Prelude:
Unlike other chapters, there's only 1 song:
EMIYA.
Play it on loop from the beginning of the chapter, or when the fight starts. That's all.
The Lost (Last) Chapter, The Encore
The Lost Hymns,
Now Unearthed and Rediscovered
The Composer's Attacking Key Signature: Verismo Variation Virtuoso
Though Shirou had made his way to the temple, he found his way forwards blocked by a very arrogant looking blond man, clad in golden armour.
For some reason, Shirou didn't quite like the man, though in a different way from Archer. There something in the air about him that just radiated and oozed a natural type of arrogance and condescension.
Shirou got the feeling that the man didn't like him much, either - though probably not just him, but other people in general. And that he wouldn't move without a fight.
"Move."
For once, Shirou didn't have the proper politeness in his voice, nor the urge to be.
"Hmph," The man scoffed, "A mere mongrel like you dares to order me around?"
Shirou only glared in reply.
There was tense silence...
...Before the blonde man broke out in laughter. He seemed to be in a good mood, despite (or rather, perhaps even because of) what had happened to his Master.
"Very well. It's finally gotten interesting, after all! Then, let's see if you can make me, you damn worm! Do your best to entertain me!"
The blonde man looked as if he were waiting for Shirou to make the first move. As though he were confident that no matter what Shirou did first, he would be able to crush him easily.
Shirou knew better than to be baited, though. Saber had warned him about this Servant, the one clad in golden armour - Gilgamesh. So rather than moving from where he was, Shirou stayed in place. Shirou had already prepared his own aria, too, having recited it within his mind as he had approached the entrance of the temple, in preparation exactly for something like this - a Servant or other obstacle that would block his way to the main stage.
Gilgamesh looked on amused, giving Shirou the opportunity he needed to start his Reality Marble.
...
Shirou began.
...
"I am the bone of my sword"
Shirou finally understand in full what Saber meant about drawing out blades from his inner world.
(My body is made of possibilities)
He was not just one who created a path to victory, but one who created many paths, through his numerous weapons.
"Iron is my Body, Steel is my Blood"
(My heart is a mirror, made of glass)
His mental trigger: Stabbing through his own heart, with multiple swords, Excalibur as the first sword through the center of his heart.
"I can Create over Ten-Thousand Blades, without limit"
(Countless battlefields, crossed by Countless Emiya Shirous)
"Unknown to hope, nor known to despair"
(Never once doubting, Never once looking back)
Now, he was no longer lost nor limited in the fog and steam of his own ideals.
"Have understood potential to create many blades,"
(Atop the new hill, overlooking the endless new horizon)
"Thus, these hands seek out new Salvation,"
(Thus, there were endless paths)
"So, As I create,"
"Unlimited Chross-blade Works: The Infinite (Heavenly) Creation of Fated Swords (Possibilities)"
...
What appeared before the two warriors was not a barren wasteland, nor a graveyard of swords, amidst a lifeless forge, like Archer's.
Instead, what stood there was nothing more stood a sunny grassland, teeming with new life and new possibility.
There layth there not swords, nor graves. But what laid there was nothing more or less than possibilities, each and every single one, in his new world.
In the center of his new world was a Giant Sword, or rather - something that appeared like it. But, besides just being a sword, it appeared almost like a three dimensional Chross, instead.
But to that Chross were there connected 6 bubbles to each point, each an internal world of its own.
At the moment, there were only 7 Worlds, but the more he expanded his own world, the more possibilities he could connect with.
It was not a world of infinite swords...
But rather...
A world of infinite possibilities, each possibility in and of itself containing an infinite number of swords within itself.
In other words,
An infinity of infinities.
That was the current True Form of Emiya Shirou's Reality Marble.
The connection (crossing) of all of Emiya Shirou's possibilities, his manifested Chross-roads.
Perhaps, as he grew older, and changed through his experiences, his world might end up collapsing and becoming one or the other worlds. But for now, Emiya Shirou truly embodied the idea of the "limitless potential".
Lies, Propaganda, and Untruths - All sorts of meaningless ideals will all eventually crumble before Reality, before the truth, no matter how hard you try and struggle to preserve them.
That's why, rather than a meaningless ideal, he strove to live towards a meaningful one.
No longer just a faker, but an Idealist. No longer an "Ally of Justice", but one that had cast off his old copied ideals and strove towards new ones.
Not one who saved everyone, but one who saved those he could, and didn't look back on those he couldn't save.
A somewhat selfish hero, even, to his very core.
But that was fine.
He was no longer just a hero chasing after mimicked ideals, or impossible heights.
That's right, Emiya Shirou was now...
A "New Hero" (新英勇)
A "True Hero" (真英勇)
A "Sincere Hero" (信英勇), to his very core, no matter what sort of Fate he went through.
That was a Form of a Hero that no one could deny, not even himself.
One that Gilgamesh had absolutely no dominion over.
That was Emiya Shirou.
That was Saber.
That was Archer.
That was Rider, and Caster, and Berserker, and Assassin.
And,
That was Emiya Shirou.
The Chross, which connected together all his forms and possibilities.
That was Emiya Shirou's true form:
The Inherited Crossing of Differing Roads (Routes).
The Attacking Key-Signature.
The Uniting Chross-King of Infinite Blades (Possibilities).
That was Emiya Shirou.
The 6 Reality Marbles floating in the distance, one giant image of Excalibur in the center, overlaying the cross, uniting them as their place of rest as the 7th World, the Chross the banded and united (crossed) them together.
It was a 3 Dimensional, 6-Sided Cross.
The Heights of Love he could reach as Saber, at the very top.
The Liberation and Rest he could find in breaking ideals as Berserker, to the right,
The potential of where he could go as Caster, to the front.
Emiya Shirou, serving as the the connection point at the center
The origins of where he came from as Rider, at the back,
His Enslavement and Work in following ideals to their end as Archer, to the left,
The Disgusting Self-Loathing he could reach as Assassin, at the very bottom.
...
Emiya Shirou was the connection at the center of the many branching roads and paths, the Very Key Signature that united them all in him.
...
Shirou looked Gilgamesh straight in the eye.
And smirked.
"Do you have enough stolen Swords (possibilities) in stock, King of Heroes?"
Gilgamesh scowled.
"More than enough for you, faker!"
And like that, Gilgamesh fired off a massive barrage of swords at an incredible pace, like a literal shower of swords.
Paying no heed to that, Emiya Shirou rushed in recklessly, headfirst.
"Then, let's see if you keep up with me, all of me! King of Heroes!"
...
...
Emiya Shirou was...
...Not nearly as skillful as Saber
...Not nearly as experienced as Archer
...Not nearly as wise as Caster
...Not nearly as upfront as Rider
...Not nearly as determined as Berserker
...Not nearly as ruthless as Assassin
And he wouldn't be able to make nearly effective use of their Reality Marbles as they, their proper owners, their proper possibilities would.
But, even if that was true,
Even so, Emiya Shirou would make use of everything they had, for the purpose of defeating the enemy right in front of him.
Visualizing, chasing, surpassing his own images at their very best.
And that's why,
He would make good use of all of them!
...
As Shirou charged recklessly in, he matched Gilgamesh, sword for sword, barrage for barrage. There was no sword Shirou could not copy or draw upon from one his connected worlds to match one of Gilgamesh's, as he charged forward.
"Gh!"
Some of Gilgamesh's swords would scratch him up at various places - his cheek, his neck, his shoulder, his thigh. But even then, they barely slowed him down. And for every injury inflicted upon him, it would heal heal up just as quickly - the sheath for his sword patching up his injuries and open wounds.
...
Gilgamesh just watched in amusement as the boy rushed fruitlessly forward, unimpressed. If this was the best the boy had to offer, then there really wasn't much to him, just like all the other humans of this era.
But, slowly, but surely he started to notice something strange. It was almost as though the pressure from the boy's sword stream was increasing and actually starting to push his own treasury! It was only by a little bit, but even that much was unacceptable!
It was ridiculous, in fact, that the boy was actually pushing back his waves of original swords with only mimicries.
Even if they were near perfect and almost indistinguishable mimicries, there was no way that mere mimicries should ever be able to overcome the originals!
He wouldn't allow it!
...
Indeed, Shirou had caught Gilgamesh slightly off guard, having subtly switched over from using Archer's Reality Marble to Caster's - as the swords starting increasing in quality and speed of production.
But as Gilgamesh focused his attention on firing off more even swords to offset Shirou's increased number of sword and sword-firing speed. Arrows of flame and smoke came shooting at his head, from an entirely different direction!
"Hmph! A petty trick!" He commented, unharmed, having caught the arrows with his bare-hands.
But, the arrows served their purpose.
They may have only been a meager distraction, but that was just enough. Even just a meager distraction for a split-second, was enough for Shirou to take advantage of.
Meanwhile, mixed in to his new sword stream were new broken phantasms. Ones that Emiya Shirou didn't have to time or focus on or to alter himself, but ones that were drawn from Berserker's own world.
Not expecting the sudden change, multiple broken phantasms hit Gilgamesh head on, detonating immediately on impact.
"Gah!"
There was a tense silence as Shirou stood there, at a safe enough distance away to come away unwounded by his own explosive weapons. He didn't let up on his stream of swords, but found himself pushed back by an explosive surge of swords, as the smoke cleared, and Gilgamesh emerged.
His body mostly undamaged, but the armor around his right arm broken, and some small disfigurations to his head - the right part of his hair having been singed and no longer able to maintain their spiky edge, but instead hanging down loosely, and a small scratch letting out blood on his forehead.
Now, Gilgamesh was pissed.
"You damn mongrel!" He snarled.
Shirou, as if in direct response, fired off weapons with intense killing intent, homing in on him, while Gilgamesh counters his own hostile weapons, the ones imbued with the strongest killing intent on his side of his armory.
Maybe using some defensive tools would've been more useful in this situation, butin his rage, he had neither the time nor the intent to use any of them - and it wasn't as if the boy in front of him gave him any time to think or focus, either, with as much concentrated killing intend was focused in on him by the barrage of killing swords.
Unknowingly, Shirou closed in on him, clashing blades with him as Gilgamesh grunted, blocking with a random blade drawn from his armory.
Reinforcing his whole body to its upmost limit, Shirou managed to force an off-guard Gilgamesh to guard against his blade, Nisexcalibur, forcing him to slide slightly backwards.
And for once since his summoning, no, maybe for once even in his entire life (besides his matches with Enkidu, which he didn't count), Gilgamesh found himself to be the one on the backfoot, being forced back.
"You call me a faker, but you can't fight without relying on other peoples weapons, huh?!" Shirou taunted.
Gilgamesh scowled.
"A mongrel like you...! To think you would force me this far...! And that you would dare mock me!"
Shirou's smirk widened, "And I'm not done yet!"
And in the next instant, the world turned white, as the sword in Shirou's hand detonated, exploding with tremendous force and blowing both parties far away.
"What?!" Gilgamesh didn't expect such suicidal strategy.
But it worked, blowing off the rest of his armour and severely wounding and bloodying the part of his Servant body that hadn't been covered in armor.
"Heh..."
Amused, he gazed over at the boy in the distance.
The boy seemed to be injured even worse than he was, yet something seemed to be healing him up and patching up his severe wounds into far more minor ones, including the regrowth of new skin and flesh and bone where he had recklessly blown up parts of his own arms and part of his upper face.
Shirou complains of pain.
"Ouch! Shit! That really hurt!"
It wasn't normally in Emiya Shirou's nature to curse, but in this case, the pain was so intense that even a pure-hearted person like find it very difficult not to curse.
Shirou grinned, but it was worth it.
Gilgamesh was clearly on his last legs, barring any healing items. Healing items that, if Saber had estimated correctly, Gilgamesh wouldn't use at any cost, out of sheer out pride.
Gilgamesh laughed, amusedly.
He composed himself.
"Very well..."
Pulling out Ea, he grinned.
To think that there was someone in this era who could push him to this extent, even if he was severly limited by his summoning and container.
Maybe he had been too quick to judge this era.
Maybe there were a few, even if only a few, worthy humans here, after all.
To make even the king of heroes consider revaluating his opinion.
Certainly, he was a faker, but...
But at least, he was an opponent worthy of a small modicum of respect, however weak the boy may have been.
Well, perhaps it was too soon to say that much decisively. The real test of if the boy was worth was...
Gilgamesh grinned as he reached into the deepest part of his armory, reaching out foor his most prized "sword". If nothing else, the boy had at least earned enough of his respect to witness a fraction of his true glory.
"Let's see if you can handle this, you damn faker...!"
Shirou, having a sense of what was coming, focused all his attention.
Instinctually, he pulled on his vision of a perfect blade.
A blade far more perfect and far more powerful than he could ever handle - even at his limits - a blade he could only weild because of his connection to Saber, and to Avalon Blade Works.
Shirou also grinned, wielding now, in his hands, the Perfect Excalibur, motes of light glowing golden, forcing his hair up from the sheer force of the mana circling around it, as it materialized into his palms.
"Right back at you, you damn thief!"
They both grinned, wildly.
Their eyes locked on to each other.
...
In a certain tower, in a certain garden
A certain half-incubus wizard couldn't help but sense a certain something, a strange sort of interference with Avalon Blades Works by someone similar - and yet not quite the same as the boy he knew.
The wizard whistled as he watched the ongoing conflict, unperturbed, but not completely uninvolved, either.
By the wizard's estimate, even if Artoria was at full-strength, even she couldn't match Ea with a sealed Excalibur.
It would take, perhaps, 6? No, 7, of Excalibur's seals?
If it was that much, then that should be enough to match a held-back Ea.
Well...
The again, this boy wasn't quite at the same level as his King, or as her lover, his older self - but was much more inexperience and lacking.
Hmmm, well, maybe 8 or 9 would be best, for good measure. And maybe a little bit of support so he wouldn't he wouldn't end up killing himself from the heat and recoil (lol).
"Well, this is the most I can do for you, to not hold you back. The rest is entirely up to you!"
The half-incubus wizard grinned.
"Good luck, young man!"
...
Gilgamesh smirked, "Ready for this, mongrel? Hope you don't disappoint!"
"Bring it on!"
"Excellent Response!"
The two battle-maniacs grinned at each other.
Ea twirled excitedly.
"Come, EA!"
Drawing mana in huge amounts from Avalon blade works to power Excalibur, glowing like the radiance of a golden sun.
"GO, EXCALIBUR!"
The impact of the two blades created an immense pressure, and the sheer heat and friction of their collision was slowly breaking down Shirou's own Reality Marble from the inside, especially from the effect of Ea's blade.
As the force of the two blades collided, EA quickly started to overwhelm the rest of Excalibur's blast.
But,
Shirou was no longer there.
Instead, he emerged from Gilgamesh's blind side, using all the rest of his strength to slash his way across Gilgamesh's chest, literally slashing off the top portion of his torso.
Both exhausted, Gilgamesh was the first to collapse, Shirou almost falling over immediately afterwards, but holding himself up on the handle and hilt of the sword.
"...Not bad." Gilgamesh commented.
Shirou chuckled, "You, too."
Gilgamesh smirked, and started fading away.
Shirou let out a deep sigh. He didn't think he would be able to make it the rest of the way, the battle had literally used up all his strength. He couldn't even muster up enough power to get his legs to stand up straight.
The rest, to defeat Kotomine and destroy the corrupted Grail, he would have to leave up to up to Saber.
Completely worn out, Shirou fainted.
...
...
...
...
...
...
Author's notes:
Basically, even though he's been optimized for two weeks after Saber's training, he's still not as good as any other Shirou (besides the useless Rider lmao)
In other words,
Get good, scrub. (lol)
...
In all seriousness, though...
He did pretty good, though, yeah?
...
So, how was it?
Still enjoyed it, even after the climax, right?
So, any of you people GAR for Shirou, now? lmao
...
EDIT:
I legit wrote the outline for this like a year and a half ago when I was still on a maniac high so I legit have no idea if it's good or not, but here you go, lmao.
The Holy Shirou War is pretty much finished at this point, but next up is the Author's Notes and bonus stuff, so stay tuned.
...
About EA vs Excalibur
...
Excalibur VS Ea (Comparison)
If Excalibur's power seems to be too much for any readers, please re-reference the original visual novel, where Ea managed to be blocked by both Avalon, and where it managed to be help back for a moment by a (Sealed) Excalibur Blast from a weakened Saber, in the Fate route.
I mean, you could argue that the whole Excalibur-seal thing is only a retro-continuity thing. And yeah that wouldn't really be wrong, necessarily.
But given how Type-Moon like to integrate the old into the new, they would likely say that yes, Excalibur was sealed (in addition to being wielded by a weakened Saber) at that point.
Plus, even if the Excalibur-Seal thing wasn't applied to Artoria's Excalibur at that time, keep in mind that idea of the restrictions existed before Artoria in the proto-type, so it's technically not even a retroactive-continuity thing, and the writers might've even had it in mind even writing the Fate route.
Seriously, Gilgamesh and Ea are hyped up to ridiculous levels by fans, and yes, they are certainly extremely powerful and game-breaking.
But they aren't the absolute pinnacle of power that fans like to hype them up to be.
And given how Gilgamesh was always an antagonist (even in the prototype) and King Arthur (both proto-type and Artoria) were always meant to be the protagonists, combined with the fact that the seals on Excalibur existed as an idea before the Fate Route was written, I wouldn't doubt it all if The Fully Unleashed Excalibur was always meant to be somewhat more powerful, or maybe even way more powerful, than Ea.
I mean, even in Fate/Grand Order, it was revealed that Excalibur was a sword forged by the primordial fairies to stop an alien invader from wiping out all light on Earth, and was literally created by and within the World Itself, whereas Ea was meant simply to tear apart The Layers of the World to reveal its true physical nature.
So, in the first place, their functions are different, and Ea has an inherently broken "function" and "ability", but it doesn't have the same type of raw "power" in the traditional sense (fitting, given that it's not exactly a tradition sword, either - but instead some weird spiral-sword-thing).
Meanwhile, Excalibur is a sword which can contain and use ridiculous amounts of "power" if it's unsealed, and while it doesn't the inherently broken "function" of Ea, it can channel a lot more traditional "power", to the point where it can do the same thing Ea does naturally, as a side effect of the overwhelming amount of power Excalibur uses (fitting, given that Excalibur is essentially the ideal of all swords, even the ideal of all Holy Swords).
It's like the difference between using a laser cutter (Ea) and an extremely white-hot knife (Unsealed Excalibur) to cut through iron (Layers of The World), I guess, by analogy.
They both accomplish the same function of "cutting" through, but the laser-cutter does it by virtue of being specialized for cutting (Ea is specialized for tearing through The World's Layers), where as the white-hot knife (Excalibur) cuts through the iron (The Layers of The World) as a side-effect by virtue of being extremely hot (powerful).
At least, that's from what I understand of it.
I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. If I am, then, I'll probably just go back and edit the references to Ea out, but I actually don't think I'm wrong on this. I'm pretty sure this is actually the correct canonical understanding of how it works.
(To be fair; Fate/Grand Order and Type-Moon could literally retcon this at any time, though, so it might not even be correct a few years from now even if it is now. And if that happens, like I said, I'll just edit the references out.)
...