic voice, thinking over the abilities of his Effigy and the applications thereof.

But then, another line of thought leaps in with alarming urgency.

What if that spear-wielding guy went down to check for a body?

Regaining a surge of strength that allows him to ignore the pain from his injuries, William, still in a state of weightlessness, floats away from the tree and swam through the air with the intensity that would put an Olympic swimmer to shame before pressing his back flat against the wall underneath the window he was so rudely defenestrated out of.

Holding his breath, William glanced up and waited for the spearman to show his face. Four seconds pass by and the air just keeps getting thicker with suspense. His eyes dare not to move away from the window in worry that even the slightest failure to exert caution will cause him to lose his head.

At long last, his patience was rewarded with seeing the spearman's chin peeking out from above the windowsill, his head going downwards before turning left and right at the jagged shards of glass littering the ground below.

William's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates as he keeps a constant, unblinking stare at the powerful stranger whose nose he is quite literally underneath. Even as his eyes begin to water, he shrugs it off and pours all of his attention into the spearman, making sure to bolt immediately once he has been discovered. Going for a second round with the spear wielder is about the worst possible case, and he dreaded the very possibility of it happening.

"Please don't look down, please don't look down…" Out of pure panic, William finds himself counting down even numbers, in spite of his wish to remain as quiet as possible in order to not rat himself out to his assailant. "Two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve…" He had no idea why he suddenly developed a behavioral tic, but something about counting down predictable patterns of numbers makes him feel more secure. More…assured in himself.

A hypothetical eternity would pass before the spearman lets his paranoia get the better of him and jumps down, landing gracefully and begins to search for William's supposed body, not realizing that his target was behind him the entire time, hovering like a ghost and looking just as white as one.

William, not willing to push his luck any further, quietly moves away from his position and makes swimming motions to propel himself upwards, narrowly bypassing the sharpened fragments of the broken window still stuck around the frame. After successfully floating through the window, he gave off a mental command for his Effigy to turn off its ability.

He should have made it more specific with the spirit however, as before William could reposition himself so that he lands with his feet, the Effigy instantly releases him from its hold and the teacher makes ground contact with his body splayed out like a starfish.

He would have yelped from his fresh wounds getting roughed up once more, if not for the crippling fear of catching the spearman's attention telling him otherwise. Stifling the sounds from his mouth by biting into the bloodied, torn left sleeve of his coat, William noticed that he was feeling weaker by the second. Not because of his wounds, though they do play a role, but because of something literally draining the strength away from his being.

Not being able to stand up due to the surprising but severe weakness in his muscles, the teacher looked at his Effigy. It was still there, but its form had become oddly transparent, and in between the cracks that appeared all across its body showed a system of glowing lines that alternate each other, forming a grid-like pattern. More peculiarly, the lines appear to be curved as well, gradually bending closer and closer to one another before culminating in a bottomless spiral in the center of its chest.

The mechanical-looking Effigy levitates closer to William and gives its host a light nod, as if to reassure the man before fully fading away, its essence returning to William's body in the form of several lines of blue light.

With his Effigy dispelled from the physical realm, William was left without an objective. What can he do next?

Run away? Unlikely, given how he is at the end of his strength and is far too wounded to do so anyway. Besides, it is far too risky since that stranger clad in that uncomfortably tight leotard is on the lookout for him.

Seek help? Once again out of the question, since it is nighttime and no one is currently at school right now, save for himself and Shirou.

Shirou…oh great, now what is he supposed to say to Fujimura now? "Oh my apologies, but the kid under your care just died at school, and I'm also there on that same night?" Even worse, what is he supposed to say in his defense? There's no way anyone would buy his current excuse.

Not only is it incredibly easy to incriminate him as the murderer, but that he will have to deal with her reaction as well. Best case scenario, she will cry her eyes out till the end of time, and his ears aren't just used to that much abuse from the megaphone Taiga has for a mouth. Worst case scenario, serving time and getting his name blacklisted from every other employment offer.

With a resolute, but at the same time resigned look, William made up his mind: with his growing fatigue and untreated wounds, the best thing to do now is to simply rest. He doesn't know for how long, but all he needs right now is to get some shut-eye.

Crawling on all fours through the corridors took forever, but the teacher eventually reached his destination. Emiya's corpse remained still, with the metallic stench of blood already fouling the air. The thin, but deep wound through his heart has largely stopped bleeding, with only a few drops dripping out every now and then.

"At least he died in one hit." Thought William with a morbid sense of humor, reaching a hand up to his neck. Receiving a handful of the red fluid back, the teacher could only enjoy a bitter laugh with himself and the killed boy for company. Shirou didn't have to suffer much, it was he who was getting all mauled up.

Shuffling over and resting against a door, William looked at Shirou and, in a display of violating common sense, began talking to the teen's corpse. No one could hear him from here, so it didn't matter anyway. "Hell of a night, ain't it Emiya?" As expected, he gets no reply.

Using what little strength in his leg left that he could muster, William pulled Shirou over so that his glossy eyes were facing the ceiling. From what he could see, the boy's complexion is already starting to become a little pale from all the blood draining from the capillaries in his skin.

Speaking of blood loss, a concerned William takes a closer look at the penetrating wound on his thigh, even parting the seams of his slacks apart to explore the wound. Judging from the amount of ichor that is evacuating from him, he deduced that the spear must have at least scratched the femoral artery.

When it comes to something as delicate as blood vessels, a mere 'scratch' could easily spell doom for those unlucky enough. And knowing his luck, William could kind of guess what will happen to him next anyway.

Strangely enough, he did not feel as indignant towards the prospect of death as before. Instead, now the only thing he feels is a profound sense of regret that he didn't do more before he died. Like giving his prized students praises. Like talking more with his fellow teachers. Or do something great in general.

"You know, Emiya, I never said this, but…you're a good kid. A good student to me too. Real good. I know you tried to help me and all…" William spoke with a solemn tone, even though the dramatic effect was dampened somewhat by his bloody nose granting a nasally voice, his eyes half-lidded from a combination of tiredness and quiet resignation. "And even if it got you killed, I bet you're grinning up there knowing that you bought me about-"

Raising his hand, the physics teacher weakly pulled back his left sleeve, revealing his repaired watch, the last thing Shirou gave him before his death. It was slightly stained with blood when his impaled hand ran over the clock face. "Fifteen minutes. Heh…just so you know, this watch is something I cherished dearly. I truly do. And you fixed it…for that, you have my thanks, Emiya. I know I don't say that a lot, but this one…meant something."

Realizing that he was starting to go off about sappy stuff again, William shakes his head before leaning back in a more comfortable pose. What was he thinking, saying all that to a dying boy? But there was just something about talking to something that is unable to respond back makes him feel better when talking about these things. More in control, perhaps.

For a fleeting moment, he felt like he could share it all to Shirou if he was alive as well.

Too bad, that day will never come. "Well, I guess I'll see you later Emiya. Right now, I just need…a little sleep." His head slowly slumps as the grip of his watch slackens from the weakness that has been silently permeating throughout his body like a dash of poison.

And with that, William closed his eyes. At last, he could have a good night's sleep. However…a distinct expression of unhappiness was present on his face, a far cry from what a person content with their end would look like.

-0-

"Go after him, Archer." The voice of a young, upper-class woman echoed against the walls, creating a short reverberating effect to it. "Lancer should be heading off to his Master now. All of this would have been for nothing if we can't at least get a glimpse of their identity."

As soon as the mysterious figure behind her left without a trace of dust in their footsteps, Rin Tohsaka rested her head on her hand, letting out a drawn-out sigh as the view of two bodies, unfortunate enough to have come into the crosshairs of the spearman, entered her peripheral vision. One was wearing a student uniform, while the other wore non-standard clothes and appeared to be an older man.

Rin's aquamarine eyes sparked an inscrutable expression, but one could feasibly describe it as a mixture between sadness, pity and, paradoxically enough, cold and unfeeling logic. Looking down on the body in front of her, she calmly gets down on her knees and places a gentle hand over the corpse. "Killed in one thrust from Lancer's spear…for what it's worth, a destroyed heart also means a quick death. You did not suffer."

Then, Rin's expression hardened with guilt as she stood up again and went over to the side of the more bloodied body resting against a door. "I'm sorry to have involved you two into something like this. The least I could do now is to give a proper send off-" Said Rin as she takes a good look at the leaning body, before her words trailed off precipitously as her breathing became hitched.

To her horror, she recognizes that white coat and blue shirt everywhere, no matter how torn up and stained their current states are. "Oh no…don't you dare-!" To confirm her suspicions, which already didn't need much, she moved the right hand covering his left wrist and the upper bit of his hand away. "Brown-sensei…why?"

His watch was all the evidence she needed to know who the unlucky man is, but upon doing so, she saw something else even more mind-bending of a revelation. It was crude and still only halfway formed, but it was the unmistakable outline of a Command Seal, engraved onto the skin of his left hand, rough and pulsating slightly. "No way…" It never occurred to her that this reclusive and plain-looking man is secretly a magus all along and was even chosen by the Holy Grail of all things.

Unlike what an accomplished Master like herself would sense from a usual magus-turned-Master though, Rin can't feel the mana seeping from him. Her best deduction is that he has yet to have a Servant to call his own.

While her mind was running over those questions, her leg accidentally bumped into the student's corpse. As she was by Brown's side, her position enabled her to see the other victim's face as well. Needless to say, she wasn't happy with the knowledge of this one's identity either. "Shirou Emiya? Not him as well!"

Slumping to her knees, Rin gave the unresponsive males a disturbed look. "Of all people…why does it have to be the two of you?" The young Magus thought to herself as a terrible sense of remorse from being the indirect cause of their deaths crawled on her spine. With no time to waste, Rin rummaged through the inner pockets of her coat and produced an ornate jewel on a chain whose color matches the fluid blemishing the marble floor underneath them.

Gazing at the exquisite gem with lingering affection prior to holding it in her hands, Rin looked down on the two bodies…before promptly finding herself in a very, very conflicting situation as her eyes pace back and forth between Emiya and Brown. A knot grows in her throat, leaving her utterly incapable of any coherent words.

Who will she save? There is only enough magical energy in the gem for one, and she doubted that she could sleep well for the next few weeks if one of them died. William looked more extensively injured, while Shirou only has a single, but invariably fatal wound to the heart.

Regardless of the severity of their wounds, there is a real chance that the both of them would perish if she doesn't do something soon. Struggling to make up her mind, Rin, in a moment of indecisiveness, lets an intrusive thought enter her mind.

"Her…I can't do this to her. She would be devastated about this…" Rin reminded herself of a certain violet-haired figure as she peers down on Shirou. Even though both of their lives are important, she felt that Shirou's death would have greatly affected more people than William's. At least he has someone who worries for him. As for the teacher…she doesn't know for sure, but she'd rather not chance it.

Biting her lips sorrowfully, she finally comes to a decision as she gets down on her knees next to the redhead's body. Chanting lines of undecipherable incantations, Rin held the precious gemstone over the narrow gap in Shirou's chest as the spell she invoked resonates with the magic-infused jewel, causing the artifact to illuminate the otherwise dark hallway in a crimson glow.

While the vibrant color of the gem slowly becomes more and more dull, Shirou's wound begins patching itself up at a superhuman rate with the sheer amount of magical energy siphoning out of the gem and flowing through his veins, greatly promoting cellular regeneration.

Eventually, all that is left of the wound's existence is the blood staining Shirou's shirt and a hole tearing through it. Tohsaka clutches the once-brilliant red gem in her palms, now reduced to a far darker color. "It's almost empty now…" Thought Rin with a frustrated huff, looking down at the now-revived Shirou. Had he been clinically dead for a moment longer, not even pumping him with hundreds of her gems could restore his life functions other than animating a corpse. "It could have been my trump card for this war."

"Well…no use crying over spilled milk now." Her eyes now diverting towards the battered husk of William, a crestfallen Rin could only offer an apologetic hand on the presumably dead man's shoulder, causing his head to slightly sway to one side. "Rest easy, Brown-sensei. I wish things could have turned out better for you." She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. For all of Brown's time at their school, practically nothing goes right for him. And now he's even dead because of this same place. Shaking her head wistfully, the dark-haired maiden stood up…

Only for a tiny gust of warm air to make contact with her hand.

Taking her hand back in a rather hasty manner, a gobsmacked Rin clutches it, feeling the warmth, before looking at William again. Approaching him much quicker this time, she fixes her hand just under his nostrils.

The weak, but warm air hits her hand again. The teacher is still alive and breathing, a miracle considering how there is blood coming from his throat. Unable to believe it, she puts a finger under his wrist. A pulse was there, albeit irregular.

A huge sense of relief washes over Rin as she finds her legs weakening, forcing the magus to lean against the wall behind her for support. The feeling was temporary however, once she realizes that some of his many wounds are still wet with blood. He is alive now, but for how much longer?

Determined not to let another life be snuffed out, Rin looked down upon the gem, still weakly glowing in her palm, with her ivory nails tightening around the jewel. She knew what she had to do.

With the chain intertwining her delicate fingers, Rin once again chants the mystical linguistics as she holds the gem over his thigh, where she presumes is the place suffering the most critical damage. In spite of the gem having very little energy left, its glow still brightens the immediate vicinity as the last drops of its essence went into closing the gaping wound.

Whether because of multiple other, smaller wounds attracting the flow of magical energy or the simple fact that there was not enough, the gem did not finish fully closing up the large wound before its crimson glow finally fizzles out like a blown candle, stranding them in the relative darkness of the moonlit corridor once more.

With her beloved accessory now fully depleted of any mana, a despondent Rin gently let the item rest on the floor. Even though the wound wasn't fully healed, it was patched up just enough to stop the worst of the bleeding. It helps that William was still clinging onto life at this point, albeit subconsciously, so one could say that the healing process took less mana partially because of his willpower.

On the topic of willpower, Rin felt an unusually strong aura emanating from the man. Unlike Shirou whose soul was a flickering light bulb when she came to him, William's soul was covered in a layer of frost, hiding a blistering storm of fire underneath. She jokingly suggests to herself that this is where all of his anger went into, given how yesterday was the first time she ever saw the man exploding with anger, and that it was also her first time feeling a supernatural presence coming from the teacher.

She should have realized it sooner.

Before she could think more about it, her eyes traveled downwards and she quickly came to realize that his other wounds, and the one in the thigh as well, still needed actual medical attention.

Getting up on her feet again, Rin releases a shuddering sigh before making a beeline towards the nurse's office. A nagging feeling on the back of her head, located in her hypothalamus tells her that Shirou might wake up any time soon, and the girl was forced to increase her pace from a walk to a faster shuffle.

After pilfering a first aid kit with a couple rolls of gauze, as well as a needle attached to a length of thread, Rin returns to her teacher's unmoving body. Kneeling down next to William's side, she shifted his wounded leg closer to her so that she could work on the thigh wound. Carefully grabbing the torn fabric around the spot where the spear entered, she rips the hole a little wider to allow more area to move around.

Holding the needle with a hand that is, surprisingly, not shaking at all, she plunges the tool into the pale flesh surrounding the wound, drawing a miniscule quantity of blood and eliciting a tiny but audible groan of pain from William. Her eyes glanced at the teacher's uncomfortable, but sleepy expression.

He looked so…vulnerable. So defenseless. There is no Servant around to fight for him yet, but given that the outline of a Command Seal was already present, Brown would get one sooner or later. And by that point…he would be her enemy. Another obstacle in her path to winning this war. In this state, it would be incredibly trivial to just kill him right here and now and remove a potential pain in the neck-

Smack!

Rin slapped herself square on the cheek. What the hell was she thinking?

Merely taking out other Masters already didn't sit well with her in the first place, and now she is thinking of underhandedly killing someone who is in no condition to fight back? "I surprise myself sometimes." Sickened by her own thoughts, the Tohsaka heiress redoubles her focus on treating William's wounds. "You can't win like that, Rin. You just can't."

Rin never quite expected her first experience with touching the flesh of someone from the opposite sex to be this…disgusting, what with her fingers having to knead and held the splitted skin closer so she could sew them together. Not only that, she is also getting a first-class view of all the underlying muscles, fatty tissues and even a bit of bone beneath the skin, all coated with coagulated blood as the metaphorical cherry on top to create a truly awful smell. The experience was only further compounded by the sight and stench of pus.

Despite her gag reflex jumping several times, Rin powered through and finished sewing the wound up, before applying some antibacterial ointment and wrapping several layers of gauze around it. With the most time-consuming part done, she moved onto his hand, repeating the same process although without having to sew the wound together.

Moving on to the gash on his neck, Rin quickly examines the wound before sewing it back as well. It was a far more intense situation than when working on his thigh and hand, since she knew one false move is all it takes to poke a hole in a major vessel. And then, she covers his entire neck with gauze.

After she is done with treating the most life-threatening wounds as best as she can, Tohsaka briefly contemplates patching up the smaller ones on his chest and abdomen as well, before a telepathic vision, linked directly to a close confidant, reminded her of the task at hand. Shrugging off a mild blush, Rin stands up to her full height and gives the two people she saved tonight one last look.

"Best get out of here before they wake up. I did all I can to help." She mused to herself, crossing her arms as she calmly strolled away from the area. "All that's left is for them to get out of here."

During her walk towards the stairs, Rin spotted a window shattered beyond any hopes of repairing. She had to wonder, who's the poor bastard that the eponymous Lancer threw out?

-0-

Sensei…

Someone was calling him by his workplace honorific.

Sensei…

There it is again, vibrating around the empty spaces in his skull. He doesn't feel like he has the energy to respond right now, so he tried to block it out.

Sensei…

He wished the voice would just leave him alone. He wanted to go back to sleep. After all, why should he register the voice of a dead person-

"Brown-sensei!" Shirou repeated himself for the fourth time, speaking a little louder than last time as he shook the seemingly comatose William, rattling the man like a bobblehead figure. "Please, wake up!"

"H-Huh? What?" William's eyes fluttered, slowly waking up from his troubled slumber. As his vision becomes less blurred from being in the dark for an extended period of time, the teacher could make out the figure shaking him with better detail. Hazel eyes, orangish-red hair, a constant look of needless concern on his face…

"Hang on…something doesn't quite make sense." How is Emiya here, right in front of him and looking as healthy as if nothing happened? There was only one reasonable explanation for such a bizarre event. "Is this purgatory? I thought it would look more gray."

A pregnant silence fills the corridor. "I-I don't get you, Brown-sensei." Shirou slightly stammers, not entirely sure as to what the physics teacher meant by such a question.

"The place where you go when you die, just before your soul is determined to go to either heaven or hell. Are we there?" Explained William with an objective tone, eyelids at half mast while his body still slumps in the same spot against a door. "You're dead and now you're not, so I must have died too."

"Oh. So that's what he meant by that." Shirou came to the realization, rubbing his chin and thinking about how he could possibly tell the older man that he just magically comes back to life with his mortal wound disappearing into thin air without sounding like a nutcase. Eventually, he decided to be as honest as possible about it. There's no use beating around the bush with subjects like this.

And thus, with the most eloquent tongue this side of Fuyuki City, the teen's facial features sharpen tremendously as he locks eyes with William, his mouth opening in a deliberate fashion. "I was killed, yeah…but then I came back, sensei. I can still feel the sensation of the spear stabbing me, but the wound is gone. I thought I was dreaming it all up or something…but no." Said Shirou, further proving his point by pointing to the bloodstains on his uniform at the point of the spear's entry.

Staring at the redhead like he just grew an extra head, William blinked once before narrowing his eyes in genuine suspicion. "You're pulling my leg, aren't you?"

"What? No! Sensei, why would I lie to you now?" Protested the boy, finding it hard to understand why his teacher would say such a thing.

"Who knows? Knowing you, you would say anything to make me feel better about being in purgatory." William quickly retorts, still looking up at Shirou with a skeptical glint in his blue eyes.

"That's not the case at all! Brown-sensei…if we are actually dead, then why would 'purgatory' look exactly like our school?" Shirou questioned the glaring hole in William's logic, waving his hands up and down to emphasize his point. "And why would we still feel and touch everything?"

In contrast to how the teen expected him to react, William simply lowered his head, thinking about what Shirou said. While his logic was questioned, his intelligence technically wasn't addressed in direct terms so the teacher had no reason to lose his temper. "You got a point. Wait, so does that mean…"

Half a second went by before William springs up from his resting position and grabs Shirou by the shoulders with an incredulous look. Though, the sudden heavy movement irritated his wounds and forced him to buckle down on one knee. "Ach!"

"Sensei!" Shirou called out, draping William's arm over his shoulder and hoisting the older man's wounded body up. He was a little dumbstruck by William suddenly grabbing him literal moments ago, but seeing the teacher visibly in pain sparked his desire to help him again.

The agony he experienced was nothing to sneeze at, but it mostly subsides when William realizes that Shirou is helping him up. Gritting his teeth, he breaks away from the boy with one arm clutching the multitude of lacerations on his abdomen.

"I'm fine. Don't sweat it."

"No I'm not. But I'm not letting it become an excuse to look pathetic." Assuming a straighter posture, the teacher wipes away the stains on his watch before turning to Shirou, now with a more neutral expression than his pain-wracked one from earlier. "How are you still walking around after that?"

Seeing William's finger pointing at the wound on his chest, a lengthy sigh escaped his throat. The memory of his brief embrace with death was still something extremely new to him, and now reminiscing about it only serves to stress him out. Still, he still has enough of a presence of mind to respond. "I'm…I don't know either, Brown-sensei. But since I survived…someone must have saved me. Was it you-"

"To answer your question as quickly as possible, no, it wasn't me. For one, I was just as close to the heaven gates as you are, and second, I don't think the infirmary has anything that can fix getting a spear through your bloody heart." William curtly interrupts him, crossing his arms while leaning against the wall in a tired fashion. It was then that the teacher noticed the bandages wrapped around his most grievous wounds, including the one on his neck. The white gauze was turning a bit red already, but the bleeding had been stifled.

"Well then…must have been someone else. I'd have to properly thank them one day." Replied Shirou in a resolute manner, clenching his fists. "They helped patch you up as well, Brown-sensei."

William looked at Shirou with impassive eyes, before his hand subconsciously went for his neck. "Yeah, must have been someone else. Not sure who would be around in this godforsaken hour with that maniac on the prowl though…" William grimaced as he remembers the spearman's irritatingly smug face staring down on him as he cuts him up.

Already experiencing stress-related symptoms from the encounter, William started counting down even numbers again. "20, 22, 24, 26, 28…"

Again, he wasn't quite sure how this habit came to be. There is just something about even numbers that provided William a calming quality. Perhaps because of how they are predictable and he could always tell what the number will be: simply, add two to the previous number. The reason why some people fail is because they went into situations they know nothing about. He, on the other hand, will approach everything with at least a cursory knowledge of the topic at hand. After all…knowing is half the battle.

"So… Brown-sensei, I guess the best thing to do now is to leave?" Shirou questions the obvious, breaking William out of his thoughts. The Australian man gave him a look like he was some kind of caveman, before bringing his hand up to his face.

"Yes. We should get the hell out of here. While we are still alive, miraculously, for the second and last time." Replied William with a noticeable pause between words before bending over and resting his hands on his knees, letting out a labored breath.

His body may be hurt, but it was nothing compared to the mental exhaustion he is currently feeling. So many things happened in such a short span of time - him and Shirou coming across some spear-wielding supervillain in a bodysuit, Shirou getting killed and then coming back alive, the awakening of his Effigy…

For someone who has lived a quarter of his natural lifespan in complete mundanity, all of this was a huge load for William's untouched mind to process.

Seeing from the corner of his eye that Shirou is still waiting for the teacher to say more, William's back went upright as he hobbled over to the broken window, pushing away a few broken shards with his good leg. "But not right now. That spear guy…he's still out here. Got to make sure he's gone."

"Wait…you mean that guy who chased us? What is he still doing here?!" Shirou exclaimed, a little louder than what William would have wanted. Giving the boy a sharp glare and placing a finger on his lips, he wordlessly tells Emiya to keep it down.

"Well, as far as he's concerned, I'm not dead yet. So he's looking to finish the job." Replied a morose William, eyebrows furrowing as to how he would deal with this threat. His Effigy, for all of its blatant defiance of the laws of physics, could not do any real damage to the spearman. For all intents and purposes, he is pretty much a sitting duck. Bringing his right hand up, William begins biting his nails as he observes the courtyard for any movement.

Watching for a solid minute, Brown finally deemed the perimeters safe enough for the two of them to make their move. "Alright…looks like he's not anywhere near us. Stay vigilant." William instructed Shirou, who nodded back with a determined look on his face. His legs found strength once more as Shirou mentally gave himself a pep talk…

Only for William to walk past and behind him towards another part of the hallway they are in. "Brown-sensei? Where are you going…?" Asked Shirou, trailing off as he witnessed the staggered figure of his physics teacher bending over with great difficulty to pick something up from the floor.

It was his briefcase. Brushing off what little dust that gathers around the seams holding together the black leather texture while carefully avoiding staining the case with the blood on his clothes, William held it under his arm like it was of great sentimental value to him. "What, you think I'm gonna leave without my things?"

Shirou, dumbfounded by William's skewed priorities, tries to give a snarky comment. "Well…I never did, sensei. I just thought you would be more focused on getting away than getting your briefcase-"

William quickly raises a hand at Shirou. He really isn't in the mood to discuss priorities with the boy at the moment. "Go. Wait for me downstairs."

Shirou opened his mouth to retort, but upon finding out that he had no suitable reason to prolong an unnecessary conversation, opted to keep himself quiet instead and descended the stairs.

William watched as the teen disappeared from sight, before licking his dry lips and followed after, his pace slowed down by the limping caused by his incompletely mended wounds. On his way, his right leg accidentally tripped on something. The object isn't quite large enough to cause him to lose balance, but it does catch his eye.

Moving his foot away, William saw a small, ornate jewel in the vague shape of a triangle lying underneath. Muttering under his breath and pondering as to why anyone would leave such an expensive looking item out here for the taking, he picks the gem up without a second thought. Due to the poor lighting of the surroundings, William mistakes it for some sort of onyx at first.

"Finders keepers." Thought the teacher in a petty manner before stuffing the gemstone in his coat. After all the things that have happened, he thinks he deserves to make his pockets a little heavier. Wonder how much he could sell it for? In any case, it doubtless would get him out of that crappy apartment he calls home. And maybe better food and living conditions as well.

Leaving that line of thought on the sidelines for now, William descended the stairs one step at a time. It was a tediously long process, but he would rather have that than to aggravate his worn body any further.

Upon reaching the base floor, William could already see that Shirou took the initiative to scout ahead for any signs of danger, peeking his head out of a corner and looking around. "Anything noteworthy?"

Since William gave no cues that he was behind him, Shirou nearly leaped out of his socks at the sudden whisper in his ear. "Uh, nothing sensei! Everything looks clear to me." The teen whispered back, looking out into the darkened, empty courtyard.

"Let's go then." The teacher mumbled just loudly enough for Shirou to hear him. Still limping, William valiantly traverses through the yard and makes a beeline towards the gate, despite knowing that the vast school ground leaves him especially exposed to an enemy. Shirou, not wanting to leave the wounded man by himself for too long, ran after William shortly after.

As the scuttling pair of teacher and student make their way across the school's front yard, Shirou senses an odd presence near William. It's not something that is a separate entity from the teacher, but rather, it felt like the presence was a part of the man himself. Almost like…it was his soul? "Weird…I never felt this kind of thing near Brown-sensei before. Did something happen while I was out?"

Looking at his teacher's body, Shirou could see the signs of a physical altercation. His many wounds aside, the way he hunches over indicates bruises on the abdominal region. Not to mention, his nose was bloody again. Could it be that Brown-sensei fought that spear-wielding guy and lost?

But…how could a normal human like him could stand up against such a superhuman warrior, unarmed? Shirou makes a mental note to ask William about it later…if the older man is willing to open up, that is.

Upon arriving at the locked gate, William gave the large, steelbound doors another futile tug. As expected, the gate doesn't budge.

"It's locked…" Said Shirou, stating the obvious.

"Yes, I know that. So?"

"Maybe we should take the back route-"

"No." William cuts in abruptly, voice clear and harsh. "The sooner we leave the school, the better, and I'm done wasting any more time staying here. Gate's locked, so we get over it."

"You…want to scale the walls?" Asked Shirou with an eyebrow cocked in undiluted confusion. The purpose of the school upgrading the entrance security to a tall, metal gate with equally high walls is to dissuade people from breaking in, and now William is proposing to climb over. The confusion then turns to worry once he realizes that the teacher wanted to scale such a height while in an injured state. "But you're hurt, Brown-sensei! You could barely run, let alone-"

"Who said I'm climbing? I got something even better." Thinking back to his Effigy and its weight-altering powers, William's inquisitive mind started to come up with more ways that he could use it. Snapping his fingers and throwing his hand in the air, he tried to call it out again to no effect.

"Shit, how do I summon it again?" William briefly becomes anxious as he frantically throws his hand around, much to the mild bemusement of Shirou. After a few more rounds of useless hand gestures, the teacher took note of how unintelligent he was acting and took a less comical approach, via closing his eyes and entering a more mindful state.

Every bit of detail on the Effigy's body, all the way down to the individual nuts and bolts that seemingly held its incorporeal limbs together, as well as how hollow the insides of its sockets are, William remembers it all. And then, he would focus these images into one single command that rang out in his mind:

"Come forth, my Effigy!"

And absolutely nothing happens. William's left eye twitched before he blew a raspberry and looked away in shame, disappointed. What was supposed to be a cool moment where he shows off his Effigy to Shirou and earns the teen's total admiration is now ruined by his inability to even call out a ghost that literally dwells inside him. "Oh William, you bloody fruit loop. You can't even accomplish something as simple as this? You embarrassed yourself and your entire family."

Feeling his senses dulling by the second by the mocking voices conjured from the darkest corners of his mind and is only perceivable to him, William failed to see that a signature blue-and-silver haze of aura has shrouded his body from head to toe, while a blue-colored apparition with strange mechanical features hover over his shoulders.

This did not go unnoticed with Shirou however, whose legs quickly backpedal several meters back out of sheer stupefaction while pointing a finger at behind William, though it was quickly superseded by curiosity as well. "B-Brown-sensei. What…what is that thing?" He asked, raising his voice to barely above a whisper. As far as his knowledge goes, he had only ever known William Brown as a normal human without any ties to the magical world. And here he is, emanating an aura made of mana while having a weird-looking ghost peeking over his back.

"Oh, really? Gee, I wonder what it could be." That came out sounding a lot more depressing than William would have wanted. His lips curling up into a slight scowl, the teacher looked behind his shoulder…only to have the same physiological reaction as the teen upon seeing his ghost, his head jerking back in surprise. "WOAH-"

However, realizing at the last second that Shirou is looking at him, he adopts a firm, dramatic pose almost immediately after. "I mean…there you are! You cheeky little hobbit." Said William as he tries to play it as coolly as possible, pinching the side of his Effigy's bucketlike head while poking fun at its height, which only reaches up to one-third of his height.

The Effigy doesn't seem to mind the insult however, merely giving a courteous nod and letting its master to freely touch wherever he wants.

Noticing the dead-eyed stare Shirou is giving him, William remembers his question about his spirit. Sure, he can just say that it is his Effigy, but since his own knowledge about Effigies are just as bare bones as the redhead if not more, William felt like he wasn't in a position to explain what his spirit was to Shirou, lest the youth be misled by his faulty mind.

Thus, he begrudgingly decided to go with the simplest answer he knew, thanks to his late grandmother dumping knowledge of them onto him instead of bedtime stories. "Oh, you mean this? This is, uh…I suppose you could call it my very own magecraft." Replied the teacher with a guileless smile, hoping that that could pass off as a plausible explanation.

Shirou, on the other hand, was going through an epiphany of the highest order right now. First, he discovered a pair of superhuman warriors duking it out in the middle of school. Second, he gets outright killed because of it, only to magically come back to life without so much as a scratch on his body, save for clothing damage. And last, but certainly not least…

His physics teacher is a fellow magus. A 25-year-old man who is about as mild-mannered and boring as it gets, is also a magus. However, what truly puzzles him is that William's magecraft was unlike anything he has seen before, though that may be because of his own limited knowledge of magecraft in general. Even then, he never knew they could manifest in a tangible, humanoid form.

"I feel like a newborn baby all over again." A mentally-exhausted Shirou facepalmed, letting out a small sigh and telling himself that he isn't imagining any of this. As his list of questions and answers grow and shorten respectively, Shirou ruffles his hair before returning to William, who was measuring the height of the gate and the two walls by its side with his hands.

"Uh…sensei? What are you doing?" Asked Shirou, watching as the teacher touched the gate with his middle and index finger while mumbling something under his breath.

"Just seeing how long I would have to float before a gust of wind sends me cartling off into space…" William curtly replied without giving Shirou even a passing glance, almost fully immersed into the advanced mathematics currenting through the folds of his brain.

"Float…? Is that what your, um…magecraft does?" Out of curiosity, so asked Shirou Emiya. "I'm just curious."

William's hands stopped moving as his calculating eyes glanced towards the redheaded teen. Just then, his palms moistened again. Now that Shirou is actively wanting to know about the ability of his Effigy, should he risk putting himself at a potential disadvantage, should the teen ever try to pick a fight with him? Deliberately giving up information about your strength and letting the enemy figure out exactly the counter to it is an almost cliched move made by overconfident tyrants.

He would not make that mistake. Shooting Emiya a piercing glare, William tried his hardest to find the slightest notion of an ulterior motive, or even a glint of dishonesty.

Unluckily for him…he could find none. Shirou's eyes were as clean as they get. Seeking an answer for his doubts, Brown looked at the time on his watch.

It was a little over ten in the evening, but that's not what matters.

A gaze of longing was cast upon the watch, and it would be another half-minute before William could find the strength to push off another weight on his heart to look at Shirou.

He chose to fix his watch, even though there is practically nothing in it for him.

In his last moments, he wanted to warn William of his killer rather than to simply expire on the spot or try to fight back.

He chose to stay behind and wake him up from his turbulent sleep, despite having every right and reason to get out on his own and leave him to die there. Hell, had Shirou done the latter, William wouldn't be angry at him at all. In fact, he would be more pissed off if the boy needlessly wastes his life to save another.

In short, there was just something about Shirou's incorruptible selflessness and kindness that irks William on a personal level, despite the two having never even talked to each other for any more than five minutes until this very day. It may either be because of William's inherently selfish nature acting up against any acts of charity…

Or it could be that he actually cares for the boy on some level, and that seeing him doing everyone else's work strikes him as unfair, altruistically motivated or not.

Cursing his own emotions for wasting his time thinking about these things, William takes another look at Shirou. He does not know how or why he is doing the things he is about to do, but…he trusts the orange-haired teen with this information. He felt like it was safe with Emiya. He is also most likely putting himself at risk in the near future, but from what he can see…

Shirou does not have the eyes of a liar. Not the best justification, but it is all he has right now.

"Well, if you're so inclined to know…it's a pretty simple ability. It can make anything as light as a feather, or makes you so heavy that you can't even move a finger." That last part was a bit of a lie if the spearman's movements from earlier is to be taken into account, but William wasn't about to pass up the chance to make himself look better.

The teen thought about the newly-gained information as he scratched his neck. The ability sounds a little more esoteric than what he expected from an average magecraft, being neither offensive or defensive-based. Though, given that the usefulness of a magecraft is largely dependent on the magus's skill, Shirou figured that he wasn't in any position to judge.

"See you on the other side." William mutters with just enough volume for the redhead to catch with his ear, before looking up at the high walls. "Remove my weight." He mentally orders his Effigy, who performed its stance again and tapped him with its right palm, thus ceasing the effects gravity has on him and enabling the teacher to gradually levitate into the air.

Emiya watched with utter incredulity and a mix of interest as William quite literally swam up the gate, his hands waving and pushing against the particles in the air to propel himself. Once making it to the outside street, William does a backstroking motion to go down before repositioning himself mid-air so that his feet face the asphalt.

With a snap of his finger, the short-statured ghost undoes its ability. While William was close enough to the ground to have landed without suffering any kind of damage, the strain caused by all of his weight suddenly returning to him still caused the teacher to stumble over his feet.

Without much else to say, Shirou caps off his experience of watching his teacher swimming in the air like there was no gravity with a noncommittal "Cool." It was the only word he could really say without sounding too emotionally numb.

In fact, the amygdala of Shirou's brain has been worked to hell and back from giving him all the appropriate responses to the things around him, from surprise, dread to horror and back to surprise, the result of having to go through so many revelations in so little time. Thus, the sight of William breaking the laws of physics hardly fazes him by this point.

With a tiny little exhale, Shirou stretches his limbs before making the arduous climb up the gate, using only the metal bars for gripping purposes. It was made more difficult without the assistance of a certain gravity-defying Effigy, since William was too busy leaning against an electric pole and watching the redheaded teen struggle to care about offering a hand.

"He's a young, healthy and unscathed male, he should be scaling that gate just fine without help. Me? I'm a physically-infirm rickety old teacher who can't even run the right way." Thought William in mock self-deprecation and justification for his inactivity, watching Shirou taking meticulous steps to avoid the spiked crown at the top of the gate before leaping all the way down and landing with both hands and his left knee.

One grunt of discomfort aside, Shirou stood back up, looking relatively fine for someone who just recovered from an impaled heart. "O-Oh. I didn't think you'd wait for me, Brown-sensei." Answered the amateur mechanic truthfully, as he fully expected William to just leave the place without him.

"Well…you're still a kid in need of adult supervision, yes?" William deadpanned, before what little emotion in his voice left diminishes like a dust bunny in the wind. "That, and if you somehow slip and fall, then I can save you from a broken neck. The last thing I need is a lawsuit on my head."

Speechless, Shirou could only give the teacher a slow nod as he mulls over William's uncanny ability to turn almost every subject to be about himself, in one way or another. Having a certain blue-haired Matou as a 'friend' gave Shirou a naturally thick skin and could tolerate a lot of dickish behavior, but even he has his limits. And right now…the teacher is skirting pretty closely to the button to make him a little bit miffed.

In many ways, William was a direct contrast to Shirou.

"But anyway, what to do next?" Unlike countless times before, now it is William who takes the initiative in asking questions that start with a 'W'. The tone of his voice, however, makes it almost rhetorical.

"I…I guess we're both going home now, Brown-sensei? Take a breather from all of this-"

"Home? Good idea. A great idea." William interrupted with a nod of fake approval, clapping his hands as slowly and forcefully as possible to let out the feeling of confusion and condescending amusement. Turning around and showing his back to Shirou, the teacher walks away for a short distance while derisively chuckling at the redhead. "Yeah, a superhuman murderer is out for our asses, let's all go home and get a good night's sleep while praying he doesn't kill us in our sleep. What a wonderful idea! I'm SURE nothing will backfire."

Shirou stifled whatever protests he had in mind and mouth as he thought over what his teacher told him, before rubbing his forehead, generally feeling a bit like an idiot for failing to check for the flaw in his answer. Though, he felt that William could have just got to the point instead of having to rub it in his face first. "So…what do you have in mind, Brown-sensei?"

"Find a safe spot to stay for the night first. No sleeping, of course."

"But…isn't a home counted as a safe spot as well?"

Now, it was William's turn to become tongue-tied. Stuttering for a second, the physics teacher smacks himself in the chest to snap out of this sudden lack of responsive movement to outside stimuli…

Only to physically recoil in pain as he irritates the numerous non-lethal but shallow and bloody wounds all over his chest and stomach, visible through his torn shirt. Shirou, seeing William hunching over again, rushes to his help. "Brown-sensei! Is it bad?"

"What do you think, genius?" William snaps at him, before the pain forces his voice to be lowered. "I'll live. Hasn't really…" Wrenching himself out of Shirou's gentle arms and straightening his back, the teacher lifts up his shirt to his belly button to showcase how minor his wounds are. "Touched any vital organs yet."

Well, his definition of 'minor' at least. To a horrified Shirou, there were multiple red, raw wounds littered across the man's upper half that would warrant immediate first aid. If the spearman didn't kill William, then necrosis will finish the job.

Noticing the wide-eyed look Shirou is directing at his abs, William subconsciously covers his body. "Don't look at me like that, Emiya."

"I wasn't! It's just that, those wounds look serious." Shirou averts his eyes while pointing at the teacher's maimed chest. After William fixes what's left of his once-pristine dress shirt, the teen faces him again.

In the midst of all the running and hiding, Shirou never once considered taking a comprehensive look at William's physical state up until now. The reddening bandages on his thigh, hand and throat, as well as his ruined clothes and frazzled hair only serves to make the physics teacher look far frailer than he actually is.

Then he remembers something else.

It was his fatal curiosity, his desire to know more about the commotion in the school field that led to this whole debacle in the first place. If only he had listened to William and exited school through the back instead of wandering, then he would have never got stabbed through the heart and Brown-sensei would never have been injured so brutally.

As a huge sense of guilt fills up the void of Shirou's soul, he is also simultaneously filled with determination. The determination to make up for his wrongdoings in any way possible. Turning to William with a resolute look in his iridescent hazel eyes, he opens his mouth to give a proposition. "Brown-sensei…how about we go to my place?" He wanted to treat those wounds himself. It's the only way he could absolve himself of the guilt.

The teacher, who had been quiet the entire time, suddenly jumped upon external stimuli. "What?"

For Shirou, now is the hard part. He would have to word his invitation as carefully as possible as to not touch William's ego, which is the size of a supermassive black hole. "We can stay at my place for the night. Like you said, Brown-sensei, that spearman's only knowledge of us is that you're still alive and I'm not, so I think he would ambush you at your home. He would have no way of knowing that you're elsewhere, and since he thinks I'm dead, he wouldn't bother searching my home."

Usually, William would have turned down the offer out of a misguided sense of pride, but considering the current state of affairs, he has to think more clearly about this. He was still nowhere near fighting condition, unlike Shirou, and his apartment doesn't have the necessary tools to fix himself up.

Not to mention, the teen…does have a point regarding that the spearman may be waiting for him at his own place. William may be proud, but his head wasn't so far up his own ass that he couldn't admit when someone else is right.

That, and besides, nobody is around to witness the act of him entering Shirou's place anyway, so…he is willing to make an exception this time. "That…makes sense. Lead the way." Replied William with a handwave, still finding it a daunting task to give out straight praises for his student's superior thinking.

"...Alright? Let's go, Brown-sensei." Shirou was a little confused at the teacher's sudden stilted manner of speech, before shrugging it off and did exactly as he is told: lead the way, with William shambling closely behind.

-0-

Turning around corners while exercising extreme caution via slowing down to a snail's pace, the two finally arrived at Emiya's home street. Placed on his left side, William sees a large, traditional Japanese-style building with a vast garden that makes up the majority of the interior yard. Trees of various sizes surrounded the area, giving the place a rural feel that somehow compliments the classical elegance of the building.

The thought that first ran through William's mind however, was that an average student like Shirou has this entire place to himself. He expected the teen to be more middle-class, but no, he just has to go and get himself an entire Eastern mansion. "Life's blatant favoritism towards certain individuals at its finest, I suppose."

After putting their respective footwear into neat corners at the entrance hallway, Shirou and William took refuge in the dining room. The redhead expressed a desire to make something to bite on for a while, but William curtly rebuked his offer. "Just get me some gauze and alcohol already. You wouldn't want the floor mats to be dirty now, would you?" He said, pointing at the scant amounts of blood still dripping from the wounds on his chest, with most having already dried up.

Shirou gives a short nod before leaving the room with a quickened pace, leaving William behind to watch his surroundings in silence. "There's a TV as well? Man, this kid's loaded." William muttered to himself, taking note of the box-shaped television set resting on a small table in front of him. While having a TV might not seem that big of a deal to others, it is to William, who has to make due with a radio that goes static every five minutes or so.

The redhead eventually returned with some fresh medical supplies, though with an oddly fatigued visage plastered to his face. Before he could hand the roll of gauze over to William, Shirou was suddenly overcome by a spell of dizziness, causing the teen to drop to his knees and lay on the tatami with his breathing disjointed and heavy.

The physics teacher, instead of exercising any degree of concern, simply gives the felled Shirou an unapproving look for dropping the bottle of alcohol, before picking it up along with the bandages and begins patching himself up with a face as cold as ice. "The night finally got to you, Emiya?" Quipped William, purposefully blind towards Shirou's plight as he wraps the alcohol-sodden gauze around his abdomen, eliciting a grunt.

Shirou's ragged breaths slowed down upon hearing him, though a hand was still firmly clutching the spot where a literal opening to his heart used to be. The memory of his most important organ being destroyed, as well as his subsequent brief encounter with death, creates an almost paralyzing amount of stress and anxiety to a young man his age. "Ugh…I'm going to have nightmares about this."

After calming his still-beating heart, the teen sits back up, looking not much worse for wear, even if that disturbed look in his eyes remained. "No, no, I'm…I'm just dealing with the fact that I, well…died back there, Brown-sensei. It…didn't feel good. Like, at all." Confessed Shirou, twiddling his thumbs together in a nervous fashion.

"Well, if dying feels good, I'm sure I would see more suicide cases. But who cares?" William callously replied, before resting a hand on his cheek. "What matters is that you haven't kicked the bucket yet. The present is what's important, no? Dwell on the past and it'll drag you down, think about the future and you would just get a headache."

Shirou's eyes widened by a slight degree, clearly not expecting their conversation to take a philosophical turn, but he nodded nonetheless and took William's words to heart. He saw the older man as someone who greatly disliked the past: from what little he could glimpse from Taiga, William deliberately avoids talking about his life before Homurahara, is greatly offended when someone asks him about his family, and never, ever speak English in his native accent no matter how much Taiga pegs him about it.

The last one was admittedly tame, but it goes to show just how much the teacher distanced himself from his past. Perhaps something traumatic happened to him back then? After all, Brown-sensei was always moody, sarcastic and, to put it lightly, a bit of an ass to people around him. Nobody is born that way, so something must have happened.

Ding-a-ling!

That wasn't the sound of someone ringing a doorbell. It was the gentle, soft tolling of a little bell suspended on the ceiling, despite the lack of wind circulation to induce such movements. Shirou's muscles tense up instantly as his mouth suddenly loses any moisture inside them, fully aware of the meaning behind those soft chimes. For something that was meant to ward off bad luck, hearing the bell only meant one thing.

The magical barrier has been triggered.

Which would never happen if the 'visitor' was not of ill intent. "S-Someone's inside!" Shirou momentarily becomes unnerved, before sucking in a large gasp of air and releasing it all at once through his nostrils in an attempt to quell his worries. "Could just be a burglar…but at this hour? Something's not right." Clenching his fists, the teen smashes his hand into the floor mats. "Damn it! I can't act like this right now! Brown-sensei is still wounded…I need to protect myself and him! First, a weapon in hand…"

William was just cutting off a length of gauze to replace the one on his hand when the sounds of a bell dangling and ringing when the little bellend inside it knocked against the metallic walls caught his attention. Looking at the ceiling, the teacher flashes a gaze of confusion. "What the? There's no wind in here…" He looked around. There were no openings or gaps that wind could have come in, and the front door was closed, so how did the bell get rustled?

Speaking of which, who hangs a bell in the middle of the dining room anyway?

Before he could even comprehend the strange anomaly that is a bell moving without any external force acting on it, Shirou stood up and speedily grabbed a rolled-up paper poster discarded near a corner of the room. "Emiya? What are you…you do know that there is no time to roleplay, right?" Asked William quizzically, raising an eyebrow at Shirou's questionable action of rolling up a paper poster and holding it like a greatsword of sorts.

Emiya would love to defend himself, but for now he has to pour utmost focus into what he was about to do next. Thus, he kept his mouth shut and his mind and will becoming as firm as steel. "Trace On…analyzing structural components…" Shirou mentally spoke as he closed his eyes, allowing the skin on his hands to feel the texture, structure and design of a simple roll of paper, down to every millimeter of it.

William, more than a bit annoyed that Shirou chose to ignore his question, stood up and was ready to give the boy a firm tap on the shoulder. Just as he was about to place his finger down with the weight of a thousand suns behind it, the paper roll suddenly glows a bright green before getting engraved with lines of light of the same color that run in an asymmetrical pattern, bearing a striking resemblance to circuitry found in electronic devices. "T-The hell is that…?!" Following those lines, he realizes that they are emerging from Shirou's fingertips.

"Reinforcing structural components…all processes complete." The bright glow persisted on for a few more seconds before Shirou opened his eyes again, thus causing the green light to seemingly dissipate into thin air. "It went well…" The teen mused in a surprised voice, running a hand down the length of the supernaturally reinforced paper roll, retaining its light weight while being as durable as an actual sword.

"What went well?" Comes the head of William, popping out from his left side. Shirou normally would have jumped backwards out of being blindsided, but upon remembering that an enemy is close to their position, he resisted such urges.

"My magecraft, I mean…I could improve the quality, or effectiveness of an object, provided that I know their structure inside out. I never once got it right, up until now."

William takes a brief moment to memorize the information Shirou has charitably given to him, before his eyebrows cocked in recognition as he heard the word 'magecraft' coming from the teen's mouth. "Wait, so…you're a magus all along?"

"Uh…yeah? Not a really good one, though…" Shirou confirmed, though not without a dash of self-deprecation first.

"That would certainly explain why you could see my…magecraft as well." William subconsciously calls out his Effigy from its resting state once again to prove his point. If the Effigy truly was a ghost in the traditional sense, just bound to him for whatever reason, then he half-expected it to be completely invisible to normal people. The fact that Shirou could see and visibly shocked by its appearance only further fuels his suspicion that the teen was more than what meets the eye.

Shirou narrowed his eyes while pursing his lips, before nodding in agreement to his teacher. "Huh, if you put it that way…it does make sense-" The words abruptly died in his mouth as a faded, almost imperceptible but certainly unmistakable silhouette of a certain figure appeared right above William's head…

Wielding a spear. "Brown-sensei, LOOK OUT!" Shirou roared at the top of his lungs, his instincts overtaking him and his legs kicking into high gear as he lunged at William and tackled the teacher right in the gut, sending both of them tumbling to the ground, just in time for a familiar crimson spear to puncture the floor with immense force, embedding itself to the wood and concrete underneath.

"Ack!" Cried William in agony as he felt his wounds opening up again. "Dammit, Emiya! That bloody fucking-" The physics teacher cursed from the pain, before finding himself automatically shutting up once he saw the figure he feared reappearing before his eyes once again to torment him. He could not have been dreaming since the pain was keeping him awake all the time, thus the person standing before him right now could not have been a hallucination. "Hurt?"

Hearing the last word coming out as a little squeak, the spearman finally turned around, arm gently intertwining with his spear in an affectionate manner while shooting Shirou and William a neutral frown, his eyes conveying cold, unwavering ruthlessness that only further highlights just how utterly screwed the two are.

"I knew something was fishy back there. Not only did I not find your body…" The assailant points his spear at William, and then at Shirou. "The brat who's supposed to be dead disappeared from the scene as well." The blue-haired spearman lets out a short sigh, almost as if bored to see the two again.

"To think, I gotta go back and forth this much just to take down two humans. Little ol' me must have been getting rusty." Lamented the spear wielder, his tone of voice sounding significantly less serious than it was back at school. "Listen, I'll do you two a solid, okay? Just stand still and don't move, then I'll lop your heads off. Quick, easy and completely painless. Deal?"

Unfortunately for the spearman, his lucrative offer was met with naked hostility and fearful defensiveness as Shirou and William quickly clamber to their feet with the former adopting a fighting stance while the latter having his Effigy at a ready, the ghost joining its hands together, with both casting wary gazes at the spearman.

The stranger stared at the two magi for a moment, a mocking smirk slowly spreading across his lips before letting out an amused scoff. "So that's how it's going to be, huh? Alright then…why don't you make my night a little more entertaining-"

Not letting their mutual assailant have the chance to act first or to even finish his speech, William took the initiative and directed his attention towards the stranger. "Add weight!" The Effigy nods back in compliance, raising its left palm to activate its power. Once again, the spearman stumbled on one knee as his body was forced down by an invisible weight that seemingly came out of nowhere.

"Tsk…don't your mother teach you that it's rude to interrupt someone when they're talking? You should have known by now…" The spearman spoke with a clear, low-pitched voice, annoyance permeating his words. "That you're just wasting your breath!" With a short battle cry, he props himself up with his spear and charges at William with his spear preparing for a straight jab. William instinctively brought up his hands to guard, hoping to at least prevent further damage to his upper half. He braces himself for the incoming rush of pain…

Only for it to never come. Slowly opening one eye to peek, he saw that Shirou had stepped in the way and blocked the spear before it could touch him.

With a rolled-up paper poster.

"Did he just…block a spear with that thing?" Thought William, contemplating the sheer absurdity of a paper roll somehow bouncing off a two-meter spear, but eventually decided against questioning it after figuring out the futility of trying to make sense of what is essentially magic in all but name. After all, he's the guy with a ghost on his back.

But alas, it was still hard to just simply write these things off as products of the supernatural for someone who adheres to science like himself.

"Oh? That's an odd style you got there." Said the spearman, mildly surprised that the teen's mediocre swordplay could deflect his attack. "Too bad, it won't be nearly enough to save you!" Stepping up, the stranger delivers a series of thrusts that Shirou could barely dodge, thanks to the spearman's speed being slightly handicapped by the increased weight.

However, by practically jumping around to dodge the attacks, Shirou renders his left side exposed when he leaped upwards to avoid a jab at his leg. In the microscopic timeframe that the redhead is airborne, the spearman takes advantage of it and swings the shaft of his spear right into Shirou's stomach. "Child's play!"

As the teen went flying through the hallway and out of the window and into the garden, shattering the glass in the process, the spearman turned around to face William…only to find that the teacher had vanished from his spot.

As it turns out, the man has used the brief scuffle between the spearman and Shirou to make a run for it and slipped out of the dining room, as proven by another flow of outside air coming in through a gently opened window.

As the spear-wielding stranger looked around with a bewildered expression, William was sneaking up towards the downed Shirou. "Emiya? Emiya, are you still breathing?" Asked the teacher in a panicky voice, vigorously shaking his student to wake him up.

"I-I'm alright, Brown-sensei. Just…need to catch my breath." Replied Shirou in between pained breaths, clutching his abdomen with one hand while the other held onto the 'sword'. Before he could say anything else, William, in a move that shocked Shirou to his core, took his hand and helped the teen up, even patting down the dirt staining the shoulder areas of his uniform.

While it may seem like a wholeheartedly altruistic act, the truth could not be further from it. As always, William had his motives. Because of his Effigy's exceedingly poor strength and unconventional power unfit for direct combat, the teacher had no real way of attacking the enemy or defending himself. The problem was only further exacerbated by William's own lack of combat experience. On the other hand, Shirou had no such problems. The teen's magecraft has obvious combat-oriented benefits, can be applied to a variety of things with enough reach to be called a weapon and that Shirou, at the moment, is easily the more physically-capable of the two.

And for that, William designated Shirou as his weapon. And if he wants to make it out of this alive, he needs to keep his 'weapon' safe and sound. It was humiliating to depend on his student like this, but given their shared dilemma…it seems that he has to swallow his pride for this one.

Once the two recuperate from their mounting injuries, though only to a frankly insignificant degree, the spearman emerges through the window Shirou crashed through, his gait as calm and relaxed as can be, providing a direct contrast to William's own anxious pitter-patters of the feet.

And then, like a switch has been flipped, the stranger's face immediately hardens as he thrusts forward with his spear at blinding speeds, this time aiming for Shirou's heart once again, deeming the boy to be the (comparatively) greater threat than his teacher.

William, however, refuses to let that happen. Leaping in front of Shirou, he puts the unseen force field protecting his body into good use by turning himself into a meat shield, raising his arms in a guarded position and taking the thrust dead on the chest and was subsequently knocked off his feet. "Out of my way!" Roared the spearman, making sure that the blade of his spear digs in as deep as the blasted force keeping his spear from inflicting heavier wounds will allow.

As if the combined pains of his many wounds tearing open again wasn't enough, the spearman delivers another kick to the downed William, punting him further away from Shirou. Weirdly enough, the sounds of glass shattering, or rather, getting crunched into bits entered his ears just before his senses were overloaded with agony from every nerve cell that was screaming into his brain. "GAH!" It hurts like nothing on earth, sure, but this is after his arms absorbed most of the strike's power.

"Brown-sensei!" Cried Shirou, reaching a hand out in vain as he witnessed his teacher taking a straight jab from the spear and brutally kicked to the side. Before the mere intention of wanting to help William crossed his mind, his eyes caught the figure of the spearman turning towards him with no short supply of malicious intent.

Shirou brandishes his paper 'sword' again, eyes narrowing into a firm glare as he stands his ground, not wanting to show the spearman that he's afraid. While he actually is. "Not good, not good! I need to maintain a defensive position and not let this guy get the upper hand…" Analyzing the situation as quickly as humanly possible, the redhead draws out several ways he could fight back. "Judging from where he's standing, it would take at least a second or two for him to reach me, especially with sensei's magecraft slowing him down! Countdown…three…two…"

His hands tightly gripping onto the reinforced roll of paper, time seems to slow down for Shirou as he watches the spearman moving ever closer towards him, with every intention of ending his life. "One…" Reaching the second-to-last number of his internal stopwatch, the teen takes a wide swing with his weapon…

And met the stranger's spear mid-swing, creating a large explosion of sparks as metal and 'metal' collided harshly against one another. "Zero!" Shirou has correctly guessed his opponent's range and accurately timed his counterattack. Although the sheer force behind the stranger's swing knocked him back, the teen was unhurt. "All according to plan! Even with our differences in strength, there's still a chance! Now I just need to grab sensei and run to the shed-"

Whatever Shirou was about to say next never came out as he realized that the spearman had vanished from his line of sight. Not a single sound was made. Just him facing the broken window with a creeping sense of dread on his spine. "Where did he-"

"Gotcha." Shirou never thought hearing that word from behind would be the single most terrifying thing he experienced to this date, with the only thing even coming close to inducing this kind of crippling, immobilizing dread being the fire that ravaged the city years ago.

That one was still fresh to him. Best not to dwell on it now.

Turning around with less than a split second to spare, the redheaded teen raises his 'sword' just in time for a powerful kick to be administered to his sternum. For a very short window of time, Shirou saw the roll of paper bending from the sheer force behind the kick, before feeling all the wind knocked out of him, sending the young man tumbling across the garden before sliding to a halt near the shed…

Just right next to William, who was still groaning and clutching his left arm in pure physical torment, the spear thrust having done rather severe damage with blunt force alone. Seeing his hand bathed in another flash of red, the teacher wipes it off the ground and crawls towards Shirou, inch by painful inch as his stained fingers dig further into the dirt.

Shirou took in a considerable gasp of air to replace the volume lost from his lungs, before getting clambering to his knees and valiantly assisted his teacher in getting up, ignoring the growing aches in his muscles entirely. William simply leaves Shirou to hoist him up by his left arm; he was far too injured and in pain to resist the effort anyway.

"This is just sad to look at, you know? What a letdown you two are." Said the spearman in a taunting falsetto, daintily walking up to the teacher and student while holding his spear like a microphone stand. He seems to possess an innate ability for pissing his enemies off, as both Shirou and William are wearing scowls on their faces right now, more pronounced in the latter than the former. "Ah well, that's to be expected when fighting inexperienced magi, I suppose."

Planting his spear into the ground, the stranger crosses his arms and slightly edges his hips to one side, all while sporting a smug grin to end all smug grins. "It's been kind of fun watching you both run around like headless chickens, really, but this is the end of the line." Picking his weapon up again, the spearman opts to take individual steps towards the two, fully knowing that there was nowhere else for them to back into but the shed.

Once he corners them there, snuffing out their lives would be as easy as…well, as any Servant worth his salt when it comes to taking mortal lives. Raising his spear, the stranger exerts his muscles to an enormous degree, killing intent radiating off of him like a star as the spearman was ready to finish the fight in a single strike.

Feeling the story of his life coming to its epilogue in the worst fashion possible, William lowered his head. Defeat was pretty much imminent at this point: neither he nor Shirou could seriously damage or put a dent on the guy, and that is if they could even land a hit first. He then looks at Shirou. The teen does a good job at keeping his emotions in check, but even someone like William could see that the notion of fear was present in the pair of golden orbs that stared back at him.

'What are we going to do?', his eyes seemed to say. And frankly, William wasn't sure if he had the right answer.

"There's just something I don't understand. Why do you keep on fighting, even though you know you don't stand a chance?" The spearman asked, causing the two to snap their heads towards his direction. The stranger's scarlet eyes then wanders over to William. "There's bravery, but this is just plain old stupidity. Especially you. Unlike the kid, you have no way to defend yourself whatsoever aside from that party trick of putting me on a weight. I would call you fearless…but fearlessness in itself is also a product of suicidal idiocy."

William felt his anger rise sharply the second he heard his intelligence being insulted in any manner, any previous instances of fear and terror now vanishing at a rapid pace. Shirou, witnessing the sudden shift in expression from his teacher, realizes that one of his buttons has been pressed again. "Brown-sensei, please, don't do anything rash-"

The teen's pleading for William to not do anything stupid goes unheard as the weakened teacher wrestles his arm out of Shirou's hold, almost stumbling backwards before facing the spearman. "What…did you just call me-" He raises his left hand to point at the stranger, and the moment he does so rendered any further threats he was brewing up inside his soul like a poisonous concoction completely void.

No words came out of his mouth. Anger fades away into nothingness on his face.

Was it because fear has finally beaten his will and taken hold of his body? Or is it the quiet resignation to his own impending doom?

No, it was something else entirely. His watch…was ruined. In every sense of the word, as the watch was shattered and practically folded in the middle, as if because of a large amount of force focused into a single small point. William remembers that, when acting as Shirou's meat shield from earlier, he raises his forearms to mitigate the damage to his center mass. That crunching noise must have been the watch being crushed by the spear.

The last and most important memory he had left of his family, gone, just like that. William didn't even register the fact that some bits of glass from the smashed clock face managed to bypass the barrier coating his skin and dig into his wrist. All he cares about now is that his father's watch is broken.

And the spearman is the one responsible for its destruction.

With a disturbingly calm visage plastered on his face, William gave an eerie stare at the stranger with his eyes wide and clear. Flexing his hands, the teacher slowed his breathing to a crawl as he projected the one principal emotion in his soul and mind in this very moment.

Hate.

He no longer wishes to escape, nor does he want to protect Shirou or himself.

All William wants now is to kill the spearman. A visible aura of blue and silver surrounds his body again, flaring with much greater intensity as a monumental amount of killing intent leaks from the teacher like an open faucet, so much so that both Shirou and the stranger could feel it.

In reaction to this unnatural feeling emanating from William, an unnerved Shirou and the stranger, whose interests are piqued once more, looked at the older man in the eyes which he did not seem to mind. Inexplicably, in place of pupils, there were small, pitch-black flames burning and almost melting into the usual dull blue background of his irises.

While the redhead has no idea why or how his teacher's eyes reflect such a profound sense of cruelty, nor how he gave off such an oppressive aura, the spearman has been through enough battles in a lifetime to know exactly what those eyes meant. It may or may not have been an illusory trick, but there is without a doubt…

…that those are the eyes of a killer.

The eyes of a character willing to abandon everything to achieve their goal, even their own humanity should the situation require it.

A particular state of mind where one's malevolent intentions supersedes their moral compass, allowing them to use deadly force and commit acts deemed by most as immoral without an ounce of hesitation nor regret. Over his lifetime, he has seen many foes possessing this kind of unwavering determination whenever they face him. This dark resolve manifests in different ways depending on the person in question, and for William's case, plumes of fire in his eyes.

All in all, it is something the stranger himself was quite familiar with. Though, he never quite expected this sort of feeling to come from a high school physics teacher. Idly rubbing his chin, he lets out an impressed, but paradoxically enough, condescending chuckle. "Looks like someone grew a backbone. What's on your mind? Killing me, I guess?"

William didn't respond. Instead, he keeps on staring at the spearman dead in the eyes, his fists clenched and his back upright. His lips moved ever so slightly, but never opened wide enough to speak. The dark fire in his irises burns still.

"Heh. I assumed as much. The fact that you were able to exude this much killing intent surprises me…but without the necessary strength, it might as well all go to waste." The spearman jeered, assuming a combat pose in the process. "Well then, let's not fool around anymore, shall we-"

Without a word, William rips off the bandage around his impaled hand, showing the still-healing wound that was still red with dried blood around the point of entry from the spear. It was no longer bleeding. "I need something sharp." The teacher's vague thought circles inside his head as he searches the surroundings with his eyes for anything that can be used for cutting.

There was none…that is, until the image of the mysterious accessory he picked up before leaving the school comes into mind. Reaching into his pocket, William fished out the dark-red pendant, the gemstone refracting the light of the moon off its surface.

And then, against all common sense and predictions, the teacher forcefully brought the pendant down on his formerly-bandaged hand and stabbed the wound with the sharp edge of the gem. Granted, it wasn't sharp enough to cut, but it was packed enough of an edge to tear the wound open again, and blood flows out.

As if the sight hasn't startled Shirou already, the teen was then further horrified as William proceeds to jab the gem into the slit on his palm repeatedly, drawing more and more blood until the red fluid starts dripping down his fingers. "B-Brown-sensei! What are you doing?! You're wounded! A-Are you crazy?!" The redhead shouted, rightfully concerned about the mental wellness of his teacher.

"Ho? Did the pressure of death finally drive you to your wits' end?" The spearman taunted what he perceived to be a senseless and meaningless act of self-harm to provoke sympathy and mercy. He shall show none regardless of this act.

William's only reply is a hard grunt as he felt excruciating pain tearing through the nerves of his hand again. It hurts like nothing on earth, sure, but in order for his gambit to work…he has to endure it. Little did anyone know, his resolve to eliminate the stranger has granted him a moment of lucidity to think up a plan. A dastardly plan.

Shirou watches in silence as a ghost of a smile adorns William's face, unable to find anything to say to the man. The teacher clenched his bleeding hand to squeeze out even more blood, before turning back to the redhead…and gave him a wink?

Emiya, reasonably perplexed, was about to ask him the meaning behind the gesture when he noticed something. The bluish aura smoldering around William like a calm flame was still there. "Then that means-"

From the corner of his eye, Shirou can just about spot the thin, spindly fingers of the ghost that his teacher referred to as his magecraft slipping behind the spearman's back. "Just what was Brown-sensei planning?"

"Well? Are you gonna do anything next, or are you just going to stand there and bleed?" The stranger with an impatient voice, feeling rather bored and undercut at this point due to the extended lack of fighting and constant taunting and talking, mostly from his end. "If not, then let us end this farce already!"

Observing the drops of blood on the ground from his newly wounded hand, William lets out a short sigh as he watches the spearman charging at him again without a care in the world. "Effigy, give it your best shot!"

On command, the diminutive Effigy of William emerged from behind the spearman, who was blinded by his tunnel vision towards the physics teacher and as such did not account for the spirit's sudden appearance. Before he could even react, the ghost extended its disproportionately long arms forward…

Only to wrap them around the spearman's head, its large hands wounding as tightly as possible around his eyes. Suddenly robbed of his vision, the assailant quickly stops his charge to try and shake the Effigy off. "Let go of me, you midget spirit!" However, it was all in vain as the ghost held onto his head with all its might, its floating state rendering it immune to being shaken off due to changing elevation along with the spearman's movements.

Eventually, the spear wielder had enough and started pulling the Effigy's limbs away with his hands, which proved to be an easy task once he had gotten his grip. Upon wrestling his head out of its grasp, the spearman delivers a wide swing at the ghost in hopes to cut it in half. Like before, he doesn't know if the spirits could even be split in half or affected by physical attacks, but he was going to try anyway.

Unfortunately for the stranger, the second he tried to do so, the robotic apparition performed its stance again and brought up its left palm, leaving the spearman untouched for just long enough for him to predict what will happen next before he is promptly forced downwards again by the increased weight acting on his body.

William, using this one moment where the spearman's attention wasn't entirely on him or Shirou, flicks his bloodied hand, sending multiple droplets of blood towards their assailant. Most of them either missed or landed elsewhere around the spearman's face, but some drops managed to land straight on his exposed eyes.

William smiled. The plan is going swimmingly so far.

"Ah! Why, you little-!" The spearman uttered an uncharacteristic yelp as he covered his stinging eyes, trying to wipe off the blood. Never, ever since his summoning, has he been subjected to such an underhanded, dirty tactic! The humiliation he suffered at the hands of William must be paid in full, and he will be the one to do it.

With some of the blood still lingering on his bloodshot eyes, the spearman, through his blurry vision, saw that the two magi had exited his line of sight. All there is to indicate their current location is the creaking doors of the shed, swinging back and forth loosely on their hinges.

Laughing at the pitiful attempt to hide and prolong the inevitable, the stranger ran in and kicked the doors open, breaking them off their hinges in the process. Walking inside with his eyesight still temporarily impaired, the spearman blinked slowly as he observed the interior of the old storehouse. Nothing much of note…

Aside from the figure standing right in front of him, back facing the spearman. He may not be able to make out clear details, but he recognizes that white coat and brown mop of hair anywhere. In a passing fit of battle-fueled frenzy, the spearman abandons all intentions of gracefulness and drives his spear into the back of the coated figure, right where the heart is with gleeful aggressiveness. "This is the end! Perish!"

The spear blade pierces through who he thinks is William with no effort, with the figure falling to the ground with a solid noise as he removes his weapon and holds it over his shoulder in victory. "Even after all you have done…I still granted you a quick death. Consider it an act of kindness on your way to the afterlife." The spearman breaks into a short chuckle, before turning around. Now all he needs is to find the kid-

A seed of doubt entered his mind as he looked back down on the felled 'William'.

If his thrusts failed to penetrate the man all those times ago…then why does he do it so easily this time? Not to mention, there was no scream or even a whimper of pain, just total silence as the corpse fell. He knew that, even with a fatal stab through the heart, the victim would still be conscious for at least a few seconds or so.

Finding all of this to be severely out of place, the spearman takes his time to properly clean the blood off his eyes…before they widen in astonishment. The figure he attacked was never the teacher all along - it was a dummy made of straws, dressed in his torn coat and shirt while a set of brown rags were placed on its head to mimic hair. "I-Impossible! If it was a dummy then when it fell I should have recognized the difference in sound-"

"You fell right into my gambit." The voice of the real William reverberated against the cramped walls of the shed. The spearman turns around on high alert…and finds himself getting lighter. While this would be a nice change of pace from all the times he has been made heavier, his relief quickly turns into confusion and panic as he realizes that he was getting too light, and there was nothing he could do about it. Eventually, his entire body ascended into the air as the planet has no further control over him.

"Show yourself! How did you fool me like that?!" The spearman roared, wildly swinging his spear around due to being unused to the lack of solid ground under his feet and the general feeling of floating in the middle of the air.

In response to the assailant's demand, a half-naked William emerges from a broken washing machine several meters away, his hastily bandaged stomach and chest clear for all to see, all while bathed in an intense haze of blue with silvery gray streaks. His ponytail was undone, letting the bundle of dark brown hair sway freely down his neck.

The spearman immediately tries to rush him with a jump, only to find that there was no surface for him to actually leap off of, so all he accomplished is to make himself ineffectually spin in one place. "What…what is this?!"

"I expected your eyesight to be blinded from the blood, at least for a moment. So I put my clothes on the dummy and added extra weight on it. That should answer your first question." William revealed his trick in a polite, but disdainful tone as he shot a condescending glare at the spearman, his Effigy valiantly hovering by his side with its right palm raised and glowing.

"How are you…how are you doing this to me?" The spearman asked again, struggling to get a footing to slow down the spinning motion he unwillingly puts himself through, which has persisted since earlier.

William remained silent for a good three seconds before answering again. "Simple. The same way I survived getting thrown out of a window." Said the teacher, a frown full of deep-seated anger plastered on his face with an added edge of arrogance. "I have removed all your weight. You're essentially floating through space."

Hearing no further words from the stranger aside from quiet sputters of disbelief, the teacher continues his boastful speech. "Scared? You should be. Because, from the way I see it…this power of mine has surpassed the simple idea of an 'ability'. It is a 'law' now, a new law of physics written and commanded by myself." William declared with a cold, but megalomaniacal tone that would fit right in a theatrical drama. "Even when I was outclassed by you in every way possible, I still managed to put you down under me. Down under my control. Your gravity is mine to do as I please. Truly…you are underneath me."

Stepping out of the washing machine, William felt an urge to strike a pose, resting his uninjured hand on his hip and crossing his legs while pointing a bloody finger to the ceiling above him. "I will call this power [Down Under] from now on. This is the first law of Down Under!"

"You talk too much." The spearman, confident that he could still reach William via the length of his spear, takes another thrust at the teacher. William's peculiar state of mind remained unbroken as he stood still and watched the spear making its way towards his abdomen without even the slightest change in his icy expression.

Only at the last second, when the spear was within an arm's reach, did he bother to summon the newly-christened Down Under to defend himself. The dwarfish pseudo-robot raised its left arm as if preparing for a left hook before punching the shaft as hard as it could.

In any other cases, the punch would have done nothing to change the spear's trajectory, given Down Under's abysmal physical strength. However, as the spearman no longer has any weight to support himself, the punch was more than enough to send him cartling uncontrollably in the air, spinning in the same fashion as a helicopter blade before coming to a stop by bumping his spear into a wooden pillar. "What the?! How did that thing manage to do that to me? It couldn't even hurt me, let alone this!"

William, amused by the sight of the assailant being tossed around so effortlessly, couldn't help but let off a mirthful nobleman's laugh. "You still don't get it, do you? Your weight is gone, which means even the slightest external force could send you flying. Your attacks no longer have any weight behind them as well. Best you could do now…is to cut me. But I doubt that would be easy in your current state." Said William, a delighted smirk slowly making itself visible on his face as his finger pointed straight at his enemy, as if to declare something of great importance. "I win."

The spearman, his pride undoubtedly hurt, uses his spear to drag himself over to a nearby wall before repositioning mid-air and uses his legs to bounce off the wall, pouncing at William with his spear brandished and gleaming. "Not if I have a say in it!"

"Down Under!" The teacher quickly called for his Effigy, the absolute confidence in his own ability faltering somewhat as he did not think that the spearman would adapt to moving in zero gravity so easily. The ghostly figure manifests again and raises its left palm, adding all of the stranger's weight back and then some.

This sudden regain of gravity was something the spearman was ill-prepared for as he unceremoniously crashed onto the floor, the momentum of his leap rendered totally null. Reaching the final part of his counterattack, William instantly orders Down Under to remove the spearman's weight and thus causing him to once again levitate.

Due to the rapid change in elevation, the stranger was left temporarily disoriented. Utilizing this crucial moment of vulnerability, William turned to the darker parts of the shed.

Time to execute the coup de grace. "Emiya, NOW!"

From underneath the plastic tarp covering several boxes comes Shirou, having swapped out the paper poster for a monkey wrench, the tool glowing a bright green in his hands. With the new and superior weapon, the redhead charges at his floating enemy, gritting his teeth…

The spearman, likely recognizing what was going to happen, snaps out of his stupor to give a wide slash…

…Only for Shirou to slide underneath the spear and swing the wrench right into his exposed midsection, an audible crunch of cold, hard metal smashing against flesh entering his ears.

What happens next is a rather comical sight of the spearman bouncing uncontrollably around the shed like a rubber ball from the force of the swing, knocking over various objects and even creating cracks on the walls, forcing Shirou and William to take cover.

After bouncing against the washing machine the latter hid in, the spear wielder went flying out of the shed, where he proceeded to crash against a tree and bounce several more times around the garden before finally stopping once he practically pinballed his way to the other side of the Emiya residence, where the spearman seemingly regains his weight and tumbles to the ground.

"And stay down." William grins as he clenches his bloody fist, reveling in his victory against such an unbeatable opponent. Though, he was disappointed that the spearman didn't get sent cartling off into space. Now that he thought of it, the effect of Down Under's power is most pronounced when the enemy is in close proximity to him. Perhaps it has a certain range of action?

Nevertheless, he has vanquished the enemy. He was still mightily pissed off about the watch, but seeing the spearman's unmoving body alleviated the feeling somewhat.

"We…we did it! Hell yeah!" Said Shirou in between gasps, going out of breath merely from the tension of staying underneath that tarp, knowing that his teacher could get killed at any time and he would be too late to stop it. The teen was just happy that this plan worked out. Far smoother than what he assumed would happen, if he were to be frank with himself.

Wiping the copious amount of sweat gathering on his brow, William sat down and let his overtaxed muscles rest, the pitch-black fire of determination in his eyes flickering before disappearing entirely. Drawing a shuddering breath, he ran a hand over his frayed hair, feeling unusually worn out as Down Under fades away.

Shirou, seeing his teacher in a fatigued state, wordlessly went over and gave William a hand, all while sporting a genuine smile. William takes a good, long look at the orange-haired teen's hand, and then at Shirou himself. Eventually, he decided to take his hand, albeit reluctantly.

"Gee, what's gotten into me? Since when are we buddies? God, I'm pathetic…" Said a self-deprecating William inside the confines of his head, truly wondering as to why he took Shirou's hand. Because he doesn't have the strength to stand up? Or a sign of their mutual trust and friendship? He's pushing it with that last part, but for what it's worth…there is a level of trust between the two of them. Not so much that he's willing to lay his life down for the kid without a proper reason that goes in his favor, but enough to entrust him with holding his cup at a party or similarly minor stuff.

Still, William wrestled his hand away as soon as he stood up. Shirou didn't help him get up - he just used the boy's hand as a pedal to heave himself back on his feet. He definitely did not need help at all. "I could stand up for myself. I just need to use him to do so, that's all."

"Brown-sensei…do you think he's dead?" Shirou asked with a wary tone. Even though they were in a life or death situation, he was still worried about having committed outright murder, even if it was entirely in self-defense.

"Don't know. But it would be better if he is." William grumbled in response, venom dripping from his tongue as he looked out at the garden again, right where the spearman's prone body lay. "Wait, where the fuck did he go?!"

The body was no longer there. Instead, the only thing indicating its former presence was a human-shaped indentation in the ground, highlighted by the sand and dirt blown around the cracks and tears. As the tense atmosphere barely got a chance to dissipate before it came back in full force again, both student and teacher heard a sound similar to a projectile ripping through the air.

Before either of them gets a bead on what's going on, the very man who they thought was either dead or incapacitated burst through the roof with neckbreak speeds, his crimson-paletted spear completely splitting the metal rooftops apart…and drove straight into William's bare back.

The teacher, blindsided and lacking the focus to call out his Effigy, could only scream as he felt the blade of the spear practically folding his spine in half, even when the mysterious force on his skin prevented it from reaching his organs. Not done yet, the spearman reached down and grabbed William by the neck before throwing him outside with the same energy as tossing a garbage bag.

"SENSEI!" The mortified Shirou futilely yelled, only to find himself facing down the spearman now. Unlike before, the stranger now adopts a stone-faced and stern expression, making it clear that he is done playing around, further reinforced by his lack of taunting. Wasting no time at all, the spearman delivers a flurry of thrusts at the teen.

While Shirou manages to hold his own at first, albeit increasingly being driven back, the pipe wrench being an intrinsically heavier weapon than a roll of paper means that the redhead was quickly overwhelmed by his opponent's sheer agility. After giving one last thrust that nearly knocks the redhead off his feet, the spearman spins around and lands a roundhouse kick that sends Shirou careening into the pile of cardboard boxes behind him.

With both of his targets ruthlessly dismantled, the blue-haired warrior looked at the downed Shirou before turning his gaze towards William, who he now deemed to be the greater threat. The teacher was trying to crawl away after making the hard fall, leaving behind a large streak of blood to mark how much distance he had managed to cover.

Which, at the time of writing, when the spearman leaping skywards and landing on top of William's beaten-up husk of a body…was about half a meter from his original position.

Flipping William on his back with a small kick, the stranger planted his right foot on the magus's throat and pressed down, choking and preventing him from struggling any further. "I'll admit…I underestimated you. You are clever. Of course, it is trickery and deception, but clever nonetheless." Then, the tip of his spear becomes poised at his bandaged throat. "Too bad, wit and strategy will only get you so far." Said the spearman with a voice that seems to be more mean-spirited than usual, a testament to his anger of being deceived earlier.

Slowly, but surely and agonizingly torturous, the blade begins to push into William's throat. "If I can't pierce your body, then I'll just crush your windpipe and suffocate you instead." As the spear bores further and further into his wounded neck, narrowing his windpipe, William gazes at his executioner as saliva begins to form at the corners of his mouth.

Small cuts and light bruises on his face, tiny rips on his bodysuit and a disheveled hairstyle. And that is all their efforts amount to. All of that planning and intent to kill, as well as building up the resolve to stab himself in the hand with a goddamn jewel, only serve to insignificantly hinder the warrior.

For the first time since the beginning of their 'fight', William felt something: despair. Despair at the thought of his own death, with no way to get around it this time. His own powerlessness against the spearman, as he no longer has the strength to move, let alone calling out his Effigy. His arms instinctively, but uselessly tried to remove the foot from his throat. The best and only thing they could do now is to feebly knock on the spearman's toes.

"I don't really dig dragging out things like…but hey, it's your own doing for being so hard to kill." The spear-wielding warrior's chilling words pass through one ear and go out another as William begins to black out from asphyxiation. Is he really going to die here, like a mutt awaiting to be put down?

Not like this. It can't be like this…but what could he do now? The damage done to his body has finally taken its toll; his muscles won't move, every part of his insides hurt and it's a tremendous task just to keep his eyes open. He might have had a barrier of presumably magical origin bouncing off bladed weapons, but in the end…he is still human.

Maybe he should sleep. Rest for a moment to replenish his stamina. He hadn't had a good sleep for days now, even the one back at the academy was unsatisfactory. This time, he felt like he could truly get an eight-hour sleep. "Yeah, that's right. Just close my eyes, and the pain will be over…" His eyelids growing heavy, William's hands slackened-

What is he doing? Giving up? Against an enemy that shattered his father's watch? "No…no!" He won't die like this! Not until the bastard paid for breaking his watch!

Not a chance in hell. Remembering that event, a sharp spike of rage exploded in William's soul as his arms gained a superhuman surge of strength, actively pushing and clawing at the spearman's leg. His last-gasp struggles ultimately do nothing, but it did give the spearman an idea of just how pissed the teacher must truly be to snap out of his near-death experience just to attack him.

"I can see that your fighting spirit is nothing short of admirable. But enough messing around." Giving William a nod, the spearman placed his foot on the hilt of his spear, preparing to step down and finish the Australian off…

Only for his sixth sense to pick something up. It was not the redheaded kid with the Reinforcement magecraft.

It was something whose nature is just like him. Turning around with only moments to spare, the spearman raised his weapon in a defensive stance.

A deafening metallic clang boomed across the garden, briefly illuminating the area in a flash of sparks generated from metal furiously clashing against metal. William kept his eyes shut to protect his vision, before gradually lifting his eyelids after feeling the cool wind fluttering on his face, made slightly colder by the blood running down a gash on his forehead.

Standing firm and high above him was a regal young woman with a hypnotizingly gorgeous face who looked about Shirou's age, with blonde hair that had a single strand poking out at an odd angle, fair skin and green eyes the beauty of emeralds, all while possessing centuries' worth of dedication and valor. She was also decked out from head to toe in old-fashioned but ornate armor, with her combat dress being wrapped in a vestment made of multiple linking plates of armor.

However, the thing he finds the strangest was not her appearance, but rather what she is holding in her right hand.

From the looks of it, it appears to be a literal, tangible sheath of pressurized air in the general shape of a bladed weapon. That must have been the source of the wind. He could write a three-page essay on all the ways this doesn't make sense, but he wasn't about to complain any time soon, given how she had just saved him from imminent death.

"Can you stand up?" The armored woman spoke up in what William recognized as a mild British accent, full of authority and power. He tried to calm himself down enough to reply, but only a jumble of incoherent babbles came out.

Seeing the unmitigated befuddlement in his eyes, the lady knight spoke again, but in a less confrontational manner. "Please, do not be afraid. I have just been summoned by my Master, and his first command was for me to protect you. As such, I, Saber, shall fight for you on Master's behalf." Saber finishes, before looking up to face the spear-wielding stranger who was knocked back all the way across the other side of the residence.

Listening to the grand speech with his eyes cocked sideways, William blinked once, and then twice, before nodding at her. "Sure thing." It wasn't the most suave thing he could have said, but right now there wasn't much else on his mind anyway.

"Brown-sensei!" Shirou came running out of the shed and dived straight towards William to help his teacher, scared out of his mind just thinking that the older man may have been killed. "You're okay!"

"Quite…the opposite, in fact." Replied William, letting out pained grunts as he tried to stand up. "Who's the sheila?"

"The…what now?"

"Aussie word. What I mean is, who's the girl?"

"Well…how do I say this? When he kicked me into those boxes back at the shed, I saw that he was about to kill you, and then…she just popped out of thin air. Called me her master, gave me her name and then asked me to give orders." Shirou recounted the events that have transpired inside the storehouse, his hands shaking all the while. "So I told her to help you."

William contemplates the teen's explanation, idly scratching his nape before giving Shirou a look like he had just grown an extra eye. "You know…if it weren't for all the things that happened tonight, I would never even consider believing you."

As the two magi tended to each other, the swordswoman and the spearman stared down one another, their glares unflinching as their hands tightly grip on their respective weapons. However, neither would make the first move until the spearman speaks.

"So…the seventh Servant, eh? It's about time you showed up, I was getting bored! Just one more and the party can finally start." The spearman said in a sing-song voice, the lust for battle still present in his blood red eyes, which was quite the fitting color for such a state of mind.

Saber does not give him the pleasure of receiving a reply, instead preferring to maintain an alert posture while keeping the spearman in her line of sight.

"Woman of a few words, huh? My type. But anyway, just to be sure of something." The spearman brushes off what little dirt there is gathering around the armor plates on his shoulders before facing the armored knight again, his fingers running up and down the length of his weapon in an almost sensual manner. "You have no intention of giving up this fight, do you?"

"That is correct. Once two Servants crossed paths…they will only fight once." Replied Saber with a stern voice, her hand resting on the invisible weapon. "So come forth, Lancer."

"Hmm…well said. But how about you look at this my way? On one hand, your Master over there doesn't look like he knows squat about what's going on…" The now-named Lancer points his spear at Shirou, with the teen shooting back with a cautious, but simultaneously gormless look. "But on the other hand, I am a tiny bit winded from my fight with the other magus over there…"

Glancing at the invalid William, Lancer clicks his tongue. "What I'm saying is, why don't we save this fight for later instead? Then, we will both be more prepared and stronger. Would make for an arguably better fight, don't you agree?"

For a second, Saber's face remained as impassive as ever before her features dramatically sharpened with the shadows around her eyes darkening as her eyebrows squeezed closer together. With a raised finger, the lady knight responded to Lancer's proposition with a firm tone. "I refuse. Abandoning a fight even when you are fully capable of combat is nothing less than dishonorable."

"Ha! Once again, very well said…" Lancer snickered to himself, aiming his spear at swordswoman before disappearing from sight in a burst of speed, rushing towards Saber. "But foolish! There are few things as careless as wishing for battle when your weapon has yet to even be drawn-"

Unbeknownst to the spearman, the second his spear comes into range Saber has already raised her weapon to parry it, before sending him skidding backwards with a downward swing while holding nothing in her hands, generating a huge gust of wind from that one strike alone. "An invisible weapon?!"

Stopping his slide with a hard stomp that creates a foot-shaped crack on the ground, the spearman rushes at her again, and the two engage in a series of fast-paced, close-quarters combat, moving at such a blinding speed that no naked eye could make out the details.

While Shirou watches the battle between two gods amongst men with awe and equal parts fear from their sheer strength, William took his time to analyze their movements instead, though only whenever the two lock weapons with each other. As the duel goes on, he starts to see the little scratches on Saber's armor, while the Lancer possesses none aside from the previously inflicted ones courtesy of himself, indicating that the spearman has a speed advantage. However, it was the knight who is consistently pushing Lancer back with every swing, showcasing that strength is on her side.

All in all, it's a battle that is decided by whoever gets the first good hit in. A struggle to see which side will make the first mistake.

"I wonder…" Said Lancer, leaping a good distance away after Saber countered yet another blow from him. "That weapon of yours…it's a sword, isn't it?"

Saber's unwavering glare remains unbroken, still holding onto the handle of her unseen weapon. "Who knows? It could be an ax, or something else entirely. It matters not what weapon I hold…" She then raises it at the spearman, pointing its 'blade' right at where his neck is. "I will cut you down right here, right now."

"Hmph! An ostentatious claim…could you back it up? Though, I'll admit, you did make this Grail War a lot more fun." Lancer mused with a dangerous edge to his voice, arching his knees towards the ground while holding his spear over his body, keeping the blade aimed down. "When the coward I called my Master ordered me to go on this tedious scouting mission, I thought I drew the short straw, and was about to throw in the towel…"

Slowly, his eyes slightly peeked at the kneeling figure of William, before returning to the swordswoman. "But you? You made me realize that there's still a long way until this party's over. Hell, it hasn't even properly started yet! So there's still plenty of fun to be found…"

"Your mouth certainly seems to be quite fond of running off…but as a spearman, should you not try to speak with that lance of yours as well?" Saber taunted him, raising her gauntleted hand and wagging her fingers.

"Your wish is my command." Lancer replies in a mocking voice, before a flash of red light suddenly engulfs his body and the immediate vicinity around him, generating a crimson haze around his spear that seems to suck the very life out of anything daring enough to wander nearby. "In that case, I'll use this spear of mine…to obliterate you."

The sheer amount of magical energy gathering towards Lancer was enough to make both Shirou and William nearly floored by the overwhelming rush of power exuding from the spearman. Saber, in spite of her stony expression, was secretly taken off guard by the sudden surge of energy. "What an amazing amount of mana! It felt almost like a vacuum, taking in everything, including heat, and leaving nothing behind." The lady knight thought to herself as the power encircling Lancer's spear grew, swift and unrelenting.

"But his stature is too low. If I leap to the side quickly enough, I can dodge the attack-"

"Ready or not…" Lancer spoke up after staying silent the entire time, his voice low and ominous, clearly not lacking in intimidation factor. His hands grip tightly onto the spear as his muscles bulge to a noticeable degree, as if he is physically holding himself back from lashing out.

On the sidelines, Shirou whispered to William. "I don't like the look of this at all, sensei!"

"You don't say." Replied the teacher sardonically.

"W-We have to do something! I think whatever that guy is gonna do next, it's going to hurt her badly!"

"I-what? What do you expect the two of us to do?"

"Can you use your magecraft on him? It'll slow him down enough for her to land a hit!"

"Why would I do that? One, I'm dead tired and I can't even move my fingers, let alone calling it out. And two…" William turned his eyes towards Saber, still as resolute and confident in her posture as ever. "She can handle her own."

"Brown-sensei, please! We can't let her die now!" Shirou, out of worry, raises his voice but is quickly shushed by William, who now has a skeptical glint in his eyes.

"And…why are you getting so worked up about someone you met less than five minutes ago?"

"I…I don't know. But we have to help Saber! She saved you! And you're the only one between the two of us that could help her right now!"

William tiredly rubs his eyes with his non-bloody hand, before they shoot wide open upon a crushing revelation. This 'Saber' woman is virtually their last line of defense against the spearman, and should she be defeated, he and Shirou are as good as dead. Of course, she held her own pretty easily against Lancer so far, but judging from how confident the spearman sounds when he is prepping up for this next attack…what guarantees she will survive it?

Adopting the same mindset as before, he now thinks of her as a weapon, something to help him defeat an enemy if he treats it well and keeps it from being damaged. Mustering up what little strength left inside him, William focuses his mind and summons Down Under yet again, the freaky-looking ghost robot floating next to him.

Shirou lights up upon seeing his teacher finally deciding to help, though not knowing that was for a much more pragmatic reason.

"Your little heart's done for!" Lancer gives off a battle cry as he leaps off the ground, his arms reeling back for a particularly powerful strike as the spear glows and shudders with unwavering power.

"He's fast!" Saber's thoughts came to her at relativistic speeds as she barely had the chance to raise her own weapon. "But nothing I could not handle-"

"Gae…" The spearman said softly akin to the calm rain before the storm, the energy sparking around his body focusing into a single point at the tip of his spear.

"BOLG!"

"DOWN UNDER!" Another voice interjected in, just before everybody's vision was obscured by a flash of red as the Lancer's spear seemingly became intangible and shot towards Saber at an impossible angle.

In a continuous order of events that happened in too short of a time frame to properly flesh out the details…

Lancer was found on one knee, using the spear to prop himself up. He suffered no injuries however, and was only forced to the ground, again, by a weight.

William was yelling as his Effigy raised its left hand.

And Saber finds herself equipped with a brand new orifice at the region just above her chest, punching right through her breastplate.

"Tch, that trick again!" An annoyed Lancer gave the meddlesome William a withering glare that promised a slow death, before turning to Saber. Regardless of whether his spear's aim was thrown off by that ghost's bothersome ability or not, Gae Bolg always pierces its victim's heart, no matter what sort of defenses one has put up beforehand. Not even Saber, a class known for their resistance against most, if not all forms of magic, could have survived such a hit-

"Gae Bolg…so that is the name of your weapon…" Said the swordswoman with a raspy tone, seemingly out of breath as she clutches the wound near her collarbone, a small and irregular stream of blood coursing down her spotless armor. "Then you must be-!"

"Tch…how clumsy of me to let my identity be discovered so soon. But that doesn't matter anymore once you're dead!" Powering through the large weight pressing down on his legs, Lancer stylishly twirls his spear like a pole before aiming it at the wounded Saber.

Just as he was about to run up and run her through with Gae Bolg, however, the spearman inexplicably stops mid-charge. There was clearly some hesitation in his actions, as Lancer awkwardly held his spear upright with all the gracefulness of a ten-year-old with a long stick, the power gathered within it quickly dissolving as well as the palpable air thick with bloodlust around him.

"Seriously?" He said, talking to no one in particular.

After a few unintelligible mutterings, Lancer's expression hardened into a grimace before morphing back into a more disgruntled frown. Childishly kicking a pebble, Lancer exhaled harshly, visibly frustrated before facing Saber again. "Well, lucky you. Guess we do have to save this fight for another day…provided, your Master could even survive long enough till then." And with that, Lancer begins walking away towards one of the four walls surrounding the Emiya residence.

"Wait…wait! How could you run away now?" Asked Saber, feeling just the slightest bit insulted by her opponent willingly walking out on her like this.

"Hey, if you want to complain, go and talk to my Master. That's an order, and I can't help it." Lancer defeatedly raises his arms, pursing his lips like a petulant child. "Though, feel free to go after me. It'd just give me an excuse to finish this little scuffle of ours." And with that, the spearman leaps over the wall and vanishes before Saber could get the last word.

Standing still, Saber tried to stabilize her breathing as her healing factor kicked in, regrowing any damaged or lost tissue at a remarkable rate. Soon enough, not a single vestige of the wound is left.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Shirou called out for her as he gave a limping William a shoulder to lean on. Watching her Master and the magus accompanying him approaching her, Saber rubbed the hilt of her weapon before putting it away.

"I will be fine, Master. You don't have to worry." The female knight replied politely, standing back to her full height again…which is immediately dwarfed by both William and Shirou. "Are you the one who cursed Lancer?" She asked, eyes focusing on the teacher.

"Curse? What do you mean?"

"The spearman suddenly fell to his knees, as if his limbs were chained down with blocks of steel. Is it you who has done it?"

"Uh…yeah. What of it?"

"Nothing. Just know that I would prefer it if you do not interfere in future conflicts. To use tactics is one thing, but to impair a fighter's ability to move like that, while you yourself are out of danger…it is quite ignoble. It is my fight, not yours."

Just as he was contemplating thanking her for saving his bacon, William was thrown off again by the swordswoman's holier-than-thou attitude. "Well, apologies for trying to help." The teacher snarked, his tone poisonous and barbed.

Unfortunately for him, the sarcasm flew right over Saber's head. "You don't have to. While your methods are underhanded, your intentions are well-meaning." She replied with a much more sympathetic tone, even beginning to look a little guilty as well. "Perhaps I should apologize as well for speaking so harshly. It's just that having an enemy running away usually puts me in an ill mood. Please understand that I bear no hatred towards you."

William felt his soul cringing into a black hole from having to listen through that overly dramatic apology. He half-expected her to either ignore him or give him a glare, but the act of the knight delivering into a full-blown apology speech that sounds like she had been practicing it in front of a mirror short-circuited his brain for a moment. Coughing into his hand awkwardly, the teacher licked his dry lips before nodding. "...Right. If you say so, then…sure. Yeah, I understand." He said with a tone as dry as the Saharan desert, still unsure of what to even say in response.

Saber, thinking that the magus accepted her apology, merely nods back. Shirou watched the interaction unfold with slight amusement, before remembering an important question and raised his hand at the knight. "Uh, question?"

"Yes, Master?" Saber turns to her designated Master. Shirou doesn't know exactly what to feel about a beautiful young maiden calling him 'master', but shrugs it off in favor of his burning question.

"Just…what is happening? Who are you? What are you?" Asked Shirou, remembering how she was skewered with that spear only for the wound to no longer be there. No normal human could heal that fast!

"Haven't I already told you before, Master? I am the Servant that you summoned in order to participate in the Holy Grail War."

"Well, yes, but what exactly is all of this 'Servants' and 'Holy Grail War' even about?" Shirou repeats his question in a more specific way, while William chooses to remain quiet and listen to what the lady knight has to say.

Saber took a second to analyze and process his question, before looking at Shirou again. "I see…you really do not have the foggiest idea, do you? No matter. In that case, I shall answer you. The Holy Grail War is-" Out of the blue, Saber snaps her head to her left side, raising a gauntleted hand at Shirou and William, a universal hand sign for total silence.

After ten seconds or so, Saber lowered her hand as she looked towards the entrance warily. "We will have to discuss this at a later date, Master. I sense a foreign presence outside these walls." Without much else to say, Saber took off and leaped over the wall and out on the street.

"H-Hold on! By 'new presence', do you mean like another enemy?!" Shirou tried to reach out for his Servant, but it was too late. "Damn! Wait for me!" At that moment, the only goal on Shirou's mind was to get some answers from Saber. Thus, he breaks into a sprint and follows her outside as well…

….completely forgetting that he was acting as a crutch for William the whole time. As the teacher fell flat on his face, he silently cussed the teen out for leaving him behind. "You insensitive cunt, that hurt! You're willing to leave a wounded man who's in no state to even move behind to chase a girl?" Grinding his teeth together, the teacher tried to stifle the pain wracking every inch of his body as much as possible while standing up.

It took quite a few minutes, but he ultimately succeeds in standing up, even if he looks like he's one step away from keeling over dead. With one hand resting on the sewned wound on his thigh, from which tiny spurts of blood spilled again due to the beating he took from Lancer, William slowly hobbles over to the main door while grumbling the entire way.

Limping outside, William heard a womanly scream and turned to his right. Saber already has her weapon drawn and raised high in the air for a swing, Shirou was standing in front of her with outstretched hands, seemingly to protect someone behind him.

"Why did you stop me, Master?!" Asked an indignant Saber, her weapon held high and yet, she is unable to move her arms. "She's an enemy! If we don't kill her now-!"

"No…I won't stand for this! How do we even know if she's an enemy or not?!" Shirou retorted, still using his body as a shield for the person behind him and holding his ground, despite fully knowing that Saber could easily cut him in half with one strike.

"Do you understand the consequences of your actions, Master? She is accompanied by a Servant, which in turns makes her a Master, which are our main adversaries!"

"Saber…you told me I'm your Master, right? Then, as your Master, I'm ordering you to stand down. I won't tolerate any independent action from you unless you give me an explanation I'm satisfied with."

Saber slightly flinched at Shirou's sudden assertiveness, but otherwise obeyed her Master and lowered her weapon, albeit reluctantly. "If you say so."

"My goodness, what a composed team you two are." Comes a glib remark from the figure behind Shirou, slowly getting up on her knees. "Bickering while there's an enemy right in front of you."

William, observing all of this from behind, heard the voice. Hang on…it couldn't be. Hobbling over to the opposing wall to get a better view of who the mysterious 'enemy' might be for Saber to get so worked up about, the teacher leans against it, feeling his legs giving out.

Upon witnessing the figure, the physics teacher couldn't help but gawk a bit.

"...Tohsaka?" William said with his eyes at half-mast, more confused by the discovery than anything.

Brushing herself off, Rin Tohsaka stood up with a neutral smile on her face. "Good evening, Brown-sensei. And to you too, Emiya-kun." The brunette calmly greeted her classmate and teacher, even doing a little bow as if being nearly killed is nothing out of the ordinary for her. "I have to say, sensei…you've seen better days."

An increasingly tired William shot her a questioning look, before his lips curved into a light smirk. If there was one thing he liked about Tohsaka, other than being another star student of his, is that her sense of humor is something he could get behind, even if it was directed at him.

As long as it's not about his intelligence, he tolerates it. "You could say that again." William takes one step towards Rin…and promptly collapses, his legs finally giving out as his consciousness rapidly fades away before fully blacking out, his ears all but deaf to Shirou's cries.

He had simply pushed himself too much.

-0-

Magecraft Profile:

Name: Down Under

Current Form: First Law

User: William Brown

Classification: Effigy

Type: Anti-Unit

Parameters:

Power [Physical strength and the ability to cause destruction in a given period of time]: E

Speed [Agility and speed of reaction, as well as performance speed]: C

Range [Range of manifestation and ability influence]: B (15 meters)

Endurance [Duration of time that the Effigy can be kept active and maintain its ability]: C

Precision: [Accuracy and the degree of control the user has over the range of influence of the Effigy's ability]: B

Potential: [Measures the Effigy's possible functions, utilization of its abilities and powers, as well as the capacity to evolve and improve its overall capabilities]: A

Overall Rating: D++

General Description:

First Law is the base form of Down Under, and is the form that first manifests to William. Despite being incredibly weak in terms of physical strength, its esoteric ability makes it useful for a number of outside tasks. It is also the form with the highest potential to evolve, albeit William has yet to know about this.

Ability: Weight Alteration (Details unknown)