Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Epilogue

A vast sea of bookcases hovered in the skies above. The bookcases were a patch work of polished wood filled with leather bound books, and electronic panels with glowing circuitry etched around and within.

Grass grew downwards from the ceiling the bookcases tightly clung onto. It was wild and chaotic growth that spawned a jungle in certain sections of the library and choked both the bookcases and towering towers in those sections.

Other parts of the skies were dominated by patches of desert where sand trickles down towards him like an hourglass.

The black holes that Archer used as methods of transportation for his books into and out of the library were unaffected by the reversed gravity as they hovered between the rows of bookcases. Ancient, modern, and yet to be written tomes fluttered about under their own power away from the black holes. Some of them even flew down lower to see the clashing duo.

Both Archer and Emiya met in a clash of weapons. The Counter Guardian's favored swords met the golden ringed tip of a long staff Urobuchi was tightly holding within his arms. The thinner of the two men gave way to the Counter Guardian's strength, though.

'Damn, what a monster!' Archer threw himself into the depths of a thick, cottony white cloud to try and avoid the Counter Guardian. Yet the man's sharp gray eyes wouldn't be deceived that easily, and the rain of swords began in earnest again.

He had known that Emiya had great power ever since they had met, but this much was simply ridiculous!

The air screeched as the shifting silver ground holding them over an abyss of starry skies shattered beneath the strikes. Archer's form was a blur as he raced ahead of the silver path. His figure cut through muggy and cold clouds alike as he raced ahead of the damaged ground.

Emiya rushed after his target. He reared his arms back and flung both Kanshou and Byakuya towards Archer at amazing speeds.

Archer refused to look backwards. He blinked moisture out of his face and kept rushing through the clouds. The two blades provided a nice contrast with the faint sounds of thunder that were building up in the distance.

A black bow and an odd looking sword appeared in both of his freed hands. Moments later, the swords transformed into a jet black arrow with a barbed tip that warped around its middle in a spiral.

Archer felt the golden ringed staff he was carrying slam itself hard into the silver path. His arm jerked against his control as the weapon remained embedded in the ground. Not having any time to try and persuade it differently, he allowed it to remain there.

The thunder grew louder.

The cloud he rushed into rumbled ominously as he entered it. The cloud's white color began to swiftly darken as he felt the heat of Kanshou and Byakuya at his back. The two weapons began to glow as they swung deep into the cloud after Archer.

Yet they came to an explosive halt as Archer was propelled upwards as a flood of books. Thunder flashed across the heavens as all the clouds along the same level as Archer and Emiya began to pour a wave of books up towards the library above.

Archer whooped as he gripped onto several hardcover books as he rose. The collection of books he was holding onto were gathered more in the shape of a large vine than a normal downpour. Several of them affectionately rubbed against his back and shoulders as they rose upwards.

The Counter Guardian wobbled unsteadily on his feet. Several of the books pouring out of the clouds reached around to smack into him. His shooting stance was only thrown off a smidgen, though. The black arrow, which was now glowing bloody red, was fired as a wall of books smashed into him and lifted him up after Archer.

The arrow let out a shrill whistle as it launched itself like a rocket directly at Archer. The weapon began to emit enough light to cause Urobuchi to raise a hand to block out the harsh red light. His heart began to rapidly beat in his chest as he waited until the last moment and leapt off the rising waterfall of books.

The crimson bolt flashed into the books. Its form lost amongst the thick texts, but several loud thuds echoed in the skies. Moments later, the bolt of light erupted out the other end as it twisted towards Archer as he descended.

The air furiously whipped Urobuchi's hair about as he fell down.

'Crap! Crapcrapcrap! Stupid staff! Why do you have to be so uppity?' Archer paled as his vision caught a familiar Counter Guardian.

Emiya had managed to right himself by now as he got up to his knees on the more solid leather platform he was rising upwards on. The puppet of Alaya staggered towards the edge of his ride. He summoned forth another gleaming sword on confirming that Archer was still alive. Emiya swiftly transformed the sword into another arrow and let the weapon fly.

Archer's hand swung outwards. A thick string of energy fired from his hands straight at the rising tower of books Emiya was riding on. It snagged onto a thick encylopedia before going taut. The momentum of the tower caused Archer's downwards plummet to transform into a high speed swing towards the face of the torrent of books.

Several of the strands on his head were sheared off by the high speed sword arrow launched by Emiya, but the threat wasn't completely halted as the crimson bolt kept doggedly chasing after him. Urobuchi let out an ululating yell as his feet briefly alighted onto the surface of the tower of books before racing sideways around the tower.

The prana string lengthed and the tower reformed beneath his feet into a stable platform as Archer led the crimson arrow on a merry chase. The Counter Guardian wasn't phased at all as he rushed from one side of the tower to another. Lacking enough time to prepare another homing weapon, he simply fired high speed steel arrows from transformed swords.

Arrows whizzed past Archer as he and the Counter Guardian swiftly left the abyss far below them. Their tower broke through thicker clouds as it rose up to the library. Explosions rocked and made the tower sway from side to side as the force of the arrows fired by Emiya made parts of it collapse. Paper and leather fluttered away.

Urobuchi heard the screaming missle behind him steadily catch up. He furiously kept releasing more prana to extend the silver string keeping him tethered to the tower. The magus' awareness of the books within the tower told him that his goal was almost in sight. The side of the tower blurred as Archer focused prana into his legs to increase his speed.

An ancient looking manuscript slid out from the walls of tower. The thin white pages fluttered, revealing thin print that had been pressed into the worn material by wooden blocks long ago. High above, Emiya's eyes narrowed as he spotted the solitary book rise with his powerful vision. The Counter Guardian swung his bow towards that section of the tower as he began to gather prana within his next arrow.

Archer's own sight, not nearly as strong as Emiya's own, was only able to see the gathering prana high at the top of the tower. His speed doubled as he raced towards the manuscript. The crimson missle chasing after him continued its dogged pursuit.

Emiya's projectile twanged from his bow, a streak of blue light screaming down towards the manuscript.

'No!' Urobuchi shouted as he bunched his legs and dove. The prana string was abandoned in his haste as he rushed towards the paperback as he reached out with his mind. The book, now highlighted in blue from the proximity of the latest of Emiya's attacks, erupted out from the solid wall of books and slammed into Archer's outstretched hands.

The blue missile explosively detonated. The surrounding section of the tower was pulped into burning shreds of paper and it unleashed a shockwave strong enough to throw Archer away from the tower. The stalker after him harmlessly sped into the flaming cloud of debris and out the other side before turning away from the wall of the tower and shooting down towads the plummeting magus.

The Counter Guardian raised a hand and gestured towards Archer even as he wobbled. The tower beneath his feet shifted and groaned as it pitched from one side to another dangerously as the chunk of the tower blown away ruined the buildings stability.

A rain of steel swords shone above Emiya's head before firing themselves down towards Urobuchi.

The magus's head rang from the force of the explosion as he briefly hugged the manuscript of Journey to the West to his chest. He shook his head angrily as he blinked the spots in his vision away. Archer fed prana into his eyes as the blurring in his surroundings from the high speed fall vanished. The nooks in the tower he was falling parallel to were ignored for now.

It'd do no good to try and swing in with that missile at his back.

Urobuchi could feel where the temperamental gold ringed iron staff was still stubbornly remaining, though. With a smirk, he allowed the manuscript in his arms to transform. The paperback glowed with a holy aura as the words within it were drawn out by Archer. The power of the reality marble around him fed into the book as the paper shifted into an golden headband.

"Jin Gu Zhou – Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ!" Urobuchi let the headband fly from his hands towards his target. The headband transformed into a golden discus with the speed it was thrown at as it soared towards the golden ringed staff. The weapon embedded down on the silver path alone, seemingly recognizing what was going to happen, swiftly levitated itself and appeared to try to get away, but the headband was coming in too fast.

The headband slammed down around the tip of the staff. From there it spun towards the middle and visibly shrunk as it contracted around the weapon.

"Gotcha, asshole! Now, help me out, Ruyi Jingu Bang!" Archer demanded. The golden headband tightly squeezing the staff gleamed at the command. In the blink of an eye, the black iron staff tore past Archer and smashed straight into the crimson missile in between the magus and the tower of books. From there, the weapon blurred and began to exponentially grow as it barreled through the sword rain.

Emiya's eyes widened as a hundred meter wide wall of steel came slamming into him and firing him upwards the rest of the way towards the library above. Bookcases were smashed in half and a small hut made out of books was knocked down to the grassy ground as the Counter Guardian found himself in a hole thirty feet deep.

Urobuchi's descent halted at the same moment. Instead he began to ascend. Recognizing what was going to happen next, he used the transfer in momentum to flip his body a hundred and eighty degrees in orientation.

As he started descending towards the library floor which was now 'below'. The willful staff shrunk and spun into his hand as it helpfully extended to smash into a pile of sand in the desert section of the library as he was slowly lowered down.

Tattered books and pieces of covers scattered down around Archer, but a single thought mended them so they could descend with the rest of their brethen at a faster speed that the white haired man wanted to take.

…

A faint buzzing and heavy static filled the Counter Guardian's hearing as he stumbled. He tried to get to his feet once again, but the power that had been filling him up until now was draining out. The amount of energy also began to dim.

Emiya heard a grinding sound beneath. He turned his gray eyes to gaze down on the ground below to see he was resting on a cracking rainbow cog. It attempted to shift beneath him again and released another grinding noise.

The puppet tensed as a loud crack filled his ears. The ground made a rumbling noise before giving way beneath him. Pieces of rainbow colored steel drifted around him. The Counter Guardian's hesistant attempt at analyzing it made the static in his ears worse so he tried to ignore it as the stars above grew even more distant.

The pit he was finding himself falling down had walls with rainbow colored circuitry along the bedrock. Any of his attempts to stop his descent by pressing his limbs or body up against the walls were rebuffed as powerful blasts of prana shocked his limbs away. Eventually the pit dramatically widened as Emiya came crashing down on a slopped hill over looking a massive cavern with a bright blue river coursing along in the shape of what appeared to be a gear.

This central river had smaller ones running out from it.

Emiya's attempts at sharpening his gaze were also unsuccessful. Only the river revealed itself in the otherwise dark cavern. His sense of hearing could hear what appeared to be hundreds or thousands of consecutive thuds in the distance. Emiya set that thought in the back of his head as he created his weapons once again and began to descend the hill in search of his target.

At the base of the hill a large collection of books were lying in a pile. More slithered on top of the pile from what appeared to be a black hole hovering over them. The interior of the hole drew Emiya's eyes hypnotically as strange lights flickered within. Green, purple, and orange were the predominate ones that appeared more often than not.

It switched to orange.

"Ook." A soft and curious grunt reached his ears from within the hole. The Counter Guardian felt himself being repelled backwards from the pile of books moments later as tiny creatures shot out from within the books fast enough to crack the air.

The central river glowed.

The amount of kinetic force within the ...worms sent Emiya flying backwards and tumbling head over rear as his swords were sent clattering away from his body. The Counter Guardian eventually came to a stop at the feet of a long, tall and rail thin humanoid. Only a white slash along the edges of his neck was clearly visible.

It reached a hand down towards Emiya's head. The figure's curly fingers and an abnormally long arm were repelled by the Counter Guardian's summoned rain of swords. There were far less of them this time than expected, though.

They came crashing into the bizarely thin humanoid. It raised its long arms up to protect its head. The constant blows ripping through its body caused it to stumble backwards. The dark figure vanished into the all consuming darkness.

Emiya breathed hard.

His prana hadn't been replenished with that last attack.

…

The desert section of Infinity Library Archives was muggy. Archer felt sweat running down his face as he stood within a magic circle. Dozens of holographic windows were arranged around him, but he kept his gaze locked on the central image.

Emiya was currently trapped in the deepest part of the Archives.

The magus glanced at a side window and saw the willful staff was moving around for another pass at the Counter Guardian. 'Well, just as long as you keep him down there.' The inner core of Zelretch was reacting to the spell that was streaming across the main window as words vanished from the windows around him.

Another layer was added to the magic circle the magus stood within as each of the windows closed once the words within were erased. Archer glanced up at the crystalline tower. Its interior lit up as it powered up. The circuitry running along the ground began glow with rainbow light as it carried pulses of white light from his magic circle into the tower.

'Oh man, this is going to suck, isn't it?' Archer thought. He looked towards one of the windows. It was currently showing an image of himself. Well, more like Emiya, walking out into a wasteland alongside Ilya to recover the Holy Grail from the Serpent of Akasha. The image of it broke up into text that began to be erased as it began to flow into the magic circle.

The magus grimaced as he felt another large chunk of his prana vanish with that little stunt, but he was finally done.

'Up to you now, bro.' The magus thought to the staff. He reached out towards Shirou. Archer nearly retched as he felt Angra Mainyu slam into him and Infinity Library Archives through the connection. The remainder of his own personal store of power flared. His skin split as lines of kaleidoscopic light raced along his body as prana surged out like an aura from his body.

The Second Magic, surging in the depths of his soul, responded to his call.

"SPIN ON!"

All the towers in the jungle lit up together as Archer's eyes glowed golden as he reached through Avenger and Shirou towards his goal.

…

The black tower within the Grand Holy Grail shuddered as its coating shattered to reveal silver. The black and red oceans drew away from the tower. The top of the tower shone as it began to broadcast a message to humanity.

…

Kiritsugu kept a firm hold on Taiga as both adults silently watched their daughter. The woman looked ashen as her body trembled ever so faintly as Kiritsugu squeezed her in a supportive hug.

'Hero of Justice...' Kiritsugu distastefully thought.

"W-why..." Ilya stuttered. Tears ran down her eyes as she stepped towards the collapsing Grand Holy Grail. Saber silently moved in her way, but allowed her to see the last remains of the tower evaporate in the golden sun.

Ilya's arm raised up towards it as it completely vanished. Saber placed her hands supportingly on the older looking girl's shoulders. Saber's green eyes shimmered with restrained moisture as well. Saber and Ilya however blinked and glanced towards the direction of the temple on the outridges of town.

Taiga's trembling stilled.

Kiritsugu dark eyes sharpened slightly.

Ilya's eyes lit up. "Shirou!" She clutched to her father's jacket as she started racing away. Both Taiga and glanced at each other before joining their daughter. The blonde took a hiss of air through her chapped lips before rushing up to Ilya.

"Where?" The blonde demanded.

"I'll lead the way!" Ilya responded. Saber swept her up in her arms as the duo raced ahead of Taiga and Kiritsugu.

The two of them came across a heavily winded and bruised Iskander at the base of the hill. The dried out and hollow trees around the area were completely shattered. The man had a lively grin and sparkle in his eyes, though.

Both Saber and Ilya paused in front of Iskander in shock.

"Never met a man I couldn't defeat. Now I guess I can say the same about the gods." The redhead cracked his bloody knuckles. "Where are you two heading to?"

"Ryuudou Temple! Tell everyone we're going to get Shirou!" Ilya frantically demanded.

"But Ilya, he vanished after we took it down..."

"He's there! Trust me!"

Iskander blinked. He turned speculative eyes towards where the grail stood and slowly smiled. "So he helped take it down, did he?" He murmured. "Excellent! I'll gather Master once we stabilize Lancer, Caster, and Berserker, then!"

Saber and Ilya vanished in a blur of speed.

…

"Bitch!" Kaede Makidera cursed as she was gunned down in a blaze of pixellated gore on her computer monitor once again. The tanned teenager angrily shuffled her thick blankets around her. She shifted in her white t-shirt and long pajama bottoms as she glared over at the Kane Himuro's username. She tiredly reached up to her sore eyes and tried to rub slightly more awareness.

Kaede heard Kane Himuro's responding chuckle through the headseat she wore. "I've been kicking your ass all night. Not going to stop now? It's already dawn."

"No! Besides, there's no school for now!" Kaede angrily responded. She ignored as the scores finally finished up scrolling across the screen. "Let's do this again! I'm going to own your nerdy face!"

Kane laughed. "Don't be angry with me because your Counterstrike boyfriend ditched you."

"Waver isn't like that! He's like...ancient!" Kaede shuddered. The foreigner had stayed in the neighborhood a long time ago and made friends with everyone before going back to England. "He's like...an uncle!"

"Hm. So, what do you think caused the earthquake?" Kaede wondered. "It went really quiet in the neighborhood afterwards."

"Dunno. Does it matter?" Kane grumped. Stupid jerks shouting all night. She was glad she lived on her own.

Both started up the next round. However, they set their controllers down as both of them glanced off in the direction of Ryuudou Temple.

"Shirou?" Both blinked.

…

Arihiko Inui and Yukika Saegusa found themselves neck deep in Yakuza as the two finally woke up from dreamless slumbers. Their backs were pressed up against the wall of wide hall. In front of them was the slumbering and bandaged up form of Otoko Hotaruzuka.

Several more people like Arihiko and Yukika were being handed blankets as they were brought into the hall to rest. Several groans could be heard from the rooms along the hallway. Both Yukika and Arihiko glanced out of the window to gaze on the rising sun.

Arihiko shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Yukika worriedly asked. The quiet girl had clung to him until they had stumbled across a group of Yakuza. Strangely enough, Arihiko got the strongest sensation he wasn't needed to find Miyu at the same time they ran into them.

"The static...it's gone." Arihiko didn't feel like mentioning that he could faintly feel something that sounded like Miyu's humming in the strange void that had descended on the city, though.

"Aah, I'm glad!" Yukika's small smile dipped off her face. Her eyebrows knit as she hesistantly glanced off towards the west. "Shi...rou?"

Arihiko had no such compulsions as his eyes widened. "Who the fuck is Emiya?" He blurted as he blinked in surprise.

…

In another part of the same mansion, four haggard teenagers shared the same thought of Arihiko as well.

…

The Counter Guardian stumbled as the back of his leg was grazed by a high speed sphere of elemental magic. The field around the sphere kept it from being fatal as it practically molded itself to the back of his leg as it passed. His mucles convulsed as pain nearly made him fall face first.

Emiya frantically summoned an ever decreasing amount of blades as he raced away from an ever encroaching wave of multicolored light. The swords and spheres of energy met in mutual destructive fashion as the darkened caverns lit up by violent and large number of explosions.

More and more crystal shards were generated from the purple hued blackhole in response though. The Counter Guardian's prana he had received from Alaya was nearly bottoming completely out as he was herded towards the center of the cavern.

Another wave of elemental attacks came at him from another angle.

Emiya's sense of danger went off as a black iron staff suddenly shot at him from his blindspot. The Counter Guardian spun and summoned the last projection he was capable of using. The force of the broadsword he swung – capable of slaying even dragons met its match in the indestructible durability of the Ruyi Jingu Bang. The deciding factor was when the relatively beign spheres of energy came slamming into Emiya's body.

Their harmlessness failed to trigger the appropriate responses in Emiya's mind.

The pain caused his body to twitch as his rigid control faded. The motion was enough for the willful staff to parry the broadsword. With his guard now wide open, it was easy for the staff to pin the Counter Guardian down on the ground as the weapon grew wider than Emiya was tall.

The river around the cavern suddenly flared with bright light.

…

All throughout the world, Mankind felt themselves sighing collectively as one as those lurking to strike in the shadows began to pull back. The dawn of the new day eased the acute pain of several of the more sensitive and ease the strangley troubled minds countless more.

In one particular school in England, a recently returned professor found himself stumbling into the broad chest of a particularly hawkish looking man. "Waver." The pale skinned man gazed down at him with sharp crimson eyes beneath a swept back spikey layer of hair. "Where are you going in such a rush, hm?"

The dark haired professor nervously licked his lips. "W-wizard Marshall..."

Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg smirked. "You can call me Zelretch."

"Ah..." Waver briefly wondered why he hadn't been allowed the luxury to use his title first too. Then again...

The tangible aura of magical power about Zelretch's figure lazily curled about him.

"What makes a Heroic Spirit, Waver?" Zelretch stepped back to give Waver breathing room so he could answer. The dark haired man hesistated. He really needed to try and get a hold of Kiritsugu to find out what had happened before Iskander had sent him away, but the magus didn't dare walk off on the Wizard Marshall himself.

"Power..." Waver began. Thoughts of his dear friend Iskander and their battles together in the last Holy Grail War entered his mind. "Intelligence..." He thought of how the red haired giant had almost won the King of Knights, Arturia, to his side. "Charisma..."

The army of Ionioi Hetairoi clashing against Excalibur. The power of two of history's greatest legends fighting against one another. "Legend." Waver shook the old memories of Excalibur's golden light off.

"Mystery." Zelretch responded with a nod. "Legend and mystery elevates a person who does the impossible to godhood." He smirked. "Do you know why we don't have Heroes anymore?" The Wizard Marshall pressed.

"Uhm...since the turn of the nineteenth...?" Waver awkwardly tried to guess the correct era in his nervousness. The magus continued on seeing Zelretch continue to look at him evenly. "Century...Mankind can't perform impossible tasks that overturn fate without assistance from the World. We use mostly manufactured weapons as well. You're not Hero material unless...uhm...unless you're using something unique, I guess? Or something with history to it?"

Zelretch smiled at Waver's attempts. They were amusing in a way. "Mystery plays a lot of it as well. In the new era, we analyze mystery until we know every single last detail. We don't believe. We know." The Wizard Marshall mused. His eyes glanced to the east. "So..." He began ever so casually. "What name did you hear?"

Waver, in the midst of a mindset to respond and distracted by his own musings, automatically responded. "Emiya." He gasped in surprise as he looked at the gray haired man.

"I heard Shirou." Zelretch grinned as he raised the crystal sword named after himself. "Would you say that pulling a soul free from an endless afterlife is an impossible task, don't you think?"

"Wait..."

"Let's go see about renewing some ties with the magi of Japan, Waver. We should go ahead and ensure that enough people *know* to finish the job." Before the dark haired man could respond, they were both swept away in a burst of kaleidoscopic light.

…

That morning greeted a lot of early risers. Countless numbers of people gazed towards the east. Somewhere in the very back of their minds, they could hear a shared name resonate deep within their hearts.

Shirou Emiya.

The some sensitive of people amongst the crowd idly began to wonder. Stories of impossible actions were mused on and dissected in the back of millions of people's minds.

One person would tell the story about how Shirou Emiya had overturned a young man's bitter fate into a hopeful new future. Another told about an endless wasteland filled with foul abominations and of the two people who had ventured out into it to restore life. There were stories about the man defeating much more powerful foes and winning through deceit. Others mentioned about how even when he was defeated in turn, he always came back.

It was the story about a person who had pulled themselves up and become a Hero ...because he wanted to see everyone around him smile.

And that story...deserved to be told.

…

The massive cavern above Emiya's head quaked as the a wall of light rose from the river surrounding him and the staff pinning him to the ground. Lines of circuitry glowed beneath him as the stone walls collapsed along with parts of the ceiling. More and more of the sky was revealed as multiple pillars of kaleidoscopic light shot upwards into the starry abyss above.

Emiya gritted his teeth as he tried with all his might to press the staff back, but without his prana reinforcing him he was far too weak. He hesistated as he felt the air saturated with mana from the depths of that river.

'If I have that...' Emiya thought. The thought was taunting. He could shove this off and destroy his target.

"...Trace On." The man signed his own undoing with those two words. The Counter Guardian felt his very sense of self burn for the second time in his existence. He squirmed and howled beneath the rapidly shrinking black iron staff. His dark hands clawed at the ground as his magic circuits were flooded completely past their maximum capability.

The flow just kept pouring outwards from there and soaked into his body thoroughly. Sparks danced in front of Emiya's eyes as his nerves twisted with pain from excess energy. That's when he felt something within him...wrench.

Shirou Emiya could see once again. The trembling man's screams suddenly cut off. His gray eyes lost the dull glaze that had been covering them from the moment he had been summoned. He glanced to the side as another part of the cavern collapsed.

The black iron staff he had been fighting...pulled back as the cavern's intense light started flickering.

Something...was wrong. Shirou could immediately tell as the circuit pattern of light died down to a dim glow. The white haired man swept up to his feet and gazed at the staff. "Take me to ..." A flash of an intense set of sherry eyes entered his mind. "Myself."

The image of the staff began to grow hazy. It bobbed up and down once before shooting off. Shirou Emiya kept his eyes trained on the weapon. His eyes continued gazing at the weapon, but no matter what he did he wasn't able to understand it. The basic issue was clouded by trying to figure out what was the original weapon amongst several altered materials. Once that was solved, he attempted to analyze the crystal sword, but that proved difficult with the kaleidoscopic energy surrounding it.

Shirou Emiya's mind and eyes ached.

"Don't think about it too hard." A wry voice called out to Emiya. Archer...Shirou Urobuchi... casually waved at Emiya from the center of a magical circle. A string of prana shot out of the man's hand and wrapped around the ghostly looking staff before it shattered.

Urobuchi snatched up the chinese manuscript and Zelretch. He released the book and allowed it to fly off under its own power. "Especially here." The man smiled, but he clearly looked to be on his last legs. The reality marble the two stood in began to shatter.

Towers of glass and stone toppled in the horizon. The jungle around them faded in and out of sight. Everything gained a hazy look to it as even the stars above began to fracture. As they did, glances of rainbow colored cogs appeared.

"Why...?" Emiya gazed away from the devastation to look at Urobuchi. "I didn't mean to save you for you to do this to yourself." His heart ached as he looked at the darkly clad version of himself.

Urobuchi smiled. "This is my path..." His sherry eyes sparkled as he held the shining crystal sword between his hands. "I regret nothing!" He pitched back and threw the crystal sword high into the sky. The weapon kept its momentum going as it vanished once it touched the starry sky.

'Fuck your bullshit, Gaia.' He clasped hands with Emiya as they were both consumed by a bright white light.

Wise up!

Mizuki

[Craft of the Faithful]

Owner: Koji Ishi

Type: Anti-Unit

Rank: B

Range: 6-8

Maximum number of targets: 1

A Noble Phantasm with an always changing form. It was carved from the preserved remains of the dogwood that made up the object that took the life of a future Heroic Spirit who preached to the masses in the name of his God. Many miracles were attributed to his name during his lifetime and beyond, and these mysteries have sunk deep into the grain of the wood over time.

Having gained the ability to repel the undead when brandished or annihilate them if used as a stake, it became one of the Church's main go to weapons against the menace of Dead Apostles in their world. However, enough of the weapons were destroyed eventually that the Church began to worry about the very distinct possibility that they would run out of armaments. To that end, the Church commissioned several new artifacts to be forged using small slivers of the remaining wood as their cores.

This was one of them. Made out of the finest material by a japanese blacksmith, he experimented with reinforcement magic to find the weaknesses in each stage of his design and then improve upon them as much as he could in response. The Phantasm's normal mode - a cross shaped boomerang, was the final product of his work. With a gylph carved within it to grant the weapon a razor sharp edge when thrown at the undead, it can easily cleave through any defense they wield in conjuction with the abilities of the the crystal orb in the center of the cross. The sliver of dogwood there extends an aura to bind the target in a same flash of flash of light that's generated when the weapon is thrown.

If you gaze upon that light, you are bound to the spot for a few moments.

In the most dangerous of scenarios, it also contains an self destruct command woven into the artifact's central glyph. Only the user can invoke the command, but it will detonate the core in a burst of divine energy in every direction.

"I swing the sword that will banish this long night!"

...

"Huh..." Shirou idly poked at the window displaying the information on the cross he had used to purify Ilya with. His transparent finger slipped through the holographic window. "What the heck is going on here?" The teenager muttered.

Several more windows, each listening information called 'Wise Ups' scattered around the black and red void.

Shirou cracked his neck as he shoved his hands into his pockets. The magus slouched a bit as he started walking forwards. He was able to see the wide hole in his white and blue t-shirt with his terrible posture.

"It's been ruined. Forever!" The teenager overdramatically wailed. His call seemed to draw the attention of a wandering window. The head sized screen floated over towards him and swayed from one side of his head to the other. Almost like an eager puppy. Shirou tried to wave it away, but it kept persisting. "Fine. Go ahead and show me what you want."

"Shirou and Archer's Excellent Adventure" Score Card:

Life Saved.

NTR End Avoided.

"Reinforcement of a lifetime of deviancy for Ilya" Achievement Unlocked.

Ilya Route Opened.

"Eye of the Taiga Dojo Survivalist" Achievement Unlocked.

"Goddamned Magi. Logic. Logic *nowhere*" Achievement Unlocked.

"[s]Card Games[/s]Servant Duels on Motorcycles" Achievement Unlocked.

Rider Flag Gained.

Sakura Route Opened.

"Knight Rider" stage - S rank.

Resident Evil – Fuyuki City Route Opened.

Saber Flag Gained.

"Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A DDOS Attack" Achievement Unlocked.

Rin Flag Gained.

"Avoided Harvesting Little Sister." Achievement Unlocked.

"Jack of All Trades, Master of None." Achievement Unlocked.

Ilyasviel Flag Gained.

Herakles' Friendship.

"Diplomacy? In my Holy Grail War?" Achievement Unlocked.

Lancer's Friendship.

"This is your Holy Grail War on Starcraft." Achievement Unlocked.

Iskander's Friendship.

"Glad someone else is hot for teacher. He won't plan ways to murder me." Achievement Unlocked.

Bazette Flag Gained.

"Super Servant Wars" stage – Battle Mastery attained!

"One Path, Infinite Destinations." Achivevement Unlocked.

"No Man Left Behind." Achievement Unlocked.

"For Someone Else's Glory." Achivement Unlocked.

Saber Route Opened.

Angra Mainyu de-%^t2U=I*&!-layed!

Shirou felt a heavy breath on the back of his neck. The boy calmly walked through the window that was in his way. Heavy, lumbering footsteps followed after him after a delay of a few moments. The magus casually glanced around at all the windows around him.

"Your work?"

"...yes."

The redhead felt a shudder run down his spine as the word was breathed down his neck again. He glanced upwards as his eyes caught onto two more specific windows that buzzed past. Fortunately he had been focusing his gaze at the right level.

Wise Up!

Miyu Inui

….

Alice Naituro-nee-Urobuchi

….

"...how long have you been spying on me?" Shirou asked. He remembered the day of his mother's funeral. The teenager would never forget the patch of black sky overlooking the cemetary.

A throaty, wet chuckle answered him. "Do you want to know?"

Shirou shivered. He bit his lip as he felt the breathing on the back of his head speed up.

"I'm not going to let you out." Shirou promised. The burning on the back of his left hand still contained his final Command Spell.

"I know. That makes it more fun."

The magus nervously licked his lips as he walked past the sea of windows and out into hell. The chaotically rolling sea of red and black stretched out as far as the eye could see.

"The charge you gathered from Arturia will not last forever." A sibilant snicker caressed his ear. "I will have you once Avalon falls."

"Pfft." Shirou lifted both of his hands up to his face. His left still possessed the final Command Spell he wielded. He could see faint motes of kaleidoscopic light on his right hand. They were useless so long as he was directing everything towards keeping the majority of his body in the fairy realms, though. "I just have to wait until they pull me out."

"...can you believe in them?" Angra Mainyu wondered. His voice soundedly genuinely curious.

A pause.

"You're not sure." Angra Mainyu gloated. He laughed before he continued. "Why don't you just look back? You can at least believe I'll stand behind my words!"

Shirou mumbled something beneath his breath.

"What?"

"Never look back." Shirou's voice grew louder. He slouched a bit more as he started walking forwards.

"Haaa...but we all have to play our roles." Angra Mainyu chided. "You were sacrificed for ...two, was it? Or was it more? I answer the wishes of my beloved humans."

"...Never look back." The magus insisted as he began to lengthen his strides. "One doesn't have to die for two. One thousand don't have to die for a million."

"Ah, but isn't that vain to think that way? It's the height of childishness to think everyone will get a happy ending."

"That way of thinking...it's too cruel." Shirou shook his head. "It's too heavy of a burden."

"Heh...but Divine Spirits have those duties thrust upon us by humans. They don't wish to carry the burdens so they make 'God' and 'Hero' to carry the burden. Do you honestly believe you can change people? They'll always take the easy way out."

"...maybe not today." Shirou stopped.

Angra Mainyu hesistated. "...good, then. You're learning. Now...turn around."

Shirou broke out into a jog. "But maybe someday!"

"Wait!"

The teenager felt the heavy presence on the back of his neck lift slightly. His jogs broke out into an all out run as his eyes focused straight ahead. In the far distance, he could see a silver tower jutting high above the rolling seas.

"Angra Mainyu! So long as people have the will and the heart to keep looking...someday we will all be happy!"

The Divine Spirit snarled from somewhere far behind him. "Then let us put this hypothesis to a challenge, shall we? Let's see if your basic philosophy can stand the test of time!"

Shirou laughed, "I've survived every message and imageboard under the sun! These are such pathetic attempts at throwing me off. I'll give you a zero out of ten for the joke alone!" His laughter caused Angra Mainyu to growl warningly behind him. "All of Humanity's Evils...do you have enough trolls to stop me?"

Wise Up!

Look be̸͢͞h̸̡͘͜͢í̧̨͡ nd you.

...

Profile restored from backup...

Archer groaned as he sat up. A sea of endless stars stretched as far as the eye could see in front of his gaze. He was currently finding himself sitting down on top of a silver path that stretched out endlessly both in front and behind him. The section he sat on was heavily charred and dented.

The white haired man glanced around with sherry eyes as he dusted his torn and cut apart black vest and bloody black pants. Shirou frowned as he squatted a bit to rip off chunks from his black pants to even them out.

Turning them into nice black shorts.

Archer sighed and ran his hand through his hair tiredly.

"Is someone there?" A female voice asked. The faintly prismatic walls surrounding the silver path kept travelers from falling off into the starry abyss below, but it always paid to be wary.

The adult prepped his criminally empty magic circuits before carefully responding. "Yes." He paused. "Can I help you?" Shirou called out.

Archer visibly relaxed as he saw a teenager with long black hair dressed in a purple and white school uniform approach him. Her flats softly clicked against the ground as her hair swayed behind her like a curtain.

'Well, no need to worry about being overpowered here.'

The aura of magic around her made him leery. Even if magic was his strength, he'd rather not have to get struck with it more than he had to. Especially after today.

The young girl completely stepped out of the shadows cast by the void. Recognition crossed Archer's face. "Oh...it's you." He lifted his hands up to his face and touched them. Yeah, wearing the right face this time. "Is this the first or latest time?" The magus's eyes lowered over towards the silver shield she wielded over her wrist.

The information on the item's abilities were updated in his reality marble.

'Wait...this history is different?'

Both the girl and his eyesbrows raised in synch.

"Do I know you?" Both of them asked at the same time.

The girl's purple eyes dimmed as she flicked her long hair. Seemed like a nervous habit, really. "I'm looking for a girl."

"What a coincedence. I'm looking for a guy." Archer smiled. "Two sets of eyes might halve the amount of time we have to look."

"...okay." The girl stilled as she let her long hair drop back behind her. "What's your name?"

"Shirou Urobuchi." The white haired man cheerfully responded as the two of them began to walk together. "Wouldn't imagine the week I've had so far."

The girl looked at his shorts and then up at his smudged dress shirt and vest. "Try me."

"Well...it started when I put on my robe and wizard hat..."

An orange haze in reality released Gilgamesh and Caren. A vast armory full of gold and magical and divine artifacts of all measure appeared behind the two. One of the piles of gold also had an empty eyed blue haired teenager covered lazily with some robes. The robes were stained with filth and blood.

The rip in reality was closed with a mere thought from Gilgamesh. Now that the vault of the King of Hero's own Gate of Babylon were closed, they silently moved from their exit point towards the resting place of the Grand Holy Grail. A large amount of black mud was collected at the bottom of a circular bowl and was swiftly vanishing down a deep crack back into the earth.

A small figure squirmed at the edge of the black mud.

Both Gilgamesh and Caren traded a look before the blond moved forwards. He could hear faint crying coming from the smeared body of the dark skinned newborn babe. Gilgamesh reached down and casually plucked the child up by the back of his neck.

The baby began to wail anew as he turned russet brown eyes on the King of Heroes. Dark red markings appeared on the baby's dark skin as a feeling of power descended on the unimpressed Hero.

"Ah...how fortunate for Father." Caren breathed as she stepped next to Gilgamesh. The blond snorted and wiped the grail's mud off the newborn. He casually handed the baby over to the white haired girl.

The nun scrambled as she barely held onto the baby as it began to squirm in her hands. The baby cooed as he looked up at Caren with bright eyes.

Gilgamesh silently gazed out towards the direction the other Servants had gathered. An eager grin was on his lips. "Now I've seen everything they can do. Let the game continue." He murmured as he slapped his hands together. Golden plate mail armor suddenly covered him from neck to toe.

Wise Up!

Class – Archer

Master – Rin Tohsaka

True Name – Shirou Urobuchi

Sex – Male

Height/Weight – 184 cm/68 kg

Alignment – Neutral

Strength: E

Mana: B+

Endurance: D

N. Phantasm: Unknown

Agility: B

Luck: C

Class Skills:

Magic Resistance: B

Independent Action: EX

Personal Skills:

Magecraft: B+

For Someone's Glory (EMIYA): A

Self Modification: B

Noble Phantasms:

Infinity Library Archives

[The Endless Power of the Spoken and Written Word]

Owner: Shirou Urobuchi

Type: Support

Rank: E ~ A+++

Maximum number of targets: Unknown

Data corrupted.

Signal lost.

Attempting to locate new signal.

"My name is Miyu Inui. Ehehe. I had to uhm...transfer schools because of an issue with my last school. I hope we're all good friends here, though!"

"Nothing but strange foreigners and weirdos transferring in, huh? ...Miyako?"

"Her eyes look like Shiki-niichan's eyes."

"Hm...he's moving into that big mansion on the hills soon, isn't he?"

"...yes. Yes he is."

"...I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for in this situation."

To Be Continued – Apostles in Leather Pants

A/N: So, it's been a long and bumpy ride. Thank you all very much for following me this long. The next project will be a continuation of this setting in the Tsukihime portion of the world. The cast of Wizard Hat will be included to a degree here, and their fates will be revealed. Thank you for the reviews, and if there was anything that particularly amused you or that you think needed improvement, just drop a review and let me know.

Until next time, Troll Long and Prosper.