Honestly, the thought that I'd have to fight Archer had occurred to me before. We were at war. I had not entertained that thought then. Stood face to face against him, I refused to entertain the notion even now.
There was little else that got my blood pumping like smashing hubris, and fighting with my life on the line, but I'd learned that there had to be limits, for the sake of those that I cared for.
Shirou Emiya... was not my enemy, even like this.
"You know," I stuffed a hand in my pockets, loosening my collar with the other, "I'm pretty sure Rin down there still has two command seals on her."
The obsidian bow in Archer's hands faded away. Lightning cracked, and then he was holding Kanshou and Byakuya. A smile tugged at the corners of his chafed lips.
"Those command seals will be the only reason you even stand a chance."
...
"Hm. Where'd you get the idea I was even going to fight you, mate?"
"You won't." He nodded. "Not like this, at least. But you'll fight Gilgamesh. I know that too."
That was true. There was nothing within Fuyuki even remotely capable of stopping me from facing off against the King of Heroes. A fight where all the odds were stacked against me. I was fine with that. I preferred it, even.
"We're not even hiding our meta-knowledge now?" I raised a brow, chuckling.
He pursed his lips.
For a moment, silence reigned. Then, Archer let out a dissatisfied groan and scratched his chest with Kanshou's hilt. "Ugh. Why are you always so difficult?"
"You wouldn't love me if I wasn't~" I laughed again.
The servant groaned louder, "I had no intention of revealing my identity in this war."
Well... for a man keen on hiding himself, Archer hadn't really put much effort into making sure I remained oblivious. No, he gave himself away.
"But then why..."
"There was no point." He explained briefly, "One look was all you'd need."
"Fair." I relented.
The moment he used his Projection against someone, I'd easily make the connection, especially after I analyzed the mechanism of Shirou's 'Tracing'. A shame that I couldn't replicate that in its entirety.
"And, if you found out naturally, you'd run your mouth to my younger self."
"Uhm," Caught redhanded, I let out a cough, "I'm still gonna do that."
Shirou Emiya had already traced two noble phantasms. Granted, they exploded in his face in spectacular fashion, but my curiosity was piqued. I desperately needed to see how far he was capable of going.
He sighed. "I also know that when you fight Gilgamesh-"
"Hey, come on, don't spoil the fun~" I quickly interrupted him, waving a hand.
At that, Archer grinned as though my annoyance brought him some great satisfaction. "You're going to lose to him. It'll be close, but you're going to lose."
A sudden silence befell us. Archer quickly jumped off the bridge, just narrowly avoiding a blast of concentrated mana directly from the arsenal of Medea. No, he even smirked as he dodged the beam of light. I blinked, and he was standing right where he was before, across from me.
"There's nothing interesting here anyway, even trying to kill myself is useless."
What?
"Shirou's death would change nothing. I'd still be a slave to be thrown whenever needed." He raised his blade, pointing the tip at my chest, "At least this way, I might have the last laugh against that golden-haired bastard."
With a sigh, he held the blade aloft.
"You can't just shove this on me like this. There has to be another-"
"I know you won't fight me even if I hurt you. You're insane."
He threw his blade. The air screeched as it cut through, not towards me, but at the befuddled Rin watching us from below. I should have trusted that he wouldn't hurt her. I was unable to. Blue compressed the distance between us, and I grabbed the blade out of the air a mere instant before it reached Rin.
When I looked up, Archer let his head fall to the side and the blade exploded in my hands. The entirety of the blast erupted my way, blowing through some of my neck before I halted it with Infinity. Blood gushed out from the gaping wound.
"Henry-"
And then retreated back, knitting into flesh right then and there. In the blink of an eye, the life-threatening wound had healed.
"That..." I gripped my aching jaw, "was incredibly shitty of you."
To her credit, Rin wasted no time with shock, instead she raised her hand. The crimson marks on the back of her hand surged to life.
"With this command seal, I order you! Archer, stop fighting!"
One pulsed brightly, then faded away, as though someone had hastily rubbed away chalks.
"I thought I told you before Rin-"
The clear sky shimmered with the disembodied words. Gleaming arrows rained down on us.
"-Broad commands like that are ineffective."
"On top of that," I raised a hand to the sky, "He's Archer, so he definitely has a high ranked Independent Action skill."
Even without my tinkering, Nobunaga possessed a B-Ranked skill of the same nature. Annoyingly enough, there was a distinct possibility he'd be able to fight at max capacity even if Rin severed her contract with him, and refused to provide mana for sustenance.
I waved my hand, and space stretched. The projectiles crashed against the park beside, blowing apart chunks of earth and grass to create fresh, smouldering craters.
My eyes caught the shimmer of a blade. I made no effort to avoid it. Long before the swing even neared me, it grew agonizingly slow, unable to cross the distance between myself and the world around me.
Archer grit his teeth.
"If you want to help me, mate, you can just show me what I need. There has to be a better way than trying to murder-"
He flew backwards.
"I am the bone of my sword."
His very being roared and leapt out at the world. I watched in awe as the air around us suddenly shifted, and a dozen swords shot at me out of thin air with a trail of lightning behind them. I raised my hand. They impotently glanced off Infinity to explode all around.
"Rin, do something. I set up the Bounded Field already, but I don't wanna fight your servant."
"...I think you'll have to."
Dammit, wasn't he supposed to be my friend? I loved the guy.
"Steel is my body, and fire is my blood."
I did not want to fight him. Yet, he insisted otherwise, and refused to explain himself.
...How utterly ironic.
A dozen more unremarkable swords tore through the distance between us. Shirou Emiya came rushing forth with them. He grabbed one out of the air, and carved down towards me.
Still, my eyes could not see from whence they came.
What was that unknowable 'place'?
"Don't you know that you can't-"
My Infinity faltered. A sword tore out of my gut from behind.
A sword meant... to converge.
Right, he knew me.
"I have created over a thousand blades."
His sword sliced into my shoulder, spraying blood.
"Unknown to death, nor known to life."
For the first time, I could not understand. I could not understand his chant though I knew it to be one. The mystery he was enacting was one unknowable to me... or was it not a mystery at all?
"Having withstood pain to create many weapons-"
"Emiya, please..."
Rin swallowed, "Fight him. I can't bear-"
Finally, I was forced to act. The texture of the world screeched in protest at the flashing orb of crimson that came to life atop my fingertips, inches away from Archer's heart.
Then, his eyes widened.
"-Yet, those hands will never hold anything."
The unfiltered force of Red struck his chest from the very arm he'd almost lopped off. He took the hit with a quiet grunt.
"So as I pray,"
"Mate, come on-"
Surely, I was the most pathetic of magi there and then... but I did not wish to fight my friend.
"Unlimited Blade Works."
A wave of heatless fire burst forth from his body, sweeping up myself and Rin and then all that was around us. The light was so intense that I was momentarily blinded for a moment.
When I blinked, the world I knew was gone.
I saw a kingdom of rubble, a great barren desert marked with countless swords that stood like grave markers. In the horizon, monolithic black gears rumbled irreverently.
T'was a world of steel and fire and gears.
I saw all. I understood naught.
"I became what I despised, Henry. You tried to make me see another way, but this is my truth. And I..."
Shirou Emiya looked so terribly sad then, his eyes were pleading, yet his face was of stone. He was asking me to understand him.
I... could not.
"...I'll kill her if you don't kill me."
Why did he have to be like this?
"There's another way."
"Why do you have to be like this?"
In a world that I could not peruse, a man I treasured raised his sword against me. A sword that my eyes hungrily tore apart, and understood to the very core.
Sighing to myself, I closed them.
All those swords in this alien world were noble phantasms.
I couldn't risk parsing each and every single one.
Fine, if that was what so he desperately wanted, then, for him,
"I'll fight you."
"...Thank you."
-
Hope you enjoyed.
EMIYA is my goat, young or old. I hope I did him justice.