Why?

That was the question Artoria had been asking herself since the start of the fight. It was going well at first. She and Bigfoot attacked Lancer from different angles, trying to overwhelm him by attacking him simultaneously, but he kept deflecting everything they threw at him. If that wasn't enough, every time they tried to get at an opening, some mysterious force prevented them from doing so.

So why?

Artoria: "Why can't we beat him!?"

She swung her sword at his neck only for him to duck, causing her to accidentally slash Bigfoot, who was trying to attack him from behind.

Artoria: "Sorry!"

Bigfoot: "Ah! Apology accepted! What do we do now?"

Artoria: "I don't understand it. He doesn't have the skill of Diarmuid or the speed of Cú Chulainn. So what is it that makes him so strong?"

The more she thought about it, the more the nature of his ability became clear to her, and the more terrified she seemed to be.

Bigfoot: "Saber?"

Artoria: "Assassin, when I give the signal, get ready to dodge."

Bigfoot: "Sure, but…why?"

Artoria: "Just do as I say. There's something I want to try out."

Artoria took several jumps back and pointed her sword at Lancer.

Artoria: "Oh wind…"

She gathered wind around her sword.

Artoria: "Strike Air!"

A burst of wind came from the tip of her sword and blasted towards Lancer, who deflected the attack with his staff, sending it towards Bigfoot.

Artoria: "Now Assassin! Dodge!"

Bigfoot quickly jumped out of the way, letting the blast of wind go past him and obliterate a group of trees.

Bigfoot: "How did you know that would hit me?"

Artoria: "Because that is how his noble phantasm works."

Lancer: "Oh? Figured out my ability didja?"

Artoria: "Indeed. Your noble phantasm can deflect all misfortune back at the attacker. It does this by absorbing the opponent's luck parameter, fueling a bounded field that reflects all bad luck away from yourself. I must admit, a noble phantasm like this is rather potent."

Lancer: "Hahaha! Very good! I'm impressed ya managed to figure that out. You truly are an experienced warrior, aren't ya lassy? Indeed, that is the ability of my noble phantasm, Luck of the Irish. The problem with the lancer class has always been their poor luck. No matter how many times they try, the lancer class never seems to win. It's almost as if the class is cursed. With my noble phantasm, however, I don't have this issue. I will get my hands on the grail, and no one will stop me!"

Lancer jumped into the air and slammed into the earth with his staff pointed down, causing a massive eruption of dirt as Artoria and Bigfoot moved out of the way to avoid it.

Bigfoot: "Alright, you figured out the nature of his noble phantasm. What's the next part of your plan?"

Artoria: "I…I don't know! The next part of my plan was to find a weakness in his noble phantasm for us to exploit. However, I'm having trouble doing this because of the nature of his ability."

Bigfoot: "So…..what do we do?"

Artoria: "I don't know! I-"

?: "I have an idea!"

Suddenly a bunch of arrows came flying toward Lancer, who deflected most of them, but one of them managed to hit him in the shoulder. Lancer turned in frustration to see who shot him. It was Arash, who was sitting on a nearby branch.

Arash: "Why don't we just keep hitting him until something works!"

Artoria: "Archer? What are you doing here?"

Arash: "My master sent me to help you."

Artoria: "You meen…Shirou is here? What is he doing right now?"

Arash: "Well…"

Shirou: "..."

Gregor: "..."

Shirou and Father Gregor stared at each other. Their eyes were filled with fury as each was mad at each other for a specific reason. Shirou was mad at Gregor for attacking Naru, and Gregor was mad at Shirou for getting in the way.

Shirou: "First, in Fuyuki, now Sekoyoma? I'm getting tired of the church betraying my trust."

Gregor: "Your concerns about whether you trust us are not important to me in any way. Now, move aside before I kill you as well, Shirou Emiya."

Shirou: "You know perfectly well I cannot do that."

Shirou turned to Naru who was standing still, unsure of what to do.

Shirou: "Go, Naru. Take Brook and get out of here. You've done a good job holding them off on your own, but now it's my turn to face them."

Naru: "W-what about you? Shouldn't you be running as well?"

Shirou: "No, I need to hold them off so you can escape. I'm sorry, Naru. I was that one who told you to go to the church for help. Allow me to redeem myself by covering your escape."

Naru: "If you say so. Just try not to die."

Naru went to the tree where Brook was pinned and freed her.

Naru: "Are you okay?"

Brook: "My shoulder hurts a little, but I can still run. Now let's get out of here!"

Naru: "Don't have to ask me twice!"

Shirou smiled as Naru ran away with Brook. He then turned his attention to the priest in front of him.

Gregor: "So, you have chosen to sacrifice yourself. How foolish! You do realize that you stand no chance against me. You're only capable of reinforcement and projection. How an amateur like you managed to win the Fuyuki Grail War is beyond me."

Shirou: "You are correct. I am an amateur. My circuits are very poor quality and I don't know that much magecraft. However…"

Shirou's circuits began to glow as he charged up mana into them.

Shirou: "...I can do a lot with very little."

Gregor charged at him with his sword to stop Shirou from doing whatever he was going to do, but before he could…

Shirou: "Trace…on!"

He projected two swords, one black, and one white, to block Gregor's blade.

Gregor: "What!?"

Gregor jumped back to take in what had just happened.

Gregor: "He can project noble phantasms? Is this how he won the Fifth Holy Grail War? More importantly… Those weapons…"

Shirou: "Huh?"

Gregor. "Those are the twin swords created by the tragic blacksmiths Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, or as they are known in Japan, Kanshou and Bakuya! Where did you get your hands on those?"

Shirou: "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Gregor: "Marylin!"

Marylin: "Y-yes Father?"

Gregor: "Go after Kaminari. I'll take care of things here."

Gregor took out a second sword to pair with his first while Marylin went running after Naru.

Gregor: "Alright, you may be able to project noble phantasms, but do you have the skills necessary to wield them?"

Shirou: "Let's find out!"

They charged at each other ready to clash blades.

Naru ran through the woods while dragging Brook by the hand.

Naru: "Come on! We're almost back at the house!"

Brook: "I'm going as fast as I can! I'm not an Olympic sprinter!"

Naru: "Just hurry up!"

As the two continued to run, another set of footsteps followed behind them.

Brook: "Um…Naru, I think Marylin is back on our tail."

Naru: *sigh* "What is her deal? It's like she has some sort of grudge against me."

Brook: "To be fair, you did kick her ass pretty easily."

Naru: "That's true."

Naru turned around and pulled out the Lost Forge, turning it into a knife.

Brook: "Naru? What are you doing?"

Naru: "If we go any further, we'll end up leading her towards the house and put Tohka in danger. That's why I decided to hold my ground here!"

Brook: "I'll help too!"

She pulled out her revolver and pointed it in Marylin's direction.

Brook: "I may not be a mage, but I'm still capable of defending myself!"

Marylin arrived in front of Naru, her eyes filled with hostility.

Marylin: "So you decided to fight instead of run away? How foolish."

Naru: "That's some big talk coming from someone who got their ass kicked earlier."

Marylin: "I assure you, don't expect my defeat to come as easily this ti-"

Before she could finish, Naru punched her in the face, sending her flying backward into a nearby tree, breaking her nose in the process.

Naru: "Sorry about that. I'm not mentally mature enough to hold back against a girl.

Marylin looked at Naru with a combination of shock and anger on her face. She fixed her nose, the cartilage snapping into place with a sickening crunch.

Marylin: "You…I'll kill you!"

She once again lashed out with her Crown of Thorns. Naru struggled to deflect the various attacks sent his way with his knife.

Naru: "I can't get in close, her attacks are too fast. I can't even grab the chain. Dammit! She seems to have learned her lesson in the previous encounter! What do I do?"

Marylin smirked as she could tell her attacks were causing Naru some trouble. Suddenly, several gunshots rang out, and several bullets bounced off her nun's habit. She turned to see that Brook had fired several shots at her. Brook froze as Marylin kicked her to the ground. Brook got up rubbing the back.

Brook: "What? Your habit is bulletproof? That's cheating!"

Marylin: "Did you think that would work? You're in way over your head."

Brook: "I wasn't trying to kill you, I was trying to distract you bitchass!"

Marylin turned to see that Naru had managed to grab her Crown of Thorns.

Naru: "Reforge!"

He activated his reforgement magecraft and turned the Crown of Thorns from a thin spiked chain, into a robust chain with spikes big enough to impale a person. While it appeared that the chain's improved nature might give Marylin the advantage, in reality, this was not the case. The chain was way too heavy to lift. This resulted in Marylin being forced to abandon in exchange for the use of her Ash Lock, as she prepared to engage Naru in a fistfight. The two immediately started swinging, their fists clashing against each other.

They kept punching, and punching, and punching, and punching some more. This went on for ten minutes. In the end, both of them were almost completely worn out. Naru's hands were completely bruised and covered in blood, while Marylin's gauntlets had cracks all over them and the pieces of armor covering the fingers were completely broken off.

Naru: "Hah, Hah, It looks like…were evenly matched."

Marylin: "Don't…*gasp*...get full of yourself. My hands are in much better condition than yours, but that doesn't matter. The only thing I have to worry about is Lancer's victory."

Naru: "Heh! No one can take three servants at once. Lancer is going to lose!"

Marylin: "I wouldn't be so sure. Lancer is strong enough to take on every servant in this war combined. I doubt that will be an issue. However, just to be sure, I will finish this right now."

Marylin raised her hand into the air.

Naru: "Oh no! She's activating a command spell!"

Marylin: "Lancer! By my command spell, I order you to activate your second noble phantasm. Kill them all!"