Hellfire scorched the ashen earth. Fire raged everywhere, turning the once-tall buildings into melting skeletons that threatened to fall over at the barest of touches. The sky was blood red, perfectly encapsulating the fact that this place was truly hell. No sounds can be heard apart from the sizzling and crackling of the fire as it burned all in its wake. Shirou awoke with a gasp, his body still adapting from the sudden rayshift. He stood up from where he was lying down on the floor and swept his eyes over the surrounding area.

His eyes widened. His breathing quickened. Shirou could feel his heart beat faster in his chest.

These flames... this place... It couldn't be...!

The emotions that Shirou tried so hopelessly to bury deep within him resurfaced once more. Right here, he was shown the monument of his failure. His failure in Fuyuki. It still haunted his dreams after he had regained his resolve to become a Hero of Justice once more, if only as a way of repenting for his failure. An outlet for his guilt.

His legs couldn't keep him up—just like that day—and he ended up kneeling on the ground. His breathing was erratic, memories flowed in his mind unfiltered. Memories of both good and bad attacked his psyche, threatening to unravel the very things that made his being.

If you couldn't even save them, could you really call yourself a hero?

Shirou hears it repeating in his head over and over again. This time it wasn't in the voice of Archer, it was his own. It burned away at his very being, it's as if he was once again back in the curses of Angra Mainyu. He held his hands against his ears, just hoping that the voices would stop. He could feel the curses attack his mind, yet he wasn't in the right place mentally to protect himself.

Darkness surrounded him. He was here again, in the depths of Mt. Enzo, only a few meters away from the grail. However, each and every time he moves forward, Shirou falls and gets consumed by the darkness.

A hero of justice? Don't make me laugh.

Similar whispers bounced in his mind. Shirou's resolve was falling. The result of his failure staring at him right in the face was too much to bear. Thankfully, all he needed was an outlet to cope with these dangerous thoughts.

-Clang!-

It was at this moment that he heard it. His reinforced ears heard the sounds of battle in the distance. The moment he materialized here, Shirou immediately reinforced his eyes and ears as a means to gather information on his current location. It was the reason he immediately figured out where he was as well as being the reason to lift him out of his breakdown.

He stood up from his pitiful state and swept his gaze across the burning remains of his hometown. There, Shirou spotted the telltale sparks of metal as two weapons struck each other viciously. A few streets down, he could make out the form of Ritsuka and Mash standing protectively in front of Olga. From here, Shirou saw that some of Ritsuka's uniform was burnt and dirtied but she had no visible injuries. It was the same for the director as well.

Mash, on the other hand, looked completely different than the last time he saw her. Gone was the demure girl and in her place was a person fitting of the title of knight. She now wore skirted black armor and held in her hands a large cross-shaped tower shield. He could feel his reality marble stir as he laid eyes on her. Several of the weapons in his armoury stirred, yet he had no clue as to why.

Lord Camelot, that was the shield's name. With only a glance, it joined the rest of the weapons in his reality marble. Yet he couldn't get a complete read on it. It's as if there was a mist covering his view of the shield's inner workings. Only a surface-level view of its abilities as well as its history and composition were all that was revealed to him.

The moment he spotted them, Shirou felt an ominous feeling in his heart. The fact that it didn't take too long to find them meant that he was having good luck for once. That couldn't mean anything good.

Shirou sprinted towards them, his reinforced legs providing him a speed that top athletes would be envious of and arrived at the scene with his favoured swords in hand.

His earlier breakdown was forgotten, once again buried deep in his mind under the single-minded goal of saving people.

For now.

Would you look at that? Once Shirou was there at the scene, a servant appeared. He knew better than to trust his bouts of good luck. He was fated to be unlucky, after all.The servant was easily recognizable to him, taking their relationship into account. She was as beautiful as he last saw her. Minus the telltale signs of the grail's cursed mud. She moved swiftly, dodging Mash's slow and bulky strikes with grace and elegance as if she were dancing. She threw one of her nails towards Ritsuka, realizing that she was a master. Shirou moved to intercept it before it reached her.

The sound of metal ringing filled the area as Kanshou intercepted the oncoming attack. The opposing servant froze upon laying eyes on him. Shirou could only imagine the face she was making behind her blindfold. He didn't let his guard down though as he moved the twin blades in front of his torso.

"Shirou..." The servant's voice was tinged with sadness.

"Rider." He greeted one of the people that he thought he would never see again. Rider's chains almost fell to the floor due to her own inattentiveness to her weapons. She looked different than the last time he saw her. Her signature long hair was still visible, yet she now wore a black hooded cloak. A long curved blade was held in her hands, a weapon that he recognized as Harpe, the weapon that killed her in myth. It was slightly different to the one he knew but his inner world classified the two as the same.

Shirou thought that this would have been the perfect opportunity to get the advantage over an enemy. It was certainly something that that bastard would do. Just like him, Shirou didn't believe in the concept of honour. If it were most other enemies standing in front of him, Shirou wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation.

Yet, Rider was no ordinary enemy. Due to his own experiences in the grail war, Shirou ended up seeing her as one of his loved ones, someone he had to protect at all costs.

"But, you were dead." She said it with such disbelief, something Shirou had never heard from her. It only served to verify his own conclusions. Rider's disbelief soon turned into hollow laughter before lunging at him with no warning. Shirou barely had enough time to bring his swords up to block the attack. Rider continued her relentless assault. Shirou could feel her Monstrous Strength behind each of the attacks.

An overhead attack was poised to strike him so he leapt out of the way as he didn't have the range to defend himself. His leap caused him to be open to attack enabling the servant to deliver a strong kick to his stomach sending him flying. Rider immediately threw one of her chains at him, not willing to give him the chance to get a footing in their fight. A black figure jumped in front of him, shielding his open body from further attacks.

"Emiya-senpai, are you all right?" Mash looked down at him, worry filling her eyes. Her shield was still stationed in front of her, preparing to protect them from incoming attacks. Ritsuka and Olga were behind the two, already making their way to the safety that Mash's shield brought. The woman that Shirou thought was Rider stood a ways away, keeping her distance. Her fighting style was different. While she was still as fast and as agile as he remembered, he couldn't recall a time when Rider ever used Harpe as a weapon. Nor was she even summoned with Harpe as a noble phantasm. Does that mean this was a completely different servant than he thought, or was she just summoned in a different class?

"I'm fine Mash. What about you? Why do you feel like a..."

"A servant?" Olga Marie finished for him. "No, that isn't right. You're a demi-servant. What I want to know is why didn't it work until now."

A demi-servant? Doesn't that mean that Mash was technically a human servant now? If that was the case, then who was her master? Shirou quickly spotted a set of familiar red markings on Ritsuka's right hand. The exuberant girl was oddly quiet, looking at the scene with a sense of detachment as if she didn't belong. It made sense. There was a high possibility that this was her first time interacting with the Moonlit World so she likely feels left out.

Shirou put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a smile. Ritsuka seemed to have appreciated the gesture as she smiled back as well, though he could tell that she was still a little nervous.

"When I was trapped in the rubble before they helped me." Mash quickly glanced at the persons in question before going back to looking at Olga. "The heroic spirit gave me a contract to help resolve the issue of this singularity."

"Wait, Mash. Are you still...you?" It was a valid concern that he had after hearing her explanation. While Shirou wouldn't call himself a particularly good magus, he has sat through a bunch of Rin's magecraft lectures to at least have some baseline of knowledge. From what he knew, such a contract would normally entail some sort of soul fusion, with the dominant soul usually belonging to the more powerful entity.

Mash smiled at his concern, "I'm still me senpai. That heroic spirit allowed me to retain my sense of self after gaining their powers." That was good news to Shirou. However, something was still bugging him about her explanation. He wasn't the only one as Olga also managed to catch on to it as well.

"You keep referring to them as 'that heroic spirit'. Does that mean you don't know the identity of the heroic spirit you are drawing your powers from?" The director asked.

Mash shook her head. "No. When the heroic spirit gave me their power, they didn't give out their name or the name of their noble phantasm." She gestured to the large shield she held.Olga Marie's face scrunched up in thought. Having a servant not know their own noble phantasm was going to be a big disadvantage in the future. That wasn't to mention the fact that the master was someone who had no knowledge of magecraft. She still couldn't contact Chaldea, which meant that they had to rely on a novice master and servant pair. Although...

She glanced briefly at the red-haired teen standing protectively in front of them, a pair of black and white swords in his hands.

She knew who he was, the infamous 'Second Magus Killer' whose name had been spreading at the Clock Tower in the last few months. She assumed that this was the reason why Lev was so apprehensive at the prospect of bringing him in as a master candidate. In the end, that was the only time she hadn't listened to his advice as the idea of such an efficient mercenary on Chaldea's side was too good to pass up. Olga Marie was glad that her decision was not wrong.

Shirou stood rooted in place, waiting for Medusa to make a move. He never let his guard down as he talked. Mash stood beside him, her shield at the ready with Ritsuka and Olga Marie standing not far behind. He could notice it, the way she was shaking, her laborious breaths, her dilated eyes and the sweat on her forehead, Ritsuka was nervous and rightfully so. She had been thrust into a situation she never expected to happen and was immediately thrown into a life or death battle afterwards. What sane human being wouldn't be nervous or scared?

Yet, the fact that she chose to stand close to Mash as her master already told him enough of the girl's character. She held the red markings on her right hand as a lifeline, the sigils faintly glowing in response. Shirou placed a hand on her shoulder as a sign of support, that she wasn't alone in this situation. Ritsuka's shaking stopped as soon as she felt his hand. She turned to look at him with wide eyes.

Shirou only smiled softly and gave her an encouraging nod, his grip on her shoulder tightening ever so slightly to emphasize what he was trying to convey. Ritsuka returned the gesture with a slightly shaky smile but her demeanour had subtly shifted to a more serious yet still slightly anxious one.

As much as Shirou's encouragement helped quell her worries, Ritsuka couldn't help but still feel anxious about what was happening. She trained her eyes on the opponent in front of them, said opponent not moving an inch since they had all huddled together. She glanced at Mash. Olga Marie had called Mash her servant, someone who was bound to her by a contract that manifested in the form of three red markings on her right hand.

Ritsuka's role was as a Master, to support their servant from afar by supplying them with magical energy and giving them orders. The explanations didn't last long as the enemy servant was fast approaching them but they did last long enough for the director to convey a crucial point: that Mash was the only fighter they had on hand. She was the most capable among them, able to fight other enemies with the highest chance of success.

However, during the brief altercation between Mash and the mysterious servant, Ritsuka noticed that while Mash had been able to land a few hits on the servant, they didn't do any lasting damage. It was also true inversely. The servant's powerful blows couldn't leave anything more than scratches on Mash's armor.

It made sense. While that large shield would be able to deal out powerful blunt attacks, it wouldn't have any effect on something stronger and tougher than the shield. Not to mention that Mash had no experience fighting. The attacks that she was able to land could be merely chalked up to luck. At this point they were at a stalemate.

That was until Shirou arrived with his black and white swords. He had been able to damage the servant with those swords. The wounds that he inflicted were minor sure but it was a lot more damage than what Mash had been able to deal. Though, it did come at a cost. For all of Shirou's speed and agility, the servant was faster and able to eventually land a few hits in. They were few in number but Ritsuka could tell that Shirou was really feeling them. It was the complete opposite of Mash's situation. Where one was able to take damage but unable to deal any, the other was able to deal damage but unable to take any.

It was a familiar situation. Something that she'd witnessed multiple times in her dives to MMORPGs when she sought to escape from reality.

A tank and a damage dealer...

Ritsuka's eyes widened. That's it!

It was here that she noticed it too late. The enemy servant had crouched in preparation to sprint forward for an attack. Ritsuka was the last one to notice it, with Shirou being the first. He crouched in response, preparing himself to receive the blow. Ritsuka couldn't allow that to happen. She could already see the outcome of it. Shirou would get blown away leaving Mash with the task of protecting her and the director.

She had a game plan ready. All she needs is a way to inform Mash without alerting the enemy. A stray piece of Olga Marie's brief run-through of being a master came to the forefront of her mind.

'Mash, protect Shirou! Make sure that he can focus on attacking instead of defending.'

Mash stilled at the sudden mental command. She looked to her master only to receive an encouraging smile in return.

Determination swelled within her, "Yes, master!" She was at Shirou's front in that second, his surprise evident at their actions.

Medusa dashed forward intending to focus on Shirou, deeming him a larger threat than the inexperienced master and servant pair as well as the female magus. However, she was met with the impenetrable wall of an ivory kingdom.

Shield met scythe as sparks of metal filled the air at their collision. Shirou saw the opportunity and threw Kanshou and Bakuya towards Medusa in a familiar arc. To his surprise, instead of deflecting the twin swords, she shattered them with her scythe leaving his previous plan void.

Medusa attacked again, this time able to breach Mash's guard and kicked him hard to the stomach. He lurched from the pain, but held it in him, instead opting to brace himself for impact as he slid a few meters back. His hands were empty, the married blades would have filled them if the enemy hadn't shown her knowledge of the swords' tricks.

Shirou looked down at himself. The mystic code that Chaldea had given him was frayed and burnt at some parts but was still functional. He sported a few cuts on his arms but they were superficial injuries that his body would heal in no time. He tried to stand up but was forced down on the ground again. His left leg had been fractured making it difficult to stand without the pain assaulting him. He could deal with the pain but Shirou was afraid that this could affect his fighting abilities.

Golden light filled the wounds and rebuilt the damaged tissues. Shirou widened his eyes. The familiar motes of light could only be caused by a single noble phantasm. Yet, how was Avalon able to function without his contract with Saber? The command seals on his left hand were there when he woke up in the cavern. He attempted to use one of his two remaining seals to summon Saber to his side but was unable to do so. The seals were not powerful enough to cross timelines it seems.

Ritsuka was commanding Mash while he healed. Medusa had been attempting to get to him but the two managed to hold her off. Shirou held a nostalgic smile at the display. He was happy that Ritsuka was taking well the idea of becoming a master. She had supported Mash appropriately, never stepping into the front line in fear of getting in her servant's way. It was a far cry from Shirou's attitude of being a master.

The golden lightshow had stopped, indicating that he was now fully healed. Shirou knew that if the scabbard had been in Saber's hands then she would have been able to heal instantly. The sheathe has yet to consider him its owner. It was to be expected after all. Yet, how was it functioning in the first place.

Shirou filed those thoughts for later, focusing on the battle in front of him. He now had confirmation that he was fully healed so he stood up to rejoin the fight. The teen dashed forward, his favoured twin blades already in his hands, and attempted to slash at Medusa while Mash had been distracting her.

However, he was far too slow as she immediately sensed his approach and brought Harpe up to block his blow. The two met and his advance was halted. The white blade manoeuvred to cut at her unguarded neck but the servant was able to survive decapitation by tilting her head back, only a few strands of hair were lost.

Shirou paused for a moment. The display of speed and strength earlier was unexpected even for him. He had been sure that he wasn't that fast before so how had he been able to almost behead the infamous gorgon. Shirou Emiya was capable of fighting servants, that much he knew. But he always thought that the range of heroic spirits he could contest againts was low.

And he was right.

Whatever had allowed him to tap into that speed was all but gone the moment he relaxed his body. Medusa took advantage of his moment of pause and delivered another fearsome kick to his legs. Shirou jumped back, yet it was all for nought as the kick was too fast for him to fully avoid.

Fortunately, he was not alone in this battle.

A black blur moved to his front and a resonant clang could be heard as the kick connected with the shield. Mash grit her teeth. The attack had been stronger than she expected. Her feet dug into the ground as she took the full brunt of the strike. Medusa's chains kept coming forcing Mash back and away from Shirou. Luckily, this fulfilled her duty, to protect Shirou.

The pain was only temporary for the red-haired magus. He has experienced far worse than a simple kick to the torso so he was almost immediately able to stand up again after a brief moment of rest. His eyes wandered looking for the location where Mash and Rider were fighting. He saw them a few meters to his right with Ritsuka as well supporting Mash as her master. That was good. It meant that the girl had been able to adapt to the situation faster than he thought.

With their location spotted, Shirou stood up intending to join them but was stopped by a familiar shout.

"What are you doing?! Don't you know how a grail war works?! Masters fight masters and servants fight servants! There's no way for a master to stand up to a servant!" Olga Marie exclaimed. Once she noticed that he was moving to rejoin the battle, Olga immediately stopped him. While she had no explanation for his skill and his two blades, she still knew of the fact that regular magi could not stand up to Heroic spirits of myth. The demi-servant was currently fighting the enemy with her master to support her. The battle had no need for the freelancer. At least, that's what she thought.

Of course, he knew that. Shirou had participated in a Holy Grail War before and had come out as its victor. He knew the common assumptions that magi had of grail wars. He knew of the belief that regular magi couldn't contest again servants. It was expected. The disparity between the two is like comparing a bomb to a nuclear warhead, it was incomparable.

But who said he was a regular magus?

His body was like that of a sword. It would be a stretch to call Shirou Emiya a human in the first place. For he was a sword, that was his purpose. And swords only had one purpose, to be wielded by an ideal. This thinking eventually lead to the development of his inner world, where every blade and armament of war he has ever seen will be recorded forever for him to use.

That's who Shirou Emiya was. An irregular magus with a weaponized soul, a reality marble. One of the few humans who can fight servants.

But the director's words were not to be ignored. He knew that while the weapons he had in his reality marble could wound and kill servants, that fact wouldn't matter if his body couldn't keep up. That was his biggest weakness, the fact that Shirou Emiya was a human. At his current level, he would be hard-pressed to defeat many servants with utmost confidence. There were only a few heroic spirits that he knew he could take on and achieve victory.

This servant was not one of them. Shirou was too slow to dodge her attacks. Her speed could easily disrupt his process of tracing. There was a reason why he hadn't projected any other sword other than Kanshou and Bakuya because the moment he did so, Medusa would rush to end him as quickly as possible. And he had no way to escape or counter if that happened.

But that only would've been the case had he been alone. Right now, he wasn't fighting by his lonesome. The demi-servant, Mash Kyrielight, could serve as a much-needed defense for his brittle human body. He had already seen that she was capable of taking the brunt of Medusa's attacks. Mash could weather her attacks while Shirou focused on offense. He noticed that that had been Ritsuka's plan all along. The demi-servant's master had ordered her to protect him so that he could focus on attacking. She was already a far better master than he was.

Shirou once again rejoined the battle, ignoring Olga Marie's cries.

"Emiya!"

Medusa, sensing his arrival had thrown a few nails at him aimed at his legs. He easily batted them aside without slowing his approach and was at the servant's front. Kanshou was aimed at her neck and she only had a few moments to dodge the attack by jumping backwards.

However, she had forgotten about the other fighter in this battle.

Mash appeared at the spot Medusa would've landed, shield at the ready. Medusa hit the shield at such a velocity that any normal shield would have broken under the pressure. The shield bearing the symbol of the Round Table was not ordinary. It took the hit head-on, managing to throw the long-haired servant off balance.

However, it was not enough to gain an overwhelming advantage in the fight. Medusa righted herself immediately after impacting the shield and threw some of her nails and chains at the red-haired magus that knew was a bigger threat than the green horned demi-servant.

As he dodged and parried the thrown weapons, Shirou knew that time was almost up. Eventually, one of them would make a mistake and Medusa would be able to go in for the killing blow. He was also running out of magical energy. Whatever had given him that short boost of speen and strength earlier had also drained a lot of his reserves. Even the grafted forms of the Tohsaka and Einzbern magic crests, though not fully assimilated, were not able to power his wasteful use of reinforcement and projection.

Shirou then remembered an important fact. There was currently a proper magus on the battlefield. Dodging a thrown nail, he spotted the director behind him. Olga Marie had not stayed idle and was shooting familiar gandr curses towards both Medusa and the oncoming skeletons that were attracted by the sounds of battle. Her face was scrunched up in focus, yet he could that she was still upset at him for joining in a battle against servants. How did Shirou know that? When you live with a few women in the house, you quickly get to learn when they're upset with you. Shirou has been a victim of that a few dozen times.

He called out to her, "Director!"

Hearing her title, Olga Marie turned to glare at who had just called her. Her glare softened for a moment before realizing that it was Shirou who called out to her and it returned full force.

Now that he had her attention, he half-faced her, "Will you be willing to lend me some magical energy?" Shirou asks this while barely dodging a ferocious kick from the enemy servant. The force of the strike kicked up dust from the ashen earth.

Olga looked confused at his request. Her momentary distraction made her a target for a slash from a skeleton before a white blade flew in an arc and split the skeleton in two. The blade circles around before returning to Shirou's open right hand, where it blocked a hit from Harpe. The sight jogged Olga's memory to her previous discussion with Shirou.

"How is that going to help our situation?!" She screamed as one of her curses turned her enemy into dust. She was still annoyed at him. Who wouldn't? He had willingly included himself in a battle between servants when he didn't have his own, unnecessarily risking his life when he didn't need to.

Of course, she was worried about him. She didn't want him to die before they figured out what was wrong with this singularity. It was her duty as the director of Chaldea to make sure that all of her employees were in perfect condition and she'll hold herself accountable should they get injured.

No. That wasn't right. There was another more personal and selfish reason.

Olga Marie didn't want Shirou Emiya to die until she paid him back. After all, an Animusphere always pays back their debts.

This leads us back to the current situation. Olga Marie breathed haggardly. She wouldn't call herself a particularly powerful magus as she had spent most of her early adolescence being the new head of the family and director of Chaldea. Due to her responsibilities, she hasn't been able to take full advantage of her lineage and magic crest apart from a few spells here and there as well as a trump card she has yet to master. Even with all that considered, Olga still thought that dealing with a few undead would be relatively easy.

She was wrong. Whenever she defeated one, another would appear in its place. It got to the point where she could barely handle the numbers that were coming at her. Luckily for her, the closer she got to the battle, the more the skeletons wanted to back away, seemingly afraid. As a magus, Olga Marie wanted to figure out the cause of such a phenomenon but withheld the desire due to the current situation.

Once she was sure she was safe, the young director of Chaldea looked towards where the main battle was taking place. Mash was currently attempting to bash the enemy servant with her shield, her speed able to match the servant's. However, it seemed as if the enemy hadn't taken her seriously, instead focusing on aiming her attacks at Emiya. Mash would always move to intercept the strikes but sometimes one slips and Emiya would have to either dodge it or reflect it.

Speaking of Emiya, he was once again using that pair of black and white swords. He used them like a master, swerving his body to avoid the servant's devastating blows before moving in for a vicious counterattack. His eyes always following the servant's moves in order to plan out how to achieve victory in the battle.

Suddenly, everything took a turn for the worse. Mash went in and attempted to attack with her shield after Shirou backed away. However, the servant merely caught the attack with one hand. Monstrous Strength, a skill given to a few servants whose legends speak of their unparalleled strength and power. The servant in front of her possessed such a skill. Olga Marie only finding out due to her own status as a Master.

With Mash's attack halted, the servant tossed her away like trash. She soared right into her master's torso, both of them collapsing on the ground from the impact. Medusa dashed towards an unprotected Shirou with Harpe poised and ready to slash. The faker barely manages to deflect to blow at the cost of Bakuya. Not even a second after the sword's destruction another one took its place just as a second slash was aimed at his torso.

Olga Marie could tell that Emiya was at a disadvantage. Not only did the servant outpace and outpower him, but her weapon also outranged his own. Emiya's swords could barely manage to keep her away. She thought back to his request earlier. Could she really spare some magical energy for someone she had just met?

Her thoughts were cut off by the sounds of swords shattering. It seemed that while she was immersed in her thoughts, Shirou had thrown his two swords towards the enemy servant who made some distance between them. While Olga didn't know this, the servant was unable to truly fight Shirou with the intent to kill. Both considered the other as someone important, even though the grail that they experienced was remarkably different from one another's.

Shirou was backed into a corner. His magical energy had almost completely run out. His constant reinforcement as well as his projections would eventually drain his already low reserves. He could tap into the two magic crests that were implanted within him, but that had a high chance of severing the contract between him and these crests' owners. Shirou won't allow that. These were one of the few mementoes he had of Tohsaka and Illya after all. He would only use them as a certified last resort.

This hesitation would be his downfall as Medusa raised Harpe over her head intent on smashing through his guard with the final attack of the battle.

Or at least that's what would've happened. But Fate still has more plans for the would-be hero, so his life was spared.

A column of fire erupted from the once-empty ground, stopping Medusa in her tracks. Her body still reeling from the flames, was unable to block the ball of fire coming her way.

"Agh-!"

She made some distance between her and the redhead in order to assess the situation. Olga Marie noticing the predicament, immediately spoke out,

"Enemy servant! Show yourself!" It took all of her courage to say those words and attract the attention of a potential enemy. But it was her duty to take initiative as the director of Chaldea.

"Sheesh. You really know how to pick em kid. Reminds me of that other girl you used to partner up with." An ethereal voice echoed across the battlefield. One that Shirou acutle recognized.

"You won't be able to beat Lancer at your current level, so why don't I help you out? It's been a while since I've been in a proper fight." A figure appears on top of a nearby lamppost. His striking blue hair was tied into a ponytail that fell at his back. Instead of a blue jumpsuit, the man wore a whitish-blue cloak. His infamous blood-red spear was nowhere to be found, instead, a wooden staff was held in his hands.

This was Cu Chulainn, the Caster class servant of this Holy Grail War. And a face that Shirou was all too glad to see.

Author's Notes:There that's finally done! Sorry it took a while for this chapter to come out. Exams are a bitch and the Christmas season certainly isn't helping. I didn't want to end this chapter here, but I felt like I owed you guys a chapter for waiting a whole month. Don't worry, the next one hopefully doesn't take a month since I am planning to make it a bit shorter than the last two.

There are a few things I'd like to clarify here. The first one is about Shirou's power level. He's not going to be immediately op right from the get go. That shit takes time and a lot of training arcs. While I believe that Shirou could've absolutely taken on Lancer Medusa if he had used something like Gae Bolg or Caladbold or any hardhitting np. He wasn't in the right mindest to do so.

Regarding the harem. There will really be only three permanent members. It think you guys can guess who they are. I will mention the women from Shirou's life before ending up in Chaldea, but there is no feasible way for me to incorporate them in the story. Regarding servant shipping, I have a few plans but don't expect these romances being part of the overall plot of the story unlike the 'main' harem. Servants are transient beings. They aren't meant to last long, certainly not long enough for a relationship.

I feel like some of you guys can already guess the central theme of the story. If you don't, don't worry it will be explained along the way.

With that said, see you in the next one!

Next: Where it all began.