Archer had long since become less than a person.

Ever since that fire long ago that created the empty husk of "S**** E****", he had long since become a machine. One that was strengthened, fortified and became better at its purpose since his contract with Alaya.

Now, that machine is being used for an alternate purpose than what he had been used to doing for however long he remained in his contract with Alaya. His purpose had been corrupted and the machine had someone else suddenly take control of it.

Galahad..To think he would come to face Saber..

Though..Who was that lookalike..?

Archer had shook off those thoughts, as it would be unfitting for a mere machine meant to be used to think such things. All he needs to think of is how to properly serve whatever functions Saber desires of him.

"What's up with you Archer? It's a bit rude to not pay attention to your enemy." With his face kept neutral, Archer looked at Cu's grinning face.

Currently, Cu was firing off runes towards Archer while he intercepted them with his arrows along with evading any that may slip through the cracks. All of Archer's limbs were reinforced through his magecraft even as he felt the grail ever as present corruption.

"I have no need to think of you as a danger. You may be powerful, but as you are now, you present no match to Saber. Those ahead of you will fail to defeat her." Archer's voice was cold, neutral as he spoke. As if their loss was a simple fact that was decided from the very moment they decided to challenge her.

"Hearing you say that line again is only going to make me beating you feel all the better." Cu gave a grin as he fired off a rune, not at Archer, but below his own feet.

It propelled Cu towards Archer, who jumped back as he fired arrows at the Caster servant, yet they all missed their mark despite Archer's obvious and clear skill with the bow thanks to Cu using runes to alter his path. A result that can only be done thanks to Cu's [Protection from Arrows] skill, making it so that he can predict and avoid all projectiles launched at him.

"Why did you even help that kid before anyways? Did your 'Master' tell you to?" Cu grinned as he said the word 'Master' in a mocking voice.

Did he..? He cannot recall ever having saved that boy. But..he couldn't exactly recall anything about what he did earlier either..He knew he was keeping track of Berserker leaving his territory just incase of a sudden attack..but what happened after that..?

It doesn't matter in the end.

"That is enough. I'll make sure to finally eliminate you, mutt." With those words, Archer had his bow disperse into some mana, giving up on using his talents as an Archer.

Seeing that, Cu jumped away instead of approaching Archer, wary of what he might do next.

—High risks towards deployment of Noble Phantasm due to Grail corruption.
—Abandoning use of Noble Phantasm.
—Searching for suitable weapon.
—Found ideal weapon.

Archer watched indifferently as Cu backed away, his arm surging with reinforcement magecraft to prepare his body from the burden of the weapon he's planning on projecting.

—Set, loading bullets.
—Dictating speed and power to lessen distance.
—Reinforcing necessary limbs.
—Firing bullet.

"—Trace, on." Those words served as the trigger to the mental bullet in his head firing.

In less than a second, Archer's body flew towards Cu getting into his range as in his hands, a weapon of great size materialized.

It was a huge makeshift axe-sword weapon that looked crudely made, big enough to be double Archer's height and like it was meant for some huge monster to hold instead of someone like Archer.

"Nine Lives—"

Before Archer could release the name of an attack that would cut up all against it into pieces, Cu swung his staff with a rune already inscribed into it.

Cu groaned as blades had been fired through his chest, the staff he held out to clash with Archer's newly summoned blade not hitting anything, as Archer himself made it disappear before it clashed with his staff.

Archer had long since noticed those runes carved on Cu's staff, ones he could recall being runes that essentially do the same thing as Reinforcement magecraft, just way better. So he had no doubt that either the blade, or his own arms would end up taking a loss if he took that blow head on, thus Archer made it disperse before contact.

"—Don't you think that you actually beat me." Cu appeared behind Archer, while the one stabbed by Archer's projected blades turned into mud that quickly fell apart.

Archer had turned around and barely blocked an attack from Cu's staff, which had immediately broken his projected pair of the twin blades he always uses.

The two clashed many times, Cu using his staff just like he would a lance, with Archer barely able to block and avoid the blows from the staff. No doubt, Cu was enhancing himself and his abilities using some runes, whereas Archer had to constantly use his reinforcement and projection just to make sure he didn't get killed.

Seeing Cu take a millisecond longer to prepare for his next strike, Archer tried to jump backwards. Only to end up hitting the ground hard and sustaining an injury.

Runes are embedded into the air. Searching for countermeasures.

—Found ideal weapon.
—Loading bullet.

With a surge of magical energy, Archer projected a dagger in his hand. A Noble Phantasm by the name of Rule Breaker, instantly dispelling the runes let out into the very air.

In an instant, Archer's sight was covered in brown. With a surge of his Reinforcement magecraft, Archer lifted his arm and took the hit from Cu's staff. His body flung into the air.

—Damage to right arm. A broken bone.
The injury may prove to be fatal.

—Begin operations to heal.

With his body flung into the air, Archer reoriented himself into a better free falling position.

"Ansuz!" Cu turned his staff towards Archer and before he could hope to dodge, his whole body was lit on fire. Yet it was immediately dispelled by Rule Breaker.

Still, Cu didn't let up on the attack and attempted to attack Archer's chest, but was blocked by his currently healing arm.

Scanning for Noble Phantasms.
—Found appropriate Noble Phantasm. Begin projection process.

"I am the bone of my sword.." Archer muttered as he jumped just out of range from another of Cu's attacks.

"My magecraft is a cage of flames."

Blocking another with a new pair of Kanshou and Byakuya, he muttered, "Steel is my body and fire is my blood.."

"A flaming yet verdant giant. Retribution."

"I have created over a thousand blades.." Archer spoke coldly, projecting some nameless swords to take a hit from Cu instead as his unharmed arm was open, as if to clasp something within it.

"A shrine that purifies the evil of human affairs. The one who destroys.." Cu held out his staff as a circle of magecraft from the Age of Gods appeared on the ground, flames growing from it.

A pulse of mana echoed through the air as the two stood against each other.

Archer gripped the handle of a weapon that was slowly coming into existence, embedding itself into reality. One he would normally be incapable of projecting, but thanks to the inexhaustible tank of mana called the Holy Grail, he could project it. Even if it would be a more incomplete version that could never stand against the original.

"Excalibur!"

"Wicker Man!"

The two Noble Phantasms, the Promised Sword of Victory, and the Giant of All Trees had clashed. A blinding light exploded out as a result of the clash and the ground shook as if there was an earthquake.

Archer felt his arm he used to wield the projected Excalibur go numb and his nerves burning.

Damage due to projection assessed. Begin healing damages.

Archer started to use some mana of the Holy Grail to start repairing his body from the exertion of projecting a Divine Construct like Excalibur. As even if it was an incomplete version that only lasted for a single attack, one that would be disrespectful to call the very same blade, projecting such a blade was beyond what Archer himself could normally do.

So, it made sense for there to be backlash for forcing himself to do such a thing.

Archer ducked his head and with his still numb arm, had a projected Kanshou in hand to block a hit from Cu's staff. It was a move only possible thanks to Archers [Mind's Eye] skill.

"Don't think you got rid of me that easily." Cu grinned as he thrust his staff as if he held his favored lance, breaking Kanshou apart with ease.

Yet Cu had not been able to land a blow as even if he had an upper hand on speed due to using runes to enhance his abilities, Archer was able to use skills and techniques to narrowly dodge those hits. Not just ones that would be used on people of equal strength though, the skills and techniques used were ones that were honed to help fight those stronger than himself.

It is a danger to continue close combat. Changing to engage in a battle of endurance.

Archer had jumped further away from Cu, narrowly dodging explosions from runes and dispelling any annoying magecraft using Rule Breaker.

Cu watched Archer as he jumped away, silently observing him.

"What are you doing now? Scared of me?" Cu taunted Archer as he twirled his staff around.

"Scared, no. Cautious, yes." Archer coldly responded, and in the time he said those words, various blades were projected and then fired towards Cu.

With a relaxed attitude, Cu swung his staff around and used it to intercept the blades flying towards him. They had either broken, had their aim shifted or were ultimately dodged.

"You know I have the [Protection from Arrows] skill, right?" Cu asked while he continued his earlier actions with some new weapons Archer continuously projected and fired at him.

"Indeed. But, the skill is not absolute. It may take days, but it'll eventually fail you. And unluckily for you, I have that time to spare on this battle. Whereas you have to go join together with your master, do you not?"

Cu went silent at that, and swung his staff as instead of intercepting the blades like before, he was avoiding them.

"Algiz!" With that, a bright blue magic circle is under Cu's feet, one of twelve that originated from different runes that Cu left behind him as he dodged.

Watching that, Archer projected Rule Breaker and distorted it into an arrow, which he proceeded to fire at the circle, but it failed to erase the magecraft. Most likely due to it being a Noble Phantasm instead of just a form of Cu's magecraft.

—Danger of Noble Phantasm. Looking through possible selections to sustain the least amount of damage and eliminate the threat..
—Readying deployment of Noble Phantasm.

"I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body and fire is my blood." Archer chanted, mana pulsing through the air from both him and Cu.

"Now it seems like you are being serious, you bastard." Cu gave a feral, battle hungry grin as he jumped out of the way from another onslaught of swords. "Ehwaz."

Another layer to the circle is added.

"I have created over a thousand blades. Unknown to life, nor known to death."

"Sowilo, mannaz, fehu." Additional runes are added as Cu speaks those words.

"Have withstood pain to create many weapons."

"That should be good enough. Ansuz!" The circle created by Cu's magecraft surrounds Archer before merging into one crimson one.

There was no method of escape available at the moment, so Archer determined it best to continue on. "Yet those hands will never hold anything."

"An offering to the great God of wisdom—"

"So as I pray—"

"Ochd Deug Odin!"

"Unlimited Blade Works!"

The two servants released their most powerful Noble Phantasms as the world was enveloped in a blinding fire.

The inner world given form had seemed off from how it originally was. There was the same dark sky, the endless swords stabbed into the ground as far as one could see, yet chains blocked the gears in the sky.

The gears that turned, representing his existence as a mere tool to be used were halted by chains tugging on them.

Archer concluded it to only be natural for his Noble Phantasm to end up affected by his corruption, just as Saber was. Though he could tell it wasn't completely corrupted. Most likely due to his nature making the corruption of the Grail take longer to reach that level as it did for Saber.

Still, he could feel an unstable flow of the grails corruption through his connection to it. His mind felt a bit numb, and he could make out some gold slowly dripping from the sky of his reality marble.

Not that it matters. All that matters is eliminating the enemy.

As if in accordance with that thought, the various blades in the air had flown up and launched themselves towards the only other humanoid figure inside the only thing Archer can call his own Noble Phantasm.

"You really are making me work up a sweat before I head off to fight Saber, aren't ya!?" Cu grinned, swinging his staff and maneuvering himself to escape the onslaught of blades, which he was able to do once again thanks to his [Protection from Arrows] skill.

Archer watched as Cu smashed some of the weaker weapons and avoided others that were mercilessly fired down on him. The barrage of swords had not stopped for a single moment, unrelenting all while Archer just watched Cu's struggle with cold eyes dedicated to his mission.

Archer was uncaring, but then he felt something stab into him. Surprised, he looked down and saw one of his own blades, a random one selected from the unending supply pierced into his leg.

How? There has been no action on Cu's part to cause this. No one else is here, and the only one with control of the weapons is me.

Archer's mind grew confused, tearing the blade out of his leg to begin the process of healing himself.

—However, this is a battle between servants. One single distraction, one single moment of taking your eyes off your enemy is fatal.

Archer immediately tried to jump away, and just barely avoided a fatal wound, only ending up suffering a small cut to his arm, blood slowly trickling down his arm.

"Huh? Is that your [Mind's Eye] skill in action?" Cu asked with a grin, and Archer immediately had the blades surrounding him move to both attack Cu and defend himself when he saw the weapon Cu held in his hand.

It wasn't the staff he was granted when he was summoned as a Caster. It was the fabled weapon belonging to Cu, to the Hound of Ulster who got it from his teacher and was cursed to have any wounds unable to be healed. It was—

"—Gae Bolg." Cu grinned as he twirled his lance and destroyed the blades headed his way. "It's nice to be holding it again."

This is the worst possible scenario.

Even as his mind and body had become a machine under Saber's control, Archer had that thought enter his mind as he continued to send flurry after flurry of attacks towards Cu, all of which was either avoided or just destroyed.

Archer knew well that Cu Chulainn was a true Heroic Spirit, one that would undoubtedly defeat him if they were to have a fight at their most powerful. It was not a question of if he could use his various techniques built up over uncountable years to defeat him, it was a matter of how long those techniques could hold him off.

"Now! Let's see if this works, why don't we!?" Cu grinned like a beast, ferocious and battle hungry as he used runes to not only strengthen himself, but the counterfeit Gae Bolg too.

"Pierce the heart!" Cu used his enhanced speed to leap towards Archer, undeterred by the weapons fired at him.

I see..This is how it ends..

"Gae Bolg!" The weapon was thrust, but that hardly mattered because before it was even thrust, it had already pierced his heart.

Why did I even use Unlimited Blade Works..? Oh, I see..

'I' am just the dregs. Just the machine and not the true Heroic Spirit.

Even as he realized his personality was merely some leftovers of the Heroic Spirit Emiya, his cold indifference didn't change. It would be more human for him to have some semblance of anger or frustration, either towards his actual self or his enemy that killed him, yet it didn't appear at all.

Maybe that just went to show how his entire personality and mind was formed to be a mere machine. One that failed, and is now disappearing due to interference from the real Heroic Spirit.

"You only have one hit left..mutt..Make sure it doesn't..go to waste.." Archer muttered those words as he felt his spiritual core being slowly destroyed.

"Don't ya worry. I'll make sure not to let this beautiful spear of mine ever go to waste." Cu remarked, the dagger of Rule Breaker having stabbed into the runes Cu engraved into the ground when he locked the two into combat.

"..." Archer spoke words to Cu, which Cu gave a nod towards as he heard them.

"Okay, I'll make sure that she can be put to rest-and that he'll be safe." With a serious look on his face, Cu turned his back towards Archer, launching his body towards the cave entrance.

..It was all pretty useless, wasn't it. All that I did to at least prolong Sabers conquest of destruction, and even now I doubt doing my best to sustain myself for the sake of that projection to continue existing will even amount to that much in the end.

With that, the battle between them had come to a conclusion, with Cu running off to his master and Archer on the ground with his heart pierced. Archer would've scoffed from its irony if he had it in him to do as such, seeing the situation happen once again.