Illusory flames spread throughout, dancing for a moment, then formed a boundary. A flash of light came, and that boundary had replaced the world for my Reality Marble.

My world — my one, singular ability — Unlimited Blade Works had been cast, replacing the dark night sky with a scene bathed in twilight.

We stood on a desolate land, the ground covered with weaponry as far as the eye could see. With a deep breath, I took sight of the golden Servant, his face twisted in a gruesome expression.

'What does he think of this scenery?' I pondered to myself before I said to him, "That's right, I don't create swords; I create a world containing an infinite number of swords. That's the only magecraft allowed to Emiya Shirou."

This world was Heroic Spirit EMIYA's Noble Phantasm and the only weapon that I had.

A space where everything was there, yet at the same time was not.

The ultimate conclusion for one who lived as a sword their entire life.

For a single moment, the golden king glanced around, before he noted, "A Reality Marble? So this is your ability…"

Golden portals appeared behind his back, showing off more weapons from his treasury. Seven halberds, four swords, and three spears were aimed at me.

I took a step forward, and those very same weapons were stuck in the ground around me.

"Don't be surprised; all of these are just fakes." The very nature of my magecraft, the very nature of my ideals, were imitations. "As you've previously said, they are trivial existences."

I reached my arms out, calling forth the very same weapons he aimed towards me. "However, there is no rule that says that an imitation cannot beat the original. And if you say that you are the original, then I shall surpass every one of your weapons and destroy your existence."

In front of me was the Servant with thousands of treasures. With a deep breath, I moved forward and declared, "Here I come, King of Heroes. Do you have enough weapons in stock?"

With an arrogant grin, he scoffed, "Ha! You think too highly of yourself, mongrel!"

He stood proudly and without a single word or move, his treasures flew towards me.

Unabated, I ran across the desolate landscape.

His weapons were moments from skewering me — only for them to be deflected by my imitations.

The sound of steel smashing steel reverberated throughout the area as I made my way towards him.

He was brandishing a longsword.

"Hah!" I swung a sword identical to his towards his chest. Yet both swords shattered the moment he blocked my attack, their shards clattering against the ground.

The golden Servant's expression soured. "You…! Don't overestimate yourself, child!" he yelled, taking a curved sword from his gate—as I swung that very sword straight towards his neck.

"Tch!" He called for more swords to fire at me, and fearlessly, without an ounce of hesitation, I dashed forward.

Those volleys of swords were useless in Unlimited Blade Works as every sword he threw at me, I fired off in return. In truth, I was waiting for him to pull that… thing out.

A weird expression was on his face, as if he was contemplating something.

Hoping for him to have been distracted, I swung Kanshou at him, the black Dao cutting through the air, moments away from cleaving his neck.

He barely pulled a sword out of his gate to deflect my strike. And with a spike of rage, blindly swung his blades.

Those wild strikes were easily parried, letting me take a closer step and assuring my victory against him.

He grimaced, and our swords clashed once more.

The sound of metal against metal was deafening, but I knew it would end soon.

"Damn you, damn you, damn you!" he cursed. "To think that I would have to use that sword against you!" He raised his right hand. The sword that he now gripped was the monstrous sword, Ea.

But I had been waiting for that moment ever since I opened my Reality Marble.

"I won't let you!" That moment had arrived.

With my sole, undivided focus on his right arm, I swung Bakuya, its movements like a snake.

Unlike just moments before, where the sound of clashing steel deafened the battlefield, I could now hear the sound of my sword cleaving through his arm.

A small thud came from the ground as his arm bounced off of it.

Victory was now assured. My body was not allowing my one chance to end in failure; my arms swing towards the King of Heroes' neck—

Only for him to jump back, barely avoiding decapitation with his retreat.

He retreated even further before looking at his bleeding neck."In this moment… you are stronger," he admitted defeat.

"You're not getting away!" I yelled, unable to hear what he said; I had to put all of my effort into ensuring his defeat because I knew that if he regained his composure, all of my efforts would have been for nothing.

"Damn!" He knew that I could still reach him and so he pulled out a sword to block me.

However, I was faster. And so, my sword was just moments from reaching him.

Yet… before I could finally defeat him, something inexplicable had happened.

White, holy light, which seemed to have originated from the lake, had stripped away the hill of swords.

Unlimited Blade Works, which was already beginning to fade, was smashed open from a powerful surge of magical energy.

Did the activation of Saber's Holy Sword destroy the bounded field? Or was it the holy sword's activation that depleted Tohsaka's magical energy?

Still, that changed nothing; my blade was still on course to pierce the golden Servant.

However, in the moment that Unlimited Blade Works fully collapsed, a black void, big enough to completely engulf a person, appeared before me. "Ah!" What was that thing?

"What!?" The void was right where Gilgamesh's severed arm used to be, and it expanded, completely engulfing him.

I stood there, shocked at the event that had just taken place before taking a few steps back.

Thankfully, the void had begun shrinking rather than expanding further.

Since Saber had used her Noble Phantasm, it was likely that the Grail was vanquished, so was this void a response from the Grail?

It was shrinking, so it was unlikely to become a problem.

"Huuuuu…" I exhaustedly breathed out. "It's… over."

With everything done, I let the twin swords dissipate.

I could barely move, but I was now able to rest—

Only to have my forearm be wrapped up in chains.

I gasped. The chains had come from the void, trying to pull me into it.

I could barely move, and my feet helplessly slid on the ground.

"Does the Grail not know that a Servant is incapable of functioning as its core?" the King of Heroes asked as he pulled on the chain.

"Ahhh!" The chains squeezed around my arm, and it felt like my arm was going to rip off. "Are you trying to take me with you?!"

He scoffed, "Ha! As if I have any intention of being engulfed!" Arrogantly, he ordered, "Stay where you are, you fool. At least until I'm able to pull myself out!" As if I was going to let him do that!

"You…" I tried to pry the chains off of my arm, but these were the very chains that had shackled Berserker, so it was unlikely that I could remove them.

He would escape and continue with his plan to cull the populace if I stayed still, and so, I let myself be taken by the void.

"Huh?!" The golden Servant sounded exasperated. "You foolish, foolish ingrate!"

At least the world would be saved by my act of self-sacrifice.

And so, without an ounce of regret, I threw myself into the void, closing my eyes in acceptance of my impending doom.

I heard an object cleave through the air, but once I opened my eyes, all I could see was darkness.

I fell, fell, and fell. It was as if I had jumped into a bottomless hole.

But after around a minute more of 'falling,' a loud sound of shattered glass assaulted my ears and a bright light had filled my eyes, only for all of the stimuli to disappear from my senses, as if they had never existed in the first place, and a scenery that I'd never once encountered had taken place.

In place of the black void was a desolate, rocky wasteland with colossal spiky terrain poking from the surface. The sky was bleak and dark; dark-red clouds looked down upon the rugged terrain.

As for me…

"Ahhh!" I was falling towards the ground at terminal velocity. And where I was about to crash into the ground was someone who stood with an apprehensive body language.

"Move away!" I warned them as I Reinforced my body to brace for the fall.

There were around 4 seconds before I would make impact.

He looked up — their appearance was that of an average-looking young man — and his eyes widened, his mouth dropping as he saw me.

Did he not hear me? Why wasn't he moving?

"Please get out of the way!" I yelled at him, hoping that he would heed it this time.

I twisted my body in the air, changing my trajectory even if just by a miniscule amount to avoid hitting him.

It wasn't important that I landed properly, for his safety was more valuable.

"Ahhhhh!" he screeched, before finally moving out of the way.

There was only a second now, but that was enough time for me to contort my body and land on my feet.

I crashed down, and it felt like my legs were moments from snapping.

The ground below me had cracked during my landing.

It took a second for me to actually start moving my legs, and it was surprising that my body had rejuvenated during the time that I was stuck in that void.

Wait, speaking of weird terrain, where was I?

"A-are you okay?!" a concerned voice, likely the boy's, interrupted my thoughts.

Hypotheses weren't going to land me any concrete answers. And it would be more fruitful if I asked him where we were.

"Yeah, I am," I eased his concerns. "Say… do you know where we are?" I asked immediately.

His eyebrows raised, and his eyes seemed to be saying 'how do you not know?'

"I think we're in Mato."

'Mato', as in Mato for 魔都 ( Demonic Capital?)?

Was it referred to as such because of the landscape?

But before I could think about where I was, the ground crumbled just beside me, and out came a monster that I've never seen even once. It was far bigger than anything I've seen, including Berserker. Its muscular body was black, though its face was white with the texture of its skin seeming to be more like muscle fibres.

I looked back to the boy behind me as I shouted, "Run!" But before I could even finish talking, he grabbed my wrist and began dragging me away.

Was he trying to save me?

He turned his head and looked over his shoulder so our eyes would meet. "We need to run away from the Shuuki until the Demon Hunters rescue us!" he cried between shallow breaths.

"Look in front of you!" I yelled as I saw a 'Shuuki' swinging towards him.

"Trace on." I pulled the twin blades from Unlimited Blade Works and dashed in front of the boy, hoping to block the Shuuki's arm.

It did not matter if I was revealing the secret of magecraft. It was all going to be worth it if it could save someone in need.

"Haaa!" But its arm was cleaved as its trajectory met the edge of the Yin sword, Bakuya.

Before I could even question its toughness, my body instinctively moved in for the kill, jumping up and slicing its head off.

The chopped up body of it ignited in blue flames.

That was something worth asking, but protecting the other guy was more important.

I turned back towards him. A Shuuki was about to crush the boy flat like a pancake.

It was too far away for me to attack the Shuuki.

And so I used all of my leg strength to push the boy to the side and prevent him from being harmed.

Managing this feat with mere seconds to spare, I raised my (Reinforced) right arm in a defensive posture.

Crack!

"Ahh!" With a disgusting creak, my arm felt like a sledgehammer had smashed down onto it, pushing me down along with it. I couldn't breathe. My lungs had been cleared of air. And as I tried to force a breath to expand my lungs, I could see the white-faced abomination preparing to crush me.

Only for me to see the Shuuki being completely cut in half.

"Oww…" the boy voiced out from beside me.

A Shuuki with chains connected to its spiked collar shoved the bisected corpse away and dashed to cut away

"What?" I asked in exasperation. That thing was attacking the other Shuuki?

The chained monster turned towards me, and I heard a woman's voice above it, "You… you're kind of durable. To think that a man could survive an attack from a Shuuki."

The origin of the voice was a beautiful woman that had been on the Shuuki's back, tightly gripping the chain. Her hair was an unusual tinge of silver, and she wore a black, militia-like uniform.

"Stay close, I'll dispose of them," she declared, brandishing her sword. The sword's experiences revealed to me that she was-

"Victims of the Mato Disaster," she referred to us. "You are in safe hands, for I am the Chief of the Demon Hunters' Seventh Unit, Kyouka Uzen."

"Ah!" The Shuuki that she was riding had been hit by another one on the head, and its eyeballs exploded out of its sockets.

I stood up. "Trace… on," I pulled the twin blades from the Hill of Swords.

But before I could swing my blades and help her, Kyouka had already chopped the offending Shuuki into pieces.

That assured me that she could fend for herself, but what about the boy?

She had been standing in front of us, trying to protect us from a horde that had at least twenty of them.

Taking a deep breath, I stood next to the boy, making sure that he wouldn't be harmed by anything that targeted him.

"Uzen-san, I'll help you protect him," I declared as I flourished the two swords.

"What are you saying?" she asked rhetorically, as if she had taken my words as a foolish joke. She turned towards us, towards me. "The Shuuki are not to be trifled with, and that's especially the case for men like you tw-" She looked at the two blades that I was brandishing.

However, as she looked in awe at Kanshou and Bakuya, a Shuuki bellowed a low, guttural roar, and charged towards her.

"Uzen-san, behind you!" I warned her as I dashed in to intercept it, leaping five metres in an instant.

I swung Kanshou to cut the swinging arm off, and Bakuya's horizontal trajectory cut it in half. Not even a moment later, it burst into more blue flames.

"How…?" Uzen questioned, but this wasn't the time. After all, the number of those white-faced monstrosities were increasing by the second.

There were far, far too many to realistically clear out. My magical energy had barely returned since my fight with the King of Heroes, and I didn't know what other abilities Uzen had.

"Tch… we should run," suggested the grim-faced Uzen. "And you," she pointed her fingers towards me, "You're a man, so how do you have such powers?"

What did my gender have to do with anything? But that aside, her physical abilities far surpassed the realm of normal humans, so it was likely that she knew of the occult. However, I wasn't going to reveal it, especially in this situation. And so I ignored her question and asked, "Shouldn't we be retreating first?"

"Indeed, let's go," she said as she hit a Shuuki with her hilt, then hopped on its back. It was then that a spiked collar appeared at the base of the monster's neck. She ordered, "Hop on, you two." Whatever she had done had released some magical energy.

Was what she did a spell? I've heard of the existence of Domination Magecraft as a passing word from Tohsaka, but I heard no aria when she performed her 'spell.'

But I asked no such question; I had no intention of interrupting her. Kyouka Uzen's eyes showed nothing but her utmost focus on retreating for our safety.

Holding tightly onto the Shuuki's back, I could see numerous Shuuki following behind us, along with a couple charging next to us.

"Dodge to the right." The Shuuki followed her orders, avoiding a charging Shuuki from our left.

A monstrous grunt rumbled behind us and I looked back to see a Shuuki leaping from above!
"Uzen-san, a Shuuki jumped up from behind us!" I warned her.

"Speed up," she ordered, but the Shuuki that she was controlling didn't comply.

The Shuuki was just a second away from landing on top of us.

"What are you—?" Uzen asked as I lifted her up, taking matters into my own hands. I grabbed her and the boy, who yelped as I threw them into an area that didn't have many Shuuki. Once they were in the air, I jumped onto where they landed—

—Only for the Shuuki that had leaped to bash the side of my chest, knocking some air out of me and tossing me to the side, where a horde of Shuuki waited to mutilate me.

I had very little magical energy remaining, and though I could clear a majority of them, my death was practically assured.

But that didn't mean that I wouldn't die gallantly, of course; the more Shuuki I cleared out before my death would increase the chances of Uzen and other guy's survival.

"Trace on!" I pulled a sword from the hill of blades. It was the unbreakable holy sword of King Roland, Durandal.

My last stand had started before I even landed on the ground as I slashed at the outstretched arms of the Shuuki in the ground.

"Haaa!" In a single second, multiple limbs, torsos, and heads had been separated from their bodies.

With each moment, I hacked away, driving the immeasurable numbers down.

With each breath, I received a new bruise, gash, laceration, and tear.

With each passing second came the next, and soon, I would pass on to death.

I had no regrets, for I had saved two people before I died.

Battered and bruised, I failed to block an incoming attack from behind, slamming into the ground.

There was a ringing in my ear that had masked the sound of everything else, but even with my blurry sight, I could see it roaring as it swung its arm down like an oversized sledgehammer.

And just as it was an instant from crushing me, something fast had obliterated it away.

I tried to look at who, or what, did that, but I couldn't move a single muscle.

As my eyelids slowly closed, as I slowly lost consciousness, I wondered if those two were safe…

"Ugh…" I opened my eyes to the sight of a white ceiling. I looked around and observed that I was in what looked to be a hospital bed.

"Where—?" A headache had coursed through my skull, as if the top of my head was pierced by a long nail.

The pain reminded me of those monsters in that strange place. And it reminded me of the silver-haired girl and that boy with black hair.

"Are Uzen-san and that guy alright?" I could not help but ask myself. If I had been saved, then surely those two were also rescued.

Using my elbow as a support, I sat up to properly observe the room.

It seemed to be an infirmary, with white halls, white blankets, and a desk to the left which had some apples and bananas on it.

I contemplated eating one, but I did not feel hungry; instead, I felt tired, as if I had stayed awake for several consecutive days.

And so I lay down and closed my eyes.

"The boy is stable, and aside from some bruises and sprains, he seems to be alright," a feminine voice said. Were they referring to me?

A firmer voice added, "Kyouka said that he fought off around a hundred Shuuki before he passed out."

How much time had passed? If I remember, I woke up earlier and decided to rest again, but there wasn't a clock in the room last time I looked.

I was already awake, so faking sleep was just going to be a waste of time.

Opening my eyes, I expected the sight of nurse attire or a white coat. It appeared that my expectations weren't met.

In place of the normal medical attire was a young-looking girl in a schoolgirl uniform and a well-endowed woman with an attire similar to Kyouka's. However, her attire was far more revealing, especially with her chest.

"Oh, and it seems that he's awake," the younger girl declared.

"I shall inform the other chiefs, Mother," the 'older' woman said as she walked away. Wait, 'mother?'

The one who looked to be a schoolgirl looked no older than 15.

There were far more important questions to be answered though. "Umm… Where am I?" I asked.

"I suppose you don't know." She scratched her head. "You're in the infirmary of Unit Ten's Headquarters." It was something related to the 'Demon Hunters' then.

"Unit Ten… of the Demon Hunters?" I asked for confirmation.

She raised one of her eyebrows, "I guess you can say that."

There was a brief silence between us. The 'young' woman broke it. "Anyways, how'd you do it?" she asked with no context.

"Did what?"

"Kyouka Uzen told me that you slaughtered at least a hundred Shuuki before you passed out from exhaustion, boy. How could a man like you do that?"

What was it about gender? Uzen asked me this back then, but even this girl?

Kyouka had a special ability, but the boy — who I assumed to be normal — didn't question it, and when I revealed my own, they focused on my gender rather than the fact that a person was even capable of doing such a thing. It was obvious that something weird was going on.

It was just going to be a waste of time if I tried going about my question indirectly. "What's so important about me being a man?" I asked.

She looked at me with a serious expression. "Everything! Men can't receive abilities from the Peaches, so you may just as well be an anomaly!" She lectured as though I were a child.

I couldn't help but ask, "Peaches?"

"Yes, Peaches. You know, the ones growing on Mato, pink and shiny peaches?"

I didn't know what expression my face had contorted into, but I was sure it was showing features akin to an idiot.

"Seriously? You know nothing about them?!"

"No. This is the first time hearing about the—"

The door opened. "Mother, the boy has been summoned to face the Chiefs at the assembly," the girl's daughter interrupted.

The girl sighed. "Good luck to you, boy," she said with a toothy grin.

Her cheer did nothing but worry me.

Still, I likely had no choice but to follow the younger(?) woman. "May I ask your name?" I inquired as I was about to leave the room.

She answered, "I am Fubuki Azuma, Unit Nine's Chief." As we walked down the corridor, she said, "And your name is…?"

"I'm Shirou Emiya. By the way, do you know who nursed me? I remember being battered and bruised before I passed out." Whoever healed me deserved at least a thank you.

"That would be my mother, Tobera Azuma."

Was she referring to the girl who looked younger than me? "The one in the infirmary?"

"Yes."

We came to a stop at a double door. "Await your name… Shirou Emiya." She walked into the room, leaving me alone in the hallway.

Was it my instincts? My heart was beating fast, as if I was in danger. No, I had to be imagining it; it would not make sense for them to save me only to harm m—

And then I remembered Heroic Spirit EMIYA.

It didn't annoy me when I thought about him — not anymore. He wanted to save others, and because of that, he suffered.
No, I felt pity that his ideals let him down such a path. And because I pitied him, I would do my best to go farther than he ever did in life.

My ideals were fake, but that did not matter.

Solemnly remembering that man, I was brought back to reality by a voice. "Enter, Shirou Emiya."

I took a deep breath. Through ruminating, I had calmed down, but that didn't mean that all of my worries were gone.
I opened the door, and inside was a room with a C-shaped table, at which sat nine women in the same uniform I saw Uzen wear — with Uzen herself seated at the third-most right, and Azuma seated farthest to the right. There was also Tobera, who stood at the left corner, facing me behind the other ladies.

But that aside, seeing Uzen sitting there made me happy as it meant that I was able to save her, and a light smile spread across my lips.

Considering their seating arrangement, it seemed that they wanted me to stand in the middle of the room so they could all see me.

I took another deep breath, and steeled my mind. These people saved me, so anything they were going to ask, I would answer truthfully.

"Shirou Emiya, I am the Commander of the Anti-Demon Corps, Ren Yamashiro," the woman in the centre seat introduced herself. "We have heard of your commendable actions told to us by the Unit Seven's Chief, Kyouka Uzen." She smiled sweetly. "However, we wish to ask how you were able to use an ability."

"I…" I hesitated to answer. Was I going to reveal the presence of magecraft? Uzen herself had used magical energy, so they likely knew of it, but the wording was the confusing part; they've been saying 'ability' as if that was its own jargon.

Yamashiro kept her smile. "Then let me ask you this question: did you gain your abilities through the consumption of the Peaches?"

That was an easy question to answer. "No."

Why did the majority of them show shock at that?

Since they were asking me, maybe I could ask something back?

"May I ask a question?"

"You may."

"That boy, the one with Uzen-san, is he alright?" Uzen's presence told me that she was alright, but I had not seen him.

Yamashiro looked at Uzen, who answered, "The boy you refer to, Yuuki Wakura, is fine."

My lips curled upwards at that.

I had another question. "Yamashiro-dono, since you and Tobera-san were talking about the Peaches, may I ask what they are?" Surely they weren't referring to the fruit, right?

Her eyebrows raised in curiosity. "I'll return the question. Do you know what Mato is?"

"Aside from it meaning 'Demon Capital,' I have no idea."

"Then may I ask where you were raised?"

Why would they ask that? "Fuyuki City, Oita Prefecture."

"Fuyuki City, Oita Prefecture?" she repeated.

"Yes." What were they trying to confirm?

Yamashiro picked up a black rectangular board, only to turn it towards me and show that it was a screen. Was that a tablet? I'd never seen anything like it before.

"Shirou Emiya , Fuyuki City does not exist. And we've searched in our database for anyone who looked like you while you were recovering." She pointed to the tablet, the screen saying 'N/A.' "I'm afraid to say this, but you technically do not exist."

That made no sense. I was in Fuyuki just a while ago!

"What do you mean? Days ago, I was just at Ryuudou Temple in Fuyuki."

She had to be lying. This had to be a joke of some kind.

Their faces were dead serious, but this had to be a prank.

Trying to calm myself down, I took a deep breath.

Yamashiro then asked, "Can you tell me what date it is, Shirou Emiya?"

There was no reason to lie. "Back when I was in Ryuudou Temple, it was February 16, 2004."

"It's June 19, 2020," she corrected me, showing the date on the tablet.

She stood up. "I sensed no lies when you spoke, so I shall share my hypothesis: Shirou Emiya, you are from an alternate version of Japan."

I was speechless. There was so much that I wished to ask, but it felt like asking would only confuse me even more.

I looked around at the other Chiefs. Their expressions were neutral, but the atmosphere in this room felt heavy.

"Now that you've gained a possible explanation for your presence here in Mato, what do you plan on doing?" she asked. "I shall grant your wish, so long as your request is attainable and reasonable." It's likely that she would request something in return. "In exchange, you have to work for us. You will be here in Mato, where you will join us, the Anti-Demon Corps, to save normal humans from the Shuuki."

This was a perfect deal. If I join them, I would be able to save others.

"I ag—" Before I answered, EMIYA's existence came to mind.

What I was doing now was practically the exact same as he did. His existence was a warning.

"Will I be forced to kill others?" I asked.

"You will exterminate Shuuki, who are mindless beasts that harm others."

"No, I'm referring to humans." There was a lump in my throat. "Will I have to kill other humans?"

Yamashiro smiled. "Rarely would the Anti-Demon Corps combat humans. However, in the event that we have to, then you can apprehend them instead, so long as you are able to."

Most of my doubts were now cleared.

"Now, what is your wish, Shirou Emiya?"

I was going to ask for them to send me back to Fuyuki, but considering that no one ever suggested bringing me back to my version of Japan — assuming Yamashiro's hypothesis was even correct — it was likely that they couldn't.

"I want to be an Ally of Justice; I wish to save everyone," I said with no hesitation.

"A good wish." She walked over to me and offered her hand. Her beauty rivalled that of even Rin. "I shall inform you of everything that could be important for your work later."

She turned around, facing the other Chiefs.

"Stand up, all of you; we shall judge what unit would suit Shirou Emiya most."

They did so, their expressions hard.

"You will be the first man to be officially part of the Anti-Demon Corps, Shirou Emiya," Ren declared. "And I have high hopes for you." Her face looked so, so beautiful as she smiled. "Now, I think that Emiya-san would fit in Unit…"

This is my first fanfic featuring Emiya Shirou, so I hope I captured his character well.
This is a one-shot, but I'm thinking of writing other chapters — once my schedule clears up.

I hope you enjoyed the fanfic, and I thank Pyromania101 for Beta-Reading.