Shirou coughed up blood. Dark red liquid splashing down the floor, joining in the puddle of blood already forming below his feet. He can't breathe. Every time he gasps for air, his very own blood chokes him.
Looking down at his chest, he can see the dagger-like nail embedded just where his heart is. The weapon itself is connected to a chain, two which he weakly grasped. It was an effort of futility trying to pull it out when he's losing strength at every last breath.
Yet he didn't feel despair nor regret of imminent death.
For just this once, he saved one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earlier…
Shirou immediately felt something wrong when he began to hear the loud click clacks of heels bounding to his position. Drawing an arrow from his quiver, he knocked it against the bowstring and aimed at the intersection where the sound was coming from. He doesn't know who they are but he's ready to defend himself against an enemy Magus.
It didn't escape him that he was practically emulating his father back in his prime.
Probably.
As the sounds of click clacking heels drew near, Shirou's anxiousness grew and so was his resolve. He'll take them down, non-lethal of course, accepting the need for violence at dire moments.
Then…
"Rin?" Shirou gawked as the girl skidded in the intersection, turning to his direction before stopping in her tracks. She too was as surprised as him.
"Well I'm glad to see you." Shirou sighs in relief. His stance relaxed and his bow withdrew.
"Listen, another master has done something in the school. I can smell-BANG!" He was interrupted by a black flash flying past head and blasting the wall behind him into a shower of cement. It was only his improving reaction time in sparring Saber that saved him.
It was aimed straight at his head.
"Tsk, you just have to dodge it." Rin spat, her fingers pointing at him like a gun.
She is literally holding him at gun point.
"Rin-"
"Shut up." Shirou's mouth clamped shut at the broken tone emitting from the girl's mouth.
"You know. This was supposed to be easy." Rin began, her hair shadowing her eyes, hiding her intent and motive to Shirou.
Yet her voice betrayed her.
"I was trained from the beginning. My father chose me as his heir and successor of the Tohsaka Bloodline, in heritage, blood and magecraft. I was literally born for this. My father, he… he taught me everything I have to know as a Magus, practically raised me by himself. I…" Her voice broke as tears began to fall down her chin.
"So then he went to war. He promised me, he promised that he would come back. You know why? Because he was the strongest Magus I know and he had the best Servant in the war. I already knew he would keep that promise because I know my father. Prideful he may be but he loved us. He loved me!" She shouted, her hand shaking as she stared at the boy in front of her with teary eyes.
"And then, he was gone. Just like that. Dead. No one knew what happened nor anyone could tell me. My father broke that promise. He left us. He left me and my broken mother behind. So I did what I did, took the family name and tried my damned best to keep it alive despite being the Tohsaka alive." Suddenly, her tone took a chilling calmness. Her eyes now dried with tears, now staring at him with I'll intent.
"So when the war began, I already prepared myself. Where my father failed, I will succeed. That is my way of honoring him, how I will make sure he would be proud of what I had done wherever he is right now. Then imagine my surprise when I found you, lying in your own pool of blood and dying because of your stupidity to stay at school late. Of course I can simply let you die and clean up your body, that's what Magi does all the time."
"Except you're special." Rin snorted.
"You're an exception. My sister, Sakura, clearly loves you." Shirou's eyes widened in shock and surprise.
How? How do Sakura and Rin relate as siblings?
"So I can't simply let you die. The poor girl would be devastated. And so I dumbly wasted years worth of work and prana just to bring you back from the brink of death!" Rin spat.
"And you know the best part?! I then later find out it was your father who possibly took out mine! It's the only possible explanation! My father would never lose to anyone! No one!" She screamed.
"Except for the Magus Killer." A black spot began to emit from her pointed finger, prana gathering into an attack.
"How I wish I didn't let you live. I shouldn't have let my own feelings get the better of me. I should just shut my heart and be a true Magus."
"I wish I didn't save you, Emiya." Rin said, her resolve now absolute.
Shirou Emiya must die for the sin of his father.
Of course, through her entire rant, Shirou simply listened and prepared himself. He prepared himself for the worst and yet…
He felt her pain, her sorrow and her guilt.
Despite how she portrays herself as True Magus, at the end of the day, Rin is still a girl.
A child, just like him, burdened by the ones left by the adults that they now must shoulder alone.
He doesn't blame her. In fact, he would encourage her if he can. Let her hate him, let her hurt him, it would be for the best than letting her rot beneath the festering old wounds of the past.
This way, she would be finally free.
But Shirou isn't planning to die yet… Not yet!
He still has a promise to fulfill himself.
Throughout her entire rant, Shirou had begun tracing layers upon layers of Magic circuits in his nervous system. His skin felt hot and the artificial circuits themselves burn like hot molten metal seared into his nerves yet the pain was comforting for him in this situation.
It means he's still in control.
That's why when Rin aimed the attack at him, he was fast enough with Reinforcements to dodge the flying projectile and sweep her legs. The girl herself yelped in pain and at the sudden drop at the cold floor of the hallway. Unfortunately, Rin was not an ordinary girl. Almost immediately, she recovers as soon as Shirou tries to run and disengage from her. With a loud cry, she tackled him with enough force to send the two of them flying to the wall. Empowered by her own Reinforcements, Shirou's back took the brunt of the impact as the girl smashed her to said wall, pinning him.
What followed was an absolute beatdown where the girl simply wailed at him with no rhyme or reason. Fists, elbows, knees and legs coated with Reinforcements flew and battered Shirou's body. The boy himself naturally reinforced his skin to heighten his defenses as he tried to defend himself from her attacks but the girl is simply not letting up.
For Rin, this is her finally letting loose years upon years of frustration.
And the unlucky recipient is Shirou.
Finally, with what seems like an eternity, Shirou managed to grab the girl's shoulder and bodily lift her up to throw her off him into the nearby window which led straight into a classroom. Rin flew in with the sound of breaking glass while accompanied with cursing.
With said opening, Shirou ran.
"EMIYA! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING!?"
"I want to live, Rin!" He shouted back, dodging the incoming salvo of curses flying in his direction.
And so began tonight's game of cat and mouse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We have to intervene now. This is the worst possible scenario and I can't believe you managed to talk me into this scheme." Archer finally had enough.
He had listened through Rin's entire breakdown and finally had enough of this little scheme of Saber. To think of the girl he admired and respected as much as Artoria held so much deep within. To hear her so broken pained him like no other.
And to think he himself hurt the same girl by pursuing his own selfless ideal.
"No."
"What do you mean, no!? Rin's gonna kill that boy! She's currently not in her right mind and possibly hurt herself in the process!" Archer snapped.
To hell with it.
But as soon as he tried to take a step, a sword materialized out of a portal.
Just like Gilgamesh's, he noted.
Almost immediately, his reality marble tried to copy the blade to record deep within him but…
What he is seeing is impossible.
"Galantine." He whispered in shock and awe.
Of course he recognized Galantine. It was the blade of the famed Gawain, loyal knight of the Round Table and a trusted knight of Artoria.
But the blade in front of him only bore the name Galantine and anything else was alien to him.
The blade itself is shaped akin to a massive arrowhead, a rare design for swords and definitely not of Arthurian legends. Its color is pitch black, not by design but due to its function.
The sword is both a blade and focus for magic.
What kind of magic, you ask?
What else but to harness the entire power collected from the Sun, all gathered into a singular point on the sword.
It's tip.
It was by far more dangerous than his own Excalibur Galantine. By its activation alone, it has enough power to pierce through all layers of Rho Ais. Its piercing power far surpasses any Noble Phantasm he had.
And then it happened.
"Gah!" He clutched his bleeding left eye, taking a step back at the sudden backlash upon recording the blade.
Then the impossible happened.
Deep within his Reality Marble, he felt the copy crumble into dust, never to be seen or used by him.
He was rejected by the Saber's Excalibur Galantine.
Rejected by a Noble Phantasm.
"Who… who are you?" He can't help but ask. The phenomenon was too alien for him, it was shocking.
And terrifying.
"I haven't revealed my name to my Master but you are also Shirou so might as well." Saber closed her eyes as she stood there without an ounce of fear against Archer.
To his growing horror, golden portals began to open behind her as an array of swords formed an impromptu royal regalia behind her. A formation of swords ready and waiting for her orders.
Her knights.
Her soldiers.
Her friends.
And then it appeared, a phantom of a monolithic blade hovering just above the school. Its absurd size rivals the two colossal blades stored in his Reality Marble.
Yet those two blades pale in comparison to weight behind the massive phantom for he had glimpsed its true name.
"Excalibur."
"Let me introduce myself." Saber waves her hand and immediately, her Noble Phantasms pointed at him.
"I am the King who drew the sword. The one who threw away her human heart for power, power to protect and preserve my kingdom. I am the King who battled with the Goddesses and fought the Otherworldly Disasters brought by Ragnarok!"
"My name is Arthur! The True and Eternal King!" A blade hovered to her to which she took, pointing it at Archer.
Its name?
Caliburn, the Sword of the Stone.
"And I have known no defeat, will you care to try it, Shirou?"
Archer cursed.
Somehow, this situation was way worse than when he was actually Satan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's notes.
I'm bac with a vengeance! Here's a new chapter, my little Fate gremlins.
We finally introduced Kamihime Arthur into the story and traumatized Archer by the sheer foreign and alien this version of Artoria.
So let's talk about K.Arthur
Arthur is what you would call a Soul in the Kamihime universe, she's not a Kamihime but she's technically one due to her volunteering in to be converted as a partial one to defend her kingdom and in order to wield Excalibur, an overpowered version of Excalibur which theoretically rivals Ea, Gilgamesh Ultimate Trump card.
How?
It's because of the scale of monsters they had to fight in Ragnarok.
RAGNAROK is an event in the Kamihime universe that spanned across multiple worlds and dimensions. It's a War against demonic and non-demonic Eidolons. They are living disasters that scales from city, planetary to dimensional threat. In comparison, they are at Demonic pillar level of kind of threat.
As such, Arthur was no joke nor a slouch in combat.
Arthur's version of Excalibur has actually two modes.
A smaller scale version that acts as sword and it's Burst Mode (activation)
In it's Burst Mode, it turns into Massive God Killer Behemoth that also doubles as a fuck you laser with whatever element is equipped to Arthur.
Now, let's go with Noble Phantasms and skills
Miracle Chalice: Saber owned the legendary holy grail that grants wishes, of course it's not as strong as Fate version but it can do minor miracles or be used to empower someone with pure prana
Absolute Monarchy: As a Ruler, Saber's Charisma is maxed out
Avalon's Guidance: Avalon exists in Kamihime verse and actually the source of Arthur's foresight, aka clairvoyance high enough to predict the future.
This one I blame Kamihime Merlin.
Majestic Knight and High Spirits: both Skills are more in line of buffing and keeping morale to her Allies with her charisma and charms as a woman.
Return of the Great King: A one time extra life if she takes a mortal wound.
Round Table Summit: Now we are in the juicy part. When she and her knights passed away, She and some of them became Souls (servant version in Kamihime) due to loyalty to each other and the cause to protect human civilization from a 2nd Ragnarok. While her other knights didn't became Souls, they still manifested as weapons serving Arthur to the bitter end. This gave Arthur access to her Knight's Noble Phantasms.
Imagine Artoria with the entire Round Table Noble Phantasm in her inventory.
But why she the golden portals?
Why else but to gain access to Excalibur.
Unlike Fate version of Excalibur that is made by fairies, the only Noble Phantasm in Arthur's inventory that was made by them is Caliburn, the sword that made her King.
By the time Ragnarok rolled in, she was converted into a partial Kamihime to wield Excalibur, a Kamihime made weapon.
Basically a Godlike weapon.
The portals is just how she stores them for easy access. She won't be like Gilgamesh as much as I would like to.
Kamihime Gilgamesh is different can of worms on the other hand.
Just like any other souls, Arthur is speculated to have died in Ragnarok based on some lore hints and bits of info. It's why this one actually grew up to be a big woman compared to tiny Artoria.
Also the reason why Archer can't trace Kamihime weapons because they are alien in nature. He cannot comprehend despite analyzing them successfully.
Mind you, most of Greek weapons are influenced by Alien Gods that are the Greek but they're legends are still shaped by Humans.
Kamihime or Soul Weapons on the other hand are made alien hands and it's legends obscured by Kamihime themselves are definitely alien Gods despite being humans once.