Prelude
Go to my profile page for musical references and cues to enhance the experience.
Alright, with that having been said, please enjoy the chapter...
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I should also explain here that some of the descriptions below might be a bit exaggerated, mostly for the sake of wordplay with Japanese idioms. It'll be explained more in the author's notes.
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Anyways, please enjoy.
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Chapter 16
"A Divine Liturgy" ("? Blade Works"): An Ode to GOD
The Father's Committed Hymns (Alto Affettuoso e Amorevole del Artoria)
A Elegy (Eulogy), For The Priest Lost in Darkness
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The Day had fallen, and Night had arisen.
And now, the Dreaded Hour of Midnight was upon them.
...
Saber had reached Ryuudou temple, and he could feel the ominous presence of the quickly growing Evil from within the deepest depths cavern.
"Damnit! How did I I even let things get to this point...?!"
Saber was regretful. It was undoubtedly his mistake in letting things reach this point in the first place.
If only he had gotten rid of Kotomine first from the start, instead of letting the war progress so far, then maybe things could've turned out differently. It was his mistake, having wanted to let Shirou grow as a Master and magus to realize his own shortcomings first.
In part, perhaps it was because he had grown lax from the time he had spent in Avalon and had mostly forgotten the events of his own Holy Grail War (which what was from his own perspective, already hundreds of years ago). Though, the fact that nothing had happened for a large part of the war, and that most of the other servants seemed to be other versions of Emiya Shirou also certainly played a part, as well.
Saber made to head into the cave, only to be stopped by a tanned hand.
When he looked up at the hand's owner, he almost mistook it for his own Master, who had somehow gotten here before him, even though that should've have benn impossible. But tracing the hand back to its origin, it wasn't his younger self, per-say, but what looked to be a tanned version of his younger self, with pale orange hair. Another servant, maybe.
Saber remained on guard.
"Don't worry," The other voice assured, "I'm here to help."
Saber relaxed a bit, but even then still kept it his guard. It could be a trap, after all.
"Saber, I'm guessing?" The other Shirou spoke.
Saber nodded.
"Good." The other Servant replied, "I'm Caster. Or I suppose you can also call me Emiya or Tohsaka-san, as well, though that might be a bit confusing for you. Nice to meet you."
Saber nodded again, but cut to the chase. "I would ask about your life, but we don't have time for pleasantries. You can sense that from here, too, right? We need to take care of that thing as soon as possible!"
Besides, though he didn't know the other Shirou's circumstances, he could probably venture some kind of at least semi-accurate guess of Caster's life, going by his last name.
"Yeah." Caster agreed, "But we shouldn't step in recklessly, or we might risk getting devoured, too. You have a plan?" He asked.
"No, but..."
Caster suppressed a chuckle, "Well, as reckless as ever, I see. Glad to see we're both still the same in that regard, even in other timelines."
"Actually, I do have a trump card, but it's pretty risky to use."
"Yeah?" Caster inquired, "Tell me more about it."
...
The two of them discussed the battle plan for a short while, and as a side-remark, Caster happened to mention having children, which explained the strangely unique air of maturity about him even compared to Saber, despite the fact that the both of them had similarly died as old men.
Finishing up their strategy meeting, Caster nodded.
"Really?" Caster said, "Well, if that's the case, then I should be be able to help with that. Yeah, if it's that much, then I should be able to do something about it."
"Thanks!" Saber nodded as well, "Right. Then let's go!"
Saber rushed ahead, and Caster followed.
...
The two of them arrived to the innards of the temple's caverns.
Bur before them them stood a great and ominous black mass, that even before their eyes, was still swelling grotesquely and solidifying its form.
The Monster cried out with a horrible screeching, and it was as if Heaven and Earth itself were Roaring.
Before them stood a Newborn Beast of Humanity, The great beast, the fully realized Beast of Retribution.
Kotomine Kirei, or rather, his eerily still grinning corpse, stood acting as its core in the center of it all.
Saber looked on regretfully.
It really his mistake, letting things get so far.
Apparently (according to Caster), it had been Assassin and his Master, Sakura' and Shinji's grandfather, that had led the situation to where it was now. And he never would've expected another version of Emiya Shirou nor the Matou family grandfather would have committed such sinister deed. He never even recalled seeingSakura's grandfather in his own war!
But he shook his head.
There was no point on dwelling on it now.
Moving forward was the only path to victory.
'Shirou,' Saber called out to him telepathically, as Shirou still was hurrying over to Ryuudou temple, 'I'll need your help.'
'Right!' Shirou replied, in between gasps, 'What do you need me to do?'
'It's simple, Master.' Saber replied, calmly, 'Just use your command spells to support me. Command me, three times, to win!'
'Right!'
Shirou complied, ordering Saber,
"By my authority as a Master, I command you:"
"Win!"
"WIN!"
"WIN!""
Saber smiled.
"Yes! My Master!"
The command spells glowed and vanished, filling Saber with immense amounts of mana and power.
Command spells were, by nature, incredibly powerful tools.
But when the commands were too vague or unspecific, or when the intention of the Master and the Servant were ill-aligned, they wouldn't have much of an effect.
But, in that moment -
Shirou's and Saber's will were perfectly aligned.
Saber, too, had a clear image of what he intended to do with that power, and of his own victory.
The Command Spells took effect, to immense advantage - with an even higher conduit efficiency than normal, the resonant effect of the two also having the same origin as "Emiya Shirou".
All three Command Spells went off at once, at slightly beyond full potential, each of the command spells individually filling Saber with immense magical power.
Normally, Saber, even as a Servant, wouldn't be able to handle even half; no, not even one-tenth of the mana of a fully-empowered command spell, and most of it would spill out of his vessel as excess mana.
However, this time, Saber wasn't using the energy for himself.
Instead, he was channeling and funneling all that energy into his Internal World, expanding it beyond its natural limits, and reinforcing its stability to an insan degree.
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Elsewhere, Archer could feel the call of Alaya, as a Counter Guardian.
The situation had apparently gotten so bad that a newborn Beast of Humanity would soon be born from the Grail's mud. It had fed not only upon three compatible vessels, but even moreso, on Kotomine Kirei's distorted desires, giving it shape and form and purpose.
All of the factors combined, channeling the Beast's immense pool of negativity and despair into an immensely destructive direction.
It was something Archer never would've imagined would've happened. All he remembered from his own war, so long ago now, was Saber (Artoria) destroying the grail before it ever could've amounted to anything of this magnitude.
Archer clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He had to make sure to get this Saber (and his younger self) to safety, while he and any fellow back-up Counter-Guardians, empowered by the World, would take care of the rest.
Archer was still approaching the scene from a distance off, but as he approached the entrance of cavern - about 3 kilometers away from center of the impending disaster, he started to feel a mysterious pull drawing him into another space.
"A Reality Marble?!"
Normally, nobody could enter or be drawn into a Reality Marble unless the Reality Marble's caster willed it to be so (or as part of the innate nature of the Reality Marble itself), but this Reality Marble seemed to be drawing him in, by virtue of him also being another Emiya Shirou.
And even from his distance from afar, Archer could hear Saber's voice, resonating throughout the cave.
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Inside the Cavern Depths...
Saber took a deep breath, before casting out his aria.
But, Saber wasn't just any old version of Emiya Shirou.
Saber was...
...An Emiya Shirou who had lived up to and even managed to surpassed his old ideals, and find new meaning.
Ever chasing after his ideals, ever chasing after the continuation of that dream; Their shared dream.
He pursued it without ever doubting, without ever hesitating.
The image of that girl ever waiting for him, atop the hills of Paradise.
The first thing he had done upon reaching that Garden Paradise - Was to smile, a joyful smile from the bottom of his heart.
The joyous smile of someone who had been saved, in finding his meaning to live, even beyond death.
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Saber nodded at Caster, and Caster nodded back, as Saber began his chant.
Saber's Switch Trigger had also long since been changed, after having spent so much time in that paradise, to an image of stabbing (Entrusting) his own heart with Excalibur.
"She is the Blade of my Sword."
(My Whole Self, Devoted Entirely to Her)
"My Body is formed from a Hard, Unbending Will."
(once, of molded wrought iron)
"My Heart is made of Soft, Unbreaking Love."
(once, of brittle shatterable glass)
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Archer, as one who started from the same path as Saber, understood.
The aria of Unlimited Bladeworks was meant to reflect one's own past and his origins.
But Saber's path had diverged so much from his own, that even the very essence of their compositions had different, beyond recognition.
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"To her, I devote over a thousand, ten thousand, countless, blades."
(Chasing Endlessly, through Countless Battlefields)
"Unknown to Hesitation; Nor known to Doubt."
(Never once Ceasing, Never once Stopping)
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Archer could sense it - his devotion, his loyalty, his longing, his feelings for Artoria.
And the endless quest he undertook to find her.
Saber's feelings came across so strongly through their shared resonnance, that for a few seconds, Archer had even felt though he himself had been the one infinitely pursuing Artoria, without end.
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"Have chased Endlessly to find Her Blade."
(The seeker finally joins the sought together, reaching her atop the hill of fairies),"
"I have no regrets."
(Thus, she Fills me with Meaning)
"This was always my Destined Path,"
(Emiya Shirou was born to meet Artoria)
"These hands were meant to hold her."
(Thus, she is my meaning)
"My whole life was, only for her sake."
(Avalon was made for Excalibur)
"So, as I love,"
(Thus, undoubtedly, my Soul is Full of Artoria)
"Avalon Blade Works: Reaching The Everdistant Utopia of Promised Victory!"
(大一刀, 充満置く土)
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The continuation of their shared dream -
He didn't reach her with his hands, but with his heart alone.
To perfectly understand only one Holy Sword, only one Saber (Artoria) herself, he embraced everything about that Blade.
And after having reached that ideal, he once again had been entrusted with that Holy Sheath, reunited with the Sheath that had once defined him.
When he had been found after the fire, it had been Avalon that had sown together the remains of his conscious together, from been only a blank slate until then, wiped clean by the curses of the Grail's Mud.
As a boy, it was only natural, then, that over time, his own original Element and Origin would gradually be eroded upon and overwritten by Avalon, becoming "Sword" in the process.
In a very real sense, that was the origin of the boy that would later become "Emiya" Shirou.
But, upon being reunited with the Sheath as an adult, it had changed him in a very different. Having been separated from him for so long, it recognized him not as the boy it once knew, but as the perfect vessel for its Master, a perfect template of "Swords" upon which to build itself a new Paradise, a Paradise of Blades.
In other words, after having reunited once again with that Holy Sheath, it once again began to work within him. This time, having been fully entrusted to Shirou, and with a perfect pre-existing template to work upon.
And so, Saber's Magecraft Attribute became "Sword". And his Element and Origin had changed once again, now both being forged anew, into their perfect forms.
Into, "Excalibur".
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By saving the one person of Artoria, he had saved himself, just as Kiritsugu had been saved by saving him.
Kotomine Kirei was someone who cursed other humans out of love. Truly, someone fitting to manifest an evil of humanity within themselves.
Emiya Shirou was someone who saved others, not out of love, but to relieve his own guilt. Truly, someone fitting to become a Counter Guardian.
In a way, opposites.
But, Saber was the Emiya Shirou that had realized his own mistakes, and corrected them. One who saved others not out of obligation and compulsion, but truly to save others out of Love.
For Love is the only form of Salvation which is not only spent on others, but which saves and reflects on to the self as well.
The only salvation which is shared and reflected by human hearts.
After all, the story of life was ultimately a story of love and hope, not one of despair.
If this Beast of Retribution, born of the Grail's Mud and Humanity's resentment was the Answer to the Question of who Kotomine Kirei was, then,
"Avalon Blade Works"
Was Saber's answer to the question of who was "Emiya Shirou" was.
For Saber, his Origin was Excalibur and Excalibur was also his End Point.
Artoria was his Sword, his very own Saber. And he was her Sheath, which she found rest in.
This whole World was simply the purest embodiment of that ideal, of that Faithful and Fateful Love.
Archer stood still, as he was engulfed in Saber's world, as a strange sort of calm washed over him suddenly.
For once, in a very, very long while, he felt truly relaxed and at peace. He felt warm and comforted, even, as if he were an innocent young boy once again, embraced by Artoria, telling him that everything was going to be alright.
Unconsciously, Archer felt a surge of emotion - one he quickly suppressed, wiping away the inadvertent tear that had fallen down his cheek.
Composing himself quickly, he nearly chocked in shock at the sheer density of mana that he felt surrounding him.
The mana was so dense within Saber's Reality Marble that any ordinary magus would likely literally explode the moment they stepped foot in. Even as a Servant, it felt like the environment itself was thick enough to revitalize him instantly.
Then, he took a look around.
And he nearly choked again, at what he saw.
There stood a lush green paradise, that stretched out far beyond what his eyes could perceive.
In the horizon, rather than lifeless mechanical gears that worked without end, as in his own "Unlimited Blade Works"...
There stood instead a Gigantic Sheath, Avalon, in all its glory, accompanied by a Gigantic Excalibur that rested and nestled itself comfortably within.
Faes floated and danced about merrily in the skies, carefree and without worry, as they relished in their paradise.
There was life, all around, all of it a far cry from Archer's own landscape.
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But those sights were not what shocked Archer most, nor was it what caused him to choke up.
No, rather,
It was the sight which stood directly before him that shocked him the most.
He saw Excalibur.
And Excalibur.
And Excalibur.
And Excalibur.
But it was not just one, or two, or three Excaliburs that he saw.
Nor was it ten,
Nor a hundred,
Nor a thousand,
Nor even ten thousand Excaliburs laid bare before him.
No.
He saw a multitude of Excaliburs before him.
All of them perfect, and not a single one degraded; all completely identical in shape, form, and power to the original.
All real Excaliburs, not a single fake among them.
But that wasn't what shocked him most.
It wasn't just the perfect quality of the reproduced holy blades, which would be shocking enough in and of itself.
Rather, it was the sheer number of them that he saw before him.
There were a countless number of Excaliburs, imbedded in the new Garden Paradise in which he was standing upon now.
All of them shining brightly, acting as New Stars admist the New Reality (Realta Nua).
It was a literal sea of over a hundred thousand Excaliburs (十万), one that stretched out far beyond the horizon. No, calling it a sea wouldn't be enough.
It was a veritable countless Ocean of Excaliburs, exceeding ten million in number (千万無量).
It was an eternity, a land of surely, no less than a hundred million (十万億土) Excaliburs.
A land separated from The World; An entrusted paradise, filled with only one great blade (大一刀, 充満置く土).
A literally uncountable quantity of only one sword, a literally unfathomable (無量) paradise of Excaliburs,
(大一刀, 充満置く土)
The Perfect Avalon (Shirou) for The Excalibur (Artoria) Without End
Avalon Blade Works
The Utopia of Restfulness (Artoria) for The Ceaseless Blade (Shirou)
(大一刀, 充満置く土)
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Archer swallowed.
This was insane.
It was the kind of scenery that could only exist within a Reality Marble, and even then, likely only because of its connection to the real Avalon. If Saber tried to trace more than one Excalibur outside of here, he would like perish as well, especially under the pressure of The World's Corrective Influence.
But only within this Reality Marble, within this closed off Internal World, with its specific alignment of Origin and Element, was such an insane thing possible.
Now Archer understood, why Saber's other swords and traced imitations were so low-quality. And why he seemed to have such difficulty in reproducing them, as though he were just going through the motions.
Saber had given up all his ability and his potential in tracing other swords...
...All so that he could trace just the one blade perfectly.
If Saber could fire off all those Excaliburs at once, then even with most of their power sealed off (and even without using them as broken phantasms),
Then that alone would already be enough firepower to match and even possibly exceed the firepower of a Grand Servant's.
Saber, however, looked to have no intent of firing off all of his Excaliburs at once like that.
Instead, he simply gripped the one Excalibur that he held in his hands, and raised it in a two handed hold above his head.
"Thirteen Seals ─── Decision start."
Saber called out to the depths of Avalon, and to a certain Magus of Flowers.
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"A Divine Liturgy" ("Avalon Blade Works") - Part 1 END
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Author's Notes:
Yep, that just happened.
Saber did say he could only ever make one blade perfectly.
He just never specified just exactly how many of one blade (Excalibur) he could make perfectly, lmao.
Don't worry - it's not as overpowered as it seems, though - see below for translation notes and wordplay explanations.
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By the way...
Richard the Lionheart literally seething in jealousy.
Gilgamesh (Archer) also completely seething in jealousy, but for a completely different reason lmao.
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Translation Notes:
千万 = Senman
Literal Meaning: A 1,000 (Sen); 10,000 (Man)
Actual Meaning (Usage in Common Language): Ten-Million
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千万無量 = Senman Muryo
Literal Meaning: Ten-Million, nothing, measure (In other words, ten million without measure)
Actual Meaning (Usage in Common Language): A Countless Amount
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十万億 = Juuman Oku
Literal Meaning: 10 (Juu); 10,000 (Man); 100,000,000 (Oku)
Actual Meaning (Usage in Common Language): Ten-Trillion
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十万億土 = Juuman Okudo (Buddhist Concept)
Literal Meaning: 10,000,000,000,000 (Juuman Oku); Land (Do). In other words, "A Land of Ten-Trillion"
Actual Meaning: Eternity, Paradise (Buddhist concept)
(There are also different Kanji Symbols with different meanings, but with the same pronunciation)
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置く = Oku (Different from the character 億, which is also pronounced "Oku", but only means 100,000,000)
Multiple Meanings:
To establish,
To place trust in,
To place an object somewhere (i.e. to leave a sword in a sheath),
To invite a person into one's house,
To set aside and separate (e.g. specially, like how Avalon is separated from The World, or like Reality Marbles cut off its users and targets from The World)
充満 = Juuman
To be permeated/filled with something
(It's different from 十万, also pronounced "Juuman", using different Kanji Symbols with different meanings, but with the same pronunciation.)
大一刀充満置く土 = Dai Ittou Juuman Okudo
Literal Meaning: Great One Blade, Entrusted Land (Being filled with one great blade, an entrusted/separated land)
Actual Meaning: An eternal paradise (10 trillion = 10,000,000,000) of one great sword; An entrusted land, separated from The World.
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In other words, it's "Juuman Okudo" using the characters for
"充満置く土" = "A Permeated, Entrusted Land"
instead of the characters for
"十万億土" = "A Land of Ten-Trillion"
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It's a Japanese wordplay, in other words.
It's also very Symbolic, though I actually didn't realize it myself until recently.
He turned literally transformed his Internal World from a buddhist concept of hell ("A Mountain Of Swords") into a buddhist concept of Paradise ("A Land of Ten-Trillion").
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Saber doesn't actually have ten-trillion Excaliburs in his Reality Marble though lmao.
It's probably a lot closer to one million, the rest is just Archer's perception (and for dramatic effect) lmao.
Within "Avalon Blade Works", Saber does have duplicate Excaliburs and he can make more Excaliburs within "Avalon Blade Works", but his production speed is slow, and he can only ever use one Excalibur (the one he's wielding) at full-power at a time.
He can't fire them off as broken phantasms (for Symbolic reasons).
And while he could use his extra Excaliburs as projectiles, he would rather not do so, unless the situation really called for it.
Just to clarify how it works. And also, that it's not nearly as powerful as Archer thinks it is (lmao).
But it is in an insolated space where he cam release the one Excalibur he's wielding at full-power (seals applied) without having to worry about the consequences, so there's that useful part of it. Plus, Avalon Blade Works itself allows Saber to fight at full-power, as he would be in Avalon itself, so it does that to power him up, if that makes sense.
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Author's Notes 2:
In fact, the question and answer thing about Kotomine Kirei and Emiya Shirou was only something I added after rewatching the Final Episode of Fate/Zero for like the first time since it, first aired - and that was something I didn't even remember at all (I don't even think I properly watched Fate/Zero back then lmao, wasn't really that interested a few years back and even now, not that interested), but I added it in, because it fit in so perfectly and organically with the rest of what I had already written up, so it was only natural.
Talk about salvation being "spent" from Unlimited Blade Works
Love being Ultimate Salvation (Mirrored Salvation) was something I wanted to write up, as a result of seeing that seen.
(Though Love being the Ultimate (Mirrored) Salvation was already something I already before writing that scene, just inspired me to put it into words for this story by writing it out.)
Cursing out of love and Saving out of guilt was from Fate anime finale
It all links amazingly well together, though, since it's all linked together by The Greater Truth.
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