Omake: One Punch-Servant 6
Archer knew that this was going to be his last and only chance.
The day after the madness in Ryuudou Temple (Which had somehow ended with Caster's plans destroyed and she promising to 'help them', from what he had been told), Rin had called him in the morning and confronted him about his True Identity.
It didn't come as too much of a surprise for him. After all, since the moment the idiot of his past-self had pulled out the pendant to turn into that sword (And by the Root, how he wished to have enough Prana to Trace that thing in a prolonged battled), she must have realized that something was 'off'. After all, there couldn't be any 'copies' of that thing, yet he had given her one, supposedly the one she had forgotten on the school, the same night when the madness of this war truly began.
A couple of days and then Shirou revealing the way in which he had learned to use his third-rate Magecraft to 'Trace' weapons were all that the Tohsaka Magus had needed to finish putting the pieces together. Which probably had only made whatever she had seen of his past in the Dream Cycle till then even worse.
The expression on her face had almost made him break the cold silence with which he had answered her question. After all, it painfully reminded him of his Rin. Something he had tried to stop doing after having been summoned and failed on his goals so many times.
Of course, the fact that the redhead Emiya was there with her had helped. The Servant of the Bow had just stared at him and told him that following whatever 'stupid idea' of a Hero Savior had put on his head would only end in suffering for him.
Archer had been understandably surprised when, instead of indecision and doubts, Shirou had answered him without missing a heartbeat.
"There is nothing stupid with Savior's Path. You wouldn't say that if you had seen half of what I have."
EMIYA had simple turned immaterial and floated away down the hallway after that, not willing to argue anymore. He thought that maybe he felt Sakura staring the way he had vanished when his spirit form flew past her room's half-closed door, but he hadn't been in the mood to actually make sure of this.
His mood hadn't gotten any better when, while heading to the rooftop, he had found Savior up there, the Servant of the Cape staring silently at the sky without even looking his way, but somehow knowing he was there despite his immaterial state.
The words he said had echoed on his mind like hammers over an anvil.
"If there was still a bit of Shirou inside you, you wouldn't even entertain killing him. You would have tried to help him to not become You by other means."
The Counter Guardian had been extremely irked by that, not even bothering to think how it was that the other Servant knew exactly, or at least to some point, what he had been planning on doing. He didn't even show up before the rest anymore, not that it was needed with the current state of the War.
What did that stupid boy with enough strength to do anything knew about him? It was easy for him, with that absurd power of his, to think anything was possible, to see the good side of things…but Archer knew the good side was only a lie.
There was no Salvation waiting for Emiya Shirou. Trying to be a Hero would only destroy him, just like it had done countless others before him.
Even the greatest of Heroes had their dark pasts. And the most legendary of them had died young, in pointless battles that despite being recorded as glorious amounted to nothing in the end.
He had been betrayed by the same Ideals that he had inherited from his father, time and time again while he served under Alaya as one of Humanity's Dogs…until it broke him.
That was the reason he had started his 'mad quest'. In the end, it wasn't about whatever version of his doomed past-self he encountered, it was just about himself. About the small, almost nonexistent possibility of being freed, free from his Contract, even if that meant oblivion for him, as Archer was under no illusions that his true soul would find anything but a quick end if he managed to start the Paradox to wipe the existence of 'Emiya Shirou' from the Multiverse.
And if along the way he encountered other Shirous, not the one from his timeline, but still willing to go down that stupid path? He would just kill them. The Servant would be doing them and their worlds a favor, after all. No one as Distorted as Emiya Shirou deserved to keep living.
Despite this, Archer still knew that his chances of actually succeeding in killing this particular Shirou were almost nonexistent at best. As much as he thought of Savior as a blind idiot, there was no denying his absurd power. Under normal circumstances, any attempt he made against the boy's life would be stopped and he would be dead by the next second.
But now…
"Rin, there is another squad of them going for from the north." calmly informed the Servant of the Bow before shooting more of his mundane 'arrows', the projectiles moving through the air at break-necking speeds before destroying several of the black monsters that were rushing through a specific street.
"We see them, Archer. We have it covered." answered his Master with the same resigned tone she had been using with him since he stopped trying to act even remotely nice with them, even as he saw how she turned around and unleashed a barrage of Gandr against the incoming abominations. Near her, Archer could see how the young Emiya charged at another group of the things, swinging Ignis Heart and demolishing them with a burning wave of raw Prana. Sakura and Rider were close after him, the Servant making sure that no monster got close to her Master or the boy she wanted to protect.
And there, at the opposite extreme of the street, fighting off what seemed like dozens of the things with no effort, Savior proudly stood, an empty look on his face as he crushed, backhanded and threw the corrupted familiars into nothing.
From his place atop a high building 3 Km. away from there, the Servant of the Bow suppressed a cynic smile.
Honestly, EMIYA didn't had access to even a significant portion of his full memories as a Counter Guardian, against because of Rin's butchered summoning, but he could remember enough of other times he had been through the 5th Grail War to know that the monsters of darkness that apparently spilled from the corrupted Greater Grail were something that only happened once every hundred of universes or so.
What were the odds of it actually happening when he really needed to keep his past-self away from his Servant? It was almost as if Fate was giving him a hand or something.
Suppressing the strange shiver he got the moment he thought that, as if he was hearing Something chuckling sinisterly in confirmation, Archer decided that it was now or never. With some luck, he would be able to see the look of shock in Savior's face for having underestimated him before he vanished from this world.
"Rin, tell Emiya Shirou a couple of them are trying to get inside a building on the alley at the other side. I think there may be someone still inside…" quickly informed the Counter Guardian the exact moment he saw the Tohsaka Magus start being overwhelmed by enemies, which prompted her sister and her Servant to leap to her help, also forcing her to simply relay what he had told her to Shirou without questioning it, who simply nodded and rushed towards the alley.
Just as planned.
Savior didn't have any idea of what he was about to do and his Master was out of his sight. Rin and Sakura (Who he really didn't want to hurt unless there was no other option) were busy. And the idiot of his past-self was rushing towards an empty alley. Perfect.
Just to say on the safe side, Archer drew as much Prana as he could from Rin instead of his own reserves to form the black sword that he quickly knocked on his bow as it was Altered into an arrow, seeing his Master collapse on her knees in shock and Sakura rushing to her side in worry and confusion, Rider still protecting them.
'I'm the bone of my sword…'
Then, he activated the wicked-looking dagger he had Traced on his person for a while now.
"Rule Breaker." intoned the Servant of the Bow as he felt his connection with the Tohsaka Heir being severed, before aiming directly at the redhead Magus that was rushing into the alley at the street's other side. "Hrunting."
Like a jet-black missile shrouded in a reddish aura, the Hound of the Red Plains came alive and shot forward, the Broken Phantasm roaring into the world as it sped towards its target.
It was over. Emiya Shirou would die before either he or his Servant realized what had happened. Not only did Hrunting act like a homing on its target as long as he kept his sight on it, but it could also reach a speed of Mach 10 in an instant. That was reaching over 12200 Km/h in a second.
From this distance, it wouldn't arrive at such, but it would not be needed. It would be less than a second since the moment the arrow left his bow to the moment it exploded and turned the Magus into a broken mess. Even if Savior was somehow able to move as fast as his arrow, the mere fact of not knowing what was going to happen was all that Archer had needed.
Thanks to his eyes, he could see almost in slow motion as Shirou stopped on the alley's entrance, clearly confused, how Rin was starting to open her mouth to scream a warning that would come too late, for his arrow was already over halfway there…
And then it exploded in midair, hit by something flying as fast as it.
The greatest shock of his entire existence filled EMIYA's brain before it quickly processed the sound he had heard just before the explosion.
A gunshot.
Diving down, the Servant of the Bow prevented his head from being turned into toothpaste when another of the absurdly powerful and high-caliber projectiles shot past him, leaving a sizeable hole on the side of the building he was in.
What the hell?! Who used a sniper rifle that had such an absurd power?!
When the answer he came with was 'No human', Archer felt himself paling and whipped his head around, Reinforcing his eyes to the limit to try and locate the sniper.
Almost 5 Km. away, he found her. There, sitting at the edge of a building slightly higher than the one he was it, a girl with bluish hair and a strange and futuristic visor stared back at him.
She was wearing skintight clothes that most would have found bordering the obscene if they hadn't seen lancer's attire before, with slightly armored metal armor over her hips, breasts, and shoulders. A short white scarf rested around her neck and the most massive and deadly looking rifle that the Servant of the Bow had ever seen on her hands. The thing seemed like something straight out of some post-apocalyptic shooter videogame!
The moment she saw him staring, a small smirk seemed to appear on her face as she mouthed the words 'You shouldn't have done that' before taking aim at him again. Without thinking, EMIYA did the same and quickly shot half a dozen arrows in her direction before she could pull the trigger, all of them slightly separated one from the other.
Okay, so, Savior hadn't been as stupid as he thought. He had had one of his crazy 'friends' watching over him. His plan was now a total failure, and the only reason he probably hadn't been punched to oblivion yet was that everyone else was still too busy trying to deal with those monsters that the Greater Grail spawned.
Well, at least he could take the satisfaction of taking down one of those lunatics with him. That had to count for something, right? After all, there was no way she could shoot down all 6 arrows before they reached her, especially not when…
His train of thought was brutally interrupted when the centermost arrow was hit in midair and an explosion distinctively different and more powerful than it should have caused happened, disrupting the course of all the others and even making the closer ones explode.
…so, she could also shoot explosive bullets from that thing. Yeah, why not? What next, maybe she could also shoot lasers from that visor of her and…?
Wait…was that a fucking hippogriff at her side? And was she…'transforming' her rifle into a futuristic-looking bow?! And oh God she was jumping on the hippogriff's back and aiming at him with…!
Deciding that he had had enough madness for now, Archer decided to say 'Fuck it' and simply jump off the building, hearing the rooftop being totaled 1.5 seconds after he vacated it, by what he would have sworn were several shining arrows making a clearly unnatural pattern.
Nowhere near as devastating or fast as some of his most extreme Broken Phantasms could be, but clearly much more precise and less Prana-consuming, at least from his point of view.
Landing on the ground without problems, the red-clad Counter Guardian took a second to weigh his options as he ran away, clearly not wanting to be anywhere near a rooftop if the crazy girl with the rifle-bow riding the griff was still around after doing that. He needed to think what…
His instincts screaming where the only thing that saved Archer from being bisected when a katana was unsheathed and swung his way, the cut's range somehow reaching past him and leaving a massive gash on the street, also cutting in half several abandoned cars. Head snapping to the side as he Traced Kanshou and Bakuya, the Servant of the Bow found himself facing a light orange-haired girl wearing a bluish and white battle kimono, with some flower-like patterns on the back, and wielding a katana that was as long as the one the Fake Assassin of the current war had used.
'Steel is my body and fire is my blood…'
"You made a mistake with that, Archer-san." coldly declared the girl while glaring at him, as if the white-haired man had personally offended her. "You shouldn't have tried to kill Shirou-san."
"Oh, spare me this, whoever you are." retorted the Counter Guardian while glaring at the Pseudo-Servant, not really caring for much at this point…but also stalling. "You don't even know him or me to judge any of my reasons, girl."
'I have created over a thousand blades…'
"I don't need to know him myself, I know enough. He has been a great and loyal friend to Kirito, and he has a noble heart and determination." replied the katana-user while, sheathing her blade, (Masamune, as Archer knew after seeing it once) and getting into another combat stance. "He's under his protection, and so he's under mine too. I, Hollow Draw, won't allow you to harm him."
'Unknown to Death…'
"The boy is a lost cause." continued the Servant of the Bow before quickly throwing his blades towards the Pseudo-Servant, forcing her to unsheathe and cut them in half even as he quickly Traced another pair and threw them too, hoping to catch her off guard. "That ideal of his will only destroy him and make everyone abandon him!"
'Nor known to Life…'
"There is nothing wrong with wanting to help people!" shouted the girl that had been called Hollow Draw, because of her ability to end almost any enemy after drawing her blade, before spinning over herself as her katana shone with unnatural light, sheathing and unsheathing it faster than EMIYA thought would be possible for even a Servant, shattering all the copies of Kanshou and Bakuya spinning around her. "It's something I learned even before becoming a Heroine!"
'Have withstood pain to create many weapons…'
"Then you're more of a fool than I thought, girl. Overedge." snarled Archer while Reinforcing the next pair of Married Blades on his hands beyond their limit, letting them grow and crack until they seemed like two massive wings of steel, which he quickly used to rush at the Pseudo-Servant and force her to dodge backward. "You don't know anything about that boy! Helping others, becoming a Hero will be his downfall!"
"Like hell it will! If he has learned anything from Kirito in this short time then he won't!"
"Keep telling yourself that and maybe it will become true in a million years!"
'Yet, those hands will never hold anything…'
"Archer, stop!" screamed a familiar voice from nearby, making both fighters freeze and turn around, seeing how Rin, Shirou, and Sakura came running from around the corner, the red-haired Magus locking eyes with the Servant of the Bow as soon as they did.
Savior wasn't with them. Neither was Rider. They had both probably stayed behind to keep the corrupted Familiars from getting out of control.
Really, how MUCH luck could he have? Why was Fate smiling so much at him that night?
"Please…don't do it, Archer-san." muttered Sakura while looking at him as she stood close to the young Emiya, as if trying to see something of the boy she loved in the cornered man clad in red and black.
"…you don't have to do this." simply whispered Shirou while looking at Archer with…pity. "It doesn't have to end this way."
THAT did it. If there was something EMIYA wasn't going to tolerate, even more when the circumstances suddenly seemed outrageously in his favor, was that his past-self, no matter which version, looked at him like that.
"Oh…but it has, Emiya Shirou." declared the Servant of the Bow with an emotionless voice, not even reacting when the hippogriff from before landed near the 3 Masters with a small growl, making them jump as the girl riding it aimed her bow at him.
'So, as I pray…'
"Give up, bowman." proclaimed the sniper while aiming an energy-like arrow at his head. "It's over."
"Yes." announced Archer while smiling emptily at them, making Shirou fee a shiver of fear for some unknown reason. "It is."
"WATCH O…!"
'͟U͟n͟l͟i͟m͟i͟t͟e͟d͟͟ B͟l͟a͟d͟e͟͟ W͟o͟r͟k͟s͟'͟
Exploding from the Servant's body, fire consumed the world.
No one could react in time before it reached and engulfed everyone there, changing Reality itself as it passed.
When the surprised group lowered the arms they had used to cover themselves, they found with surprise that they had seemingly been 'Teleported' to another place, and that their positions had changed, as now all of them, including the two Pseudo-Servants, were standing close together, while Archer stood several hundred meters away, on a small hill, staring at them with uncaring steel-like eyes.
Around them, there was a desolated landscape, the sky a crimson color as many titanic gears hung in there, eternally spinning and keeping the fires of a massive forge burning while a great amount of dark smog filled the air.
The thing that drew everyone's attention the most, however, were the swords.
Countless of them, of all shapes and sizes, some smaller than a closed fist and others taller than a man, even one taller than a building, they all filled the desert-like area of that strange place as far as the eyes could see, standing tall and impaled on the ground, like supernatural graves.
There were not only swords, however. Though these were the most numerous ones, axes, spears, knives, daggers and all other kinds of weapons littered the landscape from horizon to horizon.
Some of simple steel, barely able to hurt fellow men.
Others were powerful enough to kill Gods.
"No way…" came Rin's shocked voice at the visage, even as her sister stared around in a mix of fear and awe. "A Reality Marble…?"
Shirou, for his part, was staring at the weapons filling that strange world and feeling his eyes taking in everything about them, analyzing and storing every single one somewhere inside of him.
For some reason, he felt as if that place was somewhere he belonged…and yet, it was also a place that he never wished to be in his life.
"This is it." declared the Counter Guardian EMIYA while staring silently at them. "This is my world, the ultimate expression of my soul. You're all at my mercy now."
This was the only Magecraft that truly belonged to the Servant Archer, the closest thing he had to a 'Noble Phantasm' like any other Heroic Spirit had.
A Reality Marble. A thaumaturgy of the highest level, just under the Sorceries, that allowed one to imprint their inner world over the World itself. Essentially overwriting Reality with your soul.
This was Unlimited Blade Works. The ultimate expression of the concept of 'Sword', which was what had marked the life of the Servant of the Bow. A world with limitless weapons, all of them at his beck and call.
Slowly, the white-haired man raised his hand, millions and millions of blades rising to the heavens at his will.
There wouldn't be any bullshit and not running head-on at the enemy here. He was just going to let endless legendary weapons on their heads, like a certain golden bastard he had once known, to utterly eradicate every single one of them with all of his remaining Mana.
Fate must have been truly on his side this time, if he was not only going to take down the naïve Emiya Shirou, but also two of Saviors allies. He would have preferred to spar Rin and Sakura, but there was no way of stopping it at this point.
This was going to be the true end of…
"…are you seeing this, Philia?" whispered he sniper while getting off her hippogriff, taking off her visor as she stared around in awe.
"Yes…yes, I see it, Silent Death."
"…what did we say about calling each other with those names out of 'work'?" sighed the heroine of the bow while shaking her head.
"O-oh, sorry about that, Sinon…" sheepishly apologized the girl of the katana…before turning her head towards Archer with a bright smile. "I never thought I would meet someone else who had one."
Everything seemed to come to a halt when those words were uttered, EMIYA himself blinked as he stared at the Pseudo-Servant in shock.
"Wha…what?"
"But…is not right." continued the one once called Hollow Draw with a small frown, looking around. "This place…is twisted. Weak." her eyes now filled with sadness, the girl stared straight at Archer steel-like ones. "You have lost your faith in the meaning behind this world of yours, right?"
There was no way of denying those words. After all, EMIYA's world hadn't always looked like that.
Once upon a time, the gears didn't cover the whole sky, and the air was clean and pure instead of the contaminated thing that was now.
The Reality Marble had changed, as its owner had done while his ideal 'betrayed' him time and time again.
At some point, it had been the greatest help to make sure that the dream of someone called 'Emiya Shirou', that of becoming an Ally of Justice that could save everyone, became truth. With time, however, it slowly turned darker and darker, the more its owner stopped believing in his ideal until he totally rejected it, having abandoned even his old name.
Living as a Sword, with the purpose of a Sword. For Counter Guardian EMIYA, this world was now nothing more than a tool to accomplish his purposes. Nothing more, nothing else.
But on the other hand…
"I never did that, even after death." calmly stated the orange-haired girl with a small smile. "Because…it would be truly sad, to stop believing in your own soul, right?"
Without hesitation, Archer sent the swords down, almost despairing at doing so, going so far as to call for his world to sprout blades from the ground and impale them all in that same instant, starting by the katana-user…
He was a second too late, though.
[Loyalty Garden]
With a rush of white fire erupting from the Pseudo-Servant, the desolated landscape that was Unlimited Blade Works was washed away, the 'weak' Marble unable to withstand the pure Will of one which was still loved and cherished by its owner even an eternity after her death.
Blinking, the Servant of the Bow looked around, a clear blue sky having replaced the depressing one of his world, the sun if midday shining brightly and happily on the heavens.
As far as the eye could see, a garden filled with beautiful flowers of all kinds stood, seeming more like a paradise than anything else.
The only defining feature that was different from the endless and flower-filled plains was the beautiful and imposing tree on its center, which EMIYA was unable to identify and under which shadow the stunned group of Masters and two Pseudo-Servants now stood.
"So…beautiful…" muttered Sakura while reaching down and caressing a flower, almost fearing to even think of actually pulling it.
"She…overwrote Archer's own Marble without effort…" whispered a shocked Rin while staring at the calm form of Hollow Draw, who was now staring towards the tree's leaves with a nostalgic look on her face. "What kind of world is this…?"
"…got to say, no matter how many times I see this place, it still keeps putting a smile on my face." commented Silent Death while leaning back against the tree, her hippogriff lazily sitting over the soft grass even as her gaze zeroed over Archer. "Can you feel it already, bowman?"
Confused, the Servant of the Bow wondered for a moment what she was talking about…before realizing he couldn't feel his Magic Circuits.
Shocked, EMIYA tried to call upon any aspects of his powers, but nothing seemed to answer him. No Prana, not instincts…not even the image of his inner world.
"I see…" muttered Shirou while looking at his hands, then at the garden around them once more, a smile also appearing on his face as he seemed to remember something he had seen on his dreams. "So this is [Loyalty], uh, Philia-san?"
"That's right." idly muttered the Pseudo-Servant while reaching into the tree, the handle of a 'sword' emerging from it as she drew an impossibly long katana from its insides, her eyes never leaving Archer's shocked form. "And now…I will show it to you too, Counter Guardian EMIYA."
Silently, the Servant of the Bow stared at the 'sword' on the girl's hands, which wasn't really a sword, and understood it all, even as his Reality Marble found itself once again unable to accept the thing, for it was no blade.
It was a direct manifestation of the world around them. A katana-shaped incarnation of 'Loyalty', which was what this world represented.
Once upon a time, a girl had found her purpose in life by learning to trust and to be loyal with the first real friends she made. She got friendship and loyalty that would last for eternity in return. She also found love, a family…everything she could have ever wished for and more.
And that was what this world represented. Loyalty Garden was the physical manifestation of Philia, of Takemiya Kotone's soul. A world that showed absolute loyalty to her and those she called 'friends'.
Anyone and anything that did not deserve such title and found themselves inside the Marble would lose 'All that was not Natural'.
Supernatural powers, spirits, curses, Magecraft, enchanted objects, mysteries…everything would lose its power once inside this Garden. The only reason why EMIYA, a Servant and as such a being whose very existence was something unnatural, still was even standing there was that the nature of the Reality Marble wasn't a hostile one…unless her owner wished it so, to protect those she was Loyal towards.
It was kind of an irony, Archer vaguely thought, for this thing could make even the deadliest of the Apostle Ancestors into a normal and powerless being…and this girl would never get to face any of them. She probably wouldn't have done so either, even if the occasion presented itself, unless it was to protect those she cared for or someone innocent they were trying to harm.
Such was her nature. And that of this world, perhaps the single most beautiful thing the Servant of the Bow could remember having ever seen.
He had just become aware that there were minuscule tears rolling down his face when Hollow Draw took a step forward and readied her 'katana' in a Battoujutsu stance, staring at him with one last look.
"…goodbye." came her voice almost as if she was apologizing for something. "Zantetsuken."
With a slash so powerful that it seemed to consume everything that was wrong with the world as it came and reach even his True Self back in the Throne, Counter Guardian EMIYA was no more.
Barely a couple of seconds later, both Savior and Rider arrived at the street where everything had happened, just in time to see the three teenagers staring silently at a vanishing cloud of Prana sparks, even as the figure of a certain sniper and her mount dematerialized, her own power barely not spent for good.
Even as the Servant of the Mount rushed to her Master's side and quickly asked if she was okay and what had happened, the Caped Hero let his gaze fall over his own partner, who looked at him with a mixed and bitter expression before they both looked towards Rin, who was staring at the hand where her Command Seals had been with sorrow.
When Shirou didn't need him to say anything to step forward and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, the Servant of the Cape let a small smile appear on his face.
It seemed that everything would soon end peacefully…
"…things have already gone way beyond our original expectations." were the words that could be heard on Fuyuki's only church. "We need to secure the Lesser Grail if we want this War to still end as it should be."
Hearing no answer, Kotomine Kirei turned to look towards the figure of the blonde man standing near one of the walls, staring silently towards one of the windows with his crimson eyes, as if he was staring into the city to watch something he deemed interesting.
An unusually amused smirk on his face, the King turned to look at the Fake Priest,
"Certainly, Kotomine. Let's put an end to this farce."
And with that declaration, the end of the 5th Holy Grail War was about to begin…