C229: Eve of the Fifth Holy Grail War
Alt Title teaser: Archer's Shock.
Date published: 6/14/2025.
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With his newly freed mind, Axel lets his mind wander across Fuyuki as he feels the charged particles of Prana swirling around in various locations as the summoning circles in 7 locations activate.
3 amongst them progress like the original versions. Shirou summons Saber through the Avalon sheathe sealed inside him by Kiritsugu. Artoria Pendragon returns once more in hopes of finally claiming the now 'purified' grail so she could accomplish her wish.
Being overjoyed at his ability to summon a servant, he rushes himself and the servant to meet his father. A strange atmosphere takes over the room as Artoria once again meets with the weak and dying Kiritsugu Emiya who had extended his life by paying a ton of money to Axel in exchange for temporary cures. He could have completely cured himself of his illness but felt it was an appropriate punishment for him to ruin plenty of people's lives throughout his life.
Artoria clenches her hand as she meets Kiritsugu's weak and pale face. To say that he has aged quite a bit in these 10 years is an understatement. A weak and frail body with veins and tendons exposed under sagging skin. Outlines of bones visible in the arms and sunken cheekbones on Kiritsugu's face. An IV drip connected to his arm to keep him stable that Shirou patiently changes out as it is nearly empty. He also helps change the bladder bag while emptying the first.
Seeing the sorry state of Kiritsugu, she unclenches her hand, that is not to say that she doesnt have a lot to say, many grievances to spout at her former master. Yet she cant help but pity the man who is on his deathbed.
"Oh, I forgot to bring dinner, ill be right back. Please keep him company for a minute Saber" Shirou rushes out of the room before Saber can respond and thus she takes a seat next to the infirmed man. Perhaps sensing a familiar presence, the sleeping man rustles awake as he slowly opens his eyes and it meets Artoria's evenly.
"Saber, I see it's that time again. Far earlier than I thought. ….im sorry. I could not do it. Im sorry I hurt so many" Kiritsugu begins to lament his fate as he cries his eyes out over his inability to acquire the grail and thus save mankind from itself nor help his servant from undoing her mistakes in the past. Saber watches as Kiritsugu struggles internally over his physical weakness and then passes out again in futility.
"Eh, Saber?" Shirou walks back in, moments later as he finds Saber holding Kiritsugu's hand to calm him down in his sleep.
"He awoke and apologized before falling asleep again" Shirou nods as he sets down the stew on the nightstand next to the bed. "You must have reminded him of his wife. Doctors say he has early onset dementia due to his illness. When I was a child, I didn't get some of the stuff he said as he would murmur about the grail or how he hurt people in his line of work. It's only in recent years that he told me his secrets and how he made me lose my parents."
Saber looks in shock at the child who continues speaking. "I hated him for so long, I would do anything to get my family back but I also couldn't stay mad at him. I'm the only one he has left other than aunty. He did all he could to help save me. I never learned how his actions had caused us to end up here but it's better to now know since he knows best how much he tried to stop it all.
A somber mood passes over the duo of master and servant. Neither says anything more but Saber eventually speaks up. Shirou remains unaware that Saber was the same Saber in the previous war and also had a part in the current circumstances. She also wallows in her own guilt from the situation since it was her hand that destroyed the grail and had it's contents spill out to destroy the environment and kill the boys family. She rustles herself out of the negativity and attempts to mediate.
"I'm sure he would be happy with how well he raised you. A kindness to fill the void in his heart. I can tell Master, you are one of the greatest treasures in his life."
Her words cause Shirou's heart to stir as he lets out a few tears as Saber comforts him and the two eventually allow the old man to rest after feeding him a bit. Axel soon appears in the room like a ghost as he stands over Kiritsugu. He holds his hand over the impaired man as a green light is emitted which lightly heals him. "Are you satisfied with your reunion?"
Kiritsugu slowly stirs under the gentle glow as he clearly heard the words directed at him. Though while the light nurtures him, it's not so much as to fully heal him. He slowly opens his mouth to say, "Yes, I could apologize."
Axel cancels the glow and is about to head out when Kiritsugu speaks up once more.
"Will Illya be fine?" the last regret of the man is known. Axel turns to look at him and answers plainly. "In none of the timelines I know of does she win the grail and is even now inferior to my students but I've already ensured that she won't die here and now. Even if the grail attempts to replicate what happened to her mother, she will live on a long and healthy life with friends and family."
Axel gives his word to Kiritsugu who seems to stir multiple times at his words but upon hearing the last line does he finally settles down with a peaceful smile before closing his eyes one last time. Axel frowns at the sudden departure but he has the decency to light up some incense for the man before departing and allowing the master and servant to discover his death themselves.
Shirou was notably saddened as he collapsed on the bedside. Saber is the one who notices the incense and even believes that kiritsugu's complexion is slightly better. She also senses a portion of another aura on the incense which makes those who smell it more relaxed and maybe even happier.
"Gram." She whispers to herself as she covers Kiritsugu with his bedsheets and then does the same with Shirou to allow him to rest.
Axel returned to his home and allows his mind to roam onto the next master candidate in mind. He quickly finds his mischievous student who he doesnt really understand why she chose to join the war.
Rin would summon Archer just like the original but this one clearly remembers who he is this time around as Rin could not mess up something as simple as a Solomon Seal after studying for years under Axel. Though Archer still plays the role of a fool, claiming he has amnesia so he could observe his original love interest. Though because of his years of service, he had forgotten part of her appearance but as she still primarily resembles her original state he doesnt notice anything too drastic changes until she starts speaking.
With her leg sweeping across the floor, she curtsies to Archer. "Greetings, my servant. My name is Rin Tohsaka, Lord of the Tohsaka family. And I shall be the victor of this war." She gives a formal introduction before studying Archer's body.
"As I have introduced myself, shall you proclaim your name to me, your new master. I hope to complete this tedious war by tomorrow night if you are capable enough, if not then simply ... .don't get in my way"
A wave of aura intensely gets emitted from her body which applies quite a hefty pressure onto the servant. This pressure originates from her intense magical energies that have grown rapidly due to the semi divine materials used as part of her food these past ten years whenever she ate at Axel's home.
Archer takes on a frown as he bends his knees from the pressure but not enough to cause him to kneel. He scans his master, her magic circuits are far more advanced which allows him to unleash strength far beyond what he could when he was the counter guardian.
"Hoo, enjoying checking me out like that? Very disrespectful for a newly summoned servant."
"I'm sorry master but I don't remember my name, I apologize for the inconvenience it causes" He uses his excuse of amnesia to proclaim he didn't remember his name. As for his respectful tone, he has no reason to treat this version of Rin as a frail little girl who can't take care of herself. She is a mage comparable to an ancient one that has studied magic all their lives just from her aura pressing down on him.
He begins to follow her out of her attic where she had summoned him and he is given a quick introduction to Rin's mother who he had never met before as she had passed away or was moved away in his time. He politely introduces himself but he does overhear Aoi's concern for her daughter. She wouldn't want her precious daughter to follow in her fathers footsteps.
"Mother, im joining the war for myself, not for the tohsaka name. Don't worry, other than teacher and nee-san, I'm the strongest."
"I know, just be careful" Aoi plants a kiss on her reckless daughter's forehead as she grabs her bags, having already packed to temporarily move back into Axel's home for the duration of the holy war's time. It's a little something that was discussed a few months ago when Axel had sensed the grail's energy rising in preparation. The previous accumulated energy resurfaced. It was through this warning that Rin got to work in collecting the necessary materials all away from her teacher's purview.
Rin hugs her mother and helps her bring her new car. Emiya also helps with this. The master and servant now stand alone when the servant speaks up.
"Master, I've been meaning to ask, but what type of training have you gone through to become so strong? I was not under the impression that humans are supposed to be so strong after the age of the gods passed.
"Heh, true, though this would have only been possible thanks to my master. Speaking of, if you ever wander around and encounter a man with blue hair reminiscent of night starry sky then run. Though if you don't run, at least try not to attract his attention. He killed the archer of the previous war, ten years ago." While she plans to end the war in a manner of days, she cant help but be wary due to the unknown threat of other servants. She reveals a bit of Axel's known might with a reminiscent tone.
"Ehh, a human killed a servant?" Archer is visibly shocked but even more so since he knows that it was Gilgamesh, While he might not actually remember how he won back then against him due to the throne sealing his memories regarding this time period to not change his original fate too much.
"He has done so much more, but it is not my place to mention it all. Ever since he returned to Fuyuki 11 years ago to properly live with his family, he had done so much for all magus. Of course I'm now part of this too."She reminisces about the past 10 years with a faint blush on her face. Emiya has a drop of sweat fall from his head as she does describe how her family has a partnership with him which was started with her father a few months before the previous holy war. They had created a ton of inventions together but it only blew up when she replaced her father.
With each first generation piece of magi-tech that Emiya (archer) bears witness to, does he realize that so many things have changed from his childhood. He can only assume that this is an alternate timeline from his own, because of this realization, he is less worried about changing the timeline since he is truly clueless.
After a quick dinner where Emiya gets to wow Rin with his cooking, the two head out and begin to set up traps in various locations that are suitable for detecting servants or their masters. Emiya gets a proper introduction to Rin's current magic system that is not reliant on her family's gemstone technique. Through their time, Rin explains a bit more about her teacher and his family and how it's an ancient legacy family, far older than her own and the other 2 families of Fuyuki, the Matou and Einzbern.
Safe to say that Emiya is truly astounded by all the revelations and wholeheartedly begins to support his master.
With the knowledge that Rin is safe in her work, Axel diverts his attention to another 'master', or at least he would but he suddenly receives a missive through one of the magi-tech devices that acts akin to a fax machine. From this he is informed that he is to be the moderator for the 5th Holy Grail War and hopes that he would be impartial for the upcoming week. A member of the church would be visiting to bestow the extra seals upon him so that he could defend himself against other enemy servants or collect them from the masters that die this time around.
He writes back to the Clocktower administrators to inform them that he would have already been watching over the situation regardless, the city was his home and he would protect it from any repeat events like last time.
He sends the message back to the address listed on the first letter. He then begins to get changed into something more appropriate for his new role as a moderator.
"Sheba, will you accompany me for something fun?"
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Alt Title: First two Masters, Kiritsugu's Passing, Archer's Shock.
Word count: 2401
Drop a comment if you wanna judge my writing or the story. I'll try to respond, especially if you're confused or anything.