AN
"Blah"- Normal speech
'Blah'- Blah
BLAH... - Visor

Fate/Stay Night x Kamen Rider
Journey through the Kaleidoscope

Fate/Stay Night x Kamen Rider Ryuki
Fate/Advent

Chapter ?: The Hero Fights

Mirrors facing each other create an infinite number of worlds.
There is more than one fate.
The only thing that's the same is desire.
All humans desire. That's why they fight.
And when that desire becomes so great that it becomes unbearable, people... become Masters/Riders.
The Holy Grail War/Rider War...begins

An uneasy feeling churned in Emiya Shirou's gut as he ran through the deserted yard of Homarahara Academy, the light of the setting sun reflecting off of a bead of sweat that ran down his face headed towards the location that Shinji's message had told him to go to.

Ever since the Blood Fort incident the school had been closed, the building considered unsafe due to the supposed gas leak that had been deemed responsible for the incident. While he hated to admit it Shirou had to admit that the school was currently the perfect site for a meeting and not wanting to be disturbed.

Entering the building that housed the Archery Club Shirou was met by the sight of Shinji standing there near to the opening that led out to the range, the seaweed haired boy looming over a scared looking Sakura who was knelt on the floor next to him.

Altered to the sound of footsteps both the Matou siblings looked over in Shirou's direction. "Senpai…" Sakura muttered, quickly averting her gaze away from him, a look of guilt and self loathing on her face. 'This is all my fault…'

"Ahh Emiya, there you are…" Shinji leered as he turned his gaze towards Shirou as he entered the building. "Y'know for a moment there I was wondering if you were ever going to show up, that maybe your whole hero thing was a total farce. But no, I can always count on you to do what I want, given the right incentive of course."

"Shinji…" Shirou muttered, a frown in his face as he began to approach them, when he got to a certain distance he noticed as his former friend tightened his grip on Sakura's shoulder causing her to wince slightly, scowling he stopped in his tracks. "Well, I'm here, I did what you asked, now let Sakura go. Whatever beef you have with me, she has nothing to do with it."

Shinji scoffed at this. "Now why would I do that?" He replied, tightening his grip on Sakura further, "Like I said the last time, why would I let her go when with her I can get you to do whatever I want."

"Cut it out." Shirou said forcefully. "What's this all about? What do you want from me this time?"

The seaweed haired teenager burst out laughing. "You can't figure it out." Shinji sneered, releasing his hold on his sister. "Honestly it's really not that hard Emiya, this is about payback."

His hold on her now gone, the purple haired girl took the opportunity to slip away, dragging herself over to the side of the room, doing her best not to make eye contact with either of the teenage boys that she shared a space with.

"Revenge, that's what this is all about?" Shirou didn't even try to hide the groan that escaped from him. "You honestly can't hold me responsible for your shortcomings?"

"Don't play dumb with me Emiya." The male Matou snapped. "I had a really good thing going for myself. I finally had power. And a Servant that would obey my every whim. That is until you ruined everything."

"That Servant that you couldn't supply with the necessary Prana." Shirou snapped back. "Because of that Rider was forced to go out and attack innocent bystanders for nourishment. You were going to have her drain the entire school of their life force to empower her. Rider may have done the deed but the one who's really responsible for a lot of the deaths that have happened in this city for the past few months is you."

"Heh, like I care what happens to fools and weaklings." Shinji said in a dismissive tone. "If anything they should be grateful that their meaningless lives could finally serve a greater purpose."

"Those are people you're talking about, they had lives, people who cared about them. And you took that from them." Shirou said firmly, shocked and disgusted at how his former friend so casually disregarded the random people who had lost their lives to feed Rider. "I don't care how you rationalise is, there's no excuse for what you've done."

"What the hell would you know, you're a nobody, there's never been any expectations for you. You've no idea what it's like to have expectations thrust upon you from the moment of your birth. Not like me." Shinji snapped, tightening his grip on Sakura further as he glared angrily at Shirou. "To be part of a Magus Family with a long revered history. To have your head filled with lofty expectations and told that you have a grand future ahead of you only to have it all stripped away because of circumstances beyond your control."

Pausing a moment, panting angrily, Shinji glanced at Sakura, the purple haired girl turning her away so as not to meet his gaze.

"And then the deepest insult, you have to watch as someone else comes along and is handed everything that was promised to you, someone who clearly isn't capable nor wants it. They get everything and you're left behind in the dust." He spat venomously. "No, I refuse to accept this, I will not be discarded for someone clearly inferior to me. And that's where you come in Emiya, defeating you is my first step toward obtaining everything that was promised to me."

"Shinji, you really haven't learned anything have you?" Shirou didn't even try to hide the groan that escaped from him. "You're no Master so you can't command a Servant to fight for you. Tojo's dead and I really doubt you could convince any of the remaining Riders to work with you. You've got no one left to fight your battles for you."

"That's where you're wrong Emiya, something major has happened since the last time we met." Shinji retorted, a manic grin spreading across his face. "With what I've obtained I don't need anyone else to fight for me anymore."

As he said this the seaweed haired teen roughly shoved Sakura to the ground before reaching into his pocket he produced a familiar looking item, holding it up he revealed it to be a brown coloured rectangular object emblazoned with a crest that resembled a gazelle skull.

"H…huh, an Advent Deck?" Shirou exclaimed, a shocked look appearing on his face. "Shinji, Kanzaki made you a Rider?"

"That's right, not long after you ruined everything for me during that useless Rider Servant's Blood Fort, Kanzaki approached me and made me a deal." Shinji replied. "He said that he'd grant my wish of becoming a true Magus and all I have to do in return is kill you."

"Don't be an idiot, Shinji. Kanzaki doesn't care about you or anyone." Shirou told his former friend. "If you fight there's a pretty high chance that you'll get killed or are you really delusional enough to think that you stand a chance against the likes of Ren or Asukura?"

"Shut up! I don't give a damn about the other Riders, they're nothing but insignificant worms." Shinji yelled at him, "This is all your fault Emiya. The Holy Grail War, it was my one chance to prove myself to that shitty old man, to show him that I'm worth something and you stole everything from me."

"Shitty old man?" Shirou muttered, momentarily confused as to what Shinji was talking about before a look of realisation appeared on his face. "Wait, you're not talking about your creepy grandfather are you?"

Just then a sadistic smirk spread itself across Shinji's lips. "That's right. And guess what Emiya, now he's dead." He chuckled darkly. "I shoved him into Mirror World and watched as he was torn apart by the beasts that live there."

Shirou couldn't believe it. True, he'd only truly met Matou Zouken once and the experience had been rather off putting to put it mildly, the wizen old man had seemed to have an unsettling presence about him, it had made Shirou want to avoid him as much as possible.

But still never had he imagined that Shinji would have it in him to kill his elderly relative.

"And now Emiya, I'm going to kill you." Shinji continued before he thrust both of his hands forward, crossing over both of them at the wrist, his fingers assuming the 'rock on' pose before separating them.

"Henshin…" Shinji declared, sliding his Advent Deck into his V-Buckle, his left hand still in the Rock on pose.

No sooner had he done so a trio of semi translucent images overlayed themselves on top of him creating his armored form. Brown and black chestplate with golden trim as well as white fluffy material attached to the area around the holes for his arms, brown shoulder pads with a pair of golden horns attached. His head was adorned in a helmet that had a large silver visor covering most of it with a purple gem attached to the forehead along with a set of curved horns. Lastly his Card Visor was attached to his right knee.

Standing there before him was the armorer form of Kamen Rider Imperer, his form illuminated by the light of the setting sun pouring in from the large opening that led out to the range.

Grimacing Shirou produced his own Advent Deck, thrusting it out in front of him before moments later a V-Buckle appeared around his waist. "Henshin…" Shirou announced as he assumed his Henshin pose, sliding his Deck into his V-Buckle, the trio of semi transparent images overlaying themselves on top of him to create the red armor of Kamen Rider Ryuki.

Letting out a chuckle, Imperer reached a hand towards his Advent Deck, drawing a card from it, raising up his right knee he slipped the card into Biovisor and closed it by lowering his foot back to the ground.

SPIN VENT…

In a flash the Gazellestab, a strange looking weapon that somewhat looked like a shield with two twisted horns attached to it appeared in his hand. Now armed Imperer charged at Ryuki, slashing at the Red Dragon Rider with Gazellestab.

Ducking out of the way of his opponent's swing at him, Ryuki drew his own card, twisting out of the way as Imperer attempted to stab at him before slipping it into his Dragvisor before sliding it closed.

SWORD VENT…

In a flash the Chinese style sword appeared in the Dragon Rider's hand, raising it just in time to block Imperer's weapon as he made another attempt to stab it at him.

As the two Riders engaged each other Sakura averted her gaze, closing her eyes and trying to block out the sounds of battle. "...stop it…stop it…" She muttered, "...stop it…stop it…"

"What's wrong Emiya, is this really all you got?" Imperer sneered, pressing his full weight behind Gazellestab as he tried to overpower Ryuki who was equally doing his best to fend him off. "Here I was thinking you had to be some real badass Rider, you were somehow able to fend off that worthless Rider Servant and survived both the Holy Grail War and Rider War despite being surrounded by monsters and psychos. But you're proving to be a disappointment."

Ryuki didn't reply, gripping the handle of his sword tighter, putting all his weight behind his weapon and with a shove managed to knock Imperer off balance, causing him to stumble backwards.

"E…Emiya, no…please no…" Imperer pleaded as he raised his free arm, using it to shield his head. "Please…please don't hurt me."

Seeing this caused Ryuki to hesitate, seeing Imperer cowering posture and hearing his pleading tone resulted in a myriad of emotions to stir within him. Shinji had done so many things that were unforgivable, he deserved whatever punishment that was coming to him.

All the same could he really bring himself to hurt someone who had once been his friend? Worse still, could he really stand by and let him be killed by the likes of Ouja or Abyss?

Seeing his opponent's moment of hesitation Imperer was quick to capitalize on it, lashed out with one of his feet and kicked Ryuki in the gut, the act knocking him off balance slightly, before thrusting his Gazellestab forward and catching the Red Dragon Rider in the chest, knocking him backward and sent sprawling to the ground.

"Ha ha ha, I can't believe you fell for that." Imperer chuckled darkly as he watched as Ryuki rolled on to his side. "You know what your problem is Emiya, you lack any kind of killer instinct, the desire to win at any cost. Seriously, how have you survived for this long? You can't possibly think that you have any chance of winning without killing the people who are actively trying to kill you."

Grunting Ryuki glared at Imperer's he staggered back to his feet, frustrated at himself for falling for such cheap ploy.

"Me on the other hand, I'm prepared to win at all costs." Imperer continued. "I'm fine with doing anything and everything to get ahead no matter how underhanded or deceitful, that's what it takes to survive in the world of Magus. Nothing else matters as long as you're the winner in the end."

As he was talking the gazelle themed Rider took the opportunity Imperer drew a new card from his Advent Deck and, lifting his knee, loaded it into his visor before lowering his foot and sliding the device closed.

ADVENT…

All around a dozen Gigazelles emerged seemingly out of thin air, the bipedal horned creatures swarmed Ryuki who tried his best to fend them off, swiping and slashing at the Red Dragon Rider and knocked him to the ground, using his arms to try and shield himself from their incoming blows.

Imperer laughed, the sound resonating throughout the building. "Yes, yes. This is just too good." He said gleefully. "But, as much as I'd love to savor this a little longer, I have my side of a bargain to keep."

Drawing a new card from his Advent Deck he revealed it to be his Final Vent Card. "Goodbye Emiya, with your death I'll finally obtain everything I ever wanted." Imperer said, raising his leg and prepared to slide the Advent Card into his Biovisor.

"Onii-san, please stop." Sakura cried out as she crawled over in front of him, staring up at him with pleading eyes, unable to bear watching any longer. "Please, stop fighting Senpai and let's just go home. I…I promise from now on that I'll do anything you want."

Imperer glared at the purple haired teenage girl, if not for his helmet she would have seen the look of anger on his face. "SHUT UP!" The gazelle themed Rider roared before backhanding Sakura across the face, knocking her to the ground. Not content with just that, Imperer then proceeded to kick her violently in the midsection.

"SHUT THE HELL UP UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO KILL YOU TOO YOU DIRTY LITTLE WHORE!" He continued yelling. "Y'KNOW WHAT, I'M GONNA DO IT ANYWAY. ONCE I'VE KILLED EMIYA I'M GONNA KILL YOU TOO."

It was then in that moment, witnessing the sight before him, watching Imperer strike Sakura, that something inside Ryuki snapped. His world became engulfed in a crimson haze.

A loud rage-filled cry filled the air, the sound of which caught the attention of both Matou, turning their heads in the direction it had come from they found Ryuki glaring in their direction, if not for his helmet they would see the look of pure rage on his face.

"SHIIINJIIII!" Ryuki cried out before he charged at Imperer, slashing violently at him with his sword again and again, not giving the gazelle Rider even the slightest chance to either respond or defend himself.

"Senpai…Senpai…" Sakura cried out, a panicked look on her face as she watched the red clad Rider mercilessly and viciously hammer away at Imperer. "Senpai stop, please stop!"

Her words however didn't reach him, Ryuki was far too lost in his own rage to acknowledge anything else. Tossing his DragSaber aside he then began to viciously pummel away at his opponent his fist, reigning blow after blow on the enemy Rider before delivering one final punch to his helmet covered face, the blow sending him sprawling across the ground.

Just as he was about to take a step toward his downed opponent Sakura suddenly grabbed onto one Ryuki's arm, trying desperately to get his attention. "Senpai, stop it. It's over, you've won." She pleaded, tears rolling down her face. "Please, please just stop it."

Again her words fell on deaf ears, Ryuki didn't look at her as he callously shoved her aside, his eyes fixed upon Imperer who was making whimpering noises and he tried and failed to struggle back to his feet.

"E…Emiya…I surrender. I swear, I give up." Imperer whimpered pathetically as he crawled backward, trying to put distance between himself and the enraged Dragon Rider. "Just…just don't hurt me…"

Ryuki didn't hear him, so lost in his anger that the Gazelle Rider's pleading didn't register. Breathing heavily he drew a card from his Advent Deck, slipped it into his Dragvisor and slid it closed.

FINAL VENT…

"No…no…" Imperer cried out as Dragredder appeared and began to encircle Ryuki as he assumed his wide legged stance, thrusting his hands out in front of him before rotating them, holding up his right hand splayed in a grasping manner whilst the left was held out across his chest as he crouched down.

Letting out a cry, Ryuki then leapt into the air, tucking his left leg underneath him and stretching his right out in front of him, Dragredder letting out a metallic sounding cry as it launched a fireball that propelled him forward.

"HAAAAAAAAA!" Ryuki screamed as he shot forward towards Imperer, his body encased in flames as he flew towards him like a fiery bullet. His foot connected with Imperer's back and sent him flying, launching him through the door and out into the yard beyond, no sooner had he hit the ground his body was engulfed in a large explosion.

The flames from the explosion died down revealing Imperer's form, his Rider Armor shattering off of his body leaving the wide eyed gasping form of Matou Shinji lying there. Panic rising as his vision became unfocused as darkness began creeping in.

No, no. This couldn't be happening. He was so close, so close to finally achieving his dreams. He was going to die here, killed by someone that he'd once called a friend. Killed because he'd unwittingly pushed a button that he never believed that Emiya Shirou could possess.

Darkness fully enveloped him. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his final breath escaped his body. Matou Shinji was dead.

Breathing heavily, Ryuki stepped out of the building, his gaze fixed upon Shinji's unmoving form. "Shinji, Shinji, get up," The red Dragon Rider snarled. "Stop screwing around and get back up…"

Shinji did not move; his body just lay there. Not moving an inch or making a sound.

"Shinji…" Ryuki called out again, anger still boiling away inside of him fuelling his desire to continue hurting the boy that he'd once called friend. "Shinji, stop screwing around."

But still Shinji didn't move, still his body just lay there unmoving.

As he stood there, the crimson haze that had filled Ryuki's vision began to dissipate as the adrenaline from the fight that had fueled him ebbed away, both of them replaced by an overwhelming sense of horror as he suddenly realized what it was that he had just done.

"N…no…no…" Ryuki muttered to himself before he made a mad dash towards Shinji's unmoving body, his Rider armor vanishing off of his body as he ran.

"Shinji…Shinji…" Shirou cried out as he quickly dropped to his knees next to the body of his former friend, grabbing ahold of his shoulders and began to shake him "Shinji, please stop messing around. Get up, get up already…please…"

Shinji's dead eyes staring back at him and a look of panic on his face before all of a sudden particle began to rise from Shinji's body, causing Shirou to jolt backwards, leaving unable to do anything other than watch helplessly as Shinji's body began dissolving into particles until he faded away into nothingness.

Staring at the spot where Shinji had been mere seconds before, Shirou's mind was racing as he tried to make sense of what was going on. Matou Shinji, someone who at one time had been one of his friends, and he, Emiya Shirou, had just killed him. Shinji was dead. Shinji was dead because of him.

"You're no better than Asukura. No, you're worse than Asukara, at least he's not making excuses for himself. Your talk about chivalry and honor is just a bunch of excuses you make up to justify your actions because when push comes to shove you'll gladly throw away your so-called chivalry the moment that it becomes inconvenient for you. You're just a murderer who loves killing."

Those words, his own words, he'd been so full of conviction when he'd said them. Now rang hollow in his ears.

A murderer, he'd called Saber a murderer. He'd accused her of taking pleasure in hurting other people and then making a bunch of BS excuses to justify her actions.

And now he himself had killed, now he was a killer. Now he was no better than her.

Turning his gaze away from the spot where Shinji's body had been mere moments before Shirou found himself looking at Sakura, the purple haired girl wearing a look of shock and fear on her face as she stared back at him.

Sakura was scared, she was scared, no, she was terrified of him.

It was then at that moment all of the pent up emotions that he'd experienced that day came flooding back, all of them crashing down on him all at once like a powerful torrent of water breaking through a dam.

His earlier confession to {Redacted} that morning, bearing his soul to her only to be soundly rejected. The whole experience leaving him feeling heartbroken as he'd walked away from her.

His conversation with Tohsaka not long afterwards, leading to her awkward attempt to console him which, while appreciating the sentiment, somehow left him feeling worse than he had been before.

Going through all that before being contacted by Shinji who'd told him that he was holding Sakura captive and where to meet him here, bringing him here.

And now Shinji was dead, he was dead because of him.

It was all too much for him, he couldn't bear to see the horrified look on Sakura's face any longer. Overwhelmed by everything Shirou did the only thing that he could think to do: he ran. At that moment, he needed to get as far away from here as possible.

So caught up in his desire to get as far away from there as possible that he almost collided with Rin as he passed by her, the Tohsaka heiress' inquiry as to what was going on unregistered by him as he sped away, leaving both Rin and Sakura standing there.

Unbeknownst to everyone Rider stood atop the Archery Club building, a stern expression was etched into the Servant of the Mount's face as she watched the events that transpired down below.

All around Fuyuki, the phones belonging to the remaining participants of the Rider War began buzzing, indicating that they'd all received a message.

Kamen Rider Imperer has been defeated. Six Riders remain…

AN And like that another chapter is in the bag. Yeah here we are again, our annual Ryuki chapter cos apparently we can't go one year without at least one chapter from this particular story.

So yeah, lets break this one down. Shinji is Kamen Rider Imperer in thus story, he would have been approached by Kanzaki after the Blood Fort Andromeda incident and given the opportunity to become a Rider and used his new access to Mirror World to kill off Zouken.

And of course the big take away from this one: Shirou killing Shinji. a moment that was foreshadowed in the second Ryuki chapter that I posted back at the end of 2022 and massive ramifications going forward. Caster gets involved and becomes a major threat for a while which then see's the introduction of Femme which leads to the final confrontation with Caster's whose defeat which triggers Saber transformation in Saber ALTER which all culminates in setting the stage for Dark Sakura and Dark Shirou/Ryuuga along with the final stage of the Holy Grail War.

All of this brought about by Shirou killing Shinji.

Something that I'm sure is going to be divisive is Shirou's reaction to Shinji's death, sure we the fandom can take satisfaction in Shinji dying cos he's a who lets be honest deserves his fate, but Shirou in this story has never killed before and his first time doing so was someone that at some point he considered his friend.

Sure I'm aware that in the canon story Shirou that say he's prepared to do what is necessary as part of the Holy Grail War. That being said however, if you ask me, there's a pretty big difference between saying that your prepared to kill and actually doing it.

Shirou he's not EMIYA, not yet, he's not gotten to the point where he's so desensitised to killing and this is the first time he's killed someone so yeah I honestly his reaction to killing Shinji is pretty genuine.

Moving on, this chapter mentioned {Redacted} who I can't reveal the identity of as its a massive spoiler. As for who {Redacted} is, who I remind you all isn't Rin, Sakura, Saber or Illya, she's a pretty important to the story for a couple of reasons not least because she's Shirou's love interest in this story as well as eventually becomes Kamen Rider Femme.

By the time your reading this the first two episodes of Boonboomger have aired and gotta say its been pretty fun so far, it seems to have a Go-Onger going on. Sure its not on the level of King-Ohger in terms of world building thus far but the show's been pretty fun so far but that's a no necessarily a bad thing, after 2 more experimental shows, Donbrothers and King-Ohger, taking a step back and going for a more traditional show feels a little refreshing.

And if nothing else were not trapped in green screen CGI hell for every fight and we've got a dance number in the end credits again for the first time we've had one since the Kiramager.

Given the Go-Onger vibe thr shows got going we've got a least one more episode before Boon Black and Boon Orange join the team.

Meanwhile on Gotchard quite a bit happened in the previous episode. First Greyon's making his move with his pan to open the Door o Darkness.

Second Fuga transformed into Kamen Rider Wind only to get killed off, was I the only one getting major red flags the moment Fuga showed up and started saying how he'd light the way for the next generation? But then it turns out that Fuga was actually some kind of clone who dissolved into liquid which is also probably how Fuga survived his supposed death in episode 1.

Also it turns out that Lachesis is working with Minato to get rid of Greyon whose she's afraid of. Also the look on Clotho's face when she and Atropos confronted her, you could tell that she really didn't want to fight her sister. Honestly I can see all of the Abyssalis Sisters joining up with Hotarou's group by the time show ends.

Next episode Hotarou and the others are headed to the Ouroboros World and we're getting the debut of Platinum Gotchard.

Also Back On has released an English cover of ChemyxStory on Youtube that you can listen to. They also did a Chinese cover of it, so there's that.

Anyway I'm gonna stop here, I'm actually posting this up right before I need to leave to work so I better wrap this up. As always feel free to drop a review and let me know what you thought of this instalment and I'll see you all next time for a pretty big chapter, one I've been sitting on for a while.

Until next time, peace out y'all.