15. Chapter 15

It was now Sunday morning and Shirou woke up at 7:00 o'clock.

Immediately after opening his eyes he already started to think about the many things that he had to do that day, like training with Saber, having a magic lesson with Caster, and going to Shinto to buy some new clothes. In the last month, he had grown a bit and now all of his old clothes were a bit too short for him.

He got up from his bed and then got out of the room, but when he stepped out a sweet scent of blood invaded his nose, a scent that he had started to grow familiar with in the last week.

"What is it Rider?" Shirou asked as he turned to his left, where now Rider was standing at the end of the corridor.

"...Sakura has started to remember, she knows that she was not at the home when it burned down... also right now her head hurts, I don't think she will have breakfast with you."

"Understood, I'll make some plates for the two of you to eat in your room."

Rider nodded and then silently went away. Shirou for a moment kept staring at the place Rider stood just some moments before.

Shirou's relation with Rider was a strange one. He didn't know what to think of the Servant, even if she had assaulted innocent people he had no problem with her being near Sakura since he knew how devoted she was to her Master... if the 2 of them had something in common those would be the intense desire to keep Sakura safe, both of them were more than ready to die for her.

After a moment he shrugged and went into the bathroom to clean himself, then he dressed up and went into the living room, where he found Caster and Saber having a heated discussion.

"After breakfast Shirou will train with me! You can have your magic lesson with him later as always, I'm sure that he would have no problem in doing it."

"Things have changed Saber, since you want to intensify the training I think that you will be harsher on him from now on, right? And you have to know that since you arrived Shirou from time to time has some problems during my lessons after your so called 'spars'. Sometimes he cannot even move his arms at all since you hit him too hard, and then we have to wait for Avalon to do its work before we start with the lesson. If you want to fight that much why don't you ask Rider?"

"How-!"

"Good morning." Shirou said interrupting Saber as he entered the room and went to the kitchen.

"Good morning." Both Saber and Caster said at the same time.

"Anyway," Caster then said. "if you let me have my lesson with Shirou first from now on I will make for you those cookies that I made last time whenever you want."

"Caster, do you really think that you can bribe me that easily?" Saber asked a bit indignant.

"It's not a bribe Saber, but an offer. You will train with Shirou after I had my lesson with him, and then you will be able to rest as you eat some homemade cookies made by myself, it is worth it, right?" She asked with an 'innocent' smile.

"You will not convince me that easily..." Saber said with great difficulty.

Caster sweets were the best one Saber had ever tasted in her life, probably it was thanks to her A in Item Creation, but Saber could not just accept her offer since she had a reputation to keep! Truly, gluttony was a formidable enemy!

"I'll make them with chocolate if you want..." Caster said with a sly smile.

"...Tch, ok." Saber said before sighing and admitting defeat.

"Thank you, Saber." Caster said with a genuine smile.

"Caster, could you make some more sweets and give them to Sakura too? Since she had started to remember maybe she will desire something sweet to eat." Shirou said as he started to prepare breakfast.

"Sure." Caster said as her smile vanished.

"What does she remembers now?" Saber asked.

"She knows that she was not at the home when it burned down, I guess that in less than a week she will remember everything that happened there."

"How is she?" Saber then asked concerned.

"I just know that her head hurts enough that she will not have breakfast with us. I will later ask Rider for more details when she will come to take the plates for her and Sakura."

"It is normal that her head hurts?" Saber then asked Caster.

"Yes, and unfortunately the more she will start to remember the more it will hurt." Caster then turned to Shirou and said: "Do not worry Shirou, everything will go for the best..."

"I hope to Caster... anyway, can you make something to ease her pain?"

"Ehhmm, now that you make me think of it, yes, just give me some time and for today I will make a special potion for her."

"Thank you." Shirou said as he started to cook.

After breakfast Shirou had his magic lesson with Caster where she taught him some new spells and runes that he could use on himself, then later he had his training with Saber where she started to beat him a bit harder than usual.

In the afternoon Shirou went to Caster's room, where he and Caster started to make some experiments on their special project, and they were more than happy and satisfied to see that they had finally reached their objective.

After that, they started to continue to work on the special project, and after they had done some incredibly good progress and some test, they stopped. They then made some estimates, and came to the conclusion that the weapon will be completed with another couple of days of work. After that Shirou started to help Caster at making the potions for Sakura, and also some for himself.

Around 17:00 it started to get dark and Shirou got out and went to Shinto, with Caster's copy following him.

-1:30 hours later-

'It had been a good day until now...' Caster thought bitterly as she watched her crystal ball.

Everything was going well so well that day... she had her magic lesson with Shirou, she then prepared some sweets for Saber and Sakura, she then watched Saber eat her sweets, she then helped Shirou at making some progress with his new weapon, and Shirou then helped her at making some potions with the ingredients and materials she had found in the Matou manor and the castle.

Nothing too strange happened that day in Fuyuki, until the moment where another mage had suddenly arrived in the city. She had spotted the mage coming from the main road before he arrived at the city and then he directly went to the church, where he spoke with the priest. Caster had spied their conversation with her crystal ball and she discovered that the man was just a mage who hoped to participate in the war, the man then left the church and went toward the city... well, it turned out that he was just another cannon fodder, but this man was not even a Master.

Caster then sent a familiar to follow him, and after making sure that the man would not be able to note her familiar she decided to advert Shirou of the other mage arrival. Then with him she started to make some plans about capturing or killing the man that same night... or that it was what they wanted to do at first.

(Shirou, we have a little change of plans.) Caster said telepathically to Shirou.

(What is it? Did you come up with a better idea?) Shirou asked while he was in a clothes shop, as he searched for new shirts that were similar to his classic white shirt with blue sleeves.

(Let's just say that we have been slow...) Caster said as she watched from her crystal ball the corpse of the mage in the underground parking lot of the hotel. The man now had a hole big as a fist in the center of his chest.

(...What happened?) Shirou asked as he frowned and immediately took some random shirts and went to the cashier, he knew that he had to go back home quickly.

(I don't know, after the man entered into his hotel my familiar had been destroyed. I sent another one to search for him, I found him, he is now dead with a hole in his chest. The hotel in question is not too far away from you, get out of there as soon as possible without attracting attention.) Caster said with a serious tone as her copy that was following Shirou went to the hotel, in the hope of finding the killer or some clues. (Be careful, and if you note something, tell me immediately.) Caster then said.

(Sure.) Shirou said as he got out of the shop and then started to head back home.

After that moment Caster got out of her room and went into the living-room where Saber and Rider were, she now had to inform them about what just happened and send one of them to Shirou.

'There has to be another mage or Master around, someone Caster didn't detect...' Shirou thought as he took the bus for Miyama and looked at the people in the bus, he had to be careful.

While he was on the bus he checked himself. He was in good conditions and he had enough energies to fight at his full strength, even if he should encounter someone stronger than him he would be able to last long enough that someone would come for his help.

After some minutes he arrived at his stop and got out of the bus with some other people, as he started to walk back home he reinforced his senses to discover if there was an ambush or someone following him... but it turned out that there was no need for any of that.

From the corner of his eye, Shirou saw a woman who had short magenta hair and wore a two-piece business suit with a red-violet necktie. He had seen her at the same bus-stop he used to take the bus, and other than the metal cylinder there was nothing strange about her at first... but only now he had noted that the woman was carefully watching him... and she had started to have a very strange smell.

He suddenly stopped walking and took his cellphone to check the time, as he did it he noted that the woman too had stopped walking, and now she was right behind him.

"Is there something I can do to help you?" Shirou asked with a calm tone after a pair of seconds, he then put his cellphone back into his pocket and turned around to watch the woman.

"Yes, right now there is something that I have to ask you..." The woman said as she placed her hand on the metal cylinder. "...Could you gently tell me how to reach Ryuudou Temple? I think I'm lost." The woman asked with a half-smile as she took out a map from the cylinder and open it.

"Ehm, yeah sure." Shirou said with a little smile as she got close to her and watched the map. "Hmmm... we should be here so... so you have to just follow this way." Shirou said as he indicated her on the map the way to the temple.

"Thank you." The woman said with a nod and a smile.

"You're welcome." Shirou said with a smile too before turning around and started to walk back home.

A pair of seconds later he felt a bonded field rising around him and something very fast was coming toward the back of his head.

At that moment he turned around, projected the best sword he could in his right hand, and blocked a powerful punch aimed at his head, another instant later he dropped his bag and projected a sword in his left hand and tried to gut the woman, but she had already skipped back out of his range.

"You were right... to think that I would have found someone of this caliber as soon we arrived it's impressive." The woman said to someone as she watched the glove on her hand and then Shirou.

"May I ask you why you attacked me?" Shirou asked as he frowned and watched his now deformed sword before he threw it to the ground.

He didn't know how he had been found or who the woman was, but it didn't matter now, the woman was a magus, this meant that she was dangerous, and she also attacked him... now she had to die.

In the meantime he focused on his connection with Caster and Saber and he thought: 'Need help, now!'

"Hah! You can try to hide it as much as you want kid, but I can see and smell a warrior like you from miles away even in a crowd of thousand people! You are a good one!" A male voice spoke. "Good strength, speed, and you sure have some high-level projections that I've never seen before right there!" The voice continued before a man in a blue suit and blue-hairs appeared sitting on the top of the wall near him, and intently watched Shirou with his crimson eyes.

After Shirou turned around to watch the person that had just spoken he froze in fear for a moment... an enemy Servant was there! He thought that it was probably Lancer since he could talk... but the Servant had that incredibly powerful aura and a feral smell that made him uncertain of his identity.

(Shirou buy time!) Shirou then heard Caster's voice in his head.

"...As you can see I am not a Master," Shirou said as he dropped the other sword and raised both of the back of his hands toward the woman. "I am just a magus who happens to live here and that has no interest in the Holy Grail War, I have no desire of fighting someone like you."

"Oh? You're just a normal magus that lives here? Do you want to tell me that a 'simple magus' like you can immediately recognize a Servant like you just did? Let's not even talk about how we could not sense your magic while you projected a weapon in front of us. Other than that, few are the people who can exchange blows with me, and yet here you are, not only you survived my sneak attack but you had almost gutted me... You know that I won't believe your lies, right?" The woman asked as she got in a fighting position. "Who are you?!" She then said.

'You're not an humunculus, then you surely are not a Tohsaka since their last heir is a girl... and you sure are not a Matou since Kotomine told me that they had been wipe out not too long ago.' She thought.

"...If I tell you my name would you leave me in peace?" Shirou then asked. Right at that moment he did not know what to say or do, he just had to buy enough time and hope the Servant didn't attack him.

"Well, it depends..." The woman said as she prepared herself to dash forward and strike him down.

"I'm Emiya Shirou." He then told her.

The woman froze, and a mix of surprise and shock appeared on her face.

"Emiya... the magus killer? ...And I guess that you are his son." The woman said incredulously. "Heh, that would explain quite a lot." The woman then said then with a little smile.

"Emiya? Magus killer? What is it, Master?" Lancer asked as he noted his Master's smile.

"Emiya Kiritsugu, that man was the most renowned and ruthless assassin of mages of modern times, he was also the winner of the fourth Holy Grail War! Even today, just naming him causes terror and unease to all the mages... and right now we have his son in front of us!" Bazett said.

As an enforcer she had always heard of the magus killer and on how he killed his objectives in the quickest and efficient ways possible, no matter who his targets were, from simplest mages, the greatest enforcer, people who had sealing designation, and even Dead Apostle. And right now in front of her, there was his son, who she had to admit was very strong for his age. She had always desired to fight against someone of the caliber of the magus killer, but for now, she would be more than satisfied just by fighting with his son.

"Oh well, have fun." Lancer said sighing as he dematerialized.

"...Are you satisfied? May I go now?" Shirou then asked.

"I'm sorry Emiya, but now that I know who you are there is no way that I can let you leave. You're young, but you are a strong one, and you will surely be chosen as a Master of Archer or Assassin-"

As she spoke Shirou suddenly jumped back and he projected and threw 3 throwing knives at her, and he sneakily made fall some little magic bones to the ground.

Bazett managed to parry the first 2 knives despite the fact they had suddenly changed trajectory, but when the third knife arrived she realized that it was magical, she raised her arms in front of her face before the knife suddenly exploded in front of her, before it even touched her.

As the explosion faded Shirou saw the woman running toward him, other than some burn marks on her suit and on her hairs she was unharmed. At that moment Shirou reinforced his legs and dashed toward her as he projected a rapier and aimed to her stomach.

Bazett stopped and she blocked the sword aimed at her stomach with her right elbow and right knee, they hit the sword with so much force that it broke. She then threw a straight punch to the boy's face, but he managed to move his head and just got scratched on the left cheek. Shirou then stepped back and projected in his left hand a short sword and tried to stab her under the rib cage, but she quickly parried it. Shirou then projected a long dagger in his right hand and tried to thrust it in her skull, but she grabbed the sword with her left hand and then crushed it, she then threw a right jab that Shirou managed to dodge.

Shirou then started to back down as they kept to exchange blows, even if he had the advantage of strength and speed thanks to Caster's enchanted suit he could not hit the woman since she anticipated his every move... it was just like with Saber, it was clear that she was someone who had much more experience in fighting than him. He now had no other option but to reinforce himself to the max possible and try to overwhelm her with the combined power of his reinforcing and the power of Caster's suit... but even if he managed to kill the woman, then he had to fight Lancer alone.

"Master behind you!" Lancer suddenly screamed as he materialized with his demonic spear, Gae Bolg, in his hands and dashed towards her.

Bazett stopped and turned around just in time to block the mace of a Dragon warrior who was behind her.

At that moment Shirou took advantage of the situation and projected a long sword and tried to cut down the woman who now had her back toward him, but in that same instant Bazeet with a fast jab destroyed the dragon warrior and then turned back to him and destroyed his sword with a punch. From that moment on the woman attacked Shirou incessantly with incredibly fast and strong punches and kicks, without even giving him a moment to counter-attack. It was clear that now she was serious since each of her hits utterly destroyed his swords, but he was not reinforcing them anyway, this was part of his plan.

Since he could not immediately overwhelm the woman before getting stopped by her Servant he had to try something else. Shirou could clearly see that the woman was a more experienced fighter than him, even if he was both faster and stronger than her he was the one that at the moment was being forced to back down, and both of them knew that if things kept on going like that soon she would've managed to hit him before he could project another sword to defend himself with... and that was exactly what Shirou was hoping for.

Right at that moment Bazett did an uppercut with her left hand, hitting both the short swords that Shirou had in front of him, disarming him, and throwing his arms up in the air. Shirou dashed back as he tried to project another pair of swords, but Bazett immediately reached him ready to strike him, in that moment Shirou lowered his arms to cover his face, and as he did he could see a punch coming toward the center of his chest... then he felt the punch hitting him and fracture some if his ribs.

Bazett struck Shirou's chest with all her might... and immediately realized that there was something wrong. Usually she would outright kill her opponent with a direct strike like that since it should have gone through his chest, in other cases she would feel the bones and organs of her opponent being shattered and destroyed by the sheer force of her punch, but at that moment she felt as she hit with her bare hands an unmovable pillar of steel... in that single instant, she realized the suit the boy had was enchanted.

Bazett immediately looked up and she saw a dagger that Shirou had just projected in his right hand, just before he thrust it deep down into her right shoulder. Bazett gritted her teeth at the new sensation of pain and quickly stepped back, but even if now she had just her left arm she could still fight. Before Shirou could have the time to do anything else Bazett kicked his left leg and made him lose balance, the hit should have broken his leg in half but it didn't, and at that moment she decided to strike him in the face as he fell, she had underestimated him too much, he had to die, now.

Shirou blocked the powerful punch coming for his head with his left hand, and then he projected a gemmed knife in his right hand as he fell. He thrust the knife toward Bazett's head, but she moved it to the side and the knife just cut some of her hairs, not even an instant later Bazeet saw in the corner of her eye that the gems in the knife had become red, right before it exploded. Everything happened before Shirou could even fall to the ground.

After a pair of seconds, the smoke of the explosion started to fade and from it a bit burned Shirou raised up.

'That was close.' He thought as he watched his now black and skinned right hand and his fractured left hand. Luckily he had reinforced his hands in time, if not now he would not even have one.

He then looked down to his left see the woman on the ground. Half of the flesh of her face was missing or was very burned. Shirou could also see that some of the parts of her skull had turned black and some shards of steel were stuck in her skull. Other than that to his own great surprise he could see that, for now, the woman was still alive since she was somehow breathing despite half of her face missing, mouth and nose included, but soon she would die since she was losing a lot of blood...

Shirou then widened his eyes as in that instant he smelled something like a feral beast behind him. In that instant he reinforced every part of his body and his suit to the maximum possible, he then turned around as fast as he could, just in time to see a red lance that an instant later pierced his chest.

As he watched the blade of the lance entering his chest Shirou realized in a single instant that the suit had protected him once again. He could feel that the lance did pierce his chest and shattered the central part of his rib cage, but it blocked the lance from reaching his heart. Still, the force behind the blow was so great that he flew back over 10 meters.

"What?!" Lancer exclaimed both shocked and surprised. "It should have pierced you!" He said with a furious tone before he turned to watch his Master and her grave conditions.

Right now Lancer wanted to kill the brat but if he did nothing right now Bazeet would die. After watching Shirou for another pair of seconds, and seeing that he was not getting up, Lancer kneeled and started to use some magic runes on his Master to stop the bleeding and heal some parts of the head.

Shirou now was watching the sky as he breathed heavily, and his every breath hurt more than ever. The shock of the hit and the pain had been so great and sudden that it made him almost forget who he was and what had just happened... but after some long moments he started to regain his consciousness back as he felt a warm sensation in his chest... even without Saber, Avalon was working a bit. After he regained his senses and realized that Lancer was not coming to finish him off he opened his suit as fast as he could and took a potion from one of the internal pockets, it was one of the potions that Caster made for him that same day. Shirou then opened the potion and drank it as he tried not to choke on it or just smear it on his face with his trembling hand.

After he managed to finish the potion and some moments passed the pain in his chest started to disappear and his blood started to rush. Thanks to that kind of anesthetic potion he had lost all his sensation of pain despite the severity of his wound... he now could move... he now could fight!

Shirou then raised his head and watched Lancer, he could see the Servant using some runes on his Master, after some moments he could see the man as he started to take her in his arms.

"You will not run away Cù Chulainn!" Shirou yelled as he got up and projected and reinforced a pair of short swords.

Shirou could not let this enemy Servant run away! If he did innocent people may suffer and die because he was not able to stop them! He could not let it happen again! He would never forgive himself if let him run! He had to stop him! NOW! NO MATTER THE COST! EVEN AT THE COST OF HIS LIFE!

"Finish what your Master has started!" He then yelled again he said as he started to walk. As he did Shirou could see a mix of surprise and confusion on Lancer's face, probably because of his audacity, the fact he was already on his feet, and the fact that he had already discovered his identity.

"I'll come for you later brat!" Lancer said with pure hatred as he prepared to jump over the houses with his Master in his arms. First, he had to secure his Master and heal her, then he would tear apart the kid.

"IT ENDS NOW!" Shirou shouted, as now invigorated by his will, determination, and anger, he started to run toward the Servant and started to smell a sweet scent of blood in the air.

Lancer at that instant sensed the presence of a monster behind him and dropped his Master to the ground, he then turned just in time to block with his spear Rider's dropkick who had appeared from nowhere.

In that same instant Shirou started to feel Caster's magic flowing in him and in his weapons. As he ran he turned his head a bit and watched up in the sky, and he could see that Caster's copy had returned and she had finally managed to reinforce him!

Shirou with his new power dashed toward Lancer, which had just kicked Rider and sent her away, he then raised both of his swords and then swung them down as he aimed at his head. Lancer turned around and raised his spear and easily blocked the attack, but Shirou could see on Lancer's face that he did not expect him to have that much strength. A moment later Rider dashed toward Lancer with the intention of impaling him with one of her nails, but the man turned around and parried her blow as well.

From that moment on both Shirou and Rider tried to strike down Lancer, but they were having a lot of difficulties since the warrior was far too fast and agile with his spear, even for a Servant. Even if both of them tried to strike him at the same time he always managed to dodge, block and parry their blows, and if they managed to wound him it would not be anything bigger than a scratch or a little cut. After around twenty seconds of fighting Lancer's body started to have more scratches and cuts... but it was not enough to kill him.

Lancer right now was carefully thinking. He knew that he had to act before it was too late, but he could not move from his position since he had two enemies both in front and behind him. Not only that, he still had to save his Master... but now she was not in grave conditions where her life was in immediate danger, he could take his time right now. He could use Gaè Bolg on one of them, but that would have left his back open on the other enemy... maybe he had to hope that even if fatally wounded his Battle Continuation skill gave him enought time to defeat his last enemy and save his Master.

But before Lancer could think of doing anything else Shirou shouted: "Rider, use your eyes!"

In that same instant Shirou's blows started to get heavier and faster, and Rider jumped back. Shirou then held off Lancer for almost 5 seconds before he started to back up as Lancer started to attack him faster and started to wound him.

Right now Lancer was sure that Rider was about to strike him down with her Noble Phantasm, but he still could not ignore the kid since he too could kill him. After another pair of seconds Lancer realized that he could not immediately kill him, so he stepped back and strongly swung his spear like a baseball bat, hitting and destroying Shirou's swords and sending him back almost flying a pair of meters.

Lancer then turned around as fast as he could, ready to use Gae Bolg on Rider hoping that it was not too late, but when he turned he froze... no, he had started to petrify as he watched right into Rider's mystic eyes of petrification, while she was around 10 meters away from him, ready to act at any time.

After that single moment of hesitation and surprise, Lancer shouted: "GAE-"

But before Lancer could throw his demonic spear, and pierce Rider's heart, Shirou dashed toward him once again as he projected two heavy falchions, he needed something short and heavy to exploit the long range of the lance. Lancer turned around, but this time managed to block the blow just in time, and from that moment on they started to exchange blows. As they fought Shirou noted that for every second that passed Lancer's movements had started to get way slower as his body petrified, it would have been good news for him, but he was not the only one.

Yes, Rider was now afar as she watched Lancer, Shirou right now was being covered by the man's larger frame, but Rider could still see his legs and parts of his arms, and since he did not have any kind of magic resistance other than Caster's suit and the protective amulet, his legs were getting turned into stone a bit faster than Lancer's. He now had the advantage of being able to attack him faster, but if Lancer decided to skip back a bit too much or run he would not be able to reach him.

Shirou had to finish him as soon as possible, so after 10 seconds of fighting, he decided that it was time to end it once and for all. At one point he raised both of his swords over his head and swung them down with as much force as possible, Lancer raised his spear and blocked the attack, but behind Shirou's blow there was so much force that as their weapons clashed his swords shattered and Lancer's lance fell to the ground, not because it slipped from his hands, but because his now petrified fingers could not hold the sheer strength of the blow and they broke off from Lancer's hands.

While Lancer realized what just happened Shirou projected a sword and fully thrust and twisted it into Lancer's stomach pit.

As Lancer watched the kid stabbing him with a sword into his stomach he started to stumble back, then after an instant he turned to his right as he sensed Rider getting closer, and as he did he managed to see Rider's right leg just in time, before she strongly kicked him in the face and launched him into a distant wall.

Right now Rider and Shirou were close to one another.

"Shirou, are you alright?" Rider asked.

She had already put on her blindfold and her petrifying ability should have stopped working, right she just wanted to see if Shirou could still move despite the grave wounds and the in-part petrified limbs, but before she could say anything else Shirou took the red spear on the ground and started to slowly limp toward Lancer.

"Yes, but he is still alive." Shirou said as he pointed forward to his left as he moved on the right, he was indicating to her where to go so she could help him finish Lancer off.

Rider said nothing and started to move.

After 10 meters both Shirou and Rider stopped walking, they were now in front of the wall where Lancer had been launched, but there were some ruins that hid the man's body.

A pair of seconds later Lancer dashed from the ruins and rushed to Shirou. Shirou watched Lancer, he could see that his body was bloodied and petrified, now both his hands and a leg were broken, he had lost his weapon and he had a sword deep into his stomach... yes, he could still fight... but right now he was weak and slow.

Shirou raised his left fist behind his right ear and then struck Lancer on the side of his head with as much force possible sending him toward Rider. After Lancer fell with his back on the ground he saw Rider standing above him with her giant nail raised over her head, Rider then threw almost point-blank her nail between Lancer's eyes, Shirou an instant later reached them and shoved Gae Bolg in Lancer's magic core, Rider then raised her right foot and stomped the nail sending it through Lancer skull, Shirou then twisted the lance, placed his petrified foot on the man chest and pulled the lance out with as much strength possible, leaving a gaping hole in Lancer's chest, then Rider finished the man by fully smashing his head with another stomp.

They had to wait around half a minute before Lancer's body stopped twitching and started to fade.

"What a beast..." Shirou muttered before Lancer's body completely faded. He had been lucky that Rider had arrived to assist him or he would be good as dead right now.

Shirou then turned around and carefully watched Rider, the woman had only a cut on the arm, good.

He then watched himself. From his brief fight with Lancer he had around 15 cuts all around his body, a large and deep cut on the chest, deep enough that he could almost see his rib cage, a little chunk of flesh was missing from his left side of his abdomen, and he had an almost shattered chest. Because of Rider's gaze his legs under the knee were now almost petrified and his in-part petrified left hand now missed some knuckles, probably he broke them when he hit Lancer. From his fight with Lancer's master he just had some livid, some fractured ribs, and fractured left hand. Thanks to the potions he was not feeling any kind of pain, but he could clearly see that because of all those wounds he was bleeding badly and Avalon could not heal all of them immediatly, he needed to be healed, and quickly.

"...That could have ended worse... thank you Rider." Shirou said with a tired tone and an appreciative nod.

Rider said nothing and simply nodded.

"Don't worry Shirou, I'm here!" Shirou then heard the voice of a concerned Caster behind him.

"Caster!" Shirou esaid surprised and relieved as he turned around and saw Saber in full armor and two Caster.

"By the gods, look at yourself!" Caster exclaimed when she saw him.

One Caster took the unconscious woman and vanished, the other was now in front of him and was checking his wounds, and Saber in the meantime was on guard and was looking around.

-1 hour later in Emiya house-

Shirou was now in the bath-tub and was recalling what happened in the last hour.

After he came back home he was immediately 'assaulted' by Caster. The woman literally dragged him into her workshop and tore up his clothes from him, she told him that she would make soon a new suit since the one he had was too ruined. After a while, Shirou was standing in the center of the room, just in his underwear, as Caster circled around him as she examined his wounds closing while Saber, who was there as well watching him, poured mana into Avalon so that it would heal him... that had been a very embarrassing experience for him.

Around a pair of minutes later all of his wounds were closed, the bones were healed, and the bleeding had been stopped, but because of the peculiar demonic nature of the spear that wounded him, there were some very ugly scars on his body that would rest there for a while.

After that Shirou started to wish to return fighting Lancer again, why? That's because both Caster and Saber right now were very angry with him, and he knew that he had more chances to survive against Lancer than the two of them combined.

After they helped Shirou to heal they started to scold and hit him on the head. They said of how he had been stupid for challenging Lancer before Rider's arrival, how stupid he had been for not summoning Saber when Rider arrived or while Lancer was distracted before Rider arrival, on how he had been stupid enough that he almost blew his hand up, and on how he got himself almost petrified by Rider as he fought against Lancer. Saber then started to get even angrier when she thought about the fact that Shirou had fought Lancer with Rider, and not her. Luckily after about 30 minutes of scoldings they calmed down, and Shirou went to take a bath.

Shirou sighed and got out of the tub, he still had to talk with them about the events that happened an hour ago.

"Other than Berserker, now only Archer or Assassin are left..." Saber said before she took a sip from her cup of tea.

"Yes, as I expected this war as good as over when Shirou summoned you." Caster said calmly as she as well sipped a cup of tea.

Now Caster and Saber were in the living room relaxing. After Shirou returned home and Avalon had healed all of his wounds he went to take a bath, Avalon may have closed the wound that the demonic spear made, but surely it did not clean all the blood that Shirou had on himself.

Even just an hour after the event they had already calmed down, Lancer was dead and everyone was safe and alive, that was the only thing that mattered.

"So, may I know how Lancer and his Master managed to get into town without your knowledge?" Saber asked Caster.

"Lancer, Cù Chulainn, in life was both a great warrior and an expert of magic runes. Even under the Lancer class he could still use them, they were not very powerful, but they were strong enough that it made his Master almost invisible to my familiars and to Shirou. Shirou said earlier that at one point he realized that she was a mage, but it was too late to do anything."

After Caster finished speaking a fresh and clean Shirou entered the living room. Both Caster and Saber turned to watch him, they were relieved to not see him bleeding from the numerous wounds that he had. Now he was wearing an undershirt and they could see some of the scars that Gae Bolg left him on his arms, now they were hard to spot unlike earlier.

Saber cleared her throat and said: "Congratulations on your baptism of fire Shirou! You survived your first battle against a Servant and even defeat him! He even was one of the greatest heroes who ever lived, not that I expected less from you!" Saber said with a genuine smile and a proud tone. Before that she was far too preoccupied and angry to compliment Shirou for his actions, but now that things had calmed down she could praise him rightly.

She still a bit angry with him of course, she wanted to be the one to help him fight the great Cù Chulainn, but she could not help but be happy for him since he fought, survived, and killed the Irish Hound.

"Thank you Saber." Shirou said with a smile as he took a cup of tea for himself before he sat at the table

"Truly, you managed to slain a Servant who could have fought with Saber toe to toe. He was non-other than Cu Chulainn, the Child of Light, a demi-god of war that is believed to be an incarnation of his father, the Irish god Lugh... this is none other than an extraordinary and mythical achieve." Caster said with a amazed tone.

She was more than happy and amazed that Shirou had managed to defeat Lancer, and she even liked how Shirou had defeated the great Irish hero. Since he could not rival his strength, speed, and skill, even with Rider's help, Shirou had to think of a (very stupid and suicidal) way to defeat him, so he used Rider's gaze to weaken and slow as he distracted him. That way even if he did not manage to kill him there would have been Rider, who was in perfect conditions to finish him off... In the end, Lancer was dead as soon as Rider had arrived.

"And with Cu Chulainn we are at 3... will the other servants be divine descendants as well?" Shirou asked no one in particular.

"No matter who they are, together we will take them down!" Saber said. She now just wanted to fight someone very strong so that she would need Shirou to assist her.

"About that, Shirou, we have decided that from now on whenever you will go out, except school, Saber will stay at your side. We have lowered our guard and this time we have been very lucky that the Servant did not outright attack and killed you, we cannot let this happen again. I hope that you will have no problem with this decision." Caster said calmly, but deep down she was still a bit scared and concerned for Shirou's safety.

When she heard him asking for help her heart skipped a beat and she started to panic, both Saber and Rider were still in front of her since she didn't send even one of them toward his position and her copy was still at the hotel, but luckily everything went for the best, Rider managed to reach him before Lancer escaped and her copy had reinforced him in time.

"I have no problem with that obviously... Anyway, what about Lancer's master? You took her right?" Shirou then asked.

He did not care about the woman's fate or what Caster would do to her, in the end, she was just another mage who took part in the war, someone ready to kill just to fulfill her selfish desire. He didn't hate her for attacking him, but he also could not let go around the city.

"Right, but before that, may you show us the weapon that you have seen Lancer wield?" Caster asked.

Shirou simply nodded and after he got up and closed his eyes, he traced Gae Bolg.

"Yes, even if it's a good weapon... I do not like it." Shirou said as he watched the red lance in his hand. "I can feel its desire to kill and its lust for blood... it's too much, it's incredibly disturbing."

"I can sense it too..." Caster said as she too watched the demonic spear. "Anyway, you have to know that this is not the only new addition to your arsenal." She then continued.

"...What do you mean?" Shirou asked after a moment as he watched Caster a bit confused.

"Look at what the woman had." Caster said before she snapped her fingers and a metal cylinder appeared on her side, then from it, a ball started to float toward Shirou, which was carefully watching it.

"...I can tell that its name: Fragarach... but I have great difficulties to understand it... what is it?" Shirou asked as he closely watched the ball. He did not know if he could analyze it, it was the first time that he had this kind of problem with a... weapon?

"It's a Noble Phantasm and Mystic Code of the gods... a divine construct." Caster told simply.

"Oh... that would explain why I could not understand it well... do you think that I can analyze it or even be able to trace it?"

"Yes, your Reality Marble is capable of making a Fae artifact after all, I'm more than sure that you will be able to copy this weapon too. Why we do not try to do it now? Do you think that you can do it or you want now want to rest and try tomorrow?" Caster then asked.

"Hmmm, let me try to just analyze it." Shirou said as he dematerialized Gae Bolg. Caster then made the ball float into his hands and he started to analyze it.

Shirou went through all the 7 steps of his structural analysis... and the results were interesting and confusing.

"...I don't know. I mean, I could trace it and maybe even be able to use it even without the special pathogen of the Fragas in my blood, a sorcery trait that gives them the permission to use and create this weapon... but it's still some kind of divine construct that can be only used by 'the' heir of the Fraga..." Shirou remained silent for a pair of seconds and then turned to Caster. "I need your help Caster, this weapon is... a final ace for everything. With this, we should be able to defeat any kind of Servant or enemy." Shirou said with a serious tone.

"What did you discover? How does it work?" Caster asked curiously. Saber said nothing but she too was curious. They both knew that Fragarach worked similarly to Gae Bolg, but some more specific details would not hurt.

"It's somehow similar to Gae Bolg, but while the lance reverses causality and fate, this one manipulates time and fate... It can be used only after the enemy uses his strongest attack or ability, then once Fragarach is activated it will go back in time and hit right in the heart of the enemy just before he can unleash his most powerful attack... or so I think..." Shirou did not know how to say it... but it just worked.

"Wait, does this mean..." Caster started to say.

"Yes." Saber said. "Let's just say that I decide to use my Noble Phantasm to kill Shirou, if he manages to activate that weapon before he gets killed, he would kill me before I could attack him in the first place." Saber got up and got closer to Shirou as she started to look closely at the steel ball. "A truly impressive weapon... and for someone who is inclined to take by surprise his enemies this weapon will be more than perfect for him." As Saber said those words she thought of the incredible things that Shirou would be able to do with the weapon if he managed to use it.

"So, I guess that you will be able to use it once its owner is dead, or am I wrong?" Caster asked. If what Shirou and Saber said was true she was about to immediately kill the woman that was in her workshop, that weapon will be incredibly useful.

"I am not sure about that... maybe it requires their blood, a special ritual, a benediction or some kind of consense..." Shirou said as he kept watching the ball. After he analyzed it he was sure that his Reality Marble would be able to create the weapon without any problem, but he knew that he would not be able to use it.

"Hmmm, it seems that we will have to do some experiments and interrogations..." Caster thought aloud.

"We will see for tomorrow, now... what do you want to eat?" Shirou asked. Fighting a heroic spirit made him hungry.

After they had dinner Shirou immediately wanted to clean the plates, but as he got up from the table Caster told him that she would have taken care of the plates and that he should directly go to bed since that had been a very active day for him, but Shirou then said that he was not tired and he wanted to clean the plates to relax, Caster then insisted but Shirou didn't listen to her and started to clean the plates. After 5 minutes of Caster pulling his ears as she scolded him Shirou surrendered and decided to go to sleep, but not before he bade Sakura good night.

"Really Caster, you have no idea how amusing is to see you treat Shirou as a child." Saber said with a little smile while she watched Caster cleaning the plates as Rider gave to Caster her and Sakura's plates.

"He still acts like a child." Caster said with a frown she cleaned the plates. Just how the hell did Shirou still have the energies of doing something despite all the things that happened to him that day?

"You can think of him as a child as much as you want Caster, but he is a strong young man in the end." Saber then said. Even if Caster was correct it did not mean that she was right.

"I have to admit that you are right Saber, but I cannot help but see him as a stupid and careless child..." Caster said before turning around and watched Rider. "What is it Rider?" She then asked, after she gave her the plates Rider remained there watching her.

"The potion for Sakura is working, you have my thanks." Rider said before she turned around and got out of the room.

'What is he?' Rider thought as she walked back into Sakura's room.

Right now Rider was confused, she didn't know what to think about the boy in the first place after they met the first time, and now things were more confusing than ever.

As she passed more days into that house she got even more confused, just what was he? Why he had such a strange and inhuman smell? Why he had such strange magic? How could he have a Reality Marble that could recreate Noble Phantasm?

Rider had developed incredibly fine senses to compensate for the lack of sight, in fact, she could sense, hear, smell, and even 'taste' everything in the house, and in the week that she had passed there she had heard almost every conversation that it had been spoken, especially what was spoken about Shirou. Every new piece of information that she discovered about the boy was baffling, and even today she saw in the first person what the boy was capable of... what kind of connection did something like him had with Sakura? Was he really just a friend?

Why something like him felt the need to save and protect Sakura? She would have asked Sakura herself if not for the fact that her memory had been temporarily changed.

As she got closer to her and Sakura's bedroom she started to smell the strong odor of smoke and steel coming from that same direction... he was there.

She didn't know what to think of him, but she had no problem with him being near Sakura. In the end, if Sakura had been saved from Shiji and Zouken it was thanks to him, he too truly cared for the girl.

As Rider was about to reach the room its door opened and from it, Shirou got out. The boy bade good night to Sakura once again and then he turned towards her, he looked at her, simply nodded, and then passed her.

Rider then entered the room and asked Sakura who was lying in bed: "What did you talk about?"

"Senpai came here just to bade me good night... then I asked him about the fire... but he smiled and said that soon everything would make sense, what did he mean with that?" Sakura asked with a tired and confused tone.

"I see." Rider simply said as she got closer to Sakura. "Don't worry, he has said the truth, everything will make sense soon." She said with a smile before she started to caress Sakura's head.

"...Rider... what really happened that night?" She then asked.

"- Already?! But the war didn't even started! First something happened to the Matou and now Lancer died! What are you doing you useless fake-priest?!" The young girl screamed through the phone.

"I am doing everything in my power to discover what happened Rin, but you too should have expected the other Masters to not wait until the start of the war to fight each other." Kirei said with a calm tone.

"...Huh, you're right. Oh well, if there is something that I can do to help you let me know... this is my territory after all and I have to take care of it."

"Certainly Rin... anyway, I advise you to be careful from now on, strange things have started to happen and I don't want that you-"

"Just do your work and go to hell!" Rin screamed before she closed the call.

After the sudden end of the call Kirei frowned and he started to think, he was the kind of person that liked surprises, but not those like this one.

Bazett was a strong enforcer, strong as him when he was in his prime, and she even had a very powerful servant who was non-other than Cù Chulainn under the Lancer class. So, who managed to get rid of them so soon? Yesterday she had called him as she told him that she would have arrived today at Fuyuki, and today Lancer had died.

At first he wanted to betray the woman, kill her and then take control of her servant to use him as a scout for the war... and now there he was. Bazett was now surely dead just like her Servant and he had no idea of what happened. Oh well, he still had Rin, but how would he convince the girl to come to the church after she summoned her Servant? ...Right, he could lie and say that he had some clues on who had attacked the Matou manor since she was very interested in the subject... and that was another mystery for him.

He knew that the Matou had summoned the servant Rider after some kind of worm familiar arrived in his church and told him, but right now the servant was still alive while Zouken and the boy Shinji were dead. The only member of the Matou that was still alive was the girl Sakura, but Rin confirmed to him that she did not have the command seals. So, where was Rider now? Did she found another Master or someone took control of her?

Talking about mysteries there was the envoy of the Clock Tower. When the man came here he said that he had summoned Jean D'arc under the class of Saber, and Kirei strangely could not understand if the strange man was lying or not. When he later confronted the King Of Heroes he said that the man had lied, the King then told him that the Saber who had been summoned was the same Saber from the last war. After that conversation, the King decided to follow the man since he had grown impatient to wait for Saber to come to him, but somehow he lost the man's traces and he was not happy.

No matter what, it seemed that he had to be way more careful than he first thought, there were too many strange things going on.

Rin Thosaka sighed after she closed the call, she really hated that man with all herself, but now she had other things to think about.

With all the recent events that happened, she started to be a bit nervous. Was she really ready to fight the war? The war had not even started and the competition was already very fierce. Since she was a Thosaka she would be automatically be chosen to be a Master, it was not a matter of if, but when.

She started to walk towards her workshop where she was already preparing her summoning circle that will summon her servant, and as she thought about it she clenched her teeth. Now she could only summon 2 of the 7 classes: Archer or Assassin, and she could only hope of summoning the first one. Saber, Lancer, Rider, Caster, and Berserker had already been summoned, and Lancer, who should have been one of the strongest class of the war, had already been killed.

Rin could only hope that she would be able to summon a very strong Archer, maybe someone strong as much as her father Servant in the Fourth Holy Grail War.

She also had to summon a strong Servant so that she could win the war and find the bastard that attacked Sakura's family. She was happy that her estranged sister unlike her had some people that she could call family, but right now she too had lost them.

Anyway, she did not know why the responsible had killed only Shinji and Zouken, if what Kirei said was true. Could it be that Shinji was a mage all along and she never noted it? She knew that Sakura had become the heir of the Matou, but why was she spared from the massacre?

'No matter, at least I will not have to fight her in the war.' Rin thought as she watched the Command Seals on her hand, that had recently started to appear that same night.

...

...

...

Bazett suddenly woke up and started to open her right eye.

She didn't remember what had happened to her or why she was there, but she knew that something went wrong since she felt her hands and legs being chained to a wall, had half of her face hurt badly, she couldn't see from the left eye and she had a hole in her right shoulder.

She started to slowly watch her surroundings, and after some long moments she noted that someone was standing in front of her.

Bazett looked up and saw a hooded woman, the room was a bit dark since the only source of light were some candles, but she could still see the woman's malicious smile and her luminescent eyes under the hood.

"Oh dear, you finally woke up. Now tell me, do you remember who you are, and what happened to you and your Servant?" The woman then asked.

"...What?" Bazett said. Only now that she had been reminded of Lancer she noted that she could not feel her connection to him anymore.

"You were a Master of the Holy Grail War, you have arrived in Fuyuki and found a certain redhead boy. Now Lancer is dead and now you are our prisoner, easy right?" The woman asked. "I see that you're still confused, so let's skip all the questions and let's go to the most important matter. We need to take control over your Fragarach, but to do it you have to give it to use with some kind of permission, right? If you help us I swear that your death will be quick and painless."

"...What?" Bazett said again more confused than before.

"...Well, I should have expected it. Shirou probably gave you a stronger concussion than I first thought... the fact that you're still alive despite getting half of your face blown away it's an impressive feat on its own." The woman said before shrugging. She then turned around and took a basin and a knife from the table near her. "Anyway, I've been told that you have a special trait present in your blood that gives you the permission to use and make a divine Mystic Code... you don't mind if I take a bit of it to study it, right?" The woman asked as she inclined her head a little. "You are a bit too shocked and confused to answer right now, but I cannot wait any longer..."

Before Bazett could say anything the woman grabbed her arm and with the knife she made a deep and long cut all along her right forearm, cutting all of her flesh and muscles, Bazett could only grunt in pain.

"Sorry, did I say a bit? I meant a lot." The woman said with now a serious and angry tone before she stabbed Bazett's arm with enough force that it broke the bones in her arm and stuck the blade in the wall behind it. "Did you really think that I would've given you a quick and painless death after attacking Shirou and leaving him in those conditions?!" The woman said with a tone of voice cold as ice while strongly grabbing Bazett's hairs and slammed it against the wall behind.

Bazett was not listening to the woman, she was too distracted because of the pain that she was suffering. Yes, he was used to pain, but she was not used to her arm being almost open in half and then having a blade going through her arm's bone after she had just woken up.

"You really have no idea of how scared I was." The woman said after she let go of her hairs and put the basin under Bazett's bleeding arm. "When I heard Shirou asking for help my you have no idea of how much I started to get agitated... and when I even had difficulties locating him because of your stupid bounded field I started to panic. I was so desperate that I used a command seal to teleported Rider in his location hoping that she would have found him in time, in fact, I started to regret the fact of not doing it as soon he asked for help..." After a long pause, the woman then sighed in relief. "Luckily he had already taken care of you and the only enemy left was Lancer when Rider arrived. I was really fearing the worse when I managed to fly there." The woman continued as she walked toward the table once again.

Bazett raised her head and said with great difficulties: "W-What d-do you want?"

The woman stopped, turned around, and said: "Didn't you heard me? I want you to give us the authorization to use Fragarch."

"...Even if I wanted to give it to you it's impossible... its use it's a blessing given us by the god Lugh... you will never be able to use it..." Bazett said with a half-grin. If she was about to die she would not let the enemy put their hands on her weapon.

"And that is where you're wrong~" Caster said with now a calm tone and a smile. "As one of the best mages coming from the Age Of The Gods everything for me is possible. No one, not even the gods themself will ever able to say once again what I can and can't do. Let alone a foolish woman like you!" Caster said before she with a wave of her hand she easily hypnotized Bazett and started to get close to her. "And now you will tell me everything that I want to know, understood?"