TYPE-MOON Universe, Earth, Japan, Fuyuki City.
"She's right, I do know the truth of the matter." Saber said, beginning an explanation that would shake Shirou's convictions even further. "I was summoned by Kiritsugu in the last Holy Grail War. However, we never really got along. I could not agree with his way of doing things… he fought in such an ignoble manner. It went against everything I stood for."
As Saber began telling her story, the room fell into silence. Sakura, Rin, and Shirou's eyes wide open at the revelation.
"Not only that, but Kiritsugu was not pleased with , either." Saber continued as she finally dismissed her sword. "At first, he must have been thrilled. Thrilled to summon King Arthur. But when he saw … a woman… erge from the summoning ritual, it was clear that he was not pleased."
"Just because you were a woman?" Rin muttered in disbelief.
"I would assu so." Saber replied with a nod. "Anyway, because of our mutual dislike for one another, I was tasked with protecting Irisviel, who acted in Kiritsugu's plan, making herself the target for the other Masters and Servants, who assud she was my Master, as I was always seen with her."
"Misdirection is a common tactic in war." Tatsuo said with a nod.
Archer agreed with a nod of his own. Though, it was clear he was a little hesitant to agree with the strategy itself.
"The war proceeded normally, deaths between the masters and Servants, alike." Saber said, getting back to her story. "And as each Servant fell, Irisviel was weakened, because she was… the Lesser Grail. Or to be more precise, her heart was the Lesser Grail."
"What?" Rin asked, her shock evident. "But how? The Lesser Grail is ant to collect the mana from all the Servants when they are defeated before transferring it to the Greater Grail to power the Holy Grail."
"Indeed." Saber replied calmly with a nod. "And that mana proved to be too much for her. However, to keep her active as long as possible, my scabbard, [Avalon], was imbedded into Irisviel's body, it's healing properties keeping her functional for as long as possible."
Hearing that, Rin turned to look at Shirou with both disbelief and understanding in her expression.
"It all makes sense now." Rin muttered, drawing everyone's attention onto her. "That's the only explanation of how Emiya-Kun could still be alive after taking that attack from Berserker."
"Your hypothesis is correct." Saber replied while turning to look at Shirou, as well. "I don't' know when, but at so point, Kiritsugu must have implanted [Avalon] into Shirou. Most likely when he saved him from the fire all those years ago."
"Huh? Really?" Shirou asked while he slowly raised his arms and placed them over his injury. "But I never knew anything about this."
"I have no doubt that Kiritsugu never told you." Saber said while turning to look at the rest of the room's occupants.
"[Avalon] also aided in summoning her." Elicia chid in. "Although it's not impossible to summon a Servant without a catalyst. The fact that you had King Arther's scabbard inside your body definitely had a lot to do with it."
"I see." Shirou muttered, his mind struggling to process all the new information.
"That's also one of the reasons why Saber cannot fight at her full strength." Tatsuo added. "Without her sheath, she couldn't exert her full power even if she had a capable Master."
Being called incapable caused Shirou to frown. However, there was nothing he could say to the contrary. So, he chose to keep his mouth shut.
"We've gotten off topic." Saber said, drawing everyone's attention back onto herself. "Eventually, Irisviel was found and killed by Kotomine Kirei, who saw Kiritsugu as soone he could never coexist with. Then, at the end of the war, while I faced off with Gilgash, Kiritsugu fought Kotomine. Though, no victor was decided on either battlefield. Our duels brought to an inconclusive end when Kotomine caused the tainted Grail to spill its contents, leading to the fire that took so many lives."
The sadness in Saber's tone made everyone aware of how much she regretted the events of that Holy Grail War. However, she eventually shook off her sadness and continued.
"And that actually brings to sothing we should be careful of." Saber said. "At the end, Gilgash was washed over by the Grail's power. And although it was tainted, I have a feeling that he gained a physical body from it. aning, he should still be here, waiting for another chance to claim the Grail for himself."
In response, Sakura, Rider, Rin, Archer, and Shirou tensed. Yet, they all noticed that Tatsuo and Elicia did not seem to be too worried about Gilgash.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about Goldie." Elicia said casually while waving away everyone's concern.
"I understand you two are strong." Saber said, her tone taking on a more lecturing tone. "But Gilgash is not like the other Servants you've faced. He has treasures of all kinds in his treasury, ant for all situations. You shouldn't underestimate him. Otherwise, it could cost you your lives."
"That's not what she ant." Tatsuo replied nonchalantly. "The confidence in her tone did not co from thinking she could beat him."
"Then why do you seem so unconcerned?" Saber asked, a hint of frustration leaking into her tone.
"Because he's already dead." Tatsuo said as if he were reporting the weather. "I cut his head off myself."
"Yeah, it happened when we confronted Kotomine while he tried to steal Bazett's [Command Spells]."
Once again, the room fell into silence. All the eyes focused on Tatsuo and Elicia showing clear signs of disbelief.
"Anyway, it's getting late." Elicia said, not bothered to defend her and Tatsuo's claims, as she stretched her arms over her head. "We're going ho to get so sleep." She then turned to look at Sakura and Rider. "Are you two coming with us or staying here?"
"We'll co with you, Taylor-San." Sakura said as she stood up and took a step towards Elicia and Tatsuo.
Naturally, Rider followed Sakura. Though, she did slip into her astral form as she did so.
"Well then, we'll see you later." Elicia said cheerfully as Tatsuo also slipped into his astral form. She then turned to Shirou as she continued. "Oh, and don't take too long to make your decision. Because Illya will be back. And if she gets her hands on you, as a Master in the Holy Grail War, nothing she does to you will be considered too much."
After leaving that final warning, Elicia led Sakura out of the room and to the Tohsaka Residence's front door before they started making their way back to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the Shinto District.
At the sa ti, the room fell into silence once again after Elicia's and Sakura's departure. However, the silence did not last too long.
"So, you've been lying to this whole ti, Archer?" Rin asked as she stood up and turned towards her Servant. "You told that you couldn't rember your identity because of my imperfect summoning. But that doesn't seem to be the case, does it?"
"I understand you're angry, Rin." Archer replied, a rare sheepish smile on his face. A smile that made it clear that he and Shirou were the sa person, just from different periods of ti. "But I think we should have this conversation in private."
"Why, because you don't' want him to know your identity?" Rin asked while pointing at Shirou. "And do you think his Servant will keep that information from him?"
With that, Archer glanced at Saber. And when he saw her resolute gaze, he could only shake his head.
"Fine, I get it." Archer replied while raising his hands disarmingly. "So, what do you want to know?"
"If you're him from the future, why were you so against saving his life?" Rin asked, once again pointing at Shirou.
Shirou, on the other hand, opened his eyes wide in disbelief. Having been unconscious when Tatsuo made the reveal, this was the first ti he was hearing this information.
"Wait!" Shirou exclaid before Archer could answer Rin's question. "You're saying that guy is… ? From the future?"
"Good." Rin replied sarcastically. "You got it on the first try. It would seem you're not as dumb as you look or act sotis."
Once a mber of the archery team, Shirou had seen how Rin interacted with Shinji. So, hearing Rin's sharp tongue was no surprise. Even so, her cutting remark hit him a lot harder than he expected it to, causing him to fall silent.
"So?" Rin, after shutting up Shirou, crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at Archer.
"*Sigh* I knew that you'd never let this go as soon as you found out." Archer said in a defeated tone. He then turned to look at Shirou while no longer restraining his killing intent. "I know it must sound strange to you that I would want to see my past self die, right? Because to you, if that happened, I would probably cease to exist."
While Saber, having felt Archer's unrestrained killing intent that was pointed at her Master, stepped in front of Shirou protectively, Rin remained standing there with her arms crossed and gave Archer a simple nod, signaling him to continue.
"Well, the truth is…that's exactly what I want." Archer continued coldly. "Because the naïve, idiotic ideals I used to have about saving everyone, like a hero of justice, led to a life filled with pain and regret."
Hearing that, the other three people in the room were dumbfounded.
"But… If what Taylor-San said was true, the Throne of Heroes exists outside of ti." Rin said tentatively. "So, even if you killed him, there's no guarantee that you'd be freed from your past, is there?"
"Even if that's true…" Archer replied, the pain of past failures glinting in his eyes. "It's the only thing I can think of to end this existence."
"Yeah, that won't work." A familiar male voice said casually.
Snapping their heads in the direction of the voice, Rin, Archer, Shirou, and Saber were all surprised to see Tatsuo sitting on the couch where Sakura once sat while sipping a cup of tea, looking way too elegant for the image of an assassin that they all had in their heads.
"You see, ti just isn't that simple." Tatsuo continued after taking a sip from the tea cup. "Oh, that's so good tea. Archer, you're pretty good at this. Anyway, like I was saying. Ti isn't that simple. Every decision you make in this world causes a split in the tiline. So, even if you offed Emiya in this tiline, the tiline where you embarked on a journey to beco a hero won't change."
Hearing Tatsuo's explanation, Archer could not help gritting his teeth in anger. Even though he already knew what Tatsuo said was the truth, he had still held onto a glimr of hope that he was wrong, thinking that him killing his past self would cause so kind of paradox that would change everything.
"Hold on." Rin said, raising a hand to stop Tatsuo from speaking further. "As fascinating as that is. And believe , I really an that. The secrets of ti are quite fascinating. And I'm curious to know how you know all this. But more importantly, why are you still here? I thought you left with Taylor-San."
"Oh, there's no real reason." Tatsuo replied after taking another sip of his tea. "I was just curious to see how this exact conversation would play out. I actually wasn't supposed to say anything. But I wanted to correct a misunderstanding I heard. So, I kinda jumped into the conversation. Oh, I thought I'd stop Archer from actually killing the kid if he ended up at the end of his rope as a bonus, too."
"I see." Rin replied with a nod. "I guess that makes sense."
"Besides, if the kid dies, Lici's effort to give him another option would have been aningless." Tatsuo continued. "And despite how… embarrassing… she can be."
At that, Tatsuo stopped to chuckle to himself, thinking about the reactions he would get when he sent the video of Elicia's power up sequence to the [Chat].
Tatsuo was not the only one who started to laugh, though. Elici's over the top display of power was sothing that none of the other people in the room thought they would ever see in real life, either.
"Anyway, *Cough* where was I?" Tatsuo asked after getting his chuckling under control. "Ah, right. Lici really does want what's best for him. She didn't have the best childhood, you know. So, she doesn't want to see young people head down a path that she knows will lead them to regrets."
Again, the room fell silent, each person having different reactions to Tatsuo's words. While Rin nodded in agreent, thinking that Shirou would probably end up regretting his decisions in the end, Saber looked introspective. As for Archer, he looked at Shirou with jealousy. When he was Shirou's age, there was no one who gave him another option to help as many people as he could.
Shirou, on the other hand, did not know what to think. For as long as he could rember, he wanted to be a hero. After seeing how happy saving him made his adopted father, he wanted to help people, too. And for so reason, he had convinced himself that the only way to do that was to beco so kind of hero.
'But are the only ones who can be called heroes the ones who fight the bad guys?' Shirou thought to himself. 'I an, police officers, fire fighters, doctors… They all help people, too, don't they? So, just why was I so fixated on being a hero?'
If Tatsuo could hear what Shirou was thinking, he would probably bla Alaya, the Collective Unconscious Will of Humanity in the TYPE-MOON Universe. Because he knew that Archer was not a normal Heroic Spirit. Rather, he was what is known as a Counter Guardian, an enforcer that Alaya deploys to ensure the survival of humanity whenever it faces extinction.
"Well, now that I got that off my chest, I'm gonna head out, too.' Tatsuo said after taking his last sip of tea. "Oh, and Archer, seriously, don't kill the kid. As of now, he's done nothing wrong."
With that, Tatsuo started walking in the direction of Shinto District. However, he did not leave the house first. Instead, when he reached the wall of the room, he simply phased through it with the use of [Maiestas Divina], leaving the rest to think about everything he said.
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