Chapter 49: Endless Folly


On the roof of a familiar home, Archer's arm was broken, his knees slack and the golden throne overlooks the night sky.

The red fluid dripping from his arm mixes with his coat as it patters on the tiled roof of the Emiya estate and he could only curse the fool in the sky, but he knew he himself was the bigger fool. He had let his biases color his actions and he only had himself to blame. When he saw the glimmer in the sky he should have acted quicker. It was a trivial matter for him to locate the enemy's firing position; it was hubris on his part for not foreseeing such an outcome. Archer could have deflected the twisted Broken Phantasm, but as the attack came from above, he could not allow it to get past him and strike the earth. He couldn't imagine Saber allowing such a tactic, but it seems the lens he viewed this world through was more tinted than he thought. The occupants inside the house he knew all too well had the sense to escape and he needed to cover them because this is precisely what the enemy wanted.

Vimana; powered by liquid mercury and flies at the speed of thought was taunting him from above.

The power of flight was not something to be trifled with; in another time it was once considered Magic. Almost all of mankind's wars had been limited to the ground and sometimes the sea, but it was after the age of mythical heroes passed that mass scale war would be taken to the skies. The army that controls the sky uncontested could pick apart those on the ground like ravens to carrion. In the end, all fighting boils down to hitting the other guy without being hit and advancements of warfare was all about finding the next longer stick. Winning the Holy Grail War in a single night was something Gilgamesh had the capability to accomplish, but Archer himself was in no position to judge; the Holy Grail Wars were always a farce.

There were things Gilgamesh would never do. Gilgamesh would never give aid to a faker, but Kirei certainly would, but there were things Emiya Shirou would never do.

There were things Emiya Shirou would never do, but it was indeed Emiya Shirou standing on top of that throne.

Emiya Shirou was someone who could fire upon his very own house with a Broken Phantasm that his sister resided in and at the same time Emiya Shirou was someone who could not allow such a thing to come to pass. Regardless of the world, Heroic Spirit Emiya was always Emiya Shirou's most reliable enemy. The boy in the sky was preparing another arrow from the golden throne Vimana.

"Hrunting."

Archer already knew the boy's target, Berserker who was in a deadlock against Saber. Archer reinforces his injured arm as he readies an arrow of his own. The act of shooting an arrow was a feat of mechanical precision; eliminate the human element and a machine is all that remains. As long as the machinery was tuned to create the perfect shot, it will always perform the same shot. Fibrous pistons break, oxygenated red fluid leaks as the string is pulled back and the arrow is released.

"Tch."

Broken machinery was unpredictable, and his arrow narrowly fails to intercept the snaking red streak after Berserker's life. Subsequent shots miss by greater and greater margins; the machinery needed to be repaired before it could be relied upon again Archer concludes as he examines his arm. It was good fortune that the red streak never hits the Greek hero as the malformed sword is swatted away with a great golden crescent axe; a projection well lent, but Saber slashes at his defenseless body with the night stained holy blade.

"-Calibur!"

However, Berserker is never alone.

"Quintet Feur!"

Pink light of the Second Magic erupts from Illya's wand with vigor against the interloper from the ground, but the boy in the sky nocks an arrow with just as much as he aims at the daughter of the man he considered a father with no hesitation. Another red streak erupts from the golden throne in the sky.

"Hrunting," the hound of the red plains is released once again.

It chases the flying girl, but Archer wasn't afraid as it was fortunate that this Illya in this timeline didn't have the same naïve biases as he did.

"By my Command Seal, shield me!" was Illya's order for her greatest protector and Saber uses this chance to slip away.

Berserker appears in the sky shielding her from the blood seeking missile as it crashes harmlessly against his body. Heracles overcame 12 labors that should have killed him in his legend; he wasn't a hero that could be defeated under ordinary means.

"Caladbolg," the spiral sword pierces the night, but not that hero.

*clang*

It explodes on impact, but everything that struck Berserker's body had honed it. Anything he honed his body against would not be able to wound him. At this point, it was unknown what could actually wound him.

"Durandal," the peerless sword that became a spear that could pierce anything short of the Aias, but the back of Heracles was sturdier than that.

*clang*

Archer wasn't a fighter at heart, everything he did boiled down to forging steel. He had to focus on what he could do as he chases after Saber's back and as he himself turns his back on the one he wished to protect. He was needed elsewhere.

"Joyeuse," Shirou invokes from the sky as one light becomes twelve; twelve patters of rain as the boy on the golden throne was no Charlemagne.

*clang*clang*clang*clang*clang*clang*clang*clang*clang*clang* clang*clang*

From the receding sounds of singing metal, Archer could rest easy that his works were worth something, but he was always a busybody.

*clang*

The forge in his heart was his greatest asset; the closest thing he had to a Noble Phantasm.

*clang*

Rin had ordered him to hone Berserker's body with every Noble Phantasm in his forge.

*clang*

This was the secret they shared and kept from Illya who was busy uncovering Miyu's.

*clang*

With the gem sword in Rin's hands as the key, the world of Unlimited Blade Works was always open.

*clang*

With Magical Ruby contracted to Illya, there was no limit to the number of times Berserker could self-recover.

*clang*

An imitation can never beat an original, but piled together they could reach an unforeseen summit; that is the quintessential way humanity has come so far. Family, society, science and mage-craft followed this same rule.

The night becomes still as Emiya Shirou eases his hand as he comes to realize the futility of what he was doing.

Heracles was absolutely immune to everything in Heroic Spirit Emiya's arsenal. He wouldn't be wounded by a fake. The only things that could scratch Heracles at this point were genuine Noble Phantasms pushed to breaking and it would have to take all his lives in one go. This was a decision of Rin's that surprised even Archer, but from what he knew of her in his own life, it shouldn't have been surprising.

No matter how much Rin would act like it, there were things far more valuable to her than pride, money and the wish of a dead man. However, when Tohsaka decides on something, Archer knew all too well how genuine she was and as Saber slips away from his vision, Archer was again cursing his lack of ability.

He wished he could have done more, but that is always the case with Emiya Shirou.


It was a night like any other.

Individuals may disagree, but in the grand scheme of things individuals aren't worth much. Everyone is at the center of their own little world, but the world doesn't end. The girl who pulled the sword from the stone is the same as the woman who swings it. Nothing she needs to do has changed; she only needs to press forward because she is the Once and Future King. Some homunculi stood in her way, one of whom was wielding her very visage as a weapon, but it is nothing she hasn't faced before and in fact this one was lacking.

Things have only gotten easier for Pendragon as she had cast her sentiments away.

Leysritt was just one of many Einzbern failures who could not become the Holy Grail and was repurposed for other tasks; one of which was combat. She was modified to have strength on par with some crystallized legends, but she was no legend herself. She had already lost an arm to a mere girl who wielded the power of the oldest legend. Harnessing the power of the Once and Future King herself did not change this in the slightest.

*clang*

She was lacking as a Holy Grail.

Her prosthetic arm was creaking under the stress; it only had the specifications in line with a normal human unlike the rest of her.

The sword in her hands was real, but she could not compare to the Once and Future King she was drawing from.

She was coined as nothing more than a tool to protect a thousand year wish, but someone else had given her another purpose and she won't hesitate to lay down her life for that goal.

She locks her blade with the very hero the Einzbern placed their hopes on in the 4th Holy Grail War.

*clang*

Seal Saber's movement; that is her only objective. She had no intention of winning by herself because she was never alone; her sister Sella behind her was ready and waiting. In Sella's hands was the cursed spear that pierces with death before it is even thrust.

"Gae.."

There was no room for hesitation, only certainty.

"Strike Air."

Saber's command of the winds supersedes those who merely borrow her authority and the winds rob the strength from Leysritt's legs. The living shield that was supposed to hold Saber in place was now Saber's shield against the red spear. The power of the spear was not invoked in time and Saber passes through Leysritt like the wind.

Leysritt dies.

Before Sella loses her life too, the child that was once Saber's Master intervenes upon the back of a winged horse.

"Bellerophon!"


Under the moonlit sky, Saber's wounded form was for all to see.

"5 minutes until my left arm functions once again, Miyu," was all the mercy Saber had left to give.

Miyu's spiral arrow had narrowly missed Saber's head, but had managed a glancing gouge of her shoulder. With the power of the red knight coursing through her, she knew all too well how tough the stained king of knights in front of her was, yet at the same time it was hard to see Saber as an enemy. Saber had saved Emiya many times. No Emiya has ever regretted meeting Saber even if some won't admit it. Miyu knew the power at her disposal and knew all too well how she was outclassed. Even with Saber's power the night before, Miyu stood no chance and with only Archer's power it may have been even lower. A Saber will best even the strongest Archer at sword length; such a thing was a given. That was the common sense.

"Trace on."

Two blades; one of black scale and the other white shell form in Miyu's hands as Saber sheathes her sword into the earth.

"You armed yourself with those swords? Are you really intent on fighting? Shirou and Sakura are on my side. You have escaped your captors. Let me who swore to be your sword slay your enemies," as Saber extends her only working hand.

Archer and Rider; those were the two cards Miyu had at her disposal. Two cards Illya had relented to give her when the house was attacked. The real Rider died to Saber's blade; helped by those little spars the Cards allowed for. Miyu curses herself for this reason, but she hasn't lost hope.

She throws away the married blades behind her as they disappear into the night.

Saber, Lancer and Caster were for the maids to use. Miyu had seen Leysritt fall, but she held out hope that Caster's power could circumvent that fate. It was by clinging onto that hope that she could focus on Saber without hesitation.

Berserker and Assassin cards were with Illya.

Miyu examines the battlefield, the road next to the Einzbern Forest. She recognizes this place from where she staged the assault on the castle; the outskirts far from people. The Overseer had used his authority and connections to create a curfew for the city. The people of Fuyuki knew all too well of the terror from a decade ago when a serial killer roamed the streets and now they stay in their homes convinced that killer has returned. Anyone who sees these battles will have to be hypnotized later; it was work Miyu only vaguely knew of and the older girl named Tohsaka was certainly reliable when it came to such matters let alone Sella.

Saber with her palm outstretched takes a single step towards the child who threw her weapons away.

"Trace on."

Miyu readies another two married blades; one of black scale and one of white shell.

Saber notices the change in the winds and in her mind she had already foreseen such an outcome. In one fluid motion she pulls her sword from the ground behind her and effortlessly parries the flying inverted married blades that were about to converge on her neck from behind.

*clang* *clang*

The married blades shatter.

"...," Saber doesn't say anything.

Saber had deliberately put down her sword and cared not for the distance that was to an Archer's advantage; that was how little Saber thought of Miyu as a threat even with the injury on her arm. A bow is drawn, but Saber is unfazed.

"Hrunting."

Cutting through the air erratically, the jagged hound screams for Saber's blood. There was no qualitative difference at all between this red arrow and the ones Archer himself or Shirou employed; all of them were flawed fakes, but all of them were capable of downing heroes. Saber had no choice, but to take the attack seriously as she cuts the shaft in twain midflight.

*swish*

The hound would always hunt its prey, but that was what made it so predictable, yet the girl who wielded Archer's power throws away her advantage as she closes the distance with married blades.

*clang*

Saber easily parries her attack, but the girl has proven that she isn't an enemy Saber could ignore. To have Shirou and Sakura go along with her desires, there was no room for hurting Miyu, but even a child could prove to be dangerous with the right weapon.

Saber had planned on killing Tohsaka in this exchange and capturing Miyu afterwards. Without a Master, Archer would disappear with the final obstacle in Saber's path to the grail being Berserker and Lancer. Even if Berserker was unbreakable, he wasn't immune to chains of Heaven that Sakura had usurped and his Master was the grail vessel itself. Saber remembers well what happened to the last grail vessel named Irisviel as the fighting drew to a close. Her limit was 4 Servants slain before her body was destroyed; was her daughter's any higher?

"The only enemy you have in this war is Tohsaka and Einzbern, the ones who took your quiet life away, why are you protecting them?" she asks the child in front of her.

"I have no enemies," the child speaks with certainty.

Saber had killed her once; a fact that felt like a lie, but Saber's desire for the grail stemmed from the mound of corpses she stood over. Saber was after Tohsaka who had neither Class Cards nor a close range type Servant, but Miyu knew not to underestimate Archer; the same power her big brother wielded. Miyu couldn't win against Saber with Saber's power and Archer's chances should have been worse, but a hero is someone who overturns common sense.

"Then why are you pointing those things at me?" the tainted knight asks.

Miyu lets the blades fly. Blades fly and blades shatter. The small girl unleashes sword after sword against her former protector. Even with a one arm handicap, her opponent was nothing. Miyu was nothing more than a child flailing her arms about.

*shatter*

The black Holy Blade will not be beaten by two swords, four swords or sixteen, but the small stubborn girl who held the lesser blades does not relent. She throws her swords in an arc and they careen past Saber by a mile and Saber is quick to capitalize with a center charge, but blades fall in front of her to stall her advance.

As Saber blinks, swords were pointed at her in all directions; just like with the Babylonian King, but each sword lacked heft. Slow; the swords sailing at her were far too slow and Saber commanded the winds.

"Hammer of the Wind King."

Lacking the momentum of those fired from a bow, these nameless swords fall to the earth and erect themselves like graves. The draconic reactor pumps arcane fuel beneath Saber's feet, but as she brushes past the graves.

"—burst."

The graves explode; the armor Saber wore was enough to protect her from the shrapnel of the makeshift mines. If Saber was a little unluckier, she would have at least lost an eye, but the Once and Future King was a blessed monster. In this world there exist people more blessed than anyone else and yet these people willingly choose to martyr themselves, but that is why they can't be pitied.

This was the path they chose for themselves; pity is the farthest thing from respect. There was no reason to hold back.

"Ex—"

Even if Saber manages to catch Tohsaka and kill her, Archer wouldn't immediately disappear. Independent action is just one of many things that make Archer-class Servants formidable opponents, but terrible Servants from the perspective of Masters who wants to stay alive. Despite never having fought directly, Saber could attest to Archer's utility indirectly from both Emiya siblings.

"Joyeuse," from Miyu's bow was the light that scatters into twelve, but their radiance could not match.

"—Calibur."

The endless night snuffs out the lights and the mines as if they were never there, but the child's attacks did not cease.

If Archer were to forge a contract with her former Master, no doubt he would become more troublesome in the future than if Archer simply stayed under his current one. Saber knew firsthand how vast the power the child's magic circuits in front of her could provide. On the other hand, if Shirou or Sakura were to witness any injury on this child, they would surely turn their swords on her. There was no reason why this child should want to protect the Masters that tried to kill her. The Masters which Saber protected her from, but Saber right now was no different from them. She was simply after her goal and this child was in the way. Two paths leading to the same undesirable direction, but a king couldn't afford to stop as her draconic core beats into overdrive.

With speed, one could delay the consequences, but opponents were never cooperative as married blades were ready and waiting.

*clang* *clang**clang* *clang*

This was a fight between an adult and a child. It couldn't be called a fight. With less reach, less strength and less speed, the child could not land another hit. The child was doing nothing but throwing a tantrum as she throws away another pair of swords. Saber doesn't even need to look at the receding blades to know that they were coming back in the next few seconds. Every clash only serves to diminish Miyu, but she does not fall even as Saber cuts into her body.

*clang* *shatter*

With Saber's single working arm, it was difficult to cleave through bone against a semi-skilled enemy and the wounds that should have been fatal for Miyu close quickly.

Avalon, was so close, but out of Saber's reach and answering to someone else.

Saber understands that with Avalon's protection, Miyu would not be stopped save for a killing blow. The child won't listen to reason. No, a killing blow to the heart with Excalibur wasn't able to end her last time. Miyu had survived, but even with Avalon, was such a thing possible? Saber brings her sword down in an overhead swing and Miyu meets it with a porcelain blade.

*shatter*

Miyu's final defence shatters, no it explodes.

"—burst."

The explosion of force had deflected Saber's bisecting blow, but it had blown off Miyu's own hand. Another pair of blades twirling blades was coming for Saber's neck from behind, but Saber was already waiting.

"—burst."

Before those blades could shatter against Saber's, they explode too and she is thrown forward into the black blade clutched in Miyu's remaining hand. The blade pierces through Saber's armor as it spalls.

"—burst."

Steel shrapnel tears the insides of her gut, but Miyu does not relent. Her broken hand is refreshed anew without a scar with a pristine white blade in its grip.

*clang* *clang*

"—burst."

Just before the blades shatter, they explode; wounds accumulate against Saber's body. The distance in ability was too great for a child to win fairly, but children rarely play fair. Shrapnel cuts into Saber's brow and blood starts to drip into her eyes, but even without sight, the distance in powers did not decrease. However, as sturdy as a Servant was, as quickly as they heal, Avalon's protection was beyond that. Every second Miyu is able to buy was another second closer to Saber's defeat. The way the child fought was in complete disregard to her own well being. Miyu's own attacks were damaging herself more than her opponent, but she had Avalon. As long as a limb wasn't blown clean off, the child wouldn't slow down as she is wreathed in Avalon's cursed warmth. As long as Saber herself existed, that warmth would never disappear.

*clang* *clang*

"—burst."

A single sword strike can only come in one direction. It can change trajectory mid course, but that limitation does not change. With skill to reach the realm of the Second Magic, a certain swordsman was able to strike in three directions at once, but explosions were omni-directional.

"—burst."

Explosions weren't something Saber could block in the same way she could with swords, arrows or bullets, but that was only in regards to her sword.

"Hammer of the Wind King!"

The Once and Future King was unscathed, while the child lays broken on the pavement while struggling to get up. As long as Avalon blesses her, this will never end. With one flick of the blade Saber could end this, but she could not afford making enemies of the two willing to work with her. After killing Tohsaka, Saber was going to capture Miyu and bring her to those two who thought the world of her. Under their wishes, Miyu would never do something like make a contract with Archer, but she allowed her to be subject to such a thing.

"The 5 minutes are up," Saber announces as she grips her sword with both hands ready to deliver mercy.

Something was twirling in the wind; yet another pair of high contrast swords.

"—burst," was a man's voice; the white haired Archer's.


Archer had caught up to Saber as he readies another pair of Kanshou and Bakuya.

"Archer," was that bell like voice just like in his memories.

All the evils in the world were unable to tarnish the gallant of figure of the knight in Archer's memory. The knight's armor could not reflect the light of the moon above and the sword that was once one with the air was now an ominous void, but the owner of these things was still as beautiful as he remembers. Even after all the dirty drudgery that was his very existence as a guardian of the scales and the endless blood he walked through, he will always remember that beautiful face vividly even if everything else fades away.

Regardless of how far he has come as a hero; the hero he met that night would always be his ideal. That was why he didn't like looking at her because he could feel the only vivid memory that remained within him tarnish. He turns his gaze towards the injured child on the ground. If it was another Emiya or rather if it was that certain Emiya, he would have thought this outcome to be well deserved and would have been tempted to do nothing at all.

Salvation brought upon others is like money; once it is used it will only go to someone else. It was a cycle without an end; a cycle that kept the world turning. The black haired girl on the ground was not Emiya Shirou, but Archer could read her thoughts all the same. The debts of the dead are carried by the living. It reinforces the fact that there was nothing special about him. Even so, there was only ever one Emiya he would ever curse.

"Saber, that's not a good look for you. Did that child really give you that much trouble?" as Archer asks about the gaping hole in Saber's armor.

"Are you in the position to ask that? With your arm that way, you can't properly draw your bow," Saber remarks.

"Good enough to wield swords," Archer responds.

Members of the Emiya family were universally troublesome.

"Trace..," was the voice of the child on the ground.

Before Saber could swing her sword, Archer had already thrown his. Saber blocks the thrown sword easily, but this was just a distraction as a wall of swords appears in front of her, obscuring her vision.

"—burst."

Saber backpedals before she gets sword shrapnel in the face. As the dust settles, she sees Archer standing between her and the child who wielded his power who had just gotten back onto her feet.

"—On."

The Heroic Spirit and child did not need to exchange glances; both eyes were trained on the sight they could not accept. Saber was tired of seeing in black and white.

"One of my arms isn't in great condition, so I'm counting on you to cover me with the bow, Yumi."

"—Miyu. My name is Miyu."