Chapter 2

"A Symphony of Strange Swords (Saber)" + "A Familiar, World-Weary Tune (Archer)"

Archer silently sighedto himself.

Once Rin had decided for them to save Emiya Shirou yet again at the Emiya estate, Archer had an inkling of how things would go down, based on his own very hazy recollections of the events of his own Holy Grail War.

If he recalled correctly, then this would be about where he had summoned Saber and she had fended off Lancer, and then headed out to fend off Rin (and Archer).

(It was actually rather strange for Archer to consider that he was now the "Archer" of the war from his own memories, but that was just how things were always meant to turn out, he supposed.)

Naturally then, knowing what was about to happen as they approached, Archer tensed slightly, in preparation to face off against Saber (Artoria).

'Archer! Prepare yourself!' Rin cautioned, 'The enemy's approaching!'

'I know,' Archer replied, 'I can sense them, too.'

But, what Archer actually saw instead stunned him even more than witnessing Artoria's regal beauty again would.

He saw himself.

No, more accurately, he saw Emiya Shirou before him.

An older Emiya Shirou, one that seemed to almost mirror him in stature and appearance. His hair was also parted backwards, much like Archer's own, though his skin was neither tanned, nor his hair whitened from the heavy stress of constant overuse of mana, as own body Archer's had been.

But most glaringly of all, his attire was completely different.

Instead of donning anything like Archer's own black armor and flowing red mantle of Holy Shroud, this version of Emiya Shirou was donned in flowing blue and golden cloth, and overlaying silver armor that looked almost like Artoria's own armour, though modified and slightly enlargened to fit his own physique, rather than Artoria's.

And most glaringly of all, that sword that he gripped in his hands...

Taking advantage of Archer's stunned hesitation, Saber took a quick downward swipe at Archer, cutting through his armor and lightly grazing across his torso.

"Guh!"

Rin had been stunned, too, but quickly snapped out of it upon seeing her Servant get woubded. Instinctively, she was about to order for Archer to dematerialize, but Archer could sense her intent and interjected.

'Wait, Rin! I'm not that badly wounded! Just lightly scratched!'

His message got through apparently, as Rin held her tongue, lightly gripping the wrist of command seal hand with her other hand to stop herself from making a now useless motion.

Archer had jumped back the instant he had been cut, slightly wounded, but not nearly to the extent that he expected to be.

Now focused, though still slightly bewildered, he glowered at his opponent.

"It's been a while, Archer, Tohsaka." Saber greeted casually, one hand lifted and waving at them, though his eyes never left Archer.

"E-Emiya-kun?!"

Tohsaka Rin really didn't know what to make of the situation.

Her own expectations had been completely flipped on her head. She had expected that they would be heading over to face Lancer and save Emiya Shirou.

But now, all of sudden, a Saber, who looked and sounded just like an older Emiya-kun (and incidentally, she noted, suspiciously like her own Servant, Archer), had appeared out of nowhere to intercept them. The implications were not lost on her, even if she couldn't confirm her suspicions or hypothesises at the moment.

Archer scowled, his thoughts and plans also suddenly thrown into disarray by the sudden appearance of a completely unexpected Servant.

There were many things Archer wanted to ask, but the first thing that came to mind was...

"That sword," Archer asked, "Why do you have that sword...?!"

"What, this?" Saber asked. Glancing down at Excalibur and looking at it fondly, Saber continued, "It was a gift, from my wife."

"Wife...?" Archer took a bit to process that, and looked on at Saber in stunned disbelief.

Seeing the confusion on Archer's face, he decided to tease Archer a little, "It's just a replica, though." He taunted playfully.

Archer's scowl intensified. The bastard was mocking him.

Archer had glanced over at the sword as he had first been struck by it and even now, he was looking over the blade, scrutinizing it and analyzing it completely. Every material it was composed of, every step of its construction, and every experience accumulated within it.

But no matter how much Archer had scrutinized it, there were no signs of replication.

Or rather, if it was a replica, then it was so well-replicated that it was completely indistinguishable from the real thing, down to every last detail.

From its concept of creation down to every last memory, record of experiences, and process of manufacturing. Even the Fairy Letters inscribed upon it were inscribed in the exact same pattern.

And it certainly was not some cheap, half-baked, low-power imitation like Archer's own "Excalibur Image", (which even Archer could only ever forge and use under ideal conditions).

But there was no way to replicate Divine Constructs like Excalibur so perfectly, no matter what sort "Unlimited Blade Works" or other Noble Phantasm or crystallized legend he had. It was impossible, no matter what methods were used. There was no way to perfectly replicate that which had been willed into existence and forged by fae, deep within the World itself.

No, there was no denying that the sword in front of him was the real thing.

It was the genuine fae-crafted and light-crowned Golden "Sword of Promised Victory", forged of fallen warriors' hopes and dreams. It was the only true sword of embodied glory that existed. A perfectly unique, inimitable sword.

It was a completely perfect Excalibur, with no deviations in form or power. An Excalibur that could not possibly be a mere replica.

It was undeniable, then, that the sword Saber had gripped in his hand was none other than the real Excalibur itself.

Saber, seeing that his taunt was working from the annoyed expression on Archer's face, continued to taunt him further.

"You know, I've always to kick your ass, Archer. For being such an arrogant jerk during my own Holy Grail War."

"...Well, is that so?"

Archer composed himself, now putting on a (fake) cocky grin to match Saber's own (genuine) cocky grin.

Well, it's not like Archer couldn't understand the sentiment.

As someone who had once been Emiya Shirou himself, he too could never get along with the Archer of his war, the Servant who had always demeaned his ideals. It wasn't until he had become a Counter Guardian himself that he had understood the truth and wisdom of Archer's words. Wisdom accumulated over countless years of shattered dreams and broken ideals.

"Yeah." Saber said, "And now that I have the chance, I'll make sure to savour it!"

And like that, he dashed in, closing the distance.

He didn't charge forward with a burst of mana as Artoria would've though, Archer noted. Was he incapable of using that skill?

As Saber swung, Archer parried.

Each of Saber's sword swings, even his light ones, had quite a bit of weight behind them.

Though even still, it wasn't anything Archer couldn't easily parry of deflect.

Saber was neither as fast or as strong as Archer knew Artoria to be. At most, his physical parameters were on par with Archer's own.

Certainly, that wasn't to say Saber was weak though, by any means.

After all, each heavy swing of Excalibur that Saber executed still had enough force to disarm one of Archer's hands hands, sending the shards of a broken Kanshou or Byakuya flying. And even with his lighter swings, even just one would be enough to crack one of the Archer's swords, and another follow up or two was enough to break them completely.

They exchanged many blows in an instant.

For a while, they remained about evenly matched, though as Saber had a genuine holy sword of the World, and was clashing against Archer's mass-produced and degraded swords forged from human hands, Archer had a clear disadvantage of in terms of weapons.

The fact that he needed to trace them again and again also had had him at a slight disadvantage, in terms of prana usage.

If things continued this way, Saber would soon gain the upper hand.

And as Archer continued to clash against Saber though, he couldn't help but admire that Saber's fighting style was incredibly similar to Artoria's.

Like a mirror, even.

Saber, naturally, had to adjust for his own stature and center of gravity, not having the advantage of Saber's smaller and swifter frame. And his movements weren't quite as sharp and as efficient as Artoria's were, though they were certainly very close.

After a quick exchange of over over a hundred swings and many replaced pairs, Archer decided to step back and make it into more of a long range exchange, as befitting his class.

Interestingly, Saber didn't chase, seemingly content to fight Archer on Archer's own terms.

For the moment, at least.

"Trace, on!" "Trace, on!"

"Trigger, OFF!" "Trigger, OFF!"

In an instant, dozens of Noble Phantasms materialized behind Archer's and Saber's back.

...There was a tense silence.

And then, all of them shot off like shooting stars, cutting through the silence of the night.

It was a Broken Phantasm exchange volley, sword for sword, arrow for arrow.

Strangely, Saber didn't seem to counter any lances with the same lance, instead opting to use swords of a similar rank.

A restriction of his class, from being summoned as a Saber, maybe?

Archer and Saber had both chosen only the weaker and less flashy Noble Phantasm (ones that were originally of C-rank or lower), to limit property damage and avoid gathering attention, both even altering their Noble Phantasms to limit their range and destructiveness (though focusing their power to a smaller range did slightly increase their strength).

Saber's broken phantasms were surprisingly fragile, though. Strangely enough, Saber also seemed to only reproduce Celtic and Anglo-based swords and arrows. They were somewhat weaker than Archer's in terms of structural strength and durability, even though they were also otherwise perfect reproductions, and if classified, they would probably be about one rank below Archer's.

Archer noticed this, but it didn't quite make sense to him.

Even when he had discovered the ability as a teenager, Unlimited Blade Works was always able to reproduce weapons at only 1 rank below the original. So why would Saber's projections be 2 ranks lower?

Archer didn't have time to ponder or speculate though, as Saber charged in.

Saber's broken phantasms weren't as powerful as Archer's and they weren't powerful enough to mutually destroy Archer's Broken Phantasms when they collided, but they were powerful enough to divert Archer's broken phantasms off course.

And that was more than enough to create an opening for Saber to weave through the rest of Archer's volley and charge in, not even bothering to counter the rest of Archer's Broken Phantasm fire at close range, instead opting to skillfully dodge and sidestep them instead as he weaved inwards to close the distance.

Saber, for once, actually seems to get serious.

All of a sudden, he let an incredible burst of killing intent at the same time as he closed the distance with a sudden mana burst, aiming a heavy downward slash before Archer could properly react!

Archer, caught off guard by the sudden mana burst and change in demeanor, instinctively blocked with both swords, by instinct.

'Shit! An amateur mistake! I should've dodged instead, or jumped back to reduce the impact!'

Accidently leaving himself open, he knew that if Saber kicked him in the gut right now, he wouldn't be able to block, and would get sent flying back and crashing into Rin.

During which time, Saber could easily finish him off by firing off a Noble Phantasm or two to pierce through Archer.

Instead, Saber smirked.

In one swift motion, he let go of Excalibur,

And rushed past Archer's side.

The blocked Excalibur dematerialized as Archer was distracted, 'Is he going after Rin?!'

Archer never would have expected another version of Emiya Shirou to do such a thing, no matter how far they fell!

But instead, Archer's expectations were off yet again.

As Archer quickly turned around, he found Excalibur pointed as his throat.

"Checkmate, Archer."

'What?! Being able to replicate Excalibur wasn't a bluff?!'

Archer jumped back, but Saber didn't bother to pursue.

'No, it was a bluff, after all! The bastard tricked me!' Archer deduced, clearheadedly. 'He doesn't have the ability to replicate Excalibur, but the ability to dematerialize it and summon it back into his hands! His line about it being a replica was a fake-out!'

But more importantly...

Archer scowled, again.

"You were going easy on me, weren't you?"

Archer stated it as more of a fact than a question.

At first, Archer had just thought that it was just either softness or maybe a lack of skill, that Saber hadn't finished him off in the first strike while Archer was distracted.

But that was clearly not the case.

After all, with his mana burst just now, he could've stabbed Archer through with Excalibur, instead of opting for a downwards slash and then another bluff.

"You finally noticed?" Saber mocked.

Archer scowled.

"Why?"

"That should be obvious, shouldn't it?"

Archer was confused for a moment, before he realize what Saber was talking about.

"Ah."

That's right, he had been so shocked by Saber's unexpected appearance and had gotten so caught up in their brief skirmish that he had forgotten.

But should be about where -

Emiya Shirou came rushing in.

He had waited for a little while out of consideration for Saber's words, but his concern soon overwhelmed him, especially as he heard the sound of swords clashing.

"Saber, wait!"

...But no command spell was used, because Saber was already waiting.

And Shirou could see that, so the way he had phrased it wasn't exactly a desperate command (as it would be in more desperate situations), but it was instead phrased as more of a request.

'Ah, that's clever.' Archer noted, 'By timing it so well, he saves the boy a command spell.'

Panting for breathe, Shirou finally seemed to notice the girl standing on the other side of the street.

"Tohsaka?!"

Tohsaka, meanwhile, had composed herself during the course of the battle and had some idea of what was going on, though she didn't have any confirmation yet.

And the idea she had was so unbelievable that even she herself wasn't sure if that could actually be the case.

But, there was undeniably a connection between her Archer and (presumably) Shirou's Saber.

And to Shirou himself.

It wasn't just the appearance (and the Servant's similar cocky attitude), but even the similar use of activation lines, and the exact same type of magecraft.

'Archer,' Tohsaka threatened telepathically, 'You have some serious explaining to do once this is all over!'

'...' Archer grunted his acknowledgement, telepathically.

But first, she had to greet Emiya-kun.

"Well, for starters; Greetings to you, Emiya-kun."

"A Symphony of Strange Swords (Saber)" + "A Familiar, World-Weary Tune (Archer)"

END

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Author's Notes:

A clever bluff Saber's part, eh? Saber playing mind games. Proof of Emiya Shirou having gained enough experience in life, I guess.

Next up is short interlude (Saber and Archer talking in the yard, Saber explaining his past and background to Archer while Rin complains about Shirou's general incompetency as a magus in the background lol).

After that will be Saber's (incomplete) Servant Profile.

And after that will be Berserker's chapter.

I think it's pretty good, or at least that's not bad, so stay tuned and look forward to it!

If you liked this chapter, feel free to comment your thoughts, opinions, if you thought it was good, etc. (Was it good? I thought it was pretty good, but I'm the one writing it, so I can't really tell lol.)

(Personally, I like Berserker's chapter better, though.)

If you liked it, feel free to comment, favorite, follow, and share it with your friends. Thanks.