Outside a destroyed chapel,
Shenghuo ran his hands along his unnaturally smooth face. Much of his defining features had been burned away; he was lucky that he still had his sight.
"I can't smell anything."
Archer stood a little ways away, staring at the remains of a shattered gravestone. His Solar Mantle had long ago deactivated, and he had returned to his usual form.
"Should I apologize for that?"
Shenghuo's hand slipped back onto the earth with a thud, and he continued to stare vacantly into the sky while laying on his back in what was left of his armor.
"I just assumed that your Solar Mantle took some influence from the phoenix, or at least the fenghuang. That being the case... I thought it'd be more effective."
"It does take some influence, but the restorative effects only work for my body. For anyone else, it's nothing but regeneration. It can heal, but it can't replace what's been lost."
"Makes sense. But, with luck, and especially if I could get my sister back as a test subject, it shouldn't be something that can't be fixed once the war is over."
Archer chuckled to himself, "And here I once thought you and I were birds of a feather, but you really can't fathom what's been lost tonight, can you?"
"Let's say that I can't. Tell me, Archer, what has been lost tonight?"
He turned on his heel to look down on the man who was once his Master, "What has been lost is the greatest opportunity this war has afforded us so far! There is no reason- none!- that Saber, Lancer, and both of their Masters should not be lying dead at my feet! But here we are, licking our wounds with our collective tail between our legs and why is that!?"
Shenghuo's expression was unchanged, although it was hardly capable of changing at this point, and he coolly rose to his feet, brushing off the dust and grass that had stuck in the chinks of his armor.
"Why indeed? How is it that I ruined your flawless strategy?"
"My strategy? No, no, no. Don't tell me you've already forgotten." He stuck a talon in Shenghuo's chest, "I followed your orders, just as you said. You didn't ruin my strategy, Master, you ruined your own."
Archer shook his head and turned his back, "I was wrong about you- completely wrong. I thought you were a straight-shooter: one who sought his goal single-mindedly and unerringly, but now I know the truth. You're fickle; more so than most. Your personal vendettas and attachments are all that matter to you, and I could tolerate that if they weren't as ever-changing as the moon! You have proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the lack of emotion is not the presence of clarity! If anything, it only sets you back, seeing as you could never hope to understand the hearts of your enemies- not to mention your allies. You're a fool. A damned fool pretending to be a stoic."
A whistle was heard as the breeze squeezed its way through the fallen stones that once made the chapel.
"Are you done?"
"...Yes."
His chin lowered, and his eyes sank to the singed grass beneath him, "Well... you're right. Everything you say is correct."
Archer turned a curious glance.
"I've spent most of my life in my workshop. One could say I've been privileged, at least in a certain sense. What's more, my success was always self-sufficient, never dependent on anyone else, be they allies or enemies. There was never anyone to get in my way, nor anyone to get attached to. Looking back now, my emotional response baffles me. I've never experienced anything like it... and yet..."
He caressed his breastplate.
"I can't regret it either. That anger still burns in my chest. That determination. That dedication. For my mother. Against my sister. I have never felt anything so persuasive before. And think about that, Archer. You called us birds of a feather before, and say that isn't true any longer, but isn't it the other way around? I won't deny the mistakes I've made along the way, but there has been one great boon here on the other side of it. You say I pretended to be stoic: it was only that I had nothing to be passionate about. But I do now. I know what I want now. And if I could strike so true when I was careless, imagine what I can do now. Imagine it.
"In other words, Archer, though your accusations are legitimate, is this not, as the westerners say, 'the pot calling the kettle black'? Our virtues are the same. Our flaws are the same; now more than ever. And now that we are more... aware of one another, our teamwork, and thus our chances of victory, are greater than they've ever been."
"What does it matter? Did you forget that you used your last Command Seal? Even if you still want to be my Master, I am no longer your Servant."
"Nonsense. You are a mercenary; no stranger to betrayal. We can find someone to act as your proxy Master in the meantime, and the Grail never meant anything to me to begin with. So long as I am the last man standing, that is all that matters, and good luck finding any other Master who hand over a prize like that so generously. So-"
He turned around and began back towards the chapel, "-Come along. The workshop should help you preserve your mana while we find you a replacement Master."
Hearing no footsteps behind him, Shenghuo stopped.
"Shenghuo. You're right. We are very alike. That's why I know there is nothing I can say to dissuade you from continuing to pursue your ambitions."
"Of course not, and I'm more than ready to include you in my schemes."
"As if I wouldn't be included in your schemes regardless."
He chuckled uncharacteristically, "I'm glad you're starting to see things clearly."
"I'm an Archer, seeing things clearly is my specialty. Unfortunately, that is where you and I differ."
"And why is that?"
"Did you forget the tactical errors you've already made?"
"Spare me. Are you really going to lecture me on the supposed immorality of saving my own life?"
"Yes."
Shenghuo turned back, meeting only Archer's ponytail flapping like a flag in the nighttime wind.
"We are men of ambition, Archer. Tell me, how is it that my ambition is to be fulfilled by my own death?"
"Why would I care about your ambition? 'Ambition' is not a principle; it isn't something to be bonded over. I would far prefer a layabout who served my goals than an ambitious man who didn't."
"So what you're saying is..." His face fell with the grim realization, "My life is no longer valuable to you."
"More than that, my former Master, it's directly harmful. When you released your last Command Seal, you didn't save yourself at all. The only people you saved tonight were our enemies. All you did was get in my way, and I see no future where leaving you alone wouldn't be more of the same.
"That was your mistake, Shenghuo. You were never going to survive tonight."
...
Earlier, in the Alghul Manor
It was Caster who spoke, "There are things we'd like to discuss with you in particular. If you're in such a hurry, I'd rather speak now than later, seeing as Rider has already offered his relevant information."
As the doors began to close, Archer deflated slightly, "Make it quick."
When the balcony doors slid, announcing the exit of Rider and his Master, Caster continued, "Archer, we know what's happening: your Master's base is currently under assault by Saber, Lancer, and Assassin."
"What!?" The fire reignited in his stomach, "Don't tell me you planned all of this!?"
"Of course not. Why would we cut our own meeting short? We merely suspected that those three were planning something, and your sudden reaction tells all."
"So what? Do you know any of their weaknesses? Do you plan to help?"
Caster shook his regal mane, "No, the opposite in fact. Which is why I must advise you... to let your Master die."
"What?"
"There are three Servants after his head. Even with your support, I see no feasible universe where he lives another day, especially if Rider chooses a side."
"-Rider?"
He seemed to ignore the question, "-And even if you were to succeed, what then? We lose pawns to use against Berserker, and for what? One measly human who's spent the war hiding in an old basement? Surely a Spirit as renowned as you could do better than a fickle shut-in like him."
"...If you've spent this long yapping, then I assume you have something to offer me in exchange for my loss?"
"Yes. My own Master is the owner of a powerful company, and some of her mercenaries have been helping us. One of them in-particular is especially motivated. He is a man who knows all-too-well the pains of loss and betrayal. Would you and he not get along?"
"You know my True Name, then?"
He offered a sly smile, "What can I say? Your talent betrays you. You'll be even more interested when you learn why he's motivated."
Caster began to pace around the room, no longer looking Archer in the eye. His Master looked on from her throne, apparently as intrigued as Archer was.
"See, he lost his wife not long ago. It was an act of betrayal, too. Heartbroken, he was. But when he learned of our dream for the Ichor Chalice, he swore his loyalty in its totality."
Archer's eye twitched, "To revive the dead?"
"Not quite. More like, 'reuniting with the dead'. Or, 'creating a world where loss is no longer a reality'. Revival, you understand, would imply the existence of an eventual 'devival'; it would return what was lost, only for it to be lost again down the road."
Caster looked back to Archer with a seemingly somber smile, "A world without loss, where all that was lost is found, and all that you have is yours' and yours' alone, forever- or as long as you want in any case. And, even if you don't believe me, there are other ways of achieving your goal. Though I don't see how any of them feature your current arrangement."
"...I'll consider it."
...
"You're not going to run?"
"What good would that do?"
"You're getting wiser by the minute. Almost makes me rethink it."
"Almost?"
"Almost."
"Ha...haha."
"Is it common for fools to laugh in the face of death?"
"It's just... I think I'm beginning to understand her a little better. Even when hope was lost, rather than submit, she offered up every ounce of energy she had, not because she thought it would do any good, but entirely out of spite. You- you are a hunter. Your prey runs and fights until it collapses at your feet. That is how you do things. That- your pride as a hunter- is the only thing that brings you any fading glimpse of joy since you lost your wife."
"Don't speak of her. I won't allow her good name to be sullied by your final words."
"Always so earnest, Archer. Not even a hint of a lie there. Speaking of, do you think she survived? My sister, that is. She was so near death, but, if she had died, I have no doubt that Lancer would have stayed to finish us in a fury. And if he had done that, Saber would have had to stay and help. In that way, doesn't our survival prove that she's alive, however ironic that is?"
"Why bother with such useless questions? Whether she's alive or dead, you'll find out before I do."
"True."
The wind scattered what remained of the singed grass, sending away the ashes on the breeze and leaving the bare earth to gape at the stars above, joined by the company of scattered cobbles.
"You really won't run?"
"I'm not like my sister. I know when I'm beat. And yet-" He turned his torso fully towards Archer, arms outstretched, "-there is one thing I learned from her. If this is all I can do to rebel against your actions, then this is what I'll do. I'll make it so that all you remember me by is how I rejected you, not by running, not by fighting, but by looking you in the eye so that you knew my spirit was never defeated. You will not live on as a vigilante, or even an anti-hero, but as a cold-blooded murderer. You will know that you, and you alone, were responsible for this and for whatever follows. That is my resistance. That is my revenge."
Archer's fists clenched, "And just when I thought you might've been a man worthy of respect. I think I preferred you when you were begging for your life."
"I thought ambition wasn't a principle?"
His obsidian scimitars appeared in a flash and, just as quickly, a stripe of blood was painted across the ground. Shenghuo fell backwards, flat onto his back, and thick blood bubbled up from his neck and poured onto either side of him. At first, his hands rose towards his neck in some feeble, animal act of desperation, but, before the life left his eyes, he allowed his hands to fall back to his sides, and closed his eyes of his own volition; resigned to his fate.
Though accustomed to resignation, at this moment, his resignation was not one of submission, nor of ambition. This night, Shenghuo rebelled for the first and last time, and he rebelled by doing the only thing he had ever known: acknowledging the odds, and choosing the best course of action to achieve his goals. The only difference between then and now, yesterday and today, is that his goal was no longer his own benefit. Tonight, he had learned to see beyond himself.
'At this rate, there really won't be anyone to mourn you.'
"Of course not, how could there be? How could anyone mourn me when I'm the last one standing? And, if I'm all that's left in the end, then why should I bother courting the favor of walking corpses?"
Shenghuo's body remained silent.
"Dammit!" He kicked up dust, "Why am I thinking about something like that now?"
His glare drifted over to the corpse. It taunted him in its peace. If not for the wound, he would've looked as if he were merely resting.
"Congratulations, Shenghuo. I underestimated you. I suppose you won this contest." He paused, as if waiting for a response that he knew wouldn't come, "-But don't expect your victory to last. You're like me, after all-"
He began his brisk walk away from the ruined chapel, back across the sea and towards the Alghul villa.
"Which means that no one will mourn for you, either."
....